Happy birthday, RVANews!

Aww, you’re all grows up!

October 31, 2008; 8:00 AM • by Valerie Catrow

One year ago today, RVANews was officially born. And by “officially born” I mean we sent out a press release announcing its arrival and crossed our fingers that people would show up. Alas, they did, and thus began the beautiful riffraff you see before you.

A lot has happened this year, and we can’t possibly talk about all of it. But, what I can do is take your sweet little hand and lead on a nostalgic walk down memory lane. The memory lane that is…

RVANews: A Year in Review

It all started here, our first feature. Guess who it’s about? The Bearded MattWhite, of course. Some things, they never change.

Right around the time RVANews was bestowed upon the world, Pete Humes was bidding Brick a great big PEACE OUT. He gave us the 30-day post-exit lowdown here. And then we swooped in and convinced him to write for us for essentially no money. That, my friends, is how we rolled. And still do roll, actually.

November also included the glory that was Project Runway Fantasy League 2k7 (Or PRFL2k7. You might have noticed it – Ross kept it in the main menu until last month because either 1) he is lazy or 2) really loves Project Runway). There was trash talking, overseas drafts, and desputes crushed by domineering commisioners. Sam won. Of course.

The start of 2008 brought us the Richmond 2k7 Blog Awards (Note for next year: stop using 2k_____ now and forever). 277 votes later, we had our winners. I was one of them which, let’s be honest, is the main reason I included it on this review.

February saw our first piece of “real” journalism. You all might remember a little something about the Patrick Henry School Initiative. This was when, in my opinion, RVANews started to show that we’ve got us some real journalism chops. (Note for next year: use journalism chops). You readers offered some great insight, and elected officials started to see this place as an opportunity to voice their opinions outside of the typical arena.

As spring peeked its little head out of Richmond’s cold, frozen soil, we saw the arrival of something beautiful, something wonderful, something musical. Something we like to call The Eight Track. This was when MattWhite really started to earn his keep around here as he organized not only the voting but also the tremendous show that followed. There have been many Eight Tracks since then (including the Kidz version), and it continues to be a feather we very much like to stick in our collective cap.

Tess’s coverage of the vigil after the death of Tyler Binsted in April not only granted us insight from Tyler’s father, but also started a conversation about why certain crimes get talked about while others don’t.

Later that month, RVANews pulled another move a la our acquisition of Pete Humes and somehow convinced Chris Bopst to join our ranks with a weekly podcast: The Bopst Show. He’s still with us, and we’re still kind of shocked.

Late spring and summer saw quite a bit of lively conversation in our Op/Ed section. First we bickered over what kind of message Richmond sends, followed by some lovely banter on how Richmond defines powerful after Style Weekly declared one of our overlords to be half of the 75th most powerful person in Richmond.

September brought us Susan and her masterful administration RVANews’s own Worst and Best List 2008. First we argued about the nominations. Then we argued about the poll. Finally we argued about the results. Hey, at least we are consistent.

And finally, as RVANews saw the sun set on her first year of residence on these here tubes and wires, she zeroed in on what has become everyone’s most fervent obsession: Paul Goldman. Jk, jk, that’s my most fervent obsession. Really, it’s been all about our local election around here lately. Think of it as our effort to make you all responsible voters. We’ve been chucking hard-hitting questions at the candidates and making our presence known at Style Weekly’s fortnightly forums. And we didn’t even crash the place – they *asked* us to come! If that isn’t a sign of growing influence in this fair city, I don’t know what is.

All in all, it’s been a great year, and we look forward to what’s coming next.

As always, thanks for reading.