Atlanta. Day 1.
It’s kind of cool going into something that you know nothing about - being out of your element, slightly displaced, and a little unsure of what’s in store. That feeling definitely summarized my day today. It was about a five hour drive to Atlanta, and although I filled it with enough Beatles, Dave Matthews, and Sufjan to keep my mind from wandering too much, I definitely was starting to think, “What am I about to get into?” But as I pulled into East Atlanta Village, I quickly started to see that things were shaping up to make for a great summer.
Andre had to take some friends to the airport, Jeff gave me a tour around the house and some info on the neighborhood - East Atlanta Village - and then we headed over to Leroy Barber’s - the big guy over FCS Urban Ministries and Mission Year - house for a bit. On the way, Jeff showed me a bunch of the communities that people are re-gentrifying and developing. Once we got to Lakewood, Leroy’s community, some of the reality of the socio-economic problems going on set in fast. It’s a rough neighborhood. But Lakewood is a work in progress; the Community Grounds coffee shop is there, as well as MetroMerge and the Marketplace. I’m sure I’ll be detailing about those places soon enough.
Hanging out with Leroy and his family and friends was pretty cool - they were all very relaxed. When Jeff told Leroy that I was asking about my projects for the summer, Leroy laughed really hard. His wife said, “Oh, don’t you worry. Those two will put you to work.” Afterwards, Jeff showed me a few other neighborhoods in Atlanta, and then we headed over to Dan’s house for a party their community group was having. There were a few faces from the Original Event that I recognized, and a lot of nice new ones to meet too. I learned about the game “cornhole” - apparently a big deal here - where you throw beanbags into platforms across the yard. We had pizza, Dan’s daughter made brownies.. it was fun. I didn’t really know anyone, but they were all friendly, so I didn’t feel awkward.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day. I’m going with Jeff to Alpharetta in the morning to meet with the director and emcees of Catalyst for a creative meeting for this year’s event. Big stuff going on.
Oh, and Max, their dog, a boxer, really likes me. So far he has shown his favorite pastimes to be: slobbering on my hands, eating carrots, and laying on the rug in my room. They say he likes to jump in bed at night and cuddle. So, look for updates on how that goes later.
