Welcome to the neighborhood, Don Phillips

Did you see the article in Business Observer about Don Phillips, who heads the Tampa development firm that's building a major project on the Home Depot property on 34th Street? It gives some insight into the man and the company. This quote is particularly of interest: “I’ve learned production does not reward creativity. That’s been a huge transition for me. To have the time to conceptualize and create has been very rewarding" And this: “I’m much more contemplative now, and interested in the body of work I’m going to leave behind. What do I want my legacy to be — another apartment complex or something that adds, in a meaningful way, to the community?” Welcome to the neighborhood, Don.

Oh, how talent abounds as arts conservatory showcases students, builds stronger families

The foundation of a strong community is strong families. Herbert Murphy knows this. That's why he heads up the Art Conservatory for Teens (ACT) after-school arts magnet program in our community. It's a program designed to empower youth through arts education and to bring families together, parents and children engaging with each other. There's a great article about it in The Weekly Challenger and it's accompanied by video from a recent fundraiser breakfast the organization held. One of the videos showcasing the students' talent is above but there are more with the article. Efforts like this are so important to our community. We're glad to see them.

A pint here and a pint there and pretty soon you're talking about a sudsy beer festival

The weekend is approaching and so far as we know there isn't a beer festival planned for St. Pete Beach. Nevertheless, we're pretty sure the suds will be flowing anyway. We'd venture to say there's nary a weekend in St. Pete Beach when they don't. Not long ago, though, there was extra reason to celebrate: It was the St. Pete Beach Beer Festival, and it was a beer lovers paradise. More than 50 brewers offered their wares to taste. Read the interesting write-up in The Gabber. If you missed the event, we're sorry. But, hey, there's always next year.

Things to be thankful for: TB Reporter, people who rescue manatees, and Eckerd

Some things you're glad you didn't miss and you're glad somebody was there to record it. In this case, we're glad someone was there from the Tampa Bay Reporter when the manatee nicknamed DeSoto was returned to the wild. DeSoto was found a couple of months ago stranded on a sandbar and feeling poorly because of red tide. The burly fellow was taken to Lowry Park Zoo's manatee hospital for treatment. Now he's feeling better and he was released at Eckerd College's waterfront park. Watch the video. You'll get a kick out of it. Eckerd's Search and Rescue team was in the thick of it. Here's a story in The Gabber about it, too.

"Best beach ever!! From the lips of a beach bum ..." Pass-a-Grille is known and loved

Sometimes we're torn about running articles like this about one of our favorite beaches, Pass-a-Grille. There are so many, we'd be running nothing else. Also, there's the blabbermouth factor. We don't want to be that person. We don't want to be the one responsible for telling the world about what a wonderful place Pass-a-Grille is and, thus, spoiling it for the rest of us. On the other hand, TripAdvisor has already beat us to the title anyway. They've been telling everybody for years about our beautiful little secret. Well, not actually, them but the TripAdvisor users, like Jessica R, whose recent review we're quoting. Listen to this: "From the lips of a beach bum, it just doesn't get much better than Pass-A-Grille. The pictures speak better than any review I could write. Download the Parking Spot app, it'll make parking so much more easier to keep up with."

It's amazing what clever things people come up with for Junk in the Trunk Flip event

Golly, we nearly missed this year's Junk in the Trunk Flip event. Fortunately, there's a great write-up in The Gabber about it. We're always fascinated to see what people come up with when they're thinking about how to reuse discarded items. The clever lady in the picture is Lauri Zavala, owner of Tillie's Offbeat Bazaar in Gulfport, and what she came up with she named "Pets on the Go", and it's sure to warm the hearts of animal lovers everywhere. It's a practical solution for people traveling with pets. An old suitcase becomes a carrier for pet paraphernalia, and a bed.

The Janus-Faced Nature of Graduation

It was a weekend of graduations, a time of endings and new beginnings. A time for reflection and anticipation. Students at our own Eckerd College were among those donning caps and gowns for the final passage of their immediate academic careers. We came across this interesting perspective by Donal O'Shea, president of New College of Florida in Sarasota. Here's an excerpt. Follow the link to the whole article.

"Few events in one’s life are as powerful and as portentous as undergraduate graduation ceremonies. Their power derives from the tension that inheres in their Janus-faced nature: they mark an end and a beginning; a culmination and a commencement; a finish and a rebirth. One face looks to the past, marking the graduate’s successful completion of a rite of passage. The other face looks to the future, celebrating the graduate’s transformation."

This is the kind of young man we have in our community. We are blessed, indeed!

We've said it before and, undoubtedly we'll say it again, because it bears repeating. We're shoulder-to-shoulder in our community with some of the most outstanding men and women anywhere. And we're blessed, indeed, to have them in our midst. Take a few minutes to listen to this young man. He is Evan Dix. He is the Most Distinguished Student of the year at Stetson Law and this is his acceptance speech the other day. Before he came to Stetson, young Mr. Dix graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business management from the University of Tampa. At Stetson, he is editor-in-chief of the Stetson Law Review. He is on the Moot Court Board, and he serves as a Stetson Ambassador. An inspiration for us all!

Congratulations to all who graduated from Eckerd College! We are so proud of you!

This is long, more than two hours, but if you had anything to do with St. Petersburg College this term, you're going to have a special interest on the proceedings. Congratulations to all the proud graduates and their family on a job well done. We salute you! Now go out in the world and make a difference. We know you can do it! We're behind you all the way!

Goodbye, Spring Term! Hello, Summer Term! Here's a video of some fun we had!

Well, the Spring Semester ends today at Eckerd College. We've had a steady stream of Eckerd students who are leaving for the summer. Don't worry (not that you would) your stuff is safe with us. Just before finals was Kappa Karnival, a tradition at Eckerd, a chance to get rid of the stress just before settling in for exams. Well, now exams are over and it's time to head home (or wherever you're spending the summer) or back to class right after Memorial Day, if you're doing the Summer Term A. In any case, somebody posted a cool video of Kappa Karnival, and we thought it would be fun to show it. Enjoy!

Cathy Salustri suggests books to read this summer, including some cool local authors

Did you happen to see the amazing and talented Cathy Salustri's list of great books to add to your summer reading list? Cathy, of course, in addition to teaching classes on Florida and local history at Eckerd College's OLLI program, is also the arts and entertainment editor of Creative Loafing, author of BackRoads to Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida, and a Gulfport resident. But this isn't about Cathy. It's about her recommended reading list.

She had some pretty good ideas, including Unreliable, Eckerd prof turned novelist Lee Irby, new book, (we featured him on April 22), and Jack Davis's The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, a non-fiction endeavor that's as riveting as they come. (By the way, Jack is speaking at the Gulfport Historical Society tomorrow (Friday) night from 6:30 to 9 p.m.)

But what caught our eye was a mention way down at the bottom of the list about the superb Wendy Wax and her fifth novel in the Ten Beach Road series. The latest one is One Good Thing, and it came out in April, perfect timing for a beach read. The series started with three accomplished women, strangers who end up co-owning a ramshackle cottage at Ten Beach Road in Pass-a-Grille. The series has found a cadre of dedicated fans and is a USA Today bestseller. Wendy is a native of St. Petersburg and a devotee of Pass-a-Grille. If you haven't had the pleasure, you really ought to treat yourself to this series. And read it down on Pass-a-Grille beach. Why not?

Another example of the worth of knowing your community's history: Fannye Ponder

We've mentioned before the importance we place on knowing about the community's past. So when we saw the article in The Weekly Challenger about the ribbon cutting for the reopening of the Fannye Ayer Ponder Council House, we knew we had to mention it. In the 1930s, Fannye was a protégé of Dr. Mary McCloud Bethune, the legendary Florida educator, and it was through Dr. Bethune's inspiration that Fannye came back to St. Petersburg after a trip to Washington, D.C., and started the local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women. There's lots more to the story, so go ahead and read it.

You've gotta read this terrific story about community, college, and family. Read now.

There are just so many things to love about this story by Dexter McCree we spotted in The Weekly Challenger. First, there's community, which we're all about (but you knew that.) Then, there's Eckerd College, one of our favorites (but you knew that, too.)  Then there's family. Nothing is more important and we advocate for strong families all the time (but you knew that, too.) Then there's basketball, and competition, and family bonding. So it should be any surprise that we're recommending you read this terrific story. (You knew that was coming, didn't you?)

What's the occasion for this spectacular group selfie? Click the link and find out

Oh, my! These ladies are happy indeed. And in deed! And well they should be, and very deserving of a wonderful group selfie. We spotted this picture in The Weekly Challenger and knew we had to share it. These energetic women were participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at Lakewood High School. Allen Buchanan has a nice write-up about it in The Weekly Challenger and we know you're going to want to read it and check out the other photos from the event.

The man in the picture has a $25 million book, and you can meet him this afternoon

We know that many of our friends are avid readers. Some are even avid book collectors and have remarkable volumes on their shelves. So when our friends at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair mentioned the gentleman in the picture, we knew he had to tell you about him. This is Owen Felix O'Neill. He lives far away from South St. Petersburg in Tipperary, Ireland. Mr. O'Neill possesses a fascinating little book he's offering for $25 million, not a sum we're likely to be spending on a book (or anything else, for that matter) anytime soon.

Still, Mr. O'Neill's story is compelling, and when we learned that this afternoon (Saturday) at 2:30 p.m. ET, sitting right here at the computer as you're doing now, it would be possible to meet the gentleman in person and hear his story, we thought some of our local avid readers and book collectors might like to know. Now you do.

If you follow the link above, you'll find a link to the live broadcast you can watch on Rare Book Cafe, which is a project of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. For your convenience, there's also a link on our Facebook page for Spare Room Mini Storage. (You've LIKED our Facebook page, haven't you? If not, you should right now.)

Anyway, if you're a reader and you watch the program, we'd love to hear about it. 

Anybody know who's in the picture? We love to learn about our community's past

It's always fun to explore the past and our friends at The Gabber have been doing that once a month this year to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of St. Pete Beach as well as the 100th anniversary of the building that houses the Gulf Beaches History Museum. The picture above accompanied a recent article about Frank T. Hurley, Jr. (in the picture), who worked as a reporter for the Evening Independent and the St. Petersburg Times after a stint in the military during World War II. Junior wrote a couple of books about Pass-a-Grille history. They're still in print and you can get them at the museum gift shop. If this piques your interest at all, we suggest you read The Gabber article, then hot foot it down to the museum to get those books.

Just look at the possibilities on these new 28-inch computer screens just for artists

Students are so advanced these days. Look at this video from St. Petersburg College. It's a demonstration of a new 28-inch computer monitor that allows art students to draw, design, and animate right on the screen. How things have changed from the days of pencil and a sketch pad.  Think of the possibilities, though. Such amazing creativity. Students today have the opportunity to imagine and create things that have never been thought of before. We love our students. They're so refreshing and so inspirational.