St. Petersburg, Florida
April 11, 2010
I don't know why, but I felt compelled to visit the Florida Holocaust Museum while I was in the Tampa Bay area. I previously visited several times the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills, always captivated by the lectures from survivors of the Holocaust. So on that Sunday morning I drove south from my hotel in Largo to the museum in St. Petersburg. As I approached the cashier and took out my wallet, she told me that admission to the museum today was free because it was Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust.
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Exercising the Right Side of the Brain
Sarasota and St. Petersburg, Florida
April 16, 2010
If you were going to test my brain and how it thinks, you would learn that my mode of thinking is definitely on the left side: logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective, looks at parts rather than the whole. No surprise there, given that my top role models when I was a child were Spock (of Star Trek fame) and Sherlock Holmes. I soon came to realize the right side of my brain needed to be expanded, and I have exercised it as much as I could by the choices I make. Those choices include visiting art museums every once in a while.
The Tampa Bay area offered me several opportunities to exercise the right side of my brain. I first went to Sarasota for a day trip to the Ringling museums. The Ringling compound hosts the historic Asolo Theater, the Ringling Circus Museum, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art housed in the Ca' d'Zan Mansion. The Asolo Theater took me to 18th century Italy to a classic opera theater, and the Ringling Circus Museum took me to the 19th century when my ancestor Martin Van Buren Bates and his future wife Anna Swann were attractions in the circus. I saw a photograph of Anna but not my great-great-great uncle.
April 16, 2010
If you were going to test my brain and how it thinks, you would learn that my mode of thinking is definitely on the left side: logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective, looks at parts rather than the whole. No surprise there, given that my top role models when I was a child were Spock (of Star Trek fame) and Sherlock Holmes. I soon came to realize the right side of my brain needed to be expanded, and I have exercised it as much as I could by the choices I make. Those choices include visiting art museums every once in a while.
The Tampa Bay area offered me several opportunities to exercise the right side of my brain. I first went to Sarasota for a day trip to the Ringling museums. The Ringling compound hosts the historic Asolo Theater, the Ringling Circus Museum, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art housed in the Ca' d'Zan Mansion. The Asolo Theater took me to 18th century Italy to a classic opera theater, and the Ringling Circus Museum took me to the 19th century when my ancestor Martin Van Buren Bates and his future wife Anna Swann were attractions in the circus. I saw a photograph of Anna but not my great-great-great uncle.
Monday, December 25, 2017
Blast Off !
Scottsmoor, Florida
April 5, 2010
One of my most vivid memories is watching the launch of the Skylab 3 manned mission on July 28, 1973 at 7:11 a.m. I can still see the Saturn rocket scream through the southeast skies with a rumble and smoke following its trail. It was a sight that this young boy had not even come close to seeing in his 12 years. How was I to know I would see many, many more launches of spacecraft in my subsequent eight years at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The space shuttle program is coming to a close by the end of the year, and there will only be four more launches. Opportunity presented itself, and I continued eastwards to the Space Coast of Florida to see the second-to-last launch of the shuttle Discovery. I also continued eastwards to relive a memory.
The launch of the Discovery was scheduled for 6:21 a.m. the next morning, around a half hour before sunrise. I wanted to get a closer look at the launch and was planning to see it from the waterfront of Titusville. After a short night of sleep in Daytona Beach, I headed south down the coast to Titusville. However, as I approached Titusville, I noticed that a lot of people had the same idea, especially those coming from Orlando. Gridlock on the roads was already in place, and I turned my truck around and drove north for Plan B.
April 5, 2010
One of my most vivid memories is watching the launch of the Skylab 3 manned mission on July 28, 1973 at 7:11 a.m. I can still see the Saturn rocket scream through the southeast skies with a rumble and smoke following its trail. It was a sight that this young boy had not even come close to seeing in his 12 years. How was I to know I would see many, many more launches of spacecraft in my subsequent eight years at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The space shuttle program is coming to a close by the end of the year, and there will only be four more launches. Opportunity presented itself, and I continued eastwards to the Space Coast of Florida to see the second-to-last launch of the shuttle Discovery. I also continued eastwards to relive a memory.
The launch of the Discovery was scheduled for 6:21 a.m. the next morning, around a half hour before sunrise. I wanted to get a closer look at the launch and was planning to see it from the waterfront of Titusville. After a short night of sleep in Daytona Beach, I headed south down the coast to Titusville. However, as I approached Titusville, I noticed that a lot of people had the same idea, especially those coming from Orlando. Gridlock on the roads was already in place, and I turned my truck around and drove north for Plan B.
Friday, June 24, 2016
It All Begins With a Place
Panama City, Florida
March 30, 2010
This story, like all stories, begins with a place. It begins in the early morning of June 3, 1961 at the Bay Harbor Pool Room in Panama City, Florida. A robbery at the Bay Harbor Pool Room set into motion a row of legal dominoes that toppled all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The trial of Clarence Earl Gideon, who lived just down the street from and frequented the Bay Harbor Pool Room, who did not have the benefit of an attorney at his trial, and who pressed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, enhanced the right of Americans to counsel. Before 1963, each state determined if and when an attorney needed to be provided to a defendant and this determination could be applied selectively on a case-by-case basis. In 1963 the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright ruled that the right to the assistance of counsel was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and essential for a fair trial.
March 30, 2010
The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he or she has the right to consult with an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning, and that, if he or she is indigent, an attorney will be provided at no cost to represent her or him.
United States Supreme Court, Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
This story, like all stories, begins with a place. It begins in the early morning of June 3, 1961 at the Bay Harbor Pool Room in Panama City, Florida. A robbery at the Bay Harbor Pool Room set into motion a row of legal dominoes that toppled all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The trial of Clarence Earl Gideon, who lived just down the street from and frequented the Bay Harbor Pool Room, who did not have the benefit of an attorney at his trial, and who pressed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, enhanced the right of Americans to counsel. Before 1963, each state determined if and when an attorney needed to be provided to a defendant and this determination could be applied selectively on a case-by-case basis. In 1963 the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright ruled that the right to the assistance of counsel was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and essential for a fair trial.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
I Came, I Saw, I Conquered
Britton Hill, Lakewood Park, Walton County, Florida
March 29, 2010
I came to Florida, not to do daring feats or register lasting achievements. I came to Florida with simple plans: to visit a dear friend and to ride an airboat in the Everglades. As I entered Florida from the north from Alabama ...
I saw a small plus (+) sign, snuggled next to the Alabama state boundary, challenging me to the Highest Point in Florida. It was near a major highway not too far off my intended path. I asked myself why would I want to climb this mountain, and I answered it the same as the famous Alpinist George Mallory, "Because it's there." I pointed my truck westwards into the setting sun and sped towards the Florida peak to get there before the dusk. As the sun was nearing the horizon behind me, a sign by the highway led me to a country road and the County park that encompassed this high land of Florida. I parked my truck in the lot of Lakewood Park, and I saw the challenge that laid ahead of me. I was not deterred, and ...
March 29, 2010
I came to Florida, not to do daring feats or register lasting achievements. I came to Florida with simple plans: to visit a dear friend and to ride an airboat in the Everglades. As I entered Florida from the north from Alabama ...
I saw a small plus (+) sign, snuggled next to the Alabama state boundary, challenging me to the Highest Point in Florida. It was near a major highway not too far off my intended path. I asked myself why would I want to climb this mountain, and I answered it the same as the famous Alpinist George Mallory, "Because it's there." I pointed my truck westwards into the setting sun and sped towards the Florida peak to get there before the dusk. As the sun was nearing the horizon behind me, a sign by the highway led me to a country road and the County park that encompassed this high land of Florida. I parked my truck in the lot of Lakewood Park, and I saw the challenge that laid ahead of me. I was not deterred, and ...
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