Which is why I got all excited when I heard a rumor about the next tenant for the space next to the CNN Center (the now-shuttered Golden Buddha) …. a GROCERY STORE?  Fair warning: there’s a chance this rumor turns out to be someone just being wishful, but I sure have my fingers crossed. Boy would another Trader Joe’s be nice.

Anyone think a grocery store can survive here? Between tourists looking for sunscreen and snacks, GSU students, and Fairlie Poplar/downtown residents for a small, basic destination for staples? Or is it destined to leave me cheeseless on the way home?

Alright, homework’s done. Today I want to talk about food. I really like food. Georgia, that big red sea surrounding Atlanta, is just chock full of it. Farms galore. One in seven Georgians work in some sort of ag-related field. It’s what our state’s economy was built on, and yet …  well, our grocery stores don’t exactly reflect it. We have WONDERFUL options for food in the city, it’s just that the local produce, the stuff from all those farms I keep hearing about, doesn’t often show up at the Hipster Kroger or the Publix on Ponce. The DeKalb and Buford Hwy “Farmers Markets” have every kind of food you can imagine, most of it exceedingly cheap, but produce at YDFM seems to always come from Chile, California, or Mexico. 

So. We turn to the myriad of little farmer’s markets that pop up in every neighborhood once a week, where I end up with ramps and an onion and a jalapeno pepper, a $7 loaf of bread and a $6 pint of blueberries, from farms with names like Gaia Gardens and Love is Love. Granted, those will be the most perfect, plump, tart-sweet, incredibly delicious blueberries I will ever eat, but it’s not exactly grocery shopping for the week.

Third option: a CSA. Georgia Organics has a pretty exhaustive run-down of what CSAs are, and where they are available. I personally have subscribed to the yuppiest, laziest, pickiest option possible: this company. They allow me to request that they never, ever include beets; they deliver a box of food to my front porch; they let me swap out what I don’t feel like eating that week; and they have options for honey, yogurt, coffee, etc. I opt for local over organic produce, and, most convenient of all – you can put a hold on your order just a few days in advance.  This is helpful when you remember that you’ll be out of town next week. Or if you just have more dining-out plans than usual. Or if you are still eating green beans and squash from last week.

Of course, there are much more cost-effective options, if you’re into it. Where do you shop for groceries? Does anyone actually use a CSA? Do you do battle at the Dekalb Market on the weekends? Or do you get your lil debbies at Kroghetto, Krogay, Disco Kroger, Murder Kroger? Finally, while we’re at it, what’s the general consensus on the clever name for the Edgewood (Hipster, in my house) Kroger?

Previous districting, blue and red, spread out over population segments of ~630k (thanks, Washington Post)

Georgia

8,186,453: population, 2000

9,687,653: population, 2010

18.3% increase

Atlanta

416,474: population, 2000

540,922: population, 2009 (details of the 2010 census will be released in the next few months)

23% increase

So Georgia (Atlanta, really) earned a 14^th congressional seat based on population gains, which will probably be in the northern suburbs, which will most likely mean another republican congressperson. In the summer Governor Deal will call a special session to redraw districts for state House, state Senate, and the new congressional seats based on population changes. I’m sure based solely on the population changes. Surely gerrymandering was just a vocab word from middle school. I assume everyone will behave like gentlemen and women.

Just for some more fun with numbers, congressmen in the 113th Congress will be representing an additional 63,520 citizens (going from 631,306 citizens per congressman in 2000 to 694,826 citizens per congressman in 2010).

The Peach Pundit update has more discussion than I care to follow, much less recap, but has information worth sharing…

Other egregious offenses that come to mind are the Lakewood Freeway -> Langford Parkway switch, Stewart -> Metropolitan, our Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and, most ridiculous of all, a  stretch of Memorial Drive has already been switched back to Memorial after a brief stint as Cynthia McKinney Parkway.

The latest round of street name changes is up for a vote this week.  City Council is proposing to change Harris St. downtown to John Portman (the architect behind downtown’s gorgeous atrium hotels who is often partially blamed for the neighborhood’s dearth of welcoming street life), and to change Cone to recognize Xernona Clayton, a well-known civil rights activist and close friend to Coretta Scott King.  Both people are living, both people have made significant contributions to the city, and, I strongly believe, neither street name change is warranted. Creative Loafing has a thoughtful editorial about the issue here – “A surefire way not to be remembered: Note to City Council: Street signs are not chalkboards.”

Apparently last month we changed the name of Fair Street to Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard. Does that even fit on a street sign? Does Atlanta have to order extra-long ones? Don’t other cities have street names like Main and Broad and State? OF COURSE we want to remember our city’s heroes. OF COURSE we want to teach our kids our city’s history. OF COURSE we ought to celebrate Atlanta’s role in the civil rights movement, and be proud of these achievements, and tell the stories of the actions of these brave people. But honestly, renaming a street is just not the appropriate medium for these honors. It’s like spreading awareness of life-threatening cancers with an ugly rubber bracelet. Or something. Oops. Moving on.

Sure, these people should be honored – but not by making residents, businesses, gps systems and sidewalk-marta maps and paper maps (paper maps!!), tourists, and taxpayers deal with the time and expense and confusion of changing the names of our roads. Parks, buildings, plaques, statues – all these are appropriate tributes. Not our mailing addresses.

According to the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, “the legislation will go to the Urban Design Commission tomorrow afternoon — Wed., Dec. 15, 4pm @ City Hall council chambers — and then rushed to the special full city council meeting on Thurs., Dec. 16, 10am at the same place. In the meantime, we need everyone to *call* and e-mail ALL city council members before Thursday! Please spread the word.”

Which doesn’t lend itself to a lot of tradition – even the Rich’s Macy’s tree has moved from downtown to Underground to Lenox, and the Pink Pig downgraded from mythical flying monorail

Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!

Earth-bound. Might as well be one of those trains at Northpoint Mall.

that soared through the toy department to a flat track on the ground that chugs through Christmas decorations. Bummer.

In an effort to combat this crappiness and embrace the season, my friends and I have set upon a different tradition – going to the annual Santaland Diaries performance at the Horizon Theater in L5P. This year is their twelfth production of David Sedaris’s story, a completely bitter and sardonic one of an out-of-work writer who takes a job as a Macy’s Elf. Harold Leaver plays Crumpet the elf, and guys, the man make me laugh. Pretty hard.

“The woman said, Riley, if you don’t start behaving yourself, Santa’s not going to bring you any of those toys you asked for. The child said, he is, too, going to bring me toys, liar. He already told me. The woman grabbed my arm, and said you there, elf, tell Riley here that if he doesn’t start behaving immediately, then Santa’s going to change his mind and bring him coal for Christmas.

I said that Santa changed his policy and no longer traffics in coal. Instead, if you’re bad, he comes to your house and steals things. I told Riley that if he didn’t behave himself, Santa was going to take away his TV and all his electrical appliances and leave him in the dark.

The woman got a worried look on her face and said, all right, that’s enough. I said, he’s going to take your car and your furniture and all of your towels and blankets and leave you with nothing. The mother said, no, that’s enough really.”

photo from the absurdly-spelled Fenuxe.com

Our Crumpet is something special and hilarious, and he gives these lines (which make me laugh on their own) life. This is the sort of tradition I can get on board with. Tickets start at $25 and the show runs through January 2. http://horizontheatre.com/showSANTALAND.htm

Do you have any particularly festive traditions? Are your kids Pink Pig riders?  Anyone ride the Pig back when it was cool?  I’ve run into a Santa pub crawl or two in years past – any fans?

The cheesesteak was the same: well-cooked meat, onions and gooey cheese on soft fluffy bread. All that it ought to be, fully devoid of health benefits and full of deliciousness. It came out in less than 10 minutes, and I got the chance to chat a bit with the supereager guy working the counter. When I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten at Woody’s for a few years, he ran through all the changes the new owners (which may or may not have included him?) were taking on. Things like scooter delivery within a 4-5 mile radius, and cheep and local beer (well, one cheap and one local). He’s working on an iPhone app, too, that would (hopefully) allow them to deliver to picnickers in the park using GPS. Oh, and they take credit cards now, too!

My verdict is that Woody’s is the place to get a cheesesteak and a milkshake. In the wake of some really outstanding Atlanta eateries closing, it’s nice to support our locals. Especially when it tastes so good.

Love this shot, zombies or no - Freedom Parkway going into the city

For all my enthusiasm about all the movies and tv shows filmed recently in Atlanta, I’ve got to admit I haven’t really been interested in watching most of them.  Drop Dead Diva and Vampire Diaries, I’m sure they’re funny and/or cool, just not anything I’d normally watch. Same goes for that Miley Cyrus movie, most of the horror movies shot around here, and most of the Tyler Perry movies – just not for me.

MAJOR EXCEPTION: This new AMC miniseries the Walking Dead, which has just been renewed for another season. Filmed in – and set in – Atlanta! Love this. In my opinion, a good zombie movie generally gives us a little bit of social commentary, a little bit of survival story, and a little bit of gore, but zombies are just too slow and shambly to be terrifying (unless they’re the 28 Days Later sprinting rage-zombies which scare the living bejeez out of me).  This show fits my definition and is right up my alley – throw in my city and I’m a big fan. Tonight is the third episode. Last week was the big downtown scene, when main character Rick fights his way through throngs of zombie extras (and Abby repeatedly pauses the dvr and strains to identify familiar graffiti and pawn shops).  I got a little kick out of the fact that a lot of the “desolate” shots didn’t have to be altered – the closed-off bridge going to Elliot Street, the vines growing up along some of the buildings near 5 Points , abandoned storefronts – all look as they normally do.

Directed by Shawshank director Frank Darabont, based on a comic book series, I found the show exciting, well-paced, dramatic. Plus two of the main actors are British, and didn’t fuck up the Southern accent (a bad Southern accent makes me turn the tv off in a heartbeat, ATL zombies or no). And the more I talk about it, the more I hear about friends of friends who are working on it in some capacity, which means employment and income for Atlantans.

Have y’all seen this? It’s on tonight at 10 on AMC. Check it out. You missed the first couple episodes but I’m pretty sure you can catch up.  Zombie apocalypse. Pretty self-explanatory.

Yep, a table. Made for a little bit of a blind spot, not the safest of biking practices.

Me, I have trouble deciding what stance to take on Critical Mass. I like the spirit and the message (a fun, entertaining way to promote bicycles as viable vehicles with which to share our streets), but not the means of conveying it (blocking traffic and running lights). I’ve also been one to pretty much always do what a policeman tells me to do, especially if he is looking me in the eye and telling me to stop at a red light (yes, sir!).

All that caveat business aside, the Halloween Critical Mass is tonight. If you do just one Critical Mass, this is the one to do. It’s the biggest – I’d expect well over 300 people. The weather will be sunny, clear and cool. And I’d say 2/3 of the bikers dress up, often in preposterous costumes. Even the AJC kinda likes it.

You probably oughta check this one out. If you’re in town, you’ll probably get caught in the traffic anyway. Critical Mass is a pretty unofficial organization, but meets in Woodruff Park for a “slow and scenic” ride downtown the last Friday of every month around 6pm. If you don’t have a bike, borrow one. If you don’t want to ride a bike, go check out the costumes. Happy Friday!

Evidence. Actually enjoying myself at a football game.

In grad school I was lured to a tailgate with promises of sun, friends, BBQ, and beer on a pretty Saturday afternoon. I grudgingly went. We are not sports people. I don’t paint my face and support the team. Please. That day – who knew? I enjoyed a few sweetwaters, good company and a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Well, huh! Football is awesome! I eventually even made it to a game! And, slowly, grew to be a Georgia Tech football fan.

And now, Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is where I spend my home-game Saturdays. We sit in the back row of the east stands, where you can see the entire field and still catch a breeze wafting off the connector, where a group of friends congregates and stomps and cheers and sings and toasts the Yellow Jackets. It’s completely different from the typical small-town college football experience, as we are smack dab in the center of midtown Atlanta. Over my left shoulder towers the Bank of America building, and to my right, the midtown skyline. Night games are gorgeous, and if we’ve had too much to drink, we’ll walk a few blocks down Peachtree and catch a cab home.

I’ve come to love all the traditions that make up the institution.  The fight song, “I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech,” is the only one I know of that is about drinking and gambling and cursing (at least in early 1900’s when it was introduced, “helluva” was in-a-ppropriate). It was sung on the Ed Sullivan show in 1953 – censored, of course, to “heckuva engineer.” It was the first school song played in space (a sort of bizarre

Not exaggerating when I say "back row." View's not bad though.

superlative, but I’ll take it). It was also sung by Nixon and Khrushchev in 1959, as the story goes, easing the tension during the Kitchen Debates in 1959 – Nixon didn’t know any Russian songs, but Khrushchev knew Ramblin’ Wreck. Rat caps, the Budweiser song, paging the fictional George P. Burdell, stealing the T, racing recently designed and constructed recks at 8am on homecoming morning – except for that 8am business, I’m a fan.

I know that in-state rivalries requires a good number of you to read this with disdain for our crappy program (while denying that a rivalry exists because GT is so far beneath UGA and the SEC), but Georgia Tech football is a pretty unique Atlanta experience. We’re lucky to have it.  And we’ll be playing Duke and Miami and UGA in the coming month (oops edit: UGA is in Athens) – but not on the day of Chomp and Stomp, which means I get to fully participate in all of my favorite fall pastimes. Pretty sure you can track down a ticket to at least Duke, probably Miami (edit: on Saturday Nov 13th). Protip: the guys with “I need tickets” signs don’t really.