Blogs

July 3, 2008

In this video on Roots Television, American Spirit freelance writer Maureen Taylor pays tribute to the American flag -- just in time for the Fourth of July.

Maureen, also known as the "Photo Detective," has assembled a historic look at flags in photographs. In addition to late 19th century photos of children posed with flags and draped in bunting, you'll marvel at her images of "living flags," created when hundreds, even thousands, of people would come together to create living expressions of patriotism. Popular at the beginning of the 20th century, these human displays of patriotic symbols were revived after 9/11.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Comments (0)

June 23, 2008

My friend Albert Roberts (no relation—that we know of!) is a re-enactor at Historic Mansker's Station, an authentic reconstruction of a 1779 frontier settlement in Goodlettsville, Tenn. He received word late last week that the city is closing Mansker's Station on June 30 due to budget cuts.

Several years ago, American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the DAR, covered the fort’s annual Yule Fest, a celebration of an early American Christmas. The fort’s dedicated re-enactors and authentic living history demonstrations have made the 18th century come alive for thousands of visitors. We believe it’s a site worth preserving, and we're happy to hear that the volunteers at Mansker's Station are rallying to keep it open. Learn more at Albert's, excuse me, the Doctor's blog.

While I’m plugging friends’ good causes, I wanted to send a shout-out to Gin Phillips, Hammock freelance writer extraordinaire. On Wednesday, June 25, she’ll be reading from and signing her first novel, The Well and the Mine, at local independent bookstore Davis-Kidd. Set in 1931, her book follows one family in an Alabama coal-mining town after a nine-year-old girl sees a woman throw a baby down the family well. The novel touches on death, race, hard work and family in the Depression-era South.

Gin is already enjoying positive buzz: Award-winning Southern novelist Fannie Flagg wrote the introduction, the book got a great review in O magazine and Gin was named one of Barnes and Noble's "Discover Great New Writers." Check her out if you’re in the neighborhood!

Comments (1)

June 18, 2008

A visually arresting image is the first thing readers notice about a cover, as Art Director Kerri Davis explains in this post. But in that brief moment of attention you also have to have the right words to whet their appetites and invite them to actually open the issue and sample all the delicious content. So how do we make 'em dig in?

Word games. Cover blurb time is word play time at Hammock. Depending on the audience, we might play with puns ("Arts, Cynics and Old Lace" promotes the history of the lace-making industry), tease with phrases that carry double meanings ("Iron Lady" profiles the woman who helped build the Brooklyn Bridge) or play it straight with needed solutions ("Beat Burnout") or timely information ("Warriors' Weekend").

Promises, promises. Who doesn't want to be better, stronger, faster, smarter? We try not to over-do it, but if we can deliver the goods to help our readers do their jobs or live their lives more successfully, we'll promote it with blurbs like "7 Steps to Faster Growth," "10 Ways to Save Gas" or even "How to Cook a Colonial Breakfast." That said, we don't over-promise--if it's not the first time we've done this or if she's not the only woman to have done that, we won't say so just for the hook.

I'm talking to you. We question, listen to and study our audiences to learn what topics they want to read about most--and then give the people what they want. What excites our readers? Do they enjoy stories about genealogy? We'll use related words on the cover to signal, "Hey, we heard you! Take a look at this story about finding your family photos online."

Want more? Take a look at this expanded post on Hammock's Custom Media Craft blog.

Comments (0)

June 4, 2008

I'm now back in the office after a pretty amazing vacation. Before I make my poor colleagues sit through travel stories and slog through endless photos, I'm going to see if anyone can guess where I was based on this picture of a GPS device. (This newfangled doodad was NOT my friend. If I had a dime for every time the goofy thing said "route recalculation"...)

Comments (0)

May 22, 2008

I'll be out of the office until Wednesday, June 4. If you need something right away, please contact another member of the awesome edit team: Bill, Lena, Emily or Megan.

Otherwise, please e-mail me, and I'll answer all messages when I return. Thanks and have a great week!

Comments (0)

April 25, 2008

Just why did I agree to walk the Country Music Half-Marathon? I’ll probably have a better answer for you tomorrow around 11 a.m., but I’m excited about helping out the good causes that Team Hammock and our friends are supporting. And let’s be honest: I’m jazzed about the cool T-shirt, the rockin’ music along the course and the heavy medal that awaits me at the end of the line.

Come on out and cheer us and the other runners/walkers at the Team Hammock tent. If you see me and Megan P, please wave and yell and urge us to pick up the pace! If you’re participating, PLEASE don’t break a leg!

Comments (0)

April 15, 2008

After a couple of days of backpacking, one of my favorite things to do on my way back to civilization is to stop by a local joint for some good ole home cookin'. Driving through some small east Tennessee towns this past weekend, Granny’s Diner beckoned—with melt-in-your-mouth chicken-n-dumplings and chocolate meringue pie. Not only do these kinds of restaurants amp up the calorie level, but they can usually be counted on to fuel the funny bone. Granny’s did not disappoint.

After being greeted by a cheerful door mat saying, “Go Away,” we were bombarded by dozens of dos and don’ts signs aimed at restaurant employees—labeled “Employee’s.” My favorite sign admonished “employee’s” not to smoke on the job—“its the law I don’t like it anymore than you do but its not going to be tolerated and you got to go outside to smoke when no customer’s are here and if you don’t like it talk to your representative in Nashville.” Although few of the signs had out-and-out misspellings (Granny's computer must have had spell check), grammar is not her forte, bless her heart.

Although I didn’t dare correct the woman who had just slaved over a hot stove to prepare such a delicious meal, I bet the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) wouldn’t have had any compunction about putting a red pen to all the offending signs.

Have you heard about these guys? Embarking on a “Typo Hunt Across America,” Jeff Deck and his grammar nerd-like friends have been road-tripping from coast to coast since March correcting typos in signs, restaurant menus and public posters. Deck concedes that grammar mistakes are bound to happen and he doesn’t harshly admonish the violators, but he laments, in his tongue-in-cheek blog, the failure of a culture that allows such errors to flourish. By the time they return to Boston in late May, TEAL hopes to have furthered the cause of “a typo-free society.”

Any vandalism aside, these guys are my heroes. If they want to take another loop through Tennessee, I’ve got the perfect place for Sunday supper.

Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Try to check out “Sons of Lwala” when it premieres at the 2008 Nashville Film Festival April 17-24. Last night I attended the benefit preview of the film about Milton and Fred Ochieng, two brothers who come to Nashville to study medicine while simultaneously opening the first health clinic in their home village in western Kenya. The brothers were driven to finish the clinic that had been their father’s dream before he and their mother died of AIDS. Milton, in particular, felt compelled to give back ever since villagers sold chickens and cows to raise the $900 needed for his first plane ticket to the United States. “Just don’t forget us,” they told him as they sent him off to pursue his education.

Despite the pressures of medical school, it proved impossible for either brother to forget a home where sick villagers have to walk miles for treatment, children suffer from preventable waterborne illnesses and 20-year-olds are dying of AIDS.

Produced and directed by Barry Simmons, a former TV reporter, the documentary follows two years in the life of the brothers as they struggle to raise money for the clinic on their own. Their goal seems close to impossible until they meet others who are inspired by their quest, including Sen. Bill Frist, the band Jars of Clay and hundreds of their fellow students. Thanks to an outpouring of support, the clinic opened in 2007, and to date, it has served 15,000 patients and spearheaded community health initiatives.

Check out the documentary Web site for a trailer and this link for more information about the brothers’ continuing efforts to support their village.

Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

Maybe it's because Rex strong-armed me into doing the voiceover for the Hammock Wall video or because I recently interviewed my dad for StoryCorps, but I was intrigued by the session on Audio Storytelling at the recent Innovation in College Media workshop at Vanderbilt University. News director Anita Bugg and news reporter Blake Farmer from WPLN, Nashville's local NPR affiliate, gave the following tips for “writing for the ear” and producing can’t-tear-yourself-away audio broadcasts.

1. Start with a very focused idea. What story do you want to tell? That’s not to say that you always write exactly what you set out to write, but you’ll lose your audience if you put up hurdles like talking for too long or verging off on tangents, Bugg and Farmer say. Since listeners can’t rewind, you have one shot to get their attention—so stay focused. And find a good, critical editor to help you cut the miles of tape.

2. Write conversationally. Think, "How would I say that to a real person?" If you struggle reading what you wrote, tear it up and re-write it.

3. Touch on all senses. An audio story should vault you to a place. It’s "theater of the mind," Bugg says. “Give listeners the paint to create their own palette in their heads.”

4. Avoid jargon. Ask, "How would I tell this story to a 4th grader?" This doesn’t mean the writing should be dumbed-down; just write in an accessible way, Bugg says. (Pertinent advice when interviewing scientists!)

5. Stay in present tense and use active voice. Say, Jack wants a hot dog; not, a hot dog was a food Jack was craving.

6. Find intriguing background sounds. Ambient sound can convey objective facts and information, but it can also convey subjective emotions and create mood, Bugg says. But, Farmer cautions, don’t add gratuitous sound like car traffic if it doesn’t fit in with your story. Make it serve a purpose, whether it’s a cobbler tapping on shoes or the clinking silverware of a busy lunchtime café.

7. Tap into your subjects’ energy and emotion. As the WPLN reporters explain, in audio stories, we are drawn to the intimacy of the human voice, whether passionate, angry or excited, so look for characters who have something they really want to say. (In radio lingo, this is called getting "hot tape.") It’s also important to ask your interviewee a question with the same amount of energy you want to get back.

Now, the next time I download a podcast of This American Life for a weekend drive, I'll listen much more critically!

Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Our hearts go out to our neighbors who were affected by the Feb. 5 tornado outbreak that ripped through Tennessee and other Southern states. Striking late at night and into a terrifyingly lightning-lit early morning, the supercell-spawned tornados killed more than 60 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Coworker Bill, who lives in Gallatin near one of the twister touchdowns and was closer still to a 2006 outbreak, offers his poignant perspective on the storm that once again hit right in his backyard.

One of the properties that suffered extensive damage by the tornado was a historic one: Wynnewood, the largest existing log structure in Tennessee. About half of the two-story historic stagecoach inn in Castalian Springs is now gone, much of the surviving structure has shifted several inches off its foundation and more than 100 trees—many of them beautiful, large Eastern Red Cedars—were destroyed.

I recently had the opportunity to see some of the damage up close: On Saturday, Feb. 9, some friends and I headed north from Nashville to aid in the tornado cleanup in Sumner County. We were assigned to the Wynnewood site, where we worked alongside members of the Bledsoe's Lick Historic Association to clear massive amounts of tree debris and heavy brush as well as help recover historic artifacts.

When his chainsaw wasn’t buzzing, Anthony Angel, one of the association’s members, pointed out the devastating path the tornado carved across the landscape, a storm that arbitrarily took the life of a mother and saved her year-old baby all within view of Wynnewood’s front porch. By the end of the day my friends and I were pretty darn tired, but we left amazed and inspired by the dedication of community members. Check out some of our photos here.

There is good news on the horizon for Wynnewood and those dedicated to its preservation. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has pledged that the house will be rebuilt. And I’m looking forward to covering the site’s upcoming Colonial Fair and Wynnewood Mayfest in American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the DAR. To learn more about the restoration and to contribute to the project, go here.

Comments (0)

Jamie Roberts

Editorial Director

o: 615.690.3406

Subscribe