Cash cows … free milk … and where’s the beef? The written word woes of Sarasota media.
Sarasota’s print pubs are no longer the cash cows they were in the halcyon boom days … and everybody from writers to readers are paying the price …
That’s my story — my new story in Creative Loafing newspaper — out on newstands next week (July 15), but already live and rantin’ on the paper’s website at: Written Word Woes.
Here’s a snippet in case you’re interested … and feel free to comment either on the CL website or back here — I blog back on both.
Fewer reporters are actually going out and covering live and in-person the news as it happens, he says, and that could mean Florida returns to its “good-ole-boy, backroom-deal roots because nobody’s around to cover its Government In The Sunshine meetings.”
Dogs and their peeps … in MC’s ‘hood
I have a love/hate relationship with most of my neighbors. Nearly all of them have dogs.
I love dogs.
It’s their owners I sometimes hate. (more…)
Sarasotans show their love of American soil on Independence Day
Siesta Beach 7:30 a.m., the day after. Makes you proud to be an American, especially an American living in Sarasota, Florida.
Act today to get a free feline! Feline Independence Day!
Hey, I just heard on Channel 7 news that today and Monday are Feline Independence Days at the Humane Society of Sarasota County. Basically, if you ADOPT A KITTY OR CAT TODAY OR MONDAY — YOU GET ALL THE FEES WAIVED COMPLETELY (at least that’s what I think I heard! — visit www.hssc.org to learn more. Apparently you have to say the words WHEN FREEDOM PURRS to get the kitty cat completely free — with all adoption fees and neutering and shots, etc., included — check out the website to make sure I’m right about this. (more…)
One of the coolest places in Sarasota … for kids and adults
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” and that down-to-earth concept is the driving philosophy behind one of the best-kept secrets for cultivating young minds and bodies in all of Sarasota: The Children’s Garden. (more…)
Critters of a different kind
Last weekend, before I came down with some kind of wild and wooly bug, I spent some time out at my Mom’s house out in the country. My brother was in town and we hung out for a while and saw a gator over at the Myakka State Park.
There was more critter action right in the front yard of my Mom’s house than there was at the Park. To wit: (more…)
Sarasota firemen rescue MC and her cats!!!
Two kind of drop-dead, gorgeous, sexy, and sweet firemen just left my house.
MC (in the middle) with firemen in Boston (during a city-wide scavenger hunt that just happened to involve getting a photo-op with firemen. Yes, I was the mastermind behind the scavenger party!)
Okay, they left my driveway, but still … it was very close. (more…)
Live … from SRQ … it’s County Town Hall live!
Hey — this is really cool. Sarasota County is having a public discussion tonight (Monday) at 6:30 p.m. — it’s going to be a community conversation about county budget issues that affect all of us. It’s like a virtual Town Hall meeting and the folks at the county ratcheted things up several notches by implementing several ways that county taxpayers can participate. (more…)
MC Coolidge — Best Blogger … I could get used to the sound of that!
But in the meantime, I’ll have to settle for Best Blogger “Finalist” … and I’ll have to settle for seeing it … not hearing it. Look what Sarasota Magazine just SUPER sweetly delivered to me today! And, yup, it’s going up proudly on my office wall. (Now, if only I could glow as radiantly as the woman on the cover!)
Hunkering down for hurricane season
As we’re already being told ad nauseum, hurricane season is upon us. I’m the first one to admit to being a scaredy-cat when it comes to a land-falling big one, but on the other hand, there are some things to enjoy about the next several months.
Number one at the top of my list — tourist season is over! All my favorite places get quieter and easier once the out-of-state license plates disappear.
On a sticky July Saturday, I can finally snag a seat outside my favorite sidewalk café along Main Street. On a slow Friday night in the dog days, I can actually find a parking spot outside that ultra-hip neighborhood hang-out I can’t get near the rest of the year. I can take a chair in the nearly empty bar, order a chilly Chardonnay, and toss back a few jumbo shrimp, all in relative quiet. (more…)
