First impressions can be unexpected. Driving into Athens and looking at its poorer parts, my wife and I first thought of Mexico.

When I went to see the Parthenon, it was soon clear I could never […]

It was just about a hundred years ago that Martha dropped dead. She was found on the floor of her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo and that was that – the end of the last known passenger pigeon on the p […]

I wasn’t a natural writer but I always wanted to be one. Born in New York City, I soon moved to Providence, Rhode Island with my family and then to Washington, D.C. where my father began working for the C.I.A. A […]

Julia Aurora Travers likes to mix it up. Her creative talent and social concerns combine in various venues—as artist, designer, writer and teacher. A native of Hampton, Virginia, Travers now lives in C […]

In 1983 I gave up on acting. I was a sophomore in college. It was not an easy choice.  Since junior high, I had been convinced I was going to be America’s answer to Laurence Olivier. I had chosen to atte […]

A Writer Retreats

I was on a quest. A quest for a room of one’s own to finish my draft, far from the hurly-burly of New York City.

A lucky Google search led me to The Porches Writing Retreat and a photo of a […]

The mystery will be solved on Saturday at six.

The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) will unveil “The Commission” at Morven Farm in Charlottesville on Saturday May 10th. This year’s Commi […]

Water pistols. Animal crackers. Twinkies. Paper airplanes. Dollar bills, paddle ball toys and boxes of popcorn. Fun and games, but maybe not the stuff of fine art. Unless you’re Virginia artist Michael F […]

When I recently encountered STREETLIGHT for the first time, I found myself wondering about the name, why it was chosen, what associations it is meant to evoke.  Then as I explored the magazine I ran across Susan […]

“If we can’t educate you, we’ll make a pet of you, or sacrifice you.”  This from Jean Sampson in her class Gutsy Abstract Oil Painting at The McGuffy Art Center where Jean is a resident studio artist. This is a […]

The recent New York Times news article asking the question: “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?” was painful for me. Because I know where one of them is – on my desktop, unpublis […]

Last week’s blog, “All Aboard!” sparked some fond memories of train trips of yore. Streetlight would like to share a couple such reminiscences.

I was what they call a train “dead head” which mean […]

Recently scanning for a train schedule, I was surprised to discover an advertisement for “The much-anticipated Amtrak Writer’s Residency.” Amtrak as literary inspiration? Well their menu does include “Fresh […]

The closing of Charlottesville’s Chroma Gallery has me thinking about the business of art and the making of art. (recent blog: https://streetlightmag.com/2014/01/20/breathing-room/)

For an artist, nothing r […]

In the last week’s blog, Memoir/Essay Editor Susan Shafarzek’s question, “What do I mean by STREETLIGHT?” triggered  in me a memory of growing up in Memphis and our neighborhood streetlight that drew us kids in […]

Growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, a small town which photographer Stacey Evans describes as a mix of rural, urban, industrial and suburban landscapes, she remembers watching trains speed by and […]

After four years on Charlottesville’s downtown mall, Chroma Projects is vacating our beautiful space. We are sadly closing our heavy glass doors at the end of January, and for the foreseeable future the gallery […]

SL:  Congratulations on the publication of your short story, “Phoenix” in Streetlight’s upcoming Winter Issue.  When did you start writing or realize that you were a writer?

JD:   I remember that when I was eig […]

We’ve all done it. Found ourselves reading a successful, but dreadfully written book and exclaimed “I can do better!” Well, this was the genesis of Silver Apples of the Moon, the novel  co-authored by me and my […]

Charlottesville filmmaker Jamie Ross and photographer Tom Cogill have recently collaborated on Listening to the Land: Stories from the Cacapon and Lost River Valley. Ross and Cogill document the rich […]