The Subprime Primer

For a language blog, this is irresistible. Fair warning: It includes mild profanity.

The Subprime Primer

Tell about the South

Tell about the South. What’s it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all… Shreve to Quentin in Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner.

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Okay, Shreve. Will do.

The Society for Technical Communication has scheduled its national conference in Atlanta next year, and to help prepare the local chapter for the coming hordes, SL is assembling a reading list. Here’s a start for Atlanta and Georgia:

Memoirs by Gen. William T. Sherman. Some Atlantans hated the man who burned the city, and others named their children for him. Unexpected bonus: Sherman, like Grant, could write.

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Fiction is lying — that’s its nature. But while some authors tell stories in order to reveal truth, others . . . Well, meet Mrs. Mitchell. It’s not our cup of julep — nostalgia for slavery, revulsion for democracy — but she was a better writer than she’s given credit for.

The Inman Family: An Atlanta Family from Reconstruction to World War I, by Tammy Harden Galloway. After the war, these masters without slaves landed in Atlanta and quickly created the biggest cotton brokerage in the world. And a steel mill, a railroad, an energy company, a little school on North Avenue, and not a few governors.

Atlanta and Its Environs, by Franklin Garrett. For a comprehensive history it’s all we’ve got — two volumes of vast information, though writ dense and obscured by fawning.

The Creation of Modern Georgia, by Numan Bartley. Georgia since Oglethorpe, but focused on postbellum days.

The History of Georgia, Kenneth Coleman, ed. Straight from the State. First published by Carter in 77, reblessed by same in 91, it’s still in print today. Reassures us that “not every slave was a Sambo.”

Imagineering Atlanta, by Charles Rutheiser. Is this a city or a marketing plan? Rutheiser captures the heady mix of civic boosterism brewed in Atlanta by railroaders and insurance men, politicians and publishers, advertisers and Ku Klux. (The title is especially apt: Imagineering is a Disney term.)

Mayor: Notes from the Sixties, by Ivan Allen. Atlanta in mid-century. Allen came from merchant stock, but he jumped class — he married an Inman — and led the city’s business establishment into the modern world. If you ever wondered why King’s hometown saw so few civil rights protests, Allen’s autobiography explains it.

1864: Yankees at the Gates, by Steve Marshall. A summary of Sherman’s invasion of Georgia and capture of Atlanta, including a short account of the city’s origins. Read 1864: Yankees at the Gates

Gobbledy-Google

Ever fill out ten identical medical forms, by hand, in one day? Ever ride in circles on a pharmacy-doctor-insurance carousel? Ever wonder why your doctor is asking you what prescriptions you take?

Here’s something just for you! Google Health “puts you in charge of your health information. It’s safe, secure, and free.”

Skeptical? An FAQ section explains the service further. Question 6 in particular caught our attention:

Q. If it’s free, how does Google make money off Google Health?

A. Much like other Google products we offer, Google Health is free to anyone who uses it. There are no ads in Google Health. Our primary focus is providing a good user experience and meeting our users’ needs.

Wait — did SL miss something here? Like an answer to the question? Let’s ask it another way:

Q. What’s the business model?

Sergey and Larry have one, you may be sure. Those choirboys didn’t get rich by singing for free. Or by telling the ol’ public everything all at once.