Tallahassee Magazine • January/February 2024 by Rowland Publishing, Inc.

LEADERS RETHINK HEALTH CARE

RUNNER OUTLASTS EATING DISORDER

NOVELIST FINDS LOVE IN CHAOS

Punam Bhakta’s immersion in yoga put her on a path leading to self-acceptance

YOUR DESTINATION FOR EXPERT HEART CARE.

No matter what level of heart care you need, we’re here for you. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is a leader in advanced cardiovascular care and research. Patients travel from across the region to receive comprehensive care from our team of highly trained physicians and surgeons. With dozens of providers across specialties, there’s no need to go anywhere else for your heart. Learn what we can do for your heart at TMH.ORG/Heart.

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4 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

We wish you a joyful and sparkling New Year!

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Get your tickets today at TallahasseeSymphony.org/events 6 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

America Portraits of

A Tallahassee Bicentennial Celebration

TSO journeys through America, past and present, with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1. This program also features a brand new symphony experience to celebrate Tallahassee’s 200th. Set to music by Duke Ellington, photos of Tallahassee from the last 200 years will project above the orchestra, creating a concert you can only experience in our home town!

January 20 & 21, 2024

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

8 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

Contents

JAN/FEB 2024

FEATURES

PUNAM BHAKTA

The daughter of immigrants from India, Punam Bhakta grew up in a household in which English was spoken only part of the time. Mom and Dad practiced yoga, an activity that Bhakta was repelled by when young. Eventually, though, she would adopt the practice, discover its benefits and become a yoga teacher whose unbridled enthusiasm, combined with great discipline, inspires others. Knowledge is power, Bhakta has learned, and that includes knowledge of self. “Get out of your head and into your body,” she advises, and you will become better able to appreciate, visualize and treat the 600 muscles that make up humans. by STEVE BORNHOFT

94 REINVENTING CARE

For long years, Liesel Schmidt battled an eating disorder that resulted in irrational behavior and resisted the best efforts of doctors and therapists to reverse its hold on the patient. For a time, Schmidt was an elite runner on the Emerald Coast, but she became so depleted by the ravages of anorexia that she was banned from competitions. She had fallen into a trap whereby she figured the lighter she was, the faster she would run. Her weight fell to that of a kindergartner. Her bones became brittle. But a prayerful recovery has her back running again and traveling the world.

In the United States, health care services are delivered based on what Mark O’Bryant, the CEO at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, sees as a “reverse” model. “You get paid for treating people when they are sick,” he says. “And, you make your biggest dollars when you have your sickest patients. There is very little incentive to keep people well.” All of that is changing, according to O’Bryant, due to forces impinging upon health care systems including population dynamics. He, along with Bill Wertman, the CEO at Big Bend Hospice, are working on new approaches to care delivery and health maintenance.

by LIESEL SCHMIDT

by STEVE BORNHOFT

TRIUMPH OVER ANOREXIA

photography by SEAN MURPHY

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January-February 2024

Contents

JAN/FEB 2024

53 99 23 PERSONALITY Becky

Sauers was slow to come around to the game of golf, but when she did, she made up for lost time. She enjoyed success as a touring pro and was a force of one in introducing golf to women in Tallahassee.

30 CHAMPION Erwin

Jackson was so zealous in his efforts to hold public officials accountable that the FBI had a close look at him, trying to figure out what his motivations were. They found nothing amiss. Jackson, it seems, is just plain committed to honesty in government.

36 HISTORY The TMH

Golden Gala was started in 1984 after a hospital vice president traveled to Orlando to take in a fundraising concert benefiting a health care facility there. For over 40 years, some of show business’s biggest names have made the gala golden.

106 EXTERIORS Apartment

and condo dwellers who are adept at making efficient use of small spaces enliven balconies with plants and gardens and even find room for seating and a small table on which to rest your ice tea.

role, takes a measured, conservative approach to her wardrobe. But she is not averse to accenting outfits with a splash of color.

112 GREEN SCENE

50 WHAT’S IN STORE

We visit Bedfellows, a store committed to giving customers a good night’s sleep, and Smashing Olive, home to epicurean delights.

GASTRO & GUSTO

53 DINING OUT Beyond

friendly service and delicious eats, Canopy Road Cafés feel local to the core by incorporating local ingredients and displaying the work of local artists. Its owners are committed to learning names and faces.

PANACHE

41 CITIZEN OF STYLE

Berneice Cox, the executive director of the United Way of the Big Bend, cognizant of her

10 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

58 DINING IN If you’ve ever

enjoyed flavored craft moonshine or dipped bread in a spicy olive oil, you’ve experienced the results of infusing a liquid with herbs, spices or some other flavoring agent. Infusion solutions are many.

62 LIBATIONS Daniel

Stewart, head distiller at Ology Distilling Co., says rum is often associated with pirates because the true story is that it comes from slave economies, a reality that doesn’t lend itself to advertising themes.

EXPRESSION

69 ART Nature inspires

much of FAMU professor Nan Liu’s art. He’s

46 FASHION

painted Lake Jackson many times. Water lilies, trees and placid waters occur frequently in his plein air work. Recently, he has grown fond of fishing boats as a subject.

72 BOOKS Jarret Keene, a

graduate of the doctoral creative writing program at FSU, has written a post-apocalyptic novel in which a 21-year-old heroine uses made skills to triumph over rival warlords.

The resurrection fern can survive long periods of drought. During dry times, its leaves wither, but the plant survives by stingily conserving water.

IN EVERY ISSUE

16 PUBLISHER’S LETTER 18 EDITOR’S COLUMN 143 DINING GUIDE 146 POSTSCRIPT LEADERS RETHINK HEALTH CARE

RUNNER OUTLASTS EATING DISORDER

NOVELIST FINDS LOVE IN CHAOS

Punam Bhakta’s immersion in yoga put her on a path leading to self-acceptance

ABODES

99 INTERIORS Spartan,

monastic interiors with few objects on display can become wearisome. They are not for Ann and author Jeff VanderMeer, whose home presents

Get fuzzy with it. Pair a puffy faux fur bomber jacket with athleisure wear, or style it up with a knit dress. Cozy up beside a bonfire in a fleece pullover, or wear a shaggy wool or mohair coat for a fresh, off-the-runway look.

ON THE COVER:

Punam Bhakta was working with the City of Tallahassee’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion when she discovered a desire to help people feel accepted. On a personal level, her long path toward self-acceptance was at last reaching a destination, and she opened herself to yoga. Today, she teaches others the practice and brings her inclusive spirit to her job with a Tallahassee consultant.

Photo by Saige Roberts

PHOTOS BY THE WORKMANS (23), DAVE BARFIELD (53), GABRIEL HANWAY (99) AND COURTESY OF H&M (46)

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visitors with lots to look at and no shortage of bookcases.

NOW OPEN J A G U A R TA L L A H A S S E E & L A N D R O V E R TA L L A H A S S E E

Proud New Members of the Capital Eurocars Family 1485 Capital Circle NW, Tallahassee, FL 32303 TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

Richard J-P Bastien, DMD Lauren A. Weir, DMD W. Harrison Miller, DMD

Contents

JAN/FEB 2024

SPECIAL SECTIONS AND PROMOTIONS

VINO GALORE Stroll the streets of Grand Boulevard’s Town Center while sipping wines and sampling culinary delights at the 12th annual South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival.

Worried about fine lines, wrinkles or clenching? Ask about our BOTOX treatments Family & Cosmetic Dentistry Latest Technology · Professional & Caring Team BastienDentalCare.com 1433 Piedmont Drive East, Tallahassee • (850) 425-1300

→ ART FOR ALL

Florida State University’s Opening Nights details some highlights from their season spanning January through May, including musicians, authors, visual artists and more.

114

DEAL ESTATE These two justlisted homes are all about the water features. A Tallahassee home includes a lakefront dock and saltwater pool, and a Seagrove stunner has private beach access.

118

CALENDAR Winter welcomes plenty of art opportunities, whether at local theaters or large stages presenting nationally touring acts.

Feeding and water Litter box scooping Medication administration Mail retrieval Trash cans to curb Lights adjusted Watering of plants Lots of love and playtime Daily updates including pictures

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↑ BEST OF TALLAHASSEE RECAP We recap our favorite night of the year — the event where we get to celebrate and congratulate the best in business.

NEXT ISSUE Bon ded a n d I n s u red

A guide to all things Springtime Tallahassee.

(850) 364-0722 • ALLABOUTCATSPETSITTING.COM PROMOTION

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PHOTOS BY GABRIEL HANWAY (BEST OF) AND COURTESY OF OPENING NIGHTS

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TALLAHASSEE MAGAZINE

VOL. 47, NO. 1

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER MCKENZIE BURLEIGH

EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Steve Bornhoft EDITOR Sara Santora CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Paige Aigret, Marina Brown, Raemi Creteur, Rebecca Padgett Frett, Les Harrison, Ellie Houghton, Claude Kennison, Liesel Schmidt, Emma Witmer

CREATIVE VICE PRESIDENT/PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Saige Roberts ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORS Sarah Burger, Shruti Shah SENIOR PUBLICATION DESIGNER Scott Schiller GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sierra Thomas CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS 360 Blue, Boo Media, Dave Barfield, Katie Clark, Lawrence Davidson, Natalie Everett, Gabriel Hanway, Haley Jacobs, Sean Murphy, Bob O’Lary, Alicia Osborne, Rachel Neville Photography, Saige Roberts, Charlene Trickey, The Workmans

SALES, MARKETING AND EVENTS

Together let's create your personal style

SALES MANAGER, WESTERN DIVISION Rhonda Lynn Murray SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WESTERN DIVISION Dan Parker ADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGER Tracy Mulligan SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Julie Dorr ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Michelle Daugherty, Darla Harrison MARKETING MANAGER Javis Ogden SALES AND MARKETING WRITER Rebecca Padgett Frett SALES AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Renee Johnson

OPERATIONS CUSTOM PUBLISHING MANAGER Sara Goldfarb CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE/AD SERVICE COORDINATOR Sarah Coven PRODUCTION EDITOR Paige Aigret PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan STAFF BOOKKEEPER Amber Ridgeway

DIGITAL SERVICES DIGITAL EDITOR Alix Black TALLAHASSEE MAGAZINE tallahasseemagazine.com facebook.com/tallahasseemag twitter.com/tallahasseemag instagram.com/tallahasseemag pinterest.com/tallahasseemag youtube.com/user/tallahasseemag ROWLAND PUBLISHING rowlandpublishing.com

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EDITORIAL OFFICE 118 N. Monroe St., Unit 401, Tallahassee, FL 32301. (850) 878-0554 SUBSCRIPTIONS One year (6 issues) is $35. Call (850) 878-0554 or go online to tallahasseemagazine.com. Single copies are $5.95. Purchase at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and Midtown Reader. CUSTOMER SERVICE & SUBMISSIONS Tallahassee Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. Tallahassee Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright January 2024 Tallahassee Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Partners of Visit Tallahassee and Member, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.

GOLDEN GALA 2024 – FEATURING GOLDEN GALA 2024 – FEATURING

Journey Anniversary Journey Anniversary MARCH 19, 2024 – 5:30 PM MARCH 19, 2024 – 5:30 PM THE DONALD L. TUCKER CIVIC CENTER AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY THE DONALD L. TUCKER CIVIC CENTER AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

ABOUT JOURNEY ABOUT JOURNEY With 48 million albums sold in the U.S., Journey is one of the best-selling rock and roll bands in history. Their worldwide With 48 million albums sold in the U.S., Journey is one of the best-selling rock and roll bands in history. Their worldwide sales of over 100 million records make them one of the top-selling bands of all time. Journey has earned 19 top 40 singles sales of over 100 million records make them one of the top-selling bands of all time. Journey has earned 19 top 40 singles and 25 Gold and Platinum albums. The band’s Greatest Hits album is certified 15-times Platinum, bringing the group into and 25 Gold and Platinum albums. The band’s Greatest Hits album is certified 15-times Platinum, bringing the group into the elite club of Diamond-certified award holders. Journey, with lead vocalist Arnel Pineda, just completed its 38-city the elite club of Diamond-certified award holders. Journey, with lead vocalist Arnel Pineda, just completed its 38-city North American 50th Anniversary Freedom Tour. North American 50th Anniversary Freedom Tour.

Proceeds from Golden Gala 2024 will benefit Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s (TMH) Proceeds from Golden Gala 2024 will benefit Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s (TMH) Emergency Services, specifically the Bixler Trauma and Emergency Center. Located on TMH’s Emergency Services, specifically the Bixler Trauma and Emergency Center. Located on TMH’s main campus, the center is the only Level II Trauma Center in the Big Bend region. main campus, the center is the only Level II Trauma Center in the Big Bend region.

Tables are going fast! Purchase yours at TMH.ORG/Gala. Tables are going fast! Purchase yours at TMH.ORG/Gala.

Questions about the gala? Call 850-431-4590 Questions about the gala? Call 850-431-4590

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January-February 2024

from the publisher

WALK, LAUGH, CONNECT Decades ago, I discovered the benefits of walking, and it has remained my preferred form of exercise ever since my lower back told me that long runs were no longer an option. I often take a walk in the middle of my workday and regularly join my labs, Stevie and Cody, when I unleash them on long late-afternoon romps in the national forest. Personally, I am no speed demon when I take to the sidewalks or green spaces, but I do manage to outpace my sources of stress and worry, clear my mind, and open it up to solutions and new ideas and insights. And, it’s funny. I may find myself trying in the middle of the night to recall someone’s name or some other detail from long ago and am unable to retrieve it. But I tell myself it will come to me during my next walk, and sure enough, it does. Such mental clarity and stress reduction are among the many benefits of daily walks cited by the Mayo Clinic. Others include: ➸ Maintaining a healthy weight and losing body fat. ➸ Preventing or managing conditions including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes. ➸ Improving cardiovascular fitness. ➸ Strengthening bones and muscles. ➸ Increasing energy levels. ➸ Improving mood and sleep. ➸ Improving balance and coordination. ➸ Strengthening the immune system. Part of the beauty of walking is that a little goes a long way. Even 30 minutes of walking a day has obvious benefits. And, as we age, we should be mindful of the fact that sedentariness is the enemy. We should not fail, to quote James Brown,

16 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

to “get up offa that thing and shake ’til you feel better, get up offa that thing, and try to release that pressure.” When we cease moving, unhealthy things tend to collect in our bodies. Walking, for me, is an activity that I enjoy by myself. It’s just me, my thoughts, and as noted, many times, my dogs. But I want to touch, too, on the health benefits of friendship and companionship. Recently, I watched a short documentary film produced by Judd Apatow about the remarkable friendship between two comedians that I grew up with — the rather cerebral Bob Newhart and the relatively coarse Don Rickles. The two men and their wives, Barbara Rickles and Ginnie Newhart, made up an inseparable foursome that played, traveled and dined together and whose children played together. The two men adored one another, and they gored one another, kiddingly, of course. Asked by Conan O’Brien about their contrasting styles, Rickles said, “Bob is a brainy kind of comedian, and I’m the kind of guy who gets laughs.” Years earlier at a Dean Martin roast, Newhart said about his dear friend, “Don has not done that well on television. He’s

had four series now. The last one had a minus-4 Nielsen rating. This means not only that no one was watching the show, but several people without TV sets said they heard about the show and said if they got one, they wouldn’t watch it.” Each man was gifted in his way, and both demonstrated the importance of being able to laugh at ourselves. It’s a healthy thing. For all the mania about collecting friends on social media, I, like most people, have a few close buddies whose trust I value and whose advice I respect. They may have been business contacts in the first place or teammates on a softball team, and our friendships have organically evolved and endured over the years. Whenever I need a second opinion, they are there for me. But my dearest companion and support is my wife, Cherie. Her patience is not inexhaustible, but her capacity for understanding is. She has made immeasurable contributions to my health and well-being, and I am immensely grateful. Please enjoy this, the annual Health & Wellness edition of Tallahassee Magazine. You will be moved by writer Liesel Schmidt’s story about her triumph over an eating disorder, and you will be heartened by Steve Bornhoft’s story about plans by true communitarians Bill Wertman and Mark O’Bryant to provide our area with a continuum of accessible, affordable health care. Be well,

BRIAN ROWLAND PUBLISHER browland@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN ROWLAND

Here’s a prescription for good health in 2024

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from the editor

A POWERFUL PRIMER

Revisit life lessons and treat yourself to a cookie The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why. ➸ Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the cup — they all die. So do we. ➸ Remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all — LOOK. Planks within the credo, however simple, relate to life’s and civilization’s foundations. They touch on generosity, nonaggression, respect, accountability, work and play, the miracles of life, the inevitability of death and the perils of self-absorption. Having been steered back to Fulgham, I plan to visit his list frequently in the year ahead. If I were to add to the list, I would tack on, simply, Be grateful. With gratitude comes humility and perspective and egos held sufficiently in check. I am grateful for having met Dr. Patricia MacEnulty, an adjunct professor of journalism at Florida A&M University. I was inspired to read one of her novels, From May to December, about life in a women’s prison. MacEnulty drew upon her experience teaching at the Jefferson Correctional Institution in writing the book, which reminds us that people, because they are in survival mode, make mistakes that lead to incarceration. It describes the toll that prisons take on inmates and correctional officers alike. It confronts us with the fact that the arc bending toward justice bends slowly. I am grateful for my new L.A. friend, the poet and publicist Kim Dower, who supplied me with an advance copy of Kristin Hannah’s forthcoming novel, The Women, due out in February. The book centers on three nurses who served in evacuation hospitals in Vietnam while bombs exploded around them and conditions alternated between monsoon and drought, sapping heat and bitter cold.

18 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

Hannah led me to try to picture for the first time women in Vietnam, conducting triage, separating men who might be saved from those who could be expected only to die. I thought back to the day when I was fortunate to have received a high number in the Vietnam-era draft lottery. Robert and Patricia, Kim and Kristin, I will strive each day to be grateful — grateful because I am at liberty to experience the world and think not just about why things are not better, but also to marvel at things as they are. The roots go down. The green fuse shoots up. I am grateful for my last step and my next. Go peacefully,

STEVE BORNHOFT, EXECUTIVE EDITOR sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO BY BOO MEDIA / RPI FILE PHOTO

A friend of a friend and I recently joined in conversation for the first time, having previously been unaware of one another despite but a single degree of separation. We spoke about the liberating progress she has made since coming to the realization that she had locked herself out — of herself. That discovery started her on her way to self-understanding and self-acceptance, and while that path may be never ending, it’s a great feeling to depart the start line. She told me that she was reading Robert Fulgham’s classic book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Fulgham was in the habit of writing a personal credo each spring until he thought to ask himself whether he might be trying too hard. Was it possible that he had learned as a child all the lessons one needs to live successfully and at peace with others? Fulgham arrived at a timeless list: ➸ Share everything. ➸ Play fair. ➸ Don’t hit people. ➸ Put things back where you found them. ➸ Clean up your own mess. ➸ Don’t take things that aren’t yours. ➸ Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. ➸ Wash your hands before you eat. ➸ Flush. ➸ Warm cookies and milk are good for you. ➸ Live a balanced life — learn some and think some, and draw and paint, and sing and dance, and play and work, every day some. ➸ Take a nap every afternoon. ➸ When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. ➸ Wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup:

smile MORE, WORRY LESS.

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PROMOTION

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Enter to Win the Ultimate Hilton Sandestin Resort Giveaway Enter for your chance to win a weekend escape for two to the beautiful white sand beaches of the Emerald Coast! We are partnering with the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa for the ultimate escape, including a stay for two, pampering at the Serenity by the sea Spa, dinner and more! Enter at TallahasseeMagazine.com/ ultimate-hilton-getaway.

TALLY TOP PET VOTING BEGINS JAN. 18!

TA L

2023

S E’

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

SSEE MAGAZ HA IN LA

AMAZON LAUNCHES NEW ROBOTICS FULFILLMENT CENTER IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

E AL Business owners gathered L A H A SSE at The Moon to celebrate Best of Tallahassee 2023, a soirée honoring winners in Tallahassee Magazine’s annual readers poll. It was a night of disco, dancing and recognition of those who make the Capital City a great place to live!

On Sept. 14, Amazon celebrated the official opening of its new, state-of-the-art robotics fulfillment center with Tallahassee Mayor John E. Dailey, state and local elected officials, and community partners in Tallahassee, Florida. More than 1,000 employees will operate and work with innovative technology to assist in fulfilling customer orders in the new 630,000-square-foot facility.

TallahasseeMagazine.com/ celebrating-success-at-thebest-of-tallahassee-2023

Learn more at TallahasseeMagazine.com/ amazon-launches-new-robotics-fulfillmentcenter-in-the-sunshine-state.

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Did you know you can sign up for our exclusive e-newsletter for free? Get the latest news, information, giveaways and more about all the happenings in Tallahassee. Go to TallahasseeMagazine.com/connect-with-us.

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@tallahasseemag Tallahassee Magazine @TallahasseeMag

SETTING IT STRAIGHT The incorrect name was referenced in the Lloyd Roofing business description for the Best of Tallahassee winners as they appeared in the November/December edition of Tallahassee Magazine. We regret the error.

PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD (TALLY TOP PET), GABRIEL HANWAY (BEST OF RECAP) AND COURTESY OF HILTON SANDESTIN BEACH GOLF RESORT & SPA (GETAWAY) AND AMAZON

Cast your ballots in the round of 16 to determine which pets will make it into the elite 8. From Jan. 18–25, visit TallahasseeMagazine.com/ tally-top-pet to vote for your favorite — and remember to donate to Be The Solution.

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TALLAHASSEE

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JAN/FEB 2024

PROFILING THE PURSUITS, PASSIONS AND PERSONALITIES AMONG US

THE

PERSONALITY

MOVING GOLF FORE WARD As a teacher, Becky Sauers found her swing zone by MARINA BROWN

↓

CHAMPION Erwin Jackson || HISTORY TMH Foundation Gala photography by THE WORKMANS

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icture the fun of Dolly Parton — bright makeup, blonde (but with a normal-sized do), a little bit loud, but endearing and smart as a whip. Now picture Billie Jean King, a champion for women’s rights in the sports world and a campaigner for gender equality in opportunity and compensation. Blend these two images together, and you get just a hint of the passion and drive that have propelled Tallahassee golf legend Becky Sauers to a high station in golf history. In a printed athletic skort and top — even though she’s not picking up a club today — Becky Sauers, 71, is filled with stories and memories from every golf course in Tallahassee. She has been the golf professional at four of the six private clubs in Tallahassee: Killearn, Summerbrooke, SouthWood and Capital City. Sauers’ resume dazzles: LPGA Golf Professional of the Year 1987; founder of the Tallahassee Junior Golf Association; LPGA National Advisory Board; LPGA Southeast Teacher of the Year; writer for Golf Digest; Golf for Women magazine’s Top 50 Teachers

24 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

in the Country; founder of Lady Links Golf Association; and the director of the Classical School of Golf in Tallahassee. As a college student who had never teed up a small, dimpled sphere, Sauers had no idea that she would become a nationally recognized professional golfer playing at the U.S. Open and courses around the world. But once she did pick up a club, her future began to spool into focus. “My family came to Tallahassee from a little town in Georgia,” Sauers said. “My siblings had music and art talents, but I was a bit of a tomboy.” At Florida High, the athletic Sauers played softball, basketball (though she’s short) and track. But life changed when after attending FSU for a year, she met and married a young golfer on the FSU team. Plus, husband Jack Sauers’ father was a golf professional who liked to teach. “We moved up to Pennsylvania where his parents owned a golf course,” Sauers said. “I was bored there without friends or family, so his father began to teach me how to play. And I loved it! Loved it! It was almost immediately that I decided I wanted to become a pro!” photography by THE WORKMANS

Becky Sauers introduces members of the next generation of lady golfers to the game she has long been passionate about. Parker Bradford lined up a putt at the practice green at Capital City Country Club while Molly Bowersox looked on. Sauers enjoyed success as a professional golfer, playing in the U.S. Women’s Open and internationally.

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“When you think back to when we started, women weren’t even allowed on the course until after 2 p.m. But that first day in 1992 after we ran an ad in the paper, we had 400 women show up wanting to learn golf!” — Becky Sauers

With skilled teachers, long hours on the course, innate talent and by passing a series of tests and exams, Sauers turned professional three years after she had first sunk a putt. After playing in prestigious professional tournaments, Sauers realized her skills and interests were more geared toward outreach. As the mother of twins, she moved toward

26 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

teaching, mentoring and helping to promote golf for women. With her husband employed as the pro at the Killearn golf course, Sauers began to develop what she calls her “political” skills in promoting women’s golf in the city and lobbying for equitable prizes. Oh, and she, too, became a pro at the Killearn course. One of Sauers’ proudest and most enduring contributions to Tallahassee golf over the years has been the 31-year-old Lady Links Golf Association that she founded as an organization that would welcome women to learn, play and even travel to foreign sites to enjoy the sport of golf. “When you think back to when we started, women weren’t even allowed on the course until after 2 p.m.,” Sauers recalled. “But that first day in 1992 after we ran an ad in the paper, we had 400 women show up wanting to learn golf!”

At each of four Tallahassee courses, Sauers has taken her Lady Links following with her as the pro. “Burt Yancey, another pro golfer, was a big help with one of my other favorite projects, the Classical School of Golf that I started at Killearn,” Sauers added. Currently, she is the school’s director at the Capital City Country Club. Sauers is thrilled by the arc of interest in women’s golf in the United States. “The pay inequities remain disappointing, but the opportunities are growing,” she said. “I just got a call from a university saying women’s golf scholarships are open and available!” For Sauers, there is the simple delight in knowing that “probably 90% of Tallahassee golfers who’ve ever had lessons here were my students. I was a pioneer in teaching hard work, practice and integrity. And I loved it all.” TM

PHOTO COURTESY OF BECKY SAUERS

Members of the Lady Links Golf Association, which was formed by Becky Sauers 31 years ago, got together for a clinic at the Capital City Country Club in 2022. When formation of the association was reported in a newspaper ad, 400 women immediately expressed interest in learning to play golf.

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January-February 2024

‘ Tell the Kids

I Love Them’ Pam Beat the Odds Thanks to First Responders and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s Heart Team by Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare

n December 2022, Jacksonville resident Pam Pennington and her husband, Doug, were visiting Tallahassee to celebrate their son’s 40th birthday. However, the weekend took a very scary turn that left the family with a lot more to celebrate thanks to first responders and the heart and vascular team at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH).

“I kept hearing them in the background saying, ‘We can’t get a pulse,’ ” Doug said.

Pam, 68, had come to stay at her Tallahassee condo earlier in the week. That Friday night, her husband Doug, a Jacksonville family practice physician, said he was going to get on the road to Tallahassee. Pam tried to discourage him because she didn’t want him driving late at night, but Doug couldn’t be persuaded.

First responders worked on Pam for 40 minutes. She had been clinically dead.

When Doug arrived, they stayed up talking and went to bed around 1 am. A few hours later, Pam woke up coughing and sneezing. As she sat on the couch, thinking that she may be falling ill, Doug checked Pam for a fever, but her temperature was fine.

The minute Doug said those words, he heard the rescue team call out, “We have a pulse!”

Pam then asked Doug to help her walk to the bathroom and, once there, asked him to help her lie down because she was feeling faint.

Pam was rushed to Tallahassee Memorial’s Bixler Trauma and Emergency Center. At TMH, John Katopodis, MD, an Interventional Cardiologist with Southern Medical Group which provides cardiovascular services to TMH Physician Partners, treated Pam for a severe heart attack. Pam suffered an ST-elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, which is a serious blockage of an artery that stops blood flow to the heart. Dr. Katopodis operated on Pam quickly by performing a cardiac catheterization and implanted two stents into her blocked artery.

Around 6 am, on their son’s 40th birthday, a sergeant with the Tallahassee Police Department told Doug it was time to call his kids and let them know Pam didn’t make it.

“I called my son Ryan and said, ‘I hate to tell you this on your birthday, but your mom is dead,’ ” Doug recalls.

Pam’s Second Chance

“I must’ve felt dizzy, but I don’t remember,” Pam said. “Doug said when he helped me down to the floor, I looked at him and said, ‘Tell the kids I love them.’ ” Doug and Pam are high school sweethearts who have been married for 46 years. They have two kids and five grandchildren. It’s a good thing Doug had come to Tallahassee that night instead of waiting until the next morning. Pam lost consciousness once she lay down and things got serious very quickly. “She wasn’t breathing, her mouth fell open and her eyes rolled back,” Doug said. “That’s when I started doing chest compressions and called 911.” When Leon County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived, they took Pam to another room and continued treating her. She was suffering from a heart attack that resulted in cardiac arrest. Doug was brought to the front of their home where he was speaking with first responders.

“Coming in the door, her chances of survival were extremely low,” Dr. Katopodis said. “Her mortality probability was over 90 percent.” During a cardiac catheterization, small tubes are placed into the heart from the wrist or groin, and X-ray images are made of the arteries to find blockages. Once a blockage is identified, a stent is placed to restore normal blood flow in the blocked artery. A stent is a tiny wire mesh which is mounted on a deflated balloon. The balloon is inserted through a small tube called a catheter and is inflated inside the blockage expanding the stent. This pushes the blockage away from the middle of the artery, and blood flow in the artery is restored when the balloon is deflated and removed, leaving the stent behind. With this procedure, the heart attack is immediately stopped in its tracks.

A DV E RTI S E M E N T

Pam’s right coronary artery had been blocked, which also means oxygen flow had been cut off completely, causing damage to her heart and making it weaker. Pam’s heart had become so weak that she suffered from cardiogenic shock, a condition where her heart couldn’t pump enough blood around the body, including her brain. “Everyone was saying she may have neurological damage,” Doug said. Luckily for Pam, and thanks to her fast-acting cardiology team, she left TMH after six days with no brain damage.

TMH Provides Expert Heart Care Once she was awake, Pam, a retired registered nurse, knew she was in good hands. “I remember hearing the staff talking while I was in the ICU and thinking, ‘Wow they’ve got it going on, they know all the protocol. I can relax.’ I can’t say that about every place I’ve worked in, but I knew everything was going to be all right [at TMH],” Pam said. For 15 years, TMH has been home to an Accredited Chest Pain Center and has been recognized for excellence in percutaneous coronary intervention and resuscitation efforts, providing the most advanced care to patients in the region who have heart and vascular emergencies.

Above: Pam and her three grandkids. Below: Pam, her son Ryan and grandkids.

Pam’s recovery was slow and steady, taking six weeks until she had a good night’s rest. Pam expressed sincere gratitude that she was brought to TMH for care.

“Had I not been at TMH, I don’t think I would be alive,” Pam said. “The coordinated effort, training and communication was great; that’s the whole picture. I was very grateful for everyone there.” In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds, which amounts to about 805,000 people who have a heart attack every year. At TMH, over 9,000 patients are evaluated each year for symptoms related to heart conditions. “We have the resources and team at TMH to help patients like Pam,” Dr. Katopodis said. “Not all patients in that condition make it out of the ICU, but with our state-of-the-art resources and collaboration with emergency services, many lives are saved.” With over 38 years of nursing experience, Pam knows what it takes to have excellence in healthcare. “I’m very impressed with everybody and their training,” she said. “I know we hate sitting in those classrooms sometimes, and it’s hard to keep up with everything, but I could tell people really knew what they were doing at TMH.” Now that Pam has recovered, she is enjoying spending time with her family. “Every second that I have with my grandkids is such a gift,” she said. “You don’t know how many more seconds you’re going to have.”

TMH performs more minimally invasive heart procedures than any other program in North Florida and South Georgia.

To learn more about the advanced heart care offered at TMH, visit TMH.ORG/Heart.

A DV E RTI S E M E N T

THE

323 CHAMPION

STANDING TALL AND SPEAKING OUT Erwin Jackson believes in the power of truth by STEVE BORNHOFT

rwin Jackson recalls the approach he took 10 years ago in teaching, as a volunteer instructor, a business class at Florida State University made up of students pursuing master’s degrees in business administration. “I said to the class, ‘I assume you are all here to get rich,’ and everyone said yes, they were,” Jackson said. Hearing that, Jackson, who earned a doctorate in counseling psychology at FSU, told the students that it is important to have goals but pressed them for specifics. “When will you know you are rich?” he’d asked. One student equated being rich with earning a million dollars. Another said he would want to have sufficient millions such that the annual interest on his money would total a million bucks. Then, as Jackson anticipated would happen, a “wise guy kid in the back” asked him what he considered rich to be. “When I can tell anyone I want to kiss my ass and I can easily live with the consequences, that’s rich,” Jackson readily replied. “So, I’m pretty rich.” He did add, in the course of a recent interview, one exception. “I would bite my tongue if I were speaking to the IRS during an audit,” he said. Jackson grew up on a farm outside Decatur, Illinois. He recalls arriving in Tallahassee to check out the doctoral program

30 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

↗ Erwin Jackson at Tallahassee City Hall. For decades, he has worked to hold city officials accountable, at times at considerable personal expense. The FBI once investigated him, trying to discover if he had any untoward motivations. They found none.

photography by THE WORKMANS

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he would later complete. It was, per The 5th Dimension, the Age of Aquarius, the moon was in the Seventh House and Jupiter had aligned with Mars. Streaking was a thing. The visiting Jackson, wandering about campus, joined a group of students assembled on Langford Green near Doak Campbell Stadium. It wasn’t clear to him what was going on, but he was assured, “They’ll be coming out in just a minute.” “They” proved to be members of the FSU Flying Circus. They dashed onto the green and offered the informal crowd an impromptu performance. Juggling clubs filled the air. Women were passed between men. All were naked. They weren’t Jackson’s only reason for choosing FSU and

Tallahassee. Nor did they discourage him. He has never left. Jackson would practice as a psychologist for 20 years while acquiring rental properties and eventually campgrounds. As a new Tallahassee resident unable to find a place to rent, he scraped up enough money to buy a small house. And so his career as a collector of real estate began. Today, he collects rents each month from some 500 students and between 500 and 700 campers. “I don’t have just four contracts,” he said. “I don’t have just one business. That gives me a lot of flexibility, and it makes it easier for me to speak out than it is for many others.” Jackson has been smelling rats and blowing whistles and serving as an FBI informant since 2010.

32 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

↗ Erwin Jackson has been smelling rats and blowing whistles and serving as an FBI informant since 2010, when John Marks was Tallahassee’s mayor. He has exposed unethical conduct, bidding irregularities and self-enrichment schemes involving more than a handful of city officials.

He has exposed unethical conduct, bidding irregularities and self-enrichment schemes involving more than a handful of public officials. So dogged has he been in those pursuits that the FBI once undertook an investigation of him. “The FBI told me they were going to know everything about me,” Jackson recalled. “They wanted to discover what my motivations were. Was there a business deal that had gone badly for me? They figured there had to be a reason. “Yes, there is a reason, and that is that I don’t like it when people steal from the public and me, in particular, and from the college students who I collect rent from.” photography by THE WORKMANS

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January-February 2024

Bringing Trust and Traditions to Investing for Generations

Terrell Lee Bebout

Curt O. Hall, IV CPWA®

Managing Director - Investments Senior PIM Portfolio Manager Millennium Private Wealth Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network 148 River Street, Suite 120 Greenville, SC 29601 Direct (864) 232-9950 Terrell.Bebout@wfafinet.com

Managing Director | Owner Millennium Private Wealth Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network 148 River Street, Suite 120 Greenville, SC 29601 Office: 864.232.9950 Curt.Hall@wfafinet.com

Our Story

Terrell Lee Bebout is a Managing Director – Investments and Senior PIM Portfolio Manager. He has served investors in the Tallahassee community since 1983. Terry began his financial career in 1973 as a National Bank Examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency with the U.S. Treasury Department. He has served clients with distinction, earning the recognition of Platinum Council Advisor - The Platinum Council (previously known as Premier Advisor) distinction is held by a select group of Financial Advisors within Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network as measured by completion of educational components, business production based on the past year, and professionalism. Additional criteria, best practices and team structure, may also be used to

determine recipients. Terry’s professional success has come from using his years of knowledge and experience to the benefit of his clients. Recently, Terry partnered with Albany, Georgia native, Curt Hall, IV. Curt is a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA), a designation for advisors who serve high-net-worth clients. Curt graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 and entered UBS PaineWebber’s Associate Program in New York where he worked on fixedincome and equity trading desks. As a manager, he supported UBS advisors around the world in Washington, D.C., Melbourne, Australia, San Francisco, Chicago and most recently led UBS’s Upstate South Carolina business. He received his MBA from Queens University in 2008 and is also an Eagle Scout.

This information is intended for use only by residents of (AK, AZ, CA, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA). Securities-related services may not be provided to individuals residing in any state not listed above. Please consult with the FA as s/he may not be registered in all states. For parties residing outside of the U.S., this information is: (i) provided for informational purposes only, (ii) not and should not be construed in any manner as an offer to participate in any investment or to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments, and (iii) not and should not be construed in any manner as a public offering of any financial services, securities or related financial instruments. Products and services listed may not be available, or may have restrictions, depending on client country of residence. Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (WFAFN). Wells Fargo Advisors is the trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and WFAFN, Members SIPC, separate registered broker-dealers and non-bank affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. Any other referenced entity is a separate entity from WFAFN ADVERTISEMENT January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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Indeed, Jackson and area FBI agents have gotten to know each other well. Always, he is amused by the manner in which agents deal with sources. Never do they direct him to do anything. “What they do say is, ‘It would be interesting if someone would ask this and this and then if they were to say this and this, a good follow-up question might be this.’” Jackson explained. Agents may choose to speak metaphorically by referring, for example, to the “fruit of the poisonous tree” when an initial crime enables the perpetrator to acquire additional rounds of ill-gotten gains. By way of a hypothetical, Jackson said an individual might steal funds from a government agency with which he starts a successful business. Law enforcement might then seek to redress the theft (the tree) and seize the business’s assets (the fruit). Jackson, who bills himself as the “Tallahassee Truth Teller” on his Facebook page, was a highly “It could last interested observer last spring 10 years and then when former mayor Andrew go back in the Gillum stood trial on public other direction. corruption charges and a charge We have to stay of lying to the FBI. The jury acquitted him of the latter charge after them. But and was unable to reach a verdict for the moment, on the corruption charges, which they have a were later dismissed. conscience He had a hard time reconciling they didn’t the results of the trial with use to have.” the fact that Gillum, in 2019, — Erwin Jackson paid $5,000 to settle an ethics complaint filed by Jackson. But the psychologist was not without a theory. “The jury was made up of citizens of Tallahassee,” he said. “This was a local mayor who did a lot of favors for a lot of people. Jurors may have thought he lied, but they were unwilling to convict him of a crime because he is a politician and that’s what some politicians do.” (Or the jury could have found there was insufficient evidence to convict.) Jackson had been disappointed before. You win some, you lose some. Jackson never expected to bat 1.000. He doesn’t do what he does so that he can put notches in a gun. Rather, he has worked to create a climate in which public officials will watch themselves. In that, he believes he has succeeded, at least for now. “It could last 10 years and then go back in the other direction,” Jackson said. “We have to stay after them. But for the moment, they have a conscience they didn’t use to have. I don’t minimize what it takes to stand up and speak out, but it’s worthwhile and it makes for a better Tallahassee.” TM

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HISTORY

WHAT A JOURNEY IT’S BEEN TMH’s Golden Gala keeps on shining by STEVE BORNHOFT

on Brafford was a Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare senior vice president when, in the late 1970s, the TMH Foundation was established as a vehicle for raising funds to augment the hospital’s budget and make possible the procurement of equipment and services that were otherwise unaffordable. The foundation, he recalls, got off to a slow start. Brafford estimates that 90% of the members of the donor class in Tallahassee already were closely tied to other organizations and entities such as Florida State University. “Plus, we had an awareness problem,” said Brafford, whose duties at the time included marketing and public relations. “People didn’t think about our foundation when they were making decisions about their will or their estate.” Brafford heard about an idea that had been embraced by Florida Hospital Orlando that he thought might be worth stealing. Annually, it conducted a formal fundraising and awareness-raising gala that featured a big-name entertainer. Brafford, and he’s good at this sort of thing, wheedled an invitation to one such Orlando event. He took good notes. Upon his return to Tallahassee, Brafford reported what he had learned to hospital administrator M.T. Mustian and an event steering committee made up of Grace Dansby, Jean McCully, Eleanor Smith and Marcia Thornberry. “We started planning our own event, and I was asked to see what I could do about getting the Civic Center and some entertainment,” Brafford said. Planning was made difficult because no one knew who was likely to show up for the inaugural Tallahassee event. Would the crowd skew younger or older, country or rock

36 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

’n’ roll? Under the circumstances, Brafford et al sought an act with general appeal. When the TMH Foundation’s first Golden Gala was held in 1984, Barbara Mandrell took the stage before 98 tables of eight people. “She sang and played a bunch of different instruments, and she was a delightful, good person,” Brafford said. “It had been hard to get people to commit to a payment of $60,000 for an entertainer, but that’s what we paid for her that first year.” Finding the right entertainer is always an issue. Brafford has concluded that the ideal act, in terms of its energy level, falls somewhere between John Legend and Maroon 5.

The 2024 edition of the Golden Gala is scheduled for March 19. Journey will perform. “In our view, we have taken things up a notch by booking Journey,” said Nigel Allen, the TMH Foundation’s president and chief advancement officer. “Multiple generations revere their songs. We really look forward to the event being a massive singalong with the audience. They have so many songs that are familiar. Don’t Stop Believin’ and other anthems show up on TV and all over the place.” In the first 24 hours after the foundation announced Journey as its 2024 act, it received $150,000 paid to reserve tables, according to Allen.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ERIK KABIK (JOURNEY) AND RON BRAFFORD

↗

The rock group Journey will be the featured act at the 2024 TMH Golden Gala, scheduled for March 19. The event raises funds to supplement Tallahassee Memorial Hospital’s budget and to make possible purchases of equipment and services that would otherwise be unaffordable.

“That was a great sign,” he said. “Our stretch goal is to generate $2 million in revenue for the gala and use a meaningful portion of that money to enhance the patient experience and add technology to the Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center.” Allen said that even as the foundation has had to deal with increasingly expensive booking fees, it has found ways each year to “generate six figures worth of financial support for the hospital. The gala works as a fundraiser, but it’s also a very important part of the brand of TMH. It’s a big event, and people really look forward to it.” Attendance approaches 2,000 people, Allen said, adding (kiddingly), “That’s a lot of chicken and a lot of Chardonnay.” Allen noted that “more and more, people who do business with the hospital use the gala as a way to get closer to the hospital personnel they deal with. A lot of key people at TMH get to enjoy the gala as the guest of someone else.” Brafford, who left TMH in 2005 after 30 years at the hospital,

and Allen agree that the gala is forever evolving and made subject to tweaks. Brafford can recall when the event first went to tiered seating prices. Recently, Allen said, the gala has made it possible for people to get closer to the stage with VIP table options. “John Gandy and his team at John Gandy Events are part of the secret sauce for the gala,” Allen said. “They know us and our event well, and it’s remarkable what they do. They come up with a different theme for each year. This year, they have an exotic, Moroccan sheik theme in mind.” Allen regards entertainers and baseball players as probably the two most superstitious groups there are. That is, a lot of idiosyncrasies and peculiarities find their way into agreements as riders. “Some may require that a picture of Mickey Mouse be placed on the wall of a dressing room,” Allen said. “That way, when they show up and see Mickey Mouse, they know that all of the terms of an agreement have been attended to.”

↙ Unsure who might show up for TMH’s first Golden Gala, event planners sought a performer with broad appeal and selected Barbara Mandrell, pictured here with Ron Brafford, then a TMH senior vice president. → Brafford with Tony Bennett, who headlined the 2003 Gala. ↓ Brafford, along with former TMH CEO Duncan Moore and his wife Mary Ann, welcomed 2002 performer Barry Manilow.

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

323 ARTISTS THROUGH THE YEARS

GOLDEN GALA PERFORMERS 1984–2023

2023

2022

Keith Urban

➸ 2018

➸ 2006

Hall & Oates

Glenn Frey

Brad Paisley

Kenny Loggins

James Taylor

Michael Bolton

➸ 2017

➸ 2016 ➸ 2015

John Legend ➸ 2014

Lady A

➸ 2013

➸ 2005

OneRepublic

➸ 1994

Bernadette Peters ➸ 1993

➸ 2004

Anne Murray/ Danny Gans

➸ 2003

Johnny Mathis

➸ 2002

Paul Anka

Tony Bennett Barry Manilow

➸ 1992 ➸ 1991

➸ 1990

➸ 2012

Pointer Sisters

Dionne Warwick/Burt Bacharach

➸ 2011

50s Music

Oak Ridge Boys

Wynonna Judd

Wayne Newton

Maroon 5 Keith Urban Harry Connick Jr. ➸ 2010

Sheryl Crow ➸ 2009

➸ 2001

➸ 2000 ➸ 1999

➸ 1989 ➸ 1988 ➸ 1987

➸ 1998

John Denver

➸ 1997

Gladys Knight

➸ 1986

Earth Wind & Fire

Natalie Cole

Donny & Marie Osmond

Chicago

Danny Gans

Glen Campbell

Leanne Womack

Barbara Mandrell

➸ 2008 ➸ 2007

➸ 1996 ➸ 1995

➸ 1985

38 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

➸ 1984

“Barry Manilow would take pictures with guests only during a 30-minute window prior to the concert,” Brafford said. “He didn’t want anyone to see him sweat.” Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach had to have Cristal champagne in their dressing rooms. Tony Bennett wanted a vaporizer. Gladys Knight had to have a three-bedroom suite, she said. “She would have her manager in one room and an assistant in another, but in Tallahassee at the time (1998), there was only one hotel downtown that even had two-bedroom suites,” Brafford recalled. Through the years, Brafford introduced hospitals, including Bay Medical Center (now Ascension Sacred Heart Bay) in Panama City, to the gala idea. He recalls meeting with BMC administrator Gary

2019

Pentatonix

Muller and board chairman Joe Chapman to help them plan their first gala, which starred Rita Coolidge and was held at the Bay Point Resort. Brafford was there and recalls that after her stage performance, Coolidge repaired to a piano bar at the resort and kept on playing. It seems that the gala concept may be here to stay. Brafford will be taking in the Journey concert and has never missed a gala in 40 years. Allen has no plans to retire. “I am having too much fun, so I’m gonna stick around for a while,” he said. “It’s great to work at a job where when you are successful and you are helping other people. We’re touching lives, and I believe that everyone here feels that very, very powerfully. “Don’t stop believin’,” said Allen. “Hold on to that feelin’.” TM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TMH FOUNDATION

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Sanitas Medical Center is a Value Choice Provider, a designation Florida Blue gives to some in-network providers including Sanitas. Primary care and urgent care visits at $0 do not apply to Health Savings Account (HSA) plans; the deductible will still apply. A total of two (2) urgent care visits are $0 for non-HSA plans regardless of which Value Choice Provider rendered services. After that, the urgent care cost share applies. Sanitas is an independent medical center, serving people insured by Florida Blue (or other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans), original Medicare or self-paying for medical treatment. Florida Blue is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

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panache JAN/FEB 2024

REGARDING MATTERS OF ALL THINGS STYLISH

CITIZEN OF STYLE

Polished and Positive Berneice Cox’s style is grounded in service by ELLIE HOUGHTON

FASHION Everything Fuzzy || WHAT’S IN STORE Retail Roundup photography by ALICIA OSBORNE

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January-February 2024

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o Berneice Cox, style is in no way skin deep. Born the youngest of seven children on a farm in rural Tennessee, Berneice Cox had to prove herself from a young age. “I ended up driving a cattle truck before I had my license,” Cox joked as she settled comfortably in her office chair at the United Way of the Big Bend where she serves as president. “I was the baby, so I really had to assert myself in my world.” What Cox lacked in brawn, she made up for with her quick wit. She was the first in her family to attend college, an accomplishment she humbly mentioned before turning the conversation to her siblings whom she deeply admires.

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Cox grew up with a closet full of hand-me-downs and hand-sewn clothes. She learned to shop for clothes that were practical and versatile. Today, Cox finds comfort in the classics. “My classic style actually came from what I could afford,” she said. Timeless pieces became wardrobe staples. She pairs the basics with pops of color to liven up her impeccable looks. “I find myself drawn to color often because it just energizes me.” Though she has a fondness for eye-catching pieces, she uses them sparingly. “There is some responsibility to have a look that goes with the position,” she said, and added that she always gravitates toward a “polished look.”

↑ For Berneice Cox,

the youngest of seven children, versatility is paramount — in fashion and life. More often than not, she gravitates toward classic pieces. Still, she loves to play with color whenever possible.

photography by ALICIA OSBORNE

“I find myself drawn to color often because it just energizes me.”

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“Your look, your style, your beauty comes from you and who you are as a person,” she said. Cox radiates a passion for her job: “I get to get up every single morning and know that whatever I do during the day, it’s going to be something to impact someone’s life in a positive way.” “Your look, From raising money for hurricane your style, your relief to providing housing and beauty comes education to families below the poverty line, Cox makes it her from you and mission to make a positive impact. who you are as “If you’re working anywhere just a person.” for a title, you’ve already lost,” she said. She explained that she found herself in her current career because of her heart for service and her passion to help her community. Much of this passion resulted from her own financial struggles in childhood and early adulthood. “I can’t think of a better calling for me. I wish I’d found it many years ago because it really feeds my soul.” Cox said that when she grew up, “It was who you were, not what you wore,” that mattered. She sees that outlook in her sons and the way they have raised their own children. Cox enjoys watching her grandchildren being unapologetically themselves. “They’re not worried about what anyone thinks of them at that young age,” she said. “It takes me back.” Cox said that it is important to her that her grandchildren be prepared to learn from failure. “Life is not just the good times. It’s also the challenging times,” she explained, adding that in those challenges, it’s important to find the positive and grow from the experience. “I’ve always looked for the silver linings.” She looks, too, to make differences in the lives of others in simple ways. “Sometimes it’s just telling someone they have a beautiful smile,” Cox said. “There are all these little things you can do that make an impact.” Cox steers by a moral compass. “I was taught you find the good in everybody you meet,” she said. Whether sporting an elegant dress at a gala or a timeless look with a pop of color, serving others is always her priority. After all, she said, “Who you are projects style by and large.” TM

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↑ Berneice Cox believes that what you wear matters less than who you are. She hopes she can have a positive impact on others.

Private wealth solutions for what’s next. And for what happens after that. When you’re ready to focus on the future, Synovus is the partner to help you get more out of life. Partner with a team of experienced wealth advisors to help you build a brighter future for decades and generations to come.

Start your journey at synovus.com/wealth. Investment products and services provided by Synovus are offered through Synovus Securities, Inc. (“SSI”), Synovus Trust Company, N.A. (“STC”) and Creative Financial Group, a division of SSI. Trust services for Synovus are provided by Synovus Trust Company, N.A. The registered brokerdealer offering brokerage products for Synovus is Synovus Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC and an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Investment products and services are not FDIC insured, are not deposits of or other obligations of Synovus Bank, are not guaranteed by Synovus Bank and involve investment risk, including possible loss of principal amount invested. Synovus Securities, Inc. is a subsidiary of Synovus Financial Corp and an affiliate of Synovus Bank and Synovus Trust. Synovus Trust Company, N.A. is a subsidiary of Synovus Bank. TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

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FASHION

BLANKETED IN STYLE

←→ Left: Furious Fur’s Bambi Duffle is made of faux fur resembling sheep’s wool. Right: This “fur-effect” bomber jacket from Mango features a ribbed hem for a synched look.

Fuzzy fashion comforts when it’s cool by REBECCA PADGETT FRETT

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF FURIOUS FUR (BAMBI DUFFLE) AND MANGO (FUR-EFFECT BOMBER JACKET)

e begin our lives clinging to comfort, whether in the form of a favorite blanket or a teddy bear. But at some point, we’re told we’re too old to don the blanket cape or tote the teddy. Enter the fuzzy sweater and the teddy bear coat. The Danish have a word for it — hygge — a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that causes a feeling of contentment or well-being. During the winter months, when many of us would rather spend our days cuddled in a blanket versus going about our daily tasks, we can seek hygge in wardrobe form. “When the weather gets cooler, the last thing one wants to do is get out of comfort,” said Sarah Villella, manager and buyer of Narcissus. “Teddy bear jackets, eyelash knit sweaters, thick chenille cardigans and faux fur jackets make you feel all snuggled up, but you still look cute enough to go out.”

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January-February 2024

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In many ways, we are becoming like the animals these fabrics emulate, putting on our thicker hides and winter coats of faux fur, wool, shearling, fleece and mohair. Pair a puffy faux fur bomber jacket with athleisure wear, or style it up with a knit dress and knee-high boots. Cozy up beside a bonfire in a fleece pullover and jeans, or wear a shaggy wool or mohair coat for that fresh, off-the-runway look. “Styling all things fuzzy is fun. We suggest contrasting textures like faux leather or a sequin skirt,” said Villella. For those seeking something more casual, Villella suggests pairing fur with a quality pair of jeans. Or, you can go with the monochromatic look — a tan fur coat paired with varying shades of brown. “If you wear a fuzzy hat, jacket or sweater, then the rest of your outfit should be sleek and understated, not as big as your fuzzy piece,” suggests Elizabeth Kienzle, owner of Monkee’s of Tallahassee. Kienzle is seeing a lot of fuzzy coats in bold colors in store, which make for the perfect statement piece in a winter outfit. But if full fur is intimidating, opt for pieces with fur accents, such as a trench coat with fur-capped

sleeves or a blazer with a fur collar. Fuzz doesn’t stop at the outermost layer. Fuzzy accessories, especially handbags and shoes, are fun ways to embrace the trend. A fuzzy purse in a bold hue adds a spark to a little black dress or a monochromatic outfit. Fuzzy sneakers and fur-lined boots keep your feet warm and give street credibility in the vogue department. The ultimate cozy shoe (besides the fuzzy house slipper) is the Ugg — one of many trends from the early aughts that’s back on shelves in full force. Give a warm embrace to fuzzyfilled fashion while you can — Florida’s hot and humid weather makes it hard to enjoy this trend for long. TM

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↘ H&M’s Fluffy Shoulder Bag includes a concealed magnetic fastener and a small, open inner compartment to store items without detracting from the design.

← WOMEN'S MINI UGG BRAID BOOT

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MANGO (SUEDE JACKET WITH FUR-EFFECT COLLAR), NATURAL LIFE (OMBRE SWEATER PONCHO), UGG (BOOT) AND H&M (FLUFFY SHOULDER BAG)

← The Ombre Sweater Poncho from Natural Life features an oversized fit, allowing easy layering.

→ Made from comfortable yet durable bovine leather, this suede jacket from Mango boasts a fur collar and inner lining to create warmth without adding bulk.

The Lighthouse Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley Expands into the Big Bend with the addition of Tallahassee’s Danny Murphy, Morgan Stanley First Vice President, Financial Advisor.

FRONT: Susan Lemasters, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; William Dixon, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; Dennis Rosa, Executive Director, Financial Advisor; Danny Murphy, First Vice President, Financial Advisor BACK: Jared Policastro, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; Andy Baggs, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; Brian Stokes, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; Neil Powell, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor; Philip Hawkins, First Vice President, Financial Advisor; Wendy Kennedy, First Vice President, Financial Advisor

For over 35 years, Danny has taken great pride in his professional commitment to delivering exceptional investment advice and customer service with integrity and character in the Tallahassee area. His dedication to preserving and growing clients’ wealth meshes seamlessly with our goals and values at the Lighthouse Group. Headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, the Lighthouse Group is excited to now serve the Tallahassee area. We are a tightly knit team of experienced professionals

with complementary strengths and a cohesive goalsbased outlook. We value loyalty to each other and to the individuals and families we serve every day. As a multigenerational team serving multigenerational families, we are proud that many of our clients have been with us for over 20 years. We are honored to work with their children and grandchildren, and often their parents. We work tirelessly to provide exceptional service, objective guidance and results-driven strategies.

When you work with one of us, you get the best of all of us. Visit our webpage at: advisor.morganstanley.com/the-lighthouse-wealth-management-group

50 A1A North, Ste. 112 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 | 3520 Thomasville Road Tallahassee, FL 32309 904.273.7560 850.422.8712 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC6116113 12/23 TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

panache ➸ Bedding is what has made Bedfellows a Tallahassee tradition for over 47 years. With the largest bedding selection in Tallahassee, making beds beautiful and functional is their specialty. Bedfellows offers luxury brands for any type of bed, including MATOUK, SFERRA, PEACOCK ALLEY, PINE CONE HILL and more. ➸ Little gifts go a long way. Brighten their day by shopping the gifting section of Bedfellows, complete with the trendiest trinkets. Shop from Tallahassee’s largest selection of ENEWTON bracelets. Or, enliven any space with scents that match the season. Bedfellows offers the complete line of NEST candles and diffusers.

↓ What’s In Store? A roundup of retail happenings by REBECCA PADGETT FRETT

Bedfellows is a go-to for all things home. Whether you’re seeking a total change of in-home scenery or just want one piece to perk things up, the staff can help you through in-store consultations or custom orders.

SMASHING OLIVE

balsamic, pure maple balsamic and Sicilian lemon balsamic.

➸ An OLIVE OIL AND

VINEGAR GIFT BOX allows you to sample some of the store’s most beloved flavors. You can customize these boxes with four to six flavor selections. Popular selections include garlic olive oil, chipotle olive oil, Persian lime olive oil, wild mushroom and sage olive oil, cinnamon pear balsamic, wild blueberry

➸ Given the store is known for its olive oils, Smashing Olive offers the highest quality oil cruets and spray bottles from OILPAC — all handcrafted in Tuscany. Whether drizzling balsamic on bruschetta or olive oil on a salad, these stainless steel bottles preserve freshness and flavor.

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➸ Are you a salty and sweet lover? BIG SPOON ROASTERS CHOCOLATE SEA SALT will satisfy your cravings. Put this chunky chocolate almond butter on toast, pastries or apples, or simply eat it by the spoonful. ➸ CEDAR CREEK POTTERY MUGS bring even more joy to your cup of joe. These artisan mugs are handcrafted by a potter who puts intention and attention to detail into every unique dish. And being that these mugs come in all shapes and sizes, you can use them for anything — coffee, tea, soup, ice cream and more.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEDFELLOWS AND SMASHING OLIVE

For the epicurean, Smashing Olive is a smashing good time. Stock your pantry and kitchen cabinets with goodies such as handmade ultra-premium flavored olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars, honey, almond butter, seasonings and more.

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Visit SOWALWINE.COM for more information and to purchase tickets. 52 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

gastro&gusto JAN/FEB 2024

FROM THE SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE TO THE PIÉCE DE RÉSISTANCE

DINING OUT

RISK AND REWARD By emphasizing localness, Canopy Road Café grew statewide by EMMA WITMER

PHOTO COURTESY OF CANOPY ROAD CAFÉ

↓

DINING IN Infusion Solutions || LIBATIONS Rum TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

gastro & gusto

↗

Exterior of the Persimmon Hill location, the newest Tallahassee cafe. It’s one of 13 Canopy Road locations throughout the state, but owners Brad Buckenheimer and David Raney hope it’ll one day be part of more.

he real estate bubble was about to burst, and soon, the Great Recession would be underway. It was a heckuva time to start a business, but Brad Buckenheimer and David Raney were undeterred. They opened Canopy Road Café in 2007. “There’s a risk aversion switch in everyone’s brain, but if you want to be an entrepreneur, you just really have to turn it off,” Buckenheimer said. “At least I had somebody to go in the trenches with me. I’m not alone.” Today, Buckenheimer and Raney’s breakfast and lunch joint has locations including Tallahassee, Jacksonville, South Walton and Tampa. It’s a thriving business today, but in its early days, it was just two college friends fighting off a quarter-life crisis with fried eggs and French toast.

They got to know each other at FSU where they resided in the same dorm, frequented the same dining hall and worked together at Jenny’s Lunchbox, a small Tallahassee eatery off Magnolia Drive. (It is now known as The Lunchbox.) After graduation, the friends parted ways for a time. Buckenheimer departed Florida, but when family matters brought him back to the state, his old buddy gave him a call. “David called me out of the blue one day and said, ‘Dude, guess what, I just bought The Lunchbox,’” Buckenheimer said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? What about medical school?’” Both Buckenheimer and Raney, as it turned out, had become disillusioned with their original career paths. They had always loved restaurant energy and

54 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

decided that a business partnership just might be the perfect challenge for a left-brain, right-brain duo like theirs. Raney’s early success with The Lunchbox inspired the new partners to set out on their own and create a new concept inspired by the city where they met and the customers they adored. “A lot of people knew us and wanted to support us,” Buckenheimer said. “I was living at David’s house, and we were taking turns serving and cooking and running it pretty much just the two of us.” Beyond friendly service and delicious eats, Buckenheimer and Raney wanted Canopy Road to feel local to the core, incorporate local ingredients and display the work of local artists. They resolved to get to know the faces, names and favorite photography by DAVE BARFIELD

↑ Brad Buckenheimer (left) and David Raney at the Persimmon Hill location. ← Canopy Road hot sauce. ↗ Persimmon Hill interior detail. Thanks to Canopy Road’s emphasis on local flavor and local art, you can feel good about where you’re eating your Sunday morning pancakes.

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January-February 2024

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Within eight years, Canopy Road had expanded to four Tallahassee locations, and the partners began setting their sights on expansion beyond the Capital City. “We went to Jacksonville first, and it was crazy, man,” Buckenheimer said. “Jacksonville is like a giant Tallahassee. The people are awesome. They were incredibly supportive. We were super nervous because that’s the home of Metro Diner and Maple Street. They’re all based in Jacksonville, so we kind of jumped in the line.” Thankfully, the talent that Buckenheimer and Raney fostered in their Tallahassee staff paid off, and before long, they franchised the Jacksonville market

↑ Canopy Road’s menu is expansive. Savor something hearty like eggs, hash browns and toast. Or, induce a sugar rush by ordering one of the cafe’s infamous stacks of pancakes.

to a former Canopy Road intern and his brother. Today, it seems a new Canopy Road Café pops up every few months. Thirteen locations are scattered across the state, but Buckenheimer has a goal of 15. “I love Tallahassee,” Buckenheimer said. “We would never be where we are today if it were not for the support we received in good times and bad. I always had this personal goal that I would never be satisfied to be like a big fish in a small pond. I wanted to see the ocean.” TM

CANOPY ROAD CAFÉ MONROE ST. 1913 N. Monroe St. (850) 668-6600

CAPITAL CIRCLE 2202 Capital Circle NE, (850) 893-0466

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THE PARKWAY

1779 Apalachee Parkway (850) 727-0263

PERSIMMON HILL 6267 Old Water Oak Road (850) 329-6750

SOUTHWOOD

3196 Merchants Row Blvd. (850) 329-2827

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CANOPY ROAD CAFÉ

dishes of everyone who walked through the door. As the cafe grew in popularity, Buckenheimer and Raney lived frugally and funneled profits back into the business. “I think there’s a stigma with hospitality, where it’s not considered a real job,” Buckenheimer said. “That’s something that we try really hard to break. I’ve got people that do very well working for me. We’ve notoriously overpaid because we value our people, and I don’t want them going anywhere else. It’s a two-way street. If they feel valued, then they’re going to stick around, do a good job and hopefully ask for more responsibilities and ways that they can better their life.”

Your furniture makes our tail wag! Donate your gently used furniture to The Fix Thrift Shop.

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

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DINING IN

STEEPED IN IT The flavors of infusion by LIESEL SCHMIDT

sugar is melted, you will want to simmer on the stove for 20 to 30 minutes. This helps infuse the ingredients.” And don’t forget to “strain the mixture to remove the lemon peel, mint leaves, cinnamon sticks, etc.” before using, Cote advised. Water, alcohol, oil or vinegar are all fantastic starter liquids for infusion. They can be hot or cold, which is useful in the bar and restaurant industry as well as for home cooks.

↗ Hibiscus simple syrup is tart, sweet and easy to prepare. You can use it in cocktails or mocktails or mix it with espresso, ice and milk to create a delicious, at-home iced latte.

58 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

As popular as it’s become with creatively obsessed mixologists and forward-thinking chefs, infusion is a process that has been in use for centuries. Historically, infusion wasn’t used to create trendy drinks or elevate the flavor of a simple dish. Infusion was practical and used to preserve food to last through the winter months. Fruits, vegetables and berries were submerged and stored in alcohol or vinegar, which extended their use and prevented spoilage. As people began to notice the change in taste of these preservative liquids, infusions became a method of flavoring liquids, as well. And, of course, it works both ways — like how marinating meat in a liquid imparts flavor. Infusion is being used in everything from making tea and French press coffee to craft beers and wines as well as flavored oils and vinegars — all of which have become incredibly popular. “You can make homemade infused olive oil with a few simple steps,” Cote said. “Dried herbs like rosemary sprigs, lemon thyme or red chili flakes are a

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS: JULIA KLINTSOVA (TEA) AND BHOFACK2 (SIMPLE SYRUP)

nfusions add new and exciting flavors to common household liquids without imparting any artificial additives. If you’ve ever enjoyed flavored craft moonshine or vodka, savored the refreshing taste of water from a pitcher with sliced cucumbers floating in it or dipped bread in a spicy olive oil, you’ve experienced the results of infusing a liquid with herbs, spices or some other flavoring agent. Infusions exude the essence of the item used, much the way an aroma fills the air; the air is still unchanged but now contains a sensational new scent. “Culinary infusions are a great way to elevate the flavor of common ingredients,” said Ashley Cote, the creator of the popular food blog Spoonful of Flavor. “An infusion is created by extracting the flavors of ingredients into a liquid. Common infusions you’ve probably heard of are infused water, flavored liquors and simple syrups. You can even make your own culinary infusions at home.” According to Cote, simple syrups are “one of the easiest infusions to make at home.” “You can extract the flavors of things like cinnamon sticks, lemon peel, mint leaves, vanilla bean or lavender sprigs to create infused simple syrups,” Cote said. “When you’re preparing a simple syrup, simply add the ingredient for the flavor you desire to the sugar water mixture while heating on the stove. Once the

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gastro & gusto

May take several minutes to an hour

Steeping method: For tea and vinegar-based infusions. Simmering method: For syrups, most oil-based infusions and some vinegar-based infusions.

↓ HERB-INFUSED OLIVE OIL ADDS FUN FLAVOR INGREDIENTS

➸ ½ cup fresh herb leaves (rosemary, thyme, oregano), washed and dried ➸ Pinch of salt ➸ 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat and warm until mixture bubbles, then cook until oil is very fragrant, about one to two minutes. Cool, then strain. Use a funnel to pour oil into a clean container. Refrigerate and use within a month.

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COLD

INFUSIONS

May take up to several weeks

Submerge herbs, spices, fruits or the flavoring agents of your choice in water, alcohol, vinegar or oil in a sealed container, shaking every few days.

way to add flavor to olive oil. To infuse the herb or spice, combine the chosen flavor ingredient with the olive oil in a small saucepan. “Cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes to infuse the flavors and then strain the ingredients from the oil,” Cote continued. “Serve the infused olive oil with bread, or drizzle it over pasta for delicious flavor.” The traditional manner of infusion takes anywhere from a few hours to several months, depending on the liquid you’re infusing and the flavoring agent you’re using, as well as whether you’re using a hot or cold infusion process. Cold infusions follow a simple process: Fill a container with herbs, spices, fruits or the flavoring agents of your choice, and add enough alcohol, vinegar or oil to completely submerge them; then seal the container and store in a dark location for up to several weeks, shaking it every few days to help the flavors mix into the liquid. Once the liquid has fully infused, strain it into a new container. Hot infusions, by contrast, are achieved much more quickly and can be done using two main methods. The first involves boiling the liquid and then pouring it over the flavoring agents before allowing the liquid to steep for anywhere from several minutes to an hour before straining. Examples of this include tea and many vinegar-based infusions. The second method requires simmering the liquid and flavoring agents together for up to an hour, then cooling them and straining. Syrups, most oil-based infusions and some vinegar-based infusions are created using this method. Whether choosing hot or cold methods, infusions can add some unique flair to your home cooking experience. TM

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS: CHAMILLEWHITE (OLIVE OIL), V_ZAITSEV (TEA) AND ARTRACHEN01 (COLD BREW)

HOT

INFUSIONS

A fresh take on Pan-Asian cuisine and sushi. Join us for lunch & dinner. Extensive selection of wine, beer & sake

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Personal services in Bridal Registry, Stationery and Invitations. Specializing in gifts for the Home, Body and Family. Tallahassee’s Best Gift Boutique for over 35 Years. Follow us @shopmft

(850) 681-2824 | (800) 983-2266 | 1410 Market St, C3 | ShopMFT.com TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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gastro & gusto

LIBATIONS

Hurricane Season Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum by RAEMI CRETEUR

A LOCAL AFFAIR

62 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

↑ Single Barrel Golden Rum from Ology Distilling Co. This locally made liquor makes the perfect addition to any home bar. With notes of cinnamon and brown sugar, pour it into a snifter and enjoy it straight, or use it to make a rum Old-Fashioned.

Robert Jacob is an expert on pirates and the author of A Pirate’s Life in the Golden Age of Piracy and Pirates of the Florida Coast: Truths, Legends, and Myths. He is a former member of the Blackbeard’s Crew that assembles at the annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival in Hampton, Virginia, and according to him, rum wasn’t as popular among pirates as one might think. “Pirates really didn’t have any more association with rum than anyone else,” he laughed. “The pirates’ favorite drink was actually hot chocolate.” Daniel Stewart, head distiller at Ology Distilling Co., said rum is often associated with pirates because its “real history” isn’t as “fun.”

“You know, the real history of rum is that it comes from ... slave economies in the Caribbean … but that’s not super fun for advertising purposes. So people often lean into (the) pirates and tiki and tropical (mythos),” he said. Still, rum plays a prominent role in the history of the high seas. “Let me tell you a bit about grog,” Jacob said. The Royal Navy, he explained, struggled to keep crew members hydrated during long voyages during which water stored in wooden casks would become undrinkable. “So they just drank rum, which left them drunk or more dehydrated,” Jacob said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF OLOGY DISTILLING CO.

fter capturing a region that included Panama in 1670, Capt. Henry Morgan ordered his men to be on the lookout for a Spanish vessel approaching the coastline. Certainly, they thought, such a ship would contain treasure that would make the captain and his men rich beyond their wildest dreams. Before the desired Spanish vessel arrived, however, a merchant ship docked, and the pirate crew swiftly captured it. Aboard, they didn’t find riches — they found casks of rum. The crew helped themselves to the sugarcane liquor, so much so that when a treasureladen ship reached the harbor, Morgan’s crew members were so drunk that they failed to capture the Spanish ship. Eventually, Morgan, the owner of three sugar plantations in Jamaica, was knighted and named the island’s governor. He lives on as the basis for the character on the labels of Capt. Morgan rum, which remains popular throughout Florida today. But rum wasn’t always so beloved. Case in point — the first According to Stewart, reference made about the team behind Ology rum by a visitor to Distilling Co. uses local sugar cane to create Barbados in 1651. their rums. “Most people “The chief fudaren’t able to do that,” dling they make in he said, “but we (operate) on a pretty small the island is rumbulscale. So, we’re able to lion, alias Kill-Devil, work with some local and this is made of farmers to experiment with sugar cane and sugarcanes distilled molasses fermenta— a hot, hellish and tion, which has been terrible liquor,” wrote super fun.” the visitor.

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gastro & gusto Capt. Vernon mixed rum with water, brown sugar and lime juice. The mixture came to be known as “grog” after the captain, who was nicknamed Old Grog due to the grogram wool uniform he wore. Grogram was an inexpensive material not typically worn by someone of status. By wearing it, the captain endeared himself to his crew. Sailors didn’t realize it then, but the lime helped prevent scurvy. The rum purified the water, and the brown sugar made the drink palatable. “His crew didn’t get sick, so within a few years, the Royal Navy ordered all crews to consume grog every day,” Jacob said. “Grog went a long way toward preventing scurvy.” INGREDIENTS Of course, grog isn’t ➸ 1 shot light rum commonly drunk in ➸ 1 shot dark rum modern-day Tallahassee, ➸ ½ shot lime juice ➸ ½ shot orange juice but rum is. ➸ Splash of passion Stewart says Ology’s fruit puree white rum is perfect for ➸ 2 teaspoons simple syrup ➸ 1 teaspoon grenadine making daiquiris and mojitos, whereas the INSTRUCTIONS company’s dark “aged” Combine and shake light and dark rum, lime and orange rums are best in a rum juices, passion fruit puree, Old-Fashioned or on simple syrup and grenadine. their own. Strain into a hurricane glass over fresh ice. Garnish “We’ve gone into with an orange slice and some new oak casks like cocktail cherry. you would for bourbon. So, those new oak casks bring a lot of brown sugar notes (and) some of those spices, like cinnamon or clove, that you might expect in bourbon,” Stewart said of Ology’s aged rums. One cocktail that combines light and dark rum is The Hurricane — a drink synonymous with regions where tropical storms are commonplace. On at least one occasion, a hurricane sunk a ship full of rum off the coast of Florida. “Divers recovered some of the bottles intact just a few years ago,” Jacob said. “They put them up for auction. A millionaire bought them and threw a big party. A friend attended and told me it was the strongest rum he ever had.” TM

HURRICANE

Thomas J. Monigan contributed to this article.

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South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival Sipping and sampling the best of Northwest Florida and beyond

ore than 500 of the finest wines and spirits, and local cuisine will be tasted and enjoyed at the South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival. Attendees can sip and satiate at the 12th annual event during the weekend of April 25-28.

The festival spans across Grand Boulevard’s Town Center, merging winemakers, chefs, distillers and brewers for four days of events that include wine tastings, educational seminars, culinary stations, entertainment, a charity component and more.

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The festival begins on Thursday with a Winemakers & Shakers event. Friday includes a VIP wine tasting followed by the Craft Beer & Spirits Jam. The Grand Tasting main events will occur Saturday from 3–6 p.m. and Sunday from 1–4 p.m. This year’s event will include more activations than ever before, allowing guests to interact with ambassadors from wineries, distilleries, breweries and eateries in convivial and engaging settings. At the Grand Tasting, guests can sample from hundreds of varieties of wines from throughout the world, many of which stem from rare and impressive collections. This year, the festival will have a focus on the increasingly popular Willamette Valley, Oregon, wines. The region is home

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to over 500 wineries with a unique focus on some of the world’s best Pinot Noirs. More than a dozen Willamette Valley wineries and industry renowned winemakers will be pouring the best of Oregon wines for guests to experience in the featured Grand Tasting tent. Additionally, Jackson Family Wines, a notable crowd favorite from the 2023 lineup, will be returning with an even larger presence at the Culinary Village and will be paired with care and finesse with a menu from the Wine World Restaurants. “The wines poured are not your everyday wines, nor are the spirits,” said Stacey Brady, executive director of South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival. “We hope you experience something new, something you haven’t tasted before or always wanted to try. We hope you find your next repeat, go-to bottle for every day or a special occasion.” The 2024 event will include four total seminars throughout the Saturday and Sunday Grand Tasting. The tasting seminars are presented by seasoned winemakers, chefs and distillers who impart their expert knowledge and samplings of unique flavor profiles. “The seminars are immensely popular because they are an exciting, yet informative way to learn something new and taste something you’ve never experienced before,” Brady said. Throughout the Grand Tasting days, guests can visit the Savor South Walton Culinary Village, which presents a pairing menu of delights from the Wine World restaurants. Additionally, Nosh Pavilions are located throughout the festival grounds, offering samplings from renowned restaurants throughout South Walton and Destin. Musical performances will be provided by the Casey Kearney band and the Nashville Songwriters Showcase brought in by the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.

Brady recommends attendees peruse the tasting program, released two weeks before the event to the SoWalWine.com website, to plan for tastings, activations and seminars they want to attend. All events during the weekend raise funds for the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, benefiting children’s charities located throughout Northwest Florida. “Coming off of the 2023 event, we received such amazing feedback from attendees and industry professionals that we feel like we’ve hit our stride in terms of executing an amazing, world-class event,” Brady said. “We look forward to continuing that momentum while exceeding expectations in 2024.”

TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND LEARN THE LATEST, VISIT SOWALWINE.COM. 585 GRAND BLVD, MIRAMAR BEACH (850) 837-3099 EXT. 203

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expression

JAN/FEB 2024

KEEPING TABS ON ALL THAT MUSES INSPIRE

ART

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Professor Nan Liu adds a painting to his classroom at Florida A&M University, where he has taught for 15 years. He made his way to Tallahassee after completing graduate studies in his native China. An oil painting, he finds, can be more powerful than a photograph.

BLENDING EAST AND WEST FAMU prof finds inspiration in his surroundings by MARINA BROWN

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BOOKS Hammer of the Dogs photography by THE WORKMANS

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Plein air landscapes by Nan Liu have been made part of the annual art faculty exhibition at the Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery at Florida A&M University. Liu favors working on his landscapes from docks.

meet art professor Nan Liu sitting at a picnic table overlooking Lake Ella. A fountain quietly erupts across the water and a variously colored duck circles us hoping for a crumby handout. It seems appropriate to be lakeside. Chatting about topics like the Chinese influence on Dr. Liu’s “Western” paintings, the importance of landscape painting in Eastern art, and his journey from Tianjin, China, to Tallahassee needs the expansiveness of a natural setting — much like Liu’s life arc to date.

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Nan Liu, 49, speaks English fluently and at breakneck speed after spending 15 years as a professor of art in the Department of Visual Arts, Humanities & Theatre at Florida A&M University. He has pursued a career in art education since graduate school in Beijing. But his introduction to brush painting and the artistic production of detailed Chinese letters began much earlier and perhaps offered an introduction to the Western-style art that emerged in his paintings later. Liu said Chinese brush painting, often done on paper made from bark

and rice straw, was taught early to school children. The various styles of brush painting reflect the tastes of the dynasties that governed China, but landscapes, mountains and nature have always held sway. In middle school, 12-year-old Liu was introduced to Western art and oil painting, forms that weren’t emphasized again until much later in his undergraduate career. Copying paintings made in the West in an afterschool program widened his artistic vision. Despite today producing large-frame oil paintings, Liu says he photography by THE WORKMANS

didn’t truly begin experimenting with oils until he was a graduate student stretching professor’s canvases. Now, he said, “I think an oil painting is more powerful than a photograph.” Liu began winning art awards even before entering Nan Kai University, where he majored in Chinese brush painting. He studied art education in Beijing, and in 1999, he came to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree at the University of Arkansas. He then moved to Tallahassee and completed master’s of fine arts and doctoral programs in art education at FSU.

air work. Recently, he said, “I’ve become excited to paint boats — fishing boats at the dock.” At FAMU, Liu has taken, with their permission, reference photos of students coming and going on campus, staring at phones, carrying skateboards and books, colorfully dressed and hair-dressed, and produced a dynamic series of near lifesize oil portraits. “I love this life about me,” he said. “Painting the students in a series (16 to date) is a way of honoring their energy, their colors, their culture.” “I love this He has now begun another life about me. group of paintings, this time blending his skill with the inks Painting the of Chinese brush painting to students in a capture the personalities and lives series (16 to of American college students. date) is a way “We can cross these boundaries of honoring of ethnicity, respecting the heritage of each, linking styles and their energy, subjects together,” he has found. their colors, what does Nan Liu do in their culture.” hisAnd free time? — Nan Liu Plein air sessions at docksides fill many hours. He plays table tennis from time to time. He once taught brush painting on weekends to his two children and their friends, Liu has enjoyed success as a although today his 16-year-old son is at hardworking professor and as a painter Phillips Academy and more interested with 16 solo shows in museums and in jazz piano and sax, while his 12-yeargalleries. He has won dozens of awards old daughter is exploring dance, and prizes, served as an artist in residence violin and piano in addition to art. at universities and written a book for a Dr. Haiqiong Deng, Liu’s wife and an Chinese audience on art education in ethnomusicologist, is a touring master the U.S. He was even interviewed by a of the gu zheng, an ancient 26-stringed critic with the Huffington Post. instrument, and the 4,000-year-old “I love painting what I see around guqin, a seven-stringed instrument. me,” Liu said. “Nature has inspired The energetic Liu seems to have much of my work in recent years. I’ve arranged the perfect amalgam of two painted Lake Jackson many, many cultures — two painting styles — into one times.” Water lilies, trees and placid artistic life. The community is fortunate that he’s living it here in Tallahassee. TM waters occur frequently in Liu’s plein TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

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Florida man Jarret Keene, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has written a post-apocalyptic novel in which a cyborgian heroine finds love among destruction and favors man over machine. Keene is pictured at the Luxor Hotel and Casino, which figures in the book.

NIGHTMARES, DREAMS AND KILLER FLAMINGOS

In Jarret Keene’s fantasy thriller, humanity outlasts power-trippers by STEVE BORNHOFT

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Gen Xer, Jarret Keene grew up playing with action figures — G.I. Joe, Star Wars characters, Scarlet Spider. They were armed and aggressive, and they were heroes, he said, and led children to exercise their imaginations. He read comic books, too, back in the day when ads for .22-caliber rifles and “raising chinchillas for fun and profit” appeared on their back pages. “The tie-in stuff related to the characters was amazing,” Keene added. “The vinyl records, the lunch boxes. Now everything seems diffuse.”

We don’t relate to shared experiences or each other as we once did. No question. Keene, who earned a doctorate in creative writing at Florida State University, is doing what he can to combat unsettling trends, both personally and via a character of his own creation, Lash, the heroine in his debut post-apocalyptic novel, Hammer of the Dogs, which was published on Sept. 12. As an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Keene seeks to ignite a passion for reading in students who grew up

PHOTO COURTESY OF BECCA SCHWARTZ/UNLV

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expression in front of screens. He departs, within limits, the traditional canon by teaching books that students enjoy reading. “Reading a Jane Austen novel and discussing whether it reinforces gender stereotypes? It’s important, but there are other things that students need to know how to do,” Keene said. “I think the death of fun and joy is precisely the reason why students are turning away from the humanities and going toward STEM.” Keene is aware of writings including New Yorker staff writer Nathan Heller’s essay, “The End of the English Major” (March 6, 2023). Therein, Columbia University English professor James Shapiro cites two reasons for declining interest in the humanities: the ceaseless distraction provided by websites, social media and podcasts, and declining investment on all levels in humanities programs.

“Lash is my idea of an ideal Barbie. She fights back. I saw the Barbie movie and it’s fine, but it’s not Lash. Lash is like Ripley from the Alien movies or Sarah Connor in The Terminator.” — Jarret Keene Keene knows what he’s up against, but he rejects as pure rhetoric the notion that a student must major in a science, technology, engineering or mathematicsrelated field to qualify for a good job post-graduation. In writing Hammer of the Dogs, set in what is left of Las Vegas after the bombs drop and America ends, Keene aimed to give students a fun book, one characterized by a “bright darkness.” He brought a chapter a week to his Introduction to Creative Writing class

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as a way to introduce students to the process and work of writing a book. “This wasn’t a trunk novel,” Keene said. “This was a messy work in progress,” one that he completed with a certain sense of urgency. Riding his bicycle down the deserted Las Vegas strip toward the familiar Welcome to Las Vegas sign during the height of the COVID pandemic, Keene entertained thoughts that the end might be near and resolved to finish his book before he got scooped by reality. The book succeeds on several levels: as a thriller; as social commentary on issues including the hoarding and concentration of wealth and resources; as a jab at corporate religion; as a humorous work that unites disparate elements like Zippo lighters and warbots; and as a vehicle for Lash, replete with her exaggerated

been led to believe is a sadistic killer who gets off on knocking off students. When she meets Richter, however, Lash finds him both repugnant — and irresistible. She falls for him before she proves to be the superior warrior. And she learns that he is answerable to a woman, Mrs. Westphal, who like Prof, seeks absolute power and who surrounds herself with a flock of attack flamingos. (Keene arrived at the flamingo idea having once encountered an aggressive emu at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge during his FSU days.) Ultimately, Lash and friends vanquish both warlords, but not before she learns that Prof has tried to fulfill his own Cyborg Savior prophecy by implanting in her a “mechanism for transubstantiation, a cybernetic link to the dronesphere.” “I made you into a god,” Prof tells Lash. But Lash chooses otherwise and, in that, there is hope that the desert might bloom again. The darkness has been made bright. TM

HAMMER OF THE DOGS

(University of Las Vegas Press, 2023) is available for purchase at Midtown Reader, 1123 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, and at major booksellers and amazon.com.

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secondary sexual characteristics and possessed of the strength of both man and machine. “Lash is my idea of an ideal Barbie,” Keene said. “She fights back. I saw the Barbie movie and it’s fine, but it’s not Lash. Lash is like Ripley from the Alien movies or Sarah Connor in The Terminator.” The surviving world has devolved into a competition between warlords seeking to gain complete control over the wounded landscape they inhabit. Lash, lacking an alternative, takes refuge at an academy presided over by an evangelist wannabe known as Prof and housed in the Luxor Resort. The world outside the academy is a toxic wasteland, where emaciated survivors struggle to get by on rations of cactus. The Prof takes advantage. Kids are easily conscripted and made students to be schooled in robotics and drone-making. Most become fodder with only a few surviving to Lash’s age. She is possessed of extraordinary skills and instincts and emerges as a leader unafraid to confront enemy forces led by Richter, whom she has

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Opening Nights Welcomes Second Half of 2023-2024 Season New year brings art forms for all to enjoy

rt is the great connector, and Opening Nights, presented by Florida State University, intends to connect diverse communities through song, spoken word, dance and other artistic expressions performed by world-class acts. The second half of the season, which spans from January to May, features 22 performances occurring on FSU’s campus and throughout the capital city. Each artist will present performances meant to educate, inspire and cultivate awareness for the importance of the arts. “Opening Nights really has something for everyone, from rock to classical and visual artists to authors and so much more,” said Noelle Enright, marketing associate with Opening Nights. “Our programming encompasses a variety of genres that welcome all audiences.” On January 10, Elvis Costello & The Imposters will bring their signature flare to the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall stage. With a career spanning 40 years, Costello has explored many genres from punk rock to symphonic pop and much in between. Known for his wordplay on notable hits such as “Pump It Up” and “Watching the Detectives,” Costello puts a unique spin on each performance with the help of his talented band, The Imposters. The Imposters features longtime collaborators Steve Nieve on the keyboard and Pete Thomas on the drums who follow the bombastic frontman wherever his musical fancy may lead.

The soulful songstress Ruthie Foster is celebrating her ninth studio album on the Opperman Music Hall stage by sharing it with rapt audiences. On Feb. 29, Foster will sing from Healing Time, an album that showcases the most extensive of her songwriting. Throughout her career, Foster has received multiple Grammy nominations for her music that is equal parts compassion and resolve. Foster describes her style as Texas blues-Americana with bits of New Orleans influence. Mandy Patinkin is a multitalented force having experience in theater, film, television and music. Patinkin’s performance on March 9 at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall will focus on his musicality as he shares songs alongside pianist Adam Ben-David. In his 1980 Broadway debut, Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita and was nominated in 1984 for his starring role as George in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George. For his concerts, Patinkin draws from his diverse Broadway background. On April 5 at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, Terence Blanchard and the

E-Collective with the Turtle Island Quartet will speak as a collective voice for American tragedies past and present. As a composer and renowned trumpet player, Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements. As a seven-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominee, Blanchard’s work in jazz, film scores, television and opera has situated him as a voice on social, cultural and racial injustice issues. Each work he touches is with powerful sentiment. Taking art outdoors, Word of South and Opening Nights will present Rising Appalachia, a free concert on April 27 at Adderley Amphitheater in Cascades Park. As world travelers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia have merged multiple global music influences with their own Southern roots to create the inviting new folk album, Leylines, which they will present to the capital city audience. “Our hope is attendees learn something new whether it be a new artist or genre or learning something new about an artist they’ve long known,” said Enright. “The more people can learn about and through the arts, the better.”

OPENING NIGHTS TO SEE ALL EVENTS OCCURRING AT OPENING NIGHTS VISIT: OPENINGNIGHTS.FSU.EDU/EVENTS

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Yoga leads Punam Bhakta to self-acceptance WR IT T E N BY ST E V E BO RN HO F T PHOTO S BY SAIGE RO BE RT S

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January-February 2024

Punam Bhakta in traditional Indian attire. She is the daughter of immigrants from India and grew up in a household where both English and Gujarati — a dialect from the Indian state of Gujarat — were spoken.

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There was a time when Punam Bhakta was a yoga hater. Born in California to immigrants from India, she moved with her family as a child to Tallahassee and was reared in a household that was given to few American influences. Both English and Gujarati, a language native to the Indian state of Gujarat, were spoken in the home. Her parents worked in the hospitality and restaurant industries and practiced yoga, an activity that Bhakta — her name means full moon — dismissed as nonsense, wholly rejecting the notion that she might benefit from it. “You don’t always permit yourself to like what your family does,” she said. More pointedly, Bhakta didn’t like who her family was. In Florida, she had come by a desire to assimilate and to push down her culture and traditions. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Florida State University and tried on several majors without finding one that was right for her. “Like every Indian, I tried to do health care because I thought I should,” Bhakta said. “That’s a big part of the story of my life. I thought a lot of my life was about should.” Bhakta was an FSU student when she landed a job working as an assistant at an optometry practice. She managed the front desk, handled administrative duties and correspondence, became proficient on machines including an autorefractor and a tonometer, learned the electronic health record system and accompanied doctors on prison visits where they performed eye exams. It was in prison that Bhakta began to find herself. She discovered that she was keenly interested in learning more about prison life. She quit school, satisfied that she was finding something that she had always subconsciously wanted to do.

Bhakta estimates that half of the inmates she met had never received health care. “Yes, a lot of them had made bad decisions,” she said. “They were so grateful that someone came out to see them. It was a hard job, but it is the one that I am most proud of. It made me see that if you have never been exposed to health care, you probably don’t know much about self-care.” Bhakta was developing an appetite for public service. She quit school and worked for the optometry office for a total of four years while continuing to work to define her career. She was employed as an educator at the Tallahassee Museum and as an assistant consultant at the Florida Medical Licensing Service. In 2018, she went back to school as a business administration major at Flagler College’s satellite operation in Tallahassee and graduated a year later. “I feel like Flagler is a hidden gem, and for people who want to pursue their degree while continuing to work, it’s a great way to open up more opportunities,” Bhakta said. “And that’s what it did for me.” Flagler, like the prison, served Bhakta as an incubator, and she moved closer to pecking her way out of a selfimposed shell. That evolution accelerated when, after earning her business degree, she joined the City of Tallahassee’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion as an administrative specialist. “That is where I really started to understand that I was serving my purpose,” Bhakta said. “We did trainings, and a big part of what we focused on was one’s roots. Knowing who you are is a big part of emotional intelligence, along with addressing your highest needs,

“You don’t always permit yourself to like what your family does.”

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January-February 2024

Upon adopting the practice of yoga, Punam Bhakta found that it helped her embrace her heritage. She advises beginners to take a gradual approach to yoga and use objects like those pictured as aids.

“Yoga is something that Americans are doing. I asked myself, ‘Why shouldn’t I honor these practices?’”

accepting who you are and digging deep to understand your biases and why you think the way you do.” Bhakta found within herself a desire to help people feel accepted. She applied lessons that she learned while working for the city to the community of immigrants in Tallahassee — and to herself. She let go of her resistance to her ethnicity and essence. Her long path toward self-acceptance was at last reaching a destination, and she opened herself to yoga. “Listening to trainings about introspection, dealing with other people and learning to get along, I really wanted to take my own personal development to the next level,” Bhakta said. Yoga at first served Bhakta as a way to stretch and exercise, a practice she carried out purely on a physical level. Then, in

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the midst of the pandemic, she met Ashley Thesier, who owned a yoga studio on Thomasville Road at the time. Thesier introduced Bhakta to an approach to yoga that was more dimensional than she was used to, a more holistic and authentic approach, one that included chanting of mantras. “I felt at home, and I started embracing my Indianness,” Bhakta said. “I started accepting that part of me. Yoga is something that Americans are doing. I asked myself, ‘Why shouldn’t I honor these practices? Why am I embarrassed about my culture?’” “Punam seemed rather overwhelmed with life when I first met her,” Thesier said. “Like many other students, she had only the vaguest idea of what kind of spiritual journey she was about to embark upon and the soul work involved. But given her

Punam Bhakta sitting in a supported hero’s pose with her hands in a lotus mudra. Mudra is a Sanskrit term that means “gesture” or “attitude.” Mudras were characterized by ancient yogis as energyflowing postures meant to connect individual life forces with universal or cosmic force.

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January-February 2024

culture and heritage, she was better equipped than others to grasp some of the more esoteric teachings.” Working with Thesier, Bhakta found her authentic voice and a greater connection with her inner self. “After 200 hours of training together, it didn't matter if her teaching style was perfect or if she could hold yoga poses with precision. The true teachings of yoga are demonstrated through our being, not our doing, and by the end of our time together, she understood that profoundly.” Today, Bhakta is a consultant with the Canopy Management Consulting Group, a business founded by Brian Swords and Damon Steffens, former state Department of Economic Opportunity employees who exited that experience with confidence that they could contribute to making state agencies more efficient. “It could be about financial restructuring, change management or cost analysis,” Bhakta said about her work with Canopy. “Or it could be about saving money or making teams work better together.” “She is the friendliest person I know,” Swords said. “You couldn’t ask for more in an employee. She takes care of our client relationships, seeing to it that clients are seen and heard and get what they need. And there is no limit to her appetite for learning.” Bhakta is also a certified yoga trainer who works with ablebodied people of sound mind and with people with Alzheimer’s disease at a respite center that is part of the Tallahassee Alzheimer’s Project. “I absolutely love working with Alzheimer’s patients,” she said. “I focus on mobility and making their daily lives better. You may need to pick something off the floor or reach for something in a cupboard, or if you have grandchildren, you want to play with them. I challenge them physically and mentally and lead them through stretches.”

For anyone, Bhakta said, yoga is a way to get to know your body. “You get into it, and you discover your crinks,” she said. “‘Oh, man, my neck hurts. I didn’t realize my left side hurts more than my right side.’ You start noticing separate parts of your body instead of thinking of it as one big clump. “As you start moving into it, different emotions come up and different stories surface. You’re working through all of that, and that’s where the next big element in yoga comes in — your breathing.” Noting that people tend to hold their breath in uncomfortable situations, Bhakta said that yoga helps people move through such circumstances by breathing and trusting themselves. “I know that if I can hold an uncomfortable yoga pose, then I can get through the next five seconds of whatever I am experiencing,” she said. “Maybe it is an awkward silence in the middle of a meeting or someone has cut me off in traffic.” Bhakta practices Hatha yoga, which originated in India during the 11th century and was used in efforts to preserve and channel vital life force or energy. As of the 20th century, hatha yoga has focused on physical postures called asanas. “Listening to my body, I started to notice body cues,” Bhakta said. “When my body started loosening, it was like a car. When you lubricate the engine, it runs a lot better. I started feeling better because I wasn’t constantly in pain. There was a lot of gratification in conquering little challenges along the way. You are not competing against anyone. You don’t have to compare yourself to others. You are free to focus on how it feels for you.” Bhakta advises anyone starting out in yoga to go slowly. “Do what’s right for you versus what you think you should do,” she said. “Get out of your head and into your body. “And be prepared to make some mat friends.” TM

“Do what’s right for you versus what you think you should do. Get out of your head and into your body.”

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A group that is part of the Tallahassee Alzheimer’s Project joins in a chair yoga class led by Punam Bhakta at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. Bhakta works to maintain and expand group members’ range of motion by leading them through a series of stretches.

Awakening and Healing Punam Bhakta’s dedication to self-improvement involves reading books such as Tara Brach’s Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha (Bantam Books, 2023). Here is a passage from that text:

We are now living in a collective spiritual crisis. We have forgotten our belonging to each other and to our living Earth. This disease of separation desperately calls for the medicine of radical acceptance as a clear and openhearted presence that reconnects us with life. With radical acceptance, we love ourselves and each other into healing and spiritual awakening.

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

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. g n i r a h s r e v o of e g a n a n i e v s i l a r e We m a c n o d e t n e m u c o d s i g . a i Everythin d e m l a i c o and shared on s it didn’t happen . , d e t s o p t ’ n s i s r a If it e y t s r o w e h t , d r a d n a t s t a h . By t e r e w r e v e n a of my anorexi . e u r t e r e w t a h t If only I

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E AT I N G D I S O R D E R , N A Y B D E M U S N O C S E D AFTER DECA WITH LIFE A R U N N E R C AT C H E S U P TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

For more than 20 years, Liesel Schmidt battled an eating disorder that reduced her to the weight of a kindergartner and made her bones brittle. Today, her relationship with food has changed dramatically, she has rejoined the world and she has rediscovered herself.

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My world

shrank

along with my

here is almost no photographic record of me between 2009 and 2021. You won’t find me photobombing anyone else’s selfies or tagged in someone else’s photos. You won’t dig up some random shot with me in the background. The only pictures of me that exist are private photos that I took while deep in the throes of an eating disorder that almost killed me. Should have killed me. Every day for months, I would take three photos of myself — left side, right side, frontal — to keep track, to keep score, to make sure that I wasn’t losing control. In truth, I’d already lost it. I was terrified of gaining weight, and my body became nothing but skin stretched tightly over a skeleton, so thin that it would tear at the slightest touch. My muscles had withered; my bones had become as fragile as those of an 80-year-old. My hair had thinned and my natural curls had gone into hiding. I went years without a menstrual period. Most people thought I had cancer. Some days, I would look in the mirror and see a ghostly wraith staring back at me, this horrible creature that I had become. What had happened? My anorexia began when I was 14 at a point when I’d felt as though my world was falling apart. I fell headlong into a mental breakdown. I was overwhelmed by all the noise in my brain, so much so that I did not speak. Relief only seemed to come when I limited what I ate. Eating was the one thing in my world that I felt like I could control, quantify and understand. Doing so became an all-consuming pursuit that dictated every aspect of my life — where I went, who I saw, what I did every minute of every day. Anyone or anything that threatened that obsession became unsafe in my

body .

mind. The list of foods I felt safe eating and the things that I felt safe doing grew smaller and smaller. My world shrank along with my body. I’d been an avid runner since the age of 17, and, because I was fast, I’d become well-known in the local running community. I’d run too many races to count, placing in all of them and sometimes winning top overall female honors. My time in my first 26.2-mile race was good enough by six minutes to qualify me for the Boston Marathon, even though I crossed the finish line with a broken ankle. That injury steepened the slide. I Googled ways to keep from gaining weight while injured and spent eight weeks riding a stationary bike in the gym and swimming — two activities that my ortho had given me the approval to do. I cut calories from my diet to compensate for the calories I thought I wasn’t burning by not running. When I was healed and running again, I was even faster. I was setting new personal records at almost every race I ran. And the weight kept coming off. People noticed both the stepped-up speed as well as the drastic weight loss. My clothes began to fit differently, sliding off my hips and hanging from my frame. One day, I received a call from a close

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

Liesel Schmidt readies for a run on the beach at Fort Walton. She was among the top female runners in the region before she was slowed by the ravages of anorexia. Eating disorders are not uncommon among runners who convince themselves that the lighter they are, the faster they will go.

friend and training partner telling me that I’d been banned from racing because the local racing committee was concerned about my very marked weight loss. The next week, my mother got a call from the president of a local running association that I belonged to, a two-hour long call in which he berated her for not doing something to help me. But there was nothing she could do. I was 26 and the master of my own destiny. For better or worse. I saw a slew of doctors and nutritionists, psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors, but I did so only to suspend my parents’ lectures about what I was doing to my body and to our family. I didn’t want help. I didn’t think I needed help. By the time I turned 28, I’d lost my social network, as it was tightly connected to my running community. I’d disappeared after being banned from racing, and no one reached out. They didn’t understand eating

disorders or how to help, and they stayed silent. Consequently, I felt incredibly alone and abandoned by the people I loved. It seemed like an answer to a prayer when the man I’d been dating for a month proposed. We were married for eight months but dominated by verbal abuse and manipulation about my weight. While we’d been dating, he humiliated me by weighing me every time I saw him. I remember once standing on the scale in the dark at a restaurant in Pensacola while people walked by. He’d even staged an intervention with my family, promising them that he would “fix” me. And still, I married him. I’d found myself on a runaway train, and walking down the aisle seemed my only failsafe when I felt the world once again falling apart. When my husband committed suicide, I felt no grief. How could I? My marriage had been a horrible mistake, and I was finally freed of its dangers.

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But I was still in danger of my own making. Over the next eight years, I lived on my own, getting deeper and deeper into the eating disorder that still felt like the only way for me to have a measure of control. Even though my logical brain knew I needed to eat far more than I was, I couldn’t. I was terrified of it to the point of literal nightmares. Even a broken hip that required emergency surgery and two months of recovery time in 2017 didn’t derail me. Nor did the fact that my orthopedic surgeon had very little confidence that I would live through surgery because of my extremely low weight and how much it would tax my compromised heart. Despite that assessment, which the doctor shared with my parents, my surgery went well. I was sent home with a repaired hip and little more than directions for how to navigate the coming weeks of healing.

Over those eight weeks, I was stripped of control. I couldn’t come or go as I wanted, couldn’t drive, couldn’t exercise, couldn’t prepare my own meals. That task was left to my mother, who carefully studied how to get me the calories I needed without running the risk of refeeding syndrome, which can be deadly to someone as undernourished as I was. And yet, I still lost weight. By the end of 2019, there was nothing left of me to lose. At 36 years old, I weighed as little as a kindergartener and was osteoporotic, with a body that was almost constantly in pain. I could count every rib, even run my fingers over my right hip and feel the heads of the screws and the plate where they’d put me back together. I had become a creature that people would whisper about, point to and laugh at. But no one seemed to understand the hell and the prison I was living in. And then, God set me free. Not that I didn’t go kicking and screaming. What terrified me was that all of it seemed to be happening without my consent. Suddenly, it was as though my survival instincts took over and wrestled

I remember onc standing on thee

scale in the d a r k at a

restaurant in Pensacola wh people walked ile by . TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

e m o c e v a h But I m o r f e f i l o t k bac f o e c a l p t tha the noise in my brain to the ground. I began eating — a lot. Entire boxes of Pop-Tarts, whole bags of chips, massive containers of cashews — anything that looked good was fair game. All the things that had once been so “unsafe” became my way back to health — and my way back to living. But because I felt out of control, I also felt ashamed. The changes I saw in the mirror were not ones I felt I could live with. It was everything I had been so afraid of, come to life in my reflection. And though the wraith was slowly being replaced by a fuller me, I couldn’t deal with the woman in the mirror. As a result, I spent the entire year of 2020 hiding from my family as well as the rest of the world. Even before anyone had even heard whispers of COVID, I had begun my own self-quarantine, staying sheltered in a place where I felt safe, away from anyone’s eyes or judgment. I gave no explanations for my sudden disappearance from life. No one knew what I’d been going through, and no matter how many times my mother asked me what was going on, I couldn’t bring myself to say the words, “I’m gaining weight.” By the time Christmas was in view, it had been almost a year since I’d last seen my family, and I knew I couldn’t stay away any longer, even though I was still struggling with self-acceptance. I knocked on my parents’ door on Dec. 23, terrified. After all, if I couldn’t

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accept this new version of myself, how would they? I was crying hysterically when my mom opened the door. I was ashamed of how I looked and fearful about how she would react to the changes in me. But what I saw in her tear-filled eyes was relief, disbelief and absolute joy. Standing there was a person who had been dead for so long, now alive and vibrant again. The love I felt from her and the rest of my family enabled me to begin to accept the change. I felt like I had been set free and given the world. Not that it’s been easy. I have worked hard on how I perceive myself, and I have dealt with the realization that I lived a lie for too many years. Still, I struggle to accept aspects of myself that I’m not completely satisfied with. But I am truly fully alive and healthy. And strong. And independent. And so many other things that I had once been robbed of. I laugh easily and often. I eat with enjoyment and free of worry. I embrace challenges and change. And I love. I feel sometimes as though I was missing for years, that the world moved on without me while I stayed stuck behind the bars of my eating disorder and all the psychological and physical damage it inflicted. But I have come back to life from that place of nothingness. And if you look for them, you can find photos of me, living free. TM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LIESEL SCHMIDT

. s s e n g n i noth

And if you look for them , you can find

photos

of me , living

free . Since escaping the clutches of anorexia, Liesel Schmidt has grown in confidence and has become willing to share photos of herself on social media. She has discovered, too, an appetite for travel and has made multiple trips to the small town in Germany where she lived as a small child.

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January-February 2024

CONTINUUM OF CARE 94 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

Leaders seek seamless approach to services by STEVE BORNHOFT

From Womb to Tomb: U.S. health care spending grew 2.7% in 2021, reaching $4.3 trillion or $12,914 per person. As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product, health spending accounted for 18.3%, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). As recently as 1980, that figure stood at 8.9%.

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n the United States, health services are delivered based on what Mark O’Bryant sees as a “reverse model.” Some might even call it a perverse model. “You get paid for treating people when they are sick,” said O’Bryant, the president and CEO at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Inc., the parent corporation of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. “And, you get paid more when they’re sicker. You make your biggest dollars when you have your sickest patients. There is very little incentive to keep people well because you don’t get paid for it.” That is to say, too, O’Bryant stressed, that the model is episodic in nature. A person develops a health issue and engages a health care provider who treats the patient and charges fees for services. All of that is changing, according to O’Bryant, due to forces impinging upon health care systems including population dynamics. U.S. health care spending grew 2.7% in 2021, reaching $4.3 trillion or $12,914 per person. As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product, health spending accounted for 18.3%, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). As recently as 1980, that percentage stood at 8.9%. “Unfortunately, that number is growing because we have an aging population, and the demand curve certainly follows the age continuum,” O’Bryant said. “If we don’t watch it, that percentage is going to get to the point where it creates real problems for our economy. You can’t compete economically if one of every four dollars is going to health care. We have got to create different dynamics. “If we are going to live longer, we need to be able to afford to do so. And not just live longer, but live well longer.” The perverse system will have to be reformed. O’Bryant firmly believes that in the near future, the fee-based model of reimbursement will evolve to become a value-based system. “At the end of the day, we’re going to be measured and paid on how we manage a continuum of care,” he said. Already, he is making plans and trying to get ahead of the curve, working in concert with

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“As we grow as an organization … we will have to find a more sustainable approach to health care.” — Bill Wertman, the CEO at Big Bend Hospice

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES PLUS: SEZER66 (PAGES 94–95) AND COURTESY OF BIG BEND HOSPICE

CEOs Bill Wertman of Big Bend Hospice and Mark O’Bryant of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare were photographed at the First Commerce Center for Compassionate Care, a hospice unit operated by Big Bend Hospice and located at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The project, they say, exemplified what cooperating nonprofits can do to deliver affordable, accessible health care to patients of all ages.

Bill Wertman, the CEO at Big Bend Hospice (BBH). “As we grow as an organization, understanding the changes that are coming down from CMS, we will have to find a more sustainable approach to health care,” Wertman said. “It is not going to be enough to simply be a hospice in the future. We will have to become a hospice that provides a number of other services in order to build scale. In the value-based world, as

opposed to the fee-for-services world that we currently inhabit, payers are going to align themselves with organizations that are capable of achieving cost savings or sharing costs.” For Wertman, payers equate almost exclusively to Medicare and Medicaid. The two entitlement programs supply BBH with 97% of its revenue. Increasingly, he said, they will be looking for health care service providers that “have scale, cover a lot of territory, and

are partnered with other nonprofits in relationships adding up to a continuum of care.” That concept is illustrated, at least in microcosm, by the newly opened First Commerce Center for Compassionate Care, a hospice unit operated by BBH and located at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Its development was preceded by years of discussion among O’Bryant, Wertman and their respective board chairs, a dialogue that has now expanded in scope to include other possible relationships. “Talking about hospice services opened the door to other conversations about what we can do in our community to improve care,” O’Bryant said. “All of us on the TMH and BBH teams are willing to look at what that might mean. We went from the inpatient hospice unit consideration to looking at the bigger picture. “Bill brought some great strategists into his organization, and long story short, we found that there are synergies that we have the potential to capitalize on. But we might never have landed on them, had we not had an established relationship.” Such interconnectedness characterizes Tallahassee, a community that O’Bryant thinks of as a “cosmopolitan Mayberry.” The city, he said, provides a great laboratory for developing, testing and refining new approaches to delivering health care. COVID-19, too, advanced the dialogue in its way. A pandemic can serve as a mother of invention. “We looked at emerging technologies and our experience during COVID, when we learned to do a lot more with remote monitoring and more telemedicine services,” O’Bryant said. “We in health care are not taking full advantage of that. So, the question comes to be how we could better use technology to enable people to receive certain levels of service at lower costs and at home, a place that they are comfortable and familiar with.” Wertman and O’Bryant recognized that BBH and TMH have differing core competencies, and that there are health care services (continued on page 126)

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January-February 2024

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TRENDS FROM FLOOR TO CEILING, FRONT TO BACK

→

Every corner of the living room in the home of Ann and Jeff VenderMeer presents bold colors and lots to look at. On the wall at right is a painting, Tower of Babel, by Tallahassee artist Carrie Ann Baade.

INTERIORS

To the Max Down with minimalism. Fill your home with everything! by MARINA BROWN

→ EXTERIORS Apartment Balconies || GARDENING Green Scene photography by GABRIEL HANWAY

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January-February 2024

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Clockwise from upper left: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer stand beside bookcases in their bedroom; a wall-sized photo of PIney Z Lake by Riko Carrion; unconventionally shaped bookcases in Jeff’s office hold a surprising number of books, Ann says; artwork on wall at left, titled Dual Citizen, is by Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay.

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n these times, we live, if we’re on trend, in streamlined houses with low-to-the-ground furniture, all wrapped in glass and acres of off-white walls. We’ve been told that wallpaper is tacky, that figurines are clutter and that color is a dangerous invitee. “Stark and spare” is the mantra with which the 21st century has defined our homes and maybe to an extent, our lives.

But something seems to be happening in the world of interior design, a kind of restless upheaval of the mass aesthetic. It may not be a craze for chintz or a Barbie house in pink, but today’s designers suddenly are dealing with clients who ask for maroon velvet chairs, a place in the study for the stuffed giraffe, a lime green wall on which to hang a collection of brass instruments or

↑ The sitting area in the guest suite at the home of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer; large painting over the sofa is by local artist Paul Tamanian. → View encountered by visitors when they enter the VanderMeer home. Sculpture seen in the opening to the left is by artist William Kidd and was a find made at Tallahassee’s Arts in the Park Festival. photography by GABRIEL HANWAY

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A view of the guest suite. Unsurprisingly, it contains more bookcases. Ann VenderMeer said she seeks to provide visitors with an inviting space in which to rest and, if necessary, to work.

↑ “A duck lamp in our bedroom. Jeff found the most amazing lamps and lighting fixtures for this house!” said Ann VanderMeer.

the best of each element — the color, the wallpaper with birds against which will go patterns — to create your own masterpiece.” grandma’s flowered 18th-century settee. She said that using quality vintage items, a “Less is more,” was the mantra of the last highly colored kilim rug for instance, com100 or so years. But it seems that with a bined with a posh 1950s velvet sofa, can new interest in elements of warmth, playevoke a special kind of harmony. fulness, surprise and feeling, Americans are “Your home should be your palace,” she said. letting go of the often-emotionless rooms Surrounding yourself with collections, offered up by the Bauhaus, Mid-Century family treasures and memories of travels can Modern, Scandinavian Modern and Postbe successfully united with both color and its Modern schools. echoes throughout a room — without becom“Take us back to pre-World War I,” they ing overwhelming. seem to be saying. “Let us be surrounded by Author Jeff VanderMeer and objects we love — all of them — his wife Ann live in Tallahassee and drench us in color, in pattern “Yes, there can be in a house he describes as “of and in texture until we feel safe.” a fine line between imaginative vertical build.” Thus, the newest design good design and Maximalism and practicality swerve: maximalism. live there side by side. Utilizing Jackie Skelding, who chaos. One must unconventional spaces creativeowns Rare Bird Interiors in curate the best of ly, Jeff and Ann have anchored the RailRoad Square Arts each element — the rooms one or two large furDistrict, is a practiced propocolor, the patterns niture with pieces and a wall/ceiling nent of Maximalism. — to create your mural that “expands the space.” “Yes, there can be a fine line own masterpiece.” “Our guiding aesthetic is biobetween good design and chamorphism,” VanderMeer os,” she said. “One must curate — Jackie Skelding

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photography by GABRIEL HANWAY

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104 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

explained. “Furniture and other elements are inspired by nature, while not directly representing it. We have chairs that suggest open flowers, lamps that seem to be living creatures. I grew up in Fiji and the suggestion of the sea and its colors, the sand and its textures all flow into the reds and corals found here in sofas and benches.” VanderMeer said that all of the playfulness and boldness, for him, brings a sense of relaxation and peace — not to mention beautiful memories. Two local interior designers approach maximalism with the same sense of “adventurousness.” Ashley Cortese of Ashley Cortese Design said she is currently adding a large blue velvet sofa to a client’s room. “People are more daring now than earlier — pushing for the unexpected,” she said. “Color saturation feels good and glamorous. And nobody wants an all-white kitchen anymore!” Laura Bryant of Laura Bryant Design agrees. “A client with a newly blended family is integrating two styles of furniture and a large glass and art collection,” she said. “Still, using layered patterning and textures, and an organizing color thread, it is possible for Chinoiserie and Murano glass to live together in harmony.” She said that using depth — foreground, middle ground and background — keeps the eye moving and delights the gaze. In this kind of environment, even a leopard skin rug can feel neutral. And though Americans may not always buy into the “maximally” overstuffed homes and palaces of pre-war Europe, they now seem eager to allow their rooms to tell a story. Now every surface calls out to be touched and reflected upon. The home becomes a brilliant and personal cocoon that one can call his own. TM

PHOTO BY ALICIA OSBORNE / RPI FILE PHOTO

↑ The notion of maximalism can apply to clothing as well as home furnishings and décor. Jackie Skelding, owner of Rare Bird Interiors, wears an Art Deco-style maxi dress designed by Gene Berk for Paganne. Vintage “La Chaise” was designed by Charles and Ray Eames. The hanging saucers were created by George Nelson for Herman Miller.

COOL SEASON

Color

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EXTERIORS

BLOOMING BALCONIES

Get savvy with space and maximize your outdoor living by PAIGE AIGRET

106 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

or apartment dwellers, outdoor living may feel out of reach — backyards don’t exist, and patio spaces are swapped for cramped balconies. That concrete sliver of space can sometimes be ignored, save for a set of mix-match camping chairs and the old pair of sneakers you’ve been meaning to scrub. But there are simple ways that you can make more of that space. “We’ve seen people using decor with tables, chairs and settees out there and a lot of plants,” said Shannon Burke Johnson, a manager at

the Evergreens at Mahan apartment complex. “One resident had a really pretty cabinet filled with flowers.” Apartment rules aren’t typically as strict as you’d think, Johnson explained. For Evergreens at Mahan, a clean, tastefully decorated balcony will pass the test. Cleaning supplies, coolers and bicycles must be stored inside or in storage and garage spaces. Flags are not permitted, and year-round lighting must be a neutral white or yellow. Fireplaces and charcoal and gas grills are a nogo for safety reasons, but electric grills are OK.

PHOTO BY KATARZYNA BIALASIEWICZ / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS

For homeowners, condo owners and visitors and apartment dwellers, balconies provide scenic overlooks on the Gulf of Mexico, forest canopies and fields of play. Folks who are skilled at making an efficient use of space additionally make them fit for gardening and entertaining.

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←↑ Bistro sets work well on balconies, offering seating for

“You’ve got room still for a small bistro table and chairs with your electric grill and then maybe another area with a little hutch or some storage,” Johnson said. When choosing seating, be mindful of your patio plans — will you need to leave room for a garden or grill? A bistro set will be ideal for most balcony situations, offering seating for two and a small table for coffee or lunch. Opt for a set with folding chairs for versatility.

Similarly, you can optimize the space with stackable stools paired with a bistro table or a short, round coffee table paired with floor cushions for a modern boho look. A settee or bench with an end table creates a cozy setting, too. Pull it all together in style with an outdoor rug. Sizes from 3-by-5-foot to 5-by-7-foot will work for most balconies. Adding the right lighting will enhance the setting, creating a comfortable glow for an evening of

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reading or a glass of wine with a friend. Bistro lights can be strung from hooks on the ceiling or along the railing. Solar and battery-powered sconces can easily be hung with Command Strips for a classy look with minimal effort. Tableside and floor lamps allow for creativity in design choice. Opt for a rattan look to match boho vibes or metal or glass for a more sleek look. Incorporating plants and greenery can liven up the space with color and create a natural, inviting environment. You can add a few low-maintenance plants for looks, or craft a full garden. Keep it simple and regional with a few palms, crotons or vibrant cordylines, which all do well in North Florida. These bold, leafy plants will add depth and color to your green scene. Before choosing your porch plants, take note of how the sun hits your balcony. If shade is an issue, try partial sun-loving plants. Creeping jenny will do well and look whimsical when draped over railing planters or billowing from macrame hangers. If floral is your style, marigolds are a trusty annual, and petunias, chrysanthemums and geraniums will do well in sunny planters. For herb and vegetable gardening, get savvy with your space and opt for stackable or tiered planters. Not all vegetables do well in pots; start with tomatoes and herbs before filling in every planter tier. Several varieties of lavender do well in pots and will add a pop of color as well as a fresh and calming scent.

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS: KRISTIN MITCHELL (LEFT), VAIVIRGA (RIGHT)

two and a small table for coffee or lunch, crab claws or tuna dip. Easily stowed folding chairs make for versatility. Green thumbs who are tired of anemic looking, flavorless tomatoes offered by grocery stores may opt to devote vertical space on a balcony to growing their own.

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Johnson said balcony gardens are not only achievable but can be impressive. “There’s one particular apartment balcony — she has herbs and beautiful roses. She’s really got a green thumb,” she said. “Every time I go by that particular building, I think, ‘Wow!’” At the holidays, Johnson said, lighting rules are relaxed. Vibrant colored string lights are temporarily permitted, and decorating is very much encouraged. Residents participate in the apartment complex’s annual holiday decorating contest. Many go all out for the occasion with Santas, candy canes, colorful lights and fully decked-out trees. Don’t let that balcony space go to waste — get to decorating! An added perk? No lawn mowing. TM

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS: PUNDAPANDA (TOP), INATS (BOTTOM)

Audio Video Connections

of tiny blooms and greenery enlivens any space, and plants that enjoy full sun may thrive on balconies. In photo at top, a woman installs heather in a planter. Lower photo is of aromatic Italian herbs.

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GREEN SCENE

Resurrection fern outlasts droughts by LES HARRISON, UF/IFAS EXTENSION AGENT EMERITUS

here is green on the branches of some live oaks and other hardwoods as the new year starts. That is, resurrection ferns have stayed green in their sheltered perches. Pleopeltis polypodioides is the scientific name for this native fern, and it easily flourishes with a minimum of moisture. This creeping, coarse-textured plant is commonly found in the Southeastern United States. It is referred to as a resurrection fern because it can survive long periods of drought. During dry times, the leaves brown and wither, but the roots and leaves survive by stingily conserving water. When the rains return, this fern quickly regenerates by promptly circulating water to the leaves through the plant’s highly efficient vascular system. To the casual observer, it appears to return from the dead in about a day. The resurrection fern is an air plant, or epiphyte, which attaches itself to other plants. It

receives the necessary plant nutrients for growth from several sources but does not damage its host. Bacterial activity on the outer surface of its host plant’s bark makes it well-suited as a home for ferns. The outer bark layer of many plants and trees is always in the process of being shed and is an ideal location for this fern to grow. Tiny particles of nutrients are delivered through rainwater and by the wind. Despite meager life-sustaining essentials, the resurrection fern flourishes in this harsh environment where most plants would quickly die. This plant’s root system is tiny and shallow, as could be expected of a fern that grows on the outer layer of its host’s bark. It relies on an intricate mesh of rhizomes, which meander just beneath the bark’s surface. The other method of propagation and species preservation is through spores, which are produced on the underside of the leaves.

The Evergreen Bagworm, Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis, is an occasional but rarely noticed larval stage of an insect pest. Native bagworms feed on more than 50 local deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. Severe infestations can damage the appearance and health of host plants, especially juniper and arborvitae types, which thrive in the temperate climate of North Florida. Adult bagworms are masters at blending into the background by using earth tones to camouflage their positions. The females, which remain enclosed in a pupal casing inside their bags throughout their life cycle, mate and then become essentially an egg-filled sac. The male bagworm emerges as a freely flying moth, appearing hairy and charcoal black. His diminutive wingspan measures less than an inch in length. Neither the male nor the female adults feed. As adults, the female will live a week or two, while the male lives only one to two days. Shortly after mating, the female lays a clutch of 500 to 1,000 eggs inside her pupal case enclosed within her bag. The eggs will remain viable through the winter and hatch when the weather warms.

A frostproof legume Vetch is the most common, naturally occurring winter annual legume found in the region. The low-growing plant is easily identified by its elongated dagger-shaped leaves measuring half an inch in length. It is currently emerging in local turfgrass and other locations, both in full sun or partially shaded areas. The plant at this stage is a few inches in height but with no bloom or seed pods. After a frost, vetch is left unaffected. The colder temperatures work to vetch’s advantage in that many competing plants are killed or stunted. This plant produces diminutive purple flowers in spring, which quickly become inch-long seed pods. Honeybees and native pollinators can be seen visiting the blooms. A secondary benefit of vetch is its root system. The roots penetrate deeply into the soil and are a natural form of erosion control.

Les Harrison is a retired University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Wakulla County extension director.

BAGWORMS MUNCH ON EVERGREENS

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Adult bagworms are masters of camouflage.

PHOTOS BY ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS: KATHYCLARK777 (RESURRECTION FERN), ANNA KONCHITS (VETCH), ANDY REAGO AND CHRISSY MCCLARREN / CREATIVE COMMONS (MOTH) AND JASON ONDREICKA (BAGWORMS)

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PROMOTION

DEAL ESTATE

UNDER CONTRACT

Lake View with a Pool!

This unique property has all the best features you could ask for and is in top condition with a full list of upgrades. In addition to more than 100 feet of lakefront with a dock, this home also has an inviting in-ground saltwater pool. It has lots of room for entertaining and an updated kitchen and separate bar area. Space is no issue with this home; it has three different living areas, five bedrooms, and 3 1/2 bathrooms. This home is one of a kind!

LISTED PRICE: $750,000 ADDRESS: 2405 Bass Bay Drive SQUARE FOOTAGE: 3,319 BEDROOMS: 5 BATHROOMS: 3.5 YEAR BUILT: 1979

APPEAL: Loads of room to spread out with separate family, dining and living spaces. In the living room, there is a large wood-burning fireplace perfect for curling up on a cool evening and watching your favorite movies. Spend all your summers by the pool or mosey over to the lake and watch the beautiful sunsets from the dock. CONTACT INFORMATION: Casie Moran, (850) 445-4739 Coldwell Banker Hartung

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PHOTOS BY 360 BLUE

FEATURES: This unique property has outstanding features and is in top condition with a list full of upgrades including a new roof, new skylights, new pool pump and liner, two new HVACs and much more.

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PROMOTION

DEAL ESTATE JUST LISTED

Luxurious Seagrove Chic Estate

This luxurious coastal chic estate home located on Scenic Highway 30A in charming Seagrove and is a short walk, bicycle ride or even a golf cart trip to Seaside shops, restaurants, farmers markets and live entertainment at the Seaside amphitheater. It is convenient to the private gated beach access for Gulf Shore Manor residents and guests, or enjoy two nearby public beach accesses. Perfect layout for entertaining.

LISTED PRICE: $5,549,000 ADDRESS: 3537 E. County Hwy. 30A, Santa Rosa Beach SQUARE FOOTAGE: 5,295 BEDROOMS: 8 BATHROOMS: 7 full, 2 half YEAR BUILT: 2019

APPEAL: Plenty of space to comfortably sleep up to 30 guests, this thoughtfully designed floor plan accommodates large families or a group of friends. A few special features include a comfortable one-bedroom carriage house and private elevator. Enjoy outdoor living at its finest with two large balconies and a porch; one includes a private heated pool and lots of space to enjoy a refreshing day in the sun and beautiful sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. This immaculate and tastefully decorated home, built in 2019, has ample indoor and outdoor living spaces, eight bedrooms, seven full and two half bathrooms. The fresh modern coastal furnishings make this a true turnkey property. A few special features include a gourmet kitchen, two-car garage plus ample parking. CONTACT INFORMATION: Jamie Yarbrough, Broker Associate The Naumann Group Real Estate (850) 591-8860

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PHOTOS BY HOMESHOT MEDIA / HAYLEY JACOBS

FEATURES: Professional chef’s kitchen, custom cabinetry and premium stainlesssteel appliances, 48-inch gas Wolf range, 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, two dishwashers, a large marble island with waterfall sides, a wet bar, wine cooler and ice machine. Large living and dining space, seating at two dining tables for 16-plus bar seating, hardwood floors and pecky cypress accents on the ceiling. Third master suite features a luxurious king bed and a private en suite bathroom with shower. The main master bedroom offers exceptional luxury, a spacious en suite bathroom and expansive walk-in closet! Just off the master, you will find an additional living space featuring a wet bar, ice maker and porch access. An additional king bedroom and bunk room with two built-in, twin-over-twin bunk beds are located on the third floor along with an additional washer/ dryer. A private carriage house features a kitchenette, king bed guestroom and a private bathroom with a shower/tub combo.

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calendar PROMOTION

JAN/FEB 2024 For more events in Tallahassee, visit TallahasseeMagazine.com. compiled by ALIX BLACK,

SARAH COVEN, JAVIS OGDEN

and REBECCA PADGETT FRETT

FEB. 14

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

↓

Spend this Valentine’s Day evening with Opening Nights as the Complexions Contemporary Ballet takes the stage, fusing passionate and emotive dance and creating an unforgettable experience for you and your loved one.

FEB. 17

Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra presents

CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR:

A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES → Relive the magic of The Beatles! This concert includes renditions of the fab four’s greatest hits, and outfits, from Please Please Me to Sgt. Pepper, all backed by a full symphony orchestra. Purchase tickets at TallahasseeSymphony.org.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Check websites to see if the listed events will occur as scheduled. Times and dates for events are subject to change.

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HAVE AN EVENT YOU’D LIKE US TO CONSIDER? Send an email to sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com or promote an event at TallahasseeMagazine.com/local-events at no cost.

Get your tickets by going to OpeningNights.fsu.edu or calling (850) 644-7670.

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JAN/FEB 2024

PROMOTION

REGIONAL: SAVE THE DATE

MAR. 4

PINNACLE AWARDS

Keynote Speaker Virginia Glass, Realtor

Visit 850BusinessMagazine.com/ pinnacle-awards to learn more and purchase tickets.

SAVE THE DATE

MAR. 2024

Power of the Purse

→ Women United, an affinity group of United Way of the Big Bend, will host its signature event, Power of the Purse, in March. The event raises funds that are used to benefit children and families in need. Founded in 2005, Women United is dedicated to involving women of all ages and backgrounds in public-service projects and philanthropy. Visit UWBB.org for ticket information.

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PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON / RPI FILE PHOTO (GLASS) AND CHARLENE TRICKEY, TRICKEY-DURHAM PHOTOGRAPHY (POWER OF THE PURSE)

→ For the 10th year, 13 honorees will receive a Pinnacle Award, which recognizes women who have distinguished themselves professionally and as community servants. The awards will be presented to these outstanding leaders during a luncheon at The LakeHouse at Watercolor in Santa Rosa Beach. Virginia Glass, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc., will serve as keynote speaker.

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LIVE! IN TALLAHASSEE Are you ready for 2024? I am excited about starting the new year! While we have been on the air for over 10 years, it is my little girl that now inspires me to do even more to highlight our great city. I thought I knew about everything happening in Tallahassee, but having a toddler has shown me so much more. Watch online or on TV as we cover all of the fun things happening in the region and get ready for new things this year as well.

calendar

JAN/FEB 2024

WINTERFEST

JESSE COOK

DEC. 1–FEB. 13

JAN. 11

The Council on Culture & Arts presents Winterfest, an annual youth art exhibition featuring K-12 student artwork in conjunction with the City of Tallahassee’s Winter Festival celebration.

An accomplished guitarist and equally prolific director and filmmaker, Jesse Cook has evolved his talents to create experiences that delight audiences both in concert and online. From composing his first instrumental album, Tempest, over 25 years ago, Cook could not imagine that such a humble recording, in which he played all the instruments, would spark into a musical legacy with thousands of concerts performed around the world.

To learn more about the exhibition, contact Sahara Lyon, COCA’s arts education manager, at sahara@ tallahasseearts.org.

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS JAN. 10 Joel Silver Host, Producer and his daughter

WATCH ON TV THURSDAY NIGHTS - 7PM

WATCH ONLINE Follow us on Facebook

Subscribe to our YouTube

openingnights.fsu.edu/events/jesse-cook

From punk rock to symphonic pop, Elvis Costello has explored seemingly endless subgenres of modern music with his signature flare over the past 40 years. With his exhaustive vocabulary and cheeky wordplay, Costello’s rocking wordsmith style will delight fans at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/elviscostello-the-imposters

DELIRIUM MUSICUM JAN. 18 Delirium Musicum is an emerging, self-conducted chamber orchestra that brings together some of the most creative and refined musicians in Los Angeles. Created with a distinctive voice, the ensemble of musicians showcases its signature style,

DANCE LESSONS

BALLET • TAP • JAZZ LYRICAL • IRISH STEP DANCING

MUSIC LESSONS

PIANO • GUITAR • VIOLIN • UKULELE CLARINET • FLUTE • VOICE

PERFORMING ARTS PRESCHOOL 1260 Timberlane Road • (850) 893-8754 • tada.llc.com 122 January-February 2024 TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

REGIONAL

JAN. 26–FEB. 4

EMERALD COAST THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

The Play That Goes Wrong → Called “the funniest play Broadway has ever seen,” this classic murder mystery is full of mishaps and madcap mania! Welcome to the opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things quickly go from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything, including their lines, this hilarious and unique show will have you in stitches. Performances are slated for Friday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 4. Consult EmeraldCoastTheatre.org/on-stage for showtimes and tickets.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMERALD COAST THEATRE COMPANY

PROMOTION

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JAN/FEB 2024

creativity and the gift the musicians have for communing deeply with the audience.

THE SIMON & GARFUNKEL STORY

openingnights.fsu.edu/events/ delirium-musicum

FEB. 7

THE MOUSETRAP JAN. 18–FEB. 4 This record-breaking murder mystery features a brilliant surprise finish from Dame Agatha Christie, the foremost mystery writer of her time. theatretallahassee.org/2023-2024season/the-mousetrap

2023

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A TALLAHASSEE BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: PORTRAITS OF AMERICA JAN. 20–21 To celebrate Tallahassee’s Bicentennial, the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra is creating a stunning visual concerto titled 200 Years of Tallahassee—A Symphonic Celebration of our City. The performances will kick off the city’s bicentennial in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. The show will feature photographs that citizens submitted on a giant 440-square-foot screen above the orchestra. The music you’ll hear to accompany this extraordinary new work is from Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige. tallahasseesymphony.org/bicentennial

DR. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE JAN. 24

We are

Target Print & Mail.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson — the recipient of 21 honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to a non-government citizen — will give a talk on the wonders of the cosmos and the aerospace industry. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/dr-neildegrasse-tyson

SONS OF SERENDIP Target Print & Mail has been a part of the Tallahassee community since 1982. Our family is diverse, talented and growing, just like the community we call home. We are honored to call most of you our customers and most importantly, our friends. Thank you for being a part of our story for the past 40 years.

Celebrating 40 Years in Tallahassee targetprintmail.com

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FEB. 1 Sons of Serendip is a musical group of four friends who, through a series of serendipitous events, came together in graduate school at Boston University. Since being finalists of America’s Got Talent, Season 9, they have toured the world, bringing their musical talents to engaged audiences. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/sonsof-serendip

The Simon & Garfunkel Story chronicles the incredible journey shared by the folkrock duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. It tells the story from their humble beginnings as Tom & Jerry to their success as one of the best-selling music groups of the ’60s to their dramatic split in 1970. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/thesimon-garfunkel-story

TALLAHASSEE MARATHON FEB. 11 The Tallahassee Marathon has grown to a first-class event, showcasing Florida’s capital city like no other race. The Tallahassee Marathon is an all-volunteer event organized by the Gulf Winds Track Club, a local nonprofit dedicated to advancing the sport of running, whether for competition, physical fitness or pleasure. tallahasseemarathon.com

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR FEB. 12 The Vienna Boys Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world and one of its oldest. Composed of over 300 boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 19, the chorus will wow with classical music. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/viennaboys-choir

SILENT SKY FEB. 23–MARCH 10 The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. theatretallahassee.org/2023-2024season/silent-sky

RUTHIE FOSTER FEB. 29 Ruthie Foster will present her ninth studio album on the Opperman Music Hall stage. This veteran blues artist’s music merges equal parts compassion and resolve, creating music that soothes and heals. openingnights.fsu.edu/events/ ruthie-foster

SEASON 11

ECTC would like to thank all of our donors, sponsors, patrons, and volunteers for their continued support. . . . Purchase your VIP membership and get first pick of reserved seating and other wonderful benefits! Tickets or info, call 850.684.0323 or visit EmeraldCoastTheatre.org 560 Grand Boulevard, Suite 200 | Miramar Beach, FL 32550 TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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January-February 2024

and activities that neither is engaged in. That realization led to their focus on a continuum whereby health care, from womb to tomb, might be made seamless, accessible, affordable and community-based. “At the hospital, we take care of very sick, highly acute patients, everything from trauma to strokes to heart attacks,” O’Bryant said. “Those are always, to a degree, going to take precedence over other areas. But I can see 20–30% of the cases we have in the hospital today being treated at home, if we can monitor patients properly. If you can use technology to create an observation platform in the home and give people access to resources on a timely basis, then you could see a big chunk of what we do here move to a different, lower-cost environment.” In the future, O’Bryant envisions, TMH will function as a big intensive and intermediate care unit by providing high levels of care while relying on a partner to address transitional and rehabilitative care. Supplying those less acute types — Mark O’Bryant, the of care should not be a secondary project for TMH, O’Bryant said. president and CEO at Instead, it needs the primary role of Tallahassee Memorial an entity committed to making it its HealthCare Inc. top priority. Accordingly, Wertman has created a new nonprofit, Seven Oaks, which is focused as O’Bryant suggests. It is governed by a board made up of the same people that comprise the BBH board. In addition, a TMH board member will sit on the BBH and Seven Oaks boards and vice versa. “Seven Oaks is going to take this new transitional care model, and they are going to be the drivers of the transitional care strategy,” O’Bryant said. Wertman and O’Bryant are confident that a reliable continuum of care delivered by community-based nonprofits will make for a healthier Tallahassee and Northwest Florida. TMH and BBH have a shared vision and cultures that align, Wertman said.

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“If you can use technology to create an observation platform in the home and give people access to resources on a timely basis, then you could see a big chunk of what we do here move to a different, lower-cost environment.”

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↑ Parents, above, participate in an online medical consultation from the comforts of their home. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare president and CEO Mark O’Bryant envisions that 20–30% of today’s in-hospital cases will one day be treated at home, given the ability to properly monitor patients remotely.

“TMH has a number of organizations that they work with, and so do we,” he added. “By coming together, we can coalesce in an even stronger network that will reach people in outlying communities and in rural areas. We will be working on a more robust model for health care delivery that will include home-health and palliative care in addition to creating more opportunities for 24/7 health care.” TMH has involved Dr. Jing Wang, dean of the FSU College of Nursing, in its research into extending care to populations including underserved groups. In 2023, she and two other researchers combined to write an article about how artificial intelligence can be incorporated in homes and hospitals through various digital health platforms, embedded with sensors, wearables and remote monitoring devices. Technology is sure to play an expanding role in efforts to take health care to the house. Notions of house and home are central to O’Bryant’s outlook. “Tallahassee is my home, and if I’m going to be a patient in Tallahassee, I don’t want to have someone a thousand miles away making decisions about the kind of health care we are going to have in our community,” he said. “We have board members from our community, we have doctors who live here and aren’t just rotating in and out. Health care is better when driven locally. Our accounts aren’t stripped nightly. We are able to retain and reinvest our resources locally.” O’Bryant often thinks about a comment made by John Hogan, who retired last year after more than four decades as the chief executive at Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee. Paraphrasing Hogan, O’Bryant said, “You better make community-based health care good because you’re gonna see everyone in town at the Walmart, at Publix, at church or somewhere. And you have to answer to them. You can’t hide from them in cosmopolitan Mayberry. We live here. And that’s a good thing.” TM

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Business owners get down at Best of Tallahassee 2023

epresentatives of Tallahassee’s finest businesses gathered at The Moon on Nov. 16 to dance, boogie and “celebrate good times, come on!” at the 2023 Best of Tallahassee event — a soirée honoring winners in Tallahassee Magazine’s annual readers poll. Guests donned sequined pants, headscarves and go-go boots in recognition of this year’s theme, ’70s disco, which was reflected by a giant disco ball hanging over the dance floor. Ology Brewing Company served fruity gin cocktails in disco ball cups, and VIPs lit up the night with the LED glasses they received in their swag bags. Anna Wescoat, this year’s Best of Tallahassee winner in the band category, got the party started. A one-woman show, she sang and played keyboard, guitar and harmonica while covering classic and contemporary hits ranging from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” to Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey.” “(‘Rhiannon’) was a song my fans insisted on,” Wescoat told me. “I do that

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one a lot at my shows, and everybody loves my version, so all my fans were like, ‘You have to play that one to close out.’” Wescoat, who gigs throughout Tallahassee, the Panhandle and even in Nashville, said her “jaw went to the floor” when she received the call that she’d won this year’s band category. “I consider myself a one-woman band, but I posted about (the poll) saying, ‘Hey, maybe they’ll add a solo artist category if enough (people) vote for me,’” she said. But, “I never anticipated enough of my fans voting in it and actually winning, so it was kind of neat that they voted for me, and I ended up beating out obviously other fantastic bands.” Rowland Publishing’s McKenzie Burleigh and Renee Johnson thanked presenting sponsor Ox Bottom Animal Hospital and supporting sponsors The Moon, John Gandy Events, Florida Blue, Metronet, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, Crafty Crab Tallahassee, Narcissus, Target Print & Mail, Drip Drop Fitness, LIVE! in Tallahassee, Adams Radio

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Group, 93.3 Real Talk with Greg Tish, MillCreek Financial Consultants, Social Catering, Catering Capers, Ology Brewing Company, Smile in Style Events and Anna Wescoat Music. Joel Silver with LIVE! in Tallahassee announced this year’s Best of Tallahassee winners, drawing excited cheers from the crowd. For a complete list of honorees, consult the November/ December edition of Tallahassee Magazine or click here. MillCreek Financial’s William Green raised a toast to the winners and introduced Atlanta-based electro-funk band MonoChrome. The band played an array of ’70s disco hits, and the dance floor got busy. Confetti fell from the ceiling as MonoChrome frontman Dain Harris belted the chorus of Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration.” Throughout the evening, he reiterated how happy he was to sing for “the Best of Tallahassee.” And Drip Drop Fitness led a flash mob, which moved to the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.”

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“We’ve never done a flash mob before,” Summer Griffith, owner of Drip Drop Fitness, said. “I’ve never thought I would be in one. It made me nervous, but all my staff was like, ‘We have to do it, it’s so fun,’ so I was like, ‘Okay.’ It was fun.” They modified a dance they frequently use in the studio so that if “people wanted to jump in, they could catch on.” And boy, did they. From the edge of the dance floor, I watched as people handed their drinks and purses off so they could learn the steps and join the fun. To borrow Griffith’s words, it was “a blast.” Perhaps the most touching part of the evening occurred when Hang Tough Foundation board member George Smith accepted a check on behalf of the organization. Readers poll participants named it this year’s best nonprofit. Hang Tough supports families with children who have chronic illnesses or special needs. It provides comprehensive care to entire families via support groups, family fun events and more. “As part of the overall positive vibe of the night, that just topped it off,” Ox Bottom Animal Hospital’s Lauren DiMartino-Combs told me. She introduced Smith to audiences before helping present the check. “It was cool to hear Smith’s statements about the foundation and share that with Tallahassee.” Smith and DiMartino-Combs thanked Rowland Publishing, event attendees and sponsors. The crowd cheered, and then, they rejoined the dance floor, where many partied until the band stopped and the lights went up. But for some, the night was only just beginning. One woman stopped me on her way out to ask if I planned on keeping the neon cowboy hat atop my VIP table. “No,” I told her. “It’s all yours.” She nodded, grabbed the hat and walked off. Oh, what a night! TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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Michelle Bono, Dan Taylor, Vicki Tauxe Tallahassee Magazine, along with sponsors and select VIP, presenting the media campaign contributions to the beneficiary of this year’s readers choice poll, the Hang Tough Foundation.

All About Cats, Cameron Estes, Mike Estes, Maria Estes, Landon Estes, Ashlyn Estes Presenting Sponsor Ox Bottom Animal Hospital, Halley Williams, Lauren Combs, Tammy Workman, Kendra Erickson, Katie Hedges

Skin Science Aesthetics, Heather Cattani, Julianne Johnson, Hannah Eckler, Jaimie Snipes, Leah Vargas, Catherine Mincy, Lauren Shoemaker, Jillyann McGowan

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Atlanta-based electro-funk band, MonoChrome

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