From our family to yours, have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

Wishing you peace and joy and all the best in the coming new year!

Celebration postponed because his mom's well-being came first. A fine young man.

Did you see the heartwarming story Allen Buchanan had in The Weekly Challenger the other day? It's about Ethan Tyler Price, the young man in the front row in the middle. He finally got to have a graduation party to celebrate graduating from Boca Ciega High School. Back in the summer, his mom was having surgery so the celebration had to be postponed. Read it story.

Need a delightful Victorian group for your old-fashioned Christmas bash? Call 'em!

When she's not on the go as a professional massage therapist, Libby Higdon of Gulfport (on the right in the picture), might be found dressed up at a Renaissance faire or, as is the case in the picture, dressed up in Victorian garb to make an appearance at the Gulfport's Holiday Hoopla the day of the Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. They were included in a write-up in The Gabber recently. In this photo, she's with fellow performers Susan Lentz and Gary Lehman. If  you need a Victorian group, give Libby a call at (727) 204-8602. Here's a little more about them here.

That's a lot you might not know about the Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. Read on.

Debbie Wolfe, who may be as fine a writer as she is a photographer, had a thoroughly enjoyable story about the behind-the-scenes activities at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club's Lighted Christmas Boat Parade in The Gabber the other day. There's really a lot more to the annual event than meets the eye, and Debbie did a wonderful job of telling out it. This is such a delightful time of year and Debbie's article added to the enjoyment of it.

Maximo resident Billy Hume spearheads his annual Christmas for Kids toy project

Maximo resident and popular barber Billy Hume is behind this amazing annual project now in its eighth year. Billy asks customers, friends, and affiliated organizations to help raise money to provide needy kids with toys at Christmas time. Over the years, Billy has attracted a growing number of sponsors to the worthwhile endeavor. The event will be held on Thursday evening in Fox Hall at Eckerd College. It's not too late to donate. Call Billy at (727) 512-5305. Tell him you heard about his project from the South St. Petersburg Post.

So many activities, so little time. Enjoy the holidays in Gulfport. So much going on

Gosh, it's barely the beginning of December and we're awash with holiday events.This is Wednesday and this afternoon there's music and celebrating at the Catherine Hickman Theater with a social gathering afterward. You can get the details in the poster above. Then on Saturday there's the downtown Gulfport Holiday Hoopla followed by the Boca Ciega Yacht Club Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. Details are below. So much fun.

This wonderful group of men with amazing voices will perform tonight in Gulfport

There's always something exciting going on in our community at this time of year. In fact, there are so many things happening that it's hard to keep up with them all. Here's something special you won't want to miss, though. The Bay Voices men's choral group performs tonight at 7 at the Gulfport Public Library. It's free and open to the public. You should try to be there. They've been so popular they're back for a third year.

It's a most wonderful time of the year! We hope to see you at the Lighted Boat Parade

On this Thanksgiving Day, we send good wishes to all – and set the record straight!

Every good Floridian, transplanted or not, knows that the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated in St. Augustine more than half a century before the Pilgrims got together with the Wampanoags in Plymouth, MA, in 1621. The Spanish explorer, Don Pedro Menendez, claimed Florida for his country and his colonists broke bread with the local Timucuas. Father Francisco Lopez offered a Catholic Mass of thanksgiving. The picture above is an old post card that depicts the event.

Of course, it was the Pilgrims who got all the attention and so everybody (except real Floridians) celebrates the holiday with those colonists in mind instead. That mistaken, johnny-come-lately notion was helped along, of course by paintings like the one below by the American artist Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, who is best known for his series of paintings depicting important events in American history, and for being the nephew of the famed Hudson River School artist Thomas Moran.

Despite the popularity of Jean Leon's paintings, historians say he didn't always get his facts straight. In the case of the painting below, called The First Thanksgiving (1915), critics say the Wampanoags wouldn't have been sitting on the ground, nor would they have dressed like western Indians and worn feathered war headdresses. Furthermore, the Pilgrims wouldn't have worn those black outfits.

This time of year often brings a new Hallmark Channel-worthy commercial from Publix. The supermarket chain has one running now that warms the heart as a family prepares Thanksgiving dinner then sits down to enjoy it. At the end, Grandpa clears the table as Grandma reads to her little granddaughter. Awww!

It's sweet but our favorite Publix commercial was one from a few years back. Maybe you remember it. If not, it's below. And, yes, we realize that it stars those cute little Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers everybody used to put out on the table at Thanksgiving. Oh, well. Our Thanksgiving will not be diminished, despite knowing that most of the country has it wrong. No matter how you celebrate it, we hope you have a most wonderful Thanksgiving Day with friends and family.

Change is coming! It's how you deal with it that really counts so you'd better get ready

If you think things are changing fast now, stick around for 20 years or so. You ain't seen nothin' yet! The Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions at St. Petersburg College recently presented futurist David Houle, author of The Shift Age: AS Futurist's View of Life in 2040. Hope you enjoy it!

Gulfport Chefs Table grows and feeds multitudes to raise money for charity

Wow! What a turnout for such a worthy event. This wonderful and dramatic photo was in The Gabber showing the Chefs Table in downtown Gulfport. The event, now in it's second year, donates proceeds to Gulfport Montessori Elementary School. The weather was perfect. Some 360 diners enjoyed delicious dishes from 10 fine Gulfport restaurants. Debbie Wolfe did a terrific story and many wonderful photos. Check it out.

Yes, we DO have some of the best beaches anywhere and we're glad the interns noticed

So now that the weather is a little cooler and the sun isn't beating down as hard and the snowbirds haven't arrived yet, the beaches are a terrific place to be. Those facts weren't lost on the folks at the Tampa Bay Times. The editors sent out some of their interns to write about the beaches. Imagine? Well, several of our favorite nearby beaches made the cut. Here's a first-rate article that tells what the folks who live here already know: we have some darned fine beaches in St. Pete Beach, Pass-a-Grille, Fort de Soto Park, and Shell Key. Technology being what it is today, they even took a drone along and got some beautiful video and photos of our favorite beaches. Enjoy!

Super heroes and pop culture icons are the themes to celebrate for the 2018 Gecko Ball

Did you see the article on the Gulport Patch website the other day? The theme for the 2018 Gecko Ball next August will celebrate the comic book heroes and pop culture conventions that keep showing up in the Tampa Bay area. Gecko Con is the theme for the big dance next August at the Gulfport Casino Ballroom. There were a number of other ideas but that's the one that captures the judges' imagination. Looking forward to the Gecko Ball.

"It’s one of those nice little small-town things that I hope they keep doing." Aww!

We couldn't help but get a kick out of Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson's comment about the annual Boca Ciega High School homecoming parade as reported in The Gabber yesterday. Hiz Honor was quoted in the paper as saying: “It’s one of those nice little small-town things that I hope they keep doing. It’s just a good reminder to the people who live here that we’ve got a good school with a magnet program and a strong athletics presence right here in Gulfport. So, it’s a good reminder to people to support our hometown school.” One of the things we love about Gulfport is it's small-town atmosphere. And the nice picture by LocalShops 1 captures the idea perfectly.

What a delight to get to hear Lee Irby's talk on Confederate statues and their place today

Here's an unexpected treat. We were talking not long ago about one our our favorite authors, Lee Irby, who teaches history at Eckerd College and wrote an intriguing book called Unreliable, that has been gaining attention of late. Lee's book is set in Richmond, Virginia, which is where Lee is from, and where resides a statue of General Robert E. Lee. With the current discussion of Confederate statues and their place in society today, Lee Irby was asked to speak on Confederate Monuments in the South: Place, Memory  and Lingering Wounds. That was on Monday, and there was quite a crowd. What's unexpected is that if you couldn't attend Lee Irby's talk, you haven't missed out. The recording above provides great opportunity to hear what Lee Irby had to say about General Lee's statue and much more.  What a delight. Thank you, Lee, for posting the talk. Thank you, Eckerd College, for recording it.

It's always fascinating to learn about the activities of Eckerd College's fine students

Nicole Valez, who is graduating from Eckerd College next year, made this video about the summer internships Eckerd College students had at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Included in the video are Elizabeth Weatherup '19 (Coral Health and Disease Program), Danielle Birk '19 (Animal Rehab), and Juliet Stevenson '19 (Sarasota Dolphin Research Program).  Nicole was in the Sea Turtle Conservation & Research Program. We love it when we learn about the activities of Eckerd students. They're some of our favorite people.

Favorite author Lee Irby gets a write-up and a chance to talk about Confederate statues

Here's one from the Local Boy Makes Good file. Don't know if you saw Cathy Salustri's write-up in Creative Loafing about one of our favorite writers out at Eckerd College, Lee Irby. Here's the part we like. Kathy is talking about Lee's new book, Unreliable, a murder mystery with an unreliable narrator. Her  opinion is that Lee and his book haven't gotten enough attention lately. We concur. She calls the book "witty, engaging amd utterly engrossing." But the best part: She says the book is Literature, "the kind that should have a capital L. High praise, indeed! Anyway, if you haven't read it yet, we'd encourage you to do so. Lee's going to be speaking at a special event at Eckerd Confederate Monuments in the South: Place, Memory and Lingering Wounds. It's on October 23  at 7 p.m. in the Triton Room. He's speaking on the removal of Confederate statues, which a focus on the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, which is the setting for his book.

The Swami says: "I got struck by enlightening during a brainstorm"

Not long ago, St. Petersburg College's Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions (which, we have to say, sounds awfully serious) hosted a hilarious evening dinner program featuring Swami Beyondananda, who is actually the "comic alter ego of writer, humorist, performer, and uncommontator Steve Bhaerman." The Swami says his favorite yoga pose is tongue-in-cheek. This somewhat educational and highly entertaining. It's worth your time.

At 6, is he a future chicken mogul?

Did you see Debbie Wolfe's photo in The Gabber?  This happy young man is Bryce Parzick, and at 6 years old, he's on his way to becoming a chicken mogul. At least he's learning the chicken business. Check out Debbie's picture in The Gabber. You may have to pick up the print edition. The folks a the newspaper are  in the process of converting to  new server and their website has been down, so you might not see it there. All the best to the fo;ks at Gulfport''s newspaper. Hope you're online again soon.

It's music to our ears as a new jazz club puts mellow sounds right in the neighborhood

Did you see Allen Buchanan's terrific write-up in The Weekly Challenger about the new jazz club right in our neighborhood? Doc's Place is right next door. It's the brainchild of Steve "Doc" Burt, who was looking for a place to play his glues guitar and then realized he already had a place – his space in the Skyway Mall where he used to run his liquidation business. He joined up with his friend Tony "Big T" Clark and jazz musicians to bring the lounge to live. Read the article, and stop by for some mellow sounds.

We're "barely" keeping our composure as these daring ladies promote their theater

This jaw-dropping photo didn't come to our attention until after the event it was promoting was over but we suspect the daring ladies got the attention they were hoping for. It kind of brought to mind that 2003 Helen Mirren movie Calendar Girls. The movie was based on a real-life stunt some nice ladies in Yorkshire did to raise money for leukemia research after one woman's brother died of the disease. You remember. They posed without a stitch on for a calendar, which resulted in brisk sales. Anyway, it all raises awareness of the Gulfport Community Players next production, Letting Go, which is billed as the world premiere of a musical comedy by prolific and talented Gulfport playwright Gil Perlroth, who is close to 90 years old and still writing. In the photo below, Ginny Holscher and Ron Goldstein rehearse a scene from the play, which concerns a widower who's missing his late wife and a sexy neighbor who takes an interest in him. It'll run November 2-12 at the Catherine Hickman Theatre. (So far as we know, everybody keeps their clothes on in the show.)

If you can put together a rhyme, do it now. Gulfport poets: This is your time to shine

You know him. That's Sam.
Gulfport's mayor Sam Henderson
Gulfport's poet laureate.

You could replace him.
Send your entries in today.
Or soon. Deadline's November.

Don't know if there's rules
about the rhyme schemes and such.
'Spect haiku will do.

'Twas a story in The Gabber
'Twas most certainly a grabber.
Inspired this rhyme
That, maybe, need wine.
Have another glass of caber -net

Clearly, the poets of Gulfport have nothing to fear from this corner of the world but the deadline's approaching (November 3) to submit your entry to be poet laureate of Gulfport. The position pays nothing but comes with all sorts of accolades. Just ask the poet mayor, Gulfport's second poet laureate or Peter Hargai, the first. Anyway, read the story at the link above and get your portfolio together. You may be a poet and don't know it.

“Mayor Mike”: “The heart and soul of this community is working together.” Yes!

“The heart and soul of this community is working together.” That got our attention right away. "Mayor Mike" was quoted in an article in The Gabber the other day. It was Debbie Wolfe's account of how the MY Foundation fed hundreds of people in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. In the photo from a couple of years ago, that's former Gulfport mayor Mike Yakes and Maddy Guenther, who set up the MY Foundation to help people in the community. That picture is from a fundraiser dance at the Casino in 2015 to raise money for exactly the kind of need the MY Foundation filled after the storm. We've mentioned this before but it bears repeating. This is another example of why we love being part of this kindhearted community. Thank you, Mike and Maddy, and everybody who volunteered when people needed help. By the way, there was a fine feature story about Mayor Mike in the Tampa Bay Times a few years ago. It was written by a talented young man who is now a reporter for the Washington Post. 

This is how our community came together in a desperate time of need after Irma

The other day we were talking about how our community handles adversity. (Very well, thank you!) Here's another shining example. This is Heavy's Food Truck and it came out to Gulfport after Hurricane Irma to feed people affected by the storm. How it all came about is the subject of the article in The Gabber. We recommend that you read it.

Hurricane Irma was no match for the generosity shown in our community

We have to say, our community does adversity pretty well. Did you see Debbie Wolfe's terrific story in The Gabber about Gulfport during Hurricane Irma? In the photo above, that's council member Christine Brown holding her cat Marble. She's with her friend Shelly Vail with whom she volunteered before and after the hurricane. They're hunkered down in Christine's safe room in her house during the storm. Read Debbie's story about what happened behind the scenes: people helping people.  That's what our community is all about.

OLLI at the Opera starts in October, and the first performance is Bellini's Norma

Speaking, as we were, of things coming up that you ought to make note of, OLLI at the Opera has it's first performance on Saturday, October 7. The first performance is Norma,  Bellini's masterful opera about a Druid princess and trials and tribulations. This series is presented in HD live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mark your calendar. The second performance is The Magic Flute a week later, and then The Exterminating Angel in November and Hansel and Gretel in December. All the performances are shown in the Miller Auditorium at Eckerd College. You can get more detail by downloading the OLLI catalog here.

OLLI is going to Cuba in January, and you should plan for it now or you could miss it

We usually wait until just before an OLLI event to tell you about it but this one will take some planning, and besides, it's limited, so we thought you'd like to know sooner. It's an expedition to Havana in late January and early February, and it's limited to 14 travelers.  You'll get to meet with acclaimed academics, musicians and art curators.  You'll visit an organic farm. You'll enjoy rum and dine in some of Havana's finest, independent paladars. And much more. You can get all the details by downloading the OLLI fall catalog, which you can find a link for here.

Congratulations to Eckerd College for making the list of best colleges in the nation

It was nice to see our very own Eckerd College make the U.S. News & World Report list of best colleges in the country. We don't want to boast too much but ... of course Eckerd made the list. We're proud of our local school and we can see why the magazine put it on the list. The article mentions the waterfront location and the ocean theme that permeates not only the curiculum but also many of the recreational activities. Here's a link to the article.  Congratulations, Eckerd!

Here's an example of how to build a strong community: participation at the local school

People are making a difference in our community every day. We were intrigued by this story in The Gabber about Gulfport Montessori Elementary School. That's Jess Hathaway in the photo. He's showing off a mural created by students in the after-school program at the school. The story talks about the school's progress on the standardized state tests, which is admirable, of course. Way down in the story, though, is this: a new initiative last year has city employees and Stetson Law students mentoring kids. What's more, the community is pitching in to help raise money for the PTA to carry out its improvement projects. Participation makes strong communities. Bravo!

Bruno Falkenstein's mission is to protect those sea turtle nests along St. Pete Beach

By now Bruno Falkenstein is a legend in Pass-a-Grille but it's always nice to see another write-up about his efforts to protect the sea turtles that nest along the beach. The latest is a feature in the Beach Beacon about him and the organization he created awhile back called the Sea Turtle Trackers. The photo above is from an earlier article from WUSF News. Bruno has been diligently trekking up and down the beach for years seeing to it that the turtles are safe and the nests are marked and not disturbed. Everybody in Pass-a-Grille knows Bruno, and if they just moved here they're going to get to know him pretty quickly. All the best to Bruno and the Sea Turtle Trackers.

Their gift of education is a huge inspiration to give something back to the community

Here's a heartwarming story in The Weekly Challenger about a lady in our community, Tamika Davis (in the picture), who is a single mom with a special needs child, and is being helped to pursue her education by a timely scholarship given in the name of a graduate of Eckerd College and the University of South Florida. Betty J. Gaston, for many years a librarian at St. Petersburg College, has established an endowed nursing scholarship in her name.  She and her sisters also established a scholarship endowment in the name of their parents, who never had the opportunity to get a college education but recognized the value of education and saw to it that their children did go to college. The Gaston family's commitment to giving back to the community is an inspiration to all.

The caller says you just won a sweepstakes worth $5 million. Don't buy it. It's a scam.

Police say a Gulfport woman paid some $80,000 to a telephone scam artist after being told she had won a huge sweepstakes competition. People fall prey to telephone scammers more often than you would imagine. Brian Hartz had a "word to the wise" warning story in The Gabber. It gives some warning signs that tip you off a call might be a scam. Worth taking a look. Better safe than sorry.

Documentary based on Peter Hargitai's work up for two independent film awards

Gulfport's first poet laureate, Peter Hargitai, is back in the news again. Lynn Taylor has a report in The Gabber about the documentary based on Peter's writings about the horror he experienced as a child during the 1956 revolution in his native Hungary and his family's hair-raising escape. The documentary is called Daughter of the Revolution, and it is up for best feature and best director in the Hollywood International Independent Awards. Congratulations, Peter!

This man is self-motivated and focused. Antonio Brown runs a barbershop and more

You could say that Antonio Brown runs an old-style community barbershop, and he does, but you'd be missing the point of Raven Joy Shonel's fine feature story in The Weekly Challenger. He says he was raised to be a respectable young man. By all signs, he's succeeded in that and in his goal to be more of a businessman than a barber. He self-motivated and focused, and that's probably what has led to his project to create the Black Excellence Expo and Job Fair in November at Pinellas Technical College. Read Antonio Brown's story. Stay tuned for details.

These people are making a difference in Gulfport and we're glad they live here

Did you see the nice write-up by Debbie Wolfe in The Gabber about Gulfport Neighbors? We've said it often but it always bears repeating: Gulfport people really care and they take action. Debbie's story is about a group that has been doing good in the community for five years. They're making it a mission to help people in the community – neighbors helping neighbors, was the way Debbie put it. We say bravo! Thank you for being who you are and doing what you do. You make a difference.

You know fall is right around the corner when OLLI starts up again. Check it out!

In another sign that fall is fast approaching (and will be upon us before we know it), Eckerd's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute just released its fall schedule. As regular readers know, Eckerd's OLLI program is one of our favorite things about South St. Petersburg, such wonderful educational opportunities for those of us who have long since passed college age but never want to stop learning.

Anyway, there was a nice write-up in the Beach Beacon the other day with a sampling of the course offerings.

In Linda Font's photo from the cover of the OLLI catalog, members Marcelle Heerschap and Barry Haieken enjoying the "Do the St. Pete Shuffle" class at the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club. The class is offered again this term. You can download a PDF version of the catalog and keep it on your desktop for reference.

Hong Kong marine science students visit Eckerd College in cool exchange project

Word comes from the Eckerd College newsroom about an interesting marine science exchange project involving students from Hong Kong. In the picture, Koi Yang of Hong Kong Baptist University (right) works with Eckerd students Alex Holderness and Savannah Carter studying Cuban core samples to learn about environmental pollution. For the four Hong Kong students, this is their first visit to the United States. Next year, students from Eckerd will go to Hong Kong.

Despite personal tragedy, this young man persevered in Urban League's program

That's Lakewood High School junior Jared Young on the left in the photo. He's an athlete and a scholar and he's part of the Pinellas County Urban League's Summer Training in Youth Leadership & Employment or S.T.Y.L.E. program this year. His mom died this summer. Still he persevered and completed the program. His story is one of the poignant vignettes in The Weekly Challenger's report on Urban League program. Sympathy and all the best to Jared and his fellow students. And bravo to Allen Buchanan for telling the story.

This video is a simple thank you and it says a lot about the administrators who made it

Now here's something that speaks to the kind of leadership that our St. Petersburg College has. This is a video made by the president, Dr. Tonjua Williams, and the administrators of SPC thanking their support staffs for the effort put in to make the school ready for opening as well as all the work leading up to graduation in the summer. Speaks volumes.

Pass-a-Grille gets a little Grace and Times' Laura Riley likes it a lot. Better try it out.

So Laura Riley, the Tampa Bay Times food critic, had positively glowing things to say about Tierra Verde's Lisa Masterson and Marlin Kaplan (previously of Cleveland) and their brand new Pass-a-Grille restaurant called Grace. Laura is pretty discerning, so we're intrigued and can't wait to go try out. It's in the space that the Italian restaurant Su Ottavo and also where Vida de Cafe was, so it has plenty of space. The photos of dishes that accompany the review look scrumptious. It'll probably be worth the trip, even over all that seemingly unending construction work on Pass-a-Grille Way. (Hey, eventually it'll be over. We heard January, so that's not that far away). Anyway, check out the review and we'll see you at Grace.

Shucks! Did you know you can help make our waters healthier by eating oysters?

Here's a pearl of an idea (to use an obvious pun) that we hope takes hold all around the state. The folks in the picture are volunteers and environmental experts from Lake County (over in the middle of the state) who recently moved 10,000 pounds of oyster shells to Fort De Soto Park to help replenish oyster habitat off our coast. Here's the interesting thing: the oyster shells came from a Lake County oyster bar restaurant. They're what's left over after hungry customers slurp down the yummy critter inside.

Apparently, there's science behind all this. Seems that tiny little oyster larvae float around in the water (who knew?).  Given the opportunity, they'll attach themselves to oyster shell and grow big and strong in a couple of years. Oysters are good for our waters. They help prevent algae blooms. They strain excess nitrogen (from fertilizer runoff) out of the water. Algae loves nitrogen (but you knew that).

A story in The Orlando Sentinel details the whole project. If you're an oyster lover, you ought to read it and encourage your favorite oyster bar to join in the effort to recycle. You could become a great environmentalist just by ordering the oysters.

A slightly elevated view of the bay in store for Gulfport as trail project moves forward

Have you seen what's happening on the waterfront in Gulfport? Great things! Terrific article by Debbie Wolfe in The Gabber explains it all. Maybe it all seems like a mess right now, but council member Christine Brown has good things to say: "I think it’s going to be a really nice addition to the waterfront." Can't wait to see it finished.

Eckerd's Scubi Jew organization wants to help protect the oceans around the world

Here's an interesting feature article about a Jewish scuba diving organization at Eckerd College that's working to help protect the oceans. The article appeared in Forward, an online magazine devoted to issues of interest to American Jews. The article says that the group, Scubi Jew, "adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seas." The project was created by Rabbi Ed Rosenthal, Eckerd's Hillel adviser. Thank you, Rabbi Rosenthal, for your good work.

tikkun hayam, or repairing the seasRead more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seas.Read more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seas.Read more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seasRead more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seasRead more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

adheres to the tenet of tikkun hayam, or repairing the seasRead more: http://forward.com/news/national/379071/at-eckerd-college-florida-scubi-jew-aims-to-save-the-seas/

What a sweetheart! Lizzie Donald is 100!

Oh, my goodness! You've got to read this story about this lovely lady, Lizzie Donald, who just celebrated her 100th birthday. It's a delightful story about the celebration by Raven Joy Shonel in The Weekly Challenger. Such a sweetheart is Lizzie. 

Eckerd College's Jon Chopan wins top writing prize. Sign up for his class now!

Word comes that Eckerd College creative writing assistant professor Jon Chopan has just won the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction. Eckerd College folks are such clever people. (We've discussed before that canny fellow Lee Irby and his riveting novel Unreliable.) Now comes this prestigious award to someone who teaches writing at the college. Eckerd students: if you want to learn to write, seems like signing up for Jon Chopan course would be a no-brainer.

The prize's namesake, Grace Paley, was a social activist and celebrated short story writer best known for what the New York Times called "her pitch-perfect dialogue" and her "tragicomic style" as she explored "the struggles of ordinary women muddling through everyday lives."

Jon Chopan was humbled at being selected for the award. “Grace Paley was not only a brilliant writer, she was a passionate activist who fought for women, against war and against nuclear proliferation," he said.  "Her writing is voice driven, sharp edged and full of characters that feel familiar to me. I don’t know that I could think of a writer whose work and life I would more prefer to emulate.”

Crisis Hotline, Veterans Press 1,  Jon's collection of a dozen short stories about Iraq war vets trying to cope with life, won the prize. In the video at the top, Jon reads from a short story published in the Epiphany Literary Journal about an Iraq war vet. Very moving. Jon's part starts at 3:10.

Congratulations, Jon Chopan!

 

Always great to see the TripAdvisor reviews but sometimes they confuse us

We love that TripAdvisor readers are always doing reviews of one of our favorite places, Pass-a-Grille but sometimes the reviews cause us to do a double take. Latest example, there's a recent review that waxes eloquently about the most appealing aspect of the beach: "Beautiful, clear green, warm waters and a variety of shells for keepsakes make this a lovely place for a lovely day," it said. The review rightly mentioned the ongoing road construction work, and suggested parking near The Hurricane. What struck us as a bit strange, though, was the headline. It said: "Aloha, Pass-a-Grille." Maybe we're making too much of this but nowhere in the review was there any reference to Hawaii. Nor would such a reference be appropriate. Pass-a-Grille is nothing like Hawaii. So the headline threw us for a loop. Still, it's nice to see the kind words about one of the most wonderful places around.

Two amateur photographers give us a new perspective of our amazing community

We are continually amazed at the talent exhibited by people in our community. A remarkable example was published by the Tampa Bay Times recently. It is the work of a couple from Gulfport, Jon and Nancy Crawfurd,  who clearly are gifted photographers. It takes a special kind of talent to "see" the brilliant photo amid the overwhelming visual stimulation the world has to offer. Jon and Nancy have that talent. If you love visual images, you owe it to yourself to click the link and see the Crawfurds' beautiful photographs.

Our own Fort De Soto Park makes the list of one of the 28 local places to beat the heat

It's always nice to see one of our great community amenities written up in the local paper. The Tampa Bay Times had a great article the other day headlined "28 places to have fun outdoors in Tampa Bay but still beat the summer heat." Well, one of the places was our own Fort De Soto Park, which it listed under Family Friendly Beaches. The article even took the trouble to mention the kudos lavished on our cool beach by the Travel Channel and Parents' Magazine. Always happy for the recognition. We happen to think Fort De Soto Park is in a category by itself.

Here's a blast from the past in The Gabber's feature of fascinating historical photographs

We're so glad to see The Gabber publishing these wonderful historical pictures from the Gulf Beaches Museum to celebrate St. Pete Beach's 60th anniversary and the museum building's 100th anniversary. This is a picture of the Plaza Beach Hotel in Pass-a-Grille that was damaged in the 1921 hurricane and never rebuilt. Read the article to see what's there now and what remains of the old hotel. 

Far out, man! We hear there are tickets still available for Geckostock, the Gecko Ball

We see by the Gulfport Patch that there are still tickets available for the Gecko Ball scheduled for August 26 under the theme of Geckostock (as in Woodstock, man!) You can get all the details from the article over on the Patch but remember that this is one of the biggest social events of this year in this artsy waterside community and it's something you won't want to miss.

Eckerd and five other colleges rebrand their alliance to better define a collective purpose

Branding is important, and we noted the other day that our own Eckerd College is joining with five other area colleges to better brand themselves. Actually, Eckerd for some time has been part of an alliance with The Ringling, State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, Ringling College of Art and Design, New College of Florida, and University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, designed to bolster their collective image as place for learning opportunities and creativity. Indeed, originally the group called itself the the Consortium of Colleges on the Creative Coast, which got shortened to C4, which sounds like some sort of explosive to us. In any case, it didn't seem to be working so now the group has rebranded to Cross College Alliance, and its stated purpose is to "build a network among the region’s educational organizations that amplifies and expands learning opportunities for our collective 18,000 students and the communities that surround us." Sounds good to us, especially the community part. Here's a link to the alliance website.

This video from St. Petersburg College reminds us that summer is basically over

Perhaps we live unrealistically in a hazy past era, when summer was three months long and school didn't start until after Labor Day. We know that it hasn't been that way for a very long time but it is jolting nonetheless every August when the kids start back to school and things start getting geared up for fall. This uplifting little video from Dr. Tonjua Williams, president of St. Petersburg College, welcoming students back for the Fall Semester showed up in the email box the other day and it was sort of a sudden reminder that summer's over, even though it's not really. Classes at some schools have started already. At SPC, they start in a little more than a week. Don't know if we'll ever get used to it but that's the way it is. Welcome to Fall (sort of).

Charlie Crist and other public servants come out for a block party, show support

It was nice to see Congressman Charlie Crist out for his community block party the other week. We think more public servants ought to be visible in the community and we were glad to see several of them there. It was an old fashioned community barbecue, featuring snow cones and family fun. Plus, it generated much needed school supplies for students returning to school.