Tragedy in Charlottesville

Terrible news out of the University of Virginia and particularly the highly-regarded Virginia Quarterly Review. The ugly, sad story involves a suicide, allegations of professional bullying, and possibly the end of one of the country's best literary journals.

[Hat Tip. Ralph Luker and I both have had some connection with VQR -- his more significant than mine, as I mostly got to know it through my affiliation with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and have written a couple of short reviews for them -- and I think we are both mystified by the recent events.]

We're #1!

In honor of this year's 15th Virginia Festival for the Book, Charlottesville's alternative newsweekly The Hook is honoring its "15 picks for the 15th anniversary." Their number one pick for this year's festival?:

1. Stories from the Civil Rights Movement. The panel line-up may be heavy on the white guys, but UVA law profs Richard Bonnie and Mildred Wigfall Robinson co-edited a collection of 40 essays written by people who were in school when one of the most influential Supreme Court decisions was made. It's called Law Touched Our Hearts: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education. With Freedom's Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation and the Freedom Rides author Derek Catsam, and Peter Wallenstein, who wrote Higher Education and the Civil Rights Movement. [An unsung Civil Rights hero, John A. Stokes, who helped lead the Farmville student strike in 1951, will be talking at another event at Walton Middle School open only to students].
Noon Thursday, March 19, at UVA Bookstore

Sure, their motivation for plugging the panel has largely to do with another book, and I basically get dismissed as just another white guy, which I probably am, but there is no such thing as bad publicity, especially at such a powerhouse event as the Virginia Festival. If you are anywhere near Charlottesville, please do attend.

Save Money, Go To College

Looking to cut costs but still want to travel? The New York Times recommends going to college. In a manner of speaking. College campuses and the towns that host them have art museums and public lectures, culture and sporting events, places to eat and drink and things to do, libraries and bookstores. I always find that one of the pleasures of research trips is getting to experience another college. Late next week I will leave for a trip that will encompass The University of South Carolina, where I am a fellow at the Institute for Southern Studies this year, and The University of Virginia, where I will be participating in the Virginia Festival for the Book and attending a reunion of fellows at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

Encyclopedia Virginia (Incidental Self Indulgence Alert)

The Encyclopedia Virginia is now online. An effort of the incomparable Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (with which I was a fellow in 2004), the Encyclopedia is just one example of why the Foundation may well be the best state humanities organization of its kind. My modest contribution to the encyclopedia is an entry on the 1946 Supreme Court case Morgan v. Virginia, which directly led to the Journey of Reconciliation and Freedom Rides.