Best Fighters for Atlanta's Soul

Life in the shadow of the Trump presidency has everyone on edge. As social media continues its stranglehold on how we the people engage in ridiculously rigorous debate, it seems the war between good and evil has reached a stalemate on the digital battlefield. The semi-monthly WAKEATL events — hosted by experimental hip-hop outfit Wake — give Atlantans an outlet to lobby for the forces of good in the real world by bridging music and art scenes with social justice activism. Everyone from mayoral hopeful Vincent Fort to the Housing Justice League have made appearances, while hip-hop and off-kilter rock acts such as Chew, Stacy Epps, Victor Mariachi, Working Class Music, Lingua Franca and more regularly tear up the stages from 529 to Aisle 5. The motivation is always to give people resources to become more socially conscious and active in their daily lives. Topics of discussion have focused on police brutality, gentrification and more affecting local communities. And while each event is high-intensity, it’s done more to engage the community and hold each other accountable for their actions than it is to celebrate. Viva la revolution! www.facebook.com/wakeATL. less...

Sure, MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM is shiny and new, and we’d be fine with it if it was done strictly with private money. But the use of at least $700 million of public money that will primarily benefit a football team owner with a net worth upward of $3.4 billion seems shady at best, especially when so many local projects could benefit from that type of funding. While the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has “donated” upward of $20 million to the impoverished Westside neighborhoods next to the stadium, that hardly makes up for the hundreds of millions of dollars in public money that has gone to the stadium construction increasing the value of the Atlanta Falcons. At the end of last year the Falcons had already inked deals worth $900 million in stadium sponsorships! Imagine the impact if the public money used for construction was directed to neighborhood organizations in the poorest areas of the city. Or imagine the impact on Atlanta if 700 small businesses were given $1 million each to grow their businesses. We can only dream of a society where individuals and small businesses are more important than large corporations and billionaires. less...

In a city where creative hustle is currency, even us artistic types can become disconnected from our true selves in the service of humanity. Crystal Jones, a certified holistic health counselor and chiropractor, sees it every day. With a self-described mission to “love humanity back to life,” she uses human connection as a healing force for good. A staple within Atlanta’s creative community and beyond — from A3C to SXSW — HEAL WITH CRYSTAL’s referral-based practice regularly caters to high-profile and everyday clients experiencing depression, anxiety, and even forms of cancer. She specializes in intuitive chiropractic, reiki, reflexology, vibration therapy, and other modalities to guide clients from emotional crises to clarity. www.healwithcrystal.com. less...

Our local restaurant community's willingness to collaborate has been vital to the growing national prominence of Atlanta's dining scene. The most remarkable example of the community's strength, spirit, and vision in the last year has been the Giving Kitchen. What started as a rally around Staplehouse chef Ryan Hidinger after he was diagnosed with cancer has evolved into a nonprofit dedicated to supporting those in the hospitality industry like Hidinger who are experiencing hardships. Over the last year, chefs throughout the city have hosted (and continue to host) dinners and events that benefit the Giving Kitchen. This powerful display of public togetherness has sparked a passionate discourse in Atlanta, not only on the value of community, but on the value of dining together and the healing role that food can play in our lives. As Hidinger told CL, "I've become a different person through the experience of cancer, but even more so through the sheer outpouring of support and emotion from the Atlanta restaurant community." www.thegivingkitchen.org. less...

It's been a year since rabble-rousers across the country settled in parks and vacant lots to protest greedy banks, income inequality, and other social ills in what became the Occupy movement. And while some cities' groups ultimately fizzled - or, as in Oakland's case, mushroomed - after being booted from their encampments, Occupy Atlanta sunk its teeth into Georgia's unfair foreclosure laws and ran with the issue. They shouted down courthouse foreclosure auctions and set up tents in front yards outside the homes of families being threatened with eviction, all the while risking arrest. In some cases, they actually helped people avoid being put out on the street. That's not to say the members of the leaderless group were always right, or that the think tanks and legal groups fighting the issues aren't doing just as commendable a job. But the leaderless group added a dose of radicalism to the foreclosure issue. And last time we checked, they were still fighting. less...

Early in the morning on June 9, a band of ne'er-do-wells broke into Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium and proceeded to trash the Old Fourth Ward bar. Front windows were smashed, liquor bottles were broken. Adding insult to injury: the beer taps were left to run so the kegs poured dry. (Oddly enough, bar owner Grant Henry's artwork on the walls - and the cash in the register - were left untouched.) Friends and neighbors of the Edgewood Avenue bar sprang into action and helped sweep up the glass, mop up the mess, and replace the broken windows. That evening, Henry threw open the doors to loyal fans angered over the vandalism and eager to feast on Ruffles and French onion dip, guzzle stiff drinks, and play table tennis in the quirky bar's second floor. "If it wasn't the top Saturday night we've ever had," Henry told CL the following Monday, "it was the second top night." less...

Candidates will usually roll out an oversized font and a simple message for election signs and materials. And if mug shots are ever involved, it's usually your opponents using your own against you. Not so with Congressman John Lewis. The Atlanta Democrat's re-election campaign this year sold T-shirts and posters featuring the Civil Rights movement icon's decades-old police photograph above the tagline "Getting into good trouble since 1960." Lewis, who was part of the Freedom Rides to challenge Jim Crow travel laws, wears his rap sheet as a badge of honor. The 72-year-old has been arrested more than 40 times in the United States and in other countries while protesting for civil rights. We commend Lewis, who faces Republican trial attorney Howard Stopeck in November, on steering clear of staid family portraits and making the usually mundane primary election season more exciting. less...

It wasn't the most important legislation to pass this year, and we wouldn't attempt to argue that future generations of Georgians will enjoy more fruitful and satisfying lives as a result, but in the annals of no-brainers, legalizing Sunday alcohol sales tops the list. After decades of kowtowing to the Christian right, state lawmakers finally managed to nut up and pass a law allowing grown adult people to vote on whether they should be able to buy a cold one on the Sabbath. less...

They still can't marry in Georgia, but it's clear that GAY ELECTED OFFICIALS are finding more public acceptance than ever before. Voters have sent two openly gay candidates to the state House, three to the Atlanta City Council and, this summer, for the first time ever, one to the Fulton County Commission. And we're not even counting politicians who are in the closet! In fact, the Fulton race came down to a runoff between two lesbian candidates who handily out-polled a couple of breeders with nary a mention of sexual preference along the way. less...

On Dec. 17, 2008, L5P resident KYLE KEYSER was lying face down in a North Avenue Pizza Hut parking lot, a gun aimed at his head. While picking up takeout as a favor for a friend, he found himself the victim of a mugging. Thanks to chance, the video producer’s life was spared. But Keyser didn’t sit on his hands, and after the January 2009 murder of bartender John Henderson, he and a few friends launched Atlantans Together Against Crime, a nonprofit citizens’ group that quickly attracted more than 6,700 members on Facebook and became the loudest voice to raise awareness about the city’s public safety problem. On Sept. 2, he announced his candidacy for Atlanta mayor. Whether brandishing a bullhorn at monthly rallies around the city or posing questions to the Atlanta Police Department’s top brass at press conferences, Keyser’s been the voice that the city too busy to act sorely needed. <a href="http://"www.atlantanstogether.org">www.atlantanstogether.org, www.kyle.tv. less...

We Georgians may be a little slow occasionally, but at least we’re not dumb enough to elect RALPH REED lieutenant governor. Reed cut his teeth at the Christian Coalition, and built his career as a take-no-prisoners GOP consultant who never let the truth stand in the way of a good campaign sound bite. For reasons known only to him, he decided that becoming lieutenant governor of Georgia would be his first stepping stone to becoming president — yes, president of the United States. In the end, the scandal over his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff (and his cynical exploitation of Christian activists in the campaign he waged against Indian casinos with money supplied by Abramoff’s casino clients) proved too much for even Georgia’s Republicans to swallow. The good news: He was stomped in last July’s GOP primary. The bad news: Reed’s a bit like a zombie — he’s likely to remain on Georgia’s political scene for decades. less...