Although Atlanta has its share of problems, However the city’s history and culture demand that it still be recognized as an Icon. Atlanta, Georgia has long dealt with inequality and homelessness but the city has an incredible amount of historical significance and over time has become the home to many important cultural landmarks.

Atlanta is the location for the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Company, as well as the headquarters for the Centers for Disease Control. On a smaller scale Atlanta is home to the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Center is dedicated to informing citizens of both the past struggles of the Civil and Human Rights movements and the current ways to become active within said movements. the center hosts events for the young and old to visit and even private events for schools. The city is full of famous landmarks, one in particular I went into to depth with in my exterior and interior built environment descriptions, the Georgian Terrace.  The Georgian Terrace is an old luxury hotel that is one of the many places of cultural significance in Atlanta. Opening for business in 1911, the Terrace was planned to be a reminder of Parisian hotels of the time. The Georgian Terrace has laid out the carpet for a slew of famous individuals “including F. Scott Fitzgerald, President Calvin Coolidge, and actors and actresses such as Tallulah Bankhead. Arthur Murray, then a Georgia Tech student, taught his first dance classes there in the 1920’s”(Rhetta)   Speaking of old attractions to the city, the Fox Theatre is an Historic landmark that’s been a part of Atlanta since the theatre’s original conception in 1928. The old theatre has been on the brink of shutting down time and time again and for a while actually did close its doors, but the spirit and efforts of the city managed to revive it once and for all. Doing this by purchasing it and placing the theatre under the protection of Atlanta Landmarks, the organization that had dedicated itself to protecting the Fox Theatre, ultimately succeeding by having it named as an official landmark. There are many more stories like this, of old and nationally famous buildings in Atlanta. Apart from these buildings the city is full of history, “During the Civil War (otherwise known as the ‘War Between the States’ according to some old-timers), General Sherman burned the city on his infamous ‘March to the Sea.’ Following the city’s surrender to Sherman in November of 1864, only 400 structures remained standing” (Coakley). No other american city can claim to have been burned down by Sherman in the Civil War.

Atlanta is currently the major city with the most inequality in America according to a study done by the Brookings Institution. Atlanta’s problem with wealth distribution has gone quite far, “The top 5% of households earn nearly 20 times the income in the Georgia capital than the bottom 20%” (Morath). Atlanta is listed as one of the best places to do business by Forbes and yet it still suffers from such a wealth gap.

Works Cited

Akamatsu, Rhetta. “Atlanta’s Historic Hotels: The Georgian Terrace Hotel.”Examiner. AXS Network, 12 May 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.examiner.com/article/atlanta-s-historic-hotels-the-georgian-terrace-hotel>.

“Atlanta, GA.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/places/ga/atlanta/>.

“Atlanta-History.” Atlanta-History. Atlanta Broadway, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://atlanta.broadway.com/history/>.

Berube, Alan, and Natalie Holmes. “Some Cities Are Still More Unequal than Others.” Brookings. The Brookings Institution, 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports2/2015/03/city-inequality-berube-holmes>.

Coakley, Katie. “10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Atlanta” Huffpost Travel. Huffington Post, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <www.huffingtonpost.com%2Fviator%2F10-things-you-probably-di_b_4145543.html>.

Morath, Eric. “Income Inequality Is Wider in Atlanta Than in San Francisco or Boston.” WSJ. Wall Street Journal, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/03/20/income-inequality-is-wider-in-atlanta-than-in-san-francisco-or-boston/>.

First sight of the entrance to the Georgian Terrace gives off a very cozy impression, inserted into the block as it is, in fact as I walked towards the supposed location of the Terrace I was initially confused, I could not seem to find it. My map seemed to be leading me into a restaurant called the Livingston, which I would later realize was a part of the Georgian Terrace. The Livingston was a beautiful building with glass and stone mingling in an ornate way that seemed to encourage only the most sophisticated to enter, not so much as to frighten off the random passerby, but enough to comfort its customers.  The only thing that convinced me that I was nearing my destination was the sight of the Fox Theatre, a building I knew was close to the Terrace. As I continued walking and passed the Livingston I saw a gap between it and the next building on the block, turning to face the gap I was surprised and struck by the appearance of the Georgian Terrace’s Entrance. It seemed immediately more elegant than its surroundings, almost as if it was tucked away into its own private corner of luxury, which in a way it was. The brick of the walls somehow matching perfectly with the glass tower that I somehow only noticed at this moment. The building gives off a feel of elegance and sophistication that is almost daunting at first glance, daunting but still intriguing. An air that implied that the rich and famous would be perfectly suited to the environment.

Built from the first moment to be dedicated to showing visitors the connections between the Civil Rights Movement and the Human Rights Movement, the Center for Civil and Human Rights has been doing just that for the last nine years. The creators of the Center are Evelyn Lowery and Andrew Young, a legend in the civil rights community and a former Ambassador for the United Nations respectively. As I navigated The Center’s website I was let in on a bit of the history of the building itself and, more importantly the movements that the Center is dedicated to. While searching the different sections of the website I found that it makes special mention of the UDHR, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Written after World War Two, the UDHR is a document that, using its 30 articles, serves as a “set of principles for governments to use to remain accountable for their duty to protect the rights and freedoms of all people.” The next portion of the website to catch my eye was the “Take Action” heading. The heading leads to  a whole section purposed to sharing all of the different ways one might learn more about or get further involved in Civil and Human Rights issues. Some of the links point to encyclopedias; some to resource pages; still others to archives of information. The website also includes information regarding the Center’s events and programs as well as information for setting up school trips, like guides and packets for teachers to use as support for those trips.

“Atlanta-History.” Atlanta-History. Atlanta Broadway, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://atlanta.broadway.com/history/>.

The article is a history of the Fox Theatre, with a focus on its beauty, with its magnificent and ornate design, and the struggles the theatre has gone through to stay open. The article goes over the problems had with financing the plan for building it, problems which eventually required the help of William Fox, a man who had been building movie palaces across the country. The article continues on to the Fox Theatre’s original bankruptcy after only 125 weeks of service. The Fox managed to bounce back from this early setback and prospered for decades as “one of Atlanta’s finest movie houses”. This would not last however as a changes in movie industry would slowly put the Fox Theatre out of business. The theatre managed to be reborn under the ownership of Atlanta Landmarks, an organization that spent years fundraising enough to save the building and eventually put it back on the path to being a profitable business, going as far as submitting the documents necessary to have it named an historic landmark.

“The Fox Story – The Fox Theatre.” The Fox Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://foxtheatre.org/the-fox-story/>.

This article is written as a history of the Fox Theatre. The theatre’s history starts in 1928, when it was first imagined as a location for Atlanta’s Shriners organization, and in the minds of the organization’s leaders the theatre would be a magnificent homage to their own social status. In the end however even with their status the project’s design, inspired by temples of the far east, was more expensive than they could manage. As the building neared its completion they leased the property to a William Fox, a man who had made a fortune by creating and managing large scale “movie palaces”. The beautiful Fox theatre was and is a beloved feature of the town, it has had its share of problems in its long history though.  The Great Depression forced its owners into bankruptcy and put it on the auction block where it was sold for a a fraction of its original building price. even in new hands it still maintained its loyal audience until the eventual rise of the more modern movie theaters pushed the Fox Theatre, and other movie palaces like it, out of favor. Even as its doors closed, the Fox managed to still captivate an audience, A non-Profit, Atlanta Landmarks, was created and millions of dollars were raised through donations, eventually resulting in the of reopening the theatre’s doors.

Wells, Myrydd. “What We Saw during the Fox Theatre’s New Behind the Scenes Tour. Atlanta Magazine. Atlanta Magazine, 4 June 2015. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/what-we-saw-during-the-fox-theatres-new-behind-the-scenes-tour/>.

This article describes the author’s experience taking a “Behind the Scenes” Tour of Atlanta’s famous Fox Theater. The tour starts by heading into a room, off of the lower ladies lounge marked “hospital”. This room previously functioning as an emergency stop for hurt or sick performers. From there it progresses through a screening room, where censors used to ensure that movies met content standards, but is now used as a break room. The group passes through the pit motor room, a space full of the equipment like the hydraulics used to lower or raise parts of the stage. The tour continued through the building passing by the electrical room, the paint shop two dressing rooms, and finally down the stairs to the stage, making sure to walk passed the signatures of many of the theater’s previous performers, examples being Madonna and Whitney Houston. When they reached the stage they were all introduced to the theater’s golden pipe organ, Mighty Mo, as they admired the view.

Brown, Robbie. “An Uneasy Reversal of Roles for Theater and Its Caretaker.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/12atlanta.html?_r=0>.

This article is about the debate that was stirred up when the board of directors for the fox theater, a famous and historical building in Atlanta, Georgia, decided it would be best for Joe Patten to move out of the theater and instead settle down in a nursing home of some sort. The article explains that Joe has been living in the Theater as its sole resident, arranged as a reward for saving the theater from being torn down in the 1970’s and saving it again in 1996 from a fire. Joe, who is now 83, has been experiencing the poor health characteristic of the elderly and so the board of directors now doubts his ability to take care of himself. This opinion has caused a backlash among the public and has created a polarizing debate. Many believe that Joe should be allowed to live in the building until his death as he desires. Others think that the best thing to be done for Joe is to move him to a place where he can have care. Still others question the motives of the directors in this, considering the value of the apartment in which Joe stays.

Better Online Living Through Content Moderation

The article is an essay advocating the use of content moderators for online activity. The author, Melissa King, starts her argument by reminding her audience that there are people who value content control. People attempting to avoid certain triggers, such as those who suffer from PTSD or those with a solid grasp on their own comfort zones. King argues that whatever the reason, it can be considered valid as, “Nobody should be required to read or listen to content if they do not want to.” She confronts the arguments used against such features, one being that viewers should simply be more thick-skinned, King states that people taking offense to strangers insulting and threatening them is not a simple matter of being weak. She notes specifically that such online harassment has been proven to cause long lasting psychological trauma. King draws a parallel between the groups that commit such acts and hate mobs, and points out that blocking and therefore avoiding such groups is an effective way to stop the assault, “giving others the power to personally moderate the worst of the internet… is often the best option victims have.” She makes examples of the abuse that women suffer, mentioning how easy it is to have such abuse brought down upon them for attempting to challenge the sexism that can run rampant, and brings up a UN hosted event where women shared stories of the abuse they’d been forced to deal with personally. She goes on to say that people have a right to avoid such hateful content and should never be told that they do and doing that is only encouraging the setup that allows for abuse to happen.

Color Walking

The article is a report on the experiences of the authors, Phia Bennin and Brendan McMullan, in trying a “Color Walk”. Apparently invented by the author William S. Burroughs as a way of teaching his students, the idea behind a color walk is to walk throughout a city following a certain color. Taking conscious note of that shade, causing the “surroundings [to] pop as you follow the color from object to object”. The authors decided to try out the practice, in Manhattan on a Sunday afternoon, giving themselves the liberty to switch colors. As they went, the authors cataloged the colors that caught their eyes through images, from scarves to jerseys to body paint. Leaving the experience the authors Bennin and McMullan felt as if, “The colors hung in our brains and eyes”. The colors that had always been around them now stood out more than they had before. They finished with advice, when trying out a color walk of one’s own, one should give themselves plenty of time, pick the color that most catches their attention and not be afraid of changing they’re color.