March 17th, 2011 issue #1011
March 17th, 2011
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Plotting Along: Contest winners pack a punch with their fiction
"I had the twist ending in mind about the teacher," explains 2011 Hook Short Story Contest winner and high school teacher Steven Turner. "Maybe in some Freudian way, this was a little insight on the idea of the powerlessness teachers feel sometimes." To win the acclaim of best-selling author John Grisham, Turner used unique elements of perspective and plot. So did the other two winners. "I like my stories to be about things that aren't quite as they seem," says third place winner Gary Kessler. -
Short story winner: 'A Small Brown Box'
I don’t know why I’ve even bothered telling this story again– principals, officers, magistrates. They’ve finally given me a lawyer, but it looks like he’s on their side. Everyone’s on their side. I never had a chance. That’s how it’s been every day since I first walked through the doors of that building. No one cared how I felt, what I was good at. Just follow the rules and do what you’re told. I wish now that I had done what I really wanted to when I had the chance. I’m going to end up paying for it anyway. I can’t believe he’s still talking– I have to interrupt.
4Better Or Worse
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The week in review
Worst disaster: A 9.0 earthquake hits Japan March 11, killing thousands of people in a tsunami afterward, leaving thousands more homeless, millions more without power, and ...
The Dish
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Chang update: No walk-ins for three months?
Our friends at Mas to Millers (a local food blog) say they tried to go to Peter Chang's China Grill on the public opening on March 2– the parking lot was packed with ... -
Dumpling v. dumpling: No buffer between buffets?
The recently opened Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet on Route 29 may have some curious company in the near future, as a place called Ultimate Buffet has laid claim to the f... -
Imbibe digs Blue Mountain
Southern breweries that Imbibe Magazine loves? Afton's own Blue Mountain Brewery, one of 12 the magazine chose as part of its recent "Southern Issue." -
Queen City feast: Thrifty eatin' in Staunton
Better look out, Charlottesville food scene. Staunton is on the move. Fresh off a big article in Baltimore Magazine that called our neighbor to the west " one of the countr... -
What's on TAP? Clean water for the world
Wait persons at Hotcakes, Bang!, Blue Moon Diner, College Inn, St. Maarten's, Horse & Hound, Eppie's, Duners, and The Ivy Inn, to name just a few, will soon be watering...
Essays
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Will books survive? Yes... but not on your shelf
Borders Books and Music, which once employed 30,000 workers at more than 600 stores, is bankrupt. Those numbers have been halved. And even after these massive cuts, analy...
Real Estate - $old
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Property transfers
ALBEMARLE7/15F. Robert Hollo to James B. Ball, 1318 Darley Row, Glenmore, Keswick, $600,000. Leonard Pogensky, executor, to Virginia E. Loiacona, trustee, 1684 Foxtail Pine...
Real Estate - On the Block
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Photogenic: Not new but sparkling on Altavista Avenue
Address: 616 Altavista AvenueNeighborhood: BelmontAsking: $359,000Assessment: $268,300Year Built: 1925Size: 1,780 fin. sq. ft.Land: 0.13 acresAgent: Marina Rings...
Real Estate - Update
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Still Available
APPEARED IN THE HOOK: November 11, 2010 in issue ADDRESS: 412 Altamont Street, North DowntownASKING PRICE: $399,000ASSESSMENT: $374,200 SELLER'S AGENT: Jim McVa...
Real Estate Property auctions
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Property auctions
March 17 at 9:30am at the Albemarle County CourthouseProperty: 504 Fontana DriveDebtor: Dinah WilliamsonAmount owing: $340,000Bidder brings: $30,000 or 10 percent sale pri...
Art Features
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Under the influence: Moore lays it on thick
Several small blocks sit stacked beside cigar-box dioramas depicting itty-bitty galleries, complete with tiny paintings, in one corner of Dave Moore’s exhibition, “Thes...
DR. HooK
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Gastric catastrophe: Eat right to avoid stomach cancer
Can you stomach it? I’ve learned, with my middle-aged wisdom, to learn to be more tolerant of things that don’t quite settle well in my stomach, such as news stati...
Movie Reviews
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To grandmother's house? You might want to stay home
Of the classics of world literature crying out to be adapted as a sexual fantasy for teenage girls, surely Red Riding Hood is far down on the list. Here's a movie that cros...
News
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American offers CHO-Chi Town nonstop service
Getting to the Windy City from Charlottesville soon will become more of a breeze. American Airlines announced Monday that its regional carrier, American Eagle, will be maki... -
Fallen airman honored at Arena
Friends, family, and public officials gathered at 1pm March 9 at the Main Street Arena in Charlottesville to remember the life of Greene County airman Zachary Cuddeback, wh... -
Nuclear nightmare: Could a Japan happen here?
The disaster in Japan sparked by the massive undersea earthquake and resulting tsunami on March 11 is a terrifying reminder of nature's fury. But the natural disaster may p... -
Ryan steps down: Iconic women's basketball coach leaves after 34 years
The 2010-11 UVA women's basketball season will be head coach Debbie Ryan's last after 34 years. The surprise announcement came on a Saturday in a cryptically worded press r... -
Snap o' the Day: Commodities lesson
How quickly is the price of gas soaring? The photo to the left was taken at the Ivy Road Shell on Friday, March 4; the second, on Tuesday, March 8. -
Stonefield development: Trader Joe's coming to town
Back in January, the Hook reported that the latest renderings for Stonefield, the 65-acre development formerly known as Albemarle Place, showed a Trader Joe's on the corner... -
The right to bare: Tobey, TRI, take on TSA
Aaron Tobey, the 21-year-old Charlottesville native who made headlines in December when he was arrested after stripping down to his shorts at the Richmond International Air...
The Brazen Careerist
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Watch clock: Tardiness sabotages your success
My column was late. Not to you, but to my editor. It is surprising, really, that my column was late, because the time zone difference is in my favor. But this week I would ...
Sports Doctor
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Ohio stink: Tressel abandons players in trouble
How corrupt can college sports get before someone with power and influence gets angry enough to do something about it? There must be a limit to the putrification, mustn’t...
Strange But True
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Fire-walking: How it relates to a hot frying pan
Q. As any seasoned cook knows, a quick sprinkle of water on a skillet can tell if it's hot enough, as the drops bead up and dance about on a thin cushion of water vapor. Wh...
Facetime
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Jacob's voice: UVA MFA grad channels teen angst in debut
Gender-bending in literature is more than a common convention; some of fiction's greatest works are written in a voice of the author's opposite sex. UVA MFA graduate (2003)... -
Write on: John McNally teaches literary survival
Almost everyone wants to write a novel. For those who don't want their manuscripts to languish in attics and hard drives, novelist John McNally wrote The Creative Writer's ...
Black and White
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Ragged Mountain
Walked the trail around the Lower Ragged Mountain Reservoir in late January. Some signs of geotechnical activity. Thirty vertical feet of terrain to be clear-cut and submer...