Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and while today’s highs are stuck in the mid 50s, we at least get the sun back. Things start to heat up tomorrow.
Water cooler
Whoa dang, look at this news from Justin Mattingly in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Richmond School Board takes first step toward renaming J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School.” This is great news, and I’m glad the School Board has started this process without kicking off a huge public process or deploying a bogus survey (looking at you, Hanover). We elect these folks to lead, it’s within their purview to change the names, and by doing so they’re doing the right thing (at least eight of the nine are).
Michael Paul Williams has a column in the paper about Henrico Supervisor Courtney Lynch and how she’s challenging The Henrico Way. If you think Supervisor Lynch has put her foot in it and all of the recent hullabaloo results from a lack of experience, I’d ask you to listen to this episode of the Richmond Association of Realtors podcast. In that interview, which was posted back in the middle of March, Lynch hints at her desire for more transparency, less focus on the County’s current successes, and a willingness to change how things get done. Is it good strategy? I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon as the County’s budget works its way through the process—which continues tonight at 6:00 PM with a public hearing (PDF). Finally, as a cynical postscript, the RTD editorial board basically says Lynch should stay in her lane.
Church Hill People’s News has an interview with Norm Gold, the man tapped to run the long-awaited East End grocery store.
Map nerds! GRTC released their new system map yesterday (PDF)—the one featuring the Pulse and all of the new route changes that will come along with it—and I can’t stop looking at it! Note the thicker, red lines are frequent routes that come every 15-minutes, blue means every 30-minute, and green means every hour. There’s a lot of information packed into this map, and it should give you enough to start planning your way around town once the new system opens. One other thing: Just compare the current jumble of spaghetti that makes up downtown service now to the sleek and legible service we’ll have later this year. Dramatic gasp!
I learned a thousand things about Rock & Roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe from this long piece in Richmond Magazine by Craig Belcher. Tharpe, who lived in Barton Heights, will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year as an Early Influencer, so definitely make sure you take a couple minutes out of your day and listen to her sweet, sweet guitar riffs in “That’s All.” So good!
Nicole Cohen absolutely crushes the headline on this quick reminder that Bit Birgade is coming to town for a show at Gallery5 tomorrow. You can listen to Bit Brigades’ guitar-heavy versions of Zelda tunes over on Apple Music.
What’s the latest Trump drama mean? I have no idea, but here’s a good piece on the seriousness of the FBI raiding a lawyer’s office .
Sports!
- Squirrels kicked off the series against Hartford with a 5-2 win and will try again tonight at 7:05 PM.
- Nats turned it around with a 2-0 win over Atlanta and will continue that series tonight at 7:05 PM.
This morning's longread
A Shot in the Arm
This, about a teacher selling his plasma to make ends meet, made me sad in, like, four different ways.
Each time I went to BPL there were at least 25 people in the waiting room; almost all were returning clients on a first name basis with both each other and the staff. There are squirrel-eyed tweakers, junked-out space cadets, dads in Patriots jerseys, and hunched old ladies who took communal smoke breaks every 10 minutes. It would have been depressing, except it wasn’t. There was a spirit of camaraderie and a complete lack of shame every time I entered the building. If someone didn’t hear their name called for either the required physical or the physical prick, other clients helped track them down. Because the wait is tedious and long, no one wants to lose their place in line; so, everyone helps each other out. One poor guy was sitting in a bathroom stall when his name was called and called again. I was in the restroom washing my hands as he frantically yelled, “Just a minute!”
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