GwinnettForum | Number 20.94 | Dec. 29, 2020
HERE’S ONE WAY a restaurant is making sure people can be seated safely — and dryly — during the COVID times. This is at Minnie Olivia Pizzeria in Alpharetta. The photo comes from Cindy Evans of Duluth.
TODAY’S FOCUS: This year’s election was about the soul of the United States
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Even commercial jingles can be superb targeted writing
ANOTHER VIEW: Trevor Lawrence of Cartersville should get the Heisman Trophy
SPOTLIGHT: Comet National Shipping
FEEDBACK: Person at the South Pole would welcome correspondence
UPCOMING: Historic red oak tree in Snellville is being removed
NOTABLE: PCOM teaching the same, but COVID changes the method
RECOMMENDED: Movie: The Madman and the Professor
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Terry Kay was prolific Georgian author telling old-time stories
MYSTERY PHOTO: Half-timbered architecture
Editor’s Note: The next issue will be published on Jan. 5, 2020.
This year’s election was about the soul of the United States
By Kim Belloni
DULUTH, Ga., Dec. 29, 2020 | Reconciliation in this country requires a free and fair democracy that we all deserve and can trust and have faith in. This country, and particularly the South, has a deep history of putting up barriers to that. We could skip through slavery, Jim Crow laws, violent intimidation of black voters, the years it took for women to be granted the right to vote, and look at our lifetime, and still see intentional efforts to discourage true democracy.
Belloni
For something that we claim to value as our sacred right, it’s curious that we don’t have an established standard for what free and fair elections. To me, it means a lot of things…easy voter registration, voter identification that’s secure without being controversial, sufficient numbers of polling locations; realistic and equitable distances to polling locations, or dare we see a day where online voting is possible??
It also includes ample opportunity for early voting, mail-in voting that isn’t controversial and secure voting machines. Think too of district boundaries established that fairly represent those within their borders and don’t create artificial and controlled advantages. You can also include voter registrations lists that are maintained accurately, the elimination of PAC dollars in campaigns…..and I (and you) could go on. It’s a daunting task but our leaders could enact such legislation if they had the will to live up to what our Constitution promises.
All of these things and more have always impacted the results of elections and consequently the health, safety and well-being of everyone in this country. To those who are angry with doubt over this election, if you’re not as passionately upset about gerrymandering, use-it or lose-it-laws, the reduced number of polling places, and massive and flawed voter purges, etc… which have historically and systemically advantaged the conservative power in this state as with the current alleged claims of subversion now, then perhaps consider asking yourself whether your concern is for the will of the people to be accurately represented or for the continued advantage of one party.
This election wasn’t for about Trump or Biden. It was about the soul of this country. In Georgia, the outreach to engage those citizens routinely pushed to the margins and left by the wayside made a difference. The outpouring of concern for the future and honor of this country is making 2020/21 elections, perhaps for the first time in this state’s history, a time when the voice of We the People was so loudly spoken that it was impossible to deny.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Even commercial jingles can be superb targeted writing
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 29, 2020 | Many of us older Americans are the product of a one dimensional communications system…..that is, the sound of the radio. We grew up listening to the radio, just as later generations grew up with television, and children today with the new social media.
Starting in the early 1920s, radio was its own marvel. Even the president of the United States (FDR), saw the possibilities of calming a nation during the Depression with his fireside chats.
Words communicated via the airways were powerful. Soon radio started tinkering with words, especially in advertising, as music was the new dimension. The output was called “jingles,” Those messages were powerful, written with careful precision.
One particular jingle remains in my mind until today. You may remember the Pepsi Cola jingle.
Now recognize, of course, that growing up in Georgia meant that you were loyal to Coca-Cola. It seemed we kids all recognized it was a Georgia product instinctively. We were loyal to Coke. From time to time, a kid might drink a Pepsi, but this was not the norm.
Music may come to mind from the words to that jingle:
Pepsi Cola hits the spot, twelve full ounces, that’s a lot.
Twice as much and you get more too
Pepsi Cola is the drink for you.
Then, to reinforce the pinpointed message, it ended with this singing repetition: “Nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel……”
Now let’s analyze that jingle.
First is the name of the product, telling you that you get “12 full ounces,” and then emphasizes it by saying “That’s a lot!” Unsaid is that its big competitor, Coca-Cola, was a product then with only six ounces.
In effect, it almost says: “You’re not too smart to be paying the same thing but getting half as much.”
Now the next line, in case you missed it before: “Twice as much,” and then again a reinforcement, “and you get more too.” Looks to me like that jingle writer was aiming for the lowest common denominator level of intelligence, with it reinforced in this manner.
Then the punch line: “Pepsi Cola is the drink for you.”
The jingle is about to end, and now it merely tells you the price, which was the same as Coke: “Nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel…..” and disappears into thin air.
That is really superb targeted writing, getting across a point and no doubt selling Pepsi, even here in Georgia. Almost all my growing-up friends favored Coke, but one of my cousins, probably smarter than the rest of us, always doubled his refreshment with Pepsi. (Today he’s a millionaire.)
As Coke and Pepsi fought their wars on the radio, there was another Georgia drink we would sometimes buy. That was Royal Crown, a drink manufactured in Columbus, Ga., so we felt no disloyalty when opting for it. RC was similar in taste to Coke and Pepsi. RC drinks also came in 12 ounce size. RC also bottled Nehi fruit-flavored drinks, orange, grape, strawberry, and a terrible-tasting peach flavor. Ugh! You can almost still taste that weak peach flavor today!
One thing I don’t remember is any advertising from Royal Crown. That brand is still today in the grocery stores, though you seldom hear much about the company. Coke and Pepsi still are in a constant battle for your “taste test.” Today new dimensions have been added in advertising as television gives pictures as well as sound in the drink battle. And now color, too.
The refreshment wars continue. The jingle stays in my mind. How powerful messages are!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Lawrence of Cartersville should get the Heisman Trophy
Lawrence in 2019. Image via Wikipedia.
By Alex Tillman
VALDOSTA, Ga. | We live in a world where everything is measured statistically. Some feel today that nothing is genuine unless it is based on data. This is the case for the 2020 Heisman trophy race. Statistics are at the heart of athletics, but I hope there remains room for subjectivity.
Tillman
Let me be perfectly clear before launching into my argument. As an alumnus of the University of Georgia, I am not a Clemson fan. While I was an undergraduate, we referred to Clemson as “Auburn on the lake.”
I consider myself an objective college football fan. I have been a fan for over 50 years. I saw Archie Manning play live. Like Manning, some players come along who are all-time greats. You know who I’m talking about. If I start naming them I will leave some out.
With that being said I must state that Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence of Cartersville, Ga. is the best college football player in 2020. He is also an all time great. This is where our society’s obsession with statistics parts ways with reality.
Last week, the four finalists for the Heisman were named: They include Lawrence, quarterbacks Mac Jones of Alabama and Kyle Trask of Florida, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith of Alabama.
Trevor Lawrence is behind in statistics: in passing yards, pass attempts, pass completions, and touchdowns. But he missed two games. He was out with COVID for two games, including Clemson’s only loss, to Notre Dame. The other three finalists appeared in 11 games
But have you watched Lawrence play? He is a beast. His only loss as a starter was in the 2019 National Championship game against LSU. And he so devastated Notre Dame in the ACC championship game first half that the Fighting Irish could not come close to catching the Tigers. That alone showed how valuable he is to his team.
The Heisman Trophy is awarded each year to the outstanding player in college football. There is no mention of statistical measurements. Can anyone really profess that either Florida’s Kyle Trask or Alabama’s Mac Jones is better than Trevor Lawrence? DeVonta Smith is an exceptional wide receiver who would be Heisman worthy in a year without Trevor Lawrence. He is a freak-of-nature super good.
In 1980 South Carolina’s senior running back George Rodgers won the Heisman over freshman Herschel Walker of Georgia. Walker arguably had a better year in 1980 than Rodgers, but it was the right decision by the sports writers.
Rodgers played when college players stayed all four years. He deserved it. Walker won the Heisman two years later.
Trevor Lawrence is an all-time great. Statistics are for accountants. Football is a collision sport. Judging solely by statistics is the easy way out. Defending one’s opinion based on observation is an open invitation for critics. Sports writers and Heisman judges need to stop looking at stat sheets and start watching the games. Trevor Lawrence is the most outstanding player of 2020 and an all time great. That’s why he gets my vote for the Heisman. Now let the arguments begin.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Comet National Shipping
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Person at the South Pole would welcome correspondence
Editor, the Forum:
South Pole
A friend is going to be working at the South Pole Station for a year and she has sent out a message that she would enjoy receiving postcards or similar items from around the world to post on her bulletin board. Perhaps this could be a class project?
Her address is:
Trisa Ozuni
South Pole Winterover
PSC 768 Box 400
APO AP 96598
She would appreciate hearing from people in Gwinnett.
— Larry Zani, Kaiserslauten, Germany
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Historic red oak tree in Snellville is being removed
A piece of Snellville history is being removed today and tomorrow as the centuries-old Red Oak which has stood on Highway 78 since before the signing of the Constitution is coming down.
The tree, located near the Autobell Car Wash, has rotted and become hollow and has been deemed a hazard to passing motorists and pedestrians by the Georgia Department of Transportation and must come down.
A plaque which sat by the tree since 1987 reads, “The National Arborist Association and the International Society of Arboriculture jointly recognize this significant tree in this bicentennial year as having lived here at the time of the signing of our Constitution.”
It is anticipated that the city’s Public Works Department and the Snellville Historical Society will preserve pieces of the tree and its legacy.
Snellville historian Jim Cofer wrote about this tree: “Anyone who has travelled east on Main Street in Snellville is aware of, and probably has driven under, the massive oak tree that overhangs Highway 78.Referred to by generations of old timers as ‘Mr. Troy’s (Thomason) big oak,’ this wooden behemoth existed more than 150 years ahead of that dedicated educator, school principal, and bovine entrepreneur.”
In recent years GDOT and the city have made attempts to save the oak by minimizing disturbances to the soil around the roots and routing utilities on the other side of Main Street. However, in recent months, state arborists determined the tree is becoming hollow and poses a threat to pedestrians and drivers passing under its large heavy limbs.
Troy and Blanche Thomason bought the 70 acres containing the oak in 1944 and farmed it part-time while teaching school until W.H. and Harold Britt bought 28 acres in 1972, and the remainder was sold for commercial development in 1990.
County OKs new entrance on tap for Tribble Mill Park
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners have approved a new entrance to Tribble Mill Park on Chandler Road and the construction of a new trailhead for the Lloyd N. Harris Greenway Trail that will connect to Harbins Park.
The new entrance will lead to a parking lot with 89 spaces with a kiosk at a trailhead of a new section of the multipurpose Lloyd Harris Greenway Trail. The more than six miles of the Lloyd N. Harris Greenway Trail run through both parks and will tie in to Harbins Park to the east. The project also includes three picnic shelters and a restroom.
The parking lot, which will be lit, also will alleviate a safety hazard from people parking on the side of Chandler Road to access the trail system. The $2.8 million project is being funded through SPLOST.
PCOM teaching the same, but COVID changes the method
The teaching is the same. Only the delivery method has changed due to COVID-19.
Video teaching at PCOM. Image provided
Each Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon, second year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) students at PCOM Georgia use their deductive reasoning skills to diagnose a “patient” presented in the campus’ Simulation Center.
Using tele-simulation, which involves multiple cameras and a virtual meeting platform, three physician faculty members present case scenarios to students who use a rotating team leader, a scribe and the chat room to narrow the field of possibilities. The students work together to logically eliminate diagnoses.
On this Tuesday, the case involved a 26-year-old woman, who presented in the College’s simulated Emergency Department with sharp, stabbing pain radiating throughout her abdominal region. Through their group leader, the students took the patient’s history and directed their bedside faculty member to conduct a physical exam through inspection, palpation and percussion. The instructor reported that there were no visible scars or bruising and that the area was symmetrical.
As a team of ten, the students discussed symptoms, ordered a pregnancy test and appropriate lab work and imaging. Through the process of elimination, the group considered and dismissed the possibilities of an ovarian cyst, an ectopic pregnancy, gastroenteritis and other conditions before concluding that appendicitis was probable. The students made the decision to consult a surgeon and discussed the benefits of pain medication.
Technology contributes to robust teaching by a team of PCOM faculty members. They include Dr. Jeff Trawick, a clinical assistant professor in the Office of Clinical Education who also practices full time as an emergency department physician; Toni Musta, MS, the simulation manager who earned a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Medical Simulation from PCOM Georgia in 2018; Amber Meyer, the simulation administrator, Kanza Kabir, MS, the simulation technician who also earned a master’s degree from PCOM Georgia in 2019, ensures that the mannequins’ vital signs are appropriate for the cases.
Along with Dr. Trawick, Dr. Donald Penney, a clinical professor of emergency medicine, and Frank Jones, a clinical professor of surgery, also guide the students to the correct diagnostic conclusions by urgently asking, “Is that all?” or, “Anything else you need to know?” Debriefing sessions after the cases provide the faculty members more time to instruct the students.
According to Dr. Penney, medical simulation has been “transformative” when introduced into the medical curriculum. He said that PCOM Georgia has been “avant-garde and innovative in creating a designated simulation laboratory for our medical students.”
Dr. Penney says: “Deliberate practice through medical simulation training on high fidelity simulators has allowed the acquisition of clinical skills, thus enhancing clinical competence at the undergraduate level. Studies have demonstrated that improved clinical competence has resulted in improved patient safety and reduced healthcare costs.”
Student-doctor, Nishant Gogna (DO ’23) says: “Though nothing will replace in-person training, I recognize and value the hard work, adaptation and innovation the faculty have put into their training to ensure students are well-prepared for board exams, rotations and beyond. Participating in Sim Center cases is my favorite part of the week!”
DAR lays wreaths at East Shadowlawn Cemetery
The Philadelphia Winn Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), hosted this Wreaths Across Americaevent to remember and honor the service and sacrifice of our military Veterans on December 19. That day 375 fresh balsam wreaths were laid on Veteran’s graves during a ceremony at East Shadowlawn Memorial Gardens in Lawrenceville.
Several patriotic organizations participated in the ceremony, including the Georgia Society, Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Color Guard; the Button Gwinnett Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution (SAR); the Elisha Winn Society, Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.); Boy Scout Troop 846 from Duluth, and cadets from the North Gwinnett High School Air Force Junior ROTC program.
The ceremony’s keynote speaker was Major Jim Freeman, U.S. Army (retired) from Lilburn, and a member of the Button Gwinnett Chapter SAR. Major Freeman served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and he was severely wounded and was the lone survivor of a North Vietnamese rocket attack on a Division Hospital, spending the next year recuperating in military hospitals.
Major Freeman has received many military medals, including the Bronze Star. It was in 2015 that Major Freeman received the Office of Strategic Services Medal, recognizing his joint service with the U.S. Army and the CIA, 40 years after his service in Vietnam.
Movie: The Madman and the Professor
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: I will never again take a dictionary for granted, but will regard it with reverent awe. The Madman and the Professor, a 2019 movie now on Netflix, is based on a true story about two men who form an odd alliance. One has little formal education and is self-taught, while the other is a murderer confined to a mental hospital. They collaborate to create what is now called the Oxford English Dictionary. This is much more than a literary story about the definition of words and the evolution of their meanings. It is a story about human relationships and the unlikely friendship between two wordsmiths and the widow of a murdered man. The story has pain, compassion, tears, obsession, competition, resistance and joy. Who knew there could be so much drama in creating a dictionary? (I think this movie is better than the book, written by Simon Winchester.)
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
Kay was prolific Georgian author telling old-time stories
Terry Kay was a prolific and award-winning author whose work included fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, and children’s books. His most celebrated novel, To Dance with the White Dog, was made into a television movie by the Hallmark Hall of Fame and became a best-seller in Japan.
Kay
Terry Winter Kay was born February 10, 1938, in Hart County, the eleventh of twelve children of T. H. Kay, a farmer and nurseryman, and Viola Winn Kay. He grew up on a farm, played football for Royston High School, and earned his B.A. degree in social science from LaGrange College in 1959. In August of that year, he married Tommie Duncan. They had four children.
In 1959, after a brief, unsuccessful career as an insurance salesman, Kay began working as a copy boy and then a reporter for the Decatur-DeKalb News. From 1962 to 1973 he worked as a sportswriter and a film and theater critic for the Atlanta Journal. Kay left the newspaper for the corporate world, working as creative director and account executive for various advertising firms between 1973 and 1977. At the Oglethorpe Power Corporation in Chamblee, where he worked from 1977 until he left in 1989 to devote his full time to writing, Kay rose to the level of senior vice president.
Kay’s first novel, The Year the Lights Came On (1976), began as a magazine piece that his friend Pat Conroy encouraged him to turn into a novel. The novel draws on Kay’s boyhood in Royston. A nostalgic coming-of-age story set in the 1940s, the novel describes the effects of rural electrification on two rival gangs in the fictional county of Eden, Georgia.
In 1990 Kay published his breakthrough novel, To Dance with the White Dog. The work made him internationally famous. The Hallmark Hall of Fame 1993 dramatization of the novel, filmed in Americus and Plains, won an Emmy. The novel began as a nonfiction work to celebrate Kay’s parents’ long marriage and to recount how his father, who died of cancer in 1980, was visited by a white dog after his wife’s death in 1973. The 81-year-old protagonist, Sam Peek, has just lost his wife, Cora, after 57 years of marriage. A phantom-like white dog appears soon afterward, and Sam is convinced that it is the soul of Cora. The dog accompanies Sam on a journey, literally and symbolically, to his high school reunion in Madison. This touching novel explores universal themes of love, loss, and coming to terms with mortality.
Kay’s final novel, The Forever Wish of Middy Sweet (2020), returns to Georgia with a love story about high school sweethearts that reunite in their 70s.
In 1999 LaGrange College awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, and in 2006 he was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. The following year Kay received the Stanley W. Lindberg Award, sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book and named for Stanley Lindberg, former editor of the Georgia Review. In 2009 he received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities, and in 2011 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Writers Association. The Atlanta Writers Club also named its annual fiction award, the Terry Kay Prize for Fiction, in his honor.
Terry Kay died on December 12, 2020, of liver cancer. He was 82.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Half-timbered architecture
Today’s Mystery Photo is a good example of half-timbered architecture. So several clues may give you some indication of where this photo was taken. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown. The previous photo was sent in by Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Allan Peel of San Antonio identified the recent Mystery Photo in this way: “Today’s mystery photo is of the Spartanburg Buddhist Center of SC, in Spartanburg, SC. Contrary to your suggestion that this is not a common sight in our country, this type of scene is not really all that uncommon. For example, a search in Google Maps for ‘Buddhist Temple’ reveals that there are at least eight such temples along the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Spartanburg, (a distance of only 160-miles). All Buddhists believe in Karma … the belief that every act has a consequence later on in life. They believe that while it is not certain when, every genuinely good intention will eventually get good karma, and every evil act will get bad karma.”
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. added: “Resident monks offer typical religious services, scheduled holiday/festivals on site, blessing ceremonies, counsel, Dhamma talks(in Khmer), meditation instruction, precepts, merit-making, funeral and wedding ceremonies.”
- Send us a mystery photo: elliott@brack.net
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