Ybor City Street Art

Free!

It's a Christian magazine promoting a Christian coffee house. Nothing odd there except the place is inexplicably "organic". Here are some choice quotes:

"The love of Jesus literally leaks from every door."

"At Organic Life, the staff are not the only ones who would be happy to tell you about Jesus Christ; the customers minister to each other too."

"Christianity can be an organic way you're refreshing your life, getting rid of chemicals [in your body] and the things of this world."

I wonder if they warn people about gluttony at the bakery counter.

Oxygen Spa

After eating food rich in anti-oxidants (to protect yourself from oxygen), you can go and breathe concentrated oxygen!

Ybor City Knight Parade

Sign of the times

(This was during a giant street parade.)

There be dragons!

This sits atop a jewelry store. Pretty good advertising--made me stop.

College life

(Via @fortalyst)

Texting

Words like "texting" and "iPhone" sound awkward and are best left unsaid. Lyric-wise this song could have been written 50 years ago, and it probably will make sense 50 years from now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Guerilla farming

The crowing of roosters is a common sound on the south side of Ybor City:

They can often be seen with a flock of hens in tow:

And picking through dumpsters looking for food:

Fair Food

Food movements

I remember eating raw peas from the garden, wild strawberries, and tomatoes still warm from the sun; getting apples from an orchard and how the cider got sweeter as the season progressed.

I'm sitting in a hipster hang-out; it's big on ambiance and offers food following every culinary trend: vegan, locally produced, sustainably grown, certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, fair trade...

Instead of eating a laundry list of industrially produced chemicals, they consume a laundry list of industrially produce ideas. Is any of it fresh, I wonder. And would anyone notice if it were replaced with stuff from Walmart?

I see The Local Dirt, the first edition of a free magazine promising to inform the reader about "the slow food movement", and start to read:

"More and more people are focusing on improving their diets in order to enrich their health and lifestyle."

"Enrich their health"; let's say organic kale is more nutritious than normal kale. Does that mean we can eat less kale? Seems odd when we're supposed to be eating more vegetables. And some nutrients are toxic in high amounts. Perhaps the organic kale should come with a warning label.

As for improving your lifestyle, a "lifestyle" is the manner in which the group you belong to behaves. So if you try to improve your lifestyle you're trying to improve your appearance by acting as if you belonged to a higher social class.

The author could have just been at a loss for words, but I find their choice interesting.

The next page features a story mocking the viewers of the Food Network:

"I'm not just some guy off the street, you know! I watch the Food Network."

That poor slob gets his comeuppance. And the reader can laugh, knowing he's better than those people.

Other articles make rather odd claims:

"Cast aside as bourgeois and elitist for their over-priced vegetables and meat, the modern farmer is often considered high-class and snooty."

The author goes on to show that farmers aren't as snooty as nobody thought they were.

There are also some possible slanders:

"There are loads of markets, vendors and businesses touting their "fresh, local produce," but buyers should beware of these fraudulent vegetable stands."

The snippet mentions that the reader should look at a list of approved vendors. You'd think a person could tell, just by eating the food whether it was good or not; but things like taste, ironically, seem to have been pushed to the side by modern food movements.

I'd rather scrounge in the woods for wild strawberries. Then go eat a Twinkie.

Media Noche Sandwich

The lettuce and tomatoes aren't traditional, but I like 'em, so they're there.

Lost Objects

Musical Minimalism

It's a cover of a song we liked the video of last July, and came off one of the best albums of the year, all done with one guitar.

P. S. That album is now available for purchase in America.

(Via @gohumble)

Sign of the times

One of those Spanish street signs we're supposed to fear, but one a Republican dare not complain about.

mr. Empanada

They operate out of one of Tampa's many food trucks:

Each empanada is stuffed with either meat or fruit; they're small but you get a few, so you you can share them with a friend. They are fried, but not oily:

Empanadas are in big demand, so yours will be freshly made and extremely hot. This one was filled with ground beef and cheese (yum!):

Ybor City Street Art

Cuban bread

Is very long:

And often contains a leaf:

It is to Tampa what the bagel is to New York City.

(Also: it's Delicious!)