June 1st, 2005

NYT has an arti­cle about what life in Alpharetta, GA is all about. Anyone who grew up in sub­ur­bia will most likely feel a bit of nos­tal­gia when read­ing this arti­cle, but it also accu­rately paints a pic­ture of what I dis­like so much about the area I grew up in. Quick back­ground - Alpharetta is one of those mega­sub­ur­ban areas - about 35 miles north of Atlanta, with a pop­u­la­tion around a quar­ter of a mil­lion of people, it’s filled with strip malls, SUVs and soccer moms. Good times. The arti­cle is the story of one family who was trans­ferred here for the husband’s work, and their sub­se­quent adven­tures while living here.

It’s funny though, I do have one major dif­fer­ence from the family pro­filed in the arti­cle: while they came to Atlanta for work and have no ties there, the only thing that would make me want to move back to sub­ur­ban Atlanta are my ties to the area - I grew up there, and most of my family and friends are from there. Ironic, I sup­pose, given a good 8 out 10 people I know from Atlanta did not grow up there. Heck, I can’t name more than 5 or so people I know that grew up in greater Atlanta. While most people come to Atlanta for work and are gone as quickly as they came, I’m curi­ous to see if I could be one of the rare few who can be FROM Atlanta and still live there for the major­ity of my life.

I guess first step is moving back there, eh?

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9 Responses to “Home Sweet Home”

1. Ali says:
   June 1st, 2005 at 2:42 pm

   atlanta = evil
2. Daniel Andrews says:
   June 1st, 2005 at 2:46 pm

   Alli­son = smelly.
3. Shirley says:
   June 1st, 2005 at 6:01 pm

   Alpharetta = :)
4. liz says:
   June 1st, 2005 at 9:51 pm

   WOW, I cant believe the little Alpharetta we grew up in is in the New York Times! But then the little Alpharetta we grew up in is on the other side of the high­way from the one dis­cussed in this arti­cle.. so maybe not much has changed out in the boonies?
5. Daniel Andrews says:
   June 1st, 2005 at 11:23 pm

   It’s crazy, even out where my par­ents live it’s all huge neigh­bor­hoods and golf courses. Granted, not as bad as the east side of 400, but it’s still sprawl­ing big­time.

   Have you see McFar­land or Wind­ward lately?
6. Erik says:
   June 2nd, 2005 at 9:10 am

   WEST SIDE!!!! Jen­nifer Oaks REP­RE­SENT!
7. Daniel Andrews says:
   June 2nd, 2005 at 9:54 am

   Ye-​eah! I forgot you are west side too. I guess most of us were, actu­ally. D-rock, Liz, Doug and your­self. Rick was for a while, right?
8. Erik says:
   June 2nd, 2005 at 12:11 pm

   Rick was always a Windward-​ian of sorts. I think he was tech­ni­cally con­sid­ered on the fringe of Wind­ward.
9. Daniel Andrews says:
   June 2nd, 2005 at 12:13 pm

   Well, as we all know, Rick has always been on the fringe in one way or another.

   (I hope he’s read­ing this.)