There was no school in Florida. No one went to work. And everyone in Florida had a pool, right in the sprawling backyards of their colossal houses! In my 11 year old mind, Florida was for swimming and watching British comedy, exclusively. And I was moving to this paradise, this haven. Florida was another world, everything was different there. Everything was richly colored and deeply hued, unlike the drab grays of cement and muted reds of brick in Brooklyn. The jade greens of the palms and the azures of water were so lush and vivid, it made you squint. Even skin took on a different shade, warm and golden with pink high on the cheeks. People from florida where different. They spoke differently, their vowels long and their jaws loose, delightfully foreign to my ears accustomed to clipped, pursed lipped dialect of home. All of these images combined to form a complete and exacting picture that came to the forefront of my mind when someone said “Florida”. The name alone had the power to engage all my senses with memory, not the least of which was
There was no school in Florida. No one went to work. And everyone in Florida had a pool, right in the sprawling backyards of their colossal houses! In my 11 year old mind, Florida was for swimming and watching British comedy, exclusively. And I was moving to this paradise, this haven. Florida was another world, everything was different there. Everything was richly colored and deeply hued, unlike the drab grays of cement and muted reds of brick in Brooklyn. The jade greens of the palms and the azures of water were so lush and vivid, it made you squint. Even skin took on a different shade, warm and golden with pink high on the cheeks. People from florida where different. They spoke differently, their vowels long and their jaws loose, delightfully foreign to my ears accustomed to clipped, pursed lipped dialect of home. All of these images combined to form a complete and exacting picture that came to the forefront of my mind when someone said “Florida”. The name alone had the power to engage all my senses with memory, not the least of which was