GwinnettForum | Number 20.58 | Aug. 11, 2020
STARTING TIME: With schools and colleges all wrestling with how to conduct classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee is starting a new year with its own special schedule for students. Read about this medical college new school year beginning in Today’s Focus below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Safety of Students is Upmost in Mind as PCOM Begins Academic Year
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Mountain Park Area Today Seeking To Form a Community Association
ANOTHER VIEW: Get on with the Business of Life, Though Our Every Move is Monitored
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Gwinnett College
FEEDBACK: Scenes of When Lawrenceville Was a Film Version of Westchester, N.Y
UPCOMING: Pandemic Claims Two Leadership Programs in Gwinnett
NOTABLE: GGC’s Provost, Dr. T. J. Arant, To Retire in December of This Year
RECOMMENDED: Embracing Weakness by Shannon K. Evans
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Hurricane of 1893 Hits Georgia Coast, One of Deadliest Ever
MYSTERY PHOTO: Beautiful River and Bridge Is Today’s Mystery Photo
CALENDAR: A Conversation with Authors via Zoom on August 18
Safety of students in mind as PCOM begins academic year
By Barbara Myers
SUWANEE, Ga. | Wearing a mask, a recently required accessory while on the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine campus, Jay S. Feldstein, DO ‘81, college president and addressed employees at a virtual community forum on last week at the opening of the school year. He said, “Our first priority is the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.”
He noted that structural changes have been made to PCOM’s three campuses in Philadelphia, Suwanee and Moultrie to comply with the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re doing this in a slow, staggered, controlled way,” he said. However, he added, “We have the advantage of being small, nimble and responsive.”
On August 10, orientation began for incoming Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences students at PCOM Georgia in Suwanee. Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies students were previously welcomed in June.
With a hybrid model of class delivery planned for most programs, the students have been asked to quarantine for two weeks prior to coming to campus. When on campus, students will find updated signage indicating recommended traffic flow, a virtually open library, changes to public restrooms and water fountains, the removal of excess furniture and new, outdoor exercise equipment. They will be supplied with training modules on COVID safety, along with personal protective equipment kits.
Academic leaders have carefully considered program delivery for the myriad of programs on each campus. In Suwanee, the Biomedical Sciences course content will be delivered virtually for the fall term, according to Program Director Lori Redmond, PhD. The Department of Physician Assistant Studies will deliver content remotely this fall, while labs will take place in person, according to Program Director Laura Levy.
In a message to Doctor of Osteopathic medicine students, Joseph Kaczmarczyk, the, interim dean and chief academic officer of the osteopathic medicine program at PCOM Georgia, says: “The PCOM Georgia DO program faculty is dedicated to you, your learning and your success. Having already concluded the prior academic year with all of the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty has the experience, knowledge and skills to continue to meet whatever challenges may arise, while maintaining the continuity of PCOM education during this academic year.”
The PCOM School of Pharmacy course delivery will involve “a combination of campus-based and virtual instruction for all students,” said Dean and Chief Academic Officer Shawn Spencer. In core courses, learning groups of 25 – 34 students will be utilized for on-campus attendance.
“Although we are faced with ongoing uncertainty, your faculty in the School of Pharmacy remain committed to providing the highest-quality education consistent with all of you becoming leaders within the pharmacy profession,” Dr. Spencer says.
For the fall term, the Physical Therapy program will offer “a combination of virtual experiences and on-campus labs emphasizing development and mastery of clinical skills in preparation for clinical experiences,” according to Gregory McDonald, DO, dean of the School of Health Sciences.
“I wish I could tell you what the future will bring,” Dr. Feldstein says. “We’re starting our sixth month of what will likely be at least a year-long event. We all must live with uncertainty. It is all consuming. Our economy, political and social structures are in a constant state of flux… We have a long way to go.”
However, Dr. Feldstein feels: “Together we will get through this. We are a family. What do families do when things get tough? They come together. They stick together and take care of each other. That’s what we’ve done. That’s what we’ll keep doing.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Mountain Park area seeking to form a community association
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 11, 2020 | The Mountain Park community was among Gwinnett’s early residential growth areas, being relatively closer to Atlanta. That area is also one of Gwinnett’s oldest communities, known earlier unofficially as “Trickum.” The intersection of Rockbridge Road with Five Forks-Trickum Road developed early into a commercial community.
Soon it had two major churches within sight of the road intersection, Mountain Park’s Baptist and United Methodist Churches. Soon others would follow.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, activity in the area was growing fast. Yet one element was missing: the community had no news coverage in the media. Leaders were told “You have no city associated with you, and no city council to cover.” From this came the idea to incorporate the area.
Almost immediately, there was a snag: back in 1927, a small community north of Roswell had become incorporated, taking the name of “Mountain Park.” It still exists (population 568, 2018). That doomed the Gwinnett area of having a town by that name, and soon after, the incorporation effort fizzled.
Meanwhile, the community was growing, and was beginning to flex its muscles. After its Garners District voted to join the recreation district, in 1976, the area soon had a 44 acre park. That same year the area voted to back an eight-library expansion of the county, and opened the first library out of that vote in 1977. Meanwhile, a large supermarket chain came to Mountain Park, Super Valu, opening with modern grocery marketing.
But the area had no meeting spaces, except for the basement offices of Attorney Jim Howard or the storage room at Joe Brand’s convenience store, or at what was then Gwinnett County Bank. Led by Rep. Mike Barnett, president of the Mountain Park Jaycees, with the help of Mary Beth Busbee (the governor’s wife), the group soon raised funds for a meeting place. That led to the purchase of a former Norfolk Southern railroad depot, in Shannon, Ga., near Rome. The group first sawed the depot in half, then with the help of the Georgia State Patrol, trucked it to Mountain Park and reassembled it. It’s still in use today.
New free library at J.B. Williams Park in Mountain Park
The Lilburn Cooperative Ministry was working out of Mountain Park, which in 1992 bought its own building, after a drive to raise funds.
But, though thriving commercially, there still is little news out of the community. But that may change, beginning today. At 5 p.m. today, persons interested in promoting the Mountain Park community are having a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting at this location. The password is 030292.
Among items on the agenda will be the incorporation of the Mountain Park Community Association as a nonprofit agency. Kate Pittman, Mike Ososki, John Strange, Simone Simmons, Wanda McMullen, Kathy Shepherd, Henry Howard, and Lorne Richey are among the organizers of the group. The group’s website is www.mountainparkcommunity.us.
Then on August 20 at 7 p.m., there will be another Zoom general public meeting about the organization’s mission and to discuss what the community needs for future meeting topics. The group is also seeking to identify committees and organize volunteers.
The group is also already planning another Zoom meeting on October 5 where there will be a discussion of an Overlay District criteria with representatives from the Gwinnett Planning and Development Department.
Altogether, the Association has more than 300 families on its mailing list, and almost 500 on its Facebook group. These meetings are scheduled to bring organization to this group and help bring the community closer together.
It’s an effort that goes back many years in Gwinnett, to its Trickum roots. Good luck, Mountain Parkers.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Get on with business of life, though every move monitored
By Gregg Stopher
PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. | Be wary, very wary. There is no privacy. None. Zippo. Nada.
I often joke with my friends that “I might still be in jail if there were camera phones around when I was a kid.” Their response? An almost universal, “Me, too.”
Stopher
Your every move is documented. The camera is soon to follow (ask Londoners). Your every voice command, your every click, and soon your eyeballs, yes, your eyeballs. (Will your brain not be all that far behind?)
Tracking people through their phones. Hmmm. Oh, you turn off “location services”, do you? That’s nice – feel better? Think the bad guys might do the same? How do they find them? (Aaron Hernandez story ring a bell?)
And how many of you were aware of the electrical conductivity of the human body? Where do those EKG thingies come from?
And how there might be a “statistical correlation” between pandemics and the “invisible rainbows” we rely on daily? Did you ever stop to think about these “waves” we cannot see – that deliver our news and entertainment, that power our lives? Take them for granted? Never question their potential effect on the overall health of the human race?
Who knows?
Strange time to be alive, huh? (Does every generation actually say that?)
And then there is “life with COVID.” We know those who are most likely to be affected by this pandemic, and we should therefore shelter those folks accordingly. Roughly half who have died were in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities. Also, the affected are largely elderly and/or immuno-compromised in some fashion (co-morbidity). And does anyone believe these numbers? New York goes up 4,000 in a day, and yet Colorado goes down 300 in a day? Hmmm. Wait for further “revisions.”
The Governor of Ohio tests positive one day and negative the next. Samples from both a goat and a fruit come back positive from tests in Africa. Huh? If you are like me, you simply do not know who – or what – to believe anymore. The polls say that Americans are more distrustful of their institutions than at any time in history. Why is that?
Did you know that in a hospital, a COVID-19 diagnosis automatically gets $13K extra from Medicare? The figure goes to $39,000 reimbursement when the code is “COVID-19 plus ventilator.”
Did they die “of” or did they (perhaps) die “with?”
I do not mean to cast aspersions, but when you wreck the hospital’s business model by forcing them to forego elective surgeries, what would you do? (Are you aware that healthcare is approaching 20 percent of our overall Gross Domestic Product?)
Bottom line: if you remain fearful of the coronavirus, either for yourself or for a loved one, you should stay home and/or be extremely careful in public. Wear your mask. Steer clear of large gatherings. Wash your hands. Will some more people die? Of course! Over 7,800 people die – on average – every single day in this country from various causes.
No offense intended, but the rest of us must “get on with the business of life”…even as our activities are being monitored every second of every day.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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When Lawrenceville was film version of Westchester, N.Y.
Editor, the Forum:
On August 19, 2015, the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse was a stand-in for the Westchester (New York) Municipal Building, in a film production entitled Sleepy Hollow. Click here to see scenes were filmed in the interior of the former courthouse also. These photos were as close as I could get to one of the stars, Tom Mison.
During the filming. More photos.
I was just a fan and went to gawk. I was watching the activity from the sidewalk, standing for hours in the sun, on the East Crogan Street side.
My family moved to Duluth in 1983. I am originally from Atlanta. My parents, Harry and Mary Frances Shindelbower, had moved to Duluth in 1975 from Atlanta. My husband worked for Eastern Airlines in Miami. Foreseeing the impending end of Eastern, he quit and got a job with IBM in Atlanta. He decided to relocate us in Duluth so that our children could be near their grandparents.
Sleepy Hollow was a television series (2013-2017), originally filmed in North Carolina and moved to Georgia when Georgia’s film industry was growing. I can’t remember which episode this was, but it was for Halloween, season 3, I think. The Courthouse grounds and North Perry Street store fronts were decorated to reflect the season. Beautiful pumpkins abounded. This showed me how a location is decorated far and above what actually gets filmed.
— Miriam Machida, Watkinsville
Buchanan should be recognized for working with fawn
Editor, the Forum:
Let me nominate Maureen Buchanan of Snellville as citizen of the year in Gwinnett county!
Her article on the fawn was outstanding. I noticed the little fellow didn’t have any spots, so it was nursed on its ‘mother’s milk’ and had the antibodies it needs for survival in this cruel world.
Ms. Buchanan has the fawn eating solid food, so I am sure it will get attached to her. Later, she can get the Department of Natural Resources to come get the fawn and release into the wild.
Our home is situated on Linder’s Bluff, overlooking the mighty Altamaha River in Wayne County. Directly across the river is Griffin Ridge Wildlife Management Area. Every spring, we have flocks of wild turkey fly across the river and feed and dust on the bluff. We have had as many as 30 turkeys in our front yard, feeding on Longleaf pine seeds.
Nobody shoots them, and everybody enjoys them. Mostly, we have jakes, hens and sometimes a couple of gobblers, and those boys are sharp! You don’t see a lot of them parading around, courting the hens. I hunt a lot, and particularly turkey hunt, but to kill one of these birds would not be ethical nor fair. We feed them shelled corn. They pick up every grain! We thoroughly enjoy them.
— David Earl Tyre, Jesup
Spends month relying only on iPhone for shooting scenes
Editor, the Forum:
For the last month, I have exclusively used the camera on my iPhone to take photographs around the county. My takeaway is that the iPhone is a perfect camera for landscape photographs with its built-in ultra-wide angle lens. It is also great for portraits.
One drawback: because of glare on sunny days, the iPhone is best used indoors or outside when there are overcast skies. Backups are something of a problem unless you use the cloud. It’s great to carry in your pocket for casual shots. As they say, the best camera is the one you have in your hands at that time.
— Frank Sharp, Lawrenceville
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Pandemic claims 2 leadership programs in Gwinnett
Two more programs and one event have been affected by the COVID-19 threat.
Two leadership programs, Leadership Gwinnett and Senior Leadership Gwinnett, will not have classes starting in 2020. Each is planning to resume the program in the late summer of 2021.
Renee Byrd-Lewis, chair of Leadership Gwinnett, said its board had voted to suspend the nine month Leadership Gwinnett program, until August, 2021.She says: “The nine month program is heavily reliant on in person interactions and group experiences, which would have required volunteers to reconfigure the entire program to a virtual format. The virtual experience would compromise the participants’ ability to build trust and develop relationships that result in a transformative experience upon program completion.”
Meanwhile, in the coming year, she says that Leadership Gwinnett would “develop a new program, targeted at graduates of the program, that moves us close toward our vision—a thriving community sustained by an inclusive network of empowered leaders.”
Leadership Gwinnett also has a three day program called Glance Gwinnett. Byrd-Lewis adds: “Glance Gwinnett lends itself to an online format, which we will deliver virtually until it is safe to resume in-person programs.”
Another nine-month program, run by Senior Leadership Gwinnett, has announced its intention not to have a program starting in 2020. Bill Atkinson, chairman of Senior Leadership, says that his board voted recently to suspend the program for 2020, but plans to re-start its program in 2021 assuming the COVID-19 threat has abated.
The City of Sugar Hill has postponed the 2020 concert season at The Bowl at Sugar Hill. The announcement of the postponement comes after collaboration with the artists “to prioritize the health and welfare of the community, guests, and staff,” a release said.
The planned five concert season will be rescheduled for 2021 and is expected to feature the previously scheduled 90’s country performers Roots and Boots show, along with Preservation Jazz Band, and Tank and the Bangas. A full concert lineup is anticipated to be announced in Spring 2021.
County, cities, health department team for COVID-19 campaign
In collaboration with Gwinnett County, its 16 cities, the Gwinnett Municipal Association, and other partners, the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments have launched a new campaign to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
It’s named @jointeamgwinnett and calls on citizens to take accountability and “be team players” in the fight for a healthier Gwinnett. It is simple, with just three simple actions: washing hands, wearing a mask, and social distancing.
Join the team for a healthier Gwinnett!
Arant, GGC’s provost, to retire in December
Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Provost T.J. Arant is to retire from the college in December 2020. Arant joined GGC in 2015 with a five-year goal to take the decade-old institution—the first four-year college built in the 21st century—to the next level. He says: “I always understood my job as being the bridge between the ‘start up GGC’ and its next iteration, something we’ve called GGC 2.0.”
Arant
Leveraging his vast experience, Arant worked with GGC’s leadership team to transition both the enrollment management function as well as the Student Transitional Services function into their own divisions.
GGC President Jann L. Joseph said that she is grateful for Arant’s sound, reassuring presence and his contributions to the college.
With 43 years of higher education experience, Arant said he was glad that his final professional role was served at GGC, an institution that he said prizes student success, equity, a clear central mission, and rigorous, consistent academic standards.
But now is the right time to transition—and to travel, write and spend time with his family—all the things he has been wanting to do. “My next season beckons,” he said. “I have complete faith that the work we’ve done will prepare GGC to succeed, in the short term certainly but, more important, in the long term.”
Local writes August commentary for Forward Day by Day
A former member of a Norcross church is writing the commentary for the August issues of the quarterly devotional, Forward Day by Day, out of Cincinnati, Ohio. The pamphlets are distributed nationwide by Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church in the USA.
The author is Beth Hahn, who currently lives in Alpharetta. Her pen name is “Potluckmama.” She and her family for years were members of Christ Episcopal Church in Norcross.
She says: “I’ve been reading Forward Day by Day since I was in high school. About five years ago, I joined the online community in the comments section on the website. It’s a special place: we discuss the daily meditations. We share our experiences and witness the stirrings of our hearts. We pray together. Though few of us have met in person, we spend every day together. We call it our ‘church without walls.”’
“Three years ago one of the Forward Movement editors sent me a request. Just over a year ago, I was asked to author the daily meditations for August 2020.”
Petco Foundation awards $10,000 to Gwinnett shelter
The Petco Foundation has awarded the Gwinnett County Animal Welfare and Enforcement Division a $10,000 grant to help reduce shelter intake and keep animals in loving homes.
To reduce the number of pets surrendered, the grant funds will support vaccinations, spay/neuter services, microchipping, and educational assistance that encourages owners to keep their pets. The division will begin offering these services at public events once they can be performed safely. With these funds, Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement aims to decrease intake numbers by 20 percent in 2020 and 2021.
Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement received 7,384 animals in 2019. Alan Davis, Animal Welfare and Enforcement Division director, said the grant money will provide a significant boost to their Animal Welfare Targeted Intake Prevention and Pets for Life outreach programs in Snellville, Lawrenceville and Norcross.
The shelter is currently open with limited visitors during regular business hours. For more information, visit GwinnettAnimalWelfare.com. Gwinnett Animal Welfare is located at 884 Winder Highway in Lawrenceville.
Embracing Weakness by Shannon K. Evans
From Karen Harris, Stone Mountain: Shannon K. Evans shares her journey towards wholeness by laying bare incidents in her life as a missionary in Indonesia that made her aware of her own imperfection and avoidance of vulnerability. She describes how human beings numb themselves avoiding the complexities in life by creating rituals designed to keep activity and seeming success in the forefront of their lives. Shannon underscores the life of Jesus and how he willingly exposed his pain and vulnerability both during the Passion and during encounters with those He met during his ministry. She also shares how becoming a parent first showed her that control was a divisive force that was making what should have been a loving and learning experience one filled with battles for control. The reader will move with Shannon towards an understanding of what community, human community really can be and how the broken places knit souls together in peace. The full title is Embracing Weakness: The Unlikely Secret to Changing the World.
- An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Hurricane of 1893 hits Georgia coast, one of deadliest ever
One of the deadliest hurricanes in American history made landfall south of Tybee Island near Savannah on August 27, 1893. Now known as the 1893 Sea Island Hurricane, the storm had winds as high as 120 mph and a sixteen-foot storm surge—the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm devastated the barrier islands of Georgia and South Carolina, killing over 2,000 people and leaving more than 30,000 homeless.
Coastal communities were spared serious damage when a hurricane brushed past the Georgia and South Carolina coasts on August 23, 1893. But their relief would be short-lived. Reports on Friday, August 25, indicated that another hurricane had been sighted 500 miles southeast of Florida and by Saturday, the Weather Bureau had reported swelling at Savannah. Word of the approaching storm spread through Savannah, Charleston, and surrounding coastal towns by telegraph, word-of-mouth, and in some instances, by a new technology called the telephone.
Unfortunately, not all communities received the warnings. Home to more than 30,000 African Americans who farmed, worked in rice fields, and plied nearby waters for fish, oysters, shrimp, and crabs, the Sea Islands were accessible only by boat. Their remote location allowed for the preservation of the unique Gullah and Geechee culture, but limited communication with the mainland—a fact that would carry dire consequences for residents unprepared for the coming storm.
Rain began to fall Saturday night, but by Sunday morning there was a lull in the storm. Locals hoped the worst had passed; some even went to church. Rains lashed the coast again that afternoon, however, and by 2:30 p.m., sections of rail from Savannah to Tybee were buried under sand. Further north, Charleston’s streets were under three to five feet of water, with levels reaching up to ten feet overnight. The city’s electrical infrastructure began to fail and by 3 p.m. the Western Union telegraph office was offline. The last message: “Sullivan’s Island has been swept over by a tidal wave and is completely submerged.”
On Monday morning, the storm began to pass and residents were able to assess the damage. Buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure were demolished up and down the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. The rail lines from Savannah to Tybee were uprooted and mangled. The Savannah Press described structures in a state of utter disrepair, with “roofs of tin peeled off like paper strips.” Ships were wrecked at Savannah, and a schooner washed ashore on Jekyll Island.
It would be another day or two before coastal communities would fully comprehend the devastation as the death toll rose from the single digits to more than 2,000. With telegraph lines still down and most of the bridges and boats demolished, news of the destruction on the low-lying barrier islands began to reach the mainland. Bodies of drowning victims washed up on beaches and were found strewn throughout marshes and in creeks and streams throughout the Georgia and South Carolina Lowcountry. Nearly every building on the Sea Islands was reported to have been destroyed.
In addition to the loss of homes, people who relied on agriculture for income found their livelihoods wiped out. Clara Barton and her fledgling organization, the Red Cross, set up a post on the South Carolina coast two months later and began coordinating relief efforts and soliciting donations for residents who were without potable water and threatened by starvation and disease. Racial tensions flared as white mainlanders complained that Black residents on the barrier islands, who were the hardest hit, were getting most of the assistance. It would take residents and relief workers nearly ten months to restore housing and food supplies to the Sea Islands. Economic recovery would take decades longer.
At the time, the Sea Islands hurricane was the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history, and it remains the deadliest storm to make landfall in Georgia. The state would not experience another direct hit by a hurricane for five years, when a Category 4 storm struck Brunswick, churning a path of destruction across Sapelo and St. Simons islands and inland communities.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Beautiful river and bridge scene is today’s mystery
How about a beautiful photograph as today’s Mystery Photo? Tell where you think this photograph was taken and be sure to include your name and hometown. Send to elliott@brack.net.
The mystery photo in the previous edition didn’t fool Lou Camerio of Lilburn. He correctly recognized it, saying: “This looks like Stonehenge but is Foamhenge on Cox Farm near Centreville, Va.” He’s right. Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill also recognized it, from a photo sent in by Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. told us that it was “formerly located in Natural Bridge, Virginia. In 2004, local artist Mark Cline used large blocks of Styrofoam to create a life-sized replica of Stonehenge, the configuration of huge, upright stones in Wiltshire, England. What started as an April 1 prank lasted for more than a decade, with people coming from miles around to visit Foamhenge which stood three miles north of Natural Bridge Virginia.
“At the time of its creation, Foamhenge seemed a natural addition to Natural Bridge, a 215-foot high limestone arch that drew visitors who also patronized an adjacent hotel and restaurant, wax museum, haunted house attraction and miniature golf course. The geological formation and about 1,500 acres of surrounding land was purchased in 2014 by the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, with plans to eventually donate it for use as a state park, which meant Foamhenge had to go. Foamhenge was dismantled on August 30, 2016, and moved to Centreville, Virginia, where it reopened to the public on September 16, 2017.”
Peel, when sending the photo, said: “ I took this photo on July 10, 2011, the last time that I visited the site and when this ‘roadside attraction” was located on private property just off of S Lee Highway (Va. Route11) near Natural Bridge, Va. It since has been moved to a new location at Cox Farms in Centreville, Va.”
A conversation with authors via Zoom on Aug. 18
A virtual author conversation is being scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, at 7 p.m. presented by Gwinnett County Public Library, AJC Decatur Book Festival, and Georgia Center for the Book. Visit www.gwinnettpl.org to find the link for the program. Speakers will include authors Kelly Quindlen, Becky Albertall and Atlanta’s own Joshilyn Jackson. For more information, call 770-978-5154.
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