Shots from the Shoulder

Took a drive around town today and decided to stick my camera out the window. It's from the beach at Sunrise Boulevard and A1A, down Las Olas and downtown from Broward Boulevard to the police station.

Enjoy.



--->Susan

Fort Lauderdale Citizens Demand Equality

Yesterday my boss graciously gave me the afternoon off so I could go downtown and lend my voice to the opposition to the passing of amendment 2, which reads:

This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.

Here are some photos of what I saw.





I braved the bus ride downtown, iguanas at the bus stop, countless homeless people, and unseasonably hot weather. By the time I got home I was hot, sweaty and exhausted. It was also one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

--->Susan

Do Ya Really Wanna Iguana?

As a followup to my previous musings on iguanas as an invasive species in South Florida, I offer up this charming little solution to the problem.

Depression Recipes: Cooked Iguana.

It seems like even the economic crisis can solve an environmental problem.

That's all.

--->Susan

I am a Second Class Citizen

Yesterday morning I drove to one of the early voting polling station to exercise my rights and responsibilities as an American citizen. I chose the poll located at ArtServe, the public art gallery housed in the building that used to be Fort Lauderdale's main library when I was a kid. ArtServe's parking lot is not all that small, but cars were double-parked along the street, the barriers, in no-parking zones and even on the nice lawns of Holiday Park. I knew that the lines had been long on the weekend, but seeing that many people out on a weekday morning was heartening. As of yesterday, a million Floridians have voted. When you consider that only a quarter of that number took advantage in the last election, that's saying a lot.

In the queue, people were calm, courteous and patient. There were no arguments over the issues, no angry proclamations, no bitching about the wait. People either read their sample ballots, talked on cell phones or with their companions or silently read. Discussion between strangers was mostly limited to the merits of the art on display. The supervisor of elections office workers seemed to do everything they could to make the experience as painless as possible. They provided free water bottles for the thirsty and plenty of chairs for those whose feet were aching. They were courteous in answering questions or giving information, especially when it came time for people to turn off their cell phones. They made sure disabled and elderly voters were moved to the front of the line and provided chairs for them to sit in while they waited to take their turn at the special voting booth.

My wait from the back of the line to getting my ballot was just over two hours. I spent that time writing or reading on my handheld or pointing out some of the more outrageous pieces on the wall with a nice couple standing behind me. The last third of the queue was along the wide open windows looking out on to Sunrise Boulevard. Two things struck me while I was along that stretch. The first was that the large marine dealership across the street, which had sold all manner of water toys from boats to rafts and had been there for as long as I can remember, had gone out of business. I realized that I and everyone else patiently waiting in that line were there mainly because we can no longer afford the recreation equipment they used to sell. With Florida so heavily dependent on our recreational activities for our public's income, the simple closing of a boat dealership is a big deal.

The second thing I noticed were two signs spiked into the lawn in front of the building. One said "Vote NO on 2!" The other read "Yes on 2! One man. One woman."

For those of you who don't know...proposed amendment 2 of the state's constitution reads: "In as much as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

The most interesting thing about this proposed change is that it not only effects same sex couples who want to get married, but heterosexual couples who do not want to get married. It would strike down all domestic partnerships and common law marriages. In Florida we have a lot of senior citizen couples who simply can't afford to get married. Amendment 2 would keep them from enjoying those few advantages their domestic partnership arrangement gives.

So as I stood there with lots of time on my hands I came to a very sobering realization. I am a second class citizen. A second class citizen, according to Wiki, is defined as: a person who is systematically discriminated against within a state or other political jurisdiction, despite their nominal status as a citizen or legal resident there.

Amendment 2 is just that. It is systematically discriminating against citizens and legal residents of the state of Florida. It means that I, and everyone else it will act against, are less than minorities, even less than those illegal aliens living in our state because they are protected by law against discrimination and are entitled to equal protection no matter their residency status.

By the time I had received my ballot and started to blacken in the little ovals, including a big NO on 2, I was angry but more determined than ever to exercise those rights which I am allowed and to never give up the fight until I am granted the same rights as everyone else. Whether or not amendment 2 passes and whether or not one day I end up along that wall in the final solution to shoving us back in the closet, I am not giving up.

Anyone who doesn't vote is a fool. They're throwing away the right to make a difference in this world. Most Americans don't realize just how precious our democracy is. I hope we don't allow those horrible narrow-minded politicians destroy it.

Get out and vote people.

--->Susan

Ya Wanna Iguana?

I live in Broward County in the state of Florida. It is the middle part of the three county metropolis running from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade, thankfully the bluest three of all the counties in Florida. You may remember us from 2000. The largest city in Broward is Fort Lauderdale, a favorite Spring Break destination until our city fathers got tired of the drunken college students and chased them to Daytona Beach. The rest of the cities are really only satellite towns although I'm sure many residents of those towns would disagree. Of the county's 1,320 square miles, one third of it is really just one huge city. The rest is a part of undeveloped Everglades and that shrinks every day due to the lobbying efforts of the developers and big sugar magnates. But that's another blog.

Historically, except for a small strip of coastline, the county's geography was almost entirely a part of the Everglades. The highest natural point in Broward County is Pine Island Ridge at 29 feet above sea level. We have one natural river that nicely drained the Everglades into the ocean. Prior to the 20th century, the only settlements were along the New River. There were few roads and before to Henry Flagler's railroad, the only way to get goods in was by sea. Yes, there was a fort named after a soldier named Lauderdale. There were three forts actually, two along the river and one at the entrance to the harbor, now called Port Everglades.

In the early 20th century, land developers started to reshape Broward into its present form. Since it was made up almost entirely of waterlogged land, the most efficient way to control the marsh was by digging drainage canals. Take a look at Google and you'll see that our canals are as neatly laid out as our roads. In fact, Fort Lauderdale's nickname is: "The Venice of America" for our network of canals, a moniker coined by one of the early developers to lure people to town. It worked.

All of that development may have hurt the Everglades, but it does make for a very pleasant place to live. Even people of moderate means can enjoy a waterfront home. I myself am far below moderate, yet I live a few feet away from the largest lake in the county. If you take a look at that link above you can see exactly where I am. Just look for the biggest lake, a slightly smaller one immediately to the south and the major canal that runs between them.

So in addition to enjoying the water with the added benefit of almost perfect flood control, life in Broward County really is nice. (If you ignore the traffic, but again that's another blog.) However, in recent years all of this water has caused a problem...one caused by some of the more stupid people who live here.

I'm talking about the people who turn loose their pet iguanas. Iguana iguana is a species not native to Florida and yet due to their popularity as a pet, South Florida is quickly becoming overrun with abandoned iguanas. In an attempt to curtail the release of these pets into the wild, authorities give people the opportunity to give their unwanted lizards to a sanctuary rather than incur any penalties. We'll see how well that works. And there are efforts to force legally obtained iguanas be tagged with a microchip so owners who free them can be punished. Again, we'll see.

Iguanas love water. They live in our lakes and in our canals. All of that wonderful water makes the perfect breeding ground and they are flourishing. So you can imagine that I have a lot of iguana neighbors. They're are actually quite amusing and not that dangerous. They're herbivores so they don't eat cats and dogs like freed pythons do (one released python was found with its belly split open after it attempted to eat an alligator!). And while they carry salmonella, if you don't bother they won't bother you, something most of us are quite used to when dealing with alligators. I enjoy watching them flee into the water when I take a walk along the lake. When we have a cold snap, they have a tendency to fall out of trees and it's fun to watch them wake up when they warm up.

Still, I am inherently opposed to any invasive species that poses a danger to my native Florida. And yes, that includes humans. The biggest problem I have with iguanas is that they tend to take over the dens of the wonderful Burrowing Owl. Not only are they cute as heck, but my university's mascot is the Burrowing Owl.

However, like the Melaleuca and Bufo toads I'm afraid they're here to stay.

--->Susan