A Season for Believing

As published in the Tampa Tribune November 21, 2007.

Years ago, late on a Sunday afternoon, I found myself sitting in my favorite café in the North End of Boston, calculating whether to buy another cappuccino or save the few dollars I had in my pocket for subway tokens to get back and forth to work that week. Post-college, I was broke, as usual, and relying on cigarettes and coffee to keep the stomach from rumbling too much. (more…)

Danger! Troll Crossing

Sarasota County is in desperate need of new signage at major crossroads, especially those near bridges.

Don’t believe me? Read on, dear readers, and remember, these are just a few troll encounters — all but one of which occurred within one emotionally unnerving week in October. I’ll let you ponder what that means for a single, sentient Sarasota woman during the other 51 weeks of the year.

Bachelor #1

Calls on Wednesday to invite me out on Sunday. (more…)

Thankful for what matters

Originally published October 2007.

Newspapers – good ones — help foster connections and compassion within a community, and I’m grateful to be a small part of that through the Pelican Press.

But without readers, newspapers (not to mention moi) would be out of business. (more…)

One Thomas Harassment Story Begats Another

As published in the Tampa Tribune October 11, 2007

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a new book out and is talking trash about Anita Hill. Knicks coach Isiah Thomas is in the hot seat for hurling names and unwanted attentions at a top Knicks female executive. (more…)

Dateless in Sarasota aka the KitKat Man

Did you know that Sarasota is one of the best cities in the country to be single and dating … as long as you’re over 55 and pulling down $200,000 a year!? I came across that tidbit of information recently in Sarasota Magazine and have been debating moving back to Boston ever since.

Actually, I’m a bit relieved. After all, I’m not 55 and don’t make 200 grand, so, yippee! – I finally know why I’m dateless on Saturday nights in Sarasota. (more…)

Out on a limb for love

Another September 11th has come and gone. Six of them now since the first, and we’re still afraid. Maybe even more afraid. Of terrorists, of global warming, of war, of the stock market.

But mostly we’re afraid of each other. (more…)

Come on, and take a (nearly) free ride

At 50 cents a ride — about a third of what folks pay in other parts of the country — Sarasota County’s bus fares have long offered local folks one of the few good deals they get in this ever-more-expensive town.

Now, the County wants to raise the fare from 50 to 75 cents to offset $750,000 from its looming budget crunch, and they’ve invited the community to comment at three upcoming weekday meetings to be held from 4 to 6 p.m.

Most working folks punch out around 5:15 p.m. If they are bus riders, that means getting from their cubicle chair or from under the chassis of the car they’re working on, or away from the dust-bunnied households they clean for, in time to walk to the nearest bus stop, wait, then ride a circuitous route on a frequently stopping bus in rush-hour traffic, to arrive before the meeting ends at 6 p.m. – all in less than forty-five minutes. Not exactly making it easy for bus-riding worker-bees to voice their concerns.

When the County announced its proposed fare increase, they were careful to specify that it would affect everyone, including persons with disabilities and the elderly. Should they maybe have mentioned that the single biggest block of potential bus users — roughly 2,500 County employees – will continue to be given a free ride?

According to its website, Sarasota County employees can ride the bus for free, anytime, anywhere. Not just to go back and forth to work, but to go to the movies, the Farmer’s Market, the beach, wherever.

I’m not saying County employees don’t deserve a free ride … heck, I’d like one too. And the 25 cent increase, that’s chump change, right?

But 50 cents roundtrip, 300 days a year? I’m here to tell you that for some of us, an extra $150 bucks is all that stands between affording a medical prescription or new pair of glasses … or not.

How about a program where each County employee who doesn’t use the free pass could donate it via a lottery system to some needy citizen who surely would? There’d be some administrative overhead, but I’ll bet it would help fill at least some of the half-empty buses rattling around town.

Or, why not keep the feel-good 50 cent fare for everyone and sell advertising instead? In Raleigh, North Carolina, businesses shell out $1,250 a month for huge vinyl wrap ads plastered onto public buses. If Sarasota sold advertising on just 50 buses, there’s $750,000 right there.

I hate to think of even more advertising in my field of vision. But if it means continuing to be able to provide cheap transportation to those who need and deserve it the most – the environmentally responsible, disabled, elderly, or the simply poor folks who can’t afford a car — then I’ll happily sit in my ancient Camry, or on the back of my bike, and stare at advertising as big as a bus … just as long as all County residents – not just County employees – can take a (nearly) free ride.

S

No health insurance? Shut up and eat some cake!

While the infamous “let them eat cake” line may never have been uttered by Marie Antoinette, the sentiment is real – and enduring — enough: Why should the well-off worry about the peasants not having enough bread to eat when there’s plenty of cake to go around the palace halls?

The story of Antoinette’s casual lack of concern and empathy and understanding for those less fortunate may have been apocryphal, but our Commander in Chief’s latest blunder during his recent press conference is not. It’s there on video and in transcript.

“I mean, people have access to health care in America,” he said. “After all, you just go to an emergency room.” (more…)

Leave the bum … take the cannoli

Love lessons, Mafia-princess style:

“Leave the bum … take the cannoli.”

If you’ve fallen in with a loser (he’s addicted to television, never has any cash, doesn’t like to work), don’t hire your local goodfella to take him for a one-way walk. Just drop the bum like yesterday’s (bad) news and leave him on the couch where you found him.

Oh, and take the cannoli. You probably paid for it. (more…)

Spooksville, USA

This column ran in print in May 2007, but I’ve brought it back from the dead in honor of Halloween and spooks everywhere!

Last Sunday morning, after watching Tim Russert hold former CIA Director George Tenet’s feet to the fire on Meet the Press, all I could say was …”Somebody get me a double vodka, no rocks; it must be after noon somewhere.”

On reflection, I would have been better off asking for a ghostbuster. (more…)