Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
SCENE ONE: Am I in the right place?
We’re on location - University Farm Road, Stuarts Draft.
A farmhouse sits on a hill. The sun is shining bright.
It is windy; and the ground is still wet from a recent soaking rain.
I was supposed to meet on location with one of the producers of the movie “Disconnected,” [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
The Virginia Film Festival is getting ready for what will be its 20th annual event. Which means Richard Herskowitz has some planning to do.
“We’re really wanting to make this year’s festival spectacular,” said Herskowitz, a University of Virginia professor who has served as the director of the film festival since 1994.
The festival [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
Kent Williamson is nothing if not passionate.
That begins to explain his five-and-a-half-year odyssey that resulted in “Rebellion of Thought,” a documentary written and directed by Kent Williamson and his brother, Brad Williamson, that explores the role of faith in our postmodern culture.
“The things that you’re passionate about, I guess you have to [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
Allan Moye’s screenwriting career was derailed by “Free Willy.”
No, I’m not making that up.
Moye, who teaches screenwriting at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, had his script for “The Blue Man,” which he termed a “kind of a near-future, post-apocalyptic, microscopic kind of environment, similar to Staunton, believe it or not,” optioned by [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
Jorge Matalana set out for the United States from his native Peru in 1989 for the same reason that millions of others who have embarked on a new life in America decided to pack up their lives and put down new roots here.
“My country was in a little bit of trouble with [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
There’s one thing you can say about Americans - we’re all immigrants, even the Native Americans who traversed the land bridge between Asia and North America to get here way back when.
“Every one of us came from someplace, if you go back in our history long enough. It’s important that we say [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
Nell Tiller had been teaching high-school Spanish for 20 years - “so I was ready for something new,” she said.
“And this was something new - and this was something that I could do for the community,” said Tiller, a Spanish professor at Blue Ridge Community College who has been teaching classes to [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
Diane Taylor was reaching out to the Latino community in Charlottesville when she first came across Carlos Teran of the local Spanish-language newspaper Nuevas Raices.
“I had created a bilingual television commercial for the Charlottesville Transit Service - a first of its kind in our area. And then after that, I started also [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
I’ve never interviewed a rock star - but I imagine that it can’t be that much different than trying to get a few minutes in with former Virginia governor Mark Warner.
That second one, interviewing Warner, isn’t an easy task at all - I can tell you that.
And here I had thought that [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
They’ve been talking about what to do about Interstate 81 for years now.
I use the word they there because, well, the list of people who have involved in the talking is rather lengthy.
It dates back four governors now - I remember covering my first Interstate 81 summit as a cub reporter back [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by chrisgraham
Story by Chris Graham
John-Boy was in the hospital - his life in jeopardy, his chance at sitting for the college-scholarship exam all but lost.
It was also Thanksgiving - though nobody on Walton’s Mountain seemed to be thinking too much about the turkey and stuffing and potatoes and the rest.
I happened upon a replay of “The [...]
Filed under: 7-January 2007 Issue | No Comments »
