The beautiful Beautiful
I spent the better part of last week in Atlanta attending the American Society of Criminology meetings. The conference itself had a few cool moments, especially a plenary address given by President Jimmy Carter. A dang fine man, if you ask me. Fellow grad student attendees also provided some particularly entertaining moments (Thanks, Shelly & Mike!). But the hands-down highlight of my time in Atlanta was an afternoon I stole away to spend with a dear friend who resides there, Tony Gatewood (pictured right, on the left). 
Without even needing to verbalize my culinary preferences, Tony quickly shared the list he'd already generated of great soul food places for me to choose from. The dude knows me! I chose the most down-home of the options, Beautiful, located in the West End neighborhood. Man, was it beautiful! The food was down-right spiritual. I'm not kidding. I was transported as I feasted on meat loaf, baked macaroni, collard greens and corn bread. The conversation was also soul-satisfying. Nothing like spending hours across a table from a good friend, breaking bread and talking deep. I loved every minute.
After lunch, Tony gave me a walking tour of the Atlanta University Center where he works as a campus minister. I thoroughly enjoyed the King Chapel on the campus of Morehouse and the Thursday Market atmosphere at Clark. All in all, it was a great day. Thanks, Tony!