Taking A Day Off

This is going to be a dispatch of a different sort -- instead of doing my usual Thursday writing, I decided to go figuratively and literally touch grass. It certainly wasn’t for lack of things to write about; the CDC decided it’s mask off time for anyone who is fully vaccinated, Nikole Hannah-Jones is at the center of a brewing controversy over viewpoint diversity at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Israeli - Palestinian conflict turned hot again after years of relative quiet. 

Instead of writing about any of that, I spent the day at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. I’ll include some pictures I took below; the grounds are absolutely stunning and located smack in the center of midtown Atlanta, which is the last place you’d think such a place would exist. If you’re ever in the city on a day with good weather, I highly recommend making time to visit it.

As I’m sure most of you know by now, I’m going through some changes in my personal life which you can catch up on and follow here. Don’t worry -- I’m good, Pete is good, and we’re in a really healthy place mentally and emotionally. 

Due to my impending divorce, I’ve been thinking a lot about mental health lately. It seems appropriate, as May is Mental Health Awareness Month and all. I’ve also been thinking a lot about how the current ways in which we create and consume content aren’t the most mentally healthy and how perhaps a different approach would be better (yet less profitable, but that’s another discussion for another day). 

I think a healthy and constructive thing we can all do is to, from time to time, close our laptops, log off Twitter and go outside. So that’s what I did. I hope you enjoy these pictures, and if you do please let me know! I’ll be in NYC for Memorial Day weekend (which means next week’s content will not be on my normal schedule but I do plan to write for both of my Substacks while there) and I love doing city photography even more than botanical garden photography. If you like this I’ll gladly make an NYC post in the same vein. 

Now let’s all breathe and look at some pictures of pretty plants