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November 18, 2010

Last week senior graphic designer Lynne Boyer and I took a couple of hours to shoot Nashville landmarks for a Lena Anthony-penned travel story for American Spirit, the magazine Hammock publishes for the Daughters of the American Revolution. Since the May floods, city leaders and volunteers have been doing their best to entice visitors to Nashville and try to recover economically. We thought the DAR magazine would be a fitting place to promote the city's restoration--and spotlight the history that few outside the region know. With Lynne, a native Nashvillian, in the driver's seat, I jumped out and grabbed shots all around downtown, including at the State Capitol, Ryman Auditorium (Mother Church of Country Music), Fort Nashborough and historic City Cemetery. Caveat: I'm not a great photographer, but I'm building off a class I took a local art college and trying to improve! Check out some of the photos on my flickr page (still in process).

November 1, 2010

Water--or the overabundance of it--has been on my mind a lot this year. After the unprecedented rains of May 1 and 2 caused widespread flooding in Nashville, Tenn., many of us got our hands dirty on volunteer projects to rebuild our city. Six months after the flood, many families in our area are still putting their homes and lives back together. Though the nation's attention quickly receded with the floodwaters, the economic burdens are far reaching and many people still need assistance. Hands on Nashville and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee provide numerous ways to pitch in and get our community over these final hurdles.

Not only have lives been lost and homes wrecked, but Middle Tennessee's natural resources have also taken a beating. This fall, as I've paddled down several of the area's beautiful rivers (weekends have included a clean-up day on Swan Creek, a canoe camping trip down the Buffalo River and day paddles down the Harpeth River and on Center Hill Lake), I've witnessed the damaging effects of the flood--hundreds of downed trees, damaged banks and watersheds, piles of debris--on these ecosystems that we all depend upon.

You can help clean up and preserve these natural resources. Find out more by joining the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association or volunteering at one of the many clean-water events sponsored by the Cumberland River Compact and the Harpeth River Watershed Association.

October 26, 2010

The Nashville community came together in remarkable ways after the devastating Nashville Flood. The tech community, in particular, worked cooperatively over the course of one week to build and add content to an online tool called Donate Nashville. Launched on Saturday, May 8, the Craigslist-like tool helps fill in the gaps as Nashville began to recover and rebuild from the flood.

The site is simple in concept and encourages people to list their own needs as well as resources, starting with simple prompts, like "I Need: Help, Stuff, Housing" and "I Have: Time, Stuff, Money." Need some assistance to move furniture out of a flood-damaged home? Have a trunk full of nonperishable goods? Can you give up your Saturday morning to work on a home demolition? Just enter in your specific needs for supplies or assistance, or offer your material donations or volunteer service.

The site is intended to outlast the flood and be available for future disaster relief. Read this post by the editors of Nashvillest for more information on how the tool works. (As part of the content team, I would love any feedback on how to make the site even more dynamic and useful.)

It's all part of an even bigger movement called We Are Nashville, which continues to build this cooperative spirit and help Nashvillians find creative ways to help their neighbors.

September 3, 2009

Several members of the Hammock crew dusted off our cameras in August to have some fun with a photo scavenger hunt. The rules were simple: Interpret the nine items on the list in any creative or literal way that we wanted, and have fun!

What Jamie found:

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Jamie Roberts

Editorial Director

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