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.
Tag: community
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Dominique Wilkins to be honored with street designation at Philips Arena
The Atlanta Hawks are poised to prevail in their attempt to honor former Hawks star Dominique Wilkins by getting Atlanta to designate in his honor the portion of Centennial Olympic Park Drive in front of Philips Arena.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Color Runs: The Peachtree Road Race’s millennial offspring
The Peachtree Road Race on July 4 is rooted in a time when running wasn’t popular. Out on the multicolored, millennial fringes of outdoor recreation for young adults, the clenched-teeth grind is passé.
By turning up the party, color runs have become a popular mixing zone for socializing, sweating, and social media. If anything was tailor made for the selfie and the “unique shareable experiences” craved by the millennial generation, it’s a color run.
Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith
Gay marriage in Georgia? Not if, but when, forum participants say
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.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Atlanta’s inaugural ceremony raises hopes for 2014 and beyond
Atlanta will continue to serve humanity as a “city on a hill,” one that nurtures prosperity as it cares for the humble.
This is the aspiration for the coming four years as proclaimed by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell in their separate inaugural addresses Monday.
Reed vowed specific programs regarding public education, and college funding for all deserving students; construction of affordable housing at Turner Field and Fort McPherson; stronger criminal justice for repeat offenders and a jail-to-freedom transition. Mitchell cited some of the same goals and said they could be achieved through better collaboration among local governments.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Unlike New York, Atlanta’s mayoral inauguration expected to be mild
Unlike New York City’s mayoral inauguration last week, little controversy is expected to surround Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed as he takes the oath of office Monday.
Atlanta has a history of low-key mayoral inaugurations. It’s just not the Atlanta way for politicians to swing for the fences at these rites of passage. That wasn’t the case in New York on Jan. 1, when a pastor speaking from the inaugural podium referred to “the plantation called New York.”
Likewise, Gov. Nathan Deal and other politicians may offer new insights but probably won’t stir the hornet’s nest in speeches at the Eggs and Issues breakfast to be hosted Jan. 15 by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith
Weekly potluck dinner turns Atlanta friends into family
The bonds of family and friendship can be created through the sacrament of a regular shared mealtime, and it doesn’t have to be as seldom or elaborate as the big Thanksgiving event many of us will travel thousands of miles to celebrate this Thursday.
For several years, Owen Mathews has hosted what he calls Potluck Dinner every week at his Midtown studio. It has grown into a broad range of young to early-middle aged professionals of assorted ethnic backgrounds and experiences.
“It’s almost like we have family dinner once a week,” said Sara Le Meitour, who is engaged to another potluck regular.
Posted inLatest News
Timing will be just right for Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights
By Maria Saporta
In August, it will be the 50-year anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
And it is at the “50-year mark” when a major moment in history moves from being a memoriam to part of a legacy that can be connected to contemporary issues, according to Doug Shipman, president and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
If that’s the case, the Center’s timing is just about perfect. Construction on the Center, which will be located on the same block as the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, began on March 4.
Posted inTom Baxter
The ethics dilemma: How to get doing right, right
It seems to be a matter of widespread agreement that the best thing about this year’s legislative session is the pace at which it’s clicking along. The General Assembly is on track to adjourn on the earliest date in years, which gives citizen legislators more time to make a living and unnecessary, often bad bills less time to sprout and grow.
So how has this beneficial improvement come to pass? It’s hard not to credit it at least in part to one of the most widely deplored deals in years: the arrangement by which former Senate majority leader Chip Rogers left the legislature to take a job with Georgia Public Broadcasting at a salary of $150,000 — more than the yearly salary of the governors of 40 states, including Georgia. A pretty penny, but it was deemed to be the price of removing the logjam in the state Senate, paving the way for the speedy passage of the hospital bed tax and a short session.
Posted inMaria's Metro
Fayette Chairman Steve Brown — who has criticized the Atlanta Regional Commission — joins its board
One of the most vocal critics of the Atlanta Regional Commission attended his first board meeting on Jan. 23 as a new board member.
Steve Brown, the recently-named chairman of the Fayette County Commission, was an outspoken critic of last summer’s regional transportation referendum, also known as the T-Splost.
The referendum failed, thanks partly to Brown and the Tea Party’s strident opposition to it and its project list.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
A new day for Theatrical Outfit in downtown Atlanta
By Maria Saporta Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 25, 2013
Theatrical Outfit will celebrate a new era on Jan. 31 — a morning when its mortgage will be burned — providing financial security for the theater company.
That morning, Theatrical Outfit will hand over the title to its downtown building to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. The foundation will then lease the building back to Theatrical Outfit for $1 a year.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Amid change in Oak Grove, chicken nachos never dip as a Saturday ritual
South Philly owns the cheesesteak.
The deep-dish pizza rose from the north side of the Chicago River.
The best chicken nachos ever can be found at a butcher shop and delicatessen in north suburban Atlanta.
That’s no brag, just fact, according to the regulars who swarm into Oak Grove Market every Saturday for a plate of the eatery’s number one seller.
More than a taste, the nachos are a tradition that helps keep this small business going in the recession, and gives people a one-of-a-kind experience that they won’t get at a chain restaurant. It’s the same recipe, the same day of the week, at the same place – chicken nachos transformed into a social anchor.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta Falcons have helped revive community spirit — win or lose
By Maria Saporta
The energy — and the tension — in the Georgia Dome on Sunday captures a feeling that has been lost in recent years — a feeling of being in the game.
The last five years have been tough for Atlanta, a city used to being an economic star in the country. The Great Recession hit Atlanta harder than most other cities because it targeted the real estate and banking — two industries that had helped build Atlanta.
And yet, during Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers, the city’s troubles are put aside as people rallied behind a team that is only one win away from the Super Bowl.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Column: Arby’s giving $3M to help feed hungry kids in Georgia
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 11, 2013
The Arby’s Foundation is driving a stake in the ground to end childhood hunger in Georgia.
The company announced at a Jan. 10 press conference at the state Capitol it is making its largest grant ever — $3 million over three years — to the Georgia Food Bank Association to work with other state partners on the “Feeding for a Promising Future — No Kid Hungry” campaign.
The Arby’s Foundation hopes Georgia will develop a model to combat childhood hunger that can be replicated across the country.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Waffle House, Waffle Palace set stage for family memories and cult status
As a transplanted Northerner, I misunderstood Waffle House for many years. Wasn’t it just a kitschy Southern chain of roadside dives, frequented by truckers, cheapskates and all-night partiers?
So wrong. Way too many stories, families and milestones stack up at the Waffle House against that easy bias. The restaurant’s 24/7/365 reliability across a network of locations has been going so strong for so long (since 1955) that American culture – not just Atlanta’s — is scattered and covered with Waffle House stories.
Locally, the Waffle House mystique is celebrated on stage with last week’s return of the home-cooked play, “The Waffle Palace: Smothered, Covered & Scattered 24/7/365,” at the Horizon Theatre.
The play’s cast and writers met up with restaurant fans and regulars last weekend at the Waffle House Museum in Avondale Estates. The line between real waffle memories and made-up waffle drama melted like butter on a hot griddle.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Counting squirrels adds quirk to Inman Park
By Michelle Hiskey
In the 1880s, a dreamy question created the east Atlanta neighborhood of Inman Park: “What if… the streetcar connected downtown with a posh suburb?”
Today, a funky obsession has connected neighbors there: “What if all the squirrels came down from the trees and attacked us in an apocalyptic nightmare?”
From the imagination of local writer Jamie Allen came the acorn that grew into the Inman Park Squirrel Census. From this nutty (to some) idea unfolded a modern fable, a tale of harnessing curiosity and technology to transform how we see our surroundings.
Grounding their wildlife watch is some hard cash: through the social media incubator Kickstarter, the squirrel census recently raised $9,000 to form an LLC and print and sell vintage-style posters of where the squirrels are.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Move over, big profit Amazon. Make room for Little Free Libraries.
A computer will forever spit out a list of “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought….”
But for those of us who want books that tell us stories about our neighbors’ tastes and experiences, and bring us into conversation and community, here’s a recommendation: Little Free Libraries.
Resembling large birdhouses, the Little Free Libraries are weatherproof cabinets with a couple of dozen books inside. Borrow one, read it, bring it back, or bring another. No cards, no fines.
It’s the charm of yard art, the wonder of a message in a bottle, sprinkled with the spell cast by a deft writer.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
For Atlanta Vietnam vets, serving hot dogs at USO a strong link to today’s troops
Several times a day, military troops walk single file through Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Atlanta’s crossroads with the world. As they parade through the heart of the airport – the airy atrium – travelers applaud and cheer. Here, the national spirit so often confined to July 4 is demonstrated every day.
On the mezzanine twice a month, the troops stop in for hot dogs and chili fixed by a group of Vietnam veterans from Atlanta. Along with America’s quintessential fast food, the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association (AVVBA) serves up something they wish they had enjoyed: public support.
The crossroads for both generations is the Jean R. Amos USO, which every day in Atlanta welcomes in a morning plane full of 240 troops returning home on what is know as “Operation R&R.” Later, volunteers bid farewell to 240 more somber troops returning to their overseas posts.
In a country full of yellow ribbon car magnets and other displays, the USO doesn’t stand alone. But these Atlanta Vietnam veterans recall how USO volunteers have always stood for them, and that’s why they now stand together — with frankfurters however you please.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
For Decatur’s Intown Hardware, family and creativity will survive Wal-Mart
When big-box Wal-Mart announced plans to move into indie-minded Decatur, neighbors mobilized protests.
A legal campaign began. Anti-Wal-Mart yard signs popped up. Across the road from the planned development, Tony Powers keeps the keen eye and taste that has made his family business – Intown Ace Hardware – survive and succeed.
As the world gets more homogeneous, his answer is a more diverse identity. His store’s evolving eclecticism mirrors the funky flowering of Decatur itself.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
After quake, Braves pitcher Buddy Carlyle’s family helps stabilize Japanese single mom
After 17 years in pro baseball, the Carlyles are used to rapid shifts in the foundation of their family’s life.
That’s why their family supporters are so precious to them, and that’s why when the earthquake shook Japan on March 11, 2011, the Carlyles pitched in to care for Akane Nakagawa, the single mom who had cared for them, and for her community that suddenly, desperately needed help.
