thedistrict

the

DISTRICTDumpster

Diving Lifestyle:

A new trend?

Two local artists reshape the way they recycle

YOLOHow one St. Pete business woman

lived life to the fullest

REAL PEOPLE. REAL STORIES. | MAY 2012 | VOL I

yourself.

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10Used to be worth something

16 YouOnly LiveOnceYoung, Reckless &No Regrets

6Ever wonder what it’s like to live a life of dumpster diving? We take you inside the the trash for some hidden treasures.

The fahionable way to recylce

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COVER:Dumpster Diving?

5From the Editor

theDISTRICT.com | MAY 2012

Go from this To This.

Introducing our newest solution for those pesky

summer allergies.

the

DISTRICTEDITORIAL DIRECTOR and CREATIVE DIRECTOR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Creative Director

Executive EditorManaging Editor

Artisitc DirectorPhoto DirectorAssistant Editor

Jennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer Garcia

ART DEPARTMENT

Digital DesignerStaff Photographer

Design Advisor

Jennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaPaul Wang

MARKETING DEPARTMENT

Ad DesignerMarketing Director

Design Assistant

Jennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer Garcia

COPY AND RESEARCH

Copy ChiefCopy Editors

Research Editor

Jennifer GarciaJennifer GarciaJennifer Garcia

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Paul Wang, Jennifer Garcia, Alexys Parr, Evan Garrett, Anthony Patterson

The editorial content of theDistrict is prepared in accordance with the high-

est standards of journalistic accuracy. All content is original work by Jennifer Garcia.

Jennifer Garcia

Editorial offices1506 Bay Street SE, 7th Floor, St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Editorial Department Phone321-460-3257

Letters to the [email protected]


Editorial Department Fax813-545-5235

FROM THE EDITOR

LIVE FOR THE FUTURE

Have you ever wanted to have something deeper than just a

computer screen relation-ship or text message talk? How about this. When’s the last time you shook some-one’s hand when meeting them for the first time? Our generation today is slowly falling away from communi-cation and falling more into virtual distruction. Seems like there may be no sign of a different future...but what if there was? Well, the good news is we were created for relation-ship, adventure, regets, mis-takes, and creations. Experi-ences bring poeple closer together and everyday we get the chance to be vuner-able, take risks, and trust that things like smiling and waving to someone isn’t just a waste of your time. Take my life for example. Living in a good part of town, I never once thought to find out more about neighbor-hoods who were given a bad reputation. I actually tried to avoid them. Until one day, I was working on a photo project and needed photos of impoverished neighbor-hoods. I went there, expect-ing to find trash when in fact I found treasure.

From the residents I ex-pected rejection and anger for my trespassing of their neighborhood. Instead, I was welcomed with open arms by the community chil-dren and parents who were eager to find out my story. It was then I realized that it’s not just about ourselves. It’s about looking into anoth-er persons eyes and being connected by this thing we call humanity. A close family friend of mine used to tell me that there’s way too many peo-ple in the world not to say hello to a stranger. I encour-age readers of theDistrict to invest in your future by investing in someone else’s. There’s real people out there with real stories. This maga-zine, will only cover the lives of three of the billions that still have a story to tell. The only question left is, will you take time to listen to the rest of them?

Editorial DirectorJENNIFER GARCIA

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FROM THE EDITOR

DUMPSTER DIVINGA new alternative to shopping?EDITORIAL BY JENNIFER GARCIA

“It’s all about what you can find. It’s like a free garage sale,” said Evan Garrett, junior at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. What if I told you that corporations were throwing away cartfuls of food and products every night? That’s right, cartfuls of perfectly ed-ible food and other appliances and products just tossed away. Would you believe me? Know what would you say if I told you that you can find this stuff for free at a the local dump-ster? Would you dive in? University students on a college budget certainly are and they know where to find the best stuff. Lindsay Fussel, a senior at the USF St. Petersburg campus, shares a place she likes to dumpster dive when she’s with friends. “We’d nor-mally hit up Dunkin Donuts after it

LIF

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closed because they throw a whole bag of perfectly good donuts,” she said. “It’s because they make them fresh everyday. “ And at most places, you’ll find the same thing. Many fresh bakery shops bake daily and are left with a surplus of food that hits the dumpsters ev-ery night. But food stores aren’t the only places that dump goodies. “Somebody that I know went dump-ster diving behind a bookstore and they found current calendars and planners that were on clearance,” Garrett shared. Although technically not illegal, dumpster diving is frowned upon by the law. I’m not really sure how much an piece of furniture or frozen ham is considered private property after its been tossed. “It’s adrenaline rush all the way

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Florida citizens throw away more 29 million tons of solid waste per year, according to the City of St. Petersburg Recy-cling Center.

though,” says Fussel as she explains her experience. I’ve considered doing it sev-eral times myself, but never have seemed to build up the courage for diving. I’m too embarrassed to know that my feet will be dangling over a dumpster all for the public to see. It has gotten to be pretty tempting though. I look at stores as dumpsters now. What they have at their stores today, might be in their dumpsters tomorrow. So what does one do with all their dumpster diving goodies? Many people who I’ve talked to honestly say that they keep it or give it away. Selling the items that you find for free it’s always the best moral de-cision so that alternative is usually avoided. If there’s anything you can find in

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5Never be greedy. Most of the time there are other divers and sometimes they are needier than you so take only what you need.

Never leave a mess.If you wreck the dumpster or leave garbage outside the store might lock up the dumpsters

Don’t take perishable food in the summer time, especially in Florida. Items can get super hot, super smelly, and be harmful to your body.

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Dumpster Dive rou-tinely. The longer the wait, the more garbage piles up, and the more difficult it is to dig through. There might be hid-den gems at the bottom!

8

Tips for DUMPSTER DIVING Ettiquette


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(From top) Accessable dump-ters can be found outside of home decor stores, restuar-ants and apartments. Though not illegal, dumpster diving is considered unlawful.

a dumpster, it’s hope. Potential for a worn decorative chair that just needs a nice reupholster, a tall per-fectly good lamp that could simply use a new lamp shape. But then there’s always the chance that what you find in the dumpster wasn’t that way to begin with. I’ve seen some store workers who rip or break an item before throwing it away just because it’s company pol-icy. Some take it lightly, but others have been known to take a hammer to anything that gets thrown away. Nevertheless, there are still some perfectly salvageable goods that are well worth the dive. Garrett feels there are also other ways to save money along with dumpster diving. “I usually buy store brand items,” he said. “I’ve been trying to buy in bulk for some items because in the long run it will save money.” Overall, Garrett views dumpster diving as “resourceful.” “It also might be a principle thing, “ he explained. “Like the cliché ‘One

man’s trash is another man’s trea-sure’.” Many of American’s are still turned off by this concept and although consignment stores and garage sales are ever so popular Garrett doesn’t think a trend like this will ever truly catch on. “The majority of America is already in capitalism and that’s how our so-ciety is run at the moment, he said. “People just like the experience to having newer things, even if it is at a premium.” Once you get past the psychologi-cal perspective that tells you “Eww, that’s a dumpster, no way I’m going in there,” you can really find food and everyday household items for quite a bargain. It’s safe to say that items on the clearance rack at your local store are most likely on their way out any way. Waiting around for it to hit the dumpster doesn’t seem like a bad discount to me.

Know the store’s garbage routine. Take a week to scope out your favorite places

Don’t limit your-self to grocery stores. Department stores have tons of good-ies too!

Don’t piss off the authorities. Although dumpster diving isn’t illegal, you don’t want to get in trouble for trespassing.

Never, I mean never, go into a compactor. It could be positively fatal. Green and blue dumpsters are the ones to shoot for.

Escape. Embrace. Enjoy.visit sharptopcove.younglife.org

Sharptop Cove Jasper, GA

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"What a good find! This is going to make a great purse," he says, as he strokes his coarse black beard for inspiration. He reaches down to pick up the gnarly rigged object. A nauseating aroma fills his lungs. As he coughs out the overwhelm-ing stench, another voice chimes in. "Here's the hinge, here's the strap." Frantically excited like kids in a candy shop, they begin to snatch up bits and pieces of scrape metal, hooks, rusty bike chains and some bent copper wires, from the debris. But this place isn't the neighbor's yard sale, or even the nearest sec-ond hand store, in fact, it's the St. Petersburg recycling center near the city dump. With Florida citizens creating more 29 million tons of sol-id waste per year, according to the City of St. Petersburg Recycling Cen-ter, it's no wonder that Scott Durfee and George Merdeiros, two local St. Petersburg artists, are creatively try-ing to help the community do away with its excess waste. Scott has a tall thin frame, boney at the joints but muscular enough to get by. His defined cheek bones are

a distinctive feature of his personal-ity. His rich brown eyes always seem to be deep in thought and concen-tration. As a child he always remembered the joy it brought him to construct anything he could from organic materials. Maybe his passion for invention was genetic. After all, he did work in the family business of creating holiday baskets, and flo-ral arrangement wreaths while his grandparents owned a greenhouse. "I saw beauty in what I was doing," Scott shared. "It was truly heartfelt. And my grandparents profited very well from what all of the kids pro-duced." Then, in the New England winter of 1989, along came George. He was a stout 5'3 bald beauty. His wispy white beard was always perfectly trimmed just a few inches beneath his chin. George was a true artist at heart. To display his artistic handmade jewelry, he wore a cobalt blue button-down dress shirt with only three buttons fastened, leaving his chest slightly exposed. Born with a desire to create, George remembers being an eight-year old boy, collecting fall leaves. He would

press them, arranging the leaves ar-tistically on a piece of wood, then shellacking them so that visiting family members could take home a souvenir of New England's colorful foliage. By the time Scott and George found their new medium near the recycling lots near the landfills, they had plenty years of experience in organic construction. What they found when they moved to Florida was spathe, the outer casing of the bloom of the palm. Thin rigged lines made up the texture of it’s skin. The spathe was stronger than Bulsa wood but softer than pine, easy to sand down, bend and manipulate. edium, Scott and George would dis-agree. Scott wanted to maintain the spathe’s truest form while George wanted to mold the medium to his exact liking. Regardless, there was one thing they could always agree on; they wanted it to have an “in-dustrial edge.” To achieve this effect, they would incorporate nails, metal wiring, hinges, or chains into almost every design. Ysanne Taylor, freshman in the graphic design program at the University of South Florida St.

used to be WORTH

BY JENNIFER GARCIA

(From left) George Mederios and Scott Dufree stand outside of thier Old South-east home in St. Pe-tersburg. They are the founders and artists behind Spathose LLC.

”

Two local St. Petersburg artists hold the key to reducing waste in a fashionable artistic way

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We’re always looking to im-press, we’re always looking to open people’s eyes to explore new things.

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Petersburg, explains the difficulties faced with using recyclable material for art. “You’re given a choice to work within the confines of the object or to truly create a new potential for the object in pushing the limits of how it can be used. At times you can be limited with just how far a material will go. ” According to the Food and Agriculture Or-ganization of the United Nations, the palm spathe has been used over the course of history in a variety of different ways. After soaked in water, spathe has be woven into sleeping mats and hanging storage bas-kets for cultural tribes. After palm spathe was burned, its ashes were also used as a key ingredient in creating cement. Scott and George decided to create yard art from the organic plant waste, getting their inspiration from Christmas decora-tions of pine cones, wreaths and other art forms by nature based material. They called themselves, Spath’oes. One year they created Christmas orna-ments from the spathe, introducing met-als and glass into the construction. What started out as yard art for the holidays, attracted more neighborhood eyes than expected.

“It’s never been done before! It’s never been seen!” local neighbors would tell them. “It’s the first of its kind,” they would say. “Seriously? No one else has ever thought of this before?” George thought. “We had them out and the people just went crazy. They wanted to buy them,” he shared. In conjunction with the Neighborhood association, Scott and George started cre-ating plant pods made from this recyclable material for local home tours. More locals came to see this rare form of art that would not only be displayed outside the homes, but soon as interior decoration hanging on the walls and from ceilings. This use of recyclable art was not only helping the communities landfill pile de-crease, it was drawing the community in closer and forming relationships.“The best part of working with people in the community is the level of passion that you experience. When people care about the place they live in, they just want everyone else to experience that same relationship and they’ll do everything it takes to make sure that happens,” says Reuben Pressman, co-founder of Tampa

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After the spath is sanded and cut, it’s hinged

into purse cases.

Bay Swings, a non-profit organization that installs handmade swings in unexpected public spaces as a vehicle for spontaneous community building across the Tampa Bay area. So Scott and George continued to explore new ideas and take the local community’s feedback into consideration. They began to really push the limits of the medium when a Sarasota fashion show named Eye Concepts invited them to create a piece of wearable art. A hot pink and burnt orange “Spatheolicious,” fashion piece strutted her stuff down the runway. It was their first fashion piece. Spectators sat wide-eyed, amazed by the bold flashy color and new-age construction. Their minds simply per-plexed by this fascinating form of fashion. “We started getting requests like ‘Do you have something you can sell in our bou-tique made out of your medium?’” Scott said. From that moment on, they both were challenged to create wearable art in new adventurous ways. George began to de-sign jewelry from seed pods that fall from the southern Sweetgum trees every Au-tumn. He would find them along the curbs of his street, huddle together in bushels just waiting to be rescued and refurbished into something pretty. Using recycled pieces of metal he con-tinues the edgy vibe of the artwork and creates earrings, necklaces, bracelets and belts from the pods. Scott went to work with the spathe, designing hand-held purses organically shaped with chains, leather ties, snap-on buttons and fancy fixtures of the sort. Though these art forms were a bit new to

them, George and Scott followed the guid-ance of their local fans and were able to ex-perience art in this whole new fashion. Having some experience with being open to change is Hunter Payne, another co-founder of Swings Tampa Bay. “I think a huge part of any business’ success for any community, whether it be their commu-nity of clients, customers, or direct interac-tion with people in their neighborhood, depends largely on their willingness to shift an idea in favor of the greater good.” They went from yard art, to interior wall art, to wearable sculpture in the form of purses and organic jewelry. Because they wanted their work to be considered in the realm of upscale fashion, only high-end boutiques were worthy of their rare art-work. Nevertheless, they remained true to their humble roots. “A lot of people just look at artist as some-one just trying to make money, “No! We’re looking to bring new things to life for you,” Scott expressed. Creatively, Scott and George say they al-ways try to think “outside of the box” with their art. In this use of recyclable material they’ve taken what was already labeled as a waste, and repurposed it into an aesthetically pleasing form of usable art. Never mind that this material was previ-ously adding to Florida’s 2.9 million tons of waste just before they had a chance to restore it and repair it. Maria Cuahutle, 10-year artist and graphic design major, puts it this way. “In a way, every material has its own po-tential to becoming something outside of its intended nature. Small things that most people throw away or take for granted

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Recycled spathe sits in the artists’ garage waiting to be transformed in to art.

From top to bottom: One of their many wall decor pieces hands on the wall in their living room. Spatholicious is on display along with more decorative wall art.

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IAcan have multiple purposes if you explore around with the material enough.” But how could such high fashion art come from the local dump? What was the purpose of using this recyclable material anyway? With only 9.5% of St. Petersburg homes involved in the recycling program, as re-ported by the Tampa Bay Times, business-es like Spath’oes have the right idea for helping the recycling minority. Such a low support rate for St. Petersburg recycling has recently left city officials no choice but to terminate the program.“The ‘green’ planet friendly movement is such an important part of our culture right now quite honestly,” Ysanne said. “As art-ists we are held accountable to make a political statement. By becoming a part of this movement, I think it gives purpose and a higher value to things that might otherwise be discarded improperly.” Artists like George and Scott bring hope to the city with their creative way to make something out of once there was nothing. For these artists, recyclable art is their po-litical statement. “We’re always looking to impress, we’re always looking to open people’s eyes to explore new things,” Scott said. Little did they know, that when they found the first spathe, underneath all that waste was an opportunity to re-invent a recycled product and revitalize a green community.

Jennifer Garcia

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DISTRICT REAL PEOPLE. REAL STORIES. | MAY 2012 | VOL I

the

DISTRICTDumpster

Diving

Lifestyle:

A new

trend?

Two local

artists

reshape the

way they

recycle

YOLOHow one St. Pete

business woman

lived life to the

fullest

REAL PEOPLE. REAL STORIES. | MAY 2012 | VOL I

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You Only Live OnceYoung, Reckless, and No Regrets

She began to ring her sweaty palms, anxious and excited for the road that lay ahead. As she boarded the plane, she turned around and took one last look at her past. Little did she know that when she boarded that Virgin At-lantic flight, her future awaited in Paris. "I left June 16, 1986 and I was supposed to come back three months later in August to go back to college," she paused with a smile. "But I lost the return ticket." With only $800 in her pocket, Cozette Roche would make a name for her-self in Europe and learn to keep faith every step of the way. At 18 years old, she had a long thin body structure. Dark curly locks and flawless creamy white skin. Perfect for modeling. But despite her perfect physical features, her personality didn't match so well. "In all honesty I was a complete introvert and a nerd," she shared. "I wore glasses and I was working as a booker in a modeling agency in an office." As a booker, she landed the chance to travel with a modeling friend to Paris for a three-month working gig. Though she didn't have a plan, Coz-ette knew that to miss a chance like this was to regret it. What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? How long will these $800 last? Thoughts of anxiety clouded her mind. The trip would be risky, but Cozette was ready. "I had to leave," she chuckles. "I had to leave." With no responsibility, Cozette knew that if she didn’t take that oppor-tunity, she would always wonder “what if.” Only a year after graduating high school, she packed up three-month's worth of luggage and boarded a plane to her dreams and would stay for 21 years. According to a survey conducted by National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) an estimated 1.6 and 2.8 million youth between the ages of 14 and 17 will run away this year. Like the millions of American teens who wish to follow their dreams, Cozette took a chance and ran with it. The next night, after Cozette flew in to the french airport, her friend's Eu-ropean agent took Cozette back to the agency. I’m no model, she thought. But the agency had other plans. That same night, they booked her with the a well-known European pho-tographer at the time, Klaus Vitkov. “It was the most amazing experience. It was just, just it was a dream," she staggered her words, speechlessly stumbling to the next phrase. “I started working the day I arrived. That's where my whole fashion story started."

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BY JENNIFER GARCIA

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Three months passed and Cozette was still in Europe. As August hit, she landed a two-week booking for a french catalogue. One more rea-son to stay. “I was in the south of France so I was at the poolside," she gleams with a reminiscing tone. “I had my first glass of wine! I was nineteen years old! I was just like living life.” Never getting homesick, she was on top of the world. Juana Benson, a 45 year-old ex-model from New York, remembers her opportunity to ven-ture to Europe, and just how she felt when she had to turn it down. “At the age of 16 it was pretty much over-whelming for me,” she explained. Her mother would not let her travel for the opportunity of a lifetime, and being a minor, Benson was help-less. “I thought about possibly going, but the real idea of forging her signature and knowing that when I got back I would probably end up be-ing homeless,” She chuckled at the unfinished thought but deep down understood the severity of the potential consequence. “My parents were very strict, so I had to accept it.”But Cozette’s mother was different. “My mom?” she started. "She never told me to come back." For those 21 years, Cozette called to her mother every week on a Saturday, and vis-ited twice a year for Christmas and other occa-sions. “She saw that I was taking care of myself she was like, ‘well she's making it.’” Unlike the majority of most runaway teens, Cozette’s story is nothing short of a miracle. According to another survey conducted by the NRS in 2011, only two percent of the 370 teens interviewed were able to find employment after running away. Over the next few years, she would travel all over the globe going from fashion scene to scene, living the carefree life she had always imagined. “I didn’t think about it.” she recalls smiling. “Something always kind of happen, something always fell in my lap. So I knew I was in the right place." "But then everything changed after 1989.” Co-zette sat frozen. “The Berlin wall fell, I was in To-kyo when it happened." Her voice dropped en-thusiasm, instantly shifting tone. “I went back to Europe," she said staring off into the distance as if she was reliving some sort of unwanted hor-ror. Or so she thought. According to an economic analysis done by the Federal Labor Office, the unemployment population of eastern Germany was more than one million by mid 1991. Eastern Germans had fled to the west, seeking job opportunities and

escaping the chaos that followed the fall. "I was very lucky, I didn't feel the change," Cozette said relieved. "I started work-ing with Guy Bourdin, he was an icon, Vogue, everything you can image." While in Japan, Bourdin, one of the most famous international fashion photographers, booked her for a catalogue shoot. For the next two years, Cozette would live a life of business class, five-star hotels, and private island vacations. "Everything was exactly what I always dream about," she said. In 1991 Bourdin died of cancer. But thanks to him, Cozette had a flawless portfo-lio, one that would land her continuous modeling gigs for the next five years with magazines like Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar. After traveling to England, falling in love and getting married, Cozette worked

Jennifer Garcia

with her husband in the fashion music industry for seven years. While in Paris, Cozette had her a daughter, Lilith. Two years after Lilith was born, Cozette and her husband divorced, realizing they wanted differ-ent things in life. Moving back to U.S., Cozette felt that she left Europe at just the right time.“It wasn’t about me, the decision was for my daughter,” she said. “I did not see her growing up in a city like Paris or London. Here, it’s more conducive for children and family.” When Cozette returned to the U.S. She used the relationships that she had once built as gateways to open her own fashion boutique. Recently celebrating its two-year anniversary, the store features one-

of-a-kind clothing and jewelry pieces from Paris, London, Nepal, India, Ecuador and Columbia. Benson, now a Florida resident who works as an at-home nurse aid for the elderly and disabled, leaves behind just a hint of regret in her voice. “Now that the opportunity is no longer there and my life has evolved into what it is now," she explained. "I have two beautiful daughters, I have a career, but now it’s just like a ship that has sailed.” Cozette, however, wouldn’t change a thing. “If it wasn’t for all the experiences I had, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now,” she said. “It actually makes real sense to me now, that I’m able to pull from my past, my future.”

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(From left to right) Cozette poses for a fashion shoot at the ages of 23 and 24. Both photos were taken by famous international fashion photographer Guy Bourdin in the early 1990’s in Europe.

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Cozette, 44, is owner and operator of her shop Cozette’s Boutique.

[email protected]

Jennifer Garcia

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