Experience Atlanta Streets Alive, Sunday, May 23

Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, the Centers for Disease Control, and other partners present Atlanta Streets Alive, a car-free, family-friendly festival in downtown Atlanta Sunday, May 23 from 1:00-6:00 p.m.

The event will close to vehicular traffic a mile of Edgewood Avenue west of Boulevard to Woodruff Park, while opening that section of Edgewood to recreational use.

“Come experience downtown like you’ve never experienced it before!” said Hall. “No cars. Just people. You, your friends, and family--and strollers, hula hoops, tango lessons, break-dancing, people-watching, bike riding.” Modeled after “Car-Free Sunday” events around the world, this vendor-free festival encourages participants to get active, eat at Edgewood restaurants and cafes along the route, and enjoy the city.

Although participants can join in the fun at any point along the route, there will be a short kick-off ceremony at 1:00 p.m. at Woodruff Park. The park will be home to a variety of family-friendly activities throughout the afternoon. The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition will host a bike station where people can rest their bikes, get their helmet fit checked, watch kids participate in a bike rodeo, or just learn more about bicycle issues and opportunities in Atlanta.

For information about the route, a roster of program activities, and event partners, visit www.atlantastreetsalive.com

For additional information or questions, contact Councilman Hall’s office at (404) 330-6038 / khall@atlantaga.gov Day-of-event media contact: (404) 406-5296 Read more ...

Haiti: Four Months after Catastrophe

Four months following the devastating earthquake that claimed numerous lives, Haiti is still in need. Forgotten by some, many Haitians still living in the Port au Prince area are going through the rebuilding of their city and remain hopeful. Read bits of CNN reporter Moni Basu's online article, "Four months after 'the catastrophe,' Haitians still in emergency mode". View the entire article and video here http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/11/haiti.then.now/index.html?iref=allsearch


Four months on, the tragedy of the massive January 12 earthquake is fresh.

Relief operations thwarted widespread hunger here and so far, there have been no reports of killer disease outbreaks. But Port-au-Prince is very much running in emergency mode. Still.

No humanitarian worker will argue with that sad fact.
Despite the efforts and good intentions of a host of foreigners and a government that got a wake-up call, progress has been timidly slow.

The future has a different meaning now for Haitians such as Edline Pierre, who worries not about where to enroll her three daughters in school but how to get them up off the floor fast enough when the rains start falling.

Haitians, who have lived through political turmoil, extreme violence and grinding poverty, will tell you the earthquake was the worst experience of their lives.

Whether a new city can rise from the rubble of Port-au-Prince remains in question, though Haitians are hopeful something good must come out of an event this tragic. They have to be.

They have nothing left but hope. And faith.

That's why if you peek down lanes on a steamy afternoon, you'll see a gathering of people under a tent, their arms stretched skyward, their eyes closed. And you'll hear the Lord's Prayer.


You'll hear it, too, every Sunday morning, before the sun gets hot, at Notre Dame, the main cathedral in Port-au-Prince. The building is shattered, but not the congregation's faith. They still come to the place where, every week, they are re-energized by their belief in Christ.


Several Haitians said they feared the world's goodwill would quickly fade now that the throngs of media have left and the spotlight has turned elsewhere. Edna Dunrod was one of them.


She worried she was forgotten, lying on a smelly mattress under three tattered bed sheets that serve as a roof in the Champs de Mars tent city. Last month, she gave birth to Marvins, asleep in a plastic tub under a foldable umbrella.


Life with a newborn in this congested camp, she said, was unbearable.


"I want to go somewhere else," she said. But where, she worried. And who would help her reclaim her life? Read more ...

President's Pick of the Month - Food for Life Supreme

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine called me raving about this restaurant, Food for Life Supreme and said that I had to try it. So I decided to check it out.

As soon as I entered the restaurant, I noticed the bright décor and welcoming attitude of the staff. The menu at Food for Life Supreme includes breakfast, lunch and dinner items prepared with organic ingredients that are made to be healthy. This restaurant definitely proves that you don’t have to compromise taste for healthy eating. The wings were superb, the vegetables were wonderful and the fried fish was so good I don’t want to talk about it! Other menu items that caught my eye were the salmon bacon, the carrot fries, the homemade wheat bread and the alkaline water. After enjoying my lunch, I wanted to know how I had missed this little gem in the West End community, so I did a little research.

Here’s what I found … Food for Life Supreme is a part of an educational system started by a group of concerned parents and community members in Kansas City. This group wanted a real life component in the learning process for their kids. They created a school that allowed their students to learn how to run a restaurant in an actual restaurant. Students attend the school in Kansas City and are allowed to choose one of the 10 Food for Life Restaurants to work in around the country. Everyone on staff is either a volunteer or a full time student. So this explains why my waiter looked so young. There is also something special about the Atlanta restaurant- all of the décor from the floor to the ceiling was designed and created by students of the university. How cool is that??

Food for Life Supreme has been serving healthy food in the West End for the past five years and I can’t believe I’ve missed it all this time. If you’re looking for a place to “be seen” or “mix and mingle”, this is not where you want to go. But if you’re looking for great tasting, healthy food in a casual atmosphere, you should check it out because it’s definitely on my faves list!

Food for Life Supreme
880 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW
Atlanta, GA 30314
http://www.foodforlifesupreme.com/
404-880-9759

Read more ...