Our Town 2016 SEP-OCT (Newberry & Jonesville)

THE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ISSUE – MUSIC, PHOTOGRAPHY, KINETIC ART & MORE!

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 | VOL. 14 ISSUE 05

NEWBERRY & JONESVILLE EDITION

Jerry Uelsmann

Exposing the Impossible

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We helped Liam get cookin.’

— Liam, age 6, Gainesville

Chef Liam’s seizures started when he was just 5 months old. It took the perfect mix of ingredients — including his UF Health pediatrician, pediatric neurologist and ongoing appointments with occupational and physical therapists — to create the recipe to help him grow up healthy and strong. Now he’s ready to dish up whatever comes his way.

We have four locations to serve you, including our newest office at Tioga Town Center. Make an appointment by visiting UFHealth.org/peds or by calling 352.265.2222.

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CONTENTS

S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

G R E AT E R A L A C H U A C O U N T Y

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ON THE COVER >> JERRY UELSMANN, MASTER OF PHOTOMONTAGE (THE OLDFASHIONED WAY — IN THE DARKROOM), PROVIDED THE COVER ART FOR THIS EDITION OF OUR TOWN. HIS WORK HAS BEEN FEATURED IN OVER 100 INDIVIDUAL SHOWS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND ABROAD. COV ER P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J ER RY U EL S M A N N .

FEATURE STORIES 36

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ACTRESS – KELLY ATKINS You may recall her from her multi-character role in the summer hit “Toxic Avenger” (you should!). Learn more about this Hippodrome company member as she recounts her life on the stage so far.

PHOTOGRAPHER – JERRY UELSMANN Before Photoshop there was Jerry Uelsmann. His work has been featured globally, including the opening credits of the Outer Limits television show. While his influence and photography can been seen and felt worldwide, he calls Gainesville home.

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SOMA ART MEDIA HUB A local art supply store’s call to action…

Support the arts—support the community!

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CYPRESS SESSIONS A pilot television show in a similar format to PBS’ “Austin City Limits” focusing on the incredible musical talent here in our town. The project has been spearheaded by Gainesville’s own Bill Bryson – who said that his varied experiences as an artist, musician, past owner of the Covered Dish and current owner of Crane Ramen have all led to creating this project.

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CONTENTS

S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

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HIGH SPRINGS PLAYHOUSE Did you know the High Springs Playhouse was originally a church?

Learn the history behind this High Springs staple as well as what it takes to bring a production to life.

KIRKPATRICK CENTER A State-of-the-Art law enforcement training center right here in our own back yard.

30 REPURPOSE PROJECT One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Repurposing is an eco-friendly way to create something new and unique. Bring on that Pinterest project!

70 SUBMERGED A breathtaking underwater photo essay

by Jennifer Tallerico that delves into human fluidity.

80 SOUTH MOUTH Folk duo tours the South, singing songs about love, heartbreak, dirt roads, and escaping a small town.

116 PERRY CENTER Emerging technologies abound as future lab technicians, medical, and biotech researchers learn their craft.

MENAGERIE IN MOTION You may have seen these larger-thanlife creatures cycling their way through parades and art festivals.

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by Crystal Henry

DIFFERENT NOTE

by Albert Isaac

122 HEALTHY EDGE

by Kendra Siler-Marsiglio

68 EMBRACING LIFE 124 MUSIC IN THE PARK SERIES More musical fun available in our town.

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by Donna Bonnell

REVIEWS

AUTHOR – HARTLEY STEPHENS After writing at nights and on weekends for 12 years, a local author’s thriller series comes to fruition—inspired by the people and places he knows.

140 READING CORNER

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INFORMATION

SOUTH DAKOTA Innovative architecture and monumental sculptures, such as Mount Rushmore, draw visitors near and far to South Dakota.

by Terri Schlichenmeyer

54 GATE CRASHING

by Brian “Krash” Kruger

98 Charity Winners 100 Taste of the Town 108 Community Calendar The articles printed in Our Town do not necessarily

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44 NAKED SALSA

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46 RECORDING LABELS Local labels produce albums for bands and musicians with Gainesville roots.

COLUMNS

AERIAL ARTS What do you get when you combine circus art and gymnastics? Aerial art!

Find out more about this high-flying spectacle that has everyone talking.

reflect the opinions of Tower Publications, Inc. or their editorial staff. Our Town Magazine endeavors to accept reliable advertising; however, we can not be held responsible by the public for advertising claims. Our Town Magazine reserves the right to refuse or discontinue any advertisement. All rights reserved. © 2016 Tower Publications, Inc.

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Take care

PUBLISHER Charlie Delatorre ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

of you.

Hank McAfee EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Albert Isaac editor@towerpublications.com MANAGING EDITOR Ericka Winterrowd ericka@towerpublications.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Aileen Mack, Bianca Favata, Cyanne Dunn, Gabrielle Calise, Hayli Zuccola, Michael Stone, Peggy Macdonald, Ray Carson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Jennifer Tallerico CREATIVE DIRECTION + DESIGN Hank McAfee, Neil McKinney ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Jenni Bennett jenni@towerpublications.com Helen Mincey helen@towerpublications.com Nancy Short nancy@towerpublications.com INTERN Bianca Favata

CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS If you would like us to publicize an event in the greater Gainesville area, send information by the 1st day of the month prior to the next issue. For example, submissions for the March/April issue are due by February 1. All submissions will be reviewed and every effort will be made to run qualified submissions if page space is available.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We want to hear from you. Send your letters to the attention of the editor at 4400 NW 36th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32606 or editor@towerpublications.com.

Letters must be signed and include a phone number in the event we need to contact you. (Your phone number will not be published.)

Helping You Live A Healthy Lifestyle!

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OUR TOWN MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY TOWER PUBLICATIONS, INC. REPRODUCTION BY ANY MEANS OF THE WHOLE OR PART OF OUR TOWN WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHER IS PROHIBITED. VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE EDITORIAL PAGES DO NOT IMPLY OUR ENDORSEMENT. WE WELCOME YOUR PRODUCT NEWS. INCLUDE PRICES, PHOTOS AND DIGITAL FILES WITH YOUR PRESS RELEASE. PLEASE FORWARD PRODUCT SAMPLES AND MEDIA KITS TO REVIEWS EDITOR, OUR TOWN MAGAZINE, 4400 NW 36TH AVENUE, GAINESVILLE, FL 32606. WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED PRODUCT SAMPLES.

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EDITOR ’ S LET TER S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

Ah, creativity. Where would we be without it?

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Well, we wouldn’t be at all, would we? (That’s a lot of we’s and would’s).

But if I may be serious for a moment, for this edition our intrepid writers explore the world of creativity and innovation.

I’ve always fancied myself as a creative person. As a teenager I became interested in music, movies and photography. I had the good fortune to have been born into a family accepting of my creative pursuits. They encouraged me to join the band. They agreed to buy my movie camera and equipment, as long as I made enough money from my paper route to pay for it. And they never balked at financing my photographic pursuits, which included buying film and developing said film. They even got me darkroom equipment.

I was fascinated with developing pictures. I can easily recall the excitement of seeing my first black and white image magically appear in the developer tray. I spent hours in there, and I still have a collection of all kinds of pictures — family members, friends, pets, and bike hikes.

So it was an honor and a privilege to sit down with famed photographer Jerry Uelsmann for our cover story. Learn a bit about the photographer and get a brief glimpse into how he creates his world-renowned works of art in this edition of Our Town.

We also bring you a feature about the innovative ways emergency personnel and law enforcement members are trained at the Kirkpatrick Center, which is being renovated into a world-class facility.

And when talking about creativity, we certainly can’t leave out music and theatre. In this edition you can take a peek behind the curtains and see what it takes to put on a theatrical production.

You can also learn about some local musicians, record labels, creators of human-powered art, writers, actors and more.

Albert Isaac, Editor-In-Chief

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Wood Buildings

HOME AT L A S T

Metal Buildings

S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

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The Gainesville Fine Arts Association

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After 93 years the Gainesville Fine Arts Association (GFAA) finally has a standing gallery and meeting space at 1314 South Main Street.

“This marks a major turning point in the abilities of the GFAA to successfully carry out its primary goals of fostering and encouraging the study of the arts through every medium, and making the arts more accessible to people of all ages and socio-economic sectors throughout the community,” said President Karen in a recent email. “We have much to offer in terms of education, outreach, talent and support, and our gallery provides us the opportunity to do so in full force.”

Workshops, lectures, general meetings, open studios and more, are offered throughout the year.

This year, a new scholarship was created through the UF College of Fine Arts to support emerging artists. At the GFAA general meeting in November, the membership will have an opportunity to meet the winning recipient.

“In the short time that the gallery has been open our membership has grown, we have held a fundraiser for the Friends of Elementary Arts, had an exhibit with the UF Ceramics department senior exhibit in April 2016, set up a collaboration with Gainesville Modern for February and March 2017, as well as the Colored Pencil Society of America in May 2017,” she said.

Additionally, the GFAA has numerous exhibits at a diverse group of venues around the Gainesville area, coordinated by different GFAA members. Venues include Blue Highway, SweetBerries Eatery, Markey Wealth Management, SIMED, Vam York Theater and more.

The GFAA will be supporting the Gathering of the Artists the first weekend of December at the Women’s Club and will continue to direct the Fine Arts Fair at Tioga Town Center every year. This event draws a large number of artists and visitors on a local, state and national level.

“This event has grown considerably over the years, and the quality has increased along with it,” Koegel said. “The GFAA Gallery at 1314 South Main Street is a tribute not only to the artists who were part of this association for 93 years, but to Scott and April Schroeder and Keith Perry, who made this goal a reality.”

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CONTRIBUTOR S

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PEGGY MACDONALD is a native Gainesvillian and the executive director of the Matheson History Museum. She has taught history at Florida Polytechnic, Stetson and UF. She is also the author of Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida’s Environment. peggymacdemos@gmail.com

BIANCA FAVATA is a third year advertising major at the University of Florida who was born and raised a Gator. She loves traveling, photography, painting, playing with her bunny and eating hot fudge sundaes. bfavata@ufl.edu

RAY CARSON is a photographer with over 25 years of experience. He is the author/photographer of The Civil War Soldier - A Photographic Journey published by Stackpole Books and was the principal photographer for the book Gainesville: Alive With Opportunity. raycarsonphoto@gmail.com

GABRIELLE CALISE is a junior journalism major at the University of Florida and freelance writer.

In her spare time she enjoys collecting vinyl records, taking photographs and watching movies. gcalise@ufl.edu

JENIFER TALLERICO is an award winning fine art photographer.

She moved to Florida from New York City for her Master’s in Engineering, but her photography business became her true passion. Her time is well spent after work with her husband and their two children. admin@jtnoirstudios.com

CYANNE DUNN is a recent graduate of the Journalism and Communications College at the University of Florida. Though she was born in Miami, she has lived in Alachua since elementary school. She loves traveling and hopes one day to relocate overseas. cyanne.k.dunn@gmail.com

MICHAEL STONE is a journalist, photographer and communications teacher based in Gainesville. His primary topics of focus include health care, conservation and wildlife, and business. He enjoys traveling, wildlife photography and trying all the great vegan dishes at area restaurants. michaelstone428@gmail.com

CRYSTAL HENRY is a freelance writer and columnist born and raised in West Texas. She received her B.S. in Journalism in 2006 from the University of Florida. She is in love with the Florida landscape. ces03k@gmail.com

HAYLI ZUCCOLA is a New England native who enjoys listening to music and traveling. After graduating high school with her AA degree she got her Bachelor’s in Journalism from the University of Florida.

HayzDesigns@yahoo.com

AILEEN MACK is a Florida native and journalism major at the University of Florida. She loves stories in all forms and enjoys traveling, reading, pop culture, and coffee with her oxygen. aileenmmack@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

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BEHIND THE SCENES >> HIGH SPRINGS PLAYHOUSE

BREAK A LEG

Behind the Curtain A Look at How Plays Come to Be at the High Springs Playhouse S T O R Y A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y C YA N N E D U N N

O

n the outside, the High Springs Playhouse doesn’t look much like a playhouse. In fact, it looks more like a church.

And for good reason. Before its conversion into a theatre in 2002, the little powder blue building located at 130 NE 1st Ave. heard more hymns than soliloquies. Now, it’s home to a thriving and industrious community theatre troupe.

When the High Springs Playhouse, originally known as the High Springs Community Theatre, first began putting on plays in August 1993, they were performed at the High Springs New Century Woman’s Club. In that first season, the cast and crew were able to put on five different productions.

The popularity of the theatre kept growing,

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until the need for a more permanent space became apparent. In October of 2001, the final show was performed at the woman’s club.

After finding the church building the playhouse currently occupies, a few renovations were needed to make the new theatre worthy of the spotlight.

Windows were painted over to block outside light, backrooms were turned into dressing rooms and a workshop, a stage was added and the curtains were hung.

But the building’s previous life as a church is pretty obvious to anyone that sees it, both on the inside and the outside.

“A lot of the people who come into the playhouse for the first time ask about it,” said Suzanne Richardson, the vice president and artistic director of the High Springs Playhouse. The name was

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BEHIND THE SCENES >> HIGH SPRINGS PLAYHOUSE

Members of the youth production aren’t just in charge of producing the play, but cleaning up afterward as well. Everyone involved is given chores to do, such as tidying the men’s dressing room (above).

changed about two years ago, to avoid confusion with the nearby Priest Theater cinema.

After the renovations were complete, the new theatre was introduced to the world in February 2002 with an opening performance of “Man of La Mancha.” Since then, plays written by renowned and local playwrights alike have been performed each show season, which usually runs from October to August.

Each season has six shows, with five being chosen by a committee. Anyone who wishes to direct a show submits a proposal with which play they’d like to perform, along with some other information about staging and casting. The committee looks these over, and then through a series of three to five meetings narrows down the proposals based on which ones are possible within the specific limits of the playhouse. “[For] some of the shows, it’s like a cast of 20 people, and we can’t fit that on our stage,” Richardson said. Others are rejected because of financial limitations.

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The season that will begin in October is the first Richardson knows of where no plays written by local artists were submitted for consideration, she said.

“Usually there is at least one option to go to, and we like to encourage local art as well,” she said. Local plays put on in the past at the theatre include “Blind Intuition” (which Richardson wrote) and “For the Love of Mike,” written by Leroy Clark.

Once the five plays are selected, the would-be directors who submitted the proposals become the directors of the play they chose, and are put in charge of holding auditions and assigning the crew.

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BEHIND THE SCENES >> HIGH SPRINGS PLAYHOUSE

The workshops will give the board members a chance to gauge the interest in youth acting, which could mean more youth productions, Richardson said.

The annual youth production is a chance for up-and-coming talent to prove their worth at everything from directing and acting to set building.

The sixth play, and always the last to be performed in the season, is the youth production.

The annual youth production is a chance for up-and-coming talent to prove their worth at everything from directing and acting to set building. Everyone in the production, from the director down to the stagehands, is between the ages of eight to 18.

The director of this year’s production, “Through the Looking Glass,” was Kayli Figueroa, a senior at Fort White High School.

Figueroa used to live in Bradenton where she first became involved in theatre at the performing arts schools she attended.

When she moved five years ago, she became involved at the High Springs Playhouse after realizing her new school didn’t have the same kinds of programs.

But the hands-on approach of the youth production was a new experience for Figueroa.

“It’s all run by kids, done by kids,” she said. “In past productions where I was doing it at school, it was all run by teachers 24 |

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and the kids had input but everything was basically done by adults, all the kids did was act.”

At the playhouse, the children run the show. As director, Figueroa is in charge of all decisions when it comes to cast, set design, costumes and props. The cast members are in charge of making sure her plans all become reality, and all of the set building, painting and prepping is done entirely by the children.

The only time adults step in to help is for construction, when safety becomes a concern. For the “Through the Looking Glass” production, all of the cast members had to fold so many paper flowers that hundreds of them overflowed from chairs in the green room while the stage was still being put together. This DIY attitude is echoed in the adult productions, where actors and volunteers construct their own sets, props and costumes as well.

When it’s show time, the cast is entirely made up of youth, and even the soundboard and lights are manned by crewmembers aged 18 and younger. For “Through the Looking Glass,” Figueroa

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The playhouse recently installed a new air conditioning unit and new LED lights, which produce less heat on stage, compliments of a grant from the Tom Nehl Fund.

was in charge of overseeing a cast of 31 children, an impressive feat for a 17-year-old.

“For the most part the kids do really well. They take direction,” she said. “It’s very easy for kids to get along and to get to know each other.”

“Through the Looking Glass,” which ran from August 5th through the 14th, closed out the 2015-2016 season. The next show to debut at the playhouse, “Blithe Spirit,” will start the new season.

The director of “Blithe Spirit,” Lisa Ciardulli, said she chose the show because of the strength of the characters and the popularity of its author, Noel Coward.

The show is a comedy that centers around a novelist who invites a medium to his home for a séance to gather material for a book. After the séance, however, he finds himself haunted by the ghost of his first wife, which causes some chaos in his marriage to his second wife, who can neither hear nor see the ghost.

“It’s not like a slapstick comedy, it’s a classic comedy,” Ciardulli said. “That’s what I love about it. It’s a British comedy, number one, and I don’t know, there’s just something about the British sense of humor. That dry, witty comedy.”

“Blithe Spirit” will run from September 30th through October 23rd. On Fridays and Saturdays, the show will begin at 8 p.m.,

and on Sundays the show begins at 2 p.m.

Before it opens, however, the High Springs Playhouse will kick-off the new season with a Season Premier Gala on September 10th. The Gala will feature snippets from each of the shows that will be performed throughout the 2016-2017 season. Information on auditions will also be available, and guests are invited to dress up as their favorite Broadway character. Prizes, including best costume, will be awarded. The gala will be at the women’s center and will begin at 7 p.m.

The first Young Actors Training Program will also begin in September, and will be held at the playhouse on September 17th and 24th, and October 1st and 8th. The workshop is aimed at getting more children involved in the playhouse and teaching them some of the basics of theatre.

Information about the workshop, the gala and tickets can be found at highspringsplayhouse.com

DID YOU KNOW?

Not a Bad Seat in the House The ancient Greek city of Epidaurus is home to a 15,000-seat theatre that was once used for lavish dramas and banquets. It is well known for having remarkable acoustic properties, allowing voices from the stage to travel clearly to the very top row of seats, without amplification.

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All Tech Raceway is one of the few true half mile dirt tracks left in existence and is well known for hosting many great races, drivers, and fans, throughout the years.

Track manager, Mr. Wendell Durrance, and his fine team have spent countless hours bringing the luster back out of this well-loved and memorable race track over the past few months. Having raced for many years, and through experience, Wendell and the staffs focus has been to provide the best facility possible for racers and fans in a clean, and friendly family environment.

Many are unaware that the track is open and racing regularly with all classes of cars and special events including flat track motorcycles, monster trucks, and various types of family entertainment. Almost everyone remembers to the races with mom and dad, an aunt MAGAZINE going SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 28 | OUR TOWN

and uncle, or even on teen night.

It is All-Tech Raceway’s intention to recreate great affordable family entertainment for many generations to come. In a very short time, All-Tech Raceway has built a growing reputation for being the fastest, friendliest, and cleanest race park in the Southeast. With the ongoing improvements there is no doubt the site will become a premier destination for racers and their incredible machines.

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SALVAGE >> REPURPOSE PROJECT

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DIVERTING FROM THE LANDFILL AND CREATING ART AND USEFUL ITEMS

Another Man’s Treasure STORY A N D PHOTOGR A PH Y BY A ILEEN M ACK

When Sarah Goff met Mike Myers over four years ago, they spoke about their life values and what they wanted to do: start a non-profit and promote sustainability.

He knew about a building that was available, and everything fell into place.

Founded by Goff and Myers, the Repurpose Project is a non-profit creative reuse center in Gainesville with the goal of keeping usable items out of the landfill, providing the community 30 |

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a place for inexpensive salvage material, and inspiring creativity.

They use art as the medium to create and repurpose stuff. Most thrift stores focus on clothes, furniture and household items, but they’re trying to put more of their efforts toward the things thrift stores won’t accept.

“Everything is donated. Our goal is kind of to be its last chance,” Goff said. “A lot of the time when people come to us, they’ve already been turned away by several other thrift stores.”

Employees and volunteers take the donated items and organize them to make them shoppable. Some of the items are priced, and if they’re not, customers are welcome to make them an offer. All of this saves these items from being thrown away and reduces energy and resources that would have been used to manufacture a new item, she said.

Over the years, the project has been defining itself as it goes along, drifting more toward a creative reuse center and some deconstructed items. Lynn Polke, a Repurpose Project

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SALVAGE >> REPURPOSE PROJECT

The Repurpose Project provides the community with a place to get reusable materials for any purpose, whether it’s art, furniture or clothes.

“I love talking to people and seeing how creative people are. It seems like the possibilities are endless.” employee who was one of the first people to get involved and volunteered often, describes it as a maker’s store; a store for anyone who makes anything from clothes to art to metal items to gardening things.

The project started in January 2012 and has become busier every month since. Goff had volunteered for years at a creative reuse center in South Florida before moving to Gainesville and meeting Myers. Initially, she hadn’t planned on starting a center in Gainesville because she was worn out from volunteering in 32 |

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South Florida. But when things fell into place after they met she felt it was simply meant to be.

After they acquired the building on South Main Street, the Repurpose Project started to grow. They began by posting about the project and the donated items that were available on Craigslist, which is the main way people heard about the project.

This is something they continue to do today. Goff believes that it is a major sales driver and a big contributor to the survival of the project. They post large items to get them sold quickly because they are limited on space, and also anything that is neat or in demand goes on Craigslist, such as building supplies, musical instruments and furniture.

When the city got approval to buy the property in August 2013, the Repurpose Project had to find a new home. They were given two months to move and left on Oct. 31, 2014 to the new location at 1920 NE 23rd Ave., where they have been ever since.

Now through word of mouth and social media, more people have learned about the project, allowing them to expand, get

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Since 2009, SunState FCU has paid members almost 20 Million Nickels; that’s $1,000,000!

When the Nickel Back program for signature debit transactions started back in 2009, we One World really didn’t think one day we would have given back an entire ONE MILLION DOLLARS Trade Center to our members, one nickel at a time. Back then, we were simply trying to think of an 1,776 feet high = affordable way to reward members who actually participated in the credit union by 277,590 nickels using their checking accounts. SunState Federal Credit Union exists, after all, as a not-for-profit financial cooperative, first and foremost to serve our membership giving back is important to us! Prior to the Nickel Back program, we had a run-ofthe-mill rewards program attached to checking accounts; it involved catalogues and points and expiration dates and such. Members really didn’t pay much attention to that old program and the only entity really benefitting from it was the third party we paid to provide it. The big question at the time was, ”How can we Empire State Building pay our members to use their debit cards and hence increase their overall 1,250 feet high = participation in the credit union?” From that simple question, Nickel Back was 195,385 nickels born, and by early September of this year, we will have given our members over one million dollars - one nickel at a time, day after day, year after year! That’s a stack of nickels over 24 miles high! Wow!

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A single, simple, nickel is such an insignificant little disc of metal – honestly, some people won’t even bother bending over to pick one up off the ground.

Part of the beauty of Nickel Back is that you don’t have to! No sign ups, no catalogues, no expiration dates; just a nickel deposited into your share draft account every time you use your SunState Federal Credit Union debit card for a signature transaction. It’s not like having a money tree growing in your back yard, but it’s pretty close.

Gateway Arch 630 feet high = 98,462 nickels

If you aren’t a member of SunState, yet, and aren’t getting your nickels back, perhaps it‘s time you made a change. A nickel is such a simple thing – and so is switching your checking account over to SunState Federal Credit Union.

Washington Monument 555 feet high = 86,690 nickels

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SALVAGE >> REPURPOSE PROJECT

library, and breaking items apart and putting them in a “hacker more and better contributions from the community, and divert aisle.” more stuff from the landfill, Myers said.

While they currently have quarterly festivals, they hope one “I love talking to people and seeing how creative people are,” day to host events every night, such as movie nights, bands and Goff said. “It seems like the possibilities are endless.” artists, to emphasize spending time together and art in the space Some people come in with a goal to find something and they east of the building. They recently started having workshops often find what they’re looking for, even if it’s specific. From where people can learn how to use tools and make things, which the items found at the Repurpose Project, people have made have been filling up within a day of posting. The dream is to have chicken coops and beautiful tables from salvaged wood and even more so people can come and develop new skills. other materials. Customers have also repurposed old, rusty filing “I really feel like there should be a store like this in every cabinets into tool storage or a raised bed gardening container, CD town,” Goff said. towers, trellises and toilet tank planters. Polke learns something Some customers have traveled to the store from out of the new from customers every day, such as being able to bend wood area looking for things for events — like old doors for the by heating and steaming it, and using old pillowcases to entrance to a beach wedding — but only need make dresses for little girls. these items for that one time. Building a Customers share what they have done lending library would allow people with their purchases through social to borrow items instead of owning media, directly sending it to them DID YOU KNOW? everything. The “hacker aisle” would and even bringing it in. One cusbreak down items into their parts tomer took apart an old televiIn 1897 New York City so rather than having an aisle of sion and gave them the mirror created a materials recovery facility broken household items, there inside, which has been placed where trash is sorted at “picking yards” would be different bins of motors, in the bathroom. He also made and separated into various grades of metal, etc. Having this would a light using the lenses from old paper, metals, and carpet. Burlap bags, help people to see things from televisions. When Polke goes to twine, rubber, and even horsehair a different perspective. Seeing art shows where the artists have are also sorted for recycling the parts individually allows one used materials from the store, to see beyond the fact that the item she’s often amazed and enjoys recand reuse. is broken. ognizing the items.

The Repurpose Project heavily “The people who come in here know, relies on volunteers to help out and to ‘hey there’s more to life than just buying make these dreams a reality. Goff couldn’t be stuff and throwing it away,’” Polke said. “There’s happier about how the Repurpose Project is going and a deeper satisfaction when you make things yourself. how supportive the Gainesville community has been. Seeing You put some effort into it and thought.” people’s excitement and their positive feedback keeps them Each day the team gets closer to making some of its dreams working hard to make it a better place. happen. Everyone is on the same page when it comes to reducing “For the couple of dreamers we were four and a half years the amount of items thrown into landfills and realizes that they ago, it has come a very long way, farther than what we thought have to make a change, Polke said. Among their dreams are it would go,” Myers said. building up the event and workshop space, creating a lending 34 |

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ARTIST PROFILE >> KELLY ATKINS

CENTER STAGE

Kelly Atkins Actress Reflects Upon her Life Onstage W R IT TE N BY PEGGY M AC DON A LD P H OTO G R A P H Y B Y M I C H A E L A . E A D DY

K

elly Atkins has been acting since she was a child.

“Since I was very, very young, I always loved telling stories,” she recalled in a July 22 interview outside the Hipp Cinema.

While she reminisced about her life in theatre, Atkins munched on tiny bites of popcorn from the con-

cession stand.

“This is what I do,” she said. “I’m 41 and I’ve been doing this professionally since I was 15.”

The slim actress wore a gold necklace with a locket containing vintage photos of her grandparents. A veteran member of the Hippodrome Acting Company, Atkins has starred in a variety of productions at the Hipp, including “8-Track: The Sounds of the ‘70s,” “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” Shout! The Mod Musical” and “Alice in Wonderland.”

Atkins might be best known for playing Pippi in the regional premiere of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at the Hipp. This rollicking musical comedy is set in the Armadillo Acres trailer park in Starke, Florida. One of the most memorable moments from the play was Atkins’ gravity-defying, snakelike pole dance, according to reviewers.

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Kelly Atkins specializes in physical comedy and is a versatile singer and dancer.

Her recent performance in “The Toxic Avenger” involved numerous quick changes between characters.

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ARTIST PROFILE >> KELLY ATKINS

Playing an exotic dancer was one of Atkins’ most challenging roles.

“It was such a huge step outside the box for me,” she said. “Ten years later, people still say, ‘You were Pippi the stripper from Trailer Park!’”

Over the course of her career, Atkins has played in approximately 60 to 65 shows with very few repeats.

“That’s a lot of shows and a lot of roles,” she said. Two of her favorite roles were Anna in “The King & I” and Eliza Doolittle from “My Fair Lady.”

A Virginia native, Atkins studied vocal performance and theatre at Shenandoah Conservatory at Shenandoah University. Planning to launch a professional acting career, Atkins had traveled to Long Island, New York during spring break of her senior year.

“I ended up actually getting into a couple of open call auditions,” she said, “and I actually booked a job.”

Atkins’ first post-college professional acting gig started the day after she graduated in 1996. She was cast in “The Sound of Music” at the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, New York.

“It was such a huge step outside the box for me. Ten years later, people still say, ‘You were Pippi the stripper from Trailer Park!’”

Atkins worked for several years in New York and got her Actors’ Equity card. She later moved to Florida.

“At the time there was more theatre work around Florida,” she said.

Soon after her arrival, Atkins attended an annual Florida Professional Theatres Association audition.

“You have like two minutes to get up in front of about 30 regional theatres and if they like you, you get a callback,” she explained. “It was almost a full year later when the Hippodrome invited me to audition for ‘8-Track: The Sounds of 38 |

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ARTIST PROFILE >> KELLY ATKINS

Atkins strives for balance between career and family. Working nights and weekends in theatre affords her the flexibility to push herself professionally while also being a hands-on mother.

the ‘70s.’ That was my first show here, 11 years ago.”

The intimacy of regional theatre has always appealed to Atkins.

“The most compelling experiences that I’ve had on either side have been in an intimate space,” she observed. “There’s nothing like the energy of a bunch of actors in front of a live audience.”

In the fall of 2010, Atkins met her future husband, an operatic tenor who had performed for 10 years with the New York City Opera. They were both cast in an Alhambra Theatre & Dining production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” in partnership with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Atkins played the female lead, Mabel, and developed a comfortable chemistry with the male lead, Frederic, played by Matt Morgan.

Singing with the full orchestra added an element of magic to their scenes, and they reconnected several months after the show closed.

“It became clear pretty quickly that we were going to have a life together,” she said. “We were married about a year later.”

Atkins recently played Ma Ferd and her nemesis, the corrupt 40 |

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Mayor Babs Belgoody, in the Hipp’s summer 2016 production of the musical comedy, “The Toxic Avenger,” based upon the 1984 cult horror film by the same name. Atkins described “The Toxic Avenger” as one of the most intensely energetic performances she has ever done.

“I don’t know how many times I change costumes,” she said.

The production is the first show Atkins has performed in at The Hipp since she took a hiatus before the birth of her second daughter, who is now two years old. Atkins also has an eightyear-old girl. Her husband, Matt — who teaches musical theatre at the University of Florida — helps out with the children while Atkins is onstage at nights and on weekends.

Atkins enjoyed caring for her young family during her respite from acting, but she missed the theatre.

“I started to get itchy,” she said. “It was like there was a hole in me. I missed getting to turn on my alter egos. It’s a real outlet mentally, emotionally and physically.”

Acting can be both fulfilling and highly addictive, Atkins said.

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ARTIST PROFILE >> KELLY ATKINS

Atkins (far right) in the 2012 performance of The Marvelous Wonderettes.

“Captivating an audience with a story was always just compelling to me,” she said. “I get to be someone else and live a different life. It’s really a gift to be able to do that. I wish that we could figure out what needs to happen to get more people to support the arts so that we could share this gift with more people.”

Although the Hippodrome has a dedicated core of season ticketholders and regular patrons, Atkins laments that there are still too many empty seats.

“I wish more people would take a chance and sit in a dark room for two hours with other people and be transported to another world,” Atkins said, “because everybody who comes is so happy that they came. Everything else is so high tech. You can’t press pause and take a break and come back. You can’t Google search for spoilers about what’s going to happen at the end.”

Atkins said she is not sure what her next role will be, but she is certain it will be at the Hippodrome.

“There’s a warmth here that I don’t feel a lot of at other places that I’ve been,” Atkins said about the Hippodrome Theatre.

“This is always a favorite place to come because of that.”

The romantic comedy “Stage Kiss” is planned to play at The Hippodrome Theatre, followed by “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane: A Stage Horror Parody,” “The Ultimate Christmas Show (Abridged)” and “A Christmas Carol.” Sadly, the role of Ebenezer Scrooge has had to be recast because of the untimely death of Rusty Salling in June.

The Hippodrome Mainstage remains a welcome refuge from reality, a place where actors try on other peoples’ lives and audience members can laugh and cry along with guest actors and familiar faces. As Kelly Atkins said about the intimacy of the theatre, “There’s nothing else in the world like it right now.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Dude Looks Like a Lady In Shakespeare’s time acting was a profession only open to boys and men. Women were acting elsewhere in Europe but they were not allowed to perform in public theatres in England until 1660.

In an Elizabethan production boys would play the female parts, like Ophelia in Hamlet or Desdemona in Othello, whilst occasionally men would play the older women.

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SOURCE: SHAKESPEARESGLOBE.COM

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COLUMN

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CRYSTAL HENRY IS A FREELANCE WRITER AND COLUMNIST BORN AND RAISED IN WEST TEXAS. SHE RECEIVED HER B.S. IN JOURNALISM IN 2006 FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA. SHE IS IN LOVE WITH THE FLORIDA LANDSCAPE. ces03k@gmail.com

THE PREGNANCY FLEW BY AND I FOUND MYSELF JUST ONE WEEK FROM MY DUE DATE.

it’s just easier for me to labor at home. So I texted Baby Mama and told her I thought it might be baby day. Well, baby night.

It was 10 p.m.

So she and Baby Daddy grabbed their bags and jumped y in-laws had been planning to come for a in the car. Meanwhile I’m pacing and rocking trying to keep visit during Mardi Gras, but they figured these contractions going, but also trying to make sure I don’t they’d cancel their trip since I was so close to delivery. go too fast and have them miss the birth. My doula was a saint They didn’t want to be in the way. I was totally sure the baby at keeping me occupied and entertained while we waited. was coming any day, so I told them that was a safe bet.

After an hour and a half I noticed that the contractions were My own kids came five and six days before their due dates, lessening in intensity and starting to spread apart. By the time so I assumed my uterus would boot this babe the same way. And Baby Mama and Baby Daddy arrived my contractions were no I started having some really fun Braxton Hicks contractions, more than heavy Braxton Hicks. I almost felt crazy. Like I so I knew the end was near. had just imagined the whole thing. Baby Mama sat However a week went by and I started closing in with me a while, but I sent her up to bed after on my due date with no baby to be seen. Now I about 15 minutes. I went to bed and in the get that babies aren’t library books or milk.

But I kind of felt morning the contractions were gone.

They won’t spoil if they go past the date like I was going crazy. I’d We had a midwife appointment on the bottle, but I did kind of expect to birthed two kids before. Shouldn’t scheduled in two days, but I called to go a few days early since that was my I know real labor? I felt horrible bump it up since they were in town, old tried and true routine. and the midwife obliged. We got Still, I’ve never been a miserable asking Baby Mama and Baby Daddy checked out and I was dilated a little, third trimester monster. I actually like to make that drive for nothing each but no contractions meant no baby. the end of my pregnancies. I don’t ever time, but I was equally worried Since I was at my due date, the midwife really feel “so done.” I get that other they’d miss the birth of discussed next steps that included a little moms do feel that way, and I respect that. more monitoring. Baby Mama and Baby It’s the same way I feel “so done” when I their baby.

Daddy headed home. have a newborn, and other moms totally love Just three days later my contractions picked that part. To each her own. up again. This time they were so intense I was having Then, just two days before my due date, I started trouble talking through them. Again they went seven minutes, having really regular contractions. I’d been making pregnancy five, three and then two. They were strong and I felt pressure, dance videos to keep myself and my fellow Facebook pals enterbut still I was hesitant to call the parents. Baby Mama assured tained, and my contractions started ramping up. They started me they’d rather drive up 50 times for false alarms than miss seven minutes apart, then five, then three. I called my doula and the birth of their first child. asked if she’d come time them. She got here and they got down So I texted screen shots of my contraction patterns and once to two minutes apart on the dot, and they were fairly strong. again they jumped in the car. I used my breast pump to try and Since Baby Mama and Baby Daddy had two and a half hours stimulate contractions and keep things up. I didn’t want another to drive I had to make some choices. With my own little Sweet false alarm. But yet again, once they got within an hour of my Pea I went from “Eh, I guess maybe labor might be starting” house, my contractions stopped completely. And once again to “Holy crap there’s the head!” in about four hours. they drove up for nothing. It was the first time in my life I was I like to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital feeling a bit stressed at the end of a pregnancy. I wasn’t ready because once I get there I feel like labor gets very clinical, and

M

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to be done or anxious about delivery. But I kind of felt like I was going crazy. I’d birthed two kids before. Shouldn’t I know real labor?

I felt horrible asking Baby Mama and Baby Daddy to make that drive for nothing each time, but I was equally worried they’d miss the birth of their baby.

I headed into my midwife for my checkup, and my doula suggested I ask about baby’s position. She suspected I was having prodromal labor.

Sure enough the midwife went elbow deep and discovered that little Peanut was coming down on the side of his or her head.

That will cause a woman to go into actual real labor, but it will stop because her body figures out that conditions are not optimal for delivery. I love science.

I found a chiropractor who specialized in pregnancy, gave him the rundown and he adjusted me. This was Friday. He said if I didn’t deliver by Monday he’d be shocked. So I went home, did some positioning exercises and waited as my due date became a weekold spot in my rearview mirror.

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MUSIC >> LOCAL RECORD LABELS

MUSIC TO MY EARS

For the Record Gainesville Record Labels Innovate Across Genres W RIT TE N BY G A BRIE LLE C A LI S E

F

rom student-staffed Swamp Records to punk icons No Idea to the experimental art collective Elestial Sound, innovation runs rampant throughout local record labels.

While the artists they work with are as diverse as they come, the labels all produce products that can be proudly traced back to Gainesville.

SWAMP RECORDS A relatively new endeavor, Swamp Records was founded by two students at the University of Florida in 2013. From branding and booking musicians to securing sponsors and designing graphics, students do it all.

“We have a bunch of different teams that might mimic a record label ecosystem,” said Swamp Records co-president Stephanie Elkin.

UF students are recruited at the beginning of the fall semester. They work in teams to promote bands by creating marketing and public relations campaigns, posting on the Swamp Records blog, taking photographs, or doing whatever else is needed to offer artists support.

The students also coordinate concerts throughout the year, from partnering with UF’s Student Government Productions for

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on-campus events to throwing the Road to III Points Festival last fall. The label’s biggest event is the annual Swamp Records Showcase, a free multi-stage concert that features Swamp Records bands as well as other musicians from across the state.

“We take great care to get involved with not just the university scene, but Gainesville as a whole,” said co-president Joel Ramos.

Swamp Records is currently working closely with two local bands: Flat Land, a self-described “Cosmo-funk pop” group, and The Savants of Soul, a 10-piece Motown soul band. While the label doesn’t actually release music, the team offers musicians support and opportunities for exposure.

“The great thing about being a student organization is, if they need anything, we can probably fund a student to do it,” Ramos said.

While bands get a number of perks by working with the label, the students who are involved with Swamp Records get back just as much, from networking opportunities to hands-on experience.

“As a lifetime music lover, I always thought working in the industry was a lofty goal,” Ramos said.

Being able to work at a record label as a student has been one of Ramos’ favorite things about college.

“It’s really been rewarding,” he said. “It’s given purpose to my time at UF.” PHOTOGRAPHY: GABRIELLE CALISE

The Savants of Soul performing at The Jam (a venue which has now closed) during Swamp Records’ annual showcase this year. Below, local and regional artists play at Swamp Record’s multistage events, including the music showcase and Road to III Points Festival.

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MUSIC >> LOCAL RECORD LABELS

NO IDEA RECORDS

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When he was in high school, Var Thelin and his friends started No Idea as a fanzine in 1985. After including a record with one of the magazines, Thelin got the idea to make No Idea into a record label.

“The No Idea label is all based on Vars’ taste,” said Matt Sweeting, who has been employed at No Idea for 19 years. “What you’re hearing is the world through his ears.”

Headquartered today in a small house nestled between the University of Florida and downtown Gainesville, No Idea puts out records, distributes music to shops and sells directly to fans through its online store.

Since founding, the label has put out more than 350 releases.

A lot of the bands on the label have a similar punk anthem sound. But the label also features ska, metal and other genres.

Currently there are about 30 active bands on the No Idea roster, Sweeting said.

Some of the biggest locally formed acts that the label has worked with include Less than Jake, Against Me! and Hot Water Music.

As the years have gone by, the label has endured many changes in listening trends, from the rise and fall of CDs to the resurgence of vinyl. But despite the rise of music piracy and streaming websites, No Idea still sells plenty of physical records to fans via its webstore.

“More people buy music online than you would think,” Sweeting said. “I feel like the people who really want the music will buy it.”

No Idea is also well known for starting The Fest, an annual one-weekend music showcase that takes over downtown Gainesville’s clubs and bars at the end of October.

The brainchild of former No Idea employee Tony Weinbender, the Fest separated from the label a few years ago. But many of the label’s bands perform during the festival, and fans often commemorate their weekend at Fest with tattoos of No Idea’s “stress face” logo, a doodle that Thelin used to sketch in junior high school.

Now anywhere in the world, when people listen to punk bands on No Idea Records, they think of Gainesville, Sweeting said.

“It’s Vars’ stamp on the world,” he said “but I’m happy to be associated with it.”

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

PHOTOGRAPHY: GABRIELLE CALISE

Left: Inside No Idea Records’ headquarters, employees sort out merchandise for fans who ordered products online.

Top right and bottom left: Bands perform during The Fest, Gainesville’s annual punk music festival. The festival was created by a former No Idea Records employee and often features bands that are on the No Idea roster.

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Elestial Sound built a colorful stage for FORM Arcosanti, a weekend-long music festival held in Arizona. The festival was organized by Florida band Hundred Waters, which got its start on the Elestial Sound label.

Hundred Waters performs at “Spectrums,” an art installation and music event that was held in Gainesville this May.

ELESTIAL SOUNDS Founded in 2011 by Gabriel Ortiz and Davis Hart, Elestial Sound is known for pushing boundaries — from converting tour buses to run on vegetable oil to hosting experimental art installations and showcases.

“When it started, it was already a community of people hanging out and making music and art together,” said Hart, operations manager of Elestial Sound.

In 2013, the label reorganized into a cooperative, fluctuating anywhere from 15 to 30 members in size at any given time. In the past five years, the label has released 25 projects, with six more coming by the end of the year.

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“We try to be somewhat selective,” Hart said. “We have never really fallen into a hardline niche with any type of music.”

The projects range in genre, but many are experimental or electronic. Several of the Elestial Sound bands tour in vehicles that run on vegetable oil, a practice that Hart started before the label even started.

While traveling with his band Lighthouse Music in 2007, Hart realized converting vans was a sustainable way to save money on tour. Since the converted vehicles use oil that restaurants have already used for cooking, fueling up is free.

“It’s just kind of stuck with us,” he said. “It’s a very convenient way to tour.”

PHOTOGRAPHY: IAN CLONTZ, LIV JONSE

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MUSIC >> LOCAL RECORD LABELS

Elestial Sound hosted “Spectrums” this spring at Gallery Protocol. The event featured performances from musicians, art installations and glowing stages.

Hart has converted about a dozen vehicles since joining Elestial Sound. Electronic indie rock band Hundred Waters, one of the label’s most successful artists, even made its first U.S. tour and trip to the South by Southwest festival in a school bus converted to run on vegetable oil.

The label innovates in other ways too. Elestial Sound is known for hosting music and art installation events that feature artists performing in front of colorful set pieces and mind-boggling displays. The art installations add another dimension to the live music experience.

“It’s always just made our showcases more engrossing,” he said “It was a reason to pay attention more than just the musicians.”

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untraditional spaces, from galleries to warehouses. With bright lights and colorful elements, Hart described the set pieces as magical and otherworldly. While some installations take only a handful of weeks, the last Elestial Sound stage took five people about three months to complete.

In addition to throwing events and publishing music online, the label is also known for video productions and vinyl releases.

The collective’s musical and visual artists often work together on album artwork.

“People like having something to look at and hold while they listen,” Hart said.

The label’s next big release, a compilation of music from a selection of female artists, will culminate in an installation at Gallery Protocol in January 2017.

PHOTOGRAPHY: LIV JONSE

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BAND B BA ND REVIEW

BRIAN “KRASH” KRUGER’S

Gate Crashing ON DECK FOR REVIEW: IDYLWILD

BRIAN KRUGER IS A WRITER, MUSICIAN AND A GRADUATE OF THE UF COLLEGE OF LAW. HE HAS PLAYED IN SOME 17 OR SO LOCAL BANDS, PLAYING MOST EVERY GAINESVILLE VENUE FRIENDLY TO ORIGINAL MUSIC (AND SOME NOT SO FRIENDLY). bkrashpad@yahoo.com

DATE: FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016 VENUE: BO DIDDLEY COMMUNITY PLAZA

G

reetings, live music aficionados! This installment finds us in downtown Gainesville, at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. This was the first time I had seen a show since the plaza had been shut down for renovations.

If you’re familiar with downtown Gainesville, then you no doubt are familiar with the plaza. It’s pretty hard to miss.

Located directly in front of the (county) courthouse (there’s a federal court a few blocks away) and a couple blocks west of the main location of the Alachua County Library, the plaza is also in the heart of the downtown entertainment district, virtually surrounded by bars and restaurants, and a couple blocks north of the Hippodrome Theatre. There have been shows on the expansive brick and concrete stage since the early ‘90s at least.

Originally the plaza consisted of just the large brick stage and its backdrop. At some point, a welcome addition of an arched roof was placed over the stage. (All the better to not get electrocuted during a performance in inclement weather,

my dears.) The recent renovations were somewhat politically controversial, whether it be simply due to the cost, or concerns that fencing off the place for months was being done for the ulterior purpose of shooing away homeless people who have congregated there (the plaza essentially being a public park) for years.

At any rate, the south-facing stage and its backdrop remain where they’ve always been, although a small building (closed when I was there, so I’m unsure of its purpose) has been added side-stage east. The main changes are immediately behind the existing brick backdrop, backstage. The bathrooms, which previously were frequently unkempt and rather grody, have been reconfigured, and a “green room” for the artists has been added. As a person who has performed at “the Bo,” I can say without hesitation that the latter addition will be welcome indeed. Performing in Gainesville’s heat and humidity, even after dark, especially for local acts that have no roadies to load in, strike the stage, and load out, can take a lot out of you (even for a person not of my advancing years), and a chance to duck into some air conditioning and rehydrate helps ensure that the performers will be at their best. Plus,

Idylwild

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PHOTOGRAPHY: BRIAN KRUGER

it gives bands a sheltered space to run over set lists and plan their performance out of public earshot, which is also nice.

I arrived in the middle of two sets (a band I’m in had played a “happy hour” set just down the road) by local band Idylwild. The show was one put on by the City of Gainesville’s Parks Recreation & Cultural Affairs Department, part of its popular (and free!) “Free Fridays” series, which this year runs from May 6 to October 21, from 8 to 10 p.m., featuring “family friendly” entertainment.

Idylwild consists of Arturo Escamilla (percussion), Charles Gattone (keyboard/vocals), David McMahon (bass), Dana Rasmussen (electric guitar/vocals), Brandt Frenchman (drums), and Heather Hall (vocals). I suppose in the interest of journalistic integrity I should relate that years ago I was in a precursor band called Cinnamon Hill with Charles, Dana, and Arturo. Don’t hold that against them.

The second set kicked off with the energetic “High Time,” off their new seven-song CD, followed by its title track “Ebb And Flow.” This latter song began with a percussion intro vaguely reminiscent of the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” with its conga-drum kit interplay, which of course also echoed early Allman Brothers with their dual-drummers of Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. Dana’s lead guitar playing is very much in the Duane/Dickey mode as well, so the overall effect was definitely in the Allman ballpark, but with Ms. Hall’s female vocals giving it a Janis meets (less breathy) Norah Jones twist. These were followed by the funk riff of “Pushin’ On,” only to mellow out a bit for the Cinnamon Hill-era composition “Say Goodbye” featuring Charles on lead vocals. Both Charles and Dana are quite capable of lead vocals (they did so in CHill) and sang backing throughout.

This was followed by a cover of the Beatle’s “Baby I’m Amazed,” complete with a false stop followed by a key change, and then a particularly trippy number in which the keyboard was set to resemble a sitar drone, in turn followed by a blues number written by someone in the audience, acknowledged from onstage band members. Throughout, Ms. Hall was in constant motion, while the three-piece rhythm section was locked down tight, with McMahon playing upright bass on some and a sunburst Fender Precision on others.

Idylwild closed with “Lily Says” off their album, beginning with a church organ wash not unlike what eventually kicks in on the Black Crowe’s “She Talks to Angels,” and then immediately segued into a double-time rave up worthy of the Blues Brothers, with both McMahon and Frenchman working out frenetically.

Good weather, good music, what more could you want?

Now, go see some bands.

The public is invited to “Free Fridays,” a series of family-friendly concerts each Friday night from 8-10 p.m., through Oct. 21, at the Bo Diddley Plaza.

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USE YOUR ILLUSION

Jerry Uelsmann

PHOTOGRAPHER >> JERRY UELSMANN

Jerry Uelsmann worked his darkroom magic with this portrait

by Craig Lovell.

The Godfather of Photoshop W R IT TE N BY A LB E R T I SA AC

J

erry Uelsmann sat at his kitchen table and talked about his life. His home, reminiscent of a Frank Lloyd Wright design and nestled between immense Live Oak trees, is adorned with all manner of artwork. Large windows overlook the pond and woods behind the house.

It’s the kind of home in which one would expect an artist to live.

Uelsmann, wearing round, blue-framed glasses and appearing younger than his 82 years, still keeps busy with his photography, printing his pictures by hand in the darkroom attached to his house.

But these are not your grandfather’s pictures, as the saying goes. Uelsmann merges and blends objects in fanciful ways, sometimes beautiful, sometimes nightmarish, always fascinating. And he does it all without a computer; his magic happens in his darkroom.

“I have been called the Godfather of Photoshop, by some people,” he said, although he doesn’t know how to use the program.

Born in Detroit in June of 1934, Uelsmann received his B.F.A. degree at the Rochester Institute

PORTRAIT: CRAIG LOVELL

of Technology in 1957, and his M.S. and M.F.A. at Indiana University in 1960. And although he has become world-renowned for his photographic imagery, he said he wasn’t initially drawn to it.

“My father had photography as a hobby,” he said.

“When I was 15 or 16, I got interested in it. And it was something I could share with friends.”

In high school he shot photographs of basketball games or other events that were published in the school newspaper.

“It gave me a way to interact with the world,” he said. “In retrospect, that was the key. And when I was still in high school I worked on weekends for a photographer.”

As the photographer’s assistant he would load film holders, clean up around the studio and help carry equipment.

He went on to college to study photography and credits his teachers for helping develop as an artist.

“I lecture on my work a lot but I always mention my teachers, because I say they’d answer my questions with more interesting questions. That was the key to keep going in a viable way,” he said. “You have to have an open attitude toward questioning things, how can it be interesting or better.”

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PHOTOGRAPHER >> JERRY UELSMANN

He said he was fortunate to have teachers who were openminded and who would suggest things to try based on what he was doing.

“It was sort of giving you permission, because there was still sort of a purist approach to photography,” Uelsmann said.

In 1960, the University of Florida was looking for someone

“It was only when I would go to New York and I’d show people, and the usual comment that I got, that used to drive me up the wall, was, ‘This is very, very interesting but you know it’s not photography.’ Excuse me?”

He was, after all, spending hours in the darkroom, and he was buying all kinds of supplies from the photography store.

“I can work on an image for three or four days and take a break. I suppose I’m a workaholic.” who could be a part-time photographer, Uelsmann said. UF had photography within the art department, which had been started by a professor who had it as a hobby. This was fortuitous for newly graduated Jerry Uelsmann.

“I applied and got the job and never left,” he said. “First year I had to teach a beginning photography and a beginning design course, but this was starting in 1960 and there was great enthusiasm amongst young people for photography, so the enrollment increased enough that I just taught photography.”

He could also experiment with his photography and share it with his friends and colleagues — painters and printmakers and the like — and they encouraged him.

“But in any case, being in the art environment [at UF], they were just focused on the image, and if it was interesting it was fine,” he said. “It didn’t bother them that it was done in the darkroom. They gave me support to do more, and once I had enough of those images there were other people that began to recognize that this was something of interest.”

He said his big breakthrough was in 1967 when he had a one-person show in the Museum of Modern Art. “That opened doors that would not have been opened otherwise,” he said. “That was a level of acceptance that just created opportunities for me that I would never have had before.”

Eventually galleries emerged in New York. One of the first

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PHOTOGRAPHER >> JERRY UELSMANN

was Witkin Gallery and Uelsmann was with them starting in 1970.

Uelsmann giving his acceptance speech after “There was now a market place,” Uelsmann being recognized with a said. “The whole field has blossomed and definitely Lucie Award. changed in many, many ways.”

Indeed, among Uelsmann’s accomplishments include his photos being used in the opening credits of the television series, “The Outer Limits” (1995), and in 2005, Centipede Press released a deluxe limited edition of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” with black and white photographs by Uelsmann.

The book was limited to 315 copies, each signed

by Stephen King and Jerry Uelsmann.

Uelsmann is also a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, a founding member of The Society of Photographic Education and a former trustee of the Friends of Photography.

His work has been exhibited in more than 100 individual shows in the United States and abroad in Fine Art award in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. over the past 30 years.

“It was a very nice prestigious event,” he said. “I got a nice More recently Uelsmann was honored with a Lucie Award, an trophy.” annual event honoring the greatest achievements in photography.

But Uelsmann admitted that the last couple of years have “It’s like an Oscar,” he said.

Each year, the photography community from around the been tough for him. He and his wife of many years divorced, and while it has been depressing, his work — creating his art globe pays tribute to the most outstanding people in the field.

Last October, Uelsmann was presented with the Achievement and lecturing — keeps him going.

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PHOTOGRAPHER >> JERRY UELSMANN

“My photography has become therapy,” he said. “I had an opportunity to lecture a few months ago in Norway, and I accepted, and I lectured in both Norway and Sweden. And I just agreed to four different lectures forthcoming.

That’s good for me. It is real therapy for me to go and work in the darkroom.”

His darkroom, home to several enlargers and requisite photographic equipment, is also cluttered with negatives and contact prints, both finished work and works in progress. He had just finished a compelling image of a Baobab tree with an eye looking out from its center. Setting up such an image is a complex process, taking days of preparation.

“I can work on an image for three or four days and take a break,” he said.

“I suppose I’m a workaholic. In my opinion, to survive as an artist it helps if you’re an anal retentive workaholic.

Because you can’t just say, ‘I’m only going to make the great ones.’ You’ve got to make all of these others.”

He begins by testing, going through all kinds of stages, until he gets the result he’s looking for.

“You have to run tests,” he said. “You have an initial point of departure of things that you think might work into something, but you don’t know. And then you start technically, and as you constantly see the images immerge in the developer, that’s the sort of feedback and you think maybe this will work, or maybe I can do that.”

He demonstrated how he made his most recent image, moving from one enlarger to another, each containing a different negative that he exposes onto a single piece of photographic paper. He

Jerry Uelsmann uses several enlargers in his darkroom, each with a different negative, to create his multi-layer photographs. Contact sheets of the various images for his most recent work (center) helped him to visualize the finished print.

DID YOU KNOW?

World’s First Digital Darkroom — the Rise of Photoshop Photoshop was originally created by two brothers, Thomas Knoll and John Knoll. The Knoll brothers shared interests both in photography and computing, and had the use of their father’s darkroom while growing up. The project started as a thesis on the processing of digital images, and evolved first into a small set of graphical subroutines, and then into a program named Display. This grew into a better-featured version named ImagePro in 1988, and finally Photoshop 1.0 in 1989. Adobe took interest in this final version, and the first ever version of Photoshop was released in 1990.

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PHOTOGRAPHER >> JERRY UELSMANN

uses elaborate dodging to seamlessly graft these images together.

Once satisfied with the final result, he said he tries to make at least 10 more images, following the same procedure: projecting a tree with one enlarger, an eyeball with another, carefully covering the parts of the paper that he’ll need for the next component – the next exposure. In the end they are the same, but not exactly. After all, unlike making a print from a single negative, there’s artistry in each creation.

As for his thoughts on Photoshop?

“If I were younger, I’d definitely be working with Photoshop,” he said. “But now there’s learning curve.”

He plans on lecturing to a Photoshop group next year.

“Something that I say when I lecture Photoshop people is, ‘Say something good about Photoshop: It gives you an immense number of visual options. Say something bad about Photoshop: It gives you an immense number of visual options.’ Because you have to make decisions,” he said. “And when you’re in art, you’re working in the fringes of your own understanding anyway. Self-doubt is part of the creative process.”

But even after all of these years it’s clear that Uelsmann enjoys the creative process. His eyes light up when he talks about watching his black and white image appear in the developer tray.

“It’s still exciting.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Let’s See What Develops Photography was commercially introduced in 1839, a date generally accepted as the birth year of practical photography. The metal-based daguerreotype process soon had some competition from the paper-based calotype negative and salt print processes invented by Henry Fox Talbot.

Starch Your Engines In 1907, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, introduced the first viable method of color photography – using potato starch.

Although color photographs had existed, the process was clumsy and complicated.

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ENTREPRENEUR >> SOMA ART MEDIA HUB

CLEAR MINDS, FINE ARTS, CAN’T LOSE

KEEPING CREATIVITY ALIVE ON SOUTH MAIN

SoMa Art Media Hub STORY A N D PHOTOGR A PH Y BY ER ICK A W INTER ROW D

The SoMa (South Main) Art Media Hub is the brainchild of founders Celino Dimitroff and Charley McWhorter.

It is designed to be a local retail sales hub for both fine artists and the novice seeking high quality fine arts materials and media. After Central Florida Office Plus (CFOP) closed its doors in 2014, Dimitroff said he and McWhorter realized there would be a void in Gainesville that needed to be filled. The two friends, who are also artists, joined forces to open SoMa as a way to give the art community a place to purchase supplies.

“If you’re part of the community, the community bands together,” Dimitroff said in a recent interview at the shop.

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“You’ll hear me say that over and over again – community … it’s what we’re all about.”

The founders aimed to work closely with the University of Florida and the Santa Fe College Fine Arts departments as well as the highly valuable Gainesville artist community. However, since opening their doors in February of 2015, support from their target audiences has dwindled or even become non-existent.

“I wish we saw more of our local fine artist community that lives here 365 days a year than I do the student body that comes into the store on a massive scale during the fall and spring semesters,” McWhorter said. “I know the summer is a downtime for this town, and we don’t see near as much of the local community as I’d like to see.”

McWhorter said that they do have a wonderful interaction with UF’s Arts in Medicine, a program that facilitates arts activities, workshops and performances in three hospitals and numerous outpatient clinics. He explained that the art supplies

brought into the hospital rooms at Shands predominantly come from SoMa’s suppliers.

“There’re no toxic materials in anything that we use,” McWhorter said. He stressed that this partnership with Arts in Medicine has been a huge help. “Because they come back to see us on a regular basis,” McWhorter said.

Dimitroff explained that although they do get waves of students coming through at concentrated periods in the school year, coordinating with the art departments at UF and Santa Fe has been troublesome.

“I send emails every new semester,” Dimitroff said. “I send emails to all of these professors saying, ‘We’re SoMa. We’re here.

We’d love to sit down and talk with you. I’m not sure where you’re getting your products from, but I’m pretty sure we can beat that price and at the same time you’d be helping a local store.’”

Knowing which products are needed for upcoming art courses would be a huge help in stocking the store appropriately to meet a surplus of students’ needs.

McWhorter, who also acts as general manager of SoMa, has a background in fine art painting and graphic design. It is the quality of SoMa’s art supplies, he said, that is sought after by fine artists making a living on a national level, and it is this kind of quality in supplies that makes all the difference.

“You want to be able to mix paint and get a color,” McWhorter said. “You want to take a yellow and blue and get a beautiful vibrant green instead of a muted olive, or [mix] red and blue and get a beautiful grape color … instead of maroon.”

He explained that there is less pigment in those other mediocre paints and that’s why the colors are dull.

“I hate to say it that way but it’s kinda like, that’s ugly,” he said with a laugh. “I’m sorry girl, but that’s ugly.”

Even with the lack of local customers since opening their doors, McWhorter said they still just want to be here for the community.

“No backbiting, none of that,” he said.

“Everybody needs to be working together.

This area has become the arts scene for Gainesville. This is South Main.”

McWhorter said not two months after SoMa had opened, he and Dimitroff were at a mixer where they overheard a group

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of people saying, “So isn’t it cool that we now have a SoMa Art District?” At which point, he and Dimitroff looked at one another with their plastic glasses of wine and said, “You did just hear what I heard, right?”

“Yes, I did,” McWhorter said. “They said SoMa Art District.”

He pantomimed the “cheers” he and Dimitroff gave the group of people. “Thank you,” McWhorter shouted. And then the group “cheered” them right back.

“Because nobody has ever coined it — SoMa, South Main,” McWhorter said. “South Main Arts District.”

Dimitroff, who is known for his art — making lighted

sculptures or lighted assemblages — has been a painter of historic houses in the Duck Pond for almost 30 years.

“My fingerprints are all over this town,” he said.

He wants people to know that SoMa is here and they have no plans to go anywhere.

“We might end up being forced out and having to close because we don’t have enough customers, but we want to stay here,” Dimitroff said. “We have made an area that is recognizable and noticed as an arts area, an arts district.”

He explained that places such as the Sequential Artists Workshop, Hippodrome Theatre, Citizens Co-op, Acrosstown

DID YOU KNOW?

There’s Got to be a Better Way! Portrait painter John Goffe Rand invented the paint tube in 1841.

Paints could now be produced in bulk and sold in tin tubes with a cap.

The cap could be screwed back on preserving the paints for future use, which provided flexibility and efficiency to painting outdoors. Before this invention, paints were transported in pig bladders and glass syringes.

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SOURCE: SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

Repertory Theatre and Civic Media Center, to name a few, are what make Gainesville so special.

“These are all Gainesville people,” he said.

SoMa also gives opportunities for artists to show and sell their work, both in and outside of the shop. Local artists are displayed inside SoMa’s doors every month and then they have the Gainesville Arts Market in the back, just outside of the shop. About 20 to 30 artists sell their work there on the third Saturday of every month.

“We’re a pop and pop [shop] … we don’t have a lot of money,” Dimitroff said. “But we want to show respect, and show that we are behind [artists] by offering or donating what we can.”

Although some would say SoMa is struggling to make ends meet right now, the cofounding duo that often refer to themselves as the “Odd Couple,” continue to push forward, knowing art is at the heart of Gainesville.

“Art is so important,” Dimitroff said.

“Without art nobody would know anything about any civilization or any culture in the world.”

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COLUMN

DONNA BONNELL’S

Embracing Life A MEMORIAL FOR MARY

DONNA BONNELL BECAME THE AUTHOR OF HER COLUMN, EMBRACING LIFE, MORE THAN A DECADE AGO. SHE SHARES HER PERSONAL CHALLENGES AND VICTORIES WITH THE GOAL OF INSPIRING HER READERS TO ANALYZE WHY THINGS HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. dbnewberry@aol.com

DO YOU KNOW MARY ANNA RANDOLPH CUSTIS LEE’S STORY?

U

ntil a recent visit to our Nation’s Capital, I had no idea of her phenomenal contribution.

A tour guide’s casual reference to Mary, as the heir to the Custis plantation, captured my attention. He said, “Her former 1,100-acre plantation became the home of Robert E. Lee, Arlington National Cemetery, and Lee’s memorial.”

I wanted to ask, “What happened to Mary?” Unfortunately, the time-limited group leader quickly moved on to the next subject. Most likely I was the only visitor curious about Mary anyway.

Mary Anna Randolph Custis was the only surviving child of President George Washington’s adopted grandson. George Washington Parke Custis built the mansion overlooking Washington, DC. His goal was to create a living memorial to George Washington and name the estate Mount Washington.

In 1831, Custis’ daughter, Mary, married Robert E. Lee. That event forever changed the focus of her plantation. Most stories that include Mary simply end there and the rest is considered history. As a writer who embraces the lives of others, that was just the beginning for me. I became obsessed to learn more about this fascinating lady.

A friend loaned me “Mrs. Lee’s Rose Garden,” written by Carlo Devito. The author claims it is the true story of the founding of Arlington. I read it twice, which spurred countless hours of additional research. The only way I could put Mary to rest was to write this tribute.

The most interesting fact I discovered was that Robert E. Lee never owned the house in Arlington. Mary’s father stipulated in his will that she could live in and control the estate for the remainder of her life. Upon Mary’s death, full title would pass to her eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. In fact, there was a period of time that Lee was considered homeless. Lee’s father was put in debtor’s prison in 1809, for financial failures. When released, he was attacked by a mob and severely beaten. He sailed to the West Indies for treatment, but never recovered. After returning home in 1818, he died. Robert’s mother died in 1829. In 1830 Lee began to seriously court Mary.

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Apparently Mary was an accomplished flirt and attracted many suitors. She could read French, Greek and Latin, was an avid artist and gardener (who grew 11 varieties of Roses).

Mary was spoiled by her father and taught the importance of spiritual values by her mother. Historian, Elizabeth Pryor wrote, “She captivated those around her. Her charm, wit, manners thoughtfulness and vivacity made her a popular guest, and she was constantly surrounded by friends and admirers.”

Robert E. Lee, a distant cousin and childhood playmate, eventually won her heart and they married. Robert’s work with the Corps of Engineers and as a solder, required him to be away from home extensively. While he traveled, Mary developed severe painful rheumatoid arthritis, raised their seven children, nursed her sick father and remained determined to teach the slaves how to read and write. By 1857 Mary needed her husband’s help — both she and the plantation were crippled.

She pleaded to Robert. He returned and stayed for what he described as two long years. Robert was restless and hated mundane tasks. In 1859 Lee returned to the Army.

Robert E. Lee resigned from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederacy. He told Mary to evacuate Arlington. Union forces would soon capture the property. Abandoning her family home and relics was extremely difficult. She delayed leaving for as long possible.

After the Civil War, Robert became the President of Washington College. Mary went with her husband, but never got over the loss of her childhood home. Hoping to die in peace, she visited Arlington a few months before her death. She was unable to get out the carriage, but said “I rode out to my dear old home but so changed it seemed but a dream of the past …”

Personally, I left Arlington with memories of magnificent markers and monuments honoring our military families. More importantly, I felt an obligation to share Mary’s forgotten story.

Her grave is not physically located there, but her soul will always be a part of those sacred grounds.

Perhaps if this story had taken place a century later, the Robert E. Lee Memorial would be the Mary Anna Custis Lee Memorial. Maybe Mary would have been laid to rest in her beautiful beloved rose garden, rather than at the Washington and Lee University (formerly called Washington College).

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PHOTO ESSAY >> JENNIFER TALLERICO

FLOAT ON

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PHOTO ESSAY >> JENNIFER TALLERICO 74 |

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PHOTO ESSAY >> JENNIFER TALLERICO

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COLUMN

ALBERT ISAAC’S

Different Note ANALOG DAYS

ALBERT ISAAC IS AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER AND EDITOR AND THE AUTHOR OF SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS AND PERSONAL COLUMNS. HE LIVES IN HIGH SPRINGS WITH HIS FAMILY AND A BUNCH OF CRITTERS. editor@towerpublications.com

I’VE ALWAYS ENJOYED EXPERIMENTING WITH THINGS.

I

n fact, when I was a youngster I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up — at least until I found out how much math is involved in science.

I deplored math, mostly because I wasn’t very good at it. And it was boring and tedious. I couldn’t even remember my street address. My dad got so frustrated with me, trying to get me to remember it.

“But Dad,” I pleaded, “I’m only 21!”

OK, that’s an exaggeration. No really. It is. I was just a kid, but the fact remains I had real trouble remembering numbers.

I blame my English brain.

Nevertheless, I wanted to invent things. I wanted to create.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a scientist to create things. I like to draw. Play music. Take photographs. Write stories. Make movies.

I was one of the very few kids my age to have a movie camera.

I saved up enough money from my paper route to buy a Bell & Howell Super-8 Movie outfit. You can imagine my excitement when I shot my first roll of film, got it back from the lab and watched it in brilliant color on the silver screen.

Don’t get me wrong; I fully embrace the new technology and continue to make silly movies, now in hi-definition with sound.

One day my buddy and I were brainstorming movie ideas. He asked if we could make a film like the commercials where a guy sits on the street and slides around as if he were driving a car.

My camera wasn’t made to do that. But I understood the concept. It was simply a matter of me snapping a single frame of him sitting on the ground and then having him move up a few inches and assume the position again while I snap another frame. So on and so forth. I reckoned I could just tap the shutter button and hope that only one frame would click off.

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had to sit down, get back up, and sit down 18 times.

This was way before digital cameras could give us instant feedback. We would have to shoot the entire 50-foot film cartridge, which was about three minutes and 20 seconds of film, before we would even know if our little experiment worked.

Now, if I did my math right (I’ve gotten better at it), that’s 3,600 single frames. That’s him getting up and down 3,600 times while I tap that shutter button. Three thousand six hundred times.

Let that sink in.

But hey, we were teenagers with time on our hands so why not give it a go?

We did a trial run. Using a makeshift tripod with wobbly and warped wooden legs that I’d found in the garbage, we shot our first clip of him popping a wheelie and racing down the sidewalk on his buttocks. We shot a few more ‘stop-action’ clips and then used up the rest of the cartridge filming regular-motion antics just so we could get it to the lab.

And then we waited. And waited. In those days there was no such thing as instant gratification. Well, except with Polaroids.

Finally the movie was ready and I rode my bike down to the lab and picked it up.

To our amazement and delight, our technique actually worked.

It was, however, super jerky because of the so-called tripod, so I convinced my dad to get me a real one for my birthday (I promised I would learn my address) and my friend and I began making all kinds of stop-action silliness. We even made a short cartoon. This artistic masterpiece of a flying centipede took over 70 separate drawings to complete and clocked in at about four seconds.

As our technique got better we tried longer scenes. In one shot my friend raced towards the camera from waaaaay down the street. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought seeing this crazy teen sit down on the hot pavement, hold a pose with hands on an invisible steering wheel, get back up and do it again. And again. And again. Moving inches at a time. With no camera in sight they must have thought him to be mad. Which clearly he was.

In another, he raced across the rugged road of a rock quarry, which wore holes in the seat of his pants and put blisters on his palms.

I tried other experiments as well; bolted the camera to the handlebars of my 10-speed and filmed a high-speed chase down

a bike trail; created stop-action movies of a troll (doll) ‘walking’ across the table top; hung a model of “The Invaders” flying saucer on a fishing line and filmed it hovering in a sunset-colored sky.

Long ago, my old Super-8 broke and I threw it away. It wasn’t made to be used as a one-frame-at-a-time camera. But I sure got my money out of it.

Those were magical times, those analog days. No ones and zeroes of the computer age making magic happen, but tangible things that you could touch and hold, such as editing equipment and splicing tape, movie film and plastic models.

Don’t get me wrong; I fully embrace the new technology and continue to make silly movies, now in hi-definition with sound.

And I imagine generations from now my great-grandkids might be watching my movies from before the turn of the century – and after.

But it sure was fun to pop on a reel of film, click on that old projector and fill the screen with moving pictures.

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TOP TALENT >> SOUTH MOUTH

DYNAMIC DUO

FROM HIGH SPRINGS TO NASHVILLE

South Mouth STORY A N D PHOTOGR A PH Y BY GA BR IELLE CA LISE

Her voice is part country sweetheart Carrie Underwood and part raspy, soulful Janis Joplin. His is a rich baritone reminiscent of Johnny Cash.

The result of their voices melding together is a full, raw harmony that soars above guitar and tambourine.

Colby Craig and Cliff Dorsey, 23 and 21, perform together under the name South Mouth. Formed less than a year ago, the High Springs-based duo already has plans for three EPs — as well as big Nashville dreams.

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eight months ago. While meeting in person for the first time, the pair sang “In Color” by Jamey Johnson to test their chemistry, and discovered that they harmonized perfectly.

“We figure each other out,” Craig said. “We can follow each other like it’s nobody’s business.”

The band writes songs about dirt roads, trucks and escaping a small town — plus plenty of tunes about heartbreak and love.

“I’m a field for ballads,” Craig said, “so if it moves somebody or speaks to them in any way, shape or form, or puts a tear in their eye, it means a lot.”

Dorsey started playing guitar at 16 and Colby has been singing in front of people since she was 8. Both have long backgrounds performing in local country music competitions. But it wasn’t always so easy for Dorsey.

“I was a very, very shy kid,” Dorsey said. “I had terrible stage fright before the age of 15. I used to go up and sing at church anyway.”

Dorsey believes that God gave him his signature voice.

“I saw [county artist] Josh Turner sing for the first time and I said, ‘There’s no way that that voice is coming out of that skinny white guy.’ I said, ‘God, if you can give me a voice anywhere close to that, then I’ll do this for the rest of my life.’ And two weeks later, I had a deep voice.”

Since forming, the band has focused on touring. South Mouth plays across Florida and up into Georgia, preforming in restaurants and bars, beach towns and tourist spots. Whether it is playing covers or debuting original songs, their favorite thing is to entertain new people.

“I always want the crowd to feel comfortable.

I want them to feel like we’re there playing in their living room.”

“I always want the crowd to feel comfortable,” Dorsey said. “I want them to feel like we’re there playing in their living room.”

As much as the duo loves touring the south, the band has bigger goals.

“Any band’s dream is to get signed and get a record label,” Craig said. “But honestly, it’s just both of us getting our songs out there.”

South Mouth is currently recording three EPs – “His,” “Mine,” and “Ours” — at Cypress Studios in Jacksonville Beach. In January, the pair plans to pack up and move to Nashville.

While the dream is to have their band make it big, Craig said she would be happy as long as she could make a living with music.

“I would love to be a frontman, but if I got to be a backup singer and just got paid to sing or write, or just to be in music in any way possible, I don’t care,” she said. “The main goal is for both of us to get paid doing what we love.”

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CREATIVE SHOWCASE >> CYPRESS SESSIONS

ROLL ‘EM

Cypress Sessions Michael Claytor and His Friends Featured in the Pilot Episode for a TV Program Showcasing Local Creativity S TORY A N D PHOTOG R A PHY BY G A BRIE LLE C A LI S E

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athed in ethereal golden l i g h t, t h e m e m b e r s o f Michael Claytor and His Friends played in front of a glittering orange and blue backdrop.

Cameras followed the seven musicians as they churned out sweet folk melodies that could be heard all the way from the parking lot outside.

This was just the dress rehearsal, but if producer Bill Bryson has his way, the final concert — and others — will be broadcast on television and the web for all the world to see.

Michael Claytor and His Friends performed in front of a camera crew and a live audience on July 23 during the filming of the pilot episode of Cypress Sessions. If the show is picked up by a television

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network, a different local band will be showcased each episode.

“It’s the first time anything like this has been done in Gainesville,” Bryson said. “I think it’s really going to increase the level of appreciation the artists have.”

Bryson has been committed to helping people recognize local talent since he came to Gainesville in 1992. From opening a music club called Covered Dish downtown in the former location of the High Dive, to founding Satellite Magazine in the early 2000s, to launching the community Internet radio station Grow Radio, Bryson has always been plugged in to the local music scene.

“All of those projects led up to this,” he said.

Bryson’s inspiration for Cypress Sessions is Austin City Limits, a public television program that has aired live music performances for the past

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CREATIVE SHOWCASE >> CYPRESS SESSIONS

The band ran through a dress performance in the Squitieri Studio Theater before the first episode of Cypress Sessions was filmed in July. Cypress Sessions is the first program of its kind to feature Gainesville bands, said producer Bill Bryson.

40 years. While Cypress Sessions will start by chronicling the Gainesville music scene, Bryson hopes to expand the show in future seasons to feature bands from around the state of Florida.

The show is being produced by Bryson for No. 9 Productions, a local nonprofit that aims to support arts in the community.

The pilot episode will be pitched to local television networks and used to attract sponsors for the show. The goal is to air Cypress Sessions on WUFT TV, plus run episodes online. If the pilot gets picked up, seven more episodes will be made to round out the season.

The goal of Cypress Sessions is to highlight the talented artists in Gainesville and Florida. Bryson isn’t looking for musicians of a specific genre — just original artists who represent the community.

“They don’t have to be established artists,” he said. “They can be up and coming like Michael Claytor.”

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But the show won’t just focus on musicians. Other talented members of the community get a chance to shine too.

Artist Evan Galbicka, the creative force behind former gallery space The Church of Holy Colors, designed the stage layout and set pieces. David Melosh of Medusa Studios, a local recording and production company, will be filming the episodes with a crew of camera people. And actor Christopher Brown will host each episode, interviewing the bands and audience members before the show.

“It’s been a really great team,” Bryson said.

While the show’s structure is based on Austin City Limits, the program also has its own unique twist. Each artist will be filmed performing and being interviewed at their favorite place in town. For the pilot episode, Michael Claytor brought the Cypress Sessions crew to Newnan’s Lake one June morning and played acoustic guitar while floating in his canoe.

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CREATIVE SHOWCASE >> CYPRESS SESSIONS

The musician said that being a part of Cypress Sessions is unlike anything he has ever done before. From the high-end production value to the exposure that comes with his performance potentially being aired on television, the program is a wonderful opportunity for musicians, Claytor said.

“I’m still kind of in disbelief that they even asked [me],” said Claytor, a local songwriter who plays music for UF Health patients as an artist-in-residence. “It’s really an honor to be the first one to do it and I hope that I do it justice.”

Since moving to Gainesville in 2005 to study philosophy, Claytor has played in at least 15 different bands. After Bryson invited him to play in the pilot episode, Claytor gathered a group of his favorite local artists to play alongside him.

“It’s a really tight-knit music community that we have here,” he said.

The band Michael Claytor and His Friends has had different members over the years. During its set in July, the group performed a mix of music, from revamped versions of Claytor’s solo material to new tunes to western and cowboy songs from Claytor’s old band, the High Nooners.

“I usually play by myself or with one or two other people, but now I have a seven-piece band so some of the old songs are getting a new treatment,” he said.

Claytor encourages music fans to keep an eye on Cypress Sessions as it develops — especially if the series gets picked up.

“There’s a million good bands around here and I think that’s the reason Bill wants to do it, because Gainesville has such a wealth of talent and I think a lot of people don’t know about it,” he said. “I think he’s trying to shine a light on that.”

Top: Gainesville singer/ guitarist Ricky Kendall performs during the dress rehearsal of Cypress Sessions. Middle: Michael Claytor, front man of Michael Claytor and his Friends, strums the banjo.

Bottom: Pedal steel player Jon Alexander speaks to producer Bill Bryson.

DID YOU KNOW?

“Empress of Soul” Made Her Debut at Age 7 In 1948 “Original Amateur Hour” was aired on the Dumont Network, a year later it moved over to NBC and made history by showcasing talent from across the U.S. for the first time. Original Amateur Hour helped create a number of stars. Gladys Knight performed on the show at age 7.

Frank Sinatra, old blue eyes himself, performed on the earlier Original Amateur Hour radio show.

Notably, The King, Elvis Presley failed to make the cut when he auditioned for the show in Tupelo, Missouri. The show ran for 22 years on TV before it was finally canceled in 1970.

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UNCONVENTIONAL ART >> MENAGERIE IN MOTION

KINETIC KREATIVITY

Menagerie in Motion Human-Powered Art Designed with Bike Parts and Imagination S T O R Y A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y H AY L I Z U C C O L A

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here are few people that have such an innovative and peculiar artistry that it leaves others breathless.

Menagerie in Motion is a relatively new organization in Gainesville that, through what seems like magic, transforms repurposed, recycled and otherwise abandoned materials into creatures of beauty.

Before Menagerie in Motion was even a glimmer of an idea, Raymond Rawls, who has a degree in anthropology from the University of Florida, took on an apprenticeship relationship with his father, who was an artist in Brooklyn.

During that time Rawls learned different skills like metalwork. He would later apply those new techniques to his job at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville; that’s where he met Lorraine Duerden.

Duerden came from a different end of the artist

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spectrum. With a degree in fine arts from UF, Duerden wanted to look beyond the “painting is painting” restrictions taught in school and find a way to combine the different mediums she learned into an all-inclusive art form.

Between the two artists, Rawls tends to look more at the big picture and focuses on structural elements, whereas Duerden has an eye for intricate details, which together makes for an imaginative collaboration that pushes through creative limitations.

Back in 2012, the UF Homecoming Parade was approaching and Duerden and Rawls wanted to find a way to bring an art element to the parade. They researched the concept of kinetic art, which is a way of designing human-powered works of art. With this in mind, they took spare bike parts, some recycled paper and other reusable materials, and produced a giant, subtly school-spirited, fish.

“Lorraine calls it the killer Koi because it looks like this

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giant goldfish,” Rawls said.

After it was finished, this open-mouthed, scale-covered, larger-than-life fish with translucent eyes would peddle down University Avenue for its grand entrance.

“We basically just crashed the homecoming parade and rode through town,” Duerden said.

At the parade the two met Joseph Floyd, the executive director of Active Streets Alliance. The following year, Alachua County wanted to find a way to promote UF’s recycling and sustainability efforts in the Homecoming Parade, so Floyd contacted Duerden and Rawls. What could be better for a UF parade than designing a moving gator? Weighing a whopping 270 pounds and consisting of around 95-96 percent of reused material such as newspaper and old house paint, this chomping-enabled gator was certainly a crowd pleaser. Floyd said that sometimes the backstory on each creation is more interesting than the creation itself.

“A lot of these creatures have broader stories and there is more stuff that’s built into them and you don’t get to tell those stories during the parade,” he said.

“One of the beauties in the things that we’ve kind of built into the Menagerie in Motion is we’re doing it the last weekend every February so we can start with Art Walk the Friday night before, and that gives people a chance to show off their derby entry before they potentially crash it,” he said with a laugh.

After working together for several years and watching the participation in the homecoming parade continue to grow, the trio wanted a way to expand this human-powered art into something more. They discovered that other cities around the country hosted kinetic derbies — and the planning began.

While Duerden and Rawls began on their derby entries, Floyd handled the bureaucratic side of the event and began searching for grants and fundraising in order to pay for the $5,000 cost of having the derby.

Floyd also wanted to get a group together to highlight that other people besides Duerden and Rawls had the capability to create these works of art. “[We] had to prove the concept that somebody else can do it besides these two and anybody can do it if they just get a group of friends together and put their mind to it,” he said.

In February, Gainesville had its first kinetic derby and each of its founding members had their own reaction to its inauguration.

“For me, the derby represents, and has that potential to be, kind of the spring alternative to the UF Homecoming Parade,” Floyd said. “It’s got that cultural potential and that potential to draw people in and really highlight not just the city of Gainesville, but the whole county and the community at large.”

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“A lot of these creatures have broader stories and there is more stuff that’s built into them and you don’t get to tell those stories during the parade.”

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UNCONVENTIONAL ART >> MENAGERIE IN MOTION

The artists behind Menagerie in Motion created this elephant for Conservation Initiative for the Asian Elephant. The intricate details, such as wrinkles on the elephant’s skin and moving legs, help bring this kinetic art to life.

“We don’t want to have Menagerie in Motion for just the things we make,” Rawls said. “I think if it was just us, like we said before, we’d probably make something [and] just ride down the street.” “[It’s] our way of trying to encourage anyone in the community that wants to, to be creative and innovative,” Duerden said.

“Sometimes people just need a reason to actually follow through and do something.”

All three expressed that this event, which is the only kinetic derby in the southeast, and one of only four that they know of in the country, has the possibility to grow. In preparation for next year’s event, they plan on hosting a mini derby at Orlando’s Maker Faire in October with the hopes of getting more people interested.

“There is this real exponential impact of what we can do, not only for local, cultural art ... but we also have an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the city and the county,” Floyd said. “In addition to us just getting to have fun and just be goofballs for a day, we also get to have a really positive financial impact for the community.”

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alligator, a terrifyingly “Jaws”-inspired papier-mâché shark submarine, a horseshoe crab and more recently an elephant with lifelike details like a swinging trunk, stomping, wrinkled legs and heart-warming eyes, both Duerden and Rawls continue to see how far their imagination will take them.

“We try and get more and more movement in each one of these which makes it funner to ride and more interesting to look at, but it makes it more difficult to build,” Rawls said. “Every time we do one, we try and outdo the last one and it’s kind of like we created our own monster.”

For those wanting to be a part of future Menagerie in Motion derbies or get involved with kinetic art, Duerden has a warning for you.

“Be careful, if you hang out with us too much you might find yourself in a creature.”

Next year’s event will be held February 25, 2017, at the future site of the Cade Museum for Creativity and Innovation. Keep in mind that this is an event in which anyone can participate, no matter your age, degree, or artistic skills. For those who want to have an entry in the upcoming derby, the clock is ticking, so get building!

DID YOU KNOW?

Kinetic Art Early experiments with movement in art began between 1913 and 1920, led by artists of the Dadaist and Constructivist traditions.

Perhaps the earliest instance of kinetic art was Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1913), which consisted of a wheel inverted on a stool.

SOURCE: THEARTSTORY.ORG

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FACILITIES >> KIRKPATRICK CENTER

THE NEW SANTA FE IPS TRAINING FACILITY WILL BE SECOND TO NONE

Kirkpatrick Center W R I T T E N B Y B I A N C A FAVA T A | P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y E R I C K A W I N T E R R O W D

Santa Fe College’s Institute of Public Safety (IPS) is soon-to-be one of the best police training facilities in the world.

With technology and innovation sketched into every detail of the renovation, the Kirkpatrick Center, home of the IPS, is going to put its name on the map. It will be on a playing field parallel to the FBI or one of the top centers in the U.S. — the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Tom Ackerman, director of the IPS, anticipates significant results from the revolutionary renovation.

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and certificate programs in Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic. The IPS offers basic recruit training in law enforcement and corrections, as well as continuing education officers, like the Gainesville Police Department and federal law enforcement and correctional officers. Examples of these courses include defensive tactics, which deals with hand-tohand struggles, and SWAT courses, which are accessible only to in-service officers.

As successful as the program has been, Ackerman knew the changes that needed to be made to grow his students and facility.

The improvements that lie ahead will not only make the Kirkpatrick Center a leader in police training but also create a pathway for the development of other facilities across the globe, Ackerman said in a recent interview at the facility.

Ackerman said that when teaching there are two parts to advancement. The first is the manner in which training is

FACILITIES >> KIRKPATRICK CENTER

(Left) Program Director Tom Ackerman, Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell, Chief of Alachua County Fire Rescue William Northcutt and Congressman Ted Yoho applaud a presenter at the November 20, 2014 Kirkpatrick Center IPS expansion ceremony.

(Right) Commissioner Richard Shutterly, Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper, Santa Fe College President Jackson Sasser and Mayor Ed Braddy break ground during the celebration.

presented, which is a huge part of any learning process. But the second is often the technology and facility where one learns.

“We know that students learn by doing,” Ackerman said via email. “We know that we need to lay a foundation in the classroom, but that students learn the most through hands-on training, applying what they learned in the classroom.”

Santa Fe College personnel visited Indian River State College, Palm Beach State College, Eastern Florida State College, Seminole State College, Wayne County Michigan Regional Police Training Academy and FLETC. “In search of ideas for our project, we took a close look at many excellent facilities to identify the best concepts at each location,” Ackerman said via email.

The state colleges had great programs but Wayne County Academy and FLETC were cornerstones for the renovation.

Ackerman, who worked for FLETC for a number of years, gained most of his insight for the renovation from them. The IPS is

borrowing FLETC’s ideas in order to better the community with qualified officers for generations to come.

The 24,000-square-foot, $8.1 million renovation will have a Main Street Scenario Training area, a 270-Degree Firearms Training Simulation (FATS) facility, special effects during many class exercises, and instructional technologies to help enhance the hands-on experience. The renovation will improve what has already been established and also feature new-and-improved classrooms and laboratories, a lecture hall and conference room, and a fitness center.

Main Street is exactly what one might picture. Full of generic shops, a bar and restaurant, emergency room entrance and twostory townhouse, the street is wide enough to park a police car and authentic enough to feature real beer taps and televisions in the bar. Main Street will mimic a rare form of simulation, with only a few in the world.

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State leaders and local law enforcement officers dig in their shovels at the Kirkpatrick Center at Santa Fe groundbreaking ceremony last November. The expansion will feature a replica of a small town with storefronts, a medical building and more.

in which public safety personnel perform their jobs and we will create those environments right here,” Ackerman said via email.

Currently, students in the program practice with their classmates by playing the roles of shooting victims or a couple involved in a domestic dispute. Ackerman said during the interview that students are brought into the defensive tactics room, for example, told to imagine the blue padded walls are actually a restaurant and deal with the situation — two of their classmates pretending to get into a bar fight. While this is better than nothing, it is nowhere near as useful as walking into a real restaurant, with flat screens blasting ESPN, to see two men they’ve never met battling it out at the bar.

People, either role-playing actors or Santa Fe drama students, will be able to participate in these scenarios so that each student in training sees a fresh face when handling the circumstances.

EMS students can drive their ambulance right up to the doors of the emergency room, practice unloading a patient and bringing them into one of the EMS labs.

A paramedic student can go into the townhouse, find an older man who had a heart attack in the upstairs bedroom, and perform defibrillation. There are many possibilities for realistic scenarios to better the students’ practical skills for situations they are sure to face in the real world.

The rooms can be molded into whatever is necessary. The creative, strategic placement of rooms which would have been built regardless of Main Street (like the lecture hall and fitness center) have doors that lead to the street to broaden the possibilities even more.

“With a fully operational fitness center on Main Street, we can dispatch EMS students to that facility to handle a cardiac arrest event or send our police recruits there to respond to a robbery or a customer dispute,” Ackerman said via email.

All rooms on Main Street are equipped with instructional technologies. Cameras, speakers, microphones and motion sensors retain and play back footage for learning purposes.

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It also allows the instructor to monitor the students without interrupting. This gives the students more independence to make their own decisions.

Built-in speakers are beneficial in providing sound effects during the EMS mass casualty exercise. They give screams to victims, crowd noise, radio traffic, PSA announcements and fire alarms. The speakers will help students become accustomed to the kind of sounds heard on the job.

The restaurant doubles as a classroom because the hostess counter is also a computer system that connects with the televisions, so instructors can display PowerPoints or videos. It’s also a great break room for lunch.

But what is most innovative – the first of its kind, ever – is the 270-degree FATS facility.

“The firearms training simulation capabilities we will have will be second to none, with wraparound video scenarios projected on three walls in each room and the ability to move from room to room during a continuous scenario,” Ackerman said via email.

So for visual scenarios, a simulated shooter can walk from room A to room B, then walk around the entirety of room B before bolting to room C. Laser Shot Co. and FLETC developed this strategy, once used at FLETC but will now be implemented in the curriculum at the IPS. “There isn’t a single police academy in the Unites States that does that right now,” he said during the interview.

After the groundbreaking ceremony in November 2015, Ackerman said they are officially breaking ground on August 18 of this year. The IPS renovations are to be completed by June or July of 2017.

Ackerman believes that although they’ll be the first to implement such strategies and training programs, they won’t be the last, and with his help, he hopes to spread this kind of technology and curriculum all over the globe. The renovation at Santa Fe’s IPS is just the stepping stone to bettering society.

We’ll go the extra mile to get you in your dream car.

Call today and be on your way.

Affordable Auto Loans | Great Rates | Great Service Proudly serving our members and our community since 1957

877-786-7828 352-381-5200

www.sunstatefcu.org

SUNSTATE FCU IS FEDERALLY INSURED BY NCUA.

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We feel the best way to find and recognize local charities in our communities is by asking you!

The SunState Community Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves the communities in and around North Central Florida by promoting and facilitating philanthropy.

The Foundation was established to promote and provide charitable assistance that contributes towards the development, education and well-being of the communities, areas and residents of Alachua, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, and Levy Counties in Florida. The foundation’s initial goal is to administer and fully fund the award winning Facebook Charity-of-the-Month program. SunState Federal Credit Union started the program in 2013, but has turned over administration of the program to the foundation, with SunState Federal Credit Union acting only as a sponsor. This has been done in the belief that this path will ensure the program remains a strong and expanding community resource long into the future.

The SunState Community Foundation, Inc., provides donors/members opportunities to participate in the furtherance of the foundation’s goals in multiple ways. First, and foremost, the donors/members are providing funds to support the foundation’s charitable initiatives. Donors/members can also nominate groups for the Charity of the Month program, and then vote for the group of their choice. Donors/members are encouraged to participate and vote in the Charity of the Month program. Ultimately, the voters choose where foundation donations go as part of the infrastructure of the program.

SunState Community Foundation, Inc.

SPONSORSHIP L EVEL S AVAIL ABL E $

1,000 CHARITY OF THE MONTH SPONSOR

$

•

Recognized on all 4 Entercom Communication stations, 30 times (120 total); KTK, SKY, WRUF and ESPN.

•

Recognized on the Charity of the Month Facebook Contest page, KTK’s Facebook page and Our Town’s Facebook page.

•

Mentioned in the Charity of the Month page in Our Town Magazine.

•

•

•

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500 RANDOM CHARITY SPONSOR Recognized on 2 of Entercom Communications stations, 30 times (60 total); WRUF and ESPN Recognized on the Charity of the Month Facebook Contest page, KTK’s Facebook page and Our Town’s Facebook page.

Mentioned in the Charity of the Month page in Our Town Magazine.

$

300 NOMINATOR SPONSOR

•

Recognized on the Charity of the Month Facebook Contest page, KTK’s Facebook page and Our Town’s Facebook page.

•

Mentioned in the Charity of the Month page in Our Town Magazine.

$

100 RANDOM VOTER SPONSOR

•

Recognized on the Charity of the Month Facebook Contest page.

•

Mentioned in the Charity of the Month page in Our Town Magazine

MOST RECENT WINNING ORGANIZATIONS TO NOMINATE A CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE OR TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES, VISIT:

www.facebook.com/SunStateFCU and click on “Charity of the Month”

JUNE WINNER – 2,420 VOTES

JULY WINNER – 1,503 VOTES

Plenty of Pitbulls

Lake City Humane Society

They’ve done it again! The June Charity of the Month $1,000 winner is Plenty of Pitbulls. This all-volunteer group rescues and rehabilitates dogs that are at risk in overcrowded shelters, including many who have been victims of cruelty and dog fighting, and then places them in permanent homes. They also advocate for pit bulls through educational and outreach programs, working to build a community that supports the bond between dogs and people. The rescue concentrates on pit bulls because breed prejudice makes them less adoptable and subject to high rates of abuse, neglect and abandonment. Jude Macera will receive $300 for nominating them, the $500 random charity winner is Lake City Humane Society and the $100 random voter winner is Kirsten Benford.

“Can I crash at your place?” The Lake City Humane Society (LCHS) provides a safe, loving, healthy environment for our companion animals until they find just the right forever home. The organization is committed to reducing and eventually ending the need to euthanize healthy adoptable animals through a multi-faceted approach of spay and neuter services, education and outreach, as well as adoption and enforcement of healthy shelter animals.

Supported by individual donors and members with some additional help from foundations and corporations, the LCHS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that does not benefit from tax dollars or any government funding. Nina Howd will receive $300 for nominating them. The winner of the $500 random drawing is Paws on Patrol and the $100 random voter winner is Brittany Morgan.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS >> CHARITY OF THE MONTH

CH A RIT Y OF THE MONTH WINNER S

A project of the SunState Community Foundation, Inc. Presented by SunState Federal Credit Union, Our Town Family of Magazines and Entercom Communications

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SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL

352-372-5468

FOR RATES AND INFORMATION.

Adam’s Rib Co. 2109 NW 13th Street, Gainesville, Florida 32609 1515 SW 13th Street Gainesville, Florida 32608 Monday-Saturday 7:00am – 9:00pm Closed Sunday

352-373-8882 NW 352-727-4005 SW AdamsRibCo.com BBQ — Celebrating our 10 year Anniversary. Looking for the best BBQ in Gainesville?

Then look no further than Adam’s Rib Co. Adam’s is North Florida’s Premier Barbecue restaurant, serving North Florida’s finest bbq spare ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, slow smoked chicken and turkey. Choose from over 20 sauces – from honey sweet to habanero hot – and everything in between. Don’t forget dessert, like our scrumptious banana pudding and famous peach cobbler. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Adam’s can cater any event locally. Give Adam a call for your next tailgate party 352-514-8692!

El Patio 60 N Main Street High Springs, Fl 32643 Mon-Thurs & Sun 11am-10pm Fri & Sat 11am-10:30pm

386-454-1330 Mexican — El Patio is now open in downtown High Springs. Family owned and operated serving authentic Mexican cuisine including: fajitas, burritos, quesadillas and enchiladas, and much much more. Kids menu also available. We have large screen TVs perfect for game day, a private party room for your special celebrations, and outdoor seating available on our nice patio. Call for our live music schedule. Also, don’t forget, we offer a full bar with happy hour everyday from 2pm-6pm including $1.99 domestic beers and $3.99 16oz lime margaritas.

Flying Biscuit Café 4150 NW 16th Blvd., Gainesville, FL 32605 Located in the Fresh Market Center Monday-Friday 7:00am – 3:00pm • Saturday-Sunday 7:00am – 4:00pm

352-373-9500 www.flyingbiscuit.com Breakfast — The Flying Biscuit is out to reinvent breakfast in Gainesville! Maybe you’ve tried their soon-to-be-famous creamy, dreamy grits or their “moon dusted” breakfast potatoes, but did you know you can have them at anytime? With a unique open menu, all the items that appear are available throughout the day. With a variety of healthy and hearty dishes, The Flying Biscuit caters to a variety of tastes. With options ranging from the Smoked Salmon Scramble, the Bacon Cheddar Chicken Sandwich or the Tofu and Tater Salad, there’s something for everyone. Call us up to an hour before your expected arrival time to add your name to our call ahead seating list.

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Copper Monkey West 14209 W Newberry Road, Jonesville, FL 32669 Across from the Steeplechase Publix Sunday-Thursday 11:00am - 11:00pm Friday-Saturday 11:00am - 12:00am

352-363-6338 mycoppermonkey.com Restaurant & Pub — Now serving Breakfast on Saturdays & Sundays 8am - 10:45am. We are located in the heart of Jonesville, this All-American dining is convenient to all neighborhoods in Gainesville, Alachua, Newberry, High Springs and beyond. Our family-friendly dining features great food at a great price. Whether you come in for the “best burger in town” or try any one of our freshly made salads, pastas or sandwiches, you will not leave disappointed. Our USDA choice steaks, served with 2 sides, offer a great alternative for the perfect celebratory meal. We also feature a full-service bar with signature drinks and many options for your viewing pleasure.

Great food, great price, we’ll see you soon.

Napolatanos 606 NW 75th Street Gainesville, FL Tuesday - Thursday & Sunday 4:00pm-10:00pm Friday 4:00pm-1:00am • Saturday 4:00pm-11:00pm

352-332-6671 www.napolatanos.com ITALIAN — Napolatanos is the longest original owner operated restaurant in Gainesville. Nappys, the name the locals have given Napolatanos has the most extensive menu.

Whether you choose pizza, calzones, salad, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, seafood, steak dinners or the best chicken wings in town, Nappy’s uses only the freshest ingredients.

Visit on Tuesday for half price appetizers. Burgers & Brew Night on Wednesday and live music inside. Thursday is Pub night with Better than England’s Fish & Chips $7. Outside dining with live music, on the patio, on Sunday evenings. GRAB & GO family dinners feeds 4-6 adults, starting at $25.95. Choose from Ziti, Lasagna, Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Marsala and more!

The Great Outdoors 65 North Main Street, High Springs, Florida 32643 Open at 11:00am Tuesday through Sunday

386-454-1288 www.greatoutdoorsdining.com Summer Time at The Great Outdoors where there’s ALWAYS Something Going On! — Save the date for our 4th annual WINE DINNER on Thursday, September 8th. Enjoy fine WENTE VINYARD wines, award winning food pairings with a special presentation from KELLEY WASHINGTON of Brittany Sales - tickets $75. October 13th is our popular BEER DINNER with FIRST MAGNITUTE BREWING. Enjoy a night of local craft beers paired with Chef William’s special menu. Tickets are $45 and include 5 brews and a 4 course dinner. The Great Outdoors goes PINK in October as we fundraise for a cure for breast cancer. Our PINK PARTY, October 27th, is great fun in support of a great cause with proceeds benefitting Survivors for Research.

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SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL

352-372-5468

FOR RATES AND INFORMATION.

Brown’s Country Buffet 14423 NW US Hwy 441, Alachua, FL 32616 Monday-Friday 7:00am - 8:00pm Saturday 7:00am - 2:00pm Sunday 8:00am - 3:00pm

386-462-3000 brownscountrybuffet.net Casual — Country-style cooking at its finest, just like Grandma’s house! A buffet style restaurant, Brown’s Country Buffet is open seven days a week! Foods like fried chicken, grilled pork chops, real mashed potatoes, steamed cabbage, banana pudding and coconut pie, just to name a few, are served in a laid-back, relaxing environment. We offer AYCE fried shrimp on Friday nights from 4-8 along with whole catfish & ribs. In addition to their buffet, Brown’s also offers a full menu to choose from. Serving lunch and dinner daily and a breakfast buffet Friday-Sunday until 10:30am, you’re sure to leave satisfied, no matter when you go. So, when you’re in the mood for some good home cooking, Grandma’s style, visit Brown’s Country Buffet.

World of Beer 140 SW 128th Street • Tioga Town Center, Jonesville 32669 3265 SW 34th Street • Gainesville, Florida 32608 Monday - Thursday open at 3:00pm • Friday, Saturday and Sunday open at noon

352-727-4714 (Tioga) 352-559-8775 (Gville) worldofbeer.com TAVERN FARE — At World of Beer, we have 40 craft beers on tap, over 500 in the cooler and now we have added a tasty tavern fare that’s crafted to go perfectly with any beer. Our menu offers a wide variety of choices including a giant pretzel with beer cheese dip, artisan sausage boards, flat breads, innovative sandwiches and burgers, soups, salads and so much more! Visit our web site for a full menu and event schedule.

Whether you’re a beer master or just beer curious, our insanely knowledgeable staff is here to guide you through every last pint, pour, and pairing. So c’mon. Let’s go. Because there’s no better place to go around the world, one sip at a time.

Bev’s Burger Café 315 NE Santa Fe Blvd. • High Springs Monday - Saturday 7am-9pm Sunday: 11 - 2:30pm

386-454-9434 Casual — If you’re looking for fresh, homemade food in High Springs, look no further than Bev’s Burger Cafe. Known for the best burgers in town and fast, friendly service you’re sure to leave satisfied. Not in the mood for a burger? You may also want to try one of their BBQ dinner favorites such as sliced pork, smoked turkey, BBQ chicken, baby back ribs, and more. Stop on by with the kids on Monday nights for some magic & balloon animals with Magic Mike. Also, on Wednesday nights starting at 5pm sodas and their famous tea are only $1.00, and bottled beer only $1.50. Don’t forget Bev’s is open for breakfast, also, served from 7am to 10:45am. Come check out our newly renovated kitchen & dining room, and our new menu items including fried chicken!

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Newberry’s Backyard BBQ 25405 West Newberry Road, Newberry Monday-Wednesday 11:00am – 9:00pm Thursday 11:00am – 9:00pm Friday and Saturday 11:00am – 11:00pm Sunday 10:30am – 3:00pm

352-472-7260 newberrybbq.com BBQ — The one and only Newberry’s Backyard BBQ is located in our historic building in beautiful downtown Newberry. Our pork, chicken, beef, and turkey is smoked to perfection daily. Our salads and sides are always fresh. If you are thirsty we have the best sweet tea in the South and a full bar as well. Make sure to bring your kids, we serve their meals on a frisbee that they take home. For your entertainment, we always have live music on Friday nights and Karaoke on Saturday evenings.

We now have an ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET Sunday - Friday 11am - 3pm

Mark’s Prime Steakhouse & Seafood 201 SE 2nd Avenue, Gainesville, FL (Historic Downtown) Monday: 5:00pm - 9:00pm • Tues-Sat: 5:00pm to 10:00pm Happy Hour: 5:00pm - 7:00pm

352-336-0077 marksprimesteakhouse.com Steak & Seafood — Mark’s Prime Steakhouse and Seafood has a goal to create a unique dining experience that will please the palate and soothe the soul. We serve the finest beef, the freshest seafood, and naturally fresh vegetables. Recipient of Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence 2004-2011. Join us for Primetime Happy Hour featuring drink and appetizer specials Monday thru Saturday 5-7 pm. We are pleased to feature our full service, private dining facilities. It would be our pleasure to help plan your next reception, banquet, business meeting, or social gathering. Complimentary valet service.

Sweet Pea’s Diner 825 South Main Street High Springs, Fl 32655 Open 6am - 3pm

386-454-Peas Diner — Sweet Peas Diner is now open in High Springs! We are open for breakfast and lunch offering a menu with great selections and good prices. We are here for your dining pleasure serving home cooked southern style meals and all American favorites. Not to mention our fresh salad bar. We serve breakfast from 6am till 11am then switch over to our delicious lunch menu including our Sweet Pea’s daily pickin’s, burgers, pulled pork, chicken, fish and much more. The kids will love our Pea Patch. They can choose from our homemade chicken nuggets, sliders or grilled cheese. Stop on by and let us do the cooking. We look forward to seeing and feeding you!

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SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL

352-372-5468

FOR RATES AND INFORMATION.

Bakery Mill & Deli 1143 NW 76th Blvd. Gainesville, FL. 32606 (Newberry Crossing Shopping Center) Monday – Saturday 6:30 am – 2:30 pm • Sunday 7:30 am – 2:30 pm

352-331-3354 www.thebakerymill.com Breakfast Brunch and Lunch — This Gainesville landmark is locally owned and well known for muffins and other delights for over 20 years. Over 20 varieties of muffins to choose from! We also offer fresh baked crescents, biscuits and pastries made fresh daily! We offer a full breakfast menu served all day, everyday. It includes over size stuffed omelets, fresh baked biscuits with sausage gravy, grilled red skin potatoes or shredded hash browns. Specialty coffees, lattes and cappuccinos are available all day long. We also offer daily lunch specials. Sandwiches are served on our fresh baked bread.

You can also choose from fresh salads, soups and much more. Dine in or carry out. We also offer a catering menu for your next event.

Backstreet Blues Chop House & Oyster Bar 6500 SW Archer Rd , Gainesville fl 32608 Monday Closed • Tuesday - Saturday 4:00pm – 10:00pm Dinner Saturday - Sunday 9:00am – 2:00pm Brunch

352-562-2837 backstreetblueschophouse.com Prime wet aged Steaks, Fresh Gulf Seafood, and Fresh Oysters — At Backstreet Blues Chophouse we offer the finest farm to table steaks from the Quincy Cattle Company, fresh Gulf Seafood and Oysters delivered everyday. Come try our signature steak the “Tomahawk Ribeye”, Lemon-Marscapopne Risotto, Ensalada de Pulpo or our Oysters Rockefeller. We have a large selection of unique appetizers and wines from all over the world. Full bar with Specialty whiskeys and bourbons. We also offer a private dining room that seats up to 30 for private dinners or tastings with a 110” drop down movie screen for presentations. We have a large covered patio area as well. Its an experience you can have everyday!

Lisa’s Corner Café 125 NW 23rd Ave • Gainesville, Florida Mon. – Fri. 8am -3pm • Saturday 8am – 3 pm Serving Breakfast all-day

352-363-6138 www.cornercafeandcoffee.com DELICIOUS HOMEMADE GOODNESS — This delightfully casual café is located on the corner of 23rd Ave. & NW 2nd St. The Café is sure to satisfy your cravings and bring you back for more. The menu features build your own omelettes or café traditions such as the “Belly Buster” or “The Toasty triple”. Cheesy grits, seasoned potatoes & sliced peaches are just a few of the delicious sides offered. For Lunch, we recommend the “All You Can Eat Hot Buffet!” It includes a drink & salad bar for only $9.89. Featuring a variety of homemade specialties such as meatloaf, fried chicken, shepards pie, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes & so much more! Visit us on Tuesday for “Taco – Tuesday!”

The Café’ also offers a full menu. Delivery, Online ordering and Catering is available.

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Nanny’s Diner 7476 SW Highway 27 • Fort White, Fl 32038 Mon-Sat 6:00am – 3:00pm

386-497-1550 Breakfast & Lunch — We are a family owned and operated diner that offers a full breakfast menu all day and a variety of hot and cold sandwiches. We also offer a daily blue plate lunch special. Our sandwiches are made with Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, which we also sell by the pound, and our breakfast sausages are Nettle’s Sausage. Come by and check us out! We offer both dine-in and take-out services along with call ahead orders. Follow us on Facebook at Nanny’s Diner and Deli.

Dave’s New York Deli 12921 SW 1st Road • Tioga Town Center Open 7 Days

352-333-0291 www.DavesNYDeli.com Authentic NY deli — The Reviews are in and here’s what customers are saying about Dave’s NY Deli Tioga Town Center! “Best Reuben, Best Pastrami, Best Philly, and Best Wings” Dave’s continues to be the place to go for authentic NY Deli food and Philly Cheesesteaks. Owner Dave Anders says “Nothing beats quality ingredients combined with a friendly staff. Dave serves New York size Pastrami and Corned Beef sandwiches, Cheesecake from New York, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, NY Kettle Boiled Bagels, Nova Salmon, Knish, Cannolies, Philly Cheesesteaks, Wings, Cubans, Subs, Kids Menu and more.” Come out and enjoy Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at Dave’s NY Deli.

Now serving beer and wine.

Vegan 2Go 7625 W Newberry Rd Gainesville, FL. Mon., Wed., Thursday 11am – 8 pm Fri and Sat. 11am-9pm • Sunday 12 pm – 7 pm

352-505-8894 Vegan2GoGainesville.com COOKING WITH LOVE — This vegetarian & vegan restaurant is based on the concept that people and animals can live in harmony through sustainable plant based solutions.

You can be sure that their ingredients are carefully selected from non-GMO, non-MSG, sea salt and organic products. The final result: something that’s delicious, tasty, healthy, and vegan! Their healthy barbeque skewers made from soy or the infamous vegan ginger onion chick’n, are sure to have you craving for more. If you want some bang for your buck, try one of the combos: your choice of noodles or rice with spring rolls, summer rolls, and either BBQ or vegan chicken. If you’re feeling a bit adventurous with your appetite, try making your own combo! Don’t forget the delicious, fragrant Thai Iced Tea!

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SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL

352-372-5468

FOR RATES AND INFORMATION.

Tony & Al’s Deli 14960 Main Street, Alachua, Florida 32616 OPEN 7 DAYS Monday-Thursday 11:00am – 9:00pm Friday-Saturday 11:00am – 10:00pm Sunday 11:00am – 8:00pm

386-518-5552 Italian — Locally owned and operated, Tony & Al’s Deli provides the finest quality Italian entrees in a family friendly atmosphere. Whether it’s their delicious appetizers, pasta classics, specialty pizzas, salads, sandwiches, wraps, burgers or prime rib, Tony & Al use only their freshest ingredients. One of their favorites is blackened Salmon Francesca with Orange Tiramisu for dessert. Their sauces, dressings and specialty desserts including cannolis and tiramisu are all handcrafted. They serve daily lunch and dinner specials. Tony and Al offer a full bar with happy hour from 5pm-7pm including $1.00 off all drafts, wine and well drinks.

Crane Ramen 16 SW 1st Ave. Gainesville Sun-Wed: 11:00 am - 4pm • 5pm - 10pm • Thu-Sat: 11am - 4pm • 5pm - 1am Sunday Brunch beginning at 11am

352-727-7422 www.craneramen.com Authentic Craft Ramen — Owners Fred Brown and Bill Bryson opened a restaurant serving sensuous, Japanese comfort food. Ramen creates a harmony of flavors, enjoyed layer by layer as they are mixed throughout your bowl. The richness of ingredients thoughtfully concocted delivers complete dining satisfaction. Crane Ramen is committed to a local/sustainable model of sourcing the best and healthiest ingredients.

Our meat, eggs and poultry are sourced locally whenever possible. All of our food is scratch-made! We have our soup stocks bubbling 24 hours a day! In addition to ramen we also have a seasonal variety of delicious otsumami. Crane Ramen also has also curated its own unique offering of beer, wine, sake and creative cocktails!

Northwest Grille 5115 Northwest 39th Avenue, Gainesville 32606 Open 7 Days: 11:00am to 10:00pm (Friday open until 11:00pm) Saturday & Sunday: Serving brunch 10:00am to 3:00pm

352-376-0500 www.northwestgrillegainesville.com Seafood — Locally owned and operated, Northwest Grille has been providing the finest quality fish and seafood entrees in a friendly atmosphere since 1996. Whether it’s their fresh, local seafood & fish, or handcrafted sauces and specialty desserts, Northwest Grille has something to please your palate. Meat lovers will enjoy the hand-cut steaks & vegetarians will love the wide range of vegetarian options. Serving lunch and dinner daily, Northwest Grille, offers an extensive brunch menu on Saturdays and Sundays with a Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar from 10-3pm. Northwest Grille also Features a liquor bar with specialty cocktails. Happy hour is served daily from 3pm-7pm & all day on Wednesday – offering craft beer, wine & $5 martinis.

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ALACHUA BUSINESS LEAGUE

Conestogas Re staurant

“FAMILY DINING WITH A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE”

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL

352-372-5468

FOR RATES AND INFORMATION.

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Alachua Main Street Festival Enjoy Great Music, Food, Rides and Fun!!

SUNDAY, October 16th 2015 from 11am - 5pm On Main Street in Historic Downtown City of Alachua • Minutes from Gainesville • Exit 399 on I-75

On Main Street in Downtown Beautiful Alachua 386-462-1294 www.ConestogasRestaurant.com

Enjoy a wonderful Sunday afternoon with the family while strolling along Historic Downtown Main Street in Alachua, lined with lovely Victorian Homes.

Savor delicious food while listening to local musicians & chatting ting with friends, neighbors, gracious shopkeepers and unique vendors!

We look forward to seeing you there!!

Local band Southern Burn will be headlining on North Stage.

Alachua Business League would like to thank our sponsors:

The City of Alachua, SunState Federal Credit Union, Gator Dominos, Alachua Printing and Waste Pro For more information, email alachua.business@gmail.com Or visit our website at www.AlachuaBusiness.com

YOUR HOMETOWN PIZZA ZZA PLACE! PLAC

Come on in and Dicker on the Sticker!

ALZONES • WINGS • SUB S PIZZA • C LI • SALADS • DESSERT O B S STROM

Walk next door to our retail shop: FEATURING • Simply Southern T-shirts • Girlie Girl & Lily Grace Tee’s • Woodwick and Tyler Candles • Ginger Snaps Jewelry • Gator & Seminole Shirts/Jewelry

Now offering delivery services through:

Alachua2Go.com Family Owned & Operated since 2007

386-462-0661 14933 Main Street Alachua

Consignments • Art Welcome!

• • • • • • •

Antiques Fine Furniture Civil War Memorabilia Ceramics Hand Made Soaps Beeswax Candles Hemp Products

Check out our online store!

14874 Main St, Alachua, FL 32615

southerncharmemporium.com

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COMMU NIT Y C A LENDA R

S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

Don’t miss your chance to see seven of the most incredible illusionists on earth. This show is shattering box office records with magic for all ages. Two nights only at the Philips Center.

ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCING Mondays 6:45pm – 9:00pm

GAINESVILLE - United Church of Gainesville.

1624 NW 5th Ave. Come dance to jigs, reels and waltzes. No partner, experience or special dress required. Live music also begins at 7:00

by Hoggetowne Fancy.

PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB Third Monday 7:00pm – 9:00pm

GAINESVILLE - LifeSouth Community Blood Center, 4039 Newberry Rd. Meet, share photographs and improve your skills. Located in the rear conference room. gainesvillephotoclub.com.

couples and families with children age ten and up. September 6th & 13th are free, after that $5 per class. Contact Susie 352-283-1296 or susiemoon@cox.net.

PARKINSON’S EXERCISE CLASS Tuesday & Friday 9:30am

GAINESVILLE - Alachua County Senior Recreation Center, 5701 NW 34th St. A fun and effective exercise class to help those living with Parkinson’s Disease and other balance-related health issues. Exercise is the only way to slow progression of PD. Free. facebook.com/ gainesvilleflparkinsonsnetwork.

SQUARE DANCE CLASS

WENCHDAY WITH JUST DESSERTS

Tuesdays 6:15pm – 7:15pm

Third Wednesday (Sept. 21 & Oct. 19) 9:00pm - 10:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Westside Park Rec. Building, 1001 NW 34th St. Non-profit community organization that teaches square dancing classes for singles,

GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. Dance and sing with wenches. $4 at the door.

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The Illusionists: Live from Broadway

September 21 and 22

TRIVIA NIGHT Wednesdays 7:00pm – 9:00pm

GAINESVILLE - World of Beer, 3265 SW 34th St. Join us for Trivia Nights every Wednesday!

Come alone or bring a team, play for prizes.

352-559-8775.

GAINESVILLE HARMONY SHOW CHORUS Thursdays 7:00pm – 9:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Grace Presbyterian Church, 3146 NW 13th St. For all who are interested in learning and singing Women’s A Cappella Barbershop Harmony Music. Beckie: 352-318-1281.

HIGH SPRINGS FARMERS MARKET Thursdays 12:00pm – 4:00pm

HIGH SPRINGS - Downtown Farmers Market, 115 NE Railroad Ave.

ENCORE DANCE WORKSHOP Thursdays 4:00pm – 5:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Senior Recreation Center, 5701 NW 34th St. This dance workshop provides mature dancers with an opportunity to continue their practice in an adult-friendly environment.

352-733-0880.

TRAFFIC SAFETY TEAM Third Thursday 10:00am – 12:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center, 2153 SE Hawthorne Rd. The CTST is a volunteer organization with the mission of helping to reduce crashes and improve safety on area roadways through events, information, ongoing programs and education. trafficsafetyteam.com.

WIC FARMERS MARKET Fridays 10:00am – 2:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Alachua County Health Department, 224 SE 24th St. Through October, stop by and support local farmers and choose from a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables.

800-494-2543.

LADY GAMERS Fridays 1:00pm

HIGH SPRINGS - New Century Woman’s Club, 40 NW 1st Ave. The Lady Gamers meet for fun, friendship and food. Everyone is invited. Meet old friends and make some new ones.

ARTWALK GAINESVILLE Last Friday of Every Month 7:00pm - 10:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Downtown. Artwalk is a free monthly self-guided tour that combines exciting visual art, live performance, and events with many local galleries, eateries and businesses participating. www.artwalkgainesville.com.

CLASSY & SASSY BURLESQUE Third Saturday (Sept. 17 & Oct. 15) 8:00pm - 1:00am

GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. An intimate burlesque & variety show featuring a rotating cast of local and visiting performers. Live jazz with Swing Theory begins after the show at 10:00pm. $10 Advance, $12 Door. This show is 18+. For reservations: sallybdash.com.

Latino Film Festival September 8 – 24 GAINESVILLE - Varying locations. Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with 18 feature length films, five short films, guest speakers, director/actor visits and family events. All events are free and open to the public. For times and locations of the films and events, visit gainesvillelatinofilmfestival.com.

ZUMBA First Saturday of Every Month 5:00pm – 6:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Free Zumba class every first Saturday of the month with Cristiane Machado.

YOGA Sundays 1:00pm – 2:00pm

GAINESVILLE - First Magnitude Brewery, 1220 SE Veitch St. Brewery Yoga in the warehouse. All experience levels welcome; suggested donation of $5 (donations go to Forage Farms through August) fmbrewing.com/calendar.

STAGE KISS September 2 – 25 Times Vary

GAINESVILLE - The Hippodrome, 25 SE 2nd Pl. The Hippodrome collaborates with the UF School of Theatre & Dance to create a romantic comedy with plenty of drama. This New York Times Critic’s Pick is a charming and clever

tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kiss – or when actors share a real one.

352-375-4477 or thehipp.org.

“LOVE WINS” Thursday, September 8 6:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Pugh Hall, UF Campus. “Love Wins,” authored by Washington Post reporter Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell is about the legalization of same-sex marriage. The event is free and open to the public. It will be streamed live at bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu.

LEMON BALL Thursday, September 8 6:30pm

GAINESVILLE - The Florida Museum of Natural History, 3215 Hull Rd. A fun evening of music, food and drinks including signature lemon cocktails! All proceeds benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) and their efforts to fund childhood cancer research projects. Attire is cocktail casual.

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A LORD OF THE RINGS BURLESQUE SHOW Friday, September 9 9:00pm - 12:00am

GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. Tolkien It Off is a unique burlesque show featuring performers from all around the state and an incredible mix of live entertainment as to celebrate the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

DORRANCE DANCE Friday, September 9 7:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, 3201 Hull Rd. Michelle Dorrance is a MacArthur “Genius” Grant Winner, Bessie Award winner and Alpert Award winner. Tap dance doesn’t just break out of the box. It leaps off the floor. It soars to the ceiling. Dorrance Dance is one of the few dance groups that travels with their own floor. performingarts.ufl.edu

FLATLAND Friday, September 9 8:00pm – 10:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concert Series presents: Flatlands. Funk & blues. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

BELLY DANCING FOR ALL AGES Saturday, September 10 11:00am - 1:00pm

GAINESVILLE - The Cairo Grille, 2410 NW 43rd St. Learn the ancient art of belly dancing in a master class by the Al Amoura Dancers. The lessons are free! 352-727-7071.

WRITING A MEMOIR Sunday, September 11 2:30pm - 4:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Millhopper Branch Library, 3145 NW 43rd St. Nancy Rankie Shelton - professor, researcher and writer - will show how her memoir, “5-13: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Survival,” adapts for any writer’s personal story of surviving a love lost. writersalliance.org.

AFTER ORLANDO PANEL DISCUSSION Tuesday, September 13 6:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Pugh Hall, UF Campus. The discussion will address how we move forward in unity by taking the fear out of diversity and focusing instead on the many benefits of our diverse population.

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GAINESVILLE GARDEN CLUB’S OPEN HOUSE & LUNCHEON Thursday, September 15 11:00am – 1:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Garden Club, 1350 NW 75th St. Speaker Wendy Wilber, the Florida Statewide Master Gardener Coordinator, will present a program on gardening, the use of native plants, plants that attract pollinators, and more. Stay for lunch and learn about the GGC, a not-for-profit organization. RSVP: 352-332-6342 or email ggcfl.org@gmail.com.

THE IMPOSTERS Friday, September 16 8:00pm – 10:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concerts series presents: The Imposters, a Beatles tribute band. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

NEXT GENERATION FLAPJACK BREAKFAST Saturday, September 17 8:00am – 10:00am

GAINESVILLE - Applebee’s, 1005 NW 13th St. This flapjack fundraiser helps raise funds to present educational programming throughout the year. Costs $7. 352-373-1166 or dalive@ bellsouth.net.

THE ILLUSIONISTS: LIVE FROM BROADWAY September 21 & September 22 7:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, 3201 Hull Rd. See mind-blowing talent of seven of the most incredible illusionists on earth. This show has shattered box office records with magic for all ages, from the most outrageous to most astonishing. performingarts.ufl.edu.

BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY BOARD Thursday, September 22 7:00pm – 9:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Alachua County Administration Building, 12 SE 1st St., 2nd floor, Grace Knight Conference Room. The BPAB makes recommendations on all matters concerning implementation and maintenance of policies, programs and facilities for the safe and efficient integration of bicycle and pedestrian transportation. 352-374-5204 or alachuacounty.us/Pages/ AlachuaCounty.aspx.

Paint Out September 9 - 11 GAINESVILLE - Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, 4700 SW 58th Drive. Local landscape artists will create paintings at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. The threeday event is part of the 13th Worldwide Artist Paint Out, linking artists and locations all over the world and promoting art as a universal language that has no borders.

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Gainesville Gone Austin Thursday, October 27

6:00pm – 10:00pm

ALACHUA - Santa Fe River Ranch, 29220 NW 122nd St. The event includes a silent and live auction, live music and dinner catered by an Austin-based restaurant institution. All proceeds will benefit the Child Advocacy Center’s mission to end the cycle of child abuse. gainesvillegoneaustin.org.

BRUCE NESWICK ORGAN CONCERT Friday, September 23 7:30pm – 9:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 100 NE 1st St. This international concert artist performs a concert of organ literature and improvisation. Free to the public. holytrinitygnv. org or lowe@holytrinitygnv.org or 352-372-4721.

GILBERTO DE PAZ & TROPIX Friday, September 23 8:00pm – 10:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concert Series presents: Gilberto De Paz & Tropix. Latin Fusion. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

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the characters and the story. Accompanied by live music, this one-man adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic tells the story of Ahab’s relentless pursuit of the great white whale that took both his ship and his leg. performingarts.ufl.edu.

FASHION SHOW Saturday, September 24 11:00am - 1:00pm.

HIGH SPRINGS - The High Springs New Century Woman’s Club, 23674 W. U.S. Highway 27.

“A Better World for Every Girl” fashion show presented by Belk’s Department store. The proceeds will help support domestic violence awareness. Tickets are $10.00, seating is limited. hsncwclub@gmail.com.

MOBY DICK

QUILT SHOW

September 23 & September 25 Times Vary

Saturday, October 1 10:00am - 3:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, 3201 Hull Rd. Gare St Lazare Ireland presents theater without props, special effects or elaborate stage sets. By stripping away these elements, the focus is on the language,

NEWBERRY - Dudley Farm Historical State Park, 18730 W. Newberry Rd. At 11:00am, ‘Bed Turning’ quilt experts will look at each quilt and discuss age, condition, colors and patterns. $5 per vehicle. 352-472-1142.

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THE PINK PUMPKIN PEDAL-OFF Saturday, October 1 7:00am

GAINESVILLE - Cancer & Genetics Research Complex at UF, 2033 Mowry Rd. A charity bicycle ride to raise funds to support local research on treatment-resistant breast cancers. Ride distances are 22, 40, or 62.5 miles.

Registration, packet pickup, and breakfast at 7:00am. Ride begins at 8:30am. Register at pinkpumpkinpedaloff.org.

RENT October 4 - 5 7:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, 3201 Hull Rd. Rent, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awardwinning masterpiece, is about an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. With its inspiring message of joy and hope in the face of fear, this timeless celebration of friendship and creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters—love. performingarts.ufl.edu.

FANGS! CURTIS M. P PHILLIPS CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS PERFORMIN OCTOBER 28 | 7:30 PM FRIDAY, OC

A fabulou fabulous Halloween spectacle - Dracula rises from a fog filled Vampyra ‘vamps’ playfully haze, Vam Raven quoth’s ‘Nevermore’. and the R full of fun AND dripping with Chock ful spookiness. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! spookines

NUTCRACKER NUTCRA FRIDAY, DE DECEMBER 16TH | 7:30 PM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17TH | 2:00 PM DECEMBER 18TH | 2:00 PM SUNDAY, DE

Become e entranced by the beauty Sugar Plum Fairy and of the Sug dazzling Court, enchanted her dazzli by the sw swirling snowflakes and breathtaking snow, and cheer breathtak tiny toy soldiers and their for the tin the handsome Nutcracker leader, th Prince. A sparkling production with beautiful costumes and sets, this is ‘the all-time family favorite’. truly… ‘th

ROBIN H HOOD FRIDAY, FEB FEBRUARY 3RD | 7:30 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH | 2:00 PM

In Englan England in the days of yore lived the legendary Robin Hood. loyal to his King, he and Fiercely lo his merry band of outlaws (along beautiful Lady Marian - of with the b course!) ssave the day by defeating Sheriff of Nottingham. True the evil S to the sto story, the ballet is exciting, entertaining, comic, bold and filled entertaini exciting sword fights. with excit

FIREBIRD FIREBIR

Jo John oh hn nstto on n Pho hoto oto tog grrap aphy y

FRIDAY, MA MARCH 17 | 7:30PM

The luscio luscious sounds of Russian melodies stream through folk melo the exotic tale of Gerard Ebits’ FIREBIRD”, while George “THE FIRE Balanchine’s masterpiece Balanchin “APOLLO” brings the art of dance “APOLLO highest level of beauty. to the hig choreographer Cristina Brazilian c provokes and enchants as Helena pr the DANB dancers display their grace and athletic prowess. Exotic brilliant - a fitting conclusion to and brillia 1st season.

DANB’s 1s

FOR INF INFORMATION: DALIVE@BELLSOUTH.NET, DALIVE@ DANCEALIVE.ORG OR DANCEA 352-371-2986 352-371-

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BREAKAWAY BURLESQUE Friday, October 7 10:00pm - 12:00am

GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. Naughty Nightmares, a night of spooky burlesque. This show is 18+. $7 at the door.

Friday, October 7 8:00pm – 10:00pm

Friday, October 21 8:00pm – 10:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concert Series presents: Mark Miale, Tony McMahon & Friends. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concert Series presents: Jacaré Brazil, Agbedidi Africa & Others. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

GAINESVILLE - Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St. NaNoWriMo organizes events to inspire, encourage and coach children and adults to achieve their creative potential in a fun approach to creative writing.

AUDIENCE

Bed ‘n Biscuit Inn IN HIGH SPRINGS

October 13 – 15 7:30pm

GAINESVILLE - The Fine Arts Hall Theatre, 3000 NW 83rd St E-127. This one-act comedic satire portrays a playwright as he watches one of his own plays from the audience of a West End Theatre. He is soon tormented by crinkling candy wrappers, people talking loudly during the performance and the audience’s inattention to his play. sfcollege.edu/finearts/theatre.

GRAM FEST Friday, October 14 8:00pm – 10:00pm

386-454-0676

GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza, 111 E. University Ave. Gainesville’s “Free Fridays” Concert Series presents: Gram Parson’s Tribute; Various Artists. gvlculturalaffairs.org.

THE BOYS IN THE BAND October 14 – 30 Times Vary

Bed ‘n Biscuit Inn We love them as much as you do!

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GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. Celebrate Halloween with The Mischievous Madams! $8 Advance, $10 Door.

This show is 18+. mischievousmadams.com.

UF WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLES

Sunday, October 9 2:30pm - 4:00pm

Follow us to the

Friday, October 21 9:00pm - 12:00am

THE MUSIC OF ERIC CLAPTON & JJ CALE TRIBUTE

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

BOARDING for DOGS & CATS GROOMING • DAY CARE

THE MISCHIEVOUS MADAMS BURLESQUE

GAINESVILLE - Actors’ Warehouse, 608 N. Main St. In his upper eastside Manhattan apartment, Michael is throwing a birthday party for Harold.

As the evening wears on, fueled by drugs and alcohol, bitter, unresolved resentments among the guests come to light when a game of “Truth” goes terribly wrong.

ELECTRO AERIAL SHOW Saturday, October 22 8:00pm - 12:00am

GAINESVILLE - Market Street Pub & Cabaret, 112 SW 1st Ave. Electro Aerial Show featuring aerial bartending by AscenDance acrobats to live music. $5 at the door.

ORCHIDS IN THE GARDEN October 22 – 23 9:00am – 5:00pm

GAINESVILLE - Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, 4700 SW 58th Drive. About 50 booths will be set up selling a wide variety of plants. The American Orchid Society will have their annual American Orchid Society’s judged show. Admission is free.

Bring cash for most vendors.

SUNNY’S HOWL-APALOOZA CARNIVAL Sunday, October 23 3:00pm – 6:00pm

NEWBERRY - Sun Country Sports Center, 333 SW 140th Terr. Activities include costume contests, haunted houses, train rides, bounce houses, raffle, carnival games and hay rides. All proceeds from the carnival directly benefit the March of Dimes. suncountrysports.com/howlapalooza or 352-331-8773.

TRICK OR TREAT ON MAIN STREET Monday, October 31 6:00pm – 8:00pm

ALACHUA - Main Street. Contact the Alachua Chamber of Commerce, 386-462-3333.

SEND CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS TO: 4 4 00 N W 3 6 T H A V E ., G A I N E S V I L L E , F L 32 606 or E V E N T S @ T O W E R P U B L I C A T I O N S . C O M

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WOMEN’S RECOVERY CENTER IS A 501(c)(3) CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

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TECHNOLOGY >> THE PERRY CENTER

INNOVATIVE EDUCATION

The Perry Center Education in a Changing World S T O R Y A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y R AY C A R S O N

T

he workforce is changing.

Emerging technologies are developing at an ever-increasing rate. Within the next 10 years this will significantly change our business and social environment.

Some of the jobs that exist today will become obsolete and new careers will emerge, shaped by technology and scientific development. The education system must also keep up with the changing job market.

Located on US 441 between Gainesville and Alachua is the Charles R. and Nancy V. Perry Center for Emerging Technologies. Although part of Santa Fe Community College, the center is located 13 miles away from the main campus and is directly across the street from Progress Corporate Park.

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The location puts it in an area of multiple high tech businesses and research facilities. The Perry Center focuses specifically on emerging technologies and offers both associates and bachelors degrees. The 30,000-foot center houses functioning laboratories and state-of-the art classrooms directed towards careers as lab technicians and researchers in medical and industrial biotechnology.

The state of Florida had wanted more careerbased bachelor degrees available in community colleges, which focus on providing higher education and career paths to students not attending a university. Santa Fe College created the Emerging Technologies program, but space on the main campus and advanced laboratories was limited. In 2008, the college started looking at alternatives. The University of Florida was involved with businesses

Students work in the state-of-the-art Bio Medical lab at the Perry Center.

Each student works independently to get hands-on experience in as many aspects of the field as they can.

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TECHNOLOGY >> THE PERRY CENTER

Perry Center student Sara Jennifer Kreft works in the bio mechanical lab where students learn to repair and maintain emerging technology medical and lab equipment. (Bottom left) Perry Center Lab Manager Richard Jenkins works in the 3D printer lab.

bringing new technologies to Florida and owned the land across from the Progress Center, which it donated to Santa Fe College.

Santa Fe was able to get funding from a federal EDA grant and Alachua county. Some of the funding and development also came from the community. Charles and Nancy Perry were interested in helping create a center for careers in emerging technologies and made a substantial donation for its creation. In addition, the Perry’s owned Perry Construction and provided the lowest bid to build the center. All this came together and the Perry Center was opened in 2009.

According to Academic Director Eileen Monck, the goal of the center is to prepare students to work in the laboratory and clinical research by teaching them all aspects of the working environment and giving them the resources to create a career path or further their education. The teaching style is unique.

There are only 150 students, five full-time faculty members and three adjunct professors. The programs are designed for the students to work independently.

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“Students sign up for a class [and] an instructor will work individually with a student to get them familiar with the laboratory and equipment. Then the student conducts their research and assignments on their own,” Monck said. “We want them to learn all aspects of their chosen field by personal experience so they will be comfortable in the lab environment and confident in their ability by having a broad range of hands on training.”

Although multiple students may be in a laboratory, they each work independently at their own pace. They also get experience from internships in their final year. The internship places the student in a working environment with high tech companies, hospitals or University of Florida laboratories.

“We have a very good working relationship with the University and the Progress Center,” Monck said. “The internships help students get their foot in the door career-wise.”

The success rate of this program is remarkable, with 90 percent of its associate degree students and 100 percent of their bachelor’s degree students finding jobs after graduation.

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H A I R A F FA I R

Visit: the north florida Springs Environmental Center today 99 NW 1st Ave • High Springs FL

Hours: Tues - Thurs: 10am-4pm Fri - Sat: 10am-1pm

Call for eannt appointm s or walk-in s y a lw a are ! e m o lc e w

Supported by the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute

Fl id S i I i FloridaSpringsInstitute.org

Come and visit us for all of your family hair care needs!

We are located at: 430 NE 1st Ave, Ste. C High Springs, FL. 32643

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Hardscaping • Pavers • Lawn Maintenance • Bobcat Service

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SPECIALIZING IN: • Bobcat Services • Lawn Maintenance

• Landscaping • Hardscapes • Fencing

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Check us out on facebook:

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Always Fresh.

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The Perry Center also sponsors events to attract future scientists to the program. The Center’s Academic Adviser, Sari Sanborn, works with high schools in Bradford and Alachua counties to encourage students to study science and technology as a career path.

“Heavy science sometimes scares students and seems difficult to learn,” Monck said. “Our events make them aware of the opportunities in these fields.”

The program also has an articulation agreement with Santa Fe High School where students in the program can take a certification exam that will give them credit towards college courses. In addition, the Center sponsors a three-day event in November called STEM Fest (science, technology, engineering and math). Students from Santa Fe College and area high schools are invited to display posters showcasing their accomplishments in the four disciplines.

The institute also holds a weeklong STEM summer day camp for 8th and 9th graders. Campers enjoy hands-on activities in toxicology, earth and water sciences, DNA science, energy resources, building robots and rockets and computer gaming.

For Santa Fe College students pursuing a degree at the Perry Center, there are seven areas of study; five with degrees and two certificate programs.

The Clinical Lab Sciences program offers a bachelors degree, preparing students to work as a medical technologist in a clinical setting such as a hospital, medical center or reference laboratory. All students are required to complete a six-month internship as part of the degree. Clinical Laboratory Scientists (or Medical Technologists) work in hospitals, clinics and medical centers as well in industrial settings and research laboratories. After experience, there are opportunities to also advance into management or teaching positions.

The Industrial Biotechnology program prepares students for a career in bio manufacturing, quality control, or research and development. Industrial biotechnology uses living cells to make bio-based products in industrial sectors such as chemicals, food, detergents, textiles and bioenergy. This bachelor’s degree has been designed to train workers in regulatory compliance, bio manufacturing, quality control, and

facilities management. The Biotech industry wants employees that have received training in skills that are not necessarily achieved through traditional academic degrees.

The Biomedical Engineering Technology program offers an associate degree and prepares students for employment in the biomedical electronic equipment field. Students learn skills in areas of biomedical research, development, manufacturing and maintenance. In both classroom and laboratory environments, students learn to design, manufacture, troubleshoot and repair various types of biomedical equipment. Students must also complete a one-semester internship with a local bio medical department to provide additional in lab experience.

T h e B i ot e c h n o l o g y L a b o r a t o r y Technology Program offers an associate degree for laboratory technicians. The program is designed to meet the needs of the expanding industry. The program also provides for further education opportunities in the sciences by giving students hands-on biotechnology laboratory experience. This program is backed by a formal partnership between Santa Fe College, UF and industries related to biotechnology. The curriculum, faculty and facilities were established with guidance from local employers to meet student needs.

The Chemical Technology degree trains students to conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in performing analyses of various materials for research and development of new products or processes. Additionally, technicians are responsible for maintaining quality control, environmental standards, conducting experimental or practical applications of chemistry and related sciences.

The Center has two certification programs, one for a Chemical Laboratory Specialist, which has a similar curriculum to the Chemical Technology degree, and the other for Phlebotomy, which trains technicians in obtaining and analyzing blood samples. Students are also trained in medical terminology and emergency procedures such as CPR and first aid.

For more information about the programs and contact information, visit the Perry Center website: www.sfcollege.edu/ locations/ perry-center

Call us & come home!

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386-454-2555

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COLUMN

KENDRA SILER-MARSIGLIO’S

Healthy Edge RAISING HAPPY KIDS

KENDRA SILER-MARSIGLIO, PH.D, HCC IS A NEUROSCIENTIST, MEDICAL WRITER, COLUMNIST AND THE DIRECTOR OF RURAL HEALTH PARTNERSHIP AT WELLFLORIDA COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS. kendra.sm@gmail.com

WANT YOUR CHILDREN TO BE “HAPPY” IN LIFE?

R

aising them to be resilient, compassionate and confident will give them a great start. Use the below tips to place your kids on a positive path to adulthood.

Being an adult (or a child) can be hard these days! If you don’t have healthy processes in place to make decisions, tackle problems and self-regulate emotions, life can be an un-fun rollercoaster. Adults who didn’t learn how to cope with emotion-provoking situations during childhood are more at risk for feeling anxious and overwhelmed when confronted with emotional circumstances. Helping your children develop the right tools to go after goals and get along with others may be the best way to help ensure their happiness. Here are a few recommendations to give your kids a healthy edge on life.

• Teach your kids to have “grit.” According to a study in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,” high-achieving kids often exhibit traits such as intelligence and assertiveness.

However, an instrumental trait of high-achievers is “grit.”

Children who grow up to be adults who achieve are willing to chase goals despite obstacles.

• This will sound like a strange one, but hear me out: Take pointers from families in Denmark. For almost 30 years, the Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development has ranked Denmark the happiest country in the world. The book “The Danish Way of Parenting” shares how many Danish families raise kids. The families follow a six-letter acronym called “PARENT.” PLAY: Amp up your free play with your children. Free play is when a child self-directs what he or she will do. Free play has little structure; it’s not an organized activity. Peter Gray, Ph.D., Boston College Professor of Psychology asserts that free play serves as a “testing ground for life.” Play gives kids a chance to discover and express their preferences and self-identity, while quelling any anxieties that they may have. As children navigate playtime activities, they organically practice communication skills and self-control needed in adulthood.

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AUTHENTIC: Kids look to their parents for validation. So, when communicating with your children about their goals and achievements, be supportive AND truthful. With honesty, provide praise for effort and jobs well done.

REFRAMING: Realistic optimism is key. Kids often pattern themselves after their parents. Help children frame situations in a hopeful (but realistic!) light and help them think through practical ways to overcome challenges.

EMPATHY: Make sure your kids treat others with care by giving them a good model for empathy. Do your children see you treating others with kindness? Do they see you seeking to understand an individual before you seek to be understood?

In a variety of situations, SHOW your children how they need to treat others.

NO ULTIMATUMS: The Danish believe that authoritative-style parenting leads to cycles of discipline and rebellion. For this reason, respectful communication is what they use to solve — instead of squash — disputes. Of course, this is easier said than done. To avoid situations where pulling out the ultimatum card is irresistible, do your best to keep the lines of communication open. Listen intently to your kid’s opinions and feelings. You want your child to feel heard by you.

TOGETHERNESS: Know how therapists recommend “date nights” to keep your romantic relationship healthy? Family time is just as important to keep parent-child bonds healthy. When you can: eat together, play together, laugh together.

• Recognize that nighttime is just as important as daytime. Help your children develop a healthy sleep schedule. Inadequate sleep leads to mood changes and other difficulties with thinking. Try to have your kids go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning. Also, turn the lights down at night; give children an hour in dim light before they go to sleep.

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PERFORMANCE >> MUSIC IN THE PARK

HIGH SPRINGS BRINGING MUSIC TO THE PUBLIC

Music in the Park S T O R Y A N D P H O T OG R A P H Y B Y R AY C A R SO N

Music has been in Michael Loveday’s life for more than 30 years.

Growing up in the resort town of Pigeon Forge Tennessee, he watched street performers as a child and was hooked. He knew he wanted to play music.

As a teenager, he formed a band with his brother and when Loveday was 17 they moved to Coco Beach, Florida. Although originally a guitar player, he wound up playing bass in a band called Hard Knocks because the original bassist was underage, had a curfew and couldn’t play in bars. Like many aspiring musicians, the reality of making a living meant getting a day job and his music took second place. But the passion never left him and he continued to perform whenever he could.

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during the day and performing as a folk guitarist on evenings and weekends. He was approached by the Parks and Recreation department about performing and organizing a concert series in the park located by the city government buildings. Working with another local musician, Cliff Dorsey, he put on a show in the park gazebo using one small amp and a microphone. About 20 people attended this first show. Still, he felt the idea had potential and agreed to continue the series and try to book other artists.

This monthly concert series was named Music in the Park and was sponsored by the Parks department. Loveday did not think it would continue indefinitely and agreed to do it. Little did he know it would become a consuming passion and obligation that would continue to grow, producing over 50 shows at present.

Originally he planned to be one of the regular performers and help locate and book other artists, but when the park director

resigned he became a one-man organization covering all aspects. Never having produced a concert series, it became a learn-as-you-go situation with Loveday being forced into a variety of roles as performer, booking agent, publicity manager and soundman. As the responsibilities increased, he found it hard to perform and produce every show so he made the decision to play less and provide a wider variety of musicians for the audience.

He needed a soundboard and PA speakers, monitors and microphones, all purchased with his own money a piece at a time.

“For every artist I booked I got 40 to 50 rejections. I knew that I wanted quality performers, but had to work hard to find and book them.”

“After I bought it, I had to learn how to use the equipment, and took online classes in live sound and home recording. In my spare time I also researched other cities that produced music in the park events to see what was successful,” Loveday said. “I learned what not to do by trial and error and how to keep cost down through targeted advertising and use of social media.”

But any expenses that came from his own pocket were too much and Loveday again approached the city of High Springs for funding. He convinced the city that the concert series brought in tourists and people from other towns, thereby providing economic development that brought revenue to the town. The Community Redevelopment Agency began supporting the event in October of 2014, but he still had to watch his budget.

“I had to make every penny count and all the money went to paying the artist and advertising the event,” he said. “This year I

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In the beginning the hardest part was finding musicians that would play for little money at an unknown event.

“For every artist I booked I got 40 to 50 rejections. I knew that I wanted quality performers, but had to work hard to find and book them,” he said.

Being a musician himself he felt uncomfortable trying to pay as little as he could to maintain his own budget.

“I was very particular about which musicians I was willing to book and paid close attention to what was hot or not,” Loveday said. “Through trial and error I pretty much knew what worked.”

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Michael Loveday

As the shows became established, he also began to diversify the music. The original intent was for strictly folk music but he found that variety brought in a larger audience with more diversified taste. He added bluegrass, country and some blues and original bands to the lineup. Once the series was established it also improved his chances of getting more recognized artists.

Local musicians such as Cliff Dorsey, Sno Rodgers, Brian Smalley, and Ken Walker became regular performers at the Music in the Park series. Loveday also decided to take the series beyond just performances in the gazebo. His annual Folk in the Springs concert featured a variety of artists performing at different locations in local businesses.

This helped broaden the area visited and brought people into local businesses. Other events outside the music in the park series included a Father’s Day Blues concert and a women songwriters showcase.

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Loveday is also teaching classes in sound production to help other musicians learn how to run their own sound and properly record their music for demo tapes and CD production. Giving back to the community is important to him, whether it be teaching, promoting other bands or city activities or charity work. Every year he raises money for the High Springs Elementary School band to use for instrument purchase or other needed supplies. Last year he raised $160 for the program.

“I try to provide inspiration to these young musicians, to keep their interest in music alive,” he said.”

Even though these activities take much of his free time, he feels an obligation to continue and expand the musical culture in High Springs. He has coordinated with other groups to bring more talent to the area, working with the North Florida Blues Society, the North Florida Folk Network, and the Women Musicians of Gainesville to provide bigger shows with more well known artists for concerts in the area.

On September 18, 2016 he will produce the third annual Folk in the Springs series, bringing nine musical acts to different locations in High Springs. The first show in the series had 700 people attending and he expects to get 1,400 this year.

Oct 16th will be the last monthly show for this year. It will celebrate four and a half years that he has been producing these shows. The headline artist will be Dr. Sinn’s Freak Island Musical Sideshow at a location yet to be determined.

For Loveday, the Music in the Park series has become a passion. He has built it from the ground up and handled every aspect of a show. Nowadays he’s more likely to be behind the soundboard than performing, but he gives that job as much attention to detail as performing, constantly revising and improving the sound. He takes no salary for his efforts; it’s a labor of love and every detail matters to him.

“I enjoy providing music for the public, free of charge in a small intimate showcase,” Loveday said.

His reward comes from knowing he has produced a good show and that the audience enjoyed it.

“Quality matters,” he said with a smile.

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AUTHOR >> HARTLEY STEVENS

WRITE ON!

Gator Grit Lit Hartley Stevens’ Cable Counties Series Celebrates Our Neck of the Woods W R IT TE N BY PEGGY M AC DON A LD

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orn at Alachua General Hospital in 1967, Hartley “Danny” Stevens grew up on a farm in Williston, surrounded by the special wilderness that is North Central Florida.

As a young boy, when Stevens’ new pet alligator refused to eat, his father told him to give Ross Allen a call.

“We had gone to Silver Springs and I had seen Ross Allen’s show,” Stevens explained in a July 25 interview at the Matheson History Museum. “He was very nice and told me what to do.”

To date, Stevens has written five books inspired by his life in rural Florida. Each can be classified as Grit Lit, an offshoot of Southern Gothic — the style of the late Gainesville author Harry Crews.

Drug use, trailer parks, hunting and crime are a few of the hallmarks of Grit Lit. Bad language is another.

“At the book launch my mother kept apologizing for the bad language in my books,” Stevens said.

Stevens writes about Florida’s lesser-known rural places.

“To the majority of the world, Florida is Disney World, beaches and palm trees,” he said.

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Stevens created the fictional world of Cable Counties, a 13-county band between St. Augustine and Cedar Key. “It’s the part that nobody thinks of as Florida,” Stevens said, “but it’s my whole Florida world.”

A teacher at Williston Middle School recently blacked out all the bad words in Stevens’ short stories about growing up in Levy County and the students read them all. He said there are too many bad words in the books to be blacked out.

Many of the characters and towns in the Cable Counties thriller series are inspired by real people and places Stevens has known. For instance, the town of Lawless is based on Melrose.

Stevens posts the short stories and blog posts based on his childhood on his author website, hartleystevens.com, to make them accessible to readers.

“The kids were asking for more,” he said.

“It’s their world. They know it.”

Many of the characters and towns in the Cable Counties thriller series are inspired by real people and places Stevens has known.

For instance, the town of Lawless is based on Melrose, and the Chiappini’s gas station and store appears in the books as Ballerini’s.

“All you have to do is walk through the door on a Friday afternoon and all the characters are there,” he said. “There’s a deer head on the wall, a jackalope. You can buy beer by the cup and A cigarette, and they’re all doing it.”

Stevens likes writing about Melrose because of its diversity.

“It’s such a mix,” he said. “It’s very country and redneck but it’s also artsy. That’s the center of Cable Counties.”

Locally owned & operated operat 20 years experience Stevens’ whole extended family comes from north Florida. He and his younger brother, Rex, worked hard on the family farm, where they helped raise cattle and grow peanuts, corn and soybeans. As a child, Stevens said, the best day of the year was always the first day of school.

“That day we got to get up late, which we never did during the summers because we were working, and we got to see our friends, which we couldn’t in the summer,” Stevens recalled. “I loved going to school.”

By the time they were in the third grade, Stevens and Rex would be left in a field for the day with a lunchbox and Thermos.

“We worked hard every day,” he said.

“There were no Monday holidays for us.”

After high school, Stevens joined the Florida Gators football team as a walk-on.

He played in 1985 and 1986 under Head Coach Galen Hall, along with Kerwin Bell and Ricky Nattiel.

“We played against each other in high school,” Stevens said.

This was before the north end zone was there, and the Gators football players lived in Yon Hall, an athletic residence hall at the stadium.

“For me it was the best thing ever,” he said. “I was enrolled in Summer B as fast as I could go. I had a ball. I had only seen country things, so I was a little behind.”

Stevens still loves Florida Gators football. He and his wife, Jeanie, got married the day before the Florida-Georgia game so they could hold their reception in the parking lot at the Gator Bowl. Before he met Jeanie, Stevens was the only O2BKids! leader without children.

“She already had two boys and that worked out perfectly,” he said.

One is now a Marine and the other is in the Emergency Medical Technician program at Santa Fe College.

In February 1987, after spending two years at the University of Florida, Stevens enlisted in the Army. He signed up to study criminal law and go to jump school, even though had never been on an airplane before.

He was sent to Oklahoma, where he saw snow for the first time.

“The intensity of the yelling and the cold — I thought, ‘What have I done?’”

Stevens said.

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After training in criminal law in Indianapolis and completing training at the US Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was sent to South Korea.

“My whole group went to Europe and I got sent to Korea to the DMZ for a year,” he lamented. “That for me was real growing up time.”

Stevens worked as a paralegal with generals and other high ranking officials who prosecuted 168 cases.

“We won all but one in three years,” he said.

Murder was the most common crime that was prosecuted, along with drug crimes and petty crimes.

Upon returning to civilian life, Stevens continued working as the manager of Gainesville Health & Fitness Center, where he met his longtime business partner, Andy Sherrard. Between 1992 and 1993, they traveled around the world together.

“We ran with the bulls in Pamplona, we dove in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, we rode an elephant in the jungles of Thailand,” Stevens said.

He and Sherrard later cofounded O2BKids! Part school and part recreation center, O2BKids! is a 21st century version of a neighborhood. Stevens and Sherrard’s trip around the world inspired the O2BKids! approach to hands-on-learning.

“Kids used to learn on their own and do hands-on activities before, but now they don’t,” Stevens said. At O2BKids, students are kept safe with security fences, video cameras and monitored entrances, but they have the freedom to explore and take risks within this safe environment. O2BKids! just started its 19th year in business.

Always a voracious reader, Stevens started writing at night and on weekends and kept at it for 12 years.

“I always had the intent of making it into something,” he said. In the end, Stevens had enough material to publish five books.

About 300 people attended the book launch for Stevens’ first two books, “Absolute Bull” and “Buck Wild,” at First Magnitude OUR TOWN MAGAZINE

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

Brewing Company in April. The Hired Guns, a Williston band, played five songs Stevens wrote about Cable Counties. Food was provided by Burrito Brothers, which is also portrayed in the book series.

Stevens wanted his fans to experience what it would be like to walk into the world of Cable Counties. Inspired by family trips to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, he had professional logos made for the businesses in the books and profiles of each place.

“The biggest hit was a walk into the book cover station,” he said. Stevens had rented a red, fullsized bull from a yard art store so participants could take pictures in a life-size “Absolute Bull” book cover.

Stevens’ third book in the Cable Counties series will be available on Amazon in November. Titled “Bug Trouble,” it starts with the theft of the Gators’ National Championship Trophy from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. This crime turns out to be a distraction from a much larger, more sinister crime, Stevens said.

The Cable Counties series will feature new books approximately twice a year, Stevens said. For updates on the progress of Stevens’ next books, check his author Hartley Stevens website and sign up to be a Cable Native. The website also includes original blog posts, Cable Counties songs and short stories that are often somewhat autobiographical.

“Thinking Under Fire” was inspired by a real life country episode in which Stevens’ wife and sons caught a tree on fire in their backyard while burning trash. Most of Stevens’ work is inspired by real life in North Central Florida, which is part of what makes it so much fun to read.

The Cable Counties series is only available on Amazon. The cost of these self-published paperback books is $9.99, and the electronic version is free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Be forewarned, however: Stevens hopes to get readers hooked early in the series and create lifetime Grit Lit addicts. If lovebugs, meth addicts, murder and mayhem are your cup of tea, it’s time to take a trip to Cable Counties.

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NATURAL INNOVATIONS >> SOUTH DAKOTA

ETCHED IN STONE

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South Dakota S T O R Y A N D P H O T OG R A P H Y B Y H AY L I Z U CCO L A

South Dakota is known for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, roaming bison, several state and national parks, and is even home of former “The Price is Right” host Bob Barker.

Besides being occupied by prairie dogs and game show icons, most people visit this Midwestern state to take in its innovative architecture and monumental sculptures.

MOUNT RUSHMORE According to the National Park Service (NPS), almost three million people from all over the world visit this presidential memorial every year to revel in its monumental status in history and show their appreciation for this grand piece of art engraved in South Dakota’s countryside.

Doane Robinson, who was the state historian during The Roaring Twenties, wanted to find a way to attract tourists to the 136 |

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Black Hills of South Dakota and help with the state’s economy.

He read about Gutzon Borglum, who was working on the carving of Stone Mountain in Georgia, and reached out to the artist in the hopes that he would develop something for South Dakota.

To Robinson’s excitement, Borglum was planning to leave the Stone Mountain project and was eager for the new opportunity.

Borglum traveled to the Black Hills, but instead of carving prominent western figures in a mountain known as “the Needles” like Robinson originally thought of, Borglum thought the work would get more attention and bring visitors from across the country if he sculpted some of the presidents of the United States who were responsible for the development and the growth of America.

NATURAL INNOVATIONS >> SOUTH DAKOTA

Besides changing the inspiration for the work, Borglum was also in search of a different landscape for his large-scale vision to come to life, and he finally found what he was looking for in Mount Rushmore.

On October 4, 1927, construction began on the 500-foot face of the mountain. According to the NPS, Borglum chose Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt because to him “they represented the most important events in the history of the United States.”

Washington, who was the first President of the United States, is associated with the birth of America, and therefore Borglum wanted him to be the most prominent figure. The problem with

carving a mountain is that once a piece is chipped off, you can’t stick it back together, which led to a very different design than what Borglum had first imagined.

According to the Smithsonian Magazine article “The Making of Mount Rushmore,” “Thomas Jefferson was meant to be to the left of George Washington, but when the crew started carving there, they realized the rock on that side was not well suited. They blasted him off and put him to the right of Washington instead.”

The shift of Thomas Jefferson meant both Roosevelt and Lincoln also had to be moved more left than originally planned.

“Similarly, to find solid rock from which to carve Theodore Roosevelt, the workers had to plunge 80 feet back from the SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

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NATURAL INNOVATIONS >> SOUTH DAKOTA

original face of the mountain,” the article states.

A crew of almost 400 men and women were responsible in the design and execution of this colossal sculpture.

With such complex details and delicate facial features one would never guess that 90 percent of Mount Rushmore was created using dynamite.

According to the NPS, the dynamite was used until only three to six inches of the rock were left for facial details. The carvers would then use a method called “honeycombing,” which meant they would drill multiple holes close together and then chisel away the specific pieces.

They would then smooth the granite over with a bumper tool, which would give the sculpture a nice, clean finish.

Despite using dynamite for the majority of the project and removing over 400,000 tons of rock, in the 14 years of construction there were no fatalities. Unfortunately, Borglum didn’t live to see his project completed. He died in March of 1941 and his son, Lincoln, took over his role.

Although his son wanted to create the even bigger design his father had sketched out, according to the Smithsonian article, funds for the project were running out as America prepared for World War II, and “Congress shut down the construction of Mount Rushmore and declared the monument complete, as is, on October 31, 1941.”

Although it was never finished according to Borglum’s standards, after 75 years Mount Rushmore remains an icon of American innovation and creativity and manages to unite people from around the world. With an erosion rate of one inch every 10,000 years according to the Smithsonian, this memorial is expected to stay around for hundreds of years to come.

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CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL Crazy Horse Memorial is another work of art that is related, in part, to Mount Rushmore, but not for a good reason. Though many visitors were amazed by Mount Rushmore, according to the Smithsonian article “The Making of Mount Rushmore,” American Indians of the Lakota tribe saw it as a desecration of their land. In the 1930s they decided to hire their own sculptor to carve the renowned Lakota leader, Crazy Horse, a mere 15 miles away from Mount Rushmore. The memorial, which relies on visitor donations rather than government funds, is far from being complete. The end result hopes to have Crazy Horse, whose head is already 87 feet, riding on a horse – making the entire sculpture 641 feet long and 563 feet high. According to History.com, the monument that began construction in 1948 will become the world’s largest sculpture when it’s complete.

THE CORN PALACE Besides being the birthplace of two mountainous – pun intended – sculptures, South Dakota is also the site of the World’s Only Corn Palace. Located on the state’s eastern side is a creative structure that according to cornpalace.org, is pretty a-maize-ing. In 1892, the city of Mitchell, SD, wanted a way to showcase the state’s agricultural growth and promise. Even after 100 years in existence, this delicious site sees around 500,000 visitors a year. The current palace, which was built in 1912, changes its outside design every year and is created using different colors and flavors of corn, as well as corn husks, seeds and other grains to create a design that represents the changing theme.

So whether you want to visit one of America’s most well-known national parks, pick up some delicious popcorn from the Corn Palace or be in the presence of the gentle bison, then make South Dakota your next road trip destination.

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BOOK REVIEW

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER’S

Reading Corner THANK YOU, TEACHER edited by Holly & Bruce Holbert

C.2016, NEW WORLD LIBRARY, $21.95 / $32.50 CANADA, 280 PAGES

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER HAS BEEN READING SINCE SHE WAS 3 YEARS OLD AND SHE NEVER GOES ANYWHERE WITHOUT A BOOK. SHE LIVES WITH HER TWO DOGS AND 11,000 BOOKS. HER BOOK REVIEWS ARE PUBLISHED IN MORE THAN 200 NEWSPAPERS AND 50 MAGAZINES THROUGHOUT THE U.S. AND CANADA. bookwormsez@yahoo.com

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hat a wonderful thing! You can write, too.

Math skills come easily, you live with science, history is a passion of yours — and those are all skills that you weren’t born with. No, somebody had to teach you, and in the new book “Thank You, Teacher,” edited by Holly & Bruce Holbert, you’ll see where to send your appreciation.

Holly Holbert believed that there are a lot of teachers that “no one hears about.” Few know the personal and financial sacrifices of teaching, the work or the heartbreak. It was time to remedy that so Holbert and her husband Bruce, a teacher, asked people from all industries about the educators who impacted their lives.

Teachers, said Maya Angelou, give children their voices — even if, according to chef Daisy Martinez, the voice is in another language.

Says rocker Gene Simmons, teachers instill self-esteem. Author Chris Offutt writes about libraries, learning, and payback. Says political economist Robert Reich, just one teacher can inspire for a lifetime.

Adolescence is hard, and teachers know that. At that time in a kid’s life, a teacher can be a silent crush, a stoic rock, or a fearsome adult who, says author Derek Alger, probably is “by no means a tyrant,” but who demands discipline anyhow. Teachers make uncanny predictions about their students, and they celebrate student successes. They know when it’s time for nose-to-the-grindstone behavior, and when it’s time to admit that there are things they don’t know.

By high school, teachers see adult potential in their kids.

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know how to keep school fun without losing control. They listen, and they know the skills life demands. As you’ll see in this book, teachers can surprise their students — sometimes, many years after graduation. Some teachers are called “Mom” instead of Missus … and some are even now called “friend.”

What teachers most inspired you?

I’ll bet that without a whole lot of trouble, you can name at least two of your own, or perhaps your child’s teacher. Without a doubt, he or she has made a huge difference in your life, and giving “Thank You, Teacher” is a great way to show you’re grateful.

Editors Holly & Bruce Holbert collected a wide-ranging group of people from all walks of life, and asked them to tell their stories.

Some tales are heartfelt, some are funny, a few of them come with surprises, and all are tied to memories of something a teacher did to impact a young life. Readers will be happy to see that those tales range from grade school to college, proving that you’re never too old to learn from someone who cares.

If you’re a student or about to be one, remember this title; you’ll want it for later in the year, at gifttime. If you are an educator, you’ll want to keep this around for those challenging days. And if you just want something that’ll make you smile, “Thank You, Teacher” is a book you can read.

If you’re a teacher, you might also want to look for “I Wish My Teacher Knew” by Kyle Schwartz.

Based on the viral video, this is the story of what a group of third-grade students taught their teacher when they were asked to fill in a very innocent blank: they answered with tough, not-so-innocent words. This book could change your career.

Look for it.

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PERFORMANCE >> AERIAL DANCE

DON’T GET IT TWISTED

Defying Gravity Discover Acrobatic, High-Flying Art W R I T T E N B Y H AY L I Z U C C O L A

I

t’s one thing to create works of art using paint tubes, colored pencils or some other type of mixed media; but it’s an entirely different challenge to create art in a meaningful way by using nothing but your body and a several-foot drop beneath you.

Aerial Arts is best explained as circus art meets gymnastic-like dance. This type of performance art is about the ability to raise oneself in the air with a few hanging silks or a swinging bar and use that strength and agility to perform acrobatic Cirque du Soleil-esque shows; and it’s an art form that is rapidly taking Gainesville by storm.

Corey Souza, who grew up in Gainesville and is the founder of the S-Connection Aerial Arts studio located at 250 SE 10th Ave., started her career in dance by accident. After taking a ballet class in high school to help her flexibility as a runner, she fell in

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love with all aspects of dance, including the historical elements. Souza had 10 years of dance experience, including studying Acro-Brazilian dance with a local Capoeira school, before she moved to California to dance with the United Capoeira Association.

After finishing her bachelor’s degree, her love of dance followed her to Bahia, Brazil, where she got her master’s in performance studies and became involved with circus arts. In 2008, she moved back to California to teach aerial arts, but it was her desire to obtain a Ph.D. in anthropology as a backup career that brought her back to Gainesville. After adding 10 years of aerial experience to her dance experience, she wanted to continue her artistic passion while in school and felt that an aerial studio is just what Gainesville needed.

Now that she has completed her degree, Souza is a full-time teacher and performer at S-Connection, but despite opening her own studio and having a PHOTOGRAPHY: GABRIELLE CALISE

An aerialist on silk performs choreographed routines during the Electro Aerial Show at Market Street Pub & Cabaret. Performers also participate in aerial bartending, pouring drinks for patrons while suspended upside-down.

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Corey Souza preparing for a helicopter spin on rope at S-Connection Aerial Arts studio.

here, I’m still a student. I’m a student of my colleagues who work here and teach me things every day so it’s really a blessing to have created something that draws those people in. I don’t have to travel around to learn new things, I can just stay home.”

What makes aerial arts unique, Souza said, is that it is an art form that hasn’t always been accessible, therefore it isn’t as widely practiced. This type of performing arts requires high ceilings, equipment, and the ability to rig that equipment, which isn’t as simple as the requirements for traditional dance — you and a floor.

Entering the S-Connection studio during a class is like walking into a room deprived of gravity. Students wrapped in colorful hanging silks float in midair while others swing from bars suspended from the ceiling or hoist themselves up to lie horizontally across a vertical pole. Despite the distance from the ground and the extreme flexibility it takes to perform these techniques, every student acts as if they’re in their natural element — at least as long as their feet are off the floor.

Classes are offered to both children and adults and range from traditional dance genres like ballet, hip hop and samba, to more acrobatic arts like working with aerial Open 6 days! closed on Mondays silks, trapeze, pole and aerial fitness; and, TTUES-THURS 12:30–8pm SATURDAY 12:30–8pm Souza said, every one of them falls under FRIDAY 12:30–9pm SUNDAY 12:30–6pm the definition of art.

“The medium is your body. Dance is

20-year background in performance arts, she is always learning something new.

“You never stop learning and you never stop growing,” she said. “I’m always a student, even though, you know, I’m the boss

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PHOTOGRAPHY: GARRY NONOG

certainly a fine art and aerial dance is just using the body with just different pieces of equipment to get it up in the air,” she said.

Like any creative outlet, the purpose is to reach beyond entertaining an audience.

“As an artist you have to be aware that people are going to be interpreting your work and you should make the effort to make some sort of statement through your work,” she said. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Although S-Connection offers some performances that are purely for entertainment, such as their monthly Electro Aerial and Aerial Bartending shows at Market Street Pub & Cabaret, one of its more thought-provoking events is the Two Hawk Country Circus, which will be held this year on October 8th at Two Hawk Hammock at 17990 NE 53rd Lane in Williston.

In partnering with the Florida Spring’s Institute, this year’s event hopes to bring attention to Florida’s aquatic ecosystems.

Part of that effort is having performances

by Souza and other members of her studio that promote conservation as well as spreading the message that people consider the health and the quality of the surrounding ecosystems.

The event also incorporates live music, food and craft vendors, carriage rides, equestrian performances and, of course, aerial arts shows from S-Connection, as well as the Rainbow Tiger Circus.

With the event being in its seventh year, it’s interesting for Souza to think back to her time teaching aerial fitness from her parents’ farm at Two Hawk Hammock to where she is today.

“We’ve gone from having one rig point where people had to wait in line for one piece of equipment, outdoors, no walls or roof,” she said, “to having this marvelous facility in downtown Gainesville over the course of … six years.”

For those interested in participating in a class that will offer the feeling of weightlessness and the opportunity to learn a relatively rare type of performance art, be sure to catch an aerial show in Gainesville.

And, Souza said, be on the search for some type of cultural escape.

“If you don’t come visit us,” she said, “make sure you find a creative artistic outlet somewhere.”

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