Ten Story Ideas

Jeff Meller

18 Sept 13

International

Story Idea	Publication
1.            Smithfield Meat Market, London – The market has existed in London for 800 years, first as an open-air livestock market and now as an ornate Victorian covered meat market.  Through it all the “porters” have hauled cuts of meat from abattoir to distributor.  Traditionally porter’s quitting time is 4 am.  At that time their basement pub opens after their work “day” has ended.  You can join them for a pint, that is the origin of their namesake “porter,” and a special porter’s breakfast: seven kinds of meat.	High Life (BA on-flight magazine)
2.            Hash House Harriers, New Delhi – “A running club with a drinking problem.”  Founded in Selangor, Malaysia in 1938 by a group of British expatriates it now is an open secret society of drinkers and runners with 2,000 chapters worldwide.  The running bit is based on the British children’s game Hare and Hounds and allows people of different running abilities to run together.  The drinking bit is called “down-downs.”   Hashers have many inane traditions and pride themselves on being politically incorrect.  It’s a great away to meet people in a new locale.	Outside
3.     Mongolian Olympics, Ulaan Baatar - For fans of traditional amateur athletics, the Mongolian National Olympics, Naadam, offers three events unchanged since Neolithic times: wrestling, archery and horseracing.  Three hundred matches are conducted by wrestlers clad in the national costume of jockey shorts, knee high fur-lined boots, and a half-vest of stylized eagle wings.  Male and female archers compete together with bows made of wood and bone, held together by fish glue, and strung with bull tendon.  And a fifteen mile cross-country horse race is amongst 500 horses with jockeys between the ages of 6 and 8.	National Geographic Traveler; New York Times, Travel Section; Outside
4.       Blair Athol Coal Mine, Queensland, Australia – The mine doesn’t give tours.  But if you are polite and persistent, you can cajole your way inside.  Visit inside the “overburden remover,” a piece of earthmoving equipment so immense it has its own built-in kitchen and lounge.  Touch together two wires to send an electric impulse down to the coal seam and detonate an explosion of loosening million of tons of coal from the open mine face.	Australian Geographic
5.            Levuka, Fiji – To get to Levuka from the US, you must fly five hours to Los Angeles, five hours to Hawaii, seven hours to Nadi, Fiji; then four hours by bus to Suva, an hour to Native Landing; then an hour by ferry to a place in the jungle with no name; and finally a last bus for another hour.  You have arrived at Levuka.  But getting to Levuka is not the hardest part of the journey.  Deciding to go is far harder.	Wall Street Journal; Financial Times

Local

Story Idea	Publication
1.    Ancient Ways, Martha’s Vineyard - Famous for its beaches and shopping, The Vineyard can get crowded in the summer.  But the Ancient Ways are a nearly invisible network of narrow dirt paths woven over centuries by Native Americans and colonists through 5,000 acres of the island.  On the busiest day in summer one can hike, jog, mountain bike and not see a single person.	Vineyard Gazette; Martha’s Vineyard Times; Outside; Islands Magazine
2.    Off-Beat Statues, Boston – Military men and politicians dominate the procession of statues around Boston.  Less known but more significant are monuments to: medical research - The Good Samaritan Monument memorializing the invention of ether; an explorer - Leif Ericson, a Nordic explorer reputed to be the first European to reach North America; a children’s story - Make Way for Ducklings; a heretic - Mary Dyer, a Quaker who was hanged for her beliefs outside the State House in the 17th century; a fruit - the Clapp pear, a variety developed at the Clapp family farm in Dorchester; an orchestra conductor, Arthur Fiedler; and an historian, Samuel Elliot Morrison, portrayed casually in a baseball cap and wind breaker.	Boston Globe
3.    No Witches, Salem, MA – There were no witches in Salem despite the hype and the bandwagon onto which so many Salem merchants have climbed. Less commercial and less popular is a small group of sites which tell the tragedy of the twenty innocent citizens slaughtered by their neighbors, early American conspiracy theorists.	Boston Globe
4.   The Presidential Traverse, White Mountains, NH – a 23 mile hike with 9,000 feet of elevation gain across Mounts Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe Eisenhower Pierce and, of course, Mt. Washington.  A three day hike with a group of sixth graders staying at the enchanting and comfy Appalachian Mountain Club lodges.	Outside; National Geographic Traveler
5.    Best Swimming Holes in New England – Many villages claim to have the best swimming holes: the deepest, the best diving, the clearest water, the most underwater passages, the most auto wrecks at the bottom.  A survey of the most enchanting off-the-beaten-track places to spend a care-free afternoon.	Outside; National Geographic Traveler

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