“You want me to tell you what’s immoral? War is immoral. Poverty is immoral. Racism is immoral. Police brutality is immoral.” — a defendant in Punishment Park I read that director Peter Watkins had passed away last week and realized I’d never heard of him. As it turns...
Artist Jake Berman has been creating maps of bygone streetcar systems around the US. Now he's turned his focus onto the first electric streetcar system ever, which opened right here in Richmond in 1888. Believe it or not, there used to be a way to get around Richmond that didn’t involve struggling to find an opportunity to turn left off of Broad...
The crowd of protesters outside Virginia's Capitol numbered in the hundreds, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly did nothing to appease them. Chants echoed off the buildings in front of Virginia’s State Capitol as protesters rallied for stricter gun control laws Tuesday morning. Hundreds of protesters representing various...
Virginia Museum Of History and Culture's Determined exhibit sheds light on four hundred years of black Virginians' struggles to be seen as equal. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s latest exhibit, Determined: The 400 Year Struggle for Black Equality, sets out to educate and inspire the public by highlighting the hardships, resiliency,...
State Senator and firearm advocate Amanda Chase's comments advanced a dangerous misunderstanding of the causes of rape. If you are not carrying a firearm and get raped, you got what was coming to you -- at least according to Senator Amanda Chase. On July 3, the Virginia State Senator for the 11th District engaged in a Facebook argument on her...
A new VA Dept. of Agriculture program gives you the opportunity to receive free beehives and equipment from the government. But is honeybee cultivation really the environmental solution it seems to be? If the quintessential ecological battle cry of the seventies was “Save The Whales,” today it is “Save The Bees.” Since Ellen Page’s solemn...
The urban chickens of Richmond are bringing communities together by laying eggs. Tucked away in the backyards and gardens of Richmond live some unusual pets: chickens, to be exact. While you might not see them as you pass through the city’s streets, chickens in all sizes and colors have become a staple form of urban livestock since the city...
In the age of ICE, new Richmond police Hispanic liaison Kenia Marte Santana attempts to bridge the gap between the department and the city's Hispanic community. Kenia Marte Santana stands dressed in a dark, almost black police uniform, with a blue badge featuring lady justice on her left shoulder. She smiles while waiting patiently for those who...
Last weekend, government officials, civil rights leaders, and people from all across Virginia joined together to celebrate Richmond's next step toward racial reconciliation. It took nearly 30 years, but Richmond has officially renamed the street once known simply as Boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard, in a symbolic action that elected officials...
The fourth installment of a monthly series in which a hometown Richmonder who has spent over a decade abroad explores the many different neighborhoods accessible by GRTC bus lines to discover the ways transit connects us all. City Stadium: Stranded in the triangle of land between the Powhite Parkway, the Downtown Expressway, and the place where...
