The New York Times posts tonight that the Library of Congress has named Decatur resident and Emory Professor Natasha Trethewey the 2012-2013 poet laureate of the United States.

The City of Decatur and the AJC Decatur Book Festival are hosting a reception at the gazebo on the square Thursday (tomorrow) from 5pm to 6:30 to celebrate. Come toast Natasha in person. Food and libations supplied by Eddie’s Attic.

The New York Times renewed the nation’s discussion about the place and role of technology in schools last month when they ran an article about the Waldorf School in Silicon Valley, where technology executives send their kids in part because the school eschews technology.  I believe I linked to the article in a Morning Metro.  (NBC Nightly News followed up with stories about both sides of this coin a couple days ago.  Both can be viewed after the jump)

The article was impactful, mostly because it brought up a whole host of unanswered questions.  When asked, the executives believed that technology in the classroom had limited benefits at such a young age and that negative side effects of classroom activities involving technology outweighed any positive effects.

But of course, while such an example can provide one example of pros and cons in this ‘technology in schools’ debate, it would take a dissertation of a few hundred pages to take a stab at anything more specific like, “When is the best time to give kids a cell phone/laptop/iPad?”  “What is lost when you give children a cell phone/laptop/iPad?”  “What is gained?”

No doubt, these are questions being raised within countless education circles today.  And each school system or individual school makes it’s own decision, based on any number of valid or invalid reasons.

But how important do parents believe this decision is?  Do you defer to your school district?  Defer to certain academic studies?  Defer to the seemingly hypocritical decisions of Silicon Valley parents?  Get lost in a tug-of-war of the technological pros and cons of convenience?

A parent recently wrote in to DM and wanted to know your thoughts.

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After reading this rather sardonic NYTimes’ review of an updated version of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, I got to thinking about all the great little portable one-liners we try to carry around in our heads to keep ourselves in check or on the “right path”.

For instance, one of the “How to Win” gems mentioned in the article is “Try leaving a friendly trail of little sparks of gratitude on your daily trips”.  As another example, here’s one that has kept crawling up into my consciousness over the last few weeks, “If you aren’t failing, you’re not trying hard enough.”

What one-liners do you live by?…or at least think are good enough for momentary consideration.

Jamestown Properties’ planned renovations to the old Sears warehouse on Ponce de Leon Ave has even got the New York Times all atwitter.  Or at least paying attention.

Early blueprints make Ponce City Market look not unlike Chelsea Market, the renovated biscuit factory that leases space to the Food Network and other technology and media companies. It will contain high-ceilinged office space, a range of restaurants, a food market, apartments, exhibition spaces, a skywalk and perhaps even an amusement park, Jamestown says.

The plan calls for reducing the building’s square footage by nearly half, to 1.2 million square feet, constructing a parking garage with at least 2,000 spaces inside the structure and demolishing many internal walls and ceilings. But Jamestown says it will preserve the exterior and as much equipment as possible from the original Sears department store and distribution center. A giant electrical panel will become the backdrop for a bar, and a train trestle will be repurposed as a pedestrian walkway.

Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention, but the article sure makes it sound like Jamestown knows what it’s doing.  In addition to owning NYC’s Chelsea Market, they’ve dealt with renovations of the former New York Port Authority (which was recently purchased by Google), and a section of Chattanooga called “Warehouse Row“.

The New York Times recently wrote an article on trees falling around Atlanta recently and somehow determined that the city’s unofficial nickname “The City in the Forest” (not to be confused with Cleveland’s “The Forest City”) is in jeopardy.  Though the article itself gives nothing more than anecdotal evidence of it.

“We’re in emergency mode,” Mr. [city arborist Jasen] Johns said. “I’ve never seen this many down trees.”

OK.  More trees than Mr. Johns has ever seen?  That’s not so great.  But does Mr. Johns have any hard numbers?  Have they calculated the loss rate to be outside of norms?  That the city will soon be a sunny wasteland of parking lots and clear-cut subdivisions?

The city does not track the number of lost trees. But everywhere from the Georgia Forestry Commission to the telephone companies that send out repair crews, Atlantans are noticing gaps in the canopy.

And not only are they noticing, but some are calling it a “Treepocolypse”!

Ok, so we all are aware that trees eventually die, aren’t we?  I don’t mean to belittle the admirable work of many tree-lovers the city over.  My problem is this article, and that it doesn’t base its rather dramatic titling on anything other than casual observation.

If you want to prove a threatened tree canopy, give me something that shows that there’s a huge gap between old growth and new growth. Or something about how new growth just won’t cut it 100 years from now.  Anything that actually shows a vanishing canopy due to recent tree falls!

But whatever.  I guess anything that talks about Atlanta’s “identity” and doesn’t mention the words “Hotlanta” or “Southern Nights” might just be a good thing.