True Florida Stories
On Fridays, D. Williams Mortuary Services is a meeting ground for mourners. Though the air is melancholy, it is a beautiful sunny afternoon at the funeral home. Cars slowly pull into the dirt path just off 13th Street, its neatly gardened exterior a waiting area for friends and family to congregate and share memories … Read moreThe last responder
As researchers from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium watch attentively through the camera’s point of view, a large, gray being swims inches below the water, her back skimming the salty air … Read moreThe Atlantic sojourner
Joe Pimentel could be the most protected man in the world. At the Florida Rottweiler Rescue Ranch, Pimentel spends his days caring for more than 100 large dogs in the beating sun and the suffocating Gainesville humidity. Working through piles of floating dog hair, pools of slobber and a smell only a dog rescue could produce, Pimentel wouldn’t have it any other way … Read moreBig Dogs and a Bigger Mission
Even though the weather was hot and the land swampy, promoters advertised Florida as a paradise on Earth, and oranges were the ambrosia … Read moreValencia’s Last StandÂ
It’s 6:50 a.m. in a nondescript Dunnellon shopping center. Street lights and neon store signs cast a dim glow over the dark lot and Publix won’t open for another ten minutes.Â
The parking lot is almost empty, except for the scattering of cars belonging to the members of the Workout Anytime gym and those of a group of 14 old men sitting along the benches outside of the Breakfast Station restaurant … Read moreThe ROMEOs