Atlanta: OK for smart people, bad for photo ops

You might have heard about the Daily Beast's ranking of 56 cities in terms of "smartness." Atlanta earned a spot as the 23rd smartest city. Not great, but still twice as smart as Houston!

Unfortunately, we're almost dead last when it comes to appearances — at least judging from the Beast's photo slideshow of the nation's smart and not-so-smart cities.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is depicted as a [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=4|mysteriously sleek urban landscape]. Denver is characterized, appropriately enough, by an [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=5|outdoor sports enthusiast]. D.C. gets [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=8|cherry blossoms, joggers and the Washington Monument]. Baltimore looks [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=10|glittery and exciting]. Milwaukee is [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=15|oddly elegant]. Charlotte is [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=16|leafy, with tall buildings]. Kansas City seems [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=17|kind of awesome]. Even Pittsburgh has a [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities-from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#gallery=787;page=27|pleasantly urban cachet].

And what iconic image was used to represent Atlanta? The lovely view of the skyline as glimpsed across Piedmont Park's Lake Clara Meer? Nope. The final resting place of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? Unfortunately, no. The gritty graffiti gracing the Krog Street tunnel? We wish. The overwrought imagery of a Coke logo? Nada. The slightly awkward architecture of the Georgia Aquarium? Not even that.

Actually, we're represented by the lamest, most provincial, lowest common denominator bushel of cliches ever. Jeez. This ain't Fort Valley, folks.

But hey, at least we're not as generic as Fresno.