Jim and I had always felt a little guilty about shortshrifting Florida in our Our Towns reporting. We tried, but the right place at the right time never quite came together. We did write briefly about a powerful reparations ceremony in Pensacola, by a family of a local 20th century leader later found to have been an active leader of the Ku Klux Klan. We also wrote about citizen environmentalists tracking sea turtles on the Gulf Coast beaches.
Now, for family reasons, I have found myself in Florida for a few months. (Personal note: My 102-yr-old vibrant mother suffered a minor stroke on New Year’s Eve eve. She is recovering, thank you, albeit slowly, and is still a true credit to centenarians everywhere.) So here I am, steeping in the culture of Southwest Florida.
I admit that my word cloud of Florida impressions was not pretty, and it was probably unfair. Here are the words and topics in my mind: abortion bans, LGBTQ+ intolerance, infamous politicians, Disney World aggression, book bans, dismantling academia, a new New College, eruptions at public meetings, and of course Florida Man, the meme. But I decided to give Florida a chance.
It turned out to be a local printed newspaper that started showing me a different side of the state. It happened that the Sarasota Herald-Tribune began appearing on the landing of the condo where I’m staying. A forgotten subscription, it seems, that no one was claiming. The paper belongs to the USA Today network, which supplies national news, but it took little time to recognize that this Pulitzer prize winning, heavily investigative newspaper is an icon of local reporting. When the paper disappeared one morning, just as mysteriously as it had first appeared, I started my own subscription.
The paper has taught me a lot about Florida in six weeks and has reinforced two themes that Our Towns has long believed in: the importance and power of local journalism and citizens’ agency to affect local issues. The two themes go hand in hand; I’ve learned about the scope of citizen action in Southwest Florida through the deep reporting from this strong local newspaper.
Here are two columns stating directly how this paper sees its journalistic mission and opportunity, and a guest column challenging Sarasota citizens to step up.
—First, from the paper’s new executive editor, Mark J. Rochester, who introduced himself to his readership by highlighting the paper’s commitment to investigative journalism. “Our objective is clear: to bring to light the truths that have remained hidden, to question the status quo and to serve as a catalyst for positive change in our community.” And he continued, “We are committed to bringing you stories that matter, stories that have the potential to spark conversations, ignite change and strengthen the fabric of our community.”
—Second, on engaged citizenry, from columnist Carrie Seidman. She writes about a new series of public forums in Sarasota called “Building a Local News Ecosystem.” She described the collaborations the local media have already made. For example, a philanthropic foundation supporting a news collaborative that shares stories they produce with other local media outlets.
She also addressed an invitation to the audience from one forum panelist, to bring citizens’ local knowledge and experience straight to reporters. Seidman pledged that she would, in turn, continue her commitment as a reporter to be accessible to readers, by responding to them by phone or email, personally and punctually.
The reporting
How has the paper been delivering on its mission to inform and engage the citizenry in local issues that matter to them and their communities? Here is what I’ve learned from my very old-fashioned approach. Each day, I rip out compelling, community-oriented stories from the Herald-Tribune and pile them up. (Something you can’t do with a digital subscription!) I’ve accumulated many piles that are inches deep—somehow this has given me new sympathy for my husband Jim’s longtime “filing” system–and I see that these local stories have organized themselves into many themes we found during Our Towns reporting. Themes of education, public arts, environment, public institutions, city planning, public health, local leadership, housing and more. En masse, they have introduced me to a culture in Florida that I didn’t know existed, and that doesn’t fit the model of “Florida Man.”
Here are a few of many highlights:
Civic Engagement
- Measuring civic health. A guest column (pictured above) by Tim Dutton, a board member of Florida Civic Advance, a nonprofit promoting civic strength in communities around the state, challenges Sarasota to become a model of civic engagement. He outlines steps, starting with a “civic health” assessment of residents’ engagement with local government and community. And encourages next steps for taking action.
- A path to citizen journalism. In her column, journalist Carrie Seidman cites a new program by a local radio station, to train citizens in how-to-do-journalism. We have seen this model in action at a nonprofit local news organization, TheLandCle.org, from Cleveland. Training and mentoring local citizens has produced high-quality stories straight from the heart of their own communities, by those who know them best.
- Examples of leadership. A front-page celebration of 16 residents who are “movers and shakers” in the region. During Our Towns reporting, a question Jim and I always asked in our first interviews was “Who drives this town? Who makes things happen?” The answers were all over the board; the mayor, a teacher, a museum director, the self-made town historian, a local business owner, a lawyer, a young artists group, the Chamber of Commerce.
The 16 residents named in this feature ranged from a utilities manager, activists in issues of housing, youth, education, the economy, and more, developers, a port manager, foundation leaders, a women’s issues activist. And anyone reading their profiles couldn’t miss the point: That could be me.
- Leaders in climate issues. Another leadership story calls out environmental activists. It features net-zero home developers; two radio journalists, leaders in environmental protection for Sarasota Bay and for an eco-friendly botanical garden.
- Leaders in the Black community. Again, a front page feature describes three local “trailblazers”; an artist, a director of an education non-profit, and the president of the local Association for the Study of African-American Life.
- How to be involved. This front page feature presents the story of a young woman’s journey with her young son fleeing Cuba and eventually settling in Bradenton to make a life. The story is a product of the partnership between the paper and the community foundation of Sarasota County. It is both a deeply-reported human interest story and a how-you-can-help story on supporting the community foundation.
- Case studies. Let’s talk about plastic. A report by Oceana, a multiple-foundation funded ocean research group, found in 2022 that “87% of Florida voters support local, state, and national policies that reduce single-use plastic” Communities in Florida have been addressing and discussing restrictions on single use plastic bags, which are not banned in the state, for years. There are various workarounds that cities are considering, based on their population size, or restricting the ban to exclude only city properties, for example.
I decided to conduct my own survey on the plastic bag use: I’ve been shopping at Publix grocery stores, by far the most prevalent on my current route. Publix is a very friendly place to shop, with solicitous staff everywhere. Plastic bagging is the default. The last 3 times I checked out, here was my experience.
Checker: Plastic OK?
Me: I would actually prefer paper.
Checker #1: We don’t have any now.
Checker #2: She dug behind the counter and pulled out a few well-hidden bags.
Checker #3: With eye-roll and pursed lips, pulled out several bags.
Also to note: the paper bags have no handles, are very lightweight, and are never double-bagged.
- Warning signs. Not all the stories in the paper are feel-good stories. I have seen several stories of leaders from the dark side– Proud Boys and Oath Keepers from local counties. There were stories of arrests for participation in Capitol riots, of sentencings, and one of appeal.
- Bills reining in public voices and public information: A bill in the state legislature that would “make it easier to sue journalists and others for defamation.” Proposed legislation to ban citizen boards overseeing police and correction officers. Additional filings to add to the already 1000 public records exemptions, including for state contract bids. And the list goes on.
Public Arts and Public Expression
Most local papers publish calendars of local performances, openings, and celebrations. I have seen a constant stream of articles about such events in the Herald-Tribune that deliver more than transactional details; they deliver context and a message, often highlighting the background of the programs’ commitment to the diversity of Southwest Florida’s population. The stories comment on the history, inspiration, and curation of exhibits and events, and sometimes on the objections or hurdles overcome on their way into existence. Here are some things happening now.
- A cultural heritage exhibit at City Hall of 1950s Black landscape artists, The Highwaymen, who were so-named for their inspiration seen along some of Florida’s local major highways. The artists’ works were barred from gallery displays by segregation codes. No longer.
- A front page story (and countless announcements on the public radio stations) on the opening of an outdoor public art show by global artists called “Embracing our Differences”. The show has come with lots of hitches, a “tumultuous 20th anniversary season” with defacings, cancellations, then alternate invitations before its arrival in Sarasota. The show has been a destination for many thousands of students from around the region, who are, however, barred from viewing a half dozen of the 50 pieces that “deal with gender identity or sexual orientation.”
- A front page story about The 57-million-dollar renovation of the newest “living museum” of the multiple campus Selby Botanical Gardens, an eco-friendly construction with thousands of solar panels, a rooftop garden that supplies the in-house restaurant run by a veterans’ organization. Still a work in progress, it now houses a gallery theater and scientific research center with labs, various collections, and a library.
Other stories from around the state are not exactly about public arts, but are rather in the world of public expression about some of Florida’s political controversies. Here are some of these stories from the dark side:
- Protests against a flag hanging on public school classroom bulletin board for saying “Hate Has No Home Here.”
- A state legislative move to block removal of confederate statues.
- A story that begins with the statement that Florida “Officially honors the birth of a man who led armies to fight against the United States of America,” and detailing a history of both celebrations and the recent challenges to confederate holidays.
Education
The slurry of issues around education from both Republicans and Democrats on courses and curriculum, school regulations, achievement standards, books and their content, school governance, and even more are overwhelming, tangled, mixed, and complex. My stack of clippings is a (dis)array of reporting on pages and pages of proposed, revised, and enacted state bills and provisions.
Here is a sampling: Eliminate state funds for DEI training for teachers and doctors; eliminate sociology courses; ban identity politics and race-related concepts from teacher prep courses; eliminate high school graduation requirements for math and language arts attainment; increase amount of time in between school bus safety inspections; shave teacher certification requirements; expand school voucher programs; ease up on charter school creation; eliminate support (in some counties) for public libraries’ membership in the American Library Association; require courses on African American history; increase in minimum base salary for teachers; restrict anyone under 16 yrs old from access to social media. The list seems endless.
Besides cataloguing bills and proposals, there are many human interest features on education-related topics of local interest:
One front page feature describes a progressive move by a large window and door manufacturer, PGTI, which is expanding their technical apprenticeships and training at both high school and mid-career levels.
In the realm of books, one story describes a new public library and its extensive array of offerings. Multiple stories address book bans, which is a long-running issue, confusing in its details. In the latest twist, Governor Ron DeSantis, who has pushed to enable objections to books, now concedes that the tsunami of book challenges in public school libraries could be getting out of hand, and a charge of $100 after an individual’s five objections (a proposal by a Republican legislator) could limit “bad-faith” objections. Another is a long feature on two bookstores and their commitment to sell all kinds of books, including banned books.
The many, many stories and features in the local paper, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, have given me a fuller and fairer story of Florida than the one I gleaned from reading or hearing about it from out-of-state, national reporting. For the local paper: Mission Accomplished.
