From “Florida Man” to wildlife wonders, Pittman explores the state’s good, bad and unbelievable
Ask anybody in America which state is the only one with a government job listing for “Mermaid,” and they’ll likely guess, “It HAS to be Florida.” They’d be correct. That’s just one of the many strange but true facts Plant City’s Friends of the Library and guests learned about the state that’s become known as the home of “Florida Man” during a book presentation and luncheon September 28 at Bruton Memorial Library. Guest author Craig Pittman was introduced by Friends President Margaret Rials and shared stories from one of his seven Florida books, his New York Times bestselling “Oh Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country.” His books are part history, part humor, part adventure and travel, but all seem balanced on the edge of fantasy—as in unbelievable or impossible—except that it’s Florida, and he knows it all to be true. As a native Floridian and long-time journalist with The Tampa Bay Times, he’s sifted through Florida’s particularly fertile ground for more than exotic creatures and plants; he’s spent a lifetime gleaning stories to share in his books and in his podcast “Welcome to Florida.”
The library was decorated with Florida décor, and Florida-themed desserts and hors d’oeuvres from Plant City’s Crumbles and Cream and Publix were served to 35 Friends’ volunteers and members for their work in promoting reading through various library programs as well as for maintaining a library bookstore to raise funds for those programs. Each volunteer also received a gift in appreciation for their work. Volunteers Diane Jent and Betty Lambert were presented with the first Quintilla award for work “above and beyond” in initiating and maintaining the popular Blind Date With a Book program through the Friends bookstore. Pittman is quick to credit his own mom, still a library volunteer at 92, for his love of books, his father for the gift of storytelling, and a childhood book hero named “Encyclopedia Brown” for his love of writing.
Pittman’s stories cover “the Good, the Bad, and the Really, Really Ugly” about Florida, but he writes it all with gentle humor and a genuine love of the state. He calls his books “A Valentine to my favorite state.” There’s the story of “Buffalo Snot Lady,” the female tourist who earned that name in the press after being chased up a tree where she sat until rescued, surrounded by angry Bison she’d tried to pet. They did her no harm other than to furiously sling massive amounts of mucus all over her. After her rescue, she recalled that her only thought at the time showed what most of us would label true Florida spirit: Stuck in a tree, her only thought was, “I am sure I’m going to die today, but isn’t this AWESOME!” She had her special “Florida woman” story to take back north.
No doubt many a Florida tourist has thought the same whether trying to ride the back of an endangered manatee or taunt a huge alligator on the golf course. They learn the hard way of dangers natives have long known, then they feed the legends by carrying the twisted tales back home across America. Florida headlines haven’t helped by blaring leads about pythons, giant stucco-eating snails, sinkholes swallowing houses, and strange events. Topping the list would be the world’s shock as Florida painstakingly undertook the hand counting of votes holding up the presidential election results in 2000 for weeks. America tried to explain it to the rest of the world with, “Well, you know, it IS Florida.”
The “Good” within Florida, Pittman points out, includes such things as having 4,000 natural springs, the greatest concentration of first magnitude springs on Earth, numerous awards for its 176 state parks, and its beaches and exotic beauty.
Leading the list of “bad things happening” is perhaps Florida’s record of land deals and development that goes back as far as the 1920s, something that’s led to bears and panthers roaming suburbs today after losing their natural habitat. He does, however, credit Florida with leading the country in establishing over 560 National Wildlife Refuges, the most in America. In addition, it’s restored the 1995 panther population from 20 to over 200 today. Surprisingly, Florida environmental laws were strengthened in 1985, making it the second most stringent state at the time behind only Oregon on statewide land use controls, but that changed in 2010 when Gov. Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 2156 ending the state’s oversight of land use.
Pittman’s program is a part of the Humanities America 250 Florida Talks programming, one of its longest-running public programs that provides more than 30 scholars, journalists, and authors for its speaking bureau. Since 1973, Florida Humanities has awarded more than $16 million in support of statewide cultural resources and public programs. Their information is available at floridahumanities.org/america250.
Friends of Bruton Memorial Library can be reached through their website at https://www.fbmlpc.org. Additional members and volunteers, as well as gently used book contributions, are always welcome.
