I’ll just pretend it’s the 90s…
(Source: http://i.imgur.com/A1cDB.jpg)
Author: coffeehousejunkie
The End of a Golden Age?
In the late eighteenth century, advances in steam-powered presses and machine-made paper and ink made books affordable for the masses. Before that, a family might have a Bible, but only the clergy and aristocrats owned books. According to technology historian Cathy Davidson, the sudden flood of cheap, popular books alarmed preachers, teachers, parents, and our Founding Fathers. They feared that wild tales of anarchy and romance would corrupt girls and workmen; that “novels” would ruin democracy, cause youth to lose their ability to concentrate on serious subjects, and would forever corrupt American morals. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both wrote impassioned denunciations of the horrors of reading fiction.
Urban graffiti on the Urban Outfitters building.
Media diet
Though I was groomed in traditional, old-school journalism with a capital J, I realize that the world—and that includes journalism—is evolving and I have to adapt and evolve with it. In this digital age and with social media I think the fact that viewers can reach out and tell us things instantly is amazing for us, but we can’t allow those tools to make us paranoid about what we say or do. We walk a fine line between objectivity and being too vulnerable to the whims of the audience. We have to balance that by making sure we go back to old-school fact checking regardless of what’s trending. We have to give viewers the truth and tell them the news.
CNN’s Don Lemon lays out his media diet. Read the rest of the interview at The Atlantic Wire. (via theatlantic)
This thing of beauty I see in the morning fog.
Nightstand reading
I’ve been told my taste in books is eclectic.
Showtime with Over the Rhine!
Lucy Wainwright Roche opening for Over the Rhine at The Peel.
Coffee with Iron Man.
All that remains in the garden are the marigolds.
Asheville’s Runaway Circus
Asheville’s Runaway Circus just flat out know how to put on a fun show. We’re so fortunate to have them perform in our little Ice Cream shop 🙂
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Looks like a ground hog ate my garden for breakfast.
Don’t burn books
Last night at the Kava Bar
Open mic tribal jam session with the American Gonzos at the Kava Bar.
The American Gonzos setting up for their song ‘39 Steps’ at the Kava Bar. #avlent
Asher & Nick at the Kava Bar open mic. #avlent
River Rats setting up for a bluesy set called ‘Riverside’ at the Kava Bar.
Caleb reads a Lorca translation at the Kava Bar open mic.
“Blogs look to me illiterate”
I loathe blogs when I look at them. Blogs look to me illiterate, they look hasty, like someone babbling. To me writing is a considered act. It’s something which is a great labor of thought and consideration. A blog doesn’t seem to have any literary merit at all. It’s a chatty account of things that have happened to that particular person.
Paul Theroux discusses blogging, travel writing, “Three Cups of Tea,” and his new book “The Tao of Travel.” Read the whole interview at The Atlantic. (via theatlantic)
“The poet should speak to all men”
The poet should speak to all men, for a moment, of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten.
Edith Sitwell (via nathanielstuart1)
NOTES:
1) nathanielstuart, June 7, 2011, (page no longer available, web site is still active, accessed April 27, 2024, https://www.tumblr.com/nathanielstuart)
The trap of ‘writing about yourself’
Rarely do I read anything published on Gawker, but this is a good read for writers using social media.
Writing about yourself as a character is a process that feeds on itself. If you set out with the intent of making yourself a “brand” with a certain image and persona, you are locking yourself in a prison of your own creation. (via gawker)1
NOTES:
1) Hamilton Nolan, “The Writing about yourself Trap,” May 24, 2011, Gawker, accessed June 6, 2011, https://gawker.com/5804980/the-writing-about-yourself-trap (page no longer available, web site deactivated in 2023)
Scratching the earth – otherwise known as a mountain urban garden
It’s hard to tell from this image, but there is more than a four foot difference between the top of the garden and the lower portion. It’s still a garden in development using found materials. Most the garden is hand tilled and bordered with limbs and branches and creek stone.
Coffeehouse Junkie 