Wade on Birmingham

Archive for July, 2008

muchas smooches

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

They started out as
wary companions, but then
had a liplock lunge.

• • •

Read more haiku.

reunion in the rain

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Old guard, new guard and
older guard converge to swap
newsroom war stories.

• • •

Read more haiku.

did you hear …

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Even in the face
of tragedy, work gossip
Is oddly soothing.

• • •

Read more haiku.

evening summit

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

On the mountain, the
city seemed at peace with the
world and with itself.

• • •

Read more haiku.

dry, dry again

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

No one noticed the
rains came less and less, leaving
an untamed desert.

• • •

Read more haiku.

the waiting room

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Loved one treated in
back room. Can’t surrender to
simple helplessness.

• • •

Read more haiku.

blazing around

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

A hundred degrees
don’t make you smarter, but they
do make you suffer.

• • •

Read more haiku.

Green Eyeshade Awards: Second to one

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Green Eyeshade Awards

Several Alabama media outlets won at the 58th annual Green Eyeshade Awards on Saturday, including WBHM (90.3 FM) winning first place overall in the radio division for its series, “Searching for Safetown,” after winning its category, Public Affairs Reporting.

More Alabama winners, plus the award for this blog, after the jump …

(more…)

how to draw a princess

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Make the hair long, with
a flowing gown. Or have a
four-year-old draw it.

• • •

Read more haiku.

navigating by heart

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Even driving in
circles can be fun with the
ideal passenger.

• • •

Read more haiku.

Heads up: No quo like the status quo

Friday, July 18th, 2008

city stagesMusic reporter and columnist Mary Colurso would like you to know that running a festival like City Stages is very, very hard work, and that it’s probably too complicated for average folks to understand:

Bear in mind, I have no interest in perpetuating the status quo. Clearly, something isn’t working and has to change in the City Stages formula.

But every time I begin to delve into the festival’s guts — to discuss what a sponsorship entails, for example, or ask how the event’s footprint is configured — I realize that average concertgoers have no idea what it’s like to prepare an event like City Stages and make it happen.

Angry observers can grouse and complain, but they’re not the ones doing the work every year. Nor are most of them in a position to offer practical, effective advice on what City Stages might do to resolve its financial struggles and begin to thrive.

She also mentions that $533,000 in taxpayer money went to the 2008 festival, which will end the budget year around $250,000 in debt.

If we the citizens aren’t able to offer practical advice on how the festival can improve its financial situation, the newspaper of record shares the blame. After all, shouldn’t its music reporter of 11 years — who has access to organizers and documents, who has a master’s degree in journalism — be able to explain such a complex affair as projected revenues and shortfalls to you and me?

Understanding what makes a successful music festival tick in the 21st century, then revamping City Stages in such a model … well, that’s a tougher and more extensive task.

Help us understand, Mary, help us.

If, say, the City Hall reporter were to suggest that average citizens couldn’t understand or weigh in on Birmingham’s operating budget (which passed Wednesday) because of its size and complexity, then the newspaper would have failed in its mission to hold officials accountable while insulting its readership. Hmm.
• Birmingham News: Grousing’s not the way to build a better City Stages

• • •

More headlines | send us your news tips.

composed at a keyboard

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Can we break grip of
technology’s distractions?
Are we not machines?

• • •

Read more haiku.

pastoral inhabitants

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Farm roll call: goats, cats,
peacock, chickens, puppies, cows,
llamas, pigs and worms.

• • •

Read more haiku.

yin and yang

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Much is given, much
is asked. Somewhere, the harvest
matches the hungry.

• • •

Read more haiku.

Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 10

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
  1. litter rally
    Rubbish! Unkempt room
    surrenders to posse of
    garbage bags. Rubbish!
  2. firefly serenity
    They blink across the
    deep blue darkness, heralding
    winter’s departure.
  3. pollen on hard times
    The yellow coats are
    coming. The yellow coats are
    coming. No escape.
  4. (more…)