Macon Magazine

14 maconmagazine.com | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2023 Editor's letter | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2023 What do you think? We want to know what community means to you. Join the conversation @maconmagazine or email us hello@maconmagazine.com. W elcome to our community issue. There is a necessary depth and an intentional diversity. And it all feels right when we see how we are honoring our people, our unsung heroes, and our ancestors. As we seek National Park designation for our Ocmulgee Mounds and do the work to welcome that vital recognition, acknowledging our stories of what we've come from and what can be feels critical. I hear many stories in the interstices of Secretary Haaland's words. She spoke them to Ocmulgee National Park and Preservation Initiative Director of Advocacy Tracie Revis when she first visited Macon and the Ocmulgee Mounds last fall. Read more in Fanning the Flames on page 58. We learn what we can be by honoring our past by learning its lessons, and then coming together to move in the right direction. As Bibb County School District dance instructor Terra Hitchcock puts it on page 42, there is "freedom and power in movement." Whether we are dancing in pointe shoes, polleras, kente, shell shakers, or stilettos in the classroom (read more about our cover story, public school teacher Kimberly Barton, in Heroes Among Us, page 88), when we move intentionally together, freedom and power multiply. When it comes to community, we are the only ones who can heal our hurt. That's why, when Vietnam veterans Roger Jennings and Bob Long saw other veterans hurting in 2018, they created Middle Georgia Honor Flight to heal together through thoughtful trips to monuments in Washington, D.C., and why volunteers flock to help. Moises Velez and Monica Pirela saw that many Central Georgians were missing ways to hear and understand stories that reflected their needs and identity. So, they created platforms to make those voices and stories be heard and seen. When our neighbors facing homelessness needed more healthy food, The Brookdale Resource Center turned a weed-strewn basketball court into a thriving community garden that has now produced over 3,000 pounds of fresh vegetables just this year – and a wholesome and educational experience for those growing them. Knowing our stories is a good place to start. But perhaps the most grounding way to forge connections is to join in gratitude for what we have and what we share – not by glossing over the struggles we face, but by acknowledging them, and still striving to center gratitude for the good while developing and nurturing an inner grace and strength to face the bad, even in times like this moment in global history, when finding gratitude can be so difficult. Another way to connect with this land is simply to walk on it. Take a hike and see what the land tells you (for trail recommendations, see page 69). Send us your photos from the trail to hello@maconmagazine.com. In the spirit of community, let's do this together. It is my job and it is your job to commit to bringing people together no matter how difficult it gets. Together, "They are still here. Your ancestors are still here. And the land will bring back who and what it needs to heal it." - U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland Editor, Susannah C. Maddux @susannahcmaddux

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