Ginny from the Blog

If you’re on Twitter, you’ve probably read something about the Raleigh Twestival. Details about it have been leaking out under the hashtag #RalTwestival for some time. Here’s what you need to know and why you should go.

What’s the point of Raleigh Twestival?

The Raleigh Twestival is the Triangle’s version of a fundraising event that will be hosted on the same night by Twitter communities in appx. 160 cities worldwide. The goal is to raise money for “Charity: Water” an organization that works to provide access to clean water in developing nations.

When and Where?

The party/fundraiser is from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday Feb. 12 at Edge Office in downtown Raleigh. This is the same cool space where we had the 30THREADS launch party and the most recent Triangle Tweetup.

What will the fundraiser be like?

Um, super fun! Among the highlights:

* The new Raleigh brewery Lonerider Brewing Company will be pouring its hefeweizen, Shotgun Betty, which must be pretty good b/c it received a favorable review on always-picky New Raleigh.

* A video booth where you can record a message to be posted on MyNC and the Twestival blog.

* A silent auction/raffle that includes items from local social media firms, giftcards, and a cute handcrafted Twitter necklace that I made especially for the event.

* A chance to socialize with all the Triangle Tweeps you’ve been following online, but missed at the Triangle Tweetup.

How much are tickets?

Tickets are $11.40 if you buy them in advance or $14 if you buy them at the door. All of the proceeds go to “Charity: Water.” If you can’t attend, but still want to show your support, you can make a $5 donation (or more) via the Raleigh Twestival website.

But I just went to the Triangle Tweetup two weeks ago, why should I pay to go to this?

The Triangle Twitter community has grown a lot in the past two years. It includes people of all different ages, professions, backgrounds and more. Tweetups usually have presentations and not enough time to socialize. This entire event will be a chance for you to socialize and network with all those new tweeps who you didn’t have time to meet recently. All the money goes to charity and it includes beer and food, so really it’s a great bargain.

I think Twitter sounds stupid, should I go anyway?

Absolutely. While this event is targeted toward people who already use Twitter, it’s not exclusively for Twitter users. So consider attending to meet an interesting cross-section of Triangle residents who appreciate the Internet (this does not mean we’re all geeks who blog in our pajamas). Also, this is a great event where single women can meet men and vice versa (so say my single Twitter friends). You may even leave the event convinced that you should join Twitter before it turns into the MySpace of the Internet.

I’m @GinnySkal, and this was your public service announcement about Twitter and Charity: Water. For more details, follow @RalTwestival on Twitter. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll try to get additional information to you.

Here’s some footage from the animals being unloaded for the circus last night:

I had to share this e-mail with you. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to town and tonight the animals will be unloaded from the train. I know some of my readers will see this as a perfect opportunity to protest the use and care of animals in circuses. Some of you might want to take your kids (or just your cameras). So, like it or not, here are the details about the march.

What Raleigh residents will see in the streets on Monday, February 2 starting at 7:30 PM is the Grand Animal Walk of The Greatest Show On Earth. This event heralds the arrival of the sizzling, all-new 138th Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, offering eleven performances at the RBC Center, Thursday, February 5 through Sunday, the 8. The show is coming from Charlotte, NC.
The animals will be unloaded from the train at 7 PM on Hillsborough Street across from Dorton Arena and begin making the Walk to the RBC Center. For those interested in seeing the animals the best viewing position will be the RBC Center near the loading dock entrance. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TIMES AND TRAVEL ROUTES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE!

I went to the circus when it came to town last year, and I highly recommend it if you don’t have any ethical issues about elephants, tigers and lions being put on display like this.

I was walking through Crabtree Valley Mall last night and spotted a Gloria Jean’s coffee shop, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m all about local coffee shops, but the franchised Gloria Jean’s holds a special place in my heart. I worked at one in college for extra money during holidays and summers. It was my only mall job, and I loved it.

Truly, their coffee (paricularly the frozen drinks) are so delicious. They have this stuff called cappuccino chiller that is basically like Starbucks’ bottled Frappuccino, only so much more delicious. There was a time in my life when I probably consumed more of that than water (and I gained a few pounds to prove it).

Anyway, there’s already a Gloria Jean’s at the mall in Cary, but I never go there. But Crabtree Valley Mall and I are like BFFs, so with the addition of a GJ’s, I might just have to marry it.

For the record, I was not paid by anyone to say this. And I usually shy away from promoting specific corporate places, but I had so much fun working at GJ’s in college and truly love their coffee, so I feel I must spread the love.

If you visit the GJ’s in the mall, order one of my favorites:

*Cappuccino chiller (ask them to mix it with chocolate milk for optimal results).

*Malted Mocha Chiller (this is what I had last night).

*Hot White Chocolate Chai (so good).

Dear Book-Loving Triangle Residents,

If you’re like me, you love perusing eclectic titles and you love a good deal. That’s why you must make an effort to visit the Raleigh City Museum sometime between Saturday and Jan. 17. That’s when the downtown museum is hosting its twice-a-year book sale.

You might remember that I went to the sale this summer and didn’t want to leave:

The titles were impressive, including many classics, some old textbooks and an impressive children’s book selection that brought back memories of my “Choose Your Own Adventure” and “Fear Street” reading days. I could have spent an hour or more scouring the tables for titles. But not all of my friends were thrilled about spending Friday night browsing used books, so I paid for my 1950s edition of Huckleberry Finn, a biography about Freud and some retro mini-Hallmark greeting books with plans to return

The sale also includes CDs, DVDs and other odds and ends, the museum reports. And while you’re there, you can even check out the [R]evolution of Media exhibit, which explores the history of newspaper, television and radio in Raleigh (basically it’s just a big promotional exhibit for WRAL and the News and Observer, which makes sense since they dominated the local media market for so long. Still, the exhibit is still pretty interesting even if my station isn’t really represented).

So consider this your head’s up. The book sale is definitely worth the trip.

Sincerely,

Your book-loving blogger,

Ginny Skalski

It’s been nearly seven weeks since Election Day, and it looks like Newly-elected North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan still can’t hitch a ride on a bus. These signs have been hanging out for quite some time behind this bench at the bus stop on Glenwood Avenue near Anderson Drive.

At least the signs have been removed from the roadside. Still, hasn’t enough time passed for all of the Triangle’s campaign signs to be removed?

A thin, blue light will regularly be jutting into the downtown Durham skyline. The light sculpture by renowned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa is the newest piece of public art in the Triangle, making its home outside the Durham Performing Arts Center. It was unveiled Monday during the ribbon cutting for the new theatre.

The beam of light is not without its critics, including astronomers and other pro-environment types who see it as light pollution. Capitol Broadcasting Co. (which seems to own everything in Durham’s tobacco district) agreed to pay for the sculpture if the city of Durham agreed to maintain it for 25 years. The News & Observer reported that the annual utility bill for the light will cost an estimated $3,350, along with an additional $4,415 being spent on annual maintenance.

Those of you who pay attention to the local art/development scene may remember that this isn’t Capitol Broadcasting’s first attempt to bring a lighted Plensa piece to the Triangle. The Independent’s David Fellerath explained the failure of that effort in this article:

In 2006, Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen, after civic debate and feasibility studies, recommended the city reject an ambitious Plensa project that would have brought a dizzying matrix of overhead water and lights to the re-opened Fayetteville Street. The rejection came in spite of $2.5 million proffered by Goodmon that would have covered a quarter of the initial cost.

So now that you have context for the Raleigh v. Durham Plensa debate, watch this video from the Plensa unveiling.

If you’ve had a chance to see the new blue light beam in downtown Durham, tell me what you think about it.

I think there’s a law that says if you live in North Carolina, you must be a James Taylor fan. So the folks pulling the strings behind the Barack Obama campaign were pretty smart to snag the Carolina Crooner for five free concerts throughout the Tar Heel state given how much of a battleground state it has become.

He performed for free Tuesday in downtown Raleigh’s Moore Square during a lunchtime political rally. It may have been the first time a concert in Moore Square featured political paraphernalia instead of Bud Light.

Here’s a video I made for 30THREADS that includes some of Taylor’s Obama freestyling. I was able to record a few of his songs from the media risers as well. I posted those on 30THREADS.

And, for the record, if John McCain’s campaign organizes any free concerts in downtown Raleigh, you better believe I will totally be there with my camera in hand.

If you were at the concert and posted any pictures or video online, feel free to share links to in in the comments section.

Oh how I wish I worked in downtown Raleigh. Weekdays (and first Fridays) are the only time you can consistently count on seeing people out and about downtown. It makes for fun people watching.

I was catching up on my blog reading this morning and (in true North Carolina blogger style) someone had posted a picture of some BBQ. This of course made me hungry, so I send a direct message on Twitter to one of my friends to see if he would be down with meeting me at Cooper’s for some cheap, mouth-watering, vinegar-soaked BBQ. He agreed and two hours later, I was steering down Fayetteville Street looking for a parking spot.

As we walked down Fayetteville Street, we spotted a guy holding a sign outside the courthouse saying: “Reality: Heaven or Hell It’s your choice.” I took a picture of it and promptly e-mailed it to the Raleigh Connoisseur with no explanation. I’m all about freedom of speech and the right to assembly, so rock on guy with the strange sign.

Then I needed to swing by the Bank of America ATM in City Plaza because Cooper’s is a cash only type of place.

As we approached the square, we saw herds of local media and lots of white men in suits. This can only mean one thing: It’s time for either another ground breaking or ribbon cutting. Turns out it was the ground breaking for the city’s $14.8 million project to transform the empty City Plaza into a more friendly venue for concerts, parades and markets.

Here’s more on the project from the N&O.

City Manager Russell Allen said all but $1 million of the project has been funded. He said the project is not in danger of being delayed by the wider financial crisis.Construction is expected to be completed by next October.

When it opens to the public, the plaza will include 45-foot-tall light towers, a motion-sensitive water fountain and four retail pavilions. Power lines, phone lines and water pipes will run under the plaza floor so merchants can set up shop temporarily.

Then it was time for the BBQ. I ordered the BBQ plate, which included the sweetest hush puppies a gal could ever want. I also had the Brunswick Stew (which I burned my tongue on, my bad) and potato salad. Total price with tax? Six dollars. Yes, $6.

So much more fun than eating lunch in north Raleigh.

It bothers me how easy it is to forget American soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems the wars rarely makes headlines anymore. If you don’t have some connection to the military or seek out information about it, it’s easy to go days without even realizing we’re at war. But then enough soldiers or civilians will die or a politician will invoke the vote that led us to the Iraq war and the fighting will quickly reappear on the news, tucked between stories about gas shortages and Clay Aikens coming out of the closet.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the N.C. Museum of History to check out the Vietnam War photograpy exhibit. It’s called “A Thousand Words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans” and it moved me to tears. Sixty images were hand picked to show off the various aspects of the Vietnam War from the solider’s perspective.

Fear. Sadness. Bravery. Boredom. Courage. Beauty. Strength. Homesickness. It’s all captured on film.

What makes the exhibit particularly outstanding is that each photo includes a brief summary of the image told in the verbatim words of the soldier who shot the photo. As a result, you get a one-of-a-kind perspective on what transpired and the emotions tied to a given image.

The traveling exhibit was born out of a class photography project at Sawtooth School for Visual Art in Winston-Salem. The teacher, Martin Tucker, advertised in 2003 that he was looking for Vietnam veterans with the goal of obtaining some negatives his class could turn into prints. In five months he received more than 2,600 prints and slides, according to a press release about the exhibit. Only 60 photos were chosen.

After selecting the images for A Thousand Words, Martin and his team of volunteers and students invited the veterans back to tape interviews about the photographs. Their gripping words range from the anguish of fighting near the Cambodian border to enjoying a 1966 Bob Hope Christmas show or finally taking a field “shower” in a rice paddy in 100-degree weather.

In this digital age, our youngest veterans have already amassed millions of photos and videos. They don’t need to wait for another roll of film to capture a moment (mundane or murderess) on camera. Their only limitations are their batteries. Can you imagine what a similar exhibit will look like for today’s wars in 40 years?

The exhibit runs until Nov. 17. It’s free, but donations are encouraged. Find the time to stop downtown to see these images. It’s important.

(Top photo of the exhibit courtesy of Goodnight, Raleigh).