Jump to Navigation
Our Columnists
Informed Personalities from Across the State, Across the Spectrum
Mary Jo Melone's picture
"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."
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

We spend our lives trying to figure out who we are, and by the end, wonder whom we might have been. Should I be a mason or a poet? Why do I worry what others think of me? Am I honorable? What if sometimes I’m not? And as the writer Lillian Hellman once suggested, why did I leave so much of me unfinished?

We have so much doubt that we cling to what we have been told who we are, by the people who...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

How quaint the photograph is. It is still in my head, unforgettable.

Two men are posed, their heads lowered, one toward the other, signifying they are in urgent conversation. The older man is all jowls, the younger all sideburns.

The task they face is momentous, terrifying. They are...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

Facts, as Ronald Reagan once said, are stupid things.

Ideas are even worse. Sometimes, they irk the hell out of me.

Really, officer, I was going how fast?

So I went a little over my...

Wednesday, September 05, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

Gregory Johns had allegedly committed an unimaginable and depraved act.

The Pinellas County sheriff said the 42-year-old man had raped his girlfriend’s daughter. The girl became pregnant.

She is eleven.

...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

The apex of absurdity at the Republican National Convention may have been reached when Jim VandeHei, the executive editor of Politico, pointed out on MSNBC that Mitt Romney had misquoted Popeye.

Romney had been trying to say in a Politico interview that he was finally done trying to be what he’s not -- warm. “I am who I am,” the candidate said.  Oops, said VandeHei.  Yes, indeed. Noodling around...

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

Al Austin, developer, money man, and the guy who persuaded the Republicans to come to Tampa, must have one hell of a headache right now.  He told the Tampa Bay Times this year that his beloved party’s convention would open the world’s eyes to Tampa.

Yes, indeed. Many of the delegates, the Occupiers, and all the sign-holders who plan to fill the streets while packing heat (since Rick...

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

Some days, a writer finds that her own words are mostly unnecessary, because the words of others are louder, clearer.

Consider the moment Monday when a heckler interrupted the newly-minted GOP vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, during a speech at the Iowa State Fair. “Stop the war on the common good!” the man cried. He was pulled away, as Ryan’s fans chanted, “U.S.A! U.S.A!” For his part,...

Wednesday, August 08, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

In May 2011, a tornado blew through Joplin, Missouri, and flattened much of it. More than 150 people were killed.

A storm of another sort blew through Joplin early Monday. The city’s only mosque burned to the ground in the third attack on the building. In 2007, somebody burned the mosque’s sign. A security camera captured the image of a white man setting fire to the roof last month. This time,...

Wednesday, August 01, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

How much could $888,000 buy for people in need?

Let’s see: a lot of fruits and vegetables for people whose only grocery is the convenience store, more doctors’ visits for children who will get sicker without such care, or unemployment insurance for more people who will get thrown out of their homes without it.

...

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 — Mary Jo Melone

Questions your six-year-old asks you:
Why does a zebra have stripes?
Can I have more macaroni and cheese?
Can you help me with my homework?
Why do I have to go to bed now?
Why did that man in the movie theatre hurt all those people?

Questions your teenager asks you:
Why do I have to do the dishes?
Are you going to buy me a car?
What? Me smoke weed?...



by Dr. Radut.