Authentically Local
The restaurant decorated with bright glass bottles, renowned for its French toast and its convivial atmosphere when the tables are set up for outside dining.The dry cleaner who doesn’t need to be told...
View ArticleRemembering Fernwood...
Place has always been important to me. In 1998 I wrote a column for The New York Times about a swim club called Fernwood, which held a special place in my heart. Of all the columns I wrote in my five...
View ArticleFour Questions to Ask When Patch Moves Into Your Town
AOL’s Patch.com, with editor in chief Arianna Huffington, is on the aggressive move: it’s right now in about 800 communities, with a goal of 1,000 by the end of 2011. Huffington wants to make the...
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Justin Bieber Doesn't Live Here
A few months back, AOL dropped a 58-page handbook on its Patch editors entitled “The AOL Way”. After some introductory remarks on how the operations of its local sites should be organized–bolstered by...
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What About the Local Cinema Chain?
Clearview Cinemas, a New Jersey-based chain of movie theaters with outposts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, is owned by Cablevision, a giant corporation with plenty of enemies– which makes it...
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Even though they are pretty much the same from town to town,...
Even though they are pretty much the same from town to town, there is nothing more authentically local than a small-town Memorial Day parade. Photo by S.J.Streeter for Baristanet.
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Patch Dispatch
Today they are standing on every corner in one town outside New York City. They are blonde, female and clearly under 25. They wear bright green T-shirts and visors that say “Patch,” and they hand out...
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Authentically Local, a set by johnleesandiego on Flickr. One of...
Authentically Local, a set by johnleesandiego on Flickr.One of Baristanet’s favorite readers, John Lee, felt so connected to the Authentically Local campaign that he assembled an “Authentically Local”...
View ArticleAuthentically Locavore
Authentically Locavore: Let’s hoist a glass to Frank Bruni of The New York Times for his 3,200-word paean to the authentically local food scene of Seattle in Sunday’s Travel section. Best quote: “To...
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God bless Watchung Booksellers, my local indie bookstore. My...
God bless Watchung Booksellers, my local indie bookstore. My third novel, “Cars from a Marriage” just came out in paperback today. But according to Amazon, there is only one copy left in stock....
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Talking to The Sopranos Location Scout about What's Authentically Jersey
Mark Kamine was the original location director of The Sopranos and, since the show ended, he’s moved on to become a production director of movies like “The Fighter” and “Limitless.” A 16-year-resident...
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Schadenfreude Time: Watching AOL Circling the Drain
Those of us who are the proprietors of small, independent hyperlocal news blogs have been watching the headlines with glee.Tim Armstrong’s AoL dream may be endingWhat Happens When AOL Finally Decides...
View ArticleSchadenfreude, Part Two: I Apologize
Schadenfreude, or gloating over another’s misfortune, is not a pretty thing. By definition. And though I’m used to being scolded by readers, my upbraiding by some of the Patch rank-and-file over my...
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On September 30, 2011, during the Block by Block conference at...
On September 30, 2011, during the Block by Block conference at Loyola University Chicago, 21 local, independent online publishers from across the United States voted to form a tradeassociation.A...
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Most places claim to be authentic and original. Austin, Texas...
Most places claim to be authentic and original. Austin, Texas really is. From its famous bat bridge to its Segway tours to its food-courts-on-wheels to the wonderful Drafthouse cinemas, Austin lives up...
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How Hyperlocal? Eat Your Sidewalk!
The crew behind a campaign called Eat Your Sidewalk has brought an entirely new meaning to the word local. Forget the vast Agricultural Industrial Complex. Eat Your Sidewalk is about finding breakfast,...
View Article"I can remember a time when I could almost pinpoint a man’s place of origin...
“I can remember a time when I could almost pinpoint a man’s place of origin by his speech. That is growing more difficult now and will in some foreseeable future become impossible… The idioms, the...
View ArticleLION Publishers Summit: Innovation for Digital Media Entrepreneurs
LION Publishers Summit: Innovation for Digital Media Entrepreneurs: The LION Summit builds on the Block by Block conferences, bringing together the independent online news industry’s leaders and...
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Join your fellow Local Independent Online News Publishers at the...
Join your fellow Local Independent Online News Publishers at the inaugural LION Summit: Innovation for Digital Media Entrepreneurs, Oct. 3-5 in Chicago.Conference sessions will include LION Publisher...
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The 2014 LION Summit will bring together the independent online...
The 2014 LION Summit will bring together the independent online news industry’s leaders for training, networking and conversations about the future of news. Speakers will include successful online...
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