The
Wall Street Journal named a production at the Florida Repertory Theater
in downtown Fort Myers one of the Best of 2009, nationwide.  WGCU’s
Mike Kiniry reports.

An artistic commemoration of the September 11^th attacks was held Friday at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Myers.  WGCU’s
Mike Kiniry was there and filed this report…

Sanibel
poet Joe Pacheco has written another topical poem for us.  Today he
shares his thoughts on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the
U.S. Supreme Court.  The 76-year-old retired New York City school
superintendent says this monumental moment allows him to show off what
he calls his “Nuyorican” pride.  Nuyorican’s are Americans of Puerto
Rican descent, born in New York City.

Freelance writer Chuck Manson and his wife have been downsizing. During the course of their journey around the collapsing Southwest Florida real estate market they say they saw many things that left a lasting impression. He told us he was compelled to record these impressions. Here’s his essay:

Today is the 40th anniversary of the day Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. July 20, 1969 was a day that many who were alive to see it will remember for the rest of their lives. Sanibel poet Joe Pacheco sent us this poem that he wrote on that day:




Where Were You On July 20, 1969? – Joe Pacheco, Sanibel
On the eve of my 39th birthday,

wheeling the TV cart into the living room of my center hall colonial

with my wife and in-laws and my eldest daughter Randy on her grandfather’s lap,

(four year old Allegra asleep in her room), five pairs of human eyes drinking in the incredible —
men on the moon, greatest scientific feat of all time,

and I still struggling with the rabbit ears antenna to make the image clearer;


Armstrong’s carefully prepared “one step, one leap” metaphor

milking in best Madison Avenue style

the great moment for what it would always be worth;


my father-in-law and I engaged in speculation

about how Jewish astronauts could observe Rosh Hodesh,

or say the prayer to the new moon while standing on it,

my daughter interrupting, “Grandpa, I know the prayer by heart”;


then all of us quiet for a long time —

my last hope that it might be a hoax gone, I felt bereft —

beauty and belief and fancies once owned proudly

now replaced by a lifeless sphere;


next day biggest headline ever on front page of the Times:

MEN LAND ON MOON and a poem by Archibald MacLeish

followed a few days later by a special edition featuring several poems,

some acclaiming the achievement,

others lamenting the loss,

a feast for poets but my muse silent,

lifeless.


Since then, the moon reminds me from time to time

that on that day a member of my species trampled on her face,

violating with one irreverent step

a million years of magic and myth and wondrous gazing —

brother Apollo’s module chariot pulling from afar and away from us,

the last ebb of silver dream.

Sanibel Poet Joe Pacheco remembers his brother on this Memorial Day.  Peter Paul Pacheco, or Pedrito died in World
War II in 1944.

Every year hundreds of thousands of people are victims of human trafficking. They’re forced into slave labor and prostitution. Two Florida Gulf Coast University students heard some of the stories and decided to create an art exhibition about it. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has this report.

The Rauschenberg Gallery in Fort Myers opens an exhibition of paintings by Guggenheim Fellow, Mamie Holst on Friday. Holst's work has been exhibited around the world, but her career as an artist started here in Southwest Florida. WGCU's John Davis has more.

This week’s featured author Carl L. Steinhouse is a retired attorney and former federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice. His current release, “Barred”, is the fourth novel in his Living History series. Linda Fasulo has this review.

According to our book reviewer Linda Fasulo this week’s selection, “A Merry Band of Murderers”, is a prime example of what can happen when thirteen of the world’s best mystery writers get together over cocktails at a publication party.