“Meet Me On Peachtree”Atlanta, Georgia
According to a article in the LA Times, a computer at CNN.com was sucked outside in the strike. Given the proximity of the CNN properties to one another at CNN Center , that could be a hint at explaining why CNN International and not CNN was on that channel and reporting the news Friday night.
Friday’s storm was the first of a weekend-long saga of violent weather and tornadoes. 2 people were killed Saturday in storms near the Alabama state line and 20 homes were damaged with no reported injuries south of Atlanta on Sunday. I was definitely NOT Georgia's weekend!
For me, watching the aftermath was...I‘m not sure exactly how to put it into words. Atlanta is my favorite city. I’ve been there often since the first time I went there in 1989. I fell in love with the city. I drive a 1994 Camaro instead of something more sensible for winter survival in the Great Lakes area because in 1994, I had plans to move there.
I was looking at all of the glass and debris on the street where windows had shattered at the Omni hotel and CNN Center. CNN Center was the place I had lunch with the news writer who inspired me to get my radio and TV certificate from Specs Howard. It was the place I waved my hand in front of the blue wall and saw myself on TV in front of a chromakeyed CNN weather map when I went on the studio tour.
Pieces of the roof fell in at The Georgia Dome, where I saw men’s gymnastics in the 1996 Summer Olympics and Clemson and Louisiana State face off in the Peach Bowl that December. The news showed debris in Centennial Olympic Park, where I had been with friends the weekend before the Olympics when we went to the country festival at The Atlanta Motor Speedway.
It’s kinda haunting to see and read about all that destruction happening in a place you love that has so many happy memories attached to it. But Atlanta has survived greater destruction and came back to thrive even more. Remember, it was burned to the ground in that war almost a century and a half back?
So, I can drink a cup of coffee from that mug and smile, knowing that Atlanta has the will bred into it from the Civil War days to bounce back and this country has the spirit of drive and cooperation to get things back and running in the little town that has become the communications hub of America and one of our historical Olympic cities.
Oh, and one more thing ... about the mug. Once everything is back and ready for touristing activities, and I DO recommend that, especially in the spring when the dogwoods and the Braves are in bloom, beware of locals that give directions to tourists that include “turn on Peachtree.” There are over 30 streets in Metro Atlanta that have Peachtree in the street name, but there is no street called “Peachtree.”
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