Archive for the ‘Shameless Promotion’ Category

The Wren’s Nest — National Historic Landmark, Fierce Competitor

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The calendar next to my desk is the National Historic Landmarks Photo Contest calendar.  Surprise to no one, I love it.

It doesn’t really mess around with things like “non-American” holidays or fancy words like “solstice” (June 21st: “Summer Begins”).  What it does make room for, however, is the following, marked on August 21st: “National Historic Landmarks Program Established on this Day in 1935.”  I like your priorities, my calendar.

(The Wren’s Nest, positively glowing about its NHL status.)

The Wren’s Nest is, of course, a National Historic Landmark.  In case you’re wondering what that means, exactly, it’s this: that we’re awesome, and way more awesome than most other old things.

The numbers do the talking for us:

• There are over 1,000,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places.  Not too choosy, but nice, still.
• 80,000 of those bad boys are listed individually.  (The rest are accounted for by things like historic districts and the contributing properties therein.  Nice try, guys.)
• Out of the 80,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, only 2,430 are National Historic Landmarks like the Wren’s Nest.  Yikes.
• This is definitive proof that we’re super special.

Obviously, inclusion in this calendar of similarly special old places would be terrific.  Wanna help?  Take a moment to look at the Wren’s Nest’s interior and exterior photos and vote on which one you think we should submit to the contest.  If we win, we’ll totally share the proceeds ($0) with you!

Happy scrutinizing!

Related: This list of National Historic Landmarks by state is neat.  (There are 48 NHLs in Georgia, in case you were interested.)  So is National Historic Landmark Flickr account.  And!  This weekend (August 14th and 15th) is one of the monthly fee-free entrance weekends at more than 100 national parks.  America, good work.

Our Yard is Lovely. No Really, Just Ask Jason Travis!

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Have you checked out our “Host Your Event Here” page recently?  Not to brag (just kidding — clearly to brag), but it is looking mighty handsome these days.

Here’s why:

Photographer and righteous dude Jason Travis shot a wedding we hosted recently. Jason graciously agreed to let us use a few of the photos to hawk our wares, which is much better than just promising the space looks nice over the phone (our former method).

Please, take a moment to check out the page and Jason’s gorgeous work therein – much improved, right?

The Kids Are Alright — Tune In This Saturday at 9am on AM1690!

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I’m sorry, I shouldn’t make demands of you like that without the backstory.  I just get too excited sometimes!

This upcoming Saturday The Kids Are Alright program (AM 1690) will be featuring none other than esteemed executive director/voiceover enthusiast Lain Shakespeare.

Even better (unless you’re just into Lain’s sonorous voice — then there is nothing better), the show will have a theme: Brer Rabbit!  Well, Brer, other rabbits, and a touch of “wait a sec — animals can talk?”

The previously lauded Huckleberry Hound album is scheduled to make an appearance, as well as Wren’s Nest Staff Favorite Van Dyke Park’s “Jump!” and none other than “Little Bunny Foo Foo” (of course).

Even more excitingly, Akbar will tell a few stories on the air, which are bound to be excellent.  How do I know?  Because Akbar is always excellent.

AM1690  – The Voice of the Arts — is kindly featuring us to help promote Wren’s Nest Fest, which is next Friday, June 11th.  Please tune in and support not only Lain and the Nest, but the kind folks who were generous and thoughtful enough to include us.  Thanks!

ps- This isn’t Lain’s first rodeo.  Remember when he was talking about Song of the South‘s anniversary on WABE‘s City Cafe with John Lemley?

Tote Bags are the New Other Kind of Bag

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After many a moon without them, we finally have tote bags back in our grubby little hands.  Welcome back, friends!

If you’re the type of person who carries things from one place to another, these tote bags will be perfect for you.  They not only hold things, but come with straps to keep your hands free and your shoulders laden with weight. Innovations!  Yes!

The totes come in a beautiful “natural” color and feature either Brer Rabbit in orange or our lovely logo in forest green.  Great for outfit coordination, they’ll prove the name of our museum is not actually “The Wren House” wherever you go.

These beauties are a steal at $7 a pop and will be up on our online store soon.  In the meantime, shoot us an email if you want one!

Wren’s Nest Publishing Co. Entering its Fourth Lap!

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Since 2007, we’ve been lucky enough to work with incredible student editors to create three exceptional literary journals.  So we decided to stop while we were ahead.

KIDDING!

Nope, we’re entering our fourth year with the Wren’s Nest Publishing Co. and couldn’t be more excited.  Sure, we’ve been harping about our new KIPP STRIVE program, but behind the scenes, WNPCo. is on and poppin’.

We’ve sent informational packets to all of the English Department heads of every high school we could think of in Fulton and Dekalb counties and have already heard back from several students interested in Editor positions.  It’s working!

“What do you mean, Editor positions?” you ask.  You crazy ignoramus!  Looks like it’s time for me to break down the whole program.

• –> Throughout the summer we work with a team of 8-10 student editors, all Atlanta-area high school students, who do all the work for us while we take the credit.  Just kidding!  Kind of!  The students really do make all editorial decisions, including which pieces to include, how to format the text, the name of the publication, choosing the cover, etc.  They also learn how to market the journal, and are responsible for soliciting all of the submissions.
• –> The submissions are all from Atlanta-area high school students.  They include short stories, essays, poetry, and artwork — and they’ve been darn good, if I do say so.
• –> The journal is created with and for the Decatur Book Festival, the country’s largest independent book festival.  The journal debuts there on Labor Day weekend and the Editors organize a literary salon to celebrate the journal and its contributors.
• –> Because of our ties to the good people at the DBF, we’ve also been able to do great things like tour the AJC, tour Paste Magazine’s offices (the students’ favorite trip each year), and have writers, authors, marketing professionals and other experts in the publishing world talk to the group throughout the summer.  Which is important, because Lain and I don’t know what we’re doing.

(Our 2009 Editors deciding which of Paste’s awards to steal.)

Lots and lots of information about the program can be found here, including the Editor application due date (*cough* May 9th) and the submission deadline (*double cough* July 5th).

I suggest taking a gander and then telling every teacher, parent, and overachieving teenager you know about the program.  We can only get the word out so far, which is where you come in!

Also, you know what’s fun to do?  Our bidding!  Thank you very much!

Phoenix Flies — Be at One of Its Many Destinations or be Square!

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Starting tomorrow and continuing through the 22nd of March, Phoenix Flies 2010 will be upon us.  This truly amazing opportunity to see a huge number of Atlanta’s historical attractions — on the cheap — should not be missed.

Like so many of the other participants, the Wren’s Nest will be offering special events and extended hours, in addition to free admission for the weekends of Phoenix Flies:

• On (Saturdays) March 6th and 13th, we’ll have our regular hours (10am – 2:30pm) with two storytelling sessions: 11:30am and 1pm.

• On Sunday — you heard me — March 7th (as well as the 14th), we’ll be open from 1 – 4pm, with storytelling sessions at 1:30 and 3pm.

In other words, don’t believe a word of what you read on Pecanne Log.  Except the part about Oakland Cemetery.  That’s all true.

Phoenix Flies is put on by the Atlanta Preservation Center every year and, simply put, provides an outstanding range of events, almost all for free.  If I may be a crybaby for a moment, this is one of the few times it really busts my hump to work at such a small place, because in order for the Wren’s Nest to be open for Phoenix Flies, we can’t, you know, attend many other events.  Boo hoo.

So please, see all the neat things you can — for me.  I beseech thee.

“Ooh, Yeah, History Right There.”

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The Wren’s Nest was featured this morning on CBS Atlanta in their “Blog Stew” segment, airing at 5:43am.  I missed it.  Shoot.

Luckily, the whole clip can be found right here.  We’re at the beginning, in case you can’t free up more than 58 seconds in your schedule.

Sue Rodman, of the wonderful Field Trips with Sue, led the segment, and was kind enough to highlight the Wren’s Nest as one of the many, many worthwhile destinations being showcased this weekend as part of Phoenix Flies (more on that tomorrow).

The best part is that they’re basically scrolling through the Wren’s Nest Facebook picture page as they chat, meaning that Lain and I are now totally famous photographers.  Well, along with Jonathan Hillyer.

Wait, did I say that was the best part?

I meant that the real best part is the quote featured in the title of this post, which embodies how I feel when I walk into the Wren’s Nest every single morning.  Breathe it in.

This clip also highlights a challenge we face every day at the Wren’s Nest: “Joel Chandler Harris” can be very hard to say.  Most frequently, people lob off the Harris and drop an “h,” leaving us with the esteemed Joel Candler.  Being that we’re in Atlanta and Candler is a name seen often around town, it’s understandable.  Plus, I mean, three names?  Who does this guy think he is? Mary Lou Retton?

Anyhow, thanks to Sue Rodman and CBS Atlanta for showcasing the Wren’s Nest this morning — it was great!

Huckleberry Hound Tells the Uncle Remus Stories

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Lately we’ve been showing you all manner of greatness influenced by Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remus (1,2,3).  Eventually, we were bound to run out of impressive, possibly life-changing material.

Luckily, now is the opposite of that time.

(Thanks to Gasoline Alley Antiques for the picture)

Allow me to introduce you to “Huckleberry Hound Tells Stories of Uncle Remus.”  First, a primer on Uncle Remus himself:

Uncle Remus

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Just lays it right out there, doesn’t it?  If there’s anything Huckleberry Hound hates, it’s ambiguity.

Next, a story with language so rich, all I can do to prepare you is to say that the phrase “snitchin’ my goobers!” is featured. Strengthening my point?  Someone is “caught red-headed” in this tale.  This guy knows what I’m talking about.

Dollar a Minute

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HI-sterical!

I think this last one sounds like The Rascals’ never-released surf jam:

Brer Rabbit

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And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  It seemed a little excessive to post the entire album, but after listening further — well, it may just have to be done.  We owe it to Huckleberry.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Wax n’ Facts for giving us a copy of this album and piquing our interest.  It took us a while to track down the, uh, tracks, but man alive am I glad we did.

Arthur Miller’s 1941 Radio Play — “Joel Chandler Harris”

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In 1941 Arthur Miller wrote a radio play for Cavalcade of America called “Joel Chandler Harris.” Karl Swenson, he of Little House on the Prairie fame, plays the lead role.

The play runs about 26 minutes and is sort of an “aw shucks!” biography. Still, the writing is well done. The accents, however, are questionable.

“Joel Chandler Harris” by Arthur Miller

The play is based in fact but it isn’t entirely factual. For example, there’s a scene where Harris meets Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain at the White House.  In reality the incident in question did occur, but with only Mark Twain and in New Orleans.

Compared with many of the historical inaccuracies we usually deal with, however, this feels like a case of tomato/tomato.

Related: More episodes of Cavalcade of America (presented by DuPont!), Disney’s 1956 “aw shucks!” biography of young Joel Chandler Harris

Happy (Official) Joel Chandler Harris Day!

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Today would have been Joel Chandler Harris‘ 164th birthday if he had pledged his soul to darkness in favor of eternal life.  But he didn’t!

Nope, instead he passed away in 1908 at the realistic age of 63.

While we at the Wren’s Nest celebrate Joel Chandler Harris and his legacy every day (well, maybe not Sundays and Mondays), December 9th is the day all Georgians are required, by law, to bow down to JCH’s awesomeness.  That’s my interpretation, anyhow.

You see, in 1958 the Governor of Georgia, Marvin Griffin, formally decreed December 9th “Joel Chandler Harris Day” in Georgia.  The official proclamation is below (remember, you can click on the picture for a closer look).

You’ll note that citizens were urged to “participate in this occasion.”  While I’m not quite sure what means exactly, I’m sure if you wrote a collection of folktales cherished by generation upon generation the world over, that would count.

I’m participating and celebrating by coming to work and writing this blog post.  Lain is celebrating by being in a meeting all day.  What are you doing to participate in Joel Chandler Harris Day, the biggest of all the December holidays?