Roaring Reptiles, Bountiful Citrus, and Neon Pies (eBook)

An Unofficial Guide to Florida’s Official Symbols

Mark Lane (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
152 Seiten
University Press of Florida (Verlag)
978-0-8130-6525-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Florida Historical Society Charlton Tebeau Award



With an eye for the illogical and a flair for the irreverent, journalist Mark Lane aims his sharp wit at one of the most intriguing duties of the Florida legislature—signing state symbols into law. In Roaring Reptiles, Bountiful Citrus, and Neon Pies, he spotlights nineteen things that have been proposed and/or appointed to officially define Florida.



Lane guides readers through the often-comic historical events that led to the selection of Florida’s official fruit, tree, gem, bird, song, and other items ranging from the well known to the obscure, packing in personal stories and laugh-out-loud moments along the way. Did you know the state slogan was almost “the alligator state”? Or that a mailbox in the shape of the state marine mammal can tell you a lot about a person? Readers will also discover that the bill proposing the state soil caused a crisis in the Senate and that the state play—written in the peculiar genre of symphonic outdoor drama—puts a heroic spin on the grisly European conquest of St. Augustine.



“Full of the kind of unnecessary commentary that might cause trouble,” as Lane describes it, this book is also written with affection toward the wide diversity of lives and experiences that make up the state he calls home. He shows that deciding the things that represent us at any given moment is far trickier than it appears. Especially in Florida, a state aptly symbolized by “a lot of contradictions baked into a Key lime pie.”

Autor

Mark Lane, metro columnist and feature writer at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, is the author of Sandspurs: Notes from a Coastal Columnist.

Inhalt

Contents



Helpful Letter to School Librarians ix

Preface xi

Key Lime Pie

Pie Wedge or Candy-Colored Wedge Issue? 2

Slogan

Welcome to the Sunshine—Not the Alligator—State 14

Reptile

The Fiercest State Symbol in the Whole Swamp 19

Fruit

The Whole Orange Gets Its Due 25

Fossil

Pain in My Eocene Heart 32

Marine Mammal

Welcome to the Land of the Manatee Mailboxes 36

Soil

Myakka Fine Sand, and a Fine Sand It Is 43

Florida Day

Ponce de Leon Schlepped Here! 47

Holidays

Lost Holidays of the Lost Cause Linger 52

State Day

Florida Statehood Day Oration 57

Play

Men in Tights with Cross and Sword 64

Song

Florida’s Official Ol’ Plantation Song 70

Tree

In Praise of the State Treelike Plant 78

Sport

The Official State Sport Stalled in the Pits 83

Litter Control Symbol

The Short, Happy Life of Glenn Glitter 88

Bird

The Mockingbird Will Not Be Mocked, Tree Huggers! 92

Motto

In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash) 98

Seal

Not a Great Seal, but Not for Lack of Trying 105

Gem

The Talisman of the Ancient Engineers 110

Afterword 117

Acknowledgments 119

Notes 121

Selected Bibliography 131

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.9.2019
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Comic / Humor / Manga ► Comic
• Schlagworte: Florida History • Florida Legislature • Humor • humor writing • Official Symbols • Satire • Slogans • state symbols
• ISBN-10: 0-8130-6525-9 / 0813065259
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8130-6525-0 / 9780813065250