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.