Homegrown in Florida By William McKeen

Nonfiction Homegrown in floridan

Sparkles with all the colors of our childhood like the Florida sun setting over the Gulf A surprising cross section of thirty four talented writers poets politicians and entertainers transport us to a state where anything was possible where memories take on a life of their own and have lasting consequences Victor DiGenti author of the Windrusher series Brings back a world in which kids played outside unsupervised when grandmothers wore pearls and smelled of talcum powder and cooked hot breakfasts and when a mother might spend Sunday morning immersed in the Miami Herald but felt it her duty to have grace said at the dinner table Joy Wallace Dickinson author of Remembering Orlando Florida can seem like a child s dream of paradise endless sunny days trips to the beach to swim and build sandcastles bike riding without a jacket in the middle of January and magical themeparks only a short drive away But what was life really like for those who grew up here During a recent reunion writers Bill McKeen Tim Dorsey and Jeff Klinkenberg found themselves lamenting that so many of their childhood memories were fading away For them and for many Florida is not just a place people go to it s where they come from That can mean many things to many people as the stellar cast of writers journalists and musicians eloquently reveal in Homegrown in Florida This utterly satisfying and powerful anthology aims at the heart of the glories of childhood and the pain of growing up Both a celebration of the exotic untamed wilderness of a youth filled with moss draped oaks and citrus fields evergreen winters and palmetto fronds and a reminder that innocence often gave way to experience as bike paths became private developments and swimming holes were paved over by interstates Homegrown in Florida is filled with tears and laughter alike Featuring contributions from Carl Hiaasen Tom Petty Zora Neale Hurston Michael Connelly and many this is a book for every child of old Florida and every child at heart Homegrown in FloridaI normally don t like short stories This was great 0813042054 Great short stories 0813042054 DNR I had to put this on my Do Not Read list It contains some of the authors that I like however it wasn t the type of book fiction that I enjoy Sorry 0813042054 This book was just OK Maybe I am just disappointed because I had such high expectations and I was so not impressed 0813042054 I don t read a lot of non fiction but I couldn t resist reading about growing up in Florida through the years This book brought back so many memories good and bad of being a kid here Thank you to all the contributors 0813042054 A short story is like a short flight You re barely up in the air and suddenly the nose of the plane is headed down The abruptness is a weird way for me to read This worked though because it was a series of remembrances about Florida by a variety of people Most of the stories were from the period of my childhood and I appreciated hearing about the insecurities of the era through the orange colored glasses of Florida Long enough to pay homage but not too long 0813042054 A collection of memorable yarns about growing up in Florida and nearly all of them are stunners Writer and journalism professor William McKeen rounded up stories from well known authors such as Michael Connelly Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey and journalists such as Anne Hull Bill Maxwell and Jeff Klinkenberg and me and put them together with poetry and some fiction as a way to tell what it s like to be a kid with sand in your shoes Some of the stories are short some are long but all are interesting Readers from outside Florida may be surprised to learn that the Sunshine State has a dark side as Connelly tells about witnessing a crime when he was a teenager and Klinkenberg writes about a childhood adventure that went horribly awry and Hull shows how the bright and shiny surfaces of this state hide some painful trade offs Highly recommended 0813042054 Some great stories always sincere if not always written well Florida has been so decimated by developers that one can t help but be somewhat nostalgic about the past Many of the stories focus on the glory of spending time fishing and spending time in a wild landscape. Homegrown in floridalotto Appropriately other anecdotes concern Florida s racism and environmental destruction Good bits by Carl Hiaasen 0813042054 Author of Mile Marker Zero Outlaw Journalist Highway 61 Rock and Roll is Here to Stay and several other books William McKeen teaches at Boston University and chairs its department of journalism He lives on the rocky coast of Cohasset Massachusetts..