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Welcome to Thinking Out Loud, a blog that contains postings from The Tampa Tribune’s Editorial Board and from various Tribune Community Columnists. Unlike the unsigned editorials that represent the newspaper’s institutional voice, the blog postings offer personal perspectives on the issues, personalities and events of Tampa Bay. We invite you to participate by posting your comments. We’ll do our best to respond.

Contributors:

Joe Guidry

Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Fernando Figueroa is a researcher, educator and lives in Riverview.

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Biographies in Little Blue Bins – The Tales Your Trash Tells

Posted Feb 28, 2010 by Kris DiGiovanni

Updated Feb 28, 2010 at 04:52 PM

My dog Allie and I are incurable snoops. While we do our daily two mile circuit of the neighborhood, her nose brings her up to date on the latest adventures of her doggie pals, and I keep up with what’s happening in our small community. It’s amazing what you can find out just by observing – especially on recycling days, when everyone’s private lives are on display.

You can learn a lot about someone from what they don’t throw away.

Take my neighbor J.A. By day, he’s a mild mannered businessman who drives a modest sedan and wears a suit and tie to work. But I know from his recyclables, his alter-ego is a leather-clad, hog-ridin’ free spirit. Just check out the back issues of Biker and Easyriders, and the empty Jack Daniels bottles in his little blue bin.

Then there’s neighbor R. B. He wears battered jeans to his job in construction, but he’s got a college degree and this is just a temp job until the economy turns around. What gives him away? His old issues of The New York Times and Anthropology Today, junk mail from his college alumni association, plus empty bottles of various micro-brewed beers.

Rory, the baby son of Sally from up the block, has cut his first teeth. The switch from baby food to toddler meal containers in her bin is a dead giveaway.

Neighbor L. T. has finally quit drinking. No more vodka bottles in his bin, but lots and lots of Mountain Dew and Coke cans.

Joe and Rose, who live just down the street, have fallen on hard times. All the cans and packages in their bin have changed from store brands to generic, and many are from over-sized or bulk items. That’s one of the first changes you make to your shopping when money’s tight.

Neighbor S. O. drives a Mercedes and, as you might expect, his bin contains old Wall St Journals, and bottles that were once full of expensive wine. But flattened neatly on one side is a large stack of TV dinner cartons. It’s obvious that he and his wife have split.

Roy around the corner turned 40 last week and his wife Gina threw him a party. Their bin is overflowing with liquor bottles and soda cans. The crumpled “other the hill” decorations and “Lordy, lordy, look who’s forty” tell me all I need to know.

Georgia’s on a diet again. Her bin is filled with plastic water bottles, and Lean Cuisine packages.

And so it goes, as I make my way down the street. I arrive home just bursting with news.

When I was a kid, our phone was on a “party line.” If you wanted to know what your neighbor was up to, you steathily picked up the phone and listened in on their conversation. Today, you don’t have to be that devious. You just have to walk by their house before the recycling truck comes.

You can contact the author at KrisDiGiovanni at gmail dot com or friend me on FaceBook

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