PEOPLE & PLACES OF POLK COUNTY June 5, 5 – 8 p.m. at Destroyer Media, 326 Ave C SW, Winter Haven at Bowen Yard. Let’s get together at our office during First Friday! At this art exhibition, you can meet the photographers and view the photos chosen for the June issues of Haven & LKLD Magazines. Support local artists and drop by to visit. Some photos available for purchase. POLK PRIDE WEEK June 13 – 20 at various locations. It begins with the Pride Kick Off Party, and then Prid

HOMEBOUND By Portia Elan It’s 1983, Becks is nineteen and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle is dead. He left her a halffinished game to complete--one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness. Little does she know what Becks is making will echo far into the future and shape the lives of a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a flinty sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. THE CASE OF THE MURDERED MUCKRAKER By Rob Osler Twenty-one-year-old junior detectiv

The roar arrives before the view. At Sebring’s notorious turn seven, a tight and punishing hairpin, the bone-shaking sound of prototype V8 engines can be felt as much as heard. The most advantageous view of turn seven can be had by hotel balcony or elaborate homemade viewing towers constructed on site by campers and die-hard fans. Overlooking the track, spectators are introduced to one of endurance racing’s most famous and unforgiving corners. During the week of Twelve Hours

Generally, people don’t learn independence, independently. In the best of circumstances, the lesson of self-sufficiency is guided by a person/people with good intentions and care. In the case of the local, visually impaired community, Lighthouse is the guide. Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision is a non-profit organization that provides services and resources for the population in its title. The mission is for these individuals to be able to maneuver independent living acco

If you’re looking for a restaurant that feels like you’re visiting a dear friend of yours who made you a home-cooked meal, Maria Petit Food Boutique is the perfect spot. With antique wooden furniture painted in neutral and green colors, framed wall baskets with childhood trinkets and plants along the windowsills, it feels both welcoming and comforting from the moment you step in. “You get here, and you don’t feel like you’re eating at a restaurant. You feel at home, as if you

Bringing Hope and a Future to the Homeless of Polk County “But after so many years, I knew what to do with hope. I held it an arm’s length away.” — Laura Taylor Namey, “The Library of Lost Things” Hope is not an abstract concept for Travis Doodles. It is not something he studies from a distance or discusses in theory. Hope is something he encounters face to face— on sidewalks, in parking lots, beneath overpasses, and across folding tables set up for shared meals. In Lakeland,