This Past Week

First Newsletter - #1 -- October 6, 2024 ::: Hurricane Helene and Beyond

This news isn’t new news to anyone now. Hurricane Helene blew here out of the west and pushed the eighty-seven degree waters of the Gulf of Mexico up, over, and through the beaches, homes, businesses, and streets of our Sarasota County. Two back-to-back storms, Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Helene, have sorely tested our Gulf coast. Reports say another big one is on the way this week (see below).

MILTON UPDATE: As this very first newsletter goes out (Oct. 6), we are closing up our cottage and packing the car to head away from Hurricane Milton, due to reach the Florida West Coast on Tuesday/Wednesday (October 8/9). Pray with us for protection and safety for us and our communities. Stay tuned for updates.

North Jetty Damage: Nokomis, Florida. September 2024. (Photos: Jodi Altsman Rall)

The storm surge slammed plenty of coastal communities north and south of us before driving north on a path of destruction to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. Even now, a full ten days later, results of Helene’s rampage continues inflicting destruction and death across more than a 50 million acres of America’s Southeast.

REACTION

Hurricane Helene and two torrential rain events that came just a week before her arrival have shocked local residents and saddened recently arrived visitors and tourists. Every beach in Sarasota County is closed until October 31st. Untold numbers of restaurants and beachfront businesses have been shuttered until repairs and restoration can be completed.

Commentary on Hurricane Helene from a Nokomis Business. (Photo by the author)

SPIRITUAL EFFECTS

Job and financial losses continue to grow. One senses a certain sadness among our neighbors and friends. This hurricane was bigger and more destructive than anticipated by almost everyone. Its brute force and physical devastation has left so many with a total loss of hearth and home and hope. Helene has tempered the usual enthusiasm and excitement we so normally share here. We reach out to help one another and pray for all those in need that help and recovery is near. This is not the end of the story, but it is the end of the beginning. We move forward with optimism and hope that we can restore what has been lost, repair what has been broken, and revive the spirit of each American dreamer’s dream.

This Week’s Reading

This writer normally has 30-40 books on his reading desk while actively reading and taking notes on 10-12 other books. Among the dozen I am currently focused on, there are three timely volumes. First, Paige McClanahan’s The New Tourist, Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel (Scribner, 2024) offers a fresh look at the travel and tourism industries and how they have affected the world, positively and negatively, while making the world more accessible to everyone and much easier to explore. World travel is bigger than ever. But as more people want to travel and see the most exotic places on earth, many of these places and their residents are pushing back.

(Image: Courtesy Amazon)

The arrival of thousands, and sometimes millions, of visitors to once peaceful sites has pushed residents out of their own cities and towns. These armies of tourists bring plenty of money to these places, but they also often bring the unintended consequences of higher local rents, demand for better infrastructure, and challenges to the local culture. Tourism leaders and community leaders around the world are working hard to find a reasonable balance among the multiple sector goals of commerce, conservation, and culture. This book offers numerous examples and positive ideas to further exploring the changes that will be necessary to accommodate and manage the billions of people who will be arriving as tourists in the coming decades. Andiamo!

Two more great and timely books for anyone who is creative or wants to be. Check out The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Evertday (Knopf, 2019), by Rob Walker. Another great and inspiring book is Manoush Zomorodi’s Bored and Brilliant, How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Crative Self (St. Martin’s Press, 2017). Adopt the lessons in these two books and you’ll find yourself more alive, more aware, and more inspired than ever!

What I’m Cooking

It’s Autumn, even here in Florida, so we’re already into preparing big pots of soup, pork roasts, and of course, pasta dishes. Here’s one of my favorites from Anthony Bourdain that is in heavy home rotation this time of the year, both for its flavor and lightness, and for the simplicity of preparation.

I often channel Anthony’s voice as I read off his simple instructions (see below).

Spaghetti with Garlic, Anchovies, and Parsley

From Appetites, by Anthony Bourdain 
(Serves 4 to 6)

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, bring salted water to a boil.

1/4 cup best-quality, extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to taste
6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
8 oil-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed, drained, and patted dry
1 lb dry spaghetti
1 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more to taste

In a medium-large sauce pan, warm the oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, pepper flakes, and anchovies. Make sure everything is well distributed so that everything is in the oil, and cook slowly, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the garlic is fragrant and the anchovies are melting into the oil. Monitor the heat carefully, you don't want burned or even browned garlic here. 

Anchovies and garlic heating up. (Photo by the author)

Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti and cook according to the package directions until just al dente. Just before taking the pasta from the water, add the parsley to the saute pan and toss gently. Remove the pasta from the water with tongs and add it directly to the pan--the water that clings to it will help form the sauce. Toss the pasta well with the pan ingredients, increasing the heat to medium. Add a small splash each of oil and pasta water to keep everything slick. Taste a strand of pasta and season with salt if necessary. Transfer pasta to individual serving bowls and top each with Parmigiano-Reggiano or serve it alongside.

Thanks and kudos to the late Anthony Bourdain for sharing this recipe. Try it!

The finished dish of Spaghetti with Garlic, Anchovies, and Parsley. (Photo by author)

Final Words

This completes the first newsletter in a new weekly series I will be writing and illustrating from our new hometown of Nokomis, Florida. This newsletter will be accompanied by a weekly podcast that launches soon, featuring interviews from many of the longtime residents and local leaders of this small community nestled along the Gulf of Mexico. Oral histories are some of the most telling and insightful sources of lost and forgotten stories, people, and events. Nokomis has many such forgotten and overlooked histories waiting for re-discovery. I hope to bring some of them to light to remind us of our past, celebrate our present, and dream about our future life here.

The final product of these weekly reports and podcasts will be the publication of a new book of history about Nokomis, titled, Nokomis Then & Now. This book will review some of the major historical people and events, and add focus to our history since WWII and up to the present.

If you have anecdotes or stories about Nokomis and the greater Nokomis area, please contact me to share your memories and reminiscences.

Reply here or directly to my email at: kennethproudfoot@hotmail.com

Many thanks for reading this first effort. Please share with your friends and family.

Let the conversation continue!