From DHS teacher Chris Billingsley…

More than thirty 9th grade Decatur High School students in Mr. Beau Dominguez and Chris Billingsley’s social studies classes will be volunteering at the Glenn Creek Nature Preserve Saturday morning from 9:00 until 1:00.  Students  will be building trails, spreading mulch, removing evasive plants and other types of physical labor.  Students will also be seeking sponsors for their efforts.  If you would like to sponsor a student for $1 per hour and up, please contact Mr. Chris Billingsley at for more information.

All money raised on Saturday will be donated in honor of the three DHS parents who lost their lives to cancer during the school year.  One of the students suggested Our Lady of Perpetutual Cancer Home near Turner Field as the charity.   Thanks for all your past support.

Props to my dad for forwarding me a link to a Colin McEnroe column that led me to this Nieman Journalism Lab article inspired by John Hodgeman’s attempts to sell a book by B-movie actor Bruce Campbell (did you follow all that?)…

Newspapers are by definition devoted to the mass audience. In their current form, they can’t exploit the Bruce Campbell [passionate audience] niche – they’re ABC sitcom [mass audience] all the way. They’re okay at building a big audience, but horrible at earning devotion.

Ever read a blog that has a terrific community around it, where the comments are always smart, the readers are obviously engaged, and it looks like the best the Internet can be? Compare that [to] the mix of clowns and boors you see haunting the comments sections of most newspaper websites.

Could the online “devoted audience” someday become the Holy Grail of internet sustainability?  If advertisers ever wake up to the posssibilities, I’d say “yes!”

Click the pic to link over to the video!

Fresh Loaf has discovered a video that shows off the AJC redesign that will hit newsstands May 2nd.  (I’d post it here, but WordPress.com doesn’t support Brightcove videos.)

I’m still undecided on whether I like it.  It definitely looks more fun!  But is that a good thing?

Project Q Atlanta has the details of Williams’ formal announcement that he will run for Decatur City Commissioner in District 2.  (Thanks to Carl for posting the link!)

I found this quote from Williams particularly interesting…

“I ask that you join me in this conversation and journey. Decatur is a fantastic place. We do many things right, but I believe we can do better. Decatur does a tremendous job keeping the trains running on time, but it does not always put new trains on the tracks. This campaign is about innovation. This campaign is about Decatur and its role as a metro-Atlanta and statewide leader and advocate.”

I’ll be very interested to hear details about some of these “new trains” in the coming weeks and months.

In my opinion, one of the most interesting aspects about Decatur politics is the apparent satisfaction a majority of residents feel towards the city’s operation and goals – as evidenced by the most recent city survey.  And while this is great for incumbents, it can be difficult for newcomers to take a strong stance to define themselves.

While there are definitely areas where the city can improve, many aren’t that blatantly obvious.  On top of that, when a candidate does pick up a cause, there’s no guarantee it will resonate with the general population.  (And please, right now before we get started, can all candidates just agree not to make any mention of the durability of city trash bags?)  It will truly be interesting to see which issues really stand out in this campaign after everything that’s transpired over the last couple years.

Was gonna write about this yesterday, but forgot.  Thanks to Sara for giving me a push!

Reminder: Electronics Recycling Day is tomorrow from 9a-1p in the Decatur High School parking lot.

All the details can be found here.