Good morning, RVA! It's 65 °F, but today we're back to a sunny afternoon with temperatures in the 80s. So long, endless rain (until maybe tomorrow)!
Water cooler
Police have identified the person was was fatality shot last Wednesday on the 2300 block of Ambrose Street in Whitcomb Court as Tyreece D. Gayles. Whitcomb Court is just north of Mosby Court.
Katy Burrell Evans at the RTD has the news that the Richmond Public School Board has selected an interim superintendent. That's awesome, but y'all, we've got to stop having meetings that stretch on into the wee hours of the morning. No one makes their best decisions in the middle of the night!
Ned Oliver was at the combined Finance and Economic Development Committee and Government and Operations Committee meeting yesterday, where Council had gathered to work through the specifics of their new budget oversight plan. A PDF of where they ended up does not yet exist, but audio from the meeting does!
Brent Baldwin at Style Weekly has a preview of tonight's grand opening of the Six Points Innovation Center. Located down Brookland Park Boulevard (at the six-way intersection), 6PIC is a pretty rad partnership between a bunch of great area nonprofits with a focus on high school students. The space is neat, the people involved are pretty wonderful, and their combined mission is tops. Stop by the opening tonight, or keep your eyes out for more info as they get things off the ground.
Yesterday, the folks behind the RVA Street Art Festival announced that the next iteration of their public art event will take place at The Diamond this September 22nd–24th. It'll include "painted murals, projection lighting, landscape art, stairwell art, drone art, and other forms yet to be identified." Drone art! I don't know what that is, but, man, am I into it.
Richmond Magazine has a piece on some of the folks doing stuff to raise awareness about local government. There may be a picture of me in my natural habitat should you choose to follow the link.
Look how easy it is: Charlottesville's City Council voted last night to rename their Lee and Jackson Parks to Emancipation Park and Justice Park. This process started for them a while back through their Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces. Mayor Stoney says he's got some plans to share with us later this month about Richmond's path toward dealing with our Confederate monuments. I'm excited to see what he comes up with, but, for context, the charge of Charlottesville's commission is pretty on point: develop a community engagement format, research what other cities are doing, create an inventory of Confederacy-related public art, and research histories that haven't been told.
Reminder! High school graduations at the Siegel Center begin today at 3:00 PM and continue though the 17th. Be aware if you're moving through the area.
Sports!
- Squirrels begin a series at the Binghamton Rumble Poines tonight at 6:35 PM.
- Nats beat the Dodgers, 4-2. That series continues tonight at 10:10 PM.
This morning's longread
Welcome to Poppy’s World
This description of how one falls down into a Poppy rabbit hole is exactly what happened to me last night. Here is an excellent example of the genre, and this one I thought was particularly fantastic.
The magic of Poppy is that, to understand Poppy, you have to keep watching Poppy. And soon you find yourself watching her everywhere: YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. Before long, you’re swimming in a sea of Poppy. The water is cool and pink but eventually you wonder if Titanic will start turning up the heat and that, before you know it, you’ll be boiled alive or choke on the Pepto-Bismol taste and drown. You dive deeper anyway. Poppy means nothing. Poppy means everything. Poppy is exactly what she purports to be. She is Poppy.