Facetime
Indie artist: Musical Oldham finally tackles film acting
Published on May 21st, 2012
1 comments Local musician Ned Oldham's artistic journey has been a quirky and interesting one–- punk rocker, psychedelic groove maker, college and middle school teacher, writing center director, folk...
Taliban blowback: Fiction tackles reality in debut novel
Published on May 15th, 2012
4 comments Fathers quietly bring home the burdens and responsibilities of their work, which their children often notice in his tired eyes or a heavy sigh. For local author Mark Saunders, that boyhood curiosity...
American garden: Peter Hatch and the restoration of Jefferson's landscape
Published on Apr 16th, 2012
0 comments Peter Hatch is all over the place this month. He's in Washington to help First Lady Michelle Obama plant the White House vegetable garden, he's in San Francisco for a Gardening Conservancy symposium...
Beautiful kill: UVA doc takes aim at deadliest cancer
Published on Mar 28th, 2012
37 comments Glioma is the most common and deadly kind of brain cancer. Each year, 10,000 Americans are diagnosed, and only half survive beyond a year. Only a quarter after two years. But research at the...
Only 30: In America… and she needs a kidney
Published on Mar 1st, 2012
15 comments By Brittany Gamble It’s 11am, and Tihana Macakanja has just spent two and a half hours hooked to a machine; and even after the procedure ends, she's facing a 15-minute drive home. It's an arduous...
Simpson's folly? Nelsonian gets serious about Alaska race
Published on Jan 12th, 2012
3 comments After more than a generation as the unofficial ambassador of Nelson County, Russ Simpson suddenly finds himself unrecognizable. The proprietor of a popular roadside stand along U.S. 29 has recently...
Shelter from the storm: Garage founder branches out
Published on Nov 9th, 2011
0 comments Don’t worry, nobody’s abandoning the one-car shelter on 1st Street that also happens to be the most charming outdoor music space in Charlottesville. Hill and Wood main-mover Sam Bush is still there...
Scrappy work: Preston recreates '20s in graphic book
Published on Oct 20th, 2011
0 comments If Caroline Preston had a time machine, she'd take it back to the 1920s. Instead, the Charlottesville author has brought the 1920s to today by channelling a lifelong collecting habit into a new book...
Horsin' around: Galloping Grandfather keeps on riding
Published on Sep 13th, 2011
5 comments Harry de Leyer can fly. Photos of him soaring over seven-foot jumps atop champion steeds line the walls of his trophy-filled farmhouse in Dyke. A painting of him over the fireplace depicts that same...
Rodney's role: 'I am not a wheeler dealer'
Published on Aug 19th, 2011
16 comments Rodney Thomas is mad. It's one day after a prominent blogger has accused the Albemarle supervisor of agreeing to "grease the skids" for the construction of the Western U.S. 29 bypass by limiting...
Lawnmower men: Meriweather mows irreverent ground
Published on Aug 11th, 2011
0 comments You've tossed dull corporate newsletters straight in the trash, so why read the one from the yard maintenance company? How about dramatic candor of "The Ooops Issue"? "In May of '96, if you were...
Uncovering the true story of Pocahontas
Published on Jul 21st, 2011
0 comments History buffs have long been skeptical of some of the tales told by English settler Captain John Smith, but few know the Native American perspective on this crucial time in America's history. A book...
Southern skeletons: Author Thompson intensifies his history
Published on Jun 14th, 2011
0 comments John Milliken Thompson admits with a laugh that he writes “mainly coffee-table books,” including several titles for National Geographic. But now the Charlottesville author has just come out with a...
Tulip Man(ia): Pick-your-own fest blossoms
Published on Apr 7th, 2011
3 comments When Jeroen Koeman says he's the Tulip Man, the Madison County resident is just stating a fact. He comes from a line of tulip growers in Holland, where six of his father's eight brothers grow the...
Jacob's voice: UVA MFA grad channels teen angst in debut
Published on Mar 17th, 2011
0 comments Gender-bending in literature is more than a common convention; some of fiction's greatest works are written in a voice of the author's opposite sex. UVA MFA graduate (2003) and Charlottesville...
Write on: John McNally teaches literary survival
Published on Mar 17th, 2011
0 comments Almost everyone wants to write a novel. For those who don't want their manuscripts to languish in attics and hard drives, novelist John McNally wrote The Creative Writer's Survival Guide. The author...
The curious daughter: Darznik reveals Iranian secrets
Published on Feb 12th, 2011
2 comments "Iranians are good at keeping secrets," says Iranian author Jazmin Darznik, wryly alluding perhaps to our common perceptions of the Islamic Republic, while she characterizes the theme of her recently...
Something in the way she moves: Abbey Road preservationist has C'ville ties
Published on Jan 22nd, 2011
7 comments Emily Gee made sure the famous British crosswalk got protected. PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER We say zee-bra, she says zeb-ra. Actually, we say crosswalk, and the one iconically depicted on the cover the...
FACETIME- MN8U4EA: Erskine named National Book Award finalist
Published on Nov 11th, 2010
2 comments Kathy ErskinePHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Kathryn Erskine has one of those annoying license plates that you can't ignore until you figure it out: MN8U4EA. It says a lot about her in an erudite, pay-it-...
FACETIME- Vintage film: Reifenberger makes movies like wine
Published on Nov 4th, 2010
0 comments Bill ReifenbergerPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Sometimes, you just don't want to drive the big production van in DC traffic anymore. For Bill Reifenberger, that was a defining moment, when he went from...
FACETIME- Civil career: Pathfinding Garber engineers his exit
Published on Sep 9th, 2010
2 comments Nicholas GarberPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Dr. Nicholas Garber may finally get some rest. After writing over 80 publications and reports, co-authoring a textbook, receiving numerous awards, and teaching...
FACETIME- Lohman's folk: Hot rods and Brunswick stew
Published on Sep 2nd, 2010
0 comments Jon LohmanPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Quilting, clogging, mandolin playing–- those seem pretty standard folk fare. But how about moonshine-making? Or building hot rods? According to Jon Lohman, they...
FACETIME- Cole case: Mystery writer not <i>Dead in the Water</i>
Published on Aug 12th, 2010
0 comments Meredith ColePHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Mystery writer Meredith Cole's concedes that her upbringing wasn't exactly traditional, and neither are her two books. "In 1971, my parents moved here to start a...
FACETIME- Going <em>Prospect</em>ing: Bouie leaps into national blogosphere
Published on Jul 22nd, 2010
17 comments Jamelle BouiePHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO If your reading leans to the left, you might be familiar with nationally-known bloggers Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein, and Kate Sheppard who each got started at "...
FACETIME- Fluency, the metaphor: Johnson walks bilingual walk
Published on Jul 15th, 2010
0 comments Mike JohnsonPHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE When Mike Johnson, 52, goes south of the border, he's not heading to Club Med. Johnson opts for accommodations in a Spanish language immersion program or in people...
FACETIME- Fluency, the metaphor: Johnson walks bilingual walk
Published on Jul 8th, 2010
0 comments Mike JohnsonPHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE When Mike Johnson, 52, goes south of the border, he's not heading to Club Med. Johnson opts for accommodations in a Spanish language immersion program or in people...
FACETIME- Woman of letters- Displaced demand 'Answer at once'
Published on Mar 18th, 2010
0 comments Katrina PowellPHOTO COURTESY KATRINA POWELL Many of the million or so annual visitors to Shenandoah National Park have no idea of its pre-park life, when it was home to around 500 families who were...
FACETIME- Paradoxical: <i>Bible Babel</i> explains it all
Published on Mar 18th, 2010
0 comments Kristin SwensonPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Kristin Swenson is from Minnesota. She's blonde, petite, and so young-looking, it's hard to believe she's a 44-year-old religious studies professor whose just-...
FACETIME- Go fan go! <i>NYT</i> writer goes undercover in sportsville
Published on Mar 18th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO His best work may have been focused on sports, but author and New York Times journalist Warren St. John is not a sports junkie. On the contrary, his two best-selling books focus...
FACETIME- iPhone app-maker: It's for the birds
Published on Jan 21st, 2010
0 comments Todd KoymPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO As with fishermen, avid bird-watchers know the biggest challenge is finding the good spots. That realization led Charlottesville resident Todd Koym to develop BirdsEye...