The Red & Black | April 4, 2024

Katie Guenthner

Part of why University of Georgia graduate student Natalie Gonzalez moved to Athens from California was to find affordable housing, but an obscure city ordinance might mean that she now has to sell her home.

Gonzalez bought her house in the Cedar Creek community on March 17, 2023. She rented when she first moved to Athens, but rising rent prices convinced her to buy her first home.

On Jan. 17, Gonzalez received a text message from one of her three roommates saying the Athens-Clarke County Code Enforcement Division had placed an ordinance violation notice on her door. The note said she and her roommates were in violation of ordinance 9-15-18, which states that no more than two unrelated individuals may live in the same dwelling unit in a single-family residential zoning district.

The ordinance is meant to keep neighborhoods affordable by stopping landlords

from converting single-family housing into student housing.

Hunt for housing

ACC District 3 Commissioner Tiffany Taylor, whose district encompasses East Athens, said District 3 has many low-income neighborhoods and is especially vulnerable to developers who convert relatively cheap property into student housing.

“It’s easy to go and buy up houses, or buy up land, and build up those houses and put unrelated people in,” Taylor said.

Gonzalez, who lives in a single-family residential zone, said that neither she, her realtor nor her neighbors — who have lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years — knew anything about the ordinance. Without at least two roommates, she would be unable to afford her mortgage and have to sell her house.

“In a lot of ways, [the ordinance] feels like it’s discriminatory toward anyone that is not necessarily an affluent or traditional

family,” Gonzalez said.

When Gonzalez called the ACC Code Enforcement Division, she was told she had 30 days to relocate everyone in her house, after which she would be subject to penalties every subsequent day.

The ACC Code of Ordinances states that the maximum penalty for such violations is a fine of $1,000 or six months of imprisonment for each day that the infraction is committed after the warning. ACC Code Enforcement Division administrator John Spagna said that is a general penalty for misdemeanors, but it doesn’t typically happen for this kind of violation.

Gonzalez said this regulation makes it harder for her to keep up with rising housing costs by decreasing the amount of affordable housing options.

“I’m living with grad students, I’m not here to exploit anyone,” Gonzalez said. “We just want a stable living situation.”

In another call to the county officials, Gonzalez asked whether they would do more in the future to tell realtors about the ordinance. They said the regulation is available online and that residents and realtors are responsible for finding that information on their own. Gonzalez felt like that wasn’t enough.

“This was incredibly stressful because I don’t know how I’m expected to pay my mortgage, but at the same time the rentals are limited and they’re not great,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez’s story, however, is just one example of a recurring pattern in Athens. UGA Ph.D. candidate Ben Long experienced similar issues when he lived in violation of the same ordinance while renting a house in Normaltown from the spring of 2022 to December 2023. While he rented the house with roommates whose names were listed on the lease, his name was not.

Long said that his roommates knew about the ordinance, but decided to have multiple roommates anyway, to help pay rent. Long knew his name would not be on the lease, but he signed anyway because he needed a place to live. But he didn’t fully understand the implications of being an unofficial tenant.

“This housing ordinance, it hurts us because it means we have to break the law in order to find suitable housing,” Long said.

Gray area

The ordinance, while trying to prevent gentrification, may not actually be effective.

District 6 Commissioner Jesse Houle said that the ordinance punishes people who can’t afford rent in Athens.

According to UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 26.5% of the population in Athens-Clarke County lives below the poverty line. The poverty line is an annual income of $31,200 for a four-person household in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

However the U.S. Census Bureau recorded

the median gross rent in Athens as $1,045.

“The average rent in Athens is not affordable by the average income in Athens, and so we make it impossible for folks to find a way to afford it by making it illegal for them,” Houle said.

The ordinance is not effective at preventing overcrowding in neighborhoods, Houle said, and instead limits the amount of affordable housing available to Athenians.

Moving forward

Houle said the local government needs to create more housing where there’s already houses, rather than cracking down on people in need of affordable housing.

“We should be addressing the behaviors that are a problem instead of painting people in a certain situation or with certain characteristics with a broad brush and making their existence illegal,” Houle said.

For Gonzalez, the whole ordeal has been stressful, especially considering that she and her housemates operate almost like a family.

“We cook together, we get together and we talk and all that, and everyone’s pretty much very quiet,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said she understands the desire to keep undergraduate students out of family neighborhoods, but that there has to be a better way.

“I understand not wanting a frat strip on your street, but that’s what noise ordinances are for, that’s what trash ordinances are for, and I feel like the current ordinance is not necessarily efficient at preventing investors from coming in, buying out properties and shoving students in,” Gonzalez said.

Houle suggested a compromise where unrelated people can live in the same home so long as the landlord is one of the tenants, creating more affordable housing options while preventing absentee landlords from creating student housing in areas traditionally zoned for single-family use.

Gonzalez agreed, saying that the ordinance restricts housing to wealthier single families in large portions of Athens, taking up real estate that could be used to help solve the affordable housing crisis.

“Rather than doing all this additional development, you could be making use of multi-family or mixed housing,” Gonzalez said.

Two of Gonzalez’s roommates were already planning on moving out before she received the ordinance violation notice, but she said the notice didn’t give them enough time to find other housing. Eventually, an ACC Code Enforcement Division official gave the roommates until March 22 to move out, but Gonzalez still cannot afford her mortgage with only one other roommate.

“This is my first house ever, so the idea that I might potentially have to sell it if I can’t resolve this problem because I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the mortgage,” Gonzalez said. “It’s disheartening, not just for me but for my family.”

‘A long time coming’

C.L.A.S.S. Advocate program’s removal worries Black students

Dawn Sawyer

Editor’s Note: The Red & Black has kept the identity of the housing employees in this article anonymous due to concerns about potential impacts to their employment.

As student employees of the University of Georgia, C.L.A.S.S. Advocates work day and night to make sure the few Black residents in their dorms feel seen, heard and represented.

Come fall 2024, this position will no longer exist, prompting criticism and concern from housing employees, UGA community members and the Black students that the position means so much to.

C.L.A.S.S. stands for Continuing the Legacy of African-American Student Success. C.L.A.S.S. Advocates, also called C.A.s, are live-in staff members employed to enrich the Black student experience. At the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year, 17 C.A.s were employed by UGA Housing.

Current and former housing employees said the program is vital to ensuring that Black students feel like they belong at UGA, a predominantly white institution, or PWI.

“C.A.s are very important to campus because when you have such a marginalized community — a community that historically has been deprived of just basic rights and necessities, that are always put at a disadvantage, you need somebody that helps kind of balance it out,” a former C.A. told The Red & Black.

The Black student experience In her first tours of UGA, Fathiya Ally, a freshman intended civil engineering major, said she immediately felt like she belonged. However, as a Black student, she said this feeling has waned as it has become rare to see people who look like her in the classroom.

The one place she feels represented and cared for is with the C.A. assigned to her residence hall.

“The importance of the C.A. is that the connection is personal,” Ally said. “I think that’s what really helps — that you know that this person is looking out for you. They know you personally, they talk to you, they get to know you as an individual.”

According to the spring 2024 University System of Georgia Enrollment Report, 7.4% of UGA students identify as Black or African American. This is not even a full percentage point higher than in 1996 – just five years after the UGA Fact Book stopped classifying Black students as “American Negro” in its records.

The number of Black students enrolled at UGA has been on the decline in recent years, with 7.4% being the lowest percentage of Black students since 2008.

In contrast, the Black population in Georgia increased from 30.5% in 2010 to 33.1% in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sydney Dawson, a Caribbean American senior marketing major, said that she has seen a significant change in her college experience since she enrolled in 2020, when the percentage of Black students at UGA was higher, at 8.28%.

“We try to still recruit people who are touring, make sure they see the Black population that is there … because they don’t really see people who look like me, or them,” Dawson said. “Even people who were part of the Daze weekend [in February] were saying that they want to come here, but they don’t know about the Black population.”

Georgia Daze Minority Recruitment Weekend is an opportunity for admitted Black high school seniors to tour campus

with student ambassadors. Alton Standifer, UGA’s vice provost for inclusive excellence, said such yield and recruitment programs are where the university sees the most success in encouraging minority students to enroll.

Nia Simmons, president of Georgia Daze and junior economics major, said that Daze aims to increase minority recruitment through a variety of programs. But she believes that it should not be solely up to Daze to fix the latest decline in Black student enrollment.

“There’s only so much that we can do on our end,” Simmons said.

For Ally, the C.A. assigned to her residence hall was the representation she could cling to at a PWI.

“[C.A.s are] really great to have,” Ally said. “Since you’re not seeing these faces in an academic environment, at least you’re seeing it in a residential environment … where you reside, where you spend a large portion of your time.”

to that, then it’s pretty unmotivating,” the former C.A. said.

In the summer of 2023, a supervisor told a housing employee that due to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, the C.L.A.S.S. Advocate position would likely look different in the coming years. The court’s decision makes it unlawful to consider race in college admissions, which is affecting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in universities across the country.

In November 2023, UGA Housing announced in a staff meeting that beginning fall 2024, the C.L.A.S.S. Advocate position would no longer exist.

“I want to say I was surprised, but I really wasn’t,” the former C.A. said. “I guess there was a little bit of shock, in that they finally did it … [but] it was a long time coming.”

The R.B.A. position is marketed by UGA Housing as an “expansion of the C.L.A.S.S. Advocate program,” according to an article published by UGA Student Affairs.

dents are calling for the university to fill this role.

“We’re all students, and we should all reap the same benefits of the institution. We should all be able to pursue an education and feel included,” Ally said. “We have the same right to pursue this education, and part of that is being seen – feeling seen by the school itself.”

In a January forum hosted by student organizations to discuss the removal of the C.A. program, students expressed the need for a Black Cultural Center on campus to foster community and connections. Dawson echoed this idea.

“Just seeing people come together, even at a PWI, is very powerful,” Dawson said. “Even though we’re not that much compared to a [historically Black college or university], we’re still here, and we still want to share our voices.”

The forum also addressed concerns posed by students of other ethnicities on providing a center for all racial and ethnic backgrounds instead.

Other students argued that, historically, progress for the Black population has led to progress for other underrepresented populations as well.

“If you give these spaces to your Black students, others will follow,” Ally said. “Acknowledging one group’s problems will allow you to address and acknowledge the others.”

Adrian Gutierrez, a senior management and financial technology major who identifies as Black and Puerto Rican, said he can see both sides. He believes that having a Black Cultural Center on campus could be beneficial, but could also further isolate Black students if not done carefully.

“We have to kind of be vulnerable in those spaces,” Gutierrez said. “And I know we’ve been vulnerable for a tremendous amount of time, but maybe sharing a space like that with Hispanics or Asians or Indians would kind of allow us to really grow and understand different perspectives that we weren’t really aware of from the beginning.”

Replacing the C.A. position

Earlier this year, Ally received a flier at her door in Payne Hall with the news that the C.L.A.S.S. Advocates would soon be replaced by Residential Belonging Ambassadors – 12 people who will serve four groups of incoming freshmen, called “zones,” to support students from diverse backgrounds.

Many students feel that the decision will take away the Black representation that C.A.s provided and the direct support that Black students received from the program.

“The whole point [of C.A.s] is so that these Black students can feel validated, [that] they can feel seen in a predominantly white space,” Ally said. “So how are you expecting to target and broaden inclusivity and diversity when you’re diluting all of it?”

According to current and former C.A.s, the program’s end did not come as a shock. They said that the program lacked the necessary support, training and acknowledgement from supervisors.

Former C.A.s claim that their supervisors often made it difficult for them to do their jobs. Starting in the 2022-23 school year, C.A.s were no longer provided with the rosters of Black students in each dorm to reach out to. Some C.A.s instead went door to door or posted QR codes to try and reach students.

According to a former C.A., C.A.s also did not receive any training specific to helping Black students and were often treated like additional R.A.s, expected to do administrative tasks in addition to their regular duties.

“You really want to make a difference, but when your supervisors are either inhibiting that or not really allowing for you to reach your best potential when it comes

“It is evolving to serve a wider population of students,” Standifer said. “[R.B.A.s] will be trained and positioned to support a more diverse array of students and also to support a more diverse array of student needs.”

While there are currently 17 C.A. positions, UGA Housing plans to hire 12 R.B.A.s for the upcoming academic year, even as UGA welcomes larger freshmen classes in recent years.

In 2023, the university enrolled one of its largest freshmen classes in history, with 6,200 students in the class of 2027. UGA has accepted more than 15,900 applicants for the 2024 fall semester, and time will tell how many choose to attend.

“With the reduction of the amount of people that are covering zones, basically more work is going to be put on R.A.s,” a current R.A. said.

According to an announcement made by Student Affairs, R.B.A.s will be tasked with engaging with students from diverse backgrounds and working in collaboration with various departments across campus.

Current housing employees worry that the R.B.A.s will not receive the necessary training to serve all demographics. Many R.A.s found their own training inadequate.

“This training is awful because we don’t get told anything about what we deal with as R.A.s,” a current R.A. said. “I’ve been quite upset about our training process, because we also don’t get enough diversity training at all.”

What students are calling for

According to Ally, C.A.s provide a space for Black students to feel seen and heard on campus. Now, as the position ends, stu-

UGA’s approach and response

Standifer said the Office of Institutional Diversity aims to highlight the success that UGA has made while still making strides to improve campus life for all members of the UGA community.

“A part of the work that so many of us do is centered around understanding that we’re not where we want to be yet as an institution, but we’re a long way from where we were when the first Black students enrolled at the University of Georgia,” Standifer said.

A university initiative that has seen success in minority recruitment and retention, according to Standifer, is the Georgia African American Male Experience – a program launched in 2014 as a part of an initiative by USG focusing on enrolling, retaining and graduating African American men across the state.

Gutierrez, a member of GAAME since he enrolled at UGA in 2022, said that while the program is helpful for developing connections, it is the only place he has felt true institutional support as a Black student at the university.

As the Black student population’s proportion at the university decreases, students are asking that the decline be met with more direct support for Black students from the university. Simmons and others see the removal of the C.A. position as a step away from that support.

“I feel like removing something that has been in place for us, it just goes to show that you know the numbers are decreasing and nothing’s really being done about it,” Simmons said.

The past few weeks have been intense for our town, especially as a therapist. I’ve had women clients, young and old, come in with their trauma reactivated, feeling both the deep tragedy of a lost soul and their own woundedness from violence perpetrated by men.

I’ve watched them rage at the offensiveness of making this about undocumented immigrants, as though any woman would be safer if every border of our country was completely closed. As though they would not be scared to jog alone, walk through a parking lot at night, go out on the weekends, go on a date or even go home, simply because no undocumented immigrants were present.

I hear the sadness and rage from every woman who deserves to be safe but is not because of violence committed by men. And instead of addressing harm to women, it becomes an attack against an entire group of people — an attack that is rarely based on personal experience.

Despite all the women that I’ve ever worked with over the years who have been on the receiving end of violence by men, none of the perpetrators were undocumented immigrants. They were most often their fathers, husbands, boyfriends, friends, friends of friends, coworkers, neighbors, trusted authorities and so on.

I’m certain Laken Riley thought about the risk of running the day she was murdered while jogging on the trails of Lake Herrick. We all think about the risk. Every time I run those trails, I think about it. Every time I walk through a dark area, I think about it. Every time I go on a date. Every time I find myself in a new setting.

We take a gamble.

We have no choice but to take that gamble.

We have no choice because no one addresses violence perpetrated by men.

I’m not interested in political rhetoric, except when it blatantly disregards a woman’s truth that is apparent in my office. I’m a woman and therapist speaking to the reality of

what I’m seeing in front of me. I’m not speculating, imagining, formulating or persuading. I’m simply telling you the truth of what women in our town are feeling.

For those who found themselves reactivated by the trauma of this event and how it was handled, it’s okay. You are right in your sadness and rage. I offer this solace as a woman to other women and as a therapist to those needing healing.

Sadness comes from loss. Rage, when righteous in its justification, comes from destruction. These are honest and truthful emotions that must be discharged. Whereas I could offer many possible ways to discharge these emotions, I will only state this one here. Look at nature.

What does nature do with loss and destruction? With loss, life becomes still. It lets what must go, go. It fortifies itself and then goes inward to repair so that it can sustain life while recovering from loss. With destruction, it lovingly lets it shift into something that will feed life again and bring beauty once more.

As sadness is stillness, be still in nature. Look around you at all that has fallen and how it is incorporated, integrated, held, not discarded. As rage is destruction, utilize this to help nature. Chop or break down fallen branches, build a fire and let them burn, pull weeds so the beauty of what’s planted may grow and pick up litter.

One single act that encompasses it all, plant a tree. Take your shovel and break the earth, tear the roots of life of something already there, dig up the insects and worms that have built their home, fertilize with soil made up of what is decomposed and plant a brand new tree that will grow into something big and beautiful.

Laken was running on lovely wooded trails, surrounded by trees and nature.

Plant a tree for Laken.

Plant a tree for women of every age, race, religion or sexual orientation that have been on the receiving end of violence by men in all its forms.

Plant a tree for every women in your life.

Plant a tree for all our ancestors who know this story too and have been restlessly walking the streets of Athens.

Sending love to you all.

Sarah

“The

Alexis Derickson

MANAGER

MARKETING ASSISTANT Katherine White

COMMUNICATIONS INTERN Emma Akang

DISTRIBUTION DISTRO@RANDB.COM

DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANTS Ethan Cone, Cate Jones, Gracie Owens

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Charlotte Varnum

706-433-3009 | cvarnum@randb.com

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Melissa Mooney 706-433-3007 | mmooney@randb.com

NEWSROOM ADVISER Kayla Renie 706-433-3026 | krenie@randb.com

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Carter Webb

GUIDES & MAGAZINES SUPERVISOR Maddie Daniel

ABOUT US

Tracey Wyatt is a licensed therapist in Athens, Georgia.

El ancla del béisbol de Georgia

Fernando González se mantiene estable en medio del cambio

Owen Warden, traducido por Andrea Aramburo

Fernando González ha sido un Bulldog de Georgia por un tiempo. González se unió al equipo de béisbol de Georgia en 2021 como estudiante de primer año. El receptor solo había jugado béisbol en los Estados Unidos por un corto tiempo en la escuela secundaria después de mudarse de la Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá.

Cuando González se presentó como estudiante de primer año, golpeó el suelo corriendo, comenzando en 36 juegos. 33 de esos comienzos fueron como receptor y, en esa temporada, estableció un récord escolar para receptores con un porcentaje del término “fielding”, perfecto de 1.000 en 330 oportunidades.

Desde entonces, González ha sido un arrancador constante detrás del plato. Comenzó para la NCAA Chapel Hill Regional del equipo en su segunda temporada y fue nombrado para el equipo de defensa de la SEC en su tercer año.

Sin embargo, eso fue con el ex entrenador en jefe, Scott Stricklin, y después de que fue despedido, muchos de los compañeros del equipo de González se fueron. Pero no González. Él, junto a jugadores como Charlie Condon y Corey Collins, se mantuvieron firmes y se vistieron de rojo y negro una vez más.

“Esa hermandad que tuvimos hace un par de años, de alguna manera mantiene la cultura,” dijo González.

Tanto González como Collins llegaron por primera vez a Georgia con jugadores que después eligieron transferir, como Parks Harber, que se transfirió a Carolina del Norte. Sin embargo, los dos se mantuvieron juntos y fueron acreditados como jugadores importantes que ayudaron a integrar muchas de las transferencias en el equipo.

El recién contratado entrenador en jefe Wes Johnson, al comienzo de la temporada, también destacó el valor de la experiencia y el liderazgo de González.

“Fernando, quiero decir que ese muchacho está ahí hablando constantemente con nuestros muchachos, ayudándolos,” dijo Johnson. “Es como otro entrenador que tenemos en la cancha, en el dugout y en el vestidor.”

Johnson dijo que González ha seguido siendo un ancla detrás del plato, no es mejor mostrado que su porcentaje del término “fielding” de .986 y no ha permitido un solo pase, pero González también ha sido impresionante como bateador.

González, quien ha bateado como tercero en la alineación esta temporada, actualmente está promediando .314 en el plato, ya ha pasado su máximo de carrera en carreras bateadas a 23 y está a uno de su máximo de carrera en jonrones. También bateó un “grand slam” contra el norte de Colorado y empató su carrera con seis juegos de tres hits. Sin embargo, su mayor fortaleza es como compañero de equipo.

“Es todo,” dijo Collins. “Tenemos un abrazo antes de cada partido y es solo ese recordatorio de que nos encontramos juntos, hemos estado haciendo esto juntos.”

Georgia baseball’s anchor

Fernando Gonzalez remains steady amid change

Fernando Gonzalez has been a Georgia Bulldog for a while.

Gonzalez joined Georgia baseball in 2021 as a freshman. The catcher had only played baseball in the U.S. for a short time in high school after moving from Panama City, Panama.

When Gonzalez showed up as a freshman, he hit the ground running, starting 36 games. 33 of those starts were at catcher and, in that season, he set a school record for catchers with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 330 opportunities.

Since then, Gonzalez has been a consistent starter behind the plate. He started for the team’s NCAA Chapel Hill Regional run his sophomore season and was named to the SEC All-Defense team his junior year.

However, that was with former head coach Scott Stricklin, and after he was fired, a lot of Gonzalez’s long-time teammates headed out the door.

But not Gonzalez. He, alongside players like Charlie Condon and Corey Collins, stuck it out and suited up in the red and black once again.

“That brotherhood we had a couple years ago, it kind of keeps the culture going,” Gonzalez said.

Both Gonzalez and Collins first came to Georgia with players who later elected to transfer, like Parks Harber, who transferred to North Carolina. Yet, the two stuck it out together and were credited as key players that helped integrate a lot of the transfers into the team.

The newly-hired head coach Wes Johnson, at the start of the season, also noted the value of Gonzalez’s experience and leadership.

“Fernando, I mean that guy’s back there constantly talking to our guys, helping our guys,” Johnson said. “He’s like another coach that we have on the field and in the dugout, and in the locker room.”

Johnson said that Gonzalez has continued to be an anchor behind the plate, no better showcased than his .986 fielding percentage and not allowing a single passed ball, but Gonzalez has also been impressive as a hitter.

Gonzalez, who’s hit high as third in the lineup this season, is currently averaging .314 at the plate, has already passed his career high in runs batted in at 23 and is one away from his career high in home runs. He also hit a grand slam against Northern Colorado and tied his career high with six three-hit games. However, his greatest strength is as a teammate.

“It’s everything,” Collins said on his relationship with Gonzalez. “We have a hug before every game and it’s just that reminder that we came up together, we’ve been doing this together.”

Read more articles in Spanish at www.redandblack.com/en-espanol

Georgia assistant coach Josh Simpson and Fernando Gonzalez talk during a baseball game against Northern Colorado at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, on Sunday, March 10. PHOTO/MADY MERTENS

El entrenador asistente de Georgia, Josh Simpson, y Fernando González hablan durante un juego de béisbol contra Northern Colorado en Foley Field en Athens, Georgia, el domingo 10 de marzo.

From Grenada to Athens Thrower Kelsie Murrell-Ross’ journey to UGA

Samuel Higgs

Standing at a staggering 6-foot-8, Kelsie Murrell-Ross always knew her height set her apart.

The Georgia junior is not only at the forefront of the SEC, but is chasing her dream of competing in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Murrell-Ross grew up in St. David’s, Grenada, a country in the Caribbean where she started competing in shot-put at J.W. Fletcher Catholic Secondary School. She was initally drawn to track and field because it provided her an opportunity to shine individually.

“I felt more positive, it was like a one-man sport. If you fail, you fail for yourself, [there’s] nobody to blame,” Murrell-Ross said. “Most sports don’t have that, [in] most sports it’s a team effort. I love my teammates, but when you’re doing track and field you’re alone, you’re the one competing, you’re the one making your mark.”

It was in Murrell-Ross’ high school days when Georgia associate head coach and throwers coach Don Babbitt first heard of her. After looking into her more, he realized that her high school throwing coach was Phillip Paul — an athlete he mentored.

After a discussion with Paul, the two agreed that if she wanted to make her way to the United States she would need to start at the junior college level to refine her throwing technique. Babbitt, again using the connections from his nearly 40 years as a coach, got her to Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kansas. This move, however, presented Murrell-Ross with many challenges.

“It was a different culture, it was a different base of how things were organized,” Murrell-Ross said. “Then just life in general, I never lived on my own, I was trying to under-

Returning home

Former Georgia golfer Mookie DeMoss returns as assistant coach

Cooper Burke

Georgia golf has long been a brotherhood, with alumni consistently coming back to practice or give wisdom to the players.

That brotherhood led assistant coach Jim Douglas to stay with the team out of college, and former Georgia golf standout Mookie DeMoss is the latest example after rejoining the program in January as an assistant.

DeMoss graduated from the University of Georgia in 2015 after captaining the team in his senior season and leading Georgia to its most recent “Final Fore” appearance at the NCAA Tournament. DeMoss was also named an honorable mention All-American.

He went pro shortly after graduating and played on the Canadian Tour and PGA Tour Latino América, made the cut 10 times in 14 events and played on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour.

DeMoss is regarded by team members, like junior Buck Brumlow, as “one of the best chippers and putters [they’ve] ever seen.” Brumlow noted the chemistry DeMoss brings to the group as a relatively recent graduate.

“He’s one of the boys,” Brumlow said. “He’s cool as hell — I don’t know if I should say that in an interview — but the team chemistry has been great.”

DeMoss has been there and done that in the golf world, and has tried to pass on lessons from the people he’s worked with. Learning from the best is a self-described blessing for DeMoss, who trained under prestigious golf instructors Claude Harmon, Jeff Smith and Corey Lundberg.

“I’ve been super blessed and fortunate to work with a lot of really great golf coaches and pick the brains of some of the smartest people in the industry,” DeMoss said. “Even some people that have been friends and shared information with me that I may not have worked with long term [have helped me].”

After spending eight years playing professionally, DeMoss passes along every lesson he can to the team. He noted that his goal is to make an impact in the mental side of the game as far as strategy and planning, as well as help the team learn lessons early on in their playing careers that DeMoss once had to learn himself.

“There are some things that I’ve learned from being up close and personal with them at PGA Tour events and see-

It was a different culture. ... I was trying to understand perfect English while trying to keep my identity as a Caribbean person.

KELSIE MURRELL-ROSS | UGA TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE

stand perfect English while trying to keep my identity as a Caribbean person.”

Even with constant adjustments to her new life, MurellRoss still dominated the competition. In her two years at Barton, she took home two consecutive NJCAA Division 1 outdoor titles in shot put, while also being named a NJCAA First Team Outdoor All-American in 2022.

Although she dominated at the JuCo level, Murell-Ross ultimately transferred to Georgia — a place she and Babbitt knew she would end up.

“I always loved Georgia, this was my school that I wanted to go to,” Murrell-Ross said. “My coach back in my hometown was taught by my present coach at the University of Georgia. My coach at the collegiate level was also taught by my coach at the University of Georgia. So it’s like a family, tight-knit. I always wanted to come to Georgia and I knew people that came to Georgia, and they loved it.”

Murrell-Ross was one of the team’s highest finishers in

shot-put this past indoor season, and took home a fourthplace finish at the SEC indoor championship. But, so far her career with the Bulldogs, she’s noticed a drastic increase in talent in the SEC.

“I’ll be honest, I went from winning every single match, every single competition that I went in … with confidence,” Murrell-Ross said. “When I came here, I automatically was like, ‘No, you’re not the top dog anymore, you’re in the back of the line, you need to find your way up here.’”

The Georgia indoor season has since ended, but MurellRoss is already back at work, as the outdoor season kicked off on March 14.

Babbitt mentioned Murell-Ross has already gotten a taste of the SEC competition, but believes the outdoor season is the part of the year where she is set to thrive.

“Outdoors is going to be different because the weather’s going to be warmer — That’s good,” Babbitt said. “Kelsie obviously comes from near the equator. So it’s like 85 every day just about so that part is good, that’s more like home.”

However, even though her first season with the Bulldogs is still ongoing, Murell-Ross has her eyes on a bigger stage: the Olympics.

Murrell-Ross still has time before the Olympic trials begin, but expects to improve throughout the remainder of the season. However, in the distant future, there is a chance she will compete on the biggest stage, not only representing the Bulldogs, but her home country of Grenada as well.

“I would be so happy to. I would cry. That’s one of the biggest moments that any athlete could ever wish for in their life,” Murrell-Ross said. “That’s just a goal, to improve but also to make it to the Olympic team to make not only your country happy, and on the map, but also your parents.”

ing what the best players in the world do,” DeMoss said. “I’ve learned a lot the hard way from playing and from trying different things. Some of it is some life lessons that either I’ve learned the hard way or that I’ve learned from being able to see what these guys do up close and personal and help these guys implement that at an earlier age.”

Despite joining the team midway through the year, DeMoss hit the ground running. He knew he had to do everything he could to get to know the team and integrate himself into one of the country’s top outfits.

“I’ve honestly been blown away with this group of guys with just how welcoming they’ve been to me,” DeMoss said. “I wasn’t sure how that would be coming in the middle of the season, middle of the year, as a third coach and how that was going to be received.”

DeMoss’ addition has made the team even stronger, both literally and figuratively. He has made it a habit to work out with the team at 6 a.m. every morning, and the group appreciates his commitment in the weight room.

“Oh, it’s been money,” Brumlow said. “Him and Benny [Ben van Wyk] can do some pull-ups — they’re champions. Mookie is a strong dude, and he cares about his body, is a nutrition freak, and that’s where he’s helped me a lot.”

Rarely does a coach jump in so quickly and become such an asset to a team through sheer effort and communication. DeMoss said he’s made an effort to establish himself as more than just an assistant coach. He wants to become a leader that the team can lean on for support and encouragement.

The addition of DeMoss makes Georgia that much stronger, as he fits right into one of the tightest locker rooms in golf. He just might be the right piece for the team to make a deep postseason run.

“My goal is pretty simple,” DeMoss said. “It’s really focused on the guys and it’s to build relationships with them and pour into them. I want to help them the most that I’m capable of helping them, whether that’s helping them maximize their potential as golfers or helping them with life off the golf course.”

Thrower Kelsie Murell-Ross prepares to throw a shot put during the 2024 SEC Indoor Track

ATHLETICS

Georgia’s Mookie DeMoss prepares to putt as a player in 2015 (left). DeMoss, who was recently hired as an assistant coach, walks to the next hole at the Linger Longer Tournament in 2024 (right). COURTESY/UGA ATHLETICS

meets

More than the eye seeks to expand public presence

Georgia Museum of Natural History

Clean Eatz serves healthy habits

Menu seeks to blend nutritious and delicious

Located

ART

Staring at the Face of the Sun

Kei Ito explores tragedy and history at GMOA

“Kei Ito: Staring at the Face of the Sun’’ at the Georgia Museum of Art shows Kei Ito’s collection of photography.

The exhibition, curated by Jeffrey Richmond-Moll and on display until July 14, uses various photographic mediums and is a journey through Ito’s career as he explores the intergenerational trauma caused by the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of World War II.

At the beginning of the exhibit is the captivating piece “Sungazing Scroll, ” which highlights the first 20 feet of a 118-foot-long photogram. The scroll of photographic paper was exposed to sunlight 108 times for the duration of one of Ito’s breaths.

The piece bears significance to Ito’s grandfather and his memories of Hiroshima being lit up by “a hundred suns” on the day of the bombing. His story immediately drew me to the exhibit.

ENTERTAINMENT

Farmers market in full bloom

Market welcomes spring at Creature Comforts

With the bloom of spring no longer just a promise in the air, the Athens Farmers Market has returned to Creature Comforts’ courtyard. With about 14 booths offering fresh goods, crisp produce and sweet-smelling flowers, I found this market to be a delight.

On Wednesdays from 5-8 p.m, the market fills with charming couples and content families dotting the booths and picnic benches. Whether you are hunting for organic veggies or a space to unwind after work, this market offers several gems.

When I spoke to the vendors, their passion for each of their crafts inspired me. You could find people selling fresh mushrooms, readyto-bake pizza and indigenous beadwork.

DRINK

Spilling the tea on MEplusTEA

Hand-blended teas steeped in care and wellness

bacon could have been crunchier, which would have elevated the texture of the inside of the wrap.

As an avid sweet potato lover, the fries were disappointing. Despite a good color on the outside, they lacked a desired crispiness and were soggy with grease.

Overall, the meal was filling. Although I am not rushing back to order from the cafe, I am intrigued by the convenience of graband-go meals and how they can alleviate the struggles of cooking.

— Kendall Kelly

The walls of the next exhibition room were covered in hundreds of photos of the eyes of Japanese atomic bomb survivors and atomic “downwinders” — people in the U.S. affected by radiation in areas surrounding bomb testing sites.

A video made from reprocessed film from nuclear tests performed by the U.S. government followed. I was lured into the dark room by eerie humming from the speakers, and watched as the video showed the destruction that followed the bombs.

Overall, the variety of mediums used across the exhibit complement each other well. Each piece tells a different part of the intergenerational story in a heartbreakingly beautiful way.

—Ashtin Barker

I spoke with a young woman who maintains both a day job and a small business called Honeybee Baking, selling a variety of Latin and European baked goods. The ethos of her work was obvious to me when her mother, who was lending a hand to her customers, gleefully boasted to me that her daughter bakes all the goods by herself. Her work, surrounded by love, brought light to my day. It is not just pastries she sells, but a handmade experience.

However, while the market was full of products made with love, I did wish for more hot meal options in addition to products meant to take home.

The Athens Farmers Market is held on Wednesdays from March to November at Creature Comforts, located at 271 W. Hancock Ave. It promises to become your weekly tradition.

— Paola Magallanes

MEplusTEA is a hand-blended tea company centered around herbal wellness and community. Every ingredient is either grown by founder Precious Jones, locally sourced or purchased from organic sources. I purchased three tea blends: “Mushroom Chai,” “Creamy Earl” and the “Spiritualitea.” The “Mushroom Chai” is a rooibos tea base with ginger, cinnamon, coconut, cardamom, clove, chaga, Lion’s mane and reishi mushroom. With my first sip I was hit with the warm, woody taste of cinnamon. After a few sips, the clove and cardamom notes appeared, giving the drink a more traditional chai taste. The blend was mild, which I enjoyed because the flavor pairings weren’t too overwhelming. These flavors reminded me of the fall.

“Creamy Earl” is a black tea base with orange peel, blue cornflower, vanilla bean and bergamot. This beverage has the warmth of sweet vanilla bean with a punch of citrus. It did not need any sugar or milk to cut the bitterness of the black tea because of the sweetness of the vanilla.

The “Spiritualitea” is a spearmint base with chamomile, rose petals, blue lotus and mugwort. After sipping on the tea for a few minutes, I started to taste a whisper of sweet chamomile which blended nicely with the spearmint. My mouth was left with a fresh feeling.

I enjoyed the distinctive, thoughtful and unique flavors of each tea. You can truly taste the care that Jones puts into her products.

— Rachel Sandstrom

MAY GRADS! Committed to a full-time job, graduate program or internship after graduation? Complete the Career Outcomes Survey. You may win a prize!

‘A gem on campus’

The campaign for improving

Lilly Kersh

A pink fairy armadillo. The 200-pound jaw bone of a humpback whale. An ancient giant sloth. The DNA of a bat species thought to be extinct. One of the most extensive coral collections in the world.

These specimens, and millions more, are part of the University of Georgia’s Museum of Natural History, the state’s official natural history museum. But most students have never heard of the warehouse off Atlanta Highway that hosts just some of the museum’s biological collections, hidden in drawers and tucked away in boxes.

The museum’s space on campus, known as the exhibit gallery on the corner of East Campus Road and Cedar Street, is marked by a whale and shark sculpture attached to the Computing Services Building. But the museum is much more than meets the eye, hosting collections of national and international scientific significance, scattered on and off campus.

The museum’s friends, staff and students say it’s time the museum gets the recognition and space it deserves, and efforts are underway for a new building that is big enough to display all the museum’s collections.

James Porter is the president of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History and taught ecology at UGA for more than 40 years.

“We are huge. We have millions of specimens, but they are all squirreled away in drawers and shelves and jars that the public can’t see,” Porter said.

Georgia’s largest collections

The museum is made up of 11 major collections that hold about 7.2 million objects and specimens, but no one knows the exact number of specimens across all collections.

“It’s a good estimate. It’s probably an old estimate… it’s quite a bit more [now],” Bud Freeman, the museum’s current director, said of the 7.2 million figure.

The collections include insects, archaeological artifacts, plant samples, geology collections, reptile and amphibian specimens, fish, invertebrates, mammals, fungi, birds, skeletons and more.

Specimens come from private donations, biologists’ field work, government seizures of illegal specimens and reported animal deaths. Some specimens are thousands of years old or came to the museum decades ago. The museum’s first collections date back to the early 1800s.

Nicole Pontzer, a collection manager at the museum, recalls receiving an illegally transported tiger hide from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The hide was seized and then donated to the museum.

The scope of the museum’s collection is hard to define. Each collection is the largest of its kind in Georgia, according to the museum’s website, and some are the largest collections in the Southeast.

Freeman believes the museum is among the top ten largest academically associated museums in the country.

Tim White, a former director at Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, assessed UGA’s collections in 2019. White found the marine mammal collection to be among the largest in the world. He considered the herbarium to be one of the largest and most unique botany collections in the Southeast. Freeman also noted that the museum holds the world’s largest collection of minke whales.

There’s no one location to see the museum’s vast collections. Some specimens are on campus, such as in the Miller Plant Sciences Building, Laboratory of Archaeology and other academic buildings. Other collections are at the curatorial annex, a building off of Atlanta Highway by Sam’s Club.

But many know the museum as a small building on campus marked by whale and shark sculptures. The building holds a small exhibition room and is shared with offices for information technology. On campus maps, the building is named only as “Computing Services,” not as the museum. The building has only two visitor parking spaces, which Pontzer said are often taken by construction vehicles.

“It’s that hole in the wall over near the railroad tracks. But if you go inside, you’ll just get a small taste [of the collection],” Karl Scott, a retired school teacher, said.

Scott has been connected to the museum since his childhood and now serves on the board of the Friends group. He remembers helping his dad, namesake to the D.C. Scott

Georgia’s natural history museum

Ichthyology Collection, collect fish specimens for the museum. Scott still recognizes his dad’s handwriting on jar labels in the collection.

The building’s exhibit space is open for free self-guided visits on weekdays. Although the exhibit room is just the tip of the iceberg of the museum, sometimes it’s all people know.

“It is so fascinating, the amount of importance that [the museum] has and that no one knows. It is a gem on campus,” Christa May, a sophomore at UGA and museum intern, said. “There’s so much that they have just stored waiting to be discovered in the back.”

Don’t judge a book by its cover

While many see the museum as a “hidden gem” on campus, Freeman disputes this characterization. He cites the museum’s active and important presence in scientific research, education and outreach.

“I always try to teach every group, don’t judge a book by its cover,” Pontzer said. “We do offer this gallery space, and we rotate our collection throughout it. But our real work is in research.”

Specimens can be loaned out like library books on campus and beyond, to be used in classes or for scientific study. Pontzer said the range of research associated with the museum is vast.

For instance, a researcher from North Carolina came to Athens to use the collection to help define and classify a species of fish. An art student studied skeletal materials in the collections for jewelry and metal work. A marine biologist from Wellesley College used the museum’s whale collection to study their weaning patterns. Pontzer said the biologist got more data from UGA’s collection than from any other museum she visited.

Loan requests come to curators at the museum on a weekly basis, Pontzer said. But in addition to the emphasis on research, the museum also includes outreach and education in its mission.

Pontzer estimates that the museum has one of the largest intern programs on campus, accepting 10 students every spring, summer and fall.

Local K-12 schools also use the museum’s collections and resources. Teachers can check out boxes of educational materials from the museum to use in class.

“It’s way more involved in the community than people realize, because on campus, it has a soft presence,” May said. “But I think in elementary schools and middle schools it has a bigger presence.”

The museum also stays busy with tours, usually hosting at least one a week. Last semester, Pontzer said they gave 24 official guided tours and over 200 people came to the museum on tours. This semester, she has already scheduled 28, with plans for more. Those numbers don’t include the self-guided and assisted tours that the museum hosts. Groups and community members can visit the small exhibit gallery on campus, or they can request to visit collections at specific departments on campus or see the annex off of Atlanta Highway. The annex, however, is a research facility and has no exhibits on display.

“Every single day, something’s happening across the collections,” Pontzer said.

The campaign for a new home Faculty, staff and Friends group members believe the museum’s collection deserves more when it comes to staffing and the museum’s physical space. Around 2006, the museum went through changes and lost its education and outreach positions, according to

Pontzer. Programs for local schools were also eliminated. “We’ve had a lot of attrition of staff over the years based on the direct result of funding cuts,” Freeman said. Pontzer, who has worked at the museum since 2012, essentially juggles four positions now as collection manager for four of the museum’s 11 collections. Most museums would have a curator and collection manager for each collection, Pontzer said. She also helps fulfill loans, works with visiting scientists and leads scheduled tours.

“We’ve been kind of just trying to fill the holes with the staff that we have,” Pontzer said. “We’re a skeleton crew.”

In 2018, UGA President Jere W. Morehead called for a review of the museum after finding its facilities inadequate. The review found that the museum was “understaffed, underrecognized and underfunded,” Freeman said.

Freeman said a working group was formed to conduct the review and made several recommendations for the museum’s future, including a new building near downtown Athens, new investments for research, fundraising efforts and an increased staff.

In December 2023, Provost S. Jack Hu outlined a plan forward to a museum steering committee. The committee plans to first stabilize the collection in phase one, then assess the museum’s current space and consider the options to expand its public presence. As of December 2023, phase one was planned to be completed by the end of June.

“We are jumpstarting this effort to re-envision the museum of natural history, [which] was interrupted by COVID,” Freeman said.

Friends, staff and students at the museum say a new building would help manage the collection, expand youth outreach efforts, create a tourist attraction for the city of Athens and establish a more defined presence on campus and in Georgia.

We have millions of specimens, but they are all squirreled away in drawers and shelves and jars that the public can’t see.

JAMES PORTER | PRESIDENT OF THE FRIENDS OF

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF

In March, the university appointed Victor Thompson, the director of the Laboratory of Archaeology and a distinguished UGA research professor of anthropology, as the museum’s next executive director. Thompson will begin in August.

“A critical need of the museum is space. Space not only for researchers but for student engagement to where students can be immersed,” Thompson said. “I’m dedicated to seeing that vision come to fruition.”

Funding for the museum currently comes from university funds, individual grants and public outreach fundraising, according to Porter. But for a new building, many affiliated with the museum are hoping for a large private donor or donors to make the dream a reality.

“We already have the most difficult thing to get. We have the collections. The building is easy to get, comparatively,” Porter said.

What poses a larger challenge, according to Porter, is obtaining the endowment funds to support research, teaching and outreach through salaried museum staff.

In addition to talking to university administration, the Friends group is planning events on campus, creating pop-up displays in university buildings and working with younger students in Athens-Clarke County to increase the museum’s reach.

May and other students are working to revive the Georgia Museum of Natural History Student Association, a campus group that works to promote the museum and connect students to curators. In addition, Pontzer is hoping to start annual reports that summarize the museum’s impacts.

The need to preserve natural history seems more evident than ever for friends, staff and students of the museum.

“I know a lot of people don’t connect environmentalism with a museum that keeps dead research specimens,” May said. “We can track history. … We can track how things are changing [and] how climate change is affecting our animals.”

For Scott, the educational value of the museum is essential to its community and environmental impact.

“Habitat loss, loss of species diversity, and all these issues, they hinge on public awareness, which starts at museums,” Scott said.

Eating honest with Rebecca Lang

Athens food writer shares Southern nutrition advice with cookbooks

Claire Mulkey

Athens-based cookbook author and television personality Rebecca Lang has built her brand around Southern cuisine and emphasizing the importance of “eating honest.”

Instead of relying on processed foods, Lang takes her grandparents’ advice and buys locally produced, in-season goods.

Although Lang has always loved to cook, it was not until she attended a cooking class during college that she realized her love for food was a passion she wanted to explore. Lang was a journalism student at the University of Georgia. However, she could not find the food writing opportunities she was looking for. So, she made her own way.

“I started down the path to figure out, well, I know that I love food and I know that I like to write. How can I make those two things meld?” Lang said. “It really was then that there wasn’t a clear path in the Grady [College of Journalism & Mass Communication] and there wasn’t a clear path even over in Family and Consumer Sciences back then, that I kind of had to maneuver around to figure out my own path.”

When Lang was a junior at UGA, she decided to coldcall Nathalie Dupree, a renowned Southern chef, author and television show host. Dupree was a household name,

known for her likable personality and ease on screen. Lang recalled that her grandmother watched Dupree on television religiously.

“It’s almost like I felt like I knew her,” Lang said.

Lang called Dupree on a whim, looking for advice on how to combine her two interests into a career.

“I feel like anytime that you don’t understand how to get somewhere, how to do something, how to achieve something, there’s always somebody that is willing to help you and willing to give you the tools that you need. You just have to find who that is,” Lang said.

Dupree and Lang met after their telephone call and soon after, Lang got her start working as one of Dupree’s many apprentices, whom Dupree lovingly refers to as her “little chickens.”

After working with Dupree, Lang forged a career of her own. She has released eight cookbooks, worked as a Southern Living contributing editor and even served as a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped Junior.”

Lang described her cooking style as relaxed, often creating comfort food dishes. However, over the past decade, she has been learning to eat and cook healthier dishes. When developing recipes — which she said is her favorite part of the cookbook writing process — Lang endeavors to choose vegetables that are grown within 10 miles of Athens.

Jarrett Kemp, owner of Appointments at Five, carries copies of Lang’s books.

“It’s all about entertaining with some Southern hospitality,” Kemp said. “So we love to have this to direct customers on how to set their table, and we love that she is an Athens native.”

When it comes to nutrition in Southern food, Lang thinks that people should go back to the basics and consider the way that their grandparents ate — locally.

“Our grandparents had it right to where they ate what was in-season and they ate what was close by because they had to,” Lang said. “Now that’s more of a luxury to be able to eat clean, fresh food that is nearby. It’s a lot cheaper to buy food that is processed and that came on a truck from far, far away.”

Lang recognizes that buying locally is often an expensive luxury for Southerners, even though the region is a hub of agriculture. She chalks this up to the “broken” system of food deserts in the South.

“I think it’s more important to eat what’s close to your home. It doesn’t matter if it’s organic or not,” Lang said. “To me, it’s more important that it’s close by and it hasn’t traveled a long distance in order to get there.”

Lang’s newest cookbook, “Pimento Cheese: Caviar of the South,” will be released in the fall of 2025.

Mikhayla Robinson Smith named Poet Laureate Teacher, UGA alum leads Athens in poetry month

Mattea Brown

Poetry has always been a big part of Mikhalya Robinson Smith’s life. She wrote her first poem in kindergarten after the death of her sister, but she said that she didn’t really take poetry seriously until college.

“I had always written poetry as a means for survival and creativity and I always pursue poetry,” Smith said. “But I never knew it would take me this far.”

Smith is the city’s second poet laureate and is seeking to connect Athenians of all ages to poetry during April, National Poetry Month.

Smith graduated from the University of Georgia with an English degree in 2020 and took many courses about Black culture. Smith now works as a first grade teacher at Whit Davis Elementary where she recently organized a program during Black History Month. The program showcased her own poetry as well as several elementary school students’ original pieces.

The Athens community, both young and old, gathered at the Flight of Fireflies event on March 16 at Dudley Park, where Smith read “When We Hold the Sky” in her first public performance as laureate.

She said that she hopes to make poetry more accessible to kids. She is currently working on a children’s book called “Breathe, Baby, Breathe.” Smith describes the book as a “breathing book for Black children and Black babies.”

“I would say one of my main messages [in my poetry] is that there’s hope,” Smith said. “Two things can be true. Things can be terrible. Things can be hard. Things can be chaotic. Things can be systemically pressed against you, but there’s still hope.”

The poem Smith read at the Firefly Festival is the beginning of another forthcoming children’s book. Tatiana Veneruso, Athens Clarke-County Public Arts Coordinator, hosted the Lantern Parade and said that Smith’s reading successfully connected with the crowd, despite age gaps in the audience.

“It was absolutely beautiful and really appropriate for the occasion. It was very uplifting and hopeful about the community. The Lantern Parade is really about having a unique shared experience,” Veneruso said. “We wanted something that was accessible for all ages.”

Poetry took on a new importance in Smith’s life when she was chosen by a committee to serve as the Poet Laureate of Athens in March.

The Poet Laureate of Athens is an ambassador for the literary arts that serves a two-year term. Since April is National Poetry Month, Smith was asked to open the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission meeting with a poem on April 2 and read poetry at other organized events.

Smith is the second Poet Laureate of Athens following UGA Franklin College instructor Jeff Fallis. She is the first woman and the first woman of color to hold the position.

“[Smith] wants to do a lot more youth programming

with her term for younger children and [write] more poetry that is accessible for them that makes sense to them,” Veneruso said. “But having a youth poet laureate program

I had always written poetry as a means for survival and creativity. ... But I never knew it would take me this far.

MIKHAYLA ROBINSON SMITH | POET LAUREATE OF ATHENS

spring out of this program, I could see that potentially happening.”

The Athens Clarke-County Arts Division also introduced Dial-A-Poem during the previous poet laureate’s term, where Athenians can call 764-400-POEM and listen to a selected poem.

As Smith recited “When We Hold the Sky” at Dudley Park, she spoke about how limitless and capable each person is. She called on the audience to envision their boundlessness.

“When we hold the sky, we become something mighty, beautiful, something amazing, something bold, someone daring to be what others may not be,” she said. “Could you imagine that? You without fear. You without borders. You with faith. You with confidence. You, a blessing imagined before you were born.”

Mikhayla Robinson Smith, the Poet Laureate of Athens, poses for a portrait in Augusta, Georgia. COURTESY/JARRELL “NIKOLA” STEVENS

ARIES: MARCH 21-APRIL 19

With the arrival of spring, you will find a new energy and strength to persevere. You will be organized and efficient this month, proving to be a helpful asset in your work. With everything you do, don’t forget to nourish yourself and rest.

LEO: JULY 23-AUG. 22

This month will be full of change and independence. Whether it’s a shift in behavior, your lifestyle or those around you, you will welcome the change. If things are moving too fast, take a pause. Don’t get overwhelmed; these are all good things.

SAGITTARIUS: NOV. 22-DEC. 21

This month will be a great time to reach out to friends and family. Take the time to reestablish your relationships and spread the love. If there are any relationships you aren’t sure about, this is the time to decide if you want them to stay in your life.

1. Spring Plant Sale

HOROSCOPES

TAURUS: APRIL 20-MAY 20

Your relationships will be at the forefront of your mind this month. You will be more spontaneous, so take advantage of every opportunity. Don’t forget to contemplate and reflect on yourself, it’ll help you in the long run.

VIRGO: AUG. 23-SEPT. 22

You will feel lonely this month. Surround yourself with your loved ones, but don’t cling onto them. If you do, their absence will be felt stronger. Enjoy your present moments and don’t get carried away with what might be.

CAPRICORN: DEC. 22-JAN. 19

You will have a strong motivation to work this month. All your energy will be pushed toward your work, and you will start to think about your future plans. Don’t overwork yourself, the fatigue will hit you all at once, which will slow you down.

2. International Street Festival

GEMINI: MAY 21-JUNE 21

Your emotions will be high this month. You might have some mood swings and your need to be right will be strong. However, don’t let this get to you, or you might say something you regret. Take breaks, journal about your feelings and go easy on yourself.

LIBRA: SEPT. 23-OCT. 22

Communication will be your strong suit this month. You will gather your courage and stand out from your peers. You’ll start to look for new opportunities, most of which will be helpful for your future. Don’t boast about your good fortune; stay humble.

AQUARIUS: JAN. 20-FEB. 18

Determination and a go-getter attitude will push you through the month. Your self-esteem will grow and you will become the center of attention. It will make you feel good, but don’t let it get to your head.

3. Georgia Rodeo

CANCER: JUNE 22-JULY 22

Your behavior will be impulsive this month so try and focus on yourself and think things through before you speak. This will improve your communication skills and your empathy. Spend some time with yourself and avoid large crowds so you aren’t overwhelmed.

SCORPIO: OCT. 23-NOV. 21

Your emotions will be unstable and you will have an excess of energy this month. You might feel thrown off your balance. Learn how to work with your emotions or you risk pushing those around you away.

PISCES: FEB. 19-MARCH 20

You will feel a desire for knowledge and studying this month, and your memory will be especially sharp. All the things you learn will help you in the future, whether that be in your daily life or in your long-term career.

—Avni Trivedi

4. Athens Beer Fest

5. Athens Twi-

WHAT:

enjoying live music throughout the event.

WHERE: Downtown Athens

WHEN: Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27

PRICE: Free

—Jesse Wood

GRAPHIC/BLAKE