Comment Archives: stories: A&E: A&E Feature
Re: “10 ATL lit groups and events worth checking out”
Hi @cleo, Did you happen to see the long profile of African-American Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey anchoring the issue? Here's a link: http://clatl.com/atlanta/us-poet-laureate-…
Additionally, all of the events and groups listed above embody quite a diverse crowd that you'll definitely notice should you attend any one of them in person.
Thanks for reading,
Debbie Michaud, Editor, Creative Loafing
Re: “10 ATL lit groups and events worth checking out”
Hmmm, just noticing there seems to be rather a lack of diversity in the issue. So there there seems to be NO african-american writers in Atlanta?? No one over 30 - it seems once again CL is going only with what they know, the intown hipster crowd.
Re: “Atlanta gets its write on”
Great point, Jamie. None of what's going on now sprung from nothing; it's just more readily visible to all, perhaps.
Re: “Atlanta gets its write on”
I’m really glad that the writing and literary scene in Atlanta has found some traction and community support, and that CL has reported on it. It’s a great time to be alive in this town. Also, hello, the BeltLine??? That thing is crowded. But as the obsessive type, and for the sake of keeping an accurate history of this town, I have to point out one small little problem I have with the write-up – I don’t subscribe to the idea, as some noted, that nothing was going on in this town literarily before a few years ago, or even before the Decatur Book Festival. There was stuff, y’all! Weird and cool and intelligent stuff! Maybe a bit less of it, but it was there! I bring this up in part because I am a believer in the idea that – as is the case with the BeltLine crowds – social media has played a remarkable role here, in uniting writing and arts cliques (or pals or enemies or organizations) in this town, or at the very least putting everybody on the same event page – or stage. There really is something to the fact that, instead of sending out a BCC reading-announcement email to 100 of people you had in your address book – which was standard procedure in 2003 or 2004 – or writing something on your struggling “blog” that had like 12 followers, you can now create a Facebook page that effortlessly announces your event to an audience of hundreds, people you don’t even know but who have similar aesthetics, many of whom are actually looking for literary or arts things in town. Or you can tweet it to people who have already agreed, of their own volition, to follow you. And then some of them will RT it to their followers. Sometimes we take things like breathing for granted. But this development in our social history is incredible. It is a remarkable change not just in event promotion but community. Greenwich Village in the ‘60s, as one example, worked in part because it was a close-knit community (literally), and because talented people supported and criticized other talented people in the same coffee shops and bars. Atlanta’s challenge has always been its sprawl, and the effect on writers and artists is that they don’t all live in a close-knit community where they can interact and support and fistfight. They live a whole lot of traffic away from each other. But online, we’re all right there. To repeat, there was some good stuff going on in the indie literary and arts scenes before 2008 or 2007 or 2006. Y’all, there was stuff going on in like 2002! It’s silly to think otherwise (and a tiny bit insulting to those who were working really hard to get something going). There were indie readings where known out-of-town writers came to shine. And some of the weirdest music shows you can imagine. And “presentations” on great ideas, just for the heck of it. There was even graffiti! Check the archived pages of CL; it’s all there. In fact, the creators of the Decatur Book Festival – Daren Wang and Tom Bell – were involved in some of these semi-obscure but relevant goings-on. And it helped inspire them to create something bigger. Which, as we have seen, has turned into much more. The literary “BeltLine” is crowded! And I really love the views. Let’s just not assume that it popped up out of nowhere.
Re: “Plaza Theatre's next chapter”
Thank You Rejs and welcome Michael!
Re: “The search for the Blood Moon at Tallulah Gorge”
It most certainly is. Thanks for the catch, sweetpsofga.We will correct it.
Re: “The search for the Blood Moon at Tallulah Gorge”
The word is taut not taught.
Re: “City seeks to transform troubled downtown through art”
How about showing a little support for the people making this city more beautiful?! These are amazingly talented people coming together on a project of a much bigger scale than anything most of us have ever attempted. Personally, I'm proud that our city is showing effort to keep our city cultural and I'm ashamed that anyone living in it with me would have anything negative to say about it. I'm so excited to see so many people celebrating street art and using it to better our urban landscape!
Re: “City seeks to transform troubled downtown through art”
Instead of putting lipstick on a pig, why not just get rid of the pig?
Re: “City seeks to transform troubled downtown through art”
Honestly, though, the Art on the Beltline is a good example of doing this right. Functional and beautiful will get us all a lot further than keeping public art on a pedestal.
Re: “City seeks to transform troubled downtown through art”
How about transforming them into buildings people can use....
Re: “City seeks to transform troubled downtown through art”
This building in the picture should be turned into a multi floor super dance club.
Re: “Stop making HENSE”
why the block letters all over townaren't amazing, other than making me wonder how he was able to get up to some of the locations, i really like the hense mural on the beltine just southeast of monroe.
and i think one that i like on the beltline inside piedmont park next to the dog park is his too.
jr, got any links to totem's work?
Re: “Stop making HENSE”
No offense to Hense...haha see what I did there But this guy can't hold a stick to Totem's graf work from back in the day. The mural on AZ St is okay at best. Not hating just being honest.
Re: “Stop making HENSE”
Here's another shot I have, taken from the bridge over North Ave. I think this is probably long gone since the bridge was redone: http://wiebkefesch.deviantart.com/art/Atla…
Re: “Stop making HENSE”
I did a photo series of this one a couple of years ago while walking around the Beltline. Here's the H, with thumbnail links to the other letters and wide shows below. http://wiebkefesch.deviantart.com/art/H-He…
Re: “The Lucky Penny crosses a new Threshold with its latest production”
Bravo City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs and thank you Mayor Reed! power2give is a wonderful step in the right direction to support the arts in Atlanta.
Back in 2010, the Atlanta Music Project also launched a Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1833375224/the-atlanta-music-project-music-for-social-change-0
We were able to raise almost $20,000. This type of online fundraiser really can work!
Dantes Rameau
Executive Director
Atlanta Music Project
www.atlantamusicproject.org
Re: “Segregation Portfolio revisits Gordon Parks photographs”
"...I think that I'm racist. I think that almost anybody who grows up in America is racist. Because I've been fed so many negative images of African-Americans in my life."
Dear Joeff,
We forgive for being a racist. Just keep working on it. By the time your funeral comes around, you'l have it licked.