Georgia Archives - RISE NEWS

There Is Going To Be A Mac and Cheese Festival In Atlanta. This Is Not A Drill

By Rich Robinson

Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you throw them away and get in line for the damn Mac and Cheese festival!

Coming in October of 2016 is the first annual Atlanta Mac and Cheese Festival.

Yep.

It really is happening.

We’re just as shocked and excited as you.

“The Edgewood Neighborhood is organizing the inaugural Mac & Cheese Festival at Walker Park, scheduled for October 8th, 2016,” reads a message on the official Facebook event page for the festival. “This will be an annual tradition to raise money for Neighbor in Need, a Non-Profit that keeps longtime residents in the Edgewood Neighborhood.”

Over 31,000 people are “interested” in attending the event according to the Facebook event page, with already 6,000 people planning on “going” to it.

They are going to need a whole lot of mac and cheese.

The event will be happening at Walker Park (200 Memorial Terrace SE, Atlanta, GA 30316) on October 6.

Restaurants, food trucks, caterers and private chiefs are invited to get involved. If you are interested in having your mac and cheese featured then email: [email protected].

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Atlanta Mac and Cheese Festival/ Facebook

Someone Chalked “Vote Trump” All Over Emory University And It Might Have Been Racially Driven

By Rich Robinson

Students at Emory University in Atlanta woke up to their campus defaced with pro Donald Trump chalkings and graffiti.

According to multiple students, the chalkings were reported all over the campus and are suspected by some to be racially motivated.

According to Emory student Zoe Lampru, some of the chalkings were found on each step leading up to the office of the newly created Centro Latino, which according to its website seeks to “provide inclusion for the Emory community and support the intellectual, personal, leadership and social development of the Latin@/Hispanic community at Emory.”

Showing how widespread the chalkings were on the campus of the small private university, the Tab reports that the graffiti was located on every title surrounding Asbury Circle, another gathering place.

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination has come to the political fore in part by inflaming racial divisions in the country and by attacking Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, disabled Americans and women among other groups.

Photo Credit: The Tab

Emory is not new to controversy on matters involving race.

The university’s President James Wagner is still not trusted by many minority students according to Lampru because of the 2013 research paper he authored that included a section lauding the Three-Fifths Compromise in the Constitution that relegated slaves to sub-human status for matter of census counting.

Wagner thought the Compromise was a good example of how to work towards incremental change.

A screenshot of an Instagram video showing the amount of pro Trump chalkings on the stairs leading up to the Centro Latino office on the Emory Campus. Photo Credit: Jonathan Peraza/ Screengrab

LatinAction, a grassroots student activist organization at Emory issued a statement condemning the university for allowing the chalkings to happen.

“Throughout campus, Black and Brown students, and other affected student populations, have spoken out in outrage and distress,” the statement reads in part. “We NEVER get to have a break. We NEVER get an escape from the daily violence and marginalization that we consistently experience on campus.

“And now we are being attacked by the very real danger we feel of a Nazi reincarnate potentially rising to power in this country,” the statement continues. “We are outraged and distressed with this rhetoric and these attacks on minority students at Emory. Therefore, we at LatinAction stand in solidarity with the NAACP and the Black, Latinx, Muslim, Jewish, and disabled communities who are affected and face consequences with Trump as a presidential candidate.”

Kainath Merchant is a Emory student who came upon the chalkings this morning on her way to class.

Photo Credit: The Tab

“At first I didn’t pay much attention to it because students frequently write messages on the ground in chalk to advertise events or organizations, but when I paid closer attention, there were messages that said “TRUMP” or “TRUMP 2016” or “TRUMP FOR PREZ” every five feet,” Merchant said in an interview with RISE NEWS. “They were on benches, sidewalks, and even on every single step going up the the Dobbs University Center. I was so furious I felt myself trembling.”

Lampru said that she was disappointed that the university didn’t respond to the chalkings and believes that it “has selective ways to react” when dealing with racial issues on campus.

“We are angry and determined to bring to light the violence that we experience,” the statement from LatinAction reads. “We are demanding that Emory University speak out and act on this attack on students and the vandalization of our university. We will not be silent. We are here and we deserve to feel safe in this institution of learning that claims to uphold the values of diversity and inclusion. Emory, your call. #EmoryYourInnerRacistIsShowing #StuckIn1836 #EmoryAgainstTrump #EmoryAgainstRacism”

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RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us!

Cover Photo Credit: The Tab

Beyond Viral: The Actually Touching Story Behind The Drunk Guy In The Barney Costume

By Rich Robinson

Brandon Priest is an unassuming 23 year old. From Brunswick, GA, Priest works at a Ebay call center and is still a kid at heart who still loves to watch cartoons and does some cartoon animation as a hobby.

He’s in a local band named Midwayer too. And oh yeah, he also has a 4 year old daughter who takes up the rest of his time.

Trust me, this is important background info.

You see, Priest is a bit of a celebrity now- well at least an online celebrity. A photo of him has been circulating around the Internet close to light speed with thousands of shares on Facebook and other social media sites.

The only problem? Priest is in a Barney the Dinosaur costume and you have no that its him in there and you certainly don’t know the great life lesson that he learned by being goofy.

It just really went to show me how much you actually miss out on when you say no to opportunity and I think it was an amazing life lesson for myself.

Here’s our strangely poignant interview with Brandon Priest, the dude who dressed up as Barney and played pool at a Georgia bar.

Rise News: What is the story behind the viral photos?

Brandon Priest (Barney): Friday I had watched the Jim Carrey movie, Yes Man – the movie where he has to say yes to anything, and lately I hadn’t been getting out of the house at all. I had been just staying inside playing video games and turning down offers from hanging out with friends and the movie really reminded me how much I actually say no to things that might have ended up being fun so I basically made a post on facebook saying that I wanted to start saying yes to more crazy things and hanging out with more people that I wouldn’t normally hang out with.

Rise News: Why did you decide to dress up as Barney?

Barney: A friend of mine Mercedes actually immediately hit me up and said she had found a Barney outfit in her attic from her kids birthday party a couple years ago and asked if I would be down with wearing it around town and I just went for it haha.

I really enjoyed it. I spent the first part of the day just hugging kids and taking hundreds of pictures, riding around on the tour bike on St Simons island. I think I made a lot of people happy by just dressing up in a silly costume and that was awesome.

People kept buying me free shots and drinks when I hit up the bars and I ended up getting really drunk and some guys talked me into playing pool. I was so wasted I think I only managed to get one ball in (its also really hard to play pool when you’re in a suit that doesn’t have fingers).

Rise News: Did you post the photo on social media or how did it start to go viral?

Barney: I believe a guy named Kyle took the picture and put it on his reddit.

Rise News: What do you think about how viral it has gotten?

Barney: I had no idea I’d wake up the next morning and the picture would have 5 million views and all the facebook shares. So many sites and stuff have been hitting me up and I personally think its great. It just really went to show me how much you actually miss out on when you say no to opportunity and I think it was an amazing life lesson for myself.

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Photo Credits: Brandon Priest