Atlantan Josh Woiderski
Location: Edgewood Avenue
Date taken: December 15, 2012
Socks. Josh Woiderski recommends always having a pair of extra socks at your office. That’s the one thing that’s usually forgotten when packing for a long trip or in Josh’s case … a trip to work. Josh is a run commuter. He runs approximately five miles every morning (then again every evening) from his home in Kirkwood to his job downtown at the Department of Justice. The commute takes him about 40 minutes.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Josh, a Michigan native who has lived in Atlanta since 2004. “Being able to get to work without having to rely on an automobile or public transportation gives you a sense of accomplishment. At first, that’s the mental hurdle to overcome, knowing that you can do it. For me, it’s a way to exercise daily without sacrificing family time. And, running is the best way to explore Atlanta. You can stop and check things out, have conversations with people and stumble upon interesting things.”
Josh, who has two young sons, started running regularly while he was in the Army. Previously, a bike commuter, Josh saw run commuting as an opportunity to get a great cardio workout doing something he was going to do every day anyway — commute. “For awhile, my co-workers did think I was weird for doing this, but now they are used to it,” said Josh.
So how does the practical part of run commuting work? Josh irons and folds his clothes and packs them in the backpack he runs with. He recommends leaving shoes and belts at the office for less weight to carry. Once arriving at his office, Josh changes clothes and washes off (using a combination of soap, water and baby wipes) and starts his work day.
Josh estimates that there are around a dozen run commuters in Atlanta — people who might use some form of transportation (car, bike, MARTA, etc.) but make running a part of their way to get to work each day. Washington D.C., with it’s flat landscape and great public transportation, is the nation’s top city for run commuting. In Atlanta, Josh is working to help others figure out how to run commute effectively and easily. He started The Run Commuter blog, where 10 contributors from across North America offer tips, advice and stories. For example, listing the best waterproof backpacks and reminding people to pack socks.
Check out Josh’s The Run Commuter blog for tips and ideas on run commuting.
Hear a concert in the park
Location: Justin Townes Earle concert at Atlantic Station
Date taken: December 2, 2012
Concerts. Bed races. Beach volleyball. Beer festivals. Food festivals. Cirque du Soleil. The 138 acres now occupied by Atlantic Station have seen a lot of changes in the past 100 years. Opened as the Atlantic Steel Mill in 1901, this Westside neighborhood is now a tourist destination for shopping (only IKEA for hundreds of miles) and dining. And, for locals, it’s a space to live (buy or rent) and work (Creative Loafing’s offices are here) and attend a variety of events. If you can navigate your way in and out of the massive parking deck, it’s a great place to spend an evening.
Volunteer for a good cause
Location: Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta truck
Date taken: December 8, 2012
What’s the first thing any kid (or adult) wants to do when they receive a new bed and mattress? Run and jump on it, of course. That’s exactly what one 7-year-old boy did on a December Saturday afternoon. The apartment he shared with his mother and older brother was practically empty … except for two air mattresses, a television, a chest of drawers and a clock on the wall in kitchen. When volunteers from the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta brought in two twin beds for his room, the first thing he did was run across the room and jump on the new bed. Each year the Furniture Bank provides essential furniture to more than 3,000 families moving out of homelessness, battling HIV/AIDS or fleeing domestic violence. On this Saturday afternoon, more than 30 Atlantans volunteered their time to help deliver new beds to 81 kids in need … kids in need of a comfortable place to sleep.
Atlantan Cameron Adams
Location: Castleberry Hill
Date taken: December 14, 2012
Cameron Adams looks for things he hasn’t seen before and might not see again. The Atlanta fashion blogger and creator of Atlanta Street Fashion strolls the sidewalks of Atlanta looking for surprising pops of color, a good old fashion sense of taste, outfits carefully coordinated from head to toe and elements of a person’s wardrobe that show a unique sense of style. Most days of the week, Cameron heads to Atlanta’s most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in search of fashion — Little Five Points, Fairlie-Poplar, Virginia-Highlands (weekend afternoons), Midtown (weekday lunch hours) and even Oakland Cemetery.
“I’m really interested in people’s individual style, so I don’t know that I can place a value on Atlantans’ overall style,” said Cameron, who describes his own style as old fashion and full of layers. “But I have noticed that interesting patterns emerge. For example, on rainy days, I see lots of monochromatic. People seem to wear shades of grey because that’s what they saw outside.”
A full-time photojournalist for the past 13 years and an Atlanta resident for 15 years, the Richmond, Va., native says he has always had an appreciation for fashion. His family often notes one memorable childhood photo of Cameron where his hair is combed perfectly, a pair of sunglasses are tuck in his pocket and there’s a camera around his neck. Things have not changed all that much. He still loves fashion and photography.
“Fashion has a human element,” Cameron said. “People are practicing a creative art form when they leave their homes each day. They are well aware of what they are doing and that people might take notice of them. Through photographing fashion, I have the opportunity to get under the skins of people just for a few minutes and figure out their best selves. Then, I present that best self to the world.”
Check out Cameron’s Atlanta fashion blog Atlanta Street Fashion at http://www.atlantastreetfashion.blogspot.com.
Meet the person who wrote the book
Location: Tomboy Style book signing at Ann Mashburn
Date taken: November 9, 2012
A good friend has been talking excitedly about Lizzie Garrett Mettler’s blog Tomboy Style for a few years now. So when the blog was turned into a book and the author scheduled an Atlanta appearance, we had to go. Bookstores maybe disappearing, but the thrill of meeting your favorite author face to face, of getting a book personally autographed and being able to ask that one question you’ve been wondering about … those things are here to stay. Thankfully, Atlanta still has places that make great stops on an author’s tour — local shops, schools and libraries, the Georgia Center for the Book and the author-drenched Decatur Book Festival.
Stare awhile at a work of art
Location: High Museum of Art
Date taken: November 20, 2012
Touring the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles earlier this year, I kept thinking to myself, “This looks familiar. This looks like MY art museum.” Of course, my art museum is the High Museum here in Atlanta. I grew up going on regular field trips to the High and exploring the children’s part of the museum, which back then featured a giant tongue, giant nose and giant ear for exploring. The Getty did not appear to have any of these giant body parts or a children’s area, but it turns out that the Getty and the High were designed by the same person — Richard Meier. Meier is know for his white buildings and rationalist style. Except the Getty is cream not white. People were afraid the California sun bouncing off the white walls of the museum might create a blinding sight for motorists on the nearby highway or people in nearby homes. While Atlanta’s sun might be hot it’s rarely blinding, so we got the real deal — classic Meier white.
Play in the sand
Location: Festival on Ponce
Date taken: September 15, 2012
Along the path in Atlanta’s Olmsted Linear Park, there’s a stone that reads: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. – Benjamin Franklin”. Parks, of course, are designed for play. They are designed for throwing a ball or throwing a frisbee, for swinging on a swing and hanging upside down from monkey bars, for playing tag or playing hopscotch, for running a race or jumping rope. And sometimes, when you stumble upon an arts festival, you might get to play awhile layering colors of sand in a small, plastic bottle. Play is simple. Simply play.
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