The Poetry He Invented
In the past year, PG has learned that two poems he enjoyed were “borrowed.” One was in Mad Magazine. It was a poem about baseball. “Tigers Tigers, burning bright, in the ballparks, of the night, your pitching’s fair, your fields adroit, so why no pennant for Detroit.” Not only was this a memorable rhyme, but it has the word adroit. While this is a wonderful addition to a vocabulary, in forty eight years PG has never used it. Maybe the only thing it is good for is rhyming with Detroit.
PG is not terribly well educated when it comes to poetry. A lot of things slip by him. He did develop an admiration for Allen Ginsberg, which led to William Blake. One night, with the World Series in the background, PG found a poem by Mr. Blake, The Tyger.
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Could it be that Mad was more fun to read? A more adroit turn of phrase? Or less prophetic… The Tigers won the World Series before the sixties were over.
In a few years, PG moved byond Mad Magazine. He read about these albums being sold by Warner Brothers. They were collections of songs from different artists, designed to make you want to buy more. “The Big Ball” cost two dollars by mail order. Side four was devoted to weird stuff. Captain Beefheart, The Mothers of Invention, The GTO’s, and Pearls Before Swine. The last band had a song, “Footnote,” which is embedded with this post.
“Footnote” is a quiet song, with easy to remember words. PG listened many, many times, and thought he had it figured out. It was about an arms dealer. Of course, most think the Pearls Before Swine is something in the Bible. Another version is when Clare Boothe Luce went into a room ahead of Dorothy Parker. “Age before beauty” “Pearls before swine”.
So anyway, there was an article about something, somewhere. It was quoting Wyston Hugh Auden, known mercifully by his initials W.H. This is another famous person that PG knew little about, other than his friendship with Christopher Isherwood. The quote was familiar. Then it hit… this was that song by Pearls Before Swine. It seems like the performer borrowed the lyrics from a copyrighted poem, Epitaph on a Tyrant.
Pictures for this entertainment are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. The second embedded video is from side four of “The Big Ball.” PG does not know if a famous poet was copied, or if this piece is original.
Thomas Jefferson Said What?
PG was wasting time with facebook when he saw a friend say “Damn I love this quote”. The passage being praised was “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Desmond Tutu.
The rhetoric alert started to flash. These days, the wolf and the sheep buy their clothes at the same Walmart. To hear some oppressors talk the talk, they are the ones under attack. It is tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Also, as the Kony fiasco showed, often you can make things worse by getting mixed up. Sometimes the best thing to do is mind your own business.
Ok, now that is out of the way. Some lines sound good, but don’t hold up to a bit of thinking. As for the veracity of the quote, Desmond Tutu may very well have said it. (or maybe one of his rivals said it, and Mr. Tutu copied it.) The quote has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Burke, Patrick Henry, and probably others. Almost no one has a source, for the quote, from the dead white guys.
There was a discussion in Prison Planet Forum about BHO, and his alleged good buddy Larry Sinclair. The signature line for one of the posts was that crowd pleaser, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” Thomas Jefferson. All that needed to happen to get the party started was to highlight the quote, right click, and ask Mr. Google to help.
A post called MISQUOTING THE FOUNDERS did not mince words. “The only problem with this scene that has been repeated many times across the country is that Thomas Jefferson never said that, never wrote that, and quite possibly never thought it. Our aspiring politician had fallen victim to the perils of popular misattribution. You could fill a book with misquotes and misattributed quotes we hear repeated regularly today. Right now if I Google “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent” the entire first page of results wrongly attribute it to Thomas Jefferson. The quote and its many variants have been attributed in the past to Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke, but no record exists of the quote in any of their writings or contemporary accounts.”
On November 13, 1787, Mr. Jefferson wrote a letter to William Smith. The letter is full of zesty quotes. “What country before ever existed a century & a half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”
A few lines above that, Mr. Jefferson said “God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion.” Twenty years after he wrote this, Mr. Jefferson was President. He probably did not want to deal with a revolution when he was President.
Getting back to the quote about tyranny, Martin Porter wrote an entertaining essay, A study of a Web quotation. He gives credit, or blame, to Edmund Burke. First, a list of different versions is presented. This is a clue that something is awry. The conclusion: “There is no original. The quote is bogus, and Burke never said it. It is a pseudo-quote, and corresponds to real quotes in the same way that urban legends about the ghost hitch-hiker vanishing in the back of the car and alligators in the sewers correspond to true news stories.”
Mr. Porter wrote a follow up essay, Four Principles of Quotation. These principles are:
Principle 1 (for readers) Whenever you see a quotation given with an author but no source assume that it is probably bogus.
Principle 2 (for readers) Whenever you see a quotation given with a full source assume that it is probably being misused, unless you find good evidence that the quoter has read it in the source.
Principle 3 (for quoters) Whenever you make a quotation, give the exact source.
Principle 4 (for quoters) Only quote from works that you have read.
If these principles were to be used, then there would be a lot less hotheaded talking on the intercom. Those who are trying to influence you to the justice of their cause will not want you to read this. Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress. These pictures are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States. When war is discussed, all inspiring quotes are in doubt.
This is a repost. It is written like James Joyce. In the past year, doing due diligence on alleged quotes has become a hobby. Many people don’t care who said it, if they agree with the thoughts expressed. The prevailing thought is that an idea becomes more true with a famous name at the end. If the famous person is deceased, and cannot defend his/her reputation, that is not a problem. People do not like being told that Santa Claus does not exist.
Adding Text With GIMP
This tutorial is about using gimp to put borders around text. If you are making graphic images, this step allows you to use almost any image as a background. This tutorial is based on the embedded video. There are a few things different in the version in this post. The video has some jivvy music, which some of you will enjoy. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
This process does not always make sense. It is not always logical. Just follow the instructions. If you make a mistake, and something does not work, just close out the window and start over. Keep these instructions handy the first few times you do this. After a while it will be easy.
This tutorial uses GIMP. If you use photoshop, you probably already know how to do this, or how to find someone to show you. If you need to download GIMP, use the link. PG learned how to do this on GIMP 2.6. The latest version is GIMP 2.8. There are a few differences between the two versions. This tutorial will provide instructions for both versions.
01 Open the picture you intend to use as a background. Make sure it is the correct size. On some versions of GIMP, you need to open the Toolbox, and the Tool Options. This is in the Windows menu. You also need to open the Layers dialog window (ctrl+L).
02 Compose the text in a word document. Copy the text.
03 Select Text (t). Draw a rectangle on the picture. Try to start the rectangle as close to the left edge as possible, and go all the way to the right edge. Make sure it is tall enough for the letters. Paste the text into the rectangle. Before pasting in the text, hit the space bar one time. When you make this image larger, it will need room to grow.
04 Choose a font. Choose foreground and background colors. See how big you can make the text before it starts another line. If you have a specific font size, enter that size in the tool options.
05 Before performing the next few steps, click on the status bar of the background picture. You want this to be the selected window. Click on this window before every step. This is important. If you choose a command, and apply it to the wrong window, it will mess things up.
06 Select text from path. In GIMP 2.6, there is a tab on the tool options window, “Path from Text.”. In GIMP 2.8, you choose “Text to Path” from the Layer menu. (alt+L, p).
07 Select “From Path” from Select menu. For GIMP 2.6 use (shift + v). For GIMP 2.8 use (alt + s, o). The two versions use most of the same shortcuts from now on. The text is now coated in flashing dash marks. This has something to do with being selected.
08 Select “Duplicate Layer” from Layer menu. (ctrl + shift + d)
09 Select “Grow” from Select menu. (alt + s, g) The “Grow Selection” window will appear. Type 3 in the highlighted field. If you want to have a bigger border, put a larger number in. Click OK.
10 Select “Fill with BG Color” from Edit menu. (ctrl + .) The Text Editor window should go away now. If the Text Editor window does not go away, something is wrong.
11 Select “None” from Select menu. (ctrl + shift + A) As we mentioned earlier, some of these steps don’t make sense. This is one of those steps.
12 Click anywhere on text. The “Confirm Text Editing” window will appear. Select “Create New Layer”. (alt + n) A layer will be created. It will be a duplicate of the original text. In GIMP 2.6, you will need to manually center the new layer of text. To do this, you will want to enlarge the text 400%. (alt + v, z, click on 400%) (On PG’s machine, the keyboard shortcut 3 will give you a 400% enlargement.) To center this layer of text, select “Move.” (m). Under Tool Toggle, you need to select “Move the active layer.” Choose the drawing option on the left, next to the word “Move.” This is the “Layer” option, as opposed to “Selection” or “Path.” If the Move tool does not work, make sure the right option is selected. This can be confusing.
12a In GIMP 2.8, the new layer of text is automatically centered on the enlarged layer of text.
13 Once the new layer of text is centered, you need to “Merge Down” the layer. Select “Merge Down” from the Layer menu. (d) You will need to do this twice. Where you once had four layers, you will now have two. With GIMP 2.8, you need to select the toolbox. before you hit d twice. (cntrl + b)
14 Move the finished text into place. If it goes at the bottom of the picture, move it to the bottom right hand corner. Place it a few pixels off the bottom. (Most of PG’s images are 720×447 pixels. The bottom of the text is resting on 431 pixels.) Enlarge the view to 400%. Position the right edge of the text flush against the right edge of the picture. Scroll to the left side of the text. Place the cursor over the left edge of the text, and see what the pixel counter says. The first number will be width, the second number is height. Note the position of the left edge of the text. See the location in pixels. Divide the first number in half. Move the edge of the text to this number. Scroll to the right side of the text, and confirm that the distance to the edge of the picture is the same on both sides.
15 Go back to 100% (1). Are you happy with the way this text works with this picture? If you are happy with this look, anchor the text by clicking d. For GIMP 2.6, “Save” the picture. (ctrl + shift + s, type new name) For GIMP 2.8, you will want to “Export” the picture. (cntrl + shift + e, type new name) Note the folder you are saving/exporting the picture to.
15a If you are not happy with the results, you can try another picture. Go to the Layers dialog box. Select Background. Click on the garbage can in the bottom right of the window. Find another picture. Drag the file into the picture. Go to the Layers dialog window. Highlight the layer with the text. Click on the arrow pointing up. If you are happy with this look, “Merge Down” the text (d) and “Save”/”Export” the picture. (ctrl + shift + s, type new name) (ctrl + shift + e, type new name.)
Responsible For Jesus
It was a sunday evening, and there was nothing good to say. Rather than not saying anything at all, PG decided to go into his archives. This post is from May of 2007. It is about responsible behavior, and a religion that does not encourage it. This repost might be hypocritical, but no one forced you to read it. Part two is another rerun. It is written in first person. The pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”, need text between them.
It all started when a girl went to a back room with a former boyfriend. Her current bf stormed out of the party, and flipped his car when it went off the road. Being a star quarterback did not prevent the fatal consequences. The local radio whiner had a few things to say. Since alcohol was a suspected factor, the question became, “how do we teach teenagers to drink responsibly?”
PG is a retired drunk, and has a few dozen opinions on this issue. His wandering mind settled on a related subject…Jesus. G-d’s love baby is similar to alcohol. Both are legal, both have potential for good and ill, and neither works for PG. The thought occurred “How do we teach Teenagers to Worship Jesus Responsibly?” Now, this may be the first time those two concepts have been paired like that…Jesus and Responsibility…but it should not be the last.
A central concept in the world of Jesus Worship is the avoidance of responsibility…”Jesus paid the price for my sins on the cross”. While you may feel better to think you are forgiven, that does not help the person who was hurt by your actions. If star the quarterback had run into someone, G-d might forgive him, but this does not help with the medical bills.
Today’s seminar is about the Worshiping Responsibly. It is about having respect for your neighbors who do not agree with you, and do not want to hear about your “salvation”. It is about not creating ill will for Jesus with obnoxious behavior in his name. It is about not dragging Jesus into your personal quarrels, using his name in anger to hurt your neighbor. It is about Responsibility. Your actions have consequences, and just because you are doing it for Jesus does not eliminate that reality.
There are two big reasons why PG is not a Jesus Worshiper. The first one is, he simply doesn’t agree with the teachings. The Bible is not the word of G-d, Jesus was killed because he was a troublemaker. The death, and reputed resurrection, of Jesus has nothing to do with what happens to people when they die. If you don’t agree with the dogma regarding life after death, the Jesus worship church has little to offer you. Christianity is more a scheme for life after death than a religion.
The Second reason is the sorry behavior of Jesus Worshipers. This prevents PG from having a cosmetic, social oriented membership in a church. He does not want to pretend to worship a spirit which causes him misery.
Responsibility is not valued in the Jesus Worship community. Respect for non believers is seen as a sign of weakness. And, while not all Jesus Worshipers are fanatics, many admire and support the loudmouths who give their faith a bad name.
When it comes to belief, moderation is not valued. Fanaticism is admired. There is little responsibility taken. It is just the Jesus talking.
Christopher Isherwood once said, in a magazine interview, that the doctrine of a religion is not as important as the person who tells you that doctrine. (If anyone can find this quote on the internet, please leave a comment with a link.) It is a common belief that religions are about beliefs, but many find that it is the person who draws you into the community. A corollary of this is when you have a bad experience with a person who represents a religion. This person can drive you far away from wanting to have any participation in a religion. The idea that G-d would send a person to hell because he knew an offensive Jesus worshiper is tough to believe.
So much for world affairs. It is time to tell a story, with no moral and no redeeming social value.
In 1980, I was staying at a place called the Sea Haven Hostel, affectionately known as Sleaze Haven. This was in Seattle WA, as far as you can get from Atlanta, and still be in the lower 48. I was working through Manpower, and staying in a semi private room for $68 a month.
There was a Christian group that met in the basement on Sunday Night. Now, as some of you may know, I am a recovering baptist, who hasn’t been to church since 1971. However, the lure of a free meal was hard to resist, so I went to a few meetings.
One night, after doing quality control work on the local beer supply, I cheerfully joined in the discussion. This was the night when I realized that the Bible is not the Word of G-d, a concept that has been very handy in dealing with the clumsy efforts of our Jesus-mad culture to convert me.
They seemed to like me, though, and welcomed me back. Maybe it was the southern accent.
One Sunday, after the dinner was finished , it was time to have a prayer to begin the meeting. I raised my hand. Now, Jesus Worshipers enjoy prayer as entertainment. When they bow their heads, you see them stretching and deep breathing, in anticipation of a good, lengthy, message to G-d.
My message was a bit of a disappointment. Instead of a long winded lecture about Jesus and the magic book, I said what was on my mind. Lord, thank you for letting us be here today.
Jean D. McKinnon
The first picture in this episode is a family portrait of the Quin family in Washington Georgia. The nine surviving children of Hugh Pharr Quin are sitting for the camera. Mr. Quin had joined the Georgia State Troops of the Army of the Confederacy at the age of 16, and after the war went to Washington to live with his sister. Mr. Quin was in the church choir of the First Methodist Church when he met the organist, Betty Lou DuBose. They were married January 22, 1879.
The original name of Mrs. Quin was Louisa Toombs DuBose. She was the daughter of James Rembert DuBose. His brother in law was Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State of the Confederacy, and a man of whom many stories are told.
In this picture, Mrs. Quin is holding the hand of her second youngest daughter so she will not run away. This is Mattie Vance Quin. She is my grandmother.
After the Great War, Mattie Vance Quin was living in Memphis Tennessee, where she met Arthur Dunaway. Mr. Dunaway was a veteran of the war, and was from Paragould, Arkansas. On July 23, 1922 her first Daughter, Jean, was born. This is my mother.
Mr. Dunaway died in 1930, shortly after the birth of his son Arthur. There were hard times and upheaval after this, with the family settling in Atlanta. There her third child Helen Ann Moffat was born on December 12, 1933. This is my Aunt Helen and my mother’s best friend.
Jean lived for many years with her mother and sister at 939 Piedmont, among other locations. She joined the First Baptist Church and sang in the choir. She got a job with the C&S bank, and was working at the Tenth Street Branch when she met Luther McKinnon. He was a native of Rowland, North Carolina. They were married October 6, 1951.
They moved into the Skyland Apartments, which in those days was out in the country. Mom told a story about Dad taking her home from Choir practice, and going home on the two lane Buford Hiway. There was a man who went to the restaurants to get scraps to feed his pigs, and his truck was always in front of them. This was a serious matter in the summer without air conditioning.
Soon, they moved into a house, and Luther junior was born on May 6, 1954. This is me. Malcolm was born May 10, 1956, which did it for the children. Neither of us had children, so that is where that ends.
The fifties were spent on Wimberly Road, a street of always pregnant women just outside Brookhaven. It was a great place to be a little kid.
In 1960, we moved to Parkridge Drive, to the house where my brother and I stay today. The note payment was $88 a month. Ashford Park School is a short walk away…the lady who sold us the house said ” you slap you kid on the fanny and he is at school”.
In 1962, our family followed the choir director from First Baptist to Briarcliff Baptist, which is where my parents remained.
In 1964, Mom went back to work. She ran the drive in window at Lenox Square for the Trust Company of Georgia until it was time to retire. She became a talk radio fan when RING radio started, and was a friend of her customer Ludlow Porch. She gave dog biscuits to customers with dogs.
During this era of change, Mom taught me that all people were good people, be they black or white. This was rare in the south. She later became disgusted with the War in Vietnam, and liked to quote a man she heard on the radio. “How will we get out of Vietnam?”” By ship and by plane”.
Eventually, it was time to retire. Her and Dad did the requisite traveling, until Dad got sick and passed away February 7,1992. Mom stuck around for a few more years, until her time came December 18, 1998. This is a repost.
Jack City Is Number Three
Every year, at roughly the same time as the National Day of Prayer, an internet facility known as Neighborhood Scout publishes a list of bad hoods. This year is no different. NeighborhoodScout’s ® Top 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in America is now available for your enjoyment.
1 East St. Louis, IL (City Center)
2 Jackson, TN (James Buchanan Dr / 1st St)
3 Atlanta, GA (Mcdaniel St SW / Mary St SW)
4 Saginaw, MI (E Holland Ave / E Genesee Ave)
5 Rockford, IL (7th St / E Jefferson St)
6 Memphis, TN (Chelsea Ave / N Claybrook St)
7 Rochester, NY (Orange St / W Broad St)
8 Detroit, MI (Wyoming St / Orangelawn St)
9 Detroit, MI (Broadstreet Ave / Cortland St)
10 Camden, NJ (Whitman Park)
11 Detroit, Mi (W Jeffries Fwy / Seebaldt St)
12 New Orleans, LA (Conti St / Marais St)
13 East St. Louis, IL (Caseyville Ave / N Park Dr)
14 Oklahoma City, OK (NE 36th St / N Martin Luther King Ave)
15 Baltimore, MD (E Oliver St / N Broadway)
16 Cincinnati, OH (Central Pky / Central Ave)
17 Omaha, NE (N 24th St / Ames Ave)
18 Rockford, IL (N Rockton Ave / W State St)
19 West Memphis, AR (E Jackson Ave / Autumn Ave)
20 Chicago, IL (S Indiana Ave / E 60th St)
21 Saginaw, MI (Lapeer Ave / E Genesee Ave)
22 Washington, DC (Atlantic St SE / 4th St SE)
23 St. Louis, MO (Clara Ave / Saint Louis Ave)
24 Chicago, IL (S Pulaski Rd / W Lexington St)
25 Baton Rouge, LA (N Lobdell Ave / Harry Dr)
The protection money paid by New York, Florida, and Texas kept them off the list. If you want to see who is what, the list is there. The site has more information, especially if you subscribe to Neighborhood Scout. Put fresh batteries in your BS detector.
The only Atlanta winner is McDaniel Street & Mary Street. It comes in at number three. This is the site of a popular video. In the film, a young man is beaten by three other young men. The person filming the scene shouts “no faggots in jack city.”
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Ride
In the modern workplace, there are subjects you don’t want to talk about. Discussions of religion, politics, race, and celebrity footwear can spark unwanted controversy. The question then arises, what can you talk to people about? What do you have in common with a diverse group of people?
One subject, usually safe for conversation, is your ride in to work. In an freeway crazy place like Atlanta, everyone has a story. Last week, PG took notes on his ride. What follows is the journey one day, from a Brookhaven house to the Vinings office complex. The day is April 30. The next day is May Day. The parade has been cancelled, due to lack of communists.
7:41 am Leave the house. The idea is to report at 8:30 am. You want to allow a few extra minutes for unforeseen problems. The good news is that, in the morning, going west on I285 is against traffic. East bound, or the inner loop, is a traffic nightmare.
7:43 am /0.3 miles Turn the corner on Eighth Street, and the start of New Peachtree Road. In the pre-marta days, Eighth Street went over the tracks to Peachtree Road. When PG was a kid, there was a sign for the railroad crossing. There was no red flashing light.
7:44 am The Southern Crescent passes on the Norfolk Southern line, next to New Peachtree. The train is going to New Orleans. The people on that train are probably having more fun than you.
7:45 am/1.1 miles This is the first red light. You turn left onto Clairmont Road. Peachtree Dekalb Airport is down the hill, across the street. At certain times of the year, you can see the sun rising over the airport on your morning run.
7:47 am/1.4 miles You have gone over the wonderful bridge. In the pre-marta era, to get from the end of Clairmont, to Peachtree Industrial, you had to make a left turn, cross the railroad tracks on a bridge made from telephone poles, and cut through the Krystal parking lot. Now, a bridge takes you over all this. At the end of the bridge, you take a left turn onto Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
7:48 am/1.7 miles Turn right onto Johnson Ferry. You will probably need to slow dawn for the traffic ahead of you. Welcome to Atlanta.
7:53 am/2.4 miles This is the confluence of Johnson Ferry Road and Ashford Dunwoody Road. When these roads were built, they took farmer Jones to church once a week. Now, they are lined with subdivisions. For some reason, these two busy thoroughfares merge, go forward on two lanes for about a hundred yards, and then split up. There are lots of angry soccer moms making left turns.
7:54 am/2.6 milesWhen you get to the fork in the road, take it. If you lean left here, you head towards Cobb County. This stretch of road is a long downhill run, a bridge over Nancy Creek, (7:56 am/3.7 miles,) and a long uphill climb. This is all on two lanes, with double yellow lines in the middle. The speed limit is 35 mph. At least once a week, there will be an SUV behind you that wants to go faster. This is bad for the composure of everyone involved.
7:58 am/4.5 miles There is a red light at Peachtree Dunwoody Road. You are in Fulton County now. This is the area known as pill hill. There are three major hospitals, and enough medical office buildings to cause insurance apoplexy. The traffic creeps ahead at a stealthy pace.
8:00 am/ 5.0 miles A bridge takes you over Highway 400. You are not the only person who is over Highway 400. At least you are not on it.
8:00 am/ 5.1 miles Turn right onto Glenridge. If you had gone forward at the light, Johnson Ferry would have turned into Glenridge. This can get complicated.
8:01 am/5.3 miles Turn left, and get onto I285. This is exit 26 of the Perimeter. This is a seminal moment of the Atlanta experience. You are no longer ITP, or OTP, but OnTP.
8:03 am/6.2 miles You go under Roswell Road, exit 25. This is the first disappearing lane. The far right lane is exit only. If you are to continue, you must go over one lane.
8:06 am/10.4 miles You cross the Chattahoochee River, and enter Cobb County.
8:07 am/11.1 miles I75 is approaching. I285 splits in two, with one part dedicated to the exchange of vehicles, and the other half going merrily forward. You need to get in one of the two lanes to the left. This is scary for people who like to drive the speed limit. As someone said to PG once, “you gotta be as crazy as they are.”
8:08 am/12.1 miles This is the reunification of I285. Since you get off at the next exit, you need to go from the far left side, to the far right side. You have 1.4 miles to do this. This competitive lane changing is complicated by the appearance of uphill entry ramps. You settle into a lane, and discover a speeding pickup truck making a surprise appearance on your bumper. However tempting alcohol might be at this time, it is not recommended.
8:10 am/13.5 miles You get off I285. Paces Ferry Road is exit 18.
8:15 am/14.7 miles You get through the concrete obstacle course, find a parking spot, and turn the car off. The work day is about to begin.
5:32 pm Start the vehicle. You are the only person that warms the vehicle before driving.
5:40 pm/0.3 miles Get out of the parking deck. Turn onto a side street.
5:42 pm/1.2 miles Turn right, and take a bridge over I285. On snow jam day, this part took 45 minutes. The pace on I285 below is not much faster.
5:44 pm/1.7 miles You are across the street from Cumberland Mall. Turn right.
5:49 pm/3.0 miles You turn left after crossing I75. You go into a series of concrete ramps. They will take you to I285.
5:58 pm/9.1 miles You exit I285 at Roswell Road, exit 25. This is your first opportunity to do so.
6:00 pm 9.8 miles You turn left onto Glenridge Road. You sometimes have to wait through a few lights. The idea is to get here by 6:00 pm. It can take a half hour to go the last quarter mile on I285, and go through this light.
6:03 pm/10.3 miles You turn onto a side road, which takes you over Highway 400.
6:07 pm/11.8 miles At the bottom of the hill, you turn left onto Windsor Parkway, and cross Nancy Creek. You will go up a long hill, and the traffic will creep and crawl.
6:13 pm/12.7 miles At the top of the hill you get to a four way stop. This is the reason the traffic continues to progress, however slowly. This is Lynwood Park. It was formerly the oldest black neighborhood in Dekalb County. The location has led to gentrification. It is now another trendy neighborhood, just what Atlanta needs more of.
6:19 pm/13.9 miles Turn left onto Peachtree Road. .
6:21 pm/14.3 miles Turn right under the railroad tracks. You are almost home.
6:23 pm/15.0 miles Home. Pictures are from The Library of Congress
Watering Hole Story
PG and his neighbor DA went out to drink beer and shoot pool. The destination was a place called the Watering Hole. The Watering Hole used to be a VFW. There was a TV repair store next door. When the county legalized bars, the VFW went somewhere else. The TV repair store became the game room. You could see on the floor where the counter used to be.
This was a weeknight. The other customer was past his limit. The drunk was fussing at the bartender when PG and DA walked in.
PG got lucky and hit a good shot on the pool table. He got a bit cocky, and said “and now for my next trick”. The drunk staggered into the game room, and lay down on an empty pool table. DA replied, “Is that your next trick?”
Before long, it was time to go home. As PG and DA were leaving, the drunk was arguing with the bartender. He wanted to buy a twelve pack to take home. The drunk won the argument, and started walking up Clairmont Road with his prize.
PG got a block or so away from the Watering Hole. He saw the drunk sitting in front of a seven eleven store. The drunk was sitting on the curb, drinking a beer. PG drove in front of him, and stopped the car. DA got out, and walked over to the curb. She picked up the eleven pack, and walked over to the car. Her pace was deliberate. The drunk stood up and yelled obscenities. The car drove away. off. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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