The Maconites, Macon, GA (2026)

05/08/2018

"‘Oh, there’s the Mercer Lady.’ It’s not ‘Ansley.’ It’s, ‘There’s the Mercer Lady. She’s gonna help me go to college.’

At first, I was like, ‘The Mercer Lady?’ Then, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re identifying me with a college...they’re identifying me with help.’

Sometimes we take for granted resources we may have grown up with. My mom was a teacher. My dad worked at Georgia Power, an engineer.

So, there was never an opportunity where I didn’t think I was going to college.

I used to do pageants, so this is fun…

I identify as a double minority - being a woman, being black.

I think that sometimes African American women get painted into this picture or put into this box, that we’re angry and we’re aggressive.

That’s definitely not true. I think a lot more of us are passionate and vision oriented and goal oriented in fighting unseen and unspoken battles.

If I can dismiss you by calling you an ‘angry black woman,’ then I don’t have to listen to anything you have to say.

I’m just passionate about what I say.

Even just being a woman in general...mother, nurturer, entrepreneur, light of the world, giver of life. But you can’t be angry, you can’t be tired, you gotta be resilient.

You almost have to fight this uphill battle...before you even open your mouth.

Sometimes it’s like a two-edged sword. Is that gonna stop me? No.

I’m a chameleon. I work with the environment that I’m given.

Because if it’s not my voice then whose will it be?

I do believe that everyone has a divine purpose and a mission while they’re here on earth. So, for me it started with my job. I’ve always had a passion for educating others. So I actually traveled the country for four years, teaching leadership curriculum and group dynamics and just helping students, 8th through 12th grade, just evolve and find themselves.

Just making sure we educated the child holistically.

I realized I wanted to go back to grad school. So I was talking to the students about making good choices and finding your purpose and you know, goals, and setting those for yourself.

My work for the last eight years has been helping students and adults return to college. I work downtown on Plum Street. I have helped over 8,000 adults and seniors get more information about financial literacy, post-secondary education, financial aid...helping those students transition into college.

Seeing that urgency, that hunger, a little light bulb went off to me.

I am always looking for ways to inspire and educate others. For me, it unlocks a world. It’s not too late.

Success is not measured in wins and losses. It’s measured in the grit...the tenacity, the effort you put forth. My success is in my journey.
I don’t believe in a big war. I believe in small battles.

For me, beating the odds, being part of the 1%, getting my PhD., reaching back, helping others.

Those things make me feel like I’m successful. It’s about the journey.

How can we grow together? I’m a team type of person.

You never know what you might have said to inspire another person.

I’ve always said that I want to be a citizen of the world. I want to empower individuals.

Education is that first step to financial freedom. It’s the first step to sometimes peace for individuals.

Even if you don’t do this grassroots work...just helping other individuals...going out into your community, being that positive change that you want to see in the world. That’s where the hope is.

I see the investment in the community that is going on. I see the need for my job. I’m gonna continue, hopefully, being a professor and looking at the higher education system more through Mercer’s lens.

Macon is central. It’s big enough...the city feel... and I can walk to the shops...all the restaurants. But it’s not overwhelming. My first full adult apartment is that downtown apartment.

It’s definitely home for me. I love Mercer. I love the impact that I am making there. I actually started part-time...from part-time to interim director in eight years. That’s crazy, huh?

We have a good pulse on developing the Intown infrastructure. And if we don’t keep that going, I think that maybe we might lose it...we might miss that opportunity to bring more people in." - Ansley

04/06/2018

"There was only one thing my parents agreed on, and it was that I hung the moon.

Satisfied? Never. No never. I am always trying to improve...and I look at things very logically. And I always think that I can improve my classroom management, make things really effortless.

I teach general music, pre-K through fifth.

The Bibb County Honor Choir is a district-wide audition choir. It’s relatively inexpensive. It’s an annual membership of $16 a year, and it’s this really beneficial program provided by the Fine Arts Department with Mr. Bridges and gives them an opportunity to have some extracurricular singing going on.

It’s usually 70 to 80 kids. And they meet in this room every Thursday, in the afternoons…

It’s a lot of fun. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do ‘cause I was in the Atlanta Boy Choir when I was seven. Did that for two years. Went to Spivey Hall Children’s Choir in Morrow, Georgia. And I was there for another eight.

So children’s choirs have kinda, kinda always been a part of my life.

As soon as I got this job and realized that I was only gonna teach kids to sing, you know, half the time it wasn’t enough. I was given the opportunity by Mr. Bridges after my first year.

So it’s been a pleasure ever since.

Well, I like being in this position because it gives me an opportunity to show young boys that they have a place in the choir. ‘Cause I was always one of three.

So, this year it's 45 children, at Alex II...and at least half of them are boys.

I think that my greatest accomplishment thus far is that all of my fifth graders sing like angels, and I credit that to myself. I probably shouldn’t ‘cause I didn’t have them since kindergarten.

It’s proven that music stimulates the brain in multiple ways all at once...I mean, for me, why music matters is because it’s a creative outlet. And it’s something that gives, especially children, a feeling of control when they get to be creative.

Being in an educational environment, it’s apparent that they really don’t have a lot of freedom.

When I was their age, I was the worst of the worst. I had home issues goin’ on. So I would act out...then consequently, but also fortunately, I’d make friends with all the principals because I was in their office twice a day.

I saw every counselor at least once a week.

Music was a good outlet for me and a good sense of control, stability.

They have somebody in their corner. I have my eye out...they’re not the ‘bad kid.’ They’re the kid with stuff goin’ on at home.

I do my best to reach out to the kids who have a rough day. Teachers know they can send a kid to my class who’s having a rough day.

So, some of my life was kind of based in unpredictability which is not very stable for a child. Personality wise, that’s turned me into a very unstable person. I’m silly. I’m very silly. And I don’t do well with doing the same thing.

I don’t think I’ll ever have a job where I won’t at least have some creative control.

I love all of my coworkers, and the students are great.

I have my principal...and she’s fabulous. I have my Fine Arts Department Director. He’s fabulous. And the superintendent, he is...he’s got this plan...he’s got a way to do it. They’re called ‘non-negotiables.' If everyone does this with fidelity, then the program will work, the system will work.

I’ve never been in this world...but...what I am seeing...it’s learning, and the kids are getting positive behavior interventions instead of yelling things.

I have a lot of background in technology and other places...I could be somewhere else, doing something different, making a lot more money, but this kind of stuff matters. This kind of stuff saved me. And...I just want to make it a point to them that there are people in their corner.

And music just happens to be a really good medium.

I’m trying to, like, push them a lot further...my second graders are reading seventh grade rhythms.

Chicken wings, my wife, and my two cats feed my soul. And I live downtown in a beautiful loft that we pay an arm and a leg for, ‘cause my wife’s a teacher, too.

Worth it? Oh, yeah. 100 percent. We don’t have any money for anything else, but you can see every church steeple in Macon from my apartment.

And everyone needs to try American Faves and Mo’ on Vineville...That’s the place. Mmhmmm. That’s the one.

My wife and I are friends with nurses and other teachers...because Bibb County invites a lot of introductory teachers. Because of that, we have a lot of young people. And then the hospital draws in a lot of the first-timers, as well.

I don’t necessarily care for Macon being seen as your first home. It could be your last home, too.

My wife and I talk all the time...‘Well maybe we would move to Atlanta where all our friends are and our family...and the arts are very appreciated and well funded…’

Or, we could stay here and be something for the kids that they may not necessarily ever see again.

It’s become home.

We kind of feel like, ‘If not us, then who?’

It’s just, I feel protective of the kids.

Yeah. Absolutely, I have a responsibility. I’m here at 7:15, and then I go home at 5:30.

What I’d really like to do is just walk around all day...go to the organ...go to Greg Black and play around with his organs all day. Or, go to, you know, do the barcade scene, or whatever. But, there’s not really enough time for that as a teacher." - David

Bibb County School District
Alexander Ii Magnet School

03/27/2018

“We are absolutely loving it, I mean every aspect of living downtown.

Yeah, it was a huge decision to sell our home that we’ve been in for 27 years…raised our children in…they were all behind it, which was nice. And now that we’re here, they think we’re just the coolest things ever.

You know, I think the thing that I love the most are the people. It has just been…it has truly been life changing.

Well, it’s just so different…in our neighborhood…our home…was on a cul-de-sac, it was a very quiet street…all of the things that make it very desirable for raising children…and I didn’t realize how isolated I was.

I got in my car every time I needed to do something. And I parked at the closest parking spot and ran into wherever I needed to run, and then I got in my car and went to the next place that I needed to run. All going about my business and running my errands, or whatever.

And, if I ran into someone, they were all doing the same thing. And, if I ever did walk in my neighborhood, it wasn’t my favorite thing to do…but I didn’t see people. I saw people scoot by in their cars. It’s not like I saw my neighbors when I was out walking.

So, here, it’s just been delightful. I mean, I’m walking six or seven miles a day. People are like, ‘You’re the walker.’

‘Yep, that’s me!’

From the minute I get up in the morning, and I go out and I have my cup of coffee…and just watch the town wake up and watch people coming to work, that makes me happy. That’s a wonderful way to start my day.

And, then when I go for my walk, I see just so many different kinds of people. I see people I’ve known for years; I see new people every single day; I see relatively new people that I’ve met since I’ve been here…we’ve been here a year…and everybody in between…professionals, students, homeless people, construction workers, all the restaurant workers…just so many different people.

And they’re my friends. I have made a decision that if I pass someone more than about five times on a regular basis, I stop and introduce myself. That has just been a great thing.

You know, all of the restaurants that we go to, they’re like our family. I’m kind of mentoring one of the young girls that works at a restaurant. Her family is not here. She moved here when she was very young, and she has no family here. So she’s told us that we’re like her parents.

Just lots and lots of new people in our life. And it’s awesome.

I am not a people person. I am quite the opposite, or I have been. And now…I can’t stay inside more than two hours, ‘cause I want to be out there and see people. So, I’ll walk to the bank or walk to mail a letter or just walk.

Honestly, the older I get, I’m excited about change. I don’t want to be that person who is so stuck in her ways that she’s not willing to adapt and change and explore new things as I get older.

So, yeah. We just talked and prayed…

But when we decided to put the house on the market…it sold almost immediately…then we started looking…it was pretty easy to find this spot. We just felt like God had this for us.

I have never once felt unsafe.

For one thing, there are just so many people out. And I see a policeman about every block as they drive by. And the people are just great.

You know, I try not to dwell on fears. My hope is in the Lord, and I don’t worry about things very much.

I think I have every reason to have hope because of that relationship.

What would I tell my 20-year-old self?

We were married very young…had five children, never regretted it. Very hard, very hard to do all that, but… I would say:

‘Just hang on…it is all going to be okay. It’s all going to be better than okay. It’s going to be really great. You’re gonna make it.’

I was successful raising my children, and that was my job. And, you know, my children were not and are not perfect…

But, we all love each other…and we love being together.

That’s been my greatest success.

One of my favorite things to do is bake for people…and I occasionally…either have extra or make extra…so I take ‘em out and share with some of the guys that are workin’ up the street…and it just makes me happy.

There are several little secrets…When you cut it, the biscuit dough, you never twist the biscuit cutter. You just pull it up. Because if you twist it, it can seal the edges, and they don’t rise as much, and they’re not as flaky.

That’s another thought…[opening a bakery]…that would make me happy, too.” - Stacy

Read full story: http://themaconites.com/stacy/

03/15/2018

"But, anyway I was ordained in ‘78.

I went to Israel when I was at George Washington University…and that just sorta opened my eyes. You know, we would be riding on the bus and the driver would say, ‘You see that plane to the left. That’s where David fought Goliath.’ I mean it’s one thing to tell the Bible stories. It’s another thing to actually be there. So, it was kind of that trip that sorta set me on the course that I’ve been on for the last 45 years, or so.

So, I basically came south to Columbus in 1987. Now…[we’ve been] here for 13. After living Columbus and after living in Montgomery, I knew how…smaller Southern cities run. So I was really sorta able to hit the ground running here.

For me, it was, ‘How do you integrate yourself into the community…as quickly as possible?’

It was join the Rotary Club, do the Leadership Macon program…I started going to City Council meetings. It was when Jack Ellis was in his second term and there were all sorts of difficulties that he was countering. So it was kinda interesting to be…a fly on the wall, almost, during that whole thing.

Then, the opportunity presented itself to run for elected office…which I ran for and was lucky enough to get elected to.

It was a time when people were saying, ‘We need good people. We need good people to serve on Council.’

So, I just sort of said, you know, ‘Here I am. Send me.’

And I did that.

I’m glad because I do think that my presence has brought some stability…

The Council, now the Commission, all that just depends on the personalities that are involved because a lot of it is just dictated by who the people themselves are.

So, I talk about being a survivor of the Macon City Council. I think to a certain extent, that’s true.

Because the dynamics of the Council were a lot different than the dynamics of the Commission. I think we’re in a much better place as a community right now.

I think that a lot more people are on the same page than they were before.

I do think that the Mayor and the Commission are moving in a good, positive direction that are enabling things to happen the way that they’re happening down here.

‘Cause, the growth and even still the potential for growth in the downtown area, it’s pretty phenomenal and it’s happening.

And anybody who knows anything about economic development or economic redevelopment knows that it starts downtown and it radiates out.

So, looking at the Mill Hill project. Well, that’s starting to radiate out.

So, I’m pretty optimistic, but it’s not just something that happens overnight. It takes time and money.

Downtown has become a residential neighborhood. It wasn’t 13 or 14 years ago.

We used to debate, ‘Which comes first – the businesses that attract the people or the people that attract the businesses?’

I think it’s the people being here, the population to be served that attracts the business. And we’re doing that now.

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with the way things have worked out.

Things just often happen just to get you where you’re supposed to be going, even though you don’t necessarily know yet where that is. So, in the grand scheme of things I don’t know that I would do anything different. But it really doesn’t matter ‘cause I don’t have a choice at this point.

No matter what happens, you just have to keep moving forward.

I think you’ve got to step up to the plate…in order to attract the people we want to settle here.

Things have a way of working out for the best.

Coming to Macon, accepting the position at Temple Beth Israel was a choice that I made. And when you make those choices, you never know how it’s going to go.

There’s a Yiddish proverb that says, ‘Man plans – or person plans – and God laughs.’

You chart a course in one direction, and the next thing you know, you’re going in a different direction. So, I think you just go with the flow.

There’s always something for me to do. There’s just always something to accomplish. Even in retirement, I’m just as busy as I was before. I’m pretty much doing the same kind of things I was doing.

If you set goals for yourself and if you live your life that way, I just really can’t retire and just sit around and enjoy life.

I’ve gotta be doing something in order to feel my presence is worthwhile.

You put yourself out there and you’re in. Once you’re in, you can’t get out.

Happy…that sorta can change from day to day. But, I see a purpose in my life and the lives of others. Maybe I’m better described as a purposeful person.

Down the pipe there’s gonna be plenty of time to sleep. So you gotta make hay while the sun shines.

Being able to accomplish things and help people gives me a lot of satisfaction.

I think it’s those difficulties you go through that sort of season you. I just think you are a product of the experiences that you have and the choices that you make.

You’ve just gotta do your part. And, ‘your part’ is something you’ve got to define. Letting someone else do it, when you have the capability to do it is not playing your part.

Contentment? My dog, accomplishment, whether it’s large or it’s small – you touch somebody’s life. I guess making a difference would be the overall thing, at least in terms of interacting with other human beings.” - Larry

Full story: http://themaconites.com/larry/

03/06/2018

Tonja: “Inclusivity is…that sense or that ability to be able to ensure that everyone has equal representation in what’s happening. So whether that’s millennials, people of color, people with different sexual orientations…making sure that everyone has that freedom to also feel like they can come to the table.

That is actually one thing that’s really important to me.

One of the challenges in moving back to Macon for me was that, as a young person, as a female, as a black person – all those things kinda in a sense sometimes can combine in a way that’s not…a positive way to be able to feel like you can just jump in and do what you’re used to doing.”

Tiffany: “I think inclusiveness is missing in Macon. It’s not just a black and white issue. It’s young people; it’s older people. There doesn’t need to be a board room full of 19-year-olds, but it doesn’t need to be filled with the same people who are in the same things.

I think if we all just kinda have that inclusiveness and togetherness, that Macon could really accomplish everything great.

I’ll join programs and clubs and all that, and I would be the only young black female in the group. And I encourage friends of mine, especially like black women, to come and that way they’re comfortable. Just to to say, ‘Hey, girl. If you don’t like this company or the way they’re treating you, start your own business.”

I will do that for you. We can go to the Secretary of State’s website, and I will do that for you.

So, that’s something that I just, I try. I mean, I don’t know everything. But everything I do know that can be helpful, I’ll be like, ‘I will do that for you.’

Tonja: “Openness. Communication…it is so serious on alllll levels. Even people who…consider themselves a minority…communicating on whatever lines…just open communication, open dialogue, and being honest. Because I think sometimes we’re afraid to say things; we’re afraid to communicate; we don’t want to say the wrong things…

But if we can say, ‘Hey, this is a honest conversation. This is something that I wanna just come to the table and be honest with you about…’

Then we can have a serious conversation.”

Tonja: “What’s our favorite thing to do in Macon? Can we say, ‘drink wine’?”

Tiffany: “A concert…we love a concert…”

Tonja: “We started a book club. I mean, it’s a book and wine club. Sometimes we read.”

03/02/2018

"Ah! I’m a history buff. So I love culture. In order to learn and love and appreciate the culture of other people, I have to know and love and appreciate my own culture. So, being from Macon, I know that Cotton Avenue has a huge significance to the African American community here. The business community...there’s just so much history, the people, the events that were happening, the things that were happening. I love Cotton Avenue, especially as a place in downtown.

I also know there is a painful history about that as well. And so, I’m one of those people...I can see and learn from mistakes, from those things that are kind of difficult to address and just kind of be able to use that as, I don’t know, something that can draw people closer or bring people together to be able to positively move forward. It’s that culture. I love culture.

It’s what each individual brings at the table, but what connects them to other groups? You could be one whole person as yourself, but then you have all these other things that can connect you to other people. And that’s what I love the most.

I have this thing called ‘creativity.’ And sometimes because I am a creative, even in the business world or the business sense that, I don’t want to say gets me in trouble, but…

Well sometimes you have an idea, and it’s too wild. So, as a creative thinker...I bring my background to the table. I come. I have ideas. I have experiences from all over the world, all over the country that I bring to the table.

I wish for those things to be respected in the same way that people not like me...in that same sense, those things are respected about them.

So sometimes my mind is always going. And so, usually when I’m fresh up, I’m always thinkin’ about my to-do list and how I can get it done most effectively. But my passion itself is, I hate to say ‘helping people’ because it sounds so cliche. But I definitely…I’ve wanted to work the non-profit industry and be able to do something for the community...whether education or political, those are the typical things that are on my mind.

In what way can we best and most effectively commit to these issues and make them, just alleviate them, make them a little bit better?

And when I was younger, I worked a lot with my aunt, she was always volunteering. She was retired at the time. And so after school, I would go hang out with her. She was always helping people. And I think her dragging me around to help other people is definitely part of that.

Travel. I love to travel to anywhere...getting to meet new people, learn about their culture, learn about what they’re doing, how they’re doin’ it. That is, probably, actually what makes me want to get up in the morning - that culture, understanding culture and who people are based on their background...I think that is so beautiful, learning about people." - Tonja

02/24/2018

“Why does my music matter? That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I’m trying to get good enough in school so that I can, can…make my own music matter.

So, I played this summer in Rome with Mr. McDuffie. I was in his quartet. We did the Brahms piano quartet. And he grilled me alive every single rehearsal. He was so rough on me, and it was a very enriching experience. But, he refused to conduct the rehearsals in English. He speaks Italian, which I did not know until the first rehearsal. And…the other two people in the quartet were Italian. And…he would only speak English when he was yelling at me.

But, at the end of the performance, it was, he was, he told me he had never been more proud of me and that he, he was just so intense and so demanding because he said he knew that I could take it and he knew that it would get a fantastic performance out of me and out of our quartet.

And it did.

And I just felt so exhausted after the performance and so relieved and so happy with how we played. And it was really stressful, but the performance was worth all of the intensity and the stress of the rehearsals. And it was such a fulfilling performance.

I’m a junior. I actually play both violin and viola…I have my feet in both ponds right now. I came here as a violin major. I started playing viola over the summer in between my freshman and sophomore year.

There’s really actually no other school that I could kind of straddle the, the line between violin and viola.

Last year, I played both violin and viola in chamber music, and I go to both violin and viola studio and have both violin and viola lessons. And, that’s not something that I would just be able to, to swing sort of last minute anywhere else.

So, I’m very lucky that I had that epiphany that I wanted to play both instruments here.

I think what led me to viola was I played on a really, really nice viola one time and realized how, how deep the sound can go and the sort of depth and the quality that the instrument of a viola can have.

One of the experiences that affirmed it was playing second violin in a Beethoven quartet and then playing viola in the same Beethoven quartet later in the year. And I liked playing the viola in that [quartet] more than I liked playing violin.

But that’s not the case with everything.

There’s just so much good repertoire for both. It’s kind of hard for me to choose one side or the other. So I kind of chose both.

I’m probably going to…there’s fewer violists in the world. And, so, probably career-wise, it’s a smarter move to…to try and pursue something on viola because there’s the thousands and thousand and thousands of people who play violin out there.

But there are lots of people who do both. Pinchas Zukerman is an example. He’s famous in the classical world. My teacher, over the summer, at the Aspen Music Festival also teaches both violin and viola.

That would be ideal, but I guess I’m gonna see whatever opportunities come my way.

I guess a lot of times people are able to reconcile both, and I guess that’s what I’m trying to do.

Probably the ultimate goal for me is to play in an orchestra. And…a conductor once told me that, ‘Whenever you perform a piece of music, you have to remember that sometimes it’s one of your audience member’s first time ever hearing that piece and for some other audience member it will be their last time ever hearing that piece.’

And, that really stuck with me…There’s that kind of mantle of responsibility of…those are different bits of music that are almost personality defining. And so for me as a musician, I might be performing one of those defining bits of life for the last time that they hear it or the first time that they hear it…and then it might go on to be one of their personality defining memories.

Music matters to me, because there are so many things that you can’t put into words, that are easier to put into music, that are able to be expressed more through music. There’s a lot of different examples of composers even being able to enact tons of social change through music and through composing and performing and writing.

Even an example here…we had the ‘What Color is Your Brother?’ concert. That was a hugely inspiring concert for me because I could tell how much it meant to the community. It was a completely packed audience and they were even…audience members were in the church across the street, watching the live stream.

It was so interesting to see how the music…it’s a play that’s put together from real interviews…that are reenacted on stage, and then we played music behind them. And it was a huge responsibility to, to direct the interview in a contextual way that brought it to life in a certain perspective with the music.

I was skeptical when I first heard about the project. Like, ‘OK, there’s gonna be some, some interviews happening and we’re gonna be playing behind them.’

But the end result was, was really stunning to me, someone who had only been in Macon for seven months at that point.

I think it was meaningful to so many people…kind of a snowball effect…because they could see that it was meaningful to so many other people…so many different slices of Macon came into this sort of cohesive, almost ode, to the city.

And, I think that meant a lot to the people who’ve lived here all of their lives who know that it has problems and who know that there’s a lot of work to be done but who still love the place for what it is.

The reason music feeds my soul is connecting with people. I think that’s kind of all we, all we have in life is the relationships that we forge with other people.

—

We actually live on a farm in Pennsylvania…it’s a dairy farm. So we have lots of goats and horses and chickens. And my mom makes her own goat cheese. So, growing up in…Tucson, which is really close to Mexico.

My mom would make this chili relleno and it’s like stuffed chilis with vegetables…she makes that with goat cheese that she’s made from our goats milk. That’d be my last meal.

The last music I want to hear? Mahler’s 9th Symphony and Beethoven Opus 130.” - Keoni

Robert McDuffie Center for Strings

The Maconites

05/08/2018

04/06/2018

03/27/2018

03/15/2018

03/06/2018

03/02/2018

02/24/2018

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