About the Grove Project
The Grove Project is an experiment in “placeblogging” and localized, citizen journalism in the Wilmington, NC area—not by any means the first such experiment, of course. Among other things, we’ve been really turned on by an interview with Simon St. Laurent, who sort of ducked out of the nerdy hacker world in which he figured prominently to start a blog about his home town, Dryden, New York, that now serves to consolidate interest, information, and writing about that whole area in a way that’s really surprising and nice. And we’re turned on in general by the idea, represented by local blogging and by sites such as outside.in, placeblogger, BlueHampshire (which is more expressly political) and other nouveau-localized writers like Jon Udell, that technology can be “aimed” back at the places where we actually live, can help situate us in the things going on around us, help make those things better known and discoverable—actionable, maybe. Plus it’s fun, and we’re into serious fun.
Like Dryden, the Cape Fear area has some “voices”, but is somewhat under-served (we think), and not as participatory as it might be…So we’re editorializing about a good life here in Wilmington, because we have good lives, and because we think that writing, reading, discussing, and thinking critically are big parts of those good lives.
This page is under construction, but then I guess it’ll continue to be. We’ll keep adding to it as we clarify what we’re doing and what’s here. You might also look at the essay Being and Being Local for some thoughts about All This.
You can of course take part in this. A handful of us write what’s here, find things to write about, read each other’s stuff. You can too. We’d love to hear from you in comments to any of the stories you see here or by email, even if it’s just to say hi. Talk to you soon.
Now this update looks much better!!! Last time you made a change, it was just the logo, as I recall, but this is a very useful adjustment of the whole layout, makes it much easier to see what’s where and what’s new. Thanks for the effort.
Love the new layout @ GP; you are to be commended for the continuing evolution of the site. Thank you.
Thanks, guys. Evolution is the key word here: I’m still fooling around under the hood, but like you I think this is a leap in the right direction.
wow - yes, this is a great find for me. great idea and a great website. i’ve found something newly interesting about wilmington. thanks guys.
Appreciate it, Matt. Thanks for tuning in and love to hear from you about Wilmington Whatever.
I just found the website and think it is awesome! I would really like to get more involved if people were interested in local restaurant information. Aside from owning and operating DineWilmingtonOnline.com, I also write for the Wilmington Business Journal for their Restaurant News. Let me know what I can do to contribute!
Hi Lisa….Thanks! Really glad you like it. GP is absolutely interested in local restaurant information, along with a bunch of other stuff.
One of the things this editor likes most about the Grove Project, however, is how UNprofessional it is. How unaffiliated. Not sure if you’re suggesting some relationship of DWO or WBJ to this site, but I hesitate to make any commercial links of that kind — and in fact we’ve been turning down requests to do ads here since our humble beginnings. But would love to hear more from you. -ed.
I have no need to self promote, just to communicate.
I would love the opportunity. It’s about the community!
You got it, Lisa. I’ve created an account and am sending you author information via email. Please feel free to write informally, to write not just about restaurants but about anything local, to commune here in the Grove. -ed.
I talked with Adam and Tiff last night and they told me about the website.
Nice.
Let me know if you need in assistance in the local music area.
Jeff Reid
Editor/Publisher
Beat Magazine
We’d love it, Jeff! Not sure what you have in mind, but pieces re-published here, or pieces written for here, or info, or musical rumors…I like what you guys do.
…For example, the grace with which you handled the topic of a “smooth jazz” presentation to the Cape Fear Jazz Society, whose shows I’ve enjoyed at the museum:
So What is Smooth Jazz? - Presentation Inspires Local Jazz Fans!
Man, I’d love to read, publish, and know more about local jazz scene!
Holy cats! I just realized that when you view our site using IE, you still see those pesky “Advertise here” banners. Those look terrible! How embarrassing.
I had no idea those were visible, and meant to hide those right away (as they were in Firefox), and don’t want to solicit advertisers here on the Grove at all (though I did have a nice request just now from a recycling company).
Sorry, readers. :-/ -ed.