There aren't many things I like about living in this town called Hotlanta, ATL, A-Town, the new South or whatever the hey they tout themselves these days.
For one, the traffic is RIDICULOUS, the drivers are as rude and incompetent as you'll find anywhere in the U.S., and I have lived in big cities from Los Angeles to Baltimore to Dallas and San Francisco. I have seen more accidents and disabled cars on the side of the roads in my first week here than the entire years I have been in California. People either drive too slowly on the left lane or zooming by way too fast on the right side. They don't understand the concept of Going with the Flow. There are many weavers, darters who cut across 3,4 lanes at a time and brakers for no reason. Now, I personally think it's perfectly safe to drive around 15 miles over the speed limit. But when people blowing by at 90 miles an hour no matter where or what the condition is just unacceptable and foolish. And they might as well strip off the turn signals or rear view mirrors on these cars because nobody is using them anyway.
Secondly, the architecture is remarkably bland and boring. Strip malls after strip malls after shopping centers look exactly the same. Newly built subdivisions with these gigantic MacMansions and their over-manicured landscapes yards and bushes just make me want to vomit or take a whizz on their flower beds. The developers and leaders here don't seem to care about the aesthetics or environmental effects of what they are building. Downtown structures have no character or individuality. Many major cities in America have at least one landmark in their skylines, I can't think of one for Atlanta. If you know of one, please let me know, I'd like to see it.
Thirdly, the people. Oh, the humanity of it all! Of course, this is the Deep South, people are extremely religious. They also love their guns, their NASCAR, their country music, and their goddamn pickup trucks. In Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta, households are required to own a gun. Yes, it's true, it's one of the city's ordinances. You will find all your stereotypical Southern rednecks down heeere. Jeff Foxworthy is from around here, and he's proud of it too. So was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but somehow I don't think he would be proud of this city if he were alive today. Southern hospitality my ass! My wife and I (we're an interracial couple) were denied service or just ignored by the waitstaff and the cashiers of many fine restaurants such as Bojangles, Howard's Cafeteria, Cracker Barrel among a few others over the last 15 years that I've been living here (Smyrna, Marietta, Atlanta). Just recently last month, we ordered and sat and waited patiently for almost 50 minutes until we learned that the waitress did not even put in our orders. May be it was an honest mistake, but the point was she did not talk or check with us for the entire 50 minutes. We left after having finished our third glass of water. We've gotten looks, given the silent treatments, denied service or just plain ignored. So we know and experience prejudice first hand every day. The majority of people and their thinking is backwards and way behind the times. The leaderships of this red state is corrupt and incompetent as in many southern states.
If I have to make a list of the things I enjoy about living here and it would start with my favorite editorial cartoonist:
Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Pictured above is one of his latest works. I look forward to reading the editorial pages every day just to see the featured cartoon.
