Where's Kiva?

I'm writing this post tonight because I had one of those moments. Lame that I put that in italics, but there's no way to connotate tone otherwise.  Cross-legged atop a chartreuse-clad three-seater couch with ornate wood detailing, complemented by two armchairs circled around an equally ornate yet rim-stained coffee table.  Pause writing. Gianmarco has to "show me something amazing." Resume writing. "Something amazing" was this , but just the remake or tribute part. Good tunes, though. If I can find the music video that showed the band, I'll update this link. Enjoy that tidbit.  We have a fire roaring (that I made, not to toot my own horn, but I'm getting the hang of doing it regularly), I'm sporting a ratty sweatshirt with "Vieques" in white block across the front, a bottle of Montepulciano open and decanted in a vase with toucans and hibiscus dancing across it's width. In it's blackened metal box, the fireplace matches the colo...

I would like to explain a situation that happened the other evening after class when I stood in front of our pantry. We were low on supplies - but not at a dead end - and I was contemplating the newfound struggle of becoming a Florida resident and having to become one of those people that keep goods in their fridge because it’ll mold, be eaten by sugar ants within hours, or become stale or saturated by humidity. And so, cabinet open, with a hankering for something sweet, two half-open and mostly-stale, mostly-sticky bags of marshmallows in my hands, I mentally kicked myself for not sticking them in the fridge the day they were opened. My mind wandered to why we had two in the first place and being slightly irked that they had both been opened at some point and gone stale, I was determined to ensure they wouldn’t go to waste because of my own oversight. What better way to harness the unique stickiness that stale marshmallows possess than to make Rice Krispies Treats? Darn. No Krispies...

From miles of wet grasslands to thick mangrove swamps, the Everglades was an expanse of biodiversity prior to major development interest in the early 1900s. Originally covering over 4,000 square miles, the Everglades encompassed habitats ranging from dense, hot, and dry pine flatwoods to miles of open grasslands to endless tangles of mangrove forests. It was here, within the daunting swamp of the Southwest region of the Everglades, where Seminole, gladespeople, freed or escaped African-American slaves, white European settlers, outlaws, moonshiners, rum- and whiskey-runners all inhabited, adapted, and recreated the natural landscape, it's impossible habitats becoming intangibly ingrained in the establishment and identity of these various peoples. As the “politics of nature” altered the use and perception of the Everglades, these cultures have changed or disappeared, forcibly adapting to a reconfiguration and regulation of the natural landscape forcing a redefinition of their forme...