Life Changes

A brain injury, a bike and the Ryan Boyle comeback story

Date: May 6th, 2013, 3:00 pm

After Ryan Boyle, 9, got hit by a speeding pickup truck driver hit while riding a Big Wheel,  his brain was so severely injured that he wasn’t supposed to stand or talk or walk, much less ride a bike — his favorite thing. He had to re-learn how to breathe, swallow and eat.

On a recent evening, Boyle showed up at the Emory University Barnes & Noble bookstore recently to sign copies of his autobiography, “When the Lights Go Out: A Boy Given a Second Chance” (Westbow Press). Today he is a graduate of Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell, a freshman at Berry College, a motivational speaker, cyclist and aspiring Paralympian.

His long struggle to climb back on a bicycle led him to the Shepherd Center and ultimately saved him. Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Ben Smith, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

With guts and WordPress, Judi Knight reinvents herself and others

Date: March 25th, 2013, 6:23 pm

Judi Knight saw it coming.

Atlanta property owners were falling into quick defaults over what she saw as “crazy loans.” Her loft conversions stopped “flying off the shelves.” She had to get out of the real estate business before the bubble burst.

On top of that, she’d gotten a divorce and had even let her license to practice psychology in the state of Georgia lapse, something her friends had urged her to maintain for job security. “I knew I wanted a different life,” Knight said. “It was like Cortez burning the ships. I didn’t want something to fall back on but I didn’t know what I wanted.”
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Ben Smith, Career Makeover, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Reinvention, Saporta | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

After 41 years of pizza-based memories, Everybody’s closing

Date: March 18th, 2013, 8:00 am

Forty-one years of Everybody’s Pizza will end Tuesday, March 19 when the Druid Hills restaurant closes, and scores of longtime customers have been streaming in for their final fix, circling back to a place on the North Decatur roundabout that has been a hub for family milestones, and to say goodbye.

Shelly and Paul Legato drove from Athens Saturday night to pay homage to her neighborhood restaurant growing up and the spot where he proposed in 1996. From their marriage came daughter Stefanie and granddaughter Heidi; also along for the evening was their fourth generation, Shelly’s mother, Kelly McGlaun-Fields.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Ben Smith, Life Changes, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In Africa, former Atlantan helps kids One World Futbol at a time

Date: March 11th, 2013, 7:39 pm

For a couple of weeks in 1996, Sandra Cress helped bring the world of soccer to Atlanta. Today she lives in Nairobi and is helping children around the world live healthier lives through one tough soccer ball that stays round when they kick it.

The standard soccer balls used across Atlanta suburbs don’t stand a chance in the thorns, glass and barbed wire of the developing world. There, kids create makeshift balls of rags or whatever they can find. Cress said she saw kids kicking a ball made of old fruit taped together.

The virtually indestructible One World Futbol, made of a hard foam similar to that in Crocs sandals, has already transformed Cress’ world and should inspire anyone with deep knowledge, contacts and enthusiasm that do not seem to fit in the present job market. The indestructible ball offered Cress an opportunity to come full circle in her passion for soccer and expertise in humanitarian aid.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Ben Smith, Career Makeover, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mardi Gras vibe inspires survival for Cajun and zydeco dancers in Atlanta

Date: February 11th, 2013, 2:47 pm

Carolyn Barbay of Atlanta climbed out of the grief she had over losing her husband by re-discovering the music of her home state of Louisiana and learning the Cajun two-step and waltz.

Instead of driving eight hours, she only had to travel a few miles to the Knights of Columbus Hall at Buford Highway near Lenox Road, home of the Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association’s monthly fais do do (parties) featuring a live band playing authentic swamp music.

She found a tribe bound not by blood, geography, language, culture, ethnicity or religion, but by a deep love of the forward-driving, accordion-centric sounds of Acadian music from Louisiana.
Continue reading →

Posted in Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Behind 100 miles and $10K, an endurance to care for men on foot

Date: December 17th, 2012, 4:32 pm

Someone ran 100 miles and showed up last week at the Central Night Shelter downtown with a pocketful of checks totaling $10,000, an eye-popping climax to a story of one man trying to help the many homeless men who had shown him how to better appreciate his own life.

His donation shone light on the endurance of the shelter, which has for 32 years housed and fed about 100 men a night at Central Presbyterian Church and the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Between November and March, this shelter has never missed a night.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Saporta, Self-improvement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

For veteran journalist, neighborhood trail leads to a new beat

Date: November 12th, 2012, 5:22 pm

Note from Michelle: This week’s column is by guest writer Ben Smith, who happens to be my husband. Many of you know him from his days as an AJC political reporter.  

By Ben Smith

In my old life, hitting the trail meant following the money, traveling with a campaign or tracking down a criminal.

Today it simply means taking my dog for walks in the woods and keeping my eyes open.

Yet in the three years since I left the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and sought to reinvent myself in the digital age, I have discovered that my skills as a reporter easily translate to a “beat” that is much smaller, more isolated and surprisingly weird.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Reinvention, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Atlanta’s NYC Marathoners: It’s the journey, not the storm cancellation

Date: November 5th, 2012, 7:35 pm

For Atlanta’s sizable community of runners, the first Sunday in November belongs to the New York City Marathon. First there’s the luck of getting in via a lottery of hundreds of thousands of applicants. Then there’s hours of training that can feel like a part-time job. Finish the 26.2 miles through the five boroughs, and chalk a big one off the bucket list.

After a week of mixed messages from New York race organizers, Hurricane Sandy ultimately led to canceling the race and detouring the disappointed runners. While disaster response is of course more important than a big athletic event, the following Atlanta marathoners illustrate the trait that will fuel New York’s recovery: endurance, resilience, optimism and more.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Life Changes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Barbecue boss leaves blueprint for leadership

Date: October 15th, 2012, 5:43 pm

Paul H. Taylor was one of those people who spark the best in a community, and kept that spirit lit. With the Oak Grove United Methodist Barbecue, the Taylor fire is real and smokin’.

For a half-century, this big church in northeast Atlanta has roasted three tons of pork to feed 5,000 people, which takes between 400 and 600 volunteers.

An event so large and significant needs a strong volunteer leader. For the past decade, Taylor served as “Boss Hog.”

Taylor will be missed at Saturday’s 51st barbecue, which takes place from 11 am to 6 pm. He died at age 53 in an April bicycle accident on North Decatur Road. His untimely death highlighted all that Taylor contributed to the barbecue, which serves as a template for anyone in management. Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

With service in their marrow, metro teacher gets transplant from British student

Date: September 24th, 2012, 9:00 am

“Everything is hard the first time,” Asa Valente tells her fourth graders at Berkeley Lake Elementary in Duluth. “Don’t get discouraged. Hold yourself up and keep trying.”

The lives she touches there were in the balance as Valente battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia. To stay in the classroom as a vibrant, inspired teacher, Valente needed a stem cell transplant. This forced her to live out what she had been teaching her students, and put her lin the path of a stranger 4,200 miles away who was using education to help people survive.

A few days before Valente and her stem cell donor met in Atlanta, national TV anchor (and former Atlantan) Robin Roberts highlighted stem cell transplants by receiving one from her sister.
Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Reinvention, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment