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People
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Apr 1
2010A Timeless Tale Turns 50:
To Kill a Mockingbird
BY TJ BEITELMAN
PHOTO COURTESY MONROE COUNTY HERITAGE MUSEUM, THE AARON WHITE COLLECTION
Fifty years can seem like a very long time. The American South of 1960, the year Harper Lee published her classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, was a profoundly different place from the American South of today.
If you need evidence of that, look no farther than Congressman Artur Davis’ current campaign for governor of Alabama. Polls show that Davis, a Harvard educated black man who was born and raised in Montgomery, is ahead in his party’s primary and in a statistical dead heat with all of the opposing party’s candidates.
Win or lose, the viability of his candidacy alone represents a cultural sea change from the world Lee was writing about half a century ago. Clearly some things have changed in these five long decades.
But the South is also a timeless land of myths and monsters and the chivalrous heroes who set out to slay them. In such a place, 50 years is a blink of an eye and the things that change aren’t nearly as telling as the things that have always been true. And those enduring truths aren’t always so easy to measure. Things like honor and dignity and grace in the midst of hardship can be difficult to quantify. That’s what art is for.
To Kill a Mockingbird is at home in both of those worlds. The novel works as history and myth, and that’s its genius. It’s a story that accurately reflects a certain time and place—the human struggles and triumphs, big and small, of a tucked-away Alabama town in the middle of a turbulent century—while also transcending it. Such a balancing act is no small trick, especially for a first-time author.
Adding to the book’s mystique, the author herself is a font of mystery, reverence and the rampant speculation that often accompanies both. To Kill a Mockingbird is not just Lee’s first novel, it’s her only novel, which puts her in company with the likes of Ralph Ellison and J.D. Salinger—enigmatic writers who produced an influential book very early and then did little or nothing to turn that success into a long and prolific career.
It’s possible that Harper Lee’s experience of writing To Kill a Mockingbird was so difficult that she decided against doing battle with the typewriter ever again. There’s a well-known story of Lee becoming so frustrated as she was finishing the novel that she tossed the manuscript out the window of her New York apartment building one winter evening, only to retrieve it from a pile of sooty snow at the urging of her editor.
It’s also possible that, at some point, she simply decided it was unwise to try to one-up perfection. Upon its release, the novel was greeted with reviews hailing it as equal parts literary gem and potent agent of social enlightenment. The Washington Post suggested it would outweigh “a hundred pounds of sermons on tolerance, or an equal measure of invective deploring the lack of it.” The book stayed on national bestseller lists for more than a year and a half, winning the 1961 Pulitzer Prize along the way.
The following year, the story was adapted for the screen. The film, which brought Gregory Peck an Academy Award for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, cemented To Kill a Mockingbird’s status as a lasting classic of American storytelling that played no small role in reshaping the nation’s social fabric.
“It came at a critical time in the fight for racial justice and civil rights legislation that would put an end to some of the worst of the bigotry and the restriction and the repression in the South,” Peck once told the makers of Fearful Symmetry, a documentary on the making of the film.
Cleo Thomas, an attorney in Anniston who, in 1976, was the first African American to be elected president of the SGA at the University of Alabama, believes the book achieved its place in the canon so quickly not just because it spoke a hard truth to power, but also because of the way it spoke that truth. “The magic is for it to be declaimed in a child’s voice, in such a domestic way. At the breakfast table, on the porch,” says Cleo. “It’s a classic because it’s simply so true.”
Of course, things can change in 50 years. Samford University literature professor Dr. Chris Metress, whose presentation “The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch” has been featured by the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Road Scholars program, is interested in how the book’s reception has evolved since its publication—particularly the current critical debate over whether Atticus is a hero in the fight against racial intolerance or just someone whose futile efforts to work within a corrupt system are a part of the problem, not the solution.
“It’s easy from our own time and place to imagine that Atticus could have done more to challenge the racism that shaped daily life in Maycomb,” says Metress.“But if there comes a time when we can no longer admire what Atticus Finch stood for, and what he stood up against, that probably tells us more about our own shortcomings than it does about Atticus.”
And that is the mark of great art. Even as the culture transforms around it, it still reflects the deeper secrets of the human experience. To Kill a Mockingbird has always served that vital purpose and, for that reason, it’s always been worth celebrating.
by Abigail Millwood
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Apr 1
2010Hot Diggity Dog!
Who says they don’t make things like they used to? Pete’s Famous has been serving up its famous fare since 1920.
BY ALICIA K. CLAVELL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY COREY NOLEN
It’s 10 minutes to 11 on a Sunday morning and already customers are lined up along 2nd Avenue North waiting for their Pete’s Famous hot dog. A Birmingham Boy Scout leader has three of his scouts in tow, including one who will try this local treasure for the first time. “There’s nothing better than a ‘Pete’s famous all the way’ and a Grapico,” says the Troup 63 scout leader.
Next in line is hot dog-aficionado Buddy C., who has frequented Pete’s for more than 50 years since he first worked the stand at age 16. “When I was working here, a hot dog was 15 cents and a Coca-Cola was a dime,” he remembers. Today, at $2.10 a dog and $1.25 for an 8-ounce bottled Coke, it’s still one of the best meal deals in town.
But of course, it’s not just the prices that keep regulars like Buddy coming back—it’s the specialty hot dogs. “The dogs are the greatest in the country,” says Buddy. The scouts agreed.When asked what he thought of Pete’s hot dogs, the first-time scout customer just smiled, nodded his head vigorously and took another huge bite.
Previously Louis’s Place, the hot dog stand was purchased by current owner Constantine “Gus” Koutroulakis’ Uncle Pete and a business partner in 1939 for a total of $600 ($300 each) after a particularly lucrative game of pinochle. Gus was just out of high school when his father asked him to work the stand while Uncle Pete took a summer vacation to visit relatives in Greece. “In those days we did what our parents told us,” Gus recalls. Gus went dutifully to work for the summer, but shortly after his return, Uncle Pete suffered a heart attack, and Gus took over the business. He has rarely missed a day ofwork since.
The space inside Pete’s Famous is as big as some walk-in closets. Gus estimates the stand’s size at 7 feet by 20 feet with only one small renovation in the ‘40s to bring the space up to code. There’s one register, counter space at the back of the store and elbowroom only (no seating) for customers to eat their Zeigler Meats hot dogs made-to-order and topped with Pete’s special sauce. “Two more dogs, Gus!” customers can be heard saying from the counter.
A little after 11, J.J. Fletcher and his wife and daughter stop in. The Mississippians came to Birmingham to see a concert the night before but stayed for the hot dogs. “I saw the sign outside last night and thought, ‘It’s gotta be good!’ ” says J.J. The neon sign—which Uncle Pete originally purchased for $500— has been attracting customers like J.J. for decades. Gus has since spent $2,500 to revamp the sign, which he says has five transformers and was worth every penny. Over the years, celebrities from near and far, including Fred Astaire, George Wallace, Bear Bryant and Pat Sullivan, have paid visits to the Birmingham establishment. But Gus says the most famous visitors are “You—because you are my customer!”
With a few exceptions, Pete’s is open 7 days a week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Customers may choose from items on the menu board in the back. Not in the mood for a hot dog? Pete’s also offers hamburgers and a hot beef sandwich (similar to a Sloppy Joe). Vegetarians can order up a “lent dog” which contains everything you’ll find on a special dog—mustard, onions, sauerkraut and, of course, Pete’s special hot dog sauce— minus the meat. And just what’s in that special sauce?
Gus won’t reveal the recipe but says his customers have been trying to figure it out for years. Even folks who take the “Eat 12, Get 1 Free” challenge (customers who eat 12 dogs in one standing, get the next one free) have yet to figure out the ingredient list.
What’s next for Pete’s? “If I retire, the next thing is the cemetery. And while that real estate is already paid for, I’m not ready to occupy it,” says Gus with a laugh.
by Abigail Millwood
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Feb 1
2010The Face of Alabama Healthcare
Get to know the CEOs guiding Birmingham through today’s ever-changing medical system.
BY SARAH BRUEGGEMANN | PHOTO COURTESY OF UAB HEALTH SYSTEM
Will Ferniany
CEO, UAB Health System
Getting there: “In college, I volunteered at Bryce State Hospital and saw a need to help the mentally ill. My strengths were in business, so I decided to become a hospital administrator specializing in psychiatric hospitals. When I finished the master’s program in health administration at UAB, I went back to Bryce to do my administrative residency and stayed on as an assistant administrator. After a period with the Southwest Alabama Health System, I went back to UAB to receive a Ph.D. in administration – health services. After receiving my doctorate, I went to work for Healthcare Services of America (HSA), a psychiatric hospital company. I was then recruited to UAB to administer the Department of Psychiatry and to develop the Center for Psychiatric Medicine for the hospital. It was while at UAB that my career started to move from psychiatry to administration in academic medicine.”
Goals: “The UAB Health System not only educates most of the physicians who practice in Alabama, but also is the primary ‘safety net’ for the state’s physicians and hospitals. Many physicians in Alabama, and in our surrounding states, use UAB when they have a patient who needs a higher level of tertiary or quaternary care. As part of this ‘safety net’ responsibility, we are developing a hospital outreach division to develop ways we can work together. And within this
program, we are evaluating developing an e-ICU program. We are also evaluating developing a tele-emergency service to support smaller hospitals’ emergency capabilities.”
Recent changes: “The opening of UAB Hospital’s new women and infant centers and the radiation oncology center in February will be a major advance in women’s and cancer care in Alabama. The new regional neonatal intensive care unit, with separate rooms for the bassinets, will provide a much more family-centered experience than available anywhere in Alabama. Our simulation centers for training, 100-percent mortality review, and Baptist Health in Montgomery’s SMART program are examples of programs which are making a difference in the care we provide.”
Toughest part: “Like all academic medical centers, UAB has three missions: clinical, education and research. In this time of limited resources, aligning these three missions and achieving national recognition in all three is our biggest challenge. The second challenge all hospital administrators are dealing with is the uncertainty of health reform.”
What’s rewarding: “When I get a letter or hear from someone about the excellent and compassionate care the physicians and faculty provide. These stories make all the hard work that everyone at UAB provides worth it.”by Abigail Millwood
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Feb 1
2010The Face of Alabama Healthcare
Get to know the CEOs guiding Birmingham through today’s ever-changing medical system.
BY SARAH BRUEGGEMANN | PHOTO BY EMILY HOOTEN
Garry Gause
President and CEO, Brookwood Medical Center
Getting there: “I had a younger sister who was severely debilitated, so from an early age I was directly involved in doctor’s visits and caring for someone who couldn’t take care of herself. I volunteered in hospitals to get to know the system better, then got my undergraduate degree and graduate degree in hospital administration. My first CEO job was in Cullman, Alabama. I went from Cullman to Decatur to Huntsville to Olympia, Washington, and then back to Birmingham and Brookwood in 1999.”
Goals: “We’ve made a considerable amount of progress regarding customer satisfaction and addressing community needs in the last 10 years. My hope is that in the next 10 years we’ll use all the things we’ve accomplished to take on the changes that will be inevitable with healthcare reform.”
Recent changes: “We have recently added a comprehensive wound care center, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and several new surgical techniques, including GYN oncology services. We’re getting ready to start a construction project that will add a new women’s hospital. We’re also expanding our mental health services, addressing tremendous needs in our community and the U.S. as a whole.”
Toughest part: “It gets harder and harder to make sure you provide services when there are less resources and an increasing population.”
What’s rewarding: “It’s when someone leaves the hospital better than when they came. We want patients not just to return to their previous existence, but to return better and excited about the future.”by Abigail Millwood
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