By Taylor Hall
VCU Insight

RICHMOND, Va. –  The VCU Anderson Gallery just wrapped up the very popular exhibit “Richard Carlyon: A Retrospective.”

The exhibit featured a re-creation of Richard’s study as it appeared for more than 50 years on West Broad Street.  Richard Carylon, a former VCU faculty member who passed away in 2006,  was a pivotal figure in the Richmond art community, inspiring people with his paintings, drawings, and unique style in collages.

Anderson Gallery Director Ashley Kistler says the exhibit brought in a lot of Carlyon’s former students, colleagues, family and friends.

“And many people have come from out of town. And people have come to see the show not once, not twice, but three or four times.”

The Anderson Gallery could not provide an exact count on how many people attended the exhibit. The gallery is selling a 96-page catalog of Carylon’s exhibit for $30.

By Amy Via and Taylor Hall
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. – Richmond and areas surrounding it are rich with history and diverse architecture.  The city has numerous “Old and Historic” districts which have been preserved through historic preservation programs and initiatives.

Virginia Commonwealth University has a unique program within their Urban and Regional Studies department, in which students can earn a certificate in Historic Preservation Planning.

The certificate, which combines architectural history and urban planning, is unique to VCU.

“We’re the only ones who are doing historic preservation as a profession within the community development field,” said John Accordino, PhD, the certificate’s coordinator.

VCU has provided the certificate for eight years.  The program currently has six students.

Ron Brown is taking the “Historic Preservation in Planning” class, and says the class has helped him learn about Richmond’s past.

“It kinda educates me more on the importance of what happened and how that history helped form things,” said Brown.

Thirteen years ago, VCU began a revitalization project called the Carver-VCU Partnership.  Community members and several professors at VCU helped in the process.  Students within the certificate program can work on service-learning projects with the Carver partnership.  Students develop plans on crime prevention, crime and safety, and alcohol reduction.

“Those studies are then used by the Carver Area Civic Improvement League to tackle problems,” said Brown.

Brown sees a connection between his coursework and professional work, because he works full time for the Carver-VCU partnership as a community liaison.

“It amazes me how it ties in because a lot of what I’m doing is about developers coming into the neighborhoods, saving old buildings, maintaining the neighborhood as it used to be,” said Brown.

Brown thinks a crucial message can be learned from examining our history.

“It’s important that people know what happened, where you came from, what went on…because if you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you’re going,” said Brown.

By Alonna Artis
VCU InSight

The Historic Richmond Foundation is the oldest non-profit organization in Richmond. Founded in 1935, the Historic Richmond Foundation preserves the historic assets that define Richmond’s unique character.

Katie Kelley, the foundation’s marketing manager, says that preserving Richmond’s history has real results.

“Sixteen years ago we saved The National Theater on Broad St. from demolition and if we had never done that, it would never have opened as a wonderful performance venue today,” said Kelley.

The Historic Richmond Foundation focuses on areas of Richmond that are covered by one of several areas on the National Register of Historic Places. In Richmond that includes the neighborhoods of Jackson Ward, Church Hill, Monroe Ward, and other parts of Broad Street.

The foundation encourages the residents of Richmond to get involved.

“One thing you can do is go onto our website, www.historicrichmond.com to see what issues we are currently working on,” said Kelley.

Other ways to get involved with the foundation is to attend events that they put on and read newspapers to follow what’s going on in city council and their monthly commission of architecture reviews.

By Matt Doyon and Alonna Artis
VCU InSight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the Colonial Athletic Association’s recent Media Day in the nation’s capitol, the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team was projected to finish in third place.

Sports information directors and media professionals from around the CAA voted the Rams to finish behind Old Dominion and Northeastern in their annual gathering Oct. 20.

VCU won the conference regular-season crown the past three seasons, all under the former head coach Anthony Grant. Shaka Smart replaces the departed Grant. At 32 years old, Smart is the youngest coach in the CAA.

Smart says age isn’t an important factor.

“I don’t really look at it like that. I’ve had great preparation with the coaches that I’ve been around and I’m here,” Smart said.

One of the toughest tasks for Smart is to replace the back-to-back conference player of the year, Eric Maynor. Maynor set records in scoring and assists during his four years at point guard. Minutes will be divided at that position this season.

“Right now we have three guys that are getting most of our reps at the point: Joey Rodriguez, Isaiah Grayson and Darius Theus. Jay Gavin also occasionally gets in there because he’s very good with the ball, but there’s no question that’s our least experienced spot.”

Junior Larry Sanders is expected to pick up some of the slack. He lead the CAA in blocks last season and is on the all-conference first team.

Sanders is respected by many around the CAA.

“Larry Sanders is one of the most gifted athletes to ever play in the league,” said George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga. “He’s tall, he’s long, he’s athletic. He can alter the game with his shot-blocking ability, his rebounding ability.”

Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins and Old Dominion’s Gerald Lee are the co-players of the preseason.

VCU is picked to finish lower than first for the for time since 2006 — the last time the Rams changed head coaches — when they were projected sixth. Howver, they won the CAA regular season and tournamnet titles.

By Curtis Cobert and Jerome Foster
VCU Insight

Richmond, Va.– It seems that the fictional game of Quidditch is starting to take the real world by storm.

Two years ago, “Harry Potter” fans at Virginia Commonwealth University started a club dedicated to the game made famous by the book series by J.K. Rowling.

Without the help of flying brooms, the players have to use the next best thing–they run with a broom between their legs. The object of the game is to throw a ball through a series of hoops without getting getting hit by the other team. Randolph Park is their own personal Hogwarts.

The VCU Quidditch Club has since expanded its membership to 23 people with the help of social media such as Facebook.

“It’s a pretty informative team.  Pretty much, hey you’re interested? Come play with us,” said Adam Seats, a VCU freshman.

Britni Puccio, VCU Quidditch team captain, said she schedules matches with other schools through Facebook. She said that it had to be this way because until recently the group wasn’t recognized as an official VCU club.

“We are sister teams with University of Richmond and University of Maryland-College Park. And ODU hasn’t started a team up so once they get a team together, we will be playing them,” said Puccio.

The Qudditch phenomenon is sweeping the entire nation. For the past three years, teams from around the country have gotten together to play in the Quidditch World Cup, a double elimination tournament held in Vermont. This year VCU played against 20 other teams such as Harvard and LSU. VCU lost all three matches.

Members of the team like Amber Cummings, a VCU graduate student, believe that local matches are good training for the Cup competition.

“We just had a game against U of R over the weekend and I think that really improved our chances because we learned a lot from that game,” said Cummings.

The members of the team don’t play for any awards but rather for the love of the game.

“VCU Quidditch! And I was like, awesome, because I have been a fan of the book since I was in the 4th grade,” said Puccio.

By Curtis Cobert
VCU Insight

Richmond, Va.– The vampire frenzy that’s sweeping the nation has hit Virginia Commonwealth University. The university is offering a class through the Department of English that deals with “Vampire Literature.”

The class reads and sees films such as “Twilight,” “Interview with the Vampire,” and “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”

John Brinegar, a VCU English Professor, said he want students not only to walk away with better knowledge of the literature but also the differences between movies and books.

“What really got me interested in doing this course was I was interested in finding out why is there such an explosion of vampire stuff right now,” Brinegar said.

Brinegar hopes to teach the class again next semester.

By Amy Via
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University’s Cary Street Gym on the Monroe Park Campus has been in construction for just under two years.  The renovations will accommodate the university’s increasing volume of students.

Tom Diehl, Director of VCU Recreational Sports, hopes the new space will bring in up to 4,000 students per day.

“What we have is an all-in-one facility.  Everything we could imagine is all in one building,” said Diehl.

And with the larger space comes a wide variety of new equipment.   The gym will go from one main room to multiple rooms with over 500 pieces of cardio and weight equipment.  Students can also find an elevated track, group exercise rooms, a swimming pool with a water slide, and an air hockey room.

The work began in January 2008 and is scheduled for completion in early 2010.

By Iva Radman and Chelse Greaux
VCU InSight

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Market 810 at Shafer Court Dining Center on the Monroe Park campus has been named a Dining Hall of Distinction by University Business Magazine.

Market 810, operated by Aramark, was the winner in the Public Institution category. A total of 65 higher education institutions from around the country submitted applications for the award.

The magazine judged schools on several different criteria, such as atmosphere, service, variety of offerings, guest satisfaction, and environmental sustainability. Shafer serves about 5,000 students a day. Almost all of them are student with prepaid VCU meal plans.

VCU Director of Business Services Diane Reynolds says VCU is proud of the award. Reynolds thinks the initiatives they take set them apart from other schools.

“We’re constantly asking, we have focus groups, we have dining programs in smaller groups with students to really keep our finger on the pulse of what it is that they’re seeking and what they need.”

Some students like freshman pre-nursing major Jessica Dunn says VCU doesn’t compare to other Virginia universities.

“The food is good but it’s not like the best food. I’ve been to other colleges like Virginia Tech and James Madison and they have really good food.”

While others like senior community health major major Tim Pierce disagree. Pierce says it’s an honor.

“It’s very impressive knowing that I’m actually eating at probably one of the best cafeterias at one of the universities here in Virginia.”

Reynolds insists that dining goes beyond food. She says it’s about having a place for students to accommodate students’ ever-changing lives.

“It’s an important element of student life and although it’s not the sole reason why student would select VCU, it is an element that I say is icing on the cake.”

The dining center, which was built in 2004 for $18 million, was designed by Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company of Norfolk.

By Ben Schafer
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va.–The fifth annual Richmond Zombie Walk was held Saturday the 24^th of October in historic Cary Town.  The largest walk yet this year, the undead numbered close to 400 participants.

The walk has become a favorite Halloween tradition for some Richmond residents. It’s taken to charity over the past three years, raising money from participants for the American Cancer Society.  This year raised more than $600.

By Eric Blackstock and Ben Schafer
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. — Former students from Virginia Commonwealth University began a new tour program in Richmond this year, which allows patrons to visit sites thought to be haunted.

The “Eerie Nights Ghost Tours” explore haunted areas around the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond, including the Virginia Capitol building, governor’s mansion,  canal walk, and the site of the Church Hill train tunnel collapse.

Eerie Nights Ghost Tours co-founder Kappy Anklam says what sets their tours apart from others in Richmond is that the tour guides, known as “ghoul guides,” set out to give visitors a unique experience.

“The ghoul guides are in costume, in character.  They have on makeup, so it’s a full-bodied experience,” Anklam said.  “Not only do you learn history, but we really focus not so much on giving you a history lesson of Richmond, but telling the folklore — the local stories.”

Anklam says what draws visitors to tours like these, is an enjoyment from being scared and a curiosity about life after death.

“I think that people have always been fascinated with death because we don’t know what happens after we die,” Anklam said.

According to a 2005 CBS News poll, 48-percent of respondents said they believe in the possibility of ghosts.

Pamela K. Kinney, author of “Haunted Richmond” and “Richmond: Legends, Myths, and True Tales,” says ghosts are real.

“I’ve seen,” Kinney said.  “You have a right to be skeptical, but I said keep an open mind and you might be surprised.”

In 2008, Americans spent $5.77 billion on Halloween, but the National Retail Association says that 2009 will see a decline of 18-percent in holiday sales.