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March 27, 2010
Goodland, Florida: 'You got a problem with that?'
Half the adult population in this tiny town is said to be "non-voting". Lots of old--but extremely fast--boats.
No pretense, not much Internet (a good thing), but no real problems, either. No money (bad thing)--but so what, Mister? People here could very well have it all. Home of the buzzard lope, Goodland is a living caricature of working people with too much personality, powerful appetites, and Flowers on Mama's Grave back in the Ozarks.
I feel like I know these people; in my case, Scots-Irish DNA is hard to beat down with just an education. However, three years ago, Holden Oliver, one of our writers, and then a snooty New England-bred law student at Stanford, refused to finish his dinner at one of the local bars here. It wasn't the food. The Mayflower crowd could never grock Goodland.
Buzzard Lope people
Anyway, about 300 souls. Half the adult population in this tiny town is said to be "non-voting" due to drug transport-related convictions. Lots of old--but extremely fast--boats. Trial lawyers like NYC's Scott Greenfield get the picture. If Scott mails me some of his cards, I will pass them out at Stan's or The Little Bar.
Goodland is also very, well, white--but more fun and certainly less sterile than Naples or Marco. This is a gritty Key West for the Gulf's gold coast.
It's fun. The most button-down clients insist on going to dinner here--just like they insist on a quick trip to Mexico for lobster in Puerto Nuevo or near Calafia when they are in San Diego.
Goodland is a fine place to write sonnets, briefs, novels, letters, settlement contracts, short stories, articles, limericks, Dear Jane letters and marginal haiku.
The people here make even most Australians seem a bit uptight and sober.
"Hey, you guys from Connecticut or something?"
Posted by JD Hull at March 27, 2010 12:59 AM
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