Bring it Around Town

I grew up in Down Town Ft. Myers. I can remember thrifting through uninteresting stores as a child with my family; my grandmother in particular. We would sit and talk with the dock master on First Street and walk up and down Main. In the fifth grade I took a field trip to the Edison home and Ford Estates so I had a bit more background knowledge on the Down Town area than most. My weekends are usually spent at the City Tavern and I have tasted almost every flavor of Pizza that Down Town has to offer. I find it strange how I still visit almost every week but the activities that I partake in are so much different from those that I took part in before; where I used to attend art and flower festivals, I now head down town for after-hour frivolities and maybe an occasional tattoo. I was excited for this field trip. Maybe to find out a little more about this place that I seem to spend so much time in. Although I had already heard a majority of the information, I still took away a few key points. For instance, I never realized that in the "Unlikely Friends" art piece, there were so many references to Florida life, and I was delighted to finally know the history of the old theater. I also became aware of a number of new, local clubs and bars that I would be interested in going to. The aspect of personalization that our professor put in to explaining the history of down town as well as activities that specifically appeal to our age group was refreshing. It made the whole experience of this "madatory field trip" much more enjoyable.

Neighborhood watch

My neighborhood is bustling
Children are running to the park across the street
My dog is digging up the infertile soil in the yard
The sun is shining
The clouds are nonexistent in the bright blue sky
I can feel the grass growing, the trees talking
They are whispering the sweet sounds of the wind
The water in the canal is rippling with the breeze
Calling me to soak up the rays and bask in between the waves
It wants to whisk me away, downstream to the retention lake
It's littered with capri-suns and lunchables
From the children who were never taught better
Never educated on sustainability
Who are only concerned with living and laughing and playing
It could end up being too late for them
Too late to change and save our neighborhood, our world.