Morning Metro: Outwrite Closing, Watershed’s Reasons for Moving, and Chair-Inspired Poetry
Decatur Metro | November 15, 2011
- Outwrite Bookstore to close, looking to relocate [Midtown Patch]
- Resident finds man on porch who claims he’s injured and looking for help [East Lake Neighborhood]
- Emory chartered bus goes up in flames on way to Sweetwater Creek [Emory Wheel]
- Decatur Season of Giving Gift Drive [Oakhustga]
- Eater Atlanta gives No.246 “So Hot Right Now” Award, Holeman & Fitch takes best bathroom award [Eater]
- Watershed moving to Buckhead “to add private dining, a patio and more parking.” [ABC]
- POEM: The Cane-Bottom’d Chair [Poetry Foundation]
Photo courtesy of Outwrite’s Facebook page
Yuck, Buckhead.
That’s really too bad about Outwrite. I understand why, but that little area won’t be the same. I hope they do well wherever they wind up. And on the same page with that, noticed that MF Sushi was closing. I really liked the place but you couldn’t sit outside or the homeless folk would harass you, which is obviously a frustrating nuisance.
Those pesky homeless people!
Not all of them, but some are certainly more aggressive than others. One night I had some leftovers from Eats which I had planned on using for my lunch the next day, and some guy followed me 2 blocks up to the bus stop partly talking then yelling at me until I turned it over. If someone speaks to you, and you say “no,” anything further is harassment in my opinion. I’ll give a dollar to someone here or there, but being intimidated into it crosses a line.
Yeah, intimidating you is crossing a middle class line of decency, but they are *homeless* (or down on their luck in whatever form), while you are eating out at a decent restaurant. Take your business somewhere you don’t feel harassed (there are certainly enough restaurants), and on the way drop your dollar in the bucket of an organization that is doing something towards helping the problem of homelessness. I dunno, it just comes across as really harsh to complain about someone who has so little bothering you while you’re eating sushi.
You are a real piece of work to dismiss her concerns as someone just “crossing a middle class line of decency.”
People have a right to conduct daily business (and yes, eat sushi or catch a bus) without being harassed by people – whether they are homeless or not.
Reading comprehension fail/missed point.
That can happen when you muddle your point with condescension.
I’d rather be condescending to people who worry about whether they will be able to get their beer in half gallon jugs than to people who don’t have a home.
Right. Cus it has to be one or the other.
+1
I’m not really sure what your point is. But I am sure that you are condescending.
Point 1: It is crossing a line, and that line *is variable*.
Point 2: She can go somewhere where she’s not harassed
Point 3: Since she said she normally gives a dollar to panhandlers here and there, and presumably if she’s not being panhandled she’ll have a couple of extra bucks, she could give those to a reputable organization that is trying to help people.
I have the right to go where I want and eat what I want without being harassed at the time by a homeless person/opportunistic beggar/screaming crazy person.
It’s a basic tenet of civilized life.
To paraphrase your style:
Point 1) It doesn’t matter whether the line is variable– what matters is the perception of the beholder, and the given circumstances at the time the line is being crossed. You are being unfair to presume to tell someone else that they lack compassion simply because they do not relate or react to the situation as you believe you might. Compassion and caution are not mutually exclusive.
Point 2) Everyone has the right to go where they please without feeling threatened or harassed. While perception is a large part of why people feel the way they do, you’re out of line to tell her she can or should just go somewhere else.
Point 3) How do you know she doesn’t already give money to organizations that help the homeless? More to the point, why would that even be relevant here? (See the last sentence of my Point #1 above.)
Becs has been commenting here for a long time, and those of us who are well-acquainted with her know she’s not suburban “keep your unwashed away from me” type. Like everyone, she is human, and the way she feels is the way she feels. She wasn’t being nasty about it, just matter of fact. You came down on her like a ton of bricks, and you didn’t need to.
She spoke of homeless people as if they were a roaches crawling around while she was trying to eat, not people with problems. This is obviously a subject I feel strongly about and I responded as I saw fit. I do not think it was inappropriate.
Going somewhere else is not an acceptable alternative? Okay, go to places where you get panhandled, but if you complain about it on the internet, someone might think you are a touch ungrateful.
“How do you know she doesn’t already give money to organizations that help the homeless?”
Maybe she does give to organizations, it was just a suggestion as to how she could get the homeless people to stop bothering her while she’s having dinner. Maybe this would take a few years, or a generation, but she wouldn’t feel threatened like one does when one is in a panhandling situation.
“…She wasn’t being nasty about it…”
We can have different opinions on that.
Just unbelievable really.
“she could give those to a reputable organization that is trying to help people.”
I give to charity how and when I please, and it’s absolutely none of your business how I distribute my money. But to keep you from losing sleep over it, before I give my money or volunteer my time, rest assured I research how they spend the donations they receive.
“She spoke of homeless people as if they were a roaches”
What exactly led you to that statement? Because I believe when I firmly say no, it should mean no? Or because when I’m followed 2 blocks in the dark by a man yelling at me, I feel intimidated?
You have made boatloads of assumptions and created total fantasies about my mentality, financial situation, and strangely enough even beer buying habits. You need have your crystal ball sent to the repair shop, because you are just completely off base on them all.
And thanks for the backup cuba.
Heh, I think strixxvaria is actually DTR in disguise….
OK, I don’t really think that. Just wondering if Token is still around (and if you are, I still owe you a beer sir!). Sadly, this is the devolution to AJC type crassness that he lamented on his way out.
[edited]
We get it. You don’t like this site or the frequent commenters.
Out of warnings. Moderation.
Phew. With the limited “Reply” lines, I thought maybe *I* was the one being sent to DM timeout…
There have always been condescending and disparaging comments here. I think some folks are just fed up with replying to them and reigning them in.
I think there’s also been consistent commenters employing tactful wit as opposed to acerbic vitriol. And luckily for the faithful more than a mean number able to discern the difference. There’s a vast difference between debasing and debating.
It is obvious that this is an issue that personally resonates with you, but it is disingenuous to imply that “fortune” or “misfortune” is the only determiner between homelessness and being able to eat at your restaurant of choice. If one is very sensitive and ready for a fight, I suppose I could see an illusion of offensiveness in Rebeccab’s comment; but I find myself more offended by your assertion that eating out demonstrates a sense of entitlement that homeless people don’t have the “fortune” to share. Working hard, having a job, paying your bills are not entitlements. And yes, I know that the mentally ill and addicted make up much of the homeless population. This still doesn’t explain your conviction that they have more of a right and reason to harass Rebeccab than she has a right to eat where she pleases.
+1
Oooo! Outwrite should move to Decatur– plenty of literate, book-loving gay & lesbian folk here! Bring some of the color & flavor back to this town before it metapmorphosizes into suburbia…
Except that the book selection was terrible (IMO etc etc). I think it was a much nicer place to socialize than to actually buy anything, which may have contributed to the problem.
Books for children. Books for gays and lesbians. What about books for middle-aged malcontents? Does Blue Elephant stock the Anarchist’s Cookbook?
I’ll bet if you asked them to, they’d get it for you. Or, you could just go directly to any white supremecists’ site, and download it for a nominal donation to their cause!
I was never interested in making bombs. Mellow Yellow was a different story.
Is Charis still moving to Decatur? Obviously I’d like both of them in the D, but if I had to pick between independent queer-friendly book stores, I’d go for Charis. Much better selection of books, and I also feel like their focus is more geared to a larger lgbtq community in Atlanta. I’ve found Outwrite to be heavily focused on the mainstream white gay male midtown demographic… which isn’t bad, but to many of my queer friends who frequent decatur and EAV and such (including myself) I don’t really identify with it. Not that it’s a competition… just if I had to pick!
Maybe Charis and Outwrite will both come here?
Isn’t inviting bookstores geared only toward these certain demographics a bit antiheteronormative? Is that really fitting with the inclusive nature of #DecaturGA?
Anything with “Books. Coffee. Good Food” is normative in my book, hetero-, anti-hetero-, retro-, and omni-normative. But I do worry if we can support more book stores than we already have in town. That’s been a fragile business model in Decatur and I’m so happy that LSOS, Blue Elephant, and the second hand bookstores are surviving.
Since I have your attention, ma’am, (total Tuesday Threadjack here):
A few weeks ago, you dropped a small FFAF bomb indicating that CSD staffers had a list of DM Avatars.
How verifiable is that and how did that comment not explode (or did I miss a follow up)?
I’m going to make everyone happy on this whole normative issue: Guys and Dolls reopens in 2012
I am neither gay or Black (or Asian), whatever, but I would love a bookstore in our City that primarily appealed to “demographic” different than what I am (white, middle age (actually old) male). It would make our city more interesting.
Yup! This.
Great comment!
HA! Sounds like you’re making a grand leap of faith that your heteronormative self would actually be welcome in some of those interesting places. Bet you’d be surprised.
Like that time I accidentally wandered my heteronormative self into My Sister’s Room back in the day (before I knew what was what around here). Talk about feeling unwelcome…
That is a great assumption and wrong. I am sorry but I frequented all those places and never felt paranoid or out of place. This is starting to sound like a AJC blog post so I must stop. Later!
Aww C’mon. Don’t let my trolling comments run you off just yet!
It’s not quite that bad. Questioning whether something is sufficiently inclusive hardly sounds like an AJC comment.
Plus – when is the last time that “heteronormative” was used on the AJC site???
sigh… nobody really took the bait anyway…
So what you’re saying is that color of skin, age, and gender define who we are.
You’re not the first person to make that point, but I do have to say that Outwrite had tons of black gay author appearances, and a definitely mixed crowd was always there.
gah
that sucks about outwrite.
i may have contributed to them closing tho
everytime i’ve gone they’ve given me free cookies or hot chocolate and stuff
love that place
Shoulda bought something perhaps?
haha I do that too, only place I’ve actually bought cds in the past few years
I hate the bathrooms at Holeman and Fitch. I spent a panicked 30 seconds inside thinking I was locked in – until I remembered that you have to slide (rather than swing) the door open. This is especially difficult to master when you’ve had one (or three) of their potent cocktails
Back on the thread topic (or one of them): Is it actually a good thing if 246 wins the “So Hot Right Now” award? I mean, I love their food, but if a restaurant is “hot”, does that automatically mean its food is also good? When I first read the article, I was all, “yay!”– but then I started thinking, and, well… now I’m not sure. *sigh* Jeez. Nevermind!
I had my first 246 experience this weekend, for my wife it was her second, and I don’t feel the need to rush right back. I think I remember a while back there was some talk about them installing noise dampeners, and if that actually happened then I hate to think what it was like before. My hunch is it has yet to occur. Anyway, I was slightly underwhelmed, but the service was great and the vibe was fun. I had pizza and there are too many better places for that. My wife loved her pasta, but my different tastes found it too sweet and a bit cloying. We’ll go back…just not right away.
By the way, my leftover pizza ended up in the hands of one of those “pesky” homeless guys and he was quite agressive even after I gave him the pizza. He finally left me alone after I gave him strixxvaria’s home address.
Excellent
10 minute audio interview with Outwrite owner
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wabe/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1875250/Top.Stories/Outwrite.Bookstore..and..Coffeehouse.to.Close.at.10th..and..Piedmont..A.Conversation.with.Owner.Philip.Rafshoon.About.Search.for.New.Location
this isn’t listed on this “morning metro”
but this is freaking insane:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/georgia-license-plates-could-1227303.html
“A requirement that all of Georgia’s license plates read “In God We Trust” … were among bills filed Tuesday”
IF this were to pass, and you didn’t want your tag to say that you have to BUY a county sticker.
INSANE.
I can’t wait to call the capitol daily when this comes up in session.