Fresh Loaf

RE-ENACTMENT: A pregnant Dorothy Malcom is taken to her death.

The last public lynching in America took place 62 years ago near Atlanta, but the quest for justice continues.

Dorothy Malcom was seven months pregnant on July 25, 1946 when she, her husband Roger, and another couple, George and Mae Murray Dorsey, were lynched at Moore’s Ford Bridge near Monroe. Sixty-two years later, the unborn baby received a name – Justice Malcom.

The surviving members of the Malcom family adopted the name at the rally preceding the fourth annual re-enactment of the lynching Friday. The name reflects the need for justice in the last public lynching case in America, says Georgia Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D. Atlanta. The case remains unsolved.
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Number of building permits issued in Decatur in 1995: 349

Number of building permits issued in Decatur in 2007: 822

Percent decrease in car volume at the intersection of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Church Street from 2001 to 2006: 20

Population of Decatur in 2000: 18,147

Population of Decatur in 2007: 17,914

Average household size in the U.S.: 2.58

Average household size in metro Atlanta: 2.7

Average household size in Decatur: 2.12

Source: City of Decatur 2008 Annual Report, Decatur Court Traffic Impact Analysis

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David Booker-Earley is a 13-year-old jazz percussionist at Jean Childs Young Middle School. The school’s band won this year’s Youth Jazz Competition at the Atlanta Jazz Festival.

Why did you start playing percussion instruments?

It started a long time ago when my older brother came home one day, twirling his sticks, playing a lot of stuff I didn’t know what was. So it just looked pretty cool to me and I thought I’d try it out.

Do you bang on the table when you’re eating dinner?

Oh, yes. Anything I can use to beat on is my instrument. I even played on the concrete with my hands one time. It hurt, but I made a cool song there.

How does your family feel about you banging on things all the time?

My brothers, they bang along with me. My sister, she sings with us. All of us are really percussionists inside. But sometimes they might tell me to stop because they’re trying to watch TV.

Are there any obsessed girl fans at school?

Kind of, sometimes.

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AMERICAN CICHLID ASSOCIATION CONVENTION: We’re always grateful when the subjects of photos write the captions for us.

The American Cichlid Association’s annual convention and competition attracted hundreds of tropical fish hobbyists to the airport Hilton last weekend.

Like a dog show for fish, 350 cichlids vied for top prizes before being auctioned. The road to the top isn’t easy for cichlids, natives mainly in Central and South America, and Africa. They’re judged on body size and color, as well as how they present themselves. Fish have a tendency to hide, says Atlanta Area Aquarium Association co-founder Mark Barnett, and must be conditioned to swimming in a bare tank in a high-traffic area.

In addition to competition, the convention provided networking opportunities for cichlid connoisseurs. Cichlids, which includes angelfish, discus and tilapia, can be selectively bred and even hormone-induced turn particular colors. But there is no drug test for the show, Barnett says, not even for fishy competitors.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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Jamie Karns is a bouncer at Lenny’s Bar and Grill. At six-feet two-inches tall and 415 pounds, 37-year-old Karns is also known as Fat Guy.

What kind of training do you need to be a bouncer?

Patience is the biggest factor. There’s not really a special class on how to throw someone out, but you need to be able to control your temper when somebody is obviously drunk and not get mad at him for being rude.

How can you recognize a fake ID?

Most of them are pretty bad. Things like, the girl’s eyes are blue but the girl your talking to’s eyes are green. The manufactured fake ID, things like the watermarks are wrong, the color of ink they use is wrong.

Just how bad do they get?

I’ve gotten several IDs from people I know. A total stranger walks up and gives me an ID of someone I actually know. And I’m like, “This isn’t you.” And they’re like, “Oh, yes it is.” But I’m like, “This is the guy I went to high school with, it’s not you.”

What would you do if someone brought in a McLovin ID (from the movie Superbad)?

That would definitely not fly. First off, no one has just one name, you know? But odd states like Hawaii and whatnot, don’t work. Give me the one of the state you’re in.

Do girls try to flirt with you to get in?

Mm-hmm.

Does it work?

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THE VINYL SHOW AT NEW STREET GALLERY: It’s the vinyl countdown.

“Portrait of Frank Sinatra as a Chinese Sage” wouldn’t be the first thing most people would think paint out old vinyl disc, but that’s what’s been so great about the Vinyl Show – New Street Gallery’s series of shows and silent auctions featuring work by local artists who let their creativity run wild on 12-inch vinyl canvasses.

Saturday’s show featured a variety of media, from paint and acrylic to the more unconventional – vintage porn, cut-outs of Dr. Seuss characters, plastic plants, feathers and cork. Some artworks carried messages of love and commercialism and were melted and decorated to the point the original disc was nowhere to be seen.

New Street co-founder Meshakai Wolf says the vinyl records are an easy, cheap way to level the playing field for artists. Despite the series’s knack for pulling audiences, Saturday’s show was the series’ and the gallery’s last hurrah. Wolf says he plans to focus on New Street’s record label and literary journal after the gallery closes. It’s time, he says, to move on from the financial struggle of maintaining a public gallery space.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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More than 50 same-sex couples walked down the aisle at the Atlanta Pride Festival Commitment Ceremony Saturday.

Some couples donned white gowns, while others wore shorts and sneakers at the rather informal event. With partners exchanging rings and wedding vows, the event closely resembled a wedding ceremony. Couples received commitment certificates and danced to Etta James’s “At Last” – a wedding classic – at the reception.

After the interfaith ceremony, led by a religious leaders wearing rainbow-colored scarves, couples received private blessings in their preferred religious traditions.

For some couples like Ivy Nia and Shaun Everhart, the ceremony was a stepping stone to becoming legally married. Shaun says the couple is thinking of going to California “to make it extra-legal.”

For others like Joanna Camper, who drew a crowd before the event by dressing her partner Anissa in a headpiece with rainbow-colored ribbons and a hand-made shawl, the ceremony was a way to rekindle their commitment.

In a state where gay marriage is outlawed, the ceremony was symbolic rather than legal. But that didn’t stop couples from yelling, “We’re married!” at the end of what the Rev. Tessie Mandeville of Christ Covenant Metropolitan Community Church called a “subversive” ceremony that recognizes love under God without discrimination.

(Photo by Michelle Ye Hee Lee)

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Beth O’Connor teaches people about nutrition, health, fitness, meditation, and spirit — the elements of what she says comprise wellness.

“You don’t have to be a size 2 but you can eat nutritiously. Stay away from saturated fats. Stay away from all the processed foods, packaged foods.”

O’Connor teaches groups at wellness parties: “We talk about nutrition and fitness. I teach them meditation and give them some yoga stretches to do. I massage and they learn how to massage — very basic things.”

On Southern food: “I love [Paula Deen].  But everything she makes, it’s just butter, pounds and pounds of butter. I eat butter, but very in moderation.”

“[A]bout five years ago, I realized I can’t eat this southern fried food anymore. I gained so much weight during my marriage and I’m still battling it. I believe a lot is genetics, but we’re still in control.

O’Connor says diet is the primary cause of unwellness. “What you put in your body is gonna affect you, five years from now, 10 years from now.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Political commentators are divided over whether former U.S. Senator from Georgia Sam Nunn would make a good running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

“Some might doubt whether Obama is ready for that 3 a.m. phone call, but Nunn – who is already an Obama policy adviser – certainly would be, especially in an era when that phone call is ever more likely to involve a loose nuke.”

– Michael Crowley, June 25, The New Republic. Nunn is CEO of the anti-proliferation non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative.

“[Nunn] was not above channeling base, “yuck factor”-based objections to homosexuality in service of his retrograde policy views. Even today, he only says he’d “reconsider” Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and insists he was right in 1993.”

– An excerpt from “Having Nunn of It,” an online petition against selecting Nunn as Obama’s running mate.

“Putting a 70-year old, white, southern, corporate dude on the ticket would almost entirely wipe away any notion that Obama is a “change” candidate.”

– Chris Bowers, June 16, on the blog OpenLeft

“Few things are certain in presidential politics, but here are three: it will be expensive; it will get negative; and, at some point, former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia will be mentioned as a possible Democratic running mate.”

– Mark Leibovich, June 22, New York Times

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Jay Yeomans, 51, is head referee at Paintball Atlanta. An aficionado of paintball for 15 years, he also maintains the company’s equipment and the facilities.

“You get bruises, maybe a couple little stitches, a turned ankle, something like that – something you can do playing in the backyard. But no one has had a serious injury [at Paintball Atlanta], especially eye-related.”

“Everybody [at Paintball Atlanta] has got to deal with me sooner or later. I’m not known for my wonderful attitude.”

“When a paintball hits you in the mask and it’s in your mouth, usually you gag, hack and spit. And cussing usually is in there somewhere. It’s got that 4-week-old, uncooked meat smell. It’s nasty.”

On his daughter: “She just turned 18, she’s been playing for four years. She’s very brutal. She put Father’s Day scars on both sides of my neck. It’s alright. I got her later.”

Is paintball a sport? “What is your definition of a sport? Okay, like football where you’re playing against another team in front of an audience – spectators – at the big tournaments? You get just as many people as you would on a decent football game. There is money at stake, trophies at stake, sponsorships from manufacturers.”

On real guns: “Most of my guns, I have sold. One of them was grandfather’s shotgun – sentimental. I kept that. One’s a pistol – protection. I kept that.”

“Paintball is nothing like the military. It’s a very sore spot. There are a lot of people out there, churches and other organizations that consider paintball as teaching our children paramilitary training, how to kill somebody else. I’ve called it a paintball gun – we call it a paintball marker. . We don’t kill in paintball, we eliminate. Usually until the next game starts up, which is usually in about 10, 15 minutes.”

“Because the word “gun” is just not a good thing to be thrown around. You can’t talk about paintball in schools because it involves a gun, if you will. Because my daughter tried to set up a team, to start playing a team at school. And the word “gun” came out, and they said, ‘That’s it. Forget it.’”

“The pay’s good and it’s a job I love doing. You can’t beat that.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Michael Ellis is the founder and director of Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort. AWARE helps injured and distressed urban wildlife at its facility in Lithonia.

Ellis got involved with wildlife through his work as a builder. “I built some gibbon ape habitats at Yerkes.”

In Belize with a Yerkes primatologist, Ellis met a couple from Washington state who rescued wildlife at their home: “I moved to Washington to volunteer [for them]. I had $700 and my Chevy S-10.”

On the animals he rescues now: “At any wildlife center, birds are 70% of the intake. But it’s everything – hummingbirds, eagles, mice, eagles, deer, possums, squirrels.”

“Roaming cats are one of the biggest devastators of wildlife in this country. Every free roaming domestic cat kills 200 to 400 wild animals a year.”

The biggest mistake people make with wild animals: “People identify animals [that are by themselves] as orphans. They interrupt the most critical training [for these animals.]

To which animals is Ellis most attached? “The ones least likely to survive, because I’m forced to spend more time with them than any other animal.”

“If I had to pick a favorite animal native to North America, it’d probably be a wolf because they represent all the good and all the bad that’s ever happened in this country.”

On releasing a rehabilitated animal into the wild: “Every time I release an animal, it almost makes me cry. Almost, every time.”

Do the animals he rescues socialize? “Birds put up with each other. The young ones interact. If you put an orphaned red-tailed hawk with an adult, there’s good chance the adult will feed the baby.

Yeah, but do hawks play basketball: “No, they don’t play basketball.”

On his father, George Ellis: “ He had the first spoof late night horror satire show in Atlanta on WAGA-TV in the 60s called Big Movie Shocker. He and I sang, acted and had [movie] theatres called the Film Forum. We introduced Atlanta to the art flick world.”

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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Matthew Mansour is a jouster at the Georgia Renaissance Fair and similar events in Illinois and North Carolina. The 42-year old from LaGrange also makes leather costumes for horses.

How did you become interested in jousting?

I was, as a little kid, always interested in knights. And one day I met a fellow who actually jousted. He was an actor, and he jousted. I begged him and pleaded for years and years to go with him and he said no because I was 12.

When I turned 18, I went on the road and squired for him, and learned the performance trade from the ground up.

How historically accurate is the performance?

This [jousting performance at the Renaissance Fair] is quasi-historically accurate. We put a lot more theatrics into it. A full tournament could not be done in a half-hour show.

Do you have a performance name?

Sir Matthew, the Duke of Windsor. It used to be the Prince of Windsor but that was too hoity-toity so we changed it to Duke.

What are some differences and similarities between you and Sir Matthew?

Sir Matthew is much, much more impressive. Regular Matthew is just a kind of a laid-back guy. When I walk around here as Sir Matthew, there’s a lot of bravado and your chest is swelled, you’re swaggering around. You’re a knight, a fairly important person. And I’m not like that at all.

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