"UP THE CREEK" - October's Neighborhood News

      PUBLIX, "WHERE SHOOTING IS A PLEASURE"

       It blew my mind when I read that the Publix supermarkets were now allowing customers to bring guns in their stores. Don't we have enough problems without having to dodge gun-totin' cowboys and Proud Boys every time we run out of milk?

       I've shopped there for years but that's ending today.  Four hours ago I went inside the one on NW 43d Ave to speak with the manager.  She told me Florida's  new "open carry" state law  requires them to allow good ol' boys with AR-15s to roam the vegetable aisle.

Woman hunting for broccoli 

       I pointed out that the new law does not allow guns in private businesses unless the  business decides to allow it.

   She admitted this and  added that last week, her bosses at "Publix corporate", decided to allow  customers to openly display guns in their 900 Florida stores.

     I thanked her for her time and told her I no longer feel safe in her store. I then had similar  conversations with three assistant managers nearby. All said, "We do what we're told" and suggested that I direct my complaint to company headquarters.  Later, I did.

      If you decide to stop shopping at Publix make your voice heard. 1) Call the headquarters at 1- 800 242-1227 or 2) Go to their website and send a "contact us" message, www.publix.com/contact/contact-us. 

     If enough of us do it Publix might stop welcoming the gun totin' crowd. 

     In G'ville you can shop at markets that do not allow customers to display weapons in their stores. These businesses include Aldi's, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and Trader Joes. 

     It's hard to believe I'm writing this, that the deranged NRA has Republicans so tight in their grip. I believe they won't stop until every person over twelve is packing heat. What a whacked out world we live in.

 

This afternoon Francesca and I shopped at Ward's on NW 16 Ave. I saw  "No Open Carry" signs newly affixed to their doors. I thanked the manager who agreed that groceries and guns are a bad mix.

     If you can't pry yourself from Publix at least speak to the store managers there and express your displeasure.  Complaining to the corporate office in Lakeland would be the next step and perhaps more effective. 

    Who wants to live in a world where the next mass shooting might be "where shopping use to be a pleasure"? 

 

UPNA's FALL PICNIC

As is our tradition, our University Park Neighborhood Assn. will be having its fall picnic on Sunday, October 26, on the basketball court behind Parker Ele., 1912 NW 5th Ave. (enter at 5th and NW 20th St.). Guns will not be allowed. Food and beverages will be served and Dave and Della promise to sing their favorite Italian arias. 

 

 

FLORIDA PARK'S HALLOWEEN PARADE

It's happening again on Friday, Oct. 31st.  Gather at NW 17 St. and 12 Rd. at 5:30.  At six, we hoot, holler and march around the block. On All Hallows Eve a great time will be had by all in beautiful Florida Park. 

We are indebted to Rosi Arenas for creating this year's amazing parade flyer.

 

 

 

 

 

FLYING PIG III

Gainesville's most exciting event, THE FLYING PIG PARADE, will be held on January 3, 2026.  Now is a good time to sign up your group, or, to volunteer by going to our website, flyingpigparade.org.  

ART SHOW SUNDAY

Our annual "World's Littlest Art Show" will take place at the UCG church, 1624 NW 5 Ave, on Sunday, Oct; 26th, from 11a.m. to 1.  Along with 18 other artists, I'll be selling birds and fish (but not the kind you eat).  They're all made from the palm tree seed pods

 

that I find in your trash piles. It's a fun little show plus Francesca will be selling her fresh and delicious banana bread!

 

-THE RECENT PAST-

 

GT SHOW'S 'EM HOW 

Last weekend I led a mask-making workshop  at the 

Two of my satisfied customers

Gainesville Fine Arts Association's gallery on South Main. Visit them, its a very special place, a home for our art community for over a century!

 

TRAVELING FAR 

Francesca and I crossed the pond to visit Croatia last month. 

 

 

At one point we were surrounded by waterfalls and later, in the Dubrovnik Cathedral, we encountered an ornate silver box containing Jesus' swaddling clothes.  

 

 

 

 

 

There are many more stories and I'll share them when I can. 

Croatia seems fine but our own country is falling apart so let's move on and praise something positive, our

 

NO KINGS II RALLY !

We had another incredible gathering of 1000+ Gainesvillians opposed to DJT's

 

 

destruction of our democracy.  The energy was high and the signs so clever!  

My friends and I marched around with drums and puppets, doing our best to raise hell and the spirits of everyone there.  I'm so looking forward to NO KINGS III !   

 

No Kings II attracted both young and old.

 

 That's it from NW 12th Road,

GT 

                    __________________

       

HE SPENT HIS "BURN" IN JAIL

               CHOOSING INCARCERATION

     People came to Burning Man last month to be amazed.  They saw incredible art, 

 

Talking Toilets

 

 

 

 

 

leggy models posing with soaring sculptures, 

 

 

 

 

 

and one young man stuck in a prison cell.  

 

      That was Eli Rogers, 27, spending a week inside his "Prison Sit Project".  I was anxious to meet him as I had done something similar ("The Cage Project") in Gainesville three weeks earlier. 

     Words weren't necessary to convey his message.  He was locked in his 6 x 10 cell for a week with a 

folding cot, food, water, a makeshift toilet and a few milk jugs to pee in. I asked how I could help and later brought him a few things.

      Eli told me he would be living in his cell for the duration of the week-long, 24/7 event.  Sleep wasn't easy as burners roam the Playa at all hours. 

    "How many take you seriously?", I asked .  Eli said about 70%.  The others made jokes and 

threatened to set him free.

   The artist from Durango, Colorado raised over $1000 on GoFundMe to finance his imprisonment. He explained on his GFM page,

 

The Prison Sit is a interactive performance art installation that will take place at Burning Man. I will build a generic prison cell on the Playa. I will be led in and locked up by a guard on the first day and stay there until after the man burns on Saturday. 

The culture of Burning Man is one with an emphasis on freedom. This project is a way of honoring those who don't have it, who are living behind bars, while challenging the the culture of excessive consumption all around us. It will give the people an opportunity to reflect. 

       The contrast between his prison project and the "happy" art surrounding him was a shock for most of his visitors.  

      

   Burning Man should have more artists like Eli connecting the 75,000 partying there to the world's problems. Out of the 200+ art projects displayed at Burning Man '25 there were only three that I saw addressing world issues.

     "Fu-k You Elon" was displayed on the far reaches of the desert expanse.  

      

 

     The Man complex at the center of everything included a banned book library.  It was burned -with The Man and everything surrounding him- on Saturday 

night. 

Little banned book library before the burn

 Visitors were encourage to take its books home before the big burn.

 

 

    

 

    

 

 

 

     The most massive art work was "Black Cloud" by Kiev's Ukranian Art Group. 

 

      

  Inflated and tethered the morning before the festival began, their press release said it was intended to "give dangers a tangible form" and that "recognizing threats is crucial to addressing them".

     It seems their country's suffering has no end. Hours after Black Cloud was set up a powerful dust storm packing 55 m.p.h. winds tore the cloud's  fabric to shreds. 

     It feels like our country (and much of the world) is being torn apart now.  I appreciate Eli, the Ukrainians and the other artists who won't let us forget.

 

 Eli before his was given his prison clothes and haircut

 

 

 

                                 __________

 

 

 

 

BURNING THE MAN LAST WEEK

                LAST WEEK'S BURN

   It's hard to say "no" when your son asked you to go camping. Even if it's in the dusty Nevada desert.

    Ten days ago Ian and I drove to Burning Man '25 in the family camper. We enjoyed a week of fun, excitement, and occasional dust storms. Ward Shelley, my Gainesville neighbor, joined us. 

Ward and I learning to "trust in the dust".

    

   This was my fifth "Burn" and again, I was amazed at how well 75,000 people could get along in this endless expanse where nothing lives.

      There are no spectators at this grand celebration of creativity. Everyone is expected to contribute some sort of art, to assist artists, or, to volunteer for the many tasks that make everything happen.

 

Bad artists at rest

      My son, Ian, brought fifteen of his friends and the bunch of us set up a "Bad Portrait Studio". People passing could sit to have themselves drawn badly by incredibly untalented artists.

Bad artists working in our desert studio.  Here I am playing the hawker.

  

 

The unexpected, that's what you encounter at Burning Man. 

It could be a bad portrait or, the "Chicken Ranch". It was a tribute to the Rubber Chicken Nation.

  Inside I saw the real story of how these supposed novelties are created. 

 

along with a loud, moving, diorama of rubber chicken procreation.  

    You "egg-xited" (so said the sign) by jumping through a large curtained hole in the wall that mimicked, umm, the place where eggs (and poop) come out of our fowl friends. 

     Egged on my son I jumped through and landed in large net of fake, squeaking chickens. Crawling out in front of a crowd made them squawk even more.  It was delightful and and oh, so burning man!

    Afterwards I chatted with an older guy who explained how he and his friends in his small Alaskan town had spent a year created Chicken Ranch. Yes, they have a thing for what looks like a dead, plucked bird that squawks when you squeeze it.

 

     Again, our posse took the easy route. We had no rubber chickens, just paper markers, and no talent whatsoever. We drew dozens and dozens of awful portraits for our fans.

 

A mini-art car's occupants stopped for a group portrait.

 

   I've been an occasional bad portrait artist since 1980. People love them.

 

 Our artist, Rachel (smiling) is especially good at drawing bad water (the pink line)

    

 

 

When we ran out of chairs we drew them in the dust.

  

We gave this artist a hard time for being too good.

 

   

  Ian led the pack as one of our best bad artists.

 

 

   

 

 

 

I also worked as a bartender at the festival's media center.

   The Grove Guy served hot coffee and icy drinks to media folks from all over the world. 

Chatting with dozens of writers, photographers, and drone pilots was a such fun!

 With Yomi Ayenyi, London-based photographer and film producer

 

     

Tough road for an old biker

 

   At night we would roam the huge expanse called "The Playa" taking in the illuminated sculptures, the "art cars", and the alfresco night clubs with their dazzling array of lights and ear-splitting boom-boom music.

Ward pausing for some big lights and boom-boom.

Golden Gate bridge built on top ao an RV

There were over 200 art cars (we call them "mutant vehicles").

     

 This hi-tech puppet could really dance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the burners danced 'til dawn but not me. I was always tucked away by midnight, preparing to draw badly and tend bar another day.  

    And in the end, true to its name, a man standing 90-feet tall was incinerated in a blaze of fireworks and flame.

               _________________

 

 

In a few days I'll share the story of Eli Rogers. He chose to spend the week incarcerated on The Playa. 

 

                         _______

     

 

 

 

SHAME ON YOU, AMERICA

    THE LATEST News From Gainesville and Beyond.   August, '25

Building the cruelly-named "Alligator Alcatraz" immigrant prison this summer was more than shocking for most of us.  

My friends and I responded by erecting a smaller version, "Camp Cruelty" in Gainesville's roundabout on So. Main Street last August 9th.

   A dozen of us stood inside silently representing the 65,000 people now imprisoned across the country.  

 

We were joined by 150 protestors, hundreds of cars cars driving by, and the media. Reporters and photographers echoed our protest in print and on TV. 

     We'll be doing it again next month. We can't stay silent while the guys in Washington  tear our country apart. 

 

 

 

 

CHARLIE'S AFFORDABLE ART

    One of Gainesville's most remarkable artists is also a physician. Charles Williams currently has a collection of his etchings on view at the UCG 

 

Gallery on NW 5 Ave. 

 

 One of them (a numbered set of twelve) is offered for for just 25 cents each.  Such a treat it is to encounter affordable art now and then.  Thank you, Charlie!

 

 

 

KILLER SUITCASES

     Francesca and I flew to California last week. Waiting to de-plane in Atlanta we watch a careless young man pull his suitcase out of an

overhead compartment.
It slipped and hit the woman behind him on the head. He apologized.

 

   At the San Jose airport a woman rode up an escalator setting her large suitcase on the step behind her. As we started up ourselves

-twenty-feet below- i saw her suitcase tumbling down like a big, blue boulder. I yelled, shoved my wife to the side as it glanced off her leg. 

 

   She wasn't hurt. When we reached the top the woman apologized and explained, "This has never happened to me before". It was our first time too.

 

    I told a friend about this and she explained, "It seems everything is getting worse, even gravity."

 

 

AMAZING ARTIFACT

 

     While visiting Francesca's family in the Bay Area this week we discovered a 119-year-old hat. It had belonged to her great uncle, Joe Cusanovitch.

    Many of Francesca's relatives were in the1906 earthquake that destroyed most of San Francisco.  

     Uncle Joe, 28 at the time, survived but had to live in a tent camp. Everyone there was given the basics including a cotton hat. Joe drew pictures on his to describe the experience. The tall edifice you see, "the Call Building", was one of few left standing. 

     There is a drawing of Bob the dog, guards with guns, and "On April 23,1906, we slept on the step of St. Johns Church." That was five days after the historic quake.

 

    

 103 years after the hat art was created (2009)  I met Francesca's 106-year-old Uncle, John Violich. At the time he was one of the three remaining survivors of the horrific event. His voice was weak but he was able to share the biggest day of his life. If he was given a brown cotton hat, he didn't mention it.   

 

 

A LONG SILENCE 

 

    We all have friends we haven't heard from in a long time. Sometimes it's because they're dead and you don't know it.

 

     Today I wondered why my recent e-mail from Bob Ferreira had bounced back. Then, the Google gods told me he died last year.

      Bob made it to 85 which was darn good for my crotchety Coconut Grove former neighbor who loved to rant through missing teeth topped by a beat-up hat. 

    He and his wife, Maggie, were two of the most colorful characters I knew down south. They bought six adjoining houses on Kumquat Avenue to create  an artist compound. When my first marriage ended he sold me one. Their parties were terrific. It was a thrill to live on the edge of them.

 

    Bob and Maggie moved to North Georgia twenty years ago. When we visited in 2010 he told me in his salty Boston accent, "We're so lucky to have escaped f------g Miami. Our new home (Andrews, Ga.) isn't corrupt, it's safe and friendly. It takes me two hours to get city hall to do something that would take two months in Miami".  

     Good move, Bob. It took me 14 years to follow your lead.

 

 

READY TO BURN

 

Our umbrella'd "Bad Portrait Studio" delights thousands

     When my son, Ian, asked me to join him at Burning Man it was hard to refuse. A week at the sweltering,  desert party with one of my favorite people? A no-brainer.

It's easy to make new friends

Ian at our shaded camp, 2018 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will head for the Nevada desert on Saturday. As they say, "You've gotta trust in the dust". 

    I'll tell you all about it next month.

-G