Sunday, September 30, 2012

Online Content Development: Aunt Anne's Place


Organization: Aunt Anne’s Place

Serving Great Food for a Reasonable Price

Location: 
TBD, but ideally in an old warehouse in either downtown Raleigh or Durham


Concept:

Aunt Anne’s Place is a restaurant that breaks all or most of the rules and becomes a part of the neighborhood. Open only for dinner, 6 days a week. Menu changes monthly; consists of only 10-12 items made primarily from local seasonal items. This neighborhood joint is furnished with tables and chairs bought at auction, yard sales and/or estate sales. AAP has an open kitchen and a waiting area that feels like home (sofa, stuffed armchairs, and coffee table with magazines). Maybe even has a basketball hoop outside. Rather than pay for a liquor license, AA Place would offer patrons the chance to BYOB and store in our cooler to be served by our wait staff. Would staff with neighborhood folks and would rely heavily on word of mouth advertising and social media. In an effort to support the neighborhood, we would run promotions on social media, i.e. for aspiring cooks/chefs, “Submit your Best Summer Recipe” for a chance to have it put on the menu this summer or win an internship with our chef. Another promotion idea could target budding designers by offering them the opportunity to exhibit their work on the walls of the restaurant, paint a mural on the outside of the restaurant or the chance to redesign the AAP website or menu. Ideally the restaurant would continually find ways to further integrate into the neighborhood and community by giving back and lending a helping hand to its patrons. Create an annual scholarship that helps send a local kid to cooking school. Hire neighborhoodies who love to cook but maybe aren’t licensed chefs. Offer employment benefits that most restaurants do not. Would like to have a “chef’s table” in the kitchen or near the kitchen for special events. The idea is to become part of the fabric of the neighborhood, not just another good restaurant.


Audience profile:

Primary Audience: Local Neighborhood: families, professionals after work, college students
Secondary Audience: Community at large.

The audience includes educated professionals living in North Carolina’s Research Triangle community (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), people who love food and the experience of eating out. It also includes students, faculty and staff at area colleges, and families living in the neighborhood.

Durham has been ranked as the "Foodiest Small Town in America." Nearly 40 Durham restaurants and chefs have earned reputations in high profile media sources such as Bon Appétit, Gourmet, The New York Times, and Food & Wine. With more than two dozen mobile food units and trucks, Durham also has a growing mobile food scene with everything from burgers and barbecue to sausages and sliders, relying on a mobile-savvy citizenry seeking them out through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Downtown Raleigh is home to nearly 100 restaurants as well as the Convention Center, state government offices and Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts. Also nearby are the campuses of N.C.S.U. and Meredith College. 


Website approach:

Communicate the atmosphere of the restaurant as well as its food. Design should be clean and uncluttered, often featuring large, sepia tone imagery of the restaurant interior, sumptuous close-ups of its dishes, and friendly shots and profiles of the wait and cook staff. Other features could include:

  • Menu
  • Location including map of the neighborhood and directions
  • Hours of Operation
  • Chefs Blog, featuring specials, menu changes, and other tidbits from around the neighborhood
  • Recipe of the Month, offering for download one seasonal recipe from each month’s menu
  • Possibly nutritional information about the menu
  • Contact Us
  • Frequent Diner Discount program, possibly could spearhead the creation of a partnership program among neighborhood vendors/stores geared towards easing the financial burdens on locals

What readers need to know:

This website is primarily an informational one. The most important content a viewer of the site would need to know, that should be easily accessible from the homepage:

  • Information about what kind of restaurant this is and what our mission is, including photos of the restaurant.
  • Our Menu, including photos of our sumptuous offerings.
  • Restaurant hours, open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner.
  • A seating chart.
  • Directions to the restaurant.
  • Parking Information.

Frequency of “publication”:

Minimally, it should be updated as the menu changes, monthly. Changes to hours of operation, the addition of events or new staff, posts to the chef’s blog, as well as social media components such as Facebook and Twitter necessitate ongoing updates.

The competition:

There are tons of restaurants in both potential locations competing for diners’ attention. Since I haven’t determined the price points of my menu, only that I want to keep costs down for my patrons, I can’t provide a specific list of direct competitors. With that in mind, here is a list of some key competitors in the neighborhoods I’m interested in.

Downtown Raleigh:

Second Empire
The Pit
Irregardless Cafe
Café Luna
Oxford Gastropub
Poole’s Downtown Diner
Capital Club 16

Downtown Durham:

Rue Cler
Revolution
Beyu Café
Piedmont
Whiskey
L'Uva Enoteca

Restaurant websites run the spectrum from very basic to fairly deep in terms of content and approach. Most seem to offer the basics: menu, glam shots of food and possibly the restaurant, hours, map with directions and contact information. Others have social media information (links to Facebook page, twitter feed), articles they've been featured in, a reservation engine, profiles of executive chef and staff. One I found (Rue Cler) promoted a cooking class series they’re offering, awards they've won and links to other events they’re sponsoring.

Style issues:

The Associated Press Stylebook is the recommended style guide for the site. I’m not as familiar with the other style guides so it seems like the obvious choice. It is also possible that I will need to add to the framework the AP Stylebook provides.

Information challenges:

Since a key role of the Web site is to draw diners to the restaurant, it’s critical to keep the Web site fresh and current. I will likely use WordPress as the CMS (content management system) since it seems to be easy to use.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Headlines, Sub-Heads, and Lists


Assignment 1: Find poor headlines used as hyperlinks and fix them.


Headline: Not so independent after all

Problem: A little unspecific. Even though this was posted right after the Democratic National convention, it assumes the reader knows what “independent” is referring to (in this case, independent voters). The article is talking about the fact that although there are 1.6 million unaffiliated voters in NC, there are really very few who are undecided.

Solution: Few Undecided Voters in NC

Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Sept. 3, 2012
http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/09/not-so-independent-after-all


Headline: A first half for the birds

Problem: This headline is just a little too cute and vague. The story was about the UNC football game versus the Louisville Cardinals, but the “birds” reference isn’t specific enough for someone searching for a recap of this specific game.

Solution: UNC Defense Drops the Ball versus Louisville

Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Sept. 18, 2012
http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/09/5056969146ad5


Headline: R. Kelly makes Soul Train history, Usher up for 5

Problem: Up for 5 what? I had to read the article to realize that this referred to Usher being nominated for 5 Soul Train Awards. Also the story tells you that R. Kelly’s 2 nominations makes him the most nominated act in award history but doesn’t reveal what the record is/was. After doing a Google search, I found that 21 nominations is the new record set by R. Kelly.

Solution: R. Kelly Makes Soul Train Award History with 21st Nomination

Source: Yahoo News, Sept. 19, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/r-kelly-makes-soul-train-history-usher-5-141753511.html


Assignment 2: Find an article that would be good for using lists.


Headline: UNC-Chapel Hill rises to 9th in federal R&D expenditures

Source: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5508/74/


Before paragraph:
The new ranking, based on data compiled by the National Science Foundation, was published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade newspaper. The federal government financed 61 percent of the $61.2-billion that universities dedicated to research and development in fiscal 2010, the Chronicle reported.

Among national public universities, Carolina ranked fourth in federal R&D spending behind the universities of Washington (2nd overall at nearly $830 million), Michigan at Ann Arbor (3rd overall at about $748 million), and California at San Diego (7th overall at $580 million). The University of Wisconsin at Madison rounded out the top 10 at $545.18 million.

Private universities in the top 10 were Johns Hopkins (1st, $1.7 billion), University of Pennsylvania (4th, $642 million), University of Pittsburgh, main campus, (5th, $594 million), Stanford University (6th, $593 million), and Columbia University (8th, $572 million). Johns Hopkins’ total included a $1.01 billion award for an Applied Physics Laboratory. Duke was the only other N.C. university in the top 25, placing 13th at $514.08 million.


Rewrite (second and third grafs only):

Among national public universities, UNC ranked fourth in federal R&D spending behind:

  • University of Washington (2nd overall at nearly $830 million), 
  • Michigan at Ann Arbor (3rd overall at about $748 million), and  
  • California at San Diego (7th overall at $580 million). 

The University of Wisconsin at Madison rounded out the top 10 at $545.18 million.

Private universities in the top 10 included:

  • Johns Hopkins (1st, $1.7 billion), 
  • University of Pennsylvania (4th, $642 million), 
  • University of Pittsburgh, main campus, (5th, $594 million), 
  • Stanford University (6th, $593 million), and 
  • Columbia University (8th, $572 million). 

Johns Hopkins’ total included a $1.01 billion award for an Applied Physics Laboratory. Duke was the only other N.C. university in the top 25, placing 13th at $514.08 million.


Assignment 3: Rewrite your headline for your week 2 writing sample.

Family Roots Run Deep in Goldsboro, NC


Assignment 4: Write three different headlines for story fragment.


Eight words: Knee Injury Not the End for Yankees’ Rivera

Six words: Rivera Promises Return to Yankees’ Lineup

Six for head, eight for subhead: Yankees’ Rivera vows, ‘I’m coming back’: Pitcher says knee injury won’t force his retirement

Sunday, September 16, 2012

My "Home is Where Your Heart Is" Wordle










And here is my Top Ten list based on my rewrite of Home is Where Your Heart Is:

  1. Goldsboro
  2. small
  3. Mom
  4. town
  5. Grandma
  6. Dad
  7. BBQ
  8. place
  9. kids
  10. community

Home is Where Your Heart Is (rewrite)

Welcome to downtown Goldsboro.
Photo by David Crain.
At 6 a.m., I get the call from my Dad. Mom has fallen and broken her hip, and it doesn't look good. 

Mom is 85, and she is so resilient. She has already had both knees replaced as well as her shoulder, and now this. My Dad had back surgery last year, and he couldn't even help her get up after her fall. I can hear the frustration and worry in his voice. 

Driving east along Highway 70, my mind drifts to thoughts of my childhood. 




Movies and literature have given us the image of small towns as the epitome of perfection in America. The people are friendly, good-natured and sincere. Everything is perfectly maintained and everything looks beautiful. 

While Goldsboro, NC, my hometown, is not the mythical American small town with
perfect houses and white picket fences, it is a great place to grow up. 


Being born and raised in Goldsboro was like living in a cocoon, supported and loved until it was time to fly away to college. 

Goldsboro is a small town located
just 50 miles from Raleigh
and 90 miles from the Atlantic Ocean

And while Goldsboro is just one of
many little-known small towns on the
way from 
Raleigh to the beach, it holds
a special place in the hearts of those of us
who live 
or have lived there.







A Tight-Knit Neighborhood


 Prince Ave. lined with trees and childhood memories
The street I grew up on in Goldsboro was lined with old oak trees and was traveled more by kids on bikes than adults in cars. We moved into our house on Prince Avenue when I was 5.

The Gibson family lived across the street
and their house was the place where all the neighborhood kids hung out.

Mr. Gibson was a pharmacist and was at
work all day. Mrs. Gibson was a nurse at the hospital; she worked the night shift and slept all day. 


They had a housekeeper, Mamie, who had no hope of maintaining order and discipline among the 10-plus kids who were there every afternoon. For the neighborhood kids, it was the perfect place to play. We played kick the can, watched R-rated movies before we were old enough, slid down the stairs on an old mattress and ate junk food. 

Aside from the time when Tom Gibson put his little brother Ben in the clothes dryer and turned it on, we had lots of harmless fun and nothing that would cause long-term damage.


Deeply Rooted in the Community


My sister Kate and I grew up surrounded by family. My Mom’s parents, Grandma Lib and Daddy Bill, lived just three blocks away on Linwood Avenue. 

Daddy Bill was a tall military man with beautiful white hair, green eyes and a deep, rich voice. He wore silver wire frame glasses and a blue seersucker suit. Grandma Lib was five feet tall with kind brown eyes and a generous laugh that felt like a hug. She loved watching game shows and frequently quizzed us on our homework. 

Daddy Bill taught me to climb trees on the giant sycamore in their front yard. Grandma Lib shared tips for growing roses and tricks for playing duplicate bridge. 

My parents believed that living in a town means you serve that town and as such you contribute to its success. 


My Mom was a first-grade teacher; Dad created WAGES a community action agency dedicated to helping people improve their quality of life. Both served on the library board, arts council and countless other community groups. 

Their visibility in the community had another effect; it kept me and my sister in line. When everyone knows who you are, or more specifically who your parents are, it becomes next to impossible to get away with mischief.


Connecting in the Kitchen


Mom is a great cook; she prepared a delicious meal every night. I remember sitting on a stool next to the stove and helping her with dinner. Well, more realistically I got to stir the pot on the stove, and sometimes I even chopped a vegetable or two. 

We talked and laughed and tasted together, and I loved every minute of it. She taught me how to make her famous biscuits, Grandma Lib’s fried chicken, and my favorite, peach cobbler; all lessons I use to this day. We still call each other and discuss recipes, and fixes for cooking mistakes. My love affair with cooking, and eating, is something I got from my Mom. 

Last year, Mom and I produced this cookbook with
some of our favorite family recipes and photos 
As I near the city limits, I instinctively turn off the “circulate the cabin air” button so that I can take in a deep breath as I pass the Franklin Bakery. To this day, the smell of baked goods takes me back to my childhood. 

I pull into the hospital and there’s my Dad. 

His eyes are red from lack of sleep and he has my mom’s blood all over his shirt sleeves. The smell of industrial disinfectant mixes with the aroma of Dad’s coffee, and I’m nauseous. He opens his arms to hug me and says” She’s gonna be ok; she’s a fighter.” 

Relief washes over me.


Special, to Me

Goldsboro, N.C. is best known as the home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, but equally important are a revitalized downtown and Wilber's BBQ.


How is Goldsboro different from other small towns in North Carolina or anywhere in the United States for that matter? Aside from being the home of Wilber's BBQ, the logical answer is that in most ways Goldsboro isn’t very different. Sure people are friendly in Goldsboro and there’s definitely a small town charm of seeing people you know wherever you go. There are wonderful places to eat and worship and play.



But what makes this sleepy little town special to me is its role in the memories of my childhood. Those memories and Goldsboro are forever intertwined in me. 


###

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Critique of “From fried okra to sweet tea: Embracing my Southern roots”


Kim, I loved reading your story about growing up in small town North Carolina. Though I have never been to Oxford, I too grew up in a small NC town and I couldn’t help but notice the similarities in our experiences.  Each time I read your story, I notice another vivid detail or well-turned phrase.  I honestly can’t find much about your story that I would change. Great job!

I will attempt to outline the strengths of your piece and will also include comparisons to my story whenever possible.

First, I love how your story begins with your childhood in Oxford and comes full circle raising your own family in another small NC town, Holly Springs. You drew me in with your opening sentence, “The taste of fried okra from a cast iron skillet and sweet tea made with real sugar, not Splenda, defines the palate of my childhood.” And I had to smile as I read the last sentence, “And every day, when I make that hour-long commute from my job at UNC-Chapel Hill, I can’t wait to get home to Holly Springs.”   

I struggled to decide how to write this piece and it shows. I used a slightly different style, almost a flashback approach. In retrospect, I’m not sure that was the best way to go. Still I think it is workable if I add in more details about my parents, high school and work. I could detail leaving small town life for New York and Ft. Lauderdale only to come back home to care for my elderly parents.

Second, your story is rich with details that conjured images of my own childhood and made me want to kick myself for not including in my own piece.  The sentence, “I grew up shelling butter beans and picking blueberries from my parent’s garden, saying “yes ma’am,” “please” and “thank you.” had me shaking my head in agreement.  And the use of the phrase “tobacco and textiles were once king” provides historical context about your hometown. And “tobacco leaves ready to be primed bake in the sun in a field across from the high school” is such a powerful contrast to the burgeoning growth of your town you now call home.  

My story had flashes of this including the description of the Franklin bakery and the way the smell of baking bread takes me home. However, my story needed more of these descriptive elements. I should have described what Goldsboro is instead of what it isn’t, “a mythical small town where everything is beautiful…” I missed an opportunity to describe the racial disparity of Goldsboro and how my father spent the majority of his adult life working to erase those inequalities. I could have talked about how downtown was the hub of activity as a child and how it was a ghost town by the time I was in high school.

Third, I like that you included the reference to Tim Tyson’s book and related it to the loss of
your first childhood friend who suddenly moved to Butner in the fallout of that terrible racial event in 1970.

I also appreciated your inclusion of photographs. They attract your eye and provide a visual anchor to your story. Nice progression towards multimedia journalism.  I wish I had thought to do that.

Finally, your tone was descriptive and consistent throughout your story. It had a clear beginning, middle and end. You varied your sentence structure and your use of punctuation was judicious and accurate.

My story also had several technical missteps. I used quotation marks where they weren’t necessary, saying “…instinctively turn off the “circulate the cabin air” button” instead of just saying “I instinctively roll down the window …” I used apostrophe’s when the word was plural not possessive as in “The Gibson’s.”  I had at least one run-on sentence, “My Dad had back surgery last year and he couldn’t even help her get up after her fall.” At least this could easily be fixed by adding a comma after “year.”

As I said, we both wrote about small town life in NC and we both ended up with Journalism degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But unfortunately that’s where the similarities end.  I find I don’t have any insight for improving your writing, and I’m not nearly as well versed on grammar and punctuation as I should be. I found your story artfully written and a pleasure to read. It hardly seems fair that you should have to critique mine.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Home Is Where Your Heart Is



Abstract: This work describes growing up in Goldsboro, North Carolina and examines how growing up there shaped the person I grew up to be. Written for the Carolina Alumni Review.



At 6:00 am, I get the call from my Dad. Mom has fallen and broken her hip and it doesn’t look good. Mom is 85 and she is so resilient. She has already had both knees replaced as well as her shoulder, and now this. My Dad had back surgery last year and he couldn’t even help her get up after her fall. I can hear the frustration and worry in his voice. Driving east along Highway 70, my mind drifts to thoughts of my childhood.

Movies and literature have given us the image of small towns as the epitome of perfection in America. The people are friendly, good natured, and sincere. Everything is perfectly maintained and everything looks beautiful. My home town is not the mythical American small town of perfect houses and white picket fences. Goldsboro, North Carolina is essentially one little-known small town among many on the way from Raleigh to the beach.

The street I grew up on in Goldsboro was lined with old oak trees and was traveled more by kids on bikes than adults in cars. The Gibson’s lived across the street and their house was the place where all the neighborhood kids hung out. Mr. Gibson was a pharmacist and was at work all day. Mrs. Gibson was a nurse at the hospital; she worked the night shift and slept all day. They had a housekeeper, Mamie, who had no hope of maintaining order and discipline amongst the ten plus kids who were there every day. For the neighborhood kids, it was the perfect place to play. We played kick the can, watched R rated movies before we were old enough, slid down the stairs on an old mattress and ate junk food. Aside from the time when Tom Gibson put his little brother Ben in the clothes dryer and turned it on, we had lots of harmless fun and nothing that would cause long-term damage.

My sister Kate and I grew up surrounded by family. My Mom’s parents, Grandma Lib and Daddy Bill, lived just three blocks away on Linwood Avenue. Daddy Bill was a tall military man with beautiful white hair, green eyes and a deep, rich voice. He wore silver wire frame glasses and a blue seersucker suit. Grandma Lib was five feet tall with a kind brown eyes and a generous laugh that felt like a hug. She loved watching game shows and frequently “quizzed” us on our homework. Daddy Bill taught me to climb trees on the giant sycamore in their front yard. Grandma Lib shared tips for growing roses and tricks to playing duplicate bridge.

My parents believed that living in a town means you serve that town and as such you contribute to its success. My Mom was a first-grade teacher; Dad created WAGES, a community action agency dedicated to helping people improve their quality of life. Both served on the library board, arts council and countless other community groups.

Mom is a great cook; she prepared a delicious meal every night. I remember sitting on a stool next to the stove and helping her with dinner. Well, more realistically I got to stir the pot on the stove, and sometimes I even chopped a vegetable or two. We talked and laughed and tasted together and I loved every minute of it. We still call each other and discuss recipes, and fixes for cooking mistakes. My love affair with cooking, and eating, is something I got from my Mom.

As I near the city limits, I instinctively turn off the “circulate the cabin air” button so that I can take in a deep breath as I pass the Franklin Bakery. To this day, the smell of baked goods takes me back to my childhood. I pull into the hospital and there’s my Dad, his eyes are red from lack of sleep and he has my mom’s blood all over his shirt sleeves. The smell of industrial disinfectant mixes with the aroma of Dad’s coffee, and I’m nauseous. He opens his arms to hug me and he says” She’s gonna be ok, she’s a fighter.” Relief washes over me.

How is Goldsboro different from other small towns in North Carolina or anywhere in the United States for that matter? Aside from being the home of Wilber’s BBQ, the logical answer is that in most ways Goldsboro isn’t very different. Sure people are friendly in Goldsboro and there’s definitely a small town charm of seeing people you know wherever you go. There are wonderful places to eat and worship and play. But what makes this sleepy little town special to me is its role in the memories of my childhood. Those memories and Goldsboro are forever intertwined in me.