Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Wren’s Nest Fest = Booyah-Worthy Success!
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Events, Mercenary Amelia Trace, Shirking Responsibility, Storytelling, Victorious!, WNIC, Weather Concerns, West End // 12:04 pm
Well folks, looks like it’s time for my very first Wren’s Nest blog post.
WNIC has left some gargantuan shoes to fill, but with the official Wren’s Nest Intern Changing of the Guard Leapfrog ceremony behind us…
I feel confident that the great times are only just beginning.
Speaking of great times, Wren’s Nest Fest 2007 was a success! I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it was the greatest pony riding–bunny petting–moonbounce jumping–popcorn munching–storyteller listening–cupcake decorating–face painting– hotdog eating–hula hooping event the West End has ever seen.
Despite a gentle sprinkle every few hours, the weather held up nicely. A great time was had by attendees of all ages, save for a few wee babes who were clearly overstimulated by the awesomeness surrounding them. They’ll come around in due time, I’m sure.
We also had some fantastic volunteers, all clad in the lovely Br’er Rabbit/Sofia Coppola/Wes Anderson- inspired t-shirts, who especially made our day (and scores of hot dogs) possible.
Y’all have been awfully patient, so I’m just going to let the pictures do the talking and shut up already. Enjoy! (Read on …)
Comments: 7Say, Sport Interviews Shakespeare
Posted by: lain // Category: Events, Mercenary Amelia Trace, Uncategorized, WNIC // 6:37 pm
The other day I was interviewed by the editors at Say, Sport regarding my super-human breath-holding skills.
While our interview isn’t completely related to Wren’s Nest business, discussed topics include the breathing habits and bathing suits of Joel Chandler Harris. You might be curious, that’s all.
Read the full interview here.
Finally, check out this very blog tomorrow throughout the day. Wren’s Nest Intern Carson and Mercenary Amelia Trace will be posting pictorial updates of the greatest Wren’s Nest Fest ever!
Comments: 4Wren’s Nest Fest: Carson’s Last Day
Posted by: lain // Category: Events, Mercenary Amelia Trace, WNIC // 5:53 pm
Here’s another reason to come to Wren’s Nest Fest:
It’s Carson’s last hurrah! Yes folks, after Wren’s Nest Fest, Wren’s Nest Intern Carson is off to sunny California for training before she leads high school students around the mountains and lakes of Peru.
And she doesn’t even speak Spanish!
You’ve got today, tomorrow, and Friday to catch her before she leaves.
So…what are we going to do?
Replace her, that’s what!
You got a sneak peak last post, but let me formally introduce you to the next Wren’s Nest Intern: Mercenary Amelia Trace!
While I cannot promise that MAT will be as good of an intern as WNIC, I can promise you that her hair is curlier, which is a plus.
(Here they are loungin’ under our well trellis. You’d never know that they are mortal enemies.)
Feel free to welcome her–amelia (at) wrensnestonline.com.
Comments: 10secrets, secrets are no fun… until they’re revealed!
Posted by: carson // Category: Fame and Fortune, Mystery and Suspense, WNIC, What Would JCH Do? // 12:02 pm
Remember how we were deliberating over whether to open a mysterious safe deposit box?Well, our curiosity got the best of us. We opened it!
Lain and I went to Bank of America on Thursday. We paid a locksmith $150 to drill into a rectangular metal container that hadn’t seen daylight in fifteen years. We held our breath, bit our nails, tried to put visions of treasure hunts and leprechauns and locks of hair and the remains of Joel Chandler Harris aside, but boy (oh boy!) was it hard not to dream… (Read on …)
Comments: 6the unveiling of posters, and other things
Posted by: carson // Category: Brer Rabbit, Events, Fame and Fortune, Marketing Tricks, WNIC // 7:05 pm
It’s Friday evening, the wedding party is having their way with our backyard, and I’m doing my official duty as WNIC by guarding the house and working up an appetite (that’s what Lain hired me for, obviously).
What a perfect opportunity to blog!
Last night I put on my Thursday best and attended a gathering of artists, writers and other impressive characters in Decatur for the annual Decatur Arts Festival Poster Unveiling.
Hey! Does that mean someone important stands at the front of a crowd and pulls a big sheet off of a poster, amid gasping and fainting?
That’s exactly what it means!
As I stood with my new friends from the Decatur Arts Alliance and Lampe-Farley Communications outside the soon-to-be Depeaux (French spin on “Depot”) restaurant in Decatur, I watched with baited breath as a blue velvet drape was pulled off of this fine piece of artwork:
St. Petersberg-born Sergey Cherep couldn’t have captured the historic Decatur train station better. But the art of unveiling, my friends, is what really got me.
First I gasped. And then I fainted!
And then, as I munched on crawfish tails served in a complimentary upside-down Depeaux frisbee, I had a great idea: why not have our own unveling?! Wren’s Nest team Lain, Jeri, Miss Nannie, Star and myself are currently knee-deep in preparations for our own very special event, and we could use some hype.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Wren’s Nest Fest 2007 Flyer Unveiling. Right here on this very blog!
Okay. You’re going to have to bear with me for a second. First, please close your eyes. Now scroll down.
Wait, you can’t scroll down if your eyes are closed! Just scroll very slowly, while picturing a blue velvet drape being removed from the screen…
Wait for it…
Here it is! The official flyer for Wren’s Nest Fest 2007!
I know, you’re clicking your heels like Brer Rabbit over the pony rides. And I haven’t even told you that we’re going to have bunnies, and cupcake decorating, and a moonwalk!
Now I’ve really got you gasping and fainting.
Stay tuned for more on this exciting event, and please, don’t hesitate to print out the above graphic and flyer your school, library, post office or neighborhood park.
WNF 2007, baby!
Comments: 4Thunder! And a few weddings
Posted by: lain // Category: Shirking Responsibility, WNIC, Weather Concerns // 10:59 am
You know what’s terrifying?
Weddings.
On Monday I received one of those “save the date” postcards for a wedding, and then yesterday I received an invitation to an entirely different wedding. On Saturday the Wren’s Nest is hosting a wedding.
It’s making me nervous.
(see? nervous! …with our wedding grounds in the back.)
There are way too many details involved! Take the invitation for instance. Someone chose the paper, the font, the date, the location, and they probably even chose who they were getting married to. That’s a lot to worry about.
On the invitation I got yesterday, I didn’t even recognize who had sent it to me. John Clark Bolinger? Who is this person? I had to call my mom and ask, “Do I know who John Clark Bolinger is?”
The answer was, “Yes, dummy,” but this is exactly what I’m talking about! Details!
Who knew that my friend named Bo had these two other names before his real name, and his real name wasn’t even Bo? I’ve known Bo for 19 years, and this came as a genuine surprise.
And my guess is, surprises occur at weddings all the time. For example, my first Wren’s Nest wedding is Saturday. And guess what? Currently the forecast says 30% T-Showers, whatever that means. Gulp. Surprise!
The weather is perhaps one of the more predictable variables in this equation, too. What else can go wrong?! Everything, is my guess.
The good folks at Rhodes Hall (an excellent wedding venue, by the way, that employs folks who know what they’re doing) have provided us with some great advice, but I think experience will be the best teacher on this one.
Which is exactly why I’m skipping town this weekend and leaving the wedding to Marshall and Jeri and Star and Carson. One of them is already married, and the other three are chicks, making them instinctively better at wedding stuff than this guy.
Thanks y’all! …and have fun.
Comments: 6Wordsmithery, and the Lack Thereof
Posted by: lain // Category: Atlanta, Marketing Tricks, WNIC, What Would JCH Do? // 11:32 pm
Next week Team Wren’s Nest will unveil the details about our partnership with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival, but today I’d like to touch on something related and maybe more pressing.
Some of you may have read about the recent personnel overhaul at the AJC. In short, many writers that have opted for compensation packages are retiring–the rest will have to reapply for new positions.
Weird, huh.
Particularly disturbing and relevant is that the AJC is wiping out the Book Editor position, formerly held by the estimable Teresa Weaver.
(Some of you may remember when the Wren’s Nest graced the cover of the Arts and Books section. Some of you may remember when they accidentally placed the best picture of the article not on the front cover, but on page K12.
…I’ve since forgiven them, by the way.)
The consistently dynamite Wordsmiths Books blog has tackled the issue and received a “reassuring” response from editor Julia Wallace: book coverage isn’t going away, just the position of Book Editor.
While she has a point, I think it would make more sense (cents, too), so to speak, to put their mouth where their money is.
After all, they are the primary sponsors of the totally awesome AJC Decatur Book Festival — a first year festival that drew over 50,000 people and won a few awards despite a Sunday of driving rain.
Deleting the Book Editor position (and, like, all the other ones) is akin to the Wren’s Nest throwing out its artifacts and replacing them with holograms of Joel Chandler Harris and all of his stuff in the name of technology and cutting costs.
Except holograms aren’t cheap (believe me) and neither is cutting a service that is valuable enough for folks to blog in protest and write petitions. What is most amazing to me is the amount of positive feedback about the Book Editor now that they’re getting rid of the Book Editor. The AJC has never sounded so reputable! …unless of course if you count what they’re currently doing.
I don’t understand why they don’t take a look around at all the successful book blogs or journalists who blog very succesfully and then fit the mold. It’s not rocket science.
That way you retain value, develop a fan base, make the writer more of a household name, and maybe draw in some readers that wouldn’t normally read the Arts and Books section. I mean, that’s what the Wren’s Nest has done for WNIC, and look at her! Famous!
Here you can see Carson waiving to a stadium full of her adoring fans. “Thank you, Wren’s Nest Blog!” she says.
Then again, I guess it’s tough and very very complicated to downsize a large company, and in the end it’s about the bottom line. I refuse to believe, however, that the AJC can’t make money by allowing their writers to become small time celebrities and enticing more internet readers. ESPN understands this concept well, I think.
If Joel Chandler Harris had worked at the Atlanta Constitution in the 21st Century, I’ll bet he would have been one hell of a blogger. Can you imagine if Lewis Grizzard had a blog?
Comments: 2LAIN’S RIGHT SHOE
Posted by: carson // Category: WNIC // 3:45 pm
Hi folks. Take a look at Lain for a second:
This is a man who works hard. This is a man who pours blood, sweat and tears into keeping this beloved old house museum alive and well. This is a man who spends so much time at the Wren’s Nest that he doesn’t have time to resole his shoes. I mean, look at that right one.
Note: this photo was taken after the impromptu Easter Egg hunt on Saturday afternoon. The one Lain graciously allowed to take place, sans appointment or grounds rental fee. We call people like Lain the “Bomb-Diggity.”
This being my second week as WNIC (see below), I am starting to see a side of the Wren’s Nest that you might not get on Star, Jeri or Miss Nannie’s $7 tour. You might not hear it in Miss Woodie’s emphatic storytelling, or smell it in the rose garden out back, or deduce it from Lain’s commentary on the state of the upstairs (a bit disorganized). But if you look deeply into the non-sole of his right shoe, you will see what I’m talking about.
Dedication.
The Wren’s Nest is a place bursting with passion for a cause far greater than itself. While we hard-boiled interns, docents and executive directors do care about grant money and breaking attendance records and even being famous (true!), we care (prehaps most of all) about bringing a community of people together to share something historic, meaningful, and unique.
And, as Lain mentioned in his last blog, being nice always helps.
It seems the legacy here (though it hasn’t always been upheld; see: 100 white ladies sipping tea and being racially exclusive) is respecting tradition. We’re all about preserving a flavor of storytelling and literature that has enchanted readers and inspired writers for well over a century. The people I’ve met here believe in this mission. They work like they mean it. And I’ve never met him, but I think Joel Chandler Harris would be proud of what’s going on here.
Comments: 5Hello, Atlanta
Posted by: carson // Category: Marketing Tricks, WNIC // 6:07 pm
Dear Wren’s Nest devotees,
Hi. I am Wren’s Nest Intern Carson (WNIC). Yep, that’s me below, looking bookish.
As Atlanta’s newest resident, I’m honored to be among your ranks in support of this fine West End establishment. It seems the fates conspired to bring me here.
Just over a week ago, I came by bus, plane, train and motorbike taxi to Atlanta from the sweaty jungle of the Thai-Burma border, where I was engaged teaching English to a group of Mon youth from Burma. While I remain deeply connected to my students in Thailand and nostalgic for my former (arguably more rustic) lifestyle, I am committed to embracing the American South, Uncle Remus, JCH, magnolias, sweet tea, my new boss Lain, and all the charm and mystery wrapped up in this beautiful old house with a hefty dose of curiosity and excitement.
A 20-minute storytelling session with Miss Woodie, a whiff of the wisteria out back, and a visit from some ghost-hunters, and I was hooked. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be your woman (well, one of them) for the next 2.2 months.
Aside from making hot chocolate for Lain, Star and Miss Nannie on unseasonably cold Spring days, I am here to spread the good word about the Wren’s Nest. I plan to target the West End, greater Atlanta, and, ultimately, the world. You can call me Marketing Director Carson. You can call me Event Planner Carson. You can call me Grant Writer Carson. Or, you can stick to WNIC and call it a day.
I’ll try my hardest to match Lain’s wit and wisdom on this blog, but please folks, go easy on me. I’m new in town.
Let’s do this,
Carson
Comments: 6Wren’s Nest Intern Carson
Posted by: lain // Category: WNIC // 1:54 pm
Readers, please welcome Wren’s Nest Intern Carson.
Wren’s Nest Intern Carson (WNIC) needs all the encouragement she can get, and lord knows she won’t be getting any from me.
My, how studious. Looks like we’ve just interrupted! — get back to work, WNIC.
WNIC will be doing more than just mopping the floor and fetching me coffee (though those will be her primary tasks).
No, she’ll also be blogging!
On this very blog!
This way, you won’t have to wait a week in between posts. Plus, you won’t have to sift through my senseless drivel all the time. Though we both know you kind of wish you did.
Wren’s Nest Intern Carson, welcome to the Wren’s Nest.
Comments: 10