Personal Journeys: Leaving Atlanta

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Personal Journeys: Leaving Atlanta

Tracy Thompson, author of "The New Mind of the South," examines Atlanta, the city she left more than two decades ago.

Tracy Thompson, author of "The New Mind of the South", grew up near College Park and used to peer at the city from her family's farm using her father's binoculars. Seeing the city was "both thrilling and unsettling" for the "country girl fascinated with cities".

Thompson at about age 2 standing in her crib.

Thompson remembers getting baths at about age 2 in the kitchen sink and seeing Ellen's eyes just above the counter level, watching the whole procedure.

Thompson being held by her grandmother with Ellen beside them. Their grandmother was their regular babysitter telling them stories about "Sherman's neckties".

Thompson in the arms of Ed Preston, a man who worked with her father at Delta after World War II. Her sister Ellen, who she called Aunt Nonny, is holding their cat, Aimee.

Thompson is the self-described "fuzzy headed kid" shown here in the arms of her mother, Ruth, at East Point Christian Church in 1957.

Thompson on her second birthday.

Tracy, her sister Ellen and their mother Ruth at the family farm near College Park with a litter of puppies produced by their beagle, Cleopatra. In the background is the barn where Thompson said she could see the Atlanta skyline with binoculars.

Tracy holds one of the puppies in the litter at the family farm near College Park.

Tracy at the Clayton Sun working as a reporter. It was here she fielded calls from people seeking the fictitious Tara plantation from "Gone with the Wind".

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Tracy Thompson, author of "The New Mind of the South", grew up near College Park and used to peer at the city from her family's farm using her father's binoculars. Seeing the city was "both thrilling and unsettling" for the "country girl fascinated with cities".

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