Choose Charleston

Charleston tends to be recognized as a rather polite, well-mannered, place to live or visit; a place where gentlemen would tip their hats to ladies were hats still in vogue and where doors are routinely held as a courtesy.

It has been mentioned more than once, however, in articles on the polite society of Charleston that our manners tend to become a bit less gentile when we are behind the wheel.

Try to merge into traffic on I-26 somewhere around exit 209 around the middle of the day and you’ll soon be telling a whole different story about politeness.

So we are kinder pedestrians than motorists.

It’s also been noted, on those occasions when local media has experimented with allowing online readers to add commentary to news stories (or when online forums have been built to discuss local issues) that politeness tends to be kicked out the window along with the rest of the trappings of civil behavior.

This, it should be mentioned, is hardly unique to Charleston.

I’ll be biting my nails, wringing my hands with worry, every time I flip through the latest issue of Charleston Magazine from here on out.

Society editor extraordinaire Ida Becker just launched a crash-hot new daredeviling in the Palmetto State column called Living on the Edge.

Me, I’m sitting at home with the latest issue of Backpacker and a few ideas bouncing around. She’s out there in the world with a whip and a chair, telling those lions to mind.

Doubly clever and delightfully daring, Ms. Becker is the kind of elegant young gal who might of an afternoon favor a spot of skydiving, plan a trek off to Tibet, and later lure the fête set toward her lens for a bit of clicky-clicky, perchance at an evening soirée on Church or State.

That, and she’s a good writer.

Charleston’s hep cats and swinging dames are sure to have seen copies of ART Magazine, the latest venture from publisher extraordinaire Olivia Pool, about town.

Ms. Pool, of course, was the driving force behind the late critically acclaimed Domain Magazine and is known to have contributed many a “Special to” piece to the Post & Courier Preview section.

As she is among the most cosmopolitan of Charlestonian cognoscenti, it is only natural that Olivia would be helping to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Persian poet Rumi.

The celebration proper, hosted by the Sophia Institute, will be in October but Rumi rejoicers yearning for an early taste of soul can catch a screening of “Rumi: Poet of the Heart” at Charleston County Library on August 14, 7 p.m.

The screening is free, open to the public, and will be a good way to schmooze with the local art and soul minded while grooving to ancient rhymes.

Every year the list of required school supplies gets longer and, tax holiday or no, that can bring a lot of hardship to low income families.

Come on, Lowcountry - we like to talk the talk about caring for the children of our community and the importance of education, right? Here’s a small something that those of us who are doing a little better can do to help:

Today, August 2, at 4 p.m. Steve Waters, a.k.a. “Steve the Guy” of the 95SX Two Girls and a Guy morning show, will be at the Summerville Publix on Central Avenue collecting school supply donations for local families in need.

Number 2 pencils are always in season. Notebooks? Needed. Paper towels? Probably so.

If you can imagine it, chances are the kids and teachers need it, and it doesn’t have to be much. Just a little something-something, one starfish tossed back in the sea makes a difference, at least to that one starfish, and all that good stuff.

Besides, drop something off and you get to groove with Steve, easily one of the coolest cats in the Lowcountry. Hey, not only does this guy gets to start every morning with Tanya Brown and Brooke Ryan, but he also puts a smile on the faces of a whole lot of folks who are stuck in the slow ooze of local traffic every weekday morning. He makes us laugh, lightens the load just a wee bit at the very start of the day.

Makes you feel better, makes you wanna do something good for someone else, makes you wanna pay that karma forward.

This Saturday and Sunday, August 4-5, the Washout on Folly Beach will once again host the South Carolina Governor’s Cup of Surfing.

That’s two whole days of competition featuring the best of the class from all the way up and down the Easten seaboard. Wahines wade in from the Outer Banks and Menehunes migrate from Myrtle Beach to show their stuff at this top wave event.

Arrive early to catch a good parking spot.

Keep in mind that South Carolina is one of only two states with an official Governor’s Cup dedicated to the sport of surfing (the other is California). Governor Mark Sanford, well known as a champion of coastal and environmental causes, is himself an avid surfer.

So the Governor’s Cup is a point of pride for Sandlappers.

Speaking of which, the summer 2007 issue of Sandlapper: The Magazine of South Carolina features a cool article on the Governor’s Cup and the Folly Beach surf crowd, if you’re interested in some background research before you show up on the beach.

As well, the summer issue of Garden & Gun has an article on the local wahines and the July 2007 Charleston Magazine has an article on Folly Beach in its golden age (check out the sailing adventure by the ever adventurous Ida Becker in the same issue).

It’s early Monday morning, coffee is brewing, and the cats are at the window, watching light wash into the world outside. I spent half the weekend in the world of muggles (mowing the lawn, trimming the edges, and resolving an attack of climbing weeds around an old-growth gardenia) and the other half lost in the land of Harry Potter.

Today, it’s back to the salt mines!

Today is also the day for the cats to have their annual check-up at the vet, which makes today’s choice for free & local easy enough.

Locals have been sending their Boykins to fetch Lowcountry Dog from the shelves for the last three years. With distribution points from Beaufort all the way up to Pawley’s Island, it is fast becoming a solid fixture of area veterinarian offices, pet supply stores, grooming salons, and even regular people places.

This is a snazzy looking glossy featuring high quality photography from some of the top names in the regional shutter trade and oodles of information on all things canine.

It probably speaks volumes of Charleston, in particular the historic district at the tip of the peninsula (where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet to form the Atlantic Ocean), to note that surrounding areas are referred to as “East of” or “West of.”

The land west of the Ashley River was predominantly rural until the later years of the twentieth century. Longtime residents have shared many a tale of childhoods spent watching cows from the Coburg dairy grazing along what is now Savannah Highway and driving Ashley River Road through a tunnel of live oaks that stretched from the Maryville/Ashleyville area all the way to Summerville.

Today, the “West of” area is one of the most rapidly changing parts of the South Carolina Lowcountry. There are exciting areas of renewal (like the Avondale neighborhood with its new growth of boutiques, restaurants, and young professionals moving in) as well as heated controversy over new developments encroaching on protected wetlands and historic sites.

The dynamic nature of the area and the growing number of people with an active interest in it makes the local community newspaper, West Of, all the more important. Publisher Lorne Chambers spent four years as the music editor and distribution manager for Charleston City Paper before launching West Of in February 2005. An alumnus of College of Charleston, Chambers knows his territory well.

Look for a finely honed focus on local news inside as well as a calendar chock full of area happenings.

For someone with wee ones who is new in town, this publication is handier than a sack full of moist towelettes and Zweiback.

If you’re looking for the skinny on summer day camps and mom-friendly businesses, this recently relaunched glossy will steer you right. Formerly a much slimmer and smaller periodical, Lowcountry Parent got all shined up and polished when it was purchased by the Greenville News. Today, it sports a bright, clean look and a plethora of handy tips on the theory and science of rug monkey raising.

Got kids in one of the local schools? No need to try to find a place where you can pick this one up - the schools hand them out.

Odds are you can find a recent copy of Lowcountry Parent by rooting around in the 50 to 100 pounds of papers, books, notebooks, and supplies the young’ins are lugging around in their backpacks these days.

 We continue our discussion of free & local periodicals with the paper one is most likely to grab when new in the area (and looking for the lowdown on what is what and why): Charleston City Paper.

Fair is fair disclosure: I am a regular contributor to this paper.

Some say it all began, many years ago, with a tall stranger on horseback. The hooves clacked and echoed along King Street as crowds of college students, stunned into silence, watched.

“You there,” the newcomer to town said, pointing toward a young man. “If you wanted to know what band is playing at Cumberland’s tonight, where would you look?”

The young man had no reply.

“Mm,” said the newcomer. He turned toward another. “You, there. I see around me a vast constellation of eateries. How am I to know which offers not only the most succulent fare but also the best service and value for my dollar?”

The poor child could only peep. It was worse than the newcomer feared.

“And your alternate news source, where might it be found?”

The crowd could only shrug. One brave soul asked, “Alternate?”

And so the newcomer set to work.

Okay, fair is fair again, so it may not have happened exactly that way, but the fact remains that the beginnings of Charleston City Paper were marked by a blur of activity by a mere handful of staff. You could count them on the fingers of your hand. They raised the paper into being from the ground up by writing, photographing, editing, procuring ads, designing and proofing pages, even distributing all by themselves.

More than a decade later, Charleston City Paper is a serious force in local culture, producing in-depth coverage of major arts festivals and events, and it is the go-to source for finding reviews of local shows, news of local interest, and cuisine features you can sink your teeth into.

And, yeah, there is a bit of attitude and snark in there as well. Some are upset by that. But those who cannot laugh at themselves… well, you know the rest.

City Paper takes a bit of ribbing on occasion, but I will say this: go to other towns and look for the local alt press paper. Find one and hold it side by side with Charleston City Paper. Unless you happened to grab a Village Voice, you’re going to notice right away that CCP holds considerably more pages, more weight, and the quality of the writing and art tends to be much better.

Chalk that up of years of dedication and refusal to compromise by a founding staff who simply pressed forward when others shook their heads.

Yeah, yeah, we all know that there is a whole bunch of stuff available online. But sometimes you just want the weight of paper in your hands, something you can flip open and read on the beach, while you’re waiting for your table at the restaurant, or at the bus stop.

Scenario - you breeze into town and want to know what’s what: where to go for lunch, who is playing at the clubs, what galleries are showing the newest art, as well as the basic who is who and why in this here town.

Solution - you grab some “free & local” from the stacks you find in the entryways to eateries. Over the next few days, I’ll give you a run-down of some of the major players in the local free press.

We’ll start with Skirt! Magazine.

The story of how publisher Nikki Hardin launched Skirt! is something of a local legend. Basically, she began by assembling the kind of words and pictures that she and her friends loved to peruse anyway, i.e. create the kind of story that you yourself would want to read - not bad advice for any budding writer.

To say that “Skirt! caught on” is like saying that “a few customers decided that sliced bread was a good thing.” Today, there are local editions of Skirt! Magazine in Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Columbia, Jacksonville, Knoxville, and Savannah.

 All that happened in just a little more than a dozen years.

Grab a copy of Skirt! Magazine and you’ll be leafing through big, bold oversized pages chock-full of poetry and sassy illustration. The photography is stunning, thanks to the contributions of shutter-superstars like Marni Rothschild and Leigh Webber, and the essays make for good breezy reads. The whole thing is put together like a well-loved mix tape: equal parts fun and informative, with a definite attitude.

Those who don’t live in a city with its own print edition of Skirt! can find a nice slice of the content online.