Inweekly March 10 2022 Issue

Independent News | March 10, 2022 | Volume 23 | Number 10 | PJ Morton / Photo by Laiken Joy

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winners & losers

outtakes

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5

news

6, 8, 9

People don’t spend very long with art...

feature story

buzz 10

12

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, Tom St. Myer

contact us info@inweekly.net

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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. © 2022 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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winners & losers

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winners PENSACOLA YOUTH SOCCER Registra-

tion for the Spring 2022 season of Pensacola Youth Soccer has closed after four weeks, with a record number of children signing up for the recreational league. More than 860 kids have registered to play across the league's seven age groups, which range from Under-5 to Under-19. The spring season traditionally has had fewer registrations than the fall, and this season's registration already topped that of Fall 2021 and is up about 10% from Spring 2021.

GREG HARRIS Pensacola Sports named the owner of the Pensacola Ice Flyers its Sportsman of the Year. The award is presented for contributing to the advancement of sports in the greater Pensacola area or achievement of an outstanding athletic accomplishment.

Past winners have been Shirley Cronley, Quint and Rishy Studer, Derrick Brooks, Bubba Watson, Troy Rafferty and Judy Bense. Harris has owned the Ice Flyers for 11 years, winning four Southern Professional Hockey League championships.

KELSI GULIG Lakeview Center, Inc. has named Gulig its marketing director. In this role, she will oversee marketing functions of three main lines of service and administration for the 3,000-plus employee organization. She also will serve as media relations contact for local media partners. Most recently, Gulig served as marketing manager at Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola. She was in the Leadership Pensacola Class of 2019, an Inweekly Rising Star 2019 and Gold ADDY® Award 2014 winner.

WESLEY AND TAMMY WOOTEN Pen Air

Federal Credit Union (Pen Air) announced the Wooten family the winner of $5,000 and their 2021 NOW Program, which guides three teams toward a better understanding of their income, expenses and how to foster healthier spending habits. Teams are paired with a certified Pen Air Financial Counselor, who provides a personalized game plan and resources to help each family pay off debt and plan for a financially stable future. On average, the 2021 NOW Teams increased their savings by $14,000 and decreased their debt by $8,000.

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losers RON DESANTIS Florida's governor has built

his political future on making Florida the freest state in the United States. However, his version of freedom doesn't mean he won't ridicule teens who want to wear face masks. DeSantis bullied high school students who were wearing masks for his press conference at the University of South Florida. He said, "Please take them off.

Honestly, it's not doing anything, and we've gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous." DeSantis's pressers are staged events. His staff could have talked to the students before it began but chose to create a dramatic moment where their boss would look tough. The "COVID theater" was DeSantis' doing, not the students.

TRUTH SOCIAL Donald Trump's Twitter alternative is bombing. As of March 2, Truth Social had fallen to No. 57 in the App Store, behind Tinder and Planet Fitness Workouts. Even the former president appears to have lost interest, having not posted over the last two weeks of February. His account has fewer than 80,000 followers. We hear MySpace might be available.

UWF CENTER FOR CYBERSECURITY Gov. Ron DeSantis bypassed Northwest Florida and announced $20 million in funding to create and expand cybersecurity and IT training opportunities at Cyber Florida, the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at the University of South Florida. Starting this week, funding will be directed toward the University of South Florida, which will coordinate three regional partnerships to develop workforce education clusters in cybersecurity or cyber-related disciplines for middle school, high school and college students. We deserved the funding.

FLORIDA GUN REFORM Eleven gun reform-related bills backed by Democratic state lawmakers did not get heard by a single committee this Legislative Session. For the proposals that concerned tightening existing restrictions or banning certain products and practices to get a committee hearing, the Republican House and Senate leadership had to give their approval for the bills to be debated.

Sadly, that didn't happen. inweekly.net

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outtakes

By Rick Outzen

MORE SELIGMANS Our founding fathers understood the importance of a free press—not one that merely mimics the positions of those in power—to our democratic republic. Authoritarian leaders fear it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone to great lengths to shut down news coverage as his troops invade Ukraine. On Tuesday, March 1, Ekho Moskvy, Russia's oldest independent radio station, was dissolved by its board after coming under intense pressure for its invasion coverage. The prosecutor general's office accused the station of spreading "deliberately false information"—Putin's version of fake news. The station will try to continue to broadcast using YouTube and social media networks, but few believe it will last.

Our State Department noticed the crackdown on Russia's independent news networks and last week issued a statement condemning Russia and adding, "Moscow's efforts to mislead and suppress the truth of the brutal invasion are intensifying."

Department spokesman Ned Price said that several Russian journalists have fled the country fearing threats to their safety and before Russian lawmakers passed a bill to make "unofficial" reporting on its invasion of Ukraine punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Russia's government has throttled Twitter, Facebook and Instagram platforms that tens of millions of Russia's citizens rely on to access independent information and opinions.

These partial blockages further limit where and how Russian citizens can see and share evidence of the truth of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the statement, Price wrote, "The people of Russia did not choose this war. Putin did.

They have a right to know about the death, suffering and destruction being inflicted by their government on the people of Ukraine."

Putin's attacks on the media haven't been limited to inside his country's borders. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that two journalists with the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet were shot while reporting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka on Saturday, Feb. 26.

Ukrainian journalist Yevhenii Sakun was killed on March 1, when Russian forces shelled a television

tower in Kyiv. Sakun, 49, was a camera operator for the Ukrainian television station LIVE, which had covered the Russian invasion. He was working along with his colleagues at the time of the attack, and his press card identified his body.

In this week's "Buzz," we shared an email from Arnold Seligman, who wrote about the First Amendment lectures that his parents, Fred K. and Jane G. Seligman, have sponsored at the University of West Florida. Fred Seligman came to America to flee Nazi Germany and arrived in Pensacola in 1939. He worked for the Lewis Bear Company for 35 years.

In Nazi Germany, journalists were required to register with the government and have an Aryan Certificate that proved they were of Aryan descent. They were allowed to report after completing a training course and passing a final examination.

Seligman's son wrote us, "Dad valued the freedom of the press and the rights that the First Amendment to the Constitution afforded Americans. He saw what happened in Germany when these freedoms were denied."

His father didn't want us to take those freedoms for granted. When he retired as the vice president of the Lewis Bear Company's grocery division, Fred and Jane Seligman endowed the UWF lecture series bearing their names to "ensure that these rights didn't lose visibility and that the public was constantly reminded of the necessity of protecting these rights."

We need more Fred and Jane Seligmans in this country, people who cherish a free press and understand the danger of losing it. Their lecture series continues.

In January, the McMinn County, Tenn., school board voted to remove the graphic novel "Maus" from the eighth-grade curriculum. Later this month, the Seligman lecture will feature Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book that portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. The Seligmans would be proud.

We need to follow their example and not stand silently while leaders like Putin try to squash it. {in} rick@inweekly.net

We need more Fred and Jane Seligmans in this country, people who cherish a free press and understand the danger of losing it.

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BUILDING LEADERS

Tim Kinsella / Photo Courtesy of UWF

By Rick Outzen The University of West Florida College of Business has hired retired U.S. Navy Capt.

Tim Kinsella to create and direct its newly formed Center for Leadership. Kinsella is charged with building university-industry linkages for the center and creating leadership development programs for the university and community.

UWF President Dr. Martha Saunders told Inweekly, "Tim Kinsella has the right combination of attributes to make this new initiative a success.

He's a proven leader in his own right, with a passion for education. Expect good things from him."

Dr. Rick Fountain, dean of the College of Business, shared that the Center for Leadership came out of the college's accreditation process. He said, "One of the requirements when they look at us for reaccreditation is our societal impact."

The College of Business created the "Leader to Leader" podcast during the pandemic, and Kinsella was a guest on an episode. Fountain said, "It was the first anniversary of the shooting and murders on the base, and it was probably the longest session we had."

The dean continued, "It just came together,

GRAPHIC NOVELS

coalesced, that we ought to see what we could do to have an executive MBA on leadership and seminar training for leaders, both locally, regionally and even nationally with his reputation. So that's how it evolved."

Kinsella joins UWF following over three decades of service in the U.S. Navy. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1989 and served on submarines for several years before being accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated from the academy in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science.

During his time in the military, Kinsella served overseas on numerous deployments.

His last assignment on active duty was as commanding officer of Naval Air Station Pensacola. He led the installation through the 2019 terrorist attack on the base, Hurricane Sally and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He will serve as the chief spokesperson for the new center, collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to build it into a recognized, go-to resource for fostering leadership. The new Center for Leadership will house existing College of Business centers and programs, including the Center for Entrepreneurship, the Louis A. Maygarden Jr. Center for Financial Literacy, the Supply Chain Management Excellence Center and the Executive Mentor Program.

UNLOCKING POTENTIAL

"UWF is a marque university," Kinsella told Inweekly. "There's so much potential in that university, and I think that this will help to put it on the map in a different light because we need leadership."

He continued, "Whether you're in government service, whether you're in business, whether you're in the health care industry, leadership is how we get stuff done. I don't think that we spend enough time trying to educate our folks on the right way for leadership and how leadership can impact lives."

He cited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky as an example of the difference one leader can make. Kinsella said, "He's giving the world a masterclass on positive, strong leadership that makes a difference in people's lives and gives hope to people."

He leaned on his 33 years in the military to further explain his point. "The military is a cross-section of American society, and you've got pretty much the same people in every unit," Kinsella said, "But if you take two ships, they may be operating very, very differently, and the difference is the leadership that the captain provides and his staff provides to the men and women in that unit, and that goes across the board. Leadership can make the difference."

According to Kinsella, good leaders create an environment that allows people to reach their full potential. He said, "There's a lot that goes into that. It's a lot easier said than done, but they're the things that we hope to dig into at the center and unlock people's own potential for leadership, so they get a better understanding of themselves and their own place in their organization and how they can be agents for change within their organization."

The retired Navy captain is convinced that leadership can be taught. Leadership training helps unlock an individual's leadership potential.

He told Inweekly, "Sometimes folks don't unlock that potential that they have because they don't quite understand what leadership is about. They understand how they fit into it. That's the bit that we're trying to unlock—trying to get them over that hump so they can reach their full potential and help their people reach their full potential."

Kinsella joked, "Can leadership be taught?

Absolutely. I mean, the Navy tried to teach it to me for 33 years, and whether they succeeded or not, I don't know, but they tried."

BELIEVING IN PENSACOLA

The Center for Leadership will have an executive MBA focusing on leadership and weeklong leadership seminars. Kinsella said the MBA would be geared toward working professionals, who would come on campus and do an intense week in residency the first week, followed by a year or so of online classwork and then another week at the end where they do a capstone.

On the seminars, he said, "We'll have a core seminar, and again, it'll be focused towards working professionals who want to hone those leadership skills to understand them-

selves a little bit better, almost like a week of leadership bootcamp."

Kinsella continued, "When they leave, they're reinvigorated; they'll know themselves a bit better. They'll know their organization a bit better. They can fit in and know how to be those agents to change within their organization."

He added that other seminars might focus on specific industries such as health care and education.

Kinsella also wants to integrate the Center for Leadership throughout the university and help students understand leadership. He wants to provide leadership training for them, too. He said, "How do we get them to understand their responsibility as leaders, whether it's in their day-to-day lives or in whatever business they try to go into?"

He added, "I believe corporate responsibility is very, very important in our modern world, and there's a definite leadership component to that.

So how do we teach that? And we can't teach it without being good community partners ourselves, so how do we partner with the community in all those leadership aspects? And how do we bring in people from the community to perhaps be a forum where community leaders and businesses can talk about how we move our community forward in a positive way?"

Kinsella retired last year from the Navy. Why did he and his wife choose to stay in Pensacola?

He admitted that they had no intention of settling in Pensacola when he was stationed here.

He planned to stay in the Navy and continue his career, but recent events changed their minds.

"We believe in Pensacola, and that's the honest to God truth," said Kinsella. "About a year ago, we started realizing, after all of the stuff that happened on the base when I was there, between the Paris attack and the hurricane and all that, we developed such deep and close bonds with the people of this community that we made lifelong friendships."

He continued, "We realized that the friends that we have made, we want to see their kids grow.

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IHMC'S NEXT STEP ferent," Ford explained. "We bump into each other, and we have chance meetings, and we invite each other to our meetings. We often speak a different language, and sometimes we're talking about the same thing, but the jargon is so different that we have to accommodate each other."

He continued, "Ideas arise that never would have arisen only talking to each other in the same discipline.

So I think that's kind of wonderful, actually."

THE NEXT STEP

Photo Courtesy of IHMC

By Jeremy Morrison The Institute of Human and Machine Cognition occupies an impressive intellectual footprint in Pensacola. With its $20 million Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research Complex being built on Garden Street across from St. Michael's Cemetery, that footprint will increase.

And while the expansion represents significant growth in IHMC's research focus and inhouse capability, the organization's ultimate goal remains the same, said founder Dr. Ken Ford.

"The primary mission of IHMC is to conduct research aimed at developing and exploiting science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human cognition and physical performance and resilience," Ford explained.

"In other words, it's the pursuit of science and technology not for its own sake but to improve the human condition, particularly our cognitive and physical capabilities, as well as resilience.

That's always been the mission."

'KIND OF WONDERFUL, ACTUALLY' Founded in 1990, the nonprofit research institute is affiliated with several Florida universities and has worked with and received funding from government entities such as the military, NASA, the National Institute of Health and the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as businesses including IBM, Raytheon, Boeing and Microsoft.

Its early emphasis was on artificial intelligence, or AI. Ford said, "Naturally, in the 88

beginning, we focused on recruiting prominent AI researchers, and the aspect of the human condition we were most interested in enhancing, not surprisingly, was the cognitive aspect."

Next, the institute incorporated robotics because pairing of robotics with AI just made sense, according to Ford. He told Inweekly, "If you want robots to do things that are interesting and useful in the real world, they need to have some degree of adaptability and learning and some degree of innate cognition, or at least some degree of intelligence."

IHMC has also established a biologicalcentric focus, which is the research area that will see an increase in potential with the Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research Complex. Ford said, "We sort of always had this broad goal to use science and technology to enhance the human condition, but over time, we've expanded the methods that we've incorporated to do that."

Combining these disciplines has resulted in some pretty interesting and, more importantly, useful research. He said, "For example, we've done a lot of work with exoskeletons and paraplegics. We're doing work now for the Department of Energy on a wearable exoskeleton for the nuclear clean-up at the nuke sites."

A primary component of the vision upon which IHMC was founded is that researchers from these various disciplines and backgrounds can benefit from working within the same umbrella organization.

"The goal is the same, but the academic backgrounds of the people, and hence the perspective they bring to the task, is very, very dif-

IHMC Spokesperson Shannon Nickinson described the planned IHMC Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research Complex, which is set to open in 2024, as the next step on IHMC's path of "creating an intellectual hub of excellence."

Dr. Marcas Bamman was recruited in 2020 to oversee research at IHMC's new center. He told Inweekly, "It's an exciting endeavor, and it's very cool that IHMC wants to grow this area, and part of that growth is being enabled by this new building."

He explained, "We are embarking on, really, a very interesting and exciting growth period for healthspan, resilience and performance.

The bottom line is how can we best optimize the human's ability to perform tasks in their environment, whatever that may be."

"The bottom line is how can we best optimize the human's ability to perform tasks in their environment, whatever that may be." Dr. Marcas Bamman To conduct the research necessary to measure, assess and improve human performance and resilience, IHMC needed a facility with an array of in-house capabilities—everything from laboratories to interview spaces to areas for exercise equipment and an indoor pool for aquatic-based research. Bamman said he believes the facility will be "a one-of-a-kind capstone facility with top-notch scientists."

He added the new facility positions IHMC to explore better the human machine, its capabilities and limitations, as well as applications to increase the former and overcome the latter.

Bamman said, "I think what we're really about here in healthspan, resilience and performance is studying and understanding performance from molecule to the whole human."

FROM ELITE TO EYEGLASSES

Much of the research conducted within IHMC, historically and in the future with the addition of this new complex, centers on what Ford referred to as "elite performers." Think top-form Navy divers operating in cold water conditions. However, he pointed out the research is also applicable to the average person, the aging population or those with unique challenges, such as a paraplegic individual.

"All of us, all humans desire to be enhanced.

You know, I'm wearing eyeglasses at the moment, and they're a kind of ocular orthosis," Ford said. "They're a technology. We're all enhanced. I'm talking to you through a phone."

"What typically happens is science and technology is developed for elite performers, and then it often moves into the mainstream," Ford continued. "When we talk about people like astronauts and elite warfighters, these are already outliers; these already are elite performers. In many cases, it's not so much about enhancing their performance but extending the period of high performance. And that's something we're all interested in."

He added, "You know, I don't want to feel like I've lost too many steps. We all want to extend our period of performance and enjoyment of life. So I think it connects broadly, particularly to the aging population, though I hate that term. Everyone's aging. Otherwise, you're dead."

SENSE OF PLACE

Ford decided to locate the institute's main headquarters in Pensacola because he views IHMC and downtown Pensacola as having a symbiotic relationship. For IHMC to succeed, Pensacola has to succeed.

"In other words, if Pensacola goes a bad direction, it's bad for us, and if we go a bad direction, it's bad for Pensacola," said Ford. "It's sort of a mutual benefit program."

The city's growth and upward trajectory have made it easier for IHMC to attract talent.

He shared, "If things are good and vibrant and healthy, it makes it so much easier to recruit people out of Austin and Boston and Seattle and Silicon Valley. Recruiting is good right now, and it has been for a few years."

When IHMC brings in researchers—and its new facility is expected to host about 60 researchers—Pensacola prospers as they and their families become vested community members. They buy homes and enroll their children in schools.

The researchers, meanwhile, will also be plugging into one of the more enlightening work environments around. Ford said, "We afford a scientist a kind of neat environment, where they can focus on their research and really laser focus on that, not have a million distractions and have 10 layers of bosses and all kinds of bureaucrats to deal with."

To learn more about IHMC, visit ihmc.us. {in} inweekly.net

CONNECTING WITH DR. LEARY later, the position of coordinator of Diversity Initiatives opened up.

INWEEKLY: Do you miss teaching?

LEARY: One of the things that I like about that position is it still affords me the opportunity to remain in the classroom partially. The reason I like that so much is because I'm a people person, and I love dealing with students. I love networking, and it's all about relationships.

INWEEKLY: How are you involved in Pensacola outside of PSC? LEARY: I do a lot in the community hosting shows at WSRE. I also work heavily in our community with churches—and there's over 300 of them, so all faiths, denominations, etc. My philosophy in life is this—I want to make sure that every day I wake up, I'm doing something to make this world a better place. So as we delve into what is happening now with my program on WSRE, it's an awesome opportunity because there are so many voices in our area that have never been heard.

Dr. Rameca Vincent Leary / Photo by WSRE

By Joshua Encinias Dr. Rameca Vincent Leary is no stranger to the Gulf Coast.

Her husband grew up in Gulf Breeze, and after receiving her Ph.D. in Communication from Regent University, Dr. Leary's family moved to the area, and she took a job as an adjunct professor at Pensacola State College.

Clear, confident and kind communication is Dr. Leary's approach to students and in her role as coordinator of Diversity Initiatives at the college. Her newest communication initiative is a TV show on the college's PBS member station WSRE called "Connecting the Community."

In the show's first episode, Dr. Leary explored the multi-faceted military community

in Pensacola, from veterans to female soldiers.

Through "Connecting the Community," Dr. Leary wants Pensacola to see the diversity of thought and heritage in places that are often overlooked.

The second episode of "Connecting the Community" airs this week, and in advance of it, Inweekly spoke with Dr. Leary about her career at PSC and her mission for "Connecting the Community."

INWEEKLY: How did you join Pensacola State College?

LEARY: I started off as an adjunct in the communications department at Pensacola State College, and then a position became available in the business department. So I moved up to a full-time position as a tenure track professor, teaching five classes. But then a couple years

INWEEKLY: How does "Connecting the Community" help expose those voices?

LEARY: Oftentimes, we hear about key people in the community, but with the hour-long format for this show, it's going to be quite unpredictable. More of those voices will have an opportunity to be heard. I'll just give you a little bit of a backstory. When I lived in Charleston, I worked at WCSC-TV, which was a CBS affiliate, and every single day, I produced an hour-long show. That show was called "Midday." It was the number one show at the time slot that it aired in the entire market, and one of the key factors that made it so successful was that we did exactly what I'm doing now with "Connecting the Community." One segment could have a humanitarian issue; the next segment in the show could delve into pets and their safety. We want to keep the audience guessing. I don't want the audience to be able to predict what is going to be on "Connecting the Community." I want to keep them on the edge of their seats.

INWEEKLY: Your show has a loose format, but does it have an overarching mission?

LEARY: The mission is about bringing our entire community together because the overall purpose of the program is to spotlight the diverse segments of our community, while also sharing information about the local happenings.

INWEEKLY: What did you learn from making the first episode?

LEARY: I'll be honest with you, I have feelers in the community. I have people that take a look at things, and I get feedback. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. With that first show, we had an overarching theme honoring our military vets. Something that you will see as a viewer going forward is each show may not just have one theme in particular; that is the beauty of this new production. So, yes, you're going to see some different things happening.

As far as the future is concerned, people in Pensacola are going to see some of their local heroes show up. People they haven't seen in a long time—I'm talking years out of reach, so to speak—they're going to see some of these people in future episodes and be able to catch up and find out what they're doing.

INWEEKLY: Tell me about your upcoming second episode.

LEARY: We're switching it up a little bit because I have a co-host, Steve Nissim. I had an opportunity to meet him several years ago when I was hosting a Holocaust remembrance show on WSRE, and we just really hit it off. But with my background in television, I've done sports-related stories, so I can banter back and forth in the sports realm. But Steve is going to be a nice addition to this show, and you're going to see a little bit more Steve coming up in the future.

The second episode of "Connecting the Community" airs on Thursday, March 10, at 7 p.m., on WSRE. Additional episodes will premiere monthly on the second Thursday. The show is also available at video.wsre.org and the PBS Video App. {in}

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March 10, 2022

9

PSC Foundation Donors / Photo Courtesy of PSC

PSC SUPPORTERS DONATE $1 MILLION

Prominent and generous Pensacola families have collectively given $1 million to fund scholarships for STEM-related programs at Pensacola State College. In appreciation, the Pensacola State College Board of Trustees voted to name Phase II of Pensacola State College's STEM facility in honor of those families.

All the donors—the Bear Family Foundation, the Jo and Bill Jones Family, the Pete Moore Family and James J. Reeves—established the endowed scholarships to support PSC students.

"We want to thank these families and acknowledge their commitment to and support of the college and our students," said PSC President Ed Meadows of the donations.

"These families have a long and storied history with Pensacola State College. Time and time again, they have supported the college and our students in numerous projects and endeavors."

The Bear Family Foundation Endowed Scholarship supports full-time students who have financial need and are enrolled in technology and cybersecurity programs. Students must have a 2.5 or higher grade point average (GPA).

The Jo and Bill Jones Endowed Scholarship recipients must be pursuing a nursing or health science degree or certificate, demonstrate financial need, maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, be a United States citizen or resident alien, and be enrolled on a part-time or full-time basis.

Students will receive up to $1,000 per year. Bill M. Jones created the new scholarship in honor of his late wife, Jolinda Gaye Jones.

The Pete Moore Family Endowed Scholarship benefits Escambia or Santa Rosa County residents who are pursuing education in a 010 1

trade program and demonstrate financial need.

Recipients must be a United States citizen or resident alien and may be enrolled part-time or full-time. Students will receive up to $1,000 per year.

The criteria for the James J. Reeves Endowed Scholarship are in the process of being finalized.

James J. Reeves is a Pensacola real estate attorney, developer and former politician who served in the Florida House of Representatives and on the Pensacola City Council. He helped establish the Molly McGuire Culinary Arts Endowed Scholarship and uses his influence to ask each member of the IPC to donate $100 annually to grow this fund.

"Over the years, these families have supported our community and Pensacola State College in countless ways," said Margie Moore, PSC District Board of Trustees chair. "We are so grateful for these scholarships that will benefit so many students."

CLERK RETURNS FIRE Escambia County

Clerk Pam Childers has filed a lawsuit against the county and Commissioners Steven Barry, Lumon May and Robert Bender, seeking the return of more than $130,000 per year that she alleges were paid for their benefit over their authorized salary, without authority.

In a statement to the media, Childers said that it has come to her attention the payments she made to the retirement accounts for Barry, May and Bender were without authority.

"I have obtained a legal opinion that those payments, deemed to be compensation, must be authorized by general law for those commissioners," she said. "I find no general law so authorizing."

In late January, Escambia County filed a

"Writ of Mandamus" against Childers, claiming she had no authority to refuse to make payments to the 401(a) plan that has been in effect since 1997. Her attorneys have filed a Motion to Quash that action. They stated in the release that Childers would be moving to consolidate her lawsuit and seek a declaratory judgment. Stay tuned.

ARGOS MOVE HOME University of West Florida Athletics Director Dave Scott appeared at Mayor Grover Robinson's weekly presser on Monday, Feb. 28, to announce UWF football would not return to Maritime Park's Blue Wahoo Stadium next season. Instead, the Argos will be playing on campus at their Pen Air Field.

"It's just a great venue and environment there," Scott said of Wahoos stadium downtown, "but part of starting football at UWF was about enhancing student life, and we're ready to create that opportunity on campus."

UWF's football team has played its first five seasons in downtown Pensacola. Mayor Robinson said the team's presence has been a welcome addition, however brief.

"We knew this day was coming at some point, although it may have come a little faster than we thought," Mayor Robinson said, referencing how Major League Baseball's recent takeover of Minor League Baseball resulted in a later season for the Wahoos and thus scheduling conflicts with UWF games.

Scott said another factor that played into the decision was the switch to artificial turf at the stadium, which added cost to using the downtown field.

Dr. Martha Saunders, University of West Florida president, talked with Inweekly pub-

lisher Rick Outzen on WCOA. She said the university had been wrestling with whether to move the football team's home games to campus for a while.

"When we started football in '16, our goal was to build a fan base," she said. "We were new, we wanted people to get to know the team and we were really thrilled that the city stepped up and had found us a place to play at Blue Wahoos Stadium."

Dr. Saunders said the cost of staying at the downtown park began to add up, forcing the university to relocate the games. She shared, "We thought it's probably time for us to move to the next level and bring the team home where we can have more students participating."

Last September, fans brought lawn chairs and blankets to watch the Argos play Warner University, but that won't work next season.

"Pen Air Field, of course, is a first-rate championship competition field, so the field is great," Saunders said. "We've just got to find places for people to sit, and so that would be the next step."

She felt the timing was right for the relocation for several reasons. Saunders said, "We're working on an annex to the building there where we host the athletic program, and so we have architects buzzing around looking at how things should fit in terms of where would you put permanent seating, vis-a-vie drainage and those kinds of things."

She added, "We're also in the middle of our master planning process, so the timing has been pretty good to take a look at what we could do. We would need to develop a phasedin plan to make it more permanent."

TOWN HALL NOTES Topics traversed during Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson's March 1 town hall represented a variety of concerns within the city, with citizens approaching the mayor with matters ranging from red-light runners to rising power bills. It was the first time people had a chance for a face-to-face town hall with Robinson since the COVID pandemic began.

"People are ready to get back to the things where we interact with people," Mayor Robinson said, noting the near-back-to-normal setting in the Vickery Center meeting room.

The Pensacola City Council recently decided to conduct a road diet feasibility study for Summit Boulevard. The study was brought up.

"My thing is the road diet. I think that is not going to solve any traffic problems; it's just going to make it worse," said Kathy Millar, suggesting the city enforce the existing speed limit on Summit. "It just creates more problems on adjoining roads that you want pedestrian-friendly."

Mayor Robinson wants to take a wait-andsee approach, but Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier told the audience that the council wants the study because Summit seems to have too much road for too few vehicles. inweekly.net

"You have very few cars on a very large speedway, and when you're in that kind of situation, it's kind of like the Autobahn—you can't hold yourself back," Brahier said.

The councilwoman contrasted Summit with a similar stretch of nearby Langley Avenue, which has about 13,000 vehicles per day, whereas the four-lane Summit only sees around 5,600 cars daily.

Another nearby resident had traffic concerns. Mike Horrigan told the mayor that he felt there was an abundance of drivers running red lights in the city. He said, "I drive around, and I'm tired of taking my life in my hands when I drive around in the city."

Horrigan also expressed concerns about the city's approach to homelessness, saying that he felt the city was too focused on social-service-type solutions at the expense of "enforcement."

"It's gotten out of control," the man said, urging the mayor to do more than finding shelters for homeless individuals. He preferred putting them in touch with relevant service providers and removing them from public spaces. Horrigan added, "I like to drive around and see a pretty city."

The mayor insisted the city's current approach—spending federal funds to create additional shelter opportunities—would soon pay off. If homeless individuals ultimately did not accept these shelter and service options that will become available, he said, then they would be asked to leave the area. He added that the city risks a lawsuit if it forcibly evicts homeless people from public spaces without offering an alternative shelter option.

"I think, for the first time, the city has a plan to take care of it," Robinson said.

The town hall's most impassioned comments came from Melina Jones, who expressed concerns about rising power bills in the area since Florida Power & Light (FPL) took over operation from Gulf Power earlier this year.

"Do you understand how many more people are going to be homeless because of the light bills?" Jones asked the mayor. "I know

a lady right now; her light bill is higher than her social security. What am I going to do when that happens to me?"

members, volunteers, visitors, construction workers and others. The new Baptist Health Care campus is expected to open in fall 2023.

"I know a lady right now; her light bill is higher than her social security.

What am I going to do when that happens to me?" Melinda Jones

O'ROURKE LECTURE Arnold Seligman wrote Inweekly to point out the lecture where the late P.J. O'Rourke addressed UWF students and the community (Inweekly, "The Buzz," 2/24/22) was the Fred K. and Jane G. Seligman First Amendment Lecture, sponsored by his parents.

"This is very important to us as our father fled Germany just after Hitler came to power," said Seligman. "Dad valued the freedom of the press and the rights that the First Amendment to the Constitution afforded Americans. He saw what happened in Germany when these freedoms were denied."

He continued, "And he worried that too many of us took these freedoms for granted. He feared that if these freedoms weren't continually protected, they would be lost. Upon retirement, he and mother endowed this lecture series with UWF to ensure that these rights didn't lose visibility and that the public was constantly reminded of the necessity of protecting these rights."

The next Seligman lecture will be virtual on Thursday, March 31, featuring Art Spiegelman.

In 1992, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his masterful Holocaust narrative "Maus," which portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. "Maus II" continued the remarkable story of his parents' survival of the Nazi regime and their lives later in America. Registration will be posted soon.

As Jones gathered up her belongings and exited the meeting, Mayor Robinson would explain how "we don't control the power company." And though Jones was gone, the mayor continued to discuss the issue. He repeated his reservations regarding the municipal utility option and provided a list of resources to which people can seek assistance paying their power bills.

Additionally, Robinson said, though the city plays no direct role in setting rates for FPL customers, the mayor and City Council President Ann Hill have contacted the Florida Public Service Commission, which does approve the rate structure, and asked them to reassess the rate approval process.

TOPPING OFF On Thursday, Feb. 24,

Brasfield & Gorrie and Baptist Health Care celebrated the topping out of the new Baptist Health Care campus under construction at I-110 and Brent Lane.

The topping out of a new construction project is a major milestone in the building process that occurs when the structure reaches its full height and the last piece of structure, often a steel beam, is put in place. It signifies the completion of the framework of the building.

Baptist Health Care leaders and other special guests joined Brasfield & Gorrie leaders and nearly 1,000 construction crew members on site for a brief program that recognized the day's significance and celebrated the accomplishment. Following the program, guests watched as the last steel beam was lifted by crane to the top of the new acute care hospital and set into place. The beam was signed by team

FLORIDA BICYCLE MONTH Mayor Grover

Robinson will present an official proclamation at the Thursday, March 10, City Council meeting recognizing March as Florida Bicycle Month. The city is participating in several events to celebrate.

"We are continuing to work hard at the city of Pensacola to create a more bicycle-friendly community," Mayor Robinson said. "I hope our residents will take the opportunity this month and every month to get outside and explore our beautiful city by bicycle."

To get your wheels turning for Florida Bike Month, check out Safe Riding Routes developed by Bike Pensacola and available on the City of Pensacola Parks and Recreation website. The city will also be participating in Ciclovia on Saturday, March 26, which closes several streets in downtown Pensacola to motorized traffic and opens them up for people to ride bikes, walk, run, play or whatever moves them.

"The city encourages all bicyclists always to be aware of their surroundings and follow the rules of the road," the City's Transportation Planner Caitlin Cerame said. "Drivers should also watch for bicyclists and pass safely. Florida law requires that drivers allow a minimum of 3 feet between their vehicle and bicyclists when passing. Remember to share the road and demonstrate mutual respect for your fellow road users."

MEET THE CANDIDATES The intent of

Meet the Candidates is to educate the public about the candidates and their views on environmental and social issues. Candidates will also get the opportunity to address other aspects of their campaigns.

Join Earth Action virtually on Monday, March 14, from 6–8 pm via Zoom as it introduces candidates for the 2021 election cycle.

The intent of Meet the Candidates is to educate the public about the candidates and their views on environmental and social issues. Candidates will also get the opportunity to address other aspects of their campaigns.

The confirmed candidates are Francine Mathis in the State Representative District 1 race, Rebekah Jones and Peggy Schiller in the First Congressional District and Carolynn Zonia in the Second Congressional District.

Carollyn Taylor, running for Florida House District 1, and Maiyra Calkins, running for Florida House District 2, have been invited.

An RSVP to this event is required at earthethicsaction@gmail.com to get the login information for this event. Stay up to date on this event and update of candidate's list by visiting fb.me/e/2aRjqV7pM. {in}

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850.435.7000 | LEVINLAW.COM | PENSACOLA, FL March 10, 2022

11

BY SAVANNAH EVANOFF

PJ Morton / Photo by Laiken Joy

It's Tuesday, March 1, and Grammy Awardwinning R&B musician PJ Morton has agreed to do a phone interview with Inweekly from his hometown of New Orleans.

And while it's already a coup to land an interview with the acclaimed artist, we feel especially lucky because the most celebrated day of the year in NOLA is happening outside his front door: Mardi Gras.

It gets better.

Mardi Gras also happens to hold Morton's only Pensacola memory (so far).

"It's so funny because my first time thinking I was a grown-up with my friends—we had Mardi Gras our whole life—I must've been 17 because I had my car, but we drove to Pensacola to feel like we were adults," Morton said.

"We were like, 'We're leaving for Mardi Gras.

We're gonna go to Pensacola and be grownups.' I'll never forget that trip with my friends … it was close enough and far enough from New Orleans for us to feel like it was our getaway."

He's looking forward to returning to Pensacola for the first time as a real adult on his My Peace Tour this month. The show is happening at Vinyl Music Hall, which is one of 212 1

many smaller venues he is making a concerted effort to grace during this current tour, after COVID-19 showed him "how quickly things can be taken away," he said.

As for Mardi Gras, the singer-songwriter (and Maroon 5 keyboardist) said he keeps it low-key, maybe hits a parade or two. But his wife, Kortni, is "huge" on it.

NEW ORLEANS BOY

Well beyond Mardi Gras, New Orleans is a special place, said Morton, who will follow up this spring tour with a performance at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in May. Morton was a preacher's kid, so between growing up in church playing the keyboard for his father and being immersed in New Orleans' rich music scene, he couldn't have avoided it if he tried. Not that he ever would have wanted to.

"I didn't go to lessons and learn how to read music," Morton said. "My dad actually said when I was a kid and sleeping, he would pray over my hands and stuff. I became a musician by ear, and I traveled the world with

my father. I actually got to watch him speak in front of all of these huge congregations and touch people, and it had a major effect on me understanding the power of connecting to people, the power of a message."

Whether Morton is performing R&B, soul, pop or gospel, that influence is always there.

One of his newer songs, "My Peace," and his entire upcoming album, "Watch the Sun," have that spiritual component, he said.

"For me, at least, it's important to create music that people can really feel, not just entertain, but find some comfort for what we just went through."

PJ Morton

"For me, at least, it's important to create music that people can really feel, not just entertain, but find some comfort for what we

just went through," Morton said. "I think that is undoubtedly because of where I come from, in the spirituality, and wanting to connect to people's hearts and souls, more than just making them dance. I want them to dance, and I want to have a good time, but I also want to give you something that if you need to cry to it or you need to grow from it or it makes you think."

"My Peace" is Morton's second track with singer JoJo. His first was "Say So," which released on Valentine's Day of 2019 and won them a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.

Morton said collaborating with JoJo is about more than her vocals, and it shows in the music.

"So many people are talented; so many people can sing. JoJo can blow," Morton said. "She's incredible, but I think the reason we keep working together is because of her personality. JoJo is super humble. She's super grounded. She's such a great person and someone that I've been able to count on, which is rare in this in this industry. We're just having fun at this point, and we just happen to make great music together as well." inweekly.net

The two are both on separate tours right now, but they might "pop up and surprise people," he said.

COLLABORATION IS KEY

JoJo is just one among many strong women who have shared a song or played an important role to Morton—starting with his mother.

"My mother first is such a boss, such a leader," Morton said. "My idea of a woman was always strong and creative and smart and intelligent."

He did songwriting and production work on India. Arie's song "Interested," and Erykah Badu booked Morton for his first major tour.

"I learned so much from her—the professionalism, the way you deal with a crowd, the way you have your business organized. I learned all of that watching her," Morton said.

One of Morton's most popular songs is a cover of the classic "How Deep Is Your Love" and features singer-songwriter Yebba. That song also won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

"For some reason, I always leaned a little heavier to women, to telling a woman's story or like assisting in a woman's message and story," Morton said. "I don't know that it was a conscious thing. It's just what I was naturally always drawn to."

Morton has worked with talented male artists, too—including the legendary Stevie Wonder. He has also played keyboard for Maroon 5 since 2012.

"When we talk about Maroon, I'm playing keys and I'm singing background. I have a support role there, and I love it," Morton said. "It's all me; it's where I started. Before anything,

"I was just playing keys.

That was my dream. That's all I wanted to do, and then I started to hear these songs, and my dream started to evolve." Morton I was a keyboard player. Before I was writing, before I was singing, I was just playing keys.

That was my dream. That's all I wanted to do, and then I started to hear these songs, and my dream started to evolve."

Performing with Maroon 5 acts similarly to a reprieve from the pressure of his solo music.

He isn't the same on a Maroon 5 stage as his own, though.

"I'm driving the ship, and something else happens in me internally when I have to take on that role," Morton said. "So all of them are me. Maybe it's a little Clark Kent-Superman vibe, but I feel different when I'm solo in front of people that are singing my lyrics that I wrote. It affects me in a different way, but I appreciate them both equally because I think they feed each other."

THE NEXT CHAPTER

The recently released single "Please Don't Walk Away" gives listeners a taste of Morton's upcoming album. When asked to describe it, Morton called it an "old-school love song."

"I think R&B and soul music was built on March 10, 2022

men being able to be vulnerable, willing to beg," Morton said. "We've gotten so cool now, like 'plenty of fish in the sea.' But it may be one fish that you're like, 'Man, it'll hurt you if that fish goes away,' and so I wanted to be vulnerable."

The music he is working on is the most vulnerable he has made.

"I generally write songs where they're my account—my life is in there. But I write in a general way, where I look at a lot of people's lives and write from there," Morton said. "But I think with this one, I really just went deep in and there's a lot of my own words and life. I felt like it was time to do that, no better time than now really."

One of Morton's other recent releases is "Ready to Love," which is an extension of the theme song he wrote several years ago for a TV show of the same name on Oprah Winfrey's network OWN. He only wrote 30 seconds, which they cut down to 15, he said with a laugh.

But even that wasn't enough.

"Every time the show would come on, I would get all these Instagram comments and Twitter comments of people like, 'Yo, where's this song? I want this song,'" Morton said.

Five seasons later, he finally gave it to them.

And that is hardly Morton's only experience with TV. Making music for TV and film is largely the focus of his New Orleans-based record label, Morton Records.

Morton has developed a passion for it. Coming out of the pandemic, too, made him realize how intentional he wants to be about working in music where he is most effective, he said.

"What I like about it is, when I'm an artist, I put out a record, I want it to be successful; we want it to play on the radio," Morton said.

"There's none of that when I'm creating a song for an animated movie, like, 'Yo what's the coolest thing we can do?' We don't have to worry about sales or all of these things that can affect the music."

Morton wants to someday produce a movie and a supporting soundtrack. With everything he's already done, that's still something he hasn't.

Because of that, with his upcoming new record, Morton feels he's at the end of a chapter in some ways, he said.

"When people used to say, 'What's your dream collaboration?' I would always say, 'Stevie Wonder,' and then that happened," Morton said. "That was my biggest dream, so I feel very blessed, man. I just want to keep creating great things, but I don't want to be redundant, or repetitive, either. I like the idea of chapters closing, like 'The Sopranos' ending. I didn't want it to end, but it stands in a place in time.

I think from 'Gumbo' to now, it's been a beautiful story." {in}

PJ MORTON AT VINYL MUSIC HALL

WHEN: 7 p.m., Saturday, March 12 WHERE: Vinyl Music Hall, 2 S. Palafox COST: $34.50 (plus fees), $40 day of show DETAILS: vinylmusichall.com, pjmortonmusic.com Morton's new record, "Watch the Sun," will be out April 29 on Morton Records. Make sure to follow him for updates and release information at instagram.com/pjmorton.

13

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inweekly.net

WEEK OF MARCH 10-16

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

Reflections on "Into the Mirror"

By Hunter Morrison

"The Allegory of Bad Government" by Carrie Ann Baade / Courtesy Photo

The Pensacola Museum of Art has two new exhibitions opening this week—one is the annual Members Show. The other is called "Into the Mirror" and it showcases 16 paintings from the 2021 Members Show winner, Carrie Ann Baade.

Her paintings connect with the past using complex imagery that challenges the boundaries of philosophy and reality.

"I'm a painter that interacts with art history," Baade said. "I cut up and use collages as the basis for more autobiographical work that has symbolic meaning that explores psychology, spirituality and the unconscious."

Taking inspiration from Baroque and Renaissance paintings, Baade utilizes historic elements as a foundation to construct layered narratives, combining personal and classical symbology with luminescent color. Her paintings convey themes of mortality, sexuality, personal transformation and the darker side of human nature.

"Into the Mirror" brings fragments of Baade's previous paintings into use that explore the duality of man and the play of opposites. Using a mirror and camera as her starting off point, she creates double images March 10, 2022

that encompass her past and present selves and the wider realm of physical and metaphysical binaries.

"When I positioned the camera very close to the surface of the mirror, I could capture myself and my reflection—I became mirrored, a double, a kind of Rorschach," Baade said.

"From these double images of myself, a dialog began that revealed new levels of psychological inquiry—a format for exploring imagination and consciousness."

Many of the titles to Baade's paintings in "Into the Mirror" reflect themes that she is exploring and relaying. Titles of some of her featured paintings include "The Blessed and the Damned," "Conscious and Unconscious" and "Shadow and Light."

"To see oneself in mirror image, one is duplicated and appears almost identical but is reversed and seen through the mirror's surface as reflected through water," Baade said.

"While mirror-image perception is the human tendency to see oneself as the opposite of the person with whom they are having a conflict.

The paintings in this exhibit explore theories of dualism or metaphysical dualism, which contends that the true picture of reality has

two parts—physical bodies and non-physical minds."

The Havana, Fla., based artist's paintings were first recognized by the museum last year when she placed first in the 2021 Members Show. As the winner, she was offered a chance to display her work in a solo exhibition.

"Though we weren't familiar with her work before the 2021 Members Show, we were very impressed with her paintings and are honored to present 'Into the Mirror,'" said Anna Wall, chief curator at the Pensacola Museum of Art. "It will be interesting to see her past selves added to what are already incredibly layered compositions."

A professor of painting and drawing at Florida State University, Baade's artistic style can be described as historical with a modern twist. Her influences include Sandro Botticelli, the surrealists and others.

"Carrie looks to the history of art for her painting technique and subject matter, but the end result is thoroughly rooted in the contemporary world," Wall added. "Working from photographs and printed materials, she builds her compositions through collage and then through finely detailed paintings. Her new series looks at dualities such as good and evil, shadow and light—perennial subjects in art history that Carrie re-examines and represents from a unique perspective."

Of her art that will be featured in this exhibit, Baade expressed her excitement in displaying "The Apotheosis of Morality." The piece showcases two paintings, "The Allegory of Bad Government" and "The Allegory of Good Government."

"These are based off of fresco paintings from the 13th century in Siena about what it takes to govern," Baade said. "The reveal in doing my own reinterpretations of these was that they're not nearly political and external but they're moral and internal. You can have good and bad government in your mind depending on who you chose to make decisions within you."

Over the last 20 years, Baade's work has been featured in over 200 exhibits and 20 solo exhibitions. Galleries and museums that have showcased her art include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles, the Ningbo Art

Museum in China, the Warsaw Cultural Center and the Instituto de America de Santa Fe in Granada, Spain, in addition to others.

Even so, Baade says that "Into the Mirror" is a new step compared to her previous exhibitions.

"I honestly think this exhibit in its entirety is a new level for me because not only did I mirror myself, but I started to mirror my paintings," Baade said. "The paintings then have dialogues with each other. Some of these paintings you're seeing are singular images that culminate in the new part of the series where they show aspects of two paintings intermingled into one that show different states of being."

Through her work, Baade unlocks stories from her subconscious that reveal psychological revelations in combinations that are both feminist and autobiographical.

"I hope visitors appreciate the beauty of Carrie's work and take time to explore the complex play of images in her canvases," said Wall. "Hopefully, her work helps visitors reframe not only the narrative of art history but also their physical experience of the world around them."

Baade hopes that her paintings from "Into the Mirror" will help those who see it gain a stronger connection to themselves.

"People don't spend very long with art; you're lucky if somebody looks at your painting for more than a minute," said Baade. "I think that the format of these conversations or double images have the potential to include or entice the viewer into the dialogue about what these states of being are and being able to have a deeper understanding of their own self." {in}

"INTO THE MIRROR"

WHAT: An exhibition featuring the work of PMA's 2021 Members Show winner Carrie Ann Baade WHEN: On view March 11-May 29 WHERE: Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. Jefferson St. DETAILS: pensacolamuseum.org, carrieannbaade.com

OPENING RECEPTION

WHAT: An opening celebrating "Into the Mirror" and the 2022 Members Show WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday, March 11 WHERE: Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. Jefferson St. DETAILS: pensacolamuseum.org 15

a&e happenings Reservations to record can be made by calling StoryCorps' 24-hour toll-free reservation line at (800) 850-4406 or visiting storycorps.org or wuwf.org/storycorps.

CALL TO ARTISTS

PUNK MUSEUM CALL FOR EPHEMERA

ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVENTS

available for $18. Visit pensacolabeachchamber. com for more information.

ery & Biergarten Saturday, March 11, from 5-10 p.m., with two Irish-style beers, live music from Jay Moody from 6-9 p.m. and food from Hip Pocket Deli food truck. Visit facebook. com/garysbrew for more information.

FIFTH ANNUAL LUCKY'S ST. PATRICK'S DAY CRAWL Head to the Blend Lounge,

ST. PATTY'S PRE-FUNK Visit Gary's Brew-

COASTAL COUNTY BREWING ST. PATRICK'S PARTY The Second Annual St. Patrick's Party at Coastal County Brewing Company is Saturday, March 12, immediately following the McGuire's Run. There will be specialty brews, bangers and mash, and live music all day. Coastal County Brewing is located at 3041 E. Olive Road.

MCGUIRE'S 5K ST. PATRICK'S RUN Sport your green and run in the 45th annual McGuire's festive 5K, 9 a.m.-noon, on March 12.

The race starts at 600 E. Gregory St. For more information, visit mcguiresirishpub.com for more information.

POST-MCGUIRE'S RUN KARAOKE Cel-

ebrate finishing (or watching) the McGuire's Run with a round of karaoke at Perfect Plain Brewing Co., located at 50 E. Garden St., Saturday, March 12, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Visit facebook.com/perfectplainbrewingco for more information.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AT O'RILEY'S Visit

O'Riley's Irish Pub Thursday, March 17, all day for specials and corned beef and cabbage.

From 8-10 p.m. $1 drinks will be available.

O'Riley's Irish Pub is located at 321 S. Palafox.

Visit orileyspub.com for more information.

2022 GO IRISH ON THE ISLAND ST. PADDY'S DAY PUB CRAWL The Pensacola Beach

Chamber of Commerce invites one and all to the "Go Irish on the Island" Thursday, March 17, for the St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl. This year will feature 16 participating beach bars, restaurants and hotels serving up Irish drink specials, music and mischief all day long. Pub crawl T-shirts are 616 1

located at 200 S. Palafox, on Sunday, March 19, for a St. Patrick's-themed pub crawl starting at 4 p.m. Visit facebook.com/blendloungepensacola for more information.

NONPROFITS & FUNDRAISERS

CAT ADOPTIONS IN MARCH Animal Al-

lies will be at Pet Supermarket, 6857 N. Ninth Ave., Saturdays, March 12 & 26, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and Everett Animal Welfare Group will be at PetSmart on Davis Highway from noon-4 p.m. every Saturday in March. If you can't adopt, you can learn about opportunities to donate, foster or volunteer. All cats are up-to-date on shots, and adoption fee includes spay or neuter with microchip.

REIMAGINE MILTON FREE FOOD GIVEAWAY The community is invited to Reimagine

Milton's free food giveaway Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at Jernigan's Landing, located at 5158 Willing St. There will be free food, fishing lessons with free fishing rods, carnival rides, free baby diapers, free HIV testing, free clothing, free haircuts and more. Lunch will also be provided.

WUWF HOSTS STORYCORPS FOR LOCAL STORYTELLING OPPORTUNITIES Sto-

ryCorps, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, preserving and sharing the stories of people from all backgrounds and beliefs, comes to Pensacola Feb. 17-March 11 to record interviews, in-person and virtually, as part of its Mobile Tour.

Participants have the option of recording in-person or via StoryCorps' Virtual Recording Booth, a video-conferencing platform that can be accessed remotely using an internetconnected device. Participants can learn more about safety precautions for in-person recording at storycorps.org.

The 309 Punk Project is working on a tribute to the ragtag Old East Hill group that published a newspaper called the Gulf Coast Fish Cheer 50 years ago. "War Against Conformity: Pensacola's 1970s Underground Press" will be a pop-up exhibit with a full run of the Fish Cheer and many other underground newspapers on display.

They need your old posters, pins, patches, clothing, underground newspapers—anything related to the anti-war movement, women's movement, Black power movement or veterans' movement circa 1965-1975. They're especially interested in photos, fliers and ephemera with a local focus. Your donated materials will help expand the permanent collection, from which this show will be drawn, and make it more inclusive.

The deadline for drop off is March 31.

Please contact Scott Satterwhite at satterwhite309@gmail.com if you have questions.

ARTS & CRAFTS EXHIBITORS FOR JAZZFEST Jazz Pensacola is calling arts and

crafts exhibitors to submit applications for the 2022 Pensacola JazzFest, taking place 10 a.m.7 p.m. Saturday, April 2, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday, April 3, at Seville Square.

Application form can be found at jazzpensacola.com.

Only original art and handmade crafts will be accepted. No commercial/mass-produced products will be accepted. Please read the complete contract, particularly concerning refunds.

All entries are $200 for a 10-by-10 canopy or smaller. All fees go to support Pensacola JazzFest, a free event for the community.

FOO FOO FEST APPLICATIONS Applica-

tions are open for vendors to join Pensacola's Foo Foo Festival taking place Nov. 3-14.

In 2022, the Pensacola Foo Foo Festival will once again fund top-scoring grant applicants, with the number of grants to be awarded contingent upon the number of submissions.

This year, the Foo Foo Festival will provide up to $400,000 in grant funding, and grant applicants can apply for up to $100,000 in grant funding. All organizations, businesses and community partners are encouraged to submit their various events (occurring Nov. 3-14, 2022) for consideration to become a "Friend of Foo," receiving visibility as part of the regional marketing campaign and throughout the 12-day event. To apply for this year's Foo Foo Festival, visit acepensacola.org. To apply for consideration as a "Friend of Foo," visit foofoofest.com.

FOO FOO FEST APPLICATION TIMELINE: •Friday, March 11 - Foo Foo Fest Organization Letter of Intent Deadline •Friday, May 6 - Foo Foo Fest Grant Application Deadline (Noon CT) •Tuesday, May 24 - Public Grant Scoring and Official Announcements

ARTS & CULTURE

THE HELLO GIRLS PenArts presents a new

musical that tells the story of these brave women who answered the call and volunteered to serve their country. The show dates are 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 10-Saturday, March 12, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at The Gordon Community Art Center, 306 N. DeVilliers St. Tickets are $5-$15 and can be purchased at eventbrite.com.

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS TOURNAMENT

Visit Easy Going Gallery, located at 701 N. V St., for a Super Smash Brothers tournament 7 p.m.

Friday, March 11. Visit facebook.com/easygoinggallery for more information.

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE Pensacola Opera's

latest show is a timeless classic. Enjoy the hilarity as Figaro rescues the lovelorn Rosina from Dr. Bartolo, uniting her with her true love, Count Almaviva. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 11, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at the Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at pensacolasaenger.com.

MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR Mountainfilm

on Tour brings a selection of culturally rich, adventure-packed and incredibly inspiring documentary films curated from the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colo. The tour will make a stop in Pensacola 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Museum Plaza at 120 Church St. Tickets are $15-$25 and can be purchased at mountainfilm.org.

ANASTASIA: THE MUSICAL Inspired by the beloved films, the romantic and adventure-filled new musical "Anastasia" comes to the Saenger Theatre, located at 118 S. Palafox.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, and Wednesday, March 16. Tickets are $58$83. Purchase yours at pensacolasaenger.com.

BROADWAY BOOGIE: GROWN-UPS Join

this weekly class on the basics of boogie in a fun, easy-going, non-judgmental setting.

Classes are Fridays, April 1-May 20, from 5-6 p.m., at The Gordon Art Center, 306 N. DeVilliers St. This class teaches the fundamentals of musical theatre style dancing including jazz, tap, ballet, ballroom, fosse and more. This class is a beginner-level class for teens and adults, ages 16 and up. Registration is open through March 15 at myneighborhoodtheatre.com.

PENSACOLA ARTS MARKET Enjoy shop-

ping for a variety of handcrafted wares at Pensacola Arts Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 1401 W. Intendencia St. Enjoy art, espresso, vintage goods, baked treats, handcrafted unique gifts and more. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/pensacolaartsmarket.

EASY GOING GALLERY ART MARKET

Every Sunday, Easy Going Gallery and Carter J Studios present a weekly art market Sundays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Easy Going Gallery, located at 701 N. V St. Enjoy art, espresso, vintage goods, baked treats, handcrafted unique gifts and more. Vendors can participate inweekly.net

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a&e happenings for a $20 fee. For more information, contact easygoinggalleryart@gmail.com.

TEEN-Y TINY ART SHOW Tweens and teens have the chance to express themselves with a tiny painting kit from the Pensacola Library. Return your masterpiece from the art kit supplied by the library by Monday, March 14. The library will display the work in the lobby display case from Tuesday, March 15-Thursday, March 31. Suggested for middle and high school youths. All materials provided while supplies last.

THE MAROON MARINES: ARCHAEOLOGY AT PROSPECT BLUFF A new tempo-

rary exhibit at The Destination Archaeology Resource Center, located at 207 E. Main St., features the story of the largest free black settlement in what is now the United States.

This exhibit is sponsored by City of Pensacola Councilmember Teniadé Broughton.

During the War of 1812, a fort was built by Black British Colonial Marines and Indigenous people along the Apalachicola River. Called "Negro Fort" by American officials, it eventually became the center of the largest free Black settlement in what is now the United States.

When the war ended, the U.S. believed the fort threatened the institution of slavery and must be destroyed. To the Maroon people who lived there, however, the fort at Prospect Bluff was a beacon of freedom worth fighting for.

For more information, visit fpan.us.

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PMA OPENING RECEPTION Join PMA for a night of festivity and community to celebrate the opening of The Members Show and Into the Mirror: Carrie Ann Baade on Friday, March 11. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the member show awards begin at 7:30 p.m. at Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. Jefferson St. This event is free and open to the public. Visit pensacolamuseum.org for more information.

GALLERY NIGHT The March Gallery Night is Friday, March 18, from 5-9 p.m. in downtown Pensacola. This month's them is "Shake Your Shamrock." Explore music, art, foot and more in the open streets. For more information, visit gallerynight.org.

20/22 VISION First City Art Center's latest

exhibit features the new artists at 1060 Gallery. The exhibit is on view through March 18 and is located at 1060 N. Guillemard St. Visit firstcityart.org for more information.

PMA MEMBERS SHOW The PMA Members

Show is on view at Pensacola Museum of Art through May 29. View works of art from local artists. For more information, visit pensacolamusuem.org.

INTO THE MIRROR: CARRIE ANN BAADE 2021 Members Show winner Carrie Ann Baade describes herself as steward and axman, returning to the haunting moments in art history in order to reclaim them. By using the "bone yard" of

Western painting with reverence, she cuts them up into fragments resulting in collage. In their repainting, these are fierce feminist parables.

Paintings made of paintings; the old masterworks are infused with the artist's own experience.

The exhibit is on view through May 29. For more information, visit pensacolamusuem.org.

MAPPING NORTHWEST FLORIDA EXHIBIT AT THE PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF HISTORY Visualized Landscapes: A Selection

of Northwest Florida Maps is now on view at Pensacola Museum of History.

The exhibit explores the shifting topography of Northwest Florida through a series of maps selected from the Trust Archive. Visualized Landscapes: A Selection of Northwest Florida Maps is on view on the second floor of the Pensacola Museum of History until August.

For more information about the UWF Historic Trust or to purchase tickets, visit historicpensacola.org.

VISIONARY APONTE: ART AND BLACK FREEDOM Visionary Aponte: Art and Black

Freedom is from creator José Antonio Aponte, a free black carpenter, artist and former soldier who was also the leader of an ambitious antislavery conspiracy in Cuba in 1812. The exhibit is on view at Pensacola Museum of Art through March 27.

Visit pensacolamuseum.org for more information.

2000 MEN: BLACK POLITICIANS DURING RECONSTRUCTION A new exhibit at the

Pensacola Museum of History shares the stories and histories of Black politicians during the Reconstruction period. The Pensacola Museum of History is located at 330 S. Jefferson St. For more information, visit historicpensacola.org.

FINDING 1821 Finding 1821 is part of the

UWF Historic Trust's Suddenly American exhibit. Using historic newspapers, maps and documents, it is possible to locate where businesses stood in the 1820s. From taverns to parasol shops, each site on the Finding 1821 trail reflects a local establishment that was near that location 200 years ago. Outside each business is a QR code that links to a corresponding advert from an early 1820s newspaper. Over a dozen sites have been identified so far. Take a stroll around town, visit local shops and explore the history of Pensacola through today's technology. Visit historicpensacola.org 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

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a&e happenings process? Sit in for a listen and usually a lot of laughs. Visit facebook.com/pensacolalittletheatre for more information and the latest dates.

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.

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 on 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 wellbeing of all students and families and has im-

March 10, 2022

plemented 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.

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 offers 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.

FOOD + DRINKS

SPANISH PAELLA DEMONSTRATION DINNER Learn all the secrets to making a tra-

ditional Spanish Paella in this demonstration class Thursday, March 10, at 6 p.m. at Bodacious, 407-D S. Palafox. Tickets are $65 and can be purchased at bodaciousshops.com.

MIX AND MINGLE WATCH PARTY WITH CHEF JAMES BRISCIONE Join folks at Ange-

lena's to watch Chef James Briscione compete on "Beat Bobby Flay" Thursday, March 10. The watch party begins at 7 p.m. with the episode airing at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include a food tasting and glass of prosecco. Angelena's is located at 101 E. Intendencia St. For more information, visit angelenaspensacola.com.

HANDS-ON CHARCUTERIE CLASS Learn the art of charcuterie with Bodacious at noon on Sunday, March 13, at 407-D S. Palafox. Tickets are $55. Get your tickets at bodaciousshops.com.

86 FOLKS BAR + TABLE PRESENTS PI DAY 86 Forks Bar + Table, located at 11 S. Palafox, Ste. B, will be offering featured Small Plates to dinein guests for just $3.14 each in honor of pi (or π) all day on Monday, March 14. Reservations can be made online at 86forks.com/reservations or by calling the restaurant at (850) 607-7336.

COOKING WITH CHEF IRV MILLER: THE FISHERMAN AND THE GARDENER The

next cooking demonstration with Chef Irv Miller is Wednesday, March 16, with classes at 5 and 7:30 p.m. at Jackson's Steakhouse, located at 400 S. Palafox. Cost is $55. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (850) 686-3149 or emailing jessica@goodgrits.com.

MONTHLY WINE TASTING IN AGAPI GARDEN Visit Agapi Garden, at 555 Scenic

Highway, from 5-7 p.m. to sample five wines for $10. For more information, call (850) 813-5683.

SUNDAY FUNDAY BRUNCH AT THE WELL The Well, located at 42 E. Garden St., has

expanded its offerings with a Sunday Funday Brunch cocktail menu including items such as Spicy Paloma made with Mezcal, a cold brew cocktail with Irish whiskey, a cucumber-infused spritz and a Bloody Mary spiced with housemade hot sauce and garnished with fresh pickled vegetables. Price range is $9-$12. Brunch hours are Sundays from noon-4 p.m. Other small plate offerings are available Thursday-Saturday from 4 p.m.-one hour before closing. For more information, visit facebook.com/thewellpensacola.

FIRST FRIDAY FINE WINES Visit The Nest General Store at 11 S. Palafox, Ste. C, on the first Friday of every month for a wine tasting from 6-8 p.m.

Visit bluejaysbakery.com for more information.

BAYOU BUZZ COFFEE TASTING TOUR

Seville Savories Food Tour will host a coffee tour of downtown Pensacola Tuesdays-Fridays from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Tickets are available online at sevillesavoriesfoodtour.com.

BURGERS AND BORDEAUX AT UNION PUBLIC HOUSE Every Tuesday night, enjoy

a specialty burger and a glass of Bordeaux for $18 at Union Public House, located at 309 S. Reus St. For more information, visit facebook. com/unionpensacola.

19

a&e happenings WEEKNIGHT HAPPY HOUR Every weeknight before 6 p.m. at The 5 Barrel, get $1 off all The 5 Barrel pints, $2 wine by the glass and half off hummus plates when you buy a pint of beer. Visit the5barrel.com for more information.

TABLETOP TUESDAYS AT THE 5 BARREL Join The 5 Barrel for a special Tabletop Tuesday event at 6 p.m. every Tuesday in March.

A wide variety of games ranging from the classic chess to the crowd favorite Catan will be available. Players are welcome to bring their own games.

ARAGON WINE TASTINGS Wine tastings at Aragon Wine Market are back every Thursday from 5-7 p.m. in store at 27 S. Ninth Ave. For more information, visit aragonwinemarket.com.

THURSDAY TRIVIA NIGHT AT THE 5 BARREL Gather a group for a weekly Thurs-

day Trivia Night Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. at The 5 Barrel. There will be prizes for every round and select drafts for $3. Find out more at facebook.com/the5barrel.

THURSDAY BIERGARTEN TRIVIA NIGHT Gary's Brewery Trivia Night is back by popular demand. Thursdays from 7-9 p.m., test your trivia skills with a glass of beer or wine. Arrive early to grab a spot. Gary's Brewery is located at 208 Newman Ave. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

020 2

PALAFOX MARKET Palafox Market is back at its regular location in MLK Jr. Plaza. In a carefully planned, phased reopening, Palafox Market has launched with about half its regular vendors, showcasing food, farm produce and products geared toward safety and sanitation such as handmade soaps and face masks. For more information, visit facebook.com/downtownpensacola.

EVER'MARKET AT NINE MILE ROAD Visit

Ever'Man at 1000 E. Nine Mile Road on the fourth Saturday of each month for the Ever'Market with food, music, giveaways, activities and more. Visit everman.org for more information.

200 SOUTH SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Every first Saturday of the month, the

businesses at 200 South will host Small Business Saturday to show support for local businesses. Bring a receipt from a purchase from any other downtown business and receive 10% off your bill at Graffiti Pizza, World of Beer, Taco Agave and Blend Lounge.

PENSACOLA POSITIVITY'S SUNDAY MARKETS Sunday Markets on Palafox Street

happen each Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in MLK Plaza on Palafox. Local makers, growers and creators gather each under the oak trees to sell their goods to the community. Interested vendors can request an application by emailing requeaskmikellah@gmail.com. For more information, visit facebook.com/palafoxmarkets.

SATURDAYS AT THE MARKET OUTDOOR VENDOR EVENT Located at 5300

Berryhill Road, the outdoor market features artisans and crafters alike from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays. Social distancing guidelines will be in effect. For more information, email saturdaysatthemarket@gmail.com.

PENSACOLA POP-UP FARMERS MARKET Check out fresh and organic produce,

milk, eggs, meat, fresh-baked bread, mushrooms, lumber, grits, cornmeal, pies and plants Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at East Hill Market, located at 1216 N. Ninth Ave. For a list of vendors, visit facebook.com/easthillmarket.

UPTOWN PENSACOLA MARKET Check

out local vendors of art, produce and other local treasures every Saturday at 7201 N. Ninth Ave. from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/uptownmarketpensacola.

TWILIGHT THREE-COURSE SPECIAL The

District's Twilight Three-Course special is back Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4:30-6 p.m. Guests enjoy three courses for $35 per person. Diners must be seated by 6 p.m. for offer to be valid. To make a reservation, call (850) 332-5224, or go to districtstreaks.com.

The District is located at 123 E. Government St.

LIVE MUSIC

JOJO SIWA JoJo Siwa's D.R.E.A.M Tour will

make a stop at Pensacola Bay Center, located at 201 E. Gregory St., Thursday, March 10. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $41. For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

NATURAL ILLNNESS SHOWCASE The Natural Illnness showcase features Bleak, Jay Zen, S.O.G. Menace, The Rapper Big Chris and 850 Milly. Show starts at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 12, at Easy Going Gallery, located at 701 N. V St. Visit facebook.com/easygoinggallery for more information.

PJ MORTON PJ Morton Heat will be performing at Vinyl Music Hall, 2 S. Palafox, 7 p.m., on Saturday, March 12. Get yours at vinylmusichall.com.

SOUNDS MINDS PRESENTS: DANIEL ALLEN Daniel Allen will be performing at the

grand opening of Venue, 655 Pensacola Beach Blvd., 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 12. Tickets are $20. Ages 10 and up to dance and 21 and up to drink.

HORSEBURNER Horseburner, with Astral

Glide and Slugger, will be performing Wednesday, March 16, at Easy Going Gallery, 701 N. V St. Shows start at 7 p.m. Visit facebook.com/ easygoinggallery for more information. for more listings visit inweekly.net

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21

free will astrology WEEK OF MARCH 10 ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Aries author

Isak Dinesen defined "true piety" as "loving one's destiny unconditionally." That's a worthy goal for you to aspire to in the coming weeks. I hope you will summon your deepest reserves of ingenuity and imagination as you cultivate a state of mind in which you adore your life just as it is. You won't compare it negatively to anyone else's fate, and you won't wish it were different from what it actually is. Instead, you will be pleased and at peace with the truth of exactly who you are right now.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): As author

Mary Ruefle points out, "In the beginning, William Shakespeare was a baby, and knew absolutely nothing. He couldn't even speak."

And yet eventually, he became a literary superstar—among history's greatest authors.

What happened in between? I'm not exaggerating when I attribute part of the transformation to magic. Vast amounts of hard work and help and luck were involved, too. But to change from a wordless, uncoordinated sprout to a potent, influential maestro, Taurus-born Shakespeare had to be the beneficiary of mysterious powers. I bring this up, Taurus, because I think you will have access to comparable mojo during the next four weeks.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): As talented

and financially successful as Kanye West is, the Gemini singer-songwriter experiences a lot of emotional suffering. But no one lives an ideal life, right? And we can learn from everyone. In any case, I've chosen quotes by Kanye that are in rapt alignment with your astrological omens. Here they are—1. "I'm in pursuit of awesomeness; excellence is the bare minimum." 2. "You're not perfect, but you're not your mistakes." 3. "I'm not comfortable with comfort. I'm only comfortable when I'm in a place where I'm constantly learning and growing."

4. "Everything I'm not makes me everything I am."

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): "Any real

ecstasy is a sign you are moving in the right direction," wrote philosopher Saint Teresa of Avila, who was renowned for her euphoric spiritual experiences. So is there any such thing as "fake ecstasy," as she implies? Maybe fake ecstasy would be perverse bliss at the

By Rob Brezsny

misfortune of an enemy, or the trivial joy that comes from realizing your house keys aren't missing. Real ecstasy, on the other hand, might arise from a visceral sense of the presence of God, or the rapture that emerges as you make love with a person you care for, or the elation you feel when you commune with your favorite animal. Anyway, Cancerian, I predict that in the coming days, you will have an extra rich potential for the real kinds of rhapsodic delight and enchantment.

Maybe fake ecstasy would be perverse bliss at the misfortune of an enemy, or the trivial joy that comes from realizing your house keys aren't missing.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Leo actor Jennifer

Lawrence portrayed a rugged, fierce, resourceful champion in "The Hunger Games" film trilogy. In real life, however, she has few resemblances to that stalwart hero. "I have the street smarts and survival skills of a poodle," she has confessed. But I've got potentially good news for her and all the rest of you Leos. The coming months will be a favorable time for you to cultivate the qualities of a rugged, fierce, resourceful champion. And right now would be an excellent time to launch your efforts.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Each of us periodically has to deal with conflict. There come times when we must face the fact that a specific situation in our lives isn't working well and needs to be adjusted, fixed, or transformed.

We might prefer to pretend the problem doesn't exist. We may be inclined to endure the stressful discomfort rather than engage with its causes. But such an approach won't be right for you in the coming days, dear Virgo. For the sake of your mental and spiritual health, you have a sacred duty to bravely risk a struggle to improve things. I'll provide you with advice from novelist John Fowles. He said, "I must fight with my weapons. Not his. Not selfishness and brutality and shame and resentment." Fowles goes on to

say that he will offer generosity and gentleness and no-shame and forgiveness.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): A blogger

named MysteryOfWhat expressed appreciation for her errors and wrong turns. "I love all my mistakes!" she exclaimed. "I had fun!" She has a theory that she would not have been able to completely fulfill her interesting destiny without her blunders and her brilliant adjustments to those blunders. I won't encourage you to be quite so boisterously unconditional in celebrating your fumbles and miscues, Libra.

My inclination is to urge you to honor them and feel grateful for them, but I'm not sure I should advise you to shout out, "I love all my mistakes! I had fun!" But what do you think?

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Scorpio poet Norman MacCaig wrote, "Ask me, go on, ask me to do something impossible, something freakishly useless, something unimaginable and inimitable like making a finger break into blossom or walking for half an hour in twenty minutes or remembering tomorrow." I hope people say things like that to you soon, Scorpio. I hope allies playfully nudge you to stretch your limits, expand your consciousness and experiment on the frontier. To encourage such a development, you could do the same for your beloved allies— nudge them to stretch their limits, expand their consciousness and experiment on the frontier.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21):

"Look at your body not as a source of physical attraction but as a shrine," wrote teacher Sobonfu Somé. Personally, I have no problem if you regard your body as a source of physical attraction—as a gorgeous, radiant expression of your life energy, worthy of inspiring the appreciation of others. But I agree with Somé that you should also treat your body as a sacred sanctuary deserving of your reverence— especially now. Please boost your intention to provide your beloved organism with all the tender care it needs and warrants.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): "It's

surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time," writes author Barbara Kingsolver. Yes! I agree. And by providing you with this heads-up from her, I'm

hoping that the subtly potent events unfolding for you in the coming weeks will not go unnoticed. I'm hoping you will be alert for seemingly small but in fact crucial developments—and thereby give them all the focus and intelligence they deserve. Later, you'll remember this delicately pivotal time with amazed gratitude.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): What's more important: to learn or to unlearn? The answer, of course, is they are equally important.

But sometimes, the most crucial preparation for a new learning phase is to initiate a surge of unlearning. That's what I'm recommending for you right now. I foresee you embarking on a series of extravagant educational experiences in a couple of weeks. And the best way to ensure you take maximum advantage of the available lessons is by dumping useless knowledge and irrelevant information and numbing habits.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): Singer-

songwriter Jill Scott has earned one platinum and two gold records. She approaches her craft with diligence and intensity. On one occasion, she was frying a burger at her boyfriend's house when she sensed a new song forming in her imagination. Abandoning the stove, she ran into the next room to grab pen and paper. Soon she had transcribed the beginning of a melody and lyrics. In the meantime, though, the kitchen caught on fire. Luckily, she doused it. Later Jill testified, "His cabinets were charred, and he was furious. But it was worth it for a song." I don't think you'll have to make as big a sacrifice as hers in the coming days, Pisces. But you should respond robustly whenever inspiration arrives.

THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: Every day for three days, seek out three experiences that will make you laugh a lot. Report results—newsletter. freewillastrology.com.

freewillastrology.com

freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com Rob Brezsny © Copyright 2022

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news of the weird THIS GIG STINKS Omni, a plant-based pet food company in Britain, is offering a lucky(?) few dog owners more than $6,000 to "record their experience of introducing their dog to a plant-based diet, monitoring their bowel movements, stool odor, health, energy levels, behavior, sleep pattern and physical attributes, such as weight, skin and fur condition" over a period of two months, according to the company's website. Omni will provide a free supply of its pet food for the gig and will cover the cost of visits to a pet nutritionist, who will oversee the pets' transition to plant-based food. Those dog owners who successfully complete the poop-monitoring period will earn the aforementioned cash for their work, while their dogs will receive a supply of dog toys and vegan treats. Applications will be accepted on Omni's website through March 31.

CHECK, PLEASE! Michael Spressler, 58, of Brick, New Jersey, thought he had broken a tooth when he bit into a raw clam and felt something hard in his mouth during a Presidents Day weekend visit to his favorite Jersey Shore seafood restaurant, The Lobster House. "I thought one of my molars cracked," Spressler told NJ Advance Media. But instead of one of his own pearly whites, Spressler found a perfectly round white pearl. "I've been eating clams all my life. This is the first time this ever happened to me," Spressler said. Indeed, the odds of finding a pearl in a clam are said to be roughly 1 in 10,000, and The Pearl Source website says the little gem, which Spressler's wife, Maria, would like to have set in a piece of jewelry, could be worth anywhere from $50 to $100,000.

GOLDEN TICKET On Oct. 26, 1984, Northwestern student Michael Cole attended a basketball game alone, having been unable to find a friend to use the extra ticket he had purchased for $8.50. Thirty-eight years later, on Feb. 27, Cole, now 55, watched that spare ticket, which he had held onto as a keepsake, sell for $468,000 at auction. What was so special about the ticket? It just happens to be the only known intact ticket from Michael Jordan's debut game with the Chicago Bulls. Cole, whose 2012 Kia Sorento died just one week before the auction ended, said he plans to use some of his earnings to replace it with "a sensible used car."

A LITTLE FAITH IN HUMANITY Perhaps it's a sad critique of the world we live in when a story like the following is classified as "weird"—but greed abounds in this modern age, so when an act of kindness rises above the usual dreck, it is weird news indeed. Eduardo Martinez of Honduras, who works near Broadway in New York, probably expected a more typical ending to his story: On March 2, as he rushed to get to work through jam-packed Times Square, Martinez dropped his wallet. Losing his IDs and personal effects would have been devastating enough, but Martinez also had $4,000 in cash inside his billfold. As he waded through the crowd of tourists and searched the ground, two police

By the Editors at Andrews McMeel

officers approached and informed him that the wallet had been picked up by a fellow commuter and turned over safe and sound—with all $4,000 intact. Here's to happy endings!

ANIMAL ADVENTURES The Lang family of Whidbey Island Station in Washington owns five horses, but on the morning of March 2, only four could be found. The family began a search and discovered that Blaze, the missing horse, was in deep trouble—15 feet deep, to be precise. The horse had broken through a barrier around 10 a.m. and fallen down a concrete well.

Rescue workers from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station dropped in and sedated the horse, and North Whidbey and Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue crews were able to get a harness around Blaze and lift all 2,000 pounds of equine out of the hole using an excavator from a neighbor's farm. Blaze received an IV and was treated for a few minor cuts, but otherwise was unhurt in the incident. "If he had gone down any other way, he wouldn't be alive," owner Karl Lang told KING-TV 5. "Luckily he went down heinie first."

•A 15-year-old poodle named Snowball has been reunited with his owner, Kathy, of Norfolk, Virginia. What kept the two apart? Only about five years and more than 900 miles. Snowball, who arrived recently at the Cape Coral Animal Shelter in Florida with matted fur, infected eyes and ears and severe dehydration, had gone missing from Kathy's home in Norfolk some five years ago. But thanks to the microchip Kathy had implanted in her bestie, the poodle was quickly identified, and Kathy booked a flight shortly after receiving a call from the shelter.

Fox 4 Southwest Florida reports that Snowball's eyes have been treated, his vaccinations have been updated, and his new health certificate will allow him to fly home with Kathy.

DID SOMEBODY SAY "SHOT"? On Feb. 27, the Smoking Gun reported, Christina Blair, 33, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, began honking her horn and yelling obscenities at Gabriel Chavez while the two drove their cars on an Albuquerque road. Blair told police she had become enraged upon seeing Chavez's "Vaccinated" bumper sticker. After Blair hit Chavez's car with an object (later revealed to be a water bottle) at a red light, Chavez accidentally backed into Blair's car. The two pulled into a Walgreen's parking lot, where Chavez expected to exchange insurance information; instead, Blair pulled a handgun from her car and racked the weapon. Chavez called 911, and police were able to use Chavez's cellphone video to acquire Blair's license plate info and track it to her residence. Blair was taken into custody and booked on a count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. {in}

From Andrews McMeel Syndication News Of The Weird © 2022 Andrews McMeel

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com March 10, 2022

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Independent News | March 10, 2022 | inweekly.net