Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Here’s one small way to get youngsters involved in civic life.

The City of Tampa is now recruiting for the 2009 Mayor’s Youth Corps.

According to the City of Tampa, the Mayor’s Youth Corps

provides young people with a voice, helps them be more involved in decisions that affect their lives, and strives to advance their participation in society and civic life.

The Mayor’s Youth Corps takes a service-oriented grassroots approach, with teens participating in community service projects, leadership development activities, production of a monthly television show, “From the Corps,” and meeting one-on-one with the Mayor.

The Mayor’s Youth Corps is an influential organization of 9th, 10th and 11th grade students selected from City of Tampa schools who have a voice to the Mayor, opportunities for community service and leadership development

• Vision:  Empowered, caring youth dedicated to making community service a life-long commitment.
• Mission: It is the mission of the Mayor’s Youth Corps to provide a direct communication link between the Mayor and the youth of the City of Tampa, provide the experience of working with city government and instill a sense of civic responsibility, provide leadership opportunities, provide opportunities for hands-on, effective service to the citizens and the city, promote and recognize the accomplishments and contributions of youth to the City of Tampa.

Applications for the Class of 2009 Mayor’s Youth Corps will be available in participating schools‘ guidance offices beginning today, September 8.

Applications will be accepted from students in grades 9, 10 and 11 who attend a public or private high school located within the city limits of Tampa.  Check out the criteria for Youth Corps applicants, Applications are due by October 24, 2008.

For more information please call Rebecca Heimstead, Youth Corps Coordinator, at (813) 274-5909, or contact her through the COT Customer Service Center.

I’m leaving very soon for a month in China and parts east!

Please don’t tell me (like everyone does) that I’ve missed the Olympics.  My favorite part of the Olympics is still to come.

The Paralympics are the Olympic Games for physically disabled athletes. They are always held in the same city, at the same venues as the Olympics, just a couple weeks afterward. The Paralympic cauldron has now been lit in Beijing.

I’m flying from Tampa to Beijing as a die-hard Paralympic fan, but another Bay-area resident is going to represent our country as an athlete.

Bradenton’s Paul Schulte, of the Tampa Bay Rays Wheelchair Softball team (I wrote about them before) will be playing on the U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team.

A captain for the silver medal-winning 2006 World Championships Team, he also earned a gold medal and MVP honors at the 2002 Gold Cup. After sitting out the 2004 Paralympic Games, Schulte returns to the team looking to put the U.S. atop the medal stand in Beijing.

Schulte made his Paralympic Games debut during the 2000 Games in Sydney. At age 21, he was Team USA’s youngest player. That year, the team went on to win the bronze medal.

Our long association with Wheelchair Rugby (aka “Murderball”) has earned my husband & I accreditation and prime seating at the 2008 Games. I’m looking forward to seeing our old friends in this small world of sports, learning about Asia, and cheering for Team USA!

More links:

• Paul Schulte personal website
• Tampabay’s 10 story: 2008 Paralympics: Bradenton man ready, willing and able

Apathy:

Main Entry: ap·a·thy
Pronunciation: a-pə-thē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek apatheia, from apathēs without feeling, from a- + pathos emotion
Date: 1594

• 1: lack of feeling or emotion - impassiveness
• 2: lack of interest or concern - indifference

One out of six. Imagine any six people you know, and then consider that only one of those six voted in the primary election that ended yesterday:

Voter apathy in Florida plumbed new depths Tuesday. The 2008 primary election drew the lowest statewide voter turnout for a primary in at least 50 years, and perhaps the lowest ever. Incomplete returns late Tuesday showed 16.5 percent of voters cast a ballot.

Oh wait… That is the statewide turnout. You cared even less than that:

In Pinellas County, turnout was just over 12 percent, meaning just 75,000 out of 620,000 eligible voters showed up at the polls. That set a record for primaries. The previous record for the lowest primary vote in Pinellas was 13 percent.

In Pasco, just over 12 percent of the county’s 260,593 registered voters — or about 33,000 voters — cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary.

Hernando had the highest turnout in Tampa Bay, just under 15 percent.

And Hillsborough County?

Hillsborough’s turnout was even more abysmal — fewer than seven people out of 100 went to the polls.

Less than seven percent. That’s one in fifteen.

[Update 11:45am: Hillsborough SOE reports 10.08% voter turnout, 1 in 10.]

Don’t ever again ask: “How can someone like [insert name here] get elected?”

You have your answer: You really don’t give a rat’s ass.

Today is primary election day in Hillsborough County. Primaries determine who will run for each political party in November.  Please make sure your voice is heard.

The Tampa Tribune has a list of all the area races and candidates, and here are those primary candidates for Hillsborough County elections:

Property Appraiser

• Rob Townsend (R)
• Rob Turner (R)

County Commission, District 2

• Tom Aderhold (R)
• Ken Hagan (R)

County Commission, District 6

• Brian Blair (R)
• Don Kruse (R)

County Commission, District 6

• Kevin Beckner (D)
• Denise Layne (D)
• Joe Redner (D)

Hillsborough County School Board, District 1

• Dave Schmidt
• Susan Valdes

Hillsborough County School Board, District 7

• Stephen Gorham
• Carol W. Kurdell
• Jason D. Mims

All of the Tampa Tribune Endorsements, and in Hillsborough: Rob Turner, Ken Hagan, Brian Blair, Kevin Beckner, Susan Valdes, Stephen Gorham.

All of the St. Pete Times Endorsements, and in Hillsborough: Rob Turner, Tom Aderhold, Brian Blair, Kevin Beckner, Susan Valdes, Carol W. Kurdell.

Feel free to leave your choice in the comments, and tell us why.

Each year since 2003, the City of Tampa has chosen a photographer to chronicle the city for The Big Picture Photographer Laureate Program.

The purpose of the project was to commission an artist to photograph and respond to life in the City of Tampa. The Photographer Laureate Program is inspired by historic photographic projects including the Farm Workers Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, and regional Photographic Archives. The program’s long-range vision is to build a public collection comprised of images that are representative of the life and times in Tampa, by regional, national and international photographers.

Over the course of the multi-year project, an artist will be commissioned to “add a volume” for one year. The volume must be built upon a theme/topic selected by the artist/photographer and approved by the committee. Over the course of time, the city hopes to accumulate and display a full and varied representation of the multiple and diverse perspectives of artists on Tampa.

The artist chosen for 2007 was Marion Belanger (www.marionbelanger.com) from Connecticut, and the Big Picture Photographer Laureate, Volume V is now finished, and Marion’s work is open to the public.

Check out Real Estate/Spaces in Transition on view at the American Institute of Architects Gallery in downtown Tampa at 200 N. Tampa Street, Suite 100.  Find it on the west side of Tampa St. just south of Jackson.

You may want to check out the online work of previous Tampa Photographer Laureates, including 2003 Photographer Laureate Beth Reynolds, 2004’s Suzanne Camp Crosby, pinhole photographer Rebecca Sexton Larson in 2005, and 2006’s Steven S. Gregory.

The 2008 photographer, Jeremy Chandler, is busy taking photos now.  Look for his exhibit in about a year.

Oh boy!

In another one of those kooky quirks of scheduling, Tampa played host to both the Women of Faith Infinite Grace conference and the 2008 FetishCon this past weekend. One event featured appearances by Eden Wells, Kumi Monster and RubberDoll, the other featured Patsy Clairmont, Sandi Patty and Marilyn Meberg. I’ll let you Google those names and figure out who was where, but the real delight is in knowing that these people and their fans were both occupying the same relatively small space at the same time.

Event organizers and venue bookers will both say that Tampa is a large enough city now that having multiple events that draw large and disparate crowds at the same time really shouldn’t be an issue. And they’re probably right. But…

Women Of Faith was held at the St. Pete Times Forum, which can hold up to 20,000 people and FetishCon, which draws over 2,000 people, was held at the Hyatt Regency about a half mile away. There are four, maybe five, hotels and about a dozen or so restaurants that you could reasonably classify as within walking distance of those two sites. Factor in just how dissimilar these two groups are and you have a recipe for awkward social interaction comedy gold, baby!

I’m just picturing two groups of people, clutching either bibles or leashes with people attached to them, waiting for the streetcar to Channelside or for a table at First Watch: “Umm…that’s okay, you go ahead. No, really. Please.”

Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness

Congratulations to Citrus Park and Palma Ceia!

Not only are the Citrus Park Little Leaguers representing the Southeast US at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, but their Big League Softball team is representing the South in the Big League World Series Softball in Kalamazoo, MI.

The softball team beat host St. Petersburg (District 12) to get to the World Series, and has already played the round robin games, going 1-3.  Their last consolation game (today at 11am) will determine final placement.

Congratulations also goes out to the Palma Ceia Little League Junior Softball team for getting to the Little League Junior Softball World Series in Kirkland, WA.  They will play in today’s consolation final at 5pm.

But the Little League Baseball gets the most attention.

Citrus Park’s little leaguers beat Alabama in the Southeast Regional Tournament finals to move on to the World Series with 15 other teams from around the world.  Citrus Park’s round robin schedule looks like this:

• GAME 1 against Midwest winner Canyon Lake (Rapid City, SD) Friday, Aug. 15, 2pm on ESPN
• GAME 14 against West winner Waipio (Waipahu, HI) Sunday, Aug. 17, 8pm on ESPN2
• GAME 19 against New England winner Shelton National (Shelton, CT) Monday, Aug. 18, 6pm on ESPN2

If they win all of those, they move on to the semifinals which begin Wednesday, Aug. 20.

We wish Citrus Park players, coaches, parents and neighbors the best of luck - have a great time!

Cheer for your hometown heroes representing Tampa Bay in Beijing.  Finals for your neighbors begin Saturday, so if you want to get a look at them, you’ll need to know when to tune in.  (All of the listed times are based on Tampa Time, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.)

Clearwater’s Zach Railey is an Olympic sailor, and competes in the finn class.  Zach has been sailing since he was 8 years old, and is currently in second place in the Olympic standings (behind a Brit).  The 8th race has been postponed to Friday, and the Final is scheduled for Saturday, August 16 at 1am.

Twin brothers from Wesley Chapel are competing in the Olympics. Bob Bryan plays keyboard and Mike Bryan plays drums in the Bryan Brothers Band.  They also play tennis (men’s doubles) fairly well.  They beat the Aussies in this morning’s quarterfinals, the semifinals are scheduled for Friday, and the Gold medal match will be on Saturday.  Check out Bob and Mike.com or BryanBros.com for more on the twins.

Tennis player James Blake also lives in Tampa and trains at Saddlebrook.  In men’s doubles, Blake and partner Sam Querry were bounced in the first round.  But Blake defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals this morning.  The men’s singles semifinals are on Friday, August 15, the Bronze medal match is on Saturday, and the Gold medal match is on Sunday, August 17.

Brandon’s Chris Colwill is a graduate of Tampa Prep and the University of Georgia, and the Linkin Park fan is a member of Diving TeamUSA.  Colwill and teammate Jevon Tarantino placed fourth in synchronized 3-meter diving, and Colwill will compete in individual 3-meter springboard on August 18 at 7am and 10pm, the finals are on August 19 at 8.30am.  He’s also writing a blog for TBO.com.

Damu Cherry was born in Tampa, and went to Leto High and USF.  She currently lives in Ocoee and trains in Clermont.  Currently ranked #2 in the world, Damu is competing for Team USA Track & Field in the Women’s 100-meter hurdles.  She is writing an Olympic Experience Blog for TBO.com.  Round 1 of the Women’s 110m hurdles is scheduled for August 17 at 7am, Semifinals on Aug 18 at 7.40am, Finals Aug 19 at 10.30am.

Ben Barger (benbarger.com) is a windsurfer on the US Sailing Team USA Sailing who lives and trains in Tampa.  Out of the ten scheduled RS:X races, four have already been run, and the Finals will be on August 20 at 1 o’clock in the morning.

Another local Team USA Track and Field member is Calvin Smith, II (not to be confused with his dad, Calvin Smith).  Born in Lutz, Calvin graduated from Freedom High, and is currently a sophomore at University of Florida.  Calvin is on the 4×400 relay team.  The opening round of the Men’s 4×400m relay is scheduled for August 22 at 8.10am, and the finals will be Aug 23 at 9.05am.

To keep track of everything your neighbors are doing, check in on the WFLA / NBC local Olympic athletes page.