By Ernest Hooper, Metro Columnist
Sunday, October 17, 2010
I went out to buy my 8-year-old daughter a Halloween costume over the weekend, and it's always a perilous journey.
Why? Well, you have to find tasteful outfits amid a bevy of spaghetti-strapped, off-the-shoulder, fishnet, naughty costumes you wouldn't want your wife to wear, let alone your daughter.
Can I use the word skank?
I don't know whom to blame more: the manufacturers who try to trick us or the parents who treat their young daughters to such outlandish outfits. …
A friend of mine pointed out that it's almost impossible to find campaigns featuring the words "re-elect" or "keep." Just another sign that incumbents have become endangered species. …
Downtown St. Petersburg seems capable of supporting BayWalk and the Pier, but if the city isn't going to seek new management at BayWalk, it would be best served focusing more effort on reinvigorating the Pier. …
Seen on a bumper sticker: If You Knew My Family, You'd Understand. …
Here's a chance to get your groove on in downtown Tampa and help my friends at Brookwood Florida, a residential home in St. Petersburg for abused and neglected girls. The "Old School '70s" fundraiser is at 7 p.m. Saturday at TECO Plaza. Call (813) 404-8889 for tickets. …
On Saturday, I'll have the privilege of being part of the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading. You can catch my session at 12:30 p.m. at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and don't fear. Instead of talking about my favorite subject — me — I'll focus on my late grandmother's book: A Century and Some Change.
You also catch great authors such as Michael Connelly, R.L. Stine and Sena Jeter Naslund.
That's all I'm saying.