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Hello, Charlottesville.
Thank you for reading C-VILLE Weekly.
5.20.26
My father-in-law got out of his sling this week. During last January’s big snowstorm, he slipped on the ice and completely tore off three of the four muscle groups in his shoulder. He has a long recovery road ahead of him—and one that would have been expensive to the tune of nearly $100,000 were he not on Medicaid.
This week’s cover story (p.18) looks at what happens when programs like that become political talking points instead of lifelines. Reporter Nathan Alderman dug into the local impact of 5th District Rep. John McGuire’s vote for HR1, the Republican-backed bill that would add new work requirements and administrative hurdles to Medicaid while reshaping who can access care—and keep it.
It’s easy to talk about health care policy in broad strokes: budgets, fraud, spending, reform. It’s harder when you’re watching someone struggle to lift a coffee mug, drive a car, or sleep through the night without pain—and realizing how quickly a medical crisis can become a financial one, too.
This week’s contributors
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Towns Ackerman
Susan Albert
Mary Allen
Pat Allinson
Catherine Anninos
Elaine Attridge
Jim & Gwen Baber
Lori Balaban
Timothy Bambury
Catherine Barnes
Julie Basic
Susan Battani
John & Nancy Baum
Josh Baumann
Jennifer Beachley
Mayanna Bean
Terry Belanger
Susan Bender
Denise Benson
Anne Bergamesca
Rebecca Berlin
Kim Biasiolli
Patrick Bird
Diane Bisgaier
Mary Ann Bournos
Paddy Bowman
Olivia Branch
Paul Brewer
Susan Brickman
Claudia Murray
Brindle
Colette Brown
David Brown
Jack Brown
Sumner Brown
Kate Buford
Cathleen Burgess
Carol Burger
Patricia Burkett
David Calhoun
Michael Callahan
Linda & Pat
Canzanelli-Dantona
Brian Carlton
Helen Cathro
Janelle Catlett
James Clark Jr.
Diane Cluck
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Lorraine Collins
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Maria-Eugenia
Dalton
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Helene Downs
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Jeremy HarrisMcDonnell
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D. Little
Phillip Long
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Catherine Maguire
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Pugh
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Roux
Audrey Sarate Dennis Scannell Claudia Scenna
Joan Schatzman Sandra Schmidt
Schultz Karen Schuyler
Seay
Seitz Angilee Shah
Shaw Chuck Shelton Paul Shettel Vaden Shields
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Nathan Alderman, C-VILLE’s senior news reporter, is a writer, editor, and Oxford comma enthusiast. He volunteers for civic causes, folds a lot of laundry, and adores his spouse and his large, loud, hungry children. He’s written for Macworld magazine and The Motley Fool, among others. Read his work on page 18.
Julia Stumbaugh has worked with C-VILLE since 2017. She developed her love for writing while growing up in Albemarle County, and her passion for sports journalism while attending William & Mary. Read her work on page 27.
IN THIS ISSUE
FEATURE 18
On the record
Rep. John McGuire’s HR1 vote affects our health care access.
NEWS
9
9 Supreme Court keeps access to abortion pill intact—for now.
11 Guv vetoes collective bargaining bill, and planners tackle jargon.
12 Real Estate: Seven-story apartment building for Rose Hill?
CULTURE
25
27 The Works: “Weathering” features work from 10 women artists
ED I TORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Caite Hamilton editor@c-ville.com
ART DIRECTOR
Max March max@c-ville.com
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NEWS REPORTER
Catie Ratliff reporter@c-ville.com
NEWS CONTRIBUTOR
Sean Tubbs
ASSOCIATE CULTURE EDITOR
CM Turner arts@c-ville.com
COPY EDITOR
Susan Sorensen
DIGITAL EDITOR
Tristan Williams
CONTRIBUTORS
Rob Brezsny, Dave Cantor, Carol Diggs, Shea Gibbs, Andrew Hollins, Erika Howsare, Matt Jones, Sarah Lawson, Lisa Provence, Sarah Sargent, Kristie Smeltzer, Jen Sorensen, Julia Stumbaugh, Jake Solyst, Paul Ting, Eric Williamson
29 Extra: Fringe Favorites spotlights plays from across the pond.
FUN 32 32 Sudoku 33 Crossword
35 Free Will Astrology
36 P.S. 38
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WNRN Presents: The String Cheese Incident Just Keep Spinning Tour 2026
JULY 18:
Alison Krauss & Union Station ft. Jerry Douglas with Special Guest Theo Lawrence
JULY 26: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Benefiting the Charlottesville Free Clinic
Aug 19: Dominic Fike
SEPT 5: WNRN Presents: Charley Crockett Age of the Ram Tour with Nat Myers
SEPTEMBER 8:
Sierra Ferrell A WNRN 30th Anniversary show Support from The Brudi Brothers
SEPTEMBER 22: Rainbow Kitten Surprise
SEPTEMBER 24: Sam Barber
MAY 22
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NEWS HEALTH CARE
The United States Supreme Court indefinitely extended telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone on May 14, pending further litigation in federal court. While the challenge to telehealth access comes from Louisiana, the case has already resulted in nationwide impacts—including states with abortion protections, like Virginia.
Louisiana argues that a 2023 U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule allowing telemedicine access to mifepristone undermines the state’s near-total abortion ban. A ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals immediately blocked telehealth access to mifepristone nationwide.
The standard—and most effective—regimen for medication abortion in the United States uses both mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone, which blocks progesterone, is not an effective abortifacient on its own. Misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, is needed to pass a pregnancy.
Medication abortion is the most common form of abortion in the United States, with the Guttmacher Institute reporting that 63 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2023 were completed with medication—a 10 percent increase over 2020.
The proportional increase in medication abortions coincides with the growing popularity of telehealth abortion care. In April 2022, 3.65 percent of all abortions occurred following a telehealth appointment, according to the Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount project. In December 2023, that figure had risen to 19.58 percent.
By December 2025, roughly 28 percent of all U.S. abortions occurred after telehealth appointments.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a weeklong emergency stay of the Fifth Circuit decision on May 4, then extended the order through 5pm on May 14.
The Court weighed in as the stay was set to expire, allowing telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone to continue indefinitely. Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito dissented, with
The standard—and most effective—regimen for medication abortion in the United States uses both mifepristone and misoprostol.
Alito calling the telehealth prescription and mail delivery of mifepristone “a scheme to undermine our decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization … which restored the right of each state to decide how to regulate abortions within its borders.”
Virginia has the most reproductive health protections of any state in the South, but the back-and-forth on telehealth access to mifepristone still created confusion for patients and providers alike.
“The last several years have been infused with ongoing chaos and confusion post the Dobbs decision at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022,” says Susanna Birdsong, general counsel for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “I think this is just another example of how that happens. … We operate clinics far away from the state of Louisiana, and yet this case is having an impact nationwide, including in the states where we provide care, [like] Virginia.”
UVA Health already writes most of its mifepristone prescriptions at in-person visits, but
“We know … that mifepristone is safe and effective, and it’s been used by millions of people since the FDA approved it more than 20 years ago.”
SUSANNA BIRDSONG
is monitoring Louisiana v. FDA, according to Public Information Officer Eric Swensen.
Whole Woman’s Health, headquartered in Charlottesville, prepared a misoprostolonly protocol in 2023 amid previous legal challenges brought against mifepristone.
“The only reason mifepristone is even on the radar for these restrictions is because of politics. [It] has nothing to do with science or medicine or safety or efficacy,” says WWH President and CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller. “It shouldn’t be okay for them to restrict medication that has a proven safety record that obviously is preferred by the
IN BRIEF
All the news you missed last week (in one sentence or less)
vast majority of people in the country who are seeking abortion-care services.”
Hagstrom Miller says misoprostol has escaped legal and political ire due to its variety of other medical applications, including in labor and delivery.
“The anti-abortion forces are going after mifepristone because access to telemedicine abortion has preserved access to abortion writ large post-Dobbs,” says Hagstrom Miller. “Having mifepristone available via telemedicine has really saved countless lives in places where abortion has been banned and it has allowed abortion to be, ironically, more accessible postDobbs than it was before. Not only have abortion rates not declined, they’ve actually increased because abortion is more accessible.”
WWH only provides mifepristone prescriptions via telehealth where it’s legal, but shield laws have allowed providers in other states to mail prescriptions to places with abortion restrictions and bans—which is at the core of the Louisiana v. FDA case.
In the May 1 opinion that first created the nationwide scramble, Fifth Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan asserts that mail-access to mifepristone undermines Louisiana’s “laws protecting unborn human life” and policy that “every unborn child is a human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.”
For now, mifepristone remains available via telehealth as the suit continues its way through the federal courts. It may be months, if not years, before the case is before SCOTUS again, according to Birdsong.
“We know … that mifepristone is safe and effective, and it’s been used by millions of people since the FDA approved it more than 20 years ago,” she says. “When someone has decided to have an abortion, they should be able to get the best method of care for their circumstances, including medication abortion with mifepristone via telehealth, and [PPSA will] do everything in our power to protect that right, that amount of access in the states where we provide that care, including in Virginia.”
Trigger warning At UVA May 12, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs local electeds’ bills closing loopholes that prevented police from more readily responding to reports of an unauthorized gun on Grounds. No barrier Despite cross-street closings for road repairs, the Downtown Mall remains open for business, as Mall shops and restaurants seeing diminished foot traffic would very much like to remind you. Bright idea Dominion Power turns the old Ivy Landfill into a solar farm that can power 750 homes. Salvation donation The Salvation Army is ramping up its fundraising campaign for its proposed 114-bed shelter for Charlottesville’s unhoused population. Yellow journalism An Albemarle County school bus with students aboard was involved in a crash May 15 at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Lewis & Clark Drive; no one was seriously hurt. Water whirled The city’s four spray grounds reopened May 16 to help kids and their parents beat the heat. Experiencing turbulence No one yet knows why CHO airport security led a Delta pilot, reportedly slurring their speech and talking incoherently, off their airplane April 26, leaving passengers stranded for hours per The Daily Progress.
Split decisions
On May 14, in a surprise move, Gov. Abigail Spanberger struck down collective bargaining legislation passed by the Democratically controlled General Assembly.
The governor sent the amended bill back to the legislature on April 13. The House of Delegates returned the bill as originally passed to the governor’s desk on April 23, forcing Spanberger to either sign it as written or strike it down entirely.
The veto is the latest split between the governor and legislature on a handful of key issues, including timing and other details related to the creation of a retail cannabis market. The General Assembly rejected proposed changes to HB642 on April 23, giving Spanberger until 11:59pm on May 23 to act on the retail cannabis bill.—Catie Ratliff
What’s in a name?
Charlottesville will honor the late Melvin Eugene Walker, owner of Mel’s Cafe, with an honorary street designation near the restaurant’s former site, The city will unveil Mel’s Walk at 3pm May 30 on West Main Street between Seventh and Eighth streets NW.—CR
End of the line
In a May 15 one-sentence unsigned order, the Supreme Court of the United States threw out a Hail Mary bid by Virginia Democrats to overturn the state Supreme Court’s decision that tossed the midcycle redistricting effort.—CR
Surprise shakeup
University of Virginia men’s lacrosse Head Coach Lars Tiffany will not return for the 2027 season, according to a May 18 release from Virginia Athletics. The change in leadership came as a surprise, with Tiffany denying reports of his exit to Cville Right Now the week prior, after the Cavs were knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament.—CR
By-right bye-bye?
Albemarle planners discuss the finer points of a particular piece of jargon
BY SEAN TUBBS
Perhaps one reason that planning is not very popular is the sheer amount of jargon required to understand the rules of what can be built and where.
Albemarle County is making an attempt to change that with what planning staff call a “zoning modernization” to bring building rules in line with the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan.
On May 12, the Planning Commission reviewed some of the potential alterations and pondered whether to change usage of the phrase “by-right,” which is used to describe a project that can be built without approval from the Board of Supervisors.
Senior Planner Lea Brumfield said this can cause confusion when businesses are ready to locate in a new place.
“Our current ordinance uses the term byright to describe uses that need a zoning clearance,” she said. “This has led to some confusion with some applicants thinking they don’t need a clearance.”
Only agricultural and residential uses are exempt from zoning clearances.
The Commission suggested changing that to “administratively approved,” which had the support of at least one member.
“When I explain by-right to regular people, I just say it means that they have the right to develop that land use, but they still have as long as they follow all the county’s rules and requirements and building codes,” said Planning Commission Vice Chair Karen Firehock.
Commissioner Nathan Moore said he felt the selected phrase might add to confusion.
“In a way, ‘administratively approved’ may be the most accurate, but it’s also eight syl-
lables and just a mouthful,” Moore said. “I’m wondering if we might consider something like ‘staff review.’”
Another option would be “permitted use,” which Commissioner Lonnie Murray worried about because an application could exceed requirements.
“Let’s say they’re proposing a farm stand that is in excess of our standards for farm stands,” Murray said. “Staff is not going to approve that as presented.”
The newest member of the Planning Commission had a suggestion.
“What about ‘allowable’ or ‘allowable byright?’” asked Catherine Brown.
That met with approval and the group moved on to other changes such as flattening the names of various uses to eliminate the need for interpretations by the zoning administrator. For instance, the current uses of “manufacturing, processing, assembly, fabrication, and recycling” would be changed to “light industrial.”
“It allows for future industry and technological changes to continue to evolve without doing a zoning text amendment again,” Brumfield said.
Another proposed change is the collapsing of “day camp” and “boarding camp” into a single “campground” use category. Firehock expressed concern.
“They definitely have different impacts,” Firehock said. “The impact of a whole lot of kids at a camp up until 5 o’ clock is not the same as kids 24 hours a day.”
These changes are part of the second phase of the modernization, and staff expects them to be adopted by this November. A third phase is also underway that will involve more substantive changes, such as allowing multifamily structures in singlefamily neighborhoods.
For more information, the county recently released an episode of their “Let’s Talk Albemarle” podcast, which features Brumfield giving a presentation on Zoning 101.
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NEWS REAL ESTATE Community benefits?
Hundred-unit apartment building proposed for Rose Hill in special exception zone
BY SEAN TUBBS
Charlottesville’s Rose Hill neighborhood is the second-least-populous neighborhood in the city, according to a fact sheet produced by Neighborhood Development Services, but that might change if a proposed apartment building at 601 Albemarle St. makes it through the city’s review process.
Woodard Properties filed a development plan with the city to build a seven-story apartment building on land zoned Corridor Mixed Use 3. But the structure is also within the city’s Core Neighborhood Overlay District, which requires additional steps, including permission from City Council.
“Charlottesville’s Core Neighborhoods have special significance to the City as historic neighborhoods that provide workforce housing serving important job centers of Charlottesville’s Downtown and the University of Virginia,” read section 2.9.6 of the Development Code. “These racially diverse and affordable neighborhoods historically met their day-to-day needs on adjacent corridors.”
The overlay district requires a “special exception permit” if a building exceeds three stories. This means the developer must provide at least two benefits specified on a list. This can include setting aside 2,500 square feet of space for commercial or educational use.
“We are reviewing the options to choose from and have some ideas of what might make sense,” said Chris Virgilio of Woodard Properties. “We will meet with the neighborhood before solidifying which two or more we choose.”
The Planning Commission makes a recommendation on the permit and City Council makes the final decision. That’s the way the zoning used to work before the new Development Code was adopted in December 2023. The overlay district was added that summer in response to concerns about a proposed expansion of Dairy Market on Preston Avenue. Parts of Cherry Avenue are also subject to the overlay.
The Public Housing Association of Residents and others have called for Council to expand the overlay district to parts of Fifeville and West Main Street. Council so far has declined to do so, and on May 4 granted a certificate of appropriateness to allow a seven-story student apartment building called The Mark.
Woodard Properties bought the 0.63acre property in October 2020 for $1.3 million. It is also seeking two other exceptions that do not require Council’s permission and will be decided by Neighborhood Development Services.
The new zoning requires that developers contribute to the streetscape by installing places to walk as well as green zones for landscaping. The company is asking for a special exception from these rules on Dale Avenue because of little foot traffic.
“Requiring the full streetscape there would offer minimal benefit. Instead, the applicant proposes a 3.5-foot sidewalk along Dale Avenue that matches the existing sidewalk width,” reads a letter from Shimp Engineering requesting the exception.
The company also wants to have the second floor of the building facing Preston Avenue used for parking rather than the “active depth” required in the code.
Woodard Properties has filed plans for a seven-story apartment building in the Rose Hill neighborhood.
Very nice Townhouse in convenient River Run. New roof and gutter leaf filters. Well maintained. Easy access to town and Penn Park. Easy walking distance to the Community pool.82
$2,600,000
John McGuire
vs. The 5th District
John McGuire lay there, unable to get up, watching his arm move without him, and slow, and stop.
In 2006, the former Navy SEAL was a selfemployed fitness coach. Then, while jumping on a trampoline, he fell.
According to McGuire, his C4 vertebra punctured his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the neck down. At the hospital, he says, doctors said he was unlikely to live through the night.
“It probably took the ambulance five minutes to get to me, but it seemed like maybe longer,” McGuire says, “because I just thought about all the people in my life. I don’t know why, but it just felt like I’d let them down. It’s a real sickening feeling.”
McGuire, now the representative for Virginia’s 5th District, isn’t shy about this story. He’ll talk about his determination to get better and, aside from lingering weakness on his right side, his full recovery. He’ll talk about how God gave him the second chance he used to enter politics.
But no matter how many times you ask, he won’t talk about how much that hospital stay cost, or how he paid for it. Every time C-VILLE asked McGuire about times in his life when health care bills might have presented a burden, he pivoted to a different topic.
In May 2025, McGuire voted yes on HR1, variously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill or the Working Families Tax Cut Act. The bill partially offsets $3.9 trillion in long-term tax cuts with hundreds of billions of dollars in funding cuts and regulatory hurdles designed to reduce Americans’ access to social safety net programs. With tax breaks exceeding its spending reductions, HR1 will add $2.7 trillion to the national deficit by 2034, according to Congressional Budget Office projections.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
The congressman who currently represents Charlottesville says his vote for 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring prosperity. The people it affects—and the facts—argue otherwise. BY NATHAN ALDERMAN
SHABAN ATHUMAN VIRGINIA PUBLIC MEDIA
McGuire says HR1’s cuts help to sustain a system spiraling into uncontrollable costs, by peeling away recipients who don’t truly need the help. He says the bill will supercharge the American economy and open up opportunities to improve on existing programs with new ways for Americans to secure cheaper care.
Experts, social services workers, and people affected by the changes McGuire champions say he’s wrong.
“I don’t actually believe that is what HR1 does,” says Melanie Anne Egorin, an expert in health policy at the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. “I believe HR1 puts our most vulnerable populations at risk.”
After the Virginia Supreme Court struck down state Democrats’ redistricting plans, McGuire once again became the frontrunner in this fall’s race for his Congressional seat. His vote for HR1 will shape the futures of many of the people and institutions he represents in the 5th District. The bill carries far-reaching ramifications for hospitals, SNAP food aid, individual health care plans purchased through ACA exchanges, and more. Over the next few weeks, C-VILLE will explore these impacts in a series of articles on c-ville.com.
But the most consequential cuts McGuire and his fellow Republicans have passed concern access to health care for some of the poorest Virginians through Medicaid.
Cutting new holes in an old net
“We need a health care system that preserves our citizens’ dignity and independence,” says McGuire. “Of course we need a safety net. But more than that, we need a system that cares for the whole person.”
That system, McGuire says, includes measures that require Medicaid recipients to prove that they’re working. “Work provides stability and better health outcomes and opens the door to millions of Americans to climb out of poverty,” McGuire says. “On the other hand, not working when you are able to leads to a spiral of inaction, government dependence, and feelings of helplessness that become tougher to climb out of.”
Sebastian Tello Trillo, a Medicaid policy expert and associate professor at UVA’s Batten School, says that work requirements for welfare programs like Medicaid have historically tended to cut participation in those programs.
“It’s really hard for a politician to say, ‘We want to reduce enrollment,’ says Tello Trillo. “It’s easier to sell the idea of something like work requirements.”
Rather than spurring people to get jobs, Tello Trillo says most of the available evidence indicates that work requirements drive participants off Medicaid, buried under extra paperwork. “Let’s say you’re sick, and then you can’t work, and so then you can’t get health insurance because you’re sick,” he says. “That part doesn’t even make a lot of intuitive sense.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill’s Medicaid changes will leave 7.8 million more people uninsured nationwide by 2034. In the 5th District, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 102,000 people—60 percent of the district’s current enrollees—could lose their coverage in the same period.
A red-tape labyrinth
The expected losses owe largely to HR1’s work requirements for people in what’s known as Medicaid expansion.
Traditionally, Medicaid has covered children, the elderly, the severely disabled, and the deeply destitute. The 2009 Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid, letting states cover other adults ages 19-64 who make less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line. In Virginia in 2026, that’s $22,025 a year for a single person, or $45,540 for a family of four.
In VA-5, more than one out of every five people receives
some form of Medicaid. Around one in every 20 residents is a childless adult on Medicaid expansion. That latter figure works out to more than 39,000 people, enough to fill John Paul Jones Arena more than twice over. Another 11,402 people, comprising 1.5 percent of the district, are parents or caregivers covered by expansion.
With some exceptions—including people caring for the severely disabled, and parents of children age 13 or younger—HR1 demands adults on Medicaid expansion spend 80 hours a week working, studying, or volunteering. Alternately, they can earn an average of $580 per month, equal to 80 hours of federal-minimum-wage work.
To make sure applicants comply, HR1 increases how often they must reapply for health care coverage, from once annually to every six months. That doubles the paperwork burden for patients and state social services agencies.
“That’s where people are going to lose health insurance,” says Egorin. “It’s actually not because they aren’t working. It’s because they have to do the bureaucracy to show they’re working.”
“Here’s the form,” says Gregg Winston, a former hospital administrator who now heads Charlottesville-area nonprofit Move2HealthEquity. He hands over a 16-page booklet packed with blank lines and empty boxes. “And the renewal is essentially redoing this whole thing all over. Yes, it’s very difficult to read. So how in God’s name do you need [16] pages of information in order to certify somebody again?”
In some cases, Medicaid can renew people automatically by cross-checking their data from other government agencies. But Winston says not enough people understand or trust the government to check the box on the application form that permits administrators to do this. His group is training community volunteers to become navigators, helping Medicaid applicants successfully clear HR1’s additional hurdles to receive care.
Even people who do everything right can still lose coverage. For example, Medicaid isn’t allowed to check for forwarding addresses. That means some recipients who’ve moved since their last enrollment miss crucial mailed notices warning them that they need to reapply.
“These are the gigantic holes that people fall into,” Winston says. “They’re still eligible. They still need coverage. But because I didn’t tell you my address, and the law says
I can’t forward the information, I can’t go and try to figure out where you are. You get put into the 90-day termination bucket.”
A life on the edge
In September 2025, E.K., 38, had just passed their first anniversary as a senior investing editor for a well-known financial site, making slightly more than $100,000 a year. “I was so, so proud I had cracked six figures,” they say. “I could cry just thinking about that.” (Full disclosure: E.K. is a former colleague of this reporter at a previous employer. They agreed to speak to C-VILLE on condition of anonymity to protect their privacy and their chances of future employment.)
Then Google changed its search algorithm, decimating the site’s traffic. A new CEO laid off around one-fourth of the company. By September 17, E.K. was unemployed.
When they applied for an ACA exchange plan in December, E.K.’s lack of income led Virginia to enroll them in Medicaid instead. By the time they got coverage, “I was already at nearly 100 unsuccessful job applications. I’m over 140 now, and the number would be higher if I wasn’t more busy with the part-time restaurant jobs I’ve been juggling.”
They hadn’t heard about the impending work requirements until interviewed for this article. “If that was what I was walking into when I signed up in December, I would have been at throwing-up levels of anxiety,” they say.
Under HR1, applicants must apply almost immediately upon losing a job; they can’t get coverage unless they show enough income the month before applying. E.K. likely wouldn’t have qualified. Their former employer paid for their health care through last November, and they didn’t need other care until December.
Like millions of Americans, E.K. has chronic conditions managed by medication, including “debilitating” narcolepsy they developed in 2022. “If I don’t take my medications, I can basically go fuck myself,” they say. Their narcolepsy medicine costs $1,000 a month without insurance. “Without it I am completely incapacitated … I cannot safely drive a car or use the stove if I run out of medication.”
HR1’s work requirements exclude people receiving Social
PHOTOS: FRANK BATTEN
“I believe HR1 puts our most vulnerable populations at risk,” says UVA health policy expert Melanie Anne Egorin.
In addition to preventing medical debt and bankruptcy, says UVA Medicaid policy expert Sebastian Tello Trillo, Medicaid means “people die less.”
Security Disability benefits. But E.K. says getting approved for that status is “notoriously extremely difficult.” Applicants must first demonstrate that their disability keeps them from working for an entire year. Even then, it must appear on the program’s official list of ailments—which doesn’t include narcolepsy. Otherwise, Social Security decides case-by-case whether someone’s sick enough to equal one of its listed conditions.
“I don’t want to prove to some random guy behind a desk somewhere that my condition cripples me without the right medication,” E.K. says.
Until March, when E.K. managed to start cobbling together work, they estimated they spent 14 to 28 hours a week applying for jobs. They’re trying to secure shifts waiting tables, a job they haven’t worked in 15 years, and they’re doing part-time freelance editing work. That should help E.K. meet the hours-worked and income requirements—but only if their jobs don’t fall through.
Collapsing, or not?
“No matter how you slice it, our Medicaid program was collapsing prior to [HR1],” McGuire says. “The reforms we enacted were necessary to ensure the program continues to exist.”
Expansion represented about one-third of Virginia’s total Medicaid spending in 2023. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, each expansion patient cost the state $8,861 that year. That’s more than the national average for expansion patients, but significantly less than Virginia’s overall average cost of $9,626, and far less than the 10s of thousands of dollars Virginia spent per person to treat disabled and elderly recipients.
“There’s all this money that we’re spending on things like Medicaid, but we are also spending money on a bunch of other things, and we do have money for all those things,” says Tello Trillo. He acknowledges that the program’s overall costs have been rising, and that how to curb those increases, or keep paying for them, are fair questions. But whether we can afford Medicaid, he says, comes down to our priorities.
The Policy Impacts Library measures the fiscal benefits of government policies against their costs. On average, its research estimates that Medicaid expansion returns about 70 cents for every dollar spent. But that represents a range
of outcomes. Across all patients, expansion yielded benefits between 60 cents and $1.40 per dollar spent. For families with at least one preexisting condition, the average jumped to 99 cents per dollar spent, with benefits-per-buck between 75 cents and $5.31.
Tello Trillo says that when economists like him consider programs like Medicaid, they ask: Do the long-run benefits exceed the costs? “There’s actually a lot of research that shows that Medicaid provides long-term benefits that offset the cost of the program.” In addition to preventing medical debt and bankruptcy, he says, Medicaid means “people die less.”
After the ACA passed, some Republican-led states refused to expand Medicaid. A 2019 study from the University of Michigan compared death rates between expansion and non-expansion states. Just for low-income people aged 55 to 64, the study found that universal expansion would have saved 15,600 lives across all non-expansion states by 2019.
“When people die less, we think that’s a huge bang for your buck in terms of paying whatever we pay for the program,” Tello Trillo says.
Scapegoats for higher costs
McGuire appears to be using different calculations. “We’re focusing on strengthening Medicaid by ensuring that resources flow to our most vulnerable citizens as originally intended,” he says, “not illegal aliens or able-bodied adults who could work and aren’t contributing their fair share.”
A closer look at McGuire’s criticism of both those groups casts doubt on his accuracy. (C-VILLE invited McGuire and his staff to respond to apparent factual errors or disputed data in his statements, but they declined.)
Immigrants (who aren’t eligible)
Undocumented immigrants—and most legal immigrants—are largely barred from receiving Medicaid. According to the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, only “qualified” immigrants, a complex status that includes legal permanent residents, refugees, and asylees, among others, can receive
regular Medicaid. Most of that coverage kicks in only after a five-year waiting period.
HR1 strips multiple groups from this pool of legal immigrants, including asylum seekers and most refugees. They also lose access to SNAP, Medicare, and ACA premium tax credits.
By law, hospitals can’t turn people away from the ER. Medicaid reimburses hospitals for undocumented immigrants’ care only when they seek emergency treatment, and only if they meet the same income and other requirements as U.S. citizens.
Between 2017 and 2023, the Congressional Budget Office found that Medicaid spent around $3.85 billion annually on emergency care for noncitizens. That sounds like a lot, but it represented less than 1 percent of overall Medicaid spending each year, including just 0.4 percent in 2023. The U.S. government spent $6.1 trillion in 2023, meaning the $3.8 billion it paid covering Medicaid for noncitizens amounted to around six one-hundredths of a penny per dollar.
HR1 rolls back the amount Medicaid will reimburse states’ emergency care costs to 50 percent. Previously, it repaid some states as much as 90 percent. Those states will have to find ways to cover bigger portions of that bill themselves.
Seven states have also chosen to use state funds only, without federal dollars, to cover Medicaid for every eligible resident regardless of immigration status. Virginia isn’t one of them.
Able-bodied adults
“Unemployed adult Medicaid recipients who are able to work are spending an average of 44 hours a week watching TV or socializing,” McGuire says, “and spend less than an hour a day looking for work or caregiving.”
That frequent Republican talking point comes from a 2025 study by the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which says that “non-disabled” expansion recipients who aren’t working or in school spend 6.1 hours a day on leisure activities.
Critics say that study defined “disabled” too narrowly, including only about 14 percent of Americans with disabilities. Many of the rest may be healthy enough to work some of the time, but still physically incapable of full-time work.
“Most people that are already receiving these welfare programs are actually already working,” Tello Trillo says, “and if they’re not working, it’s most likely due to a particular reason, like a disability, sickness, a lot of challenges in their life that led them to not have consistent employment.”
Per a 2025 study by the progressive Urban Institute, only 2 percent of respondents simply chose not to work. That translates to roughly 300,000 people out of the 15 million in expansion nationwide. Sixty-nine percent of enrollees were working or attending school, though 23 percent would have missed at least one month of income requirements under HR1. Another 21 percent weren’t working because they physically couldn’t, were struggling to find a job, or had someone at home who needed their full-time care.
Those national figures line up with local observations.
“Seventy percent of the Free Clinic patients work,” says Willa Barnhardt, executive director of the Charlottesville Free Clinic. “The ones that don’t work are trying to find work.” The clinic mostly serves people without any health care, including Medicaid. In its most recent annual survey, patients listed 561 different employers.
“They’re still wearing maybe their uniform from … a paint crew, or from the grocery store, and they still have their hairnet from working there all day,” Barnhardt says. “They need health care. And if it’s not Medicaid, then it’s going to end up being free clinics, or the emergency room.”
E.K. says they’ll go back to full-time employment in a heartbeat, if they can only find a job. ”I want to not worry about my savings draining away as I continue to bring in
CONTINUED ON PAGE 23
PHOTOS: TRISTAN WILLIAMS
“These are the gigantic holes that people fall into,” says Gregg Winston. “They’re still eligible. They still need coverage.” But red tape keeps them from getting it.
“Seventy percent of the Free Clinic patients work,” says Willa Barnhardt of the Charlottesville Free Clinic. “The ones that don’t work are trying to find work.”
less money than what covers my rent payment, let alone groceries and other essentials. I do want a paycheck. I want to feel even a little bit more secure.”
When work requirements don’t work
Two states previously tested work requirements for Medicaid. The results appear to have been a failure at best— and disastrous at worst.
Georgia declined to expand Medicaid under the ACA, instead creating Pathways to Coverage in 2021. It offers Medicaid-like care for patients at or below the federal poverty line, with work requirements like HR1’s. In 2022, Gov. Brian Kemp estimated that 345,000 Georgians would be eligible for the program. By February 2026, only 14,952 people had successfully signed up.
A 2025 review from the Government Accountability Office found that between 2021 and mid-2025, Pathways spent twice as much on administrative costs as it did actually providing care: $54.2 million versus $26.1 million.
Arkansas’ earlier experiment had grimmer outcomes. Between June 2018 and March 2019, the state tested work requirements for Medicaid recipients ages 30-49 living below the poverty line. Thanks partly to a poorly designed system, 18,164 people in Arkansas lost health care. Only 1,981 found any kind of new job. State data didn’t record whether those jobs were full or part time, or how long they lasted.
During Arkansas’ experiment, Harvard researchers surveyed the people losing care. Getting kicked off Medicaid didn’t spur people to find work; it cost them jobs. The percentage of people employed for at least 20 hours a week fell by 3.5 percentage points, from 42.4 percent to 38.9 percent.
McGuire acknowledges the failures of past work requirement programs, but says this time will be different. Requirements will be standardized across states, he says, preventing “clunky or inconsistent rollouts.” Enrollees get a three-month grace period to adapt to the new requirements. And states can delay implementing them up to December 31, 2028 (after the next presidential election), as long as they show they’re working on it.
Tello Trillo says there are ways the government could make Medicaid more effective and cost-efficient: Expand access to telehealth and other forms of preventative care, incentivize more providers to accept Medicaid patients, and remove red tape and its overhead costs.
“This bill, unfortunately, doesn’t do any of those things,” he says.
Help, health, and history
Tragedy haunts every branch of McGuire’s family tree. Public records and newspaper accounts show that two of his mother’s younger siblings died in accidents—one drowning, one fatally injured in a car crash—before their 19th birthdays. In 1989, McGuire’s uncle, living with severe untreated mental illness and convinced he was hearing
the voices of angels, murdered McGuire’s maternal grandfather with a shotgun blast to the face.
According to public records, McGuire’s mother, Bessie Louise Heath, was first married at 17, deserted and divorced with two children by 20, and remarried by 22, in August 1967. Her new husband, John McGuire, Jr., was 33.
McGuire says his parents struggled with substance abuse, leading him to shun drugs and alcohol. By his hazy recollections, after his father left in 1972 and his parents officially divorced in 1975, his mother left McGuire and his sister on a street corner when he was 5.
After years in the foster system, McGuire says he and his sister were rescued by his paternal grandparents. The congressman still speaks of his grandfather, John McGuire Sr., a Navy veteran of World War II, with reverent love.
“He was a very strong man,” McGuire recalls. “We would go to the beach and he would swim straight out and disappear and come back … I didn’t have a watch when I was a kid, but it seemed like hours later.”
According to state records, McGuire Sr.—then a maintenance worker for Richmond Public Schools—died of lung cancer in 1982 at age 62. McGuire was 14 years old. “I remember I didn’t want to go to school that day,” McGuire says. “I just felt like something was wrong. And sure enough, he passed away when I was at school.”
Asked about the burden, financial or otherwise, that death might have placed on his family, McGuire says, “When you’re young, you don’t share financial burdens with a kid. But to be honest, I wasn’t very aware of that. But was it a challenge? Certainly, it’s a challenge.”
Then he changed the subject.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
SHABAN ATHUMAN VIRGINIA PUBLIC MEDIA
“We’re focusing on strengthening Medicaid by ensuring that resources flow to our most vulnerable citizens as originally intended,” McGuire says. Policy experts argue that the bill he voted for will hurt, not help, people in need.
CULTURE
WEDNESDAY 5/20
’DUSTERS DO THE DEAD
Digging into the oeuvre of an Americana legend, Falco & Book Play Jerry Garcia takes the audience along for a long, strange trip. The pair, members of the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters, brings stripped-down guitar-and-bass versions of the tracks Garcia made famous, drawing from Jer-bear’s solo material, the Grateful Dead catalog, and traditional arrangements to which he gravitated. This is a fully reserved show with seating assigned in the order of purchase. $75, 6pm. The GUILD at Vault Virginia, 300 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. vaultvirginia.com
CULTURE TO-DO LIST
Wednesday 5/20
music
Falco & Book Play Jerry Garcia. Members of the Grammy award-winning bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters play the songs of Garcia. $75, 6pm. The GUILD at Vault Virginia, 300 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. vaultvirginia.com
Open Mic Night. Mic check to all musicians, poets, and everyone in between. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St.
The Wavelength + Jack Roy. A deep-blues night featuring a special lineup with Roy on guitars. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com
stage
iContact the tactile tech opera. An immersive interactive ceremonial performance exploring our relationships to technology, nature, and one another by Beth McNamara. $25–50, 6:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potters craftcider.com
classes
Floral Design Workshop. Combine your love of color, design, and flowers with Tourterelle’s design director, Catherine Malone. Take home a special bouquet of your own. All supplies and light refreshments provided. $165–175, 5:30pm. Second Street Gallery, 115 Second St. SE. secondstreetgallery.org
Watercolor Happy Hour. An open painting session without a structured lesson, but with feedback and targeted instruction if desired. Ages 15+. $25, 5:30pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com etc.
Dürty Karaoke. Consistently voted Charlottesville’s best karaoke. Free, 8:30pm. Dürty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellyscharlottesville.com
Fund the Fight: Board Game Night. Hang out, play board games, and support the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund. Free, 6pm. Firefly, 1304 E. Market St. fireflycville.com
Paramount On Screen: Exhibition on Screen— Frida Kahlo. Take a journey through the life of a true icon, discover her art, and uncover the true story of her rebellious, passionate, and turbulent life. $14–20, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net Rapture Karaoke. Hosted by Thunder Music. Free, 9pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com
Thursday 5/21 music
Baby Jo’s. Boogie-woogie takes on classics with a full horn section, groovy rhythm, shredding guitars, washboards, and the Queen of Boogie. Free, 9pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com
Berto & Vincent. Lively flamenco rumba. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thebebedero.com
Songwriter’s Open Mic. A space for all levels, styles, and ages. Performances limited to one original song per musician. Amps and mics provided. Free, 7pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com
Ty Burkhardt. Live music on the porch by a local performer. Free, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com
Uncle Pen. Traditional bluegrass. Free, 8pm. Dürty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellys charlottesville.com
SATURDAY 5/23
GENERATIONS OF JAM
Some things just get better with age, and that includes Charlottesville’s beloved jam-rockers, Indecision. Known for blending Americana, rock, and jazz with improvisational styling, the group has drawn inspiration from acts like the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band since 1984. Supporting act Hash the Band, a more recent addition to the local alt-rock scene, brings both original arrangements and a wide variety of covers. $30.40, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com
stage
Bent Theatre Improv. Off-the-cuff comedy troupe heads back to Orange County. Free, 7pm. Patch Brewing Co., 10721 Gordon Ave., Gordonsville. patchbrewingco.com
Eurydice. Contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking beauty create a fresh take on a timeless love story. $15, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org
words
Open Mic Writer’s Night. Share your work with the community. Free, 6:30pm. Virginia Wine Collective, 1585 Avon St. Ext. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com
VA250 Program Series—Women and the Fight for Inclusion: A Local to National Look. The May installation of the Fighting for Freedom program series looks at the ways in which women have fought for equality and inclusion throughout American history. Free, 5:30pm. The Center at Belvedere, 540 Belvedere Blvd. thecentercville.org
classes
It’s Time to Write Your Novel. An introduction to the concept, writing, and business aspects of the process to take your book from being an idea to a reality, with WriterHouse. Free, 6:30pm. Central Library, 201 E. Market St. jmrl.org
Paint + Sip: Blue Mountain View. Paint the supplied design in a step-by-step format. No experience necessary, all materials included. $36–40, 6pm. Well Hung Vineyard - Restaurant, 300 S. Main St., Gordonsville. blueridgebrushes.com etc.
2026 Trivia & Tunes Series. Musician and entertainer Rachael Karpo hosts an evening of music trivia. Free, 5pm. Chiswell Farm & Winery, 430 Greenwood Rd., Greenwood. chilesfamilyorchards.com
Ting Pavilion, 700 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. tingpavilion.com
John D’earth at Offbeat Roadhouse. A consummate jazz artist, composer, and gifted educator, D’earth draws inspiration from collaborators on the bandstand, from students, and from nature. Free, 8pm. The Stage at WTJU, 2244 Ivy Rd. wtju.net
Leslie and the Dots. Rock ‘n’ roll from RVA. Free, 8pm. Dürty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellyscharlottesville.com
Marmalade Duo. A funky duo featuring Lou and Jake from Kendall Street Company cover a wide range of tunes and genres. Free, 5pm. Bottle House, 608 W. Main St. bottlehouse.net
Matthew O’Donnell. Bringing a modern energy to traditional drinking songs, sea shanties, Irish jigs & reels, timeless folk favorites, and original songs. Free, 5:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com
Midnight Buzz. An eclectic blend of acoustic and electric classic rock covers. Free, 6pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glass housewinery.com
Rusty Speidel & Tom Goodrich. Relaxing vibes. Free, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com
Stargazer. Songs to make you sing and dance. Free, 9pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com
stage
Eurydice. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org
Immodest Opulence Burlesque. An evening of comedy and sophisticated striptease that celebrates diverse beauty. Ages 18+. $25, 8pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com words
Brewery Puzzle Hunt. An escape room meets a pub crawl. Visit the Preston Avenue breweries, crack codes, unravel riddles, and sample Charlottesville’s best brews. Players get $1 off pints at each brewery. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com
Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. Like an escape room but at a winery. Crack codes and unravel riddles while sampling Charlottesville’s best wine, beer, and cider. Play when you want and go at your own pace. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com
Friday 5/22
music
180 Band. A Central Virginia dance band plays your favorite rock and dance tunes from the 1960s through today. Free, 6pm. Chisholm Vineyards at Adventure Farm, 1135 Clan Chisholm Ln., Earlysville. chisholmvineyards.com
Acoustic Aubrey. Covers of classic R&B, jazz, acoustic rock, and more. Free, 5pm. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan. ducard vineyards.com
Bob Bennetta Trio. Live jazz. Free, 6:30pm. Afghan Kabob House, 200 Market St. afghankabobhouse.com
Completely Unchained: The #1 Van Halen Tribute Band. The quintessential VH tribute band offers an unparalleled experience that captures the raw energy and spirit of the legendary rock group. $20–25, 7pm. Pro Re Nata, 6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. prnbrewery.com
Fridays After Five: Afro Asia. The fifth annual VeryAsian VA Celebration, featuring Southeast Asian-inspired funk, and sets by Prabir Trio, Downbeat Project, Sylvia Chong, and a special lion dance from Laughing Dragon Kung Fu. Free, 5:30pm.
CreativeMornings Charlottesville. A monthly breakfast-lecture series for the creative community. With Emma Terry on Create with Serious Play. Free, 8:30am. Milkweed Clay Studio, 700 Harris St., Ste. 101. creativemornings.com classes
Paint + Sip: Buzzing Into Spring. Paint the supplied design in a step-by-step format. No experience necessary, all materials included. $36–40, 6pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com etc.
Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com
Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com
Saturday 5/23 music
DuCard Vineyards’ Third Annual Jazz Festival. Featuring Zuzu’s Hot 5, Ken’s Rhythm Changers (Brass Band Edition), and the vineyard’s own Nathan DiNapoli. $35, noon. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan. ducardvineyards.com
GootGenuG. Live jazz fusion. Debuting new original music and performing old favorites. Free, 7pm. SuperFly Brewing Co., 943 Preston Ave. superflybrewing.com
Indecision. An improvisational band playing original music since 1984. With Hash the Band. $30, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com
LUA Project. A cultural pollinator, bridging musical styles from different continents and different centuries. Free, 2:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarle ciderworks.com
Shiny Metal Boxes: The Music of The Police & Sting. A night of high-energy nostalgia recreating the sound and vibe of the iconic band. Free, 7pm. Pro Re Nata, 6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. prnbrewery.com
Sue Harlow. Americana/folk singer-songwriter whose haunting vocals delve into the depths of what makes people real. Free, 12:30pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwood farmandwinery.com
The Wavelength featuring Lisa “Kiz” Carter. Soulful tunes for Saturday afternoon. Free, 5pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshousewinery.com
The Zip. A band that’s all about bringing people together through the power of music. $10, 7pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. batesvillemarket.com
Travis Elliott. Singer-songwriter blends catchy alternative pop hooks with punk energy and Americana grit in originals and covers. Free, 10pm. Miller’s Downtown, 109 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. millersdowntown.com
dance
USA Dance Charlottesville: May Ballroom Dance. Class this month: American Tango, taught by Adam Mehring of Smooth Sailing Ballroom. Beginners welcome, no partner required. Come for the class and stay for the social dance. $5–15, 7pm. The Center at Belvedere, 540 Belvedere Blvd. thecentercville.org
stage
Eurydice See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org
words
New Dominion Storytime. Readings from recent storybooks and the classics kids know and love. Rain or shine. All ages welcome. Free, 11am. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. newdominionbookshop.com
classes
Crochet for Beginners. Learn the basics of crochet. Leave with a crochet hook and a small crocheted washcloth. Ages 12+. $25, noon. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
Learn to Knit. Learn the basics of knitting. Leave with a pair of knitting needles, the beginning of a scarf, and enough yarn to finish it. Ages 12+. $25, 2pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
Mending Workshop: Repairing Holes. Learn how to mend holes in clothes with visible or invisible mending techniques. Basic knowledge of sewing by hand or machine is preferred. Ages 15+. $20, 10am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
Needle Felted Opossums. Learn how to make a soft little opossum figure using a specialized notched needle to sculpt dyed wool. Beginning and returning students welcome. Ages 12+. $35, 9:30am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
Needle Felted Owls. Learn how to make a soft little owl figure using a specialized notched needle to sculpt dyed wool. Ages 12+. $35, 1pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
THE WORKS CULTURE
Opening line
Ten women artists string a vision together in Phaeton Gallery group show BY
SARAH SARGENT
In culmination of an ambitious project that began at the end of January 2025 when a group of artists convened at Phaeton Gallery to work on creating a clothesline, “Weathering: The Endurance of the Ordinary” features the work of 10 women examining “the quiet resilience embedded in daily life and the subtle ways time and environment shape both objects and human experience.”
The quotidian object was intended to provide inspiration and, when placed outside for an extended period of time, a case study in weathering. “We didn’t want the clothesline to become tied to complicated ideas about who does the laundry,” says gallery director Lisa Hogan. “What emerged instead were people’s personal memories of it. Almost everyone had an evocative story about fresh laundry, many from childhood—how it smelled in the sun, how the fabric felt, the ritual of hanging it out. The clothesline became less about chores and more about memory, comfort, and ordinary life.”
Over the course of several Sundays in February 2025, the artists met to discuss the project while sewing meaningful garments— there’s even a wedding dress worn by participating artist Mary Lamb—onto the 175-foot line, which snaked around the gallery space while they worked.
Once the clothesline was done, they took it to Hogan’s property in southern Albemarle and hung it across a pond and into woods, where it stayed for three months, buffeted by the elements, an embodiment of weathering. The artists visited the clothesline to observe or paint, viewing it as “both muse and metaphor.”
“We went through ice storms and windstorms,” says Hogan. “There were some dramatic clothesline incidents—branches twisting into it, pieces breaking off. When we finally took the clothesline down, it was loaded with caddisfly larvae tucked between the clothespins. We carefully relocated the larvae before moving the line to the gallery for the show.” The artists saw this as another connection with nature, the outdoors, and the elements and a response to the installation.
Suzanne Keith Loechl, who came up with the clothesline idea, uses it quite literally. Her paintings of laundry snapping in the breeze evoke memories of smell and touch and nostalgia for simpler times. She uses a highly keyed palette with lots of pink, which imbues the work with a roseate aura, enlivening the garments and the scene with a sense of joy. In “The Grass is Always Greener,” the imposing woods and brooding sky offer a visual and emotional foil to the laundry gaily fluttering on the line.
Sarah Trundle chose a more oblique approach. She fractures the clothesline into abstract shapes, layering scraps of paper and paint to create striking investigations of form, gesture, and color.
Laura Wooten’s “Windowsill Elegy” and Jennifer Esser’s “Dreams of My Father” are the artists’ response to the death of each of their fathers. Deeply rooted in the landscape, Esser’s lush paintings are explorations of color and form, and this one, with its explosion of hue, is a joyful response to her father’s life. Wooten’s painting is more somber in mood, featuring objects associated with her father, including a string of Buddhist prayer flags resembling clothes hanging on a line.
Donna Ernest’s collage, “Dust, Thread and Becoming,” is a crazy-quilt arrangement of her late husband’s ties, which continue to hold vestiges of the man who wore them. For Ernest, who has lived a life of spiritual investigation, weathering endows beauty. It is not diminishment, but rather, proof of presence.
Krista Townsend saw in the tenacious dandelion “the endurance of the ordinary.” Her radiant paintings of dandelion flowers and puffballs in fields remind us of the muchmaligned plant’s beauty. A series of paintings depicting the stages of a dandelion’s life cycle show us the miraculous workings of nature.
Peg Shaw’s ethereal photographs offer tantalizing glimpses of other lives lived. The images have a worn and weathered look, which adds a sense of age and distance to them. Shaw sets them in squares of rust-colored wood embellished with bits of hardware, adding an edgy punch to the poetic images.
Mary Lamb uses old photographs and paper ephemera in collaged arrangements to create imagined queer narratives. For her, weathering relates to her materials and also, endurance. Somé Louis likes the slow pace of embroidery, which allows her to appreciate the passage of time. Here she embroidered her father’s poetry about the loss of their home in Jamaica through erosion onto garment-shaped fabric.
Phaeton artist-in-residence Lindsey Luna Tucker looked to the landscape for examples of weathering. Tucker is inspired by nature, but her work, in the romantic tradition, is more concerned with conveying an emotional response than a realist take. Her fluency with her medium is evident in her loose, expressive brushwork and the expansive washes of color that bloom across her surfaces. Plans are afoot to take the clothesline back outside for more weathering, with the idea of revisiting the project in a year. Phaeton Gallery will host a conversation and tea with the artists on May 31.
“Weathering: The Endurance of the Ordinary” is on view at Phaeton Gallery through May 30.
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CULTURE TO-DO LIST
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27
Saturday 5/23
etc.
Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com
Charlottesville Arts Festival. Featuring 50+ fine artists and artisans, immersive art experiences, live music, hands-on workshops, and artisan demos. $5.30–18.02, 3pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixartpark.org
Charlottesville City Market. Explore fresh produce, local foods, and handmade goods from 100+ local vendors. Free, 9am. Charlottesville City Market, 100 Water St. E. charlottesville.gov
Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com
Sunday 5/24
music
Michael Elswick Gathering. Jazz, blues, Latin, swing, ballads, and of course, Cambodian surf rock. Free, 1pm. Chisholm Vineyards at Adventure Farm, 1135 Clan Chisholm Ln., Earlysville. chisholmvineyards.com
Ron Gentry. Influenced by the sounds of Motown, The Beatles, CCR, and others. Free, 2pm.
The Wavelength & Gary Green. A rare Sunday performance. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskey jarcville.com
The Wavelength. Vintage rock, blues, and original music. Free, 1pm. Fallen Tree Vineyard and Farm, 4593 Clark Rd., Crozet. fallentree vineyard.com
dance
BRIMS Ceol agus Céilí: Irish Session & Social Dance. Musicians join together to play reels, jigs, and polkas for dancers. All dances taught and called by BRIMS dance instructors. All ages welcome, no previous dance experience needed. Free, 3pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com stage
Eurydice See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 2:30pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org words
Albemarle CiderWorks Silent Book Club. Read in quiet camaraderie. No assigned reading, no obligations. Bring your own book of choice. Free, 12:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com
SATURDAY 5/23 & SUNDAY 5/24
ART AT THE PARK
The sixth annual Charlottesville Arts Festival returns with a weekend full of creativity, community, and connection. This year’s celebration features 50-plus fine artists and artisans, immersive art experiences, live music, hands-on workshops, and demos throughout the event. Musical acts on the outdoor stage include sets by Mike Perdue, Gina Sobel, and others. Varied performances by Bad Hat Fire Troupe, Bandits Troupe, Dollz Entertainment, and RVA Faerie Federation take place alongside partner booths from area arts organizations. $5.30–18.02, times vary. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixartpark.org
Chiswell Book Club May Meeting. Avid readers and wine enthusiasts get together to deep dive on a new and exciting book every other month. Free, 1pm. Chiswell Farm & Winery, 430 Greenwood Rd., Greenwood. chilesfamilyorchards.com
classes
Craft + Sip: Pressed Flower Bookmarks. Create the supplied craft with guided instruction. No experience necessary, all materials included. Free, noon. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. blueridgebrushes.com
Slow Stitch: A Gentle, Meditative Approach to Hand Sewing. A laid back, beginner-friendly introduction to process-based stitching. Ages 18+. $15, 11am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com
Stitch and Snark: Create your own F-bomb. Crochet a small amigurumi sphere finished with a bold letter “F.” Knowledge of basic crochet stitches required. Ages 13+. $45, 2:30pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com etc.
Batesminster Dog Show. A family-friendly event parodying the Westminster dog show. Is there a champion in your pup’s heart? Bring them to Batesville—along with a sense of humor—to compete with the best. $20–25, 11:30am. Page’s Field across from The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. batesvillemarket.com
Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com
Charlottesville Arts Festival. See listing for Saturday, May 24. $5.30–18.02, 10am. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixartpark.org
Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, May 21. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com
Monday 5/25
music
Gina Sobel. Multi-instrumentalist and natural improviser brings together elements of funk, jazz, and American folk music into a fresh and compelling sound. Free, 2pm. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan. ducardvineyards.com
Matt Johnson. Enjoy your Memorial Day with excellent acoustic music. Free, 1pm. Chiswell Farm & Winery, 430 Greenwood Rd., Greenwood. chilesfamilyorchards.com etc.
Grown-Up Game Night. Play board games and make new friends. Bring your own game, or play one of the library’s. Ages 18+. Free, 6:30pm. Northside Library, 705 W. Rio Rd. jmrl.org
Tuesday 5/26
music
BRIMS. Blue Ridge Irish Music School presents an open jam of traditional Irish music. Free, 6:30pm. Dürty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellyscharlottesville.com
Open Jam with Jeff Massanari & Friends. Bring your instrument to jam with the jazz guitar virtuoso and other core players. Free, 6:30pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com etc.
Geeks Who Drink Trivia. Good trivia, good times. Teams of two to six people compete to win prizes like gift certificates and pint glasses, plus bragging rights. Free, 7pm. Firefly, 1304 E. Market St. fireflycville.com
EXTRA CULTURE
From the fringe
Two small set plays bring big perspectives BY
JULIA STUMBAUGH
Apair of plays from the United Kingdom theater scene, Godot is a Woman and Strategic Love Play, journey from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to downtown Charlottesville as part of Live Arts’ Fringe Favorites series.
Fringe theater, which originated as the across-the-pond equivalent of New York’s off-Broadway scene, often consists of experimental and relatively low-cost productions. That’s part of the reason these plays take place within set constraints.
Like the Samuel Beckett play it riffs on, Godot is a Woman is performed mostly on a single set while three people wait for something to happen. Strategic Love Play is a oneset play that takes place within the plot boundaries of a first date.
Godot is a Woman, directed by Mandy Shuker, puts an absurdist spin on the efforts of the estate of the late Beckett to prevent anyone but male thespians from acting in productions of Waiting for Godot
Unlike the characters in Beckett’s original play—who are waiting through the entirety of the production for the arrival of a man named Godot—the characters in the fringe reimagining are members of a theater troupe waiting for a chance to speak with representatives of Beckett’s estate about loosening casting restrictions.
The wait in Godot is a Woman features dancing, costume changes, Madonna songs, and discussions about the history of gender identity. Shuker says her past experience producing and stage managing in the Edinburgh and New York fringes helped shape how she’s directing the three-person production in Charlottesville.
“One of my favorite things about working in spaces like both the fringe and … the Founders space at Live Arts, is finding ways to be really creative and to drive the action and the message using more actor-driven than set-driven mechanisms,” Shuker says.
“I mean, who doesn’t love a chandelier crashing into the floor, or some other big effect?
… But I find it really intriguing when someone can take me outside of my own brain and convince me to come into their world for a minute.”
Putting together an actor-driven play is an especially intimate challenge in Godot is a Woman, in which the characters go by the names of the real-life actors.
“This is a version of the three of them up there,” Shuker says. “They’ve created a theater troupe, and they’re doing this thing.”
Laura May Brunk works with even less physical space directing Strategic Love Play, in which a man and a woman navigate the uncertainty of a first date after matching online.
Part of the challenge for Brunk is motivating the two actors to drive the story without set changes—armed only with beers and a bag of chips as props—and ignite one another in both positive and negative ways.
“There’s a lot of chemistry, but also argument,” Brunk says. “They’re rubbing up against each other. It’s like a chord that goes wrong. So I had fun playing with, how do
you get people on two totally different planes when we’re also working together to make the same thing?”
For Brunk, a Charlottesville native and former Live Arts apprentice who studied theater in England and attended Edinburgh Fringe before returning to her hometown in 2024, building chemistry involved creating a shared playlist featuring everything from Mitski to Geese.
Building tension, on the other hand, meant dreaming up imaginative exercises in a range of stressful situations as far-fetched as being trapped together in a spaceship.
“Those types of things get their creative spirits flowing and push them to make choices that are not necessarily expected or totally within the bounds of what would happen between two people in a bar,” Brunk says. “And I think one of the real gifts of having such a small cast is that you get to really go in with a lot of creativity.”
Theatergoers can purchase a dual-ticket package to attend both plays, and Shuker says the stagings have more similarities than just their singular sets and Edinburgh fringe origins.
“The biggest theme for me that runs through these two plays is: What expectations are preset for us all—by society, based on our gender, the way that we present, [and] all of those factors that are really the outside? And not the meat of who we are,” Shuker says. “And then, how do we respond to them?”
“When you put yourself out there on a first date, what really is the perfect first date and the perfect relationship that you’re looking for? And when you are waiting to get the rights to do a play that you think is the play you’re just dying to do, are we really waiting for the right things?”
Fringe Favorites at Live Arts runs May 21 through June 6. Find more information at livearts.org.
Artists
A Different Place and Time
Melow Paintings & Fine Art
Sterling Friendship Designs
Suncraft Oddities & Curiosities
FOR FUN PUZZLES
SUDOKU
#1
#1
#4
#2
#3
#2 #5
#4
Burglar, say
Garden trail
40. Distinction for Rami Malek or Michael B. Jordan
42. Quarrel
43. Comedian Bargatze
44. Certain lap dog, briefly
46. Shor t musical releases
47. Ohio city near Michigan
49. Complete, at the Cannes Film Festival
51. Property line marker
52. School outing
57. Three-layer snack
58. Wanderers supporting actor Mikkelsen?
59. They may be fine or graphic
60. Complete set of awards
61. Cathedral sections
62. 1990s puzzle game on an island
63. Not so much
64. Shout before throwing something
DOWN
1. Alan Alda TV show
2. Needing relief
3. “SNL UK” cast member Jack who played Princess Diana
4. Worked with computers, maybe
5. “Great, but we need more”
6. “Fancy meeting you here!”
7. High school students
8. Far-away connection?
9. Lincoln’s hat type
10. “Ms. McRae, please record the minutes”?
11. “Yojimbo” director Kurosawa
12. Harr y Truman’s wife
14. Punctual
18. Approximation words
21. Spray banned from orchards
24. “Return of the Jedi” creature
25. Scrape remnant
26. “That is correct”
27. Groups of nine Brooklyn athletes?
29. Single-masted vessel
By Rob Brezsny Gemini
(May 21-June 20): When many people reflect on their early years, they focus on the alienation and wounds they endured. Few recall, in vivid detail, the moments of joy, triumph, and breakthrough. It’s a symptom, I suppose, of our era’s compulsive cynicism, and not necessarily an accurate account of the past. So many good things happened, too! This isn’t to dismiss the real pain that shaped us in our tender years. Still, I want you to know that you are in a season when it’s essential to recognize and celebrate the blessings of your beginnings—the fun, guidance, and grace that helped you flourish. Update your gratitude!
Cancer
(June 21-July 22): Of all the zodiac signs, you have the most potential to cultivate robust emotional intelligence that’s helpful in practical situations. More than everyone else, your feelings are less likely to render you vulnerable and fragile and more likely to make you a powerhouse. The coming weeks will be prime time to deploy these talents to the max. I encourage you to summon gleeful exuberance as you provide your sensitive, heartful nurturing. Practice the ingenious art of keeping the world emotionally literate and spiritually alert.
Leo
(July 23-Aug. 22): I am pleased to predict that you will be less egotistical and narcissistic in the coming weeks than you have ever been in your life. In saying that, I don’t mean to imply that you’re any more egotistical and narcissistic than the rest of us. I’m simply saying you can get a liberating reprieve from the excessive pride and selfishness that regularly debilitates us all. Congratulations, Leo! This grace period should enable you to deepen your attunement with your soul’s blueprint, the design of destiny you chose before birth. I bet you will enjoy a period of vibrant, exciting tranquility.
Virgo
(Aug. 22-Sept. 22): Consider this a friendly heads-up to your inner critic, your gloomy side, and any voice in your head that expects too little from life. Upcoming astrological omens are influencing me to predict a stream of auspicious omens and fortunate events. So if you’d rather cling to tired stories about not being good enough or strong enough, you might want to skip my forecasts for a while. But if you’re ready to vivify your faith in your power to eagerly create what you desire, stay tuned. Karmic blessings are coming.
Libra
(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): To be blunt, dear Libra, I think you need soul medicine that’s most available in frontiers, borderlands, and thresholds. Some of these might be bright, shiny places, and others may be akin to mazes and tunnels. Please keep in mind that
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY FOR FUN
(April 20-May 20): When we hear people described as having fertile imaginations, we may assume they are artists, writers, or musicians. But the truth is that many creative visualizers are engineers, city planners, inventors, and the like: those who design and build functional wonders. Of this group, you Tauruses make up a disproportionately high percentage. Your tribe is often most imaginative when vitalizing concrete details and transforming practical matters. In the coming weeks, this will be a vibrant X-factor in your relationship with the world.
your main motivation, as you seek adventures in the outskirts, should be the quest to have fun as you blow your own mind. For the sake of your lust for life and joie de vivre, you really must explore power spots untouched by trivia and pettiness: sanctuaries where vastness, freedom, and raw vitality can wash away at least some of your fixations and habits.
Scorpio
(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Giant Pacific octopus dens are identifiable by the “gardens” of debris outside. They include shells and bones, arranged like ornamentation around the entrance. Are the creatures trying to decorate? Scientists don’t know. But it’s clear they are leaving evidence of their appetites. The result is distinctive, artistic, and revealing. With this scenario as your metaphorical meditation, Scorpio, I invite you to look at what you have been pursuing and consuming in recent months. Contemplate the stuff piling up in your sphere. What do your finished experiences reveal about your quest for meaning? Does this pattern reflect your deepest intentions? Is this who you want to be? Make sure the story you’re telling about yourself is the right one.
Sagittarius
(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Advising a Sagittarius to be patient is like asking a bonfire to burn slowly and politely. Still, I will give it a try. Because I love you, I will dare to be frank. So here goes: If you want to align yourself with astrological currents, practice being reverently at ease with life’s madness as you watch and wait. See if you can take genuine pleasure in resting within a field of calm trust. Imagine, with fearless delight, the re-
wards that will find you as you nurture a steady, unhurried confidence in your intuition, which will ultimately tell you exactly what you need to do.
Capricorn
(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 1994, immunologist Polly Matzinger revolutionized her field with a radical theory. She discovered that our immune systems don’t focus on distinguishing “self” from “non-self,” but rather responding to threats. The body puts less emphasis on asking “is this me?” and more on “is this harmful?” Her breakthrough transformed our understanding of immunity, autoimmune disease, and transplant rejection. According to my analysis of the astrological riddles, you Capricorns could benefit from a similar adjustment. Don’t worry about whether any particular influence harmonizes with your identity or aligns with your history. Instead, ask, “Is it nourishing or harmful? Supportive or useless?” As you refresh your approach to guarding and protecting your precious self, new options will become visible.
Aquarius
(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): According to my interpretation of the astrological signals, you have run into an obstacle to your creative flow, or may soon do so. Though this could feel discouraging at first, I think it’s a promising sign. It indicates that a hidden bug is surfacing. An inner saboteur is no longer operating in the shadows. You’re being given the opportunity to repair an unseen energy leak that has been sapping your vitality. To illuminate this process, consider the wisdom of author Joyce Carol Oates. She says that writer’s block arises when a writer subconsciously
believes that what they’re trying to create is false, misguided, or harmful to themselves, which results in a temporary creative paralysis. Be brave and relentless in hunting down the glitch in your self-love, Aquarius.
Pisces
(Feb. 19-March 20): Maybe you’ve been having thoughts like this: “I’m too scrambled to do what’s necessary to get unscrambled.” Here’s another snag that may be tangling your mind: “I’m too mixed up to know what questions to ask to sort out my confusion.” If this is true, Pisces, I’m here to offer advice. Imagine calling a timeout on the whole noisy world and slipping free of the habitual trance. Consider retreating to a sanctuary where time doesn’t oppress you and complications subside. Let your mind be empty, give your ambitions a rest, and immerse your tender attention in the deepest part of yourself you can find.
Aries
(March 21-April 19): If you’re a professional photographer, now is an ideal moment to invest in the higher-end lens you know would expand your best work. If you’re a committed chef, it’s a perfect time to spring for a precision knife set that elevates your craft. If you’re a devoted yoga or meditation teacher preparing a new series, you might decide to purchase an upgraded sound system to share your vocal offerings more crisply. And if you are none of the above, consider this your sign to obtain a key instrument or tool that will help you move to the next level of professionalism in the work you’re called to do.
Expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text message horoscopes: RealAstrology.com, (877) 873-4888
only) by the West Side entrance to City Hall 7th Street NE by the East Side entrance to City Hall 8th Street NE between City Hall Annex and Herman Key Recreation Center IN PERSON: Payments may be made in the lobby of City Hall at 605 E. Main St., Mon-Fri 8:30am – 4:30pm
First half tax bills are due to be paid by Friday, June 5, 2026. Payments sent by mail must be postmarked by June 5, 2026.
If you are experiencing a financial hardship or would like to set up a payment plan for your tax liability, please contact the Treasurer’s Office at (434) 970-3146 prior to the due date.
Taxes on all personal property items are prorated based on the date that the item was registered with the DMV as garaged in the City of Charlottesville. If you have sold, moved, or purchased a vehicle since January 1, 2026, and have not notified the Commissioner of Revenue, please call (434) 970-3160.
Charlottesville Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court
Charlottesville Dept. of Social Services v. Kieonna Hawkins & Mohipul Rajroop
The object of this suit is to terminate the residual parental rights of Kieonna Hawkins & Mohipul Rajroop of a male child M.R. born to Kieonna Hawkins on 6/4/2014.
It is ORDERED that Kieonna Hawkins & Mohipul Rajroop, appear at the above-named Court and protect his or her interests on or before July 14, 2026 at 9:00 a.m.
3/23/26
Areshini Pather
DATE JUDGE
P.S. THE BIG PICTURE
Soak in the moment
By 7:15am on May 16, the crowd at Ellie’s Country Club was already shoulder-toshoulder, with commencement-day revelers packing the patio beneath a canopy of balloons. Lines outside bars on the Corner began forming as early as 5am ahead of Saturday’s Final Exercises for students graduating from the College Arts & Sciences, and the Batten and education schools. The day before, former UVA president Jim Ryan, who was selected by the Class of 2026 to deliver the keynote address at Valedictory Exercises, told the thousands who gathered at the John Paul Jones Arena to “do the right thing. Always.”
FIRST PAGE a fiction contest for adults
WriteNow
Events
HOW TO ENTER
Email the first page of your original, fictional story to programs@writerhouse.org
Submissions open May 1 - May 31. One entry per person. st
Include your title at the top of the page. Include contact email, mailing address, and phone in the email body. No identifying information in the entry itself.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
250 words or fewer (title not included) Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced, on white unlined paper
ELIGIBILITY
Ages 18+ (turning 18 by May 1, 2026 qualifies)
Submissions must be unpublished – online or in print
HOW WILL THE WINNERS BE CHOSEN?
Best-selling author Bruce Holsinger (bruceholsinger.com) will select the winning entry and a runner-up. Judge’s decision is final.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I WIN?
$200 Visa Gift Card
Winners notified directly; results posted at writerhouse.org and C-VILLE Weekly with links to the winning entries.
Winners will receive their prizes by mail.
WriterHouse and C-VILLE Weekly employees are not eligible to participate
Must reside in Central Virginia (city of Charlottesville or counties of Albemarle, Greene, Augusta, Fluvana, Nelson, Buckingham or Madison)
By entering, you affirm you have read and understand the contest rules and give permission to display or publicize your submission.
For full submission guidelines, visit writerhouse.org .
