Observer, Herald-Tribune alumnus releases debut novel
Surely you remember the name Roger Drouin. During his stint as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune‘s city hall reporter between 2007 and 2009, Drouin landed countless local stories on the front page of our daily — notching scoop after scoop. When he left the paper, it was to earn his MFA in the Florida Atlantic University creative […]
Pelican Press alumnus launches new online Sarasota news outlet
It’s rare to report about a new publication opening up shop, but I’m happy to pass along the news: Former Pelican Press Editor Rachel Brown Hackney has launched a new electronic publication dedicated to all things local. The name? The Sarasota News Leader. Right now, it looks like your typical blog, but the long-term goal […]
UFood Grill gets a Forbes shout-out
Earlier this year, I told you about a rare stock market hunch I was acting on, investing in the healthy fast food chain UFood Grill, based in Boston. Well, not to toot my own horn, but Forbes just included the restaurant in a roundup of “10 Great Little Restaurant Chains You Haven’t Heard Of — Yet.” […]
Cancer on the Brain … Baseball, Business and Beating the Odds
I’m really excited to announce the release of a new memoir by Jay Lefevers, an Arizona businessman who battled and beat a brain tumor and cancer. Appropriately titled Cancer on the Brain, Lefevers’ book is an inspiring record of surviving multiple brain surgeries and fighting cancer, while also running a real estate business, being a […]
No Impact Man makes a big impact (on me)
I’m full of all kinds of movie recommendations this month! The trailer above is for the documentary No Impact Man, which tracks one family’s quest to reduce its waste to zero over the course of a year. The man who hatched the scheme, Colin Beavan, stops using electricity, watching TV and using gas-powered transportation — […]
Extra special bonus flick pick: Another Happy Day
That right there is a (very) foul-mouthed glimpse at the film Another Happy Day, unveiled at Sundance last year and now available on DVD. The movie tells the story of a twice-married mother of four traveling to her parents’ estate for the wedding of her oldest son. The cast is dynamite: Ellen Barkin (Sea of […]
Sign up for Boot Camp today!
No, I’m not forcing you to join the military. I’m merely recommending that you sign up to attend the Women’s Resource Center’s Boot Camp for Women Entrepreneurs. I’ve had an entrepreneurial outlook most of my life — even when I was working for other people. So, I’m completely bummed to miss this fabulous event, which […]
Sam Harris on the ‘death knell for traditional publishing’
Over on his blog, Sam Harris — a thinker whose work touches on the messy intersection of science, religion and global conflict — offers interesting some provocative analysis on “The Future of the Book.” Harris draws on his own experiences as a book author, a blogger and a user of social media to examine how […]
Awakening
Who’s to say the effort to be real isn’t the beginning of wings? I love these lines that I read this morning in The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. I know some will scoff — but that’s my desire — to be unmitigatedly real. Is that possible? I think so — despite the unreality […]
Love Books? Buy ‘Em Local at Circle Books
Watch this great “City Business” (from Sarasota government) clip about Circle Books on St. Armands Circle. I was there just a few weeks ago, looking for a specific book but couldn’t remember the author’s name and of course, with just a couple of words from me about what the book was about … the booksellers […]