Tag: Americana
Where I’ve Been: Tracking It
by Jenna Schnuer | 03.27.09 | 11:31 AM ET
Photo courtesy of Amy Ruppel. Since I (semi-permanently) dismissed the idea of getting a tattooed map of the U.S. on my person in order to mark off, one tattoo pin at a time, where I’ve traveled, I’ve been on the hunt for a new way to detail where I’ve been. (Please don’t recommend a scrapbook. I’m not that girl.) I think Facebook “where I’ve been” maps are annoying and show-offy. And a traditional pinned map still appeals but ... I just haven’t found a U.S. map I want to stare down at all the time. But, today, I found my new I’ve-been-there collection idea: prints of artist Amy Ruppel’s state birds pieces. As my bank account allows it, I’m going to build the collection, bird by bird. I guess I’d better clear some wall space.
How do you mark your territory?
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Yahoo! BuzzMixing Birding and Business Where Others Don’t Care to Go
by Sophia Dembling | 03.26.09 | 3:01 PM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling I love the idea of bird-watching.
I love birds, I love being out in nature, I love having something to do while I’m out in nature. Too bad I’m really bad at bird-watching. I can spot only the most obvious birds, I can identify only the most easily identifiable. Subtleties escape me. (What color are their feet? Are you kidding me?) If I’m with real bird-watchers and they do the spotting and identifying, I am capable of watching. That’s about it.
I love it anyway.
New Orleans Rocks
by Barry Yeoman | 03.25.09 | 10:17 AM ET
Photo by Barry Yeoman With the famed Jazz & Heritage Festival approaching, Barry Yeoman explores the city's wide-ranging music scene
Are We Ready to Honor Confederate History?
by Sophia Dembling | 03.24.09 | 11:32 AM ET
As a Yankee in the South, I’m used to the sensitivities still surrounding the Civil War, aka the War Between the States, aka (‘round these parts) the War of Northern Aggression.
But while visiting Civil War battlefields is standard historical tourism, I wonder if enough time has passed even now for the nation to join Southern states in other observances honoring Confederate history, as this Chicago Tribune article discusses. (And I didn’t realize April was Confederate History Month in Texas. It took an article in a Yankee paper to clue me in to that.)
But the Confederacy is part of our nation’s rich history. We don’t have to embrace it in its entirety to respect its place in our past. Maybe it is time to let it out into the light.
What Some Locals Have To Say About SXSW
by Sophia Dembling | 03.20.09 | 3:56 PM ET
Twitterers are all a-twitter about the fun they’re having at SXSW in Austin, and the party is only just getting started. But are long-time locals having as much fun being descended upon by the hipster masses? I polled a few of my Austin buddies about the fun they’re having ... or not.
Detroit’s Exquisite Decay
by Sophia Dembling | 03.13.09 | 11:47 AM ET
Time magazine’s slideshow capturing Detroit’s decay in photos by French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre is stunning and utterly heartbreaking.
My thought as I watched: As travelers/tourists we’re a powerful economic force. Can we help save Detroit?
Here are some of my previous thoughts on Detroit.
A Truth About Hawaii Spoken in Jest?
by Sophia Dembling | 03.13.09 | 10:56 AM ET
Yup, I have to admit, I’m among those who laughed at the harsh Saturday Night Live sketch that has Hawaiian officials in a huff, as discussed by fellow World Hum blogger Pam Mandel. The Gallup Well-Being Index recently ranked Hawaii as the second happiest state in the nation, after Utah, but my limited experience with the state (three visits) introduced me to more hostility than happiness. I’m actually a little afraid of Hawaiians. I understand that they have reason to be pissed off, what with their paradise being paved over with hotels and low wages and all. It’s a problem with tropical paradises everywhere. So I’m not passing judgment, really. I’m just saying.
West Virginia: Reversal of Fortune?
by Jenna Schnuer | 03.12.09 | 1:44 PM ET
Oh, West Virginia. We feel for you. It can’t feel good to show up dead last on Forbes’ list of the best states in which to live. Word of your ranking comes on the heels of your governor’s plan to boost the state’s image. Maybe the campaign will also help brighten the spirits of residents and, eventually, lead to a better than 50th out of 50 ranking for both the emotional and physical health of residents. We know somebody has to come in last, but we look forward to seeing you move up the list. You and your people deserve better.
Photographers Focus on the 50 States
by Jenna Schnuer | 03.10.09 | 4:33 PM ET
The Works Progress Administration did it. Musician Sufjan Stevens has done a bit of it. Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey got a whole bunch of people to do it. And, um, Sophia and I are deep into our own version of it.
The it in question? Exploring, one by one, what makes each of the 50 states unique—and looking for the threads that tie them together. Now it’s time to add another to the list: The 50 States Project. Every other month, 50 photos—one from each state—will be posted on the site. Flyover America checked in with Stuart Pilkington, the U.K.-based (we’ll get to that) creator and curator of the project to find out what it’s all about.
What (Not) to Wear on a Road Trip
by Jenna Schnuer | 03.10.09 | 1:58 PM ET
The sponsored email from W invited me to take an “Americana Road Trip.” Who could resist?
The result of one click: beautiful photography; fantastic car. But I think anybody who puts this fashion fantasy into practice would just be asking for trouble (and a really big dry-cleaning bill). Seriously: stilettos do not do well on gravely dusty parking lots. Road trips = denim + T-shirts + sneakers.
Who Says Texas Has No Seasons?
by Sophia Dembling | 03.10.09 | 9:00 AM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling In my previous, non-flyover life in New York City, the first signs of spring were when the forsythia bloomed in Central Park and a ripe and not-unpleasant scent started wafting through my neighborhood from off the Hudson River.
One complaint I’ve heard many times about my current home state, Texas, is that it has no change of seasons. Balderdash. Texas has all four seasons, but they are more subtle than in Northern states.
Happy 75th to the Great Smokies
by Jenna Schnuer | 03.06.09 | 1:30 PM ET
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service. Great Smoky Mountains National Park turns 75 this year. So go there and take a hike (or listen to some mountain music or check out the wildflowers or…) Then, come back and tell us all about it. Or, of course, if you already have a tale of the Smokies, share away.
My favorite memory of the Smokies: seeing evidence of the lives lived there before the land was designated a park. While on a horseback ride in the park, my guide pointed out a nearly perfect square of bright pink flowers. Though the cabin they had been planted around was long gone, the flowers have returned year after year to give a pretty tip of the hat to the woman who used to live on the land.
Oklahoma Officially Rocks
by Sophia Dembling | 03.03.09 | 10:55 AM ET
Like I’ve been telling you, Oklahoma rocks. “Do You Realize??” by the Flaming Lips has been voted the state’s official rock song, beating out other Oklahoman-written rockers “Heartbreak Hotel,” “After Midnight,” “Never Been to Spain” (but, if you will recall, “I’ve been to Oklahoma”) and others. Read about the finalists, then listen to the winner on the Flaming Lips’ website or in concert video after the jump.
A Good Time for a Flyover Vacation
by Sophia Dembling | 03.02.09 | 2:57 PM ET
Now is a great time to plan a vacation in a flyover state. Southwest Airlines and AirTran have kicked off what’s likely to be a spate of domestic fare sales and USA Today reports that convention hotels are hungry for business. This adds up to bargains on domestic vacations.
And here’s a story to clip and carry on your trip: The Chicago Tribune polled baristas at a coffee competition for the best places to get a fine cuppa Joe in several flyover cities. Very useful. (By the way, they agreed that there is no good coffee in New Orleans. Really?)
Crime Doesn’t Pay (But It Sure Can Be Funny)
by Jenna Schnuer | 02.27.09 | 10:39 AM ET
Feeling mad love for Small Town Misfit and BeeNews.com. They’re two of the best stand-ins around for those times you can’t indulge in the ultimate on-the-road entertainment: a gander at a community newspaper’s police blotter while drinking a cup of coffee at the local diner.
The Detroit Dilemma
by Sophia Dembling | 02.26.09 | 9:32 PM ET
A number of years ago, I worked with a woman who was originally from Detroit. She loved her hometown and missed it terribly. I can’t remember her name, but I vividly remember the glow on her face when she talked about the city she’d left behind and to which she vowed to return someday.
I know, right? Hard to believe.
Yet Detroit has a draw, even if it’s a sort of pity vote. Friend and fellow writer Margaret Littman, also has a passion for the city. She says, “I love Detroit’s architecture and public art and wide boulevards. But more than that, I love that Detroit is such a microcosm of America: boomed thanks to ingenuity and innovative and now struggling with what to do next. Plus, I’m a sucker for an underdog.”
The Iditarod: Worth the Work It Takes to Follow It
by Jenna Schnuer | 02.26.09 | 1:13 PM ET
Photo by Jenna Schnuer. For spectators, dog mushing is a hard sport. There’s no loop de loop on a race track. There’s no back and forth on a court. Once the dogs go by…they’re pretty much gone. Dog mushing as spectator sport takes patience, dedication, and a lot of reading (internet and newspaper updates of days-long races are key). But just one dose of a race, one chance to watch it in person, to see the connection between the mushers and the dogs and, quite simply, you’re sunk. It gets in you.
A Presbyterian at the Peabody: Cocktails Across America
by Jenna Schnuer | 02.20.09 | 3:14 PM ET
Cocktails are nice. So nice. David Farley’s marathon drinking session in India got me thinking: what U.S. cocktail-drinking experience would I like to relive? Some may laugh but, after a crapola week, I’m craving the simplicity and sweet ease of drinking a Presbyterian while watching the Peabody Hotel ducks march their way into the lobby fountain. Sounds pleasant right about now, eh?
Yours?
Missing Mardi Gras
by Jenna Schnuer | 02.20.09 | 10:23 AM ET
There’s a gaping evil awful hole in my collection of travel experiences: not only have I never been to Mardi Gras, I’ve never even been to New Orleans. (OK, while I’m admitting to things, I’ve never seen “The Godfather” either but I guess that’s an issue for another website.)
While I won’t be able to correct the situation by this year’s Mardi Gras, I plan to right the wrong come 2010. In the meantime, I’ll continue to obsess from afar. With a piece of King Cake and a ridiculously tall plastic cup filled with some sort of soul-drenching beverage by my side, I’m going to read and watch as much as I can about both Mardi Gras and New Orleans. After the jump, some of the goodies in my from-afar primer.
Nebraska! Whodathunkit?
by Sophia Dembling | 02.19.09 | 3:36 PM ET
I don’t know what became of my Nebraska sweatshirt. It vanished many years ago and I still mourn the loss.
I bought the bright red (go Huskers!), short-sleeved sweatshirt in a thrift shop and wore it for years after my first (and so far only) visit to Nebraska in the late 1970s.