Florida preserves college-level civics literacy requirements

Who’s second in the line of presidential succession? Speaker of the House, you say? Good job. You know your civics.

When President Reagan was shot in 1981, Secretary of State Alexander Haig said, “Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president, and the secretary of state in that order…I am in control here.”

Haig later insisted he was talking about the executive branch, not the presidential line of succession. Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, was not amused.

Either way, Florida wants to make sure its citizens are civics literate. So if you didn’t know your civics in high school, you’re in luck, because civics literacy is a graduation requirement at all state colleges and universities. It has been since 2017.

Civics literacy means an understanding of history and how government works.

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted to amend the 2017 law, introducing “The Florida Civic Literacy Test,” which basically was just a version of the U.S. Immigration Services Naturalization Test.

It was a 100 multiple-choice test and you only had to get 60 right to pass, the equivalent of a “D” letter grade.

To be clear, there are 100 questions would-be citizens have to study, but the examiner randomly selects ten from the 100 and the test taker isn’t given multiple choices. They have to know the answers to six questions, in addition to passing reading, writing, and speaking tests.

The Florida Department of Education (FDE) withdrew the amendment it had proposed after parties petitioned against it at the end of May. The amendment would have added the test as one of several options by which Florida College System students could demonstrate civic literacy competency.

But a representative from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), one of the petitioners against the proposed rule change, said that the citizenship test is problematic. “The problem with the proposed rule was that it created a test that could be passed by scoring 60 percent on a memorization test instead of completing a university-level course or an existing assessment specifically designed to measure collegiate level learning,” said Jonathan Pidluzny, ACTA’s vice president of academic affairs.

An ACTA press release states that the proposed rule would have “seriously weakened” the 2017 law, which says educators must “establish course competencies and identify outcomes that include, at minimum, an understanding of the basic principles of American democracy and how they are applied in our republican form of government, an understanding of the United States Constitution, knowledge of the founding documents, and how they have shaped the nature and functions of our institutions of self-governance, and an understanding of landmark Supreme Court cases and their impact on law and society.”

The Parklander requested a copy of the multiple-choice test from the Florida Department of Education, but officials did not supply one.

Civics test

A recent survey of 41,000 Americans, conducted by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, indicates less than four in ten Americans could pass a civics test. Some other notable facts from the survey: Those in Vermont had the highest passing rate (53 percent); the next four highest scoring states were Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Virginia. Meanwhile, Louisiana had the lowest passing rate (27 percent), followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Florida’s score was 29 percent. The questions below come from 100 used in the citizenship test.

Scroll below for correct answers

What is the supreme law of the land?
When was the Constitution written?
How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?
What position is third in line of Presidential succession? (Hint, it’s still not Secretary of State.)
Who is the current Chief Justice of the United States?
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
Name one right or freedom under the First Amendment.
Who was the president during World War I?

ANSWERS:

January 15, 2021December 30, 2020

FAU scholarships open for first-generation students

For Lake Worth resident and FAU junior, Jaireen Ruiz, 20, college at one time felt like a distant dream rather than an attainable goal.

A native of Puerto Rico, and a first-generation college student, Ruiz applied to FAU “without hesitation” and received the Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars Program designed for first-generation students.

“I applied for this scholarship because I did not want to be defined by missed opportunities,” says Ruiz, who is majoring in elementary education. “I am proud of taking the initiative and being courageous in my pursuit of higher education and success.”

The Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars Program offers academically talented, first-generation, low-income high school seniors the opportunity to attend and graduate from FAU, debt-free.

Selected students receive four-year financial aid packages for tuition, on- campus housing, books, a meal plan, and additional resources needed to complete their college degree.

Each scholar follows “The Path,” a 17-step program which includes wraparound services supporting successful collegiate careers and post graduate lives, including career planning, mentoring, financial literacy resume writing, and life planning skills.

The program was developed by Boca Raton philanthropists Aubrey and Sally Strul in conjunction with FAU President John Kelly and first lady Carolyn Kelly.

“FAU prides itself on making higher education accessible to underserved and underrepresented communities,” says Kelly. “The Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars program is helping to eliminate inequity and provide students with the tools to turn their dreams into reality — and ensure that everyone succeeds.”

Since 2017, the program has graduated two scholars and grown to
currently include nearly 50 scholars.

As a former first-generation student, Aubrey Strul, a 72-yr. old industrialist, now living in Boca Raton, felt compelled to lessen the financial burden of school debt for students by providing an initial investment of $1 million to launch the program.

The son of immigrants from Lithuania whose parents met and married in South Africa, Strul was born in Johannesburg and was the first in his family to attend college where he studied accounting, finance, and mathematics.

He came to the United States in 1977 and says, “I was a quick learner and studied a lot,” but admits he valued his social life as well and says it made him a more well-rounded student.

“I am a firm believer that developing social skills is an important aspect of an education,” Struhl says, and it was this philosophy he carried over to running his businesses.

“My most valuable asset was our people,” he says. “I fostered an incredible, inclusive work culture. My philosophy was ‘always inclusion, never exclusion.’ If you build a team that cares, your organization will be successful. People are the most important asset of any company.”

Strul was motivated to create the scholarship program to level the playing the field for first-generation students and to help them address potential barriers, including financial barriers, to their academic success.

“To flourish as a country, we must provide equal and fair access to all students in the U.S.,” he says. “I understand the uphill battle these students face to earn their education.”

“The first step was to ensure our students could graduate debt-free,” Strul says. “The mountain of debt many students must incur to attend college unfairly impacts their success for many years.”

In addition, the scholarship package includes on-campus housing for all four years, as a way of offering students the full college experience, which Strul believes is instrumental to students’ social development.

Strul has created a five-point plan for success for his scholarship recipients:

Always do the right thing, no matter how difficult; character is everything; always try and help others; set realistic goals, then focus and achieve them; and NEVER give up.

For Ruiz, once she graduates in 2022, she hopes to make a difference in the lives of her future elementary school students, as her mentors have made a difference in her life.

What would she tell other first-generation students?

“It’s simple,” she says: “Don’t allow your setbacks and circumstances to define you. See yourself for the unbridled potential you possess. It can be intimidating, but surround yourself with people who support you in your path – you do not have to navigate this experience alone.”

“Enjoy the journey of attending college: it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she adds.

The application process for the Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars Class of 2025 is now open.

For questions regarding the application, contact Keven Allen, Scholarship Director, at kallenjr@fau.edu. To learn more about the Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars Program, visit kellystrulscholars.fau.edu.

For best consideration, applications should be submitted by Monday, February 1 but will be accepted through Monday, March 1.

January 15, 2021December 30, 2020

From dirt supply line to six lanes of bustle and business

Drivers regularly travel roadways like “telegraph road” or “post road” without giving the names a second thought. Yet, road names often have historical roots with interesting stories behind them. South Florida’s Military Trail is one with a history older than Florida’s statehood.

Today’s Military Trail is a 46-mile, north and south, commuter route running from Jupiter to Pompano Beach, teeming with modern development and prone to congestion. It’s a far cry from its origins as a trail blazed by Tennessee and Missouri military volunteers during the Second Seminole War (1835- 1842).

Well before Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, the Seminole people were being driven out by settlers moving into their homeland. Conflicts naturally ensued, eventually leading to the three Seminole Wars between 1817 and 1858.

The second war erupted after the U.S. government tried to forcefully remove all Seminoles from Florida.

Seminoles were adept at guerrilla warfare and used their knowledge of the Everglades to their advantage. Outnumbered and outgunned, however, by 1842, according to britannica.com, “some 3,000 to 4,000 Seminoles had been resettled, and only a few hundred remained. The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 promoted white settlement in Florida and the Second Seminole War was declared over on August 14, 1842.”

Toward the beginning of the second conflict, President Andrew Jackson dispatched General Thomas Jesup to assume control of the Florida troops. The military began building a string of posts in South Florida, starting with Fort Dallas (today’s Miami) in 1836, then Fort Jupiter in 1838.

Jesup ordered 233 Tennessee volunteers to cut a supply trail from Fort Jupiter to the New River in what is now Broward County.

The group was led by Major William Lauderdale, a longtime colleague of Andrew Jackson and fellow Tennessean. Volunteers followed the dryer ground of a coastal pine ridge, cutting a 63-mile path through the hammocks to the river in just four days. There, they established the garrison eventually named Fort Lauderdale. That path, originally known as “Lauderdale’s Route,” was used for military transport during the next two decades of the Seminole conflict and eventually dubbed “Military Trail.”

After the Seminole wars ended, the trail continued to see foot traffic and passenger and freight movement via covered wagons. Eventually, the trail slipped into relative disuse, until Henry Flagler put his mark on Florida in the late 19th century.

Flagler’s East Coast Railway and the resort hotels he built along the coast put South Florida on the map. Soon, rampant land speculation took hold across South Florida, which included the area along Military Trail. By the early 20th century, moneyed Northerners were lured by sales-literature rife with praise for what was otherwise wilderness and swampland. They arrived first by train and eventually by automobile, all wanting their piece of Florida.

By the 1920s, coastal towns like Palm Beach and Lake Worth were blossoming. To handle the influx of people and their automobiles, better roads were needed. Along with new roads, improvements were made to existing routes like Military Trail. Some sections along Military Trail were paved as early as 1923. Other stretches were improved, often by hand, under Franklin Roosevelt’s WPA in the 1930s.

Yet, up to WWII, much of South Florida remained undeveloped and lengths of Military Trail still unimproved, mainly serving area farms and ranches. Rather than residents and vacationers, herds of roaming cattle filled the landscape.

Post-WWII, another real estate boom brought an even greater influx of arrivals than in the 1920s. Palm Beach became one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, with its population doubling in the 1950s. Military Trail grew into a transportation artery as Palm Beach and other coastal cities spread westward.

Amazingly, even into the 1960s, there were sections of Military Trail that were still two-lanes and even dirt roadway. Delray Beach, not much more than a sleepy retirement village in the 1960s, contained a dirt length of the road flanked by farmland.

In Boca Raton, Lynn University began life in 1962, astride a dirt stretch. As late as 1979, Military Trail in Boynton Beach remained a single-lane dirt path mainly used by area farms and ranches. Most everything west was still agricultural. In 1980, a shopping center with a Kmart being built west of Military Trail was hailed as a big deal. A small stretch of single-lane pavement designated as “Old Military Trail” still exists in Boynton Beach.

Military Trail experienced its own growing pains alongside South Florida’s exponential growth in the 1980s. Now often at six lanes, it’s hard to even envision the wilderness trail troops carved by hand nearly two centuries earlier. And, while shorter, today’s 46 miles still follow the path soldiers marched from Fort Jupiter to Fort Dallas and serves as a reminder of a somber chapter in Florida’s history.

January 8, 2021December 29, 2020

‘It takes a village’

“It takes a village” is an African proverb that means that an entire community of people must interact with children for them to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

Many of us have commented in jest to our friends, “it takes a village” when trying to corral an unruly child at a birthday party or playdate. As we are having a difficult time, we lean on our friends to ease the burden.

This phrase is commonly spoken in the context of the parent’s point of view.

What about the child’s point of view?

Shouldn’t all children have the benefit of a village to experience life and grow in a safe and healthy environment?

What if the child does not grow up with parents, let alone an entire village? What if, instead of birthday parties and playdates, a child is forced to sleep on distant relatives’ couches, or worse, in a homeless shelter?

This is the life of many foster children, right in our back yard.

It is unfair and sad that so many children grow up bouncing around between group homes or private homes of “foster parents” because of their parental neglect, abuse, or drug use.

Not many people are willing to help even one foster child, let alone hundreds of foster children that need not only the essentials (shelter and food), but positivity, support, and guidance to become successful members of society.

In part, because of one woman’s time and dedication, foster children in Broward County have a village to call their own.

Jillian Smath is the CEO of SOS Children’s Villages, a residential foster care community in Coconut Creek. SOS has 15 buildings around a cul-de-sac – 13 foster homes, a community center, and an administrative office. The 13 homes foster approximately 60 children at any given time.

Jillian lives in Parkland with her husband, Lee, and daughters, Emily, 16 and Marlee, 14.

Before being promoted to CEO in 2015, Jillian started at SOS in 1997 as a case manager. Jillian learned about SOS while working for the Department of Children and Families (“DCF”).

While at DCF, Jillian remembers having a little girl on her caseload who was bouncing from foster home to foster home as nobody wanted to keep her for any extended period. She was a very outspoken and spirited little girl, which presented a challenge for many foster parents.

One of Jillian’s coworkers told her about SOS and she made the referral. Jillian brought her out to SOS for an interview and immediately fell in love with what she saw. She placed this little girl in March of 1997 and then read the classifieds every day in hopes that a job opportunity would open. A few months later a position became available.

“The little girl is now 34,” Jillian says proudly, “a mom and a part of my life – she calls me her godmother.”

Over the past 23 years Jillian’s efforts securing donations and grants and overseeing the foster parents have transformed SOS into one of the largest foster care villages in the state.

Jillian has met every child that ever lived at SOS, approximately 800 children. She has seen the impact SOS has made on these children as many of them go on to college or a trade school and stay in Broward County. Without SOS, these children would not have been given the opportunity to succeed. Their success makes our entire community stronger.

Jillian remains in touch with most of “her children” – many of whom now have families of their own. Her children continuously remind her that they owe their success to SOS.

The holidays are special times for families. Jillian is helping create a village for those who would be alone.

To learn more about SOS Broward or how you can donate, please visit www.sosflorida.com.

Philip Snyder, Esq. is a partner at Lyons and Snyder, a Plantation law firm specializing in personal injury.

January 8, 2021December 29, 2020

Colder temperatures, blustery winds bring sailfish

The cold fronts that sweep through South Florida in January have offshore anglers looking forward to celebrating the New Year by catching sailfish.

Cooler temperatures and blustery winds send the acrobatic billfish swimming south along the Atlantic coast this time of year. On a good day, it’s not unusual for boats to catch and release 10 or more of the state of Florida’s official saltwater fish. Tournament teams have released as many as 50 sailfish on a January day.

Although the fish can be caught by drifting with live sardines or trolling dead ballyhoo, serious sailfish anglers usually fly two fishing kites, each with a variety of baits.

As they head offshore, local captains consider a number of factors to determine where to start fishing: Everything from watercolor and clarity to the presence of baitfish and birds.

Capt. Mark Lamb of West Palm Beach likes to kite-fish along with a color change, which is where the water goes from green to deep blue.

“I’m going to run out to 100, 120 feet of water and start looking for an edge,” Lamb said. “I’m going to look for a temperature change and bait, like flying fish. I’m going to set up on that edge where the bait is. Put the boat out in the blue water and put your baits out on that edge.”

Top sailfish live baits include goggle-eyes, threadfin herring, pilchards, and sardines. The fishing kites are flown behind the boat and two or three fishing lines are clipped to each kite line to get the baits away from the boat. On those January days when sailfish are plentiful and biting, it’s not unusual to be fighting three or four fish at a time.

Lamb’s crew constantly adjusts the fishing lines as the kites move up and down with the wind to keep the baits splashing on the surface. That splashing attracts sailfish as well as kingfish, dolphin, wahoo, and tuna.

If the sailfish don’t bite at first, Lamb said to stay put and keep fishing, because the sailfish will eventually show up to eat.

“When you have a nice edge and there’s some bait around, don’t move,” Lamb said. “Sometimes you’ve got to be patient and fish rather than run around. In a sailfish tournament, two or three or four fish can change everything in minutes. You’re never out of it in a sailfish tournament.”

Lamb added that it can be hard to find an edge on cold-front days when the wind is blowing hard out of the northwest. Under those conditions, Lamb will slow-troll live baits “until we find something” and will often fish around wrecks, which, like edges, attract bait.

The standard tackle for sailfish is a 20-pound conventional outfit with a 15-foot 30-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to a size 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook. Successful tournament captains such as Casey Hunt of Key West and John Dudas of Miami prepare their sailfish leaders and hooks well before they leave the dock to go fishing, and they make sure all of their tackle is in tip-top condition.

“Every single time a line goes in the water, it’s perfect,” said Hunt, who has won billfish tournaments from Florida to the Bahamas to North Carolina. “The hooks, the knots. You’ve got to spend that extra time because that extra time is going to catch you more fish.”

Consider what often happens when you don’t take that time, whether you’re fishing in a tournament or you’re out on the weekend with friends:

A sailfish grabs one of your baits, jumps and snaps the leader because it’s chafed or your knots weren’t snugged up correctly. More hungry sailfish are behind your boat, but you don’t have a hook and leader ready to go. So you have to scramble to tie a new hook to some leader material, fasten it to a line and cast out another bait, but by then the fish are gone.

Dudas, who has won countless sailfish tournaments from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys, constantly evaluates the 20 fishing kites, which are rated for different wind strengths, that he carries on his boat.

“Make sure your kite flies the same, even if you used it yesterday,” said Dudas, who labels those kites based on whether they fly better to the left or to the right. “Fly a kite while you’re catching bait to test it out.”

Dudas, whose favorite sailfish bait is a herring, bridles all his kite baits with a rubber band to a 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook. Like Hunt and Lamb, when one of his anglers gets a bite, he has his crew keep the other baits in the water in case more sailfish are around.

“Sit tight, back off the drag and let him go,” said Hunt of the first sailfish you hook. “The longer you sit, the better chance you have of getting another bite.”

“If you can get one on and leave the rest of the baits working, the odds of catching a double or triple are probably 80 percent,” said Lamb, who has the angler with the first fish move to the bow while he positions the boat so the baits remain in the strike zone.

And what better way to get 2021 off to a good start than by catching and releasing a bunch of sailfish?

January 8, 2021December 29, 2020

2021-The year of the vaccine

We’ve closed the book on an unexpected 2020, where so much of our lives were dominated by the pandemic. COVID-19 will still be with us this year, but we hope our lives will slowly recover in 2021 as vaccines are made available for everyone.

Creating a new vaccine is time-consuming. Unlike the flu vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, there is no existing vaccine for coronaviruses to build upon. According to the CDC, COVID-19 vaccines must be developed and tested to ensure they work and are safe. Michal Linial, a professor of biological chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said “Classical vaccines were designed to take 10 years to develop.” So a new vaccine process is now being used for the early COVID-19 vaccines.

As of December 15th, three vaccines have been submitted for FDA approval. There are two mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines by Pfi zer and Moderna, and one DNA vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Both of these methods are relatively new, and until COVID-19, no DNA or mRNA vaccines had been approved in the US for human use.

The basic concept these vaccines use is to trick your body into producing proteins that appear to be similar to COVID-19 fragments, which will elicit an immune response from your body’s defense system. This response will protect you from infection from the live virus. This is a new process, compared to vaccines based on live or dead pathogen proteins. The new DNA and mRNA vaccines are non-infectious and can be produced faster and economically.

Both mRNA and DNA vaccines use your body to produce the proteins, using the instructions stored in either mRNA or DNA format. DNA instructions are processed inside your body’s cells to produce the proteins designed to emulate fragments from the virus; whereas mRNA is translated into the protein outside of the cell in your body’s intracellular fluid.

Since mRNA does not enter your cell, the chance of your genome being affected is averted. But mRNA is fragile, thus the cold storage requirements for these vaccines: -70 degrees Celsius for Pfi zer, and -20 degrees Celsius for Moderna. The advantage of the DNA vaccine like the Oxford-AstraZeneca version is to reach areas where cold storage is not common.

The minor and moderate side effects reported of these early vaccines are sore arm at the injection site, fever, fatigue, headache, joint pains, and muscle aches. These effects are due to your body ramping up for a virus infection, but because the vaccine is non-infectious, you will not get a case of COVID-19, just the symptoms from your body’s response.

According to Moderna, no one receiving the vaccine in their trials developed a severe case of COVID-19. The reported efficacy rate for these vaccines are in the 90-95% range, which is much higher than your typical flu vaccine.

While the creation and approval of these first sets of vaccines have been completed, the logistics of getting them delivered across the country has just begun. Operation Warp Speed (OWS), is a partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the Department of Defense (DoD).

OWS aims to accelerate the development, manufacture, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Their stated distribution objective “is for everyone to be able to easily get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as large quantities are available. Several thousand vaccination providers will be available, including doctors’ offices, retail pharmacies, hospitals, and federally qualified health centers.”

OWS has provided a playbook to state and local jurisdictions on the distribution of the vaccines. In Florida, the Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), an agency headed by Director Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland local, is responsible for the distribution of vaccines across the state. “We went out and bought dry ice machines,” said Director Moskowitz. “We got the ultra-cold freezers that we need. We feel that we’re in a good position.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has been planning since early summer on how best to distribute the vaccines, with initial distribution planned at five Florida hospitals (including Memorial Healthcare System in Broward), and eventually expanding to look like state testing sites. “It may even be the same sites we have now,” Moskowitz said. “Giving out the vaccine in a mass distribution — call it spring, late spring, early summer.”

So we say good riddance to 2020. There is much hope life will start returning to normal as more folks are vaccinated in 2021. As of Dec 15th, 2020, a new hope is slowly arriving in the form of vaccines, and state officials work through the prioritization process. The logistics of successfully implementing a smooth mass vaccination is immense, and we all need to follow the recommendations so we can get back to the OLD normal as quickly as possible.

Welcome to 2021, the year of the vaccine.

January 8, 2021December 29, 2020

Waist watching? Add soup, whole grains, citrus

As we start the New Year, I’ve had a ton of questions from my clients who are focused on giving a jump-start to their healthy lifestyle goals.

I’ve had questions on the Green cleanse, shapely shakes, citrus cleanse, green tea diet, food lovers cleanse, and more.

My response to those inquiries is consistent with my mantra — “For better health: All things in moderation. There is not one food that is all good or all bad for you.”

Now there are some food choices that can aid you in moving forward on the path to a healthier you.

Take soup for instance. Research published in the Journal Appetite showed that people who started lunch with vegetable soup ended up eating 20 percent less than those who skipped the soup.

The key to adding soup to your meal plan is to choose one that is broth-based, which is low energy density, and provides fewer calories per gram than other foods, and contains low to moderate amounts of sodium.

Soup contributes to a feeling of fullness, so by starting a meal with soup, it can prevent you from overeating.

Whole grain foods are also excellent choices for a healthy lifestyle. They are high in fiber, which can be helpful in weight management and weight loss.

Whole grains have always been around, but the “on-trend” group in the whole grain family falls under the moniker of ancient grains. These are grains such as farro, quinoa, and sorghum.

Farro is often labeled the “mother of all wheat species.” The grain is highly regarded in Italy and fast becoming one of the popular grains on-trend in the USA. Whole grain farro is high in fiber, protein, vitamin B3, and zinc. It is low in gluten.

Quinoa is technically a gluten-free seed. In cooking, however, it is used as a grain. It is high in protein, iron, and fiber.

Sorghum is a substitute for wheat, is gluten-free and also high in protein, iron, and fiber as well as a rich source of antioxidants.

Citrus fruits are also good options to include as you make steps to improve your well-being. These fruits have high fiber, high water content, and fewer calories per gram. These attributes will give you a greater feeling of fullness, helping to suppress your appetite.

Research indicates that eating a half grapefruit before meals can promote weight loss. In addition to waist-trimming qualities, grapefruit contains immune-boosting vitamins A and C, and antioxidants.

However, if you are taking prescription medication, make sure you check with your health care professional before making grapefruit part of your daily meal plan.

Take Away: You can enjoy a variety of foods eaten in moderation. Add
30 minutes of physical activity and you’ll have a head start toward your goals.

January 1, 2021December 29, 2020

SoFlo Gardening: January 2021

What to Plant

Annuals/Bedding plants: Plants that can be added to the garden during the coolest months include begonia, browallia, lobelia, dianthus, dusty miller, and nicotiana.

Bulbs: Winter is a great time to plant bulbs that will bloom in the spring. Some examples include Clivia lily, crinum, and agapanthus.

Herbs: Many herbs will thrive now that temperatures are cooler, including tarragon, thyme, dill, fennel, and any of the mints.

Vegetables: Many vegetables can be planted this time of year. This is the last month to plant Irish potatoes, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, and turnips.

What to Do

Landscape: It is a good time to plant woody shrubs. Water frequently to get new plantings off to a good start.

Irrigation: Water plants if temperatures remain higher than normal and rainfall is scarce.

Shrubs and trees: Prune non-spring flowering shrubs and trees this month to improve form.

Arbor Day: Celebrate Florida Arbor Day (the 3rd Friday of January) by planting a tree in your yard or community.

Crapemyrtle: Remove seed pods, crossing branches, and small twiggy growth to improve the plant’s appearance and form, if desired. Hard pruning is not required.

Cold protection: Bring sensitive plants like orchids inside if a frost or freeze is predicted. Thoroughly water and cover sensitive plants in the landscape 12–24 hours before a freeze.

Pests: Apply horticultural oil to citrus, shrubs, and deciduous fruit trees while plants are dormant to control scale. Apply copper spray to mangos after bloom.

Source: University of Florida IFAS Extension

January 1, 2021December 29, 2020

Mental health hotline mandated

Awareness of mental health challenges has been increasing at the local, state, and national levels. Efforts focus on ensuring folks who need to talk to someone during a mental health emergency can access the help they need.

Nationally, on Oct 17th, President Trump signed a bipartisan bill (S.2661) to create a new national hotline. The FCC already allocated 988 as the number, to replace a 10-digit phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL). The new law also created a fee that a state may levy to support the hotline, similar to how the current 911 system works.

The bill mandates a July 16th, 2022 deadline for phone companies to enable the new service. Meanwhile, there are existing resources people have access to, including Broward County’s 2-1-1 Broward https://2-1-1-broward.org.

2-1-1 Broward has been a local non- profit resource for people who need to talk to someone since it was founded in 1995. Their mission statement is to provide a “24-hour comprehensive helpline, providing all people with crisis, health, and human services support and connecting them to resources in our community.”

For the past 6 years, 2-1-1 Broward has averaged 116,000 incoming calls a year. Since April 2020, 2-1-1 Broward has seen a steady increase of calls, up 82 percent in September.

The most common calls are related to COVID-19 services, basic needs (food, clothing), hospitalization, financial, and mental health services.

According to 2-1-1 Broward, some of the callers simply need listening support to de-escalate their situation.

The non- profit organization provides referrals to other professionals such as counseling, telehealth, crisis centers, support groups, family counseling, trauma-informed care, etc.

Due to COVID-19, 2-1-1 Broward has evolved to continue to service the community. The call center is fully remote for the safety of their workers. The resource database has been expanded to cover COVID-19 related responses. Additional staff is trained and hired to provide for Broward residents.

2-1-1 Broward is also nationally affiliated with Lifeline, which operates the national 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Calls from Broward to the national hotline are routed to 2-1-1 Broward. They also participate in many national programs, such as the Ride United Last-Mile Delivery program where, since April 2020, over 75,000 meals have been delivered across Broward County. The program aims to deliver food and supplies to vulnerable populations as a response to COVID-19.

You can find out more at their website: https://2-1-1-broward.org.

January 1, 2021December 29, 2020

MSD victim’s dad counseled by President-elect Biden

Two dates are at the center of Fred Guttenberg’s recently released Find the Helpers — Sept. 11, 2001 and Feb. 14, 2018.

The small but affecting book recounts the lives and heart-rending deaths of Guttenberg’s brother, Michael, a first-responder at Ground Zero who as a result later died of pancreatic cancer, and his daughter, Jaime, a 14-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was among the 17 slain in the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

But for Guttenberg, another date promises hope: Jan. 20, 2021 — Inauguration Day, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

Biden’s election and the transition away from four years of the presidency of Donald Trump promise more than wishful thinking for Guttenberg. The 54 year-old Broward man has spoken often with Biden, who is notable among the “helpers” at the heart of Guttenberg’s book.

“For me, the Vice President has been a helper,” Guttenberg writes in the book, released in September by Mango Publishing. “He has given me the advice that I needed to go forward from the worst moment in my life, often speaking to me about mission and purpose. That advice has formed my life and my advocacy since.”

In the aftermath of the MSD shooting, Guttenberg and his wife, Jennifer, started the nonprofit Orange Ribbons for Jaime to advocate for gun safety. Guttenberg has been ubiquitous and vocal in his activism.

He has testified in U.S. Senate hearings and been invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention this past summer as well as speaking his piece at nationally televised town halls, marches and vigils, occasionally clashing publicly with Washington political figures, like Florida’s Republican senator Marco Rubio, who back de- regulating gun ownership.

Invited to attend Trump’s last State of the Union address this past February, Guttenberg was escorted out of the House chamber after standing shouting at the president, who had taken time to express his support for continued liberalized Second Amendment rights.

Biden “has an understanding of what Americans go through,” Guttenberg said in a recent interview.

Biden’s plan to address gun violence is detailed and, as Guttenberg notes, backed by a majority of Americans. Among the proposals are repealing a law that protects gun manufacturers from legal liability, banning the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines paired with nationwide buy-backs, closing loopholes in background checks before gun purchases, and allowing states to implement “red flag” laws.

Biden also wants to enact legislation to support survivors of gun violence and their communities.

“He plans to treat gun violence like the public health emergency it is,” Guttenberg said. “His commitment is real.”

Guttenberg says in Find the Helpers that his life’s goal is “to break the gun lobby,” and to help elect lawmakers who support gun safety and defeat those who don’t. How his aims will dovetail with Biden’s plans, Guttenberg doesn’t yet know, but his voice is hopeful and resounding with the inspiration that suffuses his book.

“I can’t say what my role will be, but I intend to have a role,” he said.

Find the Helpers: What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose, and Hope

by Fred Guttenberg

Forward by Bradley Whitford

Mango Publishing, Sept. 22, 2020

Hardcover, 198 pages (18,000 copies currently in print)

Available at Amazon (hardcover and Kindle), Target.com, Barnes & Noble
and Indiebound.org.

List price: $19.95

Notable reviews by U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Alyssa Milano, Debra Messing, former Congressman David Jolly, and Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst and former U.S. Army prosecutor.

Find the Helpers was named among the Best Political Books of 2020 by MarieClaire.com and has been noted in newspapers across the country, including the Virginian-Pilot, Twin Cities Pioneer-Press and Columbus Dispatch, in addition to the South Florida Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

‘Jaime’s Law’ to be re-introduced to Florida legislature

Florida Phoenix

Legislation has been filed for next year’s session of the Florida Legislature that would close a loophole that can allow people barred from owning firearms because of criminal histories to nevertheless purchase ammunition without a background check.

The proposal (HB 25) is similar to a bill that failed during last year’s session. It’s called “Jaime’s Law,” after Jaime Guttenberg, aged 14, one of the 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“As a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, nothing is more important to me than preventing another tragedy like what our community experienced from ever happening again,” bill sponsor Dan Daley, a Democrat from Coral Springs, said in written statement.

“Jaime’s Law is a huge step in the right direction towards ensuring that weapons and ammunition stay out of dangerous hands. It’s also common sense and does not restrict the rights of legal gun owners,” he said.

Bartenders are required to card people who order beers, he noted. “Why isn’t a vendor required by law to ensure that someone seeking to purchase ammunition is legally allowed to do so?”

Daley filed similar legislation last year, as did Sen. Lauren Book, also a Broward Democrat, but it failed.

Existing law requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks on buyers and to refuse purchasers who have felony convictions, histories of domestic violence, or mental illness. But the law doesn’t apply to ammo sales.

Daley’s bill would require that purchase records for law-abiding people remain confidential. It cites an existing ban on any gun registration lists. The Legislature when passing that ban declared such a list “an instrument that can be used as a means to profile innocent citizens and to harass and abuse American citizens based solely on their choice to own firearms and exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under the United States Constitution.”

Following the Parkland shootings, the 2018 Legislature voted to let
some school personnel carry guns on campus and the next year to allow teachers to carry under some circumstances.

Gun reform advocate Fred Guttenberg, Jaime’s father, has endorsed the proposal.

“With approximately 400 million weapons already on the streets, we must make it harder for those who intend to kill to do so,” he said.

“Prohibited purchasers of weapons are also prohibited from buying ammunition, but there is no mechanism in place to keep that ammunition out of their hands. We must close this ammunition loophole and this bill is a step in the right direction to do it. Jaime’s Law will help save lives immediately.”

Visit www.floridaphoenix.com for more news on state politics.

December 30, 2020December 29, 2020

Rewind: Somerset Academy Christmas parade

One of the parents at Somerset Parkland Academy, Jennifer Knight, approached the school the week before Thanksgiving with an idea to bring the on-campus kids together with the virtual students at one fun holiday event to give the kids a sense of normalcy during this crazy 2020 year.

With the support of Principal Geyler Castro and Vice- Principal Meg Campbell, Jennifer began raising money through sponsorships and in-kind donations to bring the Winter Caravan to life. She recruited her husband, Patrick, to deal with all the logistics and set-up work and the project began to grow in size and scope as they had to plan how to entertain nearly 200 cars coming through a caravan before they even reached the final stations ofPolar Express, Hanukkah, Frozen, Grinch, Candyland, Santa’s Workshop, and the Photo with Santa.

On December 17, 2020, each attendee made their way around the school parking lot, while enjoying costumed characters and stilt walkers parading around the caravan. DJ Cruz provided a fun Christmas light show with games.

Somerset Parkland wanted to end the year with flair as this Winter Caravan is another creative idea to allow the virtual students to experience the same holiday event as the in-person students.

At the end of the day, it was all for the kids and the joy on their faces made it all worth it.

December 23, 2020December 3, 2020

New exhibits at Boca Raton Museum of Art

In keeping with the spirit of the times, the Boca Raton Museum of Art is hosting six new exhibitions, many of them featuring works by women and artists of color. Three exhibits opened in October and the other three will open Jan. 26, 2021.

Two shows were extended beyond the quarantine and will continue through Jan. 3: Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers, and Works on Paper: Drawn from the Collection.

“This year has been an unprecedented journey for cultural institutions,” says Irvin Lippman, executive director of the museum. “We are fortunate to be able to provide new initiatives and exhibitions and, most importantly, a safe haven for visitors — a place of repose and enjoyment.”

“Our latest exhibits are part of recent acquisitions underscoring that the museum’s collection continues to evolve with new works by women and artists of color who challenge us to see the world anew,” says Lippman.

One of those women is Jamaican-American artist Renee Cox, known for her collection, “Flipping the Script,” which speaks to race, religion, and gender roles.

Cox flips the script again in her new work titled, “The Signing,” part of the Museum’s latest exhibition. The 15-facetime. long photograph reimagines Howard Chandler Christy’s iconic painting, “Scene at The Signing of the Constitution of the United States.”

In Cox’s interpretation, people of color, wearing traditional African clothing and period clothing from the 1700s or contemporary items, stand in for the founding fathers.

Another artist of color – the late Benjamin Patterson, one of the founding members of the Fluxus art movement during the 1960s-70s, which claims Yoko Ono as one of its own, has his work, “My Thirteen Presidents,”showcased at the museum.

Patterson depicts American presidents, along with their astrological signs, who served during his lifetime (1934- 2016) from Roosevelt to Obama.

Also on display and spanning an entire wall in the first floor gallery is Norwegian artist, Trine Lise Nedreaas’s 22-minute three-panel synchronized film, “The Entertainers” featuring the video, “The Mask,” in which a subject, Arthur, transforms himself into his alter-ego, Arthuro the Clown.

On the museum’s second floor, Delray Beach-based ceramicist and steel sculptor, Jeff Whyman’s, “Out of Nature,” features a selection of his one-of-a-kind ceramics using clays from California and Washington, and fabricated in kilns from Illinois, Missouri, and Florida, all yielding different results.

Whyman creates his works all in one moment while the clay is still wet. He uses the wheel to throw his vessels while spontaneously adding a mix of materials: sea glass, Chinese crystals, and mineral oxides.

Coming in January are “Glasstress Boca Raton 2021,” featuring Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s Blossom chandelier sculpture, that will travel by boat from Italy to Boca Raton, “An Irresistible Urge to Create: The Monroe Family Collection of Florida Outsider Art,” and “Paul Gervais: Faces and Forms.”

Read more about all of the upcoming shows at bocamuseum.org/art/ upcoming-exhibitions.