I work as a teaching artist. This semester I have the privilege of working with an English class at an Atlanta high school. We’ll be “colliding” with West Side Story & Romeo and Juliet to create student-written works.
I hadn’t been in this particular area in nearly two years, but I notice that much has changed. There were luxury condos and town homes, with coffee shops and twin strollers being pushed down the sidewalk. It was nice.
The English teacher said they used to serve 1400 kids at their school, now there are only 800. The 600 that are no longer there used to live in the housing projects that were recently torn down and replaced by condos and town homes. She doesn’t know where those kids ended up.
Just a couple of days ago, I was at a meeting with a bunch of activists in Atlanta. By the end of the meeting, it seemed there was to be a different demonstration for every day of the week for the rest of the month.
And I thought to myself, “The city is exploding.”
