LEAVING ATLANTA...
...and spent a little time reflecting. It ain't been half bad. And I may even return; then again, I may not. Regardless, there have been lessons learned here.
LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING
If you drive past Edgewood Ave., near Grady Hospital and across from the Auburn Market, there doesn't appear to be much except a bunch of hole in the wall buildings. Closer examination and you'll see the Harlem Bar, a retro joint that has it going on. Slamming food (I suggest the Blackened Catfish with Shrimp), bumping music and throwback movies on the wall (The Wiz, Let's Do It Again, Coffy). On a Saturday or Friday night getting a table is impossible, but worth the wait.
SAY IT LOUD
Always been an expressive person and I have lived in a couple of different places in the South. But in Atlanta, people really say what's on their mind. Sure, there is a helping of Southern politeness in the delivery, but if folk have issue with you, they are going to let you know. And they don't stutter, either.
LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE
While it bothered me that more often than not that while walking through the streets of the A-T-L, I would be hassled by homeless people, I never wished them ill-will. So it was quite heartbreaking for me the day that the Atlanta City Council voted to ban panhandling in the city limits. Stuff happens, and there but for the Grace of God goes anyone: becoming homeless could happen to ANYBODY. The City Council's decision was definitely a dark day for those of us with a conscious and even darker for those without a place to lay their head that night.
THE LIBRARY IS YOUR FRIEND
Although I resided outside the city the limits, I learned about two years after moving to Georgia that an Atlanta Fulton County Public Library card had the potential to be the passport to adventures beyond my wildest dreams...well, not quite, but it was pretty close during those weekends with inclimate weather and EVERYTHING was closed.
BE YOURSELF
And no one will ever be able to dislike you for it...maybe; depends on what kind of person you are. Still, one of the greatest examples of "doing the damn thing regardless," and never putting on airs has got to be Mayor Shirley Franklin. After Bill Campbell left office in shame, and more importantly, with the city $71 million in debt, one would have thought that Her Honor would not only be able to turn things around; but Mayor Franklin has become one of the most revered, popular people in her position. In April 2005, Time Magazine named her one of the Five Best Big-City Mayors in America. Had the pleasure of meeting the Mayor on a couple of different functions and even saw her decked out in jeans and a baseball cap at one of the local movie houses. She is "real cool peoples" and if I could ever accomplish a third of what she has done, I would be most pleased.
KEEP THE FAITH
Yeah, things are bad all over: war, crime, poverty, illness...the list goes on. But I never met a true Atlantan, who dislikes being from Atlanta. Despite the tons of Nu Yawkers and other Nawtheners moving in everyday, the crazy traffic, some serious historical hiccups and such (the flag fiasco, Atlanta Child Murders, Centennial Park bombing, Runaway Bride, Super Bowl murders, floods, nasty unseasonable ice storms), people who love Atlanta are proud and never waiver. No matter how much crappy stuff happens, true Atlantans believe in their city and that is it a great place to live.
I do not debate that Atlanta's a nice place to chill. However, I am very sure I cannot live here at this point in my life...maybe later. Still, I am taking that sense of unconditional loyalty and pride with me (no, I am not stealing; just borrowing). Wherever I land, I hope the Atlantan faith in who I am and where I come from--Bed-Sty, Do or Die, by way of Greensoboro, NC, home of North Carolina A & T State University (a.k.a., Aggieland), stays with me.
Axe.
Currently Listening To: Fly Like A Bird by Mariah Carey, Cristo Redentor by David Sanborn
