A sustainable line of fish tacos?  Now that’s something we ALL can get excited about!  (Unless you’re a vegan, I guess.)

Thanks to Jack for forwarding!

From the Emory Wheel…

United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will address graduating seniors at Emory’s 166th Commencement ceremony on May 9.

…Napolitano was not on the final list that the Commencement Speaker Advisory Committee — which includes both students and administrators and is responsible for suggesting potential speakers — submitted to University President James W. Wagner last spring, but was among those initially considered.

…Napolitano will address an expected audience of more than 14,000, including approximately 3,600 graduating seniors. She is the first female speaker to address the graduating class since Marian Wright Edelman, an activist for children’s rights, delivered the keynote in 2006. Previous Commencement speakers have also included California Gov. and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2010, former President of Mexico Vicente Fox in 2009 and Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus in 2008.

Check it.  Emory is posting videos on YouTube of filming of the Matt Damon/Jude Law/Kate Winslet movie “Contagion” out in front of the CDC today.  Of the six videos posted thus far, this one of the fake protest in action is probably the best.

“No More Lies!”  Preach on, fake protesters.  Preach on.

After the jump, some footage of Laurence Fishburne on the scene, also courtesy of Emory…

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UPDATE: AJC is now reporting that part of the movie may be filmed in downtown Decatur.  Will check with the city for any known specifics.

No one has yet confirmed which – if any – of these big-name thespians is actually on-location at Emory and/or the CDC today, but On Location Vacations reports and Fox5 confirms that the movie “Contagion“, about a “deadly disease and the team of doctors at the CDC tasked to contain it”, is indeed filming at the University and adjacent CDC campus today.

So Emory & CDC folks – and I know there are a bunch of you out there! – feel free to write in with your eye-witness reports, rumors and gossip.  It’s all good.  Feed the beast!

h/t: Travis G. Maurer

From the Clairmont Heights Civic Association…

Initial plans called for the closing of Emory’s Dowman Drive for several weeks as part of the DeKalb County streetscape and roundabout construction in Emory Village. Originally, the contractors believed that they would have their work done near Dowman Drive in December. Due to severe weather and other delays, it is likely that Dowman Drive will remain closed into January. It is unsure how long the delay will last.

Keep in mind, that once the work by Emory’s Haygood-Hopkins gate is complete, construction work will shift to South Oxford Road near Everybody’s Pizza. During this phase, South Oxford Road will close for approximately 60 days. When this occurs, the traffic lights will be removed, and the intersection of North Decatur and North Oxford roads will operate as a three-way stop. Please check the Alliance to Improve Emory Village website for updates.

Yet another sewage spill in the area.

This morning the AJC reports that 12,600 gallons of raw sewage spilled on Hancock Drive near Emory University yesterday and spilled into Peachtree Creek.

Lots of people went before the DeKalb County Commission this past week and complained about higher water rates that are needed to cover a $700 million overhaul of the county’s sewer system.  I’m sorta feeling like I should have gone down there and done some unhinged yelling about these upgrades not being made sooner.  That would’ve really thrown those penny-pinchers for a loop!

From the AJC…

This week, the DeKalb County Commission signed an agreement to buy land at 1812 Ridgewood Drive NE in Atlanta for $415,000. The property was listed at $400,000 and the additional $15,000 will cover title search, an environmental assessment and other closing costs, county spokesman Burke Brennan said.

Here’s a map of the location if you’re unfamiliar with the Ridgewood area.  If you don’t know much about this area, you might want to take a walk or drive through there some day.  With all the hills, valleys and woods back there, it’s a pretty unique and hidden neighborhood.

Oh, and my question of the day: where would you ask your city to build/create a park?  (And feel free to unpave a parking lot and put up a paradise)

Wanna attend one or more of the upcoming Margaret Atwood lectures at Emory?  Here’s all the info you need from Emory’s website…

Tickets to hear lectures by celebrated author Margaret Atwood, who will deliver the Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature Oct. 24-26, are now available.

Tickets are free, but required, to attend any of the events in the lecture series during Atwood’s visit. Tickets must be picked up from the Arts at Emory Box Office in the Schwartz Center, 1700 N. Decatur Rd. Tickets are limited to two per person per event. For more information about tickets, call the box office at 404.727.5050.

The Canadian scholar and author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” (1985) and other notable works will present three original lectures for the Ellmann series.

The first lecture, “Flying Rabbits” will be Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. The second, “Burning Bushes,” is set for Oct. 25, at 8:15 p.m. The third, “Dire Cartographies,” on Oct. 26, at 4 p.m., concludes with a book reading and signing at 8:15 p.m.

All the Ellmann events will be held in Glenn Memorial Auditorium, 1652 N.Decatur Rd.

The seat of Georgia Agriculture Commissioner is open for the first time in 40 years.

On September 2nd, Emory held a “first-ever” Sustainable Agriculture Debate among the top-three candidates, Republican Gary Black, Democrat J.B. Powell and Libertarian Kevin Cherry.  That debate is now online thanks to Emory and Georgia Organics.

Sustainable Ag Debate Pt. 1 from Michael wALL on Vimeo.

Questions don’t actually begin until about the 12th minute of the video, so skip ahead if you want to move past all the introductions.

For someone who took a lot of Greek history in college and was drawn into this battle in Steven Pressfield’s 1998 novel “Gates of Fire”, this sounds pretty darn interesting.  From Emory’s Carlos Museum…

The Michael C. Carlos Museum marks an important anniversary of one of the most famous battles in European history, the Battle of Marathon. Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 490 BC, a small Greek force defeated a much larger invading Persian army at Marathon. Emory will convene a weekend symposium, “Immortal Light: The Battle of Marathon and its Athenian Legend”, and hold a 2.62 mile race through the Emory campus to commemorate this event.

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