A time of reality and true honesty, and a wait for rain
It seems everyone on island is in hyper-reality mode: brutal honesty about everything, and a sort of practical determination to get things back to normal. As a newspaper, this kind of civic mood is rare. Now, everyone will tell you exactly what they think – no filters, except at Grande Aire. It takes three storms, and a possible fourth, to make reality happen in our conversations.
Two big hurricanes, a minor one in August, and the discussion about the impending Sara have us all on edge. There is no benefit, but the result is that the island is precisely in the moment and thinking ahead, both to next week, and next year.
Does this jibe with the way others are treating you?
A friend of this newspaper, who came back to a destroyed house, looked at her situation in the best way possible. There were probably a lot of dead rodents stuck behind that drywall, between the studs. She lost some Boca Bargains-worthy furniture, but she will be okay. The only issue beyond that is the dust in the air, which seems to be triggering a cough in all of us.
Can the island have a bit of rain, please, without a storm? Contrail or chem-trail conspiracy theories about the rain, or not – we do not care – but please bring us some normal rain to settle it down, if only for a brief moment.
There is no doubt that nationally there are big changes ahead. This is a community newspaper, so we are not about to tell you good or bad things about the national scene or your choice of candidate(s), up and down ballot. There is little that can be added that has not been said. It is fair to say, however, that there is certainty about a new direction. America, Florida and Boca Grande voted for something, and it is happening.
The reality will be change, and Florida is at the center of the action. There is a man now in charge of government efficiency who launches rockets above us, seemingly each week, from a NASA space station across the peninsula. This is Jules Verne made real, except the original launch pad in the 1865 book “From the Earth to the Moon” was in Tampa, on our coast.
These are unconventional times. Wednesday night, Elon Musk was on the East Coast singing “God Bless America” with an opera singer and a former and future president. When Elon bought Twitter, now X.com, he brought in a sink and cut most of the staff. “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” was the post. He decided that a large percentage of the workforce was doing little to add value, and the company would function better with less bureaucracy. He promises the same with a Department of Government Efficiency.
Our current senator, a son of Havana, Cuba, will be America’s ambassador to the world. Spain is ascendant; the crown was our ruler from 1784-1821, and in our founding.
So many questions for our new Secretary of State. Perhaps of all the things we can hope for, it is that Sen. Marco Rubio can open up a better way for the people of Cuba, who live closer to us than Tallahassee. Tallahassee is 275 miles from Boca Grande as the crow flies, and we are 260 miles from the northern coast of Cuba.
We will have elections for a new senator, and one discussed replacement is our Lt. Governor, Jeanette Nuñez, who was here on the island a few weeks ago, touring recovery efforts. Her parents, the late Victor Sanchez and his wife Teresita, left Cuba as well for the welcoming shores of Florida.
Rubio and Nuñez are no friends of Cuba’s current leadership, but the country closest to us matters greatly. Not to overplay the distance factor, but Cuba is also closer to us than Georgia. That country and island has suffered, not only from recent hurricanes, but an earthquake last week.
Back to our island:
The discussion in the office and on the street is about island trash. We need removal to get the junk out of here. There is a whole Circuit City worth of dead appliances at what is now the Wheeler dump. Go see. It needs to go now. There is not as much trash here as after Ian, and the faster it all goes, the faster this island can get back to normal.
Work on the new Inn Bakery continues. Cleanup of the building is complete, and a new refrigerator is now visible in the door, which will temporarily be located on 4th Street until it is reconstructed next to Barnichol Hardware. Doughnuts to come.
Last week, there were giant sand piles and a beach road created off 5th Street, where Lee County is dumping sand mid-island. Already, the piles have flattened, and the Gulf of Mexico is washing it up and down.
Garland Pollard is editor of the Beacon. Email letters and comments to editor@bocabeacon.com.
