Dave over at InDecatur reports from the “World’s Largest Yard Sale” at Decatur First Baptist this drizzly morning.  The annual event runs through Saturday.

It’s like a living monument to “stuff.”

All of this talk about Sonny’s new found love of high-speed rail has me reflecting on something Andisheh wrote during our latest row our MARTA funding.  This line in particular…

Over the past year I’ve come to realize that Sonny, Casey, Glenn and their ilk don’t think being like Mississippi and Alabama is a bad thing.

They know better than anyone that progress is going to kill them and their type off. The friendlier metro Atlanta is entrepreneurs and educated professionals, the less likely they are to get anywhere near the levers of power. Their hatred of Atlanta isn’t sadism. It’s cynical self-preservation.

In this modern age of globalization, this contentious city vs. country mentality has become a given.  Sure there have always been innate differences between the two areas, as exemplified by the classic children’s tale “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse”, interpreted here by Sesame Street...but only recently has the relationship really crumbled to the extent that one sees so little benefit in the other.

Sure, Atlanta’s massive economy still supports the greater state in countless ways, but rarely is this noticed.  And no one should be surprised by this.  It’s just not tangible enough that Atlanta taxes support road repaving in southern Georgia.  What we seem to have forgotten is that this disconnect is an entirely new phenomenon.  As detailed by urban history books like “Nature’s Metropolis“, the city and the country were until very recently, inextricably tied in a relationship so tight that they lived and died together.

How?  Through food and industry.

As “Nature’s Metropolis” demonstrates, at it’s birth, transport hubs like Chicago were solely dependent on the crops and natural resources being harvested from local farms and forests.  New rail lines brought these commodities into the major cities for pricing and distribution.  The success of Chicago hinged on the success of it’s outlying areas and the success of outlying areas depended on Chicago’s success of becoming a major hub for distribution.  The local economy tied one to the other.

Today, in our glorious global economy, our food and natural resources come from thousands of miles away.  Not only does that produce the often documented issues caused by distance (i.e. we’re much more OK with cutting down trees in Brazil than say, Northern Georgia), but it also inadvertently creates this new animosity.

As a result, city and rural political leaders just don’t see the benefit in supporting each other anymore.

I’m not asking you to cry about this dysfunctional relationship, just to recognize that it hasn’t always been and therefore doesn’t always have to be this way.

Add it to the pile of arguments in favor of long neglected local economies: more functional urban/rural relationships.

Pulled this out of the most recent DBA newsletter.  I gotta admit that I’m a sucker for this sorta thing…

Cakes & Ale is now offering communal “Sunday Suppers” the first Sunday of every month starting in June.  From the DBA…

The menu will be set each week with a specific shared appetizer plate, entree, sides, and dessert, and dinner will be served family-style to encourage communal conviviality. A specially selected house wine, beer and cocktail will be suggested to pair with the menu. The price varies depending on the weekly menu, and children under 10 years of age are half price. This is an excellent way to enjoy fresh, local foods with friends and family!

Click here to see the menus for the next three months.  And at around $26-$28 a person, it seems like a pretty good deal.

Tom’s post over at the Decatur Book Festival blog, reminds me that Daren sent me this announcement a few weeks back and I never posted.

Thanks to writer Warren St. John, the Fugees soccer team of Clarkston, GA has enjoyed a more than a brief moment on the national stage in the past couple years, which started with a front page NY Times story and was follow by a book (which, thanks to Daren, I received an advanced copy of).  There is even talk of a movie being made about Clarkston’s refugee soccer team and their chance creation by Decatur’s Luma Mufleh.

However, like all things that attract national attention, fame and support can be powerful, but also fleeting.  And when all is said and done, at the end of the day, it is local support that will make or break great organizations such as these.

With that in mind, here is the original note sent from “Fugees Family” member Allison Schafer, followed by a piece of Tom’s post, which serves as an update.

This summer Fugees Family will be having a 6-week Summer Literacy Camp at Agnes Scott College. We are looking to obtain close to 60 bikes in good condition for all of our older kids to ride to camp each day.

We are looking for bikes, mostly adult sizes but all the way down to what would fit your average 12 year-old. They should have working brakes, chains, seats, tires, etc.

We can provide a receipt of donation for anyone who wants one.

Please check your garages and check with your friends and e-mail if you have any bikes to contribute. We can pick up bikes from wherever they are.

Thanks for your help!

Tom’s update provides a bit more recent detail…

They’ll be riding from Clarkston to Decatur every morning this summer to attend summer enrichment classes, and riding back at the end of each day to go to soccer practice. They’ve had about 30 bikes donated, but they need many more.

Do you have a bike in good condition that you’d like to donate? Or would you like to volunteer to fix up the bikes they have? Do you own a bike shop and maybe would like to donate some tires and inner tubes? See below for details from the Fugees on how to help…