Wedding planning is never easy, and picking a date and location is particularly tricky right now for same-sex couples in Georgia, one of 14 states where gay marriage remains illegal. The closest possibility is Florida or one of the Carolinas. Alabama may be the next state to legalize. On this cusp of historic change are stakeholders like Kristen Ott Palladino, who with her wife Maria Palladino publishes Equally Wed magazine from Atlanta, and local couples like Dan Treadaway and Eric Still, who married in 2014 for romantic and legal reasons, not wanting to stay unwed any longer.
Category: Archived Columnists
Posted inColumns, Saba Long
The imbalance of metro Atlanta’s growth shows we must focus on human and physical needs
During the second half of the 20th century Atlanta experienced the demographic and political shifts caused by white flight.
In contrast, during the first two decades of the 21st century, Atlanta could be remembered for its class and economic moves when the pendulum swung the other way. Yet, this booming growth is not being felt across the Atlanta region.
Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey
Nostalgia and 50 Atlanta pies served up in a zine
With so many ways to tell a story, the promise of a personal handmade one led to Pie, A Zine about Memories and Pie Eating. Zines (short for magazines) are crafted with thought, heart and hand, and it was the perfect topping to author Muriel Vega’s quest to master making 50 pies in a year. What started on Instagram ended up sketched, Xeroxed and stapled.
Posted inSaba Long
A civil right: access to upward mobility
As Davos prepares for its annual meeting, a poor man’s version of the international economic forum took place in Atlanta during the King holiday weekend.
The 2015 HOPE Global Forum, themed “Reimagining the Global Economy: Expanding Free Enterprise for All” served as an apropos tool to tackle our oft painful race relations conversations.
Posted inSaba Long
Developing new rail and bus transit in Atlanta region – a long-term play
At the opening ceremony for the Atlanta Streetcar, Central Atlanta Progress head honcho A.J. Robinson bluntly addressed the project’s naysayers.
He plainly remarked, “We didn’t build it for you, or for me, for that matter.”
I’m a transit-riding Millenial who chose to live in the city center long before public officials and downtown boosters lobbied the public and the federal government to support the first spur of the Atlanta Streetcar.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
The only girl in a room of coders
Atlanta is home to 13,000 technology companies, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber says the tech sector will invest $1 billion in Georgia the next five years. It’s a rosy picture for young people who are learning to code.
Unfortunately, too few are girls. Those who are trying to break into the boys’ club are facing a pioneer’s uphill, often lonely climb. They are the “rainbow unicorns,” said local mom Caroline Busse, whose sixth grader Madeline is learning to code.
Posted inSaba Long
Future influence of Georgia’s Democrats rests with next party chair
The Democratic Party of Georgia has a relevancy problem.
Posted inSaba Long
Despite anti-tax push-back, Georgia needs more money for transportation
As the General Assembly gears up for 2015 legislative session, transportation appears to once again be the star of the show.
On Monday, Dec. 8, a Republican Georgia State Representative posed the following question on his Facebook page: “Would you be willing to pay additional amounts per gallon of fuel for road and infrastructure build? If so, how much? 5 cents? 2 cents?”
Posted inSaba Long
Haitian dance ensemble – AYIKODANS – helps nation rebuild after earthquake
It’s been four years since a fateful earthquake uprooted and changed the lives of the Haitian people.
As the reconstruction continues, investment is growing with manufacturing and tourism on the rise. The Francophile country has declared it is open for business.
Posted inSaba Long
We can’t keep ignoring the need to invest in transportation infrastructure
Lately, I’ve been watching Aaron Sorkin’s latest TV series The Newsroom. In a recent episode, an official from the Environmental Protection Agency declares the impending death of humanity due to global warming.
When the fictional news anchor Will McAvoy asks how to rectify the situation, the agency head remarks, “We should have turned the cars off 20 years ago.”
In the real world, outside of climate change, there’s a different grave issue we keep ignoring – transportation infrastructure.
Posted inSaba Long
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in a position to attract Democratic Party votes
In the spring, I sat down with a good friend – a white, male Millennial — to discuss, among many things, electoral politics.
In the course of the conversation, he expressed his indifference towards Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter. That’s when I knew it was a goner, and Gov. Nathan Deal would end his political career undefeated.
Compelling messaging married with authentic action matters to voters, regardless of party. With Deal’s opponent lacking both, the governor’s camp smartly navigated their way to a resounding win.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
From CHOA to the White House, via NASCAR
Andrew Childers nearly died playing high school football in Atlanta in 2002 and appeared far removed from the sports fame that earns the highest national accolades. And yet this year he and his team were guests at the White House, where President Obama complimented his team’s athleticism.
Childers got to the White House using his strength and speed from football to help change tires as the jack man for 2013 NASCAR champion driver Jimmie Johnson.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
The Ray Barreras era ends in Atlanta
When Renaissance man Ray Barreras recently departed Atlanta, the city’s fabric lost a stabilizing force.
For 50 years here, he made the complex look easy, from teaching organic chemistry at the Atlanta University Center and Morehouse School of Medicine, to manning the WABE pledge drive for decades, to a gender-busting, prolific hobby of quilt making. That list only scratches the surface of his service, mostly behind the scenes and without pay, that helped Atlanta diversify.
Posted inSaba Long
Mudslinging clouds the issues during campaigns for governor, U.S. Senate
During a recent campaign stop in Dahlonega, Gov. Nathan Deal opined, “If you see somebody turning purple, there’s something wrong with them. They are being starved from the truth.”
From the barrage of negative TV ads alone, Georgia voters should look like their diet consists solely of beets.
Posted inSaba Long
Public art – past and present – can ‘elevate’ and enliven Atlanta’s heart
I spent some time in a few downtown dumpsters this weekend.
Don’t be alarmed.
I was viewing D_MPSTERS, a multi-artist, weeklong project by the Goat Farm and curated by Elevate Atlanta.
The public impact of art can be incredibly profound – provided we give these artists the platform – and the funding – to express these societal concerns.
Posted inSaba Long
Investing in Atlanta’s sidewalks will contribute to our quality of life
As a daily transit rider, walking is part of my commute. Being a high-heel wearing urban dweller, I dare not pay close attention to the sidewalk lest I have a Samantha Jones moment and fall down a manhole.
Walking is often a forgotten segment of everyone’s commute – whether it’s from the parking garage to the office or from the chained bicycle to the front door of a restaurant.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Life savings gone, Wow! Food truck owner rolls on
Wendy Cross bought one of the first food trucks in Atlanta in 2011 and taught herself the grueling work of operating and marketing a mobile restaurant. If it didn’t work out, she had her life savings of $400,000 to fall back on…
Posted inSaba Long
Transforming parking spaces into lively mini parks show city’s potential
Three downtown Atlanta parking spaces gave way to a beach-themed urban oasis on a hot Friday as part of the globally celebrated PARK(ing) Day.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
As ground breaks for new Braves park, risk rises for men of iron
Shovels were a sign of excitement at last week’s groundbreaking for the new Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb County, but they also recalled the grave dug for Jack Falls, who died in a construction accident on the old stadium.
He was killed in 1995 when a light tower he was working on collapsed at the Olympic Stadium, which became Turner Field. An engineer had miscalculated the load that the tower could bear. His family recently recovered a stone plaque from Turner Field that marks his legacy.
Posted inSaba Long
Public invited to give feedback on potential new streetcar routes
While you’re waiting for transit to come along the Atlanta BeltLine, be sure to give your feedback on potential transit routing at one of the upcoming community meetings.
Currently in year one, phase one of its 2030 Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), the overarching project priority is light rail transit on the east and west corridors.
Ultimately, the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta BeltLine intend o integrate the Atlanta Streetcar and Atlanta BeltLine transit lines into a unified system.
