More Hotel X

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Hotel X was putting down tracks today for a new album at Minimum Wage Recording studio. It’s always great to have them back in the neighborhood. (Photos courtesy of Tim Harding)

Speaking of local music, Mayor Stoney declared today “Mad Skillz Day” in honor of the rapper. Skillz has been dropping rhymes since the mid 90’s here in the RVA.

First Words for Teen Writers – Richmond Library Event

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Richmond Public Library is hosting an event this Saturday at 1 pm to entitled “First Words for Teen Writers”.

Learn to appropriately critique a story in this interactive workshop. Participants are encouraged to submit their writing in advance, and YA author Christina June will critique the first 250 words at the workshop. Works will be critiqued anonymously and with respect, so young writers can feel safe in submitting their stories. Attendees will leave the workshop knowing how to appropriately and respectfully critique their peer’s work. Any pieces that are not critiqued during the session, due to time, will be returned with feedback to the author.

Teen writing samples of 250 words should be submitted to Jennifer.Deuell@richmondgov.com no later than February 14th, 2019.

Ray Williams

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Style has a story on the passing of Ray Williams, City homicide detective.

Excerpt:

Retired Richmond police Detective W. Ray Williams died Feb. 1 at 68 following a long battle with heart disease, tragically dying on the same day as his younger brother Tommy, a retired American Filtrona factory worker who had long suffered from Alzheimer’s.

The gravel-voiced Richmond native had a tough upbringing in the city’s Oregon Hill neighborhood.

“You had to fight to exist in Oregon Hill,” said Ray Williams, who at age 12 witnessed a neighbor get shot through the neck. Ray was the third of six children, all of whom were placed in foster care as young children for four years. His two youngest siblings would be adopted by another family. Their father, a second-generation bootleg whiskey-maker who once sold his wares to the same undercover policeman twice in a single night, was in and out of the nearby state penitentiary and prison road camps during their early years. Years later, as a young homicide detective, Ray would be called to an abandoned house in Oregon Hill, where his father was found dead on a mattress in the kitchen.

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A memorial service for Ray Williams will be held Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Richmond Police Academy, 1202 W. Graham Road. His family has asked that donations be made in his name to the Richmond Police Foundation, richmondpolicefoundation.org, or Apple Dog Daycare, appledogdaycare.com.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

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This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

Don’t forget that the RVA Environmental Film Festival continues for just a little while longer. Tonight, see the movie Before The Flood at VCU Cabell Library Lecture Hall at 6 pm.

Tomorrow night, see A Man Named Pearl at the North Courthouse Road Library in Chesterfield. And then this Saturday, check out EVOLVE: Driving a Clean Future in Coal Country at the Henrico Library in Varina, along with an electric vehicle presentation.

In recycling news, in Henrico, Tuckahoe District Supervisor Patricia S. O’Bannon will host a Tuckahoe Town Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28 to discuss the proper disposal of household waste, recycling programs and other ways to conserve natural resources. But the big news for the state may be the continued wrangling over recycling coal waste. Legislation moving through the General Assembly to clean up Dominion’s coal ash now includes a provision that would shield Chesterfield County from truck traffic due to recycling.

On the international front, a Hezbollah leader appeared on an Israeli recycling ad.

Film Screening Tonight At Virginia War Memorial: Thank You For Your Service – 2nd showing

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From Virginia War Memorial event page:

Monday, February 11, 2019 – 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Adult Programs
Free Event
The Virginia War Memorial will host two free screenings of the award-winning documentary Thank You For Your Service by Tom Donohue. The film takes aim at the failed mental health policies within the U.S. military and their tragic consequences.” Donahue combines the stories of four struggling Iraq War veterans with candid interviews with top military and civilian leaders to examine the U.S. military’s mental health crisis.

Former U.S. Army Sergeant William Rodriguez, MSW, one four veterans featured in the film, will be at both screenings to participate in panel discussions following the presentation.
Admission is FREE, but due to limited seating, pre-registration for free tickets is required. Click here for registration.

Partners with the Virginia War Memorial in presenting this film and discussion are the Office of the Mayor of the City of Richmond and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Richmond Vet Center. The goal of the presentations is to raise awareness of the issue of suicide among veterans, their spouses and families as part of the Mayor’s Challenge and Governor’s Challenge to prevent these suicides.

For more information, email Dr. Brian Meyer, Interim Associate Chief, Mental Health Services/Supervisor Psychologist at McGuire VA Medical Center at brian.meyer@va.gov.

Welcome & Introductory Presentation: 6:00 p.m.

Film Screening: 6:45 p.m.

Panel Discussion at 8:15 p.m.