Category: politics

enough to save Battleground Virginia?

wood art by Michal Mitchell

With a slight, unexpected lift provided by Hurricane Sandy, Mother Nature’s October surprise, President Barack Obama appears poised
to win his second term tomorrow.–Center for Politics

To counter last minute boost from storm Sandy, Mitt Romney jumps on the nature bandwagon, announcing replacement of ticket-mate Paul Ryan with the Lorax.
Of the Lorax’s qualifications, Romney replied “He speaks for the trees”.

Boss hunters


Members of the press acquiring imagery of a man with a guitar, talking about President Obama. Secondary to hurt back I was not able to join the Boss hunters, instead relying on secondary phenomena, the crowd gathered, to reflect the presence of Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen.


camera of choice amongst the populace


Mr. Boss definitely has the tools, lyric and melodic, to entrance a crowd.


Music for President!

CDP Community Designated Place


If Romney/Ryan supporters need cheering up, a happy place for a drive would be VA Rt 360 through King William and King and Queen Counties. People in this region make their own signs. This near a census-designated place (CDP), Central Garage, in King Wiliam County, Virginia. Population 1318.

Obama Daedalus

shop window
3 floors of out-of-print books, book searches, specializing in fiction. 100,000 books. The Washington Post described the Daedalus Bookshop as “a three-story temple of secondhand lit, a bibliophile’s church tucked away on a curling side street. The steps creak, the nooks are shadowed. Books are piled from dusty floor to shelves that scrape the ceiling.”–visitcharlottesville.org

iso Peggy Olsen

CHO airport sign

We have the product but we have not had quality creative people.–Susan Payne – Payne, Ross & Associates

Good listening available two hours and fifty minutes into the Charlottesville City Council’s August 20 meeting. Interesting if you are a fan of local politics and Mad Men.

Hear the pitch, hear the clients offer feedback and advice to the Creatives. Hear about placemaking, branding, telling the story, creating the creative, pushing product to screens, authentic experience, extracting more time and money from tourists. Hear political correctness go a round with the copywriter…

Shocking, and I’ll let you go, the hour is late, but I’ll tell you, your number one tourism attraction that comes up from all the statewide surveys that are done is birding, isn’t that surprising?–Susan Payne

My one fervent hope. Please please please do away with the “home of the Cavaliers” sign at the airport. New slogan, new sign:
Charlottesville-Albemarle, for the birds….

Rivanna River


The Chesapeake Bay Foundation arranged a river trip for local political leaders on the Rivanna last Saturday. The Rivanna and the Chesapeake Bay, they are the same water. The EPA’s attempt to improve the health of the Bay is looked upon by many upstream as an unfunded mandate. It is a gift of awareness. We are critters, we live in an ecosystem. Clean air and water matter. Dirty water kills critters.

People who love nature and want to preserve access to public land understand they are dealing with a tricky balance, but they generally believe that in order for something to be protected, it must first be loved. A wealthy landowner will put 300 acres in trust for that love (and for a tax break), but the public will rally to preserve 10,000 acres of forest land only if they use it and know it.
The Rivanna River was our first highway. It is also beautiful and can only become more so if we turn our faces to it, as a community, instead of showing it our backs. Those of us who prefer secret, wild places also delight in the hunt for new ones.—Giles Morris, editor C-Ville