longread
Kim Catley
Breaking the binary

Fair Play

It's clear there's potential for a lot of good to come from hosting events like the World Cup and the Olympics. But as public costs race into the billions, and at the risk of government upheaval and exacerbating human rights issues, one still has to ask, is it even worth it?
For some countries, University of Richmond law professor Andy Spalding says, the answer may be no.
Consider Oslo, Norway, which entered a bid for the 2022 Olympics. It's one of the least corrupt countries in the world according to Transparency International, it has a favorable position in the global marketplace, and the government infrastructure is strong. That left only economic considerations, but Norway's citizens didn't support the use of public funds to cover the infrastructure costs. Oslo was forced to withdraw its bid.
But Spalding isn't as quick to dismiss the potential for nations like Brazil. If a nation can use the platform to establish long-term, positive institutional reforms and improve its standing in a global marketplace, it makes the endeavor worthwhile, even at an economic costs.
In fact, Spalding argues that a push to let developing countries host could give more countries the chance to take advantage of the global platform and follow in Brazil's footsteps. It's those countries that have so much more to gain than gold medals and shiny new buildings.

This story appeared in the summer 2015 issue of Richmond Law, the University of Richmond School of Law alumni magazine. It's one of those stories that seems like it could be a bit dry and technical, but after talking to the people involved, I can't help but be fascinated by the subject.

OmGal

In a world where yoga studios are on every corner, it’s hard to imagine that when Rebecca Pacheco, ’01, first stepped onto the mat, she had to seek out places to practice. At 16, that meant a Cape Cod community center, surrounded by retirees. As a college student, she spent Saturday mornings in a church basement. And while spending a semester at sea, maintaining a practice meant learning how to teach.

This profile appeared in the spring 2015 issue of University of Richmond Magazine.

3 Days in RVA

Lately it seems like all eyes are on Richmond. Frommer’s named the city a top worldwide destination claiming, “while you weren’t looking, Richmond got cool.” The New York Times says, “Richmond is strutting with confidence” as it emerges as a “new player on the Southern art and culinary scene.” And Outside magazine says residents are “absolutely justified in their zealotry.”
But what does a foodie city taste like? What makes an “it” neighborhood? What does it mean to be one of the happiest cities in America? And, as a university that brings in students from all over the world but once struggled to burst its own bubble, what’s our place in all of this?
Spend a weekend here with an itinerary like this and you’ll get a few answers. Delicate and hop-forward, classic French with a dash of comfort. A place that preserves history without shying away from innovation. Spiders who love RVA and work together to make our home a better place.

This feature appeared in the spring 2015 issue of University of Richmond Magazine. It's hard to believe I've lived in Richmond for nearly a decade. I love getting the chance to write about the people and places that make my adopted home, and this piece was no exception.

Storytelling, Identity, Social Change

Sixteen students arrive at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center to a 10-foot-high chain-link fence laced with razor wire. They identify themselves and the gate ratchets open. Guards greet them just inside the nondescript brick building, verify they’re allowed on-site, and search everyone. Only IDs and jackets are allowed beyond this point. The guards alert their counterparts in the dining hall and the women’s residential cottage and the students enter.
At first glance, it may not seem like these 16 University students have much in common with the residents they meet at Bon Air. But as they begin to share stories of comfort and safety, of family and friends, it’s soon apparent that the lives of teenagers — whether inside these austere walls or at a liberal arts college less than five miles away — maybe aren’t so different.

This profile appeared on the University of Richmond website.

Daniel Yoo

As first-year students arrive on campus, a common conversation guides the subtle shift from stranger to roommate, classmate, or teammate. “What’s your major?” or “Where are you from?” or “Do you like your professor?” — these questions are asked and answered, again and again.
They’re comfortable, easy to answer. But Daniel Yoo, ’18, was never satisfied with the surface level. He wanted to get to know people on a deeper level.

This profile appeared on the University of Richmond website.

A Quieter Now

I sit down at my desk to write this story. I turn on my laptop, gather my notes, and open Word. Just as my fingers start to tap the keyboard — ding — an email arrives. I can answer that one tomorrow.

Ding. Another one. That I can’t ignore. And that reminds me, I told them I’d help them with that other thing today. It’ll just take a second.

Chime. A text from my husband asking if I can run home at lunch today to let the dog out. We’re also out of bread, and I need to remember to run by the grocery store. Let me write that down. Where did I put my pen?

Ring. “Did you send those files to the client yet?” Let me do that right now. Is this one the most recent version, or is that one? I’ll have to check.

The day progresses, and the to-do list builds. The gas pedal is mashed to the floor, and a leisurely cruise turns into a race down the Autobahn. My mind jumps between thoughts and tasks, each fighting to get to the front of the line. I keep telling myself that it will be easier to approach this writing assignment with a clear plate and head.

Soon, it’s 3:30 p.m., and my Word document is still sitting open with nothing more than a headline, a few half-formed thoughts, and a blinking cursor.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and try to recall Shari Motro’s first-year seminar: Sex, Mindfulness, and the Law. Every Tuesday, 16 students — as well as faculty, staff, and students from around campus — gather in the Law School Commons. The room is buzzing with pre-class chatter as we stand around a circle of chairs. Motro walks in, quietly removes her shoes, and takes a seat. Without a word, the activity of the room dissipates, and everyone makes his or her way to a seat on a chair, a couch, or a cushion on the floor.

“This is the time when we say goodbye to our phones,” she says. “We’ll come back to them in a little while.”

And then, we sit.

This feature appeared in the winter 2015 issue of University of Richmond Magazine, the University's alumni magazine. As a yoga teacher, I was especially excited by the chance to dig into a subject I personally care about. How great is that?

Parking Lot Project

parking-lot-project.JPG

The Parking Lot Project was a yearlong, collaborative artwork, driven by students at the University of Richmond. Individual parking spaces were excavated and students redeveloped the spaces independent research and public art, while considering questions about sustainability, land use, and landscape as artists, scholars, and citizens.

This video captured the excavation project. I interviewed students and photographed excavation and other events, all contributing to ongoing coverage of the project.

Meet the Stains

When Doug Orleski — the artist behind RVA Coffee Stain — started abandoning his art in pockets and corners of Richmond, it was his simple way of giving back to the city that often inspires his work.
One day, while abandoning a print at the Light of Human Kindness wall, a woman, Emily, recognized him and stopped to tell him of her own found art.
As it turned out, a few months prior, Doug was delivering a print to a customer, Matt, and included an extra for being a little behind schedule. Matt took a play from Doug’s book and paid it forward with his own abandonment in Byrd Park. Emily found it while jogging, and excitedly told everyone about her found art — including the guy she was meeting the next night for a first date.
The two had a long night of conversation over dinner. When they got back to the car to go home, her date handed her a small gift.
“Instead of flowers, he bought her a frame for the print,” Doug says. “And it’s been one of their favorite pieces of their relationship, which I thought was cool.”

This story originally appeared on Hometown Junket, a collection of stories by and about Richmonders.

Storyteller

What inspired you to write The Laramie Project?
When Matthew Shepard was attacked, the whole nation took notice. The crime shocked me, of course, but the attention that it received shocked me even more. I thought, if I take my theater company to Laramie, Wyo., and we talk to the people of the town, we might be able to gather a sense of where not only Laramie was, but where the entire country was.
The media portrayed the town as rednecks and hillbillies and cowboys, and so of course this could happen there. It couldn’t happen anywhere else. In The Laramie Project, the thing that makes Laramie so stunningly interesting is not how different it is from the rest of the country, but how similar it is.

This Q&A with The Laramie Project author and director Moisés Kaufman appeared in the spring 2014 issue of University of Richmond Magazine.

From farm to shelf

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, but Little House Green Grocery is bustling. Customers drop in looking for eggs or ginger. A delivery from Billy Bread Bakery replenishes the shelves, nearly empty after the previous day’s snow, with fresh-baked goodness. A young couple chats at the register for nearly 10 minutes about the winning recipes from a recent party.
The scene is just what Erin Wright, C’07, and Jess Goldberg envisioned when they opened Little House just a year ago in the Bellevue neighborhood in Northside Richmond.

This profile appeared in the spring 2014 issue of University of Richmond Magazine.

Bringing Home Hattie

They arrive in Richmond early on a Saturday morning. Some leap out of the car, their tails wagging excitedly. Others tentatively step down, ears tucked and eyes wide, uncertain after the long ride from Alabama.

People cluster around the car as volunteers reach for muzzles and collars, checking against their list. They call out names like Al’s Dust Kicker, Kiowa Mon Manny, and Flying Angela.

We scan the plastic collars, looking for the one with Flat Out Hacky scribbled in black Sharpie, eager to get our first look at the dog we’ll be bringing home.

This story appeared on Hometown Junket, a collection of stories by and about Richmonders.

Yoga for the People

I meet Yogi J Miles outside the Starbucks at Libbie and Grove. He’s just finished teaching a morning vinyasa class at Om On Yoga just down the street. It’s one of his last before he departs for several weeks of advanced teacher training at Sri Swami Satchidananda’s Yogaville ashram in Buckingham, Va.

“I think I’m like the Ol' Dirty Bastard of yoga,” he says. “ODB in Wu-Tang, there was no father to his style, which is why he was an ol' dirty bastard. I think I’m kind of the same way — maybe I have multiple fathers to my style.”

This story originally appeared on Hometown Junket, a collection of stories by and about Richmonders.