Tuesday, September 15th, 2026

Features

Tag, you’re it! Ultimate game of tag held in Monroe Park

September 9, 2026

Elle Cota, Spectrum Editor For one hour on Sept. 3, Monroe Park looked less like a downtown Richmond park and a little more like a playground. More than 100 people gathered from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for Infection Tag, a free event organized by Ruckus, a community-based organization focused on providing resources and spaces bringing love. The group was led by Odist Powell alongside his longtime friend, Joe Armstrong.  The event featured four rounds of tag, each lasting around 12 minutes. The organizers sectioned off portions of the park near S. Belvidere St. and W. Main St. so participants could run without disrupting others using the space.  At the beginning of the event, Powell asked participants to stretch physically and mentally by talking to someone new. At the beginning of each round, organizers selected one person to be “it.” After giving the other players 10 seconds to scatter, the runner in a pink pinnie jersey chased them down. Each person tagged grabbed a pink pinnie jersey or sweatband before rejoining the game as another tagger. Powell drew inspiration from an event he attended in New York City in February called Wrestling Speed Dating, hosted by the organization Grown Kid,

‘A real second chance’ Restoration of voting rights on the ballot for formerly incarcerated people

September 2, 2026

Sal Orlando, News Editor “It makes you still feel like you have a scarlet letter in your head, like I’m less than, or that I’m not a full citizen,” Sam Harris, a Suffolk resident, said about previously losing his voting rights. Harris was granted his right to vote back by Gov. Abigail Spanberger last month, along with over 66,000 other people who were previously convicted of a felony, in her time in office. Under the Virginia Constitution, no person convicted of a felony is qualified to vote unless their civil rights are restored by the governor. The immediate reenfranchisement for over a quarter million people will be on the ballot this November in Virginia, the first time in 44 years. Reenfranchisement is the granting of rights back to people who had them taken away, according to Oxford Dictionary. Harris reflected on not voting in the 1993 gubernatorial election and former Gov. George Allen signing a bill abolishing parole. “That was in the 90s, and imagine me going to prison in 99, 2000 and being affected by something that the government came in and did,” Harris said.  Harris mentioned he regretted not voting prior to his incarceration, and would vote if

Richmond’s physical media keeps the past in reach

September 2, 2026

Elle Cota, Spectrum Editor While streaming services have made movies and music more accessible than ever, Richmond’s physical-media stores offer something a digital library cannot: a tangible connection to movies and music that can be displayed and collected. Cody Denzler, owner of Monster Video and Cut and Run Vintage, designed Monster Video’s store to resemble a traditional video rental shop, with shelves primarily devoted to VHS tapes. The store also carries DVDs, Blu-rays, Betamax tapes and LaserDiscs. After hosting a VHS themed pop-up at Shop Two Three, a collaboration with Studio Two Three, last September, he decided to turn the concept into a permanent business. “A lot of it is just stuff I’ve collected for years,” Denzler said. Although the store currently operates as a retail business, Denzler plans to eventually offer rentals. The store’s inventory pricing is based on supply and demand, taking in consideration how common or rare a title is. Physical movies offer something that streaming cannot, from artwork and packaging to the permanence of owning a copy, according to Denzler. “It was a whole part in addition to not only the movie itself on film, but actually how it’s packaged and sold, which when you look

HOTPANTS finds its sound in Richmond rock scene

August 19, 2026

Rachel Nicholas,  Assistant Spectrum Editor In a city full of creativity and booming artistry, Richmond rock band HOTPANTS has spent the last few years finding their place in the city’s music scene, pulling inspiration from classic rock, indie and psychedelic music.  Although they gather ideas from a multitude of places, the band agrees that assigning a genre to their sound is not so simple. “People will ask us, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ I’m just like, ‘I don’t know,’” frontwoman Mackenzie Roark said.  HOTPANTS formed after Roark released her first album in 2022 and wanted to bring the songs to a live audience. The band’s current lineup came together through years of connections between Richmond musicians, eventually becoming what Roark considers the “core of HOTPANTS.” Roark first met guitarist and bassist Billy Bacci around 2017 at an open mic event she was running. Bacci previously played with drummer Drew Barnocky and bassist Matt Moran through another band they were in together. “Paint on it was a band that me, Matt and Drew were in,” Bacci said. “We made three albums together and I met Matt through his brother and Drew was playing for Mackenzie at the time.” When

Tag, you’re it! Ultimate game of tag held in Monroe Park

September 9, 2026

Elle Cota, Spectrum Editor For one hour on Sept. 3, Monroe Park looked less like a downtown Richmond park and a little more like a playground. More than 100 people gathered from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for Infection Tag, a free event organized by Ruckus, a community-based organization focused on providing resources and spaces bringing love. The group was led by Odist Powell alongside his longtime friend, Joe Armstrong.  The event featured four rounds of tag, each lasting around 12 minutes. The organizers sectioned off portions of the park near S. Belvidere St. and W. Main St. so participants could run without disrupting others using the space.  At the beginning of the event, Powell asked participants to stretch physically and mentally by talking to someone new. At the beginning of each round, organizers selected one person to be “it.” After giving the other players 10 seconds to scatter, the runner in a pink pinnie jersey chased them down. Each person tagged grabbed a pink pinnie jersey or sweatband before rejoining the game as another tagger. Powell drew inspiration from an event he attended in New York City in February called Wrestling Speed Dating, hosted by the organization Grown Kid, a social club for people who believe that the meaning of life is play. He traveled to the event as a referee and met Gael Aitor, co-founder of Grown Kid. “I wanted to take it back home,” Powell said. “How can I bring this kind of sense of connection that isn’t traditional in the way of just like a book club.” The event was designed to give people a chance to step away from the pressure of adulthood and simply have fun, Powell said. Making the event free and holding it in the middle of Richmond helped remove barriers to socializing and lessen transportation needs.  “It’s tag,” Powell said. “We’ve all played it before. We all know what it looks like.” Izzie Clayborn, a first-year Brightpoint Community College student, attended after seeing the event on Instagram. She said she wanted an opportunity to play tag, meet new people and do something outside her normal routine. “Even though I would say you could play it at any age,” Clayborn said. “So, it kind of allows people to break through that social norm a little bit and allows people to kind of go back to having fun and being carefree.” Abby Portz,

‘A real second chance’ Restoration of voting rights on the ballot for formerly incarcerated people

September 2, 2026

Sal Orlando, News Editor “It makes you still feel like you have a scarlet letter in your head, like I’m less than, or that I’m not a full citizen,” Sam Harris, a Suffolk resident, said about previously losing his voting rights. Harris was granted his right to vote back by Gov. Abigail Spanberger last month, along with over 66,000 other people who were previously convicted of a felony, in her time in office. Under the Virginia Constitution, no person convicted of a felony is qualified to vote unless their civil rights are restored by the governor. The immediate reenfranchisement for over a quarter million people will be on the ballot this November in Virginia, the first time in 44 years. Reenfranchisement is the granting of rights back to people who had them taken away, according to Oxford Dictionary. Harris reflected on not voting in the 1993 gubernatorial election and former Gov. George Allen signing a bill abolishing parole. “That was in the 90s, and imagine me going to prison in 99, 2000 and being affected by something that the government came in and did,” Harris said.  Harris mentioned he regretted not voting prior to his incarceration, and would vote if

Richmond’s physical media keeps the past in reach

September 2, 2026

Elle Cota, Spectrum Editor While streaming services have made movies and music more accessible than ever, Richmond’s physical-media stores offer something a digital library cannot: a tangible connection to movies and music that can be displayed and collected. Cody Denzler, owner of Monster Video and Cut and Run Vintage, designed Monster Video’s store to resemble a traditional video rental shop, with shelves primarily devoted to VHS tapes. The store also carries DVDs, Blu-rays, Betamax tapes and LaserDiscs. After hosting a VHS themed pop-up at Shop Two Three, a collaboration with Studio Two Three, last September, he decided to turn the concept into a permanent business. “A lot of it is just stuff I’ve collected for years,” Denzler said. Although the store currently operates as a retail business, Denzler plans to eventually offer rentals. The store’s inventory pricing is based on supply and demand, taking in consideration how common or rare a title is. Physical movies offer something that streaming cannot, from artwork and packaging to the permanence of owning a copy, according to Denzler. “It was a whole part in addition to not only the movie itself on film, but actually how it’s packaged and sold, which when you look

HOTPANTS finds its sound in Richmond rock scene

August 19, 2026

Rachel Nicholas,  Assistant Spectrum Editor In a city full of creativity and booming artistry, Richmond rock band HOTPANTS has spent the last few years finding their place in the city’s music scene, pulling inspiration from classic rock, indie and psychedelic music.  Although they gather ideas from a multitude of places, the band agrees that assigning a genre to their sound is not so simple. “People will ask us, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ I’m just like, ‘I don’t know,’” frontwoman Mackenzie Roark said.  HOTPANTS formed after Roark released her first album in 2022 and wanted to bring the songs to a live audience. The band’s current lineup came together through years of connections between Richmond musicians, eventually becoming what Roark considers the “core of HOTPANTS.” Roark first met guitarist and bassist Billy Bacci around 2017 at an open mic event she was running. Bacci previously played with drummer Drew Barnocky and bassist Matt Moran through another band they were in together. “Paint on it was a band that me, Matt and Drew were in,” Bacci said. “We made three albums together and I met Matt through his brother and Drew was playing for Mackenzie at the time.” When

Professor teaches VCU’s first Asian American history class 

April 29, 2026

Burke Loftus, Staff Photographer VCU’s Department of History now offers a new course, Intro to Asian American History, the first of its kind in the university’s history.  Second-year political science student Trina LaFortune is a Filipino American from Annandale, Virginia. Growing up in Northern Virginia, she said most of her knowledge of Asian American culture came from conversations with her family, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in the early 2000s, and other Asian immigrant families. “We only highlighted ‘Asian studies’ in junior and senior year, and that was the extent of it,” LaFortune said. “There [are] a lot of Asian people in NOVA. Even then, my education just had a narrow scope of what Asian American history was.”  In the fall of 2025, LaFortune’s focused inquiry professor, Frank Cha, announced to the class that he would be teaching an Intro to Asian American History course in the spring — asking students to email him if they were interested. “Part of me was like, ‘Oh my god, this is representation,’ but also part of me was like, ‘No, I think I’m just more curious to see what else I can learn,’” LaFortune said. “I wanted to see

Latino Virginia project captures untold oral history 

April 22, 2026

Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor “[In Spanish] I feel that I have found [Richmond] needs many changes. And that there is a lot of need out there. And before, when I had recently arrived, I couldn’t see that either — because normally when we arrive we submerge ourselves in a job, in long hours, and we don’t see that.” That is the experience of Richmond resident Claudia Leolo, captured in the Latino Virginia Oral History Project, which involved conducting over 140 interviews with Virginians who share a background or heritage in Latin America. The research was led by VCU associate professor of sociology Gabriela León-Pérez and associate professor of history Daniel Morales. León-Pérez said their main goal with the interviews was to dispel myths and stereotypes about Latin American migration. “In some cases, yes, it’s because of better economic opportunities, but also it can be for family reunification for families that have been separated, it can be due to domestic violence in the country of origin, or for better educational opportunities,” León-Pérez said. Research dives into identity, diversity of experience Virginia was home to more than 1.19 million immigrant residents in 2024, according to the Migration Policy Institute, more than

VCU R.A.A.C.E address injustice, teaches equity 

April 22, 2026

Maeve Bauer, Spectrum Editor  The VCU School of Social Work Radical Alliance for Anti-Racism, Change and Equity, or R.A.A.C.E, was formed in 2020. Their mission is to address the racial injustices that exist in the field of social work, in the past and today.  It is a focus of RAACE to level the playing field of academia, according to Lisa Borntrager, Ph.D. student and co-chair of R.A.A.C.E. They hope that the organization can bring about a more diverse and equitable environment.  Check your bias To do this, the board hosts different events that break down the barriers of these conversations. Just this last month they have hosted three of their own events. “Check Your Bias,” by Ra-Twoine “Rosetta” Fields, challenged participants to confront their own biases.  Fields challenged students and faculty to acknowledge their own biases and confront them. He brought different hypothetical scenarios to the crowd surrounding different racial, social and religious groups and asked participants to answer honestly what they thought. “Y’all are being nice,” Fields claimed, as the group danced around what they wanted to say, scared that they would say the wrong thing. However, in this room, there was no right or wrong, just honest. As

Birding class teaches students to conserve wildlife, and contemplate their own

April 15, 2026

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor Every week, a dozen or so students get up at the crack of dawn and haul themselves into vans for a sleepy drive to beyond campus boundaries. The students are taking VCU’s avian ecology and conservation course, or as most of them put it — “birding class.”  In the class — and the corresponding VCU Avian Ecology Lab — students open their eyes and ears in order to spot and study the winged wonders of Virginia. Through their tranquil expeditions they learn quite a bit about birds, and perhaps a little bit about themselves. Beyond campus boundaries On a Friday in early March, the birding class drove far from campus to the Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery — a prime spot with clear views and tall trees, inviting their subjects of study. Riding in their vans — promptly named Vanessa, Van-Halen or Vincent Van Gogh by students — they chirped about all of the modern fixings young people use to share their bird passion. There is eBird, the definitive app for recording and sharing one’s sightings — as well as Birdle, a daily guessing game akin to Wordle. Unloading at the hatchery, associate professor Lesley Bulluck

Richmond swordfighter ranks among world’s best

April 15, 2026

Benney Koch, Contributing Writer On a tennis court in Richmond, athletes gather with heavy bags of gear to clash with their blades. Donning great masks and thick gloves, fencers tap their swords before engaging with one another in quick combat. In an instant, one fighter strikes another, and they ready themselves to go at it again.  It looks like something out of a historical or fantasy film, but for Zach Showalter, it is the result of nearly a decade of disciplined training. Showalter, founder of the Scuffletown Fetterfechters, is currently ranked No. 10 in the world at longsword in Historical European Martial Arts, or HEMA.  What began as curiosity after watching an online video has grown into a competitive career and a central role in shaping Richmond’s expanding HEMA scene. “I thought it was the coolest thing,” Showalter said. “I was like, I have to do this.” HEMA is a martial art practiced through historical European fighting systems. Athletes read centuries-old manuals to adapt them into a modern, historically researched sport where they can compete against one another.  While HEMA is sometimes mistaken for LARPing — live action role playing — or Olympic fencing, the historical aspect and study balances