As it emerges and sinks once again from ever-changing seas, the Florida peninsula has produced a singular culture. While quirky and distinctive, this sandy spit has been shaped by external forces. The Gulf Stream off the Atlantic, and Loop Current off its western shores, spin this state in opposite directions, taking us constantly to new places. You could spend a lifetime trying to figure out Florida.
This page chronicles my long, imperfect attempt to come grips with the Sunshine State. I first moved to St. Petersburg with Julie Armstrong in 2001, and together, we have raised our son here. I teach courses in early Florida literature and nature writing at the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida , and a great deal of my writing and research centers around the question, what does it mean to live here?
Recent Blog Posts
City Wilds–Finding Nature around Tampa Bay
I like my nature writing next to club listings and drink specials. Where nature writing should be. Ond and off, since 2016, Tampa Bay's alt-weekly Creative Loafing has let me run a column called "City Wilds." I write about trespassing onto Florida springs, dubious...
Florida Trail (Green Swamp East)
With my colleagues Casey Blanton and Christopher Meindl, I am co-editing the Spring 2021 issue of the Journal of Florida Studies. Our theme is the Florida Trail, the long path that runs from Pensacola to Big Cypress in the Everglades. We seek contributions about the...
Early Florida Literature
In 2013 the Florida Humanities Council brought to together scholars to discuss still unexplored paths in the state's early history and life. Taking my place alongside far more revered scholars, I made a case for Florida's vast colonial literature. The poetry...
Funding by the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation