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An Oath of Service Betrayed–-By One-Third of the Virginia House of Delegates
During the recent debate on the judicial nomination of Tracy Thorne-Begland for appointment to the General District Court bench, social conservative members of the House of Delegates repeatedly claimed that Mr. Thorne-Begland was unfit to serve as a judge because he had violated his duty to his country when he chose to declare his sexual orientation while in active military service. They likewise claimed that he betrayed his oath as a commissioned officer, thus calling into question his integrity and faithfulness to his mission. These Delegates sought to vote down Mr. Thorne-Begland’s nomination, extolling the sanctity of an oath and a duty that he allegedly broke.
RVA No. 8 Is Out Today!
Yes, that's right, what you've all been waiting for--the latest print issue of our fine publication! It actually hit the streets in limited quantities just in time for the G40 event at First Friday, but if you didn't pick it up there, it should be popping up at all of the finest local independent businesses around RVA today!
A Tale Of Two Mandates
Last week, the Virginia Senate entertained a floor amendment that would require either insurers or the state to pay for the pre-abortion ultrasounds mandated by recently passed legislation. The estimated biennium cost submitted with this amendment totaled $3 million, which, in an overall state budget of $85 billion, barely registers as a drop in the bucket.
When It Comes to the Budget, Mandating Consent Does Not Work Either
During a time in which our Commonwealth continues to ride the waves of economic uncertainty, we look to our representatives to guide us through the storm and secure our safe landing. Specifically, we look for legislation that would encourage job growth, shore up our infrastructure, and support those within our populace who are most affected by the recent recession. Although we recognize that we collectively may be asked to tighten our belts with decreased spending and/or funding cuts, we hope that the oft-stated campaign priorities of education and public safety would ring true when tough decisions need to be made.
What the Kerfuffle is Really About: An Open Letter to Governor McDonnell
As a Virginia citizen, and especially as a woman and a mother of a daughter, I have voiced my opposition to the mandatory ultrasound bill. Although I participated in the public protests to this legislation, I also sought to engage legislators and other constituents in discussions tempered with mutual respect and moderate voice. When the Virginia Senate passed this bill, I expressed my profound disappointment in what I viewed as the misguided failure of our legislative process. Nevertheless, I strove to maintain an open dialogue, free of platitudes and presumptions. This evening, I learned that my Governor does not hold to the same rules in this debate.
Photos And Video From Saturday's HB462 Protest At The Capitol
On Saturday afternoon, over 1000 local citizens gathered at the Virginia Capitol building to protest the passage in both houses of the Virginia state legislature of a bill requiring pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion. The peaceful protest culminated in an act of civil disobedience in which 31 people who refused to leave the Capitol steps were arrested, and, continuing a recent trend of disproportionate response by law enforcement officials, state police in riot gear were brought in despite the crowd's nonviolent behavior. Multiple RVA magazine contributors were on hand to witness the protests, and we've received photos and video footage from several. We present those photos and videos below.
What I Have Learned Today
February 28, 2012: Early this morning, I learned that Governor McDonnell had ordered a SWAT Team to cover a Candlelight Vigil I attended the night before at the Governor’s Mansion. Riot police were hiding in the bushes while my two small children and I sang “This Little Light of Mine.”
Apparently RVA Really IS That Hipster.
And now, a followup on our post from last weekend, in which we pointed out a post from the Austin, TX branch of culturemap.com, polling readers to see which American city would take over from Austin as the next hipster mecca. At the time that we posted about it, Richmond had two-thirds of the vote, with Chattanooga, TN, our nearest competitor, hovering around 15%.
Socially Conservative Policies Hinder RVA's Attempts To Become An Artistic City
Richmond, Virginia, your PR team is clearly on crack. Or maybe they're just drunk. I find it hard to believe, however, that alcohol alone is responsible for the myopic, spit-take worthy blunders I have endured over the last few years of living in this city. When Virginia, and Richmond in particular, makes headlines for our governing body's repeated attempts to turn the state into a theocracy, we are not only clawing backwards against the tide of history, we are endangering the city itself.
OUT NOW! TV Party: A Collection Of Art Mini-Mag
RVA Magazine brings you our newest mini-mag publication--TV Party: A Collection Of Art.
RVA No. 7: Monument Snowboards
Virginia might be the last place you would expect to find a successful snowboard company, but Monument Snowboards is trying to redefine what it takes to be a successful snowboard brand. Based in Woodbridge, Monument has grown over the past ten years from a basement operation into a brand with distribution throughout the US, Canada, Japan, and Korea, and has worked with some of the more popular and accomplished artists of today.
RVA No. 7 Is Out Today!
Hey everybody, our latest issue is on the streets of this fair city as of today! It's crammed full of great articles designed to get you hyped on the diverse, thriving artistic underground here in Richmond. From interviews with local hip-hop movers and shakers Luggage and Black Liquid to profiles of experimental indie rockers Canary Oh Canary and doom metal headcrushers Balaclava to in-depth coverage of the local art scene featuring illustrator-turned-painter Sterling Hundley and photographer Anthony Hall, we've got as much info about the local scene in this new issue as we could possibly fit in there. And that's not to mention our interviews with DC/MD electronic musician and moombahton inventor Dave Nada, Virginia Beach collage artist John Sebastian Vitale, and Woodbridge snowboard manufacturers Monument Snowboards. Plus, to top it all off, we've got a wild and crazy interview with Megadeth, in which writer Adam Ganderson nearly gets himself thrown out of a show! There's a lot of great stuff to see and read in our new issue, and it's all free!
The new issue will be available at many fine retail locations around the city over the coming days and weeks, but if you just can't wait to get your hands on a copy, you're in luck, because we'll be giving them out at the Holidaze party at New York Deli (2920 W. Cary St, in Carytown) Friday night! Audio Ammo DJs Long Jawns and Doddie will be spinning the tunes starting at 10 PM and we'll keep giving away copies of the brand new issue until they're all gone, so come on out and party with us!
STOP CHILD ABUSE NOW! An Interview with Amalia Pizzardi of Colors of Life
In the wake of the Penn State scandal, it seems fitting to run this interview with Amalia Pizzardi, director of local non-profit Colors Of Life, and passionate advocate of stopping child abuse in every corner of the world. Colors Of Life has teamed up with international program Every Child Matters, and together they are doing their part to bring a spotlight to the epidemic through art and photography-centered initiatives. I had a chance to ask Pizzardi about the program and how everyday Richmonders could get involved.
An American Conversation: Dispatch From Kanawha Plaza
Editor's note: I received this article from Preston last Friday, and was planning to run it today but it has been somewhat overtaken by events. Nonetheless, I felt that his perspective was valuable, and did a good job of illuminating the overall reasons behind the Occupy movement as it exists here in RVA and in the rest of the world. Therefore, we'll be running this article unaltered, in spite of the fact that some details may now be outdated. Rest assured, though, in one form or another, the Occupy movement will continue to exist in RVA.
“It’s like Woodstock meets Burning Man meets people with absolutely no purpose.”
-Kimberly Guilfoyle, FOX News
Holy shit, I just learned something from FOX News. –Me.
This summer I participated in a social experiment in the middle of the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. It’s called Burning Man. There were over 50,000 other people there--citizens, if you will--of a city based not on law and commerce, but on ten simple principles. These principles (Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical Self-Reliance, Radical Self-Expression, Civic Responsibility, Immediacy, Communal Effort, and Leaving No Trace), create the governing philosophy behind Black Rock City, which is for one week the third largest city in Nevada.
And I’ve already pissed people off. It would stand to reason that if Burning Man wanted media attention, it would be held somewhere more accessible than a brutal alkali flat in the middle of August. Burning Man is not a protest. It is apolitical because it does not engage with the political systems that govern our society. There are people of conscience there, aspiring politicians, and in all likelihood bankers and lobbyists as well. But you are not your job at Burning Man.
Nothing about your default-world life is relevant to Burning Man, unless you decide it should be. And so many “Burners” are resentful of public discussion about the Burner phenomenon outside of their own communities. Nobody wants a modern day Cointelpro designating Black Rock City as ground zero for the next revolution. And it never will be. Burning Man is not commentary on our society; it is its own society. That’s the whole point. So take what I’m imparting here as Radical Self-Expression.
OUT TODAY! Strange Daze: Richmond 1980-89
RVA Magazine presents Strange Daze: Richmond 1980-89. This new RVA Photo Book is a document of the Richmond punk and hardcore scene in the 1980s, as photographed by the people who were there. This free special edition book features hundreds of photos capturing the music, the flyers, the kids and the chaos of the RVA punk underground. Richmond has always had a great music scene, and this era was no exception. See the local bands who first put Richmond's hardcore scene on the map: White Cross, Honor Role, Graven Image, Unseen Force, Absence of Malice, and others; as well as a special section documenting the great touring bands of the day who stopped off in Richmond: Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, GBH, Broken Bones, and Toxic Reasons, just to name a few. Plus a special look at the earliest days of GWAR, some crazy stories about the most unforgettable characters of the era, and more! It's all inside this brand new photo book!
Here are just a few of the images you'll find within its pages:
Red Cross, Shafer Court, 1981. Photo Courtesy Frank Gresham
Members of the Exploited in the bathroom at Hardtimes, 1984. Photo: Thurston Howes
Dead Kennedys at the Mosque Ballroom, 1983. Photo: Cindy Hicks
Dwain Curd of Sordid Doctrine, 1987. Photo: Adrienne Ownby
Dennis' Problem at the Pyramid, 1988. Photo: Ethan Isenberg
Unseen Force at PB Kelly's, 1985. Photo: Chris Stoddard
We did tons of research and compiled hundreds and hundreds of photos for this book--more than we could use, in fact. In light of our great excess of outtakes, we've started a tumblr account on which we'll be posting photos that didn't make it into the book. Check it out HERE. There are only a few posts up as of now, but we'll be adding to it regularly over the months to come, so follow us! We've also created a soundtrack of sorts for this book, featuring 15 songs by 13 of the Richmond punk/hardcore bands that are in the book. You can find a download link for that mix HERE. And even if you haven't been able to locate a physical copy of this issue, you should still be able to view it on our website, at rvamag.com/magazine. Check it out!
Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Richmond
This is not an objective article designed to explain the motivations and goals of a movement. This is not a manifesto intent on enumerating the causes and ethos of popular sentiment. This is a personal expression. A contemplation of an evolving social climate. A revelation of support. A pondering of potential futures. An editorial, if you will. If you’re disinterested in such radical subjectivity, please, feel free to abandon this page in favor of less honestly subjective journalism.
I have run through the streets of major cities clutching vinegar-soaked bandanas to my face while pepper spray barreled through frantically dispersing crowds of peaceful protesters. I have stared into surveillance cameras unmasked and articulated “fuck you” in a myriad of angry political statements and fist raising determination. I have broken through police lines, dropped banners on highways, wheat pasted stenciled proclamations of revolution to dilapidated storefronts. I have read poetry to protests, sat through excruciating consensus meetings while planning illegal direct actions. And I have been burnt out, disillusioned, pacified.
It’s not that my political inclinations shifted, that I got older and more conservative, or even that I lost my passion for the Struggle. What I became disillusioned with was the nature of protest. It occurred to me that these weekends of demonstration, these nights of clandestine activism, were simply gaskets. They allowed us to vent our rage, our indignation, our discontent, with relatively ineffectual displays of opinion. They were catalysts for change, we felt, in some ways. More often than not, however, they served primarily to allow us to feel we were doing our part in creating a better, more just world, without actually affecting the corrupt structures we were so vehemently dedicated to dismantling.
Entertainment Above All Else: America’s Culture of Rape Sympathy
A few months ago I reviewed Tyler, the Creator’s new record, Goblin, and opened myself up to some criticism regarding my response to the record’s misogynistic, homophobic, and rape-glorifying lyrical content. The lines that most people seemed to take issue with were: “Go ahead and tell me that I just don’t get it, I’ll tell you that you’re a rape sympathizer and a coward.” Apparently, it was a big claim for me to suggest that Tyler, the Creator fans are rape sympathizers. I disagree, and here’s why:
Most Americans, not just Tyler, the Creator fans, are rape sympathizers.
I’m not saying Americans think rape is okay. They don’t. If you ask almost any American if they think rape is acceptable, the answer will be no. We’re not bad people, necessarily, and neither are people who enjoy Tyler, the Creator. We’re largely morally aware human beings. Of course rape is wrong. We get that, as a culture.
We get that it is wrong, but we are largely ignorant of rape and its prevalence in America. It is a distant, abstract concept. A classic case of the “it doesn’t affect me, so I don’t worry about it” attitude. What we don’t get is that it affects almost all of us and the ones we love. We don’t seem to understand, for example, that one in six American women will be victims of either completed or attempted rape in their lifetime. You probably come into contact with a survivor of rape every day. Most likely, you come into contact with several. Rape permeates our everyday lives.
On Selective Enforcement and the Rule of Law (Or, let’s throw some science at this bitch)
“There is a terrible poetry in that sound at dead of night: but there was a day when the echo of that Bell awoke a world, slumbering in tyranny and crime!” --George Lippard, Ring, Grandfather, Ring!
Perhaps it is this quote that inspired Charles Samuels to exclude church bells from violating his utterly ridiculous sound ordinance. Of course, Lippard was writing on liberty, and Samuels intends to make sure the churches of his constituents can make noise to their heart's content--certainly, the early-morning churchgoers can be counted amongst the loudest of his anti-art, anti-fun, anti-whippersnapper constituency. Lippard was also speaking out against “Priest-craft and all other crafts born of the darkness of ages, and baptized in seas of blood.” But this is not a rant about religion, churches, or priests. This is about science, and empirical proof that the recently washed and passed sound ordinance is in violation of the rule of law. Here's the full copy that I'm pulling the below excerpts from.
I pulled up behind the Library of Virginia with a smirk on my face. After scores of complaints about the new sound ordinance (after all, it was thrown out as unconstitutional, then reintroduced, barely reworded, to remove religious exemptions), I had finally decided to throw some science at it. Collect data, analyze, and report.
RVA No. 6 Is Out Today!
Our latest issue hits the streets of the city today! Featuring Deanna Danger and the lovely ladies of her Boom Boom Basics Burlesque Studio on the cover, this issue is chock full of great stuff. First we've got a profile of Deanna Danger and her Boom Boom Basics classes. Then there's an interview with Kate Jennings, a local photographer and owner of Na Nin Vintage Clothing. Our artistic spotlight focuses on painter Jenna Chew, and on the surprisingly brutal illustrations of Julia Scott. Musically speaking, we've got interviews with doom-metallers Cough, electro-rockers Sleigh Bells, local hip-hop sensation Noah O, energetic pop-punk group Hold Tight!, and once and future Richmond drummer Tyler Williams of Sub Pop recording artists The Head And The Heart. On top of all that, we've got an extensive guide to our RVA Music Fest, which is taking place in a mere 10 days time, so you'll want to grab your copy of this new issue as soon as possible! You can also download the program guide from rvamusicfest.com)
Don't worry--we're going to make it easy for you to do so. Head to Cafe Diem (600 N. Sheppard) for Happy Hour today, between 5 and 7 PM, where we'll be handing out copies. Or, if you can't make it then, come by The Republic (2053 W. Broad St) tonight starting at 9 PM for the official release party, with Audio Ammo! We'll have plenty of magazines on hand at both locations for your reading pleasure, and you'll also be able to pick it up around town over the next few weeks!
RVA Photo Book: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
RVA Magazine and The Republic Restaurant and Bar present The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: A RVA Photo Book. This free special edition RVA full-color book, featuring work by 26 different photographers from Richmond and the surrounding area, will be available tonight starting at 6 PM at The Republic, located at 2053 W. Broad St. in the Fan. Come by for Happy Hour and a meet and greet with RVA staff and photographers whose work is presented in the book--copies will be available all night, up to the Karaoke contest at 10 PM (or while supplies last).
Richard Perkins
David Kenedy
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly is a narrative that takes you through a typical day in RVA, from the start of the day all the way to the glamorous nightlife. It depicts the RVA Lifesytle in all its glory, featuring the people and places of Richmond and beyond. Its 100 pages depict the glories of swimming in the river, bike and skate tricks done urban-guerrilla style on sidewalks and handrails, ridiculous party hijinks, and the lesser-known sights of our well-traveled city. These images were captured by hungry young photographers who go to great lengths to practice their art wherever possible, and the love they feel for their art shows in every image. This 5x5 book may not be as big as your average coffee table photography tome, but in the coming years, the work that it contains should be if anything even more important, so be sure to grab yourself a copy while the getting's good. You'll want to treasure this book for years to come.
Franklin Obregon
Matthew McDonald
rvamag.com/magazine
therepublicrva.com
Top photo by Thomas Fields
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