Charleen Swansea phoned the other day to remind us that the annual summer documentary film series is spooling up its last set of reels. The American Summer series has shown some dandies this summer on the last Saturday of each month at the Century Center. The final two shorts promise more of the same and a grand finale for the festival as well.
So jot down August 25th at 7 p.m. and reserve the early evening for a seat in the climate-controlled comfort of the Century Center where the magic lantern will reveal Mark Twain’s America. The film includes a trip down the Mississippi during the tumultuous times in which Twain plied the waters aboard steamboats. And for local flavor, the series is sponsoring a talk by Carrboro filmmaker Cyndi Whisnant and a showing of Living Historians of the Battleship North Carolina, a splendid look at the life of re-enactors on board the historic old boat docked in Wilmington Harbor.
Swansea promises the series will end with appropriate fireworks. You’ll have to show up to learn what she means by that — we’re not spoiling the surprise….
Ran into OrangePolitics creator Ruby Sinreich the other day at BarcampRDU — the annual “unconference†for geeks and Web Two-Point Something types. She was fresh off a brief stay at O’Hare, prior to which she was a panelist at YearlyKos — the annual convention for friends and family of the Daily Kos community.
Ruby has gained a lot of national respect for making a go of an actual political website aimed at local issues and elections — something Kosters and other political bloggers say we need more of.
While she reports some resonance with the local-counts message, it’s still a tough sell getting folks to understand that means more than statewide blogs.
So, note to Kos and Co.: Zoom in a little closer, please, and you may be able to see us all waving.