Sweet Tea: Why you should get outside

Tell me if you recognize this feeling: You’re outside, maybe in the woods or by a shore, enjoying a beautiful day, and you think, “Wow, I am so lucky to live here.” I feel that all the time in Atlanta, walking in the paths of old rail tracks or gazing up to gold light above the lacework shade of tall, green trees.

There’s a reason Southern writers get so poetic about their surroundings. How could you not? What place makes you feel this way, full of awe and gratitude for simply being there?

CHATTANOOGA LEVELS UP ITS NATURAL WONDERS

Credit: Kevin Ruck/Getty Images

Credit: Kevin Ruck/Getty Images

Earlier this year, Chattanooga was named North America’s first National Park City after a spirited campaign by the city’s political, cultural and environmental leaders (and, of course, the good people of Chattanooga themselves).

Chattanooga is just the third city in the world to be chosen by the National Park City Foundation, joining London and Adelaide, Australia.

It’s great news for a city that’s become a blueprint for blending urban life with a cultural appreciation of nature. But what does it actually mean to be a National Park City?

A commitment to restoring and preserving nature and wildlife habitats
A focus on the health and well-being of its residents
A culture that embraces regular outdoor events and recreation

It’s all laid out in the National Park City Foundation’s Universal Charter.

Chattanooga scored the title with an illustrated portfolio detailing its journey from one of the most polluted cities in the U.S. to a premier outdoor destination.

IT’S ALL GOING DOWN AT THE LIBRARY

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

If you’re not making use of your local library, you’re missing the hottest hangout in town. Seriously. “Chilling at the library” is the biggest green flag imaginable. A library card should be a status symbol (but only if you, you know, actually go).

Chances are a library near you is, at this very moment, planning something cool or plotting new and devious ways to uplift the community. I love these recent triumphs:

🔧 The Fix-It Fair: If you break it, they will come. The Donelson Library in Nashville held a Repair Fair that featured volunteer experts ready to fix people’s clothes, small appliances, lamps, computers, bikes and more. Not fixed: broken hearts, shattered dreams, the dimming light in one’s eyes. That’s for the Therapy Fair.

🎀 Healing the inner child: The Arlington Public Library system in Virginia has a full catalogue of American Girl dolls to check out. We’re talking clothes, the first book, a carrying case, the entire fulfillment of childhood dreams.

🤖 Going off-book: John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Jefferson County, Kentucky, is the home of Tim Jones, a library media specialist named the 2025 School Librarian of the Year by the School Library Journal. Jones has expanded the library’s program to include things like robotics. However, he has a very librarian (and very good) take on AI:

“Maybe AI can do it better than you, but you are robbing your soul of being able to make something,” he told the Kentucky Department of Education.

PRALINE LORE

Credit: Aaliyah Man/AJC

I’ve been thinking a lot about the history of desserts recently, because the AJC published a cool article on rustic fruit dishes with silly names.

Consider the praline, a New Orleans-coded treat that boils down centuries of history into one sweet bite.

The praline came to the U.S. from France and was originally made with almonds. One theory says Ursine nuns introduced the sweet, and taught young women how to make them in preparation for married life.
Of course, the dessert was adapted. Pecans, much more available in the South than almonds, became the star. Even the sugar in pralines speaks to the history of enslavement on sugar plantations.
Pralines were also a symbol of opportunity. In the 1800s, women of color who were shut out of any other employment often sold pralines to make money.

SIPS FROM AROUND THE SOUTH

Dacula: High school senior Mykale Baker cut a moving figure when he clocked in for a Burger King shift freshly graduated, still wearing his cap and gown. After a wave of love on social media, a GoFundMe to support his education has surpassed $100,000. More from 11 Alive News.

Cary, North Carolina: Amateur women’s soccer teams from around the South will compete in The Soccer Tournament, a madcap, festival-like spin on regular soccer matches. Oh, and the winners get $1 million. More from the AJC.

Shreveport, Louisiana: The LSU Shreveport Pilots Baseball team went 59-0, becoming the first college baseball team in history to notch an unbeaten season. I can’t imagine the pressure. Like a season-long no-hit bid. More from LSUS Athletics.

Atlanta: The inaugural Black Romance Book Fest was a smash hit, bringing together bestselling Black authors and their fans. Because everyone deserves a happily ever after. (That’s HEA in romance lingo, btw.) More from the AJC.

WHAT’S HAPPENING: HISTORIC JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS

Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Juneteenth is coming up on Thursday, June 19, but festivities around the country will start much earlier. Any Juneteenth Celebration is a good one, but some have serious history.

Galveston Island Juneteenth Festival and Celebration: Galveston is where it all started. June 19, 1865, marks the day of the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, in Texas. Of course, the city goes all out with concerts, gospel celebrations, parades and festivals.

The Juneteenth Festival of the Carolinas: The Charlotte event billed “The largest and oldest Juneteenth Festival in the Southeast” celebrates 28 years this summer. This year, they’re celebrating Black pioneers in legal professions. Oh, plus food, multicultural vendors, a march and much more.