Monthly Archives: February 2016

Digital Record of Downtown Decatur #3

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The Decatur Presbyterian Church serves as one of the religious centers of the Downtown Decatur community. The actual structure of the Church is a mixture of the old gothic style of Medieval European Church mixed with modern neoclassical architecture. On the outside there can be large glass windows with a cross as well as characters from stories in the bible. The entrance contains two large brown wooden doors.  Upon reading the ceremonial plate on its wall, the date reads 1839. This means that this may have been one of the very first structures constructed in the town. This can also be assumed by seeing the surrounding grocery and convenience stores that surround the church indicating how the city may have expanded from a central point in the town.  The Church also serves to be a meeting place for many different groups around the Decatur region, in fact while I was taking pictures a wedding was starting.

Record of Downtown Decatur #2

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Walking past the town’s courthouse, one is exposed to this piece of 3-D graffiti.  Once entering the immediate downtown of Decatur, the city’s culture truly comes out. There are many small businesses that seem t cater to the youth of the town and this structure is a reflection of its mood. From a frontal view, their is an illusion that this is just a very large wall where someone has vandalized it however from the side its true intention is seen. The structure serves as a bench for many of the passing residents of the town as the walk to the nearby park. The very fact that this is a city mandated structure shows the importance the city has for “urban and hip” culture. Even though though the actual word that is spelled out cant be seen, the sheer colors and unorthodox structures on the graffiti bench are very inviting and I was happy to take a break from taking pictures to take a seat.

Digital Record of Downtown Decatur #1

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The Dekalb County Courthouse serves as the legal center of the town of Decatur as well as representing its fascinating history. When walking in front of the steps of the courthouse, one is taken back by the sheer size of the structure. Looking in closer, one there are many engravings of historical figures on the sides of the walls as well as shining white Greek columns holding the front of the structure. The very name is written in a Latin-esque font with the u’s written as v’s/  On the sides of the Courthouse, there is  a beautiful garden and park to give a more inviting feel of  the courthouse. The importance that is placed on the Courthouse shows the importance of law and order that held by many of the residents of the Decatur as well as the continued importance of maintain and preserving historical objects and places. I was really amazed by the structure and truly hope to see it again.

Annotated Bibliography One

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GUSTAFSON, SETH. “Displacement And The Racial State In Olympic Atlanta 1990-1996.” Southeastern Geographer 53.2 (2013): 198. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

In the article, “Displacement and the Racial State in Olympic Atlanta”, author, Seth Gustafon, explains the event leading up to and the  long term demographic effects that the 1996 Olympics had on the City of Atlanta. Throughout the article, there are many decisions that those in government made to displace many black residents from their homes in order to create room for Olympic structures.  With the onset of the 1990’s the government decided that many of the inner city residents, such as those living in the Techwood Homes, wouldn’t be beneficial to the image of the city with the coming Olympic games. This would cause much controversy since families were now being forced to leave homes who had been there for  generations.  Further on throughout the article, instances such as racial bias are explained. Instances such as tourist maps only showing Northern Atlanta and do not enter signs placed  in Southwest Atlanta gave the image that city was trying to dissuade international tourists from entering poorer, majority-black parts of time. Since I’m researching Downtown Decatur, which received an economic and population boom from the Olympics,  it would be a reliable source and can be acquired at the Georgia State University Library.

Von Drehle, David, et al. “The Roots Of A Riot. (Cover Story).” Time 185.17 (2015): 34. MAS Ultra – School Edition. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

In the article, “The Roots of a Riot”, author, Von Drehle, explains the reasons and origins for the 2015 Baltimore and the long term solutions that could be instilled.  The article is a mixture of black and white photos of the riots as well as facts and statistic explaining its cause. Even though the death of Freddie Gray appeared to be the match, there had been generations of gasoline building up.  With the onset of white flight to the suburbs,  Baltimore went from an Economic Hub of America’s East Coast, the the poster child of inner city neglect. From the 1960-2015, majority of Baltimore’s white residents moved to the northern Prince George County.  This caused a large portion of the city’s economic wealth to vanish. This has caused large scale poverty in the inner city communities of the city, with more than 16,000 houses being simply abandoned and never torn down.  In order to solidify its separation from Baltimore , Prince George County created its own municipality so it would never be under the jurisdiction of the city. This article explains the effects of racial and demographic effect that can be seen in many parts of Southern Atlanta. It also shows elements of racial separation that is similar to that of Northern and Southern Atlanta.

Middleton, Michael K. “Housing, Not Handcuffs: Homeless Misrecognition And ‘ Safeground Sacramento’s’ Homeless Activism.” Communication, Culture & Critique 7.3 (2014): 320-337. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

In the article, “Housing, Not Handcuffs: Homeless Misrecognition and “SafeGround Sacramento’s” Homeless Activism”, is an analysis of activism of many groups in the Sacramento area to assist those that are living in homeless makeshift areas. Different cities in California are explained to have passed legislation that criminalizes the presence of individuals in an area that the owner might believe are homeless. This has caused the arrest of many homeless for trespassing on private party.  In order to help the homeless, many activist groups such as Safeground Sacramento, have decided to to assist in building makeshift buildings as well as paying for hotel fees to give them a place to live. The reason I chose this articles is because it shows many similarities to the same experiences the homeless of Atlanta feel. Contrary to structural segregation of the homeless, the city of Sacramento and others have now passed legislation to uphold the separation of the populace and homeless individuals. If things persist with the increase of residents to downtown Atlanta, legislation may be passed here to create restrictions on homeless rights.  This could also be a reliable source to use since it can be found in the Georgia State University Library.