Sarasota News & Books closing … vita sine libris mors est*

*Life without books is death.

I don’t pretend to know the business side of running a bookstore/café like Sarasota News & Books, but I do claim to know the emotional side of being one of its patrons.

When I moved back to Sarasota five years ago after living in Boston for years, Sarasota News & Books saved my sanity. Not being a barfly or club-goer, it was at this bookstore that I became a regular, staving off crazy-lonely feelings in the company of books and book-lovers. It was there that I scribbled out the beginnings of an essay entitled Café Chess – Très Sexy that would later launch my (so-called) career as a writer in Sarasota in a column that celebrated the cerebrally-sexy chess players sitting at the café’s outdoor tables. (more…)

MC in today’s Creative Loafing newspaper

Hey, my article on Chief Abbott (Cop-out in Copland) appears in print today on page 10 of Creative Loafing newspaper. I’d love to hear any and all comments (pro and con) about my suggestion of firing or requesting the resignation of Chief Abbott — so feel free to post your comments here.

If you want to read the story on this blog, just click here: Cop-out in Copland

Cop-out in copland

In cop-land, cops make a huge deal about “having” someone’s back. “I’ve got your back” means “I’m with you; I’m not going anywhere; you can count on me,” and cops use it everywhere – whether it’s on a sweat-drenched basketball court on their day off or in a busted-up alley chasing down a jacked-up and possibly armed suspect in the middle of the night.

Having the back of a cheater or a buddy who’s robbing a convenience store, um, not so impressive. But having the back of your best friend who’s going through a divorce, or having the back of a fellow cop who’s busting through the front door of a crack house, yeah, that’s giving good back.

Sometimes people do things that make you realize, “Hey, I shouldn’t have this guy’s back.” Like if your coworker is stealing or your husband knocks the crap out of you – those are no-brainers; you don’t stay loyal to people who aren’t loyal to you or the company you work for.

Sometimes, with a Police Chief, for example, you’ve got to have the backs of a lot of people. So many people, in fact, that it must be a tough job sometimes to tell whose back you should be protecting when. But that’s precisely the job of a chief of police – to know how, when, and who to protect for the greater good of all.

Photo from City website.

Socrates, sex, and the SRQ

Tonight, at 7:00 pm, I’ll be at Sarasota News & Books — one-half of a two-author presentation. The woman going on before me is Theresa Rose, who, if I were a betting woman, I’d say she’s going to be talking about sex!

And that’s a good thing. ‘Cause immediately following her, I’m going to bore the pants off of anyone who still has theirs on after her probably smokin’ reading — by talking about, of all things, Socrates. Yup. That’s right.

Let me grab my Socratic thinking cap!

We’ll both talk for about 10-15 minutes, followed by a wide open Q&A session with the audience — no question too stupid, too smart, or too sexy for this duo.

We’ll both be signing copies of our books, as well, for anyone smart enough to buy them! 😉

So, c’mon down to Sarasota News & Books tonight and let me light a fire in the nether regions of your mind … I’ll leave Rose to the rest.

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.”

MC in today’s Sarasota Herald-Trib! Happy Father’s Day!

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune picked up a piece I wrote and is running it in today’s paper. If you pick up a copy, the column, titled What a Dad Needs to Tell a Daughter, is on page A12. Or you can read it online at the newspaper’s website, by clicking here: What a Dad Needs to Tell a Daughter. (more…)

Marry free … or move to New Hampshire?

This piece will appear in the June 17th print issue of Creative Loafing, and they’ve already posted it online at their website. Read it here or at CL (you can post your comments at either site) or just look for it at newsstands on Wednesday (the 17th) if you prefer!

Ah, New Hampshire – that bastion of backwoods, barns, and covered bridges – has given me yet another reason to love it: On June 3, the Granite State legalized marriage between same-sex couples.

I’ve had a major jones for New Hampshire since catching my first glimpse of that state’s motto — “Live Free or Die” – while on a family vacation when I was a teenager. (more…)

How best to serve those who served? — MC appears in today’s Herald-Tribune

The editors at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune are running a piece of mine in today’s (May 23) paper. It’s a column about my experience working at a veteran’s homeless shelter in Boston. If you pick up a print copy, you can find it on page A12 in the op/ed section.

Or, you can click through on this link and read it at their website: Those who survived but struggle.

If you like — or don’t like — what you see, you can post a comment online at their site or here at mine; or you can write a letter to the editor by clicking on this link: http://www.heraldtribune.com/section/opinion04

Wishing everyone a safe and happy and thoughtful Memorial Day weekend!

Smoke and mirrors in the land of sunshine and stadiums

The Creative Loafing newspaper is running a piece I wrote about last year’s efforts by the County and City to pull together a local land deal in the hopes of landing Red Sox spring training here in sunny Sarasota. The story has enough monkey business in it to read like comedy — and it’d be wicked funny … if only it weren’t for those little things we all hope to see in our local government and elected officials — pesky things like decent, above-board behavior, transparency, and intelligent decision-making. (more…)

In Sarasota … the haves and the have-nots

The Sarasota Herald Tribune ran a piece of mine today. You can read it on page A10 or simply follow the link here: In Sarasota, gap widens between the haves and the have-nots.

Here’s a snippet:

Yes, a lot of people made a lot of money, and most of it was done with little regard to how regular folks would survive the seemingly unending upward spiral of housing costs and the correlative costs of living in what had become, essentially, a rich man’s town.