Woo-hoo!! MC’s got a brand new gig!

I love, love, love being a writer. Best decision I ever made was dumping my career in corporate/business/9-5 America, and throwing myself to the mercy of the freelance god as a publicist and all-round writer.

I may be usually broke … but I’m also unusually happy. Especially on days like today where I get to announce a NEW GIG!

In addition to my weekly print column Sense and the City, I’m doing a new blog for the Sarasota Herald Tribune’s WICKED cool new TICKET website — it is hot (and cool). I hope you’ll check all the offerings and new blogs on this must-read site, but in particular, I hope you’ll check out mine!

— I invite you to check out my new blog — here’s today’s entry — Better Than Botox … the Ringling Museum of Art.

This new blog is great, of course — but it will never replace my humble little depository of “MC reality” right here on my own blog! Of course, this reality blog doesn’t “pay” and my new gig does — so that’s pretty real in its own right! Yippee!

Up Close and Personal with Poverty

In my Sense and the City column today in the Sarasota Herald Tribune TICKET, I wrote about Greg Mortenson, Pulitzer Prize for Peace nominee and author of Three Cups of Tea,

Mortenson’s simple presentation of himself, his extraordinary dedication to helping others, really impacted me … and I wrote about it. You can read the story on page 10E of today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune TICKET section, or you can pick it up — FOR FREE — in TICKET/CL boxes across the city.

If you want to read it online, visit Up Close and Personal with Poverty.

If you’re enjoying my new Sense and the City column, feel free to let the editors know! You can send an electronic Letter to the Editor by clicking here: Letter to the Editor at Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Sarasota welcomes Harvard!

I just have to pass along this article from the Harvard University’s The Harvard Crimson … it’s just a nice reflection on Sarasota and a testament to the hard work the community is doing to create a world-class rowing environment here.

Florida Hospitable to Harvard Rowing
By Christina C. Mcclintock, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Picture this: the top crews in the world flying through the last 500 meters of the world championships, when an underdog takes control of the race. The spectators—wearing shorts and t-shirts, because it’s Florida—gaze in amazement with one thought going through their heads: “Are you serious?”

That line, of course, delivered by Dick Vitale, who is not only a legendary announcer, but also a Sarasota, Fla. resident. (more…)

Legal eagle Adam Tebrugge opens doors at new law office

Local attorney Adam Tebrugge, who ran for the Public Defender’s office in 2008, opened the doors last week to the new offices of Tebrugge Legal.

He issued an open invitation for people to come by, see his new digs, and enjoy the artwork of Jodie Yeakel, whose work was showcased on his office walls. I knew Tebrugge attended FSU College of Law, but didn’t know he was a New College grad to boot.

Tebrugge specializes in criminal law … so, oddly, I hope I never need his services!

These feet were made for walking …

So, today, after months and months (really nearly a year) of not walking mostly, and then walking in 10 minute increments to build up to thirty minutes, today I walked in the 1 mile “fun run” portion of the New Balance Ringling Bridge Run.

I did have to quit just on the final leg of the return part, so my friends went on to finish without me and I headed back to my car. But all in all I walked nearly an hour!

A friend of mine won a competition to design the tee-shirts for the run — she did a great job, but unfortunately, I don’t have a pic.

Beyond gun control

My column in today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune talks about the recent spate of gun violence in Sarasota and Manatee counties and discusses MLK’s idea of the “violence of spirit” that is really behind physical violence.

You can read it in today’s TICKET — in today’s newspaper or tomorrow for FREE in the old Creative Loafing newsstand boxes found throughout the city.

Or, you can read it online here — Tackling Internal Violence.

Facing foreclosure — Stan Zimmerman’s two-part series

If you haven’t read Stan Zimmerman’s two-part series on foreclosure in the Pelican Press newspaper — you should. I know the second part is out on stands right now … or you can read it online here at Foreclosures: crisis of decades

Zimmerman interviewed many people for the story on deep background and wrote, “We are in a collision between Great Depression-era law and ultra-modern finance.”

It’s detailed and insightful reporting … and necessary reading even if you’re not directly affected by the foreclosure crisis — you are most definitely indirectly affected. You can read the first part of the series here:
Foreclosure not the end of pain.

Zimmerman, who’s collected plenty of press awards over the years, should nab another for this series.

It’s so well-written but a bit hard to read without feeling overwhelmed at how to work through this challenge that is displacing and up-ending the lives of tens of thousands of families and individuals just in Sarasota County.

I’m a hah-ah-ah-ahnkytonk woman … gimme, gimmee, gimmee a honkeytonk man!

I loved and hated Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction — loved the acting, loved the Dali-esque mania, loved the script and dialogue … the pulpy violence — not so much. But still, I have a soft place in my heart for people and performances that walk the edge of weird wit and wacky whimsy.

So, in that case, I want everyone to not miss Fred Eaglesmith and the Ginn Sisters at Ace’s in Bradenton on Saturday night — Jan 15.

Yes, it’s out of the way, and that’s what makes it so good. Just appoint a DD and you’re all set.

Recently appearing on the David Letterman show (and I saw them in person last year), Eaglesmith hypnotizes with his gravelly-voiced storytelling of freight trains, firearms, and fickle women (though I find his lyrics just this side of misogynistic and a bit too ready to “get a gun” — he’s still got a way with words and singing) and the Ginn Sisters back him up with sexy, whimsical, rock-solid vocals, and even perform their own songs – with clever lyrics and just enough shimmying. They’re just kind of a goofy sexy and isn’t that the best kind of sexy?

Aces is the perfect old-fashioned honky tonk – unpretentious bar food, cheap drinks; and the best live music in these parts. If you go, tell ’em MC sent you!

$20 advance; $25 at the door; 4343 Palma Sola Blvd. (behind the 7-11 at Cortez Rd., and 86 St. W.); 795.3886 for tix and more info.

Making Paid Parking Palatable … if that’s even possible!

My Sense and the City column this week is all about the paid parking — using meters downtown — situation in Sarasota.

“I get that the city needs money and is hurting financially. But here’s a news flash: so are the rest of us.”

You can read the column on page 7 of today’s TICKET (available for FREE at newstands throughout the city where the old Creative Loafing boxes are) or read it online at Making Paid Parking Palatable.

Skipping stones … in the age of distraction

My Sense and the City column in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune tells about my recent experience watching a Dad teach his two sons to skip stones across the water.

Skipping stones — I really didn’t think boys did that anymore. Didn’t imagine Dads taught that anymore.

Glad to see I was wrong.

The story is on page E7 in today’s TICKET section … or you can read it online by clicking the hyperlinked words above.