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Macon Transit Authority Bus Ride

I took the Mercer Bear Downtown Route to Wal-Mart through the Macon Transit Authority. The Mercer Bear Line is a route for students that they do not have to pay for that gets them to Wal-Mart during the week and to downtown on the weekends. Students are those riding the bus. The bus makes several stops on campus, one by Greek Village, one in Mercer Village, and one across from Tatnall Square Park. Information for the route can be found on the Macon Transit Authority Website, but it can also be found through the Mercer app on mobile devices that includes an interactive map of all the active Mercer Bear lines. The route is 30 minutes from campus to Wal-Mart and 30 minutes back to campus. this bus route is a good way for students to go out into the community, especially for the weekend route that goes into downtown.

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Macon Action Plan

The Macon Action Plan is the plan to revitalize Macon and to make it a safer, more accessible, more beautiful place to live. Throughout this course, I have seen and heard about the Macon Action Plan at work. Most recently when walking the streets of Macon for the Rock Candy Tour, we saw the alleyways lit up with string lights and people were out and about in the downtown area. In going to museums for this course, including historical homes, I have seen the preservation/historical aspect of the Macon Action Plan. Macon has a large focus on history and how it got to the point it is at now, and the Action Plan Reflects that. Also, when visiting the Mayor’s office, much of what he talked about was directly out of the Macon Action Plan. He discussed that the plans to revitalize Macon surrounded around the idea of making it a walk-able downtown, with businesses to visit and places to work and live all within walking distance of one another. For the Action Plan, I would add that Macon should focus more on its population. Yes, infrastructure creates a city but the people are the city. The Plan talks about how Macon is going to bring people in, but how will they be treated? What incentives do they have, other than physically in downtown, for living in Macon? 

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Bibb County School Board Meeting 3/15/18

Meeting Notes:     

  Pledge of Allegiance said by Cherry Blossom Festival Princess

·       Moment of silence for Janeeta Henry from Westside High School who passed away

·       Bibb County Spelling Bee winners presented with awards

·       Japan-American Society selected three students to go to Japan and one of them is a Macon student

·       Central High School boys’ basketball team presented with an award

·       West Side High School boys’ basketball team presented with an award

·       Hutchings School completed the certification process and received a perfect score

·       County received an Advanced Ed. 5-Year Accreditation with a score of 342.79 out of 400

·       School Board Appreciation Week

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Macon CVB Tour

As a class, we visited the Macon CVB, or Conventions and Visitors Bureau. We went at a time close to the Cherry Blossom Festival, and I learned that Macon is the city with the most cherry blossom trees in America. I also learned that the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon is the city’s largest tourist attended event. 

I learned a lot about the importance of music in Macon as well. Many musicians have come from Macon or started in Macon, and Capricorn Records is in Macon. Music festivals are also a large tourist draw in Macon, like the Bragg Jam Festival. 

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I attended a Swim in the Wild concert at The Hummingbird in Macon on April 13th. Swim in the Wild is described as an “adventure alternative” band from Charlotte, North Carolina, and they definitely live up to their moniker. their music incorporates the sounds of nature, such as ocean waves, with classic instruments including the banjo and the ukulele. The concert was very enjoyable, even though not many people were there. I would definitely recommend this band and see them again if I have the chance. 

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Rock Candy Tour 4/13/18

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Mercer University students spent their spring break helping the homeless and hungry

For many students, spring break is for the beach and relaxation, but a few students at Mercer University spent their spring break serving the community.

Mercer University’s student led organization MerServe organized the event in which students spent half of their spring break on campus, volunteering at organizations around Macon and Georgia every day.

“Our theme for the week was homelessness and hunger, and we tried to serve at places that helped with those specific needs,” said Katie Franklin, a freshman at Mercer University.

The group went to three organizations, Depaul Daybreak Center, a day resource center in Macon, Rise Against Hunger, a non-profit that packages and distributes food to developing nations, and the Middle Georgia Community Foodbank, a foodbank in Macon.

Franklin, who is also the Community Service Chair for National Society of Leadership and Success at Mercer, said that it is important for students to participate in their community.

“You are a member of the community, even though we live in our Mercer bubble … you don’t always see how awful things are,” said Franklin.

Franklin volunteers when she can, but she recognized the challenge of making time.

“I understand that you are not able to go out every day and serve for twelve hours a day because you have to get your education, but also, on the weekends, take a day, go help someone else,” said Franklin.

For Franklin, this experience was worthwhile.

“It was just very rewarding,” said Franklin.

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Macon-Bibb County Commission Meeting 2/6/18

At this commission meeting, two liquor licenses were under a vote, and one issue was discussed was the selling of alcohol at a corner store near an intersection where a lot of accidents occur. A homeowner near that intersection brought up her concern about the selling and possible consumption of alcohol and a possible increase of accidents on the intersection. The Board proposed that the intersection be looked at by the proper committee and something be done to increase awareness at the intersection, such as the possible addition of stop signs, but the board voted to pass the liquor license for the store anyway. This connects to the high number of pedestrian deaths in Macon and the efforts to make Macon’s streets safer to walk along and drive on.

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Macon-Bibb County Census Analysis

Census data shows that of July 1, 2016, Macon-Bibb County, Georgia had a population of 152,555 people. Macon’s population is 91,351. About 60 percent of Macon-Bibb County’s population comes from Macon.

The female population of Macon is 49,195, compared to the male population of 42,156. This larger amount of female population is present within the African-American population, the white population, and the Asian population, but not in the Hispanic or Latino population or the American Indian population. This disproportion of female to male people can also be seen on Mercer University’s Campus, with females having the majority, not drastically, but still, the majority.

Mercer’s Macon campus has an undergraduate enrollment is about 4,700, about five percent of Macon’s population. In Macon are more than 900 inmates held in the Bibb County jail, adding to the population of Macon.

About 84 percent of Macon-Bibb County’s population over the age of 25 has a high school diploma or higher, but only 25 percent of people over the age of 25 have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, accounting for the lower median annual household income of $25,773 in Macon.

Macon is a very diverse city with a relatively well distributed population in terms of race.

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Mercer University Baseball Game

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Ingress level 8

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I attended the Mercer Men's Basketball game on 2/3/18. The team beat Wofford, 73-65.

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The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame recognizes the athletic achievements of athletes from Georgia, whether it be from record setting or other notable acts. Artifacts from the careers of those athletes are on display in the museum, as well as the stories of the athletes.

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The Cannonball House is a historical home dating before the Civil War, owned by Judge Asa Holt. The house is called "The Cannonball House" because it was shot by a cannonball during the Civil War, the only home on Macon to sustain damage. Today, the house is decorated historically and provides information on the lives of the family that lived there.

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Ingress, level 5

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Rose Hill Cemetery

Colonel John Basil Lamar was a Congressional Represrtative for Georgia, during the Civil War, he served in the Cofederate Army as an aide-de-camp of General Howard Cobb, was an agriculturalist, trustee of the University of Georgia, and writer. He was a founder and practitioner of the school of Realism in America and the genre of Southern Humor.

Alfred Holt Colquitt was the Governor of Georgia from 1877 to 1882, a U.S. Congressman from 1853-1855, a U.S. Senator from 1883 to 1894, a major in the U.S. Army in the Mexican War, and Brigadier-general in the Confederate Army.

General Edward Dorr Tracy, Jr. was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention and an Alternate Elector for John C. Breckinridge in Alabama. He was commissioned as a Captain in the 4th Alabama Infantry in April, 1861. He fought in the battles of First Manassas, Farmington, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. Promoted from Lietenant Colonel to Brigade Colonel on August 16, 1862.

Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald was one of the founders of the first woman's secret society established in a girls' college, the Adelphean Society at Wesleyan Female College which later changed its name to Alpha Delta Pi Sorority.

Berry Oakley and Duane Allman were members of the Grammy winning The Allman Brothers Band.

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The Ocmulgee National Monument Museum has an exhibit showing how the Ocmulgee Native Americans lived in the area of Macon, Georgia. This exhibit features several interactive pieces and is overall very informative.