The View from a Drawbridge

When you know you’re about to move away from a place, the things you’ll miss about it become all that much more poignant, and the things that irritate you become increasingly annoying. I’m definitely experiencing those feelings now. Without further ado, here’s what I’ll miss and what I won’t about Jacksonville, Florida.

What I’ll Miss

• Friends, obviously. With my crazy work schedule, I went for quality, not quantity, and the quality I got was priceless.
• The funky neighborhoods of Riverside, Murray Hill, and San Marco. These places, full of quirk and personality, were what made this city so tolerable.
• The Riverside Arts Market. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday.
•  The main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library. I could go on and on about this place, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art on one side of it, and the Chamblin Bookmine on the other, but I’ve already done so in my blog entry My Jacksonville Indulgence.
• The croissant donuts at the Edgewood Bakery.
• The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. The garden is the most gorgeous oasis I’ve ever seen. Sometimes I’d go there on free Tuesday afternoons and bring a book and just sit. Pure bliss.
• The three drawbridges that I’ve worked on for the past 13 years.
• The local music programing on WJCT, 89.9, our local NPR station. In particular I love Electro Lounge and String Theory. I have no doubt I’ll continue to listen to these programs on line.
• The Florida Theatre. I’ve seen some amazing performances at this gorgeous venue.
• The St. Johns River, when it isn’t green with algae.
• Kingsley Plantation. This national park seems to be Jacksonville’s best kept secret, and that’s a shame. It’s full of amazing history. Just walking through the ruins of the slave quarters will really make you think.
• The Independence Day fireworks on the river.
• Aunt M’s Fried Chicken at the Valero Gas Station on the corner of Zoo Parkway and I-295. Not only is the chicken beyond compare, but they treat you like family.
• The downtown skyline at night.
• The Maxwell House Plant. When they’re grinding their coffee, all of downtown smells fantastic.
• The Luminaria every Christmas that lights up Riverside with candles.
• The low cost of living.
• Big Jim.
• The Jacksonville Zoo. I love this place, and the fact that I can’t afford to visit one last time before I go is killing me.
• Treaty Oak.
• Folio Weekly. This alternative weekly newspaper is a delight.

What I Won’t Miss

• The cruel, relentless, brutal heat and humidity.
• The threat of a long overdue hurricane 6 months out of the year.
• The lack of seasons.
• Andy Johnson. This former member of the Florida House stole more than $3,500 from me and refuses to pay me back. Read more about this here.
• The religious conservative mindset that always made me feel like a lone voice in the wilderness.
• The racism. It took a viral internet campaign to get the school board to finally, after decades of debate, think that maybe it was a good idea to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School to something other than that of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.
•  The resistance to public art.
• The flat, never-changing landscape.
• Congressman Ander Crenshaw. This hyper-conservative, homophobic gasbag is impossible to work with, and the fact that he keeps getting re-elected tells you all you need to know about this area.
• Congresswoman Corrine Brown. She may be a democrat, but this polyester-bewigged, ebonics-speaking woman is only in office because of her extremely gerrymandered district, and even she knows it, because when they tried to change that, she screamed bloody murder She’s an embarrassment to the party.
• The Florida Times-Union. This newspaper is an extremely biased, inaccurate rag.

As you can see, Jacksonville is a mixed bag. After living in the area for 30 years, of course I’ll miss it. But it’s also time to go. As a friend of mine says, “Onward and upward, into the future.”