HOMESTEAD'S KID PRISON

       There's big money in locking up children. Caliburn Inc. rakes in $1000 a day for every immigrant child it imprisons in South Florida. I got my reminder yesterday.

   
    We noticed this sign on a neighbors' car while camping with friends in the Everglades. Its owners explained they had traveled from Missouri to protest the imprisonment of teenagers at the Homestead Detention Center. 
   You probably know that children continue to be separated from their parents after seeking asylum on our southern border. Some also come with other relatives or, alone.
    The children are kept in facilities in Mexico, others on the U.S. side of the border, and two thousand were bused to South Florida months ago.

   "We are here to bear witness", said Kathy Peterson, who, with her husband Dan, told us what's going on at Homestead's former Air Force base.
    He added, "They've created a prison for 2300 young people, ages 13-17, in your back yard. We're not allowed to meet with them. What we do is organize lobbying efforts and let the kids know we care." 
  Kathy added, "We also stand on ladders so they can see us over the wall. We wave, hold signs, and give them a connection to the outside world".  Most days one of the teens turns 18. They are then handcuffed and taken to an adult facility.

    She got a call from someone with a question, "Can I bring my dog to the
protest?. Kathy answered, "Yes, especially if it is small. Kids love it when we hold a dog on the ladder so the they
can see it above the wall".

     The couple want everyone who opposes our immigration policy to go the prison-like facility to "protest, support the kids and "bear witness' ".  People do this daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The address is 989 Bouganville Blvd., in Homestead.
    Francesca and I hope to see you there.
          ___________________

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

         You probably know about the Darwin Awards,   the ones given posthumously every year to people who die doing stupid things. Charles Darwin might say, "It's nature's way of weeding out the dumbest of us".
      I almost got mine long ago but kept it secret. I finally revealed it when I began a new art project with my students. They were asked to write about a memorable event from their past in ten short sentences. Then, they would draw a picture to illustrate it.
    I wrote my story too, about my attempt to built an underwater breathing apparatus. It went like this,

     When I was fourteen I built a diving helmet out of a five-gallon can. I also made a canvas vest loaded with lead to weigh me down. One summer night I tried it out in a motel swimming pool. My family was on a Florida Keys vacation.
      After tying on the weights and helmet I entered the beckoning dark water. It was night. I didn't want anyone around interfering with my experiment.
      Slowly walking towards the deep end I submerged and marveled that -for a while- I could re-breath the air captured inside the helmet.  
    When I was ten-feet under something terrible happened, my invention filled up with water. With so much weight tied to me I could not swim up at all. 
    
    Seeing the pool's ladder nearby I staggered to it, reached the bottom rung, and was able to pull myself up.
    I knew I was lucky to be alive and wondered how my parents would have felt had they found me lifeless in the pool. As I made my way back to our rented cottage I vowed not to tell them -or anyone else-  what had happened.
                              _______

                       _________________ 


              (From the Darwin Award Website)

Honoring Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool--by removing themselves from it in the most spectacular way possible.

KING MANGO AND FRIENDS

       Yesterday we had a reunion for the folks that created the Grove's great parade, The King Mango Strut.

    We are the original Mangoheads, the guys who got the ball rolling back in '82. Most of us had played crazy characters on Main Highway dozens of times why others, like Peter O,

  did the extensive background work needed to pull off the annual event.
      For twenty-eight years we were the team that put on the show that entertained thousands. Nine years ago there was an ugly fight, a hostile take-over, and the parade began to change. Half of the original mangoheads dropped out because our usual raucous meeting were not fun anymore. The new organizers wanted to get serious, incorporate, and create their version of the Grove's great parade.

Allan squirrel watching
      But yesterday, we didn't have time to discuss how good things go bad. We were relishing our decades of grin-inducing accomplishments. 
Allan "Jellyfish" Aunapu, 77, came screaming up on his huge motorcycle.  

   Twelve years ago he crawled the entire length of the parade as one of Michael Vick's pit-bulls. Every twenty feet or so, he'd stop, lift his leg, and piss on someone's feet.  Unfortunately, we don't have committed strutters like Jellyfish anymore. Few are willing to crawl six yards much less six hundred.
     For years Keith Root gave his blessings garbed as the Pope. He's one of the few originals that still go to parade meetings but he says his ideas -which always worked for us- are now largely ignored or "die in committee".                   
     Both Gina and Mike McFall are crazy as loons. They can't stop strutting and are still marching as "Barbie & Ken's Parents" ,  "Water Woman and AquaMan" and or the "World's Largest Key Chain Bobs".  (above, Gina with Bobby Ingram)

    Bob Deresz used to pull off such feats as "setting lobsters free" from the Taurus restaurant's salt water tank ( He made his escape on a policeman's horse!).  Once he borrowed a 20' blimp and raced away with his giant balloon.
Bob with his lovely wife, Lynn

    After he changed his wild ways he wasn't quite as entertaining but is still one of funniest guys I know. You may remember Bob as the "Clown in White" with a broom and trash can, the final act in our parade for thirty years.

   Bob on the 2006 poster threatening to "Piratize Social Security".  He is dragging Bobby Ingram, Bob's wife, Gay, and my mother, Audrey Terry, who was a big Strut fan.
 
    
   It was wonderful to be with my King Mango buddies again. Every fall we would meet on Tuesday nights at the Taurus to decide what December's parade would be. 

    
    Now, some are dead (Bill, Wayne, and Bob) and a few others (Kathy, Buzz, Eileen, Peer, and AJ) are still kickin' but were not able to join us yesterday.

    All of the veteran Mangoheads are so loved and appreciated. They made thousands and thousands smile in the streets and yesterday, they were happy enough being together again.
                  ___________________

 





PS:  ITS  ATTIC  CLEANING  TIME- We've got vintage King Mango Posters and T-shirts (about a dozen, mostly smaller sizes) to give away.  Send me an e-mail if you're interested, bettermiami1@yahoo.com.

Once Again, SUNDAY, March 3d, the Grove's Greatest Little Art Show

    For the 21st time, the Gifford Lane Art Stroll will unfold under the majestic oak trees that arch over a little Coconut Grove street named "Gifford".  Its the best thing you can do on Sunday, and, the Grove's best art show every year.

   Maxwell Coyote Azul- pelt and paper-mache

Bring the kids, the dogs, and party with the 70+ artists. Sip intoxicating cucumber punch as you buy affordable art.  Francesca and I will be selling our wares (weird sculptures, fish, Mango Republic t-shirts, and hot banana bread) from noon to five in booth #1.

 

  

 I make them from palm tree seed pods. 

 

       I'm also selling a select few of my paper-mache masks that I have become quite un-famous for (My wife sez there are way too many of them in the attic).

 

     

    It's a super street party and you're invited. Once again,it's this Sunday, from 12 noon until 5:00 p.m. FREE, but punch donations are accepted.  

 

   Park wherever you can, Gifford Lane is a block NE of Coconut Grove Elementary, 2 blocks north of Grand.  We wouldn't want to be anywhere else on March 3d.

                ______________________