New Here

When you're new to a place, you don't know enough not to be surprised by stuff. For instance, I'd seen the Brazilian martial art/dance form capoeira before, but never in such close proximity as on Friday night, when it was a featured attraction of the ¡oye, Tampa! Summer Bash at the Covivant Gallery. The Tampa Capoeira troupe kicked and flipped and pinwheeled within centimeters of each other's heads and the heads of anyone sitting or standing close by — and in this tightly packed crowd, we were all pretty close by.

So why did it feel like I was the only one with mouth agape, gasping at every move? The audience was enthusiastic, but not exactly astonished. Maybe martial arts displays always break out in the midst of art openings around here. I don't know — you tell me.

Other questions that have been gnawing at me: Why is it so hard to find a damn post office? Why is downtown Tampa so deserted on Saturday — and conversely, why, if downtown is so deserted on a Saturday, are the red lights still so loooong? I swear I waited at a light long enough for a pigeon to make a complete traversal of the crosswalk. (Why did the pigeon cross the road? Under these conditions, why fly?)

And how do you get your kids to accept going back to school in the first week of August?

Okay, Dave, you're saying, that'll be enough open-mouthed wonder and annoyance for now. But I told you I'd be asking stupid questions, in the hopes of receiving some not-so-stupid answers. And I'm going to be making a habit of it, in this, my newly christened semi-regular column, "New Here."

I got a nice pile of e-mails in response to my "Hi I'm the new editor, gee ain't Florida keen" essay a few weeks ago. Most were of the welcoming variety, except for the woman who vowed never to read the Planet again, and many expressed a common sentiment: "I'm new here, too."It all reinforced my feeling that the steady influx of newcomers is key to this state's character. "New Here" doesn't just refer to my own condition, though that's what I'll be speaking from for as long as my newbie shelf-life holds out. It's also a description of the Central Florida zeitgeist.

As a former resident of a Northeastern city fighting population decline, I'm finding it quite a heady experience to be living in a place more people are moving to than from. "Welcome to the Sunbelt," said one friend of mine when I mentioned this reversal.

Yet the Sunbelt thing doesn't seem to have improved the region's self-image much. I keep hearing "Tampa wants to be New York," which is nuts. I can understand Philly feeling overshadowed by NYC — the Big Apple looms close by, just two hours up the Jersey Turnpike. But we're way down here in the Sunshine (aka the Monsoon) State. This is the I-4 corridor, the area that will decide the next presidential election, according to a recent U.S. News and World Report. We don't need no stinkin' New York — we're in the driver's seat!

Then again, there was the 2000 debacle, for which self-flagellation is definitely the correct response. And Florida will deserve every last lash if we botch up yet another vote. With turnout in the U.S. embarrassingly low already, it defies sense that a state legislature should go out of its way to find ways to stop people from voting (the convicted-felon ban). But if we compound that by screwing the eligible voters, too — well, Florida, it's not New York we'll be comparing ourselves to, but one of those dictator-led banana republics where official delegations led by Jimmy Carter show up to monitor election fairness.

But enough with the Yankee-interloper finger-pointing.

"New Here" will also talk about what's new here — at the Weekly Planet. This week, as a first step in changing the mix in the front of the book, we're opening the Talk of the Town section with actual talk of the town (or towns): a new feature called "Scene & Herd." Scott Harrell is essentially expanding his "Field Trip" gig to go on lots of shorter trips to lots more destinations, so that each week we get a snapshot of what's been going on in any number of local scenes, from political spectacles to artful debaucheries to the kind of off-the-radar incidents only Scott seems to stumble upon.

This week's issue also includes a special feature: a page of short excerpts from the work of young journalists from all over the country selected to study this summer at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg. It's just a sampling of the stories they found; check out the website pointssouth.net for an idea of what fresh eyes see when they hit one of our Central Florida towns.

This week also marks a milestone for a treasured member of the Weekly Planet editorial team. Susan Edwards has been with the paper in various capacities since 1998, including the editor's spot from 2000 to 2002. She has proven from week to week that a good journalist, whether recent arrival or longtime resident, is always finding fresh perspectives, new characters, hidden stories. Her editorial skills and wondrous efficiency have stood the paper in good stead everywhere from her work with the paper's arts writers to her column, Metropolis, to her leadership in special issues like Best of the Bay.

All of which leads to the bittersweet news that Susan's leaving the paper. This summer she has been helping the paper make the transition between editors. But now she's cutting the cord once and for all, she says, eager for challenges of a non-Planetary nature. I will miss her wicked sense of humor and acute sense of history. Frankly, I hope she changes her mind about leaving, but I also wish her the best in her next new adventure.

Contact Editor David Warner at 813-739-4854, or at david.warner@weeklyplanet.com.

This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2004.