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Sheltering Walls

Bare Trees in Fog

It's in the name . . .

 Anastasia State Park is one of the crown jewels in Florida's 175 Parks system.

Walking along the seashore, just last week at dusk, the full super blue moon rose up out of the ocean as the sun sank into the dunes. It doesn't get much better than this!



The next morning the news broke that the Florida Environmental Protection Agency, charged with nothing less than PROTECTION of the land, together with Governor DeSantis, planned to build a 350-room resort on this pristine site on the National Historic Register, i.e., more rooms than remaining Florida panthers!


People's reaction was swift outrage! News coverage was slow to catch up with the online mobilization of everyone who loves that park and the other nine slated for development.

Peaceful, but angry people raised up signs to draw attention to the next grave decision that will ultimately destroy the natural habitat, along with nesting grounds of sea turtles and piping plovers, beach mice, gopher tortoises, while disrupting migratory birds relying on the Atlantic flyway from North to South. Being no stranger to the parks or protests, I showed up to say HELL NO! Some used stronger language, justified in such an unfathomable moment.



"Unfathomable" was the word that the young woman working in the boutique next to the park entrance used when I asked if she had grown up here. "Born and raised here in St. Augustine", she said proudly. "This has certainly brought some tears". Her family had operated a kayak rental launch within the park."Until someone from up North came with more money and took over. This is just another hit. I put out buckets of cold water for the protesters because I have to be in here today". She was visibly upset as she offered overheated protesters a cool place to duck in out of the noonday sun.


She is the voice of reason.


Will her voice, and others' voices be heard on this crucial decision? Here's a hint: The EPA (P=Protection) with less than ONE week's notice, and without notice to county or city officials, scheduled ONE, ONE-hour meeting, to present their plans to the public without comment. This information spread like a California wildfire across online platforms, prompting the EPA to announce a postponement because of a lack of sufficient meeting space in their chosen venue which can hold 500 people! You have to ask yourself, what's going on here? Answers can be found in the past history of the EPA in Florida:


One of the main reasons that there are fewer than 200 Florida Panthers remaining goes back to a decision to build the Tamiami Highway across the Everglades, cutting it in half. This major change to that National Park's fragile ecosystem made it impossible for the natural wildlife to move freely as needed to find food and partners while cars and trucks zoomed without regard killing numbers of them*. Naturalists who spend their lives in these habitats say they hope to see a Florida Panther, at least once. One dusky evening, returning home from a walk, I stopped dead in my tracks. In the distance was the biggest cat I have ever seen. Its tail was high and curled. In the blue twilight, its tan coat was a certain clue. When it stretched itself into a long stride, it was unmistakably the rare Florida Panther. The sheer pleasure of seeing it pass by is indescribable. Nearly extinct, these wild cats are worthy of protection and have remained on the endangered species list since the 1970's. My up-close amazing encounter happened by chance in Northeast Florida, home to the pristine habitat known as Anastasia State Park. https://www.floridastateparks.org/anastasia


If you have ever seen the manatee floating in the Blue Springs, or slept in a cabin surrounded by a thousand natural acres at Princess Place Preserve, or had a picnic at Faver Dykes Park, family land donated for our pleasure, or walked through woods under the canopy of live oaks at the Suwannee River Park, home to Stephen Foster's American folk songs, you understand something special that can never be replaced when lost, like the panthers. It brings tears!


Please, raise your voice by signing this petition whether you live in Florida, visited once, or never have. You just might save a baby turtle trying to get to the ocean on its own. Or one mother deer with her young.










 
 
 

Dead White Men

My niece will vote for the first time in her life on November 5. First times are only times. First times are unforgettable. She is excited. Ready. Willing. She wants to vote! Undoubtedly, she will feel proud when she does. She will most likely watch the results on election night on tik tok. She will have become an adult in her own right having earned a new right. I wonder if the historical significance of this upcoming U.S. election is possible for a first-time voter to grasp? We hear so often about what is at stake in this election. We get that it matters that we vote; crucial, in fact. Engaging new voters is a hope for the future of our Democracy. They matter. The sooner one gets that idea lodged into the psyche, the better. We only get so many Presidential elections in a lifetime.


This November will be my fourteenth Presidential election. Each vote, with the exception of two, was cast for a white man. There was no other choice. This time will be a first for me, as well as for my niece, because the top of the ticket will have the name of an African American Woman! How many generations has it taken to get here? We all know the answer.


All those White Men running toward the White House have given up little turf for others outside their elitist club. They held onto that baton as long as possible. It has been a closed relay race, in the way some states have a closed primary, like the state where I live. When I first arrived in Florida, I couldn't believe it, or understand it. Firsts can be shocking and surprising: I have received no ballots for any primary election when the party for which I registered does not have a candidate listed. My vote does NOT count, because my vote is not counted. Florida has consistently voted along one party line statewide since 1999! Twenty-five years! That's a lot of missed voting days for anyone like me. Today that changed.


On my seventy-first birthday, I voted as if for the first time for a new State Senator to replace yet another of the "Dead White Men whose importance and talents may have been exaggerated because he belonged to a historically dominant gender and ethnic group."*


Shall we talk about who the "elitist" truly is in this Presidential election? I think we all know the answer.


 
 
 
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