Ink by the Barrel

This week marks the fifth anniversary of The Atlanta 100 – a simple idea our small team had that we could add something of value to the media landscape.

Sixty years ago, tribal hate blew a hole in the walls of Atlanta’s Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple on Peachtree Street. I slept unaware next door. The bombing followed The Temple’s rabbi’s calls for integration and awakened our city to the hate seething below our community’s surface.

Early Christians, unsure if a stranger was a believer or persecutor, drew a line in the sand. If the stranger drew a corresponding line, forming a fish, conversation flowed. If not, they’d part.

Today everyone has a camera on their phone, but as a youngster when my parents gave me a Kodak Instamatic 100 for Christmas, I was an anomaly.

As a circumspect newspaper reporter, I was wary of salespeople. They wore cologne, dressed fancy and drove nice cars.

Lunch with a former client and longtime friend was going well until conversation drifted toward macro topics. I proffered my biggest concern was the environment and what kind of world we’re leaving future generations – whether children will be able to play outdoors in future centuries.

My adrenalin’s already pumping as the Atlanta Falcons kick off the NFL season Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ve been a rabid fan since attending their inaugural 1966 season. Could this be their year?

Walking down Memphis’ Main Street last week, I was admiring new restaurants, bars and trolley cars. Then I gazed to my right and unexpectedly saw the sign and the motel – feeling an immediate kick to my gut.

Golfers daydream of making a hole-in-one. I don’t play often, but claim two. Alas, neither hole exists today.

I used to think it unfortunate that Atlanta’s suburbs rushed to incorporate into individual cities, boxing in our city’s limits. However, as we suffer the weekly drip of financial misappropriations from the detritus of former Mayor Kasim Reed’s terms, I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t be smaller.

I used to hide my iPhone as I walked down unfamiliar streets. Then I noticed no one was looking at me – they were looking at their phones.

In 2011, my daughter Sally discovered a baby squirrel had fallen from a backyard tree. Hoping the mother squirrel would eventually repossess her offspring, Sally carefully secured it on a towel on her deck behind a baby gate.

When a friend called last month to inform me of their parent’s death, I knew the other reason he was calling. After sharing condolences, I offered to write the obituary, something I’ve done for many friends‘ families.

Having a well-earned college reputation as a skinflint, I was excited to attend my fraternity reunion wearing my first custom-tailored suit. An hour before the formal affair, I reached into our Charlottesville hotel closet and discovered to my horror I’d left it at our Richmond hotel, 70 miles away.

In the security line yet again Monday at Hartsfield-Jackson International, I heard, “Chris!” Without looking, I recognized the voice, replying, “Norman DuPre,” whom I met in first grade at Christ the King.

I’ve worked for six daily newspapers, in small and big towns. They were important checks on local governments and set the agenda for community discussion. Recent events are accelerating their demise.

Traditionally for 4th of July, I quote Thomas Jefferson in this space. Given our nation’s hardening polarization, I thought it more appropriate this year to quote Abraham Lincoln.

Despite my lifetime interest in politics, I avoid conflict. Relationships are more important than winning arguments, but with America’s drift towards tribalism it’s becoming increasingly challenging – particularly with Facebook.

One time I truly felt universally connected followed my daughter Sally’s birth in Greenville, S.C.

When I see highway signs displaying logos of restaurants at upcoming exits, I’m amazed how much those logos instantly spark my own internal taste buds and experiential memories.

My older brother Mike came home unexpectedly early from college in 1970. His classmates had just shut Princeton down – a show of solidarity with student protests spreading across America.

Traveling each week around the U.S. and other countries helping to extend The Atlanta 100 concept – we just launched our 17th, The Arizona 100, last week – I’ve discovered a sweet way to increase the chances I get a response: chocolate and caramel.

Known to my kids for creating a small crisis during every trip, I managed to pack several into our 1996 trip to France.

A couple years ago, I asked a journalist friend who had just taken a job with then Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed about news stories of the mayor’s blaring of blue lights and sirens to avoid traffic.

Growing up a block from Peachtree, I loved turning over rocks in our front yard creek to find snakes, salamanders and crawdads, as we called them. Then our city allowed builders and developers to have their way, polluting creeks and destroying our wildlife habitat.

My mom always complained our family was full of lawyers and doctors, but not one businessperson.

My favorite part of attending the Midtown Alliance annual meeting was its slide show, contrasting today’s trendy, business-fueled Atlanta neighborhood with that dark time in the 1970s when Peachtree & 14th streets were … The Strip.

First time it happened was at summer camp. We were bused to a backwoods North Carolina church. Mike Egan and I sat in a conspicuous pew. Instead of reciting the liturgy, the priest sang it in an awful voice. We couldn’t stop laughing, despite his scowls. We figured we were going to hell.

My first consideration following my PR firm’s acquisition was which firm should sponsor The Atlanta 100 next.

With The 100 Companies, I fly to other cities, meet PR firm owners and discuss membership in our 16-market publishing network. Lately, most begin with a question for me: “How did you sell your PR firm … how can I sell mine?”