Happy Weekend, RVA: The current capital of being awesome

Well that escalated quickly.

April 18, 2015; 7:00 AM • by Ross Catrow

Oh hello, weekend people! Susan, your regularly scheduled weekend guide, is off having her own weekend in New Orleans. By the texts I’ve gotten that contain sentence fragments like “DRAFT ICE TEA” and “COFFEE, DOUGHNUTS, AND SLIDERS”, I’d say she’s doing fine. For those of us stuck (nay, happily residing) in RVA this weekend, the sun and temperatures in the low-80s return! Apparel translation: tri-blend T-shirts and sunglasses.

In case you missed it

• Sometimes you just need a cuddle. Luckily, there’s a small biz for that.
• Is he a Ram? Has he transferred? Has he been hired? A handy chart to help you with these questions.
• Susan talked to two folks this week and the resulting pieces are worth reading: Phil Skaggs and Cheryl Groce-Wright.
• I write the weekly beer column, so that means I can include it in this email if I want!

Reasons to stay in bed

This article in the Washingtonian really cheesed me off. How long must we endure writers from other, larger cities condescendingly describing Richmond as some quaint backwater? Further, why is it OK–in the context of a dang food article–to casually drop references to a terrible period in Richmond history and in the same sentence say that these are “old ways that endure?”

Why is Richmond singled out like this? The article praises Charleston for its history, their refusal to eschew the past, and their Afro-Caribbean influences. Yet, unlike the Richmond section, there’s no reference to or implicit reminder of where that influence came from (it came from Africa, and it came unwillingly). And New Orleans’s history is romanticized as a cosmopolitan mixing bowl of the classes, with the rich eating drunken lunches while “everyone else” had po’ boys. No mention of the thousands upon thousands of slaves that passed through America’s largest slave market–none of who were probably eating po’ boys.

Have you ever once–in your entire life–read something about how Japan, onetime World War II Axis Power, is home to the best sushi around? Or maybe that New York City, once fiercely loyal to the British Crown and then run by violent organized crime, is know for its fantastic bagels?

My point is not that these dark parts of Southern history should be ignored–they shouldn’t. My point is also not that the original piece in the Washingtonian should have pointed out the terrible parts of each city’s past in an article about great barbecue. My point is that writers wouldn’t offhandedly describe other cities using implicit reminders of their racist and embarrassing past, and they shouldn’t describe Richmond that way either–especially not in the context of a dining article.

So yeah. Stay in bed because of that.

Reasons to get up

• I dunno you guys, after that screed is there even a reason to get up?
• Of course there is! Earth Day festivals, two of them even!
• The Kickers! Good weather, the beautiful game, what more could you want?
• Watch the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer over and over. After you finish that, listen to this podcast about the trailer that’s 96 minutes long–48 times longer than the trailer itself!

Photo by: Sky Noir

April 18, 2015 7:00 AM 2