"What makes us Atlantans?" (Atlanta Magazine series) (Dallas: transplants, home)

[Born 2 Roll]

With metro Atlanta's population being made up of people that were mostly born outside of metro Atlanta (in other parts of Georgia, in other states, in other countries and on other continents), Atlanta Magazine takes a very wide-ranging look at the different people and personal experiences that make up an increasingly diverse Atlanta metropolitan area and, through a series of essays and articles, examines "What makes us Atlantans?"

"What makes us Atlantans" (Atlanta Magazine)

[Born 2 Roll]

For years, one of Atlanta’s selling points was that it was a place where you could reinvent yourself—because it was cheaper to live here than in a lot of places but still offered as many paths to success. Of course, we had poverty and crime, but in many ways, it felt like Atlanta was America writ small—a city of opportunity.

Now, Atlanta feels increasingly like those other places. And it’s possible that, in the city’s constant compulsion to reinvent itself, it lost an important part of itself instead.

"It’s the best time to be an Atlantan. It might also be the worst...
In the city's constant compulsion to reinvent itself, it lost an important part of itself instead." (Mara Shalhoup essay for Atlanta Magazine)

[Born 2 Roll]

"You know when you’re an Atlantan when . . . We asked our readers. Here's what they said." (Atlanta Magazine)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

"It’s the best time to be an Atlantan. It might also be the worst...
In the city's constant compulsion to reinvent itself, it lost an important part of itself instead." (Mara Shalhoup essay for Atlanta Magazine)

Great article. I grew up with the author/journalist in East Cobb.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

"You know when you’re an Atlantan when . . . We asked our readers. Here's what they said." (Atlanta Magazine)

Those are pretty good and certainly true. I would add, "You think that Varsity dogs are haute cuisine."

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Those are pretty good and certainly true. I would add, "You think that Varsity dogs are haute cuisine."

Totally not true.


It has to have Slaw or Chilli, then its an understatement!

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

"It’s the best time to be an Atlantan. It might also be the worst...
In the city's constant compulsion to reinvent itself, it lost an important part of itself instead." (Mara Shalhoup essay for Atlanta Magazine)

Nothing like an article written by a transplant who is not from Georgia and grew up outside the actual city moved to the city then moved away to tell us what is 'missing'. The article is ironic because what Atlanta lost were actual Atlantan's meaning people who were born and grew up here. Transplants have ruined the culture of Atlanta not actual Atlantan's.

[arjay57]

When I think of what makes me an Atlantan, I feel like it's a sense of being a bridge between the old and the new south, the rural and the urban, the local scene and the larger world. We've got a foot in both camps.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

totally not true.


It has to have slaw or chilli, then its an understatement! :d

lol!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ronricks

Nothing like an article written by a transplant who is not from Georgia and grew up outside the actual city moved to the city then moved away to tell us what is 'missing'. The article is ironic because what Atlanta lost were actual Atlantan's meaning people who were born and grew up here. Transplants have ruined the culture of Atlanta not actual Atlantan's.

Well, in the author's defense, even though she may be a transplant, she has lived in Atlanta for 30 years (which is like an eternity in a town (metro) as dynamic and as quickly evolving as Atlanta), including for a good chunk of her adolescent years and for all but 7 years of her adult life after moving to Atlanta at age 13 or 14.

Plus, she attended and graduated from the University of Georgia, so it is not like she is a total newcomer who had never been here before and just stepped off of a plane a few days ago who is spouting uninformed opinions. Even though she may have spent 7 years of her adult life in Chicago and Los Angeles, she still has spent much of her entire life in Georgia and still seems to make some valid points in her observations about Atlanta.

I can especially identify with the author's mixed sense of both excitement about the boom that is going on in Intown Atlanta and the author's sense of loss that the many parts of Intown Atlanta that are continuing to boom and grow have also become less affordable (and even completely unaffordable) for less affluent residents.

I also understand how many native-born Atlantans and native-born Georgians may feel that the city and state has lost its true Southern regional cultural identity with so many transplants moving into the city (and metro) and state from other states, regions, countries and continents.

Though, I would encourage the native-born Atlantans and Georgians that may feel a sense of loss from all of the change that has occurred with the population boom to think about the situation in a different way.

I would encourage those native-born Atlantans and Georgians that may be unhappy to view the changes that have occurred not as a sense of loss, but as a sense of tremendous gain that (while overwhelming at times) has brought much more to the city than it has taken away.

There have been many native-born Atlantans and Georgians who have left the area, there have also been many native-born Atlantans and Georgians who have stayed and have benefitted from the prosperity and even enjoyed many of the positive changes that have come to the area with the boom of the area's population and economy.

Even though they may be outnumbered by transplants, those native-born Atlantans and Georgians that have stayed in Atlanta during the continuing population boom have become the heart-and-soul of this larger dynamic modern Atlanta city/metro of international influence and importance.

I would encourage native-born Atlantans and Georgians who may be unhappy with modern-day Atlanta to not view the transplants as bringing "ruin" to Atlanta, but as helping to make Atlanta different from what it was before.

If it is any consolation, virtually every large major city/metro that is located near and in the Sun Belt is dealing with many of the same issues of cultural change that Atlanta is dealing with during this era of unprecedented national and global mobility.

So native-born Atlantans and Georgians who feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the dramatic cultural changes that have occurred in a city and metro like Atlanta over the last few decades definitely are not alone.

Other major Sun Belt and near-Sun Belt metros like South Florida, Washington D.C., Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Phoenix, Denver, Southern California and Northern California are also either dealing with these significant cultural changes or are continuing to deal with these significant cultural changes affected during this era of increased mobility.

And with a city/metro like Atlanta being a massive multimodal transportation hub (particularly of national and international air travel with the world's busiest airport, and of auto travel with a nexus of 3 major transcontinental superhighways), one probably should not be surprised that the Atlanta city/metro has attracted and become home to so many people who were born outside of Atlanta and outside of Georgia.