Soundboard

Episode Notes UVA Hospital employees have begun to receive the vaccine! In our last episode of 2020, we look back on some of the big stories of year: the pandemic, the election, the racial justice protests this summer. Plus we’ll talk a little bit about a recent incident in which the Charlottesville Police Department was accused of racial profiling.

Episode Notes Last episode we were worried that COVID-19 cases might surge after the Thanksgiving holiday. And now they have. But it’s not all bad news. UVA Hospital plans to start distributing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to some of it’s employees on December 15th. Plus, we talk to Sunshine Mathon and LaTasha Durrett of Piedmont Housing Alliance about the redevelopment of Friendship Court, gentrification, and how their families are making it through the pandemic.  https://piedmonthousingalliance.org/

While cases are exploding around the US, COVID-19 is pretty under control in central Virginia. At least for now. We talk to Charlottesville Tomorrow about what has kept COVID cases low here and how to keep them that way as we approach the holidays. And stay tuned for an interview with Barbara Campbell Thomas. She’s a painter and multimedia artist based in North Carolina and her work is currently on display at the Ruffin Gallery at UVA. Local COVID-19 Data Portal Statewide COVID-19 Data Portal Ruffin Gallery

Election Day has come and gone, but the election process still continues. And while we’re still waiting to know who has won the Presidential election, a whole host of state and local races in Virginia were also on the ballot, as well as a state Constitutional amendment for redistricting reform.This week, we sit down with Nathan Moore and Aaryan Balu, from Bold Dominion, for a roundtable discussion on this year's election and what it means for Virginia going forward.

The end of this very long, very unusual election season is almost here. We talk to Charlottesville Tomorrow about the future of the Fifth Congressional District and what they’ve learned from Election 2020 so far. Plus, Nathan Moore interviews hometown congressional candidate Dr. Cameron Webb about what he’s seen as a doctor treating COVID patients and what he plans to do if he’s elected on Tuesday.

Meet the creative team behind Lost Home, Win Home. It’s an original work by Charlottesville-native Shelby Marie Edwards running at Live Arts this weekend. In this one-woman show, Edwards interrogates her experience growing up in Charlottesville in relation to the white supremacist rally of August 2017. We also talk about Albemarle County’s decision to bring more students back to in-person school in November.

We are only 32 days out from election day on November 3rd. So we reached out to Charlotte at Charlottesville Tomorrow to get the rundown on voting during a pandemic. But first we sit down with Anthony Guy Lopez he’s a UVA alum who’s been advocating for Indigenous rights in Charlottesville and across the country for over two decades. Recently, he was one of the organizers of the September 10th protest at the George Rogers Clark Statue on UVA’s campus at the Corner.

This week we talk to activists as they mark the removal of the confederate “Johnny Reb” statue in front of the Albemarle Courthouse. Plus COVID-19 has been found in four dorms at UVA. If that’s not enough news for one week, Charlottesville is also getting a new city manager. Stick around for our final segment where we sit down with the folks at Live Arts to talk about their upcoming entirely virtual season of community theater.

This week we meet some of the folks behind a new labor union at UVA, The United Campus Workers of Virginia. Plus we talk about the return of five thousand uva students and how student workers are responding.

Charlotte Rene Woods updates us on an idea to create a mobile crisis unit to respond to 911 calls when there’s a mental health concern. And we talk to Kaymin Hester, a Charlottesville High School student, whose essay about the twelve African-American students who integrated Charlottesville City Schools was awarded in the Jefferson School’s Liberation and Freedom Days essay contest.

Albemarle County has unanimously voted to take down it’s confederate statue on the Courthouse lawn. We revisit the history and meanings of the statue. Plus Billy Jean Louis updates us on how local schools are coping with the ongoing threat of COVID-19. Speaking of pandemics, in the last segment we look back in time to the 1918 Flu here in Charlottesville and think about what has and has not changed about public health in the last 102 years.

The Freedom of Information Act is one of the primary tools that we as citizens have to hold our governments accountable. This week we meet Jessie Higgins, the newest reporter at Charlottesville Tomorrow, and talk about why Albemarle county says it no longer needs to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests in a timely manner. Plus we talk to pipeline activists from Buckingham about the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and environmental racism.

This week we talk to Charlotte Rene Woods about her search to find out what’s actually in the Charlottesville Police Budget. Plus stay tuned to hear voices from the Tretter Transgender Oral History Project. Listen to their new podcast, Transcripts here: https://anchor.fm/transcripts-podcast.

This week we talk to Billy Jean Louis about School Resource Officers and his article on mental health in the Black community. Plus an update on Charlottesville’s confederate monuments and a new audio drama from Leslie Scott Jones about what it’s like to be a Black academic. Listen to Grounds here: https://soundcloud.com/eugene-martin-543168643/grounds-episode-1-part-1-we-got-you-bruh

This week we focus on the local demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. First we’ll catch up with Charlottesville Tomorrow about what they saw on the ground at the Charlottesville protests. We’ll also talk to Sarad Davenport of Vinegar Hill Magazine about how the same systemic inequities fueling worldwide demonstrations exacerbate the impact of COVID-19 in communities of color. And stay tuned to hear some of the conversations about police brutality happening in the rural parts of our area.

It’s been a while since we got back to our usual topics of conversation like housing, education, and climate. Charlotte Rene Woods and Billy Jean Louis fill us in on the school budget, businesses as they start to reopen, and the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

This week we’re talking with Sarad Davenport and Jordy Yager about their series with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Determined. Determined explores how Charlottesville’s history of racial injustice has left many people of color in our community particularly vulnerable to the pandemic and the economic distress in the region. Plus stay tuned for a conversation with Sin Barreras about how the immigrant community is affected by COVID 19.

This week we talk to Jodean Chisholm and Kendall Barger. Kendall is a nurse in UVA’s Medical Intensive Care Unit and Jodean is a Nurse Manager on 3 Central. They’re both working on the frontline and have treated some of those in our community who have been hospitalized with COVID-19. Stay tuned to catch up with Charlottesville Tomorrow and hear from a lawyer representing folks who have been detained by ICE in our area and are especially vulnerable to COVID 19.

Forty one of forty six patients at the Envoy skilled nursing facility in Fluvanna County have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Central Virginia Health Services’ Paula Tomko. We talk about how rural areas are coping with COVID-19 and the non-profit community health clinic’s mission to provide high quality primary health care to anyone who needs it.

This week we have an update on COVID-19 in the Charlottesville area. We talk about hospital preparedness, the economic pain many are feeling, and how the schools are helping students keep up with their education.