http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:54:00 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/22/205400.php Lisa HooverLiving with diabetes is difficult enough without having to come up with fresh meal ideas to keep dining boredom at bay. Linda Gassenheimer bills her new book, Mix 'n Match Meals in Minutes for People with Diabetes as "a no-brainer solution to meal preparation" and this book lives up to that description. Gassenheimer is a radio host, syndicated food columnist and author of several cookbooks. She specializes in developing recipes that are quick, healthy and won't break the bank. Mix 'n Match is conveniently organized into breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals with a thorough index in the back. All recipes feature diabetic food exchanges as well as information on calories, fat, sodium and carbs. Each recipe also offers helpful cooking hints, suggestions for side dishes, and shopping lists for meals that involve more than three or four ingredients. Perhaps the most useful feature of Mix 'n Match is the "Month of Meals" Gassenheimer has assembled into a handy chart at the beginning of the book. She even arranged for recipes that take longer to make to fall on weekends and quicker meals for the middle of the week. Each recipe is designed to serve two people but can be easily doubled or tripled to accommodate more diners.Gassenheimer excels at putting a unique twist on standard meals that are delicious and satisfying. Instead of plain scrambled eggs for breakfast, she suggests making an omelet with Gorgonzola cheese and a pinch of cayenne pepper. A plain turkey sandwich becomes a quick turkey wrap served with a side of tangerines. Gassenheimer has a gift for assembling common ingredients in exciting ways.Mix 'n Match offers dinner recipes that will appeal to any diner, diabetic or not. Meals like Baked Shrimp take less than 15 minutes to make but taste like a quality restaurant meal. Ethnic dishes like Chinese Chicken with Cashews, Mediterranean Meatloaf and Middle Eastern Meatballs prove that Gassenheimer took a universal approach in creating healthy meals that please the taste buds yet offer originality and creativity.Mix 'n Match has been guaranteed by the American Diabetes Association and approved by leading dieticians to ensure that it offers correct portion sizes and complete nutritional information. Mealtime doesn't have to be a stressful time for diabetics since following the grocery lists, recipes and meal plans really is a "no-brainer." Furthermore, Gassenheimer proves that diabetic meals don't have to be boring but rather are something to be enjoyed from initial preparation to right down to the best part - eating. Books39947@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:54:00 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/17/123600.php Lisa HooverYou know that old question "If you could invite any three people in the world to a dinner party, who would they be?" After reading the recently released book Turning the Tables: Restaurants From the Inside Out, author Steven Shaw would be my number one pick. This award winning food critic and founder of the incredibly successful website eGullet.com will leaves no Stone Crab unturned as he goes behind the scenes of the restaurant industry.If you're looking for gossip and dirt on well known restaurants and chefs, you won't find it in Turning the Tables. If you're looking for genuinely useful information on everything from selecting a restaurant to selecting an entrée, however, then you will definitely want to own this book. For Shaw, a career in the food industry was almost a foregone conclusion since his earliest memories are of sitting in diners with his father, watching how the cooks prepared food. Years later, Shaw began reviewing local restaurants and publishing his critiques on a seldom-visited personal website he put together. Then an unexpected mention in the New York Times catapulted Shaw into the view of thousands of New Yorkers who suddenly looked to him for dining advice. What began as a hobby eventually turned into a chance for Shaw to pursue a career centered around his first passion: dining. He gave up his career as a lawyer to become a restaurant critic and hasn't looked back since.Though Shaw's stated reason for writing Turning the Tables is simply to share his love of restaurants and food, readers are actually treated to much more. He helps readers understand that a great dining experience doesn't begin when the waiter sets your plate on the table but, in fact, much sooner. The chain of events that eventually lead to your plate of food is precisely what Shaw explains so well, shattering a few myths along the way.Many people believe that locally grown organic food is not only morally correct but the basis for a truly exquisite meal as well. Shaw explains why, surprisingly, that simply isn't so. Many diners use Zagat Surveys or the Michelin Red Guide when choosing a restaurant but Shaw explains why that may not necessarily be the best advice to take. Some diners eschew large scale restaurants like Tavern On The Green in favor of quiet little cafes. Shaw illustrates the finer points of both dining experiences and explains why large isn't necessarily bad.One of the most unexpected chapters in Turning the Tables is when Shaw systematically tears down the food critic industry and its writers. With biting criticism, Shaw skewers restaurant reviewers and undermines their credibility. Shaw suggests that the industry's real focus is not on fair and accurate restaurant reviews but are instead written in a way designed to sell the most newspapers. As a former food critic himself, Shaw is certainly in a position to understand the intricacies of the industry but at times he is so bold with is criticism that I was left feeling that Shaw had a particular axe to grind and was using his book to do so.That chapter notwithstanding, Turning the Tables is an excellent resource if you want to have a well-rounded and meaningful dining experience. Readers learn tips on how to get a reservation when a restaurant says their "booked solid," the secret to getting VIP service in your favorite eatery (it's easier than you think), and the proper method for tipping. There is scarcely a page where at least one nugget of information or tidbit of interest can't be found. For someone uninterested in restaurants and dining or eats simply to satiate hunger, then this book would be about as exciting as reading detailed instructions on how to build a birdhouse. For restaurant lovers, foodies and gastronomes, however, Turning the Tables is like being gifted with a tin of Beluga Caviar. Books39681@blogcritics.org Thu, 17 Nov 2005 12:36:00 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/09/134248.php Lisa HooverWhat does baklava, a Greek pastry, have to do with a girl growing up in a bi-cultural Jordanian/American family? This question stumped me the minute I picked up Diana Abu-Jaber's new book, The Language of Baklava. The answer is revealed midway through the story and, surprisingly, it makes perfect sense. The title is fitting because as this book progressed I was never quite sure how everything would fit together&#8212but, then again, neither was the author.The Language of Baklava is Abu-Jabar's third book, all of which touch on some aspect of Arab-American culture. In this book, we are taken on an auto-biographical journey with the author, as she struggles to find her own identity while retaining both her Jordanian and American heritage. As a young girl, Abu-Jabar seems to feel that she must "choose" whether to be Arab or American. Yet as she grows and matures, her life experiences show her that perhaps she can embrace the best of both cultures without being disloyal to either. Baklava begins when the author is six and the much of the story occurs during her pre-teen and teen years. What could have become tediously disjointed anecdotes, instead are woven into a seamless story that unfolds with unpredictability and raw emotion. When a presumed friend confronts young Abu-Jabar with the harsh reality of being bi-racial, I cringed along with the author as the boy tells her "the world isn't meant for in-betweens." Abu-Jabar's father, whom she calls Bud, is deeply rooted in his Arab culture despite having lived in the US since he was eighteen. To assuage his fears of becoming "too American," he moves his family to Jordan yet eventually longs for the States and returns a few years later. Living in both countries for extended periods gives Abu-Jabar a unique and wholly informed perspective on the intricacies of both cultures. Though one would expect that having such well-rounded knowledge would make it easier to pull the salient virtues from both cultures, in fact, it seems to make things more complicated. Having formed relationships with people in both countries, Abu-Jabar has difficulty understanding exactly how, and even if, she fits in anywhere at all.Despite all of the frustrations and challenges of Abu-Jabar encounters, one constant remains: her love and appreciation of food. Fascinating tales of her encounters with food abound: a shish kabob picnic on a frosty day, American pancakes made with ingredients from a Jordanian market, a trip to the city to try Chinese food for the first time. Whether using food as comfort, a peace offering or a way to reconnect to her Arab culture, it forms the underpinnings of the entire book as we come to realize that sometimes the food we choose to eat and cook can convey just as much as the words we speak. Abu-Jabar's innate ability to understand the nuances of the tastes and textures in the things she eats appears to give her something concrete to focus on, as her world becomes increasingly difficult to navigate.Baklava is filled with recipes that correspond to the anecdotes we read. They sound so delicious that I was nearly prompted to put the book down and head straight for the kitchen. Nearly all the recipes offered are ethnic, but most require ingredients commonly found in any market. Additionally, many dishes can be prepared in just a few simple steps.The friends and family we meet in this book are portrayed vividly and with candor. Bud remains a central figure throughout the book, for it is with her father's expectations of her that she struggles the most. That leaves disappointingly little room, however, for us to understand the relationships she has with other people close to her. Her sisters and mother, for example, remain an enigma, though one can presume that they had a significant impact on her life.The author tells her story as a look back at her life via first-person narration. The first half of the book focuses on Abu-Jabar's teen and pre-teen years. At times it is distracting to have meaning assigned to a child's experiences that only an adult would be able to conceptualize. The tales she tells, however, do help us understand future events as they occur.After college, Abu-Jabar decides to return to Jordan to live. She has gained the maturity and wisdom to make educated decisions about how she will come to grips with her bi-racial heritage. The time she spends in Jordan as an adult is where we find out if Abu-Jabar can put all she has learned into practice.The Language of Baklava is a compelling read from an extraordinarily talented author. She affords us the opportunity to see what bi-racial struggles look like from the inside, and how, in the end, everything has a way of working out. Especially if there's good food during the journey. Edited: PC Books39279@blogcritics.org Wed, 9 Nov 2005 13:42:48 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/07/094019.php Lisa HooverRecently formed blog network b5 Media announced today that it has merged with About Weblogs. The masterminds behind b5, Duncan Riley, Darren Rowse, and Jeremy Wright will bring About Weblogs, its owner Shai Coggins, and her 25 bloggers into the fold to create a network of almost 50 sites. B5 are babes-in-the-woods when it comes to networks, having launched theirs scarcely six weeks ago. Response to b5, however, has been tremendous and the company had their first 100,000 visitors within the first week of its launch.About Weblogs brings a number of new things to b5's table, including blogs with an international flair, a distinctive variety of topics and, interestingly, an all female crew. Rowse says "[we] are really pleased to be a network with such a diverse mix of bloggers in terms of location, gender, blogging experience and age."Shai Coggins says she is thrilled to become a partner of b5 because "Darren, Duncan and Jeremy's experience and expertise combined is a lot more than my own as an individual. Running a network by myself has plenty of challenges and limitations." The merger sounds like a win-win for everyone.The jury is still out on exactly what constitutes a network but the general consensus is that it is a variety of blogs pulled together under one umbrella to maximize traffic and advertising opportunities. When leading blog network Weblogs, Inc., was sold to AOL last month in a multi-million dollar deal, suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the action. As a result, new networks seem to be springing up out of nowhere. As networked blog sites become more prevalent, I expect to see several more mergers and acquisitions in the coming months, though they would be unlikely to be on the scale of the WIN/AOL deal.The merger of b5 and About Weblogs brings together four extraordinarily talented and prolific individuals. Watching their site grow and mature is sure to be quite interesting for readers and the bloggers themselves. I wish them the best of luck. Sci/Tech39144@blogcritics.org Mon, 7 Nov 2005 09:40:19 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/01/055131.php Lisa HooverCanadian health officials announced yesterday that the H5 avian influenza flu virus has been found in 33 migratory ducks in Eastern and Central Canada. Though the flu's subtype is yet to be determined, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Jim Clark says, "These findings do not indicate that we are dealing with a virus strain capable of causing significant illness." He goes on to say that this particular strain of flu is not the same virus that is wreaking havoc on Asia's bird population.Approximately 4,800 samples were taken during the course of a study to determine what role, if any, migratory birds play in the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus. More than 60 people have died and a staggering 140 million birds have been put to death in an attempt to control further spread of killer H5N1 virus.Though further testing is expected, Canadian officials seem nonplussed by the detection of avian flu in their country. "The detection of H5 avian influenza is not unexpected," said the Agency's official statement. They also point out that similar types of H5 have been detected throughout North America over the past 30 years. Early identification of the deadly H5N1 may be key in helping to contain a potentially large outbreak so it is heartening to see Canada taking a proactive approach. Some researchers feel it is only a matter of time before H5N1 finds its way to North America. While I was reading this article, I wondered how Americans would react to similar news. Given how touchy our nation is right now about national security and adequate government response, if H5 was suddenly detected in Cleveland, Ohio I am curious how the news would be received. Would sales of poultry suddenly drop? Would people begin randomly shooting at birds in their own backyards? Or would people react calmly and trust that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was doing all it could to ensure our safety?During the recent Mad Cow Disease scare, sales of beef did decline but certainly no one was shooting livestock whenever the mood struck. The avian flu situation seems a little more murky, however, since so little is known about the human transmission of the virus. Americans have a tendency to overreact when dealing with the unknown: remember when the news of HIV/AIDS began to surface in the 1980's? Many individuals with the illness lost their jobs because people were afraid of "catching" the disease when so little was known about how it was transmitted. When a particularly virulent strain of influenza affected the nation three years ago, entire schools were known to have temporarily closed in response.I am not suggesting that such safety concerns are not warranted in the event that H5N1, or even the benign H5, is suddenly discovered in the United States. I simply wonder if the nation, both the Administration and the general population, is equipped to deal with it. At this point, education is the public's best defense. To avoid unnecessary panic, it would be wise to educate ourselves about avian flu because of its potential to touch the United States at some point. Equipping ourselves with a basic knowledge of the virus will help us understand when to be worried about "breaking flu news" and when not to be, should the need arise.Excellent articles written by our own Blogcritics that contain several useful links for further reading can be found here and here and here. When it comes to avian flu in the US, knowledge is the best defense. In fact, it may turn out to be our only defense. Culture38871@blogcritics.org Tue, 1 Nov 2005 05:51:31 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/27/125136.php Lisa HooverA School Board in the Tampa area recently approved a change in curriculum for one of its elementary schools that has consistently failed to meet the State Standards for academic instruction. Progress reports for Wakeland Elementary school in Bradenton show that the school has failed dismally for at least the last four years in providing an even remotely adequate education to its students. In fact, the majority of its student body falls well below acceptable standards in every major academic subject. Wakeland is designated a Title 1 school which means that they receive additional federal funding to accommodate its high percentage of low socio-economic students but even that doesn't seem to be solving the problem. It's no secret that Wakeland is not doing a good job educating their students and there are several possible reasons for this: a lack of parental involvement, a shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching strategies, large class sizes, and a high percentage of students requiring additional academic support beyond what is offered in the classroom. The School Board's recent decision to change Wakeland's curriculum, however, will do nothing to educate the students that are failing. In what appears to be a move designed to avoid further federal penalties for failing to improve Wakeland's performance, the School Board has decided to relocate all of the pupils to other schools. The Board then intends to turn Wakeland into a magnet school with an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program which specializes in providing an enriched academic environment designed to appeal to colleges. As such, Wakeland will no longer be a neighborhood school but rather an elite institution that requires an application process to attend. School Superintendent Roger Dearing says, "Students currently going to Wakeland will have the first opportunity to take advantage of the open slots as long as they agree to the requirements of the IB program." The requirements to attend an IB program traditionally include a student's commitment to educational excellence, a strong desire to study hard and an ability to attain grades higher than may be required at a conventional school. If Wakeland's students were already able to achieve those goals, the school would not be ranked among the lowest in the area. One can only presume that the likelihood of most of Wakeland's 400 students being accepted into the new IB program is quite slim. Furthermore, the IB curriculum is known to be strenuous and involve academic instruction above and beyond that of a regular elementary school. If Wakeland students are already struggling, how can they be expected to do well with an even more challenging curriculum?Students leaving Wakeland will be sent to other schools in the area, as will teachers who don't meet the IB Program's educator requirements. In essence, The School Board is simply attempting to dilute the problem by spreading the underperforming children and under-qualified educators into other schools throughout the County. Wakeland staff and students will become someone else's problem while the School Board turns their attention to a program they deem more likely to succeed. In short, the Board has simply chosen to disassemble the student body rather than address its underlying issues. The School Board's strategy will also impact the schools who receive Wakeland students next year. Fortunately for the Wakeland pupils, they are being sent to local schools with a reputation for excellent performance. Unfortunately for the receiving schools, this puts additional strain on the teachers who must now devote extra time to helping these new pupils meet academic standards for, if they don't, the performance of the receiving schools will slip as well. It can be argued that relocating Wakeland students next year will allow them to benefit from the proven success of the schools in which they are placed. In theory, Wakeland students will be given the opportunity to succeed in ways in which they haven't before. The biggest problem with that argument, however, is that there are many factors contributing to why these students are failing in the first place. A change in socio-economic status, more parental involvement or a sudden change in academic ability is unlikely to occur simply by changing a child's venue. Wakeland's teachers were apparently qualified, the school was held to the same standards as every other school in Florida, and they received additional federal funding to facilitate improvement. Yet the school consistently failed to properly educate its students. To assume children will unilaterally succeed in new schools when there is little change in the overall status quo of their lives is short-sighted at best.To be sure, the answer to the difficult situation at Wakeland Elementary is not easy to ascertain. For the School Board to simply throw up its hands, however, and pass the problem to other schools is unacceptable. Sending under-prepared children to schools where they will be expected to succeed in ways they never have before will put tremendous pressure on these pupils. Sending needy students elsewhere and turning their poorly performing school into an elite academic institution further reinforces the idea that the Manatee County School Board is more interested in the outward appearance of success than actual service to the students entrusted to their academic care. When Wakeland Elementary School shows academic improvement on paper in the coming years, will anyone inform the State that it was because the entire student body was substituted for one the School Board thought would have a greater chance of success? Culture38624@blogcritics.org Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:51:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/15/193658.php Lisa HooverOne of the leading resources for gourmet cooking, Bon Appetit Magazine, has put together a cookbook that gets right down to basics. Keep It Simple is a great reference tool for every level of cook, from beginner to experienced. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a novice in the kitchen, this cookbook is for you. It covers everything from scrambled eggs to four-layer cakes and keeps it simple every time.With recipes ranging from soups and salads to breads and pies, this cookbook begins each section by reminding the reader of how to make basic recipes then builds up to more challenging recipes from there. For example, the seafood chapter begins with a standard recipe for sauteed fish using a minimum of steps and only four ingredients. Once the reader is familiar with the cooking technique, he or she can try subsequent recipes that add more skills and ingredients and work their way up to the final recipe of the chapter, a shellfish cioppino that uses 27 ingredients. Since the book walks readers through ever-increasingly ambitious cooking skills, the cioppino recipe seems like a fun challenge and not a daunting task. Keep It Simple is peppered with hints, tips and advice along the way so readers get a well-rounded education in food preparation and cooking. Suggestions on picking the freshest produce, how to devein shrimp and how to freeze pie dough are interspersed throughout each chapter. Adding to the visual appeal of the book are loads of mouthwatering photos of finished recipes as well as step by step pictures of cooking techniques such as how to properly grill vegetables. Keep It Simple lives up to it's name: it appeals to a wide cross section of readers while making the recipes approachable enough for cooks at any level of expertise. Books37969@blogcritics.org Sat, 15 Oct 2005 19:36:58 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/101730.php Lisa HooverCONTEST CLOSED, WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON. THANKS FOR PLAYING!ESPN released Evolution of Skate, a DVD chronicling 10 years of skateboarding, on September 27th. Fans can watch Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Chris Senn, Ryan Sheckler, and many other skate professionals showcase their best vert and street moves as they relive exciting moments from the inaugural X Games in Providence, RI to the most recent Games in Los Angeles, CA.Ten lucky Blogcritics readers will each win a copy! Video36526@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 10:17:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/30/101213.php Lisa HooverA question that has popped up for me many times over the past year and a half or so is how to skirt the term "boyfriend" when referring to the man I live with. I'm wildly uncomfortable with that particular adjective because it seems absolutely juvenile coming from someone who's nearly 40 years old.I always struggle when I'm asked for a short bio to accompany things that I've written for publication. I suppose I could just sew the phrases "living in the Tampa area" and "mother of three" into some form of a sentence but acknowledging Jeff's existence in my life is important to me.I was recently hired to author a niche blog that includes an entire page of information about me and the best I could come up with was "...living in Florida with my partner and three young sons." Someone who knows me suggested that I reconsider the term "partner" since it implies that I am gay. I responded that I know how it sounds but it doesn't concern me in the slightest if people think that to be the case. Besides, I can't think of another way to reference the most important adult relationship in my life. If the terminology can be interpreted in more than one way, so be it.I had to laugh when I got to my desk this morning to find not one, but two, emails from readers inquring about my sexual orientation. I'm no stranger to reader interaction but such straightforwardness really surprised me. How very bizarre. "Read the blog!" I wanted to shout. "Who cares if I like men, women, anime or blow up dolls?!" I mentioned this to a friend of mine a short while ago and she suggested the possibility that some readers might be so offended by the idea of reading a site authored by a "queer" that they might not return.Ah, yes. I'd forgotten that this is America, the land of the free. This is the country that encourages us to live as we please as long as it fits within the Moral Majority's narrowminded standards of acceptance. I had forgotten to account for the fact that while this niche blog has nothing to do with sexuality, religion or social issues, some people might be afraid to read words written by a gay writer. Their eyeballs might fall out or something.I believe so strongly in the concept of "Live and Let Live" I'm considering getting it tatooed across my posterior so self righteous people have something to read while they kiss my ass. I would never begrudge a person their right to an opinion (Lord knows I'm as opinionated as a person can get). I've never understood, however, why people care so much about the way others think or will waste precious energy to try and change someone's mind over a topic on which they disagree. I understand that politics, religion and sexual orientation are lightning rods for "spirted" discussions between people but I will be forever mystified that so many are unable to tolerate the personal beliefs of others. Who cares what other people do in their personal lives or think in the privacy of their own minds? Yes, I may be nearing 40 but I still have the occasional Pollyanna questions of a naive nineteen year old.So I'll go back to the drawing board to rewrite the bio. Since I'm working for someone else, I think complete neutrality is in the site's best interest. If this was my personal blog we were talking about, you can bet I would say I prefer bi-racial transexual Pagans. Culture37139@blogcritics.org Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:12:13 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/08/193537.php Lisa HooverIn what has to be the most audacious news to come out of my home state in recent months, the Majestic Oaks Subdivision in Ocala, Florida has decreed that its residents are not to take victims from Hurricane Katrina into their homes. The Association is encouraging homeowners to simply donate money instead.In response to the general outrage expressed by homeowners, Association Vice President Audrey Andrews said the matter was being "blown out of proportion" and flippantly offered to write a letter of apology - but not rescind the decision.Association President Bob Watson acknowledged he felt "bad" about not allowing residents to offer their homes as shelters but said bypassing existing by-laws could lead to lawsuits. He then asked the angry crowd, "How am I going to explain that to the judge?"Well, Mr. Watson. There are two ways to answer that question. If the judge is as narrow minded and short sighted as your Association Board, you all can drink a toast to the preservation of your precious land while needy families sit in public shelters with nowhere to go. If the judge has a compassionate bone in his body, he will understand that this is a time for banding together and letting people help out where they can, not encouraging elitist behavior based on fear. Though the residents of Majestic Oaks Subdivision in Ocala feel differently, the Association says that hurricane victims are not welcome. Fine. They're welcome to head a little farther south into the Tampa area where we'll make all the room we need for them. Culture35759@blogcritics.org Thu, 8 Sep 2005 19:35:37 EDT