Tag Archives: reinvention

With guts and WordPress, Judi Knight reinvents herself and others

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

The future of the world — according to former Vice President Al Gore

By Maria Saporta

Trying to follow Al Gore as he speaks is like trying to drink water from a fire hose.

The former vice president is a fountain of knowledge and ideas, stimulating thought and concern as he weaves a tale of the future.

Gore was in Atlanta Friday evening at the Carter Center to talk about his most recent book: “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change.”
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Posted in Latest Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Broken cell phone, local lifeline and the powerful need to connect

The marimba beat from the iPhone woke me as usual, only the direction was very wrong. The sound came from the floor, where the phone had fallen.

My phone is my lifeline, stowing my schedule, contacts, reminders, lists, music, maps, photos, news and diversions in case of boredom. Just how emotional and deep that connection can be became more evident in the brief, illuminating adventure to turn a cracked screen clear again.

The quest led to a small, thriving universe that exists to reconnect us, and how one young man in Atlanta, Shahzad Pirani, re-made himself through repairing phones. Continue reading

Posted in Atlanta, Career Makeover, Inspiration, Michelle Hiskey, Self-improvement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

For prolific Atlanta artist “Mr. Imagination,” sleep was rare

The northwest Atlanta home of Gregory Warmack, better known in modern art circles as “Mr. Imagination,” was indeed a portal to a spiritual realm. This was no airy studio with someone dressed all in black. As a self-taught “visionary” artist, Mr. Imagination sculpted his own organic world where even circadian rhythms bowed.

In thick borders around each room and hallway, his layered, meticulously encrusted creations resembled masks, animals and common items like musical instruments. With a collection of things that had already lived once as common objects, he had wired, hammered, plastered and placed them into an extraordinary new life.

A few miles from the headquarters of the world’s most iconic brand – Coca-Cola – Warmack had compelled leading museums to carve out space for the lowly bottle cap.
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Posted in Inspiration, Michelle Hiskey, Reinvention, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments