9 things that excite me this week

by Eric Ginsburg

1. Winston-Salem

Some weeks are harder than others, and last week was a rough one for me. I’ve always detested the cliché: ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ but the idea of trying to focus on what’s positive resonates more favorably. One of the things that has excited me most in the last few months and this week in particular is Winston-Salem. As a Greensboro resident, I’m seriously jealous of some of the restaurants and culture that are cropping up in the Camel City. There’s lots of exploration to look forward to.

2. National Folk Festival

Big ups to the people in Greensboro who worked so hard to land the National Folk Festival, a huge annual gig that will be held in the Gate City in 2015-17 to mammoth crowds. I’m crossing my fingers that efforts by some of the same key players to land Stone Brewing’s East Coast distribution facility will be similarly successful.

3. Distractions

America’s favorite pastime, eating unhealthy food while watching junk television, is even more alluring when I’m stressed or upset. That’s why I started watching “Broad City” obsessively last week, a show many have compared to “Girls” but that my roommate more accurately said evoked “Workaholics.” I also ate lunch at Sub Station II just before 11 a.m. while watching a game show and planned a “Friday Night Lights” binge. I found better distractions, too, namely the company of family and friends, but sometimes friends offer terrible ideas such as suffering through “Wheel of Fortune” in their living room.

4. Beyoncé

(Presented without comment)

5. The Nussbaum Center

Besides the obvious reasons to laud this business incubator’s role in lifting us off the ground, this week I’m excited about the warehouse behind our office building. President Sam Funchess was gracious enough to show me through the hulking bones of the former steel warehouse last week, and it’s hard to stop visualizing what could go in that space. Among the raddest existing ideas are constructing a brewery incubator, luring Foothills or Natty Greene’s or Stone Brewing to expand there, or possibly a commercial kitchen for startups. The Nussbaum Center is still taking suggestions, but things are moving quickly. Watch our audio slideshow piece about the warehouse on the Triad City Beat website.

6. Spring life

Duh: The weather is improving. But the sun and warmth usher in more events, from an overstuffed First Friday to the beginning of a season of gigs at Greensboro’s Center City Park. Even things I’m probably not going to, like the inaugural Greensboro Symphony young-professionals group event Thursday or Sylvan Esso’s album release show at Cat’s Cradle Friday, make me feel like the air is alive.

7. News & Brews

There’s a growing group of local journalists who get together for drinks once a month. I helped kick it off nearly a year ago, and last week a solid crew from the Winston-Salem Journal showed up. I’m stoked that it’s working out so well, and I’m looking forward to our next hang.

8. Travel

I think I love the Triad more every year. I admit to going to Winston-Salem just once in four years at Guilford College and writing off High Point altogether, but that’s changing rapidly. Still, leaving town makes it easier to gain perspective and better appreciate my home here. That’s part of the reason I went to Durham last weekend, might be in Boston by the time you read this, and will spend a week in Spain before the end of the month. Huzzah!

9. Food

Always food. I eat it enough you’d think I’d be bored, but no — it’s frequently the highlight of my day.