FACING A BRUTAL PAST

           I've always avoided Alabama. Visions of Bull Connor and his attack

dogs were enough to keep me away. Then I learned about a new  museum in Montgomery honoring the millions Americans enslaved and the protesters Connor's dogs were tearing into.

     A friend who had visited told my wife and I, "It's a powerful gut-wrenching experience, you really should go". So last week we went taking two neighbors with us.

 

 

     We spent two days touring the National Lynching Memorial and the Legacy Museum. Both were incredible. We hope you can go there as well.

     They opened in 2018 to share slavery's 400-year-old story. The Legacy Museum uses high-end technology to tell how twelve million Africans were kidnapped to provide free labor for Americans. That led to  eras of mass lynchings, racial segregation, and mass incarceration. We saw how these evil pieces fit in our nation's history as never before.

 

     In the museum you visit the enslaved imprisoned, view numerous films, and get face-to-face with the incarcerated. Taking it all in took many quiet hours. No one was staring at their cell phones.

    

 

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (often referred to as "The Lynching Memorial") is dedicated to the thousands of racial terror lynchings that took place between 1877 and 1950.

Memorials nearby honors victims from before and after that time period.

     

     At the site's center hang over 800 steel monuments, one for every county in our country where documented lynchings took place. They reminded me of rusting coffins.

    The names of over 4000 African American men, women, and children are carved

into their surfaces. I grew up in Miami-Dade County where four lynchings took place. 

There were 18 listed in my current home, Alachua County. Of Florida's 67 county's, 42 had documented racial terror lynchings.

  

 

   The term, "lynching", is used to designate anyone who was hung, shot, burned, choked ( "George Floyd")  or drowned because they were black. The killings needed no reasons. If you were black you could die because you voted, said "Yes" instead of "Yes sir" or if you failed to tip your hat.

    Emmett Till, fourteen, was tortured and killed in 1955 because he whistled at a white woman.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The memorial is a quiet, sacred space to experience the truth of our past,

a place to reflect on racial terror in America and its legacy.

     

    It was created by the Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based non-profit that is committed to challenging racial and economic injustice. It was founded in 1989 by attorney Bryan Stevenson. Their website has a wealth of information, https://eji.org .

         We spoke with one of the helpful docents at the memorial. He reminded us that the 4000+ remembered there are only the documented lynchings, the "names that are known". 

    "There's got to be 100,000 more", he told us. "My father's six brothers disappeared after WWll. It's not documented, they're just gone."

    He pointed out that Alabama is still fighting the Civil War. Although he works in the state's second most visited tourist site, the governor -whose office is just five blocks away- has not taken the time to visit. "She says she'll never come", he added. 

 

     

   At the bottom of the memorial's hill is a grouping of markers. They designate the lynching counties that have made

significant progress in recognizing past transgressions and are engaged in the long reconciliation process. My county, "Alachua", is the only one in Florida that has taken this step.

 

     On the third day we headed home. 

Traveling south the four of us shared the lessons learned in Montgomery. Hopefully they will make us better people and more prepared to help rectify the wrongs of the past.

 

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-Link to 4-minute museum video: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEXTR5rOpDI

-Link to lynching memorial video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PxAcnfrMow

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GETTING THERE

    Montgomery is a 6-hour drive from Gainesville. We stayed at an Air BnB in the historic Cottage Hill neighborhood.
Our location allowed us to easily walk to the memorial, museum and restaurants. 

    After driving three hours south we went underground in Florida Caverns State Park. That's another story.

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YESTERDAY'S KING MANGO STRUT

   41 years ago my buddy Bill and I started a parade. Yesterday the King Mango Strut marched again and it seems everyone had a jammin' good time.

  

Miami's history museum described our event (yesterday, on Facebook) pretty well,

What began as a spoof of the annual King Orange Jamboree Parade in 1982 has become of the most anticipated events in South Florida, and it's taking place today in after a two-year hiatus! 

 

The King Mango Strut was started in 1982 by Grove residents Glenn Terry and Bill Dobson. After Terry's group, the Mango Marching Band, was denied entry into the King Orange Jamboree Parade due to their unusual instruments, kazoos, conch shells, and garbage cans. They decided to have their own parade in the streets of Coconut Grove. 

 

Today, the festival draws over 12,000 spectators and participants, all joining in to celebrate "what’s weird and wonderful about Miami and the year that was". King Mango Strut includes everything from people dressed as politicians to funny takes on the year's biggest headlines.

    I live in Gainesville now and did not attend.Friends told me it was terrific and sent photos. Here are a bunch of them with comments from me, the former "Top Banana of the King Mango Strut"

2022'S KING MANGO STRUT

(which took place in '23, which is just  another odd aspect of this annual procession).

     The parade always starts with two guys carrying a banner.

 

followed by a truckload of waving young girls. They are the ones participating in the Little Miss Mango Competition.

   Since the parade's beginning, all have tied for first place, each getting to be "Little Miss Mango" for a day.  Beauty pageants may not be politically correct but -who cares?- that's what the Strut is all about.

If you look hard enough you may see a few small children

    Twenty years ago the truck began getting crowded with waving parents and grown women bearing "Former Little Miss Mango" signs. 

MANGOHEADS

     The core of our parade is "the mangoheads" the marching elite who have been with us from the start.

Gina McFall creates incredible costumes (red-haired, below).

 

Her group this year, "Las Cucarachas" pointed out that when humans "end the world as we know it", roaches will still be dancing in the streets. 

Peer Everett was the Big Guy with a big personality.  Every year he'd be a crazed evangelical preacher, a loud, leering wrestler, or in '83, "Cosmic Claus". He moved on to the Strut in the Sky last month so we honored him with a "Peer-amid" covered with photos of him in his many disguises.

Bobby Deresz has been in it since the beginning too. For thirty years he was the memorable white clown. He'd carry a shovel and a garbage can at the parade's end to clean up non-existent trash.

This year Bob morphed into "Mr. Money" one of

many developers tearing down the Old Grove to build big white boxes for the rich. 

Behind him was Mr.  Box letting folks know he would sell his latest creation for a paltry $5 million. 

 And. of course, you can't build McMansions without tearing them down first.

That's why Janice and Allyn Pruitt brought their Dino Demolitionator and their "Team of Extinction" to Main Highway. These two and their Irvington Avenue

 

neighbors are hard-core mangoheads. They gleefully leveled 16 historic buildings along the parade route without breaking a smile.

 

 

 

 

From the start we wanted our parade to be different.  The bands had to play rock n' roll, salsa, or the blues from flatbed trucks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   In 95' a group of runners filled out an application saying, "We are The Running of the Bullshitters".

They ran our parade route backwards -three times- during the course of our event. We loved it.

    The guy in the photo above?  I saw a video of him running between legs of the orange dude on stilts. If you're nuts this is the parade for you!

Our motto has always been, "Let's Put the Nut Back in Coconut Grove".

 

We always had fun coming up with mango art for our events, here are a few examples...

            (compiled by HistoryMiami)

   Jeremy, a neophyte strutter, came as the King himself. Why he was pulling a casket, I don't know.  

 


  Local civic groups want to join the fun but have a hard time being funny. Instead, they wear funny clothes and carry signs that say things like "Rotary Loves Kids". If you dress bright, smile, and dance in the road, you'll do.

Often a good sign and a funny hat is all you need.

 

 

SilverMan is a professional artist who wanted to make a statement about AI art. Yesterday he was a fabulous artist robot who drew all the parade characters -while in the parade on the side of a moving truck.

   That's strutting!

 

 

AND FINALLY THE FREDS

   The Marching Freds were a big deal in the 80's and 90's but... who names their kids "Fred" anymore?  This year there

were three and two, were only relatives...

As they say, "Better Fred than dead".

 

 

    Again, I couldn't be there but many of you sent me your photos. Thanks. I'm glad King Mango "22 (in '23) turned out to be such a grand affair.  

   It took many mangoheads -from the past and present- to make it happen. I thank them for their hard work, colorful costumes, and for making thousands of people laugh.

The king's best friend,

Glenn

GAINESVILLE ON ICE

 WINNER, GAINESVILLE'S ICE SCULPTURE COMPETITION

      Our neighbor, Nicky, won this year's Florida Park ice sculpture competition.

View their creation on the SW corner of NW 12 Rd and 18 Terrace.  It is marvelous both day

 

and night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Do not tarry. By Tuesday it'll be melting like 

a wicked witch.

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   Creating art with ice is a common thing up north. Spray your plants when it freezes again tonight and see what you can come up with. 

 For more challenging projects check out this video,  

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=HOW+TO+MAKE+AN+ICE+SCULPTURE+WITH+A+GARDEN+HOSE#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e7792e18,vid:CxRuf9A5ngk

A CHRISTMAS STORY

     A CHRISTMAS STORY 

    When I was 13 my buddies and I were big on beatniks. We were beat poets on Halloween night

and for Christmas,  I gave my buddy, Kim, a beatnik Santa. The quote at the bottom said it all, "Man I Dig This Xmas Bit".

     

 Twelve months later, Kim re-gifted it to me. For over sixty years  Beatnik Santa and I have been diggin' Christmas together.

 

 

 

 

One More Story

When checking out at Publix yesterday I tried to cheer up the glum cashier by saying, "I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for"  He replied, "If he does I won't be working here".

 

                      -Felice Navidad-

 

THE RATTLESNAKE CREEK GARDEN CLUB NEWSLETTER

 We have a little garden club which is really a social club.  There are monthly gatherings in our front yard and I publish a little newsletter when time permits. This is this fall's-

                          UP THE CREEK

                                                               Fall, 2023

       You may have noticed that our Rattlesnake Creek

Garden Club has not met in months. I've been busy on many projects. Maybe in January we can begin our gatherings again.

        And speaking of gardening, do all of your cold weather plant prepping today. Bring in all of your "cold kills me!" plants inside in the next 24 hours. Cover (and possibly heat) the delicate ones in the ground (like our mango tree).

      By sundown tomorrow (Friday) it'll be in the high 30's, freezing by 8 and it is expected to plunge to 23 by morning. Break out the long johns too, we'll have four days of freezing weather.

Sadly, skies will be clear and there will be no White Christmas.

  Here's Francesca with an "ice plate" taken from the top of our bird bath last year

ONE MORE DAY OF "A CHRISTMAS CAROL"

         A  bunch of us went to the Hippodrome Theater to enjoy their annual production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". It's always a special holiday treat for young and old.

        The star  ("Scrooge") is played by our friend, Gregg Jones. You may know him as one of many stars in our Halloween parade.

       Tickets are still available. Take the whole family. 

 

 

 

37th ANNUAL PEACE CONCERT

    We were happy to be joined by many neighbors at the December 17th's Peace Concert at the Unitarian Church. The annual affair, sponsored the our local Veterans for Peace group, raised over $14,000. The funds will be used for scholarships and to promote non-violent solutions to our planet's many problems.

SECRET PARK

       Rattlesnake Woods is a very special place.  Just a walk away you can enjoy a quiet wood with nary a house in sight. You can cross a rainbow bridge and now, purchase a tiny ice cream cone from our resident elves (if they let you see them).

       We're making a strong case for make believe, a quality that keeps many of us forging ahead. I'm happy to see many free-range children heading to the woods on bikes these days.  No doubt they're having a marvelous time.

         If you're new to the area, the woods -about three acres- is mostly privately owned. An acre is public land. It is two 55-foot wide right-of-ways that plunge into the east side of the woods at the ends of NW 12 Rd. and NW 14 Ave. Our UPNA neighborhood association is trying to have this public land officially designated as a public space.

        Of course, we can improve our unofficial "wild park" ourselves buy doing things like removing exotic plants and installing another bench or two.The fairies say they're okay with that.

 

TAKE THE RIM WALK

     And speaking of wild, take advantage of the weekly Payne's Prairie guided hikes. One is being offer every

Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at LaChua Park. A Paines Prairie park ranger will take you on a 90-minute journey that loops around dozens of deep sinkholes as he/she points out the many wonders surrounding you. Near the end you reach an amazing look-out 60-feet above the prairie. It's free, it's incredible...GO!

 

 

 

DR. FAUCI TURNS 82 ON CHRISTMAS EVE

       I thank all of you who helped us to honor Dr. Fauci (and all essential workers) when we had our Dr. Fauci

Look-Alike Contest seven weeks ago. "Tony" even wrote to thank us. He retires next week after 54 years of public service.

 

 

WE EVEN "CAROLED" A CAR 

       Three days ago we went Christmas caroling on the east end of Florida Park. There were 18 of us singing "Jingle Bells", first to empty houses, then, to empty houses with dogs, then, to houses with actual people in them. Two gave us fresh cookies. Near the end a family-filled car drove slowly by. We surrounded it and sang to them too.

       In our repertoire the "Twelve Days" song was reduced to five. It became, "Five skeeters stinging, four grumpy Trumpers, three growling gators, two turtle necks, and a bison from Payne's Prairie".  

That's all the news that fits this morning. Stay warm and,

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our

hen house to yours. 

 

Glenn, Francesca, Cleo, & Patra 

Feliz Navidad

 Greetings From Gainesville,

      We just want to say, 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

FROM OUR HEN HOUSE TO YOURS...

May the coming year be a wonderful one for you!

Francesca, Cleo, Glenn & Patra
 

SINGIN' FROM THE PORCH

      Wouldn't it be cool if musicians played music for the neighbors from your front porch? Gainesville's historic Duckpond neighborhood has many old houses with "singin' room" out front.

               

Last Saturday they were front and center in our town's first Duckpond Porch Fest.

                             

        That's a small, volunteer-run festival where front porches become stages, yards become venues, and anyone can wander into the audience.

 

    Some time ago someone got the notion to "bring music home" by turning front yards into concert sites.

     

Now its a national tradition when one weekend a year communities are encouraged to have "Front Porch Festivals".

       Gainesville got its first one last Saturday when local musician Quincy Flint and the Florida Music Heritage Foundation made it happen in Duckpond. 

 

     Mr. Flint and I being buddies, I signed on as a concert guide, a guy in a funny hat leading the multitudes from one half-hour porch concert to the next.

     It started with Cathy DeWitt's band, Patchwork, performing on the Thomas Center's porte chochere.

From there we walked to six other houses over a course of four hours.

     It was a perfect day for music and outdoor fun. We thank Quincy, the foundation, and all of the musicians who make it possible and look forward to next year's front porch fun.

 

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