After a couple of days of backpacking, one of my favorite things to do on my way back to civilization is to stop by a local joint for some good ole home cookin’. Driving through some small east Tennessee towns this past weekend, Granny’s Diner beckoned—with melt-in-your-mouth chicken-n-dumplings and chocolate meringue pie. Not only do these kinds of restaurants amp up the calorie level, but they can usually be counted on to fuel the funny bone. Granny’s did not disappoint.

After being greeted by a cheerful door mat saying, “Go Away,” we were bombarded by dozens of dos and don’ts signs aimed at restaurant employees—labeled “Employee’s.” My favorite sign admonished “employee’s” not to smoke on the job—“its the law I don’t like it anymore than you do but its not going to be tolerated and you got to go outside to smoke when no customer’s are here and if you don’t like it talk to your representative in Nashville.” Although few of the signs had out-and-out misspellings (Granny’s computer must have had spell check), grammar is not her forte, bless her heart.

Although I didn’t dare correct the woman who had just slaved over a hot stove to prepare such a delicious meal, I bet the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) wouldn’t have had any compunction about putting a red pen to all the offending signs.

Have you heard about these guys? Embarking on a “Typo Hunt Across America,” Jeff Deck and his grammar nerd-like friends have been road-tripping from coast to coast since March correcting typos in signs, restaurant menus and public posters. Deck concedes that grammar mistakes are bound to happen and he doesn’t harshly admonish the violators, but he laments, in his tongue-in-cheek blog, the failure of a culture that allows such errors to flourish. By the time they return to Boston in late May, TEAL hopes to have furthered the cause of “a typo-free society.”

Any vandalism aside, these guys are my heroes. If they want to take another loop through Tennessee, I’ve got the perfect place for Sunday supper.

Try to check out “Sons of Lwala” when it premieres at the 2008 Nashville Film Festival April 17-24. Last night I attended the benefit preview of the film about Milton and Fred Ochieng, two brothers who come to Nashville to study medicine while simultaneously opening the first health clinic in their home village in western Kenya. The brothers were driven to finish the clinic that had been their father’s dream before he and their mother died of AIDS. Milton, in particular, felt compelled to give back ever since villagers sold chickens and cows to raise the $900 needed for his first plane ticket to the United States. “Just don’t forget us,” they told him as they sent him off to pursue his education.

Despite the pressures of medical school, it proved impossible for either brother to forget a home where sick villagers have to walk miles for treatment, children suffer from preventable waterborne illnesses and 20-year-olds are dying of AIDS.

Produced and directed by Barry Simmons, a former TV reporter, the documentary follows two years in the life of the brothers as they struggle to raise money for the clinic on their own. Their goal seems close to impossible until they meet others who are inspired by their quest, including Sen. Bill Frist, the band Jars of Clay and hundreds of their fellow students. Thanks to an outpouring of support, the clinic opened in 2007, and to date, it has served 15,000 patients and spearheaded community health initiatives.

Check out the documentary Web site for a trailer and this link for more information about the brothers’ continuing efforts to support their village.

Happy New Year! Well, kinda. If we still measured our year according to the Julian calendar, March would be the time we’d sing “Auld Lang Syne” instead of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.” In the March/April issue of American Spirit, which we publish for the DAR, Bill Hudgins writes about the challenges that came with Colonial America’s adoption of the Gregorian calendar—and the confusion the switch still causes genealogists.
Whether or not your grasp of etiquette would past muster with Emily Post, be relieved that you didn’t have to abide by the rules of courtesy books, 18th-century manuals on the proper behavior of gentlemen and women, which we also spotlight in this issue. From table manners—“Make not a noise with thy Tongue, Mouth, Lips or Breath, either in eating or drinking”—to personal appearance—“Wear not your clothes foul, ripped or dusty, but see to it that they be brushed once every day at least”—these books provide surprising glimpses into the everyday lives and aspirations of early Americans.
The issue also covers the recent International Preservation Trades Workshop, where experts demonstrate hands-on techniques for preserving historic structures. We feature some talented craftsmen and women who are whizzes at reglazing vintage windows, renewing wood finishes, repairing ornamental plaster, carving bricks and stone, and dozens of other traditional methods of historic preservation. This story is especially fitting now that DAR has embarked on a multimillion-dollar restoration of its many historically significant buildings, including the century-old Memorial Continental Hall. The next time you’re in D.C., stop by for a tour of the complex, only steps away from the White House. On 1776 D Street, of course.

Our hearts go out to our neighbors who were affected by the Feb. 5 tornado outbreak that ripped through Tennessee and other Southern states. Striking late at night and into a terrifyingly lightning-lit early morning, the supercell-spawned tornados killed more than 60 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Coworker Bill, who lives in Gallatin near one of the twister touchdowns and was closer still to a 2006 outbreak, offers his poignant perspective on the storm that once again hit right in his backyard.

One of the properties that suffered extensive damage by the tornado was a historic one: Wynnewood, the largest existing log structure in Tennessee. About half of the two-story historic stagecoach inn in Castalian Springs is now gone, much of the surviving structure has shifted several inches off its foundation and more than 100 trees—many of them beautiful, large Eastern Red Cedars—were destroyed.

I recently had the opportunity to see some of the damage up close: On Saturday, Feb. 9, some friends and I headed north from Nashville to aid in the tornado cleanup in Sumner County. We were assigned to the Wynnewood site, where we worked alongside members of the Bledsoe’s Lick Historic Association to clear massive amounts of tree debris and heavy brush as well as help recover historic artifacts.

When his chainsaw wasn’t buzzing, Anthony Angel, one of the association’s members, pointed out the devastating path the tornado carved across the landscape, a storm that arbitrarily took the life of a mother and saved her year-old baby all within view of Wynnewood’s front porch. By the end of the day my friends and I were pretty darn tired, but we left amazed and inspired by the dedication of community members. Check out some of our photos here.

There is good news on the horizon for Wynnewood and those dedicated to its preservation. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has pledged that the house will be rebuilt. And I’m looking forward to covering the site’s upcoming Colonial Fair and Wynnewood Mayfest in American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the DAR. To learn more about the restoration and to contribute to the project, go here.

Every time I’ve heard a StoryCorps segment on NPR, I’ve thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to be a part of this?” If you aren’t familiar with the program, StoryCorps is a national nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate each other’s lives through listening. The initiative has inspired thousands of Americans to travel to sound booths across the county to interview a special person in their life and record that person’s story. StoryCorps was founded in 2003 by radio documentarian David Isay, whose vision has been honored with a Peabody Award as well as by the Daughters of the American Revolution, one of Hammock’s clients.

Last fall, I was thrilled to hear that a StoryCorps booth—the fourth in the nation—was coming to the Nashville Public Library. I told my dad that he had to let me interview him, no arguments allowed.

As our interview drew near, I prepped him with questions, and he prepared a few notes to prompt his memories during our 40-minute session. When we finally found ourselves in the booth, the huge microphones and soundproof environment were a little daunting, but it didn’t take Dad long to warm up and make me laugh at stories about his youth in rural Georgia in the 1940s, his early career with the Norfolk-Southern Railroad and his courtship of my mother. Some of the stories were old favorites about the double features—usually Westerns and old serials—he and his friends watched every Saturday in his hometown, but there were a few gems I had never heard before, like the time his pet mule escaped!

We left the booth with a CD of the interview. Another CD and our photos will be sent to the Library of Congress. (Yes, one day we’ll be in the card catalog of the future!) I love listening to the recording—an amazing time capsule of some significant experiences in my dad’s life.

If you’re interested in learning more about StoryCorps, listen to weekly broadcasts on NPR or download podcasts here. And if there’s ever a booth in your area, take my advice and sign up. Don’t miss your chance to preserve a loved one’s memories.

How can you promote a banquetﾕs theme through its menu? What are guidelines for serving wine at an event? How can you set up a buffet to limit consumption during a cocktail reception?
Find those answers and more event planning strategies in the hot-off-the-presses Experient Guide to the Food and Beverage Experience, sponsored by Hilton Hotels and published by Hammock. Enhanced by dozens of photos of delectable food and festive events, the 64-page resource draws on the considerable food and beverage expertise of both Experient, an integrated meeting and event planning firm, and Hilton Hotels. Featuring an introduction by Emeril Lagasse, the Guide gives best practices for everything from menu planning and negotiation to decor and serviceﾑall with the goal of making events more authentic, enjoyable and memorable. Go to Experient’s Solution Center to download a pdf.
The Guide is Hammockﾕs second collaboration with Experient, a leading industry resource for full-service, customized registration, housing, event management and lead retrieval services. This year Experient will serve more than 2,800 events attended by 3.2 million people who will occupy and drive purchasing of more than 4.2 million hotel room nights.

The Daughters of the American Revolution has long had ties to Ellis Island, so it was fitting that present and past shots of the immigration station graced the cover of the November/December American Spirit, the magazine Hammock publishes for the National Society. DAR members were there helping immigrants when Ellis Island served as a bustling processing station, and it was there when the island was in dire need of a restoration, donating more than $250,000 to the effort. Hammock’s own Lena Basha tells the stories of today’s genealogists who are using the current resources of Ellis Island to connect with their ancestors who passed through the gateway more than a century ago.
To subscribe to American Spirit–and to read a Veterans’ Day-themed salute to a DAR member and her three daughters who all serve in the United States Army–go to the magazine’s online site.

That quote from German author Hugo Ball kicked off a recent FOLIO: Show session led by Scott Kirkwood, editor of National Parks Magazine, and Debbie Bates-Schrott, of Bates Creative Group. In “Working With the Art Department to Advance the Editorial Mission,” they compared the relationship between designers and editors to that of any relationship–both need defined roles, trust, honesty and accountability to work harmoniously. Thankfully, we have those kinds of great relationships here at Hammock, but it was funny to hear the presenters voice some common stereotypes of editors and artists. How often have we been guilty of thinking:
Artists tend to take things personally and only focus on design.
Editors are all about the words and don’t care about design.
Artists have poor communication skills.
Editors type out an e-mail instead of talking through the problem.
To overcome the communication barriers caused by such narrow-minded thinking, Scott and Debbie suggested the following guidelines for editors when approaching designers:
1. Start with what is good about the design first.
2. Put yourself in the designer’s shoes, and show respect for their work. Remember, writers, you don’t like to have your work rewritten either.
3. Begin with a meeting of the minds based on facts: an understanding of the publication’s mission and reader demographics.
4. Be ready to answer WHY for your choices and decisions. No more “I don’t like it” or “That just doesn’t jive.” An editor has to explain why a certain font or layout isn’t working, just as a designer has to be able to point to how her choices make sense for the magazine’s mission.
This session and other presentationsﾑincluding Rex’sﾑhave been posted to the FOLIO: Show Web site. Save NYC airfare and lodging and check out sessions on editorial, sales, marketing, production & design and circulation topics.

I had a chance to catch the last 20 minutes of Rex’s “marketing track” presentation at Tuesday’s FOLIO Show in New York. (I hid in to the back to avoid notice; at last year’s FOLIO conference, Rex had a ball embarrassing Shannon and me.) In his session, “Managing a Creative Services Operation: From Ad Creation to Custom Publishing,” Rex zeroed in on strategic ways custom publishers can partner with clients to publish content that truly fulfills an organization’s mission. Whether that’s creating a blog that adds value to a magazine for an influential association, or creating inventive content that subtly and effectively promotes the goals of an esteemed genealogical society, custom publishers make it their business to make a client’s goals their own.
Rex also got some great questions from the crowd. My favorite: “How much time do you spend writing your blog every day?” Yea, no comment from me.
P.S. It was impressive to see all of Hammock’s magazines, Web sites and blogs onscreen–seeing them at somewhat of a distance reminds me why we should feel really proud of what we do.