Raleighwood, NC

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Clyde Smith

clyde(at)netweed(dot)com

Images of America: Historic Raleigh

Images of America: Historic Raleigh

Images of America: Historic Raleigh by Jennifer A. Kulikowski and Kenneth E. Peters has a cover photo that I just couldn't resist posting:

"Museum historians Jennifer A. Kulikowski and Kenneth E. Peters have compiled this pictorial tribute by relying heavily on the collection of the Raleigh City Museum. They invite readers to step back in time to a more simple era when trolley cars clanged along Fayetteville Street, jazz echoed from Hargett Street, and the roar of the crowd erupted at Devereux Meadow Baseball Park."

From Arcadia Publishing.

Oddly enough, a more highly ranked on Amazon book with an arguably better cover photo on a similar theme by a content mill, Historic Photos of Raleigh-Durham, not only treats "Raleigh-Durham" as an actual place but also scrapes content written by John Dancy-Jones from my site netweed.com [twice] for its Amazon description!

The scraped content is from the days when Raleigh Nature was hosted at netweed, way back when, and John was writing about a review copy of the book.

Scott Huler: On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work

Scott Huler: On the Grid

Raleigh journalist Scott Huler's new book, On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work is due out next week and it sounds pretty cool

"In our daily lives, we’re surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and a myriad of other infrastructure that facilitate almost everything we do...Not only is infrastructure shrouded in mystery, much of it is woefully out of date—bridges are falling, public transportation is overcrowded, and most roads haven’t been updated since the 1950s. In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society—from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines."

"He begins his entertaining, fascinating journey at his house in Raleigh, North Carolina, and travels everywhere from the inside of a storm water pipe to the sewers of ancient Rome. Each chapter follows one element of infrastructure back to its source. Huler visits power plants, watches new asphalt pavement being laid, and traces a drop of water backward from his faucet to the Gulf of Mexico. He reaches out to guides along the way, both the workers who operate these systems and the people who plan them."

I remember John Dancy-Jones telling me about meeting with Scott when he was working on this book. It will be interesting to see how many people he consulted on such a complex project. According to the Amazon listing linked above, the book is "filled with amazing insights, interviews, and stories" so it sounds appropriately rich in that regard.

Mr. Huler will be at a Quail Ridge Books book signing event here in Raleigh on Wednesday, May 26th from 7 to 9 pm. He will be hitting other regional spots as well in case you can't make that one.  For example, The Regulator over in Durham on the 12th.

Official Site: Scott Huler

Fiction by Richard Butner: A Vanishing Legacy?

Horses Blow Up Dog City & Other Stories

One of the reasons I'm a big proponent of Publish on Demand services like Raleigh's own web superstar Lulu.com is that such services could make Richard Butner's writing always available even with no copies on hand.

Small Beer Press published Butner's Horses Blow Up Dog City & Other Stories while Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology is an excellent collection that includes a short piece by Richard as well as coediting credits.

Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology

Though Richard Butner's work may not find a mass audience, I think many who don't know him would enjoy his sharp, insightful writing. And that's why I wish his work were more readily available without being so dependent on second hand resellers for access.  All the current Amazon listings, as you can see by clicking through on the covers, are only available through secondary dealers.

When the Music's Over

Even the Amazon listing pic for the above anthology that includes a short story by Richard looks like it's in the process of disappearing!  When The Music's Over indeed.

Richard Butner's Mind Snakes can be ordered via The Paper Plant.

The Store of Joys: Writers Celebrate the North Carolina Museum of Art's Fiftieth Anniversary

The Store of Joys by Huston Paschal & the NC Museum of Art

I'm not in love with the cover of The Store of Joys: Writers Celebrate the North Carolina Museum of Art's Fiftieth Anniversary but I like the concept. In preparation for the Museum's fiftieth anniversary:

"the Museum invited some of the state's major writers and poets to contribute responses to works from the Museum's permanent collection. The contributors were asked to submit a previously unpublished poem or a work of short fiction or creative nonfiction that connected the written word with the visual representation. The book that evolved from this project includes new works from forty-five writers and poets. Each written piece appears adjacent to a full-color reproduction of the artistic piece which inspired the writer..."

"For example, Alan Shapiro responded to the image of a victorious hero on an ancient Greek vase by composing a poem about men weeping...and more generally about notions of sexuality, a subject he has examined in his recent work. Inspired by Milton Avery's "Blue Landscape," Lee Smith wove a haunting tale about a lonely little girl named Daisy who finds solace with an "orchard girl" on a nearby ridge."

Published by John F. Blair in 1997.

Worldcat: The Store of Joys

Related Raleighwood, NC Coverage:
April 24/25: NC Museum of Art Celebrations

Official Sites:
John F. Blair, Publisher
North Carolina Museum of Art

Insiders' Guide: Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill

Insiders' Guide: Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill

A new edition of Insiders' Guide: Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill is due in July.

Nice cover!

Official Site: Insiders' Guide

Gerald Grant: Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh

Gerald Grant - Hope and Despair in the American City

I'm kicking off the Raleighwood Books category with a book I should have mentioned long ago:

Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh
by Gerald Grant.

This is the volume often referred to when folks discuss why changing what works in the Wake County School System is a very bad idea.

Related Raleighwood, NC Coverage: Wake Co. School Board