Leave the dirty dishes and the leftovers behind, and check out an evening of art, wine, and fun on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the Downtown Charleston ArtWalk.  

It’s a great event to brinig your holiday out-of-town guests and family to show off Charleston.  It’s also a chance to recover from the madness of Black Friday shopping (or a chance to find unique art works for holiday gifts!)

ArtWalk venues for November are:

Art Emporium
Callen McJunkin Gallery
Chet Lowther Studio
Clay Center
Gallery Eleven
Good News Mountaineer Garage
Stray Dog Antiques
Taylor Books - Annex Gallery
The Purple Moon

For more information visit http://www.charlestonartwalk.com

Pre-emptively work off that pumpkin pie at the Stonewall Jackson Middle School Turkey Trot 5K & 2-mile walk. Race on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, November 27 at Kanawha State Forest, Shelter #8 (pool). First 150 participants will receive a T-Shirt, plus prizes galore.

Register here, won’t you? It’s $15 in advance, $20 on the day of the race.

More details:

Times:

• Race day registration is from 7:30 am - 8:45 am Kanawha State Forest
• Race starts at 9:00 am Shelter #8 (POOL)

Awards:

• Age Group-First place- Turkey and medal for second-
• Male / Female Overall, Masters Male/ Female, Wheelchair and Age Group Male/ Female-
• < 14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45- 49, 50-59 and 60 & over
• Ribbons- top twenty walkers

Oh my gosh, I just noticed you can win a turkey. That’s bold!

Read selected literary classics and then compare them to a version written from another point of view. Characters previously silenced in the classic versions set the record straight in these re-visioned sequels. Discussion leader is Carolyn Sturgeon, an English teacher at West Virginia State University. Registration is not required but copies of the book are limited. They may be picked up at the Reference Desk.

The first meeting will discuss Jane Eyre by a little gal called Charlotte Bronte. Jane goes from a depressing boarding school to a depressing country house with a depressed guy named Rochester. I mean, he’s handsome and all, but what’s that sound in the attic?

(Find out next month, when they discuss Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea)

Re-Visioning Classics Book Discussion Group
Main Library, 123 Capitol Street
Thursday, December 11 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Led by Charleston Book Group legend Carol Campbell, the Monday Book Club meets on November 24 at 6 PM at Taylor Books.

This month’s book is Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch by Dai Sijie. Mr. Muo returns to his native China after studying in France, only to find his true love imprisoned by a Communist something or other. He can only save her by bringing a virgin to a tyrannical judge. It’s a comic-romantic masterpiece, they say!

This is the last Monday Book Club for 2008, but rest assured it will start afresh in January with a whole wonderful new set of books. If you haven’t been to any this year, feel free to give it a try. This is one book club where people don’t talk about diapers and brownie recipes - only good, meaty book discussions. Yay!

If you work for a nonprofit and you need money, sign up for this free workshop at the Kanawha County Public Library. Librarian Olivia Bravo will show you how to use the Foundation Center’s online database to identify funding sources for your organization. And it won’t cost you anything but time.

The workshop is free, but you have to sign up in advance. Call or email the library to register.

Finding Where the Money Is For Nonprofits
Thursday, December 11
6:30 - 8 PM
Main Library, 123 Capitol Street

(304) 345-4646

When did you start developing websites?
I began developing “websites” in 1995. My first attempt at publishing online was through a very simple, template-based service which took basic text input and pumped it out onto a single, static page. At seven years old, I was pretty amazed by this. Anyone in the world who, like me, had internet access could see what I had written. At this time, I had no clue that the skills I was developing would one day turn into a profitable career; at the time, it was simply something I could do to entertain myself on rainy days.

Only a few years ago did I really begin to delve into true web development. Another interest of mine is in music. I would often search for song lyrics and find them on websites covered with advertisements and annoying popups so I developed a song lyric website for myself. In less than a year, I had a website with over 20,000 artists and a steady income from nonintrusive advertisements. It became a bit too much for me to handle alone and I wanted to spend more time with friends so I sold the website in 2003, but continued to experiment with web developement.

What other websites have you developed besides SecretTweet?
Other than SecretTweet, I’ve had several online ventures. My most recent personal projects include VisitMatewan.com (a tourist oriented website for my hometown), MozunkHost.com (a webhosting service), and, of course, SecretTweet.com. I’m currently working alongside Eric Roberts, a freelance web developer from Racine, Wisconsin, on a website aimed at the new “Web 2.0″ online attitude. I’m beginning to work away from self-managed websites and projects and starting to focus more on freelance web programming and development. This is much less stressful and much more profitable (depending on your work ethic, of course).

How did you get the idea for SecretTweet?
For several years now, I’ve been a fan of PostSecret.com, a website in which visitors mail in thousands of “secrets” every week on creatively designed postcards which are then published online. When I discovered Twitter.com a little over a year ago, I saw an opportunity for an online version of PostSecret to succeed and I ran with the idea. SecretTweet has received mixed reviews from a lot of people and I respect that. Personally, I feel SecretTweet is a fabulous reminder that everyone faces amazingly difficult struggles everyday; that’s part of what makes the mundane things in life so wonderfully blissful.

Do you have any other website ideas that you plan to launch?
I have literally hundreds of ideas for new projects. It’s simply the public need, personal time, and sometimes personal knowledge that prevent me from acting. A website doesn’t go online overnight. Hundreds of hours go into developement and, after you’ve spent the time and money creating the website, it can take well over a year for the website to even become profitable or form an audience (if it ever does). I’m currently working on a website for Marshall University’s AIGA, a graphic design group. As mentioned before, I’m also working with a designer from Wisconsin on a personal project called “Hey, We Make Stuff!” that will hopefully be online sometime in 2009. Beyond that, private/freelance work keeps me happily busy.

Where can people find you online?
Anything anyone would like to know about me can be found on my personal “playground” at www.KevinSmithDesigns.com. KevinSmithDesigns.com is a rather informal website intended to share what I’ve been working on and also contains links to most of the popular social-networking websites that I have an account with. So, don’t be a stranger, network with me!

Put a face with a screen-name.  There’s a gathering at the Capitol Roasters downtown Charleston where you can meet bloggers, facebook users, tweeters, and other members of the Charleston-area’s online community.  Show up any time between 5:30pm and 7pm to say hi.

The Contemporary Youth Arts Company presents MARY at the WVSU Capitol Center Theater. Read more about it here.

The story of the nine months prior to the birth of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a young girl destined to be the most important woman in the Christian tradition,  MARY has become a family friendly holiday tradition in the Charleston area.  Drawing from a mix of talent from all over the Kanawha Valley, the annual production begins rehearsals in early October for the traditional opening night the day after Thanksgiving.  A driving score and an ageless story continue to inspire audiences with new insights to the days and months leading up to the first Christmas.

This year’s cast includes Molly Means as the title character with Jonathan Tucker as Joseph, Tanya Dillon-Page as Gabriel, Melanie Larch as Elizabeth, Donnie Smith as Zechariah and Eli ChambersTess Lucas, Amanda Trail, Samantha Oxley, Nik Tidquist, Nick Curnutte, Kirill Gura, Shane Belcher, Ryan McCoy, Ella McCoy, Shante Martin, Stephanie Stockman, Liz McCormick, Alicia Lewis, Marranda Major, Jackie Cobb, Maddy Gourevitch, Victoria Hayes, Emily White, Lauren Miller, and Sarah Mandirola. A 15 piece orchestra, conducted by composer Mark Scarpelli, accompanies the production.

Performances continue at 8 pm November 28, 29, December 4,5,6 with a  Sunday matinee on November 30 beginning at 2 pm.  Tickets are $5.50 for students and seniors and $9.50 for adults and can be purchased at the door the evenings of the performances.  Call the WVSU Capital Center Box Office, 342-6522, for advance reservations and group discounts.

Celebrate the season as you create your own ornaments, enjoy science shows, hear holiday stories and meet a special guest–Santa Claus! Holly Day place at the Clay Center from 11am-4pm on Friday November 28th.  The Ornament-making workshop starts at noon ($2 per ornament).  

Holly Day admission is included in the price of gallery admission: $7 for adults, $5.50 for children, and free for Clay Center members.