10/27/11

Bank of America, Populist Fervor, and Occupy Charlotte

It's hard to know how all this is going to shake out, but as a great philosopher once crooned, "There's something happening here..."

We're all aware that Bank of America has become a punching bag, political and otherwise. Last week in what Bloomberg called a "global town hall meeting," BofA CEO Brian Moynihan fought back (side note: interesting that Bloomberg reported the Charlotte meeting, and that it just came out yesterday). The first two paragraphs of the article:

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said he's "incensed" by... Read more »

Posted at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

06/14/11

Close Reading. Like, Really Close Reading

The editors of The New York Times Sunday Magazine--one of the best mags in the business--publish a surprisingly uninteresting blog (note to the seven people who read this blog: I totally get the irony of me making that statement) called The 6th Floor Blog. It's named for the location of the staff offices, and perhaps the that title should have been a tip-off to the content. Anyway, one of the writers occasionally compiles a post of interesting sentences. The following was included in the June 13 post:

“Steve Guttenberg said something, but I forgot to write it... Read more »

Posted at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

06/09/11

What I'm Reading This A.M.

Some interesting stuff in the big O this morning:

"Love him or hate him, but Gorman made a difference"
Once again, Tommy Tomlinson demonstrates how he's become the conscience of the city. I admire his adventures in storytelling, but I wish he wrote more columns.

"Maybe Uptown succeeded too well"
The Observer will miss Mary Newsom when she leaves later this month. She writes the occasional hard truth, and she's not afraid to turn an issue around and look it from a new angle. This is an example. Some... Read more »

Posted at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

06/08/11

Anthony Foxx and Jim Rogers on the Democratic National Convention and Charlotte

This morning, I had the opportunity to watch Anthony Foxx and Jim Rogers discuss the Democratic National Convention in a moderated conversation (that is to say, a moderator asked questions and then Foxx and Rogers answered them, more or less. Usually more) at Levine Museum of the New South.

I wouldn’t say that any news came out of the event. If it did, you’ll surely hear about it, as several media outlets were there. But here are a few things I noticed:

• Foxx looked more comfortable than I’ve ever seen him look. He’s really grown into the mayor’s role. Early in his tenure, I thought he often looked a little stiff, with forced smiles and frequent nonanswers. But this morning he was relaxed, candid, funny, thoughtful. At... Read more »

Posted at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

06/06/11

Look Ma, I'm on TV!

In this JumboTron era, do people still get excited about being on TV? Sure they do! That's why it's the JumboTron era!

Rob Boisvert over at News 14 Charlotte is kind enough to host me as a semiregular guest on his segment called In Depth. I like to kid him about the title of the segment, because he asks me, like, three questions. "In depth" means something different in magazine-land. But anyway, I enjoy doing the segments. Here's the latest, which just started airing today. News 14 doesn't do the embed thing, so click this link to watch the short interview about... Read more »

Posted at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/31/11

Fighting Boredom, One Article at a Time

Because I know you're dying to read it, here's my editor's note column from the June issue:

If you're bored this summer, don't blame us.

This issue is packed with ideas of what to do from June to September. I started to count all the suggestions, but eventually realized the futility of my endeavor. Suffice to say that we actually may have gone overboard in suggesting ways to pass the time this summer.

The most obvious example of our largesse is in the feature titled “Summer Fun!” (Told you it was obvious.) Our writers offer ninety-eight ideas of what to do, one for every day between Memorial Day and... Read more »

Posted at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/26/11

Davidson Names First Female President

I just got word that Davidson College, the little school just up the road that is most famous for being my alma mater (kidding), just named its 18th president. Carol Quillen, who will also be the first college's president in more than 50 years who did not graduate from Davidson, comes from Rice University, where she is the vice president for international and interdisciplinary initiatives. She starts August 1. Clearly, one of the main reasons she applied for the new gig is that she wanted a simpler title. What a cocktail-party burden that beast must be in Houston.

Anyway, Davidson has posted on its website several video clips of interviews with Quillen. Included is one titled "On... Read more »

Posted at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/20/11

Looking for some top-notch freelance help

We're looking for two (or more) energetic, creative, curious, talented freelancers to help with our web content and our culture coverage. Details here: charlottemagazine.com/careers

Posted at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/12/11

I Bet Harry Jones Read This Article With Interest

According to an article in The New York Times today, some municipalities are trying to figure out ways to "tax" nonprofits who occupy valuable, expensive land. They're not using the word "tax," of course, but some form of the term "voluntary payments":

"There is no question that nonprofit universities and hospitals — eds and meds, as they are known to planners — have played a central role in helping cities weather the Great Recession and its aftermath. They provide high-paying jobs, draw visitors and keep downtowns vibrant. But for cities that rely heavily on property taxes, those benefits have a cost. As... Read more »

Posted at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/10/11

MAGS was good to us

This past Thursday, the Magazine Association of the Southeast held its annual conference in Atlanta. I'm proud to report that we picked up eight Gamma awards at the conference's luncheon. Charlotte magazine won six awards, and our sister publications Charlotte Wedding and Charlotte Home + Garden each won one. Here are the details:

• Huge congrats to writer Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman, who won a Gold for Best Profile for her story on David Merryman, the Catawba Riverkeeper. Link to story.

• Also in the profile category, Jonathan Singer's... Read more »

Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1