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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
CNN en Español Tapes En Familia at the Wren’s Nest

Posted by: lain // Category: Storytelling, Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, Fame and Fortune, Celebrity Requests, Joel Chandler Harris // 1:33 pm

Today CNN en Español is taping their program En Familia here at the Wren’s Nest.

CNN Espanol Cameramn filming at the Wren's Nest

I’m pretty sure the title of this specific program will be called “¡Este Museo Heule a Mierda!”, based on the fact that they kept on saying that over and over again.  I believe it roughly translates to, “This Is a Great Museum!”

The show will feature stories about storytelling from around the world, but it’ll be based at the Wren’s Nest.  Man, it sure does pay to be right down the street from CNN.

En Familia is hosted by Carolina Escobar, who was late but forgiven.

CNN Espanol's Carolina Escobar

CNN en Español reaches every continent ending in ‘merica, which is good because most of our foreign visitors hail from Europe and Asia.  We need to diversify our portfolio.

I’m not sure what kind of legacy Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit have in Spanish speaking countries.  We do have a copy of La Fiesta del Zorro from Argentina, but I think we’re bigger in Japan.  They sent their film crew first, anyway.

La Fiesta del Zorro- Joel Chandler Harris in spanish!

Just in case nobody had heard of Brer Rabbit, the film crew suggested that my sister bring over my family’s Song of the South poster.

Song of the South poster

Apparently Disney goes a long way in terms of Latin American street-cred.

The crew, the producer, and Mrs. Escobar have all been terribly gracious and promise they’ll send along the final video when it’s finished.  I’ll upload it if I can.

Comments: 0
 
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
What Do Woodrow Wilson, William Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and Andrew Carnegie Have in Common?

Posted by: lain // Category: Birds of a feather, Celebrity Requests, All Grown Folks, All The Time // 4:02 pm

They all used to be on the letterhead of the Uncle Remus Memorial Association.

Uncle Remus Memorial Association Letterhead: Woodrow Wilson, WIlliam Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie

(Here’s the entire list, in case any of you are really into Atlanta history.)

I wonder if they were all aware that their names flanked our materials, or if Andrew Carnegie was just like, “Ladies, ladies, chill out!  These Presidents–these Presidents are so busy, they’ll never know.  Go ahead, put them on the stationary.  And if anyone complains, I’ll take care of ‘em.”

Also, no offense to our current board, but come on.  You guys are clearly not famous enough.  I’m looking at you, Harold.

Comments: 0
 
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Wren’s Nest’s Phones Are Dead. Bad News?

Posted by: Amelia // Category: Technological Advances, Failed Attempts at Looking Reputable, Whoops! // 10:59 am

Finally, our dreams have come true.

No, we didn’t receive a check for 5 million dollars.  Or get sponsorship from Coca-Cola.  Or find an all-you-can-eat softserve store around the corner.

But our phones are dead.

Finally, Lain and I can completely stop speaking to people and rely exclusively on the comforts and lacking social interaction of email.  Yes!

Really, the phone interrupts us.  A lot.  And while we like people coming to see us, staying on the phone with them while they yell directions (and occasionally, expletives) at their driver can take up a lot of time and get us mightily off track.  So can trying to convince someone that despite what mapquest says, our street does still exist.

This is like a surprise vacation.

Anyhow, the phone culprit seems to be this gal.  Hi Fay!

The weather at the moment

Though it’s clearing up, over the last few days the weather has been excellent for our drought needs and “terrible” for our phone line needs.

We can’t be quite sure when the phone went out, so apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you.  I know you all just love to call us here and gab the day away.

In the meantime, we’ll be working to get this fixed and enjoying the silence while it lasts.  Email if you need us!

Comments: 5
 
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Wren’s Nest Possibly Under New Old Ownership

Posted by: lain // Category: Storytelling, What Would JCH Do?, Cruel Games, Good Questions, Awkward Introductions, This is awkward, Ridiculous Demands // 10:09 am

SCENE: THE WREN’S NEST, LATE AFTERNOON

(Gallant executive director LAIN SHAKESPEARE prepares to leave the Wren’s Nest when the doorbell rings.  CRAZY WOMAN IN PINK, who had been seen mysteriously rolling a suitcase around in the back yard, appears at the door. LAIN does not know she is crazy.)

LAIN: Hi!  Are you here for a tour?

WOMAN: Yes!  May I come in?

LAIN: Actually, we closed at 2:30.  And normally I’d let you come in but I’m running late.

WOMAN: Aha!  Will you be open tomorrow?  And how much does a tour cost?

LAIN: Yes, and it’s $8 for adults.

WOMAN: Would you charge me if I said this was my house?

(LAIN cannot respond to this question and stares vacantly for nine beats.)

LAIN:  …yes, I think I would.

WOMAN:  But this is my house.  I built it.  So you’re going to charge me to see it!?!

LAIN: (voice cracking) …oh?

WOMAN: Yes, I built this house with my husband and my brother.

LAIN: (pointing to the house) Are we… talking about… the Wren’s Nest?

WOMAN: Yes!  In fact, I have things planted all around the house.

LAIN: Things?  What kind of things?

WOMAN: (ignoring this) When my husband and I divorced, we decided to keep this house as neutral ground.  So we can both come here.

(LAIN squints real hard, as if it will make this woman make sense.)

WOMAN:  At least, that’s the way it is until I can move all my stuff out.

LAIN: What kind of stuff do you have in here?

WOMAN: (smiling wide) My Ouija board.  And Jumanji.  Have you ever heard of Jumanji?  Say, is this house haunted?

LAIN: Ma’am?  I don’t think so.  Do you have somewhere you can stay?

WOMAN: This is my house.

LAIN: Yes, but I mean for toni–

WOMAN: (emphatically, but with a smile) My house.

(LAIN and WOMAN exchange awkward goodbye, ending the most confusing conversation that has occurred on the premises in recent memory.)

–
EDIT, 1:59 PM:  (Editor’s note–In my rush to get everything down on paper, I totally forgot the wackiest part!  Please forgive, and you can insert these lines anywhere above where it makes sense.)

LAIN: So, um, what’s your name?  How long have you been in the neighborhood?

WOMAN: I am the mother of time.

Comments: 12
 
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Harris Family Reunion Pictures

Posted by: Amelia // Category: Events, Victorious! // 11:33 am

You may recall that the Wren’s Nest hosted a Family (and friends) Reunion and Centennial Celebration on Saturday, July 19th.  It went swimmingly, in case you were wondering.

Attendees of the Harris Family Reunion

(Hi everyone!)

And now, but a quick month later, we’re ready to post the pictures!  Thanks for maintaining an undoubtedly high level of excitement for this long.

Sign-in at the family reunion

Here’s Board member Jodi signing in guests, as Jim Auchmutey breathes it all in.  Thanks for the article, Jim!

Storytelling Garden Fishbowl

Look how many people we had!  You can see our super fancy tent in the background too, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Happy Attendees

Boy howdy, was everyone having a great time.

The Reveal of the Harris Family Tree

The big reveal: the Harris family tree.  Breathtaking, really.

Gil Watson and the Children

Here’s Gil Watson, local Harris impersonator, amusing the children with tales of sweating through wool suits and later having your fake mustache fall off as a result.  Or, you know, Brer Rabbit.  I’m really not sure.

Wren's Nest Board Members in attendance

These are some of our Board members.  Very few of them read the blog.  So, um, hi to the three of you that do!

The Youngest in the Harris Family, Getting Fresh

These are some of the youngest folks in the Harris family and, if I’m to understand it correctly, our future.  The future looks like it’s getting fresh.

You can find more pictures (like, way more — probably more than you want) on our Facebook page. Not a fan of the Wren’s Nest yet?  What’s the deal?

Comments: 6
 
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Decatur Book Festival Poetry Slam Qualifying Round

Posted by: lain // Category: Good Questions, Decatur Book Festival, Poetry Slamming // 1:07 pm

Over the weekend the Wren’s Nest hosted a poetry slam.  It was one of four preliminary rounds for the Decatur Book Festival’s poetry slam on Labor Day weekend.

Kalina, Winner of the Wren's Nest Round of the Decatur Book Festival Poetry Slam Preliminaries. Phew.

Kalina Harrison, of Grady High School, won.

I don’t want to take anything away from Kalina–she was pretty dope–but she didn’t have much competition.  As in, zero.

What’s weird is that last year the poetry slam was a very popular feature at the Decatur Book Festival.  You could hear the crowd reacting from all around the square, and the performers were off the figurative chain.  What’s the story?

Here are my questions:

  1. Is poetry slamming a dying art that peaked with hep cats in coffeeshops in the 1990s?
  2. Did the Decatur Book Festival just not get the word out to the right people?
  3. Are kids just plain ole lazy these days?

If someone could provide us with the correct answers, that’d be great.

Comments: 0
 
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tropic Thunder Starring Uncle Remus, I Mean Robert Downey Jr.

Posted by: lain // Category: Tar Baby, Uncle Remus, Joel Chandler Harris, Robert Downey Jr., Mr. T. // 12:07 pm

On Friday Tropic Thunder, the action-satire directed by Ben Stiller, opened in theaters.

Robert Downey Jr. stars in the film and plays Kirk Lazarus, an absurd method actor who undergoes skin pigmentation treatment to better portray a black man on screen.

Uncle Remus I mean Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder.

My “Uncle Remus” Google Alert has been blowing up ever since.  From CNN, and echoed by a few others (1, 2):

“Downey’s blackface performance is an appalling mixture of Mr. T and Uncle Remus, but at the same time he endows the actor with enough straight critical intelligence to appreciate the severity of their situation.”

Downey’s character, Kirk Lazarus, creates a seemingly tough (like Mr. T) and sagacious (like Uncle Remus) onscreen persona.  But since Lazarus is method acting (and rarely shooting the movie-within-the-movie), he’s ridiculed for failing to stop acting like a black war hero when the cameras aren’t rolling.

So that part of the comparison is fair.  But it’s unfortunate that the CNN journalist ignores the intelligence of Uncle Remus.  No offense, Mr. T.

I doubt it was a choice–Uncle Remus is so often connoted as shuffling and dimwitted, no matter what was originally written.  It’s not unlike what’s happened to the connotation of “tar baby” recently.

When Joel Chandler Harris wrote the Uncle Remus stories in the late 19th Century, Remus was a significant departure from other black characters in popular fiction.  Uncle Remus was a philosopher revered by the author, not a minstrel presented only for cheap laughs.

In 1986 Ralph Ellison wrote:

“Aesop and Uncle Remus had taught us that comedy is a disguised form of philosophical instruction; and especially when it allows us to glimpse the animal instincts lying beneath the surface of our civilized affectations.”

Reading about Uncle Remus in movie reviews, you’d have no idea what Ellison was talking about.

Film critics and historical characters aside, if you like extremely inappropriate jokes and meta-fictional hijinks (like the staff of the Wren’s Nest), Tropic Thunder is for you.

Comments: 2
 
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wordsmiths Books Asks For Money, Hosts Fundraiser This Weekend

Posted by: lain // Category: Fundraising, Marketing Tricks, Bravery, Failed Attempts at Looking Reputable, Big Money No Whammies // 2:39 pm

Our friends at Wordsmiths Books are asking for money–and not in exchange for goods or services.  And no, they’re not a nonprofit.

This is, like, blowing people’s minds.

Wordsmiths Logo

Since Wordsmiths started asking for contributions a few weeks back, they’ve been featured in everything from local blogs like BabyGotBooks and Decatur Metro, to national media outlets like NPR.

It’s been a marketing coup.

Here’s the quickest run-down of the details I can give–

  1. Wordsmiths opened last year, chose lackluster location.
  2. They moved to the location they originally wanted, saw increases in sales and visibility.
  3. Despite success, they’re suffocating under weight of debt from previous location.
  4. Owner Zach asks for a hand, makes promises of eventual returns.

You may call this last move tacky.  And maybe it is.  But it also happens to be brilliant.

Wordsmiths could have fizzled out this month and closed its doors with a whimper like so many small, noble businesses.  Which would’ve been a shame.  Who else was going to help us host an event about burning down house museums?

Housewarming: Brock Clarke Visits Wordsmiths

By asking for money, Wordsmiths has prompted many folks not just to take notice, but to form opinions about their bookstore.  Asking didn’t cost them anything, and it has resulted in collecting 60% of their end goal.

Sure, they’ve garnered a lot of criticism along the way.  But really, if you’re Wordsmiths, who cares?

They would close otherwise, and avoiding that fate is certainly their bottom line. Plus, they’ve created allies who are willing to support their business without receiving anything in return.  Local bookstores: the new nonprofits?  Not quite, but these past few weeks have demonstrated just how much they mean to their communities.

The moral: check out Wordsmiths in Decatur this weekend.  They’re hosting a fundraiser.  Jack Pendarvis will be there.  Paste Magazine will be there.  And now’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about before it’s too late.

Comments: 0
 
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Our Friends The Asian Cajuns Are Famous!

Posted by: Amelia // Category: Shameless Promotion, Ladies Night, Gussying up // 1:23 pm

Local fashionable bloggers, twins, and friends of the Nest Lauren and Catherine Lee are featured today on AJC.com.

Lauren and Catherine Lee

(Historical aside: the gazebo pictured is dedicated to J. Robin Harris, great-grandson of Joel Chandler Harris.  It’s in Decatur.  The connections simply don’t quit!)

Looking good, ladies!  You should probably check out their blog, AsianCajuns, right now.

We originally met the Lee twins thanks to Lauren’s fantastic work (yay Lampe-Farley!) on the Wren’s Nest website.  She did things like, you know, create it.  Thanks Lauren!

Ever since, they’ve been great chums.  Especially since they allow us to put up pictures of them making funny faces.

See?

Lauren Looking Nervous at Victorian Christmas, Catherine serving cake

(Lauren and Catherine serving cake at our last Victorian Christmas.  Nice shirt, Lauren.)

Anyhow, nice work famous friends!

Comments: 2
 
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Concierge Society of Atlanta is Here, and We Like It

Posted by: Amelia // Category: Atlanta, Fame and Fortune, Big Money No Whammies // 5:58 pm

Remember that time you were staying in a hotel in a new city and were like, “Oh hey–I’ll just ask the concierge!”  I remember, and that was very smart of you.

If that scenario took place in Atlanta, chances aren’t shabby that the concierge you spoke with is at the Wren’s Nest right now.

Concierges!

We like this.  We like it a lot.

Naturally, we’re not pleased for some flim-flammy reason like “we enjoy being part of the Atlanta community”.  Oh no.  Instead, it has everything to do with making a good impression on the people who count.  And in our world, that’s the Concierge Society of Atlanta.

We only got our brochures into metro Atlanta hotels this last year, and it’s key that concierges point them out to visitors looking for, say, this nation’s most exciting house museum (patent pending).

In order to up our visibility, we’ve even gone door to (hotel) door to say charming falsehoods like, “Do you have the Wren’s Nest brochure?!  My important and well-traveled chums told me I just had to see it! I hope it’s prominently displayed at your fine hotel!  Cheerio!”

Needless to say, we’re on our best behavior.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stand guard in front of the historic bathroom and smile pleasantly.

Comments: 5
 
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