So What if the Republic is on Life Support, How Old is Your Underwear?

[ No Comments ] Posted on 06.12.08 under The Everglades Room

I was in the car, listening to talk radio at the top of the hour, when I got the news. The Supreme Court had ruled that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to confront their accusers through a writ of habeas corpus. A sigh of relief so big I got dizzy made me pull off the road. As the radio cut to a commercial, I reached for the iPod and punched up the next track in shuffle mode, which turned out to be “Saving Grace,” an ancient song by the Steve Miller Band.

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There Goes the Neighborhood

[ No Comments ] Posted on 06.03.08 under The Everglades Room

Football fans everywhere knew the Orange Bowl. Some even knew it was built in 1937, that the Dolphins called it home during their perfect 1972 season, and that the Miami Hurricanes, its only continuous tenants, just moved to the Dolphins’ newer stadium uptown, twelve years after its eponymous bowl game moved there. Watching televised games, you might have wondered what kind of two-bit burg would put up the chintzy “The City of Miami Welcomes You” sign that ringed the upper deck, looking for all the world like it was hand-painted in a garage for a fifth-grade art project. The answer, of course, is the poorest city in the land, where the most valuable asset is dirt.

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