Citizen Burger
As silly as it seems to document a burger joint, this place will always hold a weirdly large place in my heart. Last April, an old flame reached out to reconnect and our first date was here. It was also the first time dining out in Charlottesville “post” covid. As we chatted and ate the greasy burgers in front of us, it was the first time in a year that I felt comfortable around guys (my anxiety since 2020 had been horrid). This first date would lead to others and would lead to a cliché, torrid affair. It was the first time I saw I deserved to be treated, but like all torrid affairs, it would end in heartbreak. Regardless, every time I walk past citizen burger, I get a weird heaviness in my heart. Not the bad kind though, but the grieving kind that reminds you of something found, then something—rather someone lost.
Maplewood Cemetery
2. This cemetery shouldn’t mean anything to me. No one I know is buried here. No one I love is buried here. And yet, it’s been a source of comfort for me these past two years, as inappropriate as that feels because it doesn’t deserve to be mine. During covid, my best bryden and I would go on long walks to the downtown area, and one day we walked a bit off the mall and stumbled into this place. As people accustomed to romanticizing their lives, of course we had to enter and on this beautiful sunny day, we wondered, looking at the intricate tombstones and wondering who these people were. Whenever my My dad and I are near a grave, we always talk about the people who lived to be 80 or 90 years old, and what their lives must’ve looked like. What would it have been like to live through the last good years before the depression? We always feel bad for the boys who were born in 1900, because it’s possible they would have to fight in the First World War, and if they were lucky enough to survive, would likely fight in the Second, too. As bryden and I walked around, I told her about these conversations, and we talked about the lives of the women who lived 50 years beyond their husbands. We were imagining beautiful lives of grandeur, aware that we were probably wrong about almost everything. There was also this sad french song bryden showed me in this cemetery. We sat in silence and listened. Every time I hear that song I’m taken back to that moment, that sense of life I felt amongst so much death.
City Hall
3. I wanted something to represent the indigenous history of Charlottesville in a place that means so much to me. I needed to contextualize my joy in the pain of stolen land. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there’s no marker of the Monacan nation downtown, so instead I decided to focus on people who do (italics) get to be remembered publically: the founding fathers. UVa and Charlottesville are (naturally and understandably) obsessed with founding fathers, but these imposing statues are demanding. What does it mean to put colonizers' faces on city hall? I was unable to find any information about when this building was erected. Instead of focusing on these men, I decided to focus on the flowers nearby. While these are planted not native plants, I still think we can pay homage to the landscape that was destroyed to create Charlottesville by using indigenous forms of knowledge and understanding, and focusing on nature and prioritizing nature over the founding fathers is one way to start.
Heather Heyer
4. Here is the spot where on August 11 & 12, a neo-nazi murdered Heather Heyer by accelerating down this street and hitting her. The downtown mall is full of cute little spots, but it’s also the site of this horror. I think one of the hardest things about coming to UVa in 2018 was that so much had happened in the years before and as students we have to live with all of these scary, horrible things that we didn’t actually live through. I wasn’t in CHarlottesville in 2017. I didn’t even really follow the news. I saw the pictures and I was horrified, but not surprised. Virginia’s history is devastating and as someone who lives in Northern Virginia, I never really associated myself with Southern or Central Virginia. Coming to UVa made me confront all of this state’s actions, politics, and incidents. While this spot has no personal meaning for me, it is a part of the Downtown Mall’s history and must be examined
New Dominion Bookshop
5. There’s few places more important to me than bookstores because there’s few things more important to me than books. Both my parents are avid readers, and always encouraged me to read anything and everything. One of the first places I fell in love with in Charlottesville was New Dominion Bookstore. Back home, there’s a bookstore I go into whenever I’m stressed or excited and every emotion in between, and once I found an equivalent in Charlottesville I knew this place could be home. This place has grounded me before covid, during long days in my third year when most stores weren’t open, and now on bustling days exploring. A few weeks ago I was going through a hard time, and I told my friends I needed to go feel a book in my hand, and as silly and crazy as it sounds, just walking in and breathing in all of the titles made me feel better. I’m going to miss this place and its quaintness and unique ambiance.
The Alley light
6. Here I had dinner with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, and my girlfriend and it felt like the merging of lives. The food was incredible, the atmosphere was perfect–like a little speakeasy, and as I looked around the table, I realized I was the happiest I could possibly be. Family is the most important thing, so it meant so much to me that my family (especially my sister who is so busy) was able to come down to Charlottesville. Food is such an important part of gathering, so it made sense that we were merging our lives over full plates of delectable food.
Tea Bazaar
7. When I first walked into this place in Summer 2019, I remember feeling like I had left my normal world and entered into a fantasy world. The tea bazaar has such a transformative effect on your mind, immediately calming me down. The first time I went there was with some of my older friends, who I always thought were too cool to hang out with a lowly first year like me. However, as we chatted and talked about music and politics and other ideas, I knew I fit in. This year, my best friend and I had a talk about the future in the tea bazaar and as scary as it is to realize your life is about to change, I’m glad we could have that talk in this mellow space and with a delicious tea in my hand.
