Folio Vol. 36, Issue 20

Macri

Behind

by Carmen Macri and Ambar Ramirez, design by John Lawless. View the behind the

here!

MAIL

Jacksonville Florida is a city that we all love and that is why we've assembled here today. But the quality of our lives is influenced by the quality of our civil discourse. With a profound sense of sadness, we must declare our civil discourse has become toxic. We have perhaps never been more divided than we are at this moment in our city's history.

And part of the root cause of our division is our politics. Politics ought to be a tool to bring us together as a people with concerns we all hold in common, the safety of our neighborhoods, opportunity for our children and the prosperity of the city we love. But unfortunately, this is not where we are. Instead, our politics are being used as weapons to tear us apart.

There are those in our city who believe the only reason for politics is to win, even if it means walking away from decency.

Winning by any means necessary even if the pathway to victory is littered with half- truths and lies.

Because the only thing that matters when this is your mindset is winning, no matter who it besmirches, no matter the lingering stain too deeply ingrained in the fabric of our community to be cleansed by the facts. Because when this is your politics, the facts and the truth don't matter.

And when the truth no longer matters the loudest liar wins. Yet, we all lose. Jacksonville, we are better than that.

And no more has this been on display than in the recent attacks on the character of Lakesha Burton candidate for sheriff. Retired Chief Burton has served this community for many years. Coming from humble beginnings and through hard work, determination, focus and an unshakable faith in God, she represents the best of Jacksonville Florida. And now that

she has chosen to seek a higher opportunity to serve our community there are forces afoot clearly threatened by this very notion.

And because of this obvious threat, those who only care about winning and protecting their selfish interests to have access to power are deliberately distorting her life's story. The personal story of a servant leader who has shown perseverance in the midst of life's struggles.

The story of a wife and mother who unashamedly loves her family and has stood as an example of womanhood for all young women to emulate, just as T.K. Waters is a husband and father who loves his family.

Chief Burton is a servant of the people whose life story tells every citizen in our city that regardless of race, class or gender, with hard work, with faith in oneself and faith in God all things are truly possible.

And we have assembled today to say we've had enough. Enough of the division, enough of tearing down someone simply because you don't know any other way to win. Enough of dirty gutter politics.

We stand here today to declare in this Jacksonville, this is not how you win, this is how you lose.

When you misrepresent someone's past because of the fear of their ultimate success, you have already lost.

Because the people here today, representing a cross section of our community, are here to send the message to those addicted to the old politics of Jacksonville, those days are over and in a few weeks the citizens of this city will rise up and prove it when we do one the thing no one can take away from all of us, when we vote.

We will end this acceptance of scorched earth politics as we defy the usual political tricks of pitting neighbor against neighbor through fear and finally begin to heal this city that we all love.

And we call on all citizens to join us in the rejection of the politics of division and falsehoods as we prepare to elect a new leader to run our police department.

We denounce in the strongest terms the negative flyers, commercials and other forms of campaigning. We encourage every candidate to run on their record. If elected, what will you do to make positive changes? How will you reduce crime and violence? How will you bring all members of the law enforcement community together. As we denounce gutter politics, we encourage all of our leaders, and especially our candidates to do the same.

As we watch the TV news and pray for our neighbors in Southwest Florida who have lost everything due to Hurricane Ian, we are being bombarded by negative TV commercials that take the truth and twist it as a hurricane twists trees in a storm. Let's show the nation and the state that politics don't have to be that way. Jacksonville, we are better than that. Let's show them that distortion of truth and personal attacks have no place in our city.

Signed, Pastor Michael Campbell

Dr. Eugene Diamond

Bishop John Guns

Bishop Terry Hill

Dr. Christopher McKee

Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr

Pastor John Allen Newman

Pastor Jeffrey Rumlin Bishop Leofric Thomas

Dr. Gary Williams

HALLOWEEN HOROSCOPES

ARIES

The spooky season is upon us. It is time to embrace that inner monster, Aries: Don’t let it remain dormant! Howl at the full moon! It’s calling your name as it rises and sets in Aries on Oct. 9. Let the celestial energy guide you to make the changes you’ve been dying to make. Nothing can stop you.

Halloween Costume Idea: Sexy Frankenstein (Sorry, guys)

TAURUS

Embrace your inner queen and/or king, Taurus! Make sure you are honoring your inner love and royalty by treating yourself this season. Even the most successful people need their beauty sleep. You may experience a burst of motivation mid-October. Put that energy into all your relationships as it will pay off.

Halloween Costume Idea: Queen Elizabeth II, zombie style

GEMINI

Mars retrogrades in Gemini this October, so let that power wash over you. Don’t be afraid to unleash the beast. The seas are parting for you during this mercurial moonwalk; guiding you toward the clarity you seek. Just put one foot in front of the other, Gemini. Questions will be answered and relationships will be mended.

Halloween Costume Idea: Ghost Face

CANCER

You are pumpkin spice and everything nice this month, Cancer! Now is the time to make your dreams come true, so get to work! While you sip your favorite Starbucks drink, make a mood board and plan out your goals. Though the season can be a bit scary, don't let fear hold you back. This is what dreams are made of!

Halloween Costume Idea: Lizzie McGuire in Rome

LEO

Leo, Leo, Leo… This month is your time to shine! Stop focusing on the superficial and start focusing on that fire burning inside. No need for an extinguisher. October calls for you to embrace yourself, flaws and all. This energy shift is exactly what you’ve been looking for. Don’t take no for an answer.

Halloween Costume Idea: The Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (duh.)

VIRGO

Being the planner you are, Virgo, you are the most prepared for fall of everyone you know. That said, it's OK to step back every once in a while, and let the universe do the work for you. When Mars in Gemini challenges Pisces in Neptune on Oct. 11, you may feel a bit of paranoia, but don’t let other people’s perceptions define you. You are the master of your own faith.

Halloween Costume Idea: Sherlock Holmes

LIBRA

You love love, Libra, and love loves you! After Mercury retrograde last month, you may be feeling a bit down in the dumps. Remember that everything happens for a reason, even those embarrassing texts to your ex are leading you to bigger and better things. This month, embrace the beauty of life and embrace the beauty within yourself!

Halloween Costume Idea: Cupid

SCORPIO

The monsters come out at night, don’t they, Scorpio? It is time for you to finally bite back. The full moon in Aries is calling on you to have a serious makeover montage. Prioritize yourself for once and realize you don’t need to please everyone you meet. Sometimes it’s best to show your fangs, at least every once in a while.

Halloween Costume Idea: Dracula

SAGITTARIUS

Embrace your wild side, Sagittarius! This month will prove to be less stressful so take advantage of the new-found peace and let loose a bit. Being the sign of travel and higher learning, you do best when trying something new. Go out of your comfort zone and let the fire within you burn bright!

Halloween Costume Idea: Indiana Jones.

CAPRICORN

I bet you are excited for this month, you little party animal. You love control, but maybe it’s time to take a step back and let the co-pilot take the wheel. This month is the best time for you to relax and drink a six-pack. Give yourself a minute to breathe and embrace the holiday glamour. You’re not too cool for Halloween costumes.

Halloween Costume Idea: Corn on the cob

AQUARIUS

Now is the time to let your inner alien shine, Aquarius! Before blasting off on your spaceship of visions, take the time to focus on yourself and bring your out-of-the-box ideas to life. The pressure in outerspace could be a bit suffocating, so take a break from social media and take that much-needed nature walk.

Halloween Costume Idea: Monochrome alien

PISCES

Knock-knock… Something (or someone) is knocking on your door, but don’t be afraid to answer. It’s time for you to get out of that little head of yours. It can’t be that cozy in there. You deserve to be seen and the world is ready! Cosmic energy is pushing you to embrace a brand-new perspective. Don’t shy away, Pisces.

Halloween Costume Idea: A butterfly

BOUQS & BRICKS

BOUQUETS

Clay County Fair — For their swift action gathering volunteers and partners in a massive relief effort to help the folks in southwest Florida affected by Hurricane Ian. They’re filling trucks with emergency supplies and are making multiple deliveries to those in need. And you can still donate! Visit the Clay County Fair on Facebook for details.

Wolfson Children’s Hospital — For providing excellent healthcare for our area children—and beyond. And for always holding community-driven fundraisers benefiting their patients in need. Bravo!

Attack/Misleading Political Campaign Ads — Can somebody mandate that political ads be truthful? Of course, we know that is never going to happen especially since, in many cases, it works. But some of the ads make totally false and inflammatory statements about opponents that are just ridiculous. We love the first amendment! Stick with the truth and the actual facts please.

Wild

Weird Stuff

Words by Shelton Hull

Honestly, we could do this month's entire column about all the weird, wild stuff that related to the life and death of Queen Elizabeth II, and, in fact, we did. (You can read that special edition right now in the October digital entertainment issue.) We now return to your regularly scheduled programming…

Aug. 17: Archaeologists in Poland made a disturbing find while excavating a cemetery from the 1700s: a possible vampire. The alleged vampire was even found with a literal sickle wrapped around her neck and nailed into the ground, as well as a padlock around her toe, presumably to ensure that she could never rise up again to terrorize innocent people. This is how nations dealt with their deplorables before impeachment was invented.

Aug. 29: Halloween is coming, and I’m sure you’re already preparing. One weirdo from (appropriately enough) Bellevue, Missouri, got the party started in his own stupid, special way by paddling some 38 miles down the Mississippi River in a customized giant pumpkin that weighed at least 846 pounds. The S.S. Berta landed 11 hours later, breaking the old record of 25.5 miles, set just four years ago. Why? No one knows.

Aug. 30: If there’s one thing we all love to see in this column, it’s stuff spilling onto the highway. We may do an end-of-year countdown in this very category, and that list will certainly include the gallons and gallons of pre-made alfredo sauce that spilled all over Interstate 55 in Memphis. Dairy in the summer is a recipe for disaster—the smell must have been unbearable.

Aug. 31: With over 1,600 books banned in over 3,000 schools covering 32 states, the nation’s public libraries have leapt into the spotlight, using their platform to bypass censorship in various creative ways. Oakland found a novel way to address the situation, but without being too on the nose, by opening an art exhibition dedicated to the various items that library patrons left in their books over the years. Unfortunately, no one left a copy of the U.S. Constitution because a lot of these school districts need a crash course in it.

Sept. 2: R.E.M is one of the most underrated rock bands of the last 40 years. Their iconic frontman, Michael Stipe, has finally released his very new single, “Future If Future,” which he’s been teasing since 2018. Produced by Brian Eno, with a B-side by Beatie Wolfe, the song debuted in a limited-edition run of 500 on “bioplastic vinyl,” which has never been available in America before. Recordheads can expect to see this material in stores very soon.

Sept. 5: Atlanta has a lot of crime, even by Florida standards. Whether it’s people getting robbed at Waffle House, carjacked on the highway or gangsta rappers settling scores on video, it’s a lovely city, but also dangerous. Add to this list of grievous crimes: feeding the homeless, as one college student found out when she tried to buy a Popeye’s two-piece. The police were very sympathetic to her, which is surprising, given that she was a Black woman in Atlanta. This sounds insane, but to be fair, people die over Popeye’s way more often than you might think.

Sept. 9: Mister Rogers said it best: “Look for the helpers.” But he never lived in Hialeah, where one of the most indefensible scams in recent memory took place. A retired firefighter picked a poor way to pad his nestegg by selling nearly 15,000 fraudulent AHA certificates. What’s AHA, you ask? Why, it’s the American Heart Association, which certifies folks for CPR, and all kinds of other stuff. He made nearly $900,000 with this scam, but he may spend the rest of his life in prison. We should all be lucky that no one died because of him.

Bonus entry: Since the tragic situation in Ukraine is, to a limited extent, America's fault, it's good that we are stepping up to help these people, whose lives are being destroyed because of our piss-poor decision making. More than half of all requests to host Ukrainian refugees have come from just five states, and we should be proud that Florida is one of those states. It makes perfect sense, given our large concentration of Ukrainian-Americans, particularly here in Northeast Florida. There's nothing weird about that—it's just a nice thing that we thought was worth noting.

The Season for Transition

An inside look into the agricultural communities efforts during the fall season

Words & photos by Molly Britt

The agricultural community in Northeast Florida is one of the most important parts of our community. They are the reason we get our fresh vegetables and gorgeous flowers. I especially love the tasty blueberries we get from so many wonderful local farms. We really do take it for granted. So, why not take a look into what goes on in the agricultural community during the fall season?

Haley Hopkins showed me just what the fall season entails for Congaree and Penn, where she is greenhouse and markets manager. As we walked around the green, spacious land, she told me about their greenhouse. The medium-sized white building shelters various greens and vegetables for the oncoming season and what was left over from last season. Hopkins elaborated that most plants can still grow far into the fall season in Florida due to the mild temperatures, while noting that fall “is a season to transition to winter.”

We walked on to the gardens where she explained more about what changes they make for fall. “We’re transitioning a few of these beds. We’re going to put those fall flowers in,” she said, noting some summer flowers were still thriving in the beds.

What I thought would be a big change was not as drastic as I thought. Congaree and Penn keeps most plants, vegetables and flowers until

the temperatures drop beyond their survival. While they wait for the leftovers to die out, they start new gardens with plants, such as cranberry hibiscus, peppers and more, they know will do well with the upcoming weather changes.

As we walked up to one of the beds, Hopkins showed me some of the things they focus on during fall. They take the “gross looking” raised beds and manicure them by adding new dirt and layering organic materials, like compost, to build up the beds. Hopkins also showed how they keep the soil healthy by aerating it with rice holes and explained how she “puts the gardens to bed” by checking for weeds and covering them with mulch. She’ll then add fertilizer to all the beds before adding in their compost complete with earthworms to help (which I saw and loved!).

It was when I walked by what looked like a giant fork—a tool I swear I saw in a horror movie once—that I stopped her. Apparently, it’s not a weapon but a broad fork. It is a way to rough up the compact soil and make it, as Hopkins called it, “loose and fluffy.” I still don’t quite understand how to work it, but it looks like fun.

“The temperatures are finally dropping enough to where you can start doing certain things like starting certain seeds [which cannot survive until the weather cools down],” said Hopkins. “It’s a very small window of time that we are prepping stuff that we want to grow during winter.”

In the farming industry, fall is when both summer and winter overlap, and they wait for vegetables like okra to finish out and plant carrots instead. Fall is a period of renewal for everyone, even plants. They need a break, too. So as we come into a new season of cooler temperatures, thank your farmers…and maybe thank your plants.

“…let’s kill all the lawyers.” LEGAL ADVICE

Words by John M. Phillips

TV shows like Better Call Saul and How to Get Away with Murder steer conversations about the perceptions of lawyers. As such, we lawyers are members of an often doubted and ridiculed profession. Invariably, strangers will quote a particularly harsh line in casual conversation: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This line was first spoken by Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Dick, a violent criminal himself, was part of a movement that thought one could find success by disturbing law and order. Although interpreted many different ways by society over time, Shakespeare actually meant this as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society.

Words synonymous with “justice” inundate the Old Testament and equate it with concepts of personal holiness and moral uprightness. Hundreds of years ago, Aristotle wrote about justice as both a concept and as specific to each person, although the word justice did not come into existence until about 1140 A.D., when the French word “Justitia” came to stand for “righteousness” and “equality.” Today, in its broadest and simplest of definitions, justice is the idea that people get what they deserve.

“Justice” has been a word used daily in my family for the better part of a century. My great-grandfather was a lawyer. So was my grandfather. I too am a lawyer. As lawyers we become stewards of justice as we advocate for our clients, seeking to right wrongs. Certainly, there is injustice all around us. During the quest for justice for Jordan Davis, my family received death threats and I acquired a bullet proof sport coat. When a client was wrongly labeled a “sexual offender” on his state-issued identification, it took two years to get the state to apologize and admit that it had happened to hundreds of other Floridians. A chiropractor masking pain with narcotics leading to a brain injury, a dentist pulling healthy teeth, someone getting shot and killed inside a club with security at the door – all are cases where we did our best to correct the wrongs.

Each year we celebrate the births of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, who were both stewards of ultimate justice. Both also fell victim to those who used violence to stop them. Dr. King famously said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Lincoln said, “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.”

Not every case is about money. Just this week, we worked on a case for a couple who were denied a marriage license because they did not bring a sign language interpreter with them to the clerk’s office. The right has been wronged and they are set to get married soon. Justice works.

Since the beginning of time, our society has been searching for a system whereby we must treat each other fairly and hold each other accountable. It seems that task is becoming more and more difficult. While there is job security in that premise, it is only making justice more adversarial and more about the “win” and less about fairness and compromise.

As a result, more lawyer billboards will go up. More advertisements will be bought. There will soon be attorney faces on every bus. Meanwhile, corporations will do more to put profits over people and others will take advantage. Insurance carriers will pay more for animated animals and less for the payment of claims.

While we may not be able to stop any of these things from happening, lawyers, as a consequence, will have long, fruitful careers fighting for clients as stewards of justice in an adversarial righteous crusade of sorts.

Maybe we should all go back to kindergarten. Relearn the basics. Admit when we are wrong. Listen to those who disagree with us and see if we can understand their position instead of letting the walls of defensiveness shut down the dialogue. Pay more attention. Be friendlier. Kindergartners don’t “lawyer up.” They share and apologize. Because getting put in the corner as an adult can be very expensive and embarrassing.

I’ll finish this article hoping people will take one piece of advice. It’s from To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch:

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

The Magnitude of the 26th Amendment

Words by Ariel Rademyer

Voting facilitates expression for the people. Serving as a vital and core attribute of the United States of America, selecting government officials is our nation's blessing. We, the people, hold the power to make our voices heard on a larger scale.

On July 1st, 1971, the United States Federal Government ratified the 26th amendment, granting the right for 18-year-olds to vote in elections. Voting allows for a change in communities; whether this alteration includes a different direction for the workforce departments or education, voters dictate their future. Particularly, 18-year-olds can elect candidates who implement beliefs prevalent to their generation. The rising generation may now determine their destiny.

Before registering to vote, all voters should take the time to investigate potential candidates. These prospects should satisfactorily represent a voter's ideology: their stance on education, business, taxes, social issues, climate change, etc. Monitoring various news outlets fulfills this responsibility and aids voters in knowing their community's or party's candidates. By doing so, voters have the possible chance to have a representative that voices their desires for their neighbourhood.

Florida's eighteen-year-olds can begin this process through online registration on Florida's election website. All Florida residents, who are United States citizens, and non-convicted felons, are eligible for this opportunity. Simply enter Florida's election website into the browser and submit your information for further instruction. The online registration deadline is Tuesday, October 11th, 2022. Additionally, rising voters may alternatively choose to register in person or by mail. The in-person or mail deadline is Tuesday, October 11th, 2022.

Moreover, students of at least 16 years are even eligible for preregistering if they are United States citizens, legal residents of the county, and legal residents within the state of Florida.

With the upcoming midterm election, our rising generation must register to vote in the forthcoming Florida midterm election today. Every vote makes an impact. Let your voice be heard. Be the generation to establish equitable change.

Orchestral Maneuvers

It’s season number 73 for the Jacksonville Symphony

Words by Shelton Hull

The Jacksonville Symphony’s opening gala, scheduled for Sept. 30, was postponed because of Hurricane Ian. It’s rare for them to miss a concert, even at the height of the pandemic a couple of years ago. They were among less than a dozen such outfits to work a full season during that period, but remarkably, in that time, there were zero COVID-19 cases among the musicians, which seems all but impossible, statistically. That’s been the Symphony’s story for the last three years, though.

The organization unveiled its new season and its new personnel during a press conference at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts last month. About 40 or 50 people attended, which is not bad at all for a Tuesday afternoon, right before the city shut down for Ian for two days. Unfortunately, they were mostly symphony staffers and patrons with only two media outlets represented from what I could tell. This should come as no surprise since Jacksonville media outlets are generally unable to cover local arts and music in the way they once did, even something as fundamental to our culture as the Jacksonville Symphony. (Shout out to Tori Fusinaz and Nichole Vanderpool in their marketing department for inviting us!)

Actually, there was one more media representative there: Melissa Ross, the legendary host of “First Coast Connect” on WJCT. Resplendent in purple, Ross was not there to cover the event, however, but moderate it. After an introduction by Jacksonville Symphony President and CEO Steven Libman, Ross introduced the symphony’s new concertmaster, Adelya Nartadjieva. The internationally-acclaimed violinist, artistic director and educator also co-founded Chime for Children, an organization dedicated to using “the power of music to bring communities together and to bring light into the lives of children.” Nartadjieva’s selection came after a six-year search, but after hearing her accolades and "greeting" attendees with an Adagio from G minor’s violin solo Sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach, it was obvious the search committee made the right choice.

Ross then brought another legend on stage: Courtney Lewis, Jacksonville Symphony Music Director and Conductor since 2014. Lewis, who continues to challenge the musicians and audiences with his musical selections, comes off an especially impressive summer that included serving as guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic—at the iconic Hollywood Bowl, no less— on

Aug. 25. Lewis then introduced Kevin Fitzgerald, the Symphony’s new associate conductor. With Lewis taking up a teaching gig at UNF this year, Fitzgerald is slated to conduct more concerts this season than Lewis himself, which is a substantial step up for the 2021 Tanglewood Conducting Fellow.

Fitzgerald is also the new music director for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra. Founded in 1993, the JSYO currently serves over 35,000 young musicians, ages 7 to 21, in four school districts across Northeast Florida. The Youth Orchestra is a great thing to have in a city like Jacksonville, which has an abundance of music education institutions, from LaVilla and Douglas Anderson to UNF and JU, and so many more (including Girls Rock Jax and the Jacksonville Children's Chorus), covering virtually the full range of professional opportunities available.

The 2022-2023 season features works by the usual composers you would expect of any symphony orchestra around the country: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Aaron Copland, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, all the fundamentals of classical repertoire—and then some. But if there’s one thing that Jacksonville Symphony audiences have been conditioned to expect over the years, it is the unexpected. A big part of the symphony’s success in recent years has been a direct result of their efforts to make the music accessible to the general audience.

These include a series of Pops concerts that pay tribute to music legends, starting with Paul Simon (Nov. 4-5) and followed by Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn (Jan. 13-14); Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (Feb. 3-4); Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin (Feb. 24-25); and The Beatles (June 2-3). The holiday season kicks off with Holiday Pops concerts (Dec. 8-11), followed by Handel’s “Messiah” (Dec. 1718), and the always-popular “The Nutcracker” (Dec. 16-18). Another highlight is Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” They’re doing that April 28 and 30, in collaboration with the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus and the North Florida School of Music.

There’s also their popular Symphony Night at the Movies series, where patrons can watch films while the orchestra plays the soundtrack live, always a great entry to their brand. This season’s features include Rocky (Nov. 18-19); Jurassic Park (Jan. 20-21); and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (May 12-13.)

“I’m really looking forward to playing Harry Potter!” Nartadjieva exclaimed at the event, almost too loud.

As introductions to the organization go, nothing quite beats their Symphony In 60 series. Now in its third year, which provides a happy hour networking opportunity, followed by a capsule concert by the orchestra, all of which gets attendees out onto the streets by 8 p.m. These will occur on selected Thursday afternoons: Oct. 27, Feb. 9, March 9, Apr. 13 and May 25. If you want your concert experience even earlier in the day, try their Coffee Series, short but sweet sets, featuring highlights from that weekend’s Pops performances, starting at 11 a.m. on the following Fridays: Nov. 4, Dec. 9, Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 10, March 24, May 5 and May 26.

From the start of Lewis’ tenure here, the Jacksonville Symphony has placed special emphasis on spotlighting promising young talent, and this season is no exception. In addition to new personnel, they’re also bringing in four guest conductors: Nathan Aspinall (Dec. 2-3), Carlos Miguel Prieto (Jan. 6-7), Chloe van Soeterstède (Feb. 17-18), and Giordano Bellincampi (March 31 and April 1). They’re also in the second year of the Jacksonville Symphony Commissions series, and this year features Sean Shepherd, a rising star composer based out New York City.

New additions to the symphony experience aren’t limited only to musicians and their repertoire. For the first time, they’re opening up the Choir Loft, which includes about 75 seats, set up directly behind the orchestra, facing out onto the audience. These seats are being pitched to groups, particularly charitable organizations and their many corporate sponsors. Seats are just $35 per concert, or you can buy a block of 50 seats and get the rest of the Choir Loft for free. This is especially useful for premium events like “The Nutcracker”, allowing attendees to not only see, but to also be seen. (There’s also a brand new piano, which will get plenty of work, as well as nine late-period Picasso prints upstairs, which certainly will not.)

According to Lewis, there are “at least 100” symphony orchestras in the country, and the Jacksonville Symphony ranks 17th, in terms of their operating budget. With at least 42 office staff, three dozen unpaid directors and a core of about 65 musicians on the payroll, the pressure never relents. Thankfully, neither do they. This 73rd season of the Jacksonville Symphony continues the organization’s upward trajectory within their industry, while pointing the way toward a luminously bright future. Attracting more than 113,000 patrons last season alone, the Jacksonville Symphony can expect thousands more locals to get their very first symphony experience this season. One can also expect it will not be their last.

Words by Carmen Macri

Everybody lies. Whether it’s a little white lie or a tale of a rogue military mission gone wrong. (We will get there soon.) The only difference between the lies we hear in our everyday lives and the lies that are so big they are turned into documentaries is these people got caught, big time. (That and some of them were stealing millions of dollars from global franchises, but that's beside the point.) In their “honor,” I am going to walk you through some of the most iconic liars that call(ed) Jacksonville home.

Shall we start with one of the most intricate crimes ever pulled off in Jacksonville, like the $24 million scam surrounding the McDonald’s Monopoly game (and since turned into a true crime docuseries by HBO called McMillions)? In the early 2000s McDonald’s offered a worldwide promotion to draw customers into the restaurant with a sweepstake that mimicked the game Monopoly. If someone collected certain “tokens,” the prize was upwards of $1 million. To prevent fraud and ensure that all prizes were given away legally—and randomly, McDonald’s used a third party, Simon Worldwide Inc., to oversee the operation. And boy, was that a huge mistake.

Simon Worldwide was in charge of distributing the prize-winning tokens while Dittler Brothers Printing oversaw all production of the game boards and pieces. Turns out, a real-life Hamburglar worked in security at Dittler Brothers: Jerome P. Jacobson. An unnamed supplier mistakenly provided Jacobson with anti-tamper seals, which were exactly what Jacobson needed to secretly swap out the million-dollar pieces. Basically, he stole all of the high-value tokens to pass them out to friends and family who would later redeem them for big money and share the proceeds with him.

Great story, but I know what you’re thinking: How does Jacksonville fit into this? Well, several of the “winners” were from Jacksonville. So as not to arouse suspicion with so many “winners” from Jacksonville, some had to use fake addresses. When a “winner” claimed she lived in South Carolina but had a Florida ID, it caught the eye of the FBI office in Jacksonville. At the time, the Jacksonville office was one of the smallest and understaffed in the agency. For them to pull this together was incredible. The kicker? The mastermind who orchestrated the $24 million scam only served three years in federal prison.

In more recent news, infamous ex-Jacksonville Jaguars head coach (among other things) Urban Meyer hasn’t exactly played his coaching career by the book. Since the early 2000s, Meyer has been linked to

some pretty shady shit over the years. More than 30 student-athletes who played for Meyer at the University of Florida were arrested under his command. He enabled the behavior of not one but two domestic abusers, and he hired a known racist. But ESPN, Ohio State and Shad Khan gave him the benefit of the doubt. That’s OK. People can change, right? Despite the public being completely against Meyer joining the team, people can change, right?

Shortly after being named head coach of the Jaguars in 2021, Meyers showed his true colors yet again when he cursed out kicker Josh Lambo and kicked him while he stretched on the sidelines. Meyer denied all allegations, but we all know how that ended … in a pricey lawsuit against Meyer for emotional distress. But alas, it doesn't stop there! During a staff meeting, Meyer allegedly referred to himself as a “winner” and his assistant coaching staff as “losers.” After an away game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which the Jags lost, by the way, Meyer stayed in Ohio (instead of traveling back with the team) only to get caught getting down and dirty with a woman who was not his wife in a crowded Columbus bar. And once again, he hired a racist. Seriously, the list of shady shit Meyer has done goes on, believe me, so let's get to my favorite “Urban legend.” Meyer benched Jaguars running back James Robinson for a majority of the Jags/Rams game last season following a fumble on Jacksonville’s first drive. Meyer claimed Robinson was pulled due to injury, which is interesting since Robinson didn’t even know he was injured, and asked running backs coach Bernie Parmalee to keep him out of the game. It wasn't until quarterback Trevor Lawrence asked Meyer what the hell was going on that Robinson was allowed back on the field. What a timely healed injury, right? Mercifully, Shad Khan listened to the city of Jacksonville and fired the illusive Urban Meyer. Good riddance!

Walking on eggshells with this next one: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Fed up with the Democrats and their reluctance to clamp down on illegal immigration, DeSantis took matters into his own hands… by gathering 48 Venezuelan immigrants seeking asylum in San Antonio and shipping them off to the “Democrats’ front door” on Martha's Vineyard. Quite the political power move if you ask me. DeSantis and his cohorts promised the immigrants a community service organization would help them with housing and job opportunities. But that was not the case. DeSantis wanted to shed light on immigration issues “the Biden administration refuses to deal with” by toying with people's lives. The immigrants received brochures about refugee migrant benefits that promised “up

to eight months of cash assistance for eligible migrants,” which, turns out, was fake. Some of the immigrants filed a lawsuit against DeSantis and other state officials for engaging in a “fraudulent and discriminatory scheme.”

Supposedly, Lantigua was once a special operations officer in the military whose “team” took down a colossal drug cartel leader, and now he was being hunted by a rogue CIA agent seeking revenge. His wife believed every word he told her and, as a result, became his unknowing accomplice. The next step for Lantigua was finding a way to fake his death. He made his way to Venezuela to buy a death certificate and proof of cremation. Unfortunately, it was too late for Lantigua. He bit off more than he could chew in Jacksonville. Now creditors were on the hunt to get their clients' money back. Lantigua was sitting on $11 million worth of debt when he vanished. The plan was for him and his wife to scam the banks out of life insurance, but people weren't buying it. He played dead in Venezuela for a few months until he met up with his wife in the Bahamas and snuck back into Florida (by paying someone $5,000 to hide on their fishing boat, of course). Lantigua and his wife took off for North Carolina where he decided to “lay low” and build a new identity as Ernest Wills with a driver’s license and passport in his new name. Little did he know, the real Wills was alive and well, and unfortunately for Lantigua, a different race and 8 inches taller than him. The U.S State departments flagged the fake Ernest Wills’ passport, which was the beginning of the end for Lantigua. The movie-like web of deceit finally came to an end in 2015 when Lantigua was taken into custody outside of his North Carolina home.

My personal favorite. A faked death, rogue CIA agents, drug cartels, a fatal illness, false identities and a phony demise. This is Jose Lantiguas’ web of lies that spanned multiple years and multiple countries. It all began in 2013 when Lantigua conned Jacksonville investor Michael Wienckowski out of $500,000 for “life-saving medical treatment.”

Wienckowski gave Lantigua the $500,000 even though he already had a $1.7 million loan from Wienckowski’s company that he had not yet paid off. Lantigua convinced his wife he had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal brain disorder, and would be dead within the year. Lantigua figured his best option was to fly to South America to undergo a once-in-a-lifetime surgery that could only be done in Colombia (huh?) with the plan being to fake his death on the operating table. Well, the unnamed (and uncharged) “doctor” lost the nerve to follow through and backed out of the plan… so what does Lantigua do now? Lie some more. He informed his wife that he had to lie to her about the illness to save their family’s lives.

Ever heard of the Ponzi scheme? Did you also know part of the Ponzi empire took place in Jacksonville? To make a long story short, a Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with new investors' money. Charles Ponzi, the Italian businessman for whom the scam was named, sold investors a promise of increasing returns with little to no risk… Bull shit! Ponzi’s time in Jacksonville was brief, but it was iconic. In 1926, Ponzi was indicted for selling certificates of indebtedness without permission and failing to file papers properly, violations of Florida trust and security laws. Apparently, Jacksonville’s jail did not suit Ponzi, so he shaved his head, grew a mustache, faked his suicide, and skipped town in an attempt to get back home to Italy.

Now for the king company of corruption and lies … JEA. And legally, that is all I am allowed to say. (We all know what the higher-ups did, and if you don’t, Google it!)

Do You Believe in Magick?

She picks up and burns the sage before anything else, allowing the tendrils of smoke to cleanse and calm the surrounding energy of the tarot deck, as well as the body. After shuffling and kissing the tarot cards, she hands them to me.

To everyone, the journey to spirituality may look different. For Lauriena Zarrelli it began with her mother and aunt passing. For America, it began around the 1800s.

While spirituality and spiritualism are defined as different concepts, they hold many similarities. Spirituality is defined as the quality of being concerned with the spirit or soul rather than the material or physical. Spiritualism is a belief or religious practice that centers around the idea that departed souls can communicate with the living.

In my opinion (and many may agree), one can’t exist without the other. Both spirituality and spiritualism center around the idea that something more exists past the bounds of our physical bodies. For there to be spirits that live after death, has to mean that there are spirits or souls that live within us.

Between belief and science, rose spiritualism and spirituality. Before the 1800s, a puritanical form of Christianity was the most prominent religion, and those who practiced any sort of spirituality during that time were often executed for witchery. But then came industrialization and urbanization. The rise of new inventions and science lead many to start questioning religions. During the Civil War, seances and mediums became very popular as families and loved ones found comfort in believing that the soldier’s souls lived on and watched over them.

The popularity of spiritualism in America is often attributed to the Fox Sisters and spirit photographer William H. Mumler. Though many didn’t know it at the time, the Fox Sisters actually fabricated their talks with the dead and kept it up for so long for monetary gain. The same goes for Mumler, as many speculate he tampered with the photos he took to make it look like there were spirits. So it is no surprise that many are skeptical when it comes to spirituality and spiritualism.

Still, it is difficult to deny there is, in fact, something past the veil. Throughout all cultures exists some form of spirituality and spiritualism, like Puerto Rican Brujerias or Haitian Voodoo. Today, it seems that America has found itself again in the 1800s spiritualism era but with a modern twist. Now with social media, especially TikTok, it seems improbable to scroll on your feed without coming across

Words & photos by Ambar Ramirez

a Tarot reading segment or “witchy” practices to follow. Apps like

Costar that focus on astrology are all the rage, and you can’t have a conversation with somebody without knowing their “Big Threes”: sun, moon, and rising. Why is there a rise in popularity of spirituality or “witchy” practices all of a sudden? Is it like any new wellness movement or trend that becomes popular due to its ubiquity? Or is it because it actually works?

Zarrelli opened the door to her quaint apartment near Ponte Vedra before I could knock. Flickering candles illuminated what she calls her “sanctuary” while Stevie Nicks’ vocals filled the air. On a round wooden table, crystals, sage, tarot decks, and more candles filled the space.

It was seven years ago when Zarrelli began her journey to spirituality and becoming the self-proclaimed witch she is. It started when her mother and aunt had tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation, which increases the risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

“My mother passed first and my aunt died 10 months later,” Zarrelli said. “In between their deaths, I also tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, so I took it upon myself. I had a bilateral mastectomy [and] complete hysterectomy, so I was grieving the two most important women in my life and everything that made me a woman, and I was feeling really lost.”

Instead of following a more traditional route, Zarrelli reached out to a dear friend who traveled around the world doing energy work.

“It really saved my life,” Zarrelli said. “Like, I didn't wanna be put on antidepressants. I didn't wanna do anything. We did just a lot of energy work and healing, and she taught me certain rituals, certain things to do, certain ways to connect and really honor them. And in a way, once I really started tapping into that, I started diving down into, like, the spirit and reading books.”

Every morning Zarrelli lights sage and kneels down by her window where the sun shines through and verbally shares her gratitude toward the universe and has a conversation with her mom. She has found that all she has to do is ask and she will receive, that it comes down to an exchange of energies.

“I talk to my mother all the time, and I do rituals and I hold ceremonies and I'll ask for signs and I totally receive them,” Zarrelli said. “It feels good and it feels natural. And now honestly, I feel very emotionally and spiritually connected to my mother. We definitely have a very beautiful relationship and bond still.”

Through renewing that connection with her mother and healing through energy work, Zarrelli found joy and beauty in the world again. And she did it all through holistic, natural methods or what she calls “magick.”

“Magic with a ‘K’ is using energy in a natural form to provide change,” Zarrelli said. “So, like, that's how witches use magic. It's using the

universe as energy, right? Charging my cards in the full moon, charging my crystals in the full moon.”

While not a medium or psychic, Zarrelli is very much in touch with her intuition and enjoys giving tarot readings to friends or anyone who is seeking comfort.

This may lead and tie into why spirituality, tarot readings, crystals, astrology and WitchTok are so popular right now. In a time of much uncertainty and negativity with how our Earth is being treated with what seems to be never-ending wars and political decisions that seem to favor hatred, finding the “light” within ourselves gives us hope that there is a better life.

“That's another thing that witches wanna do. They want to help guide you, the individual, that they're working with, help them touch and become more in tune with their own intuition and their own power and their own magic,” Zarrelli said. “And everybody has it. It's just the power of belief.”

Unlike how spiritualism in the 1800s fed off of fears, believing in spirituality and spiritualism now is to choose to believe that there is magick in the world. It’s like any religion. In religion, people choose to believe in a higher being—God, Buddha, etc. But with spirituality you choose to believe in the power of the universe and yourself. So…do you believe in magick?

Lauriena Zarrelli holds an open door to anybody who is looking to tap into their spiritual side. Send her a message on Instagram @diggity_dot, to get your cards read and have your mind blown.

Hear Them ROAR

Jaguars cheerleaders do more than get fans hyped

Words by Ambar Ramirez | Photos submitted by the ROAR cheerleading team

didn’t even exist before her. Having been a member of The Roar herself from 1998-2000, she knows what it’s like to be in their shoes.

“Dance and cheerleading have been a huge part of my life for over 35 years. I started dance training in the second grade and began cheerleading in the fourth grade,” Zynda said. She danced and cheered through grade school, high school and college before making it as a member of The Roar.

Their teal and white costumes glitter against the lush green grass, their movements graceful yet powerful like a jaguar. These women are so good at what they do, in fact, you might forget they are just people doing what they love. While the Jaguars football team deserves the praise for the W’s, it's time to grab some pom-poms and cheer on the cheerleaders who make up The Roar, the Jaguars cheer squad.

The Roar cheer squad is full of empowering women, but they are more than that. And for some, being an NFL cheerleader is a dream. Belinda Pierre has been a cheerleader for The Roar for six years all while also working as a paralegal.

“My favorite thing about being a member of The Roar is fulfilling my lifelong dream of being an NFL cheerleader and being given the opportunity to be a part of the Jaguars organization that has connected me to the most amazing women,” Pierre said. “My teammates are an astonishing group of women. We have teachers, lawyers, hair stylists, dance teachers, students and so much more.”

Before making it to the big leagues, Pierre started dancing and cheering at the age of six, then went on to cheer competitively through middle school, high school and freshman year of college. Still, it wasn’t until she became an NFL cheerleader that she started to consider cheerleading a job. And after six years of working with the team, her hard work and dedication have paid off: This season, Pierre was voted by her team to be one of four cheer captains.

“I was completely shocked at first! I think every member of my team has what it takes to be a captain,” Pierre said. “I feel honored that they put their trust in me.”

At the head of it all is Director of Branded Entertainment Christy S. Zynda, who also serves as cheer coach of The Roar, a position that

Like with any team, working together is critical for success. But with The Roar, they work together on and off the field, doing community work throughout Northeast Florida. Every week, members of The Roar are at schools, inspiring the students, helping the schools reach their goals, and doing reading and fitness programs. The Roar also make appearances at charitable events with the Jaguars Foundation and Community Impact, helping out with food drives, football camp and more.

“The community events we participate in are at the core of what we do,” Zynda said. “ We are ambassadors for the Jaguars, the NFL, and our city!”

For Pierre one of her favorite parts of being on the team is participating in the Junior Roar event. Every season, the team comes together to teach junior cheerleaders a dance routine, which they all perform together at a Jaguars game during halftime.

“It feels like a full circle moment for me,” Pierre said. “As a child, I admired the cheerleaders more than anything and wanted to be just like them. Now getting to be on the other side as a Jaguars cheerleader and see the light in the junior cheerleaders’ eyes when they get to dance with us is amazing.”

Still, despite all the heartfelt events the team does, nothing compares to game day. Even for Zynda who has been with the team for 25 seasons, game days are one of her favorite experiences.

“It is very exciting to see all of the hard work come together and see members of the team fulfilling their dreams,” Zynda said.

Cheering is like any sport; it requires hard work, discipline, teamwork and creativity. And just like any sport, when it comes to game day, the cheer squad gives it their all. Regardless of where your seats are at the stadium or whether you are watching the game from home, one thing for sure is that you will hear The Roar of the Jaguars.

Women’s Work

Tech, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and, most recently, Uvalde. On this matter, Burton reiterates a point that all the candidates and their predecessors are in agreement on: JSO will not stand down against an active shooter, and officers will never run from danger.

Words by Shelton Hull

With more than 3,000 civilians, corrections officers and sworn officers, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is one of the largest law enforcement organizations in the South, and Lakesha Burton knows the agency, backward and forward. “It’s a massive organization,” the retired JSO assistant chief/zone commander and current candidate for sheriff and one she is ready, willing and able to take on.

The run-off to the special election takes place Nov. 8. It is one of the most contentious contests in a midterm election cycle that is full of them. Burton faces T.K. Waters, a veteran homicide investigator who essentially cruised into the runoff in the wake of Democratic infighting. Had all four Dems simply circled the wagons around Burton, the race would have probably ended during the Aug. 23 primary. Instead, it’s now a toss-up, and anything close falls to the Republicans, by default. The last thing she needs is a close election, and she’s not playing for the tie. She’s taking no chances at all.

Burton sat down with us at Folio HQ last month for a wide-ranging discussion about the issues at stake in this, the most important sheriff’s race in a generation. (You can view the extended interview online.)

The first question was obvious: Why is she even doing this? Ambitions aside, it’s a long, hard road to the top, and if money or clout were her main goals, there are certainly easier, safer, far less stressful ways to go about it.

“Actually, that’s been the No. 1 question I’ve gotten,” she said, shortly before our talk was interrupted by the sound of Amber Alerts coming into everyone’s cell phones at once. “I can tell you: I love Jacksonville. I was raised here. My children went to public school [here], and I am concerned about the safety of citizens in our city, and I think I have the skill set to address it.”

Burton’s husband, Greg, has served as the police chief of the Duval County School Police Department since 2021, and with school safety being in the forefront, she feels concerns similar to the spouses of teachers and the parents of students. She’s not, however, afraid.

“Actually, there is no fear. My husband and I have been married a long time. He did 26 years with [JSO], so we are used to being in this profession together,” she said. “So, in regards to all the things happening in the schools, [JSO] has excellent relations with the [Duval County School] police department, but we are partners to address anything that might transpire.”

When it comes to threats like active shooters, we know police protocols vary wildly around the country, and we have all seen the ultimate in horror stories play out in places of learning like Virginia

“What I can tell you is that we are prepared, God forbid, for any active shooter situation,” Burton said. “Whether that’s a school, a movie theater or the mall, we are prepared to go in and eliminate the threat.”

Burton is one of many prominent examples of women, Black women, in particular, boosting their representation within law enforcement around the country. “Women of color [are] being deliberate about having a seat at the table,” Burton said about leaders like former Orlando police chief Val Demings who is currently closing the gap in her run for Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat. Former Tampa police chief Jane (my favorite politician in America, by the way) now serves as that city’s mayor, and, closer to home, former JSO director of patrol and enforcement Michelle Cook went on to become chief of police for the City of Atlantic Beach and is currently Clay County sheriff.

“Research says that women in law enforcement have the ability to connect. Maybe it’s because we’re mothers. We’re disciplinarians, and we’re nurturers," Burton said. "There's roughly about 12% of sworn officers who are women, and only about 3% of leadership. The numbers are smaller than we want, but there’s a lot of room to grow.”

Originally, the election for sheriff was scheduled for March 14, 2023, concomitant with the broader slate of local elections that always take place in odd-numbered years. All that changed in June 2022 when former sheriff Mike Williams abruptly resigned in the wake of controversy over his permanent residence, the details of which have been documented extensively here, there and elsewhere. Less obvious, however, was the extreme complication it forced onto the candidates for sheriff, all of whom had been campaigning for months based on a timeline that was suddenly truncated.

Campaigns tend to accelerate as they get closer to Election Day, so while many local candidates are fundraising and maybe doing some basic advertising, the serious action doesn’t really begin until after the holidays. Not only did the sheriff’s candidates have to move all their plans up seven months, but the candidate who wins the election must then turn around and run again for the same position they were just elected to four months prior. (Rumor has it Ken Jefferson might seize the moment to make his fourth and final run for sheriff in March but no confirmation of that.)

Burton was first to declare for sheriff, way back in April 2021, and she was the only game in town for quite a while, before the presence of a lone woman out front drew the usual wave of interchangeable men to run interference. Sure, there was more to it than that, but not to the casual observer. And with voter turnout unlikely to break 30% next month, their opinion is the only one that really matters. Most

Can Lakesha Burton seal the deal? MAYBE!

of the “police reform now” crowd will stay home, and the election will presumably reflect the internal biases of the department itself.

“I jumped in first because I like to lead from the front,” she said. Burton knows all about blazing trails, as she is the first Black woman to run for sheriff in Jacksonville, not to mention being only the fourth to rank as assistant chief in the agency’s 200-year history. She was also the first woman to serve as executive director of Jacksonville’s Police Athletic League (PAL), which might be the most compelling attribute of all, given the organization’s essential role in the community. The Black community, in particular, is notoriously sketchy about the police, and that has given the criminal element virtual carte blanche to do whatever they want here, for the past 10 to 20 years.

“It’s not entirely our fault, but we have to take responsibility,” she said. “It’s no secret: We have a violent crime problem in our city, and it’s been going on for decades.”

No police chief or sheriff in America has solved this aspect of the problem, but Burton is keen to try. It helps that she’s pushing for full transparency of JSO’s budget process. And while she’s not on board with the quagmire that a civilian review board might be here, she proposes to have the FDLE investigate all officer-involved shootings.

Burton joined the force in the late 1990s, serving first under Nat Glover. “When I graduated college, I applied with a different agency that didn’t hire me, but Nat Glover did,” she recalled. “He allowed me to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a police officer.” Glover, who held the position from 1995 to 2003, was the city’s first Black sheriff. We will surely have our second one very soon, in just a matter of days.

As for who that will be, well, that’s entirely up to you.

Vote by mail is currently underway with early voting beginning Oct. 24 at 20 locations throughout the city. Polls will be open 7 a.m.–7 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 6. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.

Screen

Best New Movie: Smile

When a psychiatric doctor watches as her patient commit a violent and disturbing suicide in front of her, she begins to experience host of horrifying and increasingly hostile hallucinations which lead her to believe that she is being haunted by a supernatural presence. Filmmaker Parker Finn makes his feature length debut with Smile, an effective horror film that reveals an emerging director who possesses a strong sense for creating unsettling imagery, most notably the recurrent eponymous smile that reveals that the entity is present. Finn should also be commended for delivering well-worn horror tropes in a fresh approach; this film doesn’t reinvent any wheels, but does give them some fresh tires. The big jump scares are well earned and paced, with the film’s cuts methodically building tension and then sharply releasing it. The scares are paced masterfully through the editing of Elliot Greenberg and aided by the chilling score composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer. While inventively made and well executed, Smile’s plot does owe a debt to other curse-oriented horror films such as Gore Verbinksi’s The Ring and especially David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, where the looming threat of an inevitable supernatural catastrophe creates an overbearing sense of dread. While there is nothing wrong with a filmmaker showing their influences on their sleeve, horror cinema has been a breeding ground for bold swings and original ideas in recent years, giving opportunities to some of the most exciting voices working in film today.

Sosie Bacon leads the film as the cursed psychologist, Dr. Rose Cotter, and gives a committed turn that feels like an authentic portrayal of a person on the brink of their sanity, as she grows more haunted and dishevelled through the course of the film. Bacon brings shades of other well-regarded performances that have been at the centre of acclaimed horror films, echoing Toni Collette’s highly praised showcase of unhinged hysteria in Ari Aster’s modern classic Hereditary, as well as Elizabeth Moss’ stellar work in Leigh Whannell’s recent Invisible Man remake. The rest of the cast does their jobs well and know what type of film they’re in, with all the seemingly possessed characters brought creepily to life and the people wanting to help Rose are all sympathetic to her, until they become understandably concerned and distant to her apparent lapse in mental stability.

Horror has for a long time been a reliably mainstream genre that is able to sub textually dig in to deeper themes and allows for directors to be inspired in their filmmaking sensibilities. While the ghost train jumps and thrills are the primary focus of this film, it makes attempts at delving into the real anguish one goes through after living through a traumatic event by exploring such a scarring experience through a supernatural lens, and Finn also creates allusions towards the treatment that people going through mental health crises can receive from others around them. The film also succeeds in not giving the characters an easily earned or convenient resolution, and that it sticks with the established rules that have been presented. It is wise of Finn to have included these more

resonant themes, or to have opted for a more convoluted happy ending, as these are the decisions that separate memorable works of horror from the more generic entries to the genre. It is a sign that Finn may be director worth paying attention to.

Smile may not be a bold new take on horror, but it is a well made thriller that makes for a perfect night out during the Halloween season, and may signal the arrival of an exciting new voice in the genre.

On the small screen: Abbott Elementary Network sitcoms have, for the most part, fallen out of fashion over the last decade, with “prestige” programming from cable outlets and streaming services dominating airwaves and holding the audience’s attention, and with television comedy moving away from aiming at a broad audience towards smaller niches. However, Quinta Brunson, the writer and star of ABC’s new hit sitcom Abbott Elementary, which is currently airing its excellent second season, has proven that there is still a demand for universal comedy if the quality is there. Set in a struggling elementary school in south Philadelphia, Abbott follows a group of teachers with very different personalities who’re all bonded through their love of teaching. Shot in the mockumentary style that has become so popular in the sitcom genre, Abbott shows us how the school’s staff deals with the everyday trials that working at an underfunded school throws at them, while also going into aspects of the character’s personal lives away from work. Brunson leads the ensemble cast as Janine, the young and idealistic member of staff. Elsewhere, Tyler James Williams stars as the charming but tightly wound Gregory, who takes part in a will-they-won’tthey relationship with Janine. Then there is also Sheryl Lee Randolph, who won an Emmy for her performance as the experienced, matriarchal teacher Barbara and Janelle James scenes as the witty and wild principal Ava, while the rest of the supporting cast are also very strong.

Brunson has mentioned many times in interviews that she has a strong affection for network sitcoms and that affection shines through in this series, with influences from other hits in the genre like The Office and especially Parks & Recreation – which has seemingly influenced Abbott in having a perpetually feel-good charm. However, where Abbott has separated itself from these other shows is in its confidence straight out of the gate. Many sitcoms’ debut seasons are uneven to say the least as they haven’t established their characters or found the comedic voice that will carry the show for years on end. Abbott had no such growing pains, with the cast and tone of the show finding its groove almost immediately. And yet the second season has still managed to improve on the first; the actors in the ensemble have managed to find unique little quirks in their characters that make them more distinctive from other stock sitcom characters, while the writing has gotten sharper and more specific to the series’ south Philly setting. Abbott Elementary is a very charming and funny series that shows there is still life to be found in network sitcoms. Here’s hoping it can go on for many years to come.

Words and by Carmen Macri and Ambar Ramirez

“It starts as a tingle up the spine and a knowing that you are not alone.”

It’s no secret Jacksonville has its share of ghostly residents living among the living. Being over 200 years old, this city has secrets it wishes to tell.

Folio journalists Carmen Macri and Ambar Ramirez and had the opportunity to speak with Jacksonville-based paranormal investigator Steve Christian and medium Pamela Theresa. The partners in business and life have worked together on Local Haunts and Medium in the Raw which aired on CW-17, among other projects, and both have written books on the subject. Is there anyone better to ask about local haunts?

Florida Theatre

Located in downtown Jacksonville is the historic Florida Theatre. The 1,900-seat venue was built in 1927 on the grounds of what used to be an old police station.

“The Florida Theatre will always be a special place for me,” Christian explained. “While standing on that majestic stage where so many famous talents have stood over the years, the president of the theater casually mentioned that the theater was haunted. I had always been fascinated by the paranormal because I grew up ‘haunted’ for as long as I could remember.”

It was 1991 and Christian was at the theater for a TV shoot unrelated to the paranormal world. The off-handed mention of a ghostly presence sparked the idea to create a television show focused on local haunts.

For years employees had felt a presence within the building. Lights flickered and shadows danced across the stage. One psychic claimed to have spoken with the earthbound spirit who goes by “Doc Crowther.” Crowther was a former light technician, which would explain the flickering.

Years later when Christian returned with the equipment needed to film the spirit realm, he discovered the Holy Grail. He and his team captured a full-body apparition sitting in the upper balcony of the theater. The footage went viral and was later verified by Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files on SyFy as “FACT.”

Guess you never really know who you’re sitting next to there.

Casa Monica Hotel

Like most places in St. Augustine, the Casa Monica Hotel is full of ghost sightings and paranormal activity with consistent spinechilling reports made by staff and guests. It is also another haunt that Christian holds fond memories of, room 208, to be exact.

Though not one to scare easily, Christian remembers all too well the spirit of room 208 being anything but friendly. When he and Pamela Theresa visited the hotel, they respectfully left that room and spirit

alone to not cause any trouble. Unfortunately, word quickly spread about the “evil” spirit in room 208.

“By the time we had a chance to make it back to focus our attention on that room, the earthbound spirit inside had been put through hell by every amateur [medium] out there,” Christian said. “Pamela Theresa did her job and helped him move on [but] not before we found out that his name was Frederick and that he was a WWII veteran who didn't have any legs. That didn't stop him from getting around the hotel and scaring guests out of his room on a regular basis.”

St. Augustine Lighthouse

When visiting haunted sites, it’s important to respect those lost souls as you would someone whose home you are visiting, especially if you don’t want to bring any unwanted guests home with you.

When Christian visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse, he walked away with more than he bargained for: a super natural, super fan. According to Christian, recorders captured electronic voice phenomena (aka EVP) saying, “I love Steve” while they were investigating the lighthouse tower. “For weeks after, she would whisper my name right in my face as I lay in bed,” he recalled. “My spiritual groupie hung around for a few weeks, and then she just left.”

A common misconception about paranormal investigators is that they are like characters from Ghostbusters, going from haunted place to haunted place to capture evidence proving ghosts are real. For Christian and Pamela Theresa, however, being a paranormal investigator means much more than that. Instead, they find their purpose is to help spirits move on and to leave the places they find a little less haunted.

“All [the spirits] need to wake up is to have someone tell them that they are dead and that they need to move on,” Christian said. “Once we shed the yoke of our physical existence, we transition back to our heavenly home. We are back to our default setting which is universal love and understanding.”

Christian noted most spirits don’t even know they are dead and are reliving their death experience over and over again, which is why some spirits give off darker energy than others.

“We are all spirits just wrapped in the coat of the physical body,” Pamela Theresa said. “Whatever was going on in their life before they died is still happening to them. If they were scared, angry, sad, etc., then these emotions are still a part of their life in the earthbound realm.”

No earthbound spirit is inherently evil. Just like living, breathing people, spirits are misunderstood. Rather than being frightened when lights begin to flicker and shadows appear out of the corner of your eye, welcome the spirit. And if you do decide to attempt a paranormal investigation of your own, please do so with respect.

Folio Weed: Borders On the Sublime

Words by Shelton Hull

Richard Bruce Borders died in his sleep sometime on Sept. 6, 2022. A wellness check revealed a complete and total absence of wellness, and that was some of the harshest news to come this way in this entire tragic year. Our friends at the Jacksonville Music Experience (a fantastic platform run by WJCT) carried a very nice obituary written by Daniel A. Brown, who in a previous role as Folio’s Arts and Entertainment editor also wrote an exceptional cover feature on Borders back in 2017.

Borders (1948-2022) was found dead in bed by our dear mutual friend, Andy Pearl, a longtime reporter for The Florida Times-Union who introduced me to Borders in 2019. “If I had to share one quote from Richard Borders… it would be one word,” said Pearl. “... he would say [it] to me every time he ended a phone call with me. He would always end the interaction with the word ‘smile.’”

It was easy to smile when Borders was around. He had an impish charm that reminded me of another former Folio cover boy, the late great Alan Justiss. He also came fortified with one of the biggest arsenals of anecdotes I’ve ever heard. Borders did lighting at Woodstock, at The Filmore— East and West, Madison Square Garden and even the old Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. He worked with every major rock band that toured America in the 1960s and ’70s. No need for a list: He worked with all of them. Every single one.

Many of us participate in cannabis activism, but Borders was far more active than most. “He was a huge supporter and advocate for the legalization of cannabis and psychedelics,” said Nurse Colleen of the Florida Cannabis Coalition. “Just last year he was a part of the Florida Cannabis Festival in Mount Dora and Cannadelic Miami, doing video and audio.”

His parting robs this community of one of its leading lights, literally. Borders spent the better part of 60 years in the music industry at its highest levels—(again) literally, up in the rafters, rigging lights and sound for some of the most important musicians who ever lived. “So many words to describe Richard Borders, but the one that I'd like to attribute [to him] is ‘legend,’” Nurse Colleen added. “Every time a lightning storm syncs to my music, I will know Richard is nearby.”

Borders continued in that field to the end, but his efforts in later years focused more on video work, as well as his aggressive advocacy for the next generations of local artists. He managed Madison Carr, who he discovered when she was a teenager and mentored her into a rising star on the singer-songwriter circuit. That girl will, by God’s will, be out there making music for the next 50 years, so we can be sure that Borders’ legacy will persist for at least that long. But, knowing him, he’s already making new stars, way out in the cosmos. I’m sure that we will love their sound, too, once we invent the technology to hear it.

In the meantime, just smile.

Wastefulness Does Not Look Good On You

Words & photos by Ambar Ramirez

Imagine not knowing the next time you will eat, and living with consistent food shortages and hunger or food insecurity becomes the norm. Such a life is already a reality for millions of low-income households and for those living in developing nations. And if changes are not made now that life will become a reality for millions more.

In developing nations, the main reason for the hunger crisis stems from a lack of food production and scarcity of supplies. In America, though, the main reason we will face food hunger is due to inflation, a lack of policies addressing the issue, and prioritizing the needs of corporations and the wealthy. Fortunately, there are apolitical, community-based organizations all over the world working tirelessly to avoid this crisis. Epic-Cure is one that is implementing action right now in Northeast Florida and Central Florida.

In just three years, the 100% volunteer-run, non-profit has saved and distributed over 10 million pounds of food to families that face food insecurity—safe, edible food that would have ended up in landfills, releasing harmful methane gas into our atmosphere instead of feeding people in need.

In a warehouse near St. Augustine, I met with the executive director of Epic-Cure Sunny Mulford. Along with her team, Mulford was sorting through a mass shipment of food they received from places like Publix, Costco and other big box stores.

“We’re a critical lifeline,” Mulford said. “It’s like non-stop the calls that you get, you know, ‘I don't have even gas money to get to you,’ or ‘I have no food [and] I’ve got five kids.’”

On Thursdays, the organization opens its warehouse in St. Augustine for families who make appointments to come in and shop. Fridays and Saturdays they do the same at their warehouse in Palatka. The rest of the week Epic-Cure hits the road, setting up shop in low-income communities and farmers markets and by doing home deliveries throughout Northeast Florida and Central Florida. With any food or product that isn’t up to their standards, Epic-Cure sends it to local farms to feed animals. Even the shipping boxes the food comes in are given to the families to carry the food, completely zero waste.

“We look at this inflation problem as a seriously long haul problem in the food shortages,” Mulford said. Because Epic-Cure receives such an abundance of food, they are able to provide food to other food pantries, soup kitchens or organizations serving individuals and families living with food insecurity. “They’re seeing their numbers double too,” she said.

Even overflow food is put to good use. On Mondays and Wednesdays, Epic-Cure volunteers host cooking classes at the Boys and Girls Club to teach kids how to safely prepare meals while emphasizing important life skills and offering tips to prevent bad habits when it comes to food.

“We bring all of the ingredients and then each kid makes their own dinner and then they take that home to feed their families,” Mulford said. During each class, the Epic-Cure instructor prepares a separate dish which they all share at the end of class and talk about the food and the experience.

The organization is constantly looking at ways they can resource food, especially in areas where there is consistent food waste. Currently, Epic-Cure is working with trucking companies that deliver to grocery stores but have their deliveries rejected for one reason or another. In some cases, the product is returned to the distributors, but more often than not, those truckloads of food are dumped. Like trash. Truck drivers now deliver those loads to Epic-Cure and other organizations. Just a couple of weeks ago, Mulford and her team received a rejected load of 937 cases of “beautiful” cut fruit.

“We're really trying to make that connection,” Mulford said, “because this is a time when we can’t afford to not be making use of every resource we have.”

Just that one day I visited the warehouse, they received 2,000 pounds of meat and stacks of boxes of fruit and produce from five distributors that would have been thrown in the trash if it weren’t for organizations like Epic-Cure.

For more information on Epic-Cure including volunteer opportunities and other ways to support the organization, visit epic-cure.org

I wanted to reach out about communication. My husband and I recently seem to have some issues with communicating and the willingness to give in during the argument. I seem to normally always just give in to end the argument, but more and more I am starting to stand up and hold my ground. He seems to never be wrong and is unwilling to discuss it. After the argument, he tries to pretend like nothing happened and act all perfect. Is this normal? I don’t want to continue the argument, but I also just don’t want to think that every argument can just be blown off.

Thanks for your time!

Candace

TERRY: I feel ya, Candace. I actually think we’re qualified to help here.

SHARI: Yes, we’ve had our share of communication trouble, Candace.

TERRY: Well, Shari has. It’s hard to communicate with somebody who believes they’re never wrong. That being said, I think you’re headed in the right direction by finally holding your ground. It may be uncomfortable for you to do and even more so for him to see. I can only hope that you’re remaining calm while doing so.

SHARI: I’m rarely wrong; it’s true.

TERRY: The sad truth is that’s an honest statement. I have learned though over the years to dig in on what’s really important to me. In fact, I will even tell Shari, “I really need you to listen to me on this one.”

SHARI: Yes, when it’s in a calm voice it gets my attention. No one reacts well to being yelled at.

TERRY: So, Candace, that’s what I believe you should do and continue to do. This will show him a different side and open the door for a way to resolve any further miscommunication.

SHARI: But save it for the really important stuff. And it’s normal to act like nothing happened afterward. I do that just because I don’t like dwelling on the negative. I know it comes across as insensitive, but it’s how I roll.

TERRY: And I have learned to enjoy the dropping of the subject. To me it means we’ve both come to the realization that it just wasn’t that important, and we’ve lived to argue another day.