7 posts tagged “georgia”
Caylee Anthony the missing central Florida toddler whom disappearance over the summer launched a statewide search and police investigation has been been spotted in Georgia. Well, her "missing person" flier has been spotted anyway. The Georgia Department of Transportation is actively dispersing these fliers across the state rest stop facilities in hopes motorist will uncover the helpful clue in the young girls mysterious disappearance.
This sign which healds back to days predating the civil-rights movement in the south is on display at the Atlanta History Center. It illustrates the ignorance that was far to common back then even by some states most revered companies.
Victor and I visited the Atlanta History Center and toured this elegant early 20th century estate dubbed the Swan House.
The Swan House is an excellent example of the Second Renaissance Revival style and represents the architectural and decorative tastes of affluent citizens in the late 1920s. The house was designed by well-known Atlanta architect Philip Trammell Schutze in 1928 and decorated by Ruby Ross Woods of New York. Swan House and its gardens are together considered Shutze's finest residential work, in which he adapted Italian and English classical styles to accommodate 20th-century living. The house is set on a rising slope and presents an Italian Mannerist facade complete with double stairs descending on either side of a cascade. Baroque inspired lawns, stone obelisks and retaining walls, and two stone fountains are other Renaissance elements found on the grounds.
The name of the house is drawn from the swan or bird motifs that found in many of the interior rooms. The interior of the house is as elaborate as the exterior and features five rooms: the entrance vestibule, the entrance hall, the library, the Morning Room and the Dining Room. Other rooms include four bedroom areas, a sitting room, a full basement and an apartment in the attic. Of the two impressive exterior facades of Swan House, the west facade facing Andrews Drive that is the rear of the house is the more impressive of the two. Symmetrical in every way, the facade has a central doorway at the top of a double winding staircase.
In 1966, the Atlanta Historical Society purchased the Swan House and most of its original furnishings, which range from 18th-century antiques to 20th-century objects. The house opened to the public in 1967.
The Swan House is located at 130 West Paces Ferry Rd. in NW Atlanta. It is owned and maintained by the Atlanta History Center. Tours are generally available daily from 11:00am (1:00pm on Sundays) until 4:00pm, although during the current renovation of the interior, these times are subject to change. Please call 404-814-4000 or visit http://www.atlhist.org to obtain the most up-to-date tour information.
This weekend Victor and I decided to mountain climbing again, seeing we've conquered Kennesaw mountain for than enough so far this year. We decided to head east to try our hands at the well worn trials that lead to the summit of the infamous Stone Mountain.
Yes, the same patch of land Dr. Martin Luther King referred to in his "I Have A Dream" speech. Forever marred by it's use by Ku Klux Klan between 1915 until the rightful land owners turn the property over to the state in 1975.
The park is known for it signature carvings of confederate generals sculpted out of the mountains granite face.
So naturally being anywhere near the site causes me to feel at unease, but this is 2008...
So up the mountain side we ventured.
As I mentioned in the previous post my partner and I both spent our Thanksgiving holiday visiting his biological family in Ochlocknee, GA it was meant to be a special occasion as he was being reunited for his mother and their first Thanksgiving dinner together since 1988 so I wanted to do everything humanly possible to make the moment happen. His immediate family was incredibly warm and accepting of us, they appeared to be untroubled by our orientation nor the fact we're a biracial couple and didn't outwardly reflect any discontent or discomfort around us. Besides his mothers occasional off-color jokes of desiring a grandchild and "what ever happened to so-and-so, she was a nice girl" comments. Within the immediate family we were accepted and everything felt, well... normal... that is until conversation shifts to speaking of other ethnicities and words such as negro, colored, nigger, afro-man, and monkey are used unapologetically as common dialog.
As alarming as that may sound the word usage isn't always necessarily used in a derogatory statement. The Caucasians in these small towns have no problem referring to an African American neighbor as "the colored person across the street, or the negro man across the way" he isn't just a man or a person or even Mr. (insert name), a prefix or suffix is always used to identify a person that happens to be other than white. I remember one particular conversation surrounding cosmetic's and someone blurted out "I dont have lips like those, those are monkey lips." referring to photograph of a Caucasian woman with full lips. My partner felt at unease hearing his family and others using such language to describe things and attempted to correct them as he felt it might have offended me... however their apologies only made things worst.
Someone turned to me with a straight face and said, "Warren I don't look at you as black, you're like me, you're white you don't act or talk like them (blacks) do." Well, my partner and I were simply dumbfounded by that response. He felt very embarrassed to be related to anyone that could formulate such thoughts. While I simply took it as some sort of twisted backwards compliment understanding they weren't trying to be offensive. They just lacked the crass and vocabulary to properly express themselves... or at least that's the excuse I gave them in my head to allow myself to survive the holiday.
Now comes Thanksgiving Day and we made arrangements to visit family friends as they lived only sixteen miles away in Pelham, GA. Unfortunately, we all foresaw problems once we arrived at their small module house beside the highway with a confederate flag prominently draped across the living room window. We were welcomed inside and Vic's mother who accompanied us introduced me as Vic's roommate and instantly our relationship is thrown into the closet (surely for our protection). Everyone marveled and reminisced how they haven't seen Vic since he was a baby. All was well for that first half-hour despite no one bothered offering me a seat and I was left to stand. I thought nothing of it, I suppose I could have asked for a seat, but being a stranger in their house, I felt it impolite to just make myself at home, but regardless of that someone shortly after offered me a seat just as the older man apparently the owner of the house walked in from the back door and proceeded to walk through the house and out the front door. Just then he stepped out on to the front landing and shouted "THERE'S A DAMN NIGGER IN MY HOUSE!"
That was a bit of a surreal moment for me, I tried to put the comment into prospective. Was he referring to someone or something else? Could nigger have meant anything other what I thought it meant? I looked at my partner who was quickly turning pale and his mother who carried a blank expressions. Everyone had realized we obviously outworn our welcome. The woman that earlier welcomed us suggested it would be best if we left the house. Happy Thanksgiving!
Vic vowed to never return to again, which is rather sad -- certainly not what I had in mind, but the entire situation is rather unfortunately as we both realized that if they knew the truth about our relationship and orientation they likely wouldn't accept him anyway.
Nonetheless, we're both happy to be together back in Atlanta tonight.
I spent my holiday in small township called Ochlocknee in deep south Georgia nearly forty miles from the closest sight of civilization that exist across the Florida border. We came to visit Victors biological family and his mother whom he hasn't seen in over five years. Although they were glad to see one another the reunion the otherwise joyous reunion was marred by refections of just how bad our national economy is and affect it has on poorer rural areas which have suffered far worst. As most of America's elderly Victor's Grandmother is on a fixed income supported entirely by social security. Ochlocknee is mostly populated by less fortune families and the average person lacks a twelfth grade education. As unfortunate as that is there is also the element of unresolved racial tension that is still heavily embedded into the culture of rural Georgia. Victor's immediately biological family in southern Georgia isn't exempted either; while the family means well they still use inappropriate language when describing people unlike themselves and while they'll be the first to admit they lack the vocabulary to properly verbalize their thoughts it is still irksome to see the lingering effects of racism in the south... I'll post more later.
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