Al's Morning Meeting

St. Joseph statues have long been used by sellers to help move property. Tradition has it that if you bury a statue upside down and facing the property you are trying to sell, St. Joseph will direct a buyer your way.

When the market was hot a couple of years ago and bidding wars among buyers were the order of the day, [Donald Ward] Cranley, [owner of Ward's Gifts,] was happy to sell a couple of statues a week. No longer. So far this year, as housing sales have dropped, they have been his most popular item, outstripping all the other saints combined -- not to mention Jesus and Mary. They've even earned a prominent place in the store's window display.

It's the same story across the country. Statue sales are up 25 percent, according to Roman Inc. in Illinois, the manufacturer from which Cranley purchases his inventory. And sales have doubled over last year's at stjosephstatue.com, a firm out of Modesto, Calif.

"About a quarter of my sales are in Florida right now," said Phil Cates, owner of stjosephstatue.com. "The [real estate] market is getting killed there."

The tradition of burying St. Joseph statues started about 500 years ago in Europe, according to Cates. An order of nuns, needing more land for a convent, buried their St. Joseph medals in the ground. They got the land, and word spread. The medals eventually turned into statues, and Joseph, a carpenter, who with Jesus and Mary makes up the Holy Family, became the unofficial saint of real estate.

Word of St. Joseph has spread among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Today the statues can be bought in little kits. Some include tiny shovels for burial and personalized burial bags with the names of [real-estate agents] or mortgage lenders printed on them. Almost all have instructions -- some cheeky, some sincere.

In Lowell, at the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine gift shop, the statues are sold separately and in kits -- though last week the singles had sold out. The kits include a printed card with "myths" and "truth." Myth: The importance of the depth and direction of burial. Truth: "The power of St. Joseph is in the prayers and devotion to him. You can also increase your chance of selling your home by making sure it is good condition and by asking a realistic price."

This story has been surfacing quite a bit lately:

• "Holy Home Sales!" The (Henderson, Ky.) Gleaner -- Aug. 12, 2006
• "When the going gets tough, go get St. Joseph," The Washington Post -- July 29, 2006
• "Comment: The Power of Prayer -- And a Statue," Religion News Service -- July 11, 2006
• Letter: "House didn't move, but St. Joseph seems to," The Arizona Republic -- Aug. 12, 2006

• Catholics United for the Faith: "Burying a statue of St. Joseph to sell one's home"
• Our Sunday Visitor: (scroll down for resource) "St. Joseph, Real Estate Agent?"
• Snopes.com: "Property Rites"
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: U.S. Housing Market Conditions reports
• National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index
• National Association of Realtors
  

Mortgage Rates Drop Again

The housing market got a new breath of life last week when, for the fourth straight week, mortgage rates dropped.

Bankrate.com does a nice job tracking rates. 

Kudzu Only Gets Worse

A couple of weeks ago while I was in Knoxville, Tenn., teaching a storytelling workshop for the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, I was amazed by how much kudzu had spread into the foothills of the mountains there.

There seems to be no stopping this growing pest -- one that the USDA actually only declared to be a weed in 1972. How bad is it now? Take a quick look at these photos. (Note: The Web site gives permission for the use of the photos. Scroll to the bottom of the page for more information.) There are estimates the kudzu now covers 2 million acres of U.S. land [PDF].

Make no mistake about it. Kuzu and other such noxious plant pests cost a lot. Besides the tax dollars spent on controlling these weeds (see here, here, here and here), the plants overtake other crops, such as pine forests.  Even if you live outside the kudzu zone, what plant or water-borne weed/pest is your state fighting? 

The USDA has a large Web site with lots of resources to help you get local. And here is its list of state-regulated noxious weeds (Kudzu is on the list).

Here is another site that will help you look up your local issues.

Here is a USDA map of where kudzu is currently growing, although I have seen spotty reports of it being found in unlikely places -- such as Oregon. An Army Corps of Engineers map says kudzu is also now in Hawaii.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers This is a map from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Laboratory Web site.

Kudzu is no longer a rural problem. It is increasingly moving into urban areas, like Knoxville. Look at these images. Some groups, such as this one in South Carolina, are trying to find ways to control kudzu without herbicides.

Kudzu, interestingly, was thought to be a good thing back in the 1920s and 30s. (One natural medicine site suggests it has health benefits.) It was promoted as a good way to control erosion and it seemed that farm animals might eat it. It is so resilient that one herbicide actually makes it grow BETTER! Here is a wonderful background Web site from AlabamaTV.org. Alabama Public Television broadcast a documentary on kudzu in 1996.

My Poynter buddy, Larry Larsen, sent me some resources:

• KudzuWorld.com: This site answers questions like, "How fast does kudzu grow?" (The answer? "Kudzu can grow up to 7 feet (over 2 meters) per week if conditions are right.
• Here's what it can do.
• Some people have seen kudzu as a way to make money and turn a problem into a product. Kudzu Kingdom is one woman's collection of kudzu products and information.
• The Kudzu Collection
  
• Kudzu-The Vine
• Shofuso: The Japanese House and Garden
  

A Business Model for Mashups

In my workshops these days, I am talking about how journalists should be getting smarter about using mashups. For the uninitiated, mashups are simply a way of marrying useful data, such as home sales with maps such as Google maps. Mapping data makes the information so much more user-friendly. The question for news sites is not just whether the mashups will drive traffic, but if there is there a potential business model behind them. C/Net ran an intelligent story in April about that question.

Mashups are being used to map crime, sex offenders and housing availability (this one marries Craigslist and GoogleMaps. Some other interesting mashups include:

• Weather Bonk: It makes the dry old weather maps interactive and cool. TV and newspaper Web sites should consider this one
• BreakWatcher, a surfer site that maps where the good waves are. You set the location (such as Malibu or Hawaii).
• Programmable Web has a nice collection.
• 1001 fishing holes
• Ski Bonk: Real-time ski conditions at resorts around the globe
• Here is one I just love. When I was a kid, we used to dig holes, thinking we could dig to the other side of the earth. (Usually we would dig to China.) This map allows you to select where you would start the hole -- and then shows you where you might come out on the other side of the earth. Elementary teachers could use this to teach geography.

We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.