A Thousand Ways to Do Something

Several years ago, as a few of us sat at a picnic table at Refuge Coffee planning a Community Iftar Dinner in Clarkston, Dr. Heval Mohamed Kelli said this: So many people think of a thousand reasons NOT to do something, but what I love about this community in Clarkston is that you think of […]

Explainers, Elucidators, and Enchanters

The photo above features our friend and children’s book author, Nayera Salem, and our favorite artist and muralist, Teresa Abboud.

I am wary of any sentence that begins with, “There are three types of people.” But sometimes a one-word “type” is a great shorthand for defining ourselves. So here goes: There are three types of people: explainers, elucidators, and enchanters. That sentence is my extrapolation from an observation about three different kinds of writers by […]

Would you Radder?

When our youngest granddaughter, Marin, was pre-school age, she loved to regale us with “Would you radder?” questions. You can hear a few of them here. Clearly, Marin didn’t fully grasp the concept. Drop my doughnut and get it yucky or eat it? Fall in a volcano or drop my phone in a volcano? In […]

Welcome is Big Enough for all the Sides

I’m just a human who wants to be welcomed.I’m just a human who wants to welcome, too. This is a universal necessityand an equally universal capacity,written into my DNA and into yours. Distill welcome down to its purest form,and it is nothing more or nothing lessthan love. Kitti MurrayMarch 1, 2024Clarkston, Georgia These are not […]

Confession

Three women working in a coffee truck having fun

I have a confession to make: I’ve felt some resentment lately. This is frightening to me (hence the need to write it down and, thus, I hope, dispense with it!) because I abhor resentment as much as I abhor self-pity. I was brought up to rise above my petty resentments as quickly as possible, a […]

Is this an interruption or is it the thing?

Is this an interruption or is it the thing?

Dear friends of Refuge, I love interruptions. But they do tend to throw my internal universe off balance. I’m not a particularly laser-focused human being anyway, so when I am focused enough to be productive, an interruption can seem like the enemy. Except that interruptions generally come in the form of people. People I happen […]

Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens Remarks to the Press

Anthony J. Blinken & Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens at Refuge Coffee

MAYOR DICKENS: The city of Atlanta is grateful and excited to be able to welcome the Secretary of State here to our beautiful city. Atlanta is indeed an international city, one with global reach, the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, and the home to the world’s busiest airport. But we’re also home to a […]

Refuge Coffee Company closes Sweet Auburn Location

Refuge Coffee Co. Sweet Auburn

The Clarkston-Based Nonprofit Coffee Company Focuses Its Ability to Serve Refugees, Connect Communities and Extend Welcome Across Atlanta ATLANTA, GEORGIA — September 23, 2022 — Refuge Coffee is closing its Sweet Auburn location at 145 Auburn Ave., on Sept. 23, after almost three years serving the downtown neighborhood through shutdowns and other challenges. The Refuge […]

The Art of Guesting – Part 2

A young boy writing in chalk

Last week, I wrote to you about the beauty of guesting, of just showing up. Refuge sits in a community of the most gracious hosts, so it didn’t take me long after my husband and I moved here to learn from the many visits in our neighbors’ homes that being a guest is actually one of […]

The Art of Guesting – Part 1

a red train caboose

My husband is the caboose in his family, the youngest of four sons. He always says he never had to plan or lead anything. All he had to do was show up. I, on the other hand, am the oldest, and I’ve been acting like the matriarch-in-charge since my first sibling was born. For both […]