Like I said, I really don't know what kind of church it was, it didn't matter to me, I was out with my friend for a new kind of adventure. This church was not in a middle class neighborhood. It was on the south side of Atlanta where it was poor and primarily black. It had a reputation of not being the safest place to be. In fact, almost 20 years ago to the day, there was a march to honor Martin Luther King Day that I had attended. The march was held in Forsythe County, Georgia...in a town named Cummings to be more exact. I had not yet moved to Atlanta and was a student at a university in Rhode Island, working as the photographer for the school's daily paper...and they sent me down to cover this march. So....the school bus dropped us in Atlanta, we hitched a ride to Forsythe County (all public transportation was full) and hitched a ride back to Atlanta after the march. As it happened, my very best childhood friend was employed at CNN in Atlanta and he agreed to meet me at midnight and our plan was to hit an IHOP and camp out all night catching up and visiting. My residence for the night that was planned for all the students that I traveled to Atlanta with was the gym floor across the street from the MLK Center. John had agreed to meet me there. He was a little bit late and I was anxious to see my friend so I stood outside on the street corner at the Ebenezer Baptist Church...MLK's church....located on the southern side of Atlanta.....John swerved in, slammed on his brakes opened the car door and he started screaming at me. Why was I standing out here all alone? Did I have any idea where I was? Did I know how unsafe this area was? *innocent look* No. I had NO idea. I'm a country girl with a camera visiting the big city. Sooooooooo...I guess that's a long story to your response in that I don't believe the church I went to was full of middle class people, nor were they shy about making a joyful noise! I hear you about being reserved, but isn't that just kind of sad? Not for you personally but for us all? No wonder so many people don't want to go to church...it's boring, stale and can put the most alert person to sleep....like I said, if there was a church around here that could invoke that kind of energy in me, I'd go and never look back. *sigh* What a wonderful memory...thanks for asking us to remember our own experiences!

Michelle