Daily Loaf

Every year, families gather to celebrate the season, renew connections and berate each other’s life choices. For decades, the traditional feast was a fairly simple and predictable custom.

Then someone went and invented tofurkey.

Now older folks all over the country are confused by gluten-free grandchildren, nephews’ embarrassing body piercings and daughters who no longer celebrate “oppressive” holidays.

Never fear, there is a way to get through these modern meals without disowning anyone.

Here’s how.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

A local show, True Talk on WMNF 88.5, is hosted by Ahmed Bedier (one of my Facebook friends. Represent!) and Samar Jarrah. I’ve been a huge fan of WMNF since its Radical Noise show back in the early 1980s when I was little punk-wanna-be in 8th grade. Its programs, True Talk included, have a certain Wayne’s World feel to them.

Minus the laughs or dick jokes.

On last week’s show, Ahmed called in to talk to Samar remotely. Classic ‘MNF moment — she lost the connection twice. When he finally got on, Ahmed spoke for a few moments before he had to take another call. Then he tried to conference in with someone old enough to remember when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

But that vibe, that “we’re broadcasting from someone’s garage in between bong hits” feel adds to the station’s indy cred and, let’s face it, is part of WMNF’s charm.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Now you know how it feels,” says the tagline on this video. Watch after the break.

After two weeks of practice and a few rain delays, game day is finally here.
The sun is playing peek-a-boo behind just a few clouds in an otherwise clear and bright blue sky. An autumn breeze doesn’t lower the temperature too much, still in the high 80s, but I sit in the shade and feel comfortable. Never a big sports fan, I’m now transformed by my children’s enthusiasm.
I’m ready to see my youngest son get out there and enjoy himself.
Baseball is the great American pastime, after all, requiring skill and the kind of good hand-eye coordination I never got from drama and dance classes.
Yes, listening to the crack of the bat and kids cheering on their teammates is just about as good a gig as you can find on a Saturday afternoon.
Which is why I’m suddenly surprised.
Head Coach is screaming at his players, 9- and 10-year-old boys.
“Lazy. You’re being lazy!”
“Are you a spectator or a ballplayer?”
“Dive for the ball!”
“Can any of you catch?” Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

From time to time, men hit on me.

Not a lot, but enough. How about that? I no longer repel.

Either smiling more than scowling, losing all that baby weight, getting in shape, figuring out what to do with my hair and discovering clothes that fit actually makes a difference, or middle-aged guys are goddamn desperate.

Going with desperate?

Perhaps.

One thing is for certain, most men in their 30s and 40s are no longer skilled in the art of seduction or flattery, if they ever were.

Read the rest of this entry »

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

Last week I got a request to appear on Studio 10, a local morning talk show in Tampa, hosted by Holley Sinn and Jerome Ritchey. They wanted to discuss my review of Capitalism: A Love Story and maybe even my blogging adventures here at CL and Out in Left Field.

Despite the fact they have no open bar, I agreed to go on the show.

Thursday morning, I arrived early and asked for the makeup room.

Lovely Receptionist blinked a few times.

“Where do you think you are?” she asked. “Oprah?”

Read the rest of this entry »

No one can explain capitalism in a simple manner, and Michael Moore is no exception. Yet Capitalism: A Love Story does a fine job tackling the different sides of a complicated issue and sets forth the premise that the struggle we now face, no matter what the pundits tell you, isn’t between capitalism and socialism.
It’s between capitalism and democracy.
Do we want a society based on profit for some, or freedom for all? That’s the choice and question at the heart of this important documentary.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

“Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself.”
– Ferris Bueller

What if white, country-boy Kanye West had interrupted African-American, R&B singer Taylor Swift? Would this switcheroo have changed public sentiment after their now-infamous interaction at the VMAs?

I doubt it.

The only difference – Kanye West would have been called a racist and a bigot, his behavior used as evidence that we still have a long way to go.

Well. We can call him a racist anyway. And still agree that we have a long way to go.

My question is – who cares?

Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

Every year before Rosh Hashanah, synagogues send tickets to members for High Holy Day services. Non-members in the Tampa Bay area usually pay around $200.

That’s right.

Local Jews pay that kind of money for tickets to a show that doesn’t involve Neil Diamond or a free buffet. Who knew?

Included is usually a letter that lays out the rules and regulations for attending such services. Below please find the letter I received with my additions in bold.

Bold.

Get it?

Read the rest of this entry »

Teenage mom moves in with older boyfriend who owns a python. Brings toddler along. In July, the python gets out of its cage in the middle of the night and strangles 2-year-old Shaiunna Hare. One can’t help but wonder — who’s mom going to sue?

[About Daily Best of the Bay: Creative Loafing is posting writers' and editors' picks for Best of the Bay 2009 each day until the BOTB issue is released on Sept. 16. Vote now for your own BOTB choices in our Readers' Poll!]

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.

Holly Benson, secretary of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, sounded more like my grandpa at a barbecue when she suggested poor people can solve health care woes like heart disease and diabetes with a quick jog around the block. After all, she told a radio host earlier this year, unemployment “means you have a lot more time to go running.”

[About Daily Best of the Bay: Creative Loafing is posting writers' and editors' picks for Best of the Bay 2009 each day until the BOTB issue is released on Sept. 16. Vote now for your own BOTB choices in our Readers' Poll!]

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.