You can be a Florida magnet, too

Be a magnet. Eat mangoes at night. TMT as NPR's BOTD!

On May 18, I had the distinct pleasure of joining “Gator Country” author Rebecca Renner and “Florida Man” poet Tyler Gillespie on an all-things-Florida panel moderated by Dennie Wang and Veronica Smith, the disturbingly brilliant minds behind the Vulgar Geniuses podcast. Our discussion, part of the Orlando Book Festival, centered on this wild and wacky state the five of us, and many of you, call home.

My favorite question came from an audience member. She asked about Florida Flight, as in, the many people leaving the state and their many reasons for doing so: insane politicians, book bans, nonexistent reproductive rights, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, anti-immigrant legislation, racism, soaring costs of living, the hilarious coupling of climate-change denial and hurricane season (throupled with record homeowners insurance hikes lolollll), and the list goes on.

My answer, in the moment, was along the lines of “I don’t blame anyone for leaving, but those of us who can afford to stay — financially, mentally, emotionally — must work to make this a better, safer place.”

I’m not unhappy with that answer, but I’d love to expound on it.

Those of us who stay in Florida do so for a reason. For me, that reason is family, friends, community, all of which I have here in abundance. As complicated as my feelings are for this state, I cannot imagine recreating this beautiful support system anywhere else right now.

To answer this question better, it’s not on us-who-stay to generically “make this state better.” That feels impossible. That’s the kind of insurmountable challenge that makes you say “fuck it” and retreat back to the comforts of TikTok or Instagram for a few more hours (days); places where each heart or thumbs-up feels like action, like connection, like reality — when really those are everything but.

Photo by Rivindhu Geeneth on Unsplash

It is, however, on us-who-stay to create a sense of community for those around us. This act of creation isn’t impossible or insurmountable, but it takes more than hearts and thumbs. It takes reaching out to people. Talking. Engaging. Making folks feel like they — whoever they are, whatever connects them to you — belong here in this swamp, too. Deserve this warmth, these beaches, this sunshine, too.

These magnets that tether us to Florida, to the hurricanes, the bugs, the putrid politicians, we have to be those magnetic forces for others. Not because of how bad things are here, but because of how lovely things can be when we have resources and support. I strongly believe that people with support are capable of bigger things. This is, perhaps, why so many politicians want to strip us of support; to keep us working and prevent us from thinking, learning, seeing. With support, maybe the insurmountable becomes more … mountable (is that a word?). With support, maybe — maybe — we honestly do make this place better.

Look at me being optimistic on main.

A Night of Mangoes + More Book News

• The Alliance for the Arts hosted its inaugural Mango Night Market here in Fort Myers last night and invited me to do a reading and Q&A. An evening themed entirely around mangoes — mango drinks, mango tacos, mango plushies, mango earrings, mango lemonade, mango cupcakes, mango shaved ice, mango soaps, actual mangoes, *actual mango trees* — yes, yes, yes. The brilliant Jovana Batkovic (you know here as the pizza lady at Nice Guys, I know her as the friend who audits Harvard poetry classes in her spare time) joined me on stage in the Alliance’s packed theater for a fantastic conversation about immigrant identity, place and the horrors of owning a catering company. Afterwards, I signed books sold by Blinking Owl Books (we sold out again Lucy!) and ate lechon asado with mango-habanero salsa. It was a Wednesday evening at its finest.

  

  

  From top left, clockwise: Me with Jovana Batkovic at the Mango Night Market; me repping The Lynx; The Mango Tree as NPR's Book of the Day; a review of The Mango Tree in print in The NYT

• On Sunday, June 2, The New York Times ran Michelle Orange’s glowing review of “The Mango Tree” in print. Her review published online way back on March 30, so to see it in print more than two months later was the pleasantest of surprises. The print run taught me a few things. 1. The NYT Sunday paper costs SIX U.S. DOLLARS (!!!!) 2. You will not find the NYT at Barnes & Noble, but you can snag it from Wawa if you wake up early enough. 3. A LOT of Southwest Floridians (and non-SWFLians) have the Sunday Times delivered to their homes. Sooo many people sent me pictures of me on their kitchen counters and sofas and patios. I am grateful to you all.

• On Monday, NPR chose “The Mango Tree” as its Book of the Day, and I was once again picking myself up from the floor whilst slipping in pools of my own tears. As I told folks at the Mango Night Market, I thought this book was a chance to tell a story about this odd town I love and a few of the odd people — my mom, myself, my family — who inhabit it. To see it resonate far and wide, well, makes me want to curl back onto the floor for a few minutes longer. Click here to listen to my interview with Scott Simon.

• Tomorrow, I’ll be in Gainesville at The Lynx Books for one of my last in-state events of the summer. I will be chatting with Carlynn Crosby, a fellow Florida woman and editor at the University Press of Florida. If you’re anywhere near GNV, I’d be thrilled to see you! I’m even hoping to bring mangoes from THE mango tree. If you can’t make it, you can watch a livestream on The Lynx’s Instagram. The fun starts at 6 p.m.