C-VILLE Weekly | March 13 - 19, 2023

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PARTY ONE OF

MARCH 13 –19, 2024 CHARLOTTESVILLE’S NEWS AND ARTS WEEKLY C-VILLE.COM FREE GAGE SKIDMORE
SUMMER
INSIDE PAGE 40
CAMP GUIDE
of the
Full Schedule Inside
Controversial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Virginia campaign HQ is on the Downtown Mall. He's running as an independent, but conspiracy theories drive his message.
Virginia Festival
Book:
2 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly UVA Arts, The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation & UVA Arts Council present Renowned Mezzo-Soprano Susan Graham performs Rita Dove’s poetry set to music by Composer Richard Danielpour and Music from Copland House! A STANDING WITNESS Old Cabell Hall • 7:30pm Thursday, March 21 & Saturday, March 23 “A Standing Witness has the potential to become one of the most influential compositions of this century.” ~Vermont Public Radio arts.virginia.edu/standingwitness For Tickets & to Learn More: ++ Talkback with Rita Dove, Richard Danielpour, & Michael Boriskin to Follow Each Evening! Why wait, just give us a call. You’ve Been Thinking About It, • laser hair removal • Morpheus8 RF Microneedling • medical grade facials • chemical peels • brown spot reduction • facial vein reduction • laser tattoo removal • dermaplaning • free consultations Charlottesville’s Original Laser Center Since 1999. RUNNER-UP FINALIST laser hair removal medical spa

UPCOMING EVENTS

Movie Musical Magic

Saturday, March 23 @ 2 pm* & 6:30 pm MAINSTAGE THEATRE

*Sensory-friendly performance

The 2 pm Sensory–Friendly performance offers children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, sensory sensitivities, or other social, learning, or cognitive disabilities a supportive environment in which to experience the arts with family and friends.

The Forbes Center is strongly committed to presenting quality performing arts programming for young audiences and their families.

Get tickets online at jmuforbescenter.com or call the Box Office at 540.568.7000.

Located in Harrisonburg, Virginia - just one hour from Charlottesville, Winchester and Lexington (Exit 245 off of I-81).

3 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
The premiere performing arts center in the Shenandoah Valley.

facebook.com/cville.weekly

–19, 2024 c-ville.com

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Charlottesville’s News & Arts Weekly CIRCULATION: 20,000 WEEKLY

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Charlottesville, Virginia 22902

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Richard DiCicco richard@c-ville.com

CULTURE EDITOR

Tami Keaveny tami@c-ville.com

NEWS REPORTER

Catie Ratliff reporter@c-ville.com

COPY EDITOR

Susan Sorensen

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Molly Bettiga

MAGAZINE EDITOR

Caite Hamilton

CONTRIBUTORS

Rob Brezsny, Matt Dhillon, Carol Diggs, Brielle Entzminger,

ACCOUNT

Sarah

DIRECTOR

Maddie

CHIEF

A/R

Nanci

C-VILLE is published Wednesdays. 20,000 free copies are distributed all over Charlottesville, Albemarle, and the surrounding counties. One copy per person. Additional copies may be purchased for $1.99 per copy.

Unsolicited news articles, essays, and photography are carefully considered. Local emphasis is preferred. Although care will be taken, we assume no responsibility for submissions. First-class mail subscriptions are available for $140 annually.

©2024 C-VILLE Weekly. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

MEMBER Virginia Press Association

4 March
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Mary Esselman, Shea Gibbs, Mary Jane Gore, Will Ham, Erika Howsare, Justin Humphreys, Matt Jones, Kristin O’Donoghue, Lisa Provence, Sarah Sargent, Jen Sorensen, Julia Stumbaugh, Courteney Stuart, Paul Ting, Sean Tubbs DESIGN AND PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR Max March max@c-ville.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER
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Winter (434) 373-0429 CIRCULATION MANAGER Billy Dempsey circulation@c-ville.com C-VILLE HOLDINGS, LLC Bill Chapman, Blair Kelly INSIDE THIS ISSUE V.36, No. 11 FEATURE 25 Fact check Has RFK Jr. built his presidential campaign around misinformation? NEWS 11
Proposed FY25 budget includes real estate, meals, and lodging tax increases.
A look inside
retro game store.
the city’s only
Real Estate Weekly: CRHA buys more property to create affordable housing.
35
CULTURE
Tried it in C’ville: Blackfriars tour offers a glimpse behind the cur tain
The Works: Dathan Kane’s V isible Records residency.
Extra: Cville Puzzle Hunt returns for a third year.
Sudoku
Crossword
Free Will Astrology CLASSIFIED 51 P.S. 54 Question of the Week How are you feeling about the 2024 presidential election? CORRECTION In “Housing more” (March 6-12, 2024), a Jim Murray quote at the end of the story was mistakenly attributed to Tim Rose. C-VILLE regrets the error.
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Looking for... AHouse? AJob? Services? Classifieds salesrep@c-ville.com classifieds.c-ville.com
GAGE
SKIDMORE
5 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 215 East Main Street, Charlottesville, VA | 434.979.1333 | theparamount.net Jack & Wendy Brown • Patti Cary & Todd Stansbury • Pam & Frank Edmonds • Chris & Brad Eure • Janna & David Gies • Elizabeth & Joe LeVaca • Julie & Geoff Montross • Susie Morris FEATURING Charles Owens Taylor Barnett Greg Thomas John D’earth Bobby Gregg Andrew Randazzo ALBEMARLE HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ENSEMBLE ...and more Order Tickets THIS WEEK AT THE PARAMOUNT Wednesday, March 11, 7PM “I perhaps owe it to flowers that I became a painter” CLAUDE MONET PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN MONET TO MATISSE FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7PM EVENT SPONSORS: CAROLYN & JAY M c CLELLAN

Hello, Charlottesville! Thank you for reading C-VILLE Weekly. The 2024 presidential election has people feeling terrified at worst and numb at best. I know this because you told us—we published your anxious thoughts on this week’s back page (p. 54). But while most of the national dialogue about the election focuses on the rematch of Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, there’s a third candidate with a significant following who’s wedged his way into the conversation.

3.13.24

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the U.S. senator and nephew of the former president, is running for president. Originally in the race as a Democrat, he stepped away from the partisan divide to re-energize his campaign as an independent. Kennedy has his followers, and he says plenty of things that would sway liberal voters to his side. But he’s also made controversial comments about vaccines and Jewish people. This week, writer Margaret Manto explores Kennedy’s fraught rhetoric, the draw of conspiracy theories, and how anyone can get lured into eating a sandwich of misinformation (p. 25).

Part of our reason for doing a feature on RFK Jr. is the presence of his campaign’s Virginia headquarters in our former office on the Downtown Mall. To be absolutely clear, C-VILLE as a publication does not endorse any candidate for president. Over the past few months, we have fielded many emails and phone calls from people outraged at our supposed support for Kennedy—please know that we have no affiliation with him. Richard DiCicco

VOTED C-VILLE’S #1 LASER HAIR REMOVAL PRACTICE

BE HAIR-FREE AND CAREFREE THIS SUMMER.

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WINNER

ON THE DOWNTOWN MALL

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

BUMPIN UGLIES WITH pacific dub

THURSDAY, MARCH 14

SHADOWGRASS

JUST ANNOUNCED!

MARCH 26-ON SALE NOW EDGEHILL

WITH SPOONFED AND RYAN WHITAKER

APRIL 20-ON SALE NOW WILSON SPRINGS HOTEL

MAY 5-ON SALE FRIDAY LEMON TWIGS

MAY 11-ON SALE FRIDAY 408

WITH TELLTALE; DEFINITELY, MAYBE AND THE MISSING PEACE

& GREG

BROWN WITH SPECIAL GUEST AFRO ASIA

PRESENTED BY CHARLOTTESVILLE MUSIC SHOWCASE

03-29 |

THE SOUTHERN BELLES

03-30 |

DRAG BONANZA PRESENTS

C*NTRY QUEENS HOSTED BY BEBE GUNN & CHERRY POSSUMS

04-03 | SLAUGHTER BEACH, DOG (SOLO) WITH ERIN RAE

04-04 |

VIRGINIA MAN WITH HOLY ROLLER

04-05 | SAM BURCHFIELD & THE SCOUNDRELS AND TOPHOUSE

0411 | BAILEN WITH CECE COAKLEY

7 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
TOO MANY ZOOZRETAIL THERAPY TOUR WITH PELL 03-19| HERMANOS GUTIERREZ LOW TICKET WARNING
HOT IN HERRE: 2000s DANCE PARTY (18+)
THE LONGWAY/FREE UNION WITH HASH
THE ZOMBIES-DIFFERENT GAME TOUR WITH WENDY COLONNA PRESENTED BY WTJU 03-30| SAVED BY THE 90S(18+) PRESENTED BY 102.3 THE HOOK 04-05| COREY SMITH WITH WILL JONES 04-12| THE VEGABONDS WITH WIM TAPLEY & THE CANNONS 04-23| RUSTON KELLY-TOO CHILL TO KILL TOUR PRESENTED BY 106.1 THE CORNER
BRANDY CLARK WITH SISTASTRINGS 04-25| BEACH FOSSILS WITH FRIENDS NATION OF LANGUAGE JEFFERSONTHEATER.COM JUST ANNOUNCED! THESOUTHERNCVILLE.COM RENT THE JEFFERSON FOR YOUR EVENT! RENTALS@JEFFERSONTHEATER.COM • 434-245-4917 EAT AT CINEMA TACO Next to the Jefferson Theater Lobby OPENS 2HRS PRIOR TO ALL SHOWS & WEEKDAYS 11A-2P
MARCH 16 MASON RAMSEY: FALLS INTO PLACE TOUR WITH special guest halle kearns PRESENTED BY 92.7 CVILLE COUNTRY
MARCH 15 CARBON LEAF WITH villages MAY 3-ON SALE NOW THE TAYLOR PARTY: THE TS DANCE PARTY MAY 10-ON SALE FRIDAY PECOS AND THE ROOFTOPS RENT THE SOUTHERN! rentalinfo@thesoutherncville.com (434) 977-5590 or EAT AT THE SOUTHERN CAF É café opens 2 hours prior to performances 03-15 | STOP LIGHT OBSERVATIONS WITH EASY HONEY PRESENTED BY 106.1 THE CORNER 03-16 | SOUTH OF HEAVEN PRESENTS: AGE OF FIRE WITH BLACK LEDGE & CONGENIAL CRIME 03-21 | JACK STEPANIAN WITH CARTWHEELS 03-23 | LYAO WITH CHRIS ALAN 03-28 | FREQUINOX FT. TUCKER RODGERS, BJ PENDELTON, IVAN ORR,
03-17|
03-22|
03-23|
03-29|
04-24|
SATURDAY,
FRIDAY,
8 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly U.S. NAVY BAND IN CONCERT COMMODORES Concerts are free and open to the public. Sunday, March 17, 4pm Old Cabell Hall University of Virginia Music Department For information visit www.navyband.navy.mil or call 202-433-4777 DIRECTED BY PHILIP CLARK Satur day Mar c h 16, 3: 30 p m Grisham Hall, St. Anne’s Belfield School Charlottesville, VA Free Admi ssion No Tickets Required Donations Appreciated Jean Sibelius Symphony no. 2 Joaquín Rodri go Concierto de Aranjuez Humberto Sales, Guitar www.albemarlesymphony.or g

WEEKLY SPECIALS

Mondays-Fridays

Wine & Food Specials

Wednesdays

Chef Tasting Series 3/27, 4/24

Paint & Sip 4/3, 5/8

Eight Winemakers, Eight Stories: A Wine Tasting Experience (12th Annual Tom Tom Festival) 4/17

White Wine Showcase (Monticello Wine Week) 5/1 10% Off Bottles Every Wednesday

Thursdays

Thursday Night Music Series

Live Music 5-8PM -or- Music Bingo 6-8PM

$5 Glasses Of Wine, Beer & Cider and Chip Flights

Fridays

Live Music 5-8PM Every Friday

Barrels & Tanks Tasting Pop Up - Select Fridays (See Winery Calendar For Details & Dates Of Tasting Pop Up)

Saturdays

Live Music All Day Every Saturday:

Afternoon Live Music 1-4PM

Eastwood After Dark: Fun & Lively Bands 5-8PM

Sundays

Music Bingo 3/17, 3/31, 4/28, 5/19

Paint & Sip 3/24, 4/14, 5/26

Maker’s Market 4/14, 5/12

Eastwood After Dark

Upbeat & Fun Bands Every Saturday Night

Gather your friends and family and join us for live music that you’ll want to dance to! Plus, sit back and enjoy your favorite glass of wine, beer or cider along with delicious food, an extensive non-alcoholic menu, and great options for kids and the whole family.

Saturday, March 16: The Honey Badgers | 5-8PM

Saturday, March 23: The Boomerangs | 5-8PM

Saturday, March 30: Kat & The Travelers | 5-8PM

Saturday, April 6: 804 Band | 5-8PM

Saturday, April 13: F.O.G. | 5-8PM

SCAN FOR WINERY CALENDAR

GATHER WITH YOUR TEAM, FRIENDS & FAMILY

We offer Large Party Reservations for 7-30+ people and Private Events for up to 200 people. Enjoy our wine, beer, and cider along with delicious food in two beautiful spaces. Now booking spring and summer gatherings. Plan your event today!

Open Daily & Year-Round | Only 5 Miles From Downtown Charlottesville | Pet Friendly eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

9 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly

You’re invited to join SELC virtually, as we celebrate our 2024 Reed Environmental Writing Award winners as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. Don’t miss your chance to hear from author Emily Strasser, NPR’s David Folkenflik, and Floodlight’s Mario Ariza and Miranda Green as they share reflections on their awardwinning work.

Jonathan Vigliotti, CBS News correspondent and author, joins the award ceremony as our special guest speaker.

Register for the virtual event March 22, 2024 at 5:00 PM

The first 300 event registrants receive a FREE copy of Emily Strasser’s book, Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History.

Register for the virtual event by scanning the QR code or visit southernenvironment.org/reed-award-registration

10 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
2024 CEREMONY
REED ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING AWARD
David Folkenflik JOURNALISM AWARD WINNER Mario Ariza JOURNALISM AWARD WINNER Miranda Green JOURNALISM AWARD WINNER Jonathan Vigliotti FEATURED SPEAKER
Join us virtually to celebrate these extraordinary writers.
Emily Strasser BOOK AWARD WINNER
VIRGINIA FESTIVAL OF THE
EVENT
SOLD OUT
BOOK
“It’s not about the Haven. It’s about our community members, our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness and housing instability every single day.”
—Haven Executive Director Anna Mendez on the shelter’s 14th Annual Race for Home, held

NEWS

IN

BRIEF

Gamemaker

The University of Virginia men’s basketball team starts its tournament run March 14 in the quarter-final round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. In order to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament this Selection Sunday, the Hoos, who have a doublebye for the ACC tourney, need a good showing Thursday night. UVA will face off against either Boston College, the University of Miami, or Clemson, all teams the Cavs beat during the regular season.

Keyes sentenced

Tadashi Keyes was sentenced to life in prison in Charlottesville Circuit Court on March 11 for the murder of Eldridge Smith. Prior to his death, Smith was a member of local violence interruption group Brothers United to Cease the Killing. Prosecutor NinaAlice Antony called for the maximum sentence for Keyes, who was out on early release from a previous life sentence at the time of Smith’s murder. “This is a community and a commonwealth attorney’s office that believes in second chances, and sometimes even third and fourth chances,” said Antony. “Mr. Keyes was granted early release and given a second chance. But he chose to take that second chance, and his freedom, and execute Eldridge Smith in cold blood.” Over a dozen members of Smith’s family attended the hearing, and several expressed support for the sentence.

School shuffle

The Albemarle County School Board will hold a public hearing on redistricting recommendations on March 14 at 6:30pm. Current redistricting recommendations from Superintendent Matthew Haas would move 42 students from Stone Robinson to Stony Point Elementary, 88 students from Baker-Butler to Hollymead Elementary, and 59 students from Woodbrook to Agnor-Hurt Elementary.

Saturday, March 9

Bill-ding blocks

Virginia’s state legislature adjourned on schedule March 9, with members saying they’d balanced the budget and passed a swath of bipartisan legislation.

The session—which ran for 60 days—was the first time Democrats held control of the legislature since the election of Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The governor signed 64 bills into law, amended 12 bills, and vetoed eight pieces of legislation prior to the session adjourning. In a surprise move, Youngkin approved a bill ensuring protections for same-sex marriage. His vetoes and amendments otherwise fell along party lines.

“I am grateful that my colleagues worked hard to get hundreds of bills through to the governor with at least some bipartisan support,” says 54th District Del. Katrina Callsen. “I was not thrilled to see those vetoes and amendments, but was proud that 64 bills fully passed before the end of session.”

Youngkin is still considering a number of bills passed by the state House and Senate, and Charlottesville representatives are concerned about the future of several items.

“Honestly, I worry about a lot of the bills we passed,” says state Sen. Creigh Deeds. “I worry that the governor will reject a lot of those bills in large part because we didn’t agree to his arena plan.”

A Youngkin-endorsed plan for the construction of a professional sports arena in Alexandria using taxpayer dollars was blocked during bipartisan budget discussions. Some Democrats are concerned the governor will retaliate by vetoing progressive legislative priorities—including gun-control bills put forward by Callsen and Deeds.

Among the eight bills already vetoed by the governor is House Bill 46/Senate Bill 47, which sought to regulate the transfer of firearms by people prohibited from ownership.

“I don’t think that veto bodes well for our bills,” says Deeds. “I’d like to think that [Youngkin will] look at every one individually, but I’m afraid he’s just gonna look at the majority of the gun bills with one thing in mind and then use red ink and veto them.”

While lawmakers have the ability to override the governor’s decision, Democrats do not have the two-thirds majority needed to bypass a veto when they reconvene in April.

“The people of the commonwealth spoke loud and clear last November, and they would like to see sensible gun violence prevention, protection of women’s health care, improving education, and protecting voting rights,” says 55th District Del. Amy Laufer. “I hope that we will see some changes in April that more align with those values.”

New to the legislature, Callsen and Laufer say they are proud of their achievements and enthusiastic about the work to come later this spring. Both junior delegates advanced multiple items of legislation to the governor’s desk, and Callsen was named Freshman Legislator of the Year by her peers.

Another major item to monitor in April is the budget, according to Deeds. The budget approved by the legislature includes a requirement for reentry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which will be difficult to line-item veto says the state senator.

“I think there’s a very real possibility that he vetoes the whole budget,” says Deeds. “I’m a little worried that we’ve got our work cut out for us in April.”

The Virginia state legislature reconvenes on April 17.

11 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
FOLLOW
PAGE 13
SUPPLIED PHOTOS
THE MONEY
STAFF PHOTO ACPS Superintendent Matthew Haas presented his redistricting recommendation to the school board on February 22. Del. Katrina Callsen (left) and state Sen. Creigh Deeds (right) are pessimistic about the future of gun legislation under Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

UVA MUSIC EVENTS

Date/Time/Place Event

Friday, 3/15, 3:30pm 107 Old Cabell Hall

Friday, 3/15, 8pm

Looking Glass at Ix

Saturday, 3/16, 7:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Sunday, 3/17, 3:30pm ML King Performing Arts Center

Sunday, 3/17, 4 pm Old Cabell Hall

Wednesday, 3/20 10am B18 Old Cabell Hall

Friday, 3/22, 1pm Music Library in OCH

Friday, 3/22, 3:30pm 107 Old Cabell Hall

Friday, 3/22, 8pm Old Cabell Hall

Friday, 3/29, 8pm Old Cabell Hall

*

Mari Kimura Colloquium * composer, violinist, educator

Telemetry Concert * with Mari Kimura

Charlottesville Symphony Mozart and Shostakovich

Charlottesville Symphony Mozart and Shostakovich

US Navy Band: The Commodores * Navy's premier jazz ensemble

Open rehearsal / workshop * Women in Music

Making Noise with Corey Harris * Making Noise in the Library series

Richard Danielpour * Colloquium

Women in Music * Ayn Balija & I-Jen Fang

Cassie Lipton, flute * Distinguished Major Recital

12 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly Subscribe to our weekly
music email bit.ly/subscribe-uvamusic
All artists, programs and venues are subject to change. 434.924.3052 | music@virginia.edu
Box Office: 424.924.3376
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Budgeting for time

Proposed city budget includes big priorities and potential tax hikes

Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders presented the proposed budget to City Council on March 6, prompting discussion and debate on funding allocations and potential tax hikes.

Coming in at 350 pages and $251,526,900 in total revenues and expenditures, Charlottesville’s budget for FY25 is hefty in several ways. However, nothing is final yet. Councilors have until the city’s April 9 deadline— with a hard statewide deadline of April 15—to examine the budget, hear from constituents, and consider potential amendments.

“The city manager had to prepare a budget that balances,” says Councilor Lloyd Snook. “We will take his recommended budget and hear his justifications and make a decision by April 9.”

Highlights from the presentation included $10 million for the integration of collective bargaining, $7 million in additional funding for Charlottesville City Schools, and $8.9 million for affordable housing.

In order to fund these initiatives and other priorities, the budget would increase the city’s meals, lodging, and real estate taxes. The meals tax would be raised to 7.5 percent, lodging to 9 percent, and real estate to 98 cents per $100.

If approved, this will mark the third time Charlottesville has raised its meals tax in the last five years (it is currently 6.5 percent).

“None of the tax levers we have are without issue,” says Councilor Brian Pinkston. “Each impacts the community in particular ways. We’re trying to be sensitive to that fact.”

Though he supports many of the projects funded through increased revenue from the suggested tax increases, Councilor Mi-

chael Payne was more hesitant about raising the meals tax.

“Personally, I think the meals tax should be the last tax we seek to raise. It’s our most regressive tax, and after raising it again we’d be near the top of the state for our meals tax rate,” says Payne. “Local restaurants operate on small margins and unlike with our real estate tax, there is no tax relief program for the meals tax.”

Meals taxes stack on top of state and local sales tax, meaning area diners could see a 12.8 percent tax on their food and drink purchases if the hike is approved.

For comparison, a 7.5 percent meals tax would put Charlottesville at parity with Richmond, and just below the highest meals tax in the state—8 percent in Covington, Virginia.

Alternatives to raising the meals tax include raising the lodging and real estate taxes further, according to Payne. Otherwise, major cuts would need to be made, leaving several city priorities unfunded or underfunded.

“The primary driver of the need for new revenues is employee compensation and increased contribution to schools. … These aren’t one-time expenses, they’re permanent and become a new baseline for the city budget,” says Payne. “If these aren’t fund[ed] via tax increases, about $17 million of cuts would need to be identified in the general fund.”

A sharp drop in funding from the state government prompted CCS to request a higher appropriation from the city. The city’s appropriation is $2 million short of the school district’s requested appropriation, raising concerns among education leaders.

“The discrepancy directly affects the daily experiences of both students and teachers. Our budget outlines positions aimed at reducing class sizes and providing interven-

tionists to address gaps in student achievement,” says CCS School Board Chair Lisa Larson-Torres. “We have been working very closely with the city team, and they have been very transparent about the current state of their budget. Nevertheless, we felt that it was still important to present our budget with the $9 million dollar increase as it meets the essential needs of our students.”

Some city councilors are hopeful that additional state funding may be coming, helping the school district fill any budget gaps.

“Part of the reason that we are in this problem right now with school funding is that the state funding for our schools got cut by $2.9 million compared to last year,” says Snook.

“We—and the school system—have been scrambling ever since getting that news.”

“It’s a challenging time because their needs overlap with this necessary investment in the city organization,” says Pinkston. “I am hopeful that there will be some additional relief from the state.”

Charlottesville leadership has a jampacked schedule during budget deliberations over the next month, with at least one meeting every week. Public hearings on the proposed budget will be held on March 18 and 21, with the first session focused on tax rates.

At press time, Councilor Natalie Oschrin, Mayor Juandiego Wade, and Sanders had not responded to a request for comment.

“The primary driver of the need for new revenues is employee compensation and increased contribution to schools. … These aren’t one-time expenses, they’re permanent and become a new baseline for the city budget.”
MICHAEL PAYNE, CHARLOTTESVILLE CITY COUNCILOR
NEWS 13 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
City Manager Sam Sanders (center) wants to raise Charlottesville’s meals, lodging, and real estate taxes to pay for the proposed FY25 budget he presented to City Council on March 6.
other spring classes: Interm. & Adv. Watercolor Projects (McGuffey, Apr. 13th), Intro to Watercolor Basics, (Crozet Arts, Apr. 14th) , Sketch w/Ink & Waterolor (BSSS, May 1st) Watercolor @ McGuffey Art Center Tuesdays, 6:30-9:00 pm 8 Weeks, Starting Mar. 26th johnahancock.com 434-939-7445 basics beyond! w/ John A. Hancock & Drawing An Introduction w/John A. Hancock @ McGuffey Art Center Wednesdays, 6:30-9:00 pm 6 Weeks, Starting April 10th johnahancock.com 434-939-7445
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14 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
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A blast from the past

Charlottesville’s only retro game store offers up playable pieces of history

Everywhere I travel, I look for a retro video game store. But when I moved to Charlottesville, I was shocked to find not a single one—especially because my hometown Richmond has several. Vinyl? Sure. Books? Tons. But vintage games were not available in C’ville.

That all changed when Super Bit came to town in November. Spun off from its initial location in Annandale, the new Seminole Square shop fills an important niche. People here want to play old games, and now it’s as easy as walking into a store.

“I would say the overall theme of Charlottesville, in my opinion, has just been people being nostalgic,” says owner Chris Jackson. “People like having a store like this and people want to support the store.”

Jackson and general manager Elizabeth Kadeli opened Super Bit in the perfect spot—its neighbors include other hobby shops, like The End Games, and Hello Comics. But since opening a second location in Charlottesville, Jackson and Kadeli have struck up friendships with store owners all over town, even partnering with SuperFly Brewing Co. for a one-nightonly retro gaming lounge in February.

Retro game shops often play off of nostalgia, but not everyone comes into Super Bit looking for famous games like Super Mario Bros. 3 or Street Fighter II.

“You never know what people are gonna look for,” Jackson says. “You know, someone sees a random $7 game on the shelf that you never would have thought of, and they go, ‘Oh my gosh, this game was everything. My sister and I spent hundreds of hours playing this.’”

And sometimes, those $7 games are trapped on the cartridge or disc they shipped on—it’s the only legal way to play them. A staggering 87 percent of all classic games released in the U.S. are out of print, according to a 2023 study by the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network. Stores like Super Bit help keep these works in circulation.

To that end, the shop is committed to physical media, especially since the transitory nature of digital downloads and streaming services means fewer and fewer people actually own the games, movies, music, and ebooks they buy.

“These companies don’t hesitate to tell you that you don’t own these things. You’re just borrowing them, but you paid for it,” says Kadeli. “There’s a certain majesty in having the physical copies of the games, or to actually have the systems because you don’t have to have that same fear.”

“There’s also a lot of people in the surrounding areas who don’t have internet access,” Kadeli adds, “but who can come and get a Genesis, an NES, all these things that don’t need the internet—you just need the system and the games, and you can play it. And you don’t need to worry about having to update anything, you don’t need to worry about any of that.”

Super Bit’s dedication to physical media means it also carries some vintage VHS tapes, board games, and toys. And while Jackson and Kadeli would like to expand into more mediums, games remain their focus. They’re committed enough to preserving the experience of playing retro games that they also sell CRT televisions, which many purists argue is the ideal way to play titles from the 1980s and ’90s.

“The further we get away from physical stuff, the more demand there is going to be for it,” says Jackson. “If you watch any kind of futuristic movie, there’s always people that collect, like, VHS players. … I think it’s gonna come full circle.”

“I would say the overall theme of Charlottesville, in my opinion, has just been people being nostalgic.”

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15 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly NEWS
Super Bit General Manager Elizabeth Kadeli and owner Chris Jackson are dedicated to preserving the experience of playing retro video games on physical media.
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SUPPLIED PHOTO
| 24Season
16 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly Featuring properties for sale and rent in and around Charlottesville as well as Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange and Augusta counties Real Estate Weekly Escape to Your Eco-Luxury Haven 4 Bed 4.5 Baths $3,000,000 5,116 Sq. Ft. Home Office 6.36 Acres Find Homes REALTORS® are licensed to sell real estate in the Commonwealth of VA. Locally owned and operated. Find Homes Realty Brokerage License # 0226033659. 90 Whitewood Rd # 6, Charlottesville VA 22901. 434-218-0221. If you have a relationship with another Realtor, this isn’t a solicitation. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Integrity & Service is Our Motto! FOR DETAILS: Text 5559 to 434-337-3216 5559 Markwood Rd, Earlysville

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SUNSET DRIVE

Excellent taste and craftsmanship have transformed this brick one story residence. Mountain views, hardwood floors, screened porch and a large deck. Wonderful backyard with room for a garden. Full terrace level includes a family room and workshop. $475,000

18 ACRES ADJOINING SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK

18 wooded acres adjoining George Washington National Forest in Madison County, Virginia. One mile from the Shenandoah National Park. This private cabin offers access to hiking trails, and features winter views to the foothills of the Piedmont. Spring views of numerous mature dogwood and redbud trees on the property. Summer dresses the property in green with ample sky above; autumn paints the property in red, orange and yellow and always there are nocturnal views to a starry sky. The rural quietude is punctured by the sound of the Rapidan River on the calmest of evenings. BY APPOINTMENT ONLY $499,000

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Stone Contemporary cottage set on over 3 acres in Ivy. Beautiful great room with soaring ceiling and 20 ft. stone fireplace. This home offers 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, skylights, and bamboo floors. Primary suite features a spa-like bath. A wonderful screened porch lets you take in the surrounding nature. Peaceful and quiet. Western School District. $825,000

17 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly CALL SHARON Over 25 years of Real Estate experience. email: callsharon.today@yahoo.com cell: 434.981.7200 503 Faulconer Drive Charlottesville VA 22903 p: 434.295.1131 f: 434293.7377 e: homes@mcleanfaulconer.com WWW.MCLEANFAULCONER.COM
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Annie Gould Gallery

Bigger portfolio

CRHA updates City Council on recent property acquisitions

As Charlottesville considers an ordinance to create a land bank to generate more affordable housing, one government entity is already providing much of that function.

In addition to owning and operating hundreds of public and voucher-based units across the city, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority has been buying more property to guarantee lower rents for tenants.

Moving Forward

Transition is an opportunity regardless of your place in life... and you may feel now is the time to make a move.

doing for this portfolio is using the voucher problems in [Albemarle County] and the city. We are also assisting families that reach out to us that are unable to get served on the public housing program and the voucher program.”

Having both public housing units, as well as the additional units, gives an economy of scale that has allowed CRHA to hire two full-time exterminators to deal with known pest-control issues.

Sales says the agency is considering selling a duplex located on Harris Street on land zoned for industrial mixed-use.

“It is not in the best place for residential,” he says. “I’ve been talking to my board and they are in support of disposing of it.”

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“The portfolio was developed to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing units that were at risk of being lost due to natural real estate transactions,” says John Sales, CRHA’s executive director.

Using funding that had originally been approved by City Council for rental vouchers, CRHA bought two duplexes on Coleman Street in August 2022, and a house on Montrose Street that October. Last June, it closed on the $10 million purchase of 74 units known as Dogwood Housing after council agreed to contribute half the funds.

“We then acquired 100 Harris Rd., which is a three-bedroom single-family home, on July 14, 2023,” Sales says.

According to Sales, that transaction kept a long-term tenant, who had been at risk of displacement, in the house. Overall, 68 percent of tenants have incomes less than 30 percent of the Area Median Income. Seventy percent of the units do not have a subsidy associated with them.

“We want to continue serving those families,” Sales says. “What we have been

The property has an assessment of $295,300, but Sales says the property could go for between $350,000 and $500,000, and all of that funding would go back into the organization’s portfolio.

When City Councilor Michael Payne asked if the prospective owner could be identified, Sales said CRHA has to put the property on the open market.

“But, they were going to preserve it to expand their business operations and move their headquarters to that location,” Sales says.

To make up the additional residential, CRHA purchased a property in Belmont on Meridian Street last November, which, he says, will be added to the portfolio. A majority of City Council members say they’ll support the sale of the Harris Street property if it comes back to them for a vote.

“Harris Street ought to be a place where we are encouraging other industrial and commercial kinds of uses,” Councilor Lloyd Snook says.

There are plenty of expenses associated with maintaining so many homes, and Sales says three properties totaling 18 residential units on Ridge Street need new roofs. The CRHA is seeking grants to cover the cost of $50,000 per building, including an application through the city’s share of Community Development Block Grant funds.

Councilor Brian Pinkston told Sales he was glad the city helped make the Dogwood purchase.

“I think this just shows creativity on your part and I am very grateful for the work that you’ve done,” Pinkston said.

Pinkston and the rest of council also agreed in February to purchase 405 Avon St. from CRHA for $4 million. In addition, CRHA has closed on its $2.5 million purchase of the Milgraum building on the Downtown Mall.

18 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority might sell this Harris Street duplex because “it is not the best place for residential,” says CRHA Executive Director John Sales. SUPPLIED PHOTO A unique art gallery located in the heart of historic Gordonsville.
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Doug Burke | 434.996.6791

19 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly MONTAGUEMILLER.COM | 434.973.5393 | CHARLOTTESVILLE | MADISON | ORANGE | AMHERST/NELSON Proudly serving Central Virginia’s real estate needs for seventy-six years!
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slopes. A Builder & Developer will create something special here. $550,000 | montaguemiller.com/648203 Laurel Smith | 808.280.6431 0 Rochelle School Ln | Rochelle 20 acres. Incredible Investment Opportunity! Land is zoned Residential R-1 with potential to subdivide into 13 lots. Minimum lot size is 1.5 acres. $345,000 | CarterMontague.com/646225 Carter Montague | 434.962.3419 2 Heards Mountain Rd | Covesville 15 acre lot with gorgeous views, surrounded by mountains in southern Albemarle, 15 minutes south of Charlottesville. Rolling pasture, driveway already in place, soil testing done. Subject to County approval, division process underway.
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Cresent Farm Ln | Shipman 192 acre timber/recreation tract in central Nelson County, very close to Shipman and 10 mins to Lovingston/ Rt 29.Very private but not remote, property consists of 4 tax parcels & spans southeastern slopes of Naked Mountain. MONTAGUEMILLER.COM/REAL-ESTATE-ACADEMY Questions? Call Pat Sury 434.760.2999 Montague Miller Real Estate Academy offers a flexible hybrid online & in-class personalized education program to fit your schedule and your way to learn. Sign up for Principles of Real Estate ... Considering a Career in Real Estate? We can help... City Charmer 3 BR Brick Ranch w/Sunroom, large deck, finished basement & large fenced private backyard. Includes a 1-BR, full-bath Cottage with kitchen/living room as a Rental. Separate electric meters. Off street parking!
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22 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly

EDGEMONT

Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 15 miles south of Charlottesville, is this rare 572-acre historic estate whose design is reputed to be the only remaining private residence attributed to Thomas Jefferson. MLS#576150 Court Nexsen, 646.660.0700 www.HistoricEdgemont.com

MILL HOUSE

Former house of noted local architect Floyd E. Johnson, on the banks of Totier Creek. Thoughtfully renovated and expanded, 5-BR, 3 full and 2 half BA. Guest house, 2-bay garage, pool, equipment shed plus 130 acres of open & wooded land. MLS#639196 $2,475,000 Court Nexsen, 646.660.0700

WEST MAIN STREET CORRIDOR

Investment/Assemblage opportunity between University of Virginia and Charlottesville’s dynamic Downtown Mall. Property is being targeted to be classified to RX-5 in the new city zoning ordinance. MLS#30850340 $875,000 Tim Michel, 434.960.1124

FRAYS GRANT

This 21 acre lot is situated at the end of a culde-sac that provides privacy and a quite setting among towering hardwoods, and is convenient to CHO airport and ample shopping of various kinds. MLS#640231 $269,000 Jim Faulconer, 434.981.0076 or Will Faulconer, 434.987.9455

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FREE UNION PARCEL

42 acre tract on Wesley Chapel Road with the right to be divided into two 21 acre parcels. Big views with clearing towards the Blue Ridge. Stream frontage on Burruss Branch. Old logging road recently cleared for easy access. MLS#647055 $799,000 Tim Michel, 434.960.1124

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WAYSIDE PLACE

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EAST WATER STREET

Rare opportunity for a unique downtown office/retail condo with deeded onsite parking space! Located in the Holsinger Condo on Water Street, one block removed from the Historic Downtown Mall. Easily accessible to UVA and all Charlottesville has to offer. $495,000 Charlotte Dammann, 434.981.1250

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23 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly WWW.MCLEANFAULCONER.COM 503 Faulconer Drive| Charlottesville | VA 22903 | office: 434.295.1131 | email: homes@mcleanfaulconer.com
REDUCED
24 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly CVILLEPUZZLEHUNT.COM
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 25
THE TEMPTATIONS
GAGE SKIDMORE
ROBERT MANY OF F. KENNEDY JR.

Untangling the PROVOCATIVE

America’s White House-seeking SKEPTIC

It was warm for February, warm enough to make me worry about the Antarctic penguins and the bills I’ll get from Dominion Energy this summer, when I met with Jason Amatucci at the Virginia headquarters of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential campaign.

Amatucci, a Charlottesville native, is the campaign’s Virginia field director, and when I emailed him to ask for an interview, he replied in seven minutes: “We can do it at HQ which is the old cville weekly office lol.”

If you’ve strolled the Downtown Mall recently, maybe you’ve peeked inside the cavernous brick-lined room where the Kennedy campaign has set up shop and which generally appears empty. But when I arrived that Thursday evening, Amatucci was visible through the windows, sitting in an armchair next to a plush couch on a small area rug—a little DIY talk show set—and when I entered, I walked directly underneath the C-VILLE sign, still mounted on the building’s façade like an effigy.

The Robert F. Kennedy Jr. origin story goes like this: Born an American blue blood, he transcended a chaotic upbringing that included the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, when he was 9, the assassination of his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, when he was 14, multiple expulsions from various boarding schools, a cannabis possession charge, a heroin possession charge, an undergraduate degree from Harvard, and a law degree from the University of Virginia before making a name for himself as an environmental litigator who sued prominent corporate polluters (Monsanto, DuPont) and won.

Over the decades, however, Kennedy’s focus has drifted from pollutants in our environment to so-called toxins in our vaccines, and his environmentalist credentials have, for many, become overshadowed by the anti-vaccine conspiracy theories he continues to espouse. Now he’s running for president as an independent because the Democratic National Committee refused to hold a primary that would pit President Joe Biden against anyone else.

But that’s another story.

“C-VILLE Weekly?” said Amatucci as I sat down across from him. Before I could start recording our conversation, he was

off, galloping through a long list of Kennedy’s campaign priorities as if he was afraid that I was going to interrupt him: “Clean water, clean air, keeping corporations in check, whether they be big ag or big pharma … reduce the poisons that are in the agriculture, in the rivers … and vaccines as well.”

“That was quick,” I thought. My pre-interview impression had been that the Kennedy campaign was trying to minimize Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to a wider population. It’s a strategy that could be highly effective, according to Professor T. Kenny Fountain, who teaches rhetoric and writing at UVA, and studies how the media we consume affects our beliefs. “Belief in a conspiracy theory is not an all or nothing proposition,” he says.

“Someone doesn’t necessarily go from 100 percent believing in vaccines to 100 percent not believing in them,” adds Fountain. “There’s a gradual process of having your ideas shaped and then eventually changed. You have to encounter messaging that slowly erodes your belief.”

For instance, says Fountain, it’s “very easy to hate on big pharma,” so anti-vaccine rhetoric might veil itself with critique of the pharmaceutical industry, because connecting to a larger concern can form a “bridge that gets people to move closer and closer to that belief.”

With this strategy in mind, I asked Amatucci if he felt like the campaign is intentionally trying to connect environmental pollution to vaccine additives for people. Sure enough, he immediately denied that the campaign wanted to draw that connection. But at the same time, he seemed to encourage me to make the connection for myself.

“It’s not anti-vax. It’s vaccine safety,” Amatucci said, and added an anecdote about Kennedy not being called anti-fish because he was trying to get mercury out of fish so that people could eat fish safely.

I wanted to say that while a healthy choice, eating fish cannot curb a pandemic or spare children from dying of measles, but I didn’t.

Writing about conspiracy theories requires a delicate balance of respect and respectful incredulity. In my effort

to do it well and not get canceled or doxxed, I found myself reading The Debunking Handbook 2020, a resource written by a long list of academics and made publicly available online in an effort to combat the spread of misinformation.

Here’s a summary: Responsible journalists don’t repeat misinformation because it tends to stick. Even if you’re saying it so you can point out what’s wrong with it, you might end up unintentionally legitimizing it for people. If you absolutely have to acknowledge misinformation, cautious journalists can do it using a “truth sandwich,” where writers surround the misinformation with facts to debunk it before it can take root.

For example: Modern vaccines save lives and are safe for the vast majority of people. Some people find the idea of vaccines disturbing and overemphasize the dangers associated with them. While vaccines, like anything we put into our bodies, can occasionally have side effects, they are almost always mild and temporary. Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools we have to keep ourselves and our communities healthy, and their safety has been demonstrated over decades of research and use.

But while truth sandwiches can provide crucial context, they can also distance us from the reality of an encounter with misinformation.

Talking to Amatucci was a profoundly disorienting experience. He’d say a couple things that I honestly agreed with, such as, “Pharmaceutical companies don’t always tell us the truth.” Or “They’ve made tons of money from the COVID-19 vaccine.” Or “If you’re polluting a river, you need to be held responsible.” And then, just as I began to feel at ease, he’d hit me with a piece of misinformation, like an allusion to the well-disproven theory that vaccines can cause autism in children, and before I had a chance to fully register what he said, Amatucci would have pivoted away from the misinformation and back to things like how Kennedy wants to legalize psilocybin and cannabis. You know, things that young(ish) people like me want to hear. It felt like the misinformation was being packaged in such a way to allow it to sneak into the conversation as surreptitiously as possible, like Amatucci was making his own version of a truth sandwich.

Misinformation “doesn’t need to be masked, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t,” says Fountain. When masked, the message serves as a kind of gateway, an invitation to dive further down the so-called rabbit hole. Indeed, when I asked Amatucci if it would be possible for me to get a quote from Kennedy for this piece, he said no—instead, he recommended that I listen to Kennedy’s interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which has become notorious in recent years for allegedly spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation.

By the end of the interview, I worried I’d fallen for something just by being there. I felt tormented by the possibility that by not screaming at Amatucci when he said he doesn’t “dismiss immediately” the idea that Jewish people are somehow more immune to COVID-19, echoing similar comments made by Kennedy, I’d somehow absorbed some of that worldview and become complicit.

This is cognitive dissonance in action, according to Matt Motyl, a data scientist and media researcher who has a Ph.D. in social psychology from UVA.

“We want to believe that the people we surround ourselves with are smart,” says Motyl, and so “when those people start doing things that don’t fit with the expectation of what smart or good is, then we have to wrestle with it.” Usually the easiest response is to accept their opinion and integrate it into your own.

Is there a middle ground? A position between accepting someone’s bigoted views and refusing to listen to anything they have to say? I honestly don’t know. It’s a bit like trying to separate the art from the artist. When I asked Alexander Szarka and Cameron Mayhew, students at the University of

March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 26
rhetoric of
STAFF PHOTO C-VILLE’s former office on the Downtown Mall has been transformed into the Virginia headquarters of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential campaign.

Virginia School of Law who organized an on-Grounds fireside chat with Kennedy in late January, if they thought it was possible to separate the misinformation from the candidate, they said it was.

“It’s not that we fully agree with [Kennedy’s] views,” Mayhew says, but that they thought it would be “cool” to hear from “UVA Law’s most high-profile alum.”

The idea that we can appreciate Kennedy’s environmental advocacy or the titillating stories he can tell about his family without absorbing his misinformation is tempting. But according to Fountain, it doesn’t really matter whether we actually believe Kennedy’s claims about vaccines—when it comes to conspiracy theories, it’s the repetition, normalization, and connection to pre-existing beliefs that’s key.

When I asked Mayhew and Szarka if they were concerned about platforming Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric, Szarka says they are studying law, not medicine. (Both are fully vaccinated, and not overly concerned about the health risks associated with vaccines.) According to Szarka, the only palpably uncomfortable moment was when Kennedy voiced his support for Israel’s continued assault on Gaza. (The Daily Progress quoted Kennedy as saying, “All this stuff about [Israel] being an apartheid state is propaganda.”)

Instead of spotlighting Kennedy’s shortcomings, Mayhew and Szarka prefer to focus on what they feel is Kennedy’s strength—his understanding of the issues that most concern a younger, more disillusioned group of voters.

“Young people are frustrated with the lack of opportunities compared to their parents’ generations,” says Szarka. Mayhew adds that they were “pleasantly surprised” by the “overwhelming positive response” from the approximately 400 attendees to Kennedy’s fireside chat.

“We, as social beings, are motivated to believe stuff that we see that supports our preferred beliefs and attitudes,” says Motyl. “For the most part, people aren’t motivated to find the truth. It’s not because people don’t want correct information. It’s because most things in life are really complicated. … Very few people can be an expert in even one area, let alone all of them.”

I want to believe that what Motyl said doesn’t apply to me, or to anyone who considers themself an advocate for truth. So when I spoke to Kirk Bowers, a long-time Charlottesville resident, environmental activist, and former chair of the 5th District Democratic party, I felt heartened at first when Bowers immediately declared “it would be a waste of a vote to vote for Kennedy.”

But he continued, “I’m concerned that his campaign could draw votes away from Biden at a critical time in our nation’s history when we need everyone on board to protect and preserve our democracy. He could be a spoiler, and that’s what I fear more than anything.”

While Bowers maintained that Kennedy has “a lot of disadvantages,” he also says there are groups in Charlottesville that support some of Kennedy’s environmental policies—and he agrees with some of those policies himself.

ccording to a January Economist/YouGov poll, 45 percent of American adults have a favorable or very favorable opinion of Kennedy (although only 1 percent said they’d vote for Kennedy in an election that included Biden and Donald Trump). It seems that Kennedy still has some cultural clout, regardless of whether his opinions are based in fact—although whether this clout will translate into votes is still unclear.

now,” says Motyl. This distrust has created an environment where people are “more likely to be searching for meaning.”

“It isn’t necessarily that we excuse certain kinds of conspiracy theories, though sometimes we do,” says Fountain, because “people understand that conspiracy theories exist along a spectrum.”

“There is no easy litmus test to know when something is a conspiracy theory or actual conspiratorial politics,” Fountain adds, citing the Iran-Contra affair and Watergate as examples of things that “sound made up, but actually happened.” (Although Fountain did provide one helpful test that he will sometimes use: “If you’re blaming a powerful group of Jews, you’re probably in a conspiracy theory.”)

We are especially susceptible to believing misinformation, Motyl says, when there’s a major existential threat, such as a global pandemic, or the perceived “death of American values,” or climate change.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Despite being a scientist who wholeheartedly believes that science has done an immeasurable amount of good for society, I can still feel the pull of Kennedy’s skeptical rhetoric. It’s appealing because he seems to not only think things are truly awful, but he goes even further than I am willing to go—and it sucks to admit it, but there’s a comfort in that. Because even though my rational scientist brain knows that Kennedy’s claims are without evidence, often bigoted, and threaten to undermine the very field that I myself work in, my angry, sad, terrified lizard brain thinks that maybe if Kennedy really thinks things are that bad, he will actually change them.

When I admit this to Fountain, he says this feeling can be intentionally induced. While the term conspiracy theorist is generally considered stigmatizing, it can be reclaimed as a “badge of honor” when people feel like being a skeptic puts them in touch with “the kind of knowledge that the normal person doesn’t have … if they feel it connects them to maybe being a ‘seeker,’ being particularly smart, being inquisitive, or having a questioning mind.”

Call me a conspiracy theory apologist if you want, but I don’t think it makes you a bad person if you are willing to question the decisions made by the U.S. government about public health. For instance, on March 1, the CDC dropped its recommendation that people isolate themselves when they contract COVID-19. Wondering if capitalist interests played a role in that decision doesn’t make me a conspiracy theorist; it makes me angry.

But anger is fuel for power, and unacknowledged anger becomes misdirected anger. “Every woman has a wellstocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being. Focused with precision it can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change,” said Audre Lorde, in her 1981 speech, The Uses of Anger. Lorde continued, “and when I speak of change, I do not mean a simple switch of positions or a temporary lessening of tensions, nor the ability to smile or feel good. I am speaking of a basic and radical alteration in those assumptions underlining our lives.”

27

Mountain Valley Pipeline in an effort to mitigate its environmental impact.

“I found the plans really bad,” Bowers says, then proudly adds that he was right: The pipeline’s constructors were eventually fined $2.2 million for environmental violations, the largest fine in the state’s history.

I asked Bowers if he felt like Charlottesville is the type of place where you can feel supported to change your views, and he said he did, because the caliber of activism in Charlottesville is particularly high—lots of nice, energetic, organized people to “work with, and share ideas, and reinforce each other.”

Bowers’ decades-long evolution from infrastructure engineer to environmental watchdog sounds almost utopic; an unattainable luxury in today’s frenzied media environment. I can’t help but wonder if there’s a civil engineer out there right now who’s about to embark on a similar journey of their own, but with a very different result.

AIBut my concern isn’t that Kennedy’s going to win the presidency. It’s that he’s proving in real time that for all we liberals talk about caring about the facts, we refuse to completely disregard someone who is willing to promote misinformation if they are supposedly on our team.

And this makes sense, because Americans have “less trust in government and media and pretty much all institutions

If one person’s anger, used intentionally and well, can do that, what can our anger do when gathered like bundles of wheat by someone who sees it lying in the dirt, unharvested?

Bowers took the long way on his journey to becoming an environmental activist: After serving in the army during the Vietnam War, he had a successful career as a civil engineer working on infrastructure and development projects—not unlike the very projects that Bowers later protested with environmental conservation groups.

So what changed? “I evolved,” says Bowers, “and I saw a lot of things in my career that weren’t right.” These things energized his activism and influenced his views, and after getting laid off during the recession in the mid-2000s, he started working for the Sierra Club. He eventually co-founded Mountain Valley Watch, and used his engineering training to review the construction plans for the

n early February, I, like many other Taylor Swift fans, did something I’d never done before: watched the Super Bowl. So when a retro-styled campaign ad with a catchy “Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy” jingle came on, I saw it live. If I could go back and see that Super Bowl ad for the first time, knowing what I know now about how our anger and fear gets exploited, and how misinformation gets repackaged for mass consumption, I’d be able to see the ad for what it was. I’d call it an obvious attempt to not only connect Kennedy to his family’s political legacy for older voters, but to also appeal to a younger demographic that fetishizes a certain “vintage” aesthetic, nostalgic for something we never had.

We get you, the ad seemed to be trying to say. We alone understand how much you want something that seems hopelessly out of reach.

It looks silly to me now, and if I could go back, my response to the ad would be to laugh and say, look how blatantly they are trying to ensnare us. That kind of obvious pandering could never work on me.

But I didn’t know any of that at the time. So when the ad ended, I just thought “cute song,” and went back to scrolling through Twitter while waiting for Taylor to appear, my defenses just a little bit lower than they were before.

the decades, Kennedy’s focus has drifted from
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
Over
POLLUTANTS in
ENVIRONMENT to so-called TOXINS in our VACCINES .
our
GAGE SKIDMORE The Democratic National Committee will not hold a primary election for the party’s presidential ticket, so Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided to challenge President Joe Biden and his Republican opponent as an independent candidate.

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c-ville.com

Highlights Include:

30th Anniversary Kickoff: ’90s

Rooftop Party

Common House, Charlottesville Wednesday, March 20; 7—9pm

Join pop culture critic and author of 60 Songs that Explain the ‘90s Rob Harvilla to hear some throwback tunes and reminisce about the ‘90s.

Saturday, March 23 at The Paramount Theater

One ticket gives you access to up-front section seating at all four Virginia Festival of the Book featured and headlining events. With Senator Danica Roem, Ada Limón, Roxane Gay, and Percival Everett.

Saturday, March 23, 7:00pm to 11:00pm

The Bradbury and Vault Virginia on the Downtown Mall

Our 30th Anniversary Party!

Enjoy food, drinks, dancing and a celebration of three incredible decades of festival memories—for a night you won’t forget for another 30 years!

Wednesday, March 20

Judaism Disrupted

UVa Bookstore, 2:00pm

Unsung Women Central JMRL Library, 2:00pm

Defining Housewife: Nostalgia, stereotypes, and womanhood

Omni Hotel, 2:00pm

Justice Rising: Robert Kennedy’s America in Black and White

Jefferson School, 2:00pm

Holocaust Reckoning

UVa Bookstore, 3:30pm

Where the Truth Lies: Racism and Reckonings

Jefferson School, 3:30pm

Heavenly Bodies & Hot Sonnets: Modern Love Poems

Central JMRL Library, 4:00pm

Same Page

Community Read: Florence Adler Swims Forever

Jefferson School, 5:30pm 30th Anniversary Kickoff: ‘90s

Rooftop Party Common House, 7:00pm

Over 70 Live Events

Thursday, March 21

Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World

Central JMRL Library, 10:00am

Wake Up to Wonder

Omni Hotel 3/21/2024, 10:00am

Skimpy Coverage

Omni Hotel,11:00am

Standing Up to Hate

Jefferson School, 11:00am

Autonomy and Agency

Omni Hotel, 12:30pm

Solastalgia: An Anthology of Emotion in a Disappearing World

Central JMRL Library, 12:30pm

Soul in Celebration

Jefferson School, 12:30pm

Strange Species:

Science Fiction

UVa Bookstore, 1:00pm

Lawless Women

Omni Hotel, 2:00pm

Natural Born Creatures

Central JMRL Library, 2:00pm

Black Women Collectives

Jefferson School, 2:00pm

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant UVa Bookstore, 4:00pm

Queer Reimaginings

Omni Hotel, 4:00pm

Tagging Freedom: Reading and Art Workshop

The Bridge PAI, 4:30pm

Dark Imaginations

Jefferson School, 5:30pm

Finding Your Voice: A YA Fiction

Pizza Party

Central JMRL Library, 6:00pm

Stories of Meaning:

Voices of Adult Learners

V. Earl Dickinson Building, Piedmont VA Community College, 7:00pm

SEEK: How Curiosity Can

Transform Your Life

St. Anne’s-Belfield, Upper School,7:00pm

March 13
2024
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28

March 20 to 24, 2024 - Virginia Festival of the Book

Friday, March 22

Against Technoableism

CitySpace, 10:00am

The Texture of Family Jefferson School, 10:30am

The Death of a Public School

Omni Hotel, 10:30am

Family Trees & Legacies

New Dominion Bookshop, 11:00am

Coffee and Crime with Sarah Weinman

Omni Hotel, 11:00am

The Sound of the Future

CitySpace,11:30am

Toxic Legacy

Omni Hotel, 12:00pm

Multigenerational Fiction:

Ghosts and Secrets

Jefferson School, 12:30pm

Impossible Choices

Omni Hotel, 1:00pm

Southern Fried Crime CitySpace. 1:00pm

Pastoral Pilgrims:

Southern Poets in Nature

New Dominion Bookshop, 1:00pm

Better Halves: Romcom Heroines

Meet Their Matches

Omni Hotel, 2:30pm

Alternate Appalachias

New Dominion Bookshop, 2:30pm

Blue Ridge Thrillers

Jefferson School, 2:30pm

Scandalous Ladies of the 19th

Century CitySpace, 3:00pm

Souther Environmental Law Center CODE Building, 4:00pm

Wine and Words with Jami Attenberg Omni Hotel, 4:00pm

The 2024 Carol Troxell Reader:

Dwight Garner

New Dominion Bookshop, 4:00pm

Blue Hour

Jefferson School, 4:00pm

Bibliographical Society: Annual Meeting

UVA Harrison Institute, 4:00pm

Saturday, March 23

Historical Fiction Breakfast with Brinda Charry, Adriana Trigiani, and Jeanette Walls, in conversation with Rachel Beanland

Omni Hotel, 10:00am

Like a Lady: Women in Crime

Omni Hotel, 10:00am

Jefferson-Madison Regional Library Book Swap

Central JMRL Library, 10:00am

Fantastical Love: YA Fiction

Omni Hotel, 10:00am

Burn the Page with Danica Roem

Paramount Theater  10:30am

Expansive Frontiers

City Council Chambers  11:00am

Sequels & Segues

Omni Hotel  11:30am

Bark and Bite: YA Stories of Inner Strength

Omni Hotel  11:30am

Memory Making, History, and Democracy: A look back at August 12, 2017

Omni Hotel  12:00pm

The Hurting Kind and Other Poems with Ada Limón

Paramount Theater  1:00pm

Late Fines and Lies: Library Crimes

Omni Hotel  1:00pm

Patrick Henry’s Final Political Battle City Council Chambers  1:00pm

Heart, Spunk, Magic, Chutzpah: Courageous Girls

Central JMRL Library  1:00pm

Growing Organic Food

Omni Hotel  1:30pm

The New Brownies Book: A Love

Letter to Black Families

Omni Hotel  1:30pm

Healing Words: Poetry and Health

Central JMRL Library  3:00pm

Opinions with Roxane Gay

Paramount Theater  4:00pm

Book Tour: James with Percival Everett

Paramount Theater  6:30pm

Wordy Thirty Anniversary Party

The Bradbury  7:00pm

Sunday, March 24

The Cabinet:

George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution

Monticello’s David M Rubenstein

Visitor Center, 11:00am

The Links Inc. Brunch

Jefferson School, 11:00am

Love for the Land

Ivy Creek Natural Area , 11:30am

Gladys S. Blizzard Lecture with Prudence Peiffer

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, 1:00pm

The Write Start: Moseley Speed Critique

Central JMRL Library, 1:00pm

Wild, Tamed, Lost, and Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South

James Monroe’s Highland, 1:30pm

UVA MFA Reading

Visible/Records, 2:00pm

Festival Finale

Decipher Brewing, 4:00pm

March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 29
Full Schedule, Details, Tickets and more at: VABook.org
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 30 Saturday, April 13th: 6-8 pm An Evening with Free Event DANA MILBANK The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Charlottesville, VA Dessert Q&A with Dana Dana Milbank is a nationally syndicated op-ed columnist with The Washington Post and a New York Times bestselling author. He "recently bought a property in the Virginia Piedmont, with the pandemic-inspired idea of finding peace in nature." Hear how it's going. Register for tickets: www.blueridgeprism.org 2024 SHAMROCK SHINDIG benefit concert 2024 SHAMROCK SHINDIG benefit concert MARCH 16 • 2:00 PM • KESWICK HUNT CLUB Join us for a lively evening of irish music and celebration at our St. Paddy’s Day benefit concert! This special event will feature a live performance by talented local musicians, Silverstone, showcasing the rich and vibrant traditions of irish music. In addition to the captivating music, there will be opportunities to enjoy social activities and spirits, creating a festive atmosphere. All proceeds from this event will benefit Keswick Sensory, a local non profit dedicated to enriching the lives of families with autistic children. GENERAL TICKET SALES ADULTS: $50 CHILDREN $25 Silverstone shamrockshindig2024.my.canva.site/benefit-concert • (434) 409-0275 • MAKEADIFFERENCE@KESWICKSENSORY.ORG
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 31 anticipation WeeK BURGeR
22-28, 2024
April
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 32 12T H ANNU A L April 17 —21 2024 tomtomfoundation.org A Festival About the Future of Our Community MUSIC • ART • IDEAS Our 2024 Theme: TOGETHER

WED. APRIL 17—SAT. APRIL 20 | TICKETED

Our TOGETHER Conference convenes engaged citizen leaders from all sectors and neighborhoods to talk about the future of the community. Panels, keynotes, workshops, and seminars tackle some of the most important questions of the day through four immersive tracks: Technology for Good, Entrepreneurship for All, Society & Justice, and Conscious City.

TECHNOLOGY MIXER

WED. APRIL 17 | TICKETED

Come out for a cocktail and meet the movers and shakers in Charlottesville’s tech scene! This mixer assembles diverse tech sectors --biotech, energy, data, defense, AI, and technology --- and the funders who are fueling their growth for an evening of conversations and connections.

FILM SCREENING: A Bridge to Life Documentary

THUR. APRIL 18 | TICKETED

From celebrated local director Chris Farina comes a documentary about the power of overcoming hardship, building community, and remaining resilient. Ticket sales benefit the Bridge Ministry, an organization in Buckingham County that works to change and save the lives of men dealing with life-threatening addiction issues.

3 NIGHTS OF DANCE PARTIES

THUR. APRIL 18—SAT. APRIL 20 | TICKETED

Grab a wireless headset and get down at the Silent Disco on Thursday; feel the global rhythm and hip hop vibes at PARADISE on Friday, and don your brightest colors and groove to latin soul at the CARNIVALE party on Saturday.

DOWNTOWN MALL BLOCK PARTY

FRI. APRIL 19—SAT. APRIL 20 | FREE

A cultural experience to remember, the Downtown Mall will be turning into a New Orleans-style festival for TWO nights! Grab a drink from your favorite local bar, take a walk, check out galleries and shops, listen to live performances, and hang out with friends, old and new.

March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly 33
LEARN MORE AND SAVE ON ADVANCE TICKETS at TOMTOMFOUNDATION.ORG
March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly BROUGHT TO YOU BY CASTLE HILL CIDER, HARMONY WINE & EASTWOOD FARM AND WINERY 1-6pm at Castle Hill Cider IT ’ S A VIBE D A Z E O F ROSE 3.30.24 Drink Pink, Wear Pink Thank You to Our Festival Partners & Sponsors Quirk Hotel | The Catering Outfit | Skyline Tent Company | Tourterelle Floral Design The Scout Guide | Virginia Wine & Spirits Academy | Beatrix Ost People's Choice Rosé Wine Competition | Live set by DJ Double U Discovery Lawn featuring Castle Hill Cider and a variety of red, white, and rosé wines Curated & unique pop-up food concepts created by The Catering Outfit featuring Oysters & Caviar Bar (pre-order caviar) | Salumeria Bar | Smash Burger Bar | Zero Proof Bar Art installation by internationally renowned art and style icon, Beatrix Ost Wine Education Sessions | Sip and Socialize with Monique Samuels Shopping Experience featuring Mila Eve Essentials, Agents in Style Boutique and more! Scan for Tickets da Z eofrose.com

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY 3/13

SECRET GARDEN

When it comes to Impressionist painting, gardens are a hot subject, and Claude Monet is widely regarded as one of the movements’ premier painters. The film Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse showcases an extensive exhibition from London’s Royal Academy of Art that is centered around the beauty of the garden expressed by Impressionist, abstract, and avant-garde painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and others. $11-$15, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

THROUGH 3/31

HIGH-SEAS CALAMITIES

Mistaken identities, stowaways, high society, and lovelorn bachelors abound in Anything Goes, the raucous musical that takes place on a luxury ocean liner. Among the cast of wacky characters is an evangelist-turned-nightclub singer, a gangster and his moll, and an upper-crust lord and his intended, who all make matches and enemies aboard the S.S. American. Popular Cole Porter tunes include “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “It’s De-Lovely,” and “You’re the Top.” Parental discretion advised. $10-20, times and dates vary. 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org

SUNDAY 3/17

ALL THAT JAZZ

The Albemarle High School Jazz Ensemble takes the stage at The Paramount Theater for its annual Swing Into Spring benefit concert that features a lineup of local and regional musicians, including John D’earth, Charles Owens, Andrew Randazzo, Greg Thomas, and more. Under the direction of Andrew LaPrade, the award-winning ensemble is raising money for City of Promise, which aims to make a positive impact on generational poverty through full-family, childcentered initiatives. $30, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 Main E. St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

35 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
SUPPLIED PHOTO SUPPLIED PHOTO ADRIAN LORENZONI

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CULTURE THIS WEEK

Wednesday 3/13 music

Bumpin Uglies. Reggae-rock music. $1822, 8pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. Hard Swimmin’ Fish. Mid-week music boost. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Jim Waive and Jen Fleisher. Country classics and more. Free, 7pm. Blue Moon Diner, 606 W. Main St.

Karaoke. Classic tunes with Jennifer DeVille. Free, 10pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Open Mic Night. With Nicole Giordano. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St. classes

Embellished Scarves. Create beautiful scarves with crystals and beads $50, noon. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. Paint + Sip: Paint, sip, and repeat, with a cherry blossom theme. $35, 6pm. Starr Hill Brewery Tap Room, 5391 Three Notched Rd, Crozet. etc.

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. Film looks at curated art from the Royal Academy of Art’s collection. $11-15, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

SuperFly Run Club. Run around the city, then enjoy $5 pints. Free, 6pm. SuperFly Brewing Co., 943 Preston Ave.

Tour The Paramount Theater. Go behind the scenes and take a tour. Free, 5pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Thursday 3/14 music

Berto and Vincent. Wild gypsy rumba guitar music. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Jesse’s House. Rock and rockabilly with Jesse Fiske & Friends. Free, 6pm. Blue Moon Diner, 606 W. Main St. Shadowgrass. Modern bluegrass music. $15-18, 8pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St.

Soul Meets Body & Niji Saga. Weekly live music. Free, 7pm. SuperFly Brewing Co., 943 Preston Ave.

words

Amir Ahmadi Arian Fiction Reading. UVA visiting writer reads from his works. Free, 5pm. Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room, 180 McCormick Rd. etc.

Bent Theatre Comedy Night. Audience suggestions turn into comedy improv. Free, 7pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd.

Dart Night. Weekly event with $1 off pints. Free, 6pm. Decipher Brewing, 1740 Broadway St.

Music Bingo. Family-friendly music bingo. Free, 6pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd.

The Cancelled Podcast Tour. With Tana Mongeau and Brooke Schofield. $27-47, 7:30pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Friday 3/15 music

Cake Fight. Pop and classic rock covers. Free, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd.

Carbon Leaf. Indie folk-rock music. $25-42, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Cherry Red. Rolling Stones tribute band. Free, 7pm. Pro Re Nata, 6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet.

Eli Cook Band. Gritty cross of country and rock music. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St.

Ken Farmer & the Authenticator. Wine and music with friends. Free, 6pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union.

Lauren Daigle. Popular singer-songwriter makes a stop on her Kaleidoscope Tour. With Blessing Offor. Free, 7pm. John Paul Jones Arena, 295 Massie Rd.

Mari Kimura Colloquium. Music from the violinist and composer. Free, 3:30pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds.

Slick Montgomery Band. Folk, blues, and rock. Free, 8pm. Ace Biscuit & Barbeque, 600 Concord Ave.

March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com
Friday 3/15 | John
Jones Arena SUPPLIED PHOTO Benjamin Rous, Music Director Kate Tamarkin, Music Director Laureate WINNER BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC GROUP Tickets UVA Arts Box Office artsboxoffice.virginia.edu 434.924.3376 Saturday, March 16 7:30pm Old Cabell Hall Sunday, March 17 3:30pm Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center MOZART Overture to Don Giovanni PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 with Alexander Suh, Piano SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9 Special thanks to Season Sponsor
Lauren Daigle
Paul

Stop Light Observations. Band blends rock, pop, and indie music infused with electronic beats. $15-20, 8:30pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 First St.

Telemetry Concert with Mari Kimura. Music series featuring the violinist. Free, 8pm. The Looking Glass, 522 Second St SE, Ste D. Travis Elliott. Fun acoustic music. Free, 5:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd.

stage

Anything Goes. Four County Players present the musical set on the high seas. Parental discretion advised. $10-20, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville.

James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dahl’s quirky story in musical form. Free, 7pm. DMR Adventures, 221 Carlton Rd Suite 4. Raphael’s Islands. Staged reading of a new play by UVA Alum Alexandra Déglise. Free, 7pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd.

classes

Pysanky Eggs. A class for beginners and experienced artisans creating keepsake eggs. $25, 2pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. etc.

Big Blue Door: The Kook Report. Long-form, improv comedy. $10, 7pm. McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second St., NW.

The Twinning Reaction with filmmaker Lori Shinseki and Illustrator A.I. Miller. Local director and producer engages with the audience following a screening of the documentary film about a nefarious scientific study. Free, 7:30pm. Piedmont Virginia Community College, V. Earl Dickinson Building, 501 College Dr.

Mark Normand: Ya Don’t Say Tour. Stand-up comedy tour. $35-159.75. 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall

Saturday 3/16

music

Albemarle Symphony Orchestra. Spring concert featuring Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 and Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, featuring Humberto Sales on classical guitar. Free, 3:30pm. Grisham Hall, St. Anne’s Belfield School, 2132 Ivy Rd.

Annie Stokes, Karen Jonas, and Renee Lyman. An evening of female songwriters and singers. $10, 7pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville.

Charlottesville Symphony. Benjamin Rous conducts various works by Mozart and Shostakovich. $10-46, 7:30pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds.

Heavy Flow. Ambient music and ethereal sounds from Catherine Monnes and Katie Jackson. Free, 8pm. The Stage at WTJU, 2244 Ivy Rd.

Josh Mayo and The House Sauce. Originals and classic rock covers. Free, 10pm. The Bebedero, 201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. Love Canon. Shake off the Ides of March with the acoustic-roots band. $8-12, 7pm. Fry’s Spring Beach Club, 2512 Jefferson Park Ave.

Mason Ramsey. Country artist stops in with his Falls Into Place Tour $17-20, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Mike Burris Band. An evening of roots-rockin’ Americana. Free, 5:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd.

Trapdoors, from both sides now

Something enchanting happens when we cross the threshold between illusion and what lies behind it. That’s a fancy way of saying that I’m a sucker for a behind-the-scenes experience. I’ve always been a huge theater fan, to the point of becoming the president of my high school’s International Thespian Society chapter. As you can imagine, I was very popular.

My cousins and I have a decade-long tradition of seeing A Christmas Carol each winter at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. During the worst of the pandemic, we watched via livestream. Other plays there have also been wonderful, of course. If you haven’t attended a show at the Blackfriars, I highly recommend it. This spring’s season features Julius Caesar, Pride and Prejudice, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Performances at the Blackfriars are unlike those at other theaters. As its description of the staging conditions coyly states, they “do it with the lights on.” Actors play multiple roles, and the sets and props are minimal—just enough to give the imagination a scaffold. These Shakespearean staging conditions result in an unparalleled intimate theatrical experience.

For years now, I’ve wanted to do a Playhouse Tour to glimpse behind the curtain, beneath the trapdoor on that stage. Finally, that wish came to fruition.—Kristie Smeltzer

What

A tour of the Blackfriars Playhouse.

Why

Because learning more about the Bard, the re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theater, and the inner workings of the theater company could only enhance appreciation for the American Shakespeare Center’s performances.

How it went

Seeing the underside of the trapdoor that I’ve watched many Jacob Marleys erupt from (with chains they formed in life, link by link) warmed the cockles of my theater-loving heart. Playhouse tours are typically offered Monday through Saturday, at 10am and 2pm. Tickets are $10 per person and must be purchased in advance. I met my guide in front of the playhouse 10 minutes ahead of the tour time. His expansive knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject matter were apparent from the start.

Inside, we began on the stage. What a truly humbling experience to walk the planks where such fine actors work, performers whose efforts have given me and mine so much enjoyment over the years. The guide shared information about the structure itself, describing the meticulous attention paid to re-creating Shakespeare’s original Blackfriars, with a few concessions to modern amenities. (Yay! No ye olde privies.) Two notable deviations from the original theater’s design exist, occurring due to a lack of information during construction. You’ll have to take the tour to find out those differences.

As the guide spoke, actors mustered for a rehearsal. I forgot how much I love the way the energy in a theater changes when populated, building exponentially as the players fill the space. We moved off the stage and peered into the backstage area, which is surprisingly compact. From there, we meandered past handmade tapestries, replications of those that would have been gifted by a patron to the original theater.

Blackfriars Playhouse

americanshakespearecenter.com

Next stop, the lobby, where the guide conveyed a wealth of knowledge about the modern company’s workings, players who graced the stage with Shakespeare himself, and the history of theater (and theaters) in England in the Bard’s time. If you know a fair amount about Shakespeare and his work, you’ll hear familiar information, but it’s still worth it to learn from a passionate guide while standing in a re-creation of where the magic happened hundreds of years ago in England.

Our last stop was the “backstage” areas below the main theater, peeking into rehearsal, dressing, and costuming spaces. Anecdotes were shared. Laughs were had. And when the guide opened the door “to hell” and invited me to step into the space where I peered up at the underside of that magnificent trap door, my heart nearly burst.

37 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly CULTURE TRIED IT IN C'VILLE
The American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton is a deeply researched replica of the original Shakespeare theater that burned down in the 1666 Great Fire of London. COURTESY ASC
CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

Making a mark

Dathan Kane sees the nuance in black and white

Dathan Kane has just completed a month-long residency at Visible Records, an artist-run gallery and studio space that focuses on contemporary arts and empowering the community, and is located in the Belmont/Carlton neighborhood. Kane’s residency is part of a joint project with the Contemporary Arts Network of Newport News that will see two Visible Records artists headed there to produce a mural.

During his time at VR, Kane painted the walls of the 1,000 square-foot space with one of his distinctive black and white murals, which he collectively refers to as “The World of Shapes.” The result is stunning.

Born and raised in Hampton, Virginia, Kane received his B.A. in art and design from Virginia State University in 2014, with a focus on illustration, charcoal drawing, and graphic design. He didn’t start painting until his senior year, but took to it immediately. After graduation, he embarked on a career painting still lifes and portraits. But this changed dramatically following a 2015 trip to Art Basel Miami. “Seeing the work that was there and the artists I’d been studying—having access to that was inspirational,” says Kane. “It’s not like I’m coming from L.A. or New York, where you’ll see a lot more of that type of art.”

Inspired, Kane took his art in an entirely different direction, going big, going bold, and going monochrome. “I was thinking of ways to create something, to develop a visual language that felt authentic to me,” he says.

Reducing his palette to black and white wasn’t such a stretch for him, given his focus in college. But this palette choice was more profound than mere facility with a genre, “Black and white has always represented the foundation of art,” Kane says. “The absence of color draws attention. When you think of art for the most part, you think of color. When color isn’t present, you tend to be a little curious.” And color may have had a chastening effect on the scale of his forms since the combination may have been too much visually.

Looking at images of Kane’s various installations around the Hampton Roads area, Richmond, and Baltimore, you’re struck by how individual the projects look, while obviously done by the same hand. You also see black and white’s timelessness and how its undeniable chic works so well within the urban landscape.

In 2018, Kane became involved in the public art scene. He loves working outside and he likes the way public art engages with people who might not set foot in a gallery or museum space, or might not feel comfortable in those spaces. “If you’re able to engage someone passing by on their daily

“When you think of art for the most part, you think of color. When color isn’t present, you tend to be a little curious.”

commute and take them out of reality for a minute, that impact is really special to me.”

In 2021, Kane was given the opportunity by Contemporary Arts Network to present his work on a grand scale and create an immersive experience. “I was a big fan of theme parks growing up,” he says. “And I had this idea to create a visual theme park.” If this sounds similar to Yayoi Kusama, it is. But Kane, motivated by entirely different forces, is achieving a similar effect using paint only. For that project, he painted six different spaces in the CAN headquarters in Newport News, including walls, floors, ceilings, and objects in the spaces. It took about four weeks to complete, working 12 hours a day.

Kane’s installation at VR includes podiums and a framed painting mounted directly on the mural. Like visual exclamation points, these features draw the eye and set up interesting spatial relationships between the large shapes on the wall and those on the other smaller objects. The arrangement of shapes themselves, what goes next to what, provides opportunities for Kane to toy with

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

Saturday 3/16

Music in the Mountains with Mike Proffitt. Singer-songwriter’s mix of original and acoustic rock. Free, 2pm. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Lane, Etlan.

Music in the Orchard with Tara Mills. Live music and cider. Free, 2:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden.

Saturday Live. Irish folk with King Golden Banshee. Free, 2pm. Cunningham Creek Winery, 3304 Ruritan Lake Rd., Palmyra.

Saturday Music. Groovy tunes with Witchduck band. Free, noon. Keswick Vineyards, 1575 Keswick Winery Dr., Keswick.

Stephanie Nakasian. A special concert celebrating great Black jazz singers. $18-22, 8pm. The Front Porch 221 E. Water St. The Michael Elswick Gathering. Wine and music with friends. Free, 2pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union.

dance

Silent Disco. A silent twist on the classic dance party. $10, 5pm. Carver Recreation Center, 233 Fourth St., NW.

stage

Anything Goes. See listing for Friday, March 15. Parental discretion advised. $10-20, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville.

James and the Giant Peach. Based on one of Roald Dahl’s most poignantly quirky stories. Free, 3 and 7pm. DMR Adventures, 221 Carlton Rd., Suite 4.

classes

space and depth, creating the illusion of three dimensionality, overlapping planes, and forms that seem to flicker back and forth between dimensions.

Kane painted steadily for about 16 days at Visible Records, often working into the early morning hours. He finds inspiration for his rounded shapes in organic forms, and he works without a projector or grid marks. Everything is drawn freehand directly on the wall, giving his shapes a pleasing irregularity. The one exception is the perfect circles, which are made using cutout stencils.

After priming his surface and mapping out the design in his head, Kane sketches it on the wall, moving from left to right, using a paint pen marker. When he finishes this, he adds the paint. Some projects require a preliminary drawing, but nothing stays exactly the same since the texture of the wall determines what you can do. Kane is really big on clean lines, and uses a flat-tip brush to paint everything. This brush, with which he fills up massive expanses, is just two inches long.

It’s hard not to be charmed by Kane’s chunky jumble of forms that push up against each other and seem ready to burst forth from the constraints of their two-dimensional surfaces. They’re amusing and joyful, and also incredibly stylish. They tick all the public-art boxes because what’s better than inserting a little joy, humor, and beauty into the life of someone passing by?

Cricut 101 and 201. Two-part class for a variety of skill levels to learn the basics of cricut. $10, 1pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. Crochet for Beginners. Learn the basics of crochet; leave with a small, crocheted washcloth. $25, 10:30am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St.

etc.

Cville Puzzle Hunt. A citywide puzzle. Like an escape room, but all of downtown is the room. Starts and ends at Ix Art Park. Free, 2:30pm. Ix Art Park, 522 Second St., SE., Ste D.

Farmers Market. Enjoy a range of products, from produce and meat to baked goods and crafts all while supporting local small businesses. Free, 9am. Ix Art Park, 522 Second St., SE.

Storytime. Readings of recent favorites and classics. Free, 11am. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Sunday 3/17 music

Caroline Vain. Live music and drinks. Free, 2:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden.

Charlottesville Symphony. A collection of music from Mozart and Shostakovich. Conducted by Benjamin Rous. $10-46, 3:30pm. Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center, 1400 Melbourne Rd.

La Tramontane with Catherine Monnes, cellist. Enjoy great music and wine. Free, 2pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union.

St. Paddy’s Musical Cheer featuring Matthew O’Donnell. Traditional Celtic folk music. Free, 3pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd.

38 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com
CULTURE THE WORKS
facebook.com/cville.weekly
Dathan Kane’s “The World of Shapes” exhibition at Visible Records is one of two shows by Kane that are on display in Charlottesville and Newport News through the month of March.
PHOTO
PUBLICITY

St. Patrick’s Day Party. Celebrate at Quirk with live Irish music, festive drinks, food, and decor. Free, 3pm. Quirk Hotel Charlottesville, 499 W. Main St.

Swing into Spring. Albemarle High School’s jazz ensemble presents a benefit concert for City of Promise. $30, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Too Many Zooz. Music that combines avant-garde jazz, EDM, and punk rock. $2325, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

U.S. Navy Band,The Commodores. Jazz ensemble plays the music of Duke Ellington. Free, 4pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds.

Younger Than Mountains. Enjoy music from the Irish combo band. Free, 2pm. Jefferson Vineyards, 1353 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy.

classes

Hat Making with a Round Loom. Learn to make a hat the quick and easy way. $25, 11am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. etc.

Developmental Darts. Learn to play. Bring your own darts or use house darts. Free, 1pm. Decipher Brewing, 1740 Broadway St. Explore the Habitat. An inclusion-based, spring outing with a special invitation to people with mobility challenges. Free, 1:30pm. Ivy Creek Natural Area. 1780 Earlysville Rd. Geology Hike. Learn about the geology of Ivy Creek. Free, 10am. Ivy Creek Natural Area. 1780 Earlysville Rd.

Music Bingo. Sing along to musical bingo. Free, 2pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd.

Spring Pop-Up Shop for Kids. Shop vintage and gently used toys, books, and decor for kids. Free,10am. Mudhouse Coffee Crozet, 5793 The Square, Crozet.

Monday 3/18

music

Monday Music Series. Live guitar music and burger specials. Free, 6:30pm. South and Central Latin Grill, 946 Grady Ave., Suite 104.

etc.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia. Compete with teams at trivia with host Audrey. Free, 6:30pm. Decipher Brewing, 1740 Broadway St.

Household Saints: 4K Restoration. Tracey Ullman, Lili Taylor, and Vincent D’Onofrio star in a one-of-a-kind film. $10, 7:15pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. Trivia Night. Trivia, beer, pizza, and fun. Hosted by Brandon “The Trivia Guy” Hamilton. Free, 6pm. Prince Michel Vineyard & Tap 29 Brewery, 154 Winery Ln.

Tuesday 3/19

etc.

Astronomy on Tap. UVA astronomers and trivia. Free, 7pm. Kardinal Hall, 722 Preston Ave.

Hermanos Gutiérrez. Travels with the guitar duo. $30-45, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Karaoke. Sign up and sing your favorite songs. Hosted by Thunder Music. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner , 1221 E. Market St.

Open Mic Night. Tunes and brews. 7:30pm. SuperFly Brewing Co., 943 Preston Ave. Travis Elliott. Acoustic Music. Free, 9:30pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Vincent Zorn. Lively guitar music. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall.

Puzzling it out

Community treasure hunt to take over the Downtown Mall

Anyone walking the Downtown Mall on March 16 might scratch their heads and wonder what’s going on when they see more than 350 teams scouring the area, decoding clues, cross-referencing coordinates, and vying for a chance at smalltown glory: victory in the annual Cville Puzzle Hunt.

Part scavenger hunt, walking tour, and decryption exercise, the hunt is the third citywide event organized by Emily Patterson and Greg Ochsenschlager. Participants, armed with a map, puzzle decoders, water bottles, and walking shoes, will be on the lookout for clues hidden outside downtown businesses and landmarks (and maybe in a local publication or two). Unlike previous iterations, this year’s puzzle hunt has a theme: pirates.

“We wanted to give it a different look this year because the last few times it’s just been a general theme,” Patterson says. “So we were thinking, ‘What theme has a map?’ And we came up with the pirate map.”

It was a bit of reverse-engineering.

“This is pretty loose because we came up with the theme after we had designed a lot of the puzzle,” Ochsenschlager says.

During the event, downtown Charlottesville will be transformed into a pirate island. Teams will get their own map of the new landscape, designed by artist Emily Reifenstein, to solve clues.

The puzzle hunt is modeled after similar events like The Washington Post-sponsored Post Hunt, and Tropic Hunt in Miami, Florida. Charlottesville is a “perfect” city for a Post-like hunt, according to Patterson.

“It’s such a brainy and creative place. There’s bar trivia basically every night of the week here,” she says. “Also, it has a walkable downtown and a lot of opportunities to partner with local businesses, artists, and musicians.”

Patterson and Ochsenschlager, who participated in the Post Hunt before the event concluded in 2017, tested their idea at a holiday party in 2021. The game-themed gathering was akin to the U.K.-based game show “Taskmaster,” and served not only to showcase their puzzle aspirations, but also introduce them to WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore.

“I was super impressed, and not just because my team won,” Moore says. “So when Greg told me his dream was to do a citywide puzzle hunt, I told him that I know a guy.”

That guy was Moore himself.

“The puzzle hunt takes us out of our usual experience of downtown. And our usual experience of not really talking to strangers,” says Moore, whose radio station sponsors the hunt. “Because when you’re all trying to figure out puzzle answers, there’s a real and engaged sense of camaraderie.”

“The puzzle hunt takes us out of our usual experience of downtown.”
NATHAN MOORE, WTJU GENERAL MANAGER

The first two puzzle hunts were held in the summer, and incorporated businesses like Chaps, Sidetracks Music, and Violet Crown. Patterson and Ochsenschlager enlisted help from their friends, including local singer-songwriter Devon Sproule, who wrote a song that required puzzle hunters to listen closely for clues in the lyrics. Another event staple is Patterson and Ochsenschlager’s 4-year-old wheaten terrier, Maisie.

In past years, puzzle hunters have deciphered a variety of clues, such as a spoof movie poster encased alongside legitimate cinema advertisements outside Violet Crown. In another search, participants had to flip through Best of C-VILLE magazine to spot a fake ghost-hunting advertisement and phone number.

This year’s puzzle hunt also incorporates the larger city puzzle community. One clue

was designed by Bill Gardner, who runs Charlottesville’s Puzzled Pint, a global monthly social puzzle-solving event that’s held at breweries.

For their part, Patterson and Ochsenschlager hope to keep making puzzle hunts for the community. The husband-and-wife team recently created a band-themed puzzle pub crawl for Preston Avenue breweries, including Rockfish Brewing Co., Superfly Brewing Co.., Random Row Brewing Co., and Starr Hill Downtown.

The pair hopes the 2024 hunt will improve on its predecessors. After the first hunt ended in an all-out sprint to the finish, the duo made their final puzzle in the second hunt more difficult, to avoid a race.

“I think we went overboard,” admits Ochsenschlager. The puzzle was so hard, he and Patterson had to give additional hints after teams failed to solve it.

This year, the couple is “focusing more on cool aha moments than actually making it more difficult,” Ochsenschlager says. “We’re trying to make it so that out of the five additional puzzles, everybody should be able to solve at least two of them,” adds Patterson. “But the end game should be harder.”

39 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly CULTURE EXTRA
Cville Puzzle Hunt creators Emily Patterson and Greg Ochsenschlager outside Lone Light Coffee.
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Homesickness Dos and Don’ts for Parents Preparing for Camp

Homesickness is a fact of life. It is human nature to pine for what is known and comfortable. And a stay at summer camp — even for a seasoned camper — can generate pangs of longing for the comforts of home: the family pet, mom, dad, even a sibling that isn’t favored when they are together.

At camp, we acknowledge homesickness as a valid emotion; we don’t diminish the feeling. We use our own experiences as former campers and adults away from home to help guide campers through those feelings of unease and discomfort. We help develop the skills to conquer pangs of emotion.

Successfully navigating a sleepaway camp experience requires preparation both on the part of the parent and the camper. The following tips are provided to help guide your camp preparations and ensure a camp experience that builds the skills to deal with setbacks such as homesickness, rather than one that is overshadowed by such emotions.

Prior to Camp

DO

• Your research. Make sure that the camp you have selected is the right fit for your child. Talk to the camp staff and make sure you understand their communi-

cation policies. You need to know what you can expect as a parent and make sure you are okay with what the camp will provide.

• Talk positively about the camp experience. Let your child know they are going to have an amazing time at camp and make some wonderful new friends, while trying exciting new activities.

• Provide opportunities for your child to practice being away from you. Sleep overs with friends and family can be a great stepping stone towards a longer sleep away experience.

• Provide opportunities for your child to practice making new friends. Set up play dates and other similar opportunities for your child to meet new friends and practice the skills needed to introduce themselves and play cooperatively.

• Visit the camp. Take advantage of open house events or set up a private tour so your child can become familiar with the camp facility and some of its staff.

DO NOT

• Talk negatively about the camp experience. Avoid saying things like “we will miss you so much,” “I don’t know what I’ll do without you” or “I’ll be counting down the days until you return.” Comments like these will cause your camper to feel guilty if they are enjoying their time at camp

knowing that you are at home missing them.

• Offer a pick-up clause. If you are sending your child to camp with the phrase “give it a try and if you don't like it, I’ll come and pick you up” – save yourself, the camp, and the child the time, effort, and energy and do not send the child to camp. If you make a pick-up clause with your child, you will inevitably be faced with the decision to either pick the child up and rob them of a valuable growing experience or break your promise and damage your credibility with your child. Neither of these outcomes are positive and both can be avoided by refraining from offering a pick-up clause in the first place.

• Promise that you will talk or write to your child every day. Most camps do not allow parents to speak to their child during their stay. Campers who are well adjusted and managing well at camp can be crippled by feelings of homesickness simply by hearing the voice of a well-intentioned mother or father. Unless you can guarantee you will write every day, don't promise that you will. In the event that a letter or email does not arrive for whatever reason, feelings of worry and homesickness may set in.

During Camp DO

• Write positive letters with encouragement. Let your child know you are proud of them for trying new activities and making new friends.

• Contact the camp if you want an update or have any concerns. The camp staff if there to support the parents just as much as the campers. Camp staff will be happy to provide updates on how your child is adapting to camp and answer any questions you may have.

• Trust that the camp is doing its job. If you did your research prior to registering for camp and made the decision to send your child to camp, trust that the camp always has your camper’s best interests in mind. Homesickness is not something that camps want, and they will be working with your camper to help them develop new skills and grow as a result of their experience.

• Remember that homesickness is normal. Everyone experiences homesickness to different degrees. If the camp informs you that your child is experiencing homesickness, it does not mean that you must immediately come

to the rescue. Work with the camp staff and provide them with any information that you believe may help your child to overcome the challenges they are facing.

DO NOT

• Try to talk to your child. A big part of the growth you hope your child will experience as a result of their time at camp comes from allowing your child the space for growth to occur. Camp is not perfect — but there are opportunities each day to test, try, fall, get up, face, conquer, learn and grow.

• Write negative letters. Letting your child know that you miss them and cannot wait until they get home will only prolong and intensify any feelings of homesickness they may be experiencing.

• Visit the camp. While some camps have organized parent visiting days, others do not. Please do not arrive to camp unexpectedly and request to see your camper. While your child may be well adjusted, the sight of a parent with their child may trigger feelings of homesickness in other campers. Similarly, your presence may negatively affect your own child’s camp experience. You chose to send your child to camp so they may grow – it is up to you to give them the space for that growth to occur away from you.

Remember that by sending your child to sleepaway camp, you have given them an incredible opportunity to develop new skills and abilities which will serve them for the rest of their life. While you may not be present while these skills are being developed, you (as well as your camper) will certainly benefit from your child’s increased confidence, independence and ability to problem solve without your assistance.

Daniel Hammond is the director of Pali Adventures, offering 21 specialties and over 70 electives kids can choose from in Running Springs, California. Pali is different from other specialty camps because their specialties are so accessible. The programs are encouraging and supportive of all ability levels. They love to see campers explore activities they have only dreamed about; Pali tailors an experience to each camper. Specialties are loosely grouped into four broad categories — Adventure, Creativity, Performance, and Leadership. https://paliadventures.com

Everyone experiences homesickness to different degrees. If the camp informs you that your child is experiencing homesickness, it does not mean that you must immediately come to the rescue. Work with the camp staff and provide them with any information that you believe may help your child to overcome the challenges they are facing.
44 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com
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47 March 1319, 2024 c-ville.com @cville_weekly facebook.com/cville.weekly 2024 SUMMER CAMP GUIDE
CHANGINGLIVES, ONEWORDATATIME.

PUZZLES

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

48 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly
#1 solution #1 #4 #2 solution #3 solution #2 #5 #4 solution

Brute force

ACROSS

1. Interstate entrance

5. Accept formally

10. Beginning from

14. Lake near Buffalo

15. Burton who hosted “Reading Rainbow”

16. Nevada gambling locale

17. Noodles that translate to “little ribbons”

19. Crumbly cheese

20. Piracy venues

21. First claim, slangily

23. Traffic predicament

24. Leafy replacements for burger buns, sometimes

28. Org. that’s busy in April

31. Transylvanian count, informally

32. “Blazing Saddles” actress Madeline

33. 2019 MLB champs

35. Abbr. before a founding date

37. Some orchestral instruments

40. With 42-Across, date hinted at by a hidden sequence in the four long Across answers

42. See 40-Across

44. Horseshoe-like Greek letter

45. Sicilian erupter

47. “Star Trek” character

48. Dirt road grooves

50. Agree to another tour

52. Small peeve

53. Covert escape route

57. Maximum effort

58. Outbursts from Bart, at times

59. A head

62. “In ___ of gifts ...”

64. Slow companions at home?

68. Pilot predictions, for short

69. “The Thursday Murder Club” novelist Richard

70. Arizona mesa dwellers

71. Albanian’s neighbor

72. Makeup of Maslow’s hierarchy

73. Wild guess

DOWN

1. Field arbiter

2. Greek god of war

3. Plant parasite

4. Flower fragment

5. Part of ABV

6. End-of-the-year mo.

7. Tube where eggs travel

8. Lose composure

9. Connery’s antagonist, in ‘90s “SNL”

10. Newfoundland sound

11. 1991 Joy Fielding thriller named for a line in a classic kids’ primer

12. Alternative to bottled

13. Soap pump contents

18. Not new

22. Bee formation

25. Birch, e.g.

26. Cafe au lait container

27. Flightless South American birds

28. “___ the Unknown” (“Frozen II” song)

29. Barack’s first chief of staff

30. Avoid

34. Icelandic band ___ Ros

36. “Damn Yankees” co-director Stanley

38. Roman 651

39. Sealed up

41. Old-fashioned

43. Man-goat of myth

46. “Don’t worry about it, I got you”

49. ___ a dime

51. Type of review

53. Department that works with marketing

54. The 1%

55. “One of ___ things is not like the other”

56. Latticework strips

60. Form a scab

61. Air filter acronym

63. Computer tower port

65. Wee child

66. Wee-___ (kids)

67. Close kin, for short

49 March 13 –19, 2024 c-ville.com
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© 2024 MATT JONES
ANSWERS 3/6/24
got chemistry MEOWS VCR MUSTS CREEP IZE AFOOL CARDINDEX COBRA IGO CHIA IAN YOUGOTTHATRIGHT EPS THA SOD LEET OMIT NICO PRIVATETRAINING ATMS ROOF GLEE OSU ORK ILL TOOMANYOPENTABS END SOUR SEE REDOS MATHEXAMS MULTI MTN LAGOS SPYON YET SNOWS 1234 56789 10111213 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 242526 27 282930 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 3839 40 41 4243 44 4546 47 48 49 50 51 52 5354 55 56 57 58 596061 62 63 64 6566 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 #5 solution
#6 solution
CROSSWORD
They’ve
#3 #6

facebook.com/cville.weekly

Aries

(March 21–April 19): I will never advise you to dim the flame of your ambition or be shy about radiating your enthusiasm. For the next few weeks, though, I urge you to find ways to add sap, juice, and nectar to your fiery energy. See if you can be less like a furnace and more like a sauna; less like a rumbling volcano and more like a tropical river. Practically speaking, this might mean being blithely tender and unpredictably heartful as you emanate your dazzling glow.

Taurus

(April 20–May 20): Some spiritual traditions tell us that the path to enlightenment and awakening is excruciatingly difficult. One teaching compares it to crossing a bridge that’s sharper than a sword, thinner than a hair, and hotter than fire. Ideas like these have no place in my personal philosophy. I believe enlightenment and awakening are available to anyone who conscientiously practices kindness and compassion. A seeker who consistently asks, “What is the most loving thing I can do?” will be rewarded with life-enhancing transformations. Now I invite you to do what I just did, Taurus. That is, re-evaluate a task or process that everyone (maybe even you) assumes is hard and complicated. Perform whatever tweaks are necessary to understand it as fun, natural, and engaging.

Gemini

(May 21–June 20): Do you have a relative your parents never told you about? If so, you may find out about them soon. Do you have a secret you want to keep secret? If so, take extra caution to ensure it stays hidden. Is there a person you have had a covert crush on for a while? If so, they may discover your true feelings any minute now. Have you ever wondered if any secrets are being concealed from you? If so, probe gently for their revelation, and they just may leak out. Is there a lost treasure you have almost given up on finding? If so, revive your hopes.

Cancer

(June 21–July 22): Cancerian poet Pablo Neruda wrote this to a lover: “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.” That sounds very romantic. What does it mean? Well, the arrival of spring brings warmer soil and air, longer hours of sunlight, and nurturing precipitation. The flowers of some

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Pisces

(Feb. 20-March 20): My Piscean friend Jeff Greenwald wrote the humorous but serious book Shopping for Buddhas. It’s the story of his adventures in Nepal as he traveled in quest of a statue to serve as a potent symbol for his spiritual yearning. I’m reminded of his search as I ruminate on your near future. I suspect you would benefit from an intense search for divine inspiration—either in the form of an iconic object, a pilgrimage to a holy sanctuary, or an inner journey to the source of your truth and love.

cherry trees respond by blooming with explosive vigor. Some trees sprout upwards of 4,000 blossoms. Maybe Neruda was exaggerating for poetic effect, but if he truly wanted to rouse his lover to be like a burgeoning cherry tree, he’d have to deal with an overwhelming outpouring of lush beauty and rampant fertility. Could he have handled it? If I’m reading the upcoming astrological omens correctly, you Cancerians now have the power to inspire and welcome such lavishness. And yes, you can definitely handle it.

Leo

(July 23–Aug. 22): Speaking on behalf of all non-Leos, I want to express our gratitude for the experiments you have been conducting. Your willingness to dig further than ever before into the mysterious depths is exciting. Please don’t be glum just because the results are still inconclusive and you feel a bit vulnerable. I’m confident you will ultimately generate fascinating outcomes that are valuable to us as well as you. Here’s a helpful tip: Give yourself permission to be even more daring and curious. Dig even deeper.

Virgo

(Aug. 23–Sept. 22): Unexpected mixtures are desirable, though they may initially feel odd. Unplanned and unheralded alliances will be lucky wild cards if you are willing to set aside your expectations. Best of all, I believe you will be extra adept at creating new forms of synergy and symbiosis, even as you enhance existing forms. Please capitalize on these marvelous openings, dear Virgo. Are there parts of your life that have been divided, and you would like to harmonize them? Now is a good time to try. Bridge-building will be your specialty for the foreseeable future.

Libra

(Sept. 23–Oct. 22): Many of you Libras have a special talent for tuning into the needs

and moods of other people. This potentially gives you the power to massage situations to serve the good of all. Are you using that power to its fullest? Could you do anything more to harness it? Here’s a related issue: Your talent for tuning into the needs and moods of others can give you the capacity to massage situations in service to your personal aims. Are you using that capacity to its fullest? Could you do anything more to harness it? Here’s one more variation on the theme: How adept are you at coordinating your service to the general good and your service to your personal aims? Can you do anything to enhance this skill? Now is an excellent time to try.

Scorpio

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Psychologist Carl Jung said, “One of the most difficult tasks people can perform is the invention of good games. And this cannot be done by people out of touch with their instinctive selves.” According to my astrological assessment, you will thrive in the coming weeks when you are playing good, interesting games. If you dream them up and instigate them yourself, so much the better. And what exactly do I mean by “games”? I’m referring to any organized form of play that rouses fun, entertainment, and education. Playing should be one of your prime modes, Scorpio! As Jung notes, that will happen best if you are in close touch with your instinctual self—also known as your animal intelligence.

Sagittarius

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Can Sagittarians ever really find a home they are utterly satisfied with? Are they ever at peace with exactly who they are and content to be exactly where they are? Some astrologers suggest these are difficult luxuries for you Centaurs to accomplish. But I think differently. In my view, it’s your birthright to create sanctuaries for yourself

that incorporate so much variety and expansiveness that you can feel like an adventurous explorer without necessarily having to wander all over the earth. Now is an excellent time to work on this noble project.

Capricorn

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You picked Door No. 2 a while back. Was that the best choice? I’m not sure. Evidence is still ambiguous. As we await more conclusive information, I want you to know that Door No. 1 and Door No. 3 will soon be available for your consideration again. The fun fact is that you can try either of those doors without abandoning your activities in the area where Door No. 2 has led you. But it’s important to note that you can’t try both Door No. 1 and Door No. 3. You must choose one or the other. Proceed with care and nuance, Capricorn, but not with excessive caution. Your passwords are “daring sensitivity” and “discerning audacity.”

Aquarius

(Jan. 19-Feb. 19): My second cousin has the same name as me and lives in Kosice, Slovakia. He’s a Slovakian-speaking chemical engineer who attended the Slovak University of Technology. Do we have anything in common besides our DNA and names? Well, we both love to tell stories. He and I are both big fans of the band Rising Appalachia. We have the same mischievous brand of humor. He has designed equipment and processes to manufacture products that use chemicals in creative ways, and I design oracles to arouse inspirations that change people’s brain chemistry. Now I invite you, Aquarius, to celebrate allies with whom you share key qualities despite being quite different. It’s a fine time to get maximum enjoyment and value from your connections with such people.

Expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text message horoscopes: RealAstrology.com, (877) 873-4888

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Steve M. Lovern, Owner

NOTE: Objections to the issuance of thise license must be Submitted to ABC no later than 30 days from the publishing date of the first of two required newspaper legal notices. Objections should be registered at www.abc.virginia.gov or 800-552-3200.

VIRGINIA:

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF GREENE

JENNIFER D. ALLEN

Plaintiff

v.

ZELIA SHIFFLETT LAWSON, et al

Defendants

Case No. CL24-142

ORDER

The object of the above-styled suit involves the heirs of Eva Morris Knight and their interest in a parcel of property known as Tax Map/Parcel 33 A 20 in Greene County, Virginia. The legal description of this property is

All that certain tract or parcel of land containing two acres, more or less, lying and being in the County of Greene, Virginia, in Bacon Hollow, Monroe Magisterial District, on both sides of State Route 627 and known as the property of the Estate of Eva Morris Knight, current numbering 3390 Bacon Hollow Road, Dyke, Virginia 22935.

An affidavit having been filed that due diligence has been used by the Plaintiff to ascertain the identity and address of the all possible defendants, possibly without success; that due diligence has been used without effect to ascertain the location of all known defendants.

Pursuant to Virginia Code Sections 8.01-316 A .1. b.; 8.01-316 A 2; and 8.01316 A 3, it is hereby ORDERED that all interested parties appear on April 30, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. to do what is necessary to protect his interest.

Entered: Judge David M. Barredo Date: 3/6/24

I ASK FOR THIS:

Lisa Brook, Esquire

Tucker Griffin Barnes

307 West Rio Road Charlottesville, VA 22901

(434)973-7474

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lbrook@tgblaw.com

Counsel for Plaintiff

Study for Type 1 Diabetes

Men

is $700. Principal Investigator: Kaitlin Love, MD

UVA Division of Endocrinology

Study Coordinator: Lee Hartline

Phone: 434-924-5247 / email: lmh9d@virginia.edu

IRB-HSR# 210198

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How are you feeling about the 2024 Presidential Election?

Trump! Trump!

Trump! Trump!

JENNIFER SUE KEENEY-OLIVER/ FACEBOOK

Nervous, but hopeful for a big turnout to keep us on the right track.

@AMBRIZAFARM/INSTAGRAM

I am inspired to steer my dread toward volunteering more—it’s okay to push back at all of the negativity.

@ROBSMITHIII/INSTAGRAM

They confirmed aliens are real. Do you think they would let some of us join them? #help

@MY_JOYOUS_EXISTENCE/ INSTAGRAM

Embarrassing for the country.

PETER VINES/FACEBOOK

I loved the movie Groundhog Day, but did not wish for it to cross pollinate with the movie Election Day

@MMAGGIOR/INSTAGRAM

We are fucked…

MARK FARISH/FACEBOOK

are too young.

@JOHNNY.CHEESEBURGER/INSTAGRAM

Not great my dude. Not. Great.

@IWEARBLUETIGHTS/INSTAGRAM

Yeet me into the sun.

@ALEXA__BEE/INSTAGRAM

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