Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is facing scrutiny, both locally and internationally, after withholding the diploma of psychology graduate Sereen Haddad, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American student who completed her degree in three years with highest honors. The...
Dragons, Orcs, and Pabst Blue Ribbons, oh my. Dungeons & Dragons is having one hell of a resurgence lately in the River City. From game nights at local breweries, to live shows at comedy theaters, to your coworker organizing a campaign at his gross apartment, the iconic tabletop game -- and cornerstone of nerd culture -- is making its way...
When Ashley Walton started her fifth year working at Highland Springs High School, at the semester’s start, she was in high spirits. She’d been impressed by the efforts of new principal Ken White to raise morale, and looked forward to interacting with an energized faculty and student body in her role as an instructional assistant. A few months...
The weather is turning chilly here in Richmond, and it's the perfect time to find a sweetheart and curl up by a warm fire. But only if you promise to be careful -- if you roll into the fire while you're testing out jiu jitsu techniques on each other, we won't be held responsible. This week also brings us some beachgoers who aren't sure whether to...
This weekend, I attended Art 180, Performing Statistics, and RISE for Youth's joint event, the Juvenile Justice Parade. It was organized by black and brown youth, all of whom have faced personal discrimination and many of whom have been personally sent through the school-to-prison-pipeline. Chants spanned from "Fund education, not incarceration,...
There’s been a recent, yet not new, trend in people calling the police on black. Whether it be for falling asleep in their own dorm, brushing their backpack up against a white woman in a store accidentally, waiting for a business meeting in Starbucks, or having a barbeque at the lake -- black Americans have had the police called on them for many...
Richmond residents from Broad Street to North 9th were witness to a parade of costumed protesters Wednesday, warning of “a place where the air is so polluted it causes headaches, nosebleeds and illness. A place where your water is the color of toxic mud.” “On this Halloween day, you may think we are giving the details of a horror story,” said...
*This article originally appeared in RVA Mag #34, on the streets now at all your favorite spots. At 1.3 million feet above the earth, astronaut Leland Melvin caught a glimpse of his hometown every 90 minutes. “It’s this surreal moment, seeing a sunrise or sunset again in 45 minutes,” Melvin said. “Flying over Virginia, looking at the University...
The cool crisp casual air of October is full of mischief and missed connections. The perfect combination for an all-hallows meet up in the most auspicious of locations: including one of the most prestigious houses at Hogwarts. This week, you'll also find a guy with a leather fetish (hellbent for leather) in Culpepper, and a man looking to connect...
Welcome, RVA Mag readers, to the greatest time of the entire year: We’re about to get all kinds of spooky in this. I have worked hard to gather to you, my dear Halloween-excited ghouls, a laundry list of the top five best haunted houses (and one creepy-cool anniversary party) in Richmond and across Virginia. Red Vein Haunted House - Richmond, VA...
