Winding Down...

Oh, Atlanta! So hot, so hilly, so full of sweet tea. I don't think a day's gone by where I haven't gotten lost just within the four blocks of the hotel. All the same, this experience has been informative and interesting, and the midday sweet tea pick-me-ups really do trump iced coffee.

I don't often travel south, so being in a place where they still refer to Northerners as Yankees or "yellow" is very interesting. Like others on this blog, it has also brought up thoughts and conversations about the image of movements labeled as "leftist". The hotel leaves a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution every morning, so on Thursday I was eager to see what kind of coverage the local media would give the USSF. I read the following article in the Metro section:

Unions and liberal organizations joined with the left-wing fringe Wednesday on a 1,000-person march through downtown Atlanta to demand everything from universal health care and worker rights to an end to U.S meddling in Venezuela and the Bush presidency.

This and ongoing coverage is very biased, but I guess that's not very surprising. It brings up this image of reformers as crazy Lefty Communists that is a stigma not easily dispelled and is something that has not gotten enough attention to correct... or maybe I didn't make it to the right workshop for this type of discussion! There is/was so much to do in such a short time. I don't feel like time was wasted because the best practice is reflective practice, and I have been doing plenty of that these past few days.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe trip home!