Gainesville Adventures
I’m writing this from the wrap-around balcony of our carriage house in Gainesville, Florida. (Photos should be up later today. And I’m writing this because Chad Barr, my technology genius, advised me long ago to get a Verizon gizmo for Internet access anywhere. I call these Chadovations.)
My son is directing a play here, where he is two-thirds of the way through his masters of fine arts. One of his projects in his final year is to teach Shakespeare and produce a Shakespeare play in a federal penitentiary. Last night, over dinner, his stage manager called to let him hear part of the five-minute standing ovation over his cell phone. We attend this evening. (The finest steak place in Gainesville has a wonderful wine list and one of the greatest Delmonico steaks I’ve ever eaten.)
The University of Florida has over 50,000 students here. There is a nice little downtown area with a lot of well-behaved college kids, but with some women who make you stop in your tracks, not due to what they’re wearing, but what they’re not wearing.
“Are those hookers?” I asked my son, who teaches quite a few of the classes in the theater department. “No,” he explained, “they are sorority girls who deliberately dress like that in the evening. They’re known as ‘sorostitutes.’ ”
The bed and breakfast we’re in has overtones of Savannah, Sea Pines, and New Orleans. The owner’s father is a landscape architect. Our second story digs are surrounded by tall trees and plants, we have two fireplaces (one in the bathroom), four doors leading out to the huge balcony, and a resident Collie on the property. It’s southern charm you don’t expect to find in north-central Florida.
Perhaps I’ll try some Southern Comfort, which is normally way too sweet for my tastes. We are driving a Cadillac, which I haven’t driven for maybe 20 years, and my wife is acting as copilot, since I can’t figure out half the controls (though it does possess a great “blind spot” indicator light which Bentley ought to adopt immediately).
I hope I can watch the Masters before the performance tonight. Quite some drama arising there!
© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.
