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January 12, 2010
Georgia on my mind
Ray Charles statue, originally uploaded by snoopoz.
Well hello my friends, it's 2010. Can you believe it? Two-thousand-and-f'ing-ten. My how times flies.
Anyway, the past week or so, I've had quite the travails through Georgia. Last week I was in Macon, home to the dearly-departed Macon Whoopee. Today, I was in Albany, a little city near the Florida border that is home to a Marine supply depot. It's also the birthplace of Ray Charles.
I have to say, if I hadn't wikipediaed Albany before I went there, I wouldn't have had an inkling Ray Charles was born here. Yes, there's a statue, but otherwise his name seems to be largely absent from the town. I didn't see a Ray Charles Street, or something else named after him. Most towns, when they have a famous native, go crazy and name everything after that person. For example, my hometown loves to drum up its ties to William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War general who famously vowed to "make Georgia howl."
I mean, New Orleans named its airport after Louis Armstrong, of all people. I don't know. Seems excessive.
Anyhow, Albany was a nice town. I had time to go for a quick 4-mile jaunt, and I was impressed with some of the old-fashioned houses and typical Southern charm. Everyone was extremely nice, even if I was clearly a Yankee, or as a judge in Florida called me, a carpetbagger.
entry no. 1420
Posted at January 12, 2010 07:39 PM