Inweekly July 22 2021 Issue

A Special Feature Showcasing Words and Images by Inweekly Readers

Independent News | July 22, 2021 | Volume 22 | Number 29 | Photo by Jimmy Warr

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winners & losers

outtakes

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news 6

Creativity itself, I think, will ultimately help people to get past it.

feature story

buzz 8

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contact us info@inweekly.net

publisher Rick Outzen

graphic designer Tim Bednarczyk

editor & creative director Joani Delezen

contributing writers Gina Castro, Savannah Evanoff, Jennifer Leigh, Jeremy Morrison, Sydney Robinson, C.S. Satterwhite

a&e 15

Independent News is published by Inweekly Media, Inc., P.O. Box 12082, Pensacola, FL 32591. (850)438-8115. All materials published in Independent News are copyrighted. © 2018 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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July 22, 2021

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winners & losers

John & Jerre Peacock / Courtesy Photo

winners JOHN & JERRE PEACOCK The couple made a $25,000 donation to Gulf Coast Kid's House to further its mission of ending child abuse and healing families impacted by abuse. The Peacock family has supported the charity through personal donations as well as proceeds from the Panhandle Charitable Open Golf Tournament, donating nearly $350,000 to the GCKH in the last 13 years. GCKH has named its Child Protection Team wing in honor of the Peacock family.

The Child Protection Team provides forensic and medical interviews to victims of child abuse and neglect in our community.

KATIE SPEAR Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Katie Spear to the Board of Optometry. She is a licensed optometrist and owner of The Visual Performance Center.

Spear is a member of the Florida Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association and is a past co-editor of Women in Optometry. She earned her bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences from Auburn University, master's degree in public health and doctorate of optometry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her juris doctor from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. ZACH MCKEEHAN Cmdr. Meredith

Schley relieved Cmdr. McKeehan as commanding officer of Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) Corry Station in a Change of Command Ceremony on Thursday, July 8. McKeehan was presented with the Meritorious Service Medal. As cited in the award, McKeehan led the largest command in Information Warfare Training Domain. IWTC Corry Station has a staff of over 300 and is responsible for the development and training of a daily average of 2,450 students across 36 courses of instruction.

OBAMACARE Florida continues to lead

the nation in the number of new people enrolling in Obamacare health plans during a special enrollment period that began earlier this year, according to data released by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. With 413,409 Floridians enrolling, the Sunshine State accounted for 27% of the selections made nationwide, the data shows.

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Matt Gaetz / gaetz.house.gov

losers MATT GAETZ Our congressman is now

making videos for #FreeBritney rallies.

Sigh, Gaetz will do anything to avoid facing Northwest Florida voters. What's up next— infomercials for SuperBeets?

ANTI-RIOT LAW Gov. Ron DeSantis made the "anti-riot" bill (HB 1) his top priority for the 2021 Legislative Session. The law granted civil legal immunity to people who drive through protesters blocking a road and made blocking a highway a felony offense. Last week, protestors calling for the U.S. to help demonstrators in Cuba blocked roads the Palmetto Expressway in Miami, Dale Mabry Highway outside Tampa and Semoran Boulevard outside Orlando, forcing the governor and law enforcement to make politically tough decisions. How could DeSantis criticize the Cuban government for arresting demonstrators when his law calls for Cuban-American protestors to be arrested in his state?

TUCKER CARLSON In one of his books,

the Fox News host blamed his ex-teacher— who he named as Mrs. Raymond—for his long-running hatred of liberals, writing that she was "a parody of earth-mother liberalism" who "wore long Indian-print skirts" and was so bad at teaching that his father was forced to hire a private tutor for him. The Washington Post contacted Mrs. Marianna Raymond, who wasn't wearing Indian skirts or ever sharing her politics in class. Raymond did confirm that Carlson's father hired a tutor for him—but she was that tutor.

ROY MOORE U.S. District Court John P. Cronan tossed a $95 million lawsuit filed

by Moore and his wife Kayla against Sacha Baron Cohen for defamation and emotional distress. In his 2018 series "Who is America?" Cohen duped Moore by posing as a counterterrorism expert whose alarm would beep if it was near a pedophile. It beeped over Moore, who has faced numerous allegations of sexual impropriety with minors. The judge found Moore had signed an "unambiguous" waiver before appearing on the show, and the show also had First Amendment protections. inweekly.net

outtakes

By Rick Outzen

WRITTEN OUT Somehow, T.T. Wentworth Jr. became the authority of Pensacola's history after the Civil War, tainting how many view the town. When I talked with Dr. Jamin Wells, the UWF professor who led the research of Wentworth and his role in Pensacola's Ku Klux Klan, he spoke about how Wentworth shaped Pensacola's views of the city.

"He started to write history as a Klansman," Wells told me. "He was given directions by an editor of the national Klan's magazine on how to write history.

He started collecting and sharing historical artifacts while he was in the Klan. And that use of history to shape a town, that was formed during his Klan experience."

Wentworth decided what was included and wrote out of history the people and events that didn't coincide with his views.

I know what it's like to have family written out of a narrative.

Two years ago, I visited the Museum of Mississippi History and its section devoted to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the most destructive river flood in U.S. history. The section touted the efforts of William Alexander Percy in the rescue efforts but left out another important figure—my great-grandfather, who was the mayor of Greenville, Miss., when the flood struck.

John Aloysius Cannon immigrated with his Irish parents to this country in 1856.

When he was in his mid-20s, he moved to Greenville and was the contractor who built the Mississippi rail line that eventually became part of the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company. He also constructed the levees that held back the mighty Mississippi River when the northern snows melted and raised its levels in the spring.

He married a nice Irish girl, Maggie Shanahan. They had six children—Frank, John Paul, Robert, Timothy, Ann and my grandmother, Margaret, who later married George Lewis Outzen from Earle, Ark. Cannon sold his construction company after 20 years, invested in real estate and held court from his office above the Bank

of Washington County. He was elected to Greenville City Council in 1910, and he served on the city's governing body for the next 16 years. In August 1925, community leaders published a petition in the daily newspaper urging him to run for mayor. He reluctantly accepted the nomination because he would be Greenville's first Roman Catholic mayor in town in the Mississippi Delta, which wouldn't please the Ku Klux Klan.

He pledged, "If elected, City Hall will be free from politics of any sort, and I will serve in the best interest of the entire people of our community."

The phrase "entire people of our community" goaded the Klan, and Mayor Cannon doubled down when he joined protests against a lynching in nearby Clarksdale.

The Klan became determined to make him a one-term mayor.

However, Greenville was booming. The town didn't have the racial tension of other Delta towns. That all changed in 1927 when the Mississippi River began to rise. Mayor Cannon organized work crews to build an additional levee, but the Levee Board commandeered them and put them to work elsewhere. In April, the river breached the Levee Board's defenses.

With of help of the governor, the Klan took control of Greenville away from Mayor Cannon. The National Guard stepped in to maintain order across the entire Mississippi Delta. Many of them were Klansmen. Black families weren't allowed to evacuate and were forced to work long shifts to repair the levees. The flood didn't subside until August. Hundreds of thousands of people had been made homeless and displaced.

Livestock and crops were destroyed.

The Klan blamed my great-grandfather for the tragedy and ran a younger man against him. He lost a bid for a second term and died of a heart attack at his dinner table three months later. Those who put together Mississippi's history of that time wrote him out of the narrative.

How many others have also been forgotten? {in} rick@inweekly.net

Wentworth decided what was included and wrote out of history the people and events that didn't coincide with his views.

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HOW TO DRIVE CHANGE IN CUBA

A street in Havana, Cuba / Photo by Kamira / Shutterstock.com

By Rick Outzen In 2015, Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund organized a trip for 31 business leaders to visit Cuba and explore business opportunities for Northwest Florida.

President Barack Obama had loosened travel restrictions, and businesses were gauging the feasibility of expanding into the Cuban market.

The window of opportunity didn't last long. Two years later, President Donald Trump announced new economic sanctions and tightening the U.S. embargo, killing any hope of local trade with Cuba.

It took four years, but the embargo may have achieved its goal. On Sunday, July 11, people across Cuba took to the streets in their towns to protest the communist government and its failure to protect the population from food, medicine and energy shortages and the coronavirus pandemic.

The media called the demonstrations the largest spontaneous unrest in Cuba since the early years of the revolution when Fidel Castro took over the government.

Thanks to the introduction of 3G phones to Cuba in 2019, people were able to see protests in cities and towns across the island nation without government censorship, driving more Cubans to join their countrymen in demanding change.

The Cuban government arrested protestors and shut down the country's internet. President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed the U.S. for the demonstrations, calling the 66

protestors "vulgar criminals." He said the real cause of the acute food shortages and failing economy was the U.S. embargo.

In this country, Republican leaders urged President Joe Biden not to loosen economic sanctions placed on Cuba, seeing the removal would only help the communist government stay in power. Gov. Ron DeSantis requested President Biden to use technology to provide internet access to the Cuban people.

Pensacola resident Stephen Reyes sees the protests in Cuba differently from some political leaders. The Saltmarsh partner helped organize the 2015 tour. His father was born and raised in Cuba and came to the U.S. in the '60s. Reyes has traveled to Cuba several times, under the foreign policies of both Obama and Trump. He saw capitalism begin to grow during the Obama years.

When Obama relaxed sanctions, Reyes saw changes in Cuba. When Americans began to travel to the island, Cubans saw the opportunity to do business with the tourists. People demanded changes, and the government changed its rules to allow them access to the tourism market.

"And I think that was a direct change we saw in their government from our relaxing of the embargo," said Reyes. "And I think that is a great example of how we can impact change in the government of Cuba, by example and by sharing, not by strangling the country with the embargo."

He continued, "The people will demand the change—that's to see change, by allowing the people to demand the change that

they want to see and not by forcing it from an outside government."

Reyes told Inweekly that he saw small businesses created—"We saw individuals being entrepreneurial about what they were doing with their lives and being able to have their own fields for the first time in Cuba. It was a great thing."

When Trump tightened sanctions, the cottage capitalism movement died. Reyes said, "It all went away in almost an instant.

And so it's actually so much sadder, in my opinion, now than it was before, because before, they didn't have it and they didn't miss it. But we gave them a taste of it, and then we took it away, and that's really hard for me to see."

He views the protests as more about the failing economy than people wanting to overthrow their leaders. Part of the reason is Cubans have only known communism.

"They don't have a great understanding of any other way of life, so it's not specifically against communism in general," said Reyes. "They certainly blame the leader, just like any other country does. We do the same thing. When we have hard times, we want to see a change in administration.

Well, there is some reflection of that in the protest. But really, the protests are about their lack of access to basic needs."

He explained, "They need medicine; they need food; they need fuel for their vehicles so they can get to work. They need all the things that all of us need, as well. And with the shortage or the almost complete elimination of these items or availability of supplies,

that drives them to this protest. And that is the inhumane way we're trying to make a change in that government—by strangling the government, we're strangling the people."

Reyes disagreed with a foreign policy that tries to create a change in government by hurting the people so severely that the citizens will be upset with their government.

"I think the much more effective approach is sharing with them," he told Inweekly. "When we're open and we share and we show them what we have, and we give them an opportunity to do it, the people force change in their government, as well, and that's the better way."

Reyes admitted that Cuban Americans, including his family, have been divided over the lifting of the embargo.

"My father, I was fortunate enough to take him back to Cuba to see his family home about six months before he passed away," he shared. "At that time, he had been a proponent of the embargo because his family all fled. They lost everything they had in Cuba and had to restart."

He continued, "But by the time he visited Cuba, at that point, he had recognized that what he had done has not worked for 60 years, and it's time to do something new. He had concluded that the embargo is not working, and it was time to change that process. It didn't indicate support for Castro or happiness with the communist government or anything like that. It was simply a recognition that it wasn't working."

Reyes still talks to family members in Cuba weekly, but it has gotten more challenging to help them.

"I have to go through the black market to message and send money in any way now, which essentially amounts to you pay some guy in Miami, who has a guy in Cuba, who has the money that you pay a guy in Miami a hundred bucks, and then his friend in Cuba will take $50 and drop it off at your family's house," he said. "And there's just terrible ways to try to get help to family and friends inside that country, as opposed to the old ways when we could transfer it legally."

When asked what he would like to see happen next in U.S.-Cuban relations, Reyes didn't hesitate—"Reverse the embargo.

Let's start having trade and start engaging with the people there."

Reyes understands lifting sanctions might strengthen the Cuban government to some extent, giving leaders "some more power with the fact that there is some commerce." He said, "But ultimately, the people will drive the change in their country. It's their country; it's not our country.

It's their country, and they've got to drive the change that they want to see."

Reyes added, "If we provide them the opportunity, they will take the opportunity. If there's one thing you can say about the Cuban people, they're incredibly resourceful." {in} inweekly.net

It only takes one person to slash the statistics.

Did you know that 1 in 10 children Escambia County are victims of child abuse? It’s time to change that number. Visit KnowChildAbuse.org to learn to recognize, report and reduce child abuse.

July 22, 2021

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David Stafford / Photo Courtesy of Escambia County

REDISTRICTING Escambia County

Supervisor of Elections David Stafford told the Board of County Commissioners that his office has yet to receive the 2020 census data due to the census being completed late. The data is integral to redrawing county district boundaries.

At the Committee of the Whole on Thursday, July 15, Stafford said, "The data that will be used by local governments across the state and country will not be released initially until the end of September.

What we've learned subsequently is that is the kind of the nice, fully flushed out, public access, public interface reports, but the actual raw data will be available midAugust, according to the last information that the Census Bureau has told us."

His staff will enter the data into their software, and he should be able to discuss the impact of the current districts in September. In 2010, the census showed Escambia County had only grown 1%. However, Stafford expects the growth to be around 8%. If that holds, the districts will average about 64,500 voters people each.

He pointed out that redistricting is based on population, not registered voters.

Stafford said that the school board and BCC don't have to have the same district boundaries, but he has encouraged the two governing bodies to use the same boundar88

ies to avoid confusion among voters.

The district lines have to be drawn in an odd year, according to Florida statute. Stafford added, "The calendar right now is not your friend."

Commission Robert Bender asked, "The people throughout the country, throughout the state, are being able to meet that deadline. So do you think that we can meet that deadline as well?

The election supervisor replied, "We're ready, willing and able. If that's the board's direction and if they want us to help them, we'll be able to facilitate (the process)."

Commissioner Jeff Bergosh expressed concern that the board may not have time to complete the redistricting by Dec. 31, 2021, and suggested it need to happen in 2023. When he served on the school board in 2011, it took redistricting took six months, requiring multiple public meetings between the commission and school board.

He said, "From my perspective, the law says we can't do it, but in an odd year, but it doesn't say we shall do it in the first odd year."

Commissioner Doug Underhill said, "I do believe that this is a duty of this board to do it this year, although certainly there is wiggle room not to do it this year. The clear intent, I think, of the legislation is that it would be done in the odd number year following the census."

Underhill said he wanted to draw the lines based on population and then consider equities. He hinted that he would like to see Pensacola Beach moved to District 2 and out of District 4.

When pressed by Underhill, Stafford said that if the data is delivered as the federal government has said, he might be able to provide data to the BCC by the Committee of the Whole on Sept. 9, but he made it clear that it's a board decision to put it on the agenda.

Commissioner Steven Barry said he would like to complete the process by Dec. 31, if possible. He asked that County At-

torney Alison Rogers work up a schedule with that deadline in mind. Rogers said she would provide a proposed timeline for redistricting at the board's meeting on Thursday, July 22.

WAHOOS HERE FOR 10 The Pensac-

ola Blue Wahoos will be in Pensacola for another decade, thanks to the Pensacola City Council's approval of an agreement to make $2 million worth of upgrades and repairs at the city's Blue Wahoos Stadium at the Community Maritime Park.

The upgrades—mandated by Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins, the Blue Wahoos' affiliate—include artificial turf, LED stadium lights and new bullpens.

The team will pay for the work, and the Community Redevelopment Agency will reimburse the Blue Wahoos.

At his Monday, July 12 presser, Mayor Grover Robinson said a portion of the funds would come from planned improvements to Reus Street, delaying that project for two years.

IT TOOK THREE DECADES The city's

CRA also approved developer Bob Montgomery's plans to build 208 rental apartment units and townhome-style units on the Hawkshaw property on South Ninth Avenue, near Veterans Memorial Park. Montgomery has until March 2022 to begin construction.

The city council first talked about selling the land in 1995 and tried again in 2004. In 2007, Avalex partnered with AppRiver on a proposal to buy the site, but the council voted to sell the land to a development group headed by Jim Reeves and Jim Moulton.

Then, the real estate recession hit, and the developers gave it back to the city.

The city council put requests for proposals in 2016 and rejected them.

Renowned design firm Urban Design Associates was brought to Pensacola to hold public input sessions to gather ideas to help guide the draft for the next RFP. In 2017, Montgomery successfully persuaded city leaders to sell him the property, only to have his plans derailed when it was discovered the city had unrecorded water utility pipes along Ninth Avenue. The developer had to drop retail and restaurant spaces from his final project.

Development in the city of Pensacola is never easy.

BED TAX WOES Escambia County Clerk of Courts Pam Childers tried to deliver to the Board of County Commissioners her monthly report on Tourist Development (also known as bed tax) on Thursday, July 8, but Commissioner Jeff Bergosh wanted to know more about how the clerk was handling collections from Airbnb and VRBO renters.

The question gave the public a rare view

inside the clerk's operations. Childers revealed her office has over 200 delinquent accounts, many involving the fifth cent tax that started in April. The BCC passed the fifth cent in October 2020, giving the clerk nearly six months to get out the word to renters.

Apparently, it hasn't worked. Childers said the management of the two rental services, Airbnb and VRBO, had refused to start collecting the fifth cent on rentals for the summer that were booked in January, February and March.

"So we sent out letters to owners and agencies that said you are still responsible; here's your date—which is why we're having so much follow-up now," said the clerk.

"So is there confusion? Yes, because those were booked back in January, February, and Airbnb did not change their website for Escambia County until the day—at least, that's what they kept saying to us."

Childers said her office had sent out 186 letters about collection issues last week and had identified another 130. She said, "It's pretty robust as far as a review right now on all these accounts."

Commissioner Lumon May asked whether the clerk could provide a list of delinquent renters, including hotels. The clerk said that state law prevents her from doing it.

"I can tell you that I can go to their hotel, and I can put pink slips on every window," said Childers. "That has been the threat in our past year. If you don't get it current—because we're not talking $1,000 and $2,000; we're talking $15,000, $30,000—I will go out there and personally put a pink slip on every window because that is allowed."

She continued. "That is my public stand of who you will know, but no, I cannot share that information with you. I will tell you that we are pretty current."

UNFORGIVEN INDICTED Last week, Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann announced the unsealing of an indictment charging 16 members of Unforgiven with violent crimes in aid of racketeering.

According to the indictment, Unforgiven is "a racketeering enterprise engaged in acts of murder, violence, kidnapping, robbery, obstruction of justice and other offenses."

The indictment also alleges that the white supremacist group used "corrupt law enforcement officers and state employees" to gather information about people, investigations and prosecutions and to smuggle contraband to incarcerated inmates.

Among the defendants are Maverick Maher, aka Saxon, 39, of Pensacola; George Andrews, II, aka Shrek, 51, of Pensacola; and Brandon Welch, aka Scumbag, 34, of Milton.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed inweekly.net

one or more violations of federal criminal law. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

WILKINS TO RETIRE At his Monday, July 12, presser, Mayor Grover Robinson announced City Administrator Keith Wilkins' retirement, effective Dec. 12.

"This is something that we knew was going to be happening," he said after reading a letter he sent to city employees on Friday, July 9. "But I did, at least, want to let everybody know that Keith will be leaving, and we will be moving forward with a new city administrator starting with the first of the fiscal year."

In a letter to city staff, the mayor wrote, "I'd like to thank Keith for his service to the city and the community and, most importantly, for his friendship over the past 20 years. He has had a tremendous influence on the improvement of Pensacola, Escambia County and Northwest Florida over that time."

Wilkins will continue in an advisory role from Oct. 1-Dec. 17. The mayor added, acknowledging this administrator's service, "We may not see you as much, but we certainly appreciate the time you put in here as administrator.

"There's no doubt from the beginning– dealing with the shooting in NAS and the cyberattack to going through COVID-19– that there were a lot of things we went through in your tenure, and we appreciate what you've been able to help us get through that."

The mayor didn't announce how he will handle choosing Wilkins' replacement, but he shared with Inweekly he planned to do so before the end of July.

PNJ WINS The Pensacola News Journal won 21 awards at the 2021 Florida Society of News Editors competition. The Gannett daily received a gold medal for Community Leadership for its work to help readers

July 22, 2021

receive FEMA individual assistance grants after Hurricane Sally.

Reporter Jim Little won first place awards for his investigation into Streamline Boats coming to the Port of Pensacola and his reporting on historian Tom Garner's discovery of T.T. Wentworth's ties to the Ku Klux Klan. The Pensacola City Council eventually approved a lease agreement with the boat manufacturer. The University of West Florida led the charge to change the name of the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum to the Pensacola Museum of History at the University of West Florida.

NAVY LEAGUE The Pensacola Navy

League will award Capt. Kinsella, commanding officer of NAS Pensacola, the prestigious NLUS John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28, at the Pensacola Country Club. Reservations are required for this limited seating luncheon by contacting pensacolanavyleague.org.

STRESS & TRAUMA Quint Studer,

founder of the Studer Community Institute, will give a fresh look at stress and trauma and tools to help measure an individual's well-being as well as an organization's at the next CivicCon, 6-7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 26, at The Rex Theatre, 18 N. Palafox. To register, visit bit.ly/3B7tvqh.

So many leaders, employees and entire organizations are struggling these days.

They are dealing with COVID-19 and all the changes and economic pressures it has caused. They are also navigating other upheavals like massive advances in the use of artificial intelligence, political divisiveness, an increased focus on racial justice and diversity and just the velocity of change in nearly every facet of life.

Studer will share how trauma is fundamentally different from stress. While stress upsets our balance at the moment, we can get through it and move on with our

lives. Trauma sends us into survival mode.

It makes us feel that our life, or at least our livelihood, is threatened, and it changes how we look at the world.

There are things everyone needs to know and steps that can be taken for what happens after trauma is experienced. This session is a chance to learn some of those steps and to help recognize when trauma is in your life and help is needed.

FEMA HELPS SANTA ROSA FEMA has approved a grant of $2,830,737 to help Santa Rosa County improve the Metron Estates Subdivision drainage basin in Pace during a storm.

Funding from FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) was approved in response to a proposal by the county after Hurricane Irma in 2017. The grant covers improvements to the local stormwater conveyance system, including expansion of two existing stormwater ponds, construction of a new stormwater pond and installing a stormwater pump station and pipeline to recover rainfall that flows over paved surfaces.

The HMGP is a vital source of federal disaster assistance. Program funding may become available after the president declares a major disaster, with the goal of strengthening communities by improving buildings and critical infrastructure. A 2018 report by the National Institute of Building Sciences found that $1 spent on hazard mitigation saves more than $6 of recovery and rebuilding costs.

DEO GRANTS The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announced grant awards totaling more than $3.5 million in Northwest Florida, thanks to funding from the Biden administration.

Grant funding will be used to improve infrastructure, community redevelopment and job creation in small and rural communities. Statewide, DEO awarded grants

totaling more than $30 million in small and rural Florida throughout the state.

"Florida's rural communities are vital to the wellbeing and prosperity of our state, and my administration is committed to helping them thrive," said Governor Ron DeSantis in a written statement.

The Florida Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program, administered by DEO and funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provides funding for housing and community development activities that primarily benefit persons of low and moderate income in small cities and rural communities.

The Town of Century received $700,000 to upgrade a sewage treatment plant serving three low- and moderateincome service areas. All three areas will benefit from the installation of new pumps, electrical and plumbing and a new monitoring system and infiltration controls.

Santa Rosa County received $750,000 to install a new 6-inch waterline in two residential neighborhoods, Barbarossa and New Hope in Midway, to improve water pressure and provide fire protection in lowand moderate-income service areas.

The Community Planning Technical Assistance grant program seeks to build stronger communities through innovative planning and development strategies to promote economic diversity, protect environmentally sensitive areas and bolster resiliency planning.

The City of Pensacola received $40,000 to prepare a Master Transportation Plan, and the Town of Jay received $40,000 to update land development regulations based on Florida state statutes and Santa Rosa County restrictions.

The Town of Century received a $35,000 Competitive Florida Partnership grant to fund the development of an economic strategy through innovative planning, which focuses on economic growth, diversity, community design and disaster preparedness. {in}

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inweekly.net

Ballpoint drawing by Val Webb

A Special Feature Showcasing Words and Images by Inweekly Readers

July 22, 2021

When we started accepting submissions in June for our second By You issue, we very quickly noticed a pattern—creativity.

Last summer, we got a lot of politically charged op-eds and essays. But this time around, most of the submissions were poetry, short stories and photography.

And we honestly really loved it.

Most of these pieces are so different from anything we normally write, publish or read even here at Inweekly, that working on this issue kind of felt like a vacation for us. We hope that vibe translates for you, too, and that you enjoy this little break—and maybe even feel inspired to do something creative yourself after reading it. {in}

11

Flying Model Airplanes

By Eric St. Pierre

It was 1987. Some of 1986 and '88.

Sundays. They had to be midday Sundays because most of the men who gathered at the old airfield in Pensacola were churchgoers. It was summer, sometimes spring.

Swarms of gnats haloed my tender head every so often. Forehead sweat dampened my eyebrows. I chased crickets through freshly trimmed grass. I wore short shorts that I wasn't yet old enough to be embarrassed by. My shirt was thin and blue with an airplane on it. Sometimes it was green with a faded dinosaur print.

The men were of all ages. Some of them younger than I am now as I write this.

Some of them were old enough to have dark spots on their arms and white hair on their heads; the breeze always kind in the heat of a cloudless day jostled their whiteness about. Bushy eyebrows raised.

Coffee all day. Men slapping each other on the backs and laughing about things that evaded my understanding. I was quiet most of those days and simply took things in, mostly smiling behind closed, plump, lollipop-red lips.

The men who gathered at the airfield were remote control model airplane hobbyists. Some of them had been fighter pilots like my grandfather. Some of them had never left the ground but enjoyed the acrobatics and camaraderie of the hobby. I always wanted to fly the models myself but was not allowed. Some of them cost hundreds of dollars and took dozens of hours to build. Both time and dollars seemed to have much more value back then.

Since I was not allowed to fly, I entertained myself with my imagination. I thought I had superpowers. I would gaze for hours into the sky as winged machines loop de looped and did dogfighting. During long looks at the aerial dancing machines, always eventually my eyes would pulsate to the beat of my heart, resulting in a moving distortion of my field of vision. I thought I was shooting lasers out of my eyes like Cyclops from the X-Men. In reality, my tiny eyes were being damaged. I wear corrective lenses to this day. I didn't have superpowers, but my grandfather did.

Those days were spent with Papa watching him fly the model airplanes he built by hand. I didn't know it at the time, but he was quite a craftsman and built machines that the other men in his hobbyist group peered over with wonder and sometimes a tinge of envy.

His superpowers didn't simply manifest in his skills as a radio control pilot or craftsman. He had an uncanny power to make me feel okay, to make me feel accepted. This power was fully charged in his ability to notice when I was down or dejected and to speak to me like a person instead of a problem.

It was one spring Sunday in particular.

I chased no crickets and smiled no smiles.

Some destabilizing domestic event had 212 1

kept my parents up all night fighting. That meant I stayed up all night, too. I held my urine until morning for fear of becoming a target of my father's anger. There I sat in freshly trimmed grass as it poked my thighs, a pain in my belly. I was afraid still and that fear had immobilized me. It had shut me up further inside my body.

I had turned down a hamburger and coke. I turned down offers to go back to the van and listen to my Ray Stevens comedy tape, which was one of my favorite things.

Nothing nudged me. Despair had crippled my skinny legs and muted my little boy voice. With a shake of my head, I told Papa I did not want to watch the planes take off.

"You're going to miss out on flying for the first time." Papa had two radio controls in his hands and offered one to me.

My teeth shone brightly from my face.

My legs sprung up and sent me into the air.

I squinted and looked up at the beautiful silver box with all its joysticks and buttons for controlling mysterious things like ailerons and fuselages.

Shortly thereafter, I was shooting at his plane with my eye lasers and loop de looping my own plane to escape his.

Viciously, I mashed the buttons and flicked the switches of the magic silver box. (In reality, my radio did not work, and one of Papa's buddies flew the model airplane from behind.)

That day was one of the happiest days of my life.

On Monday, February 15th, 2021, I got a call from my sobbing sister telling me she had awful news—our Papa was in a coma in a hospital in New York and was not coming home. He died the next morning.

A few months ago, he and I spoke on the phone. He said that things did not turn out okay; there were too many things to worry about and he didn't have enough time left in this life to fix his problems. His son and daughter, my uncle and mother respectively, were not on speaking terms with each other nor with him. Their lives had turned chaotic. I assured him that things would not be as bad as they might be now.

I assured him that my siblings and I would take care of our mother. He confessed that he never worried about me and always knew I would be okay. His tears brought a speedy end to the conversation.

Last December, not long after that conversation, my mother decided to leave her abusive husband. A couple of weeks after returning to Florida, she made amends with her brother and my Papa.

The last time I spoke with my grandfather, he was happy and at ease. Tears ended the conversation for a different reason that time.

Ralph Pellizzeri was by anyone's definition a good man. While I did not inherit his passion for flight, I do hope that his abilities to love fully and to lighten a person's load have rubbed off on me.

The House on Blossom Street is Haunted

By Ryan Holtzen

Springtime spirits stomp around upstairs celebrating Christmas Eve all year. From time to time, they clog the bathtub drain with hair or walk through the living room with mascara stamped against their cheeks. They are cold forever, so they wrestle themselves to sleep every night, expecting Santa to crawl through the chimney, deliver a death certificate, and bury them in the front yard—in the sunken plot of earth. The State Office of Vital Statistics plants seeds everywhere it goes. Blossom

house will be taken by dandelions in no time. The scratches in the walls will turn to lilac, and the shadows will leave bergamot instead of candy wrappers. Come Easter, kudzu claims the fence and clovers take the patio. Everyone alive looks for the lucky ones, makes wishes with the weeds and tea with the fruity bloom of warmer weather. The house will turn green, and everyone inside will learn to drink sunlight like orange juice, rocking away forever in the wooden chair on the back porch.

Big Padre

By Tricia Kruse Jorge's girlfriend knew he cherished his job working with the animalitos, but taking the job to feed Big Padre … now, that went too far. Big Padre was a 13-foot American Alligator who was relocated to the sanctuary from Port Arthur because he got "too friendly" with a fisherman. She begged Jorge not to take the job and just be happy to stay inside with the snakes and the turtles. He wouldn't listen.

"They don't pay you enough to lose a hand!" she yelled.

"I'll get a promotion!" he argued. "I'll get to work with Havier," he pleaded. Havier being the Naturalist Educator and all-around cool guy who everyone loved there at the San Padre Island Bird and Nature Center.

"Let Havier do it! He can afford to lose a hand! He gets paid for his brains."

He took offense to that and she apologized. Still, it was the truth. Havier was second generation here in San Padre. And rich. Jorge had just come over the border. No degree, papers, nothing. He needed all the appendages he could hold on to.

Throwing scraps of pork chops and chicken to that dinosaur didn't seem like a dream job to her, but he was happy and enjoyed his work. He was even filmed one day during the 11:00 a.m. feeding. The city was doing a commercial to

entice more visitors. She wondered, why would they want to come to see an alligator? The beaches, yes. Turtles, OK. But an alligator?

She came early that day to pick him up. The one car situation was getting old, but she would be done with her classes in the fall and then go to work full-time. Then, maybe, things would be different.

It was a Friday and they were going to sit on the beach after work with their bucket of fried chicken and two beers.

If they wanted to add a little more spice, they would sneak onto the deck of the Hilton and dance to the live band that played every Friday. On other nights, the dunes provided a romantic hideaway.

She saw Jorge first. He was scrubbing Big Padre with a boat brush. Supposedly, the monster liked it, but his hissing made her think otherwise. Big Padre opened his mouth and just as Jorge threw in the chicken, Big Padre lunged toward Jorge. She screamed. The tourists reflexively gasped and startled backwards. Jorge just looked up and smiled as Big Padre slammed his mouth shut with a thunderous pop and backed away.

It was in that moment that she knew she loved Jorge.

I wonder if I can get him to make a sound when I feed him chicken tonight, she thought?

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Eternally and Invariably

By Sarah Jane Brock As though I've been blindly searching my whole life For a place in the sky to return to Seemingly divine in its design Drawing me deeper into the thrilling pursuit As though my soul has burst into flames Ignited by a spark out of the blue From the void came one of the same vein Now so tangled up in the infinite new As though I've always known this truth The timeline distortion so desperately sought By the lightning strike scars of youth Suddenly healed, with false lessons untaught As though I've found the way to grow Past the fluorescent sunrise and into the light Angel flesh and feathers grow, as above so below My whole world suddenly takes flight

Photo of D’Angelo Hoy by Hunter Morrison

As though it's eternally and invariably you I'm finally ready to see this journey through Leaping like a fool into what is undeniably true Resistance falls away to love renewed

A box of Stamps

By Andrew Corbit K I picture her riding the subway, listening to our songs She's in a cafe, ordering coffee and water I see her in her room, talking to her cat

I see her everyday, behind a desk with a box of stamps I see her everyday, walking towards the front door with the mail in her hand I see her everyday, behind my closed eyes smiling

No matter what I've done, I see her everyday She loves me still, I don't know how

I see her everyday, she is the rising moon The setting sun

My only wish, for the rest of my life

Is to see her everyday

Photo of Alex Burns by Nelly Arnett

ambassador

By Ja'Qaylin Harrison

they needed to see things so they nominated me to be their binoculars. they needed to feel things. so they made me the endings on the nerves of their skin. they needed to taste things. so they gave me a fork and a plate and sent me out into the world. they needed to hear things. so they erased their own ears and glued me to their auditory cortex. they needed to sense and know things, big things. so they attached me, with caution, to their glabella. and that's how i came to be the ambassador of my family.

July 22, 2021

Photo By Charles Houston 13

By Kandace Lee

Yet to Rot

the house burned down to ashes my brother's razor blade left gashes I don't know how to access the part of my brain that gives me happiness broken now, upside down lungs deep beneath the ground new born, legs weak stopped growing now futures bleak tell me when it's time to speak like a dog, you kicked around domestic now with no love found lonely and cold is how you left me, no sense of self or what there could be around the bend if I were to just stay but staying warns a weary heart of all that shit that has yet to rot

Photo by Jacob Warye

414 1

America Answers, January 6, 2021

By Patricia Taylor Edmisten Wounded, my vision, that imagined goodness and abundance for my people.

Wounded, my mouth, that spoke the truth and treated all people with respect.

Wounded, my arms, that embraced the poor, the infirm, the sidelined.

Wounded, my hands, that offered comfort, solace, blessings.

Wounded, my spine, that stood tall, strong and proud among nations.

Wounded, my legs, the firmament upon which I have stood in the face of betrayal, evil and defilement.

Wounded, my feet, that have carried me victorious through wars and mayhem.

Wounded, my soul, the spirit of America, its promise and hope for the future.

But my eyes will open again; my vision will return.

My mouth will speak the truth on behalf of justice.

My arms and hands will enfold our poor and those who long to "breathe free." * My spine will be erect, a match for any marauder.

My legs will win this race and my soul will swell again as democracy prevails. *Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"

Photo by Sean Mullins / Pensacola Vibes

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WEEK OF JULY 22-28

Arts & Entertainment art, film, music, stage, books and other signs of civilization...

Childlike Creativity on Display

By Savannah Evanoff

Eniko Ujj and Cat Gambel / Courtesy Photo

Eniko Ujj and Cat Gambel can hardly think of a better time to embrace your inner child than in a world that just experienced the mass trauma called COVID-19.

It's why the two Pensacola artists put out a rare call-out for artwork that community members created during childhood for their upcoming pop-up exhibit, "Where We Are Not." The result of that call-out is an eclectic gumbo of strange ceramics, odd drawings and watercolor weirdness from the unencumbered minds of children.

Ujj and Gambel met in early spring and have been collaborating ever since. They came up with the concept while working on ceramic projects.

"We spent a lot of time talking while we were working about our interests and our project ideas and began discussing the art we created as children, partially because, as children, we created in a more uninhibited way," Ujj said. "I shared my bizarre July 22, 2021

ceramic legless guinea pig creation that I made when I was 7. It had a huge grin and a tiny guinea pig on his back. We just thought it was such a neat concept."

Together, they hashed out a show that would not only display community members' childhood artwork but also works created by local artists based on that adolescent artwork.

Ujj's guinea pig masterpiece, along with her newly created sculptural installation about the topic of safe spaces, will be featured in the exhibit.

The theme is based on the idea of a paracosm, Gambel said, which is an intensely detailed imaginary world that begins in childhood.

"We invited artists to come in and think about their own imaginary worlds from childhood and look back on their own adolescence, and respond to these works," Gambel said. "We were really interested in revisiting the site of imagination of child-

hood—particularly as we're thinking about being in the home after COVID and maybe being distanced from family members— and imaginary worlds as ways of coping with trauma or isolation in particular."

The exhibit will feature artists John Dougherty, Poppy Garcia, Meaghan Gates, Kenneth H Jordan II, Yvonne Christine, Mia McCann, Kyle Miller, Paul Myers and Ujj. Opening night this Saturday, July 24, will also feature ambient and experimental music from Ian Be and Doug Stanford created specifically for the event.

Everyone was excited about the concept and about sharing the paracosm they came up with as children, Ujj said. They reacted strongly to the childhood work as well, she said.

"We had a meeting where we invited the artists to come to a small showing of the childhood work selected, where everyone started generating ideas and collaborating and talking," Ujj said.

Oftentimes, along with the childhood art came a story.

"We have some ceramic pieces, just some really unusual stuff, like a ceramic girl wrapped up in a rug, and we had a story around that and why that was created by someone who was 7," Ujj said. "So we have all these kind of little anecdotes that came out of the collection of the childhood art as well."

The venue is a private home in North Hill, Gambel said.

"The fact that it's a private home and not in a big event space fits with this concept of the show, this idea of our childhood imagining from the home and the sense of dwelling," Gambel said. "We've been really inspired by the creative ways in which people have developed alternate ways of finding community after COVID, and so we were really kind of excited to showcase the artwork in a private home and kind of turn a home into a public space."

Exhibiting the artwork in an alternative space with such a specific prompt drew many artists to mediums outside of their wheelhouses, too, Ujj said. Miller, an artist who typically does ceramics will create an installation.

Garcia will paint and make an installation.

"It has a very specific prompt, and I think that that was really exciting," Gambel said. "It allowed our artists to kind of create in a new way and explore new mediums because it was such a specific strange prompt that we had."

The exploratory process built connections in a much-needed time, Gambel said.

"We talked with the people who gave us their art from their childhood; we had those connections, and we already have those stories and reminisce with them," Gambel said.

"And then those artworks led us to connect with the artists who are connecting with each other. There's a sense of collaboration around the exhibition, community building."

"Especially coming out of COVID, we were we really wanted to help foster that, sort of revamp the art community again, after we've all been sort of isolated for so long," Ujj added.

The title of the show addresses their feelings around the pandemic. "Where We Are Not" is a line from a French poem from the 1950s by Pierre Jean Jouve. Gambel encountered the phrase in Gaston Bachelard's "The Poetics of Space."

"This book explores this idea of dwelling places and our experiences of home and our imaginings of homes," Gambel said. "And so again, coming out of COVID, it seems particularly apt because we've been sequestered in our homes and interacting with our dwelling places in such a different way and also thinking of all the places where we aren't, essentially 'Where We Are Not.'" The full line from the poem is "Where we are is where we are not," Gambel said, "which also speaks to this idea of dream worlds and interior narratives and imagining other places," Gambel said. "So the title of the show has both a physical and a metaphorical aspect to it as we try to locate ourselves now in relation to each other and the past year and a half. So we really are interacting with COVID through the show as well."

"We want to connect with people because it was such a mass trauma," Ujj said.

"Creativity itself, I think, will ultimately help people to get past it." {in}

WHERE WE ARE NOT

WHAT: A pop-up exhibition featuring work by John Dougherty, Poppy Garcia, Meaghan Gates, Kenneth H Jordan II, Yvonne Christine, Mia McCann, Kyle Miller, Paul Myers and Eniko Ujj WHEN: 5-10 p.m. Saturday, July 24; noon-4 p.m. Sunday, July 25 WHERE: 777 W. Mallory St., Pensacola DETAILS: facebook.com/ events/2032163956938010 15

a&e happenings devices (i.e. SunPass, E-Pass, Annual Pass, NC Quick Pass, Peach Pass, E-ZPass), tolling apps (i.e. PayTollo) or TOLL-BY-PLATE from SunPass.

PENSACOLA BEACH TRAFFIC HOTLINE Residents and visitors can report beach traffic issues via the Pensacola Beach Traffic Hotline at (850) 595-0862 or by emailing traffic@myescambia.com, offered by the Escambia County Transportation and Traffic Operations Division.

NONPROFITS + FUNDRAISERS

CAT AND KITTEN ADOPTIONS Animal

Allies will be at Pet Supermarket, 6857 N. Ninth Ave., in Pensacola on Saturday, July 24, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Everett Animal Welfare Group will be at PetSmart, N. Davis Highway, on July 24 and 31 from noon-4 p.m.

Many cats and kittens will be looking for their fur-ever homes. All cats are up to date on shots and tested negative for leukemia, and adoption fee includes spay or neuter with microchip and flea pill. For more information, visit aaflorida.org.

WAYS TO GET TO PENSACOLA BEACH

The Pensacola Bay Bridge is now open, which is perfect timing for beach season.

Escambia County reminds eager beachgoers of the various ways to get to the beach.

Live Pensacola Beach traffic video and beach conditions are available at myescambia.com.

ECAT BUS Escambia County Area Transit discontinued service for the Route 61 detour across the Garcon Point Bridge with the Pensacola Bay Bridge opening. Normal schedules for Route 61 and Route 64 Beach Jumper will restart.

Note the following schedules: REGULAR SERVICE: •Routes: 1, 2, 32, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 55, 57, 58, 59X, 60, 61 and 64 Beach Jumper MODIFIED ROUTES: •Route 31, 43, and 63: Runs Monday-Saturday, every two hours (Saturday Schedule) •Route 45: Runs Monday-Saturday, only every hour, 6 a.m.-5 p.m.

UWF TROLLEY: •(Summer Schedule) UWF Express Service runs Monday–Saturday Schedules are located on goecat.com and the ECAT Ride guide.

FREE TROLLEY SERVICE The Santa Rosa

Island Authority (SRIA) will have free openair trolley service along Pensacola Beach.

The service runs Monday-Sunday, 4 p.m.midnight, through Labor Day weekend.

FERRY Pensacola Bay Cruises Ferry Service offers daily service, seven days a week, between Downtown Pensacola and Pensacola Beach. Ferry trips last approximately 50 minutes, and all-day free parking is available at each of the departure sites.

DRIVE, BIKE OR WALK OVER THE BOB SIKES BRIDGE When you drive over

the Bob Sikes Bridge to Pensacola Beach, there is an electronic toll in place. Cash and coins are no longer collected in person.

The county encourages motorists to plan ahead and use electronic toll collection

PENSACOLA HUMANE SOCIETY NEIGHBORHOOD COOKOUT The Pet

Resource Center of the Pensacola Humane Society will be holding a Neighborhood Cookout to benefit emergency pet care on Saturday, July 24, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The cookout will be held at Vapor Connection, 2436 Highway 29 in Cantonment. Food will include fried fish and barbecue. All donations will benefit the Pet Resource Center providing services to help people keep pets in their homes and out of shelter facilities.

For more information on the cookout or the Pet Resource Center visit pensacolahumanesociety.org.

LITTER-ALLY OBSESSED WITH GELATO! Meet pets available for adoption from Pensacola Humane Society at Dolce and Gelato on Saturday, July 24, from 5-9 p.m.

Dolce and Gelato is located at 2050 N. 12th Ave. For more information, visit facebook. com/dolcegelatopensacola.

ANIMAL ALLIES KITTEN SHOWER

Animal Allies Florida will be hosting a kitten

shower from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1, at Alyssa's, located at 4586 Chumuckla Highway in Pace. Bring gifts to help sustain the nonprofit during the busy kitten season. A registry of needed items can be found at chewy.com.

SUPPORT CHORAL SOCIETY OF PENSACOLA The Choral Society of Pensacola

is hoping to close its fiscal year, which ends July 31, with a success after a rough 16 months with performances and fundraising events canceled due to COVID. Help support the nonprofit by calling Kelly Ryan at (850) 484-1806 to donate over the phone, online through PayPal or on Facebook at facebook.com/choralsocietyofpensacola, or by mailing a check to 1000 College Blvd.

Rm. 803, Pensacola, FL 32504.

"FRIEND OF FOO" APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN The Foo Foo Festival Com-

mittee is now accepting applications from nonprofit and for-profit entities who are interested in playing a part in this year's events as a "Friend of Foo." Nonprofits in the Pensacola area who recently applied and did not receive a grant for this year's festival but would still like to participate, or local for-profit businesses such as hoteliers, restaurants and bars who are interested in participating and benefitting, are encouraged to apply. To review the application process, visit foofoofest.com.

"Friend of Foo'' participants will receive local, regional and national visibility during the 12-day event via the festival's regional marketing campaign. When applying, entrants should be prepared to provide the name and title of their prospective event; the date, time and location for the event; its respective category; and details and imagery to support the concept. The deadline to submit to be a "Friend of Foo" is Friday, Oct. 1, by noon.

The Pensacola Foo Foo Festival will take place Nov. 4-15, 2021.

CALL TO ARTISTS

POSTER COMPETITION FOR 2021 GREAT GULFCOAST ARTS FESTIVAL IS NOW OPEN The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is accepting submissions to its 2020 poster design competition through

Adoption • Paternity • Dependency/DCF Hearings Prenuptial Agreements • Postnuptial Agreements Divorce • Child Custody and Timesharing Child Support • Child Support Modifications Alimony • Collaborative Divorce • Divorce Mediation • Pre-Suit Family Law Mediation

127 Palafox Place Suite 100 (850)466-3115 autumnbeckblackledge.com 616 1

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a&e happenings Aug. 6. The winning artist receives a $1,000 cash award. The winning design will be featured on posters, T-shirts and other GGAF promotional items for the festival. Posters have become a regional collector's item.

GGAF is a three-day juried art show that draws more than 200 of the nation's best painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers, graphic artists, craftsmen and other artists.

This year's event takes place Nov. 5-7 in Seville Square and Bartram Park.

Competing artists can find the complete list of rules and requirements at ggaf. org/poster.

Entries need to be mailed or delivered to Duncan McCall Advertising, 4400 Bayou Blvd., Ste. 11, Pensacola, FL 32503.

For more information or to contact GGAF, visit ggaf.org.

ARTS & CULTURE

HILL-KELLY MOVIES IN THE PARK The Hill-Kelly Drive-In Movie Series returns to Community Maritime Park Friday, July 23, with Disney's "Wonder Woman 1984."

Bring your blankets and chairs to watch a family-friendly movie underneath the stars. Movies begin at sunset and free event parking is available at Community Maritime Park and City Hall. Concessions are available from local food trucks.

COMING SOON TO PENSACOLA CINEMA ART "Dream Horse" will be

playing on Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24, at 1 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24, at 1 p.m. is the film "Dream Horse."

More information, including links to virtual screenings, is available at pensacolacinemaart.com. All tickets are $8. Reserve your seats by emailing jpncinema@gmail.com or texting (863) 446-7300. PCA is located at 220 W. Garden St.

NEW HOURS AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART PMA is now open from 10 a.m.-4

p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday.

For tickets and information, visit pensacolamuseum.org.

WEST FLORIDA PUBLIC LIBRARY THREE-DAY SUMMER BOOK SALE

The Friends of West Florida Public Library will hold its Summer Book Sale July 23-25 at the Pensacola Public Library, 239 N. Spring St. Thousands of hardcover, paperback and collectible books will be available for purchase, plus a variety of DVDs, CDs, puzzles and other items. Proceeds are used to fund programs and enhancements at West Florida Public Library (WFPL) branches.

WFPL members get exclusive free, early access to the sale Friday, July 23, from 3-7 p.m. Non-members can pay $5 for early access. The sale will open to the public on Saturday, July 24, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. with all books priced at $1 and will continue Sunday, July 25, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. with the $5 bag sale, where you can fit as many July 22, 2021

books as you can in a bag for $5. For more information, visit friendsofwfpl.org.

PENSACOLA ARTS MARKET AT GARY'S BREWERY & BIERGARTEN

Enjoy an evening of shopping with Pensacola Arts Market at Gary's Brewery, located at 208 Newman Ave., at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 24. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

WHERE WE ARE NOT: A POP-UP EXHIBITION View works from local artists

John Dougherty, Poppy Garcia, Meaghan Gates, Kenneth H Jordan II, Yvonne Christine, Mia McCann, Kyle Miller, Paul Myers and Eniko Ujj at a pop-up exhibition 5-10 p.m. Saturday, July 24, and noon-4 p.m. Sunday, July 25, at 777 W. Mallory St. Admission is free of charge. Live music and refreshments will be available opening night.

AESOP'S FABLES AT PLT Pensacola Little Theatre presents Aesop's Fables, an Acorn production, directed by Jennifer Bunnell.

Four of Aesop's best loved fables— "The Fox and the Crow," "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The Donkey in the Lion's Skin" and, finally, "The Fox and the Sour Grapes"—are created in this approach to storyteller's theatre.

Show dates are Saturday, July 24, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Sunday, July 25, 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $13 for adults and $7 for children. For more information, visit pensacolalittletheatre.com.

PENSACOLA OPERA SALON CONCERT WITH BIZHOU CHANG Experi-

ence a special one-night-only Salon Concert featuring Soprano Bizhou Chang in the home of Robert and Clair Montgomery 6 p.m. Saturday, July 24. Seats are $150 and in limited quality. Call the Opera Center at (850) 433-6737 to reserve your spot. Visit pensacolaopera.com for more information.

SUMMER SIZZLER COMEDY JAM Get ready to laugh with a lineup of comedians including Don "DC" Curry, Dexter Tucker and Sherman Golden at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, at the Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox. Tickets are $43-$63. For more information, visit pensacolasaenger.com.

DRAG SHOWS AT DOLCE AND GELATO Head to Dolce and Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave., for regular drag shows. The next date is Friday, July 23, at 7 p.m. with host Terrah Card. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

FAFSA NIGHT AT PSC Need help completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)? Contact Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) at (850) 4841961, email eoc@pensacolastate.edu or attend a FAFSA Night at PSC held Tuesday, July 27, from 5-7 p.m. at PSC's Pensacola Campus, Bldg. 5, Computer Lab, Room 509. Escambia County high school graduates of the 2020 and 2021 school years will

receive a $20 gift card when they complete their FAFSA, and those applying to PSC will receive an application fee waiver via the Cash for College initiative. For more information, contact EOC at (850) 484-1961 or email eoc@pensacolastate.edu.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

KIDS BOOKS

FUNNY FEMALES OF THE GULF COAST Enjoy a night of female comedians at Dolce & Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave. Names include Tam Taylor and Alicia Simmons-Miracle. Cost is $10. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

909 N. 12th Avenue

pensacolapopcomics.com

MOVIE NIGHT WITH BIKE PENSACOLA Join Bike Pensacola for an evening of short films all about bicycles and the cycling lifestyle on Saturday, July 31, at 6:30 p.m. at Waterboyz, located at 380 N. Ninth Ave. The lineup of films will take you riding in both city and country, and you'll be able to meet some amazing and inspiring people along the way. Dinner, beverages and snacks available for purchase at Waterboyz Cafe Single Fin.

ART SHOWCASE FROM KLUSLIM AND DIZZY ARTS KluSlim and Dizzy Arts

presents KluLess Volume Two, a showcase of fine and performing arts, Sunday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. at Rodeo Rock Pensacola, located at 3810 W. Navy Blvd. Admission is $10 at the door and $15 for those under 21.

Performances by Kuh-Lee-Uh, Bones and MyBrothaVan with live art and music from Pattysauces. For more information, visit facebook.com/thedizzyarts.

CHORAL SOCIETY OF PENSACOLA AUDITIONS FOR 86TH SEASON All

singers 18 and older are invited to audition for The Choral Society of Pensacola, a community of volunteer singers, as they prepare for their 86th season, their first with Artistic Director Peter Steenblik. Auditions are set for Aug. 2-4 from 5-9 p.m. in the Ashmore Fine Arts Center at Pensacola State College, 1000 College Blvd.

In-person auditions are by appointment only. Singers may also submit recorded auditions. The deadline is Aug. 4, and the instructions for recording and submitting auditions will be posted soon on the Choral Society website. In either case, in-person or recorded, the audition process is brief and informal, and no preparation is necessary.

However, singers must register online at choralsocietyofpensacola.org/auditions.

Dr. Steenblik has planned four major concerts for 2021-2022. The season will open in October with a program of American music performed with chamber orchestra. The major work is "Frostiana," Randall Thompson's classic setting of seven poems by Robert Frost, including "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." In December, the Choral Society will present "Her Christmas," seasonal music by women composers, and in February, "Stage and Screen," songs from musical theatre and film. The 17

a&e happenings season will conclude in May with a concert showcasing "Triptych," a contemporary work by Tarik O'Regan in an arrangement for chorus and eight percussionists.

In addition to the four concerts, the season offers opportunities to participate in a Veterans Day concert with Pensacola Opera Chorus, in a performance of Craig Hella Johnson's oratorio "Considering Matthew Shepard" with the University of West Florida Singers and in the Society's annual holiday sing-along. Rehearsals will take place Monday evenings at 7 p.m. on the PSC campus and will begin on Aug. 16 with a season kick-off event.

PENSACOLA CHILDREN'S CHORUS AUDITIONS Pensacola Children's Chorus

auditions will be held Saturday, Aug. 7, and are open to students entering grades one-12.

PCC's season runs September-May with the aim of producing three fully staged, costumed and choreographed mainstage concerts—"Christmas on the Coast," "One World Many Voices" and "Showtime." However, these larger-thanlife performances reinforce more than vocal ability. Throughout the season, students are immersed in personal and social growth designed to equip singers with the tools to succeed beyond the rehearsal hall and stage.

Interested families need to register for an audition time by visiting pensacolasings. org. Middle and high school singers should be prepared to learn a brief choreographed section to assess movement and learning style. All ability levels welcome. No prior experience or training is required. PCC is located in the Margaret Moore Nickelsen Center, 46 E. Chase St., on the campus of First Presbyterian Church in beautiful downtown Pensacola.

For more information about the Pensacola Children's Chorus, please call (850) 434-7760 or visit pensacolachildrenschorus.com.

"A DEAD RECKONING: NAVIGATING CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS" EXHIBIT AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART "A Dead Reckoning: Navigating

Contemporary Ceramics" is now on view

at Pensacola Museum of Art, which asks viewers, "Where is the field of American ceramic art going?" For more information, visit pensacolamuseum.org.

"END OF CENTURY" EXHIBIT AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART End

of Century, an art exhibit featuring Art Nouveau glassware and works on paper, is a new exhibit at the Pensacola Museum of Art. This special exhibit includes items from the museum collection as well as the collection of local art supporter and educator Dr. Patrick M. Rowe.

Dr. Rowe received his Ph.D. in Art History at Florida State University in 1989 and taught art history at the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College until his retirement in 2010. He has served on the Pensacola Museum of Art Board and on the PMA Collections Committee and has acted as a dedicated supporter and resource for museum staff throughout the years. In 1988, Rowe began taking an interest in 18th and early 20th century printmaking, which led to his impressive collection of works from the time period, many of which are showcased in End of Century.

End of Century will be on view at the Pensacola Museum of Art until Oct. 10.

Visitors can learn more about the exhibition, sign up for additional programming opportunities and purchase tickets through pensacolamuseum.org.

NEW EXHIBIT AT BLUE MORNING GALLERY The current Spotlight on Art

is "Serendipity," a collective show featuring potter Tammy Caspersen and photographer Suzanne Tuzzeo. The show promises bold color and unique finds and twists with a fun, carefree feel and is on view starting July 3 at Blue Morning Gallery, located at 21 S. Palafox. Visit bluemorninggallery.com for more information.

SCRIPTEASERS WITH PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE Scripteasers, Studio

400's and Pensacola Little Theatre's Script Reading Club invites you to monthly script readings at PLT, 400 S. Jefferson St. Want to bring your scripts for the group to read and discuss? Contact Pensacola Little Theatre

to get in queue. The group reads prospective scripts for future seasons as well as new scripts that need a table read before the next edit. Not a playwright but love to read out loud? This is your easy, fun theatre night.

Fascinated by the play selection process? Sit in for a listen and usually a lot of laughs. Visit facebook.com/pensacolalittletheatre for more information and the latest dates.

SEVILLE HAUNTED TOURS Seville

Quarter's haunted tours offer a different look at Pensacola's history as guides weave tales of ghosts, debauchery, murder, mayhem, paranormal activities, history and more.

Choose your experience from three ongoing tours—Seville Haunted Luncheon and Ghost Tour, 11 a.m. every third Tuesday of the month; Seville Haunted Gallery Night Tours, 7 p.m. every third Friday of the month; Seville Sunday FunDay Haunted Tours, 4 p.m. last Sunday of each month. Tickets are available at pensacolaghostevents.com.

OPEN MIC AT THE GORDON Show off your talents on the second Thursday of every month at The Gordon's Open Mic showcase from 7-10 p.m. Admission is free.

The Gordon is located at 306 N. DeVilliers St. Visit thegordon.org for more information.

STAND-UP COMEDY AT THE REX THEATRE Visit The REX Theatre every

Friday at 8 p.m. for national stand-up acts.

Tickets are $26-$35 at the door. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

COMEDY MAGIC SHOW AT THE REX THEATRE Comedy magician Tom Coverly,

known as "The Illusionist," performs Saturday nights at The Rex Theatre, located at 18 N. Palafox. Shows start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10-$35. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

OPEN MIC COMEDY AT BIG TOP BREWERY Try out some new jokes or

enjoy some homegrown talent every Monday at 7 p.m. for Open Mic Comedy at Big Top Brewery, located at 21 W. Romano St. Everyone gets five minutes depending the number of sign-ups. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.

NEW CLASSES AT MIXON MAGIC PERFORMING ARTS Mixon Magic Performing

Arts (MMPA), a boutique performing arts studio located at 1010 N. 12th Ave., Ste. 238, will be offering a limited class schedule this fall. MMPA offers professional dance, fitness and "Mommy and Me" instruction for all ages and skill levels with weekly classes including, but not limited to, Creative Movement, Ballet/Jazz Combo, Broadway, Tap, Showstoppers, Acting and Voice. Classes will be provided for children as young as 2 years old (with a parent or guardian) through adult.

MMPA is dedicated to the safety and well-being of all students and families and has implemented protocols based on guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Masks are required for entry into the building and studio. More information about Mixon Magic Performing Arts can be found at mixonmagic.com, by contacting hello@mixonmagic.com or emily@mixonmagic.com or by calling (850) 221-7438.

BLACK CITIZENSHIP IN THE AGE OF JIM CROW "Black Citizenship in the Age

of Jim Crow," a traveling exhibition from the New York Historical Society Museum & Library with additions from the African American Heritage Society of Pensacola, is now on view at Artel Gallery. To learn more about it, visit africanamericanheritagesociety.org. Artel Gallery is located at 223 S. Palafox.

CRAFT CLASSES AT STUDIO SOUTH ON NINE MILE Learn a new craft or meet

up with other makers at Studio South. Tuesday is Knit Night 4-7 p.m., and Sit & Stitch is Saturdays 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Both classes are free. For a full calendar of events, visit studiosouthon9mileroad.com. Studio South is located at 955 E. Nine Mile Road.

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS AT FIRST CITY ART First City Art Center of-

fers a wide range of classes and workshops for artists of all levels. Classes include glass blowing, ceramics, painting and drawing, kiln-forming, stained glass and more. For a complete list of classes and times, visit firstcityart.org.

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a&e happenings LIVE MUSIC

BANDS ON THE BEACH Bands on the

Beach is back. The free concert series features shows each Tuesday night, from 7-9 p.m., from April to October at the Gulfside Pavilion at Casino Beach.

UPCOMING DATES: •July 27: Knee Deep Band •Aug. 3: Cristi Dee's Bad Juju

BLUES ON THE BAY The Blues on the

Bay free concert series continues at Community Maritime Park, located at 351 W. Cedar St. Concerts are 6 p.m. on select Sunday evenings. Bring your coolers and lawn chairs and take a spot in front of the Hunter Amphitheater.

•July 25: Not Quite Fab •Aug 8: Astronauts

CURT BOL JAZZ QUARTET Visit Five Sisters Blues Café, located at 421 W. Belmont St., Sundays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and listen to Curt Bol Jazz Quartet. Visit curtbolband.com for more information.

OPEN JAM AT ARTEL GALLERY Artel

Gallery is open from 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays for open jam with Pensacola Folk Music Society. Feel free to visit and listen to music. Artel Gallery is located at 223 S. Palafox.

KARAOKE AT MUGS AND JUGS Sing your heart out Sundays at Mugs & Jugs, 12080 Scenic Highway, or just enjoy drinks friends with $4 Smirnoff and $6.50 domestic pitcher drink deals from 7 p.m.-3 a.m.

For more information, visit facebook.com/ mugsjugs.

GOLDIE LAHR AT GARY'S BREWERY

LIVE MUSIC AT HUB STACEY'S Sit back with good food and live music at Hub Stacey's, located at 312 E. Government St. For a full calendar of bands, check hubstaceys.com.

NICK ANDREWS AT GARY'S BREWERY

MONDAY NIGHT BLUES AT SEVILLE QUARTER Seville Quarter and the Blues

Goldie Lahr will be performing at Gary's Brewery & Biergarten, 208 Newman Ave., at 6 p.m. Friday, July 23. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

Nick Andrews will be performing at Gary's Brewery & Biergarten, 208 Newman Ave., at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 24. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

3 DOORS DOWN AT WHARF AMPHITHEATRE 3 Doors Down, with special

guest Seether, will be performing at The Wharf Amphitheatre on Friday, July 23.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE 5 BARREL Mike V will

be playing from 7-10 p.m. Saturday, July 24, and Blue Levee Band 7-10 p.m. Friday, July 30.

The 5 Barrel is located at 121 S. Palafox.

THE NEW CAHOOTS AT ODD COLONY Acoustic duo The New Cahoots will be playing a free show at Odd Colony Brewing Co., located at 260 N. Palafox, at 7 p.m.

Saturday, July 24. For more information, visit facebook.com/oddcolony.

Society of Northwest Florida bring the "Blues" back to the Seville Quarter Entertainment District, located at 130 E. Government St. every Monday night in End O' the Alley starting at 7 p.m. For more information, visit sevillequarter.com.

TUESDAY NIGHT JAZZ AT SEVILLE QUARTER Enjoy smooth jazz with Me-

lodious Allen and The Funk Heads every Tuesday night at Lili Marlene's in Seville Quarter, located at 130 E. Government St. Show starts at 6:30 p.m. Visit sevillequarter.com for more information.

FITNESS + RECREATION

LITTER RODEO Join Keep Pensacola Beautiful for the Litter Rodeo, Saturday, July 24, from 9-10 a.m. at Pensacola Beach Park West at 1340 Fort Pickens Road. Prizes will be awarded to the top litter grabber.

For more information, visit keeppensacolabeautiful.org.

WHITE TIE ROCK ENSEMBLE White Tie Rock Ensemble will perform two iconic albums, Led Zeppelin's "IV" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," at Pensacola Bay Center, located at 201 E. Gregory St., at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Tickets are $25-$118.

For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

MONSTER JAM Enjoy a high-octane weekend at Pensacola Bay Center with Monster Jam on Saturday, July 24, from 10:30 a.m.-noon and Sunday, July 25, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Prices start at $23. For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

LIVE MUSIC AT RED FISH BLUE FISH PENSACOLA BEACH Head to Red Fish

2021 BUD LIGHT FISHING RODEO (RESCHEDULED) The Bud Light Fishing

Blue Fish for live performances from local bands Fridays and Saturdays all day. For musician lineups, visit facebook.com/redfishbluefishpensacolabeach.

SAXOPHONIST JIM ANDREWS AT ALICE'S RESTAURANT Saxophonist

Jim Andrews will be performing at Alice's Restaurant, located at 1504 W. Intendencia St., on the first Friday of every month from 6-9:30 p.m.

July 22, 2021

Rodeo has been rescheduled for July 23-26.

Cash awards and prizes are up for grabs during the Bud Light Fishing Rodeo with weigh-ins at Flounder's from 2-7 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, and Sunday, July 25. Visit pensacolasports.org/pensacolafishingrodeo for more information.

USUI REIKI AT ASHER & BEE Join

Reiki Master Tonya Morris for Reiki One 19

a&e happenings on Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m. at Asher & Bee Apothecary, Botanica and Teahouse, located at 3014 N. Ninth Ave., Ste. B. For more information, visit facebook.com/asherandbee.

for free. A locals card may be purchased for additional discounts. The ferry service operation schedule is available on pensacolabaycruise.com.

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS The world-

sacola Rec Plex North parkrun is 7:30 a.m.

Saturdays. The weekly timed 5K run or walk takes place at the University of West Florida and is open to everyone, regardless of fitness level. For more information, visit facebook.com/rpnparkrun or email recplexnorth@parkrun.com.

famous Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their Spread Game Tour to Pensacola at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, at Pensacola Bay Center, located at 201 E. Gregory St. Tickets are $29-$117.50. For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

WEEKLY FRIDAY DANCE Get moving

every Friday night with a dance sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Enjoy food from 6-7 p.m. Dancing is from 7-10 p.m.

A variety of bands and music provide the tunes. Cost of admission is $6. Dances are located at 105 Kenmore Ave. in Pensacola.

For more information, call (850) 476-5696.

PENSACOLA FERRY SERVICE RETURNS The Pensacola Bay Cruises Ferry Service is now re-open with daily service, seven days a week, between Downtown Pensacola and Pensacola Beach. Ferry trips last approximately 50 minutes, and all-day free parking is available at each of the departure sites.

Tickets are $26 roundtrip for adults; $20 roundtrip for military, disabled persons and students; and $15 roundtrip for children 3-15. Children 2 and under ride

PENSACOLA PARKRUN The Pen-

BREATHE AND READ AT BODACIOUS BOOKSTORE AND CAFÉ Recenter

yourself at this monthly event at Bodacious Bookstore and Café, with an instructor-led beginner yoga class and a group book discussion at 9 a.m. on the first Saturday of every month. Bodacious Bookstore and Café is located at 110 Intendencia St. For more information, visit bodaciousbookstore.com.

WFPL MOLINO TRACK CHALLENGE

Put on your walking shoes and join the walking challenge at the Molino library. Just visit Molino's track, turn on your favorite fitness tracker app to log your progress, dial up your tunes or an audiobook and start walking.

When you finish, come into the library and log your progress with staff on our track challenge board. The top walker in this program will win The Coldest Water Bottle. The Molino Branch

Library is located at 6450-A Highway 95A. For more information, visit mywfpl.com.

BLUE WAHOOS GAMES It's the 2021

season for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Stadium capacity limits are expected to be implemented to ensure fan safety during the 2021 season and will be announced leading up to the season. For tickets and more information, visit bluewahoos.com.

UPCOMING HOME GAMES: Blue Wahoos vs. Chattanooga •6:35 p.m. July 27-30 •6:05 p.m. July 31

RELEASE & RENEW AT FITNESS IMPACT TRAINING At 8:15 a.m. on Mon-

days, Wednesdays and Fridays, release into a yin yoga flow centered around low-stress training for high-stress individuals. The focus will be on the basics of breath and openness in the shoulders, hips and spine.

For more info, go to mindandmetta.online.

Cost is $12 per class, and the location is 375 N. Ninth Ave., Ste. B. Limited space available. Ask about membership pricing.

GULF COAST BREWERY RUN Thursdays at 6 p.m., join Pensacola Runners Association for a 5K fun run. Enjoy a free beer after the run and complimentary games such as cornhole, ping pong and more. Gulf Coast Brewery is located at 500 E. Heinberg St. For more information, visit facebook.com/gulfcoastbrewery.

BEER GARDEN YOGA Join Coastal County Brewing Company Saturdays at 9 a.m. for the new Yoga in the Garden Series.

Classes will be led by Tara Taylor, a highly experienced instructor from Breathe Pensacola. All skill levels are welcome. Cost is $10 and includes a pint of beer after the class.

Coastal County Brewing Company is located at 3041 E. Olive Road. For more information, visit facebook.com/coastalcounty.

SOUL FLOW YOGA AT BEAUTIFUL YOU STUDIO Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., flow

and vibe with some soulful music to start the day. This hour-long class will center around engaging the core through smooth yet strong yoga sequences. Cost is $10 per class or $99 for an unlimited 30-day pass.

Located at 513 W. Intendencia St. For more info, go to mindandmetta.online.

YOGA CLASSES AT EVER'MAN Beginner Yoga with John is 10 a.m. Thursdays, 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and 12:15 p.m. Wednesdays.

Funky Yoga Flow is 6 p.m. Tuesdays. And Vinyasa Yoga Flow is 6 p.m. Thursdays. All classes at Ever'man, 327 W. Garden St. For a full calendar of events, visit everman.org.

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inweekly.net

July 22, 2021

21

free will astrology WEEK OF JULY 22 ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Author Valerie Andrews reminds us that as children, we all had the "magical capacity to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees." Oh, how I would love you to be able to recover even a fraction of those talents in the coming days. My reading of the current astrological potentials tells me that your chances of doing so are much better than usual. Your ability to connect with the eternal child and wise animal within you is at a peak.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Taurus

singer Barbara Streisand has a shopping mall built below her large home. Its purpose isn't to sell consumer goods to strangers but rather to stash her precious belongings and show them off when friends come over.

Among the storefronts are an antique store, doll shop, costume shop and candy store.

The coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to start building a shopping mall beneath your home, too, Taurus. If that's too expensive or complicated, here are alternatives—1. Revitalize your appreciation for your treasured possessions. 2. Acquire a new treasured possession or two that will inspire you to love your life even more than you already do. 3. Reacquaint yourself with the spiritual powers that your treasured possessions arouse in you.

By Rob Brezsny

the truth will be available in abundance in the coming weeks—if you're alert for them.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Cance-

rian artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656) achieved the impossible—She became a supremely skilled and renowned painter in an era when women had virtually no opportunities to become artists. Many aspects of her work distinguished her from other painters. For example, she depicted women as having strong, agile hands and arms. In Artemisia's world, the power of women's wrists, forearms, and fingers signifies their ability to put their mark upon the world, to accomplish strenuous practical tasks with grace and flair. If I were going to paint images of you in the coming weeks, I would also portray you as having strong, agile hands and arms. I suspect you'll have potent agency to get things done—to adeptly manipulate the material world to serve your ideals. (Thoughts about Artemisia's hands come from art historian Mary D. Garrard.)

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): "Once upon a

time"—That's your phrase of power these days. What do I mean by that? I'm suggesting that you will strengthen your problemsolving abilities by engaging in playful pretending for the sheer fun of it. I'm predicting that you will boost your confidence by dreaming up amusing magical stories in which you endure heroic tests and achieve epic feats. And I'm proposing that you will fine-tune your ability to accomplish practical feats if you regard your robust imagination as crucial to your success.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Virgo singer-songwriter Fiona Apple says she's not GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): The Dalai Lama says there are core similarities between religious. On the other hand, she regularly kneels on the ground and announces to science and Buddhism. Both keep searchwhatever great power might be listening, ing for ever-more complete versions of the "Thank you for my problems, and I send my truth. Both employ firsthand observation love everywhere." She's sincere. She regards and experimentation to do that noble work. her sadness and her challenges as being If they find new information that contradicts equally important to her happiness and previously held versions of the truth, both success. The difficulties teach her what she are willing to discard them. Now that you didn't even realize she needed to know and Geminis are entering the Deep Questioning make her appreciate the good times more Phase of your astrological cycle, I'd love you intensely. I suggest you borrow from her apto make generous use of the Buddhist/Sciproach right LB0245 MchUltraOrgSeltzer INW Final 2 now.

4/7/21 8:48 AM entific approach.

More complete versions of 041521.pdf

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Nobel Prizewinning author Albert Camus wrote, "Great feelings bring with them their own universe"— which he said may either be degraded or splendid, selfish or generous. I love that he allowed for the possibility that great feelings could be positive and noble. So many renowned thinkers focus on negative and ignoble states of mind.

In accordance with current astrological potentials, Libra, your task is to cultivate feelings that are splendid and generous. These sentiments should exalt you, uplift you, and empower you to spread transformative benevolence to those whose lives you touch.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): "How

can you hold on to something that won't hold still?" asked Scorpio poet Benjamin Fondane. In general, you Scorpios have more talent than every other sign of the zodiac at doing just that—corralling wiggly, slippery things and making them work for you. And I expect this skill will be especially in play for you during the coming weeks.

Your grasp on the elusive assets won't ever be perfect, but it will be sufficiently effective to accomplish small wonders.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Sagittarian Calvin Trillin is a witty writer with a good imagination and a flair for inventive language. But back in school, he confesses, "Math was always my bad subject.

I couldn't convince my teachers that many of my answers were meant ironically." You Sagittarians are authorized by the cosmic powers-that-be to borrow your style and attitude from Trillin in the coming weeks. So you shouldn't be fixated on mathematical precision and fastidious logic; your task is not to be conceptually impeccable and scrupulously sensible. Rather, you have a license to be extra lyrical and lush and rhapsodic and humorous and irrepressible.

time-traveling vampire. Maybe that all sounds absurd, but I must tell you that you may soon have to deal with people's equally inaccurate and off-kilter theories about you. My advice— Don't take it personally. Simply correct others' misimpressions and rely solely on yourself for definitive ideas about who you are.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): I've as-

sembled excerpts of love poems for your inspiration. Why? Because you're entering the Intensified Intimacy Phase of your astrological cycle. Consider using the following riffs as inspiration when you interact with loved ones. 1. "I profess the religion of love; it's the belief, the faith I keep." 2. "Holding your hand, I can hear your bones singing into mine and feel the moon as it rolls through you."

3. "Raw light spills from your eyes, utterly naked, awakening an intoxicating shimmer of adventure." 4. "I ask you please to speak to me forever." (Poem fragments are from Ibn 'Arabi, Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, Herman Hesse, Sara Eliza Johnson, Alejandra Pizarnik.)

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): An Australian witch named Michelle Clinton praises the joys of a "moon garden." It features flowers and plants that reveal their full beauty after dark.

Among the flowers that bloom at night are evening primrose, angel's trumpet, and Dutchman's pipe cactus. As for the flowers whose aromas are most potent after the sun sets: night-blooming jasmine, garden heliotrope and honeysuckle. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will have resemblances to a moon garden in the near future, Pisces. Be alert for opportunities to glow and grow in the dark. (More at tinyurl.com/lunargarden) THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: Send me an oracle you'd like to receive for the first week of September. Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): In 2011,

an eBay seller produced a 19th-century photo that he said proved Capricorn actor Nicholas Cage is a time-traveling vampire. Although the character in the image did indeed resemble the Oscar-winning star, he rejected the theory, and emphatically declared that he is not a

freewillastrology.com

freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com Rob Brezsny © Copyright 2021

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news of the weird MEDICAL MYSTERY The Washington Post reported on July 14 that Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, is expected to be under observation at the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia for a few days while doctors try to determine the cause behind his chronic hiccups. Bolsonaro has been hiccupping for more than 10 days, even at public events. The leader is no stranger to weird health scares: While he suffered from COVID-19 last year, he was bitten by a large emu-like bird. For his part, he thinks the hiccups may be related to medicines he was taking after dental implant surgery.

AWESOME! David Olson, 33, was demolishing the back steps outside his home in Norton Shores, Michigan, on July 1 when he rolled a strike, so to speak: Olson found at least 160 bowling balls buried in the sand under the home. Upon seeing the first ball, he thought, "Maybe there were just a couple in there just to fill in. The deeper I got into it, the more I realized it was just basically an entire gridwork of them," he told the Detroit Free Press. Olson said many of the balls are in bad condition, and they all had spiral grooves cut into them. Former employees of a Brunswick plant nearby got in touch with him, explaining that workers used to take scrapped balls to use as an alternative to gravel or sand. Olson donated eight balls for a local church to use in a bowling ball cannon at a pig roast; his stepfather plans to use some as legs for custom furniture.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS A 48-year-old unnamed woman from Brock Township, Ontario, Canada, managed to get herself arrested on July 9 for the theft of a surveillance camera in May, CP24-TV reported. "A suspect proceeded to take pictures of themselves with the stolen camera, which were remotely sent to the owner, unbeknownst to the suspect," the report from the Durham Regional Police reads. She was charged with possession of property obtained by crime.

•Stephan Elash, 24, of Campbell, Ohio, was pulled over by a state trooper on July 3 for speeding, WKBN-TV reported. In a panic, Elash put a baggie of marijuana in his mouth and tried to swallow it—but he choked.

Trooper Charles Hoskins used the Heimlich maneuver to force the bag out of Elash's throat, likely saving his life. Afterward, Elash apologized, and Hoskins responded, "I know.

It's all right. It's a minor misdemeanor. Do you want to die over a minor misdemeanor?"

Elash was charged with speeding and not wearing a seat belt, and he got a misdemeanor summons for possession.

WHAT'S IN A NAME? In the U.K., Heather (not her real name), the mother of a teenager formerly known as Alexa, told the BBC that her daughter had to change her

By the Editors at Andrews McMeel

name and move schools to escape bullying and teasing related to the Amazon smart speaker's default name. Another mother, Charlotte (not her real name), said her 6-year-old daughter is already tormented: "'Alexa, play disco.' I think it's affecting her confidence. Adults make fun of her, too."

And Lauren Johnson of Massachusetts, whose daughter is 9, said, "The whole thing is a step beyond 'normal' teasing and bullying. It's identity erasure. The word Alexa has become synonymous with servant or slave." In response, Amazon reminds users that "we also offer several other wake words customers can choose from, including Echo, Computer and Amazon. ...

We're saddened by the experiences you've shared, and want to be very clear: Bullying of any kind is unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

FAN(ATICS) Fans of the National Hockey League Champion Tampa Bay Lightning have a customized way to celebrate as of July 12: Coors Light Champions Ice, Business Wire reported. During the final, Coors scraped and collected actual ice from the arena and transported it to Golden, Colorado, where Coors products are made. The ice is filtered during the brewing process and then blended into the beer, "giving Bolts fans a literal taste of the action," said Marcelo Pascoa, vice president of marketing. Local fans will be able to enjoy the limited-edition brew at Tampa Bay bars.

CRIME REPORT U.S. Customs agents seized 3,000 pairs of false eyelashes at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on July 6, The Times-Picayune reported. The eyelashes were intended for a beauty supply store in New Orleans, but they were unlabeled and hadn't been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Customs spokesperson Matthew Dyman said. Unregulated falsies can lead to allergic reactions, eye irritation and other maladies. "There's no telling what's on those eyelashes," Dyman said.

BRIGHT IDEA Hollister Tryon, 18, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, was charged on July 9 with felony computer crimes after he hacked into a database to edit entries in the Glastonbury High School 2021 yearbook, The Smoking Gun reported. In May, school administrators discovered a quote from Adolf Hitler that was attributed to George Floyd under a senior's photo in the yearbook. Another student's quote was edited to include drug references and the name of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Boston Marathon bomber. {in} From Andrews McMeel Syndication News Of The Weird © 2021 Andrews McMeel

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com July 22, 2021

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Independent News | July 22, 2021 | inweekly.net