Sometimes life is so good. For example Undercurrents spent a recent Thursday morning in a Boynton Beach trailer home listening to a trans-transsexual sing Sinatra tunes in a dead-on, Ol’-Blue-Eyes baritone and got a needed reminder that the world is a big place full of surprises. David King was the…
Aryan gods are who they think they are, silly: Upon reading Adam Pitluk’s latest article (“The Heart of Whiteness,” September 6) I am once again left feeling emotionally drained, pissed off, frightened, hopeful, confused, and nostalgic for my Bubby’s and Papa’s hugs. While I understand the importance of education and…
On an overcast, oppressively muggy mid-August afternoon at John Prince Park in Lake Worth, the “Racial Holy War” seems far away indeed. As I sit at a picnic table under a pavilion by the bank of a stagnant creek that meanders through the park and empties into Lake Osborne, six…
At 33 years old, Ivette Mendive had wearied of her job as a dental hygienist and craved a dramatic change in her life. So early this year the Coral Gables resident posted her résumé on the Monster.com job board, hoping to break into a more challenging field. Mendive had good…
As one in a series of public-service columns penned to fulfill Undercurrents’ probation requirements, we herein present installment four of “Politics in the Real World.” Today’s topic: How to turn a drab zoning issue into a sexy assault on freedom of religion. Step one: Buy property in a neighborhood of…
On the writer…: I’m impressed! Finally somebody took the time to dig into the manure pile and come up with a gem. Bob Whitby’s piece on the Boca [Raton] News (“Bad News,” August 30) is the kind of writing I did when I was an investigative reporter… when newspapers encouraged…
For a newspaper that hasn’t made money in more than 20 years, the Boca Raton News sports some headquarters. “The Palace,” as employees sneeringly refer to it, is a square office building nestled in arboreal splendor at 5801 N. Congress Ave. in Boca Raton. Past the $10,000 fountain that looks…
In daylight it’s easy to find the massive, two-story, square, white building trimmed in cobalt and gold with its name etched in Flintstones-like letters above the front archway. Kids and adults, playing and exercising, are clearly visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows of both stories of the Palladium Athletic Village in…
Late one afternoon Cheryl Sadar walks into the backroom of her pet-grooming business, Kritters Pet Supplies, and retrieves a sealed, transparent plastic bag packed with black and white matted hair. When she opens it, the odor of stale urine fills the air. Another, smaller bag holds a handful of short,…
Metal doesn’t come cheap: We at the Factory read the August 16 Bandwidth and figured, because Jeff Stratton is a journalist and everything, he’d probably want to have the facts straight before he bashed another nightclub with some stupid and unfounded comments. Let’s see, the “laughable Metal Factory,” he wrote…
A few feet back from the speeding traffic on NW 31st Avenue just north of Broward Boulevard stands a blue-and-black house. The paint, once bright, is now chipped and faded, and the grass is a little ragged. Though the place is in decent shape, it bears the signs of accelerating…
A trio of young women in scanty club wear strides into a bar on Himmarshee Street in Fort Lauderdale. You know the drill: wine, women, and mangled renditions of Violent Femmes songs. You’d have to look long and hard to notice anything different about this scene, and even then you…
Sistrunk is the historic hub of Broward County’s black population. Although the recent census found many of the neighborhood’s residents have moved west during the last decade, its main drag northwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale remains the area’s most visible symbol of African-American commerce. Named for James Franklin Sistrunk, one…
Where was this letter writer when Boulis was whacked? Staff writer Wyatt Olson’s story about developer R. Donahue Peebles (“Peebles Power,” August 16) was well written, but he left out some important facts: After Miami Beach mayor Neisen Kasdin opposed Peebles’s request for a zoning change for the high-rise Bath…
Seated in his office on the 46th floor of the Bank of America building in downtown Miami, developer R. Donahue Peebles looks quite relaxed. The lofty headquarters for Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation overlooks Biscayne Bay and Miami Beach, the site of Peebles’s crown jewel, the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort,…
Ohboyohboyohboyohboy! The exclamation might as well be inscribed in cartoon voice balloons extending from the panting mouths of canines great and small as their owners let them scramble from cars and minivans in a parking lot at the T-Rex Technology Center in Boca Raton. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, a…
Just before midnight on July 21, Jacira Castro sat down at her computer and called up the Internet site she publishes, www.salsapower.com. But she didn’t see her home page. Instead the words THIS IS A COMMUNIST WEBSITE appeared on the screen. More than just the home page had been vandalized;…
A Bronx cheer for the coppers: A shout-out to Amy Roe for a flattering and well-written article on Lake Worth’s anarchist scene (“Gimme an A,” August 2). She made firsthand research a priority in her story, which is much appreciated. However, I challenge the mainstream view presented on the ills…
In May of last year, state legislators and bureaucrats traveled around Florida to tout a new “Tough Love” package for delinquents that Gov. Jeb Bush had signed. The carnival of suits and ties who stood smiling for photo ops included Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) secretary W.G. “Bill” Bankhead, whose…
Tuesday, July 3, 2001 11:48 a.m. American Airlines flight 2042 from Dallas, Texas, has just arrived at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Pale, pasty Southwesterners file out like a flock of happy sheep, wide-eyed and excited at the prospect of trading the prairie for the beach. But one new arrival lacks…
The young man called “Dreads” is a slippery character; the justice system can’t seem to hold on to him. You might remember Dreads from our May 3 cover story, “Beach Beat.” He was one of the guys who attacked 18-year-old Chris Caulfield on Fort Lauderdale beach. Caulfield was left with…
Ain’t that Ken a doll: I commend Bob Norman for his article about the travesty committed against the name of Frank Lee Smith at the nefarious hands of Richard Scheff et al. (“Captain of Deceit,” July 26). His article mentions that Broward sheriff Ken Jenne was quick to praise Scheff…
