Two of the most popular ePodunk sections have finally been united: Cemeteries and Festivals.

While it seems an unlikely pairing of mourning and celebration, Patricia Leigh Brown’s recent article in the New York Times discusses how many communities have turned to new ways to raise funds to keep their cemeteries alive.

Brown writes: “Historic cemeteries, desperate for money to pay for badly needed restorations, are reaching out to the public in ever more unusual ways, with dog parades, bird-watching lectures, Sunday jazz concerts, brunches with star chefs, Halloween parties in the crematory and even a nudie calendar.”

Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, PA has hosted a Titanic dinner, recreating the last meal served for several of the cemetery’s most famous residents, while the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC put on a parade for dogs dressed in historical costumes.

For a long time, Los Angeles‘ Hollywood Forever Cemetery has hosted Cinespia, classic movie screenings in the summer that function as a tribute to the many Hollywood greats buried in the cemetery. A DJ spins tunes before and after the screening, and alcohol is permitted on the cemetery grounds.

“Dying” to get into a cemetery may have taken on a new meaning.

When I was approving ePodunk user photos a few weeks ago, I came across the beautiful shot below of Pend Oreille River in Metaline Falls, WA. It was submitted by ePodunk user slengst and I quickly emailed her to tell her we were going to feature her photo on our homepage.

Little did I know that this photo would start an onslaught of professional-quality photos of places in the US, Canada, and UK. I had tapped into the resource known as the “Olympus Talk Forum,” an online discussion group made up of photo junkies, joined by their love of Olympus brand cameras. When slengst shared her triumph of winning an ePodunk homepage feature on the forum, the race was on.

Below are some of my favorite photos submitted by OTF members:

Rainbow and Mustard Fields in Freemont, CA

Submitted by ePodunk user Typeaux

Olympic Mountains from the Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA

Submitted by ePodunk user Straycat

Picadilly Circus (1980s) in London, England

Submitted by ePodunk user gmockrcpilot

These photographers have really stepped up the quality of ePodunk community photos… but will they continue to reign on the ePodunk homepage?To see the current homepage photo features, check out ePodunk, ePodunk Canada, ePodunk UK, and ePodunk Ireland.

Listed as one of our Canadianisms, this drink named for the Canadian city has sparked recent interest from our users. Up for debate: What IS a Calgary Red-Eye, and do Canadians really drink it?

At its most basic, the Calgary Red-Eye can be defined as beer or lager mixed with tomato juice. According to Will and Ian Ferguson, authors of How to Be a Canadian, no one actually drinks them.

Jason, one of our users has written in to claim that the Red-Eye is actually beer and Clamato juice. He adds, “a lot of people drink them.”

Another ePodunk user, Angel, corrects Jason to specify that beer and Clamato juice is properly called a Clam-Eye. Angel adds that both Red-Eyes and Clam-Eyes are frequently consumed.

My own additional research has given another Calgary Red-Eye combination: beer, Clamato juice, and a raw egg. I think it’s the raw egg that puts this concoction in the “hangover remedy” category.

We’ll open up the definition of Calgary’s signature drink to our readers. Email info@epodunk.com to give us your definition of the Calgary Red-Eye, and even more importantly, do you REALLY drink it?

We’ll post an update soon.

Like our new look?

ePodunk has been redesigned by ePodunk co-founder John Decker, former multimedia editor of the New York Times on the Web and Web designer for the Detroit Free Press. Most recently, John worked as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s photographer. In addition to making ePodunk pages more aesthetically pleasing, John has also reorganized our content to enhance the user experience.

John says: “The redesign attempts to make the large volume of information in our ePodunk databases more user friendly and accessible to our users. It is my hope that users will be able to find what they are looking for more quickly (through the quick links on the left of the profile pages), and maybe even find interesting things that they weren’t even looking for.

“It has been 6 years since the launch of ePodunk and the site has not had a redesign since then. In the meantime, users have gotten better computers and larger screens, and we are trying to take advantage of the added real estate of the bigger screens as well as some of the new design options that were not available to us 6 or 7 years ago.

I hope they enjoy the new look.”

John goes by podunker on the web site, regularly contributing photos for our home page and community pages.

As you’re checking out the improved ePodunk, you’ll see that we’ve also added some new features. There is now a set of quick links on the upper left side of our community pages. Instead of scrolling, simply click the category that interests you to go immediately go to that section of the page. Looking through our quick links, you may find topics of interest you didn’t even know we listed!

On the right side of our pages, user blogs and reviews are featured in a bright blue box. Place-themed literary quotes are highlighted on the right side of the page as well.

Our maps have been revamped. You can now click the boxes on our interactive map to highlight the locations of the features that interest you most. You could choose to display hotels and colleges, or maybe libraries and museums. Mouse over the pins to see the label on each pin, or click on a pin to link to related info on ePodunk.

We’re also excited about our new blog and news feeds. In addition to our user blogs and reviews located at the top of the page, we now link to blogs written by community members who write regularly on issues and events in their cities and towns. These outside ePodunk blogs are located on the lower right side of our pages. Directly below the new blogs, we link to the latest news stories from local papers.

We have added thousands of these links to our database, and continue to expand the selection each day. If you would like to suggest a blog or news site, please send us an email.

We’re thrilled with the new look of ePodunk and we hope that you enjoy using it! As always, questions and comments can be sent to info@epodunk.com.

You can now upload photos to ePodunk Canada, ePodunk UK and ePodunk Ireland!

Browse your place-themed photos and click “Submit” on any community page to have your photos displayed on our pages. Check the homepages to see our featured user photos and to start uploading your own photos!

Below, a user contributed this photo of the harbour at St Ives, England.

ePodunk Ireland user JWalker submitted the photo below of a farmyard in Ballyvaughan, Ireland.

ePodunk users can also share their thoughts about Canada, UK and Ireland communities by posting to our new local blog and review section. See the links to “Tell us the pros & cons of __” and “Blog about__” on any community page to share and read up on local opinions and queries!

In a review for Wilno, ON, ePodunk user wilnogirl writes: “Wilno is colourful, quaint, friendly, hip and happening.” ePodunk user PSutherland blogs on our Kelvington, SK page: “I taught Grade 6 at Kelvington Elementary School. I have really fond memories of that year & of all the students in my class.”

We’ve had a great response from our Canadian users. Check out all our Canada blogs and reviews!

Our apologies to users who were unable to access ePodunk last night. The company hosting our site - Peer1 - lost power at its Atlanta Data Center. Four excruciating hours later, we were back up and running.

Many antique photographs that have survived decades rarely make it out of their storage boxes, except to be displayed at the occasional family reunion or funeral.

Now, you don’t have to keep your delicate photos out of sight. Upload your historic family photos to ePodunk and they’ll be featured in our ancestry & family history section.

You can also browse other people’s historic family photos from your community and maybe you’ll be inspired to blog about what you might find.

To upload and view family photos, go to the link for “Ancestry & family history” in the “Local guides” section on the right side of any community page.

Here are some submissions that have inspired us to make family photos a new ePodunk feature:

Gilbertsville, KY

Geoffrey Ellwood with his sister and niece, Christmas 1930

Submitted by ePodunk user ellwoodrw

Pringle, PA

Ed O’Leary and General Chamberlain, October 1941

Submitted by ePodunk user john

Cleveland, MO

Elvira Cantonwine Hoag holding Wilson Hoag (1851-1934)

Submitted by ePodunk user rosita9548

We want to hear from you! After many months of receiving emails full of feedback, queries, interesting tidbits, and stories from our audience, ePodunk has opened its pages to publish blogs and reviews directly in the words of our users.

Now, at the top of every community page on the ePodunk US site, you’ll see a link to “Blog about this community” or “Tell us the pros and cons of this community.” After registering on My ePodunk by providing a user name, password, and email address, you can now have your thoughts about your favorite places published on ePodunk!

For example, epodunk user bluegrassman blogs about Linnville, OH:

“I have lived in the Linnville area most of my life. This area is very scenic and quiet. Many families in this area have ties to families that came to this area of Ohio on the National Road back in the 1800’s. Adam Linn who was a farmer from Virginia came here and served as Linnville’s first postmaster in 1833.”

ePodunk user larry blogs about Franklinton, LA:
“Looking for my aunt who lived on Roberts Road in Franklinton - Willie Jean Roberts. Have not been in contact since Katrina, even got all my Christmas cards back.”

More community blogs here.

Need some direction? Tell us the what you think are the best aspects of your town or city, and which need improvement.

ePodunk user reisjackson tells the pluses of Fort Ransom, ND :
“Quiet, peaceful community nestled along the Sheyenne River. Summer kayaking, biking, birding, hunting, fishing. Winter cross country skiing, downhill skiing at Bear’s Den Mountain (300 vertical feet), Ice fishing, ice skating, snowmobiling. Located along the North Country Hiking/Cross Country Trail spanning from New York across the northern plains. Tight-knit community, friendly people open to outsiders, tourism is the local economy.”

ePodunk user scottwar reviews Humble, TX:

“Humble, TX has a rich history from the early oil boom days. The historic main street is relatively well preserved and still has many active businesses and restaurants. A large town with a small town attitude.”

More community reviews here.

All submissions will be reviewed by ePodunk editors before publication so you will not see your entry online right away. Offensive, libelous or otherwise inappropriate posts will be rejected.

Has someone spoken out about your hometown yet? Review now, and be the first to get your two cents in!

I made sure to seek out a good po’boy in New Orleans. Or, as they’re known throughout most of the country, a sub sandwich. I got some good soul food too, collard greens and all. But what really stood apart in New Orleans was the rabbit. At Coop’s Place, on Decatur St. in the French Quarter, I had the ultimate bar food: rabbit and sausage jambalaya. I asked my bar companion Mark, a local carpenter, to be describe it for me. Of course, it’s like chicken but a bit tougher, he said. Then, for good measure, he added that he’d been eating the food at Coop’s for 12 years. Good enough for me. And it was, though I still can’t tell you what rabbit tastes like. I guess it’s like . . .