Protests against police brutality and racial injustice took place in cities across the U.S. throughout 2020. While most of them remained peaceful they showed a broken relationship of trust between Black communities and the police in America. Many have called for justice and change after people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks were killed, but finding solutions to the issues leading to their deaths is more complicated than just bringing awareness to them.
Georgia State/The Signal
Stories that I did while I was attending Georgia State either with the Signal or as a freelancer.
Signal in a Minute – Pickleball
When the recreation center on Georgia State’s Clarkston was limited on the sports they could offer students to abide by COVID-19 social distancing guideline. Rec center coordinator Robert Edwards and recreational specialist Jason Brown found the solution with the rising popularity of pickleball. See how the Clarkston students are gravitating to the game.
COVID-19 and the Popularity of “Ghost Kitchens”
The popularity of online ordering from restaurants grew in the U.S. in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses closed their dining rooms to comply with social distancing guidelines. Some restaurants are still keeping their dining rooms closed and relying on more traffic from online delivery and take-out orders. The “ghost kitchen” trend is getting attention from restaurant owners and experts, with some believing the movement can be the industry’s future.
Signal in a Minute – E-Sports at Georgia State
Georgia State’s E-Sports program offers more than just a group of video game leagues. See how they can create career opportunities for students at Georgia State.
Signal in a Minute – Social Distancing in Georgia State’s Rec Center
The student recreation center on Georgia State’s Atlanta campus had to adjust to a new normal in the fall of 2020. Social distancing guidelines from Georgia’s Department of Health forced the rec center to operate at only 25 percent of its capacity. Staff and students react to how they are adjusting to the new guidelines.
Social Distancing in the 404
Colleges across Georgia are doing classes online and Atlanta is trying to keep it’s people indoors. Now, Georgia State senior Ben Abrams and his two roommates are adjusting to a life of social distancing. The journalism student shares how their lives are changing during the caronavirus pandemic.
Abrams still plans to work an internship remotely with Georgia Public Broadcasting while taking classes online this summer. To learn more about Ben Abrams and see more of his stories, you can follow on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram.
Life After the Final Whistle
After his playing days in the N.F.L. were behind him. Sports was the last place Reggie Ball wanted to turn to write the next chapter of his life. But once he decided to embrace his athletic background, Ball became a fitness trainer. Now, as one of the founders of E.F.F.E.C.T. Fitness, he’s teaching his clients to live healthier & happier lives.
Ball is currently doing personal and group sessions of his “Ball Effect” training program. To learn more about Reggie Ball and his fitness program, you can visit the E.F.F.E.C.T. fitness website and the “Ball Effect’s” Instagram page.
Bringing Health to Urban Atlanta
After more than three years of hard work, Candice Hawk’s effort is paying off. The health activist opened Spreading the Health last year to provide South Atlanta with a healthy alternative to the abundance of fast food restaurants that flood the area.
Hawk and her team have opened two locations of Spreading the Health within their first year of business. To find out more about them you can visit their website or find them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Five ways Atlanta is embracing plant-based diets
Plant-based cuisines have become a staple in Atlanta’s restaurant scene. A survey by WalletHub in September 2019 placed Atlanta as the 6th best city for vegans and vegetarians, even beating out cities like New York and San Francisco. Here are five ways that Atlanta is embracing the vegan and vegetarian dishes into its menus.
- College like Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Emory University are now offering vegetarian and vegan options in their restaurants and dining halls. This shift comes from a growing number of students who want to see more plant-based foods on their school’s menu.
- The Slutty Vegan, the vegan burger joint that has become a massive sensation since opening in 2018, has partnered with Rap Snack to release an all-vegan potato chip line. The snacks will be available in over 100,000 stores in Atlanta and across the U.S. this December.
- Atlantans became the judges for KFC’s attempt to go vegan back in August. One KFC location in Smyrna, Georgia, was the test site for the national chain’s newest menu item, “Beyond Fried Chicken.” A plant-based chicken product created by KFC and Beyond Meat could be released nationwide soon.
- New restaurants like Grass VBQ Joint, a plant-based barbecue joint, and the aptly named, Plant Based Pizzeria have been opening since the beginning of 2019. Restaurants like these are helping vegans and vegetarians fill the voids for undeserved cuisines in their communities.
- Ammazza’s pizza restaurants in Decatur and on Edgewood Avenue added an all-vegan menu to both of their locations in June. The rise of plant-based lifestyles and diets have encourage established restaurant to start offering more vegan and vegetarians items on their menu’s.
The demand for plant-based food has been on the rise not only in Atlanta but also in America. According to a report by Food Business News, sales for plant-based meat have gone up by 10 % in the past year, and the trends for plant-based cheese and eggs have similar results. Atlanta is sending a clear message to its communities and the rest of the U.S. that these new food trends are here to stay.
Vegan barbecue joint brings unique taste to East Atlanta
Inside the crowded We Suki Suki food market stall in East Atlanta, Greg Anthony stands near the front window waiting for his order from his new favorite barbecue joint, Grass VBQ. Anthony sees this small, modern restaurant as a welcoming sight for a man of his taste because this is one of the first barbecue joints in Atlanta that is entirely plant-based.
“The first time I came, I got the oyster mushroom sandwich. As I read more about it, I read about it and saw how it was smoked and cooked like how people would cook regular meat. I saw that the flavor is there,” said Anthony.
Anthony, who has been a vegetarian for the last three years and has a vegan son, is one of the thousands of people in Atlanta who have been looking for restaurants that offer plant-based alternatives for the food that they love. Until recently, the need for a meatless option for barbecue had not been met but changed when Chef Terry Sargent introduced Grass VBQ in East Atlanta Village in September 2019.
Sargent, who made an appearance on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” brings 19 years of culinary experience with him to Grass VBQ. The last six of those years have been spent focusing on introducing plant-based cuisines to Atlanta after he decided to start living a plant-based lifestyle.
“It was definitely for health reasons I owned a catering company about six or seven years ago. It was very taxing on my body, so I needed to make a change,” said Sargent.
“I started to develop certain ailments like tendentious and things like that. After a while, I started to watch a few documentaries and decided to make that change in my life. After I did that, everything changed,” he said.
After finding the joy and benefits of a vegan diet, Sargent wanted to share what he saw with his customers and decided that another change was needed, and soon the inspiration for Grass VBQ followed.
“Still working in restaurants and cooking meats and dairy, still working with those items. I didn’t want to do that anymore,” says Sargent.
“I thought that if I’m going to live this lifestyle, then I’m going to live it 100 percent. So, I quit my job and open this place up after I did a Fourth of July event with some barbecue, and it was a huge success,” he says.
Sargent is not alone in his need to share a plant-based cuisine with the outside world. Akeem Bumpass has been a vegetarian and then a vegan for a combined seven years. Before Grass VBQ, he would do vegan pop-ups with his roommate that gave him a creative outlook to share the joys of a plant-based diet with his friend and family.
“I get excitement from cooking for people. Cooking for people makes me happy. Especially if somebody eats meat and I can introduce them to an alternative that is healthier, and they can enjoy that fulfills me,” says Bumpass.
Grass VBQ is only in its third month of business, and Sargent is already thinking ahead for the next step for himself and his new company.
“We are looking for a second location. Not looking to franchise anything but honestly, stay local and not take this thing beyond what it is,” says Sargent.
“Open up a vegan fine-dining spot because there’s nothing like that here. Also, a vegan breakfast spot because there’s no vegan breakfast around here except for like one place. It’s just more so filling a need,” he says.
Ben Abrams 