FORUM Magazine Spring 2021, Written in Water
Archived Edition

Vol. XLV, No 1 Spring 2021, Written In Water

Cover Story:
Our Story of Water
From the earliest days, the lives of those who have lived on this peninsula have been interwoven with Florida’s waterways — from where we live to how we see the world. In these pages, we look at the endless ways water has shaped our state. By Jacki Levine.

  • Water: The elemental link to Florida’s identity
  • Humanities Today
    • Makeshift freedom – The often-primitive boats known as “chugs” offered a perilous escape for generations of Cubans fleeing their island home. The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden displays a group of these vessels, in an exhibit partially funded by a Florida Humanities grant. By Janet Scherberger.
  • Return of Smithsonian’s “Water/Ways” – The Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition begins its Florida tour in June, focusing on a topic crucial to Floridians.
  • Water As Our Life Story – How earliest inhabitants coped with a rising sea, Noted archaeologist Kenneth Sassaman takes us on a journey back to the earliest days of the land that became Florida, when the rising seas shaped the lives of the ancients. By Kenneth Sassaman.
  • Water As Our Way of Life:
    • Treasures beneath — and beside — the sea – In Tarpon Springs, this Greek sponge diver found a livelihood, and a community, that reminded him of home. By Janet Scherberger.
    • Coming together for a beloved Bay – Florida Bay Forever unites everyone from fisherfolk to business owners in concern for the life-giving Everglades-Florida Keys waterway. By Jacki Levine.
    • Voices of the Bay – Who better to tell the story of a threatened waterway than those who know it best. As part of Florida Bay Forever’s “Voices of Florida Bay” project, fishing guide Captain Eddie Wightman recounts a life on the water. As told to Emma Haydocy.
  • Water as A Natural Bridge, Bonding across the Straits of Florida – Our shared waterways — and the marine life within — bonds scientists from Cuba and Florida together across the political divides. A Cuban marine biologist who now works in Clearwater offers a personal perspective. By Anmari Alvarez Aleman.
  • Water as A Divider, When beaches were not for all, Our beaches and swimming pools once illustrated and furthered a great divide, separating us one from another in the days of segregation. By Audrey Peterman.
  • Water as Freedom, Fluid freedom – There’s something about water — the seas, springs, rivers, lakes — that evokes freedom for those who seek it. But in our crowded state, watery liberty has its limits. By Thomas T. Ankersen.
  • Water as A Healing Source, In search of miracle cures – Author Rick Kilby takes us back a century, when our seas and springs lured Victorian-era tourists here with promises of healing. By Rick Kilby.
  • Water as Inspiration
  • Water as We Look to the Future – Building for tomorrow’s rising seas Just as ancient Floridians did, today’s planners, architects and engineers envision ways to live with the rising seas. By Ron Cunningham.
  • State of Wonder, Peace of the manatee – This photographer finds a welcome respite paddling our waters on her annual trips to Florida, particularly when she encounters one of the state’s most gentle and popular creatures. By Courtney Welch.

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