United States
Writing is how I have always sought to serve my community.
I moved to Orlando in 2002 to attend the University of Central Florida and graduated in 2005 with my degree in Creative Writing. Throughout college, I wrote for several Orlando publications, including Orlando Weekly and aXis Magazine, on topics ranging from covering court cases to national politics to music reviews. I was also active in the local poetry community and was part of the four-person 2003 Orlando National Poetry Slam team.
Before graduation, I was hired as an Editorial Assistant for the Orlando Sentinel. After two years, I left to pursue an education in sustainable farming and planning practices. In 2014, I graduated from Rollins College with a Master's in Planning in Civic Urbanism.
My goal is to use my education, experience, and skills to enlighten and entertain Central Florida. I have made a life of connecting to people through writing. In addition to my significant professional experience, I believe the great quality my writing has to offer is my passion.
KISSIMMEE - Heather Squires, 51, tears up a lot at the Liberty Inn in her room that the Coalition for the Homeless paid for through July 7. She doesn't know what will happen to her next. "I don't have money for food," she said. "I'm just trying to survive."
The top 10 home-buying investorsof 2021 in metro Orlando were tied to firms in the single-family rental house business, leading at least one expert to worry about the pressure such deals are putting on the real estate market.
Nearly every day, Paula Kittrell gets a call, a text or a mailer with the same message: If she is thinking about selling her West Lakes home near downtown Orlando, there is someone willing to pay cash today. Occasionally, she'll listen to the pitch.
ORMOND BEACH - The problems at Peggy Childress' mobile home started in May when a tree from the vacant lot next door crashed through their carport, the first damage she or her husband, Mike, could recall in 15 years of living there. Having the tree removed cost $600, all the money they had in savings.
MOUNT DORA -A gray sky hangs over a small lake, with flowers in the background. But there's a faint hum, like the drone of a plane that never seems to land, that upends the otherwise natural scene. "That's just a taste," said Lynn Graber of the noise from a nearby medical marijuana processing plant.
Homeowners are paying much more for property insurance around the state, sometimes in ways they didn't know were possible and far exceeding the 15% annual increase cap that insurance companies can impose without asking state regulators for a public hearing.
APOPKA - On Friday nights, Three Odd Guys Brewing in Apopka fills up pretty fast. Co-owner Trod Buggs says it's been that way since the place opened two years ago. "Right away, we opened our doors and people started coming in," he said.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Orlando Sentinel. The Wekiva Hunt Club Community Association puts out a newsletter every other monthfilled with community events, reminders about trash pickups and other tidbits about life in the quiet Orlando suburb.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Orlando Sentinel. Anyone looking to buy a home in metro Orlando this year had to bring their A-game and be prepared to fight.
Isaac Aviles thought he found a good deal on a rental home in Orlando: a three-bed, two-bath house in Meadow Woods for $1,200 a month. Aviles, 19, didn't meet the landlord but said he got "a chill vibe" over the phone.
Orlando's already-thin supply of affordable apartments could start disappearing soon, an expert warns, in a region suffering from a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents. Contracts for rental assistance and other subsidies for low-income tenants on thousands of apartments are set to expire in the next 10 years, after which landlords could start asking market-rate rents.
Charlotte Davis didn't expect to be living with her adult children at 48, sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Orlando's Parramore Oaks neighborhood. "My son has his room, and my daughter and I share a room," she said. The apartment is in her daughter's name.
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS - David Hamilton walks out of his Howey-in-the-Hills home to his wife, Leah, who is staring into the sewer line clean-out. Leah still hasn't seen the toilet paper David flushed more than a minute ago, so David heads back inside and turns on the downstairs guest tub faucet.
On a hot Thursday in July, the house at 5536 Kingswood Drive in Orlando was empty. Deputy Jacob Snavely of the Orange County Sheriff's Department and a contractor from property owner Sylvan Homes put back into place the front doors, which the deputy had helped remove the night before to make sure no one would be there in the morning.
MOUNT DORA - Raquel Martin knows first-hand the developmentpressures farmers face in Lake County. As vice president of Liner Source, an ornamental nursery withabout 200 acres, she says some of the offers she's received for her land have been "insane." "It's $100,000 an acre easy," Martin, 36, said. "Big developers, big bucks."
Thank God we live in an age where nudity and the phenomenal act of fucking can be captured in all of its various forms on film. Oh, a few moralists may still titter about the degradation of society and the exploitation of human sexuality, but those arguments are dwindling.