Charlottesville « Semi Truths

August 30, 2007

Albemarle High Grad., Iraq Vet. in National News

Filed under: Charlottesville,War and Peace — semi @ 9:47 am

Mother to make statement in Charlottesville on Friday
For Immediate Release: August 30, 2007

WHAT: Statement by Mary Hanna

WHEN: 10:00 a.m. ET, Friday, August 31, 2007

WHERE: 308 Parkwood Place in Woodbrook (Take 29 N to Woodbrook Drive [Lowes and Kohr Bros]. Turn east on Woodbrook. Go to the stop sign. Turn left on Brookmere. Go to the next stop sign. Turn right on Idlewood. Go two blocks. Turn left on Parkwood. It’s the second house on the right.)

Evan Knappenberger of Charlottesville, Va., a graduate of Albemarle High School and a veteran of the Iraq War, has appeared on national television news shows and in numerous national and international media outlets this week.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post published a lengthy profile that included these lines:
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July 10, 2007

Never Forget 7-11

Filed under: Charlottesville,Politics — semi @ 5:27 pm

For the past few years, I have been getting my gas from Citgo because it comes from Venezuela and not from the Mid-East or Africa. Yes, I know that Venezuela is still an OPEC member and that Hugo Chavez is far from an angel, but I still admire how he stands up to Geo. Bush.

Normally, I gas up at the Citgo on Ivy. I like the fact that it’s a full-service station and that the attendant will wash my window and offer to check my oil. I tell my kids that this is what gas stations used to be like.

A few days ago, I found myself going up 29 and in need of gas, so I pulled into the 7-Eleven on Hydraulic, for they also carry Citgo gas. Or they used to. After I could not get my Citgo card to work, I stepped into the store. The clerk told me that 7-Eleven as a corporation no longer carries Citgo gas because Chavez had called Bush “the devil” at the U.N.

“But that’s why I buy Citgo gas!”, I protested. The poor clerk was a little confounded by that answer and responded by trying to sell me a suspicious-looking meat product and a People magazine.

I can think of no earthly reason to ever go to 7-Eleven again.

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May 28, 2007

The Pavilion Creep Speaks

Filed under: Charlottesville,Virginia — semi @ 11:57 am

So there I was last Friday near the Freedom of Expression wall, gathering signatures for my City School Board run, when Henry Graff comes bounding up with a microphone and cameraman to ask my opinion about private boundaries on the east end of the mall.

Up until a few years ago, the performance space at the east end of the mall was publicly-owned and the city would use the stage for free public concerts. The venue was cooperatively run by a coalition of local merchants called the Charlottesville Downtown Federation and it successfully brought attention and traffic to that end of the mall. The original Fridays after 5 usually featured great local acts and helped to showcase the best of Charlottesville.

In 2003, apparently due to declining sponsorship, the CDF began bringing in larger “name” acts and charging an admission fee. Two years later, the Pavilion was sold to a private promoter and our mall became home to the world’s largest lobster trap.

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April 18, 2007

Inconceivable

Filed under: Charlottesville,Crime and Punishment,Politics,Virginia — semi @ 9:55 pm

On August 1, 1966, twenty-five year-old Charles Whitman ascended the UT clock tower with a personal arsenal and, shortly before noon, began shooting tourists and passersby. He killed 15 people that day, including his wife and mother that morning, and wounded 31 others. It was a horrible crime that shocked a nation. More than twenty years later, I visited Austin and they were still talking about it.

Two days ago, twenty-three year-old Seung-hui Cho walked through Norris Hall at VA Tech shooting students and faculty. He killed 32 people, including two early that morning in a student dorm. Once again, the nation is shocked, but we are no longer stunned. This spree shooting is simply the bloodiest and most recent in a line of memorable shootings.

The worst thing about living in a post-Columbine world is that Columbines are no longer inconceivable. What was once incomprehensible has become comprehensible. For some disturbed souls, such incidents become challenges to out-Columbine Columbine.

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