Forum : Vol. 41, No. 01 (Spring : 2017)
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities Florida Humanities 4-1-2017 Forum : Vol. 41, No. 01 (Spring : 2017) Florida Humanities Council. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine Recommended Citation Florida Humanities Council., "Forum : Vol. 41, No. 01 (Spring : 2017)" (2017). FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities. 80. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine/80 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Florida Humanities at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MAGAZINE OF THE FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL SPRING 2017 CHANGE IS COMING TO ‘FORGOTTEN’ FLORIDA DEVELOPMENT THREATENS MORE OF OLD MIAMI ALSO: HOW THE HUMANITIES ANCHOR DEMOCRACY 2017 Board of Directors letter FROM THE DIRECTOR B. Lester Abberger TALLAHASSEE Wayne Adkisson, Secretary PENSACOLA Juan Bendeck NAPLES Kurt Browning SAN ANTONIO Peggy Bulger FERNANDINA BEACH Gregory Bush MIAMI I AM A LARGO HIGH SCHOOL PACKER. We were David Colburn GAINESVILLE called the Packers because Largo was a packing center Sara Crumpacker MELBOURNE for Pinellas County’s robust citrus crop. But during th Brian Dassler TALLAHASSEE the last half of the 20 century—because of hard José Fernández, Treasurer ORLANDO freezes, rapid population growth, high land values, Casey Fletcher, Vice-Chair BARTOW and development—the county’s commercial citrus Linda Landman Gonzalez ORLANDO production ceased. An area once green and fragrant Joseph Harbaugh FORT LAUDERDALE with orange groves is now urban, and the local culture David Jackson TALLAHASSEE has changed to reflect that. This is a familiar story for Sue Kim ORMOND BEACH much of Florida. Now, our state is again experiencing a Kerry Kirschner SARASOTA population boom, and in this issue of FORUM we ask Thomas Lang ORLANDO how our historic towns and areas are trying to hold on Linda Marcelli GULfpORT to their heritage, culture, and charm. Nancy Kason Poulson, Chair FORT LAUDERDALE Just as we celebrate and support efforts to face Sandy Rief TAmpA this challenge, we at the Florida Humanities Council Audrey Ring FORT LAUDERDALE are facing significant financial challenges. The state and Penny Taylor NAPLES federal governments, which provide nearly 85 percent Robert Taylor PALM BAY of our revenues, are considering elimination of all our Samuel Vickers JACKSONVILLE funding. I regard this as an opportunity for all of us Glenda Walters LYNN HAVEN who believe in the importance of the humanities to Iranetta Wright JACKSONVILLE make our voices heard—to let the decision makers in FHC Staff Washington and Tallahassee know what we believe. In Steve Seibert EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR an essay that you will find in the next pages, I discuss Barbara Bahr TECHNOLOGY MANAGER what the humanities are and why they are so important Laurie Berlin DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION to the future of our Republic. Alex Buell PROGRAM COORDINATOR Finally, in my first “Letter from the Director,” Danica Kelly DATA/FISCAL ASSISTANT I want to pay respect to Janine Farver, who, for 16 Lisa Lennox WEBSITE ADMINISTRATOR years, led this organization with grace, intelligence, and Jacqui May PROGRAM DIRECTOR a wicked sense of humor. Janine is beloved in Florida Brenda O’Hara FISCAL OffICER and respected across the country. She is not retiring Barbara O’Reilley COmmUNICATIONS DIRECTOR & EDITOR/FORUM but rather turning her considerable talents to other Patricia Putman ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR public service efforts. We would expect nothing less. Keith Simmons PROGRAM COORDINATOR It is an honor to take the helm from such a wonderful Tyler Tarrant PROGRAM COORDINATOR and skilled person. To advertise in FORUM, contact: [email protected] FHC FORUM / Vol. XLI, No. 1, Spring 2017 © 2017 Florida Humanities Council The magazine of the Florida Humanities Council 599 Second Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701-5005 (727) 873-2000 Website: www.floridahumanities.org Steve Seibert The Florida Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the State of Florida, and private contributors. FHC FORUM is published two times a year and distributed to the friends of the Florida Humanities Council and interested Floridians. If you wish to be added to the mailing We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the list, please request so in writing or via the website. Views expressed by contributors National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Florida, to the FORUM are not necessarily those of the Florida Humanities Council. Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. COVER: This montage depicting new and old Florida, by FORUM designer David Meek, includes images of a highway interchange and downtown Miami skyscrapers (top left), along with older photos of Lakeland’s Silver Ring Café (top right, by Bud Lee), Bartow’s Ritz Theatre in 1949 (bottom right, Florida State Archives), and a residential street in Key West (bottom left, Florida State Archives). table of contents 2 How will growth affect what makes Florida special? BY BARBARA O’REILLEY 4 In Praise of the Humanities BY STEVEN MERRITT SEIBERT 6 Preserving history as Florida booms 6 BY GARY R. MORMINO 11 Fort Pierce: A place that feels like home Hometown Florida features BY JON WILsoN 12 Key West: Adapting and Enduring 11 13 13 Cedar Key: A community that survives 14 Gulf County: Change is coming to ‘forgotten’ Florida BY MICHAEL LISTER 18 Humanities Alive! News and Events of the Florida Humanities Council 14 20 Miami: A mosaic of history and change BY PAUL S. GEORGE 24 Fernandina Beach: A heritage that sustains a city 25 Tarpon Springs: The past is part of the present 26 DeLand: A special sense of place 25 28 Polk County: Pride in the heritage 20 29 Pensacola: Spanning the centuries 32 Reflections on Florida Poetry—When languages collide BY MAURICE J. O’SULLIVAN 34 My Favorite Florida Place—Fort Pickens: A place of beauty and tension BY JONATHAN FINK 34 FLORIDAHUMANITIES.ORG FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL FORUM 1 Florida State Archives Florida State Archives Wikimedia Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce How will growth affect what makes Florida special? BY BARBARA O’REILLEY E SEE THE EVIDENCE all around us: Building cranes safeguarding what makes them special by protecting historic hover over urban construction sites throughout areas and “preserving their stories for new generations.” W Florida—and new apartment buildings and condo Writer Jon Wilson highlights several communities— towers stretch up to the sky. Bulldozers move across acres of including Fort Pierce, Key West, Cedar Key, Fernandina land in exurbs and rural areas—and new housing developments Beach, Tarpon Springs, DeLand, Polk County’s Bartow and appear on the horizon. Florida is booming again. The state’s Lake Wales, and Pensacola—and describes some of the population is growing by a thousand new residents per day, just ways each has been working to retain its historical identity. as it did during much of the last half of the 20th century. The Florida Humanities Council has joined this effort by In this issue of FORUM, we ask what effect such dramatic partnering with communities around the state in producing growth and development will have on our historical places—the free cultural-heritage walking tours. Called “Florida Stories,” distinctive neighborhoods, towns, cities, and rural areas that these colorful snapshots of history can be downloaded by reflect Florida’s cultural heritage. going to FLStories.org. “Will there be a here, here,” asks historian Gary Mormino, Also in this issue: Novelist Michael Lister, a native of “or will 21st-century Florida become homogenized as more Wewahitchka in Gulf County and “scribe of the Panhandle,” franchise restaurants, big-box stores, and sprawling Med-Rev reports that change is coming to a part of the Forgotten subdivisions move in to serve yet more residents who are from Coast long dominated by plantation pine forests. Now cattle someplace else?” In his fascinating look at Florida’s modern ranching is on the way. Lister discusses his role as a writer evolution, Mormino notes that a number of communities are who “is bearing witness to what was and what is—trying to influence in some small way what will be.” 2 FORUM FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL STROLL THROUGH HISTORY Florida State Archives Florida State Archives AS YOU WALK THROUGH TOWN. istock Photo: Glenn Hastings/Destinations Style Go to FLStories.org and download our free “Florida Stories” walking–tour app. Just listen. You’ll hear tales about the places you see and the people who once walked that way. Free cultural heritage walking tours are now available at FLStories.org for: • Bartow • DeLand • Fernandina Beach Clockwise, from upper left on previous page: A cotton gin in Madison in the 1880s; • Fort Pierce a postcard of a 20th-century orange grove; the Miami Herald building on Miami Avenue in the 1930s; Art Deco-style buildings on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, 2014; • Key West a local resident and her passenger biking down the main street in Apalachicola; the • Lake Wales stacked Dolphin–Palmetto highway interchange in Miami-Dade, 2014. • Pensacola • St. Augustine–Colonial • St. Augustine–Guilded Age • Tampa’s Ybor City–José Martí Trail Historian Paul George analyzes the impact of intensive, • Tarpon Springs large-scale development on the old neighborhoods of Miami. While some enclaves have been fairly successful in protecting More cities are added all the time, so stay tuned. historic buildings, he fears that others are in danger of facing the wrecking ball. Our poetry columnist Maurice J. O’Sullivan provides a thought-provoking look at the impact multiculturalism has had on the language of Florida’s poetry.