Midtown
This content was posted June 4, 2013. … The neighborhood along Peachtree Road has always been a great place to be a freak. For a long time it didn’t have a name. It is north of downtown, between Piedmont Park and Georgia Tech. Sometime in the early eighties, people started to call it Midtown, and the name stuck.
In the time after the War Between the States, this area was a shantytown called “Tight Squeeze.” It evolved into a pleasant middle class area. In the sixties, hippies took over. The area was known as the strip, or tight squeeze. Many stories could be told.
After the flower children moved on, the area went into decline. Gays started to move in, with the battle cry “Give us our rights or we will remodel your house.” Developers, worshiping the triune G-d of location, location, location, began to smell money. The neighborhood became trendy, then expensive, then more expensive. The freaks with money remain.
This content was posted August 4, 2009. … There is a nifty webcam up now. It shows the progress of 1010 Midtown, a high rise going up at 12th and Peachtree in midtown. The location of the camera itself is not certain. The most likely location is 999 Peachtree, on Tenth Street.
A glance at the image reveals a curve in the road, between the two glass boxes under construction. Atlanta does not have wide, straight boulevards extending to the horizon. It is said that Atlanta did not build roads, but paved the cow paths.
People of a certain age will remember this area as the the strip. The tenth street district was a neighborhood shopping area, up until the mid sixties. At some point, the old businesses started to move out and the hippies moved in. For a while, it was a festive party. Soon reality returned, and the area went into a crime filled decline.
The 999 complex is the neighborhood story in a nutshell. Before 1985, it was a block of small businesses. There was a hardware store, with the peace symbol set in tiles on the sidewalk. On Juniper Street stood the Langdon Court Apartments. They were named for my great uncle Langdon Quin.
Across the street was a Chinese restaurant, the House of Eng. A staircase on the side led to the Suzy Wong Lounge. Behind the building was an apartment building. It was one of the residences of Margaret Mitchell, while she wrote “Gone With The Wind.” She called it “the dump,”which was fairly accurate. The museum on that site would have amazed her.
I went to the House of Eng for lunch one day in 1985. I noticed that I was the only customer in the house, at 12:30 pm on a weekday. After finishing lunch, I knew why.
At some point, it was decided to build a high rise there. Heery was one of the equity partners, along with a law firm and an ad agency. The building was designed by Heery (duh).The ad agency folded before the building opened, followed within a couple of years by the law firm. Heery was sold to a British company. 999 Peachtree is now owned by Piedmont Office Realty Trust. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library “Dub” took the social media photograph February 2, 1950. “Shell service station Piedmont and 10th streets.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
World Goth Day
This content was published May 22, 2012. … In case you did not know, I am an old fogey. I have not been hip since before Nancy Reagan said no. It is rather amazing that I would hear about World Goth Day, much less know what it meant. … What exactly was Goth? When was it popular? Who were popular Goths? Where did they buy their lipstick? Why are you reading this?
According to the WGD web facility, “Best 80’s goth band: The Sisters Of Mercy”. In 1991, I hosted a tacky party in my back yard. A person, who arguably had Goth sympathies, went to a Sisters of Mercy concert at the Fox Theater that night.That would date the advent of Goth a bit. In other words, the original Goths are telling their teenage children to behave now.
Getting back to twitter, the Gothoids are tweeting up a storm. Lets take a look. · @crocpunch I’m too depressed to celebrate World Goth Day. · @TonyCowards It’s World Goth Day and the sun is shining brightly, who says God doesn’t do irony? · @JDawgMadden World Goth Day? Do we have to dress up in black and write depressing, Edgar Allan Poe-wannabe poetry? · @prattprattpratt Out of curiosity, what makes today “World Goth Day?” Did the Goths lobby to have a day? Write their congressman? Who decides? Really. · @NotGaryBusey It’s World Goth Day and somewhere Glenn Danzig is cleaning out kitty litter. · @LauraMcCabe “World Goth Day” Pity no goths will see this trending as their too busy away slitting their wrists · @LauraMcCabe_ Just to let Eurovision fans know there is a tranny singing for Croatia on Thursday. Pretty “woman” with long hair, dress&a nice fluffy beard · @noelfielding11 I personally find world Goth day a bit gloomy. Might spend it on my own in the cemetery · @Eve_Barlow If I knew it was WORLD GOTH DAY I would’ve stayed at home and played House Of The Dead in my Beetlejuice leggings with Marmite on my lips.
The WGD facility has a forum, which asks the question Are you a true Goth? There is one comment in the thread. Somebody is trying to generate traffic for his site, www.Vampirewebsite.net. “Keep in mind most vampires have no idea what they are, and most of them will never find out. When looking for a vampire locally probably the worst place to look is in vampire groups, they are generally over crowded with wannabes and posers. It’s best to just use this page and go basically any where, just as an example we all go to the grocery store eventually.”
Bad Goth, Bad! elevates the conversation a bit. “Goths are everywhere these days. The mall, the beach, and some have even been spotted at sports games. Listen guys, THERE ARE RULES FOR BEING GOTH. If you’re going to represent the Underworld and live in the shadows, you can’t just go around being all normy-norms and drinking Cinnamon lattes next to the Christmas Tree. I’m not going to lie- everyone loves goth style and music on some level (HELLO ALEXANDER McQUEEN and THE CURE), but if you are going to own goth, then you must abide by the goth rules, which means you are ultimately an intellectual, emo vampire (which is really actually very cool). So please act like one. Here are some goths who aren’t following protocol and so I present, BAD GOTH, BAD!”
@SkipsMcskippy So it’s world goth day, I really can’t be bothered celebrating though @baileyhonsinger I’m totally participating in world goth day. Its my favorite day of the year!! · @ErinDavis88 “@zachbraff: Happy “World Goth Day”, also known as “Where Did My Parents Go Wrong Day.”” · @whitewe9 It’s world goth day. I was going to get depressed about it, but then I remembered that would count as celebrating. · @jczreid @vairi the irony that I got sunburnt in world goth day has not been lost on me, even though I was wearing an impressive amount of black · @SmashinBeauty I just found out that today is World Goth day! Happy Goth Day to goths .. if I had known I would have prepared something .. makeup wise · @azroth World Goth day? But everyday is Halloween. · @paulday15 Are goths happy about world goth day? If they are, are they still goths? · @ohmyblainers World Goth Day? Heeeeyyyyy Tina. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken March 25, 1961. “Order of the Eastern Star, Grant Park Chapter # 178” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Another Roadside Attraction Part Two
This content was published May 9, 2016. … This is the second, and final, part of a chamblee54 book report on Another Roadside Attraction, by Thomas Eugene Robbins. The book is due back at the Chamblee library today. There are two possible reasons to hurry up, and finish reading the book. A overdue fine from the local library is less of a burden than a failing grade. The effect can be the same … not stopping to smell the verbal roses, but shovelling the animal product that facilitates growth. FWIW, part one is available for your perusal.
The first note is page 177. John Paul Ziller, and his wife Amanda, decline to get drunk. They consider alcohol to be an imperfect drug. This is a line that I remember from the 1978 reading of ARA. What was forgotten was Marx Marvelous, the narrator of the tale. He proceeds to get sloshed, and quotes Bertrand Russell: there is little difference between a man who eats too little and sees heaven, and a man who drinks too much and sees snakes.
Amanda replies that one of the men sees snakes. She says a lot of things in ARA. It is probably quite charming in person, especially when one is warm for her form. In the text, forty five years later, it can be rather annoying. On page 336, Marx Marvelous learns two things about Amanda: she loves him deeply, and is totally indifferent as to whether, or not, she sees him again. The concept of sexist condescension, germinating when ARA was written, has come to politically correct fruition in the age of Obama. If one is of the mind to do so, they could judge ARA harshly for this.
There is an order of renegade monks down the road from the Zillers. An associate, Plucky Purcell (more formally known as L. Westminster Purcell III) is a visitor at this facility. This residency is a marvel of totally unbelievable fiction, and is essential to the plot of ARA. The monks are a Vatican hit squad, and Purcell fits right in. In a stroke of impossible to forsee synchronicity, two *good* nuns stop by for a visit. They are Sister Elizabeth and Sister Hillary. They make two appearances… on page 183 and page 283. Amanda decides it is nun of her business.
The Zillers have a roadside zoo, and hot dog stand. It does not sell coffee, which is disappointing to many road warriors. “They stop for coffee, and feel cheated when they learn the meaning of meaning.” I first heard the phrase “meaning of meaning” in an eleventh grade history class. It was presided over by a basketball coach, who was not interested in the dribbles and shoots of wars and civilizations. For the first test, “Dudley Doo Right” asked the class to write three pages on the meaning of meaning.
As second time readers know, the essential character in ARA is the body of Jesus. It was in the Vatican, until Plucky Purcell found it, and brought it to the Ziller’s hot dog stand. In this edition of ARA, the mummified savior appears on page 222. This is one third of the anti christ. There is something cosmic about a dead Jesus having a numeric value equal to one third of beelzebub. Or maybe it is merely comic, and the author added the extra s by mistake.
One of the joys of google era reading is easy access to fact checking. (The proposed french word for google was a palindrome, googelegoog). On page 280, TER reports that Carmen Miranda wore size one shoes. The page wikiFeet for Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha has pictures, which appear to be larger than size one. The Celebrity Shoe Size List has Carmen Electra (size 7) and Carmen Kass (size 8.5,) but no Carmen Miranda. I suspect this diva detail to be an apparition of overactive imagination.
As ARA rambles on to the uplifting conclusion, a council of war is convened in the hot dog stand. The Zillers, Plucky Purcell, Marx Marvelous, and Mon Cul (John Paul Ziller’s pet baboon) try to decide what to do with the holy remains, known by now as “the corpse.” On page 290, there is a typo, unless “insited” is a scrabble approved word. On page 288, someone is called “utopianist.” This may reefer refer to utopia. A more whimsical vision sees a keyboard musician working for the United Thank Offering. Those Episcopals think of everything.
There are several sides in this debate. Amanda takes the historic approach, and washes her pretty hands of the corpse. Pontius Pilate hands her a bar of soap. Plucky Purcell wants to publicly display the corpse, with the idea of destroying the Catholic church. Marx Marvelous says that lots of Catholics are good people, and telling them that Jesus is dead would hurt their fee fees. Sister Elizabeth, and Sister Hillary, are used as examples.
In truth, the fictional debate has been rendered moot in the post Nixon, but not post racial, world. The Catholic church soldiers on. The revelation that *some* priests like to forcibly sodomize pre adolescent boys has barely mattered to the masses. The church has taken a (catho) licking, and kept on ticking. Co-dependent Protestantism does even better.
Page 290 was where I had to throw down the book in disgust. Plucky Purcell, backing down from his plan to destroy the church, admits that *Jesus* was a pretty good guy after all. Never mind that the story he quotes is from the Bible… written by hundreds of anonymous authors, hand copied by anonymous scribes, compiled and edited by the Romanized church, translated by a queer English king. How can you trust a book like that? And yet, the PR of Jesus persists. Even the most vicious critics of the modern Jesus worship church have a soft spot for the old boy.
One *page 69,* John Paul Ziller warns against anthromorphizing, or assigning human emotions to non-human animals. And yet, 222 pages later, the text anthromorphizes the cult of Jesus. It must work, because the conclusion of ARA leaves the Roman Pedophile Church intact. … Tom Robbins went to the hotdog stand in the sky February 9, 2025. Pictures today are from Georgia State University Library. The social media picture: Ford Motor Company mechanics, Lawrenceville”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Liberace’s Birthday
What follows is a script for a guided meditation. It was presented May 16, 2026, in Highlands NC. The date and location are central to this exercise. We will be using 4-7-8 Breathing. When we are in Tibet, on the other side of the world, we will practice Loving Kindness Meditation.
Welcome to my guided meditation. Thank you for helping to create this. The theme of the weekend is Transcending Traditions. Or maybe the opposite … Cis Beginning. Either way, we are going to take a different approach. Please don’t take this too seriously. … I am going to be pronouncing names in unfamiliar languages. I will make mistakes. I am also going to be presenting details, which are not guaranteed to be accurate. I would enjoy your forgiveness. If you cannot hear me clearly, please raise your hand, and I will speak louder.
From time to time, we are going to welcome people into our circle. When I say “Welcome ___” you are invited to say the name with me. … Let’s draw the circle close together. I would like for us all to hold hands, or have some other physical connection to the circle. The people on my side can place a hand on my shoulder or thigh, as I will be using my hands. … Please look across the circle, and see who is sitting there. If you don’t remember their name, remember the color of their shirt. Tuck this detail into your mind for later use. · Now, I would invite you to close your eyes. Put your feet firmly on the floor, and make yourself grounded and comfortable.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Highlands NC is at 35.05° N latitude and -83.19° W longitude. We are going to use this as a starting point. Moving north from Highlands, we will go due north until we cross the state line into Tennessee. Bat Harbor TN, Jonesville VA, Hazard KY, Columbus OH, Detroit MI. We will leave land at Bad Axe MI, and move into Lake Huron. We will enter Canada at Blind River ON, and move up to Hudson Bay. We will be back on land in Nunavut (NOO·nuh·voot) Territory, and run out of land at Ellesmere Island. This is 82° N, and is one of the furthest north points on the planet. Alaska only goes up to 71°N. We will skate over the Arctic Ocean, and get to the North Pole. Be sure to say Hi to Santa Claus.
May 16 is the 136th day of 2026. 229 days remain. On May 16, 1770 – Marie Antoinette married the future King of France. Cake was served at the reception. · May 16, 1777 – In Savannah GA, Lachlan McIntosh killed Button Gwinnett in a duel. Mr. Gwinnett was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the namesake of Gwinnett County GA · On May 16, 1919, in West Allis, Wisconsin, Wladziu (VWAD jew) Valentino Liberace was born. He was known to friends as Lee, and to the world as Liberace. Please join me: Welcome Liberace, You will make our journey more fabulous with your presence. · On May 16, 1929, in Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place. · Other fabulous people were born on May 16 include Janet Jackson, 1966, and Tucker Carlson, 1969.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving down from the north pole, we are going to go south at 83° E. At 74°N, we will go into Russia at Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Tie-MEER-skee Dol-GAH-nah Neh-NETS-kee). We will go through Russia into Serebryansk (seh-reh-BRYANSK) Kazakhstan, and on into Tacheng (tah-CHUNG) Prefecture, Xinjiang (SHIN·jaang) China. Soon, we will move over the frontier into Tibet, which is governed by China today. At Gêrzê (GUYD tsay) County, Ngari (NAH-ree) Prefecture, we will be at 35.05°N/83.19°E. This is the other side of the world from North Carolina.
At this time, I would invite you to think of a person that is special to you. I am going to say “I want”, and leave a silent space. When I leave the silent space, I want you to substitute that person’s name. We are going to wish for this person to be happy, healthy, prosperous, and safe. · Repeat after me. · (Breathe in, said by the presenter only) … I want __ to be happy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be healthy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be prosperous. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be safe.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving through the Himilayas, we go through Dolpa (DOHL-pah) Nepal, before entering India at Gorakhpur (goh-RUK-poor) Uttar Pradesh (OO·taar pruh·DAYSH). We have been going through some cold lands, with very few people. Once we cross into India, that will change. We will leave India at Tantadi (TUN-tuh-dee) Andhra Pradesh (AAN·druh pruh·DAYSH), move into the Bay of Bengal, and on into the Indian Ocean. We have been in Asia for 3,898 miles.
We are going to be in the Indian Ocean until we reach Antarctica. As we go over the eastern equator, we can introduce the seven wiccan goddesses: Isis, Astarte, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna, Diana. Please join me: Welcome Isis, Astarte, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna, Diana
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
At some point in this ocean, we will reach 35.05°S/83.19°E. This is directly on the opposite side of the earth from Highlands, NC. If you were to take a laser beam, and point it at the center of the earth, this is where it would come out. · At 66.6° S, we will reach Antarctica. We have spent 5,761 miles on the Indian Ocean. Soon, we will reach the south pole.
At the north pole we talked about births on May 16. At the south pole, we will talk about deaths. In 1984, we lost Andy Kaufman. In 1985, we lost Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch of the west. In 1990, we lost Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Crossing the South Pole, we will return north at -83.19° W. Soon, after 2,829 miles in Antarctica, we will enter the Pacific Ocean. There will be no more land in the Southern hemisphere. South America is completely east of -83.19°W. Soon, we reach 35.05°S/-83.19° W, and move on up to the equator.
As we go over the western equator, I would like to welcome four men onto our journey. These men have been central to the connection between Man and the divine. These four men are Siddhartha Gautama (suh·DAAR·tuh GAU·tuh·muh), better known as the Buddah, Jesus of Nazareth, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (muh-HAM-mud ib-n ab-DUL-lah) , and Elvis Aaron Presley. Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Elvis. Join me: Welcome Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Elvis.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
After 5,590 miles on the Pacific Ocean, we will reach land at Pavón Puntarenas (pah-VOHN poon-tah-REH-nahs) Province, Costa Rica. Soon we will be on the waters of the Gulf of MEXICO, before reaching land at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. After passing through Cabo Gracias a Dios, Honduras, we will again sail over the Gulf of Mexico, and on to Bahia Honda (bah-HEE-ah ON-dah) Cuba. There will be one last trip on the Gulf of Mexico, before hitting North America at Horseshoe Beach, FL. We will cross the state line at Nasty Pond GA, go past Milledgeville, before arriving at Highlands, NC.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
This is the midway point of our journey. The next portion will be east at 35.05°N. This will be shorter than the North South portion, which covers the circumference of the planet. The only time this would happen east-west is at the equator. A degree of latitude is always 69 miles, while a degree of longitude is 56 miles at 35°N. Our total trip around the world is 24,840 miles going north-south, and 20,420 miles going east-west at 35.05° N.
We start the east-west part of out journey in Highlands NC, and move on to Rocky Bottom SC, (Always dreaming about Rocky Top TN). We go back into North Carolina south of Charlotte, before hitting the Atlantic Ocean at Ocracoke (OW·kruh·kowk) NC. Once again, our time on the Ocean will be uninterrupted, with 3,913 miles between North Carolina and Larache (la RAYSH), Morrocco. At Sidi Boubekeur (See-dee Boo Bake ER), Algeria, we will hit 35.05°N/0°E-W. We will go through La Laouata (Lah Lah-oo-AH-tah), Tunisia, before hitting the Mediterranean Sea. We will visit the islands of Crete and Cyprus, before hitting land at Soda Khawabi (So-dah KHAA-wa-bee), Syria.
On May 16, 1916, Great Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This was an agreement regarding the Ottoman Empire properties once WW1 was over. France would get Syria, while Great Britain would get Palestine. These occupations did not go smoothly. The Sykes-Picot agreement was one step in the process of West Asia becoming the mess that it is today.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving east from Syria, we will go through Baiji (BY-jee), Iraq, which would be included in a future Kurdistan. We go through Hasanabad-e Shir Mohammad (Huh-sun-uh-BAUD-eh Sheer Moh-hum-MUD), Iran, Puza Aw (POO-zah AHH) Afghanistan, miss Turkmenistan by a few miles, before going through to Bagh Dehri (BAHG DAY-ree) Pakistan. Soon, we will be North of Kashmir, where it is tough to say who the government is. The next stop is Tibet/China, where we will once again at Gêrzê (GUYD tsay) County, Ngari (NAH-ree) Prefecture, where we will be at 35.05°N/83.19°E. … the other side of the world from North Carolina. In 390 miles east, we will be at 90°E.
A few minutes ago, I asked you to note who is sitting across the circle from you. I want you to think of this person, and say their name when I say leave a silent space. Repeat after me. · (Breathe in, said by the presenter only) … I want __ to be happy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be healthy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be prosperous. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be safe.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving out of the mountains, we will exit Asia through Rizhao Shandong (REE-jaow SHAN-dong) China. This is 4,707 miles from Syria. We shall visit Gwangju (GWAANG·joo), South Korea, and leave land for good at Minamiboso (mee-nah-mee-BOH-soh), Japan. After a while in the Pacific, we get to where 35.05° N hits 180° E-W. We will spend 5,698 miles on the Pacific before coming ashore at Pismo Beach CA. We will only spend 4 miles in Nevada, before going through Flagstaff AZ, Zuni Reservation NM, Amarillo TX, Hobart OK, and Conway AR. The Tennessee-Mississippi border is legally intended to be at 35 degrees north latitude. However, due to errors in surveying technology, the actual line (often called the “Winchester Line”) is about a mile south of the 35th parallel. We will go through Memphis, -90W, and Chattanooga, before arriving in Highlands NC. This is 2,632 miles across America from Pismo Beach CA.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
We are now back where we started. When you are ready, gently open your eyes. You may want to be careful when you stand up, and get used to being back in North Carolina. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the day. Pictures today are from Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken September 27, 1955. “West Peachtree and Peachtree Streets”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Broken Legs And Broken Promises
This content was published April 21, 2008. … It is monday after work, and slack rules. What energy I had is long gone. I started a nifty post about Truman Capote at lunch, but don’t feel like finishing it. Not to worry, Renegade Evolution has the answer. She displayed something called the blog&website Cuss-o-meter. Ren copped a 34.5% rating, which is not surprising for a sex worker. …
The first question to arise is, what do they call cussing? The seven words of Carlin? Anything referring to excretion, reproduction, or the eternal destination of your soul? I am not terribly offended by most profanity. I try not to use it, because it takes attention away from your overall message. Profanity is a social issue rather than a moral one. Certain words are not right or wrong, but when you use one inappropriately you betray a lack of respect for the listeners. There are words that offend me … like Jesus … that many see as their moral duty to say as often as possible. And this eagerness to profane a sacred name is a violation of the third commandment. (That is, the eagerness of Christians to scream his name as often and loudly as possible). … It is a matter of perception. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but ugly uses all five senses.
This content was published April 16, 2008. … I don’t know which Neil is uglier, Boortz or Young. Its a good thing Neil Diamond (The Jewish Elvis) is handsome. … There have always been mixed feelings about Neil Young. In 1972, after “Goldrush” and CSNY, his new album was greatly anticipated. I got “Harvest” the first chance I got, and thought that it sucked. A few more albums came out, some better than others. It did not help that some hipsters thought that Mr. Young walked on water.
Then one night in 1978, I went by a house, and was told to drive to the radio station immediately. Mr. Young had a show at the Omni that night, it was far from sold out, and there was a man with a shoebox of tickets in the radio station parking lot. Never mind that the seats were in Alabama, I was in the same room as Neil Young. … And he was great. There were huge comic book speakers, and these guys in star wars costumes swarming over the stage to adjust the equipment. Neil played VERY LOUD. Sometimes having seats in Alabama is a good thing. … There is something artificial about a studio arteest who cannot pull the weight onstage. Donna Summer comes to mind (Easter Sunday 1978). OTOH, a performer who pulls it off in front of an audience is real. That night at the Omni, Neil Young justified a lifetime of pretentious records.
This content was published April 14, 2008. … “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, … the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothings replaced them … And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. … And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Unless you live under a rock/Iraq, or have right wing ideas on permanent brain rot, you have heard about that comment from BHO. Quite possibly, you have heard more than you appreciate … unless you are looking for a reason not to like BHO, in which case you haven’t heard enough. If you are in the first category, just scroll through the text and enjoy the pictures. If you are in the second group, you might not like what I am going to say. You can still look at the pictures.
1- This was a secretly recorded speech made at a fundraiser. The fatcat party was in San Francisco, a factoid that delights the hate-O crowd. What sort of person donates to a campaign (possibly using another person’s money), so he can go to a private party and make a secret recording? And then take the “sample” and release it to the tittering internet.
2- My first reaction when I read this was that the smalltown folk have felt that way for a long long time. They loved guns and Jesus back when the factories and steelmills were wide open. 3- It is not just small town Pennsylvania that is “bitter”. (Folks seem to have a special problem with the word bitter. One “consultant” was quoted as saying it would have been better if BHO had said frustrated.) What about the guys that did a high five behind Jeremiah Wright when he screamed “God Damn America”? If anyone has a right to be bitter, it is the folks on the south side of Chicago, or any ghetto in America. And yes, they do cling to Jesus and Guns, as well as other nasty things.
4- It is not just America that is bitter and turning to religion. Palestine and Iraq are in the same boat. They feel like forces are working against them, and they might be right. People are turning to religion and violence as an answer to their anguish. They are being led down that wretched path by cynical clerics who exploit their unhappiness, and offer a solution through God. These clerics seldom strap on a suicide vest, just like Jeremiah Wright does not live in the projects.
5- This is not going to hurt BHO that much. The people who are upset are not going to support him anyway. A lot of people see the truth in what he says, and just might appreciate the fact that he was unslick enough to say something with a rough edge. He just might have known that Judas-with-a-taperecorder was in the house. 6- Batter Better Bitter Botter Butter. The only vowel that doesn’t work in that progression is O.
Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library Guy Dodd Hayes took the social media picture in April 27, 1941. “Convicts with broken legs in casts in bunk-beds at Dallas, Georgia prison.” … “Broken Legs and Broken Promises. These three youths who say they broke their legs to escape “Beatings and hardships” at the Dallas “Hell Hole Prison,” admit that conditions have improved since Warden Q.E. Worthington took charge in February, but charge the warden broke his own promise of no brutality by whipping Morris Brown “on general principles.” Left to right they are Buster Masters, 18, of Atlanta; Percy Mitchell, 21, of Macon, and Ed Pressley, 18, of Troupe County. Other prisoners are high in their praise of the warden for allowing radios, mail and sale of luxuries within the camp for the first time.” … “These three Georgia lads hamstrung themselves by cutting the tendons of their own legs to avoid being sent out on convict road gangs.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Lewis Grizzard
This content was originally posted April 23, 2012. … If you lived in Atlanta between 1980 and 1994, you heard about Lewis Grizzard. Some people loved him. Deacon Lunchbox did not. Lewis told good old boy stories about growing up in rural Georgia. Many of them were enjoyable. Lewis also made social and political commentaries, which upset a few people.
I have mixed feelings about Lewis. The stories about Kathy Sue Loudermilk, and Catfish, could make your day. His opinions about gays, feminists, and anything non redneck, could get on your nerves. The column for the fishwrapper upset me at least twice a week.
In 1982, Lewis (a first-name-only celebrity) wrote a column about John Lennon. Lewis did not understand why Mr. Ono was such a big deal. I cut the column out of the fishwrapper, and put it in a box. Every few years, I would be looking for something, find that column, and get mad all over again.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia has a page about Lewis, which expresses some of these contradictions. “If Grizzard’s humor revealed the ambivalence amid affluence of the Sunbelt South, it reflected its conservative and increasingly angry politics as well. He was fond of reminding fault-finding Yankee immigrants that “Delta is ready when you are,” and, tired of assaults on the Confederate flag, he suggested sarcastically that white southerners should destroy every relic and reminder of the Civil War (1861-65), swear off molasses and grits, drop all references to the South, and begin instead to refer to their region as the “Lower East.” Grizzard also wore his homophobia and hatred for feminists on his sleeve, and one of the last of his books summed up his reaction to contemporary trends in its title, Haven’t Understood Anything since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths.
In the end, which came in 1994, when he was only forty-seven, the lonely, insecure, oft-divorced, hard-drinking Grizzard proved to be the archetypal comic who could make everyone laugh but himself. He chronicled this decline and his various heart surgeries in I Took a Lickin’ and Kept on Tickin’, and Now I Believe in Miracles, published just before his final, fatal heart failure.”
As you may have discerned, Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. met his maker on March 20, 1994. He was 47. There was a valve in his heart that wasn’t right. The good news is that he stayed out of the army. At the time, Vietnam was the destination for most enlistees. The bad news is that his heart problems got worse and worse, until it finally killed him.
Sixteen years later, I found a website, Wired For Books. It is a collection of author interviews by Don Swaim, who ran many of them on a CBS radio show called Book
Beat. There are two interviews with Lewis. 1986 1987. One was done to promote My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of A Gun. This was the story of Lewis Grizzard Senior, who was another mixed bag.
If you listen to those interviews, you might change your mind about Lewis. The one-liners and country boy stories are still there. Daddy Grizzard was a soldier, who went to war in Europe and Korea. The second one did something to him, he took to drinking, and was never quite right the rest of his life. His son adored him anyway. When you put yourself in those loafers for a while, you began to taste the ingredients, in that stew we called Lewis Grizzard.
I still remember the anger that those columns caused … I have my own story, and know when my toes are stepped on. The thing is, after listening to this show, I have an idea of why Lewis Grizzard wrote the things that he did. Maybe Lewis and I aren’t all that different after all. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken October 31, 1956. “Wrecked police automobile” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
April 30, 1992
This content was originally published April 30, 2012. … Doug Richards is an Atlanta tv news reporter. He writes a blog, Live Apartment Fire. He was on the scene thirty years ago. There was a riot downtown. Mr. Richards had a bad night.
I was working in the Healey building that day. I ran an RMS, or reprographic management service, in an architects office. I had a blueline machine, and ran jobs for the customer. In my free time, I enjoyed the various events downtown. On April 30, 1992, there was an event I did not enjoy.
The day before, a jury in California issued a verdict. Four policemen were acquitted of wrongdoing in an incident involving Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped, and received widespread attention. The verdict of the jury was not popular. The dissatisfaction spread to Atlanta.
Sometimes, I think I have a guardian angel looking over me. If so, then this thursday afternoon was one of those times. I went walking out into the gathering storm. I was a block south of the train station at five points, when I saw someone throw a rock into a store front. The sheet metal drapes were rolled down on the outside of the store. Irealized that I was not in a good place, and quickly made my way back to the Healey building.
A group of policemen were lined up in the lobby of the building, wearing flack jackets. One of the police was a white man, who was familiar to workers in the neighborhood. A few weeks before the incident, he had been walking around the neighborhood showing off his newborn baby.
There was very little work done that afternoon in the architect’s office. Someone said not to stand close to the windows. Fourteen floors below, on Broad Street, the window at Rosa’s Pizza caught a brick. There were helicopters hovering over downtown, making an ominous noise.
There was a lot of soul searching about race relations that day. The Olympics were coming to town in four years, and the potential for international disaster was apparent. As it turned out, the disturbance was limited to a few hundred people. It could have been much, much worse. If one percent of the anger in Atlanta had been unleashed that day, instead of .001 percent, the Olympics would have been looking for a new host.
After a while, the people in the office were called into the lobby. The Principal of the firm, the partner in charge of production, walked out to his vehicle with me. The principal drove an inconspicuous vehicle, which made me feel a bit better.
I usually took the train downtown. As fate would have it, there was a big project at the main office of Redo blue, on West Peachtree Street. That is where my vehicle was, in anticipation of working overtime that night. The principal drove me to this building. I called my mother, to let her know that I was ok. The Atlanta manager of Redo Blue talked to me, to make sure that I was not hurt.
If I had not gone downtown the next day, I might not have ever gone back. I was back at the West Peachtree Street office, and was assured that it was safe to ride the train into town. The Macy’s at 180 Peachtree had plywood nailed over the display windows. A gift shop in the Healey building had a sign in the window, “Black owned business”. Friday May 1, 1992, was a quiet day. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture is “Undated, but after 1964”. “Marietta Street and Broad Street.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
White Privilege Is
This content was published March 13, 2015. … As with so many blogging misadventures, it started with a tweet. @BougieBlackGurl “White privilege is when White people like Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski & Bill Kristol blame Black people for Whites being racist.”
Let us break this down. Since I do not watch tv, this is going to be tough. This has something to do with a handful of OU fratbois. They had the bad judgement to be video recorded singing the n-word, among other delicacies, on a train. Some “White people” went on a tv show, and made a connection between rap music and the fratboi video. When BBG gets her hands on it, we have “…blame Black people for Whites being racist.”
Since when do three talking air heads speak for 254m white people? Ok, so someone with pale skin said something dumb on tv. Now, you have the latest definition of “White privilege.” At what point do the concepts of privilege and racism cease to mean anything?
The seminal tweet was sent out two days ago. By now, it is probably obsolete. In those two days, the national debt increased by an estimated $2.6b. An estimated 13 metric tons of Global Carbon Emissions joined the atmosphere. There are many other issues more important than the singing of idiot fratbois, but not as much fun to talk about.
The figure on the national debt is based on an article at Forbes magazine. The title: Stop And Smell The Roses: Final 2014 Federal Deficit Fell … Big Time. The figure quoted above is based on the lower of the two numbers in this quote. “As the report shows, the actual 2014 deficit was $483 billion, $3 billion less than what the Congressional Budget Office estimated a week ago. For the record, $483 billion is $197 billion below the almost $680 billion deficit recorded in 2013. It’s also $930 billion, that is, close to $1 trillion, less than the largely recession-caused $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009.” As Malcolm X said “”If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that is not progress.” Malcolm X will make another appearance in this post.
Bougie Black Girl does not promote herself as a statistician or scientist. “I’m a African American woman who loves to empower Black women” Her twitter product today is mostly concerned with Creflo Dollar, who is certainly a worthy target.
The fun starts at her website. Get Your Malcolm X with a cameo appearance from Martin Luther King Jr. prepaid Mastercard/Visa cards · 30 Light skin Privileges Light Skin Blacks have that Dark Skin Blacks Don’t · UPDATE!!! Two White QVC hosts mock a Black Woman’s natural hair and humiliate her on TV. (Video) … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken January 11, 1956. “Peachtree Street”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Slavery And Global Warming
This content was originally posted March 11, 2012. … Have you ever wondered why your ancestors owned other human beings? How can you justify something this cruel? In an NPR interview to promote 1861: The Civil War Awakening, author Adam Goodheart has an answer.
“But I think we think of it differently when we realize that the value of slave property, some $4 billion, enormous amount of money in 1861, represented actually more money than the value of all of the industry and all of the railroads in the entire United States combined. So for Southern planters to simply one day liberate all of that property would have been like asking people today to simply overnight give up their stock portfolios, give up their IRAs.”
Mr. Goodheart compares it to the situation today with fossil fuels. “Many of us recognize that in burning fossil fuels we’re doing something terrible for the planet, we’re doing something terrible for future generations. And yet in order to give this up would mean sort of unraveling so much of the fabric of our daily lives, sacrificing so much, becoming these sort of radical eccentrics riding bicycles everywhere, that we continue somewhat guiltily to participate in the system. And that’s something that I use as a comparison to slavery, that many Americans in the North, and even I believe sort of secretly in the South, felt a sense of guilt, felt a sense of shame, that knew that the slave system was wrong but were simply addicted to slavery and couldn’t give it up. “
When the economic pressure is there, people will find a way to justify their actions. Slavery was justified in a number of ways. Today, there are people who deny the ill effects of using fossil fuels, and they have an eager audience. The payback for the environmental horror is in the future. This is similar to the way people today are paying … with racial turmoil … for slavery. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken August 24, 1951. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Why Did The Cow Cross The Road?
Why did the cow cross the road? The chicken was on vacation.
Knock knock. who’s there? boo. boo who?. Don’t cry it’s only a joke…
It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.
A man walks up to a horse and says, “Why the long face?”
Two pretzels were walking down the street. one was a salted.
“He who laughs last thinks slowest.”
“Raise your hand if you’re here.”
Two nuns walk into a bar; the third one ducks.
Q: What did the radio say when it was dropped? A: “Ow. That hertz.”
What did the ranch say to the refrigerator door? “Close the door, I’m dressing”
Why don’t blind people skydive? It scares the heck out of their dogs…
What did the fish say when it ran into a wall? dam.
“I see.” said the blind man as he peed into the wind… “It’s all coming back to me now.”
What’s the last thing to go through a bug’s mind when it hits the windshield? Its butt.
You can tuna guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.
What do a duck and a bicycle have in common? They both have wheels… except the duck.
What’s brown and sounds like a bell? DUNGGGGG.
What’s brown and sticky? A stick
When people ask the mortician what he does for a living, he says he is a “boxer”.
What did the shy pebble say?… I wish I was a little boulder! .
What do you call an arrogant criminal falling out of a tower? Condescending.
Two guys walk into a bar… you would think the second guy woulda ducked.
A woman walks into a bar holding a duck. Bartender says, “What’s with the pig?”
Woman says, “It’s a duck.” Bartender says, “I was talking to the duck.”
Why do flamingos always lift one leg when they’re standing?
Cause if they lifted both, they’d fall over!
Q: How many Surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: To get to the other side.
Did you get a haircut? Actually, I got them all cut.
One mushroom said to another mushroom, “Hey – you’re one Fungi!”
What do you call an arrogant criminal falling out of a tower? Condescending.
A dyslexic man walked into a bra …
Q: What do you call a midget, psychic, prison escapee? A: A small medium at-large.
A mule walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Hey, buddy, why the long face?”
“Because my dad is a jackass.”
I have one about the roof but its over your head.
Shall I tell you the one about the skunk? Never mind, it stinks!
There’s nothing like a good joke… and that was nothing like a good joke.
A rabbi, nun, lawyer, mime, and horse all walk into a bar.
The bartender says, “What is this, some kind of joke?”
When’s the best time to eat reindeer meat? …. When you’re hungry.
These stories are borrowed from 22 WORDS. Visit @22Words at your own risk. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The featured photograph was taken August 3, 1954. “Fred Hand family” This is a repost.
Plastic
This content was originally published March 22, 2010. … There was a much praised video about a Plastic Bag, that winds up in the Pacific Trash Vortex. The bag has a voice (supplied by uberkraut Werner Herzog), and goes looking for it’s “maker” (an unknown actress.) Today’s version: Plastic Bag (sottotitoli in italiano – voce di Werner Herzog)
The bag has a remarkable existence. First, it is used to carry tennis balls, then dog food, then to pick up the by product of dog food. This is remarkable in itself… the typical kroger bag, if it doesn’t get thrown away on arrival at home, will not be used for more than one chore. But this is a special bag.
After the secondary canine duty, the bag is thrashed. Somehow, it escapes from the municipal destination, and begins a wind propelled odyssey in search of “my maker.” After a while, it is on the beach, and the wind takes it into the ocean. It floats in the sea, has pieces bitten off my non nutrition conscious fish, and heads off for a legendary garbage nirvana.
Before long, the bag is in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch. ” The GPGP is a bit north of Hawaii, and west of California. The bag movie was filmed in Wilmington, N.C. You should not think about this too long. At any rate, the bag is not happy in the GPGP, and moves on to greener pastures.
The next day, I go to a site called LISTVERSE. The letterman of the day is “top ten places you don’t want to visit”. Number ten on the list is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. GPGP is either the size of Texas or twice the size of the lower 48. It is a collection of debris, largely plastic, from the world. It is held in place by something called a gyre, which is a place where swirling ocean currents bump up against each other. Greenpeace has a neat little visual that illustrates this. … LISTVERSE is still publishing content in 2026.
Plastic is a petroleum by product, and has many benefits to our world. It’s durability is one of them, and also one of it’s negatives. (The fact that plastic is so cheap to make is another.) A plastic bag cast off into the environment simply does not disappear. Fish eat them, thinking it is good food, and die of starvation. (Does this affect the food chain?) While the film about the plastic bag is an exaggeration, the fact is that plastic is forever, and ever.
Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The featured photograph was taken April 21, 1969. “Mendel College for Fabric Knowledge” The poster is from Treehugger.com. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
BVD
This content was originally posted March 22, 2013. … Spencer Tracy’s second rule for acting is to not trip over the props. This might be a problem for Jon Hamm. In a bit of slow news day genius, his show leaked the information that the actor has been requested to wear underwear on the set. A rep for Mr. Hamm said: “It is ridiculous and not really funny at all. I’d appreciate you taking the high road and not resorting to something childish like this that’s been blogged about 1,000 times.”
This was an issue when Tallulah Bankhead was making “Lifeboat”. Other performers complained about the thespian not wearing panties. Director Alfred Hitchcock wondered if this was a matter for wardrobe, or a matter for hairdressing.
This concern about foundation garments, conveniently arising during the pre-easter shopping season, made me wonder when men started to wear drawers. Could this be the result of manufacturers inventing demand for a product? Wikipedia says the loincloth is thousands of years old. A footnote, about the invention of the jockstrap, led to an English article, A brief history of pants: Why men’s smalls have always been a subject of concern.
“In 1935, the first Jockey briefs went on sale in Chicago. Designed by an “apparel engineer” called Arthur Kneibler (working at the time for Coopers Inc), the arrival of the first underpants denuded of any legs and featuring a Y-shaped opening has been compared with the 1913 invention of the bra, or the 1959 debut of tights. … Coopers, now known as Jockey International, sent its “Mascul-line” plane to make special deliveries of “masculine support” briefs to retailers across the United States. When the Jockeys arrived in Britain in 1938, they sold at the rate of 3,000 per week.”
One popular brand of underwear is the BVD. This was originally made by Bradley, Voorhees & Day, hence the name. BVDs are not named for Bovine Viral Diarrhea. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken April 30, 1951. “War Bond luncheon” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
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