“Our mission is to bring awareness to any issue which challenges the security, sovereignty or domestic tranquility of our beloved nation, The United States of America.”
The above declaration serves as the guiding principle for the Tea Party, provocateurs of the political status quo and our two-party structure. The system is not working – our national debt is out of control, crony capitalism reigns supreme, and we simply shrug and ignore ethics charges against elected officials.
Without men, you can’t spell menstruation. And that’s as far as most men want to read about this subject. But local men like Nathan Hilkert are manning up to encourage other men to pitch in for Days for Girls, a volunteer effort that targets a big barrier to educating girls in developing countries. When they have their periods, they miss school. Days for Girls prepares and delivers reusable feminine hygiene kits.
Men and boys play an incredibly important role in tackling the taboos around menstruation that isolate and weaken girls and help lead to sexual exploitation and violence.
I commonly use a ridesharing service around town and, when possible, while traveling.
It wasn’t until a recent trip to Savannah that I realized how accustomed I’ve become to using them. When getting out of a cab on River Street, I nearly forgot to pay the driver, instead thinking my card had already been charged as it would if I were using Uber or Lyft.
Uber, leading the ridesharing pack, just received a remarkable $18 billion valuation. Venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, whose early startup portfolio included Facebook and Airbnb, has put its money behind Lyft.
At age 63, C.S. Lewis had written his last book and was facing the end of his life, already one of the most influential writers of his era. Now 63, just as he has for nearly four decades, Atlanta actor Tom Key will bring the renowned British academic, novelist and theologian to life once again next week.
Key will reprise his one-man show, “C.S. Lewis On Stage,” at the Theatrical Outfit starting June 19. The show will run until June 29. Lewis renounced his Christian faith and then reclaimed it. And through his radio broadcasts, writing and speeches, he inspired others to take a look at what they believed and why.
If you watched the Sunday political talk shows over the past few weeks, you would think we are in the midst of a presidential election; but 2016 is in fact more than 850 days away.
The GOP boxing strategy thus far has been a series of one-two punches aimed at President Barack Obama with enough heat to bruise Hillary Clinton’s legacy as his former Secretary of State.
Karl Rove and friends continue to discuss ad nauseam Benghazi. The same goes for votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Until you’ve been chased by an animal that’s foaming at the mouth, you haven’t really experienced the terror of rabies.
Recent reports of potentially rabid animals threatening humans have reminded me of my own encounter with a rabid cat that I trapped with a recycling bin in my DeKalb County backyard just as it leapt to attack me. While it sounds like a freak occurrence, it’s surprisingly common especially during our warmest months, and it’s dead serious.
Last Thursday, a 13-year-old boy strangled a fox that had bit him. He’s receiving precautionary anti-rabies treatment pending the outcome of tests to determine if the animal was rabid.
We make assumptions every day. At work, in relationships, in government.
A U.S. Senator from Chicago assumed his message of hope and change would resonate with millions of Americans. It did; not with everyone, but enough to secure becoming president of the United States.
In his inaugural speech, President Thomas Jefferson wisely warned the American people, “I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it…I shall often go wrong through defect of judgement.”
Stories of heroism, honor, sacrifice on the field of battle—the kind repeated every Memorial Day—are in a peculiar way not only about the people whose lives are remembered through them. They are also about us and where we come from.
This is true for Malcolm McDuffie, who has long championed the preservation of a cemetery that represents great significance to his own family, as it does for the history of Georgia. The Utoy Cemetery is connected to one of Atlanta’s earliest churches and the remains buried there tell stories about his ancestors, the Civil War and our shared history.
Crying babies, pizza delivery, stethoscopes, billboard sized mailers.
The onslaught of election ads and direct mail will do little to boost voter turnout for tomorrow’s primary vote.
Much to the chagrin of their opponents, Gov. Nathan Deal and Michelle Nunn, both front runners in their respective races, have smartly kept non-scripted public interactions to a minimum so far.
The longer general election campaign will require tenacity and an aggressive mix of defensive and offensive political plays.
On a day that seemed so damp that fish could have come in through the door and floated out the windows, lovers of the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014) gathered at Kavarna coffeehouse in Decatur to pay their respects by reading from his timeless stories of families, war, death, and above all, the magic of love.
They came to 100 Readers of Solitude, named in homage to the author’s greatest novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Anos de Soledad).” One by one they read vigorously, declaratively, and with humor, like Garcia Marquez wrote.
As much as we tout the successes of our numerous Fortune-ranked businesses, organizations such as the United Way of Greater Atlanta oft remind us the great work is to lead a life of purpose.
Metro Atlantans are no strangers to service and women in particular are driving charitable change in the region.
Just before Mother’s Day, Atlanta’s United Way presented its third annual “Leading a Life of Purpose” women in philanthropy discussion. Moderated by Terri Theisen, the roundtable included U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates and Lovette Russell of Coxe Curry & Associates and wife of business power broker Michael Russell. The DeKalb Chamber’s Katerina Taylor, also chair of the United Way’s young professionals’ committee, participated in place of retired Novelis CEO Martha Brooks.
The women shared personal narratives of how they have interlaced their professional careers with their philanthropic interests.
I fired a weapon for the first time in my adult life last year. Three different caliber guns to be exact. It was exhilarating to hold this relatively small item and feel the force that exited from it. I felt both a sense of empowerment and responsibility.
I’m no stranger to guns; members of my family carry and my parents made sure I knew where they kept them and that I had a clear understanding of the power of a weapon.
While I presently lack the desire to purchase and carry a weapon, I acknowledge others do.
Anytime someone chooses to carry a gun in my presence, I also recognize that, to a certain extent, my life is in his or her hands. It’s the same for any of us. We must trust the person carrying that weapon will not discharge without reason.
This leaves to me wonder if we have developed a hyper sensitive sense of fear.
There was a shooting at Columbine. Go buy a gun.
Ten years ago, banning same-sex marriage was so in vogue that 3 of every 4 Georgia voters approved amending the state constitution so only men and women could marry each other. Last weekend, several prominent gays and lesbians spoke of how lives and society will transform when—not if—the marriage ban is overturned.
They spoke the same week that Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta seeking to overturn the state of Georgia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. The promise of “marriage equality” drew more than 100 people to the “Beloved Community Dialogue” Saturday night at The Friends School of Atlanta, a moment that showed how far the issue has moved away from moral debate to a question of timing and expectations.
Adventure and discovery demand we take risk, and we parents measure this all the time when it comes to our kids. One of the greatest adventures is to travel around the world, and the blogosphere is still harshly buzzing about the recent failed attempt (and expensive rescue) by parents Eric and Charlotte Kaufman to sail around the world with daughters Cora, 3, and Lyra, 1.
This saga and debate intrigued me. In a span of five years, I traveled around the world and became a parent. Though separate milestones, my experiences make me one of the quiet supporters of the Kaufmans.
Driverless cars, repairing broken sidewalks, promoting transit for workplaces, public art and transportation.
That’s just a taste of the diversity of ideas discussed during the breakout sessions at the transportation nerd fest known as TransportationCamp. Even better, this year’s event, held a couple of weeks ago, also including a Govathon transportation-centric hackathon. Naturally, MARTA was the focal point for transit discussions.
Over the past several months, we have all watched the disruption of the taxicab industry, not only in metro Atlanta, but also across the country. A couple of smart phone apps, Uber and Lyft, have revolutionized the transportation industry, and in the case of Uber, have brought the black towncar experience within reach of the common middle-class individual.
Long before TV’s “The Amazing Race,” an elaborate competition with puzzles and physical challenges already took place each year around Atlanta with little fanfare. On Saturday, the 25th anniversary Get-a-Clue featured 13 teams in a high-tech elaborate scavenger hunt, a modern tradition started by Georgia Tech musicians.
Contestants jumped out of cars in front of eateries in Decatur and Buckhead looking lost and determined at the same time. Carrying cinderblocks, they scampered through Inman Park, scanning QR codes from cryptic notes attached to public art, benches and other things.
“There is no debate in Germany about climate change,” Iris Shultz of the German consulate nonchalantly remarked during a recent Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable on urban sustainability. The statement clearly shows the difference in stating an issue rather than politicizing it.
Just under a quarter of the Germany’s electricity is gathered from renewable sources. While the average home size is much smaller than the United States, the cost of residential electricity is more. Shultz said it is because their energy rates are intended to modify behavior.
Through all the ice, snow and harsh temperatures of Atlanta’s recent winter, Christi Behrend waited for the Peachtree Road Farmers Market to open for the season. She keeps an organic kitchen at home and likes to support local farmers. The market, only 10 minutes from her home, shortens the distance from farm to her family’s forks. “You can shop DeKalb Farmers Market and Whole Foods but it’s not the same, definitely not the same,” said Behrend.
On a sunny morning Saturday, her wait ended in the parking lot of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, filled with 50 vendors operating out of pickup trucks and popup tents to open the eighth season of the largest producer-only market in Georgia, according to Lauren Carey, market manager.
Since leaving City Hall, I have had the opportunity to get back to my first love – transportation. I recently joined the boards of two nonprofit advocacy organizations – the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (ABC) and PEDS, and I am working with MARTA’s media relations and external affairs team.
Over the past few weeks, conversations sparked at our ABC board retreat in February keep playing in my head – particularly given recent discussions about the future of the Atlanta BeltLine and Streetcar as well as broader national comments from U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan on the future of our inner cities.
After censorship, can there be reconciliation? That was the question for Atlanta artist Ruth Stanford on a recent visit with her to the re-installation of “A Walk Through the Valley” at Kennesaw State University. A month ago, the university’s president ordered her artwork removed from the Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art as controversial.
It’s back after the sides found common ground, but the notoriety forced Stanford to scrutinize her comfort zone as an artist and sort out the ambiguities exposed by an issue that seems black and white. Is it possible for an introvert to take a stand as an artist?
