Pakistan Ambassador in Atlanta Briefing Aug 6 Monday, August 6
7:30-8:00 AM: Registration and continental breakfast
8:00-9:15 AM: Southern Center Breakfast Briefing on Pakistan, featuring His Excellency Mahmud Ali Durrani, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States; Southern Center for International Studies, 320 West Paces Ferry Road; cost: SCIS Young Professionals-$10, SCIS members-$15, non-members-$20; reservations and advance payment are requested; please pay online through our e-store with your credit card, or e-mail register@scis.org, or call the Southern Center at 404-261-5763; tickets are not issued; your name will be at the registration table; for further information, go to www.southerncenter.org.  ¶ 11:27 AM 0 comments

  Lithuanian Meadow Grass Day: August 5
August 2 post here.
(Believe it or don't, but Blogger is having some display issues with me.)



While August 15 is actual Meadow Grass Day, the Lithuanian American Community of Atlanta is celebrating on August 5. While most Lithuanians are Roman Catholics, and this is being held at a Catholic Church, this looks like one of those pagan-era celebrations that lives till today. August 15 is Assumption Day, too. Anyway, it is a harvest celebration; up in that latitude it must be harvest time already.


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  Enjoy Pakistan, India on the Same Day Pritam Bhattacharjee throws down at Georgia Tech on August 4 ... says a friend of a friend of a friend, this will be "a nice introduction for you to North Indian Classical Music." Check out some mp3s and his bio. He's staff at the Pandit Jasraj School of Music Foundation, Atlanta chapter.

It's also the day to celebrate Pakistan's Independence (technically on August 14). Aside from family fun like a bouncy castle, music and food, there will also be a Pakistani consular officer on hand if you need a visa or advice or etc. Among the sponsors is Bridges TV, a broadband station that brings South Asian TV to anyone with a broadband connection, apparently.

And, uh, well, of course India's Independence Day is one day after Pakistan's, but the big India celebration isn't until next weekend: Festival of India at Gwinnett Center, August 11.  ¶ 8:33 PM 0 comments

  "The Official Multicultural Website of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau"??





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  Rivaaj vs. Khabar
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  Peru Independence Day Celebration at Meadowcreek Highschool
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  Public (?) Release from GCA From AG's mailbox, which we post because we would, in fact, love direct service from ATL to Shanghai. Write from your business or fabricate a business from which to write:

Dear ,

The Georgia China Alliance is making an effort to support Delta's bid of direct flight to China. Your help is very important. We are collecting support letters from businesses in Georgia by *MONDAY* *July 23rd*. If you are interested in joining us in this effort, please have the letter in your business letterhead and EMAIL them to "Breedlove, Jeff" <Jeff.Breedlove@senate.ga.gov > by the deadline.

Please see below for the letter template.

Thank you!

Georgia China Alliance

Rongrong Liu
Executive Director
Georgia China Alliance
http://www.georgiachina.com/
678.334.6136
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 21, 2007

The Honorable Mary E. Peters

Secretary of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Washington, DC 20590

Dear Secretary Peters:

I am writing to you as an executive of *[/company name/]*, a Georgia company with business interests in China.

On January 19, 2007, Delta Air Lines announced its intent to apply for a direct passenger air service route between Atlanta and Shanghai, China.
As a company with operations in the Southeastern region of the U.S., this Atlanta-Shanghai passenger air route is an important next step for us to strengthen relationships between the Southeast and the People’s Republic of China, its companies and its people. While the Southeast region is among the fastest growing regions in the U.S. and one of China’s largest trading partners, it lacks a direct passenger air route with China. Furthermore, a direct passenger air route between Atlanta and Shanghai would generate an economic impact of more than $400 million annually for the Southeast.

*[/OPTIONAL/: /brief description of company’s interests in China/].*

I understand that the U.S. Department of Transportation is evaluating additional candidates for the 2008 designation; however, I am confident you will agree that the Atlanta hub and Delta Air Lines offer the best proposal for the designation (*Docket OST-2007-28567*). More passengers pass through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport than any other airport in the world—almost 85 million passengers in 2006. In addition, Atlanta is the world’s largest airline hub, with Delta offering direct service to over 150 U.S. markets.

I solicit the endorsement of the U.S. Department of Transportation for the designation of Delta Air Lines as the next U.S. carrier to serve China, with direct service from Atlanta to Shanghai beginning in 2008.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

  ¶ 1:10 PM 2 comments

  Best of New Metro Architecture: BAPS Hindu Temple, Lilburn GA

Finally! This BAPS Hindu temple is going to be opened in mid August.

It sounds stupid to say, but this Hindu temple looks like a for-real, in-Asia Hindu temple. I can't believe we have something like this here. In Lilburn of all places.

Like, this is how Angkor Wat or Prambanan must have looked when they were shiny & new.

See it at the intersection of Lawrenceville Highway and Rockbridge Road in Lilburn.

Says a bystander interviewed by the AJC, "We have Cobb County beat." Take that, Big Chicken.

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  Atlanta Latino Newspaper Check out Atlanta Latino Newspaper -- if we'd known about this before, we would have mentioned the Colombia Independence Day festival and the 30th anniversary of the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta _before_ they actually happened.  ¶ 11:59 PM 0 comments

  Back to the Roots for National Black Arts Festival


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  Bastille Day From communes to NATO-leavings to McDonald's-burning farmers to immigrant slums . . . le bel hexagone, la France. They're like America would be if we weren't fundamentally Anglo-Saxon.

Of course the Alliance Francaise has a July 14 Bastille Day thaing (on July 21) and, uh, tickets cost $130. Man! We won't go there without being the "watchdogs or servants of capitalism."

If you're really trying to connect with Francophone life in Atlanta, try Atlanta Accueil. It's a website for francophone expats and features a fairly well-visited forum.  ¶ 10:13 PM 0 comments

  Know Your Scripts Atlanta! Each time we bust this out, AG has an Atlanta-area picture of a non-English piece of writing and (attempt to) name the script and language.

AG takes an educated guess (shot in the dark) on this one:



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  Unembedded Iraq at APG Gallery
Some journalists in Iraq are fenced in the green zone; some travel ringed around by American solders. But some are locals, reporting on the horror in their own country. And some are foreigners who tie on a headscarf and and hit the streets.


There's three weeks left to see the photographs from four of these independent photojournalists at the Atlanta Photography Group Gallery.

Photo by Atlanta resident and photojournalist Kael Alford, 1/4 of the APG exhibit.

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  Falun Gong Marches on Peachtree   ¶ 1:46 PM 0 comments

  Strings - sponsored by Danish American Chamber of Commerce





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