Tag: panthers

Catching Up

There is something about the turn of the calendar to a fresh month that feels invigorating. October to November is one of those moments, when this feeling of ‘I must write a blog post’ seems to take hold. This post serves as a brief catch-up for all my faithful readers. It’s been a bit of an up and down year on the writing front, but there have been a few highlights.

Back in June, I received an email from the grandson of Lou Ballato, one of the early linchpins in my love of tennis, and whose signature racquets hang on our wall in Quonnie. It was a follow-up to a piece I published in November 2021 in this blog, entitled “A Collage of Tennis Racquets Keeps Fun Sports Memories Close”

It was so great to connect with him and share in our mutual admiration of his fun and beloved grandfather. I’ve relayed our email conversation to several of my Belle Haven cronies, and to be chatting about Lou again made us all very happy. Thanks, John, for taking the time to let me know how you and your family enjoyed reading my recollections of Lou.

In early August, the Florida Magazine Association held the 2022 Charlie Awards, an annual celebration of statewide magazine editing and writing. Incredibly, for the second year in a row, an article I had written for Naples Illustrated magazine concerning the current status of Florida panthers, won the Silver Award in the category of Service Writing in the 20,000 plus consumer circulation division. I was thrilled. Here’s a link to the article, entitled Felines of the Floridian Forest. This kind of work is exactly why I studied journalism in college. Hat tip to my wonderful editor, Christina Cush, who took her pencil to my work and made the articles even stronger. Much appreciated!

The investigation and exploration of a myriad of topics, and of the broader world, continues to make my life interesting. Engagement with people I might not meet in my everyday life has enriched my understanding of the struggles and triumphs of their lives, mostly on the professional level, but also on a personal level. I find the work of others very inspiring, and I enjoy taking all those life experience threads and incorporating them in my writing.

I look forward to creating more content in the coming months.

Writing – My Gateway to Lifelong Learning

For the past year-and-a-half, I’ve been freelance writing for a couple of clients and have found, once again, that I love to work. The opportunity to learn about accomplished, involved and interesting people, or events, organization and topics, and then write about them, continues to expand my lifelong learning curve.

Recently, I’ve mostly written profiles and feature articles for  Naples Illustrated magazine. This has included interviews with civic, philanthropic and business leaders throughout Collier County, FL, as well as more in-depth pieces about birds and turtles.

Naples Illustrated July-August 2021 issue. Cover photo features Adrienne Gilhart, who is the subject of an in-depth profile I had fun writing.

While I can’t interview the animals, I do get the chance to speak to experts about our feathered and ninja friends. Research, including interviews, is like eating candy for me – delightful in every way. While my BA in Journalism has proved to be the perfect degree, I think my true calling is to while away my days conducting interviews and pouring over archived material in drafty and voluminous libraries. It’s in those moments that I’ll figure out some minor detail, giving me an insight that turns the piece into compelling reading.

I’m also writing for the North Florida Junior Golf Foundation. The young golfers inspire me as well. They’re trying to craft a future that might involve playing competitive golf, or perhaps it’s just to be a better player and enjoy a walk in the park. Either way, they’re working hard, improving their skills, learning to work with others, sticking to the rules and most importantly, having fun along the way. The PGA and LPGA professionals, accomplished amateurs, men and women volunteers who support these junior golfers, also are incredibly dedicated and praise-worthy, not that they’re looking for all that. They just want the kids to enjoy playing golf. There’s nothing like touching the future, which they’re doing every day.

It all ties back into the concept of lifelong learning, one of the well-known secrets to living a long and fulfilling life. Researching and writing magazine copy, newspaper articles, books, blog posts, you name it, by default, provides a reason to peer through that broader world lens. The view is spectacular.

Lead photo from “Felines of the Floridian Forest,” a feature article in the September issue of Naples Illustrated. Photography by Jay Staton.

But enough about inspiration. Today, I’m excited to share my most recent article appearing in the September, 2021, issue of Naples Illustrated about Florida panthers, the official state animal. Many thanks to Panther Cams photographer Jay Staton who graciously shared his amazing images with the magazine, captured with his custom DSLR camera traps in the Collier County area. The copy and pictures in “Felines of the Floridian Forest” shine a bright light on the multi-layered challenges facing this important yet endangered animal.

I was also recently informed that my birding article won a Silver Award in the Florida Magazine Association’s 2021 Charlie awards – for Best Writing: Service Feature in the Consumer: Circulation over 20K category. As it turns out, this was my very first piece published in Naples Illustrated, entitled Take Flight – Birding in Naples. Former Editor-in-Chief, Christina Boyle Cush, helped edit the piece and likewise was recognized.

If you’d like to check out some of the other pieces I have had published for Naples Illustrated, or for the North Florida Junior Golf Foundation, go to the Recent-Articles page here on my website.

#naplesillustratedmagazine #jaystatonphotgraphy #panthercams #northfloridajuniorgolffoundation #floridamagazineassociation