Sunday was Scottish poet Robert Burns’ 250th birthday, so WRFG’s Celtic Show was playing some Burns ditties in tribute to the man. Then, two men from the Burns Club Atlanta came on to discuss the grand semiquincentennial celebratory activities for their beloved poet and the Burns Cottage of Atlanta. I did not know that Atlanta (Ormewood, specifically) in fact has an exact replica of Robert Burns’ childhood home, one of the very few in the world. Don’t worry if you missed out on Sunday’s festivities because there are apparently a whole year’s worth planned for 2009 (if you are a member of the private club)! After all, as the DJ pointed out, “It’s not every year that your hero turns 250.”
Another nuance of the city that slipped past my radar until now is the rumor of “cultlike behavior” at Your DeKalb Farmers Market. My professor mentioned this in class, and added that they adhere to some sort of management strategy that some workers are thinkers and some are doers. Those in either camp are labeled by a black or white dot on their nametags so that the thinkers can always be paired with a doer to accomplish a task, ensuring the best of both worlds will be applied. I think I recall some dots on the YDFM nametags, but I am usually more preoccupied by the list of languages each employee can speak. Insisting on dividing your staff into thinkers or doers doesn’t really count as cultlike in my opinion, but I was able to find an article from 1989 about some New Age-y stuff going down over involving a set of practices called “the Forum” that does seem to tie some significance to thought and action in leadership.