ATLANTA — The most arresting vista in town comes into view around a curve on westbound Freedom Parkway, on the periphery of downtown. The road crests just before it intersects Boulevard, at a traffic light that always seems to glow red, as if to allow motorists a minute to savor the panorama before them.
The striking thing, for me, is not the majesty of the skyline but its accessibility — here I am, the city beckons, come and gawk. For from that vantage point, Atlanta just is: a hip-hop mecca, the cradle of the civil rights movement, a magnet for transplants, a college football locus, the shimmering capital of the South, and more.