Forum : Vol. 43, No. 03 (Fall : 2019)
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities Florida Humanities 9-1-2019 Forum : Vol. 43, No. 03 (Fall : 2019) Florida Humanities Council. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine Recommended Citation Florida Humanities Council., "Forum : Vol. 43, No. 03 (Fall : 2019)" (2019). FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities. 87. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine/87 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]. FALL 2019 fl oridahumanities.org WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A FLORIDIAN? FINDING COMMON GROUND IN OUR DIVERSE, EVERCHANGING STATE PLUS: CELEBRATING OLD NAPLES • HARRIET BEECHER STOWE’S FLORIDA AWAKENING AFTER THE STORM: ONE COMMUNITY’S ARTFUL RECOVERY • MEET A JOHNNY APPLESEED OF POETRY Art is See it. Hear it. Taste it. Share it. Thank you to everyone who shared beautiful images of what art and culture means on Florida’s Historic Coast. To see the winning shots and more entries like these, visit @HistoricCoastCulture on Instagram Want to see it for yourself? Plan your trip today. HistoricCoastCulture.com sjc317558_ThankYouAd-8.375x11_rsg.indd 1 7/9/19 1:24 PM Letter from the Director 2019 Board of Directors B. Lester Abberger Tallahassee Wayne Adkisson Pensacola Juan Bendeck Naples Help us tell Danny Berenberg Ponte Vedra Beach Frank Biafora St. Petersburg Sally Bradshaw Havana the story of Kurt Browning San Antonio Peggy Bulger Fernandina Beach David Colburn Gainesville Florida together Casey Fletcher, Chair Bartow Jose Garcia-Pedrosa Coral Gables Joseph Harbaugh Fort Lauderdale David Jackson Tallahassee Sue Kim Ormond Beach Steve Seibert Thomas Luzier Sarasota Linda Marcelli Gulfport y family’s Florida story begins in 1957. Dad got a job working Janet Snyder Matthews Sarasota in the space industry, so we moved from Minnesota to a Dabney Park Coral Gables Nancy Kason Poulson then-small town called Largo. In July of this year, the nation Fort Lauderdale Sandy Rief, Treasurer Tampa celebrated the 50th anniversary of the incredible human Michael Urette Tampa Machievement of placing a man on the moon. The hard and creative work Glenda Walters, Secretary Lynn Haven of my dad and countless other men and women made the space mission Patrick Yack Tallahassee possible. And they proved that Florida, a state where innovation is both possible and honored, can provide the elements to realize amazing dreams. FHC Staff Steve Seibert Executive Director This current issue of FORUM considers who we are as Floridians, and what our Barbara Bahr Director of Operations state will look like in the future. In this edition, Dr. Gary Mormino provides a brilliant Art is Laurie Berlin Director of Administration snapshot of the last 100 years and ponders this question: Alex Buell Program Coordinator In a state where almost everyone comes from someplace else, how do we develop a Danica Kelly Membership Coordinator sense of unity and cohesion, where immigrants and natives, retirees and transplants, think Lisa Lennox Digital Media Manager of Florida as something bigger than our own group or ourselves? Lindsey Morrison Grants Coordinator The humanities provide a deeper appreciation for the state’s history and complexity Brenda O’Hara Chief Financial Officer and continue to uncover new wrinkles in Florida’s culture that are surprising and Patricia Putman inspiring. Because of the work of the people of Florida, humanity gained the ability to Associate Director See it. Hear it. explore other worlds. As more inspired minds call our state home, we eagerly await the Keith Simmons Communications Director Share it. new innovation that will emerge. FORUM Staff Taste it. In the previous issue of FORUM, I wrote about the changing fiscal situation for Jacki Levine Editor the Florida Humanities Council. We received an incredible outpouring of phone calls, Tom Scherberger Communications Consultant Thank you to everyone who emails, and letters of Humanities Champions across our state. The Board and staff are deeply moved by your support, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Debra McDonald Contributing Editor shared beautiful images of We have made several changes to our program offerings, and we suspect more David Meek Designer what art and culture means will need to be made in the coming months. At the same time, the Florida Humanities on Florida’s Historic Coast. Council is looking toward future programs. We are excited to announce that a new To advertise in FORUM, contact: [email protected] To see the winning shots Museum on Main Street exhibition is coming to five locations in Florida, starting in FHC FORUM / Vol. XLIII, No. 3 Fall 2019 April 2020. With an emphasis on democracy and voting, this exhibit considers the © 2019 Florida Humanities Council and more entries like these, challenges our system of government has faced, and the resiliency of our institutions. The magazine of the Florida Humanities Council visit @HistoricCoastCulture As we continue to move forward, we need to move forward with you. We ask 599 Second Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701-5005 (727) 873-2000 on Instagram that you consider contacting your elected officials about our organization and the importance of the humanities in general. After all, mathematics and physics can give us Website: www.floridahumanities.org the ability to reach the stars, but the humanities form the only force capable of giving The Florida Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization that awesome power meaning. funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the State of Florida, and private contributors. FHC FORUM Want to see it for yourself? is published three times a year and distributed to the Plan your trip today. friends of the Florida Humanities Council and interested HistoricCoastCulture.com Floridians. If you wish to be added to the mailing list, please request so in writing or via the website. Views expressed by contributors to the FORUM are not necessarily those of the Florida Humanities Council. Steve Seibert We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. FLORIDAHUMANITIES.ORG FALL 2019 FORUM 3 sjc317558_ThankYouAd-8.375x11_rsg.indd 1 7/9/19 1:24 PM Table of Contents Fall 2019 7 12 14 42 THIS FLORIDA LIFE LITERARY FOOTSTEPS Meet Florida’s most recent poet Harriet Beecher Stowe, a laureate, Peter Meinke, who Florida snowbird talks about his inspirations and The abolitionist author of what poetry should do. Uncle Tom’s Cabin spent 20 COVER STORY: WHAT DOES IT By Jacki Levine winters escaping the New MEAN TO BE A FLORIDIAN? England cold in a quirky cabin 1919-2019, A FLORIDA PORTRAIT in Mandarin, near Jacksonville. We look at Florida’s version of the “American The experience transformed Century” — the transformative moments and her writing and sparked a people who helped create the story of Florida. tourist boom. By Gary Mormino By Michele Navakas HUMANITIES TODAY THREE FLORIDIANS Programs around the state TELL THEIR STORIES supported by grants from the Former Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham: Florida Humanities Council: the The native son Parkland Project preserves in By Ron Cunningham photos and audio the emotions of survivors of the tragic school Former U.S. Congresswoman shooting; telling the stories of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: First Latina in Congress Florida’s mermaids and a look By Dalia Colon at other community grants; Former Florida Supreme Court Justice teaching English to families; 100 James E.C. Perry: Kicking down doors Faces of War exhibit heads to Pensacola, and a look at what By Tom Scherberger we’re reading By Tom Scherberger UNSUNG PIONEERS You may not know them, but these Floridians helped shape our state. By Peggy MacDonald PORTAL TO HISTORY The La Florida digital archive project brings Spanish Colonial Florida to life. By Bill DeYoung FUTURE FLORIDA Ready or not, here comes the future. A look at 46 100 YEARS50 OF the challenges ahead, as Florida’s population 58 HISTORY: continues to age – and grow. The Banyan Arts Social and By Ron Cunningham Pleasure Club, an art and environmentalist retreat that recently celebrated its 100th birthday, stands as a bastion of old Naples history. By Jacki Lydon 54 STATE OF WONDER INSIDER’S FLORIDA Birds of a colorful feather HERITAGE KITCHEN After the Storm On one of her frequent visits to Taste of the Sun A crime novelist and Panhandle native North Florida, this photographer These Miami restaurateurs takes us on a trip to St. Andrews, a Gulf hit the visual jackpot when combine flavors of his mother’s community that is pulling together with she spotted a group of roseate native Caribbean and their creativity as it recovers from a devastating spoonbills and a wood stork Florida home. storm. gathered near a bridge. By Betty Cortina By Michael Lister By Patty Previc Graham Like us on Facebook 4 FORUM FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL Letter from the Editor Finding my Florida, and yours Jacki Levine f you’ve ever wondered why it’s so hard to define As part of our ongoing Literary Footsteps feature, we uncover what it means to be a Floridian, you might the surprising Florida life of abolitionist author Harriet Beecher consider this: Stowe. Scholar Michele Navakas details Stowe’s post-Civil War winters in a live oak-entwined cottage on the banks of the St. Johns I In the time it takes to drive south down the length River, where the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin continued her work of Florida from Pensacola to Key West, you could head north for social reform.