Atlanta

With Melissa Mack at Manuel's Tavern

On Thursday night, Matt and I met Bruce Covey, Kristi Maxwell, and Michael Rerick for a pre-reading dinner at Doc Chey's in Emory Village. After catching up and enjoying an excellent meal, we headed to the university for the reading. It was well-attended and it was great to hear everyone read. It was the first time I heard Michael read, and Kristi read a new piece about pirates that was great to hear for its creative wordplay and Kristi's courage to break into song, "Shake / shake / shake your booty." Post-reading I got to briefly meet and trade books with Megan Volpert, and I caught up with Melissa Mack, one of my friends from Saginaw who I had not seen in about ten years.

I was particularly delighted to see Melissa, and it completes a recent reunion of sorts that I have been having with people who I used to work with on my community college's newspaper, the Collegiate. It has been especially nice about reuniting with everyone because everyone is doing very well. When I first moved back to Saginaw, I ran into Avram Golden, who was our photographer, who now owns his own gallery in Bay City, MI. I recently reconnected with cartoonist and illustrator Jay Fosgitt to write an article about his first graphic novel, which was just published. When I was at one of his book signings in Saginaw, I ran into Becky (whose last name I will misspell if I try, and who now goes by her married named, Nuechterlein, anyway). She was a writer and featured editor who now owns her photography company, specializing in wedding photography. At this same time, I was exchanging e-mails with Tonia Quoss, a graphic designer living in Washington DC, who was a former writer and editor of the paper. Then to follow all this up with hanging out with Melissa, a television producer, in Atlanta was great. Delta College is currently running a "success" campaign, showing how former Delta students have gone on to be successful. I think our little group of Collegiate staff members could qualify for this campaign. (And someone else from that staff whom I have not reconnected with who could also qualify would be our editor-in-chief, Justin Engel, whose writing I read daily in the Saginaw News.)

Anyhow, after the reading we went to Manual's Tavern, an Atlanta staple I'm told. It was a great spot, and it was fun to hang out with everyone.

The next day Matt and I headed to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which was really moving to visit. I admit I teared up a few times. MLK Jr. is a real hero to me. His words and his life, as well as Coretta's, are incredibly inspiring. After going through the exhibit in the visiting center, we walked by Ebenezer Church , the burial reflection pool, and eternal flame, checked out the exhibit in the King Center, and then walked down Auburn Avenue to check out the fire station no. 6, the historic homes, and MLK's childhood home. If you're ever in Atlanta, this is worth checking out, especially since it is free.

Afterwards, we went to Little Five Points and checked out some stores, including Junkman's Daughter, and ate at the Vortex. This is a really cool little neighborhood.

Thanks to Bruce for inviting me down to read. This was my first ever trip to Atlanta, and I had a great time. The weather was colder than usual, but it was still nicer there than it is in Michigan. I came home to snow, though very little snow. Still waiting for that first real snow storm of the year.