Small Talk: Letters and Chatter about Columbus Monthly
Service, Please!
A couple of readers called shenanigans on our relatively new practice of listing only a website in our service lines, the brief phrases of go-and-do information at the end of stories.
"I'm sitting here reading your latest issue, and here we go again!" one reader wrote. "Why, oh, why, when you write about a restaurant, be it a large article or small, you don't include the address?" From another reader, a Chicago resident who visits Columbus several times a year, came this note: "Why, why, why, do you so rarely, if ever, include exact street addresses? It is such a pain to be reading along, come across a restaurant or shop that sounds wonderful and then realize I have no idea where the place is … It's very frustrating to have to go searching for an address of a restaurant that may turn out to be in a distant 'burb. Do this reader a real service: Start including street addresses in your roundup stories."
In 2014, we decided to use only websites for our service lines, for a few reasons. First, the website packs a lot more information than we can express in the magazine: You can find not only the address but also browse the menu (or inventory), open hours and, in the case of many restaurants, make reservations. We also think it's fair to say most people are using the Internet, via a computer or mobile device, to plan entertainment and diversion. And, finally, expressing only a website can save a few precious lines of text, which we'd rather spend telling you more about the event, shop, restaurant or bar. In cases in which a business has no website, we print address, neighborhood and phone number in the service line.
For all of this to work, we have to keep up our end of the bargain and make our stories as clear and informative as possible. And that means working the name of the neighborhood or suburb into stories when necessary, which is most of the time. We promise to do a better job keeping you clear on the where, as well as the why, how, what, when and who.
Cover Boy
Determined not to put an illustration of a brain or a giant light bulb on the cover of this month's idea-themed issue, art director Carrie Sosnowski and photographer Tessa Berg set to work interpreting and paying homage to a photo they'd found (where else) on the Internet of a pair of boys wearing welding goggles and balancing electric apparatuses on their heads.
Piece by piece, they took cues from the photo and assembled props from scratch. For a couple of days in December, Tessa's desk became a crafting table complete with hot-glue gun, paint and all manners of hardware-store supplies. Carrie took care of the wardrobe (from J. Crew) and set about finding our model. She looked no further than the daycare where she sends her son to find 4-year-old Enzo Anaya, who was a good sport during what must have seemed like a really bizarre afternoon. Enzo lives with his parents, Jenny and Brian Anaya, in German Village. This was his first modeling gig.
And to answer everyone's burning question: Our brain power-conducting contraption worked just right-a few moments on Enzo's noggin, and the light bulb jumped to life as planned.
Correction
In the January issue, the name of Mudflats Bar and Grill in Galena was erroneously expressed as Mudflaps in a caption that accompanied photos of musician Willie Phoenix playing a gig at the restaurant. Believe us, we regret the error.