Cakes and ale

We had a party Monday night to celebrate the publication of "The Class of '65" at Manuel's, the grand old tavern that has been a gathering place for Atlanta journalists since the 1950s. Another overflow crowd came out, most of them colleagues from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- including Diane Lore, a former editor of mine, whose daughter Emmie (seen here with me) is an aspiring writer who wanted to observe a book signing. Emmie is writing a novel about a dog that's part robot. I can relate; I live with a cat that's part couch. It was a lovely evening, and I was especially glad to see Dallas Lee, another former editor of mine, who lived at Koinonia during the late 1960s and wrote a lively biography of Clarence Jordan, "The Cotton Patch Evidence." Thanks to my pals Ralph Ellis and Susan Puckett for hosting the event, to Frank Reiss and A Cappella Books for moving the merch again, to all my friends from the newspaper and elsewhere who attended -- and to Manuel's for being Manuel's. And special thanks to my wife, Pamela Brown Auchmutey, whose birthday was Monday. The occasion was duly noted with a song and a cake, which tasted very sweet after all that beer.