19 minute read
The Local
Work from Art and Culture Center’s “Artist + Identity” (Turn to page 26 for more)
BOCA CHATTER › 24 HOT LIST › 26 GIVER › 28 EXPERT › 30 THE LOOK › 32 ARTIST › 40 ENTREPRENEURS › 42 WORTH THE TRIP › 44
SUMMERTIME 90
10 SUMMER RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The heat is on. And it’s not going anywhere for months, so best to set a few guidelines for yourselves and make the most of it—without sacrificing the joys of summer—our long(est) season in the sun.
✺ All yard work should be done by 11 a.m. ✺ Always find a shady parking spot. ✺ Forget about planting anything aside from dune daisies, bougainvillea or the occasional pentas. ✺ You should already have your hurricane supplies. And if they tell you to leave, leave. There’s no such thing as “only a Cat 1.”
Degrees, the average daily high temperature in July
663
Miles of beachfront in Florida
✺ Sometimes it really is too hot.
Think of those days as “our” winter and allow yourself to stay inside and watch movies. It’s OK.
You can do this. ✺ Do not take your dog to the beach. ✺ Know that the afternoon monsoon always hits exactly three minutes before you are leaving the office to go home. ✺ The Keys are almost affordable, but they will be hotter than Vietnam. ✺ It’s true: Stay hydrated. And we don’t mean 11 beers at a tiki hut, although that may indeed happen. ✺ Celebrate the summer perks: dinner reservations, Florida lobster, turtle walks, Mount Gay & tonic, counting the days until football season.
4,308
Square miles of water in Florida
Locals sound off on issues affecting our community.
What will you do this year for a summer vacation? Will you be traveling?
“I’m thrilled to say that I will, indeed, be traveling this summer! Some friends and I have rented a cabin in Grand Lake, Colorado for a few days of hiking and much-needed quality time together.”
—Dia DonFrancesco, Marketing Specialist
“I am celebrating a big birthday this summer, so we will be traveling to Oregon and Washington State wine countries.”
—David DeMott, President, Gridiron Insurance “We plan to take a couple of weeks to visit our family in upstate New York. Due to COVID-19 concerns, no-fly travel restrictions and waiting for the vaccinations, we have not been able to see our son’s family for a year. There will be many hugs, kisses and sharing magical moments together; we all can’t wait to be together!”
—Marusca Gatto, Downtown Activation Manager, Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority
South Florida By the Book
These classics elevate beach reading to a whole new level.
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
by Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway, who once famously lived in Key West, has to be on this list, and we like this novel (the movie bears no resemblance, although we love Bogie and Bacall) for its tale of a boat captain forced to run contraband between Cuba and Florida to makes ends meet. Danger, adventure and the Cuban Revolution meet in the ultimate romance of the Florida Keys. It has it all. Plus, it’s by The Man himself. SHADOW COUNTRY
by Peter Matthiessen This tour de force by the late Peter Matthiessen (which was once a trilogy but reimagined into one novel) explores the legendary killing of the notorious outlaw and planter Edgar J. Watson in Chokoloskee, Florida. It weaves a spell of that time when this part of Florida was the last American frontier, full of secrets and mystery, the unknowable and the imagined.
US NAVY/ZUMA WIRE/ZUMAPRESS.COM
Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Katia gathering strength in 2017 THE CORPSE HAD A FAMILIAR FACE
by Edna Buchanan A legendary reporter (and Pulitzer Prize winner) on the police beat for the Miami Herald in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, Edna Buchanan offers a synopsis of crimes she covered in that period with a hardedged reporter’s eye for detail and brevity, and a backstory of her own. She brings Miami alive in the heyday of cocaine cowboys and the rich and exotic tapestry of an international city that still has a romance all its own. This is a Miami classic, and required reading for anyone with a fascination with trouble in paradise. 92 IN THE SHADE
by Tom McGuane Some consider this brilliant early novel from Tom McGuane to be one of his best—part thriller written with a “heartbroken humor,” part homage to the Keys in the days when the Keys were more crazy than expensive. It’s a story about maverick Tom Skelton, who is also a thinker (“It’s just that when you realize that everyone dies you become a terrible kind of purist”), the characters at the end of the world—and a love letter to these islands in the stream. MIAMI
by Joan Didion Of course Joan Didion, fierce social observer, essayist and brilliant novelist, had to dissect Miami. Goodreads encapsulates this book nicely: “As Didion follows Miami’s drift into a Third World capital, she also locates its position in the secret history of the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs to the Reagan doctrine and from the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate break-in. Miami is not just a portrait of a city, but a masterly study of immigration and exile, passion, hypocrisy, and political violence.”
STORMY WEATHER
Those rascally researchers at Colorado State University predict in an early report that we could be in for another well-abovenormal hurricane season, bringing as many as 14 to 17 tropical storms, nine to 11 hurricanes and four to five major hurricanes in 2021. Be prepared!
WHEN: Now through Aug. 15 WHERE: Art and Culture Center, 1650 Harrison St., Hollywood COST: $7 general admission, $4 students, youth and seniors
CONTACT:
954/921-3274, artandculturecenter. org Portraiture may be the act of re-creating a face on a canvas— of immortalizing a 3D figure in 2D media. But for generations, artists have been pushing back against this traditional definition. “Artist + Identity: Portraiture, Performance, Doppelgängers and Disguise” focuses on this brand of elusive artist, with painters, sculptors and more among the dozen featured, including Annie Leibovitz and Cindy Sherman. It runs alongside “Mark Fleuridor: Black Castor Oil,” a similarly unique take on portraiture.
NOTE:
Some of these events may end up being canceled or postponed due to COVID-19. Please confirm before purchasing tickets and/or attending. —Ed.
“FOR THE RECORD: CELEBRATING ART BY WOMEN”
WHEN: Now through Oct. 3 WHERE: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach COST: $15-$18, $5 students CONTACT: 561/832-5196, norton.org Women make up more than half the population but rarely approach equity in art museums, where their male counterparts have driven the conversation since, say, cave paintings. The Norton Museum of Art has worked to correct this discrepancy for the past 10 years through its annual RAW: Recognition of Art by Women series, and this exhibition takes another leap toward equality of brush and chisel. “For the Record” features some 50 eclectic works spanning from early modernist visionaries to working artists of today. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, it features paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photography and video, many on view to the public for the first time. It joins the Norton’s other summer exhibit, “What’s New: Recent Acquisitions,” an exciting survey of recent additions to its collection, which runs through Aug. 8.
Viola Frey’s “Weeping Woman”
Juan Martinez
DOCTOR NATIVO
WHEN: Aug. 7, 7 p.m. WHERE: Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave. COST: $40-$45 CONTACT: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org The hellish conditions of Guatemala that have driven so much migration into North America in the past decade were not much better in 1990, when the nation was riven by a civil war in which Arturo Martinez, father of future musician Juan Martinez, was assassinated. These days, the younger Martinez, now recording under the name Doctor Nativo, continues to seek justice through his righteous music, a danceable stew of reggae, cumbia and hip-hop played on pre-Columbian instruments. His lyrics, sung and rapped in his native Mayan language, showcase a populist worldview borne of oppression, with tracks such as “Rise Up” and “The Voice of the People” achieving anthemic status in Guatemala. Doctor Nativo will be touring Arts Garage in support of his LP Guatemaya, his first release to the United States market.
THE HELLA MEGA TOUR
WHEN: Aug. 1, 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Drive, Miami COST: $29.50 and up CONTACT: 305/943-7275, ticketmaster.com For its official concert poster, the organizers of this alt-rock triple bill chose an illustration of a horned centaur playing a glittery pink guitar and spewing fire, while rising like Lazarus from a packed stadium. It’s as colorful and apt an image as any to describe the triumphant (fingers crossed, of course) return of large-scale concerts to a beleaguered nation. Nearly a year and a half after it was supposed to commence, the rescheduled Hella Mega Tour features a co-headlining trio of punk-adjacent pop-rockers for the gen-X and millennial faithful: Green Day, the enduring, nasally voiced trio still causing trouble 13 albums into its distinguished career; Fall Out Boy, bombastic purveyors of arena-ready sing-a-longs; and Weezer, erstwhile nerd-culture standard-bearers who, thankfully, still realize their ‘90s work is their best.
Green Day
CHESAPEAKE FINANCIAL PLANNING & TAX SERVICES, LLC
Despite a less than perfect childhood, Elizabeth (Beth) Bennett grew up learning how NOT to manage money and changed her path to protect her future.
After graduating from Penn State University with a BS in accounting and earning an MBA from Meredith College, she worked in many wealth management positions and later continued the legacy of Chesapeake Financial Planning & Tax Services where she made it her calling to help clients navigate their finances with sensitivity, understanding and expert advice.
“Interestingly, only 15% of financial advisors are women. I think we as women are very good at listening, then executing and implementing a plan. But we listen differently. Sometimes it’s a hand holding process and sometimes, it’s more like, let’s jump right in and let’s get this done. It really depends on what my client needs at that point in time,” she says.
Beth is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and a Certified Financial Fiduciary. She and her mostly women firm provide a full scope of financial services from wealth management and preservation, insurance, taxes and family wealth transition. What truly hits home for her is when a client who has suddenly lost a spouse, gotten divorced or disabled and their financial world is turned upside down, without a clue as to how to handle finances. “I want to make sure my clients’ children don’t need to take care of their parents. Not only does that involve financial planning, it’s long-term health care planning, working with an estate planning attorney and a CPA as your “financial team” to be able to have everything coordinated for them. If I can help another woman feel secure, whether due to a life changing event, or after they’ve worked all of their life and they have amassed a certain amount of wealth so they can retire comfortably, those are the things that make my heart sing. There’s nothing like sitting across from a client and saying, you’re going to be okay, and here are the numbers in black and white,” she says.
Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory, insurance, and tax services offered through Bay Financial Planning and Tax Services, LLC DBA Chesapeake Financial Planning, a Registered Investment Adviser. Cambridge and Bay Financial Planning and Tax Services, LLC are not affiliated.
Elizabeth Mary Bennett , CFP®
Principal and CEO
[The Order of St. John] is not a charity; we help charities. We are a chivalry order. Our mission is to help the sick and the poor. I like to help the poorest of the poor.”
— Isabelle Paul
Serving the Order
Isabelle Paul has led the good fight for years as commander of the Order of St. John
Written by MARIE SPEED
I’d seen her for years, at this or that event. Posture ramrod straight, her jetblack hair with its distinctive white streak swept up in a French twist, and the sleeves. The sleeves, invariably fashioned with tiny puffs along the shoulder seams. And it was those sleeves I was most curious about. I finally met Isabelle Paul for lunch, mostly to talk to her about the charitable Order of St. John, of which she is commander.
“It’s one of the oldest organizations of the world; it goes back to the Crusades,” she told me. “We are not a charity; we help charities. We are a chivalry order. Our mission is to help the sick and the poor; I like to help the poorest of the poor.”
The order is formally known as The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitalier, and is based in Malta. It describes itself as “an Order of Chivalry dedicated to the service of all humanity in the name of Christ. It is an ecumenical, international Christian order directly descended from the Order of St. John founded by the Blessed Gerard in the late 11th century.”
Paul was tapped to join by the late Countess Henrietta de Hoernle, herself a dame in the order, and she was later “asked by Malta” to start a Florida branch, which she has led since 2011.
Paul has always been involved in philanthropy; she and her late husband, Lawrence Maxwell Paul, were benefactors of many charities, including the Mayo Clinic, Salvation Army, World Vision International and more. They met at a Montego Bay, Jamaica, resort he owned and had a long-distance romance (she lived in Canada and he was from Cincinnati) for a time until they married. Lawrence was a successful developer and also manufactured parts for the space program and the Polaris submarine. The couple “traveled the world” and lived for a time in Bal Harbour before buying a house in Royal Palm in Boca Raton in 1977. Ten years later, when Lawrence died, Paul found herself at a particular axis in her life.
“After my husband passed away in 1987,” she says, “I decided I was going to dedicate the rest of my life working for the lord. Because that’s what I want to do. I’ve always been very spiritual.
“I was very charitable before he died, and I was not interested in remarrying. I was interested in carrying on the mission I felt comfortable with.”
That mission has wound its way throughout Boca Raton, from board positions at the Friends of the Conservatory of Music, Lynn University and Debbie-Rand, to St. Gergory’s Episcopal Church, Boca Helping Hands and more. But her biggest impact is the one she delivers through The Order; the list of 25 well-known charities it has helped so far include HomeSafe, Place of Hope, Caridad Center, Covenant House, Cross Ministries, Association of Caregiving Youth and many, many more.
“I feel wonderful helping other people,” Paul says. “This entails a lot of work, and it involves many hours, but I took an oath when I became a member of The Order of St. John, and I just feel like I should live up to that oath.”
Paul has stories about Billy Graham, and the time the late virtuoso pianist Roger Williams bequeathed a special Steinway to her, which she donated to Lynn Conservatory (she admits she’s no piano player herself). She also has an interest in painting porcelain and, more recently, religious icons. It is this artistic side to her that brings us back to those sleeves, which I have to know about once and for all.
“I design my own clothes,” she says, when I ask, slipping off her light sweater to reveal tiny puffed sleeves underneath. “I like a certain style. I don’t care what Bill Blass does or Gucci or whoever does. … The dressmaker I have right now—I’ve worked with her for years—is very good. I think I’ve bought one dress in the last 50 years.”
Paul admits to loving beautiful fabrics and preferring ladylike, feminine clothing, but she really thinks her work with The Order is far more interesting. Before we go, she touches the shimmering gold Maltese cross she is wearing.
“I designed this cross,” she says. “My husband had a very heavy wedding band, and I thought rather than it just being there … I took it to the jeweler and I said, ‘Could you melt it down?’ And I designed this cross. The ruby is from a ring he bought me when we were on our honeymoon in Beirut, Lebanon. We were going around the world. So it has some meaning now.”
AARON BRISTOL
Isabelle Paul at home
One way to help people bounce back is to educate them to have hazard insurance. ... in the U.S., around only 12 percent of individuals have flood insurance. ... individuals in the low- and middle-income brackets don’t have the funds to rebuild.
—Monica Escaleras
Monica Escaleras
After the Storm
FAU professor Monica Escaleras on how economies respond—or not—to natural calamities
Written by JOHN THOMASON
Climatologists, storm trackers and meteorologists thrive on prediction and crisis. They are the pundits of the “before” and “during” aspects of a natural disaster. But what about the aftershocks— figurative as well as literal? Monica Escaleras, professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University, has devoted much of her study to the cultural inequities and financial fractures that disasters like hurricanes leave in their wake. In 2016, the native Ecuadorian co-wrote a paper on “Public Sector Corruption and Natural Hazards,” where she explored how corrupt practices in the construction industry worsened disaster outcomes in developing countries. Her work hit closer to home, in South Florida, with a 2019 research paper, completed with three colleagues, about the economic fallout from Hurricane Irma. She discusses some of that paper’s key takeaways, and more.
On her entry into disaster management: In Ecuador in 1986, we had a really strong earthquake, and I lived through that experience. I was 16 at the time. My dad is a doctor, and he made sure our house was under code. And our house didn’t suffer a thing. We went five, 10 blocks down the road, and the houses were completely collapsed. It caught my attention in seeing how there was a big inequality in how the natural disaster affected the different sectors of the economy, as well as individuals.
On solutions to recover from destructive hurricanes: One way to help people bounce back is to educate them to have hazard insurance. We found that in the U.S., around only 12 percent of individuals have flood insurance. So once again, individuals that are in the low-income or middle-income [brackets] don’t have the funds to rebuild. The other takeaway is disaster assistance. FEMA gives out funds to individuals to rebuild and to upgrade. From our study, we found that at least 30 percent of individuals that applied for funds were denied. They also found the loan process to be difficult. Especially here in Florida, we have individuals from different backgrounds. Perhaps English is not their first language. They have a hard time navigating the application for these funds. One of our recommendations at the end of the paper is to make the process smoother, with more information on how that can be done.
Another takeaway is that infrastructure services such as disruption to electricity, internet and cell phones delay the recovery of individuals. And there’s some research indicating that perhaps policymakers should consider helping the infrastructure of electricity in the rural areas.
On similarities between natural disaster and pandemic response: I have my phone and can sign up for alerts. I think there should be other ways [to get the information]. ... It’s the same thing with the vaccine. The information is not in one place; it is not getting to the minorities and the most vulnerable.
On the politics of disaster assistance: We all have to come together to find a solution, especially now that we have climate change. ... All of us want the best for the environment. All of us have to come together. That’s the only way we can get out of the problems that Florida is facing.
