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this week’s issue
contents
JESSICA LUTON
Kim Tomlinson, an emergency room physician at Piedmont Athens Regional, is vaccinated for COVID-19. Read more in City Dope on p. 4.
This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 NEWS: City Dope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pub Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
COVID Update, Court in the Classic Center
Curb Your Appetite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
NEWS: Street Scribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Good Riddance 2020
Art Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
f l a g p o l e • c o m
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Threats & Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
NEWS: Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Project Censored
Record Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ARTS & CULTURE: Flag Football . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Season In Review
Adopt Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles EDITOR & PUBLISHER Pete McCommons
Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
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CITY EDITOR Blake Aued ARTS & MUSIC EDITOR Jessica Smith OFFICE MANAGER AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Zaria Gholston CLASSIFIEDS Zaria Gholston AD DESIGNERS Chris McNeal, Cody Robinson CARTOONISTS Lee Gatlin, Missy Kulik, Jeremy Long, David Mack
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VOLUME 35 ISSUE NUMBER 1
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comments section “I like what Colony Square Mall did in conjunction with Hive Mind Arise. They allowed artists to use vacant storefronts as studio space in a transition period, and they had gallery openings and events to draw people in. It was magical!” — Kathy Higgs From “School Board Approves Georgia Square Mall Redevelopment Incentives” at flagpole.com
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city dope
The Vaccine Is Here BUT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ISN’T GOING AWAY ANYTIME SOON By Blake Aued and Jessica Luton news@flagpole.com As a new year begins, it’s likely that the Moderna vaccine allocated to Athens hospipandemic will be with us for many more tals, the Clarke County Health Department, months ahead, but there is a bright spot on the UGA University Health Center and the local front: the arrival of Phase 1 vacciother health care facilities. For the Pfizer nations for health care workers and older vaccine, approximately 7,000 doses have citizens in Athens-Clarke County. been allocated. These numbers will change Just before Christmas, the first six and increase over time as more doses health care workers were vaccinated at become available in the second and third Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital. A phases of the vaccine-distribution plan. small group of employees and hospital Sinyard said that health care providers administrators looked on as the first will be distributing vaccinations as quickly doses were given to each employee. All six as they can when they arrive. For instance, employees volunif they received 100 teered to participate doses, they would The advent of the vaccine distribute 100 doses. in a media event meant to highlight is the first thing that may The second dose the vaccine’s arrival. weeks later would really bring this to an end. “The advent of likely come from a the vaccine is the different shipment of first thing that may really bring this to an doses. As of Dec. 30, there had been 61,870 end,” said Robert Sinyard, Piedmont Athens vaccinations given in Georgia, according to Regional’s chief medical officer. “It holds the Department of Public Health vaccinathat kind of promise. That’s why we need tion dashboard. to dispense it to everybody who wants it, The arrival of the vaccine, by all accounts, and we need to get the education out there is needed for a boost of morale and energy about the potential benefits of it, and we’re as health care workers continue to fight the here today to kick that off.” pandemic. Since Thanksgiving, Athens hosAt first, health care workers will be pitals have seen a large increase in hospitalprioritized, as they work in close contact izations of COVID-19 patients, with 35% with COVID-19 patients. The initial group of all hospitalizations, or 238 patients, at included an emergency department physihospitals in Region E attributed to COVIDcian and technician, a pulmonology PCT, 19. Bed space is also becoming limited, with two nurses and a transporter. While all 94% of intensive-care beds and 95% of all vaccinations for employees are voluntary, beds occupied in Region E, which includes Sinyard said there’s been great interest Clarke and 11 other counties. from employees who want to get the vacAs of Dec. 30, there had been 8,041 cine as soon as they can. cases, 63 deaths and 316 hospitalizations For Kimberly Tomlinson, the decision to for COVID-19 in Clarke County. While the get the vaccine was easy. “I’m an emergency seven-day running average for new cases medicine physician here, so I’ve been dealin Clarke County was 22.3 per day, that ing with COVID since the beginning,” she number is likely low because of fewer tests said. “So I feel like, for and delays in processing those of us who have seen during the holidays. On I’ve never feared the disastrous effects of Christmas Eve, the sevthe virus, it’s kind of an en-day running average vaccines, but I easy choice. We can’t hide for new cases in Clarke definitely still fear COVID. County was 50.3. In addifrom it. We can’t avoid it. So I did this for myself tion, the positivity rates and for my family and for my patients and, of counties surrounding Clarke, particularly honestly, just to move things in a positive Jackson and Oconee, continue to rise and direction.” contribute to growing hospitalization rates Josh Culpepper, an emergency room in Athens. tech, was excited about the prospects of the So what’s next in the weeks and months vaccine on ending the pandemic. “I wanted ahead? Likely more social distancing, hand to run at the opportunity, honestly,” he washing and mask wearing, say most public said. “I’m happy to be vaccinated, and I’m health experts. However, as vaccine distria pro-vaccine person. I’ve never feared vacbution is rolled out and becomes available cines, but I definitely still fear COVID. I just to long-term care residents, older adults, want as many tools in my kit to fight it that other vulnerable populations and essential I can have, because we need them.” workers, vaccinations will be available to For those curious about getting the vacthe general public. The Northeast Health cine, Culpepper said it was painless. “I’m District is already accepting appointments feeling great. I’m feeling just as good now at publichealthathens.com. [Jessica Luton] as I did when I walked in the door,” he said. “As far as vaccine injections that I’ve had, that was a pretty painless one.” Western Circuit Superior Court Chief While the first health care workers Judge Eric Norris had planned to restart received the Pfizer vaccine, there are also jury trials in January after a nearly orders for the Moderna vaccine. Both 10-month pause, but the coronavirus didn’t require two doses, with the second dose for the Pfizer vaccine at 21 days and the second cooperate. Now, local judges are eyeing dose for the Moderna vaccine at 28 days. To March, with grand jury proceedings, jury date, there are more than 2,500 doses of the selection and trials held at the Classic
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Judges Push Back Trials to March
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Center to allow for social distancing. to go in and out,” Lott said. “I don’t think the courts have ever had to While jury selection and jury trials deal with something like this,” Norris said. have been on pause, the backlog of cases is “The worst we’ve had is a snowstorm.” growing. Lott said she has 130 cases on her Harold Melton, the chief justice of the docket awaiting trial. Another 400 defenGeorgia Supreme Court, declared a judicial dants are awaiting a grand jury hearing to emergency when the pandemic started determine if they’ll be indicted, according in March that put proceedings requiring to Norris. large numbers of people on hold; then in Melton’s order temporarily suspended October he told chief circuit judges to form the right to a speedy trial, Norris said, but committees to decide how to restart those the judges said they’re doing everything proceedings safely. In the Western Circuit, they can to ensure people aren’t rotting in a that committee included trial judges, proscell—for example, holding bond hearings by ecutors, lawyers, doctors, commissioners video and releasing inmates who are at risk and the managers of Clarke and Oconee for COVID-19. However, grand jury hearcounties. “For Clarke, we quickly realized ings can’t be held on Zoom because secrecy the courthouse just wasn’t set up for gathis required, and going online runs the risk erings,” Norris said. The plan for Oconee of someone recording it, Norris said. County is to keep trials at the courthouse, “I have tried very hard to get bond cases while holding jury selection at the civic into court as soon as possible and take center. into account the pandemic, people sitting Even in normal times, the Athens-Clarke in jail, the inmate’s health,” said Lott, a County Courthouse is cramped—especially former public defender. “If someone can be during jury selection, when hundreds of released, they should be released.” potential jurors cram into the atrium and But not everyone can be released courtrooms, sitting shoulder-to-shoulbecause some may be a threat to the comder for hours at a time. That’s why ACC is munity, she continued. Superior Court has building a new judicial center as part of the jurisdiction over felonies, including serious SPLOST 2020 salescharges of violent tax program, but it’s crime. Lott recalled Our courthouse is too still in the early plana recent hearing in small. We don’t have the which a man accused ning stages and won’t open for years. aggravated assault resources to spread people out of “Our courthouse and domestic violence and make them feel safe. is too small,” said asked for reduced Superior Court Judge bond, but his partner Lisa Lott. “We don’t have the resources to “testified she was scared half to death if he spread people out and make them feel safe.” were to get out.” For the time being, Norris and other Another issue with restarting jury procourthouse officials have opted to rent out ceedings now is that Clarke County has a the Classic Center, where spacious ballnew sheriff, John Q. Williams, who is in rooms will allow for safer grand-jury hearcharge of courthouse security, as well as a ings and jury trials. The county commission new district attorney, Deborah Gonzalez, has approved spending up to $400,000, who is likely to lose some veteran prosecualthough Norris said that estimate is a tors. “She needs time to build her team up,” “worst-case scenario,” and the final figure Norris said. will depend on how many trials take place Norris said he’s also worried about how and how long they last. (The Classic Center many people called for jury duty will show is a quasi-government entity, but it operates up during a pandemic. He’s planning on independently and is run like a business.) doing public service announcements on “The Classic Center is a decent venue safety precautions at the Classic Center. because it has a lot of space, a lot of differ“We can’t do a jury trial without people,” he ent rooms, big rooms, places for defendants said. [Blake Aued] f
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news
street scribe
news
pub notes
Good Riddance to 2020
Here’s Help
2021 BRINGS HOPE AFTER A YEAR OF FEAR AND CHAOS
WRITERS OFFER STEADY GUIDANCE THROUGH THE CHAOS
By Ed Tant news@flagpole.com
By Pete McCommons pete@flagpole.com
January is named for Janus, the Roman god of exits and entrances who had one face gazing forward and one face looking backward. January of 2021 brought sighs of relief to millions of Americans who are glad to see the year 2020 in their rear view mirrors. The past 12 months have been trying times when a pandemic, protests and politics mixed into a strange brew of fear and uncertainty across this nation and around the world.
the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19. As the year ended, the death toll from the disease in America was rocketing toward the 400,000 mark. Vaccines are being administered, but there may never be a cure for the economic losses, mental angst and cultural decline brought on by the pandemic. Here in Athens, a citywide shutdown of bars, theaters, concert venues, restaurants and other gathering places gave the Classic City the look of a ghost town last spring. With
CHRIS DOWD / FILE
Local radio magnate H. Randolph Holder used to remind us every morning on WGAU, back when that station was still locally owned (by him), that “the news depends on you.” Thus, local philanthropic magnate Grady Thrasher, who no doubt remembers Randolph from his high school years here, recently called attention to an opinion piece in the Irish Times, of all places, that greatly enhances our ability to understand Trump and Trumpism. I pass along to Flagpole readers this Dec. 26 editorial by Fintan O’Toole, entitled, “Trump has unfinished business. A republic he wants to destroy still stands.” Below is a concluding excerpt. The whole piece can be read at irishtimes. com, though you may need to search for it by the time you read this.
Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson, in the Dec. 30 edition of her blog, Letters From an American (heather coxrichardson.substack.com), provides historical context. She basically chronicles what has happened to our country since the Great Depression, showing that it all goes much further back than Trump and will still be around after he’s gone. This edition is very much worth your attention and will no doubt encourage you to make daily reading of Richardson a habit. Here’s her summary to her latest post.
“And in this moment, we have, disastrously, discovered the final answer to whether or not it is a good idea to destroy the activist government that has protected us since 1933. In their zeal for reducing government, the Trump team undercut our “The price of this form of power is the ability to respond to a pandemic and tried undermining of any form of democratic to deal with the deadly coronavirus through deliberation. Democracy is not just about private enterprise or by ignoring it and voting—it is a syscalling for people tem for the rational to go back to work The result has been what is in service to the articulation of ideas about the public on track to be the greatest economy, willing to good. Trump set out accept huge numbers catastrophe in American history. of dead. They have to lay waste to that whole system, from carried individualthe bottom up, poisoning the groundwaters ism to an extreme, insisting that simple of respect for evidence, argument and ratio- public health measures designed to save nality that keeps it alive. lives infringe on their liberty. “The power of his instinct was that he “The result has been what is on track to knew how to tap into a hatred of governbe the greatest catastrophe in American ment that has been barely below the surface history, with more than 338,000 of us dead of American culture since before the founand the disease continuing to spread like dation of the U.S. wildfire. It is for this that the Trump admin“That instinct proved sufficiently well istration will be remembered, but it is more attuned that he got nearly 75 million than that. It is a fitting end to the attempt votes in November, to destroy our governeven while his malign ment of the people, by incompetence was the people, and for the killing his own people. people.” He got those votes, moreover, having made Also a good habit to it abundantly clear form is the California that he would never attorney Robert accept the result of the Hubbell’s newsletelection unless he won. ter, Today’s Edition. They were votes for Hubbell writes from an open autocracy. ardent liberal position, “This is his legacy: but he is no closedHe has successfully led minded ideologue. a vast number of voters Amid the last four along the path from years’ political chaos, hatred of government to contempt for ratio- he has steadily tried to remain positive nal deliberation to the inevitable endpoint: and to keep our eyes on what needs to be disdain for the electoral process itself. done for us to survive and prevail. He’s well “In this end is his new beginning. worth your attention (rhubbell@outlook. Stripped of direct power, he will face enorcom). mous legal and financial jeopardy. He will The same can be said for Charlie have every reason to keep drawing on his Hayslett, an Atlanta transplant to Oconee greatest asset: his ability to unleash the County whose occasional blog Trouble in demons that have always haunted the God’s Country keeps an eye on Georgia American experiment—racism, nativism, health, education, economics and politics. fear of ‘the government.’ And, finally, Flagpole readers need no “Trump has unfinished business. A reminder, but here’s one anyway: All politics republic he wants to destroy still stands. It is local, so start here and let our panoply of is, for him, not goodbye but hasta la vista. local contributors bring you insight while Instead of waving him off, those who want our seasoned City Editor Blake Aued keeps to rebuild American democracy will have to you up-to-date on local government and put a stake through his heart.” politics. f
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Hundreds of Athens residents attended a “World Without Cops” protest downtown on May 31.
After bruising battles in primary elections, Joe Biden emerged as the Democratic standard bearer who went on to beat incumbent President Donald Trump in the November general election. Even Georgia turned blue for Biden as the Democratic ticket won the Peach State for the first time since 1992. The Trump team mounted a series of recounts in Georgia, while Georgia’s Republican governor and election officials were threatened and excoriated by Trump and his angry supporters, who howled of a “stolen election” because the opposition got more votes. Trump’s failure to achieve an election victory angered and surprised the president and his hard-core cult of enthusiasts, who simply could not believe that Trump had become a lame-duck loser in 2020 after his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. For four years, Trump had tried to play tough-guy John Wayne on the presidential stage. Biden seemed happy just playing a reassuring Hopalong Cassidy role, and he outgunned his opponent in both the electoral and the popular vote tallies. Trump will vacate the White House on Jan. 20, when Biden is inaugurated in the nation’s capital, but don’t expect Trump to be a graceful loser. Meanwhile, as 2020 ended and the new year began, the eyes of the nation remained focused on Georgia’s Senate races that, after Flagpole’s print deadline, decided whether or not Democrats will have a narrow majority in the U.S. Senate. Record amounts of money and advertising were used by both parties in the Georgia senate races ahead of the Jan. 5 election. Even a national election was upstaged by
the university closed and food and drink venues shuttered or only doing takeout, people were homebound in Athens and across America during what I called the “patiopocalypse.” The pandemic could not stop the protests that erupted across the United States and abroad when Minneapolis police killed an African-American man named George Floyd on May 25. In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta and more than 150 cities and college towns from coast to coast, police were out in force using clubs, tear gas, flash grenades, pepper spray and rubber bullets during protests and urban riots. Here in the often politically somnolent city of Athens, where protests usually are small and muted affairs, large and peaceful crowds packed downtown’s College Square during a spirited Black Lives Matter rally on May 31. That night, police and National Guard troops used tear gas against protesters near the entrance to the university campus. It was the first time that tear gas had been used against protesters in Athens since the tempestuous times of dissent during the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. 2020 was a horrible year that was punctuated by the good news of civic involvement in the streets and at the voting places. The pandemic is still with us, and sore-loser Trumpster tricksters will continue to bemoan the toppling of their demigod demagogue by legions of voters. Fear and chaos still stalk this nation, but the landscape also is dotted with signs of hope. This new year of 2021 will have its own triumphs and tragedies, but for now, America and the world should be glad that 2020 is gone. It will never be forgotten. f
JANUARY 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM
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Project Censored STORIES CORPORATE MEDIA DIDN’T WANT YOU TO READ By Paul Rosenberg
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very year since 1976, Project Censored has performed an invaluable service: shedding light on the most significant news that’s somehow not fit to print. Censorship in an authoritarian society is obvious— from a distance, at least. There is a central agent or agency responsible for it, and the lines are clearly drawn. That’s not the case in the U.S., yet some stories rarely, if ever, see the light of day, such as stories about violence against Native American women and girls, even though four out of five of them experience violence at some point in their lives, overwhelmingly at the hands of non-Native perpetrators. “I wouldn’t say that we’re more vulnerable,” Annita Lucchesi, a Southern Cheyenne descendant and executive director of the Sovereign Bodies Institute, told The Guardian. “I’d say that we’re targeted. It’s not about us being vulnerable victims, it’s about the system being designed to target and marginalize our women.” The media erasure of their stories is part of that same system of targeting and marginalization. While journalists every day work hard to expose injustices, they work within a system where some injustices are so deeply baked in that stories exposing them are rarely told and even more rarely expanded upon to give them their proper due. That’s where Project Censored comes in. “The primary purpose of Project Censored is to explore and publicize the extent of news censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware, but is not, for a variety of reasons,” wrote its founder, Carl Jensen, on its 20th anniversary. Thus, the list of censored stories that’s the centerpiece of its annual book, State of the Free Press | 2021 doesn’t just help us to see individual stories we might otherwise have missed. It helps us see patterns of censorship, of stories suppressed and how those stories fit together. This year, for example, among its top 10 stories, there are two stories about violence and victimization of women of color, including the role of media neglect: No. 1. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (introduced above) and No. 7. Underreporting of Missing and Victimized Black Women and Girls. There are similarities as well as differences between them and being able to see them both together in Project Censored’s list helps us see them both more fully as distinct, yet connected stories. There are also three stories concerning the media itself (No. 2. Monsanto “Intelligence Center” Targeted Journalists and Activists, No. 6. Shadow Network of Conservative Outlets Emerges to Exploit Faith in Local News, and No. 10. Revive Journalism with a Stimulus Package and Public Option); there are two climate change stories about overlooked causes and risks (No. 3. U.S. Military—A Massive, Hidden Contributor to Climate Crisis and No. 9. Rising Risks of Nuclear Power Due to Climate Change); while a third (No. 4.
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tax act would boost investment have not panned out,” he noted. “Corporate investment is now at lower levels than before the act passed, according to the Commerce Department.” Once again, “trickle down tax cuts” didn’t trickle down. “The tax law’s centerpiece is its record cut in the corporate tax rate, from 35% to 21%,” Cary wrote. “At the time of its passage, most of the bill’s Republican supporters said the cut would result in higher wages, factory expansions and more jobs. Instead, it was mainly exploited by corporations, which bought back stock and raised dividends.” Buybacks exceeded $1 trillion for the first time ever the year after the cuts were passed, and dividends topped a record $1.3 trillion.
Congressional Investments and Conflicts of Interest) had a climate change component—senators’ fossil fuel investments; and two related to income inequality (No. 5. Inequality Kills: Gap between Richest and Poorest Americans Largest in 50 Years, about the problem itself, and No. 8. The Public Banking Revolution, about a promising way to support a more equitable economy). There are also further climate change threads woven through these stories—a highlighted connection between the extractive fossil fuel industry and violence against Native women, as well as an unmentioned connection via Monsanto’s employment of FTI Consulting, which has been heavily involved in climate disinformation warfare. The stories listed below are only part of what Project Censored does, however. State of the Free Press | 2021 has chapters devoted to other forms of obfuscation that help keep censored stories obscured. There’s a chapter devoted to “Junk Food News,” meaning cheaply produced stories focused on celebrityhood, industry-generated buzz and other trivia in place of substantive investigative journalism, and another devoted to “News Abuse,” meaning genuinely important topics presented through a disSen. Joe Manchin torted lens or two. There’s also a chapter devoted to “Déjà Vu The benefits to congressional RepubNews,” tracking previous Project Censored licans were enormous. “The 10 richest stories to update them and track whether Republicans in Congress in 2017 who voted they’ve gained some of the wider attenfor the tax bill held more than $731 million tion they deserve. And the chapter Media in assets, almost two-thirds of which were Democracy in Action highlights individuals in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other and organizations engaged in building a instruments,” which benefitted handsomely more inclusive, equitable, and democratic as a result of their votes that “doled out society. So, if the Top 10 stories summanearly $150 billion in corporate tax savings rized below leave you hungry for more, in 2018 alone,” Cary noted. “All but one of Project Censored has all that and more waitthe 47 Republicans who sat on the three key ing for you in State of the Free Press | 2021. committees overseeing the drafting of the tax bill own stocks and stock mutual funds. “Democrats also stood to gain from the tax bill, though not one voted for it,” he wrote. “All but 12 Republicans voted for the tax bill.” Exposition, political corruption and conTwo special features deserve notice. The flicts of interest are age-old staples of first is a newly created 20% deduction for journalism. So, it’s notable that two of the income from ‘pass-through’ businesses, most glaring, far-reaching examples of conor smaller, single-owner corporations. “At gressional conflicts of interest in the Trump least 22 of the 47 members of the House era have been virtually ignored by corporate and Senate tax-writing committees have media: Republicans’ support for the 2017 investments in pass-through businesses,” Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and bipartisan failProject Censored noted. ure to act on catastrophic climate change. Second was a provision allowing real “The cuts likely saved members of estate companies with relatively few Congress hundreds of thousands of dollars employees—like the Trump Organization— in taxes collectively, while the corporate to take a 20% deduction usually reserved tax cut hiked the value of their holdings,” for larger businesses with sizable payrolls. Peter Cary of the Center for Public Integrity “Out of the 47 Republicans responsible for reported for Vox in January 2020. drafting the bill, at least 29 held real estate It was sold as a middle-class tax cut that interests at the time of its passage,” Project would benefit everyone. “Promises that the Censored pointed out.
Congressional Investments and Conflicts of Interest
FLAGPOLE.COM | JANUARY 6, 2021
As to the second major conflict, “Members of the U.S. Senate are heavily invested in the fossil fuel companies that drive the current climate crisis, creating a conflict between those senators’ financial interests as investors and their responsibilities as elected representatives,” Project Censored wrote. “Twenty-nine U.S. senators and their spouses own between $3.5 million and $13.9 million worth of stock in companies that extract, transport or burn fossil fuels, or provide services to fossil fuel companies,” Donald Shaw reported for Sludge in September 2019. While unsurprising on the Republican side, this also includes two key Democrats. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware is the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has “up to $310,000 invested in more than a dozen oil, gas and utility companies, as well as mutual funds with holdings in the fossil fuel industry,” Shaw reported. But his record is not nearly as questionable as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who “owns between $1 million and $5 million worth of non-public stock in a family coal business, Enersystems,” and reported earning “between $100,001 and $1 million” in reported dividends and interest in 2018, plus $470,000 in ‘ordinary business income,” Shaw reported. His support for the industry was significant: Manchin was the only Democrat to vote against an amendment to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling in 2017, and he was one of just three Democrats to vote against an amendment to phase out taxpayer subsidies for coal, oil and gas producers in 2016. Manchin has also voted to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, expedite the approval process for natural gas pipelines, and override an Obama administration rule requiring coal companies to protect groundwater from toxic coal mining waste. While there has been critical coverage of the 2017 tax cuts, this has not included coverage of lawmakers personally profiting, Project Censored noted. “In addition, despite the significant conflicts of interest exposed by Donald Shaw’s reporting for Sludge, the alarming facts about U.S. senators’ massive investments in the fossil fuel industry appear to have gone completely unreported in the corporate press.”
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls “In June 2019 the Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report, which received widespread news coverage in the United States,” Project Censored notes.“U.S. corporate news outlets have provided nearly nothing in the way of reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States.” That’s despite a problem of similar dimensions, and complexity, along with the
election of the first two Native American The Guardian’s report was based on intereconomic insecurity, and a largely transient congresswomen, Deb Holland and Sharice nal documents (primarily from 2015–2017) workforce as contributing to increased vioDavids, who, Ms. Magazine reported, “are lence against Native women in communities released during trial. They showed that supporting two bills that would address “Monsanto planned a series of ‘actions’ to near fossil fuel infrastructure.” the federal government’s failure to track attack a book authored by Gillam prior to “It creates this culture of using and and respond to violence against indigenous its release, including writing ‘talking points’ abuse,” said Annita Lucchesi, executive women [and] are supported by a mass for ‘third parties’ to criticize the book and director of the Sovereign Bodies Institute. movement in the U.S. and Canada raising directing ‘industry and farmer customers’ “If you can use and abuse the water and an alarm about missing and murdered on how to post negative reviews.” land, you can use and abuse the people indigenous women and girls.” In addition, Monsanto paid Google to around you too.” Four in five Native women experiskew search results promoting criticism Project Censored concluded, “As a result ence violence at some time in their lives, of Gilliam’s work on Monsanto, and they of limited news coverage, the United States according to a 2016 survey by the National discussed strategies for pressuring Reuters is far from a national reckoning on its criInstitute of Justice, cited in an August 2019 sis of missing and murdered Indigenous with the goal of getting her reassigned. The Think Progress report. company “had a ‘Carey Gillam Book’ spreadwomen and girls.” “About nine in 10 Native American rape sheet, with more than 20 actions dedicated or sexual-assault victims had assailants who to opposing her book before its publicawere white or Black,” according to a 1999 tion.” They also “wrote a lengthy report Justice Department report. about singer Neil Young’s anti-Monsanto “Although the number of Native advocacy, monitoring his impact on social Americans murdered or missing in 2016 media, and at one point considering ‘legal In its fight to avoid liability for causing exceeded 3,000—roughly the number of action.’” cancer, the agricultural giant Monsanto people who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 The entire pool of journalists covering (now owned by Bayer) created an “intelliterror attack—the Justice Department’s the third trial was also targeted in a covert gence fusion center” to “monitor and dismissing persons database logged only 116 influence operation, Paul Thacker reported credit” journalists and activists, Sam Levin cases that year,” Think Progress noted. “The for The Huffington Post. A purported “freereported for The Guardian in August 2019. sheer scale of the violence against Native lancer for the BBC” schmoozed other “More than 18,000 people have filed suit reporters, trying to steer them toward women and the abysmal failure by the govagainst Monsanto, alleging that exposure to writing stories critical of the plaintiffs suing ernment to adequately address it, explains Roundup [weedkiller] caused non-Hodgkin why the issue was given such prominence Monsanto. Their curiosity aroused, they lymphoma, and that Monsanto covered up during this week’s presidential candidates’ discovered that “her LinkedIn account said the risks by manipulating scientific data forum in Sioux City—the first to focus she worked for FTI Consulting, a global and silencing critics,” the Hill summarized. entirely on Native American issues.” business advisory firm that Monsanto and But even that didn’t grab media attention. There are multiple complicating factors in reporting, tracking, investigating and prosecuting, which were explored in coverage by The Guardian and Yes! Magazine, as well as Ms. and Think Progress. “Campaigners, including the Sovereign Bodies Institute, the Brave Heart Society and the Urban Indian Health Institute, identify aspects of systemic racism—including the indelible legacies of settler colonialism, issues with law enforcement, a lack of reliable and comprehensive data, and flawed policymaking—as deep-rooted sources of the crisis,” Project Censored summed up. “As YES! Magazine reported, tribal communities in the United States often lack jurisdiction to respond to crimes.” This was partially reme- A woman participates in the Greater Than Fear rally and march in Rochester, MN. died in the 2013 reauthori“The company has lost three high-profile Bayer, Monsanto’s parent company, had zation of the Violence Against Women Act, cases in the past year, and Bayer is reportengaged for consulting,” and she subseknown as VAWA, but “it left sex trafficking edly offering $8 billion to settle all outquently went into a digital disappearing act. and other forms of sexual violence outside “FTI staff have previously attempted tribal jurisdiction, YES! Magazine reported.” standing claims.” “Monsanto adopted a multi-pronged to obtain information under the guise of The House voted to expand tribal jurisstrategy to target Carey Gillam, a Reuters journalism,” Thacker added. “In January, diction in such cases in its 2019 VAWA journalist who investigated the company’s two FTI consultants working for Western reauthorization, but, Ms. reported, “The weedkiller,” The Guardian reported. Wire—a ‘news and analysis’ website backed bill is now languishing in the Senate, where This took place while also targeting Neil by the oil and gas trade group Western Republicans have so far blocked a vote.” Young (who released a 2015 record, The Energy Alliance—attempted to question an Another facet of the problem explored Monsanto Years) and creating a massive, attorney who represents communities suing by Yes! is the connection between the multi-million dollar spying and disinforExxon over climate change.” extractive fossil fuel industry and violence Nor was FTI alone. “Monsanto has also against Native women. The Canadian report mation campaign targeting journalists writing about it, as well as scientists and previously employed shadowy networks of “showed a strong link between extraction consultants, PR firms, and front groups to zones on the missing and murdered women advocates exposing the risks its product posed. Creating a covert army of seemingly spy on and influence reporters,” Thacker crisis in Canada,” Yes! noted. “It specifically neutral allies to attack its critics was central wrote. “And all of it appears to be part of a cited rotational shift work, sexual harassto Monsanto’s strategy. pattern at the company of using a variety of ment in the workplace, substance abuse,
Monsanto Targeted Journalists and Activists
tactics to intimidate, mislead and discredit journalists and critics.” “Monsanto officials were repeatedly worried about the release of documents on their financial relationships with scientists that could support the allegations they were ‘covering up unflattering research,” The Guardian noted. At the same time, they tried to attack critics as “anti-science.” “The internal communications add fuel to the ongoing claims in court that Monsanto has ‘bullied’ critics and scientists and worked to conceal the dangers of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide,” it summed up. “Monsanto’s campaign to monitor and discredit journalists and other critics has received almost no corporate news coverage,” Project Censored notes. A rare exception was a June 2019, ABC News report which nonetheless “consistently emphasized the perspective of Monsanto and Bayer.”
U.S. Military Is a Massive, Hidden Contributor to the Climate Crisis
LORIE SHAULL
It’s said that an army travels on its stomach, but the Army itself has said, “Fuel is the ‘blood of the military,’” as quoted in a study, Hidden carbon costs of the ‘everywhere war’ by Oliver Belcher, Patrick Bigger, Ben Neimark and Cara Kennelly, who subsequently summarized their findings for The Conversation in June 2019. The U.S. military is “one of the largest polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries,” they wrote. If it were a country, it would rank as “the 47th largest emitter of green house gases in the world.” Studies of greenhouse gas emissions usually focus on civilian use, but the U.S. military has a larger carbon footprint than any civilian corporation in the world. “The U.S. military’s climate policy remains fundamentally contradictory,” their study notes. On the one hand, “The U.S. military sees climate change as a ‘threat multiplier,’ or a condition that will exacerbate other threats, and is fast becoming one of the leading federal agencies in the United States to invest in research and adoption of renewable energy [but] it remains the largest single institutional consumer of hydrocarbons in the world [and] this dependence on fossil fuels is unlikely to change as the USA continues to pursue open-ended operations around the globe.” While the military has invested in developing biofuels, “the entire point of these fuels is that they are ‘drop-in’—they can be used in existing military kit—which means that, whenever convenient or cheaper, the infrastructure is already in place to undo whatever marginal gains have been made in decarbonisation.” k continued on p. 11
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Things will only get worse. “There is no shortage of evidence that the climate is on the brink of irreversible tipping points,” the study notes. “Once past those tipping points, the impacts of climate change will continue to be more intense, prolonged and widespread, giving cover to even more extensive U.S. military interventions.” Understanding the military’s climate impact requires a systems approach. “We argue that to account for the U.S. military as a major climate actor, one must understand the logistical supply chain that makes its acquisition and consumption of hydrocarbon-based fuels possible,” the study states. “We show several ‘path dependencies’—warfighting paradigms, weapons systems, bureaucratic requirements and waste—that are put in place by military supply chains and undergird a heavy reliance on carbon-based fuels by the U.S. military for years to come.” Data for their study was difficult to get. “A loophole in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol exempted the United States from reporting military emissions,” Project Censored explains. “Although the Paris Accord closed this loophole, Neimark, Belcher and Bigger noted that, ‘with the Trump administration due to withdraw from the accord in 2020, this gap… will return.’” They only obtained fuel purchase data through multiple Freedom of Information Act requests. Finally, by way of conclusions, Project Censored stated: “Noting that ‘action on climate change demands shuttering vast sections of the military machine,’ Neimark, Belcher and Bigger recommended that ‘money spent procuring and distributing fuel across the U.S. empire’ be reinvested as “a peace dividend, helping to fund a Green New Deal in whatever form it might take.’” Not surprisingly, the report had received “little to no corporate news coverage” as of May 2020, beyond scattered republication of their Conversation piece.
The Gap Between Richest and Poorest Is the Largest in 50 Years “In public health, decades of research are coming to a consensus: Inequality kills,” DePaul University sociologist Fernando De Maio wrote for Truthout in December 2019. Even before COVID-19, his research added fine-grained evidence of broad trends highlighted in three prominent governmental reports: The gap between rich and poor Americans had grown larger than ever in half a century, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 annual survey, with dramatic evidence of its lethal impact. People in the poorest 20% die at twice the rate as those in the richest 20%, according to a report by the Congressional General Accounting Office. This is partly because job-related deaths are increasingly rooted in the physical and psychological toll of low-wage work, as opposed to on-the-job accidents, as documented by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization. All these conditions were made worse by COVID-19, but they could have been seen before the pandemic struck—if only the information hadn’t been censored by the corporate media, as Project Censored noted: “As of May 2020, Project Censored has not been able to identify any corporate news
coverage on the GAO or Census Bureau reports on inequality and premature mortality, or on the ILO report about work-related illnesses, accidents and deaths that take place when workers are off-duty.” The August 2019 GAO report was based on health and retirement surveys conducted by the Social Security Administration in 1992 and 2014, looking at those between 51–61 years old in 1992, and dividing them into five wealth quintiles. “[T]he GAO found that nearly half of those [48%] in the poorest quintile died before 2014, when they would have been between 73–83 years old. Of the wealthiest quintile, only a quarter [26%] died,” explained Patrick Martin, writing for the World Socialists Website. Death rates increased for each quintile as the level of wealth declined. It’s at the level of cities and communities “that the most striking links between inequality and health can be detected,” De Maio wrote. “At the city level, life expectancy varies from a low of 71.4 years in Gary, IN, to a high of 84.7 in Newton, MA—a gap of more than 13 years.” And at the community level, “In Chicago, there is a nine-year gap between the life expectancy for Black and white people. This gap amounts to more than 3,000 ‘excess deaths’ among black Chicagoans, due to “heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. All of these are conditions that an equitable health care system would address,” he concluded. “The poorest Americans are also more likely than their rich counterparts to face illness or premature death due to the inherent dangers of low-wage work,” Project Censored noted. “In 2019, you no longer have to hang from scaffolding to risk your life on the job,” María José Carmona wrote for Inequality. org. “Precariousness, stress and overwork can also make you sick, and even kill you, at a much higher rate than accidents.” She reported on an ILO story that found that less than 14% of the 7,500 people who die “due to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions every day” die from workplace accidents. The greatest risk comes from “increasing pressure, precarious contracts and working hours incompatible with life, which, bit by bit, continue to feed the invisible accident rate that does not appear in the news,” Carmona wrote. “The most vulnerable workers are those employed on a temporary or casual basis, those subcontracted through agencies and the false self-employed. ILO data shows the rate of accidents for these employees to be much higher than for any others.” As of May 2020, Project Censored has not been able to identify any corporate news coverage on the GAO or Census Bureau reports on inequality and premature mortality, or on the ILO report about work-related illnesses, accidents and deaths that take place when workers are off-duty. f Paul Rosenberg is an activist turned journalist who has written for the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Al Jazeera English, Salon.com, and numerous other periodicals. He has also written more than 300 book reviews. He has worked as an editor at Random Lengths News since 2002. Read the rest of 2020’s Project Censored stories on flagpole.com.
arts & culture
flag football
There’s Always Next Year BUT FIRST, SOME SUPERLATIVES FOR THE 2020 DAWGS By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com Thanks to a late Jack Podlesny 53-yard field goal—and an even later safety by Azeez Ojulari, for good measure—the Bulldogs beat Cincinnati 24–21 to claim the Peach Bowl. Thus ends the 2020 season with a final record of 8–2. While I think we’d all be happy to have the year 2020 wiped from our collective consciousness, we should take a moment before we move on to the promise of the 2021 season to dole out some season-ending awards to some deserving Dawgs. DUDE WHO SHOULD’VE PLAYED SOONER: JT Daniels.
in school history. He was a fixture in the secondary for four years until a motorcycle accident after the Kentucky game sidelined him for the rest of his senior season. By all accounts, he worked his ass off to get back to full health and play again, which he did on the final play of the Peach Bowl. GEORGE PICKENS ANTIC OF THE YEAR: Squirting a Tennessee Player. Pickens is childish, in the
best possible sense of the word. I love the highlight-reel catches he makes, of which there are many, and I love the chaos he brings to the game. Which brings me to the time he squirted Tennessee QB Jarrett
Our offense turned a corner after Daniels got the nod in the Mississippi State game. His ability to find the open receiver and remain cool and collected in late-down situations was in stark contrast to Stetson Bennett IV up to that point. He also provided us with the opportunity to hit the deep ball for the first time in Kirby Smart’s tenure. Daniels finished the season with 1,231 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and just two picks. Extrapolate that to 12 games, and you’re looking at one helluva full season. I’m excited to see We’ll miss you, Richard LeCounte. what Todd Monken can cook up for him Guarantano with a water bottle following a with an entire offseason as The Guy. scramble to the sideline. We’ve only got one DUDE WHO SHOULD’VE BEEN MORE INVOLVED: more season of Pickens fun before he bolts Darnell Washington. Big No. 0 at tight end for the NFL, so enjoy it. is a matchup nightmare. He finished the STADIUM THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD FANS IN IT: season with seven receptions for 166 yards, Sanford. I’ve made my thoughts clear on this with five of those receptions coming in a few times, but in case you didn’t catch the final two games. We’ll have a lot of it, we definitely shouldn’t have had fans at talented receivers to cover on next year’s Sanford Stadium DURING A PANDEMIC. team. Washington could be a problem for But as fate would have it, only three home defenses if he gets lost in the mix. games ended up taking place last season, DUDES I’M HAPPY ARE JUST FRESHMEN: Jalen which was probably for the best. Let’s all Carter and Jermaine Burton. For my money, hope we get this pandemic under conlineman Carter was the standout freshman trol and next season we can (safely) pack on defense, while wideout Burton was Sanford with 92,000 hooting Dawgs fans. the standout freshman on offense. Given WIN OF THE SEASON: It’s a Tie! All wins are good another offseason of strength and condiwins, in retrospect. (OK, that Kentucky tioning work—as well as spring practice for game really sucked, but you get my point.) the first time in their careers—and they We went through a nine-game SEC schedcould develop into some of the top players ule and emerged with seven wins, plus a in the country at their positions. bowl win over an undefeated team. Yes, I’d DUDE I HATE TO SEE LEAVE (DGD AWARD): Richard love to have another crack at Alabama and LeCounte. There are a bunch of dudes Florida with Daniels at quarterback, but life from this team I hate to see go: Monty isn’t fair and just sucks sometimes. This is Rice, Azeez Ojulari, Eric Stokes and Ben the life of a Georgia fan. Cleveland, to name a few. But LeCounte But those wins are history, as is the 2020 especially, because of the way he went out. season. So let’s look forward to the ones we The safety was Smart’s first-ever commithave coming next fall: whipping Clemson’s ment at Georgia and was the backbone of ass to start with, then 13 more, and then what became the winningest senior class another one. f
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KEVIN SNYDER / UGA ATHLETICS
Project Censored
bulletin board Deadline for getting listed in Bulletin Board is every THURSDAY at 5 p.m. for the print issue that comes out the following Wednesday. Online listings are updated daily. Email calendar@flagpole.com.
Art ARTIST-IN-ATHICA RESIDENCIES (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art: ATHICA) Residencies provide administrative support, exhibition and performance facilities, and a small stipend. Artists may work in any or multiple disciplines and traditions, including but not limited to visual, curatorial, musical, performing, written, experimental, cinematic, digital and theatrical arts. Residents can collaborate or work independently. Visit website for deadlines. athica.org/call-for-entries ATHENS CREATIVE DIRECTORY (Athens, GA) The ACD is a new platform to connect creatives with patrons. Visual artists, musicians, actors, writers and other creatives are encouraged to create a free listing. athenscreatives@gmail.com, athenscreatives.directory CALL FOR GUEST ARTIST/ CURATORS (Lyndon House Arts Center) The Lyndon House Arts Foundation is seeking guest artist/ curator projects from individuals who identify as BIPOC and reside within Athens or a surrounding county to develop an art exhibition to be on display in the galleries. Selected applicants receive a $1000 stipend and additional funds to assist in other costs. lhartsfoundation @gmail.com CALL FOR INTERNS (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art: ATHICA) ATHICA is seeking interns interested in development, social media, music, poetry, photography and gallery operation. Minimum five hours a week. College credit is available in coordination with department of study. Rolling deadline. athica. org/updates/internships CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS (Lyndon House Arts Center) “The 46th Juried Exhibition” will be juried by Hallie
Ringle of the Birmingham Museum of Art. Works in all media may be submitted online through Jan. 22. Exhibition opens Mar. 11. $30/three entries. accgov.com/9661/46thJuried-Exhibition OPEN STUDIOS (Lyndon House Arts Center) Studio members have access to spaces for painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, jewelry, fiber and woodworking. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. $65/ month. nicholas.daglis@accgov.com
Classes DEDICATED MINDFULNESS PRACTITIONERS (Online) Weekly Zoom meditations are offered every Saturday at 8 a.m. Email for details. jaseyjones@gmail.com MINDFULNESS PRACTICE EVENINGS (Online) Discuss and practice how to change your relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions. Email for the Zoom link. Second Friday of the month, 6–7 p.m. FREE! mfhealy@bellsouth.net SPANISH CLASSES (Athens, GA) For adults, couples and children. Learn from experts with years of professional experience. Contact for details. 706-372-4349, marinabilbao 75@gmail.com, marina-spain-2020. squarespace.com YAMUNA AND MORE (Elevate Athens, Online) Nia Holistic Fitness and Yamuna Body Rolling are held on an ongoing basis. $20/class. Specialty classes range from selfcare to Yamuna foot fitness and more.www.elevateathens.com YOGA CLASSES (Revolution Therapy and Yoga) “Outdoor Yoga with Meg Brownstone,” every Sunday at 10 a.m. $5–10 suggested donation. “Trauma Conscious Yoga with Crystal,” every Thursday at 6 p.m. $10 suggested donation. “Yoga for Well-being with Nicole Bechill,”
art around town ATHENS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART (ATHICA) (675 Pulaski St., Suite 1200) “Hindsight 20/20: A Community Catharsis” is a collaborative exhibition in which members of the community can share artifacts, meditations, artwork or other personal expressions. Bring items during gallery hours and retrieve your items on Jan. 9, 7–9 p.m. Currently on view through Jan. 9. GALLERY AT HOTEL INDIGO (500 College Ave.) “Athens Facades” presents Mike Landers’ photographs of buildings in downtown and Five Points at dark between 2000–2002. GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART (90 Carlton St.) “Carl Holty: Romantic Modernist” includes paintings and drawings that reflect the artist’s pursuit of modern art theory. Through Jan. 17. • Sarah Cameron Sunde’s “36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea” combines performance, video and public art to address climate change. Through Jan. 17. • “Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Horvitz Collection” represents three generations of artists dating from the 1940s. Through Sept. 26. • “Modernism Foretold: The Nadler Collection of Late Antique Art from Egypt.” Through Sept. 26. • “Power and Piety in 17th-Century Spanish Art.” Through Nov. 28. LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER (211 Hoyt St.) The “Full House Online Exhibition” is an invitational show extended to all the artist members in the groups and guilds who call the LHAC home. Through Jan. 9. • Andrew Zawacki’s “Waterfall Plot” pairs 20 black-and-white photographs with short poems from his latest poetry volume. Through Jan. 12. • In the Lounge Gallery, view paintings by Kendall Rogers, the recipient of the LHAC Choice Award at the “45th Juried Exhibition.” • “Boundless” features works by Don
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every Saturday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m. Pre-registration required. rubbersoulcollective@gmail.com, www.revolutiontherapyandyoga.com ZOOM YOGA (Online) Rev. Elizabeth Alder offers “Off the Floor Yoga” (chair and standing) on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. and “Easy on the Mat” yoga classes on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. Ongoing classes are $5/class or $18/month. 706-612-8077, ommmever@yahoo.com
Events ART EVENTS (Georgia Museum of Art) “Family Day To-Go: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics,” Jan. 9. “Livestream of Sarah Cameron Sunde’s “36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea (Kenya),” Jan. 13 at 9 a.m.–Jan. 14 at 9 a.m. “Toddler Tuesday: Clay Play,” Jan. 19. “Curator Talk: Perri Lee Roberts,” Jan. 19 at 1 p.m. “Artful Conversation: John Biggers,” Jan. 20 at 1 p.m. “Teen Studio via Zoom: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics,” Jan. 21 from 5:30–7:30 p.m. “Yoga in the Galleries (via Zoom),” Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. “Third Thursday,” Jan. 21 from 6–9 p.m. “Morning Mindfulness (via Zoom),” Jan. 22 at 9:30 a.m. “Graduate Student Symposium: ‘Modernism Foretold,’” Jan. 30 from 1–4 p.m. www.georgiamuseum.org ATHICA EVENTS (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art) A musical event called “Forces of One,” organized by Joe Rowe, features solo sets by 8-Track Gorilla, Kevin Dunn and Fourth Mansions. Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. Free timed tickets required. athica. org DINNER AND A SHOW (Hendershot’s Coffee) Live music and dinner with The Plate Sale every Friday and Saturday. Begins Jan. 15. www.hendershotsathens.com
5TH ANNUAL MLK DAY PARADE CARAVAN (Downtown Athens) The Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement and United Group of Artists Music Association host a caravan parade and music fest. Parade begins outside of the Morton Theatre and is followed by a honoree ceremony. Jan. 18, 3 p.m. 678740-3884 LGBTQIA+ VIRTUAL ALPHABET FAMILY GATHERING (Online) This is a safe space for anyone on the LGBTQIA+/TGQNB spectrum. Fourth Sunday of every month, 6–8 p.m. uuathensga.org/justice/welcoming-congregation LIVE JAZZ (Porterhouse Grill) Enjoy dinner and some smooth jazz. Wednesdays, 6–9 p.m. www.porter houseathens.com JANUARY EVENTS (Southern Brewing Company) Monday Night Trivia every Monday at 6 p.m. Live music by Funky Bluester every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Sunday Trivia with Solo Entertainment is held every Sunday at 5 p.m. Records and Brews with DJ Osmose Jan. 8. www. sobrewco.com VIC CHESNUTT SONGWRITER SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP SERIES (Online) Workshop participants focus on developing individual songwriting compositions in a small group setting. Rock journalist Sylvie Simmons will moderate a discussion with instructors Jim White, Caroline Aiken and Marc Anthony Thompson. Sessions are conducted via Zoom. Seminar Jan. 7 ($25). Workshop Jan. 14, 21, 28 ($185). One-on-one is $75/session. www.vicchesnutt award.com/workshops
Kidstuff ART CLASSES (Online) Treehouse Kid and Craft hosts a variety of art classes for children through Zoom. Visit the website for a calendar of class series. www.treehousekidand craft.com FAMILY MOVIE SERIES (The Classic Center Theatre) Films include The Greatest Showman on
Chambers, Derek Faust, Alex McClay, Katherine McCullough and Paula Reynaldi. Through Jan. 12. • “The Art of Jeremy Ayers” celebrates the artist, lyricist, activist and beloved member of the community, who passed away in 2016. Through Jan. 12. • Organized by Christina Foard, “Imagination Squared: Pathways to Resiliency” consists of over 1000 five-inch works created by students and community members. Sharing a theme of resiliency, the small works build a collective story of recovery and strength. Through Jan. 12. • “Window Works” is a new outdoor project that utilizes the windows at the building’s entrance. The first installation presents a triptych and diptych by Noraa James that were inspired by love, the Black body and primary colors. Through March. MADISON-MORGAN CULTURAL CENTER (434 S. Main St.) “Children at Play: 1895–1957” is a collection of vintage toys representing the years of the Madison Graded School. The exhibition centers on toys that were in the toy room at the historic Stokes McHenry house in Madison, GA. Through Jan. 30. STEFFEN THOMAS MUSEUM OF ART (4200 Bethany Rd., Buckhead) “Unveiled” presents rarely seen works on paper, canvas and found objects by Steffen Thomas. Through Jan. 7. SURGERY CENTER OF ATHENS (2142 W. Broad St., Building 100) Paintings by Susie Criswell. Through Jan. 8. UGA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIES (300 S. Hull St.) “Election 1980: The Elephant in the Room” explores the historic change election. Through Feb. 26. • “Pylon: Tourists in Rock ’n Roll” celebrates the local band through photos, outfits, memorabilia and more. Through May 31. WILLSON CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES AND ARTS (Online) As part of UGA’s Spotlight on the Arts, the Willson Center presents “Shelter Projects,” a virtual exhibition of over 30 projects created by graduate students or community practitioners who reflect pandemic experiences through the arts. willson.uga.edu.
FLAGPOLE.COM | JANUARY 6, 2021
The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts presents “Shelter Projects,” an online exhibition of over 30 projects created by graduate students or community practitioners who reflect on experiences during the pandemic. Above is “Shane’s Thinking Chair” from Katharine Miele’s embroidery series, “#AloneTogether.” Visit willson.uga.edu/public-partners/ shelter-projects-online-exhibition Jan. 29 and Big on Feb. 26. www. classiccenter.com
Support Groups AL-ANON 12 STEP (Multiple Locations) Recovery for people affected by someone else’s drinking. Visit the website for a calendar of electronic meetings held throughout the week. www.ga-al-anon.org ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA) If you think you have a problem with alcohol, call the AA hotline or visit the website for a schedule of meetings in Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee Counties. 706-389-4164, www. athensaa.org RECOVERY DHARMA (Recovery Dharma) This peer-led support group offers a Buddhist-inspired path to recovery from any addiction. Visit the website for info about Zoom meetings. Thursdays, 7–8 p.m. FREE! www.athensrecoverydharma. org SEX ADDICTS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA) (Email for Location) Athens Downtown SAA offers a message of hope to anyone who suffers from a compulsive sexual behavior. www.athensdowntownsaa.com
Word on the Street ACRONYM (Athens, GA) ACRONYM is a new website compiling COVID19 aid for Athens-based live music venues and artists. Check the website for updated listings on funding and financial opportunities, mental health guides, organizational support, community resources and more. Visit acroynym.rocks ATHENS SYMPHONY VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT (Online) The symphony’s annual concert is available to stream on Facebook, YouTube or athenssymphony.org
BRING ONE FOR THE CHIPPER CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING (Multiple Locations) Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful is organizing a recycling program to reuse Christmas trees as compost, mulch or fish habitat. Bring your undecorated Christmas tree to one of six drop-off locations and receive a free tree seedling in return. Jan. 9, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. www.keepathens beautiful.org ICE SKATING (440 Foundry Pavilion) The Classic Center offers outdoor ice skating. Skate sessions are 75 minutes. Masks required. $15/ session, $120 season pass. Through January. classiccenter.com/athens onice MLK DAY OF SERVICE (Athens, GA) Hundreds of volunteers will work on community enhancement and beautification projects like invasive species removal, litter clean-ups, painting and more. Projects will be hosted by over 20 different organizations including Athens Land Trust, Books for Keeps, Friends of Brooklyn Cemetery, Nuçi’s Space, Project Safe and more. In light of COVID-19, a “choose your own adventure” option will let volunteers work independently. Event held Jan. 18. athensgamlkday@gmail.com, www.accgov.com/mlkday NOMINATE A STORMWATER STEWARD (Athens, GA) Nominate an organization, business, individual or community group that has gone above and beyond to reduce the impact of stormwater runoff through a specific project, practice or event. The award is presented by the Athens-Clarke County Stormwater Management Program. Nominations due Mar. 1. stormwater@accgov. com VIRTUAL LEISURE SERVICES (Online) A variety of activities are offered in arts, athletics, nature and recreation. www.accgov.com/ leisure f
music
threats & promises
Tomorrow’s News Today LOCAL MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2021 By Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpole.com Hot dog, y’all. Welcome to 2021, the year you’ve literally been waiting for since at least last March. In the past, I’ve liked to deliver an entire year of news in advance because I know how busy everyone is. These humorous, while entirely false, future remembrances were a gentle way of setting up the year for a good time to be had by all. This time, though, it’s all entirely real, with the only caveat being that you should believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. With that, here’s a look back at 2021. JANUARY: Reflecting on the previously agreed-on need for multiple gigantic venues in Athens, the mayor and commission successfully petitioned the Georgia Department of Transportation to allow use of the 10 Loop for socially distanced outdoor concerts. The outer loop was reserved for run-of-the-mill cover bands, and the inner loop was set aside for much cooler bands that only perform covers ironically. FEBRUARY: Valentine’s Day came and
went without the usual pomp of performative romance and ceremony. Even so, nearly 50 members of local metal bands got together via Zoom to remake the 1973 classic “Radar Love,” which was a smash hit for our friends from the Netherlands, Golden Earring. Although subtle, this was a nice hat tip to the Athens tradition of going Dutch. MARCH: Every year in this space I talk about Austin and
South By Southwest and how everyone did this and did that and whatnot and hoo-ha. This year was all online, no one wore shoes, and everyone blissfully waited hours in digital queues to get into virtual parties where they recognized absolutely no one. This extra-special touch of authenticity really cinched everyone’s commitment to double down in 2022.
APRIL: This was the “will they or won’t they” month of deci-
sion for AthFest. In the end, it was determined that all bands would play on top of the downtown parking deck with audiences staring up. Negotiations stalled, however, after no one could agree if this was “Beatles-style” or “U2-style,” and because absolutely everything on Earth has to go through committee, no one felt comfortable writing a press release.
MAY: The University of Georgia issued its usual number of
undergraduate degrees this month. Some of y’all got one, and others didn’t. The drive-by ceremony at the Arch was officiated by Patterson Hood, who returned to town for
the honor of tossing each graduate their diploma through their car window. JUNE–AUGUST: What did you expect? It was summer. It was hot, gross, plagued with mosquitos and interrupted constantly by weird people who jog in the middle of the day. Occasionally we saw a dude with a saxophone or banjo or some other accoutrement that screamed “notice me!” but, for the most part, we just kept refilling the water bottle.
STILL PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL CARE FOR EXCEPTIONAL PETS DURING THIS TIME
SEPTEMBER: Reflecting on the stratospheric success of the
Pylon boxed set, the gang over at New West Records figured there must be something else out there in the Athens archives worth boxing up. As it turns out, there wasn’t! Even so, boxes are nice and useful things, so the venerable label issued a “choose your own adventure”-style container whereby you could throw all your old Athens music into a very sturdy package, shelve it carefully and never take it down again. So, win-win! OCTOBER: The newsworthy event this month was, of course, the Wild Rumpus parade and associated wackadoodle events that always seem to accompany it. Because downtown had been turned into a singular outdoor food court and beer garden, thus preventing any sort of mass costumed uprising, this year’s rumpus was held in the Georgia Square Mall parking lot, because that’s where carnivals and such happen in Athens. Plus, there’s a Mandarin Express, which was a nice touch for our local food court purists. NOVEMBER: This month we said thank you. For what? Oh, for multiple Bandcamp Fridays, surprise mixtapes and remixes, parking lot shows, modern vaccines and a tenuous return to relative normalcy. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I’ve got to tell you that the tape for this month is awfully fuzzy, and I’m just giving you my best guess as to what happened. It was so long ago, ya know. DECEMBER: As 2021 drew to a close, Athens celebrated an
Old Fashioned Christmas (sorry, “old fashioned festival of lights” or whatever sounded good this year). To this end, parking meters accepted pennies, UGA accepted a student without killer high school grades, nightclub shows featured a mere two bands, and you could walk blindfolded across Prince Avenue at Childs Street during the middle of the day and count the cars on one hand. The lights were out by 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, and everyone prepared to begin 2022 with a great outlook and big plans. It was, indeed, awesome. See ya next year! f
1150 Mitchell Bridge Rd. 706-546-7879 · www.hopeamc.com Office Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-6pm Saturday 8am-1pm
PAIN & WONDER
TATTOO
VOTED AN ATHENS’ FAVORITE TATTOO STUDIO TEN YEARS IN A ROW!
285 W. Washington St.
Athens, GA 30601
(706) 208-9588 www.painandwonder.com
record review Saint Syzygy: All of My Friends Are Sick (Independent) Largely a meditation on mental health and the stigma of illness, All of My Friends Are Sick experiments with portraying the range and complexity of emotions that litter the road to recovery. Originally established as a solo endeavor by Kwazymoto’s Ian Hemerlein, Saint Syzygy—rounded out into a full band here with Jake Cooper, Alex Nicholson and Tyler Ryan—carves space to try on different styles. The album’s opening title track begins with whispery chanting that steadily builds into melodic bellowing, which can be interpreted to sonically represent a delayed emotional response or gradually coming to terms with the knowledge that someone dear to you is suffering. This shift in attitude picks up speed with the following track, “She Wants to Lose Motor Function,” an abrasive, pedal-to-the-metal bender that abruptly collapses into a melancholic hangover anchored by a doomy bass line. “Frown in Every Frame” prods at the delicate relationship between an artist’s productivity and health, touching on how the moods, themes and narratives communicated through music and art are often early signs of mental health issues. Ending on a note of hope, closing track “Okay Now What” is a gentle melody that conveys a radical acceptance of needing to rebuild. [Jessica Smith]
Better Service, Better Plumbing Insured • Local • Free on-site Estimates
Voted an Athens Favorite! $30 Flagpole Special Discount* *Call for details
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JANUARY 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM
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cla cl assifi fie eds Buy It, Sell It, Rent It, Use It! Place an ad anytime, email class@flagpole.com
Indicates images available at classifieds.flagpole.com
REAL ESTATE
SERVICES
ROOMMATES
HOME AND GARDEN
Shared house in Watkinsville. Master w/ private bath. Bedroom w/ shared bath. On-site laundry. 15 min to UGA, 5 min to UNG. January lease. 706-201-5199.
MUSIC EQUIPMENT Nuçi’s Space needs your old instruments & music gear, especially drum equipment! All donations are tax-deductible. 706227-1515 or come by Nuçi’s Space, 396 Oconee St.
MUSIC SERVICES Instant cash is now being paid for good vinyl records & CDs in fine condition. Wuxtry Records, at corner of Clayton & College. 706-369-9428.
Plumber Pro Service & Drain. Upfront Pricing. Free Estimates. $30 Flagpole Discount. Call 706-7697761. Same Day Service Available. www.plumber proservice.com. Advertise in Flagpole!
JOBS FULL-TIME D&D HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING, INC. is accepting applications for Installer positions. Competitive pay based on level of experience. Valid ID and background check required. Applications available at 100 Lyons Rd. Athens, GA 30605. Resumes can be sent via email: ddheatingaircond@ bellsouth.net
flagpole classifieds Reach Over 30,000 Readers Every Week! Business Services Real Estate Music For Sale
Employment Vehicles Messages Personals
BASIC RATES* Individual $10 per week Real Estate $14 per week Business $16 per week (RTS) Run-‘Til-Sold** $40 per 12 weeks Online Only*** $5 per week
Marathon Food Mart is looking for a manager! Great hours and pay. 840 Hull Rd. Athens, GA 30601. For more, contact Mike via text: 404-6044298 or 404-621-1510. Find employees by advertising in Flagpole!
PART-TIME Part-time line cook needed! Stop by Big City Bread Cafe or Little City Diner to fill out an application or email your resume to bigcitycafe@yahoo. com. Experience preferred. Weekend availability required.
NOTICES MESSAGES Do you need old newspapers for your garden? Paper mache? Well, they’re free at the Flagpole office! Call ahead, then come grab an armful. Please leave current issues on stands. 706-549-0301. Flagpole subscriptions delivered straight to the mailbox! Perfect present for your buddy who moved out of town! $50 for 6 months or $90 for 1 year. Call 706-549-0301.
SUPPORT GROUPS AL-ANON 12 STEP (Multiple Locations) Recovery for people affected by someone else’s drinking. Visit the website for a calendar of electronic meetings held throughout the week. www.ga-al-anon. org ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA) If you think you have a problem with alcohol, call the AA hotline or visit the website for a schedule of meetings in Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee Counties. 706-389-4164, www.athens aa.org RECOVERY DHARMA (Recovery Dharma) This peer-led suppor t group offers a Buddhistinspired path to recovery from any addiction. Visit the website for info about Zoom meetings. Thursdays, 7–8 p.m. FREE! w w w. a t h e n s r e c o v e r y dharma.org SEX ADDICTS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA; Email for Location) Athens Downtown SAA offers a message of hope to anyone who suffers from compulsive sexual behavior. www. athensdowntownsaa.com
flagpole
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DONATE It’s as easy as your Netflix subscription! Just set up a recurring donation through PayPal (https://flagpole.com/home/donations) or mail in a check. F lagpole, P O Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603
ADOPT ME!
Visit athenspets.net to view all the cats and dogs available at the shelter
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PLACE AN AD • Call our Classifieds Dept. (706) 549-0301 • Email us at class@flagpole.com
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Ace (54502)
Ace is an absolute sweetheart! This guy loves to wiggle, loves being with a friend and enjoys a nice walk/hike. Call today to start the year off right with Ace!
FLAGPOLE.COM | JANUARY 6, 2021
Chance (53810)
Chance would love a new friend for the new year! Anyone who enjoys playing fetch, spending time outside and going on car rides is a perfect match. Could that be you?
Tina (53953)
Need a sweetheart to chill with? Then meet Tina! She’s easygoing, but she doesn’t mind a nice walk in the park, playing some fetch or being showered with treats!
These pets and many others are available for adoption at:
Athens-Clarke County Animal Services 125 Buddy Christian Way · 706-613-3540 Call for appointment
flagpole
SUDOKU
Edited by Margie E. Burke
Difficulty: Easy
8 7 2 4
3
4 9
6
8 1 6
2
4
3 5
1
9 5 6
1 4
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Copyright 2021 by The Puzzle Syndicate
HOW TO SOLVE:
Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3 by 3 boxes must contain the numbers 1 to 9. Week of 1/4/21 - 1/10/21
The Weekly Crossword 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
15
16
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18
19
Solution to21 Sudoku:
8 3 32 6 7 38 5 42 2 46 1 4 56 9
7 2 33 5 1 4 9 8 3 57 6
23
1 4 34 9 8 6 3 7 5 58 2
2 526 8 639 1 4 350 9 7
3 6 4 249 5 7 927 1 8 6 135 4 3 2 367 9 540 2 3 4 2 343 9 7 8 847 7 5 6 1 4 2 6 5 519 6 8 7 1 2 59 5 1 8 4 3
Dog Spa
Resolve to Keep Your Pets Healthy & Lookin’ Good in 2021 Safety-Certified Salon
Voted Athens’ Favorite Groomer
We Groom Dogs & Cats!
1850 Epps Bridge Pkwy · 706-353-1065 barkdogspa.com
A mission-based gently loved clothing and gift store! Do good, look good! Shop with us in the historic Chase Street Warehouse district. Our boutique boasts of women’s casual, business, and in-style apparel, a wide array of shoes and accessories. Looking for that perfect gift while also supporting your community? Explore our line of luxury body products, hand-poured soy candles, silk scarves, and handwoven baskets and handbags. All proceeds support a local sex trafficking prevention and advocacy agency.
160 Tracy St, Suite 2C 706-850-2550 Open Thu-Fri 12pm-5:30pm Sat 11am-3pm
by Margie E. Burke
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ffffff llllll aaaaaa gggggg pppppp oo ooo o llllll eeeeee • • • • • • cccccc oo ooo o mm mmm m
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SALON, INC.
37 41 44 48
45 49
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Copyright 2021 by The Puzzle Syndicate ACROSS 1 Workout woe 59 747, e.g. 21 Urgent want 5 Lavish party 61 Hammerin' Hank 22 Walmart worker 9 Can't stomach 62 Exile isle 25 Pledge of 14 Advance 63 Campus quarters Allegiance word 15 Eve's man 64 Thieving sort 27 London cafe 16 Vineyard fruit 65 Comrade in arms 29 Make, as a salary 17 Small pie 66 Ford SUV 30 "Junk begets 18 Farrier's tool 67 Oft-killed "South junk" acronym 19 In the boondocks Park" kid 31 Be radiant 20 ETA and DIY, e.g. 68 Dark loaves 32 Mushy food 22 One way to 69 Stalk in a swamp 33 Meditative exerbreak bad news cise 23 Nursery follower 34 Daybreak, poeti24 Evening wingding DOWN cally 26 ___ carotene 1 Hitching post 36 John's "Pulp 28 Retirement fund 2 Whistle wearer Fiction" co-star 32 Workout site 3 Sixth in line for 39 Chef's measure 35 Strip bare the British throne 44 Window feature 37 Mermaid feature 4 Bury 47 Like some soups 38 Ill-gotten gains 5 Cooper with two 49 Mini burger 40 Come clean Oscars 51 Add up 41 Thus 6 "Uncut Gems" 53 Battery cell 42 Fairytale villain star 54 Use the on-ramp 43 Toils (away) 7 Rodeo rope 55 Packing heat 45 "___ what?" 8 Sound booster 56 Stable gear 46 Dash 9 Goes along 57 Hard to come by 48 Pupil's locale 10 Clairol choice 58 Flatten, in a way 50 Summer wear 11 "B.C." cartoonist 60 Tanners catch 52 Andean animal 12 Milky stone them 56 Catch in a lie 13 Trust, with "on" 62 Bud holder?
Puzzle answers are available at www.flagpole.com/puzzles
2440 West Broad St., Suite 2 706-548-2188 www.alaferasalon.com
Talk About It If you have a friend you think may be in an abusive relationship, talk with her or him about it. Don’t ignore the problem; it will not go away. You can make a difference by starting a conversation with your friend or coworker. You don’t have to be an expert to talk about abuse, you just need to be a friend. Listen to and believe what your friend is telling you. Our hotline advocates are here to help if you have questions about how to start the conversation.
706-543-3331
Hotline, 24 hours/day
Linea de crisis, las 24 horas del dia
JANUARY 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM
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At Athens Area Habitat ReStores
SAFETY
Is Our
#1 Priority Our Commitment to You
ü All donations sanitized ü Masks required on premises ü Entire store sanitized 4 times daily ü Monthly deep-clean with persistant disinfectant ü All staff temperature-checked each shift ü Ventilation checked for air exchange Athens Area Habitat is committed to building our community. That includes safety, on and off the build site. Our stores have re-opened with new protocols to ensure “Zero Transmission” of covid-19 and all infectious diseases. We are thankful for all our customers, donors, and staff who contribute to our mission to provide strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter. And we are committed to ensuring your safety.
Locations: 532 Barber Street 4125 Atlanta Highway
Online: Shop.AthensHabitat.com AthensHabitat.com/Stores