April 2018
Features
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“There’s still an enormous amount of racial distrust in Atlanta.”
Just few weeks into her term, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks out about the election, her efforts to raise $1 billion for affordable housing, whether she’ll endorse in the governor’s race, and the sexism she encounters as a woman who, besides being a mother of four, is the mayor of Georgia’s largest city.
Let’s Talk About Race: 14 Atlantans on how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go
The experience of race in America is, at its core, a series of stories, as discrete and unique as the person telling it. We asked several Atlantans for something as simple as it was profound: To tell their own truth about race. What they came back with may surprise you. It may enrage you. It most definitely will enlighten you.
A new documentary on Maynard Jackson delves deep into the struggles and scrutiny of Atlanta’s first black mayor
It’s now been 15 years since Maynard Jackson’s death, but the issues explored in the new documentary film about his life—the city’s fraught racial history, the expectations placed on a black mayor, the scrutiny on minority contracts for city business—feel very relevant today.
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The Connector
Don’t Miss List: Our top 5 Atlanta event picks for April
Looking for things to do in Atlanta during April? Laugh your butt off with Kevin Hart at Philips Arena, watch the Atlanta Braves take on the Washington Nationals, and join in the 50th year of the Druid Hills Home Tour.
Artist Ana Guzman’s subjects are her fellow MARTA passengers
Following the tradition of cityscape artists like Edward Hopper, Ana Guzman often has a sketchbook in hand, ready to capture urban life in front of her. Passengers usually keep to themselves on MARTA, earbuds in place and eyes locked on their phones. But when Guzman pulls out her paint pens and starts drawing, fellow riders begin to interact.
Which April Atlanta festival is right for you?
Jam at Sweetwater 420 Festival, devour a giant turkey leg at the Atlanta Renaissance Festival, watch the best international films at Atlanta Film Festival, or, if you just like cheese, go to Grilled Cheese Fest. Atlanta has a festival for everyone.
How the Townsend Prize for Fiction, which honors Georgia writers, came to be
James L. Townsend, Atlanta magazine’s founding editor, passed away in 1981 after a battle with cancer. At his funeral, several former close associates—including Pat Conroy, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Terry Kay—decided to launch a literary award in his honor. Recent winners inspire us to follow Townsend’s frequent admonition: “Brilliant, dear heart. Write it down. Write it all down.”
Atlanta leaders want to power the city with 100 percent clean energy by 2035. Can it be done?
Can a growing urban center of Atlanta’s size really part ways with fossil fuels in the next 17 years? Yes, experts say. But it won’t be easy. It’ll take a combined effort with local businesses and energy providers such as Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility and the sole electricity provider for metro Atlanta.
4 life lessons gleaned in the new Sam Massell biography
In Play It Again, Sam: Atlanta’s First Minority Mayor, a new biography by Charles McNair about former mayor Sam Massell, we learn life lessons from City Hall’s first and only Jewish leader.
The Bite
The New South: Three cookbooks challenge Southern stereotypes
Taqueria del Sol owner Eddie Hernandez, legendary Southern chef Virginia Willis, and Richards’ Southern Fried owner Todd Richards all have new cookbooks debuting this spring that feature some excellent Southern mash-ups such as collard green ramen.
With his new cookbook, Atlanta chef Todd Richards wants to change the way we view soul food
Todd Richards found that one of the biggest obstacles for black chefs is the lack of economic resources for opening their own restaurants. That’s why he sees his new cookbook, Soul, as a transformative text to make soul food higher in economic value.
Review: The Brick Store team goes OTP with Good Word Brewing & Public House
What’s the next logical step for the beer experts behind Brick Store Pub in Decatur? How about a revolutionary brewpub engineered for conversation and focused on community in what’s perhaps the region’s next big destination for hip eating and drinking: Duluth.
The Christiane Chronicles: Some people watch ballet. I admire the Dance of the Short-Order Cook.
Some people have season tickets to the ballet; others follow sports. The spectacle I’m addicted to, every bit as physical in its own way but more quotidian, is the artistry of the short-order cook.
The Goods
Room Envy: In Tucker, an inviting space for reading (or binge-watching)
Tall ceilings and a modern sensibility don’t always add up to comfort, but this media room creates an inviting nook for reading—or binge-watching. “The rest of the house is bright white,” says Cara Cummins, an architect with TaC Studios, which designed the custom house in Tucker. “But the homeowners wanted this room to feel cozy.”
Wedding season is almost here. Anne Barge reveals the most in-demand bridal trends.
Anne Barge has been a top name in bridal for nearly 20 years. Her eponymous Atlanta-based company, now with Shawne Jacobs at the helm, just opened an appointment-only atelier. Known for her feminine, classic style, Barge reveals this season’s most in-demand bridal trends.
Atlanta-based app Looklive lets you dress like you’re stepping off the red carpet
Google “David Beckham style” and one of the first results is Atlanta-based app Looklive. The startup digital platform, launched in 2016 by cofounders Scooter Taylor and Chidiebere Kalu, lets users shop celebrity fashion and cheaper, similar items.
My Style: Michelle Norris, Tropico Photo’s art director and photographer
As half of the creative photography studio Tropico Photo (with fiancé Forrest Aguar), Michelle Norris spends her days dreaming up bold and bright imagery for fashion layouts and advertising campaigns. Tropico’s portfolio includes work for Red Bull, Samsung, the New York Times, SanDisk, and King of Pops, but Norris says her favorite shoot was for the summer 2017 edition of Georgia-based Secret Catalog.
Quality time: Atlanta-based Crown & Caliber is changing the game for preowned luxury watches
Until recently, there hasn’t been a reliable marketplace for preowned luxury watches, but Atlanta-based consignor Crown & Caliber is trying to fill that gap. It recently opened an appointment-only showroom at its new headquarters in Sandy Springs, giving local customers a social experience rivaling that of a posh design house.
Rinnovo Studio makes the most vibrant trout scarves you’ve ever seen
A soft silk scarf with quail and magnolias—that’s the piece that launched Rinnovo. It was one of several designs that Thomasville native Mallory Jones created in collaboration with emerging artists as part of a textile experiment while getting her MBA at Clemson University. A year after mailing her only scarf sample to Orvis, the company ordered her wares.
Miscellaneous
Flashback: The civil rights activist and agitator, Hosea Williams
Hosea Williams was standing below the Memphis motel balcony when he saw his friend and mentor, Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated. Williams, a pugnacious lieutenant in the civil rights movement, the bad cop to Andrew Young’s good cop, wondered “whether America lost its last chance.”
