Once Upon a Time in Atlanta, by Raymond Andrews

From https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48593831-once-upon-a-time-in-atlanta---the-chattahoochee-review

Once Upon A Time in Atlanta - The Chattahoochee Review (Volume XVIII, Number 2) Raymond_Andrews 

This is so fine, and deserves republication, together with the rest of Andrews' work.

I knew Raymond a little bit in Athens, just before he took his life, leaving behind this manuscript. This coming-of-age of exploration while staying at the YMCA is a joy to read. I started reading before the pandemic, had to return it to the library, and, upon starting again, reread the early chapters with pleasure. And it gets better... We lost a great one in Raymond Andrews. I want to find both Baby Sweets [harder than it used to be; may have to check ugapress.com] and The Last Radio Baby, soon.

Thanks to The Chattahoochee Review, part of GSU Clarkston, formerly Georgia Perimeter College, for publishing this as a Special Issue of The Chattahoochee Review. Thanks for the loan(s), Fulton County Public Library.

Highest recommendation.

View all my reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1297492-brent

Let's help Ellie F. of East Atlanta, Georgia

I'm a little late with this; still, this is going to keep being both needed and important. Do share; this is a great cause for a great soul. The oldest daughter of John & Audrey Ferguson, of Atlanta's Hair of the Dog band, Ellie needs help from a wider community as she heals. Ellie's Aunt, Amy, wrote this suggested test for sharing... 

 "My friend Ellie needs our help. Her family has organized a GoFundMe, and her full story is in the link, but the short story is that she has a long road ahead recovering from a brain hemorrhage in June. Ellie is only 26 so she needs all her parts to get rehabilitated so that she can keep playing music, painting, traveling, gardening, and sharing her beautiful smile and spirit with us. Let’s “Pay it Forward for Ellie” this Labor Day weekend [and after]! Thank you for anything you can give." https://gofund.me/6cb363f5

Reuben McDaniel (Dan) Tuck, a great soul, age 58

We lost Reuben, known stateside as Dan, last Sunday to a heart attack at home in Phuket, Thailand. "Vootie." [From Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder, MAD Comics] That's how we greeted each other since 1975-6, referring to Harvey Kurtzman's MAD. We met sometime in the late 1960s at the All Saints Episcopal Church Nursery and/or Sunday School, and the Coca-Cola machine, a bottle for a dime, where the All Saints Choir meets now. Dan's father, Reuben, a Choir longtimer, died a few years ago; I wrote about him in this blog here. Reuben, our man Dan, was super-talented: a mimic, a mime, a voice actor, a standup, a smartass, who, surviving many ups and downs, moodswings, and life changes, grew into a bit of a sage, and a certified sommelier. I can hear his voice alive in my mind. From a routine in Junior High about family reunions ("I haven't seen you since you were this tall [PUNCH to stomach] and now you're THIS big! [SLAP under chin.])" to the wisdom he absorbed from various esoteric sources ("One is taught in accordance with one's fitness to learn.") He transitioned from success as a voice artist to writing for print news in Thailand for the last year or so, happiness hard-earned. In the 1970s, Dan's mom Penny was Executive Secretary to the 2nd Headmaster of The Westminster Schools, Dr. A. Emerson Johnson. His sister sang in the Ensemble and worked in the school Bookstore. Dan, often hyperactive, repeated the Seventh Grade and joined my cohort at Westminster Junior High in September, 1975. With the other T-Z last names in the alphabet, we shared homeroom follies with teacher Billy Ray Schmidt in the 7th and Joanne Tysinger in the 8th. We also shared the comics, cinema, tv, and music of 1975-7: Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko; kung fu and martial arts; Durwood's speech class and George Carlin inaugurating SNL; skateboarding; Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Jethro Tull; mime at and observation of the customers of Cumberland Mall; and the game of Chickensh*t! (You say that word, in class, progressively louder, and the one who gets caught loses. That worked better in P.E., than, say, Coach Todd's American History class.) He transferred, first to public school, meeting lifelong brother Jeff Lankford, then to Berry Academy, where, upon his graduation, the admins put Ms. Martha Berry's school for Appalachian youth to pasture in favor of corporate rentals on the Berry College campus. In the 1980s, he started at LaGrange College, playing either Mercutio or Tybalt (I forget) in a production of Romeo and Juliet, where he worked with Alton Brown. Like me [and, kinda, Brown!] he transferred to UGA. We shared a weekly lunch at The Grill in downtown Athens, 1984-9, chewing the fat in more ways than one. He majored in communication, and moved from Georgia to Hong Kong as soon as he could, where he met his life partner, Normandy Madden. Dan was so funny, fun, and perceptive: still, he had great highs and lows. He went from being choosy with sodas like Tahitian Treat to becoming a certified sommelier. As Reuben, he treasured the last few decades, and he really looked forward to retiring with Normandy to Portugal. My prayer for my pagan friend is to continue sharing stories, memories, and reflections. I am confident he is at peace, beyond pain, though he wanted more time. God bless his loved ones. And bless all souls who miss him. Normandy has had to make memorial arrangements and her messages, like this one, shared with Penny, are full of grace. Quoting: "

As his wife and mother, respectively, we are deeply sorry to inform his friends and family that our darling beloved Reuben McDaniel Tuck III passed away around midnight on Sunday, August 30, 2020 -- a truly terrible year. He died peacefully at home in Phuket, Thailand. He was 58, which is far too young. We are devastated, shocked and incredibly sad. He was a wonderful husband and son and will be greatly missed. He will be cremated on Tuesday, September 8th, at a Buddhist temple in Phuket and later on, when world travel allows it, his remains will be spread on Pawleys Island in South Carolina, a favorite childhood spot, as was his wish. We will organize a Zoom memorial service to take place next week, the details for that will be shared in a few days, if you want to take part. This Facebook page [of Reuben's] will be memorialized and remain active. Reuben was generous, humble, warm, intelligent, kind, creative, always entertaining, a true bon vivant, a fun companion and a crazy character. He will be mourned for a long time. Let’s remember his spirit forever. His life was cut too short, but it was a good life, and he died happy and loved. -Normandy Madden & Penny Irby Lyle

"

John Stone, M.D. (1936-2008)

Lots of literary talent departed the earth in the weeks around this Election Day, including personal favorites Studs Terkel, John Leonard, Michael Crichton, and this fine physician and writer. The late Dr. John Stone, M.D., of Emory University School of Medicine, a poet of humor and gravity, was a favorite customer of mine, here in the Michael C. Carlos Museum Bookshop. Dr. Stone would appear on a Friday morning, more than once, before a noontime concert, lunch event, or reading, and ask, "Would you show me all your books of poetry?" I would share our small selection, with a small conversation. Our public radio affiliate, WABE-FM, announced his death Friday morning, November 7. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary appears today, here.

Here are a few links, more eloquent than I, regarding Stone's poetry:

Emory Report, October 31, 2005

New Georgia Encyclopedia

WPBA-TV/WABE-FM Atlanta Sounds

Georgia Writers Hall of Fame

The Mississippi Writers Page

When I was a Senior in high school, English teacher John Roberts referred his students to Stone's poems. I don't recall which specific ones today; I think I remember a photocopied handout, circa 1980-1, since lost. Later, when I lived on King Avenue in Athens, Georgia, opposite Athens Regional Medical Center, the hospital hosted Stone to dedicate its new imaging center building; I heard Stone speak there, and read a poem for the occasion, his "Gaudeamus Igitur" [any error in the Latin is mine - BAT]. After that, I kept reading his poetry. Returning to Georgia in 2004-5, in Pickens County, near Jasper, our local Friends of the Library hosted an evening reading by Dr. Stone. My understanding was that resident John Kaiser hosted that appearance in the Pickens County Public Library. Stone shared a gentle respect and humor with his audiences. As I said, I looked forward to his occasional visits to our museum bookshop on the Emory campus in the last few years.

Talking about poetry seems not as good as hearing it read aloud by the poet; reading the poem in print seems like a substitute to me, especially on this occasion. The WPBA/WABE Atlanta Sounds link, above, features Stone's voice. I heard one of Stone's poems on Writer's Almanac read by Garrison Keillor only last week, and that podcast is online, here. I've been rereading old favorite poems by John Ciardi with my child; here's Dr. John Stone on Ciardi, in a poem from Where Water Begins: New Poems and Prose (LSU Press, 1998.)

A Trenta-Sei for John Ciardi (1916 - 1986)

Love should intend realities: goodbye.
- John Ciardi

In the beginning was the word, as noted
(in the end, too, if truth be known)---
Mercy next, then Love, and, gravel-throated,
a distinctive Grace enduring as the stone.
From these were made a better man than most.
We say goodbye today, old crow, gruff ghost.

In the end, too, if truth be known,
was clean white paper waiting under a pen---
a gift of hand, eye, ear, and knuckle-bone
from Boston to Vermont and back again
to Jersey, Georgia, Key West---in every state
he came to talk and stayed to celebrate

Mercy next, then Love. And, gravel-throated,
the man became the word on which he fed
until he fed us all---and what he quoted
was from the major kingdom in his head
comprised not least of children's poems---crows,
pythons, sharks with teeth in rows.

A distinctive Grace enduring as the stone
or bronze or steel sculptors bring to life
he brought to his---and ours---though not alone,
for one enduring grace became his wife:
To her he'd bow and gratefully concede
that men have always married what they need.

From these were made a better man than most
who moved the word from mind to pen to writing
and made the books from wisdom and a host
of wars he never seemed to tire of fighting,
especially those he thought he'd surely win
(as well as some he reveled in like sin).

We say good-bye today, old crow, gruff ghost.
That's never worked before---and will not now.
No good comes of good-bye. Instead, a toast
(in whatever form the authorities will allow)
to you---to us---in minor fifths and thirds.
Along the way you found we'll find the words.

September 24, 1986

Dr. John Stone (1936-2008), from Where Water Begins: New Poems and Prose (LSU Press, 1998.)

The AJC's reporter, Rachel Pomerance, includes this: "A memorial service will be held on the Emory campus in the next few weeks. Donations can be sent to the John Stone Fund for Emergency Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. Contact Anne Stainback at Emory, 1440 Clifton Road N.E., Suite 440, Atlanta, GA 30322. He founded and directed Grady’s residency program in emergency medicine, which has since become a department at Emory."

---30---