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It can take some courage to exit the parking lot of McIntosh High School in Peachtree City just after the bell rings. Even after three years on her golf cart, senior Amelia Traylor isn’t always up for it. “I hang out with my friends in the drama room for the traffic to clear because it’s terrifying.” What’s terrifying? Picture several hundred golf carts, with teenagers in the driver’s seats, all headed in the direction of a single exit. “It’s kind of just a major flurry of activity. Everyone is

What’s the one thing you always wanted to do but, for whatever reason, just never got around to doing? Was it learn to play an instrument? Climb Stone Mountain? Learn a foreign language? However, as we get older, we recognize that at some point, it is now or never. Well, for retiree Jean El Guindi, that thing was stand-up comedy. Through the Cobb County Senior Center, she signed up for an acting class, and the rest is now a fun part of her storied history, as we hear in this Atlanta Sounds

If you haven't shopped at Underground Atlanta lately, you're not alone. The indoor mall has steadily declined over the years. And now the city, after struggling for years to revitalize it, is selling it off to a developer. But that’s not to say all businesses in the subterranean shopping center have given up. One vendor named Jibril ​(That really is the name he goes by; we asked him three times.) still regularly operates the photo booth he started there 15 years ago. In this Atlanta Sounds

There’s something about coffeehouses that brings people together besides the free wifi. At Java Monkey in Decatur it seems to be the familiar faces and – on Sunday evenings at least – the amateur, uncensored poetry. In this Atlanta Sound we meet Kodac Harrison, the organizer of the coffeehouse's weekly open mic poetry night. He has been hosting the event since it began back in 2001.

We’re often cautioned not to talk to strangers. It’s something that’s engrained in us as kids. And yet, here in Atlanta, there is a man, now 70 years old, who goes out of his way to do just that. Neil Shulman strikes up conversations with strangers at bus stops, in restaurants and at Emory University, where he’s been a professor of medicine for many years, all in an effort to get to know the world better. "A lot of people have books in them, but they never write them," Shulman said. "And when

For those of us with an injured or sick pet, we know the veterinarian's office is always an option, but what if you've found a wild animal in need of help? That is where AWARE, the Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort, might be able to help. The staff, interns and volunteers at this wildlife refuge care for orphaned and injured animals like opossums, turtles and owls. In this Atlanta Sound, we visit with wildlife rehabilitator Marjan Ghadrdan. We start with her calling to Gazer and Tabby, two large

There was a time when you could turn around in your seat at the movie theater and see someone working away up in the booth behind you. That was the projectionist, a person trained in the art of film screening. Today their jobs have largely been replaced by computers and digital technology. But here in Atlanta there is still at least one projectionist working to keep the cinematic tradition alive. Ben Ruder was once a projectionist and manager at the Plaza Theatre, although these days he works

Just off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta’s Vine city neighborhood, there’s a home with a blue sign on the front that reads "Georgia Pool Checkers Association." For nearly 50 years, it has been a meeting place for African-American men around Atlanta who play a game called "pool checkers." While the club doesn’t have as many members as it once did, you’ll still find a handful of men there just about every afternoon, battling it out over a checker board. In this Atlanta Sound, checker

With its tree canopy and winding trails, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park offers a quiet, serene escape from the city. That is, until the park's volunteer canon crew arrives. A handful of days each year, the group of men, young and old, assembles on the mountain, dressed in wool uniforms. And they do what their name implies – shoot off cannons. The demonstrations are meant to educate people about the civil war how soldiers fought, dressed and even how they ate. But, as we learned from

Life's passions and interests can strike us when we least expect it. For Afsaneh Ferdowsi Milani, it was as a graduate student in Florence, Italy. She needed a job and found one at a nearby gelato shop. It was there that she began to appreciate the depth and richness of chocolate. Milani found herself seeking out information in order to become better-versed in the dark stuff. Recently moved to the United States, Milani knew the language of chocolate could help her out. Iranian-born and raised,

There are plenty of collectors out there ─ people who fixate on or fall in love with an object of some kind. For kids, it could be a rock collection. Adults might be more into vinyl records or maybe stamps. But Marietta resident Jay Williams is different. OK, he is a collector, but his fascination is with typewriters. It's a fascination that started when he took his first typing class. That's when Williams, who has been blind since birth, says he learned that typewriters could be his way to

You’ll know Bob Jamerson when you see him. He can sometimes be seen twirling a baton, whistling and marching through the streets of Atlanta in a pink tutu. He's also known as "Baton Bob." But what you may not know is that Baton Bob was born out of a tragedy and debuted first in St. Louis, just after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. That's when he was furloughed from his job as a flight attendant and was looking for something to cheer himself up. He noticed his costumes and twirling routines

Buckhead resident Lisa Frank has lined the walls of her home with art. It’s art with a special meaning – it was all created by her late mother, Shirlee Frank. Since Shirlee passed away, Lisa has become determined to share her mother’s vast body of work – including watercolors, etchings and, in particular, her intricately designed ceramic whistles. It’s something Frank was unable to do while her mom was alive, as she tells us in this Atlanta Sounds.

Love is the predominant subject for a form of poetry known as ghazal. And it was the love of Vishal Vaid's musical parents that opened him up to this classical art form. With roots in ancient Arabia, ghazal is traditionally sang in languages that would prove foreign to many Americans, such as Farsi, Urdu or Hindi. Vaid says his earliest memories include the sights, sounds and smells of ghazal performances. He was raised in the U.S., but his parents brought the ghazal musical tradition over with

For many American kids — and adults — nothing says spring like the sound of a bat connecting with a baseball. Kenny James knows this sound well. He’s a former professional baseball player who played with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for two years. But for over a decade now, James has been a professional travel youth baseball coach. In this Atlanta Sound, we walk onto the field with Coach James and his team, the K. J. Lions.

Atlanta has had a sometimes contentious relationship with its parking enforcement agency, PARKAtlanta. When the private company took over enforcement in Atlanta six years ago, many drivers complained of aggressive ticketing. And at one point, an Atlanta City Council member called on the city to cancel the contract. While the city eventually restructured its deal with the agency to address the complaints, today you’ll still see the occasional bumper sticker that reads, “Nobody Likes PARKAtlanta.

The work that goes into making a pair of leather shoes is exacting and difficult. Few people make shoes on a small scale anymore, but there is a relative newcomer. Sarah Green makes boots, and, in this Atlanta Sound, we paid her a visit at her workshop in Atlanta to find out how it’s done. And the 30-second version of this story: Have an idea for Atlanta Sounds? Let us know!

Psychiatrists treat people of all walks of life for all kinds of issues. It could be anxiety, depression or other brain disorders like schizophrenia. But while the diagnoses and histories may vary, most psychiatrists see all their patients in one place ─ at their clinic or practice. That’s not the case for Liz Frye with Mercy Care Atlanta. She’s one of just a handful of psychiatrists around the country who are taking their work to the streets. It’s often the only way to reach some of the most

Putting ink to a page is far less common in today's highly technological age. Yet, the art of writing isn't lost on everyone. On a family vacation to Ireland as a child, Emily Canter-Amthor saw the "Book of Kells" for the first time. It's an intricately written manuscript dating back to around 800 A.D., and she was fascinated by the stylistic lettering. Using an array of writing tools, including quill pens made from the flight feathers of birds, calligraphy is still practiced today by artists

For thousands of years, people have used a craft called "spinning" to turn fibers, such as silk, cotton and wool, into thread and yarn. While today most thread is spun on machines, there is a growing community of handspinners – people who prefer to create it themselves. To learn what's behind this movement, WABE's Stephannie Stokes talked with Paula Vester, Deborah Held and Alyssa Gulledge at the Peachtree Handspinners Guild. Here is the 30-second version of this story: