On one hand, I’m thrilled. I know of no other elected official – national, state, or local – who has, within the last decade, openly challenged the dominant economic establishment within her sphere of influence and won. It’s a remarkable accomplishment for principle and good government, even it proves temporary. Go ahead, name me another politician anywhere with a record to match it.

I’m also worried. I’ll probably vote for Dockery over Alex Sink if it comes to that: I prefer a reasonable populist to a reasonable corporatist. And I fear that Dockery, as a result, will honestly, but relentlessly, move Florida government to the right, particularly on funding issues. And I fear that she’ll help Republicans in Florida seize the mantle of good, transparent government from Democrats and further build their state house majority.

At a time when our traditional words for describing political inclinations are losing all relationship to the way politics actually functions on the ground, Dockery has carved out an original and powerful niche, if Republican voters are smart enough to seize it: She’s a reasonable populist.

Here’s what I mean. Think back to the bailout of U.S. banks. If you remember, the first vote failed because the grassroots and principled wings of both parties revolted. The “left” objected because it saw the deal as class warfare, with the wealthy and powerful hoovering up the resources in the middle class to sustain a system that wasn’t working for most of America even when it functioned. The “right” couldn’t stand the idea of spending $700 billion on banks should be allowed to fail. Too much government intervention in the private sector. Moral hazard and all of that. It was the corporately-funded “center” of both parties that eventually sowed enough terror of financial Armageddon to snag the few votes it needed. We’ll never know if everything would have collapsed; but we do know that the bipartisan vote has proved an incredibly sweet deal for the banking-industrial complex. In this, as in most cases, the “reasonable center” kept the populist wings of both parties from getting what they want, and large economic and corporate interests were served first. We’ll see if that proves to be the right long-term policy.

Contrast this to Dockery’s role in the CSX deal, which bears striking resemblance to the bailout, albeit on a much smaller scale. Opposition on the left sees it a union-busting, liability-transferring, massive taxpayer subsidy of CSX, a powerful and rapacious corporation, brokered by Gov. Bubble himself, Jeb Bush. Opposition on the right sees it as the same thing, minus the concern for the union-busting. They also just hate government spending on transit or other public interest projects. The fact that the CSX deal uses a crappy transit project to camouflage the near monopolization of Florida’s shipping economy by CSX and a few key landowners doesn’t change the principled Tea Party-type opposition to government investment.

But unlike the bailout, in the CSX deal, a “mainstream” politician actually saw the legitimacy of the grassroots arguments of both left and right and relentlessly argued them and organized on behalf of them. Dockery united the activists on both sides for the public good. There is nothing the bipartisan architects of our unfair and corrupt economic structure fear more than that. (I happen to think that the Republican grassroots is completely oblivious to the consequences for themselves of what they think they believe, but that’s a different matter.)

Typically, the establishment “center” pits the grassroots of both parties against one another for the benefit of big economic interests. And the people who claim to represent them generally go along. (By the way, if you think Marco Rubio is a conservative, ask him if he supports the CSX giveaway. Believe me, anybody endorsed by Gov. Jeb Bubble, R-Lehman Brothers, believes conservatism means giving your money to large economic interests so they can do whatever the hell they want with it. Charlie’s no better, of course. But if Rubio’s a conservative, I’m a penguin.)

Dockery doesn’t go along, nor does she believe her political role is to suppress the legitimate interests and concerns of the grassroots, or to harness them for cynical benefit. Wonder or wonders, she’s capable of actually looking at a piece of legislation, deciding for herself if it’s beneficial or a swindle, and acting accordingly. That reasonable assessment of fact, driven by fiscal prudence and jealous protection of tax dollars, is what conservatism claims to be, but really isn’t. I’ve joked that I would like conservatives if any existed. Well, one does. To that end, expect Dockery to push for a major overhaul of the Florida Department of Transportation, an government organization that has evolved largely into a taxpayer-funded, interest-free private investment bank for big development and business interests. That’s the kind of reform that doesn’t fit neatly into political shout-fests on television, but it would strike a real blow against the capture of state government by private interests. The grassroots on the right and left would high five gleefully over that.

I have little doubt that Dockery would beat Alex Sink if she won the Republican primary. I have much greater doubt that the roiling Republican electorate in Florida is capable of realizing the power that a reasonable conservative populist could wield in the service of what they claim to be their beliefs. We’ll see. If Dockery can’t convince the Republican base of the value of reasonable populism, maybe someone on the left can. Dockery has left a beautiful blueprint.

A Reasonable Conservative Populist: Dockery is Deadly Politics if Republicans are Smart Enough to Bite is a post from: Metro I-4 News

“Of course not. So why does Congress operate under an identical system?”

St. Petersburg Times – Scientology Investigation Overdue: 
“When workers for the Church of Scientology sign a contract agreeing to serve in the church’s Sea Organization for “the next billion years,” the church can twist that agreement into a license to harass its workers, track them down if they leave and pressure them to return. What true church, what caring employer, would trample on the dignity and free choices of its own members in such a way? And what are authorities going to do about it?”

Daytona Beach News Journal – Textbook Inflation:
“Young or old, college students are slammed with onerous out-of-pocket expenses that exceed the out-of-pocket health costs of most working-age adults. The reason: textbooks

“In some college courses, textbooks cost more than tuition. Textbook costs are rising so fast (200 percent, or three times the rate of inflation, since 1986) that they can be the deciding factor between those who can and cannot afford a college education. Textbooks should never be that obstacle.

“The average college student pays between $800 and $1,000 a year in textbook expenses. That’s double the amount working adults pay, on average, in out-of-pocket health costs…”

Tampa Tribune – Bucs’ Fans Deserve Straight Answers:
“It’s appropriate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are donning their old orange and white colors for today’s “throwback” game against Green Bay at Raymond James Stadium. In many respects, this year’s team resembles the “Yucks” of old…

“But the Glazer family, which has owned the team for more than 12 years and helped bring Tampa its only Super Bowl title, should address more than the bad play on the field. They need to face up to fans, who are losing faith in them.

“Many fans question whether the family’s ownership of the Manchester United soccer club has taken precedence over the Bucs and wonder whether the football team’s profits are being used to help pay off the family’s debt on Man U, among other concerns.”

Orlando Sentinel – Too Compelling To Refuse:
“Twice, the Legislature has rejected a commuter rail system for metro Orlando, saying its benefits for the local population don’t justify its cost to the entire state…

“…since the Legislature last rejected SunRail in May, it has become clear that another defeat would cost Florida thousands more jobs. That’s because federal officials say Florida won’t get the $2.5 billion it has applied for to build a high-speed rail system without first demonstrating a commitment to public transit by approving SunRail. That’s why legislative leaders are saying a special session next month to pass SunRail is now a good bet. They need to follow through.”

Sunday Editorials Along The I-4 Corridor is a post from: Metro I-4 News

At the social service I run, my employees are dealing with cut hours and layoffs while at the same time seeing a deeper level of community need. The numbers of families and children dealing with homelessness is growing exponentially with the rise in cost of electricity and rent as well as foreclosures. The sad truth is that staffs can no longer focus on one aspect of need; each program and member must use their gifts to play several roles simply to make the agency run. Community social services who once fought for the same funds –all trying to do the same services better than the another–now have to partner and seek to not create the wheel, but specialize in one piece of the car.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

As I write about this truth, I am taken back to a lesson I learned working in an Episcopal Church in Chicago. While going to Seminary I worked as a Youth Director for a very large Episcopal Church. To give you a little background, I was always more of a people person than an academic. For most of my life, school was not something that came easy. When I think back to school, I think a great deal of my challenges came from my ego which refused to ask for help. I always had this –pull yourself up by your bootstraps–mentality that made me feel like I needed to justify myself.

I will never forget the first staff meeting I went to with the new Rector of the church I was serving. His first piece of business was to call a meeting of all the departments–the secretaries, choir directors and such–and set us down to explain to us his philosophy. The once army sergeant now Rector basically set us down and admitted to us his strengths and weaknesses. He laid out for each of us how we could help him do his job. In this first meeting where most CEO’s would want to build confidence and show strength, this Rector shared about his dyslexia! At the end of the meeting, as everyone else was exiting, I pulled the Rector to the side and asked him how he had the humility to share his weaknesses. He simply smiled and said, “I give people the gift of helping me.”

What he said seemed confusing then, but over time I learned from him that if he shared his gift and struggles freely, people were more likely to offer the truth of who they are with him. He used to tell me that working in a team, based in love, should mean members should be able to contribute their truth for the betterment of the whole.

The capitalistic lie that most Americans are born with is if they work harder than their competitor and live more morally than their neighbor, life will shield them from harm. Just like Jesus’ response to the disciples outside Capernaum when they were fighting about who was the greatest and closest to his right hand, our churches need to remind their communities: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)

The Gospel challenge is breaking through the barrier of — US verses THEM — to build unity. Acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses, how are each of us contributing our gifts to the betterment of the whole?

The Whole is a post from: Metro I-4 News

This post will deal with federal offices – the U.S. Senate seat which is up for grabs next year, as well as the three Congressional seats involving Polk County.  The names are taken from the candidate list from the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections.  Links are noted to a candidate’s campaign Web site and Facebook listing, if available.  Most candidate Facebook pages are open to the public, but in some cases you may need to request to become friends with him/her, with such approval giving you access to the candidate’s postings.

UNITED STATES SENATE
The winner will replace Republican incumbant George LeMieux, who was appointed to serve following the resignation of his predecessor Mel Martinez.
— DEMOCRAT —
Tyrone K. Brown, Sr.:  (Daytona Beach / Pastor) – Campaign Web Site

Kevin A. Burns:  (North Miami / Realtor – Broker) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Site
Former Mayor, City of North Miami

Chuck Lynch:  (Fort Walton Beach) – Candidate currently has no online presence.

Kendrick B. Meek:  (Miami / Retired Highway Patrolman) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Site – Congressinal Web Site
Currently Congressman, 17th District

Lawrence Penpek: (Sorrento / Retired US Postal Service) – Campaign Web Site -

— REPUBLICAN —
Bob Coggins:  (Orlando / Former Engineer) -  Campaign Web Site – Facebook Site

Charlie Crist:  (St. Petersburg / Attorney) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Site – Gubernatorial Web Site
Currently Governor of Florida. Formerly Florida Attorney General

Gwyn McClellan:  (Sarasota / Pastor, Education Professional) – Campaign Web Site -

Belinda Gail Quarterman Noah:  (Tampa / Attorney, Professor) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -

Marco Rubio:  (Miami / Attorney) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -
Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

Robert Clinton “Bob” Smith:  (Sarasota / Banker):  Campaign Web Site -                        Former Congressman, 1st District (New Hampshire), 1985 – 1990, and U.S. Senator (New Hampshire), 1991 – 2003

Shawn M. Teeters:  (Naples) – Candidate currently has no online presence.

Marion D. Thorpe, Jr. :  (Bal Harbour / Physician, Administrator) – Campaign Web Page – Facebook Page

— CONSTITUTION PARTY OF FLORIDA —
Marshall Louis DeRosa:  (Wellington / College Professor ) –  Campaign Web Site -

— LIBERTARIAN —
Alexander Andrew Snitker:  (Spring Hill / Account Representative) -  Campaign Web Site -

— INDEPENDENT (NO PARTY AFFILIATION) —
Bobbie Bean:  (Sebring / Commercial Printer) – Campaign Web Site -

Bernie DeCastro:  (Ocala / Non-profit Organizational Founder) – Campaign Web Site -

Todd Montgomery Oifer:  (Davenport / ) – Campaign Web Site -

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – DISTRICT 5
— DEMOCRAT —
James John “Jim” Piccillo:  (Lutz / Mortgage Negotiator) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -

H. David Werner:  ( Hudson) – Candidate currently has no online presence.

— REPUBLICAN —
Virginia “Ginny” Brown-Waite: (Incumbent)  (Brooksville / Housewife) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page – Congressional Web Site -

Jason Patrick Sager:  (Brooksville / Sage) – Facebook Page -

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – DISTRICT 12
The winner will replace Republican incumbant Adam Putnam, who is running for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
— DEMOCRAT —
Lori Edwards:  (Winter Haven / Radio Broadcaster) – Campaign Web Site -  Supervisor of Elections Page -
Currently Polk County Supervisor of Elections
Previously Member, Florida House of Representatives, District 65

Randolph “Randy” Edwards:  (Valrico / Retired USMC) – Campaign Web Site - Facebook Page - 

Douglas David “Doug” Tudor:  (Riverview / Retired USN) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -

— REPUBLICAN —
Bradley D. Kallhoff:  (Lakeland) - Candidate currently has no online presence. 

John W. Lindsey, Jr.:  (Winter Haven) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -

Dennis Ross:  (Lakeland / Attorney) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page -

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – DISTRICT 15
— DEMOCRAT —
Jonathan F. Bull:  (Melbourne / Attorney) – Candidate currently has no online presence.

Shannon Roberts:  (Cape Canaveral) – Candidate currently has no online presence.

— REPUBLICAN —
Bill Posey: (Incumbant) (Rockledge /Realtor ) – Campaign Web Site – Facebook Page – Congressional Web Site
Former Member, Florida Senate, District 24
Former Member, Florida House of Representatives,
Former Rockledge City Commissioner,

The 2010 Election: U.S. Senate and Congressional Seat Candidates To Represent Polk County is a post from: Metro I-4 News

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

Juniper RED is a post from: Metro I-4 News

What accounts for this discrepancy?

I’m willing to bet that it’s our news media, aka MSM, including newspapers, cable news, and broadcast news.

Continue reading  Re/Creating Tampa – The MSM makes us dumb.

Re/Creating Tampa – The MSM makes us dumb is a post from: Metro I-4 News

However, this week I was shaken to my core by the questions and concerns of a 15 year old girl. Let me explain. For the last couple weeks I’ve been dating a new woman in Lakeland. This last weekend I had the opportunity to be invited to a family wedding down near Vero Beach. Like I was not worried enough about meeting her extended family, to my surprise my now girlfriend’s daughter joined us on the trip.

To make a long story short, the trip was a blast, the wedding was crazy and my time with my girlfriend and her daughter was inspiring. I guess I share all of this with you really only to encapsulate one moment of the weekend. There was this moment an hour into our two hour trip back to Lakeland when the conversation in the car turned to issues of sexism, racism and gender biases. My girlfriend’s liberal-minded 15 year old daughter was talking to her mother about social rights issues that I had long ago fought for in churches, schools and communities. She asked questions about how Christians can call themselves Christians if they cannot love unique families and individuals. She talked about racisim in her school and sexual orientations amongst her friends.

Though we all dialoged, shared stories and opinions which I think uplifted her scrutiny, I found myself feeling quite convicted by my level of apathy and consolation around her issues. I was once so passionate about each of these major social and spiritual concerns. What happened to the social activist inside me? Did I give up? Was I swayed by public opinion? Did I give in to societal norms and blaze community morays? Had I fallen into the church and societal responses of “This isn’t the time for change”, “Don’t rush things; society and the church will change when our communities are ready”!

For a short time I let myself off the hook simply rationalizing, I was just choosing the fights worth fighting! But then I realized it was not a 15 year old convicting me, it was the Holy Spirit.

Bringing all these concerns to prayer, my soul reminded me of Martin Luther King’s great Letter From Birmingham Jail. I do not know how long it has been since you read or re-read that letter, but I certainly recommend it to you. The letter is written by Marin Luther King as he sat in the Birmingham Jail after being arrested in a non-violent peace march. The letter was addressed to both local and national church pastors who were telling Mr. King that he was rushing and pushing the civil rights cause too hard. He explained that many of the letters he received stated that they saw that change needed to take place in the U.S. but that they did not see now as being the time.

Letter from the Birmingham Jail was an eloquent response to those “middle of the road” churches. The letter convicted them just like this 15 year old girl convicted me. With words like:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”….”We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea.” Dr. M.L. King

All of this led me to question, what is it that I do still stand for? Has my calling changed? When scriptures say “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (1Cor 13:11) Did it mean that we as adults need to give into to injustices we once used to see in the world?

You are probably thinking of course scripture and faith causes us to address social injustices! To you I need to ask you as the 15 girl convicted me– what social service injustices does your community stand up against? What issues does your family stand up for? Do you think racism is an issue in Lakeland? Do you see your church addressing sexism, socio-economic stereotyping, homelessness or other injustices around you? I suppose the most important question is—As an adult, what is your stand on the social injustices around you? And how would your children know?

Stand for is a post from: Metro I-4 News

There is an old saying that Americans will always do the right thing, but only after they have tried everything else first.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to make the transition. Latest example: visceral opposition to high-speed rail by those who should be thinking more innovatively. Consider Robert Samuelson’s recent column in the Washington Post– “A Rail Boondoggle, Moving at High Speed.” Samuelson cites the usual statistics–that we are an auto culture, that not enough people ride trains, that the costs are high. So, he concludes, President Obama’s commitment to high-speed passenger rail is a fool’s errand.

But Samuelson’s among those who has been playing this song for over 20 years. Their message has turned into a weird anomaly given what is happening around the rest of the globe.

First, lets look at the true subsidy costs of a mono focus on highway investment. At least $100 billion of state, county, and city general funds are invested every year in highways and highway costs. Those are direct subsidies to the highway system, outside of any “user pay” trust fund. The federal government has started to invest general funds into highways, in part because no one wants to actually have to pay for the costs of highways with an increase in user fees.

Second, there are over 2 million Americans injured every year on America’s roads, at an annual medical cost of over $200 billion. Saving half of that cost would pay the entire cost of health care reform over the next decade.

Third, the energy and environmental costs of our auto culture drive our defense and medical costs in ways that we have all agreed to turn a blind eye to–though the true cost is probably in the range of a half trillion dollars a year.

If we can manage to ignore the $750 billion cost of our highway fixation, then Samuelson’s argument makes some kind of weird sense–though you have to suspend logic, economics, and global experience to get there.

Why has every industrialized nation in the world made, and continues to make, large scale investments in high-speed rail? That’s what Samuelson’s argument can’t reach. If you look at the roll call of nations with high-speed passenger rail, it includes Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, China, and South Korea. Could all of them be wrong? China alone is pursuing a 3,000-mile high-speed network. What propels all of these industrial nations to invest so seriously in this mode of transportation? They are making hardheaded decisions about their nation’s future and their economic self-interest. We have just started to do so.

In the U.S. House of Representative, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has marked up a reauthorization bill for highways and transit. The bill proposes to spend $550 billion over the next 6 years. The vast majority of those funds would go to the highway program. The bill would allocate $50 billion over the life of the bill for high-speed passenger rail. That’s less than 10 percent of our national transportation funding. The Samuelsons of the world may call it a waste. I see a humongous greater waste–the $750 billion we’re incurring, year-in and year-out, in the indirect costs we incur by failing to build alternatives to our transportation monoculture. That’s the unconscionable economic waste.

I am not suggesting that highways are going to be anything other than the dominant mode of transportation in the United States for a long time. I am suggesting that there are corridors, less than 500 miles long, where density and economic activity make high speed passenger rail the only viable mobility investment. The total trip time of air travel in those corridors, combined with the energy costs, makes high speed rail the logical choice and a far better choice than the costs of expanding highway capacity in those congested and dense corridors. For those trips, high-speed rail delivers you to the heart of the city, not to a remote airport. I am also suggesting that there is simply no comparison between the safety of a train trip verses the safety of an auto trip. In the end, we need a broader set of mobility choices than we have created for ourselves. The public seems to understand this, as editorial and public opinion polling is making clear.

What is discouraging in this debate is that someone as bright as Samuelson cannot think in broader, more expansive terms about the American future. We can do better. Yes, we can!

Tom Downs is chairman of the North American Board of Veolia Transportation and a former president of Amtrak. His e-mail is tmdowns1@aol.com.

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Driving on to Irrelevance: That Or a 21st Century Train System is a post from: Metro I-4 News

Sometimes I think I get so caught up in my inner spiritual voice to seek silence, to seek a personal moment with God, that I forget that those moments — like breathing itself — are only one half of my faith life. Yes, with the rush of my daily life, God is most certainly calling me into dark quiet rooms of prayer. I need moments away from the public, away from my work TO DO list and outside world’s demands. To be any good to others I must have time to stop–, “be still and know God”.

One of the necessary evils of having to train staff on new innovative community capacity building techniques is having to go to trainings myself. Training would not be so bad if it was in a dimly lit room of circled rocking chairs. You know, a bunch of academic, spiritually-centered people discussing and contemplating how to uplift individual and community strengths in a holistic way? But the truth is the trainings like this are done in a halogen lit bright room, at classroom desks, in a lecture style room, sitting in stiff chairs in a stagnant, artificially air conditioned setting . Sometimes the places God calls us to learn and explore are not the settings we would pick for ourselves. And whereever God had called me to learn –community capacity building– the lesson would be totally worthless if I were to decide to keep what I learned to myself.

As important and Christ centered as those inner, quiet and personal moments with God are, I do not believe they are ever an action that does not include a reaction. Christ is sent to the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights only to leave that isolation to pick his Disciples and begin his ministry.

Prince Siddhartha sat and contemplated purpose and Zen underneath the Bodhi tree only to claim that Nirvana and claim his ministry as the Buddha. Or when the prophet Moses, when in contemplation with God received the 10 commandments, they were not a meditative personal message which he was to keep to himself; the meditative message Moses received was a message from God which was to be shared with his community.

There is an Islamic prophecy that the prophet Muhammad secluding himself for three days and three nights of worship in the cave of Mount Hira before he was able to address the Angel Gaberiel’s calling for him to read in Mecca. “Read! In the Name of Your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), has created a man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught (the writing) by the pen, has taught man that which he knew not.” (Ch 96:1-4 Quran).

There is this academic or theological lie that the truths we receive in our meditations and quiet times with God are personal messages for us alone, that they are messages we recieve to build our personal faith alone.

However, in fact, I believe the contrary could possibly be true. I do not believe that there is any time when our faith calls us (inside) where at some point we are not called to react (outside). If one finds their faith life to be one that only inhales: focusing on their personal relationship, personal needs, inner experiences of faith alone, I do not believe they are truly alive. At the same time if one sees their calling and purpose with and in God as only being evident in others. If one only sees God in the outward exhale of service to others, in the messages, prayers and intentions of others, then I do not believe they are truly alive either. The Holy Spirit can best be interpreted as Holy Breath or Holy Wind. “Like the wind the spirit moves where it will.” If person tries to spend their whole life only inhaling air, they will quickly die from the all the air they have inhaled into their lungs. Like- wise, an individual who would to try to only exhale all the time would run out of air and pass out due to lack of oxygen. Life is made possible and whole when every inhaled breath is followed naturally by an exhale. Inhale, exhale; inhale, exhale.

A full faith life needs to find fulfillment in the whole of one’s breath. Sometimes we are called into quiet rooms of prayer, onto isolated mountains to pray, heal and find direction. But that inhaling time and truth must be manifested in the exhaling of community giving , teaching and mission to complete our breath. Just like there are moments when we are called to seek teaching, gospel and pastoral direction from our ministers, congregations, loved ones and communities; there is also giving to the poor, ministering to the outcast, paying our tithes and offering our gifts. But the breath can not be made complete when God’s love is only something that is allowed to be given (exhaled) but not received.

This week before you meditate and pray, take a moment to try to exhale all the air you can from your lungs and then read your scripture. Then fill your lungs to capacity, still breathing in reread the same scripture. And then finally inhale, focus and exhale as you breath fully God’s word. Breath, much like life, is something we take for granted. One only has to visit the bedside of a dying loved one to see what life looks and feels like when a full breath cannot seem to be taken.

“Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Breathing in, Holy Spirit
Dwelling mindfully, I am at peace.” — (Tich Ni Hann)

Sharing the Whole Breath is a post from: Metro I-4 News

I, too, have head all the rumors swirling around my relative absence from Lakeland Local and Metro I-4 News in the last month: Chuck fired me from my volunteer gig over disagreements concerning facial hair; the Obama administration has tapped me to serve as “Obnoxiousness Czar”; I was trampled by wildebeasts, and the Kenyan National Park Service is covering it up. None of these, wish as we might, dear reader, is true.

My actual excuses, for the most part, are quotidian: The little boy’s fall baseball season is in full swing; my lovely wife, the doyenne of downtown, lost her appendix last week (a moment of silence please for that charming, yet useless piece of flesh); my bill-paying job expects to me work from time to time. Sigh.

But there is one more reason. For the last month or so, I have directed the bulk of whatever creative energy I could muster to a new project, a blog study of the almost famous Cross Creek Trial of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling, Cross Creek and a number of other novels focused on the rural area near Gainesville where she lived on and off from roughly 1930 until she died in the 50s. I have a bit of a unique perspective on this trial: My great aunt, who I was very close to, with help from my great-grandfather, represented the woman who sued Marjorie over how she was portrayed in Cross Creek, which was a sort of stylized memoir. Here’s my little kicker introduction from the blog, which you can access here.

In 1943, as World War II raged, my Great Aunt Kate Walton, one of Florida’s first female lawyers, sued Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Baskin on behalf of Zelma Cason, a onetime friend who felt defamed by Rawlings’ portrayal of her in the book Cross Creek. The lawsuit and trial, and the core American arguments that surrounded it, make for riveting reading and study. Whether you’re a Marjorie fan, history buff, or relative of mine, I hope you’ll take some time to learn with me about this this unique moment in Florida’s development, when people of great substance and ability clashed over the power of language and the sanctity of the individual.

And here’s a quick rundown of those core arguments from my first post on “Blogging the Cross Creek Trial.”

Race: No major figure in the case is black. Yet, the “Negro question,” as Marjorie often referred to it, the twilight world of extra legal status in which black men and women toiled before the civil rights movement, informs nearly every aspect of the case and the experiences that led to it. In fact, easily the best, most honest, chapter in Cross Creek, called “Black Shadows,” concerns precisely this status and Marjorie’s ambivalence in confronting it. J.V. Walton and Marjorie engaged in a stirring bout of courtroom jousting over Marjorie’s account in that chapter of her behavior toward two black tenants.

The Battle for Palatka: In the first nine months of 1926, the Ku Klux Klan or its sympathizers carried out more than 60 documented extra-legal floggings in Putnam County, of which Palatka is the county seat. At least two black men, identified as Willie Steen and Ed Chisholm, died from injuries suffered at the hands of mobs. J.V. Walton, successful young lawyer and father of four pre-teen girls, including Kate Walton, led the resistance to this reign of terror and stopped it – or so family folklore holds. My preliminary research into this supports the folklore, and even embellishes it. I’m pretty convinced that you can’t understand Aunt Katie’s role in this case – and J.V.’s – without understanding the fight with the Klan.

Womanhood: It is a simple matter of fact that the key female characters in this story were all college-educated, professional, childless women. The Cross Creek Trial previews the exploding influence of professional and working women on our economy and culture, which I think is the most far-reaching social transformation of the 20th century – more influential even than civil rights. You can see it coming in the Cross Creek trial.

Writing, Journalism, and Truth: The people who wrote, marketed, and studied Cross Creek often differed in what to call it – novel, non-fiction, journalism, memoir, autobiography. There are many conflicting references, which I’ll try to document. The fact that even supporters of Marjorie struggled to characterize Cross Creek, a book describing real people, foreshadows the case, I think.

For me, Cross Creek clearly presents itself as non-fiction, a type of journalism. In that sense, it fails. Now that I’ve read Marjorie’s letters to her husband, Norton Baskin, I can say without hesitation that Cross Creek is a deeply dishonest book. Its narrator and lead character, Marjorie Rawlings, bears only passing resemblance to the real Marjorie Rawlings. The Marjorie of her letters is a far more compelling person – funny, neurotic, fearful of many things, moody, guilt-ridden, insightful, gutsy, driven by conscience, depressed, very physically unhealthy, and often resentful of her neighbors in the milieu she described, and from which she profited.

My creative writing professor in college once told us, “To write is to sit in judgment on yourself.” Marjorie does that fiercely in her letters. She doesn’t in Cross Creek. It makes the effect of everything else she writes in that book suspect.

We live in an age where longstanding conventions of journalism and professional writing are crumbling, undermined by technology and funding-model changes. In that sense, the Cross Creek trial, while fought over an insult that seems quaint compared to any comment string on a modern webnews story, anticipates many of the cultural fights surrounding journalism, law and writing going on today.

Aunt Katie and me: From the time I was about five, roughly 1976, until my family moved to Tallahassee in the summer of 1979, I spent nearly every Saturday morning with Aunt Katie – driving a golf cart around her property on the St. Johns River, cane pole fishing off her dock, listening to her read poetry, watching her smoke cigars. My wife and I had our wedding party in front of her simple cracker house on the river, now owned by a younger aunt. My kids all caught their first fish off the same dock where she and I sat together. Her death was my first real experience with grief. Anyone reading this should know my loyalties lie with her, even though I never really knew the person who sued Marjorie Rawlings. I intend to meld the ambitious 30-something lawyer who wrote and argued the case with such professional intensity with “Katie the Wonderful,” as my grandmother called her, the irresistibly eccentric aunt whose love dominates my childhood memories. I want my children and eventual grandchildren to know her. And frankly, though such a wish is well beyond my power, I want the wider world to remember her. However, I’m also aware that Aunt Katie probably wouldn’t approve of such a project, particularly that last part. As Ms. Acton and subsequent literary suitors found, my extended family always felt great ambivalence in talking about the trial, not wanting to offend Aunt Katie’s wishes. Now, with my grandmother’s passing, no one from Aunt Katie’s generation is left. And I’m going to take my chances, fully aware that I may have to answer to her one day.

So, there you have it, what I’m up to. I hope this exercise will entertain people in its own right, just because it’s a great story, whether one knows anything about Marjorie Rawlings, Aunt Katie, Zelma Cason, or anybody else. But I also hope that Marjorie’s legions of fans will engage me, along with people who know and love Cross Creek and Florida. I hope my family will share Aunt Katie stories that I don’t know, safe in the knowledge that I’ll take the blame for invading her privacy.

Whatever your angle or interest, I hope you’ll comment and argue and point me toward more and better sources. Tell me when I get things wrong. More than anything else, I hope to resurrect this trial to the cultural and historical importance I think it deserves. Help me out. Or just enjoy learning about this unique moment in Florida history, when people of great substance and ability clashed over the power of language and the sanctity of the individual.

And that, folks is what I’ve been up to. I hope to turn this into a book, and I think the blog format is great way to solicit input, learn things, and collect my thoughts. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

And I’m not forsaking LL or Metro I4 – although I do have a vacation planned for the next few days. I should be able to write more now that the site is up and functioning.

Lastly, I just want to thank Chuck, who, of course, offered his talent and expertise in building the Cross Creek Trial site and never once complained that it was siphoning energy away from my work for his sites. Chuck is one of the most generous, community-minded people I know. I’m proud to call him a friend and remain perpetually in his debt. He’s a tremendous resource for this town. Thanks, man.

Billy’s New Project: The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Cross Creek Trial is a post from: Metro I-4 News

If you still want to dress up your kids for something to do, why not try out Dinosaur World with Free Admission on Saturday, October 31. Children ages 3 to 12 in costume will be admitted free to Dinosaur World on Halloween to enjoy the displays and exhibits. Admission for adults is $12.75; for seniors 60 and over it’s $10.75. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 813-717-9865.

Know of other events happening October 23-31 you want to share with us? Leave a comment!

Monster Mash is a post from: Metro I-4 News

October + Bok Tower Gardens = Boktoberfest! is a post from: Metro I-4 News

As a single guy, I have written several articles explaining that Lakeland, Florida is not an easy place for dating. Locals will tell you, Lakeland is a couple’s town; oh you can meet a woman to marry, but just know she is going to already have kids. If you are someone who just wants to date, to meet singles for dinner, drinks and to build community, the scene is pretty sparse.

Oh, there are single college girls dancing to a mixture–hip hop and country—at Hurricanes, Irish locals and soon to be couples at Molly’s. Linkster’s a nice place to meet people you already know but a little expensive to try to charm someone you do not know. Southside is too dark and smoky to see a date. At Ted’s they are just a clique; I personally think everyone in there went to school together. Docks, Boots & Buckles and Mojo are a bit of a drive and a bit more of a drive if you end up having a couple.

Coffee shops, bookstores, and churches are a fine way to meet people in Lakeland you would want to call friends, but you have to come to those places with other purposes in mind besides dating. The last thing you want to be is that one lone guy or girl walking around a coffee shop or bookstore trying to make random eye contact with strangers!

One option, which I have several friends have tried, is on-line dating. At first thought the idea of meeting someone off the internet seems so cheap and fake. We have all heard the stories of old men pretending to by young cute girls. Most of us have seen a beautiful woman’s photo on-line, only to find out that “pic” only showed one of her three chins.

At the same time, in a perfect world wouldn’t it be great if we could give our dates a pre-screening form before we go out with them? When you fill out a profile for on-line dating, you’re basically completing an internet resume of likes and dislikes, ideals and perspectives. A couple of the newer dating sites even go as far as having you check boxes which help you identify your perfect mate. Short (check), Bald (check), well dressed (check), Poor Social Worker (CHECK)! The idea is that a woman could see my list and decide she has to contact me. Again, that is in a perfect world.

In all honesty I have tried a number of dating sites in the past. Match.com was okay. ‘Lots of women in Tampa and Orlando, but I felt like I paid a lot just to send messages to get to know people. EHarmony seemed a little too—goody two-shoes. And Craigslist! All I can say is stay away from Craigslist for dating! One site that at one point I met a number of nice Lakeland women on was Plentyoffish. A number of my friends locally swear by Plentyoffish because every aspect of it is free. Profile, searches, emails, photos are all free. The site makes its money off ads and just lets people lay out who they are and what they are looking for. Over the last three years, I’ve probably gone out with three different women from the site and even dated one of them long term. It is not that an adult cannot casually date in Lakeland; the opportunities to meet people at street fairs, first Friday, car shows, motorcycle rallies or art shows are almost weekly.

Being somewhat new to Lakeland, I would love to hear in your comments this week, suggestions for singles in Lakeland. Do you have a favorite place to take a date? Is there a hidden hot spot that you know of for meeting people? I know I spend a lot of time in my articles talking about taking time for self-care, and centering spirituality practices. But you and I, we are not islands and sometimes at the end of the day, the scripture that hangs on my spirit is very simple: “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18)

Just Dating is a post from: Metro I-4 News

Maybe? Maybe not. Depends on how good were those seats…

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Metro I4 News

Did He? is a post from: Metro I-4 News

With Putnam and his significant campaign bank account stepping aside for a run to become Florida’s next Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, six candidates have filed as of today.  The latest to join the fray is Valrico resident Randolph “Randy” Edwards, who is retiring after a 22 year career in the United States Marine Corps.  The Florida Division of Elections’ Web Site notes that Edwards filed qualifying papers last Monday.

The two other Democrats have been busy raising funds and meeting potential supporters for some time now:  Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards of Winter Haven, a former state legislator before being term limited, filed at the end of June.  Another retired military man, former Naval Master Chief Yeoman Douglas David “Doug”  Tudor of Riverview, challenged Putnam unsuccessfully in 2008, but earned 42.5  percent of the vote across the district which entails much of Polk County as well as portions of Hillsborough and Osceola counties.

Meanwhile, three other candidates hope to keep the seat in GOP hands.  Lakeland attorney and former State Representative Dennis Ross filed to run in March, shortly after being term-limited from his legislative post.  Bradley D. Kallhoff of Lakeland and John W. Lindsey, Jr. of Winter Haven have not established campaign Web sites, but Lindsey does have a Twitter presence.

Something tells me that this political season will be veeeeeeeeery interesting.

Local Congressional Race Attracting Lots Of Attention is a post from: Metro I-4 News