Florida
Cry-Baby of the Week
This week: A guy who made his son quit the Scouts vs. A guy who murdered three people over a prank.
The Magic Kingdom Is Creepy
Dylan DeRose hails from Orlando, Florida, which sounds like it would totally suck, but Dylan has turned oranges into orange juice. After getting the hell out of his hometown, he bravely ventured back to create his project, aptly titled "Orlando," about...
Welcome to Christmas, Florida
Christmas, Florida, sits between Orlando and Cape Canaveral. The yuletide name of the community comes from the Second Seminole War. On December 25th, 1837, more than 2,000 US soldiers built a supply fort for the war. They never saw a day of battle. The...
Sex Offenders in Florida Now Have Warning Signs Outside Their Homes
Last week, 18 sex offenders in Bradford County, Florida, found large red signs outside their homes that read, "a convicted sexual predator lives at this location." I called Brad Smith, the Chief of Operations at the Bradford County Police Department to...
Here's Why Our Magazine Is Not Safe for Prison
A copy of our Cultural Atrocities issue (released in March) got sent to a guy currently serving time in the Putnam Correctional Institution in East Palatka, Florida. The other day, we got it back, with a nice note from the folks in charge of that...
Gibsonton: Where Carnies Go to Get Away from Civilians
Before it became Showtown, Gibsonton was a small town of fishermen and employees of the local lumber. In 1930, it only had 614 residents. By 1945, the town grew to nearly 1,100 residents. The first settlers—legends like Al “the Giant” Tomiani (who...
Ben Kilpatrick's Tri-Coastal Photography
For this week's Mahal, I got to talk with Ben Kilpatrick about what it is like to travel the country, photographing on and off his skateboard. Check out some of his most recent work and read our conversation about how NYC and LA inspire different kinds...
The Little Gulfy That Could
If there's a reason to cheer for FGCU—beyond the fact that they're fun as hell to watch—it's for the way they refuse and defuse and otherwise dunk right in the face of all that familiar college hoops sanctimony, simply by being the goofy, grimy Florida...
Blacking Out Is the Other Universal Language
People have been going on vacations to make bad decisions since antiquity, and that’s not going to change. So in the spirit of broadening our horizons, we’ve asked our international offices to dig up the strangest, booziest stories of vacations gone...
That Time I Got in a Fight With a Male Stripper
Driving out past the palm-lined strip malls and blinking neon motels, I knew that Swinging Richards was going to be the kind of place where you find trouble. After all, this place is far on the outskirts of Miami, near 174th Street with all the other...
Here Is the New Red Band Trailer for 'Spring Breakers'
"Red Band" means it probably has a boob or two in it, so don't watch this while you're babysitting or working at a bank. Or, you know, do watch it and get fired. You'll be happier and have more time to do whatever it is you really love to do.