I have enjoyed reading and highlighting excerpts from the diverse voices that make up the Lowcountry blogging community. As of today I will no longer be writing round ups for the Post and Courier. I have made this decision for personal reasons, namely due to three energetic and boisterous ones.
I want to thank all of you who have helped nurture the Charleston blogosphere. I will see you on the blogs.
Heather @ June 24, 2008
Pluffmudders won’t find GMLc’s brand of local news and lore in the daily paper anymore. The Good Morning Lowcountry column has been dumped from 2B, it’s little home since 2000, as of last Saturday. Couple of reasons for this. 1) We’re in a hiring freeze and I am needed to help edit Community News. 2) We shrank the paper in width, and 2B is needed for runover copy, jumps of stories, other stories, etc. But, as I’ve been told, this was not so much a real estate grab as a warm body grab.From my point of view, GMLc might have run its course. I’m OK with turning my attention to other priorities at the paper.
Heather @ June 24, 2008
The family and I lucked into some accommodations in Surfside Beach. I will be back in a few days.
Until then, if you have a post you feel deserves attention, please post a link and description in the comments.
Dave Moulton sent me a link to his post on the proposal to widen Coleman Blvd to allow parallel parking. This change would eliminate the bike lanes.
Heather @ June 23, 2008
Dave Moulton answers the age old question, why do cyclists shave their legs.
Holy City Style has some tips for translating Hollywood style to fashion that fits the streets of Chucktown.
Today JanetLee warmed the cochles of my heart:
My man-child has been out to sea since last October and returned to port last week. He is supposed to have leave this weekend so I am planning Christmas in June.
Jason asked me if I didn’t think that perhaps a tree would be over the top (he actually used some fancy smarty pants French term but I don’t know how to spell it). I gave him my you-ain’t-seen-nothing-yet look and informed him that no, I don’t think a tree is over the top and furthermore, I fully intend on dragging out the X-mas box and decorating the kitchen and back room at least.
Nate on the first lawsuit following the approval of the I believe license plates:
I really wish we could sue the fundegelical state lawmakers who are forcing us taxpayers to bear the burden of the litigation they knew they were inviting. It’s a waste of $$ that the state taxpayers cannot afford.
The Friendly Christian takes a look at Fred Phelps:
Is Phelps no different than you and I: a sinner in need of a savior?
I can’t help but want to judge and criticize this dude, though. I believe that he is severely misrepresenting Christ, misleading the church, dividing the church, and pushing non-believers away.
This dude is a Christian. To some people, Fred Phelps is the only taste of Christianity they’ll ever experience. He will speak on behalf of every Christian. He will be the only bible that some people ever read. That scares me.
There was no surf at Folly for International Surfing Day.
BlueIon helps you brush up on your social netiquette.
There’s been a good bit of coverage of the recent floods in the Midwest as there should be for such a far reaching natural disaster, but it just doesn’t seem to resonate with folks who aren’t immediately impacted by it. I guess it’s because these floods happen slowly over the course of days and weeks unlike other natural disasters that reshape lives and landscapes in an instant like hurricanes and earthquakes.
Hugging the Coast draws conclusions about trends in American cuisine based on this year’s James Beard Awards.
Chad asks, are green taxis coming to Charleston?
Heather @ June 20, 2008
Lyn Mettler organized a PR event for bloggers in the Charleston area, there was some secrecy as to the purpose of the gathering, but several locals joined her at 39 Rue de Jean. Upon arrival it was revealed that the event was sponsored by the Charleston Parks Conservancy, a new grass roots organization modeled after the non-profit that cleaned up Central Park in NYC.
A short presentation followed by a Q&A session highlighted the goals of the new non-profit and some of the attending bloggers have posted their impressions.
I grew up a few blocks from where we were meeting and was amazed there were more than 100 parks in Charleston. It was explained that for every well known Hampton park or Colonial Lake, there are tiny pockets of greenery tucked into almost every neighborhood.
The CPC said that people can participate on many levels, even actual “digging in the dirt.”
Since I enjoy - and blog about - live music concerts, maybe this movement will develop new venues for outdoor events. I’m glad I was invited.
What CPC is trying to do is improve local awareness of the city’s 120 parks. They are planning on doing this through their website and a host of other “grass-roots” efforts. In addition to picking 5 Park Angels, they want to create a wiki with each park in detail so users can share stories, etc. They are loosely affiliated with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department. They also said they modeled themselves after the Central Park one.
There was also a small presentation hosted from a Mac. It had some sort of iPod hook-up to play relaxing Muzak.
There were questions, but I don’t remember them now. Overall this project has a lot of potential, I hope it pans out — we’ll see what happens.
JAZ:
I wrapped up the day at a press conference for an interesting non-profit with the view to boost public interest in local parks and greenspaces and recruit volunteers willing to put sweat equity into making those places all they can be.
It’s an all too common story these days, even with the national parks. Maintenance costs money and improvements to roads, facilities, et cetera, cost even more money. A lot of very beautiful spaces are falling into disrepair simply due to lack of funding.
I’ll be watching the progress of this effort with great interest.
Heather @ June 20, 2008
Grab a glass of lemonade and linger for a moment:
The humid air from the Gulf of Mexico will soon push north and will linger against the Blue Ridge Mountains until nearly October, for the Carolina Low Country is a place where summer lasts well past necessary and on into ridiculous as if there should be a 13th month called Augtember.
Throughout the “dog days” of Summer our SUV’ are left running while we quick step across pavement that can give 3rd degree burns to bare feet darting into the CVS for another can of Outdoors Off, SPF 15 sunscreen and an 18 pack of Miller Lite.
Push gently past the pages of history and your find the tattered remains of Charleston Summers long since forgotten. Road side stands, peach and watermelon, boiled peanuts, fireworks and baskets are part of my childhood, as no trip to the beach was complete without all of the above.
Kelly Love has quit her dayjob:
A lot of people have gotten in touch (and I love you for it) and want to know why. The best way I can explain is to paraphrase from an email from a friend this week: “Little tiny dreams, Kelly Love, require little tiny thoughts and little tiny steps. Great big dreams require great big thoughts and great big steps.”
Michael has had his fill of President Bush:
Why not, instead of using the money to drill, use that money to fund alternative energy sources and more efficient methods of transportation? Not only would this help the energy needs in the long term, but it would also help with global warming. Even if you are one of the flat-earth disbelievers, at least these alternative sources would decrease foreign oil dependency which is one of the main reasons Bush wants drilling allowed.
Heather @ June 19, 2008
JET examines the new law protecting cyclists, noting portions he believes are infringing on the rights of drivers:
Now the main WTF? head scratcher is the “no-honking rule” which is something I just can’t seem to wrap my arms around. I can understand not throwing things at cyclists, because that is rude. And even though you can honk at other drivers if they don’t drive to your subjective expectations of how traffic should flow
John Harris welcomes an employee home from National Guard Duty:
While in Afghanistan, he helped teach advanced S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons And Tactics) to the local police. And from what I understand, his team alone trained approximately 3,000 members of the police force.Now, Jonathan wasn’t in the situation of shoot or be shot, but it still wasn’t a walk in the park. Afterall, he was in a country that is in the midst of a conflict with much hostility towards foes and, sometimes, even friends.
ToneBox finds the MySpace redesign a case of “too little, too late.”
Sometimes bloggers write posts that are difficult to describe, Jeff Allen’s The Inevitable Rise of the Pig Uterus is one, it’s a semi-rant, somewhat amusing look at two sources of foods that some Americans would be loathe to try. Somehow, in between the chitterlings and beef cheeks, he manages to poke fun at fellow blogger and commentator Jack Hunter.
Michael Lively’s Lively Exchange is this week’s featured copywriting blog on WordPress.com.
To make up for the pig uterus, here’s a rainbow to brighten your day.
Heather @ June 19, 2008
Dan explains the AP vs Bloggers mess in cartoon.
Patrick’s concern is the audience:
one of the questions she asked me was what I thought had changed most in the past 10 years or so.
Well, there’s always technology. But that’s always changing.
What I said was the most surprising change is the audacity of the general public when they criticize what we do. There are plenty of well-mannered, well-brought-up people who act like they’ve never heard the word manners when they have something to say about something we’ve covered.
Lyn looks at recent changes in the Post and Courier.
Heather @ June 18, 2008
Today is the one year anniversary of the fatal Sofa Super Store Fire.
Please check out Firefighter Hourly for posts throughout the day.
Heather @ June 18, 2008
This we believe is the Reevesville, South Carolina, town hall. It’s one of our smaller small towns located in Dorchester County and about which we are little moved to write. Almost every hamlet has managed to insert itself into the footnotes of our history via some central web site which never heard of the place, but posts sentimental notations as if it had. We didn’t bother looking it up.
Charleston Moves wonders if Charleston could duplicate New York’s car free street experiment.
Pedicab Man is still on the move and checking in from Ovanda, Montana.
GoGreenCharleston is promoting CARTA’s Dump the Pump effort.
The BMJ article comes out against helmet use on the grounds that it gives the impression that cycling is more dangerous than it really is. I am inclined to agree to a certain degree. I wear a helmet, but it is my choice; I am opposed to helmet use being mandatory, especially if it stops people from cycling.
The article points out, when helmets were made compulsory in Australia, hospital admissions from head injury fell by 15-20%, but the level of cycling fell by 35%. Ten years later, cycling levels in Western Australia are still 5-20% below the level they were before the introduction of the law yet head injuries are only 11% lower than would be expected without helmets.
Sneaking in under the wire and appearing in my reader just before I hit publish is Xarker! John Sloop’s post on purchasing a bicycle:
Then, however, I look at the sticker—over $1,800. I realize now that this is not a shocking price to bike enthusiasts, but to someone raised on Sears “Better” models, I almost pass out. Thinking quickly, I revert to one of the tactics I often use in such situations—“Say something that makes you sound like such a rube that these people will want to get you out of the store quickly,” I tell myself.
“It looks like you forgot to put the pedals on that one,” I say, and the sales guy patiently explains that the pedals are purchased separately, along with the shoes that click into them.
“It doesn’t look very comfortable to sit on,” I observe. Again, the sales guy explains with even greater patience that this is because there is no seat on the bike yet.
Heather @ June 17, 2008