Another favorite disscusion

1.Michael Grunwald makes the case that Al Gore, our greenest vice president in history, blew the 2000 presidential election by 573 votes, in the south Florida, Miami voting area (p.88). What do you think about the scenario he paints? Do you agree or disagree with his analysis? Or do you have another theory as to why he lost?

That was the year that all those recounts occurred and that could have had something to do with Al Gore losing the presidential election. Grunwald's opinion was very white, not black and white. Most people that are arguing show both sides, they do not really back the apposing idea, they tell it and then refute it. He made it sound like Gore was getting beat up, which he might have but I though Grunwald might have embellished a little bit. There was something going on that Gore did not want to bring out that might have if he were to take a stand, but hey if Gore would have won he never would have received a Noble Peace Prize for giving a lunatics idea about global warming when Florida has had some of he coldest winters to date.

2. When you read this chapter of Grunwald’s book, what do you think about the role of local, state and Federal politics in the preservation effort to save the Everglades? Can you back up your opinion with an example from this chapter.

All I kept thinking of while reading this was the School House Rock song “I'm Just a Bill”, I know that is corny but I honestly was thinking of the rolled up paper sitting on Capital Hill. Obviously the ones that are going to have the strongest feelings and arguments are going to be Local Government, they not only live in the area the are governing but it is in the best interest for them to argue for only the best of the local area. We go to school on some Everglades reserves and that is why our school is not as big as other universities, the land we are building on is protected and it is slowly becoming unprotected. Is this a good thing or a bad thing that land that was once protected is becoming unprotected so we can have another parking garage.

Happy 4th of July

After my trip to downtown Fort Myers I decided the weather was not good enough for me to have really taken it all in. I heard about the fourth event that was going on in downtown. I decided to go with my girlfriend and enjoy the sights. We went window shopping and just walked around for hours. We went into this amazing art gallery and found out that the first Friday of every month there is a open art gallery in all of downtown, every shop opens their doors to show the art work.
There were moon bounces and carnival games all over the place and parking was near impossible to find. We had a lot of fun just walking around and looking around. We went into this pizza place for lunch and it was really good, they made it right there in front of you. The slices were huge and I of course tried to be a big shot and eat two. I got one and three fourths down.
Downtown Fort Myers really made me think of downtown Orlando, where I am from. There were not any tall buildings, but I liked it, I did not feel so overwhelmed.

Down Town Fort Myers

1876- 1897 Construction was wood frame, but things were changing. Two general stores, a school, and a number of private homes were built in Fort Myers. Once the United States Post Office went up the town’s name was officially changed to Fort Myers. Hotels began to appear and the town’s population went up to 349 and they would settle along the river. 1898-1919 The population was up to 943 and the town was going through a building boom. A rail road was built which helped with the communities uprising. A power plant, several banks, commercial ice plants, and new hotels were continuing to show up in Fort Myers. 1920 – 1927 Growth radiating out in all directions from the old fort grounds was to be seen during the 1920's. Still-prominent developments such as Seminole Park, Riverside Park, Edison Park, Valencia Terrace, Allen Park, Alabama Groves and others had their beginnings in the Boom Time. It was also during this exciting period that the Seaboard Railroad came to town offering competition to Henry Plant's older Coast Line. Today three terminals from this period can still be seen in the city. The opening of Tamiami Trail, linking Ft. Myers with Tampa and Miami, added even more to the fantastic growth during this time. 1930 - 1939 Ft. Myers suffered along with the rest of the state when a combination of poor publicity, hurricanes, and inadequate planning brought a collapse to Florida's boom time. The Edison Bridge was constructed making travel to the north much more convenient. Construction began in 1936, with World War II bringing the Coast Guard to the Yacht Basin under the direction of Louis Conant. 1940 - present The big story of the 1940's in Ft. Myers, as everywhere else in the world, was World War II. Every county in Florida had air bases to take advantage of Florida's fine flying weather. Lee County's bases brought servicemen, and sometimes their families to Ft. Myers. In the years since World War II, Ft. Myers has grown along with Lee County and the rest of Southwest Florida. Gradually, vacant commercial and residential sites have been filled in. Development has been concentrated east and west along the river, and south along Cleveland Avenue. New commercial buildings and shopping centers have cropped up in all parts of the city. Fortunately, the older downtown area, and much of the city's historic districts, have retained much of their old charm. Today Downtown Ft. Myers is filled with businesses ranging from boutiques, restaurants, cafes, antiques stores, jewlers, financial houses, apartments, and professional offices to a convention center. Also Centennial Park is a popular place for visitors and residents to gather for concerts and other functions.

Fort Myers Field Trip

Today I sat at Centennial Park. The weather was bad and it going to rain so I could not stay at the park very long. There was a great view of the harbor from the bench I decided to sit at. I could hear the cars on the bridge and thunder from the upcoming storm. The smell of mulch and the harbor filled the air. I wondered where the park got its name from. So when I got home I looked it up. The park was named because of the centennial of the founding of Fort Myers.

There was a fountain in the park, Uncommon Friend Fountain. The fountain has Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone in conversation. This was because all three had winter homes in Fort Myers. Also in the fountain were some otters, an alligator, and a manatee. These are three great inventors in thought together. The fountain was designed by D.J. Wilkins.

Jacob Summerlin was a cattle herder who would bring his herd past the old fort grounds on the way to Punta Rassa, just like Tobias in A Land Remembered. McGregor boulevard use to be Riverside Drive, which was the road that all three men in the Uncommon Friend Fountain lived on in their summer homes. George Washington Hendry was a Captain for the U.S. Army and was ordered to send ten men to scope out Fort Myers. He then lived in Fort Myers for three to four years.

Ft. Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee River as a base of operations against the Seminole Indians. Ft. Denaud, Ft. Thompson, and Ft. Dulany (Punta Rassa) all pre-date Ft. Myers. When a hurricane destroyed Ft. Dulany in October 1841, the military was forced to look for a site less exposed to storms from the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the search, Ft. Harvie was built on the grounds that now comprise Downtown Ft. Myers.

A Land Remembered

I read this book in 8th grade and was amazing then.It was nice to read it again because there were some things I forgot. I really enjoyed it again because I am older now and picked up and understood a lot more. I really liked Zech this go around, I mean I was probably more disappointed in him cheating on his wife, but really felt I could relate to him. He was a really good character because he was just like his dad but more modern, less unaware of how things were changes and that it is either evolve on be left behind. That does not mean he changed who he was, he stayed true to himself but was able to change what was necessary to stay alive.

Just some thoughts

 I had to read this excerpt for class. The text talks about “the right to food” for all 6.8 billion of us. Do you think all people on earth share an equal right to food? How does that philosophy mesh with some people’s attitudes that we let the free market system operate, we have supply and demand economics at work and that has served us well?
There are several countries that have gone through civil wars just for equal rights amongst everyone and I believe within those rights is the right to food. Now I am not one of those that thinks that people should be given food for free or spoon feed things, nor do I believe that people should go around and just be taking food from others and stealing and pillaging. I always think back to the studies I have been taught of those who use to grow their food to provide for themselves and their families and not only eat what they have grown and raised, but also traded those goods for other necessitates they feel them need to survive as well. That is how I feel, I do not like that a business man that has never even grown anything in his life gets to beside who gets to eat his product based on the price he places the good at. For some people it is hard to either get a job or keep a job, especially in this economy.
Quote
"Will tourist someday stare mystified at rusting hulks of New York's skyscrapers, much as we stare today at the jungle-overgrown ruins of Maya cities?"(Louv, p.20). This quote really jumped out at me because I have been to ruins of teh Mayans and stood on one and just looked at the different ruins and how they were all beaten up and over taken by growth, so I was able to relate to the "tourist" that the author spoke of. It makes you think of the fact the you think this will never happen to us we are to advanced for that to happen to us, but I am sure that is exactly what the Mayans thought. We always say that we learn from others mistakes but we have ruins here in the United States that are only getting older. Could this happen to us and we are not even ready for it.

You don't belong here

The other day I was watching Animal Planet and this show, can't remember the name of it, came on about these three guys that go out and catch reptiles that are not suppose to be where they are. About ten minuets into the show I realized that they were in Florida, not too far from Fort Myers. There was this one lizard they were trying to catch that was hard to find and lived in trees. The one the caught had this plastic tube thing around its neck. They ended up not being able to find a place for it to live so they had to kill it. One of the guys took the lizard back to its house to study it. He cut it open and looked in the stomach to see it had been eating. He found some bugs and other random half digested things. He then opened up one that did not had something restricting its air way and found ten alligator eggs. That was the problem with these lizards, they were not native to Florida and are depleting the population of those animals that are native. That was the job of the three guys.