Good morning, RVA! It's 50 °F and cloudy, and that’s about the weather today. You should also expect some rain to roll in late morning and stick around through the afternoon—which will probably soak any plans you may have had for riding a bike in the forest after work. This weekend, the highs stay stuck right around 50 °F, but, get excited, because the start of next week kicks off the warmest four-day streak we’ve had in a long time.
Water cooler
An update! Thanks to reader Olivia for pointing out that, earlier this week, someone pulled the advertising from the billboards on the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. Also, thank you to reader Sean, who rode by yesterday and grabbed this pic of the newly blacked-out billboards. I’d love to have been a part of the conversations leading up to this change. Did the advertisers themselves read Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams’s column and have a change of heart? Did the City finalize their swapsies deal with billboard-owner Lamar (which, to be clear, is suboptimal and gross on Lamar’s part)? Or, maybe, Lamar decided to do the right thing and remove the billboards from their inventory? I dunno, but this seems like progress!
Speaking of the Pulitzer Prize Winner, he’s got a new column up about a mural featuring the Richmond 34 and the history behind “the Virginia Union University students whose Feb. 22, 1960, sit-in at Thalhimers department store — three weeks after a widely heralded sit-in at a Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth's lunch counter — helped dismantle segregation in Virginia's capital city.“ That was 64 years ago yesterday! Tap through to learn more or stop by the “Genworth BrightLights Education Center at Dominion Energy Center” (aka the third floor of the Carpenter Theatre) next time you’re in the neighborhood.
This entire weekend, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens will host the Virginia Orchid Society for their Orchids: Let’s Celebrate event. I mean, yes, let us celebrate, because orchids are neat! I am, admittedly, new to the orchid space, after I spent years of avoiding them because they seem precious and scary. But, so far, I haven’t killed either of my two orchids, and, in fact, both are about to bloom again as we speak! I find them easy and rewarding, and you should definitely pick one up at this weekend’s event. Admission is free, and you can even attend some orchid lectures if you really want to dive in.
I liked this question via /r/rva: “Been messing around with some new hairstyles this week, it's bugging me but I've been getting compliments. What new thing are you messing with this week?” I’d love to hear what new things readers of this newsletter are experimenting with lately. Trying something new in the kitchen? Fiddling with a new productivity app? Creating weird art? Exploring a new corner of your neighborhood? Let me know by just replying directly to this email!
This morning's longread
In the South, developers enter a complicated relationship with endangered bats
Like the title says, this is a complicate relationship! How do you balance building homes in one of the fastest growing regions in the country with preserving a (new) habitat for an (newly) endangered species? I’m not sure we’ve figured out the answer yet.
Today, white-nose syndrome is wiping out an entire branch of the bat family tree in America’s Southeastern forests. Northern long-eared bats landed on the federal endangered species list in March; scientists anticipate at least two more bat species could soon end up on the list, spurring protective measures that could put the brakes on development to ensure their survival. At least one massive Charleston project already hangs in the balance. Plans call for 18,000 homes to be built in an undeveloped forest on the Cainhoy peninsula that is half the size of Manhattan and owned by the renowned Guggenheim family. The tract was being cleared for development when federal officials halted the work in May due to concerns for the long-eared bat’s safety.
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Picture of the Day
See? Orchids!
