Daily Loaf

Steve Kornell with Democratic Committeewoman Linda Lucas at Shackleton's.

It was a mixed bag for gay voters last night. The vote to preserve marriage equality came up short in Maine, but great strides were made in local elections — including St. Petersburg’s City Council race.

Steve Kornell, one of the most impressive candidates in any local race this season, won his St. Pete council seat by a surprisingly large margin — 59.46% to 40.54% — over his opponent, Angela Rouson. He is the first openly gay person in the history of the city to be elected to public office. Like Kevin Beckner, the first openly gay Hillsborough County Commissioner, Kornell brought qualities to his candidacy that transcended issues of sexual orientation: strong community involvement, great campaign preparation, specific ideas and a sharp mind. His election, like Beckner’s, is a heartening sign of progress — even though St. Pete voters elected a new mayor who, like Rick Baker, refuses to march in gay pride parades. (Bill Foster was making sympathetic noises about domestic partnership benefits toward the end of his campaign, though, so there may be some hope there.)

Kornell was not the only LGBT candidate making history last night. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Reconstructing a historic bat tower in Temple Terrace and how to build your own bat roost- Grant Rimbey investigates efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, discusses a large community bat roost he designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and tells how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost for your yard.

Summer Solstice: A brief history- Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, occurs this Sunday- June 21st. Here are a few facts you might not have known about it, from Linda Taylor.

Organics: How to eat well without breaking your budget- With the increase of demand over organic food in the last ten years you would think that a wide range of these products would be easily accessible. Here’s some some advice from Kelly Rothwell on purchasing healthy, organic food in this region without breaking your budget.
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Recently, I received an email from a local filmmaker, Arlen Slobodow of Public Media Productions, asking me to take a look at a 17-minute video he just completed on public health and the environmental consequences of air pollution in the Tampa Bay area.  Because I am such a supporter of local independent media production, things that inspire action for the public good, and combating big polluters, I thought I’d share it.  Also, be sure to check out my interview with the film’s writer/director/producer, Arlen Slobodow, in my next post.

Video after the jump
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David Sedaris and I practically know each other.  We share the same hometown, Raleigh, NC, so the places he writes about are vivid memories for me.  The Piccadilly Cafeteria in the mall, the neighborhood of The Christmas Whore and the mental hospital are vivid snapshots in my mind.  He is one of those people of some fame that I imagine I will meet at a signing and out of a line of hundreds of people I’ll say something clever like “I lived in Raleigh, too!  In college my best friend’s sister and her husband bought a house two blocks from where your parents used to live.”  To which he would reply “Really?  That’s remarkable!  Hey, I have to do this thing but once I get rid of all these losers I’d love to take you out for a drink and talk about the ol’ hometown.  You wouldn’t have ever considered being a writer, have you?  I’ve been looking for someone to mentor!”

At the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center last night, David’s (yeah, I’m going to call him David) opening reading touched on the awkwardness of people in line at his book signings spouting lame statements like “Nice shoes!” “Do you like tacos,” or outlining some tenuous connection through their respective life paths, like, say, “My best friend’s sister, etc….”.

I decided not to stand in line for the book signing.

David’s strength is his writing, so the show mostly consists of him reading.  The audience at TBPAC was his crowd and he kept us laughing at regular intervals.  In fact, the laughs came in such a rhythm that I think you could have timed them. Kind of like contractions. Read the rest of this entry »