St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading

The St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading was held on Saturday October 22, 2011 at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP). This was the sixteenth year for the annual festival.


The Festival of Reading, 2nd Street South at 6th Avenue South




Festival of Reading, 6th Avenue South at 2nd Street



This year's featured authors included Bob Graham (Keys to the Kingdom), Ray Arsenault (Freedom Riders), Laurens Grant (PBS Documentary Freedom Riders Producer), Connie May Fowler (How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly), Tony Silvia (Power Performance: Multimedia Storytelling for Journalism and Public Relations), Julie Buckner Armstrong (Mary Turner and the Memory of Lynching), Herb Snitzer (Glorious Days and Nights), and Martin Dyckman (Reubin O'D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics). (A complete list for authors can be found at: .)


Connie May Fowler, signing copies of her latest book


Bob Graham, former Florida Governor and Senator, entered the USFSP Student Activities Center through the main entrance, stopping to talk with several people in the crowd before speaking about his book Keys to the Kingdom. (Disclaimer: I was one of the people Senator Graham spoke with on his way into the Student Activities Center; his listening abililty and unpretentiousness, so lacking in many elected officials, were no doubt part of his popularity as senator and governor.)

Ray Arsenault, Julie Buckner Armstrong and Tony Silvia are all professors at USFSP. Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and is part of USFSP's Florida Studies program. His book Freedom Riders was turned into a PBS documentary, which went on to win three Emmys. Armstrong is an associate professor at USFSP and is the editor of The Civil Rights Reader: American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation (Georgia). Besides being a faculty member of USFSP's Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Dr. Silvia is a former news anchor and is the author of five books.

Over the years, Connie May Fowler has been associated with the University of Tampa. Her book Before Women Had Wings was turned into television film (1997), featuring Oprah Winfrey.

(Some of the information on the above bios was obtained at the Festival's website. These, as well as the other authors' biographies, may be found at .)

There were also many book sellers and exhibitors.

Occupy Saint Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA - "Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate greed has got to go!"



Over 300 people gathered October 15 at St. Petersburg's South Straub Park, joining nationwide protests sparked by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Occupy Saint Petersburg's first protest Saturday had numbers similar to Occupy Tampa being held at the same time. Occupy Tampa's marchers, "beating drums and chanting 'we are the 99 percent'," ended up at Lakes Gaslight Square Park, according to an article in Sunday's St. Petersburg (Florida) Times ("Occupy fever spreads in bay," by Curtis Krueger and Shelley Rossetter). At one point, Tampa's group "took to the steps of the Federal Courthouse," according to the Times article.

The St. Petersburg crowd ranged in age from young children accompanying parents to those old enough to be great-grandparents. Phyllis Schuster, 80 years old, carried a two-sided sign. One side read, "100 Senators, 435 Representatives; You All Deserve to be laid-off!" Ms. Schuster's favorite side read, "Wall Street: Think This Is A Mob? Keep Doin' What You're Doin'."



Phyllis Schuster



Sarah Collette held a sign stating, "We don't want your money, we want our country back!" "We're not being represented," Ms. Collette stated. "It seems that money is more important than people."



Sarah Collette

Family groups were also at the protest. Local artist Boo Ehrsam and her daughter Arwen C. A. Saxon were at the protest, carrying signs and enjoying the comradery of like-minded people. Janet Dowell came with her mother Dolly and friend Nancy. The trio found a place on the sidewalk facing Beach Drive to sit in chairs while holding signs.



Boo Ehrsam and Arwen C. A. Saxon



Dolly Dowell, Janet Dowell and friend Nancy

The local protest was peaceful, while civilian peace-keepers wearing orange bandanas were there to avert any potential problems. Since microphones were not allowed at the protest, one peace keeper gathered the crowd together. He then called out information to the crowd; this info was then chanted by the crowd so that those farther back could hear what was being said.




Another event is scheduled for next Saturday at 2 p.m.

More photos can be found at http://robinshwedoproductions.weebly.com.