Act Like a Tourist

Whether you live in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, or Athens I’m sure there are parts of your town you’ve never explored as a citizen or as a quasi-tourist. For some reason most people would prefer to venture at least fifty miles or so away from home to learn local history or to experience the culture.

Those neighborhoods you pass through on your way to somewhere else just never get the credit they deserve.

Maybe you have been to Lenox Mall, but have never taken the time to mosey through the various shops up and down Peachtree. Perhaps, like me, you were born in Atlanta but have never taken the time to explore a place like Virginia Highlands or dared to leave the safe confines of your car to walk up and down Moreland or Euclid better known as Little Five Points.

What about the Governor's Mansion, the Swan House, the birthplace of Dr. King, or the Herndon Home? Maybe you have never taken the ride up to the top of the Peachtree Plaza or heard the magical words, “Whadda ya have? Whadda ya have? Whadda ya have?” at the Varsity.

Well, what’s your excuse? I’m too tired…We’re running late….Maybe next time….I’m not sure if it’s safe…..

Quite frankly I’m tired of having my own excuses. This is my summer – my summer for being a tourist even in my own hometown, and I’m starting with Little Five Points because that’s where my fifteen-year-old daughter wants to explore (post and pictures later this week)

Leave me a comment and tell me some great places located in Georgia you should explore, but never have.

What great places do you pass through on your way to somewhere else?

Georgia Carnival: Edition 38

Welcome to the Georgia Blog Carnival!

The next carnival will be hosted here at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, July 4th. Submissions will be due Thursday, July 3rd.

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 the Georgia carnival can be found here, and the carnival archives are found here.

Now… on to the highlights of Georgia blogging during the past two weeks.

Travel and Things to Do

I think I’ve heard of everything now….Claudine shares Canine Cocktail Hour at Hotel Indigo posted at The Atlanta Traveler, saying, "Cute dining option for pets and their owners at Hotel Indigo."

Over at The Q Family Adventure, Amy has posted Take Me Out to the Ball Game... sharing their last family outing to the ball game at Turner Field.

Tushar Mathur provides Maui After Dark posted at Travel-Eat-Sleep. Wouldn’t a Hawaiian vacation (without the kids) be great?

Over at Exurban Adventures Buzz Brockway presents Ground broken at Gwinnett Braves Stadium that includes some video and pictures of Jeff Francoeur, John Schuerholz, and others at the ground breaking ceremony for the Gwinnett Braves new stadium.

In case you missed it I went to Chastain the other night.

Issues and Opinions

Paw Paw Bill provides in interesting look at the increasing gas prices along with a smidge of supply and demand economics with SUV Wars

Tushar Mathur presents Simple Foreclosure Solutions posted at Everything Finance.

Freddie Sirmans discusses the gas crisis and what must be done to keep the trucks rolling

Religion and Related Matters

From Bill Reichart over at Provocative Church, "Don't Come to My Church!?" Is it true that a pastor would really say that about his church? ...read more to find out what he means.

Over at Got Bible? I relive a few memories in my post Memories Old and New: Vacation Bible School.

Education

It might be summer vacation, but the issues don’t take eight weeks….

Ethan over at Never Clever Whatsoever gives us Another Rant about Georgia's CRCT Scores. I’ve already told him what I think….now it’s YOUR turn.

James presents SPLOST: A Case Study and Questions About Those SPLOST 3 Bonds posted at The Other Athens.

James is also concerned about his local system system rejoining the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia with his postings Second Verse, Same As The First and Running The Numbers On The Consortium. And of course, we always need an overview with On The Clarke County Board of Education which is apparently where Chaos Reigns.

Over at History Is Elementary I recently responded to a CBS News report regarding truancy with my post A Cure or Placebo?

Politics

Paw Paw Bill provides a thoughtful response to the phrase “one of us” with his post Your Father's Oldsmobile.

James presents 10th District Campaign Update posted at The Other Athens.

Over at Mostly Media SpaceyG takes it upon herself to critique the latest political ad in Georgia’s U.S. Senate campaign with Making the Least Out of New Media.

Water Woes…They Aren’t Gone Yet

Over at Beer Pong is Never a Good Idea Russell responds, “Water this.”

Getting There is Half the Fun

The Georgia Road Geek shares A New Toll Road For Gwinnett County?

Forget the Roads….Give Me Some Nature

Fighting the traffic in Atlanta and her suburbs we forget the simple pleasures in life. Enjoy Terrell’s nature romp with Give me home where the cone-flowers bloom... posted at Alone on a Limb.

Literature and Online Reading

Tushar Mathur has an angle on a Free: Website Magazine posted at Everything Finance.

Over at Grasping For The Wind John shares his latest review of Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson.

The latest issue of Moonshine, a magazine of the southern arts is available online (& free) here.

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 at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, July 4th.. Posts can be sent to gamind@mail.com or use the handy submission form.

Submissions are due by Thursday, July 3rd by 6:00 p.m.Thanks for your continued support of the Georgia Carnival!

Georgia Blog Carnival: Call for Submissions

The next edition of the carnival will be found at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, June 20th. Posts can be sent to gamind@mail.com or use the handy submission form.

Submissions are due by Thursday, June 19th by 6:00 p.m.

Saturday Night at Chastain

My husband and I have fallen in love with Chastain Park Amphitheater. It is just the most unusual place to attend a concert. Last October we enjoyed Diana Krall and Chris Botti. This past Saturday night we enjoyed Chris Botti and Paula Cole. We were hoping for more of our favorites from the Italia CD, but it was still a fantastic concert. Luckily the rain held off.

The ambiance of attending a concert at Chastain is so unique…..the candles, the little tables, the food concert-goers bring in. It’s always interesting to observe how others set up their area and the different things they bring in….you get so many great ideas. We dined at Stoney River Steaks, but took cheese, grapes, crackers, and cheesecake along with us.

Below is a video I found on YouTube of Chris Botti performing Cinema Paradiso which we were able to experience at Chastain as well. The video isn’t the best, but the sound is great. Along with Chris Botti are Billy Childs on the piano, Billy Kilson on drums, James Genus on Bass, Mark Whitfield on guitar, and Gil Goldstein conducting.

Enjoy!

Georgia Bloggers: Music

The following list represents the Georgia’s Blogs on the blogroll here at Georgia on My Mind that discuss music on a daily or regular basis.

A Cup of Coffey

Barnes Storming

Blank Crisis

Brazilian Music TV

Cable and Tweed

Captains Dead

Caribbean Music TV

Confessions of a Music Addict

Deerhunter...the band

Fear of Arthropods

Georgia Soul

GPB Midday Music

Jamaican Music TV

KISS Atlanta

Mara Davis

OhmPark

Paste Magazine

Puerto Rican Music TV

Poop and Pie

Radlanta

That Truncheon Thing

The Black Lips

The Georgia Jukebox

The Underwriter

Underneathica

Do you know about a Georgia blog regarding music I haven’t listed? Please contact me at gamind@mail.com to let me know, or to advise any corrections that need to be made.

Georgia Carnival: Edition 37

Welcome to the Georgia Blog Carnival. School is out, and the summer is on.

The next carnival will be hosted here at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, June 20th. Submissions will be due Thursday, June 19th.

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 the Georgia carnival can be found here, and the carnival archives are found here.

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.

Now… on to the highlights of Georgia blogging during the past two weeks:

Have you noticed the category links on the left sidebar? So far I’ve categorized Georgia blogs into creative arts, journalism, education, lawyers, legal matters, nutrition, online media, recipes, religion, restaurants, spirituality, and sports. I have many more blogs to categorize as you can see by the ever growing list of Georgia blogs on the right sidebar. One of the largest categories is politics. While some blogs like Tondee's Tavern or Peach Pundit are most certainly political blogs, there are others that I’m not so sure about.

If you write about politics (local, state, and/or national) and want to be included in the politics category please drop me an email at gamind@mail.com with your blog name and url so I can include it. Remember that you also get a second category listing as well. However, I would venture to state that most political blogs could also be included in a category for “issues and opinions”. I hope to tackle the political category in the next few days as well as many, many more. Other categories I’ll be utilizing can be found here.

Well, today is June 6, 2008 and we are remembering D-Day once again. Over at History Is Elementary I remember my uncle and all of his comrades who spent the early morning hours of June 6, 1944 gliding into D-Day.

Katie Byrd over at SharpMom.com is a former Atlantan living in North Carolina, but still hauls the kids back to the ATL to for weekend trips. The Atlanta History Center is one of their favorite places to visit. She offers up her post titled WWII Remembrance Day at Atlanta History Center.

Speaking of soldiers, Peach Pundit pointed me over to this post by Obi’s Sister providing information about Operation Love. A goal to send 5,000 cards, letters, emails, etc. to soldiers is a very worthy goal indeed.

Rusty over at Georgia Podcast Network shares a video journal he and Amber took through Middle Georgia this past weekend titled Things We Look For on Road Trips.

Shana from Science on TV shares her review of Man vs Wild Episode 3 - Ring of Fire.

Georgia’s own Hamilton Jordan finally lost his battle with cancer at the end of May. Paw Paw Bill provides his eulogy of Jordon with his post Rhymes with Burden.

Obi's Sister writes about Georgia’s most favored song (by many including me) “Glory, Gloria to Old Georgia”, and also lets us know what came before glory, glory.

Over at Got Bible I provide a few one liners…..Christian One Liners, that is.

Fluffy Flowers own Felicia shares a mother of a weekend where she relates her thoughts and feelings after the Mother’s Day tornados ripped through her town, and she’s trying to maintain by staying positive.

Amy presents 13 Fun (Free) Things to Do This Summer posted at The Q Family Adventure, saying, "Summer fun in GA".

Shelia Scarborough has posted Family Friendly Must Sees in Georgia over at Education.com.

Over at Everything Finance you can find Five Online Resources for Forex Beginners….Forex as in foreign exchange markets.

Paw Paw Bill provides an excellent history and government lesson regarding the popular vote as Hillary Clinton took it down to the wire this week with his his post Vox Populi.

Savannah Red doesn’t want Obama or McCain mucking around with the everyday problems he faces. Afterall, don’t we have the the Ahmadinejad Strain to deal with?

Paul over at Cries of the Heart has some thoughts on suffering.

Over at Alone on a Limb Terrell shares a bit of miscelleaneous nature. Wonderful images!

I think it’s wonderful when we have a change of mind. Russell over at Beer Pong Is Never a Good Idea has had a change of mind regarding Atlanta where everyday is an opening day.

Find out the latest art and cultural news for June by visiting the Georgia Art Exchange here.

The next edition of the carnival will be found at Georgia on My Mind on Friday, June 20th. Posts can be sent to gamind@mail.com or use the handy submission form. Submissions are due by Thursday, June 19th by 6:00 p.m.

Thanks for your continued support of the Georgia Carnival!

Sometimes It Takes a Child

The story from the WSB-TV news page explains:

Haden Stusak, 6, of Fayetteville (the boy on the left) is being called a hero after he dived into a pool to investigate a shadow on the bottom that turned out to be his friend.

Josiah Buddah, 5, and Haden are buddies. Haden is a good swimmer, but Josiah can't swim without his water wings.

On Sunday, Josiah took off his water wings and sank to the bottom of the deep end.

Head over to the link and watch the video if you missed it…..they are so cute!

AND parents….watch your kids!