A rendering of the Gallery Court Hotel was submitted as part of a special use permit request in the fall of 2018. While the permit was approved, along with a demolition permit, the project has not yet moved forward.
Image by NBJ Architecture.
For several years, a burned-out husk of a 20th-century motel has remained standing at 140 Emmet St., near one of the main entrances to the University of Virginia. Now, the structure is set to come down.
After a May 2017 fire destroyed the Excel Inn, where Martin Luther King Jr. stayed during his 1963 visit to Charlottesville, owner Vipul Patel quickly filed plans to build the much taller Gallery Court Hotel to provide more rooms in an area where tourism is a major industry.
This was in contrast to UVA’s plan to demolish the five-story Cavalier Inn across the street, to make way for 21st-century buildings as part of the Emmet-Ivy Corridor. The UVA Foundation had bought the inn in June 1998 for $5.6 million, paying $2.5 million over assessment. The last guests checked out in the summer of 2018, and the structure came down soon afterward.
In 2008, an LLC tied to the foundation paid $6 million for the former Econo Lodge a few doors down, and that structure was razed in 2013, though the restaurant on the site remains.
Still believing there was a role for private business to play in serving the needs of area visitors, Patel applied for a special use permit for additional height to build the 72-room, seven-story Gallery Court Hotel. Council approved the permit in October 2018, but the project has not moved forward.
Something is shifting, though. Patel applied for a demolition permit on March 23, and city officials issued one on April 14.
Patel had no comment at this time.
Is there a market for new rooms? Hotel occupancy rates rebounded relatively quickly after the stay-at-home days early in the pandemic. One in four rooms were empty in April 2020, but use returned to a more typical three in four a year later.
UVA knows there is a market for new rooms.
The University of Virginia Foundation has spent years acquiring properties along Ivy Road for its expansion, several of which have now been taken off the city’s property tax rolls because they have been transferred to the state of Virginia.
Patel’s property is a block away from UVA’s future 214-room hotel and conference center. That’s one of three buildings currently under construction on university-owned land not subject to tax rolls. It’s also a mile’s drive from the new 199-room Forum Hotel, also off the tax rolls, at the Darden School of Business.
Patel isn’t alone in wanting to keep his property from being purchased by UVA or its real estate foundation.
Last week, City Council approved a technical change to the current zoning ordinance that will allow RMD Properties to seek permission to build a large building on a one-acre parcel at the corner of Ivy and Copeley roads. While the official request has not been filed, this could be a nine-story residential building.
Inez M. Gonzalez will start as executive director of the Police Civilian Oversight Board on May 1. Image courtesy City of Charlottesville.
PCOB gets new director
Charlottesville interim City Manager Michael Rogers announced the appointment of Inez M. Gonzalez as executive director of the Police Civilian Oversight Board on Monday, April 17.
“We are excited to both welcome Inez to the city and to ensure that our Police Civilian Oversight Board has proper staffing to engage in their work as outlined by our City Council,” says Rogers.
Gonzalez has 28 years of experience in law enforcement, 25 of which were spent with the Newark, New Jersey, police department. Her roles included community services officer, sergeant and internal affairs investigator and domestic violence coordinator, lieutenant and integrity control officer, and commander in the Office of Internal Affairs. She was the first female, Hispanic lieutenant and captain of the department. She then became a regulatory enforcement inspector for the Department of State in the Pennsylvania Bureau of Enforcement and Investigations office.
Gonzalez received her B.A. in criminal justice and homeland security from Grantham University, and underwent training and certification in community and problem-oriented policing at Northwestern University.
“I am genuinely excited to start my new role with the PCOB,” Gonzalez said in a press release.“I look forward to working with the board and other stakeholders to make meaningful changes that will positively impact the citizens of Charlottesville.”
The PCOB aims to “provide objective and independent civilian-led oversight of the Charlottesville Police Department in an effort to enhance transparency and trust, to promote fair and effective policing, and to protect the civil and constitutional rights of the people of the City of Charlottesville,” according to City Council’s website.
Gonzalez officially starts on May 1.
Cheney speaks
Liz Cheney, a former U.S. representative and an incoming UVA professor of practice, spoke with Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato at an April 19 event at Alumni Hall. Cheney talked about January 6, ongoing election conspiracies, and the grim future of the Republican Party. Despite losing her bid for reelection, the one-time Wyoming congressperson remains a major figure within conservative politics.
In her first public interview since the announcement of her professorship, Cheney largely focused on her political experience during and following the attack on the U.S. Capitol. She emphasized that the continued promotion of election conspiracies and downplaying of political violence threatens not only the Republican party, but democracy itself.
To prevent another January 6, Cheney said, people must be held accountable for their actions, including Donald Trump. She further called for leaders to be people of character and uphold their oaths of office to ensure this accountability.
Liz Cheney. File photo.
In brief
Ellis in NYT
The New York Times points to UVA Board of Visitors member Bert Ellis as an example of rising “anti-woke” education movements. In an article exploring the sharp tension surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and the deep political divide between education policymakers, writer Stephanie Saul frames America’s larger battle surrounding education policy around Ellis. Ellis has been deeply controversial since his appointment was announced, due to his attempted destruction of a “Fuck UVA” sign on the Lawn and co-founding of the DEI-critical Jefferson Council.
Charity pinball
On April 30, Decades Arcade will open its new location downtown with the second annual John Breen Memorial Charity Pinball Tournament for the local Ronald McDonald House. Following a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2021, avid pinball fan John Breen reached out to Decades to create the charity tournament. Breen died in April of 2021 at the age of 54. Decades’ doors will open at 1:30pm, with the tournament beginning at 4pm.
Funding ends early
Funding for the Pathways Community Resource Helpline has run out months earlier than anticipated for residents of Albemarle County. The Helpline program was created during the COVID-19 pandemic to help Charlottesville and Albemarle residents with rent, mortgage, and utilities. While the funds were expected to end with the start of the new fiscal year in July, there is now an unanticipated gap in support for community members in need. Both Charlottesville and Albemarle continue to experience housing crises due to a lack of affordable housing.
The Jefferson Cup has returned to the area, and will finish this year with a leg-burning climb at Blenheim Vineyards. Photo by Peter Hufnagel.
The Jefferson Cup, a professional and amateur USA Cycling road race that is one of the longest-running races in the United States, returns to the area on Sunday, April 30. The Jeff Cup is a 10-mile loop that takes racers on rolling country roads through estates and vineyards, and “has been a staple of the Charlottesville cycling community for over three decades,” says Sully Beck, race director and former president of UVA Club Cycling. “We want the Jeff Cup to continue to inspire riders, just as it has for countless years.”
The event has evolved since Ruth Stornetta first came up with the idea in 1991.
“She always had a ‘racer first’ mentality, so went out of her way to ensure a great course with proper road closures, wheel cars, results services, even if all of these things meant more work from an organization perspective,” says Andy Guptill, endurance team director for the Miller School of Albemarle. “Participants saw that, and turnout increased each year as word spread about the high-quality road race.”
“As a race director, proper permitting with the police and VDOT is the first major hurdle,” says Beck. “The financial burden and uncertainty were the main reasons that prevented the return of the Jeff Cup in recent years. As a collegiate club, we were willing to invest substantial energy to take on such a risk.”
UVA Club Cycling has done much of the organizing for the event, which is also sponsored by the Charlottesville Racing Club and Blue Ridge Cyclery. Proceeds from the race will go to Community Bikes, a nonprofit local bike shop that seeks to make cycling accessible in Charlottesville by providing free refurbished bicycles to kids and adults in need.
“Hosting the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Championship [in which the UVA team competes] … and raising funds for Community Bikes all in one weekend promises for a truly great event,” says Madison Gallagher, president of UVA Club Cycling.
This year marks the first year the race will finish with the Blenheim hill climb, a leg-burning ascent that will likely make for an exciting finish (the race begins and ends at Blenheim Vineyards).
“Blenheim is happy to support the event, and is eager to make the finish line as inviting to spectators as possible,” says Tracey Love, marketing and events manager for Blenheim, one of the Jeff Cup’s sponsors (the winery will provide parking for racers and spectators, and an embankment for seating to watch the race).
Former professional road racing champion (and Monticello High School grad) Ben King got his start at the 2008 Jeff Cup, and the race had a major impact on him.
“I was lucky to grow up in a place with such amazing roads for cycling,” says King. “Now, hundreds of thousands of racing miles later, I can say with authority that it has all of the features that make a great course.”
“I still love the sport, but my relationship to it has changed,” adds King, who retired from professional cycling last year. “I love watching the races, but am personally less focused on performance and more focused on the freedom, community, fitness, and feelings I get on a bike.”
Michael Ketola worked his way through some of Charlottesville’s busiest restaurants before landing at Mas Tapas where he has guided the kitchen for 17 years. Photo by Eze Amos.
Without formal training, I entered the world of professional cooking in 1996, when some college friends from JMU mentioned that the steakhouse they worked at was looking for a cook. So, eager to try something new (and not move back home) I began working at Claiborne’s. I remained there for a year before moving to Charlottesville, where I made it a point to pick up ways to improve myself over the course of working in a variety of kitchens, from Bodo’s to Rococo’s to Starr Hill restaurant.
Chaos and passion
For me, professional cooking has always checked a variety of boxes that I enjoy: I love the exhilaration I get from being part of a team, “locked in” with one another in the midst of the (semi) controlled chaos of a busy dinner service. I love the delicate balance of precision and artistry that goes into every plate, and the creative outlet provided by designing new menu items. I love the variety of unconventional and passionate co-workers I interact with, plus interacting with local farmers and purveyors and feeling like I am expanding community bonds by doing so. But at the root of it all, I have always found immense joy in making people happy.
Supplied photo.
Smoke it
I’m always happiest cooking-wise when I’m able to incorporate the process of smoking into anything I prepare. A great example of this is our Smokra (above), a dish composed of smoked okra, roasted sweet corn, onions, peppers, and herbs. The smell of that dish coming off the line is simply intoxicating! Be on the lookout for it later this summer, when all of those wonderful things are in season.
Recipe to rock
Somehow, even with all of my work and family responsibilities, I find time to play music in a few different projects: Peen (a local Ween cover band), and I also play guitar in a classic, Southern country rock band called Campbell Road Band. We’re playing Fridays After Five on June 9, with the Chickenhead Blues Band.
For our ongoing series Why Do You Cook?, C-VILLE Weekly asks area food and drinks folks what motivates them to clock in every day. If you would like to be considered for this column, please email tami@c-ville.com.
After 30 years of marriage, a man tells his wife that he is going to leave her. Unperturbed by his declaration, the wife responds mockingly, so he tries again, and again. Edward Albee’s Marriage Play follows Jack and Gillian, the soon-to-be-divorced couple, as they reminisce about the various phases of their relationship—affection, passion, betrayal, and neglect—culminating in a critical look at the institution of marriage and life’s overall purpose. The play is a joint production from Charlottesville Players Guild and Hamner Theater.
Thursday 4/27–Saturday 4/29. $25, time varies. Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 233 Fourth St. NW. jeffschoolheritagecenter.com
Ashley Anumba. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
For fans who enjoy pointing to their televisions and saying, “I watched them back when they played for UVA,” this University of Virginia athletics season is required viewing. From marking national bests and setting school records, to going on championship streaks to taking teams to the postseason, athletes are making UVA history this year—and they’re not planning to stop when they leave Grounds. Here’s a look at memorable seasons from five Virginia athletes who, based on their performances this spring, will be players to watch in the future.
Ashley Anumba
Track & Field
Ashley Anumba. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
A discus throw takes place in the span of a second.
During that second, second-year law school student Ashley Anumba has dozens of muscle movements to think about.
“A misconception about throwing is that it’s all arms, but it’s a total body movement from your legs up to your hands,” says Anumba.
Anumba has to make sure her hips are open enough for her turn. She must turn her head as she uses her glutes to power her twist to the front, while keeping her back precisely angled so her release sends the 2.2-pound disc flying in the right direction.
She might think over each of these movements while practicing, but in competition the throw is seamless. After thousands of repetitions, her body knows exactly what to do.
That’s not to say that Anumba’s throw isn’t still evolving. This fall, new UVA throwing coach Steve Lemke helped her see the process differently. Instead of leaning on her natural elegance in the ring, she began deliberately using each muscle to its maximum strength during the wind.
That’s part of why she was able to set a Virginia discus record with her first throw of the 2023 season.
At North Carolina State’s Raleigh Relays on March 24, Anumba threw the discus 59.37 meters, or 194 feet and nine inches. That’s the fifth time she has set a new school standard since she joined the team in 2022—and it was with a distance 2.87 meters (nine feet, five inches) farther than her first record-breaking throw.
“When you reach a certain level of expertise, the jumps in distance or time progressions … get smaller, because you’re already reaching that peak,” says Anumba. “So, the fact that I was able to bypass all of that and still, even though I’m on a high level, make such a big jump, that’s been amazing. Evidently, something is going right with this technique change.”
Anumba arrived at UVA as a graduate transfer from the University of Pennsylvania, holding a degree in public health and two extra years of athletics eligibility thanks to COVID-19. She was looking for a school that would support her simultaneous pursuit of a law degree and the world standard discus throw of 63.5 meters (208 feet, three inches). She found that university in Charlottesville.
“This team, this school, has shown me that I shouldn’t be afraid of pursuing goals that are scary, or things that I want in my life that may be far away,” says Anumba. “People will help me get there.”
After taking on the ACC and NCAA championships this spring, Anumba wants to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August. Her ultimate goal is to represent Nigeria, where most of her extended family lives, in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I’m chipping away at it, and more than ever, I see it as more of a reality than a possibility,” says Anumba.
This is a future Anumba never imagined while playing soccer as a child. While her older sister Michelle, now head athletic trainer for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, was setting shot put records at Duke, Ashley was busy dreaming of a future in the National Women’s Soccer League. She joined track only as a part of injury recovery in eighth grade.
It was not until a high school coach told her that her discus talent could someday earn her a college scholarship—and even an Olympics bid—that Anumba began trying to become one of the best in the world.
“I never expected to be as good as what I am now,” says Anumba. “Seeing the vision that my high school coach had for me, it’s absolutely crazy. I’m believing everything he said, because it’s becoming true.”
Connor Shellenberger
Lacrosse
Connor Shellenberger. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
When Connor Shellenberger was 9 years old, he watched his hometown University of Virginia triumph over Maryland in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship.
Ten years later, the Cavaliers took on the Terrapins in a 2021 title rematch—but this time, Shellenberger was on the field.
The redshirt first-year scored four times to help Virginia to a 17-16 championship victory.
“I don’t know if it’s hit me, to be honest,” says Shellenberger. “I’m hoping one day, once I’m done playing lacrosse, it’ll be able to fully sink in. It was crazy. It happened so fast.”
For his 14 goals and 10 assists in four 2021 playoff games, Shellenberger was the second rookie in NCAA history to be named the tournament’s most outstanding player. He finished the following season as a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award, handed to the most outstanding player in college lacrosse, after leading UVA with 76 points and 44 assists in 16 games in 2022.
Shellenberger tries not to focus on accolades. He says he models his game after Steele Stanwick, the last Cavalier to receive the Tewaaraton in 2011, who he always felt cared more about team wins than stats chasing.
That might be part of why on May 23 of last year, the day after the Terrapins knocked Virginia out of the 2022 NCAA quarterfinals, the team voted to make Shellenberger captain.
“You’re always thinking about winning games and winning championships and stuff like that, but some of the bigger honors are stuff like that, where your teammates trust you and want you to lead them,” says Shellenberger.
Shellenberger’s dominant 2022 season earned him an invite to U.S. Men’s National Team tryouts last summer. There, Shellenberger was able to pick the brains of players he’d grown up watching, like Cornell’s Rob Pannell and Princeton’s Tom Schreiber. Both are now professional lacrosse players.
“I was seeing all the guys that I had grown up watching on TV,” says Shellenberger. “Being around them off the field and talking to them, and also on the field and going against them— it’s tough to have that confidence at first, to feel like you belong, because you’ve seen all the great things they’ve done.”
Shellenberger is starting to believe he belongs as he gets closer to his goal of making the national team—and to leading UVA back to the national championships.
Although the team entered the 2023 season without Matt Moore, Shellenberger’s offensive partner and UVA’s all-time points leader, Virginia offense has been led by Shellenberger and a squad of fifth-year veterans.
Xander Dickson has become one of the top scorers in college lacrosse, Petey LaSalla is one of the best in the country on draws and Payton Cormier’s 145 career goals rank No. 2 in UVA history. All three were wearing orange and navy blue for both Virginia’s 2019 and 2021 championships.
Now, Shellenberger is looking to get a second ring of his own as he finishes out the season with his family watching from the stands of Klöckner Stadium.
“Thinking back 10 years ago, I was going to the game with them as a fan, and now I get to look over and they’re standing in the same place that we stood,” says Shellenberger. “It’s kind of a full circle.”
Eden Bigham
Softball
Eden Bigham. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
The day before the UVA softball team boarded a plane to Houston for its February 9 season opener against Lamar University, freshman pitcher Eden Bigham got the news she would be starting.
It was a moment she had spent every day that fall preparing for. She had completely reworked her changeup. She had learned not to rely on the rise ball, her go-to in high school.
She also toughened her mental game, which might have been the most important skill waiting in her arsenal as she stepped onto the mound for her collegiate debut.
“You have the ball in your hands, you have every possible chance that something can happen, so it creates a lot of excitement,” says Bigham. “At the same time, it is also a lot of pressure.”
Bigham made it through five innings without Lamar registering a hit. Someone mentioned the forbidden, jinx-ridden word—“no-hitter”—between frames, but she shook it off.
“It’s in the back of my head, but I know if I focus too much on it, then I’m not going to go perform well,” says Bigham. “I was definitely thinking about it, but I didn’t let it change anything.”
In the top of the sixth, two Lamar runners got on base on a walk and an error. Bigham remained cool.
With her dad, the coach of her travel team, and her mom, a former college pitcher who was named to the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017, watching in the crowd, Bigham retired the next six batters in order.
She ended her debut with a 5-0 shutout win, nine strikeouts and the first solo no-hitter recorded by a Cavalier since Ally Frei in 2019.
“My team was so happy for me, and having them there was really exciting,” says Bigham. “I was nervous, but (it showed) I could come out and compete with college girls.”
Bigham has continued to prove that throughout the season. Her ERA ranks her among this season’s top 15 freshman college pitchers. She has started in more than a third of the Cavaliers’ outings and earned seven shutouts.
Last year, UVA softball came to the edge of qualification for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
Bigham is part of a strong first-year class that looks ready to end the decade-long drought, and bring this Virginia softball back to the NCAA postseason.
It is not a long drive from Bigham’s hometown of Rustburg, Virginia, to Palmer Park, but there is a significant distance between the skill level of the opponents she faces in Charlottesville and those she challenged in high school. Having old travel ball teammates like her roommate Jade Hylton, who leads UVA with 10 home runs, has helped Bigham adjust.
Growing certainty from Bigham on the mound and Hylton at the plate has helped Virginia softball put up the program’s highest single-season win total in 13 years.
“In high school and travel, if something didn’t go my way, it would tear me to pieces,” says Bigham. “But I definitely know these girls have my back, and if I give up runs, they can come back and score them … my confidence has definitely gotten better since I’ve been here.”
Jake Gelof
Baseball
Jake Gelof. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
When third-year Jake Gelof fouled a ball straight back in his first at-bat against the University of Richmond on April 11, the crowd let out a collective sigh.
They, like Gelof, knew what was at stake. His 37 runs tied E.J. Anderson (1995-98) for the career record by a Cavalier, and his next homer would make school history.
In the fifth inning, Gelof returned to the plate. This time, he put the ball over the fence at far left field to become Virginia’s all-time leader in home runs during the Cavaliers’ 18-0 shutout of the Spiders.
“Once I saw it go, I was really excited,” says Gelof.
It’s a record Gelof never expected to hit during his rookie season, when he was seeing limited at-bats. It wasn’t until the 2021 postseason that he showed the Cavaliers what his swing could do.
Truist Field is famous for its long balls: Three days before UVA took the field to face Notre Dame in the 2021 ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the University of Louisville set an ACC championship record there for home runs, with seven in a single game.
It’s no wonder Gelof sent his first collegiate homer over the fence at Truist, and helped Virginia move on to the tournament’s semifinals.
“I was batting a little low in the lineup, and balls were flying for guys in the beginning of the lineup,” says Gelof. “Once I hit it, I hadn’t had that feeling in a while … that feeling of getting a ball out of the stadium, that was a great feeling.”
The key to hitting 37 more home runs in the 108 games since that day, Gelof says, has been not changing too much, staying in his approach and remaining confident each time he steps up to the plate.
That strategy helped him become a key part of the lineup as UVA went to the 2021 College World Series.
After starting every game his second season, and ranking second in the ACC with 81 RBIs, Gelof earned an invite to the 2022 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp, where he bumped elbows with other rising stars in American baseball.
Tips from the camp’s nationally ranked players and coaches have helped Gelof lead the Cavs in RBIs and home runs, as he helps power them to their third straight NCAA postseason in 2023—and so did off-season training with his brother, Zack, who started every game for UVA from 2019 to 2021, until he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 2021 MLB draft.
He’s exactly where Gelof wants to be someday.
“Having such a great person to come to, who has had success at the levels that I aspire to play at … just to have someone to talk to all the time that you look up to, is very special,” says Gelof.
Gretchen Walsh
Swimming
Gretchen Walsh. Image courtesy Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
Heading into the 2023 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in March, Gretchen Walsh was very familiar with the American record for the 100-yard backstroke. After all, she was there, just one quarter of a second behind, when North Carolina State’s Katharine Berkoff set the 48.74-seconds record last year.
That’s why the UVA second-year knew she had broken it the moment she touched the wall and saw 48.26 on the clock.
That thrilling moment would have been unimaginable to Walsh just a few years ago, when she was a Tennessee high school student, doing backstroke just for fun. It wasn’t until she arrived in Charlottesville that coaches convinced her to compete.
Walsh says UVA swimming coach Todd DeSorbo calls her underwater abilities her “secret weapon.” She worked on maximizing it by training to hold her breath under water through punishing sets, until not breathing became second nature.
“Once I started doing that, my backstroke career really took off, and obviously now here I am with the American record,” says Walsh. “I never, going into college, thought I’d be saying that, but here I am, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Walsh’s 100-yard backstroke win, in addition to a victory in the 100-yard freestyle and a role in four of the Cavaliers’ five relay triumphs, helped the Virginia women’s swimming & diving team win its third consecutive NCAA championship on March 19.
The rest of the Cavaliers’ six individual titles went to Walsh’s training partner, senior Kate Douglass, who set American records in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard breaststroke, and Walsh’s sister, junior Alex Walsh, who claimed a title in the 400-yard medley.
Both swimmers have been instrumental in pushing Walsh since she arrived at UVA last year. Like Walsh, both have set American records. And like Walsh strives to do, both medaled at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Now, Alex is waiting to get her Olympic rings tattoo until Gretchen gets hers, too.
Walsh has dreamed of the Olympics ever since she and Alex swam together as children. In fourth grade, when the class was told to create self-portraits, Walsh drew herself standing on the Olympic blocks.
Her performance in the 2020 Olympic trials, the summer before her first year at UVA, fell short of qualifying. She thinks that could be different in 2024.
“Since coming into UVA, having this change and this new environment, I feel a lot more confident going into next summer, in my abilities and my training, all around,” says Walsh. “I think it’s definitely feasible.”
Next season, Walsh has a long list of individual goals. She wants to hit 20.5 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and 47 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke, both events in which she has already set the national standard. She wants to add another American record by beating 45.56 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle. It’s a lot of numbers to keep track of, but that’s no problem for a finance major and math minor.
“I always find myself counting my strokes, or my kicks, or how many breaths I have to take,” says Walsh. “I think a lot of swimming is numbers, and that’s one of the reasons I probably liked math—and swimming, too.”
Most of all, Walsh wants to help UVA become the first school to win four straight NCAA swimming & diving titles since Stanford did it in 1995.
“I think we can do it again, so we’ll see,” says Walsh. “We’re creating a legacy, and that’s one of the coolest things about this whole experience.”
After nearly a decade of silence, The Wallflowers make some noise with Exit Wounds, the band’s 10-song studio offering. The Jakob Dylan-led rock outfit meshes timeless songwriting and storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern musical attack. Exit Wounds opens with “Maybe Your Heart’s Not in It No More,” a gentle, Americana-inspired song with Shelby Lynne, who provides harmonies on two other tracks: “Darlin’ Hold On” and “Move the River.”
Sunday 4/30. $34–64, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net
As You Like It runs through May 14 at Staunton’s American Shakespeare Center, where everyone has a role to play. Image courtesy ASC.
Ah, springtime in Charlottesville, a veritable petticoat junction of daffodils, bluebells, and redbuds tossing their skirts in the breeze—as Shakespeare might say.
After all, Shakespeare coined the phrase “petticoat junction” in one of his most excellent comedies, Much Ado About the Beverly Hillbillies.
What’s that you say? My cultural references smack of senility? Fie on this tale told by an idiot?
Yes, you’re right, and I know it. Somehow I’ve let 20 frowzy, frazzled years of motherhood turn my “cultural life” into an unweeded garden, rank and gross in nature. My idea of high art these days is a “Schitt’s Creek” rerun accompanied by a bowl of Cheerios.
Alas, alack, even Moira Rose would find my cultural sloth appalling. So with an empty nest and no excuses left, I recently ventured over the mountain to the literary mecca in Charlottesville’s backyard: the Blackfriars Playhouse at the American Shakespeare Center, home of “the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre” (according to the ASC’s website).
Thus did I find myself in Staunton on a chilly Saturday night before Easter, transported, and, dare I say, culturally resurrected, by a rollicking performance of As You Like It.
What
A live Shakespeare production in central Virginia’s version of the Globe Theatre.
Why
Because not once in 20 years have I seen an ASC show—despite being an English major and a Shakespeare-lover (my kingdom for a midsummer night with Shakespeare in Love’s Joseph Fiennes! By my troth, that’s one yummy Bard).
How it went
Something about the nonprofit, educational vibe of the lobby made us feel like misbehaving sixth graders on a school-sponsored field trip. Oh no, why did we think this would be cool and fun? Would we be straining to endure a stiff, over-the-top piece of “the-a-ter?” Would we be nodding off but trying hard to pretend we weren’t so that the cast wouldn’t be able to see us snooze? Would my Shakespeare-averse husband make a fast break for Charlottesville once we got to intermission, leaving me to get home in an Uber?
Here’s how good the show was: There was my husband, singing along with the cast, clapping, chortling, and wiping away tender tears. The only other time I’d seen him like this was when the Nationals won the World Series.
How do I explain the energy and charisma of the cast? Seven actors—only seven—playing multiple roles on a stage with no fixed or fancy set. And yet, somehow, you never doubted that each character in the play was that character, and no one else. Topher Embrey, for example, played the mercurial Duke Frederick with thundering command, and then, a quick costume change later, brought the house down as the straw-chewing hillbilly, Corin. Annabelle Rollison delivered a heartbreaking “seven stages of man” speech as Jaques, but had the audience guffawing as the pumped-up wrestler, Charles.
The dazzling cast didn’t just perform for us, they played with us, physically drawing us into the fun and magic of the show. Before the play even started, the actors warmed up the crowd with their own band, playing Hootie and Taylor hits with wry self-awareness, shaming us into singing along. Once the play began, the performers popped up behind, around, and right in front of us, literally climbing over the seats at one point, and sobbing into the lap of a good-humored audience member at another. It was hilarious, exhilarating, and oddly moving in how it connected us all—Shakespeare’s characters, the players themselves, and the enraptured audience.
My husband said he hadn’t expected the show to feel so personal, as if the cast was talking directly to you. “It felt like when you made eye contact with them, they knew you,” he said.
That’s what great art can do—make you feel heard, known, recognized, and maybe even reborn.
This Saturday, Zach Miller will be one of many jockeys competing for a win at Foxfield Races, Charlottesville’s bi-annual steeplechase event. It’s a meaningful homecoming, years in the making, for the Charlottesville native, who’s raced, and won, at Foxfield numerous times—Miller even met his wife after a 2005 win. Foxfield has been hosting steeplechase races in Albemarle County since 1977, with the spring races often attracting up to 15,000 locals and visitors. The steeplechase is a distance horse racing event with ditch obstacles and fence jumps. The strange name stems from the race’s origins in Ireland, where riders raced from church steeple to church steeple. foxfieldraces.com
Name: Zach Miller.
Hometown: Charlottesville.
Job: Full-time dad, part-time jockey, farmer and owner of Timbercreek Farm, horse trainer.
How did you get into racing: I grew up riding ponies, my grandma always had a pony around. I really liked going fast, I got really into it and I competed a bit in some different disciplines, so when the opportunity presented itself I went to work in Fairhill, Maryland, for a trainer there. One thing about me is, I’m a normal-sized human being, so I was never gonna be small enough to ride on the flat—that’s the Derby. So I got into riding steeplechase races because the weights are a little higher, and they’re jumping too, so that was fun.
Do you remember your first race: I do, my first jump race I rode in Fairfax County in the spring of 2003. I rode a horse called Sail My Vessel, he was the little horse that could, he was a smaller horse, but he was a lot of fun. I finished third on him that day.
When did you become a professional jockey: I took out my first license when I was 18, and I was a full-time, professional jockey until I was 23.
You’re headed to Foxfield next, have you raced there before: That’s my hometown track, that’s my favorite! Over the years I’ve probably ridden in a dozen or more races. But this will be my first ride at Foxfield in 17 years.
How does it feel to be back: Amazing! It’s my favorite track.
Favorite part of being a jockey: Winning races.
Second favorite part: What you get to do on race day is you get to put together all the fun parts with the tactical parts. Steeplechasing requires some tactics, it’s not just going as fast as you can. It’s a test of skill of the rider, it’s challenging… if your tactics are wrong or your horse isn’t jumping well. You’re moving 35 miles an hour, surrounded by thousands of pounds of horse. It’s thrilling.
Do you have a race-day routine: Nothing really special. I always walk the course, look at how it’s set up, what’s the fastest way around—it’s not always the inside. You have to factor in terrain and turns, the fastest way around might be slightly on the outside. So some tactical preparation. Making sure I’m centered and my head is clear.
What’s going through your mind when the gates open: First I make sure the horse is settled and jumping well, and don’t get in a hurry. The race is two miles, and it’s a very testing track. Riders can get impatient and rush it. Then you have to pay attention to what’s going on around you strategically—how are the horses around you doing, how much horse are you sitting on, where do you need to start thinking about making a move.
Who are you riding on Saturday: I get to do this for a guy named Richard Valentine, he’s a trainer who’s given me some tremendous opportunities. He put me on a winner in Saratoga, he’s the trainer of Remonstrative, he’s [a] top 10 trainer. There are two horses I can ride, Sea Mast or Tease and Seize. Sea Mast is an American Kentucky-bred, I won a prep race on him two weeks ago. He has a high turning speed, his specialty is grinding competition to a pulp. Tease and Seize is a French horse, he’s a tremendous athlete, you could leave a little for later with him.
What’s something about being a jockey that people would be surprised to learn: How challenging it is to ride a horse. My heart rate riding a horse peaks higher and quicker than when I run four miles on foot. There’s a lot of balance and strength, but you’re also pretty active on the horse, you think the horse is doing all the running and work, but that’s not totally true.
Proudest accomplishment: Making it to 39 years old and being able to stay riding and competing.
Favorite horse movie: I like them all. National Velvet is a classic, I’d be remiss to not mention it, it’s an old one with Elizabeth Taylor. I love Seabiscuit, it’s an underdog story. And Secretariat is cool because he’s Virginia bred, he’s the hometown hero.
Sen. Tim Kaine spoke with development leaders at Southwood Mobile Home Park. Supplied photo.
Sen. Tim Kaine visited Southwood Mobile Home Park to tour the redevelopment site and meet with residents and Habitat for Humanity on April 21.
Located just south of Charlottesville, the Southwood community is home to more than 1,500 people, and spans over 100 acres. After experiencing extreme sewage problems and pressures from law enforcement, Southwood’s previous owner sold the property to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville in 2007.
Since the purchase, Habitat has worked in collaboration with residents to redevelop the area with minimal displacement. By moving in phases, residents have been able to stay in their homes during the development.
Amid the ongoing construction, the neighborhood continues to thrive. The renovated Boys & Girls Club sits at the heart of the community, and multiple residents run businesses from their trailers and in the green area surrounding the mobile home park. Many families have lived at Southwood for decades; even temporarily relocating residents outside of the park would disrupt their lives and the community.
“It’s almost never the same people who come back, who got displaced, “ Kaine said while touring Phase I of the construction. The senator praised the redevelopment process at Southwood: “The model here is in this sizable project, to do it in phases, where you never have to displace anyone.”
Housing has been a major focus of Kaine’s political agenda since the beginning of his career. As a former fair housing attorney, Kaine has decades of experience in the field, and is a longtime champion of affordable housing. At Southwood, the senator was able to see direct results of his housing policies and hard-won federal funding.
During his visit, Kaine spoke with residents and Habitat for Humanity leaders in Spanish and English. One Southwood resident, a leader in the development, met with Kaine at the entryway to her nearly completed new home. Tearfully, she spoke about how the project has allowed her and her family the opportunity to obtain their dreams of homeownership.
“The most impressive thing is talking to the residents about the way they have tried to design this and then work with the county officials to make it happen,” Kaine said. “Again and again they were talking about ‘sueños’: You have enabled us to achieve our dreams.”
Habitat for Humanity’s work at Southwood is remarkable for its model of redevelopment. Instead of a traditional path, which presents a plan to the city with minimal community input, Southwood’s residents have been deeply involved in their neighborhood’s improvement since the beginning. The resident-led model of redevelopment demonstrates the potential of non-traditional housing projects.
Unlike a majority of affordable housing projects, Habitat for Humanity is focusing on constructing houses rather than apartments at Southwood. This has allowed residents to select the design of their homes, and provides an accessible pathway to homeownership.
Kaine said it was this unique emphasis on homeownership that drove his visit as he works on another housing bill in the Senate. There are a multitude of state and federally subsidized apartment programs, but a lack of affordable housing efforts that provide a road to ownership.
Locally, rising home prices and a major lack of affordable housing has created a housing crisis. While the city and county have taken steps to improve the situation, a lack of appropriations continues to undermine efforts. Despite the pressing need for affordable housing and resources for lower income residents, projects like the Pathways Community Resource Helpline have run out of funding (see p. 11).
Beyond Charlottesville, housing is a major issue in Virginia and the United States. “As I was traveling around Virginia 10 years ago, housing would be in the top 10 issues, but not the top five,” Kaine said. “As I travel around Virginia now, housing is almost always in the top three.”
“I think what’s [going to] be an example about this project for others is this resident-led design,” Kaine said. “And the fact that the county officials were willing … to go with that, and learn and do it.”
Although Southwood’s circumstances are unique, Kaine believes the neighborhood highlights the merit and importance of community driven and responsive redevelopment. “I think other counties and cities can do the same thing.”
