Archive for July, 2007
WNPCo.!
Being part of a literary movement and all, we’re trying to reach those pesky kids and get them involved with all the literary stuff we think is cool. Lucky for us, a few suckers gave in.
Said suckers, all high school students, will be editing a literary journal compiled of entries from other high school students in the greater Atlanta area. They’ll be making all the decisions while Lain and I laugh our way to bank. That’s how I imagine it, anyways.
The resulting product will be published by, uh, us (see: Wren’s Nest Publishing Co.) and distributed at the upcoming Decatur Book Festival.
Luckily, we’re tackling this hand-in-hand with the good folks at the Duck and Herring Co., who at least pretend to know what they’re doing. We will be the only publication sold by the festival itself, which makes us pretty darn special. Even more exciting? That the DBF is expected to have about SEVENTY THOUSAND attendees. So, to review:
-high school student editors
-making the decisions about a literary journal
-full of contributions from other high school students
-distributed by and for the Decatur Book Festival
-and organized by hapless messes Amelia and Lain, and the completely necessary and appreciated friends at Duck and Herring Co.
Ta da!
(I don’t know who this baby is, but she represents just the kind of commitment we’re looking for.)
Our editors have been chosen and have already begun to dive into the work at hand. We’ve also been lucky enough to exploit the connections of DHCo. and do neat things like tour Paste Magazine‘s offices for editing advice and inspiration.
Because we’re playing, oh, everything by ear, and the real decisions are up to our editors, Lain and I basically use our twice-weekly WNPCo. meetings to make fun of each other and write on a white-board. I think the students consider us somewhere between encouraging and crazy, which is just where we want ‘em.
Submissions – short stories, essays, interviews, artwork, poetry, etc. – are due by July 22nd, so please, tell all the creative high schoolers in your life! While we acknowledge that about 89% of our submissions will arrive between 11:07 and 11:58pm on the 21st of July (we know our audience, we do), we get pretty jazzed with each new submission. And jazzed WN staff = more bizarre blog posts, which we know you like. Thus, in the words of Blogger Emeritus Carson, let’s do this!
Categories: Decatur Book Festival, High School Hijinx |
Summer Camp!
Back in my youth, children used to go to day camps whose descriptions included words like “outdoors”, “swim”, and “play.”
(Ah, the beaches of Wilmette. Camp has never had better location, says Amelia Trace circa 1992.)
Clearly, we were setting our sights too low; the camps of today are here to educate, inspire, and, in keeping with the old traditions, ensure children sweat to death outside.
My newfound understanding of today’s day camps comes from an experience I had yesterday, and one that Victorious Coach Lain will continue for the rest of the week.
Because it’s a great idea and we like friends in high places, Lain volunteered to work with a writing camp provided by the good folks over at the Margaret Mitchell House. However, being the “important” “man” he is, his schedule didn’t allow him to attend yesterday, and I went instead.
What I was treated to was a historic/architectural tour of Inman Park, complete with 21 children complaining they were hot.
(The King Keith House, a lovely and understated Queen Anne abode in Inman Park, and a focus of our tour.)
My favorite was my new buddy, a ~58 lb. girl constantly complaining of exhaustion, carrying a 20lb. backpack. Contents? Rubik’s Cubes. Of course.
After hopping around town, writing instructor Lawrence works with the campers to prepare them to write mystery stories, inspired by the lore of Atlanta. Neat, eh? Granted, I have no idea what the afternoon batch of learning actually entailed, as I had to high-tail it outta there.
Why? Well, for the Wren’s Nest’s very own literary efforts!
Where the Margaret Mitchell folks are churning out young writers, the Wren’s Nest is giving them a chance to publish through our very own and very new Wren’s Nest Publishing Co.!
Intrigued? Good! I’ll give you this to get you started, and dig in tomorrow once you’re all salivating with excitement. Or, you know, because you want something to read while you drink your coffee.
Categories: Atlanta, Mystery and Suspense |
The Coke Side of Life
If you’ve ever visited Atlanta, chances are you’ve probably been to the World of Coke.
Well, the old one anyway. The new one opened up on the other side of downtown a few months back.
If you’re a local like me, you probably call it the Coke Museum. Which is why I’m always surprised when visitors call the Wren’s Nest when they’re really looking for the World of Coke.
It makes sense–The Wren’s Nest and The World of Coke are listed right next to each other in the directories and brochures given to tourists.
Easy mistake.
Yesterday we closed as usual at 2:30. Also as usual, Amelia and I stayed to work a little later. I answered the phone around 4:00.
A group from Texas had come all the way to Atlanta to see us, and they were surprised we closed at 2:30. Normally, I’m happy to give tours before or after museum hours, but yesterday I had to be out the door around 4:15.
“Well, what time do you open on Sunday?” the woman on the phone asked.
“We’re only open Tuesday through Saturday, unfortunately.”
She sounded disappointed.
A few minutes later the woman called back and pleaded– “Is their any chance you could open for just us on Sunday? Is there anyone there that can come in and show us around? Pleeeeeeease!?!?”
“Oh…oh alright,” I conceded. “What time?”
“How about 10:00 am?” Sigh.
Today I show up at 9:58 am. The group gives me a call. They are running late. Fine.
Twenty minutes later they call again– “Which entrance should we go in? We’re standing in front of the big red door. We parked on MLK. Martin Luther King.”
“Parked on …MLK? No, no our street is RDA! Ralph David Abernathy. And we don’t have a red door,” I replied, clearly knowledgeable of my place of business.
These people are confused!
I run to the front door. They are not outside.
Really confused!
At this very moment, an idea struck–
What if these folks are not at the Wren’s Nest, but at the World of Coke? And not the New World of Coke, either–what if they’re standing outside the Old World of Coke that has been closed since March?
There was an awkward pause on the phone, probably another tired sigh …and then I gave them directions to the New World of Coke.
But they interrupted– “Oh, we don’t need directions, just the address, thanks. We’ve got a GPS. What’s the zip? And which entrance should we meet you at when we get there?”
I told them the address and just to march right up to the ticket counter. They’ll show you the way.
Incidentally, we do have an item or two related to Coca-Cola here at the Wren’s Nest.
Can you spot one?
Coke and Joel Chandler Harris were Atlanta contemporaries. This morning, I’m feeling the connection. I guess you can’t beat the real thing.
Categories: This is awkward |
Julius Lester at the Wren’s Nest
Today we received a shipment of new books–The Tales of Uncle Remus by Julius Lester.
They’re great.
Lester (informative homepage / captivating blog) adapted the Joel Chandler Harris versions, cut the Uncle Remus character, and updated the language. His words–
The Uncle Remus tales of Joel Chandler Harris are the largest collection of American black folktales. Harris published the tales randomly. I ordered them, bringing together most of the Brer Rabbit tales in the first two volumes, for example, and created transitions between the stories so that one followed into another. Finally, I put the tales into a modified contemporary black English so as to make them accessible to today’s readers who would not understand the dialect of Harris’s tales and would consider that dialect insulting.
We’re all about Joel Chandler Harris here, sure–but we’re also all about the history of the Brer Rabbit tales and the adaptations they’ve seen along the way. Brer Rabbit sure didn’t start with Joel Chandler Harris, and of course he didn’t end with him either.
Lester’s versions, from 1987, are excellent for contemporary readers who don’t want to sift through dialect of Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus.
So, if you’re in the market, stop by our perpetually improving bookstore and pick up a copy …or feel free to email me and I’ll send you one in exchange for legal tender.
Categories: Julius Lester, Storytelling, Uncle Remus |
Independence Day
Happy 4th of July (tomorrow)!
Team Wren’s Nest will not be showing up to work, thank goodness. In our stead, we’re giving you a post to ponder. I’ll make it quick, promise.
As noted in a recent Metroblogging Atlanta comment, Joel Chandler Harris was big on African-American education, suffrage, and equality. No doubt these were progressive ideas for the time.
Harris so strongly believed in the importance of African-American literacy and education that he commissioned paintings of black children learning to read and write. He placed the paintings above the mantle in his room, and surely they were some of the first things he saw every day.
Harris did not, however, support formal integration.
Today is the 99th anniversary of Joel Chandler Harris’ death. To that I say, three cheers for history! And the tough questions it raises. Where will your prejudices put you 99 years from now?
Categories: Good Questions, Historical Quagmires |
Peter Pan Syndrome
Sometimes, when Lain and I do grown-up things like get our oil changed every 3,000 miles, consider different types of health insurance, and run house museums, we worry we may really be in the twilight of our youths.
Which would, you know, suck.
But then the good folks over at Baby Got Books go ahead and remind us that our youth isn’t fleeting at all! How, you ask? Why, by suggesting that Lain is one of the ringleaders of a literary youth movement, of course.
(Blogger Emeritus Carson–young, reading, clearly inspired by Lain Shakespeare…or something)
This is pretty exciting stuff, considering that the closest thing to a movement Lain has even been involved with was a group trip to a bar that gives you free wings when you order two pitchers of beer. Tasty, but not quite the same ring of nobility.
The post suggests that Lain is not only practically filled to the brim with street cred (as was this reader’s interpretation) but, dare I say, internet savvy. Have you ever heard anything so true?!
Even more exciting is the fact that these ringleaders are an incestuous bunch. Baby Got Books also champions Russ Marshalek of Wordsmiths, a new bookstore in Decatur.
It’s so new, in fact, that our very own Lain Shakespeare was the inaugural customer. Weird, huh?
What’s the point of all this? Well, first and foremost, literature is cool, no matter what those “I’ve never read an entire book” dummies say. So is creating a community out of common interests and looking approximately 10 years younger than your actual age. Obviously being a leader of a movement ain’t half bad either.
But seriously, what am I? An old maid?
Categories: Birds of a feather, Fame and Fortune |
Storytellers now online!
Yup, it’s true. Four out of our five storytellers now have video up on the Wren’s Nest Stories Page.
Since I don’t “know” “how to hook up youtube to this blog,” you’re gonna have to follow this link to our main site. I swear I’m not trying to make your life harder. It’ll be worth it.
Also, if any of you folks found yourself here because of what you read in the New York Times, welcome! By all means read on.
If you want a little background, here’s what we’re about–
Otherwise, this blog covers what happens when a few unqualified college grads are kinda handed a museum.
As always, I happily accept questions and contributions. In return, you’ll receive answers and thank you notes (and maybe even that fuzzy feeling you get when you know you’ve done something totally awesome).
Just let me know if I can help–lain@wrensnestonline.com, or feel free to comment below.
EDIT 3:06 PM – Oh, and I totally forgot — props to Will Wakefield who did the production on all of our storyteller videos! Thanks Will.