Wednesday, August 14, 2013

OTP v ITP

Locale is defined in Atlanta by the Perimeter, an interstate highway that encircles Atlanta. If you live outside of it you are OTP, inside you are ITP. My move to Edgewood was primarily fueled by a desire to be ITP. All my activities and most of my friends are here. I should point out that this is a mixed neighborhood that is rapidly turning. It's not 100% black, just blacker than Dunwoody.

Of the four neighbors I have met so far, three are white. Two of them have been here since Tommie was a still vibrant, professional career working class presence. So maybe this is just bias of a Dunwoody dingbat. Anyway, intown has a higher percent of black residents. Black or white, there are aspects of it I don't like, for instance the aging pitbull on his chain that barks incessantly and can be heard a block away. Or the muscle car with glasspacks heard an estimated eight blocks away. Or the pretty little teen in her pink hoodie who strolls down the street talking on her cellphone Bluetooth headset at full volume so everyone can hear her diatribe over the latest dis she had to endure or the hot babe she is into.

And shopping?!? These people don't know from shopping. Dunwoody Divas go straight to Perimeter Mall for their wares. Convenient commute, plentiful parking, ample restaurants, a good variety of anchor stores and a lot of little boutiques. Now that is how to shop. Edgewood has one center modeled on New Urbanism, the architectural trend du jour. The parking sucks, the layout is tragic, the few anchor stores are meh! It's crowded, the patrons are surly and the clerks are so busy one is easily overlooked. I'm sorry to say intown has a ways to go for shopping.

Tommie Fields was a black woman. From the neighbor, I learned she was tall, elegant, self-assured. She sure knew how to dress and she loved shoes, I can attest to that. That was a woman who loved to shop. I wonder where she shopped? I have taken a close gander at the clothes and coveted quite a few things. The shoes, well, she was a size ten and a half, so...

I decided to offer her loveliest for sale on eBay. You are not going to believe how svelte some of these hats are. It makes me smile to imagine Tommie out on the town on an Atlantic City junket, hitting the one-arm bandits in her finery, sipping her whiskey or beer on a slick bar made of rare wood and brass.

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