2011 in review: Q1

Instead of bombarding you with a litany of notable 2011 news and events, we’re going to take our time and casually stroll through 2011’s four quarters. Up first, we get to reminisce about about January, February, and March.

December 27, 2011; 10:33 AM • by RVANews staff

Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? It seems like we were just welcoming in 2011, and now here we are looking back at the year that was. We’re breaking up the year into four quarters, each of which we’ll talk about over the next few days. Up first is January through March!

Things started off on a good note. One of the fastest-growing blogging platforms, Tumblr, opened up an office here in Richmond to much fanfare (make sure you check out the RVANews Tumblr). Spacebomb Records opened up shop, and Valarie Catrow said goodbye to RVANews. The 83rd Academy Awards proved to be very generous to The King’s Speech amid some great contenders like Black Swan and The Fighter.

However, things got a little smokey around town. After Weather Dan solved that mystery, VCU’s Quidditch players came out to play–proving that Harry Potter-related activities are not only relegated to the novels of J.K. Rowling. Talks of getting a new Coliseum were held, which caused a lot of discussion and debate. We also partnered with the Valentine Richmond History Center to compare photos of old Richmond to new. After a whole lot of work, we gave our many community news sites a face lift.

But the big story of the year was the VCU’s men basketball team run to the Final Four. Before that happened though, we had–what’s become an annual tradition–Scott’s CAA bracket. Then, after the tournament teams were announced, we had some insights on the five Virginia teams that made the cut. We also had a great cartoon on the matter. Richmonders go gaga over chartsandgraphs, so we put together one for the Sweet 16. We were also on Broad Street when students lost their minds as VCU advanced into the Final Four.

After the basketball frenzy died down, our own Chairman Brando schooled us on the memes that arose after the lightning-quick fame of Rebecca Black. A little levity was a good thing, as some people were miffed about a potential new electric street sign for the VMFA. And speaking of streets, the wise and well-mannered Tess Shebaylo talked about how totally uncouth it is to harass others on the street.

We announced our RVA Internet Awards, which gave Dirty Richmond the coveted Best Blog award. And, while a new law let bike riders run red lights (sort of), people protested on VCU’s campus about a proposed cut to Planned Parenthood’s funding. To top it all off, we had a rare visit from Anderson Cooper who spoke to students about being a successful journalist (and an international sex symbol).

We’re just getting warmed up! Tomorrow we’ll take a look back at Q2, and see what happened between April through June.

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