Love on the Rock

 

August 30, 2022

Love on the Rock

With Kathy remaining in Colorado for the time being, I found myself solo in Key West and looking for summer activities to keep me entertained. Thankfully there is always a lot happening and this week it involved catching up with some old friends and feeling nostalgic about my time here in Key West. That started when I attended the book release party for my long-time friend Cricket. 

Some years ago, Cricket published a weekly column in the local paper documenting life as a Key West singleton that was called, “Love on the Rock”. Recently she finally got around to compiling the columns into a book and had the entire collection published. Our mutual friend Eric hosted the release party at his home/ art studio and a large gathering of friends and well-wishers was on hand to celebrate the release.

It was great to see so many long-time Key West friends in attendance and gratifying to see Cricket get the recognition and accolades that she deserves for her publication. She read from the work, mingled and sold copies of the book while the crowd sipped wine and enjoyed the party. I couldn’t stay too long as I was dog sitting for our friends’ dog Vinny, a happy young labradoodle that has more energy than a pack of three-year olds.

The second big celebration that I attended this week was the 5oth anniversary party of the iconic ;local restaurant the Half Shell Raw Bar. The place has been an institution in Key West and to celebrate the half century mark, they hosted a massive party, blocking off the parking lot in front of the restaurant and having a full day of live music, contests, fun and seafood at very, very reasonable prices.

The coolest thing they did was invite all their former staff from over the years back, having guest bartenders and waitstaff on hand from the course of their fifty years in operation. Among those who was back on the island was my good friend and former roommate Michelle, who I had not seen in almost twenty years since she departed Key West for Ireland.

She was back with two of her three high-school aged kids, who I had never met from their current home in New York. We have kept in touch since on facebook, but it never is as good as seeing someone in person and I was just thrilled to see and hang out with Michelle and her kids. We even went out to lunch the next day at the Perry Hotel in what was a great reunion.

The Half Shell party was great as there were a ton of familiar faces there and it just so happened that I ran into another old friend and former Key West resident the same day at Blue Heaven when I ran into my old friend Andy Wilson, who I also had not seen in some twenty years. He was here with a group having dinner at Blue Heaven and I was out watching my friend Larry Baeder play music with the legendary Broadway Star Teri Whiite at the restaurant.

It was like old home week and it was so great to catch up with friends who I had not seen in so long and to see how well they are doing was just icing on the cake. Living in Key West has the advantage of getting to meet a lot of people who then move on to different places, meaning that we have friends spread across the globe, which is a really cool thing. 

We Won’t Go Back

 

August 23, 2022

 

We Won’t Go Back

I try very hard to keep our blog non-political. There is enough dissention, disagreement and downright hostility in our nation currently and I hate that everything has become sop political, so mean and so personal. I have always felt that the beauty of the United States is that people are free to believe as they will and speak out for what they believe in. These days it seems that everything is political and tolerance of opposing opinions is at historic lows.

Having said that, I also want my blog to be honest and straightforward about what we do and our freedom to support the causes that are important to us. So, I post this particular blog with the caveat that if you don’t agree with the positions that are featured in this post, it is ok. Chances are good that we will not be able to convince each other to change our beliefs, yet we can still have respect and open communication and agree to disagree. 

The issue of abortion should be safe and legal or banned has been one of the moral and political debates of my lifetime. I feel very strongly that a woman’s right to choose should not be legislated by the Government. I understand and accept that there are many people who feel just as strongly that the practice should be outlawed and they have strong moral and religious reasons for their position. This month I joined the many who share my particular position to protest against the Supreme Court and their recent decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The protest started at Nelson English Park and then the protesters marched all the way down Duval Street to Mallory Square. A couple of hundred of activists joined the parade holding signs and placards and they marched chanting slogans and voicing their opposition to the court’s decision. 

I was on hand to at once document the march, but also because I agree with the protesters that the decision was flatly wrong. The fact is that abortions will go on whether they are legal or not and it is far preferable to have them performed in the safety of a medical facility than the alternative. Being Pro-Choice does not equate to being for abortion. I don’t know anyone who feels like abortion is a good thing ,but I also don’t think that it is my place to make that choice for someone else. It should be between the woman and her doctor. 

Unwanted pregnancies are preventable and yet many of the same people who are anti-abortion are also against sex education that seems to me the best place to limit the number of abortions by stopping it before it even becomes an issue. 

There is another overly politicized issue that has been impacting the Keys this summer and that is a record influx of Cuban (and some Haitian) migrants arriving on our shores after making the dangerous crossing of the Florida Straights in barely seaworthy vessels known as chugs. Literally hundreds of migrants have been arriving almost daily and the chugs are literally littering the shorelines of the Keys. The saddest part is that after making the dangerous journey and arriving safe, they are rounded up and shipped right back to Cuba. The Haitians get to stay because we have a different agreement with Haiti. It is just another crazy non-equitable way of treating people based on politics.