Saturday, February 12, 2005

From High Atop Church Hill

T and I attended a recreation of the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church today. Though I feel good about U.S. being a place and a culture separate from Britain, I kept nodding with the "delegates" urging the Convention to be cautious, to consider the violence, the expense, the loss that would arise if the colonies armed against the world's greatest naval power. Then, of course, Mr. Henry, of Hanover County, tells his fellow delegates, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me: give me liberty or give me death." And I found I had been nodding agreement with both sides. (If you'd like to attend yourself, get details here.)

We walked west a few blocks to take a look at the proposed site for a new baseball stadium. I noted that the WRVA building has a sign announcing that the Memorial Child Guidance Clinic uses it now. Mr. Slipek eulogized the building's architect, Philip Johnson, and wrote of the sweet little building,
From the inside, radio personalities could look out over the city [link added]. This architectural combination is remarkable in its sweep, and the fact that modernism took root on Church Hill was a statement that Richmond didn’t have to be mired in the past.

At VCUkrops: I ran into the co-conspirators for John's book release party; we agreed we have got to pick a date, soon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! That looks like a great book! For once, someone's looking at something "Civil War" or "Confederate" without taking an extremist stand. I can hardly wait! (Will there be an "Official Unveiling"?)
P.

Lisa said...

I think WRVA abandoned Church Hill 4 or 5 years ago, as a side effect of being eaten up by Clear Channel.