I got this as an e-mail forward, which I usually HATE. But this is pretty dead on... Signs of a True Floridian Socks are only for bowling. You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes. A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade. Your winter coat is made of denim. You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites. You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65. Anything under 70 is chilly. You pass on the right and honk at the elderly, but pull over for a funeral. You've driven through Yeehaw Junction. You could swim before you could read. You have to drive north to get to The South. You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix. Every other house in your neighborhood had blue roofs in 2004-2005. You've gotten out of school early on Halloween to trick...
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I Am Not a Victim… But Enough is Enough
It seems that I have come under criticism for not getting more involved in my neighborhood's crime watch activities. It also seems that the Creative Loafing posters feel like I'm whining and playing the victim.
To set the record straight....
-I report on several community groups that all meet at night. Most times I have to choose between making money and going to my neighborhood's crime watch meeting. I'm a freelancer, guys, I get paid per article. Yes, I know I have chosen this life, but I don't have sick time, I don't have anyone else in my home helping with finances, so it's just me and my laptop against the world (oh, and my Dalmatian, but she really has limited earning potential). I don't get a salary, so I work when and where I can.
-You want to fault me for not getting involved, go ahead. I...
I am NOT a Republican.
Really, I'm not. But sometimes... well, sometimes... sigh.
I write for the Gabber, a Gulfport-based indie weekly, among other publications. Gulfport, a teeny-tiny town on the tip of Pinellas County, passed a human rights ordinance last year, making them the first municpality in the county to do so. It protects, among other things, gays, lesbians, transsexual, and transgendered persons from discrimination. It is a liberal, welcoming community, by most people's standards. It is, I like to think, the only place on the west coast of Florida where all the gay people are out of the closet and the fundamental Christians are in. So I get exposed to things that people in, say, Safety Harbor probably do not.
This weekend, Steve Stanton, city manager for Largo (also in Pinellas County), lost his job because he revealed to the media that he would soon "undergo gender reassignment surgery" (that from...