Pet Graduation

On April 11, Eckerd College held its 11th annual Pet Graduation.

The companions of 2023 seniors “graduated” by receiving an official Eckerd College honorary graduate certificate. The college celebrated these furry, scaly, and feathered friends for supporting their owners.

The college provided treats for humans and animals. An array of dog treats, bird food, and grass sat in metal bowls on a table.

Many students arrived with their pets already dressed for the occasion. Senior Leyla Dorph-Lowrie created a colorful, paper cap for her dog Watson. Senior Chloe Carter put Waffle, a bearded dragon, in a polka dot dress with a pink ribbon bow.

Meows and giggles filled Eckerd College’s Fox Hall as pets tried their best to sit still with their owners throughout the ceremony.

Eckerd honored virtually and in-person “34 dogs, 15 cats, three guinea pigs, three bearded dragons, two rats, two snakes, two tortoises, two rabbits, two leopard geckos, two turtles, a chinchilla, a crested gecko, a chameleon, a gecko, a frog and a fish.”

As students and their honorary companions received pet diplomas, groups of friends and supporters stood at the edge of the stage cheering them on.

The celebration didn’t stop there. After calling all the graduating pets across the stage, the class of 2023 pets received graduation caps to wear for a group photo.

What’s the Plan?

The Future of a Now-Vacant Lot on Shore Boulevard

Question: I have never seen anything in The Gabber Newspaper about the piece of prime waterfront real estate next to O’Maddy’s that has been an eyesore since I moved to Gulfport seven years ago. I was hopeful when I saw that the former multi-family property on the 5400 block had sold in August of 2022. But there are still no signs of development. Can you write a story about what is going on with that property? Is it zoned for commercial use, or will housing be coming back? –Linda

Maney

Answer: We asked the City of Gulfport’s principal planner, Mike Taylor, about these apartments.

“The building permit application has expired,” Taylor told The Gabber Newspaper. “Our office has not received any new or revised proposals for this property.”

The zoning for Gulfport’s vacant waterfront lot on Shore Boulevard, part of the Waterfront Redevelopment District, allows the following uses: Single-family homes and duplexes; townhomes; multi-family dwellings; transient accommodations; restaurant (but no drive-throughs); taverns (if they’re an accessory to transient accommodation only); city facilities, or a private parking lot.

Your City Questions, Answered

Do you have a question about something in your community? Send it to The Gabber, and we’ll do our best to get you the answer. Email your questions to news@thegabber.com or drop them off at our office (2908-B Beach Blvd. S., Gulfport – right across from Stella’s). If you don’t want us to use your name in the newspaper, let us know when you submit your question. We edit the questions for clarity, syntax, and grammar, so the question you read may differ slightly from what someone submitted. The Gabber Newspaper will not alter the intent of the question.

Reality, Racism, and ‘Ragtime’ American Stage’s Park Show Still Relevant 47 Years Later

By David Warner

Artfully staged and passionately sung, American Stage in the Park’s production of Ragtime makes a good case for the lasting importance of the 1998 Tony-winning musical, an enthralling critique of what it means to dream the American dream.

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s innovative 1975 novel, the musical (with book by Terrence McNally and score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynne Ahrens) tells the stories of three fictional families in New York at the turn of the 20th century. They’re led by Coalhouse Walker, a Harlem ragtime pianist; Father, a wealthy fireworks manufacturer in New Rochelle; and Tateh, a Latvian immigrant who dreams of building a better life for his daughter. The lives of all three families intersect with famous historical figures of the time, including Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, and the infamous beauty at the center of a high-society sexand-murder scandal, Evelyn Nesbit.

It’s an epic undertaking, with a 23-member cast. But director Erica Sutherlin’s command of the material is apparent right from the opening number. On a set brilliantly conceived as a fragmented Statue of Liberty (enhanced by Dalton Hamilton’s lighting design), the social classes are delineated by authentic period costumes and by Heather Beal’s inventive choreography as they move to the “new syncopation” of ragtime music. Later, the versatile ensemble morphs seamlessly into striking laborers, raucous baseball fans, and, most impressively, as an assembly line for the Model T.

The car itself was a democratic invention, making automobiles more available to everyone, including Coalhouse Walker. But the workers who manufacture the Model T are reduced to cogs in the machine. And, white bigots, seeing a Black man in a shiny new car, try to put him in his place by destroying it. Coalhouse, so confident that the American dream was in his sights, begins a crusade for justice.

Sutherlin and Musical Director Latoya McCormick have assembled a strong cast. Dante Murray, a towering baritone, is Coalhouse. Billy Goldstein finds all the colors in the tender, resourceful Tateh. As Mother, who takes in Sarah and her child while Father is on an Arctic exhibition, Sarah Middough, with her clarion soprano, captures the yearnings of a woman who longs to go on her own journeys, while Larry Alexander’s Father is both enraging and endearing. Martin Powers gives a limber performance as their young son, Edgar, and Matthew Harper Stevenson is convincingly ardent as Mother’s Younger Brother, who’s obsessed with Evelyn Nesbit. Doing double duty as Henry Ford and a racist fire chief, Cody Taylor is eminently hissable.

Beth Gelman is terrific as the rabble-rousing Emma Goldman, though technical glitches meant she had to use a hand-held mic at one point.

Anthony Gervais’s Harry Houdini, though effective, also had some audibility issues. As is often the case with Park shows, there were times when the sound quality was harsh and the orchestra overwhelmed the dialogue and singers. And by the time we’re nearing the end of the two-hour, 45-minute run time and hearing yet another full-on, entire-cast anthem, you may be thinking, “OK, enough already, I get the point.”

But that point — that we have a long way to go before the American dream is a reality for all — is indelibly made.

Ragtime American Stage in the Park, Demens Landing Park, St. Petersburg. Through May 14: Wed.Sun., 7:30 p.m. $25-$45 727-8237529, americanstage.org.