Katie Brodie is an artist, but she doesn’t use a paintbrush or a camera. Her canvas is your plate, and it is her life’s work to make the world a better place through food.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person, and I tried to
Sandi considers her life one of humility and gratitude.
In 1997, a Golden Retriever ran into Sandi, shattering her hip. While working on her hip, doctors discovered a large tumor. There was only a 2 percent chance of surviving the type of bone cancer
Gutsy, down-to-earth and real: these are just a few adjectives that describe native St. Petersburg poet Maureen McDole.
Born into a family of carnies and fishermen, her genealogy dates back to 1929.
Her great-grandparents, Anna and George Hubbard, were members
Rick L. has a twinkle in his eye. Ask him about his artwork and that twinkle turns to all-out sparkle.
Rick grew up in Indiana, and although his mom abandoned him and his brother when they were small, Rick’s grandmother told him her side of the family was very artistic.
“I never got any art training,” he said. “I can do screen-printing and I’m a certified welder, but never any art. I don’t do it for recognition, though I did have a political cartoon published in an Ogden, Utah, newspaper once. I do it because it’s part of me. It’s what keeps me going.”
With that, he unrolled a beautiful pencil drawing he produced while at the library the day before. It depicted a homeless man on a bench playing the guitar.
“He’s a little bit Jesus, a little bit John Lennon,” Rick said. “I thought that was appropriate.” His singing man has angel wings and a can of beer at his side, with a sign next to him that says: “Homeless Blah, Blah, Blah …”
Rick is homeless, too.
Diane looked on with compassion in her eyes; though she has an apartment, she knows how it feels to be homeless. She said she never thought it could happen to her, and told a story about walking into a local hospital and being refused a simple cup of coffee because she was not a patient there.
“The coffee machine was right there in the lobby. I was not rude, I was not dirty; I just needed a cup of coffee. The receptionist asked if I was a patient there, and though I could have lied and said ‘yes’ and nobody would have known, I was honest and said, ‘No, I would just please like a cup of coffee.’ The receptionist said, ‘Sorry, coffee is just for patients,’ and I left there in tears. All of a sudden, it hit me in the face: I was homeless and I couldn’t even get a cup of coffee.”
Rick thinks that many of the people who disparage the homeless are not motivated by hate, but by fear.
“They’re scared that it could happen to them. They think that if they ignore us or cut us down, it makes them better and takes them farther away from being homeless.”
Though Diane says Rick wakes up every day “positive and ready to face the world,” there have been dark times, including a couple of suicide attempts. Rick credits Diane and his friend Laura with helping him through the rough spots.
“Laura is always there to listen, and that means a lot, especially when you’re out on the street,” Rick said.
His passion for his art also keeps him going, and is a way to “spiritually connect” to God. “I’m looking at life as a spiritual journey,” he said. “But I’m trying to find humor in the journey along the way, and my art helps me to do that.”
On being homeless, Rick said, “I’m grateful every day for the people out there who try to help us: the people who feed us at Demens Landing and at the local churches. Though it’s tough out here, there are people who care. And without my friends, I don’t know where I’d be.”
While riding my bicycle in Old Northeast St. Petersburg one afternoon, I happened to ride by a cheery man whistling as he rode his bicycle. At first I didn’t think anything about it, but coincidentally our bicycle paths crossed again 30 minutes later and
I met Dan Lasata at the dawn of his artistic career. He had just debuted in the art world with his first show at Café Bohemia a few weeks previously, and his was a fresh, exhilarated new face in the room. Since then
Miguel Fuller, 26-year-old Atlanta native of Play 98.7FM‘s “‘That Guy’ Kramer Morning Show” with Steve Kramer and Holly O’Connor, isn’t just another radio personality and co-host. Fuller is out and very open on the air about being gay.
I walked down the stairs of City Hall after my interview with city council member Steve Kornell feeling a sense of hope. We spoke of change, advocacy, art, music and more. His energy and positivity about every topic we discussed was contagious and inspiring.
Dan Parker is a youthful and boyish-looking, non-partisan “‘Burger” that has opted to run for county commissioner for At-Large District 3 in November 2012.
Frank Strunk III. I walk into his studio. It’s large. There are a lot of pieces of metal everywhere – tools, work tables, mannequins, torches, art. Yet there is a sense of order. I feel that at any moment if I yelled out, “Copper!” Strunk could produce a piece of copper before the word even escaped my mouth. A magician.