I’m not an avid reader (unless it’s online). Dr. Wife bought me countless books about child rearing and what to expect while she’s expecting, etc… Sadly I never read any of them, (but I quickly read any article she sends to me via email or link).
So the fact that I’m posting about a book is pretty spectacular.
But alas, this one is just full of pretty pictures:
Historic Photos of Birmingham was just released a few weeks ago and it was written by the BPL’s archivist James L. Baggett (oh the hours I could spend talking to that guy).
I first fell in love with pictures of old Birmingham while looking at a book published by the Birmingham Historical Society at my grandparents house about 10 years ago. I was amazed by the fact that a trolly used to go down the center of Highland Ave, and there used to be an elaborate train station on the east side of downtown.
About 2 years ago I dropped close to $100 for digital copys of about 12 historical pictures of Birmingham including one of my house shortly after it was built in 1948. All 12 prints decorate my office now I can’t wait to get a copy of this book.
Those of you wishing to meet the Author of this book may do so this afternoon (Thursday) @ 4:30 on the 4th floor of the Main branch of the Birmingham Public Library downtown.
Many folks have complained that I haven’t been posting enough pictures of Fairlyn, and I’ve posted about things to do in Birmingham but I’ve never posted with a recap of the events.
I’m solving that right now and answering a few questions in the process:
The place was pretty packed with a softball game going on across the street, plenty of free BBQ to be eaten and thousands of sunflowers ripe for the picking. $10 for all you could carry and $0.50/stem otherwise.
Fairlyn really enjoyed the mist tent (as shown in the fuzzy pic above, the fuzzyness is really the mist from the mist tent), getting lost in the sunflowers and picking off as many petals as she could from as many flowers as she could find…
The highly contested State House of Representatives seat for District 54 (the district I live in) was won by only 59 votes (unofficial count).
Patricia Todd edged out Gaynell Hendrix in the Democratic primary runoff which will make her the winner in the general election since there is no Republican candidate.
District 54 is quite possibly the most diverse district in the state. The War on Dumb said it best:
But one district, among the others, has given me some hope — District 54. Running roughly from Irondale (through Forest Park to parts of Southside through Downtown and all the way) to Fountain Heights (just north of the 20/59/65 interchange), the district includes all kinds of residents and voters. It has working-class people, yuppies, loft-dwellers, single-family neighborhoods, blacks, whites, rich, poor — in short, it looks a lot more like Jefferson County than any other legislative district. In recent years, the demographics of District 54 have shifted almost into a complete balance. With this year’s election, it seemed, we would finally get to have a sort of experiment. What would happen if all these different people had to decide on one person to represent them? It’s the stuff of reality TV shows, only it’s important.
The election of Patricia Todd is remarkable for 2 things.
1) She’s openly gay.
2) She’s white in a (slightly) majority black district.
Patricia will become the first openly gay elected official in Alabama’s history.
In my opinion, she won this election because she ran this election like EVERY candidate should. For the past two weeks I got a mailer from Patricia Todd’s campaign nearly every day. Each one described in detail what she wanted to do in Montgomery to make our district better. She wants a new State Constitution, she wants more home rule, she pledges to hold regular meetings with her constituents, etc.
I got messages on my home answering machine inviting me out to meet Patricia in Crestwood park last Sunday. Her campaign volunteers were outgoing and quickly arranged for my wife and I to meet Patricia and ask her some questions. I overheard some of her campaign volunteers talking about how they knocked on nearly every door in the district to get the word out. She fought hard to win the campaign and I’m sure she’ll fight hard for us in Montgomery.
I can’t wait to get a copy of this book.
