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Welcome home, Blake
Last Saturday, Myrna and I met with Blake Bell in Birmingham. Our “business meeting” was over coffee at McDonald’s.
Though we have known Blake since his high school days, we hadn’t seen him in years. We got to McDonald’s before he did and we watched for him. In walked a young man with a genuine smile and warm personality – the same Blake we had known before. He was the same but more mature, now a family man with a wife and little girl.
We talked about the job opening in our business, the person we’re looking for, the duties and demands of the job.
It didn’t take long for us to realize Blake met all our requirements – and then some. Here was a man from Atmore who wants to move his family here. He wants to be part of this community. He wants to reconnect with friends. He wants to report on the events and happenings in our area. He wants to be part of Atmore News and atmore magazine.
Blake is almost finished getting his degree in journalism. He’ll be able to finish online. A degree is all well and good, but a degree doesn’t give you a heart for the community. Blake has that heart.
Could he be a better fit for us? We don’t think so.
But as excited as we are about what Blake can bring to our business, he’s as excited to be coming home and working with his hometown newspaper and magazine.
As I write this column Monday night, I think Blake will be with Myrna and me Wednesday as we distribute the July issue of atmore. What a great way to introduce Blake to new friends and give him a chance to see old friends.
I assure you, if you don’t know Blake now, when you meet him, you’ll meet a friend.
In Southern Living
When my July issue of Southern Living came in the mail the other day, I thumbed through it and spotted a couple of familiar faces.
There’s an article entitled Monroeville’s Mockingbird, about, of course, Monroeville’s annual production of Nelle Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. On page 80, there’s a picture of the cast and there’s Dave Jordan and Steve Billy.
In addition to being a judge and a district attorney, respectively, these guys are active in theater, not only with Mockingbird, but also with the Greater Escambia Council for the Arts (GECA).
There may be other folks I know in the Southern Living picture, but Steve and Dave are the most recognizable.
Atmore is mentioned in the Mockingbird article. Seems Ms. Lee likes to visit Wind Creek Casino. The Southern Living author wrote, “The other people playing the Sizzling 7 machines are unaware that the woman next to them is one of the best-selling authors in the history of the written word.”
Come to think of it, I wouldn’t know Ms. Lee either if she walked in this office. She has always shunned the spotlight.
If you get a chance to pick up a Southern Living this month, you’ll enjoy the article about the play and Ms. Lee.
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