Georgia Carnival: Edition 52

Welcome to the Georgia Blog Carnival!

The bloggers featured here are all part of the extensive list of bloggers from Georgia I have listed in the right sidebar of this site. Any Georgia blogger can submit a post to the carnival, or a blogger from another state or country can submit a post for inclusion if the topic is Georgia related.

Our monthly format will continue for at least a couple of more months to give me time to get my act together as I recover from my second surgery in six months. I think I’m finally done with the health issues!

The next carnival will be published here at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, March 13th.
Submissions will be due Thursday, March 12th.

If you maintain a Georgia blog and would like to host the carnival at your site e-mail me to set up a date. It’s a great way to put your own personal spin on the carnival.The last edition of carnival can be found here and the carnival archives are found here.

Now on to the carnival:

Current Issues

Steve Williams, the Georgia Road Geek has all the information we need regarding funding transportation projects. He states, “The Georgia Senate and Georgia House of Representatives have bills that will allow Georgia voters to decide in 2010 if they wish to have an extra one-cent sales tax for funding transportation projects…but that is where the similarity ends.” Steve’s post, Georgia Transportation Sales Tax Legislation gives a very needed breakdown on each piece of proposed legislation.

Public Journalism Network's Leonard Witt provides his thoughts regarding How to Save the New York Times, Let's Buy the Newsroom

The Oconee Democrat has changed the look of his blog since the last time I was by, and I really like it. Recently he posted Bits and Pieces of Banter About a Wide Array of Topics

Freddie Sirmans is asking Is the Middle Class Facing Extinction? which discusses printing more and more money without addressing the real problems. Freddie also offers Is the big economy package a pipe dream?

Kim Gokce over at Community Radar provides DeKalb County Schools System as Mr. Potato Head? where he writes about tax dollar abuse by the DeKalb County School System. His research bears out that Dekalb County system is two-and-a-half times more top heavy than the larger Fulton County school system. I’m not surprised.

Getting in Touch with Your Spiritual Side

Eric over at Journey of Words can’t seem to get to the back cover of Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making without talking about it on his blog. He says the book is just that though provoking. Read Eric’s thoughts in his post titled Creating Culture for a New Jerusalem.

Have you ever read the Bible story regarding Jesus and the man with so many demons that when asked they respond their name was Legion because an extremely large number of demons possessed the man? Did you know geography figures heavily into the story? Being the social studies teacher I am I relate some of the backstory in my post Decapolis: An Accidental Landing over at "Got Bible?"

Winning That Elusive Grammy

Paul J. from over at Cries of the Heart clues us in on what really happens when you win a honest-to-goodness Grammy award and due to a heavy touring schedule you can’t pick up your award….check out his post The Grammy.

The Business of Blogging

Also over at Public Journalism Network is a great round up regarding SoCon09, social media, social networking conference. Check out SoCon09 Roundup, Beyond Twitter with Real Essays, Stories and SoCon09 Podcasts, Videos Now Available

Speaking of Journalism, Paw Paw Bill has written Not to Be Confused With Journalism …a great post regarding how he got into blogging and some of his experiences with his readership.

Blogging can lead to other worthwhile pursuits like watching online television. Over at Satellite TV Guru we are given 41 Really Awesome Places to Watch TV Online for Free.

Then again….some of us have really made blogging pay off by publishing books in the process of blogging. Maria over at Color Mastery is a true blogging success. She writes, I’ve been doing an international blog tour to promote my new book, Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts, and I’ve visited the world’s best quilt/crafting/sewing blogs talking about color and fabric. Just think….it all started from her little blog and her laptop in the Appalachians of Georgia! See her blog tour here where Maria has posted great photos, videos, podcasts, and articles from her tour route.

Raising Children

Stop Kids From Whining...Treat Them Like Dogs…ok, before you lobby for this classroom teacher to be fired understand this post title comes from The Principal's Office ,and he’s actually reacting to a newspaper article in the Savannah Morning News. Believe it or not the article and this principal makes a lot of sense.

Historical Notes

Paw Paw Bill remembers a time when he was serving his country and while on leave visited the Cotton Exchange. Not only was the Cotton Exchange a place where…duh….cotton was bought and sold there was also daily buying and selling of the human kind as well. Paw Paw Bill does a great job of discussing slavery, our Forefathers, and our new President.

You may have missed my recent double-header where I posted articles with similar subjects…one post at History Is Elementary dealing with historical truth and myth and how we relate history accurately to students titled From Eye of the Beholder to Presenting History Accurately….the other post here at Georgia on My Mind discusses how a Georgian played a role in a split within the Methodist Church in America titled The Methodist Split According to Andrew…either way both deal with Georgia history and the same man

How many of you have had the pleasure of driving down one of Fayetteville, Georgia’s best streets….Jeff Davis Boulevard? I have…many times, and it was a pleasure to read Southside Atlanta Memories’ post Jeff Davis Pictures. It relates a little of what it was like to live along the boulevard in the 70s, and connects filmmaker Gary Lynch (he’s from Fayetteville, you know?), and how he’s depicting Jeff Davis in a new biography. Good stuff!

What’s your position about a formal apology regarding slavery? Recently the folks over atOpenSalon.com contacted me about hosting a blog at their site. I played around with it for a bit and finally decided that I would post occasionally regarding current events…in fact, that’s what I call the site…..Current Events. Recently a former KKK member apologized publically to Georgia’s own Representative, John Lewis. Read my post over at OpenSalon titled A Real Apology.

Around Georgia

Felicia over at Fluffy Flowers has been Walking in the Woods at Cochran Mill Park….a place not too far from me.

Southernbyways is telling us all that one thing we gotta do this winter….especially this weekend (Feb. 14-16) is take in the Pottery Fest in Northeast Georgia

Book Reviews

Felicia over at Fluffy Flowers has been reading and provides her thoughts on the following titles….

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich…this post provides information regarding a few other titles as well

Announcements and Upcoming Events

Moonshine is a bimonthly online magazine focused on the arts (visual, literary, performance). Explore new writers and new artwork by checking out the latest issue here.

Recently the folks with World Vision Experience: AIDS – Step into Africa contacted me to inform me about their event. The Virtual Africa exhibit brings the horrors of AIDS home through a free, interactive exhibit open to the public that takes visitors on a journey into AIDS – affected communities in Africa, as seen through the eyes of four children. Athens Church is one of 40 places the exhibit is slated to visit in 2009. The exhibit opened Sunday, February 8 and will continue through Sunday, February 15th. Hours on Saturday, February 14th will be from 11 am until 9 pm and Sunday, February 15th from 12 until 6 pm. The address for the Athen location is Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas Street, Athens. You can contact Chris Baker for further information at 706.310.9300.

The exhibit will also be available for visits at Greenforest Community Baptist Church in Decatur from March 1 – 8, open 10 am through 8 pm daily. The address for the Deacatur location is 3250 Rainbow Drive, Decatur.

I was also contacted by MJ regarding the Atlanta Edition of Thrillist and its recent launch. MJ states Thrillist is a daily email for guys in that spectacular part of life between college and marriage, at least in theory (no one will snitch on your dad if he signs up). We, meaning [MJ] and the rest of the nationwide squad, recommend new hotness every weekday for 500k+ young gents to investigate for themselves in their never-ending pursuit of happiness, from bureaus that include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Las Vegas, a Nation edition and a forthcoming Philadelphia joint. We never review; we only recommend. That keeps us from having to tell our readers that something is wack, and nothing's wacker than wasting time reading through unnecessary emails to discover that something is ultimately... We're better than that, right? Yes, we are!

If you want to know more about Thrillist check out these links: Atlanta's here, Welcom to Altanta, and The Bureau Bar

Well, that’s it for this edition of the Georgia Carnival.


Please support these fine Georgia bloggers by letting them know you have visited them with a comment. Your continued support with your links and shout-outs at your site helps to alert others to what we Georgia bloggers have to offer.


The next edition of the carnival will be found here at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, March 13th. Posts can be sent to gamind@mail.com or use the handy submission form. Submissions are due by Thursday, March 12th by 6:00 p.m.


Thanks for your continued support of the Georgia Carnival!

A Few Newbies for the Blogroll

Here are a few Georgia blogs I've added to the blogroll:

Secret Agent Mama – per this mother’s tagline she “shoots from the hip” as she wears many different hats including coffee snob, photographer, home schooler, blogger, and lead foot taxi driver. One of her most recent postings deals with her lovely weekend among bloggers at the Blissdom Conference .

Jewelz Sightings - Julie is a homeschooling mom of five and she writes her blog is part of her spiritual journey into the heart of God, whom she calls “Papa”…Recently she wrote The Door is Always Open which begins As I stood at the edge of the threshold, a hush filled the room. What would He think when He saw me standing there? I don’t deserve to be here. Will He see me? Will He wonder why I’ve come? I don’t think I can bear to see the look of disappoiment on His face.

Organicasm – the about page at this site states Organicasm is dedicated to helping everyone live a healthy and organic lifestyle. We believe in products that are developed without use of pesticides, fertilizers, or other unhealthy additives. To help you, the consumer, make sense of all the different environmental and health information on the web, we provide you with only the best tools and resources to be more educated and conscientious individual. Make sure you check out their main page….OrganicCoupons.

Live the Life - Many bloggers end up over time having more than one site….currently I have three! Shell from Shell's Stuff (where she posts her creative endeavors with stamping and card making) also blogs over at Live the Life where the tagline states, “our story in pictures and words”, and that’s exactly what the site covers….her family’s activities. Recently she posted Princess Party x 2....Yikes where she relates an afternoon when her three-year-old had not one but two princess parties to attend. Yikes indeed!

Snapshots of South Georgia – now we all know what a picture blog is by now….I would hope, but this one has a slight twist. Snapshots of South Georgia is authored by Bishop James King, Episcopal leader of the South Georgia Annual Conference. The “about” section of his blog states, “This blog will provide ‘Snapshots of South ‘ as Bishop King and he has his camera in hand, watch out – you just might appear in the next entry of [his] blog!

Several weeks ago I mentioned the next two entries within a Georgia carnival edition and then promptly forgot to add them to the blogroll. I owe these two bloggers a sincere apology, however, I do have a good excuse. My health for the past six months has gotten in the way of many of my regular blogging pursuits, and my mind hasn’t been as sharp as it has been in the past. At any rate I’m finally linking to these two worthy sites…..
Braves Blog – this blog is authored by David O’Brien and is part of the blog family over at the AJC. So if it’s Braves you follow then this blog is for you. David’s most recent post involves Arod and a positive test

Laney Pottery – this is a great pottery site, and I’ve discovered the author and I have three things in common. First of all we both have more than one college degree, second….one of those degrees came from Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia. The third thing is that he knows Ron Cooper, also a potter from Canton, Georgia. I was with Mr. Cooper (no relation to my husband’s family) this very past Sunday at the 80th birthday celebration held for my father. It is indeed a small world. Check out Laney Pottery…he has a link there where you can purchase some of his work.

....and that's it for now. If I've missed your email or haven't yet found your site please drop me a line requesting or in some cases "re-requesting" an add to the blogroll for YOUR Georgia blog. You can forward your request to gamind@mail.com .