Unpacking

Gaslighting Another Black Community For Fun & Profit

Scratch beneath any story in Coconut Grove and you’ll discover the issue of race lurking. We’ll get to that eventually, but this true fable — with a twist on the race issue — starts with the approval of a Wawa gas station in the City of Coral Gables. So what? Cities approve gas stations all the time. However, this approval didn’t have any public consultation with the community, nor public hearings, both of which would normally have taken place. And, that’s ...

Happy Birthday Coconut Grove!!! Now Honour Your Past

Peacock Inn circa 188?. Courtesy State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory Dateline January 6, 1874 – Dr. Horace P. Porter establishes the first post office in Cocoanut Grove. In the 138 years ...

Unpacking the Aunty Em Ericann Blog

Welcome to my occasional entry of Unpacking the Aunty Em Ericann Blog, where I ask my readers to pay attention to the man behind the curtain, who used to be ...

Montgomery Bus Boycott ► Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be

Dateline December 5, 1955 – Rosa Parks and E.D. Nixon began the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It lasted for just over one year. This is something that happened within my lifetime. It’s ...

Unpacking The Writer ► First In A New Series

I started my professional career on a machine like this. I still bang my keyboard as if it’s a manual typewriter and I wear off the most used letters within a year. Welcome ...

Unpacking The Aunty Em Ericann Blog ► Shit Just Got Real

Pictures in the public domain stitched together by author From time to time I like to unpeel the onion and reveal a bit of what it takes to put this blog ...

Unpacking Aunty Em ► My Shocking Confession

“Hanging” Chad. Despite his name, Chad’s a wonderful dancer. I have never voted in an election in my entire life. In fact, it’s somewhat of a family tradition. I am a ...

Harry Houdini’s Last Performance

Dateline October 24, 1926 – It was on this day that illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini gave his last performance in 1926 at Detroit’s Garrick Theater. He was to die of ...

Me and Pierre Trudeau ► Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be

DATELINE October 18, 1919 – Pierre Elliot Trudeau is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While he was born into wealth, when he became Prime Minister in 1968 there were no ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 9.2 ► A Photo Essay Follow Up

It’s amazing what a phone call to the right City of Miami department can do. When I arrived for my weekly visit to the E.W.F. Stirrup House yesterday, there was ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 9.1 ► A Bad Neighbour Photo Essay

The Charles Avenue historical marker, Sept. 14, 2012 In my efforts to save the E.W.F. Stirrup House, I have had to do a great deal of research, with still far more ...

Unpacking the Aunty Em Ericann Blog Again

Every once in a while I like to pull back the curtain and show my readers what it looks like under the hood here at the Aunty Em Ericann Blog. ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Nine ► Good Neighbours and Bad Neighbours

A recent article in the South Miami News caught my attention. The headline reads “Neighbors hope buyer can be found to preserve historic Milledge House.” The story concerns a house ...

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