Good morning, RVA! It's 66 °F, and today you can expect highs around 80 °F, sunshine, and a decent drop in the humidity. I wore socks yesterday, which was the wrong decision, but maybe I’ll give it another go today.
Water cooler
Patrick Larsen at VPM reports on a recent public meeting about that new methane-fired power plant Dominion wants to build in Chesterfield. First, I think advocates are doing a great job at consistently highlighting the ridiculousness of building new fossil-fuel infrastructure as our planet burns to death. Second, the picture at the top of this article is incredible—multiple inflatable T-Rexes with one ridden by a big-head Governor Youngkin and the other by a big-head Dominion CEO. The two apparently had a “race to climate oblivion.” This is amazing and, also, when did inflatable T-Rexes become so associated with running?
This morning at 10:00 AM, the City’s Urban Design Committee meets with a short agenda and will consider a single topic: The “expanded animal enclosure walkways at Maymont Park.” When I first read this, I pictured new enclosed paths designed specifically for the animals, with goats marching up and down walkways as hawks glided by. I wasn’t sure where those animals were going, but, as we all know, safe, protected infrastructure is really important. Unfortunately, these are just regular old paths for boring humans—ones that would update the existing wood paths with new, long-lasting, low-maintenance materials. You can read the project narrative and the staff report if you want more (disappointing!) info.
The folks at Axios Richmond pointed me toward this interesting post from Hardywood announcing that they’ll no longer package beer in bottles and will switch entirely to cans moving forward. This post is part press release, part local beer history, and definitely includes a fascinating BTS factoid. I have no idea whether or not switching entirely to aluminum cans has a net positive impact on the environment, but I do know I prefer beer out of a can and I really, really hate seeing glass bottles down by the river.
While it’s still way too early to go leaf peeping in Virginia, it is, of course, never too early to put together a solid plan. Richmond Magazine’s Tharon Giddens has a set of quick and easy guides to the top fall leaf spots across the state, alongside other fun stuff to check out while you’re in the area. As for timing, this neat map+date slider from SmokyMountains.com says our peak fall foliage arrives between October 23rd and 30th.
This morning's longread
The Man Who Became Uncle Tom
Clint Smith writes about the man who served as inspiration, at least partially, for the titular character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I learned so much reading this piece! Definitely find the time for it, both as a history lesson and a good reminder that people are complicated.
“A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was an immediate success; its publisher reported selling 90,000 copies by the end of 1854. Abraham Lincoln himself may have read the book, at a crucial turning point in the Civil War: Records indicate that the 16th president checked it out from the Library of Congress on June 16, 1862, and returned it on July 29. Those 43 days correspond with the period during which Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. Who was Josiah Henson? Born in 1789, according to his autobiography, he was enslaved in Maryland and Kentucky and served as an overseer before escaping to Canada in 1830. By 1862, when Lincoln checked out the Key, Henson had helped found a 200-acre settlement in Ontario, known as Dawn, which provided a refuge for hundreds of free Black people who had fled bondage in America. He had also made numerous return trips to the American South to help guide enslaved people to freedom. In total, Henson said, he freed 118 people; by comparison, Harriet Tubman is believed to have freed about 70.
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Picture of the Day
Just continuing my tour of the region’s high school gymnasiums.
