Editor's Note: Writers Block is an occasional series featuring personal essays, reflections, and creative nonfiction from Richmond-area writers. In Seeing Richmond Through Their Eyes, Gabriella Ryan shares how a month spent showing her Italian cousins around Richmond...
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is one of the most popular stories in the murder mystery genre, foundational even. As such, it benefits from instant title recognition for motivated consumers, with the side effect that time and familiarity untangle its twists irreparably. Like A Christmas Carol, Wizard of Oz, and other classic tales...
On Sunday afternoon, the last baseball game will be held at The Diamond after 40 years of service to a city and region and two baseball teams in what was, when it opened, “a major league park in a minor league town.” Between opening night in 1985 and the last game on Sunday is a span of 14,761 days. Through all the debates over the decades about...
Virginia Repertory Theatre is kicking off its new season the way any sensible theatre should: with a train, a murder, and a detective who’s just trying to make sense of it all. Murder on the Orient Express is Agatha Christie’s great reminder that people are both awful and fascinating, sometimes in the same hour. The setup is simple enough. A...
It’s early afternoon at Kuba Kuba, and the place is buzzing. Coffee cups clatter, plates hit the counter, and over it all, Melissa Vaughn is already in motion. Before we’ve even ordered our food, she’s out of her chair, greeting someone at the table next to us like a long-lost friend, leaning in to compliment another patron on their work. ...
Over a century ago, engineers from the Edison Company hauled their bulky recording equipment from New Jersey to Richmond, Virginia. In 1909, they captured one of the first interracial recording sessions in American history: Polk Miller, a white Confederate veteran with a banjo, performing alongside a Black vocal quartet. Even though he broke...
Before the beer taps and condos, before the buzzwords about ‘revitalization,’ Scott’s Addition’s future passed through the hands of a single man: Justin Glynn French. A convicted felon whose empire collapsed in scandal, he set the stage, even if unintentionally, for the neighborhood we know today. Scott’s Addition is now one of the crown jewels...
We’ve all read the headlines about tariffs and trade rules, but those stories can feel abstract until you see how they land on a business close to home. To bring it into focus locally, we spoke with Ledbury, a Richmond-based shirtmaker, about how these changes are reshaping the way they operate. Their experience offers a clear window into what...
Sat beneath a shifting sun and a canopy teeming with chittering cicadas, Madison Turner and I ran the gamut. I first heard of her while I was covering the local music scene for a VCU student publication, and her angsty, self-critical, maniacally upbeat tunes spoke to my brittle emo heart. I’ve gotten to know her a bit through sporadic...
A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring “Come In...
