Beyond gun control
My column in today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune talks about the recent spate of gun violence in Sarasota and Manatee counties and discusses MLK’s idea of the “violence of spirit” that is really behind physical violence.
You can read it in today’s TICKET — in today’s newspaper or tomorrow for FREE in the old Creative Loafing newsstand boxes found throughout the city.
Or, you can read it online here — Tackling Internal Violence.
This cougar prefers panthers …
Well, the title is a bit misleading for two reasons: I’m a cougar in age only (any female over 35 and not dead yet)
MC's one and only cougar-ish pose.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a gorgeous male … Click on this link to see my kind of guy … looking and walking … like a king.
Facing foreclosure — Stan Zimmerman’s two-part series
If you haven’t read Stan Zimmerman’s two-part series on foreclosure in the Pelican Press newspaper — you should. I know the second part is out on stands right now … or you can read it online here at Foreclosures: crisis of decades
Zimmerman interviewed many people for the story on deep background and wrote, “We are in a collision between Great Depression-era law and ultra-modern finance.”
It’s detailed and insightful reporting … and necessary reading even if you’re not directly affected by the foreclosure crisis — you are most definitely indirectly affected. You can read the first part of the series here:
Foreclosure not the end of pain.
Zimmerman, who’s collected plenty of press awards over the years, should nab another for this series.
It’s so well-written but a bit hard to read without feeling overwhelmed at how to work through this challenge that is displacing and up-ending the lives of tens of thousands of families and individuals just in Sarasota County.
I’m a hah-ah-ah-ahnkytonk woman … gimme, gimmee, gimmee a honkeytonk man!
I loved and hated Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction — loved the acting, loved the Dali-esque mania, loved the script and dialogue … the pulpy violence — not so much. But still, I have a soft place in my heart for people and performances that walk the edge of weird wit and wacky whimsy.
So, in that case, I want everyone to not miss Fred Eaglesmith and the Ginn Sisters at Ace’s in Bradenton on Saturday night — Jan 15. 
Yes, it’s out of the way, and that’s what makes it so good. Just appoint a DD and you’re all set.
Recently appearing on the David Letterman show (and I saw them in person last year), Eaglesmith hypnotizes with his gravelly-voiced storytelling of freight trains, firearms, and fickle women (though I find his lyrics just this side of misogynistic and a bit too ready to “get a gun” — he’s still got a way with words and singing) and the Ginn Sisters back him up with sexy, whimsical, rock-solid vocals, and even perform their own songs – with clever lyrics and just enough shimmying. They’re just kind of a goofy sexy and isn’t that the best kind of sexy?
Aces is the perfect old-fashioned honky tonk – unpretentious bar food, cheap drinks; and the best live music in these parts. If you go, tell ’em MC sent you!
$20 advance; $25 at the door; 4343 Palma Sola Blvd. (behind the 7-11 at Cortez Rd., and 86 St. W.); 795.3886 for tix and more info.
Making Paid Parking Palatable … if that’s even possible!
My Sense and the City column this week is all about the paid parking — using meters downtown — situation in Sarasota.
“I get that the city needs money and is hurting financially. But here’s a news flash: so are the rest of us.”
You can read the column on page 7 of today’s TICKET (available for FREE at newstands throughout the city where the old Creative Loafing boxes are) or read it online at Making Paid Parking Palatable.
Obama in Tucson
I felt immeasurably sad tonight thinking of the people in Tucson who died or who were shot or who have been left without loved ones. I felt sad for our country.
I felt amazed — really just struck — to hear stories of how two husbands put themselves in front of their wives to take the bullets themselves. That kind of heroism, selflessness, thinking of their wives — not thinking really, just acting — in the quickest most honest way to protect someone they love. That’s astonishing, but when I think about it — it seems like most men would probably do that. That’s just amazing. And the other people, too, the ones who tackled or kicked away ammunition or helped those who’d been hit.
I was moved and strengthened by President Obama’s speech tonight and hope I will take his admonishments to heart. If you didn’t hear his speech you can hear it or read it by clicking here: Obama in Tucson.
I really appreciated his portraits of the people who were killed and these words are what have stayed with me and what I hope will continue to stay with me as an American, as a woman:
“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.”
Florida Vets for Common Sense — hear all about it tonight
At 6:30 tonight on WSLR 96.5 LPFM, lradio program “Local Matters” host Joe Hendricks will be talking with Gene Jones, founding member and President of Florida Veterans for Common Sense — and organization that works to reintegrate returning veterans. I think they’re also going to be discussing the war in Afghanistan.
You can listen on the radio or on the website at: http://wslr.org/listen-live/
Tucson and the Palin Effect
We can’t — shouldn’t — blame Sarah Palin for what happened in Tucson … but (more…)
Skipping stones … in the age of distraction
My Sense and the City column in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune tells about my recent experience watching a Dad teach his two sons to skip stones across the water.
Skipping stones — I really didn’t think boys did that anymore. Didn’t imagine Dads taught that anymore.
Glad to see I was wrong.
The story is on page E7 in today’s TICKET section … or you can read it online by clicking the hyperlinked words above.
A Selby gentleman, lady, and scholar
Last week, I had the pleasure and the honor of participating in the William G. (the gentleman) and Marie (the lady) Selby Foundation annual Selby Scholar Symposium, held at Michael’s on East.
The Symposium is an annual event that connects “mentors” from the community with “scholar” students from the local school systems who are attending college in Florida and beyond. The Foundation helps these students with scholarships — which is tremendously important, but also connects them with people from their own community who work or volunteer in fields that relate to what the student is studying.
My Selby Scholar was a lovely — beautiful, in fact — very bright, poised young woman named Alexis who graduated from Riverview High School, and is studying Journalism and Political Science at UCF.
This is the second year I’ve been asked to participate in the program and I love it — it’s so rewarding to sit with a young student and listen to his or her hopes and dreams and then give them ideas, advice, pointers, and my special “don’t make the same mistakes I did” mini-lecture. Alexis was very gracious when I chattered on and on — I told her as a freelance writer I don’t get away from my ball and chain at-home computer too often so when I do — I talk … a lot!
There was a tremendous crowd at the event — I was seated with BIZ941 Editor Susan Burns, Mayor Kelly Kirschner and City Manager Richard Bartolotta (luckily, this was a few days before Kirschner gave Bartolotta a poor grade in the City Commissioners’ annual review session).
Organized by Selby Foundation President Dr. Sarah H. Pappas (along with an incredible support team who helped her pull the large event off without a hitch — and amazingly, given the big crowd, mid-day schedule, and people coming from all over the area — started and ended on time!) the event also raised several thousand dollars and collected a sizable donation of food goods for All Faiths Food Bank.
Other familiar faces included Williams Parker Attorney Dan Bailey, Chef Derek Barnes, Sarasota Herald-Tribune Prez Diane McFarlin, Architect Guy Peterson, CAP “Brandtrepreneur” Sam Stern, Janice Zarro, Exec Director of The Women’s Resource Center, and Ringling Pres Larry Thompson. And that’s just a smattering of the many, many talented folks from the community who signed on to mentor the young people who — who knows? — might wind up in their mentors’ shoes some day. Literally there was everyone from medical examiners to school principals to pharmacy owners, to artists, professors, bankers, construction industry bigwigs, and nurses.
Keynote speaker was Beverly Alter who gave us fascinating insights into the differences between generations of workers in the current workforce — a 22 year-old working with a 63-year old is going to have dramatically different expectations, desires, and context for interaction and vice versa. Was especially helpful for me because one of my biggest clients has a workforce of over 350 people — some who think email is an archaic communication tool, some who think Twitter is for nitwits. Since I help that company communicate internally — it was a lot of food for thought.
Overall, the Symposium was an incredibly productive event that wasn’t just “feel-good” — it was “do-good” on so many levels — for the scholar students themselves, the hungry in our community, and for the mentors who got to spend a little part of their year helping others begin their young, ambitious climb up the ladder of whatever kind of success matters to them most.
And none of it would have been possible without the original gentleman and lady (the Selbys) whose generosity way back when is still fueling dreams and realities in the millennium.
