Good morning, RVA! It's...65 °F? It's also rainy, and that rain will continue through the morning and maybe pop back up this evening. Expect temperatures to stay where they are, possibly even increase a few degrees. Colder weather returns on Sunday.
Water cooler
On Satuday, around 12:00 PM, Virginia will inaugurate its 73rd governor! I'm excited to stop typing "Governor-elect" and double checking how to spell "McAuliffe." The Washington Post has a profile of the outgoing governor's legacy.
Michael Paul Williams's column today focuses on changing the names of schools named after Confederate generals. This is an obvious thing to do, and has nothing to do with any history other than the history of the Lost Cause and Massive Resistance. As Williams points out, Lee-Davis High School in Hanover County was named in 1958!! You might know that as 93 years after the end of the Civil War! Or 88 years after the death of Robert E. Lee!
Tammie Smith at the RTD has the word that Lisa Freiman, director of the ICA, has resigned. You can read the official release from VCU here. Part of the vibe seems to be that Freiman's departure was in the works for awhile (remember, the ICA was supposed to open this past October), and part of the vibe—an actual quote in the article—describes her leaving as "this really awful thing." So...I dunno!
Paul Spencer for Style Weekly has his list of bill you should follow through the General Assembly this year. One quibble: Please link to the bills on the General Assembly site so we can see what's what!
FYI! The Richmond Jewish Food Festival kicks off on Sunday and runs through Monday. Make sure you take a peek at the menu!
You may have heard that Trump wants to allow off-shore drilling up and down the East Coast—except in Florida. His decision to exempt Florida has made governors of other East Coast states feel some kind of way, and ours in particular has asked that Virginia get a similar exemption. Read Governor-so-close-but-still-elect Northam's letter to the president asking to be added to the exemption list and for Virginians to be given a few more opportunities for public comment.
A "shithole" explainer.
Sports!
The Freedom Classic, the annual VSU-VUU basketball game, takes place this Sunday at 7:00 PM at the Coliseum. As an added bonus for students, Marc Cheatham of the Cheats Movement will speak at the 2018 Freedom Classic Leadership Summit on Saturday.
- Rams head to Dayton tonight at 7:00 PM. Watch on ESPN2.
- Spiders host George Washington on Saturday at 4:30 PM.
- Hokies and Louisville tip off at 4:00 PM on Saturday.
- Wahoos welcome NC State at 6:00 PM on Saturday.
This morning's longread
Jordan Peele’s X-Ray Vision
A good profile of Jordan Peele here, after the success of Get Out.
It has been 10 months, and we’re still talking about this movie and its alarming presentation of white racism. “Get Out” opened at the top of the box office at the end of February and has grossed many, many times the $4.5 million it cost to make. Racism is old, but Peele found a poetic new way of talking about it. He gave us language we didn’t know we lacked.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.