December 15th, 2005 issue #0450

December 15th, 2005

'Coming home': Judaism provides healing

As a child, Drew Alexander sang in his Episcopal church choir and skipped Sunday school, preferring to sit through lengthy services with his parents. "The pageantry of the high church Episcopal thing appealed to me a lot," he explains. It's hard to imagine how that Christian boy became the man Alexander is today: a practicing Hasidic Jew. While the road was long and winding, the journey, Alexander says, started with tragedy.

read more
Choosing their religion: That's them in the corner: two converts find new faith

It's one of the most significant changes people can make– to leave a religion in which they've been raised and embrace a new faith. Family and friends can feel left behind, and let's face it a life of piety is not for the faint of heart. (Three hours of prayer a day, anyone?) Yet for Drew Alexander, who left Christianity behind for orthodox Judaism and for Lauren Winner, who first became an orthodox Jew and then converted to evangelical Christianity, keeping the faith has big rewards.

read more
Kosher to communion: Winner's path to Christ

Judging from her religious history, it's clear: when Lauren Winner does something, she does it all the way. When this daughter of a Jewish father and a lapsed Baptist mother decided to become more involved in Judaism as a 16-year-old college freshman, she didn't simply attend Friday services. She went all the way, officially converting to Judaism and practicing as an Orthodox Jew.

read more

4Better Or Worse

The week in review

Best reason for joy in Hooville: UVA gets its biggest donation ever– $45 million from the Ivy Foundation, a remnant of the W. Alton Jones Foundation– and Govern...

The Dish

Risen Rose: Sushi with karaoke on the side

Like its Japanese eponym, who taunted U.S. soldiers in the Pacific during WW II with her infamous radio broadcasts, Tokyo Rose, the restaurant, has been taunting sushi love...

Essays

Office party dilemma: Have fun or have a job

There you are, standing awkwardly in a circle, nibbling on a pretzel, sipping cheap Chardonnay and making polite conversation. Under your breath, you're still furiously rec...
Putty in my hands: Most precious gift goes awry

There's a scene in Miracle on 34th Street where Natalie Wood is feeling glum because Santa Claus didn't bring her what she really wanted: a house. On the way to visit Mr. K...

Question of the Week

What's the zestiest holiday event you'll attend?

Jim Jansen: "We just moved to the area, so we don't have an exciting social calendar just yet." Megan Snyder: "I have a four-month-old baby, so I'm going back to my homet...

Real Estate - $old

REAL ESTATE- $old

ALBEMARLE 8/11 March Mountain Properties LLC to Scott R. and Danyelle M. Collins, 0.270 acres at 7112 Hampstead Drive, Ballard Field, Old Trail, $85,000. Hessian Hi...
SOLD

APPEARED IN THE HOOK: August 18, 2005 in issue 0433 ADDRESS: 382 South Pantops Drive ASKING PRICE: $184,000 SELLING PRICE: $182,500 COUNTY ASSESSMENT: $145,500 DAYS TO CONT...

Real Estate - On the Block

Deja-view: Wynnewood seems familiar

ADDRESS: 240 Warren Street NEIGHBORHOOD: Scottsville ASKING: $449,000 COUNTY ASSESSMENT: $304,000 YEAR BUILT: 1850 SIZE: 2930 fin. sq. ft. LAND: 1.757 acres CURB APPEAL: 9...

Real Estate Property auctions

Property Auctions

December 15 at 10am at the Albemarle County Courthouse Property: 38 Spring Court, Building B, Four Seasons Condominium Debtor: Philip Hyman Amount owing: $60,800 Bidder br...

DR. HooK

Feeling sad? Maybe you have SAD

Katie Couric used to be called "perky." When I think of perky, I think of my mother's old coffee percolator with Chock Full O'Nuts. Most patients and people I know say to m...

Movie Reviews

Simian sizzler: <I>King Kong</I> apes earlier versions

A simian the size of "King Kong" has a lot of meat on his bones, even if they would seem to have been picked clean by a succession of filmmakers. The 1933 apeflick, one of ...

Music Reviews

AGT: Shut up and listen

I remember going to an Acoustic Charlottesville showcase at Starr Hill a few years back and being very frustrated with the audience. I don't remember who had taken the stag...

News

Complex man: Carl Smith loved UVA

Legendary UVA donor Carl Smith, shown here in a 2001 picture, died December 8 after a long illness. Smith gave $23 million five years ago toward the $100 million overhaul o...
Dateline: date rape: UVA gets national coverage

The issue of date rape on college campuses made national news on Sunday, December 11, as NBC's newszine Dateline covered the issue– and featured UVA student Annie Hyl...
Dump slump: County cleanup called misguided

To some Keswick residents, the cleanup of the county's most infamous illegal dump is going backwards. First came debris removal; now comes soil and groundwater testing unde...
Hair's breadth: McDonnell certified AG winner

Virginia voters flocked to the polls for the November general election more than a month ago, but for Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell, the nail-biting is far from over. On M...
Slow crossing: City delay irks merchants

Back in May, the Downtown Business Association asked the city to open an east-end Downtown Mall crossing to replace the 6th and 7th Street crossings closed a year ago when ...
Subsidy? Critics decry Breeden tax break

Only four short years ago, Charlottesville was agog at what was then the most expensive real estate transaction ever: former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz's $17 million purchase of ...

On Architecture

Mod squad: Designers, PHA go modular

Just before Thanksgiving, three houses built in a factory in just seven days were driven to a lot near the intersection of 10th and Page Streets. Then the three 1,200 squar...

Strange But True

Optical profusion: Convex mirrors play a trick

DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR McCLINTOCK Q. You own a dress shop in Beverly Hills catering to wealthy customers, many of them overweight. What subtle optical flattery might you...

Facetime

First knight: Levine leads New Year's charge

When First Night Virginia launched in Charlottesville in 1982, a teenaged Steven Levine was there to see it happen– though there wasn't that much to see. The event wa...

Hotseat

Jive talk: Principal by day, Professor Bebop by night

Dave Rogers has spent a career working with that most pubescent of age groups– middle schoolers. And he digs it– the whole raging hormone, emotionally charged, ...

Letters

An insult to honor

After reading your recent article on the fourth-year fifth [December 1 cover story: "4th and binge"], I was appalled. While the article indicated that nearly 90 percent of ...
Free market is the problem

I'm writing to respond to Jeff Taylor's free market parable "Katrina's lesson: If you don't own it, let it go" in the December 1 issue. His general premise is that property...
Good writing, Jocelyn

Jocelyn Guest's cover story in the December 1 Hook on the fourth-year fifth ["4th and Binge"]is the best thing I have read in your publication. She presents us with a varie...
Let's let Keller dictate

I'm constantly amazed at how seemingly normal Americans (people with PhD's even!) continue to blame the press for "irresponsible" behavior by reporting on issues that they ...
Priceless history welcome

The interviews of Messrs. Allen, Boykin, and Allen [December 8 cover story: "For God and country, Sir!"] join scores of other oral histories on file here at the Historical ...
Purcells a treasure

Not sure why "Rug redux: Purcell blames customer's recall" [Fearless Consumer, December 8] is worthy of publishing, but I side with the Purcells. I have known John and Maso...
Story honors community

Jocelyn Guest's cover story in the December 1 Hook on the fourth-year fifth ["4th and Binge"] is the best thing I have read in your publication. Maybe it's my lack of a col...