travelogue - Visiting the Post-recession USA
Visiting the Post-recession USA
Faizul Khan Tanim visited five states of the post-recession United States nearing the general election this year. He writes the first of a five-part series on the current socio-political atmosphere of the great country
Part 1 – Georgia
A pack of Camel Crush cigarettes in Atlanta, Georgia costs 5.5 US $, much cheaper than any other state, said my friends and it was true. Landing at one of the busiest and biggest airports in the world – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, I felt it is literally a small town by itself – sprawling over a total area of 4,700 acres (1,902 Hectares), the Plane Train, the airport’s underground automated people mover connecting all six concourses with the terminal, its glitz and glamour makes it a long walk from one part to the other.
As you step out of the airport, the city is very emotional hosting memories of the Atlanta Olympics and the revolutionary Dr Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the US. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights in the United States using non-violent methods. King has become a national icon in the history of modern American liberalism.
In 1964, Dr Martin Luther King (MLK) became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. The MLK National Historic Site in Atlanta is a must visit one. Here, one will find the dreams and sayings of a young boy growing up in a time of segregation and experience powerful words like - Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent and then again Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
A dreamer is moved by destiny into leadership of the modern civil rights movement…This was Martin Luther King, Jr. One must visit this site and hear his story, visit the home of his birth, and where he played as a child. Walk in his footsteps, and hear his voice in the church where he moved hearts and minds. Marvel at how he was an instrument for social change.
Atlanta also hosts one of the biggest aquariums in the world, the magnificent and mammoth Georgia Aquarium. Both informative and entertaining, this aquarium features more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species of sea creatures, notably whale sharks, Beluga whales, Bottlenose dolphins, Great Hammerhead sharks, Manta rays in more than ten million gallons of water. Through a path of more than sixty exhibits, the aquarium tells stories and each of their exhibits is designed to inspire, entertain and educate. Do not miss The Dolphin Tales because it is a 30 minute fascinating tale screened as a play using dolphins where they defeat the evil forces and helps mankind.
Although Atlanta hosts some of the most exclusive spectacles of the US, the recession gave an unwelcome jolt to their economy. During my visit on March this year, I saw hundreds of protesters, hoisting tents in front of the Telecom giant AT&T’s office demonstrating against the company’s massive layoff.
As a result, ‘Occupy Atlanta’ launched a protest against AT&T staging a sit-in at the communication giant's Southeast Headquarters in downtown Atlanta to protest its planned dismissals.
Very close to all this is the beautiful Georgia Tech University campus. The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology.
Georgia Tech's campus occupies 400 acres in the heart of the city of Atlanta, where 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a focused, technologically based education.
And not far from Georgia Tech and just opposite to the Georgia Aquarium is the World of Coca-Cola. The World of Coca-Cola at Pemberton Place is the only place where you can explore the fascinating story of Coca-Cola, one of the world’s best-known beverage brands and its secret formula.
The World of Coca-Cola is the home of the 125-year-old secret formula for Coca-Cola and features more than 1,200 artefacts related with the brand from around the world that, until now, have never been displayed to the public before. On level 2, visit the section Taste It, where one will get to sample over 60 different Coca-Cola products, including Coke from South Asia, Europe, Africa through five tasting stations arranged geographically, and a sixth station dedicated solely to Coca-Cola brands. Have as much as you need to quench your thirst and fulfil your greatest Coca-Cola craving.
And this is not all. If you have enough time, do not miss the Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum which features the Cyclorama Painting on the civil war – 42 feet tall and 358 feet in circumference – it is believed to be the world’s largest painting enhanced by a foreground full of three-dimensional figures and a landscape. Sit on a ride of a sweeping panorama of the Battle of Atlanta which will circulate the whole painting as harrowing and victorious tales of the civil war will be narrated to you.
When you visit the Cyclorama in Atlanta's Historic Grant Park you can also see artefacts of the war displayed in the Civil War Museum and a steam locomotive known as the Texas, a veteran of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862.
Another major attraction of Atlanta is the Stone Mountain Park, a city by itself and an outer suburb of the Atlanta Metropolitan area; it hosts a famous giant carving commemorating the military leaders of the Confederacy as well as a state park and museum, including a tourist railroad.
The Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War, President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (and their favourite horses, "Blackjack", "Traveller", and "Little Sorrel", respectively). The entire carved surface measures 3 acres (12,000 m2), about the size of two and a quarter football fields. One can take the gondola ride t the top of the mountain to better see the carvings.
It is also believed that the Ku Klux Klan was revived in Stone Mountain in 1915, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech therefore includes the line "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia."
Georgia is also the home for good American gourmet burgers (do visit Flip Burger Boutique or The Vortex); Hangar Steak and cuisines from other regions and continents. The best I had was Ethiopian Cuisine at Desta Ethiopian Kitchen… it was to die for!
This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine, Friday April 27' 2012 - http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=53&date=2012-04-27
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