The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I-20 wreck
Filmmaker Adelin Gasana interviews experts and fans in ‘High on Heels.’
to have happened,” he said.
During the investigation, eastbound traffic was forced off I-20 onto the Downtown Connector. There were major delays on the Westside, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
The interstate reopened after authorities cleared the scene about 8:45 a.m., leaving behind only slight delays.
On Jan. 15, police closed the westbound lanes of I-20 after a car crashed into a guardrail near Capitol Avenue.
Its driver, 32-year-old Ernesto Anderson, was shot in the head and later died at a hospital. The investigation lasted nearly three hours but cleared before the start of the evening rush.
Another deadly shooting Feb. 10 prompted a shutdown of I-85 in Midtown just as the morning commute was getting underway. An offduty Jonesboro police officer discovered two men shot inside a wrecked sedan near the entrance to I-75 North about 5:15 a.m. One of the men was dead at the scene, and the other was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Neither was identified.
All southbound lanes were shut down for about four hours as police investigated, prompting massive traffic delays in Midtown, Buckhead and all through the northern suburbs.
Police are asking anyone with information about the latest shooting to contact the department’s homicide unit. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and be eligible for rewards of up to $2,000, by contacting Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, texting information to 274637 or visiting the Crime Stoppers website.
The Braves’ 29-game exhibition slate is around the corner, with the first game Sunday. As always, much of the intrigue will lie not just with the big-leaguers, but also with the franchise’s future.
A look at the Braves’ top 10 prospects (according to Baseball America) and their outlooks for the spring and 2021 season: 1. OF Cristian Pache
Pache is expected to be the Braves’ starting center fielder. When unexpectedly thrown into postseason action, he impressed, putting up competitive at-bats and showing his Gold Glove potential. Most important, the moment
Braves at Rays, Sunday, 1:05 p.m., 680, 93.7, 100.5
didn’t look too big for him. Opening day in Philadelphia certainly won’t be, either. This should be the first of many seasons when Pache plays center field in a Braves uniform.
2. RHP Ian Anderson
Anderson is smack in the middle of the Braves’ rotation after a superb rookie season. He had a 1.95 ERA in six starts after a midseason promotion. Anderson was even better in the playoffs, owning a 0.94 ERA in four starts. The right-hander has ace potential. Mike Soroka, Max Fried and Anderson allow fans to dream of another “Big 3” era. 3. OF Drew Waters
If Waters debuts this season, that will come later in the summer. While he still needs some seasoning in the minors, his talent is clear. The switch-hitter will be the organization’s clear top prospect when Pache and Anderson graduate. A productive spring — and showing he’s becoming a more selective hitter — would help his case. One question that will be popular in the next year: Is Waters the final piece of the long-term outfield alongside Pache and Ronald Acuna Jr., or is he the Braves’ greatest trade asset? Time will tell.
4. C Shea Langeliers
Langeliers, a top-10 pick in the 2019 draft, is an excellent defensive catcher who’s already impressed with his ability to manage pitchers. He has room to grow at the plate (the team feels he’ll develop more power). The 23-year-old isn’t too far away.
5. RHP Bryse Wilson
Wilson had a forgettable 2020 season until the playoffs, when he outdueled Clayton Kershaw in the National League Championship Series. His performance, confidence and moxie that night revived interest in the burly righty. Wilson, along with Kyle Wright, leads the Braves’ rotation depth. The realities of a 162-game season should present him with opportunities. This is a big season for Wilson, who’s not established in the Braves’ future.
6. C William Contreras
Most teams are desperate for one young, talented backstop. The Braves are blessed with two (if not more). Contreras made his MLB debut last season and impressed manager Brian Snitker, who constantly raved about Contreras’ poise and maturity. Contreras is competing with Alex Jackson for the backup catcher spot behind Travis d’arnaud. Athletically gifted with legitimate offensive potential, Contreras is one of the most interesting players in the organization. More time learning under d’arnaud and catching coach Sal Fasano should help accelerate his development.
7. LHP Kyle Muller
Muller is a massive presence. He possesses tantalizing physical tools as a 6-foot-7 lefty whose fastball plays in the high 90s. Baseball America reported his velocity hit 100 mph at the alternate training site last year. Muller is working to hone his command, and if that happens, he could reach another level. If he remains more erratic, worst case, he could still be an effective reliever. This will be a crucial season for him.
8. SS Braden Shewmake
Shewmake, a first-round pick in 2019, could develop into a high-end utility player. The biggest question is whether he’ll grow into more power. But even now, he projects as the modern-day, versatile contributor that every contender craves. Shewmake was expected to push through the system quickly, and making his debut this season shouldn’t be ruled out. A strong impression in the next month would be valuable toward that goal.
9. LHP Jared Shuster
The Braves drafted Shuster out of Wake Forest in the first round of the 2020 draft. Shuster exhibited a jump in velocity, hovering in the mid-90s and topping out at 97 mph before the season was shut down. If he maintains that, and continues developing his slider, the late-bloomer could reach new heights. His fastball/ change-up combo made scouts consider him a highfloor player. Expect a rapid rise through the minors.
10. LHP Tucker Davidson
Snitker spoke well of Davidson this week. The southpaw made his MLB debut in the regular-season finale last season, and the organization will get a more extensive look at him in 2021. Davidson projects as solid starter depth who could help the bullpen. His command will determine whether he starts longterm. In the immediate future, a nice spring would keep him on the radar if an opportunity arises earlier in the year.
Back with the Washington Nationals after sitting out last season because of COVID19 concerns, Ryan Zimmerman said Thursday the time away made him realize he is nowhere close to being ready to retire at age 36.
“I missed the game a lot,” Zimmerman said. “I missed what it takes to prepare every day. As you get older, there’s more and more you have to do to get ready, but I missed all of that, as well.”
The two-time NL All-star was one of the first players to announce he would opt out in 2020.
The father of a newborn son, and the son of a mother with multiple sclerosis, Zimmerman
decided the safest course of action would be to not play amid a pandemic. There were other factors he considered, including whether he would need to change his pregame and postgame routines.
“Was it really worth it for me to risk injury to myself, the health of my family, at the time, for a season that was 60 games? Who knows if people really thought it was going to make it through? If people thought it was going to count as a real season?” Zimmerman said. “I don’t really second-guess or wish I would’ve played,” he said.
Arriving in Florida this time around — he brought his wife and three children — raised new questions.
“You just didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if I was going to be the weird guy wearing a mask in the grocery store,” Zimmerman said. “But ... I think a lot more people are more aware now — obviously of themselves, but I think of other people, as well. Hopefully if anything positive can come out of this, maybe we’ll start caring about other people more, which would be nice.”
Zimmerman, the first amateur draft pick in Nationals history in 2005, is expected to be the backup to freeagent addition Josh Bell at first base. “He’s faced all the guys I’m going to face this year,” Bell said. “He knows all the umpires, he knows all the zones, he knows the division more than anyone else on this squad.”
It’s a very strange contradiction.
On one hand, high heels are a symbol of a beauty standard, so women will risk bunions, broken ankles, hammertoe, joint degeneration, back pain and a host of other maladies to wear them.
And yet women of various ages, races and backgrounds are quite literally and often inexplicably “High on Heels,” if the women featured in this Atlanta-made documentary are any indication.
From Atlantans like entrepreneur Velicia Hill and model Ashley Larue to Paris shoe designer Tanya Heat — the inventor of a shoe with interchangeable heels, from stacked to stiletto — the women interviewed in
“High on Heels” see them as the ultimate power footwear in the office or the club.
“I actually wear heels when I’m having a bad day,” says dancer and choreographer Jessica Washington. “It’s a way of picking myself up.”
Like a sports car for the male ego, high heels’ allure is culturally determined but also deeply psychological for the women who sport stilettos
or wedges.
“A source of power, confidence, sexiness, empowerment,” says television host Greer Howard, in summing up the powerful, multifaceted appeal of heels.
“When you wear them, you do sort of feel like you could do anything.”
Rwandan-born filmmaker Adelin Gasana, 34, who lives in Vinings, is the man behind “High on Heels.”
“Raising awareness and shining a light on what women experience will give men appreciation for what the women in their lives endure,” says Gasana in explaining his interest in the topic. Gasana anticipated screening the film on the festival circuit in 2020, but COVID-19 ended up changing his plans. Instead, the longtime documentarian and Court TV editor who counts filmmaker
Errol Morris among his influences decided to pivot and offer his film to stay-at-home viewers for free on Youtube and Vimeo.
Though some of the film’s structure can feel scattershot, with Gasana relying on endless shots of high heels as narrative filler, he’s an earnest filmmaker looking for a window into what, for many men, must feel like a hidden, secret world.
For women, “High on Heels” may offer surprising insights into the meaning and effect of this iconic female armor they may have never considered.
“High on Heels” features a profusion of personal testimony to the psychological appeal of a pair of stilettos in a gamboling mix of interviews with Atlanta women professing their outsize love of heels.
The women interviewed attest to the almost erotic power of the clicking of approaching heels on a floor and conjure up the significance of that first pair of high heels for a young girl as a symbolic rite of passage into womanhood.
The film has some fascinating insights into the origin of high heels courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum’s Lisa Small, curator of the 2014 exhibition “Killer Heels: The Art of the High-heeled Shoe.” Heels were originally worn by cavalrymen in 10th-century Persia “to stabilize their feet in the stirrups,” says Small in a filmed lecture. Men in the French court also wore heels before they were adopted by women in the 18th century.
“High on Heels” also features testimony from those laboring in the stiletto trenches. To offer a sobering corrective to the power of the heel are witnesses to its pain, like podiatrist Cheree Eldridge and chiropractor Kerstin Halstead, who talk about the myriad ways a woman can do damage to her feet and back while under the influence of heels. “For the vast majority, they do experience pain at some point,” says Eldridge.
“High on Heels,” as the title implies, is largely a fan’s eye view of this iconic footwear. A lone dissenting voice is model Nzinga Imani, who doesn’t believe the hype. “My issue with women saying they feel more empowered with the heels on,” says Imani, “[is] it’s a mental conditioning to believe that because you’re seen that way when you have them on.”
“At the end of the day, I would much rather not have to wear them.”
DISNEY PRODUCTIONS
Rapunzel shows her prince a “merry time” in her lonely tower while her sorceress guardian is away but then later is puzzled. “Tell me, Mother Gothel, why are my clothes becoming too tight? They don’t fit me anymore.”
Rapunzel later gives birth to twins.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). You will let go of a little piece of pride in the hopes of coming to a harmonious place in a relationship. Other parties may not be so willing, at least not initially.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Love is many things. Today, it’s being able to correctly assess and cater to an emotional state. Turn your nurturing powers in on yourself or turn them to another person. Either way, the love begets more love.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). There’s a situation you pursued in the past. The doors were closed back then. Now brings the beginning of the turn. This one doesn’t need to be seized so much as slowly.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You admire emotional restraint, but don’t be fooled. People who seem in control of their “feels” are possibly not feeling them quite as deeply as you are. Your passion intensifies the highs and lows.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ll be bright in two moments: the practice moment that happens in the safety of an empty room and the moment of inhale that pauses the action just long enough to insert yourself between opportunity and potential.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). There was a time you didn’t know the standard, only your own experience which didn’t teach you enough. Now you know how people can help one another, so you see what’s not going on as clearly as what is.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your sense of focus is on point and you’ve never been so serious about advancing your interests and the interests of those you answer to. Narrow down your task list so the big important things get the best of you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).
If there’s one thing you don’t need today, it’s advice. For starters, your intuition is on fire. And furthermore, you’re going to do this thing in a way that’s so unique, no one else has thought of it yet.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21).
There is no such thing as failure. If you’re putting things out into the world, trying things, working through fear and limitation, risking your pride, then you’re winning no matter what the outcome.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19).
Impart the plan and cast your supporters in fitting roles. Then, watch it unfold. You’re a guide through this process. Don’t get so involved in the labor that you forget to put your head up to get the overview.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18).
There are people you appreciate because you can count on them to make good sense and help you onto the right path. Then there are people you appreciate because they don’t have to make sense to be loveable.
Because you want to know what others want, you ask, fully expecting to get back lies. It takes a special kind of listening to get past social niceties and know which questions to ask to get to the real truth.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). IF TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY:
Spiritual development elevates your experience. Whether pleasures are many or few, goals are met or not, relationships grind or sail blissfully, your joy, grace, gratitude and compassion flow strong through it all. Professional shifts align brilliantly with your talents. Bonus money allows for fun improvements. Virgo and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are 9, 30, 33, 1 and 14.