April 2008 Archives
Posted by Meredith Spresser on April 28, 2008 at 01:46 PM
Friday night, I went to see the FDT2 performance at Florida Dance Theatre. And it was excellent!
Yes, I know. I'm a bad blogger. I actually waited almost THREE WHOLE DAYS to post this. And, of course, I didn't take a camera. I'm still getting the hang of this whole blog world. But anyway...
For those who don't know, FDT2 is like the understudy group for the professional dancers at Florida Dance Theatre and it's composed of the best of the Academy's students. These students seem to average about 14-18 years old.
The performance only featured these dancers, and about half of the pieces performed were choreographed by the students, as well. I was really, genuinely impressed. In fact, no offense to Carol, Freddy, or Kim (the three professionals who choreographed pieces for the show), but I think I enjoyed the student pieces even more in some cases! Since I'm no dance critic, and I'm still a fairly low level student, I'll leave further comments or criticisms on the performance to others, however.
It is amazing and wonderful to me that Polk County has such a talented pool of young artists to draw from, and I know that the students at Florida Dance Theatre are just a very small percentage of that. There are other talented dancers, musicians, visual artists, and actors here just waiting to be seen!
So KUDOS to FDT2! Keep up the great work guys, and I'll be seeing you all in class!
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 23, 2008 at 09:46 AM
In one corner we have Lakeland the other Orlando. One is for the Commuter Rail/CSX project, the other against. With that backdrop it's interesting to read the two headlines talking about the same story, the on-going debate in Tallahassee:
Orlando Sentinel: Orlando-Area Cmmuter-Rail Deal Gets Sidetracked
The Ledger: Railroad Deal Rolls Closer to Approval
So which is it? Closer or sidetracked? Is that good or bad? Depends on which headline you read and where you live :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 23, 2008 at 07:02 AM
A few more favorite shots from my London trip (Part 1 here):
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 21, 2008 at 06:15 PM
Chuck Welch has a quick post and some photos from the Anti-CSX rally today in Lakeland. Just an outside observation from 2,000 miles away in Casper, WY. Do you think holding an anti-CSX rally in Lakeland is preaching to the choir? After all, Lakeland is the biggest opponent to the deal/project.
If they really wanted to make an impact they should hold a protest in downtown Orlando, or other stops along the proposed commuter rail line.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 21, 2008 at 11:18 AM
While in Casper, WY for work I finally finished processing and uploading all my photos from my London trip. The photoset has 417 shots, but here are some of my favorites, Part 2 coming tomorrow:
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 17, 2008 at 10:27 AM
You remember in Star Wars - A New Hope when Alderon was blown up and Ben Kenobi felt thousands of voices crying out, then silenced? The same thing happened with Polk Online, the News Chief's former web site. If you visit PolkOnline.com it now redirects to NewsChief.com. All the old stories and links are dead. How many links? According to Google 116,000 links. That's a great way to kill your PageRank, search traffic, ad revenue, long-term relevance.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 16, 2008 at 03:53 PM
When The Ledger purchased the News Chief, one of the benefits I hoped for was improved reporting, specifically around the CSX story. The News Chief has long ignored the CSX story from an investigative standpoint. Looks like things haven't changed much. Great case-in-point this morning. Shown below are the front pages of the News Chief and The Ledger.
The Ledger has a 'Special Report' on the CSX deal. Big news, with an investigation into the secrecy surrounding the state's deal with CSX. Surely this story has impact on Winter Haven? After all we're the proposed location of the ILS.
Nope, the News Chief featured a story about CSX, but a bit more positive....construction could start soon.
Posted by Adam Weeks on April 16, 2008 at 01:15 PM
The WHYPG meets tomorrow, Thursday the 17th, at Tanners for a networking social event.
RSVP today! Don’t miss the first WHYPG networking social event at the Tanner’s Pub’s courtyard. Meet and mingle with area young professionals under the beautiful stars. Enjoy delicious hors d’oeuvres from Tanner’s Pub. You also have a chance to win a great door prize. Admission is free for WHYPG members and $10 for guests and non-members. Cash bar. RSVP through the Web site. The WHYPG is affiliated with the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and operates under the Winter Haven Chamber Foundation.
http://winterhavenfl.com/calendars/371-WHYPG-Networking-Social-Event-at-Tanner-s-/details
Posted by Meredith Spresser on April 11, 2008 at 09:39 AM
Last night at the Central Park Stroll, Winter Haven resident and artist Albert Kriston found out that his sculpture, Reach, won Best of Show in the Eighth Annual Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition. Not only that, but it also won the People's Choice Award by popular vote of the crowd that attended the Stroll!
Kriston was so thrilled he was absolutely speechless. Grinning from ear to ear after the award was announced, he stood on the stage at the microphone and just said, "I don't know what to say!"
The Central Park Stroll was held in honor of the Eighth Annual Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition, a joint project of Polk Museum of Art and the City of Winter Haven. Besides Kriston's surprise win of the coveted Best of Show and People's Choice Awards, two other awards were announced as well. Rob Lorenson of Middleboro, Massachusetts, won second place with his sculpture Red Lion, and Dennis Howland of Tallahassee, Florida, received the Honorable Mention for Steppin Out (To the Moon, Alice!).
The Sculpture Competition is a national competition that has been gaining a great reputation among sculptors from all over the country. Every year they compete for a chance to have their work display in our community, and they have nothing but good things to say about the Competition, the Museum, and the City of Winter Haven.
The sculptures will all be on display in the Central Park area of Downtown Winter Haven through early February of next year. Be sure to go check them out. And if you see Al around, tell him congratulations!
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Wow, something I thought I'd never see. Polk County has made Gizmodo, one of the top gadget blogs. They picked up on the recent crime-ring bust. It seems they like bazookas.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 3, 2008 at 01:51 PM
Well the article on 'Polk Bloggers' was published this morning in the Sentinel. Chuck has some thoughts, and here are a few from me in a different format: Winners & Losers.
Winner: Polk County - yeah we had something written about us in the Sentinel that doesn't mention naked people on crack and alligators.
Loser: Polk County - blogs are great for rural areas...yep that's us.
Loser: Billy Townsend and the Tampa Tribune - I told the reporter my discovery of the CSX rail-traffic re-route was done in conjunction with Billy and the Trib. No mention of that.
Loser: Me - nice misquote: "many people consider themselves citizen journalists" I said "some people" big difference.
Loser: News Chief - the standard trend of papers outside of Winter Haven covering CSX more.
Loser: Joy Townsend - the story almost seems formulaic, bloggers vs somebody else. Unfortunately for Joy she was cast in the part with her single-line quote. It's always nice when you talk to a reporter for 20 minutes and they choose one line.
Winner: Conversation - more people talking and aware of blogs/local issues, etc.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 3, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Just a small note that Winter Haven's cnp_studio just helped launch yet another high-profile web project, this time for eBay. Both Nick and I noted the hat trick that cnp_studio has recently completed with projects for eBay, Yahoo and Sony. Who says we're a 'rural' community?
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 2, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Update: The article is out.
The Orlando Sentinel is putting together an article about the 'Polk Bloggers' and CSX. I was interviewed along with quite a few other people involved in that 'blogging-thing'. If you remember John Chambliss from the Ledger wrote something similar back in June of 2007. You can read the notes I had about John's article.
I was asked if I was in favor of the project. I said I was*, and stated so on this blog. That's the great thing about this format, if you need a quote you can just grab it from here. If you copy/paste and then cite the original source there is no way a reporter can misquote me.
What's that *asterisk you say? Well, more on that tomorrow.
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A hyperlocal blog about Imperial Polk County, Florida. It is written by local residents that wish to provide an alternative to traditional media sources. The focus is commentary and open discussion of the issues that face Polk County, FL.
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