Steven Kurlander
Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly's Kommentary, writes a weekly column for Fort Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel and is a South Florida communications strategist.
"Too much political writing is done from strictly one dogmatic perspective or another. I try to analyze issues and topics strictly from a common sense point of view."
William Mattox
William Mattox is a columnist with Florida Voices and a resident fellow at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee.
William Mattox hates politics -- but loves ideas. So, his columns rarely deal with politics, but often address public policy problems. In addition, Mattox enjoys writing about larger cultural questions that arise in sports, arts and leisure, religion, and the interplay of the sexes.
Cary McMullen
Cary McMullen is a journalist and editor who lives in Lakeland.
"By training and inclination, I am drawn to questions of faith, and many of my columns will address religious beliefs, especially Christian beliefs, and how they are expressed in the public sphere. I’m a follower of politics, with sympathies toward the center and skepticism toward all sides. I’m keenly interested in education and an amateur critic of the fine arts. My goal is for readers to apply the label 'thought-provoking' to whatever I write."
Mary Jo Melone
Mary Jo Melone, former columnist with the St. Petersburg Times, is a writer in Tampa.
"Somebody once said that journalism is the first rough draft of history; if there was ever a form of the trade that suited that definition, it’s the blog—meant to be insightful, provocative, brief, and right on the tail of breaking stories. That’s the way I see it, and that’s what I intend to do, through a liberal lens. I worry about the way Florida is headed, the country too. We suddenly live in a mean-spirited, you’re-on-your-own world. Whenever I see it, I’ll point it and wonder aloud why this has happened to us. I’ll suggest answers when I can. I’ll write about events big and small. I’ll wait to hear from you, and we’ll have a conversation."
Mark O'Brien
Formerly a columnist, reporter and editor for the Pensacola News Journal, Mark O’Brien is a writer in Pensacola, his home since 1978. He also is the author of "Pensacola On My Mind" and "Sand In My Shoes."
"Mark O'Brien has an O'pinion on almost everything."
Tom O'Hara
Formerly managing editor of The Palm Beach Post and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Tom O'Hara is a senior foreign editor with The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi.
"The United Arab Emirates is hot, diverse and odd -- a lot like Florida. I will share stories that give you the flavor of the place and the people. Drawing on my 28 years as a Florida journalist, I will explain that Miami is as weird as Abu Dhabi and Orlando is as surreal as Dubai. On occasion, I'll just tell you in water-cooler language what's going on here in the volatile Middle East and why."
Rick Outzen
The publisher/editor of Pensacola's Independent News, Rick Outzen is a political agnostic who challenges the status quo in the heart of the Bible Belt and still believes that words matter.
“I want to connect the dots, in a unique way that makes readers think."
Andrew J. Skerritt
Former St. Petersburg Times columnist Andrew J. Skerritt is an assistant professor of journalism at Florida A&M University and the author of “Ashamed to Die: Silence, Denial and the AIDS Epidemic in the South."
"As a columnist my role has always been to tell the stories of everyday people struggling against extraordinary odds to secure their place in our impressive democracy. I’ll be writing about poverty, politics, health, immigration, family, fatherhood and turning fifty."
Florence Snyder
Florence Snyder is a Tallahassee-based corporate lawyer and writer who has spent most of her career in and around newspapers. She also speaks and consults on ethics and management.
"Everybody talks about transparency and accountability, and for too many of our leaders, it's nothing but talk. I've seen everything that works in Florida and everything that doesn't, and I'm looking forward to sharing my views and comparing notes with Florida Voices' readers."
Pierre Tristam
Formerly a columnist and editorial writer at the Daytona Beach News-Journal and The Ledger in Lakeland, Pierre Tristam is the editor and publisher of FlaglerLive.com, a non-profit news service based in Palm Coast, Fla.
"As an immigrant I’m always abroad in my own home -- happily so: American politics and culture in their Florida dialects are eternal attractions rich in paradox. My columns are an attempt to decipher this continuing experiment in American nation-building."
