I tapped this entry up while on my recent flight from Virginia to SoCal. Hope y'all enjoy.
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Virginia was my home for a total of six years and in that time, I formed my impressions of the state and its denizens, as one does. To make a sweeping generalization that’s bound to piss off some Virginia natives, I have to say Virginians are a cautious and preoccupied people. Sometime last year I read that Virginia has the highest number of college-educated residents of any state. Economically, Virginia seems to exist largely as an annex to Washington, D.C. Many of D.C.’s operations can be found in Virginia, from Quantico to the C.I.A. headquarters, to the largest military base in the word situated in Norfolk/Virginia Beach.
Charlottesville, that home to UVA, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and lately, a constant presence in the news as a result of the tragic deaths of Morgan Harrington and Yeardley Love, was more of a home to me than anywhere I’ve ever lived save Huntington Beach, CA. And I’ve lived all over the place: Seattle, Arlington/DC, Georgia, Ireland & London, England, to name some of the more memorable locales. But Charlottesville, or C’ville, as locals refer to it, had that magical combination of soul, personality, and a bucolic charm, all imbued with a gracious composure common to the South.
What I loved most about C’ville:
The architecture, especially in the vicinity of Court Square, and on the Downtown Mall. Historical buildings once graced by the likes of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. An incredible melange of Greek revival, Georgian, Queen Anne, Federal, Gothic revival, Beaux Arts, Victorian, and so forth dot the city, in varying states of preservation.
The people. While reserved, are a kind and big-hearted breed, yet quirky. Being a university town, many folks I interacted with leaned towards the overly-degreed. Yet even the not-so-degreed had to have wound up in a gentle, collegiate environment for some reason. I met lovable eccentrics, reminiscent of small English towns, and tweed and bow-tie clad UVA professors to tattooed, dope-smoking musicians toting their axes along the Mall.
The culture. What initially drew me to C’ville was the legendary music scene. C’ville, it’s widely known, was put on the map by the presence of Dave Matthews & his band, who came to prominence while Dave was working in a humble old bar on the Mall, Miller’s. And the art scene is nothing to sneeze at either. Numerous galleries litter the city, a few of which I had the privilege of exhibiting my own mosaic art in. There was the always interesting Free Speech wall, essentially a gigantic blackboard on which the community is encouraged to share their thoughts, located on the Downtown Mall. The Wall quietly epitomizes the ethos of C’ville, which is live and let live, albeit healthily and harmoniously, while still respecting your neighbor.
The pace. Those who had lived in C’ville longer than a decade still remembered it as a sleepier burg, one that exploded with development and an influx of people once it was declared in 2004 that C’ville was the best place to live in the U.S. Locals would scoff when I would exclaim about the lack of traffic. Still, I found that you could breeze from one end of town to the other within a 1/2 hour on a bad day, in 10 minutes on a quiet Sunday morning.
The coffeehouse scene. It’s no secret, I love coffeehouses! Everything about them, they feel like home to me. They are all at once funky & eclectic, yet with an oftentimes hushed, scholarly air, like a musty library. Few things instantly cheer me up like the friendly, earthy aroma of coffee. The almost universal understanding that there WILL be live acoustic music in the evenings at most coffeehouses. But enough of my waxing rhapsodic over coffeehouse culture. In C’ville, Mom & Pop coffeehouse operations abound. Some of my favorites: the Mudhouse (voted number one in the city by the populace year after year), Cafe Cubano (where they not only make a mean cappuccino but had the gall to exhibit my art!), C’ville Coffee (owner Toan is simply such a nice guy, say hi if you can), La Taza in Belmont, now known as Roast, and the ubiquitous Shenandoah Joe’s.
So why did I leave, when I have so many good things to say about the ‘ville? Primarily, the weather, which was a killer on my health but also general homesickness, which I’d carried every day like a little cloud over my being since the day I first arrived in Virginia. This past winter brought us over four feet of snow in total. The thunderstorms, while exciting, would often knock out the power. While C’ville is theoretically a four season environment, in reality, it seemed more like two: winter/summer. Winter would set in around the end of November and last through April. Next, summer would come crashing in, with no subtlety whatsoever. Then out would come the mosquitoes, the poison ivy, the perfumey humidity that made me gag the instant I walked outside. No doubt about it: life in the South is for the hardy.
That which doesn’t kill you makes you blah blah. So what have I learned from my six year Virginia odyssey? For one, I’ve learned how to drive in crap weather. How to turn into my skid when I hit the ice patch. That driving in a hailstorm is not a good idea.I also had the opportunity to indulge the latent anthropologist in me, to try my hand at assimilating into what is a vastly different culture from southern California. Let no one tell you otherwise; the South is definitely its own unique and distinct culture. And after inhabiting the land for 6 years, I can honestly say I understand why Southerners are so proud and stubborn, why they tried to secede to keep their way of life (the slavery part notwithstanding).
As I took a walk one morning recently near Monticello, I rolled over in my mind the following questions: “How is it that the region that is the South came to be so distinct? And, why is it, when borders on a map are largely arbitrary, that Southern culture begins and ends where it does?” Big questions, these, though I’m sure they’ve been asked before and most likely cogently answered. But this is my gig, so here goes. Anthropologists typically cite language as the origin of a culture. But Southerner’s speak English (though folks in some parts of the country might find that statement debatable!) I blame Southern culture on three elements: the weather, the geography and its slave-trading history. On the first point, the humid sub-tropical climate creates an environment for the growth of flora, the likes of which can only be found in the South. Point two: the South is encompassed by the Appalachians to the west. On the northern end, once you’ve gone past the Mason-Dixon line, you leave behind the humid sub-tropical climate and the slave-trading past, hence your exit from Southern culture. Point three: Nowhere else in the country did slavery proliferate and exist on the scale it did in the South. According to Tony Horwitz, in his fine book, “A Voyage Long & Strange,” at one point, there were more African-born slaves in the young U.S. than white Europeans! And the Africans brought with them their heritage, their food and music, to which the South was infused and injected.
I admit it, Virginia was an acquired taste for me. But acquire it, I did, though I never felt completely at home. The “where” I am is something that’s always been important to me. I’m someone who is keenly aware at all times of my environment, my surroundings. It’s almost more important to me than anything else. If I’m not comfortable with my “where,” I’m one miserable gal. C’ville came close to being a great fit. Plop it down beside the Pacific Ocean, and it would’ve been my dream town. Alas, it was not to be. Sniff. But I’ve moved on and resettled in my actual hometown, which to my surprise, seems to be that fit I’ve always been looking for. Who knew!
Bye Charlottesville! I’ll never forget you~