COMMUNITY




more in community

Teen Drug Use in Chesterfield: A Student’s Perspective

In Virginia, teen drug use isn’t some distant statistic, it’s here, and it’s part of daily life. Nearly one in five teens in the state reports smoking marijuana within the past month, and Chesterfield County is no exception. What’s more troubling is how casual it’s...

It’s Still Our City | Ep. 15 James Munoz

"James Munoz, man, talk about a jack of all trades, this guy really does it all, and he’s one of the kindest people you’ll meet. A fun-inducing staple in the Richmond scene. Vocalist and guitarist for Xed Out. Vocalist for The Bled and Glock/Coma. Bartender at Cobra...

Richmond Joins Nationwide “No Kings II” Protest This Saturday

“On October 18, millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people,” reads the main page on the No Kings website. This Saturday, October 18, Richmond will again find itself on the frontlines of a national...

Op-Ed | A Decade of artoberVA: Why the Arts Belong to Everyone

by Catie-Reagan King This October, artoberVA turns ten. That’s ten years of murals and music, plays and poetry, galleries and gatherings. Ten years of Richmond and the Tri-Cities showing off just how creative, bold, and welcoming this region really is. When the idea...

The Man Who Never Stopped Showing Up.

In a quiet office inside Health Brigade, Edward Peters talks about the city the way someone might describe a long, strange dream that’s familiar, unpredictable, and filled with people he still can’t stop caring about. “I’m an HIV test counselor,” he says, “and my...

Francine Came Home: Because Sometimes the Community Still Shows Up

For a few weeks this fall, Richmond was missing one of its own. Francine, the cat who’s lived at the Lowe’s on West Broad for eight years, had vanished. You probably saw the flyers, or the posts online. People worried. Customers stopped by the store just to ask. And...

RVA 5×5 | Shine On You Crazy (And Memorable) Diamond

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...

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Richmond-Diamond-construction-1984_photo-courtesy-of-The-Valentine

There’s a Murder Coming to Richmond, and You’re Stuck on the Train

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...

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Murder-on-the-Orient-Express-at-VA-Rep_photo-by-Ben-White_RVA-Magazine-2025

Confederate Nostalgia, Black Voices: The Paradox of Polk Miller

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...

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Polk-Miller-by-John-Nicolay_RVA-Magazine-2025

The Felon Who Built Scott’s Addition

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...

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Justin French and Scott Addition by R. Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2025