What is SWoCo? And how, exactly, does one pronounce it?
We’ll admit, it’s a made-up name -- a catchy (we hope) abbreviation for Southwest Roanoke County the way folks in Northern Virginia refer to NoVa, or, um, the way some folks in South Roanoke call their neighborhood SoRo.
Still, there’s that whole pronunciation thing -- so we went to the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio to get some help. Kevin rounded up seven of his students -- all from Southwest Roanoke County. All they knew was they were going to shoot a video for use on roanoke.com. We took each one aside, showed them them SWoCo logo, and asked them to pronounce it and tell us what they thought it stood for.
Here’s what we got: SWoCo, the video. Actually, three videos.
It’s not exactly the Star War trilogy, but hey, even George Lucas had to start somewhere, right?

Video 1: How to pronounce SWoCo.
Video 2: Just what is SWoCo?
Video 3: How does SWoCo make you feel?

Continue reading "SWoCo, the video #1: How do you pronounce SWoCo?" »

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If you hadn’t heard the name “SWoCo” before, what would you think it stood for? A brand of yogurt? A deodorant? A fancy drink? Or maybe the name for the new community newspaper (and website) for Southwest Roanoke County?
We thought we’d have some fun with the name, so shortly before our first issue came out we went to the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio to get some help. Kevin rounded up seven of his students -- all from Southwest Roanoke County -- and asked them what they thought “SWoCo” stood for.
Here’s what we got: SWoCo, the video. Actually, three videos.
It’s not exactly the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but we did copy Peter Jackson in one way. We shot them all at the same time. Just not in New Zealand -- somewhere in SWoCo, instead. Action!

Video 1: How to pronounce SWoCo.
Video 2: Just what is SWoCo?
Video 3: How does SWoCo make you feel?

Continue reading "SWoCo, the video #2: Just what is SWoCo?" »

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So how does the name “SWoCo” make you feel? Does it make you feel happy? Or maybe it makes you want to dance? Does it seem vaguely futuristic?
We thought we’d have some fun with the name, so shortly before our first issue came out we went to the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio to get some help. Kevin rounded up seven of his students -- all from Southwest Roanoke County -- and asked them how the name made them feel.
Here’s what we got: SWoCo, the interpretive dance. Plus: SWoCo, the video. Actually, three videos.

So, anyone out there want to make their own SWoCo video? Hey, it worked for "Snakes on a Plane" . . .

Video 1: How to pronounce SWoCo.
Video 2: Just what is SWoCo?
Video 3: How does SWoCo make you feel?

Continue reading "SWoCo, the video #3: How does the name make you feel?" »

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The first issue of our new community newspaper for Southwest Roanoke County comes out today.

* If you’re a subscriber to The Roanoke Times and live in zip codes 24018 or 24059, you’ll find SWoCo included in your regular newspaper delivery each Friday.

* If you’re not a subscriber, but still live in those areas, you’ll get SWoCo mailed to you each week as part of the Simply Savings advertising flier you now receive. For most of you, that generally means it will arrive on Friday or Saturday, depending on postal delivery. If that uncertainty sounds like a reason to subscribe, our circulation department will be happy to help you.

* In addition, we have free copies of SWoCo available at these locations:

-- Kroger, 3815 Brambleton Avenue
-- Kroger, 4404 Brambleton Avenue
-- Kroger, 4488 Electric Road
-- Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea, 4710-A Starkey Road

Continue reading "Our print edition hits the streets" »

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Welcome to the new website for community news for Southwest Roanoke County.

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog for the past month or so, you’re noticing something different today. If you’re coming here for the first time, well, it’s all new anyway.

The big news here today is that we’ve launched a full website -- and a weekly print edition.

What you’re looking at here is The Notebook, our news blog for Southwest Roanoke County. Most days, we update this blog multiple times -- sometimes with things you’ll later see in print in some form, sometimes with things you won’t. Think of it as a running conversation.

And we do want this to be a two-week street. You can click the “comment” button on the lower right to comment on blog posts. You can also share your news and photos at news@swo-com.com. (Don't forget the dash!)

If you want to bookmark this blog, here’s the new, formal address.

And if you want to bookmark the whole site, you’ll want this.

For more about what the whole website features, click here.

For more on our weekly print edition, click here.

Finally, to meet our community journalist, Emily Flora, either in person or in cyberspace, click here.

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Starting today, customers at the Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea at 4710-A Starkey Road will notice something different -- a drop-off box for submissions to SWoCo, our new community newspaper and website for Southwest Roanoke County.

Yes, we know you’re reading this online -- and scattered all over this site are links where you can submit news and photos to news@swo-co.com. (Don’t forget the dash!)

But we also know that not everybody is online -- and sometimes not everything is easy to send across the Internet.

So that’s why we have a drop box. Think of this as our Southwest Roanoke County bureau.

We also know that sometimes it’s good to just sit and chat -- and that’s why Emily Flora, our community journalist for Southwest Roanoke County, will be holding “office hours” at Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. That’s her picture on the right.

She’s eager to hear your ideas about covering our community -- so stop by and share some news the old-fashioned way.

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Later this week, we'll be expanding SWoCo in two big ways.

First, we'll be adding a full website for Southwest Roanoke County to complement the news blog you're looking at now. We'll talk more about that when it goes up and we can point to some of the features.

Second, we'll be launching our print edition of SWoCo on Friday. It will be a new weekly newspaper to provide community news to Southwest Roanoke County residents.

There are three ways you'll be able to get the print version of SWoCo.

Continue reading "Coming this week: New website, new paper" »

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Do you have news about something in Southwest Roanoke County? A neighborhood event, a school achievement, or other recognition? Share it with us, and your neighbors. Send your community news to: news@swo-co.com

And if you have a photo, send that on, too. We look forward to hearing from you.

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This is the community news blog for Southwest Roanoke County. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be building out a related Web site and, later this spring, launching a weekly newspaper for Southwest County families. In the meantime, keep coming back to this blog to keep up with what’s happening in our community.

I’m Erica Myatt, and I’m the editor for SWoCo. I also live in Southwest County, so I’m really looking forward to capturing all the goings-on in our community. With SWoCo (a little shorthand for Southwest County – a bit like the “OBX” stickers for the Outer Banks), we want to highlight the people and news from our neighborhoods.

One of the great things about news blogs is they’re a two-way street, so we’d love to hear from you. Just click below on "comments." Or share your news and photos with us at: news@swo-co.com

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