Blog Topic: In the Community

In the Loop: Ride Free Buses to Brunch and the Farmers Market This Weekend

By Blake Aued | August 14, 2015 12:15pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

Starting this Saturday through Dec. 19, you can catch a free bus to the Athens Farmers Market, except on football gamedays.

The “Fresh Food Bus” will run on Saturday mornings every hour from 8:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. and will stop at Building S, Memorial Hall/the Tate Center, the Multimodal Center and Russell Hall. A full schedule is available here.

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Culture Briefs: AthFest Educates Now Accepting Grant Applications

By Madeline Bates | July 22, 2015 4:50pm

"By The Sea"

AthFest Educates is currently accepting applications for its next wave of music and arts grants. The nonprofit, which awards grants biannually in August and January, raises funds primarily through the AthFest Music and Arts Festival in June and the AthHalf Half Marathon in October.

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In the Loop: Meet the First Same-Sex Couple to Get Married in Athens

By Benjamin Tankersley | June 26, 2015 1:03pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Moriah Martin (left) and Jordyn Dolente leave the Clarke County Courthouse after becoming the first local same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license since this morning's marriage equality ruling.

Jordyn Dolente and Moriah Martin were the first couple to get a marriage license in Clarke County this morning after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

"I never thought that this was going to happen, especially in Georgia," Dolente said. "We thought marijuana would be first."

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Culture Briefs: MA Tour Highlights Contemporary Architecture by Lori Bork Newcomer

By Barbette Houser | June 2, 2015 10:20am

Photo Credit: Barbette Houser

The Stroud Residence references a traditional barn form.

The doors to three contemporary houses designed by local architect Lori Bork Newcomer were wide open on Saturday, May 30. Their owners were generous participants in a tour of homes put on by a group of design savvy and urbane Atlantans.

Tours like these appeal to voyeuristic needs. We get to see how other people live. In this case, we also get to see how people can possibly survive without ornate molding, generous amounts of trim, separate dining rooms, white columns and formal entryways.

The event, a satellite tour, was part of the larger MA Architecture Tour and International Design Expo. With the theme of “Design is Human,” the goal of MA is to promote contemporary design in the Atlanta area and beyond. Satellite tours were held in several southern cities, including Athens and Asheville, NC.

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In the Loop: Chris Christie: I Can Work With Democrats

By Blake Aued | May 15, 2015 10:16am

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may not officially be running for president—yet—but he laid out a strategy for winning over blue-state voters during a breakfast speech this morning at the Georgia Republican convention at the Classic Center.

Christie was noncommittal when reporters asked him whether he’s running. In his speech, however, he made a case for a more inclusive party that’s more open to compromise.

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In the Loop: Athens Is a Terrible Place to Raise Kids if You're Poor

By Blake Aued | May 4, 2015 11:47am

Photo Credit: Kristen Morales

Children play outside the Nellie B public housing complex.

Athens is one of the worst places for a child to grow up in a low-income family if that child hopes to escape poverty.

The New York Times published an interactive feature today based on research into income mobility by two Harvard economists, Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren. They used data on segregation by race and income, schools, violent crime and two-parent households to determine how where children are raised affects their future income. They tracked 5 million people who moved during childhood to measure how moving affected their earnings.

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Culture Briefs: World Tea Society Event Blends Fashion, Food and Friendship

By Barbette Houser | May 3, 2015 4:10pm

Photo Credit: Barbette Houser

Dressing up is an important part of the World Tea Society's gatherings.

Pulling up to the location for the World Tea Society’s social gathering on Saturday was a real Jane Austen moment. Specifically, the one where Jennifer Ehle, playing Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice, sucks in her breath when confronted with the splendor of Colin Firth’s—I mean Mr. Darcy’s—palatial home. The setting for the first public tea held by this recently created society was designed to impress: a very large house in an elite Athens neighborhood, complete with a large lake and picture perfect geese wandering the grounds.

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In the Loop: Athens Forum Focuses on Race and Police Violence

By Evelyn Andrews | April 26, 2015 1:41pm

Author and lawyer Robin Shipp.

The Athens community's support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement and protests against police brutality inspired Ricky Roberts, a local activist, to host an event to foster dialogue about these issues and unify the community on Saturday.

This event could also serve as the foundation of a support mechanism if an incident does happen in Athens, Roberts said.

“I don’t think that what happened in Ferguson is unique to Ferguson, that could happen anywhere,” she said.

Authors of the book Justice While Black, Robbin Shipp and Nick Chiles, delivered the keynote address.

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In the Loop: It Was a Violent Weekend in Athens

By Blake Aued | April 20, 2015 10:50am

I don't know if the rain was making everybody stir crazy or what, but it seems like there were way more assaults than usual in Athens over the weekend. All information was taken from Athens-Clarke County police reports.

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In the Loop: Help Clocked! Manager Josh Gravitt Take Care of His Injured Kids

By Blake Aued | February 19, 2015 12:23pm

Amy Gravitt's car after a drunk-driving accident that seriously injured her two children.

Josh Gravitt, a manager at Clocked!, is trying to raise $10,000 to care for his two children who were seriously injured in a drunk-driving accident.

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