I: Chekhov’s Cave Painting In early 2019, a team of scientists announced they had made an incredible discovery. After shimmying up a fig tree on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in search of an entrance to a remote cave system, a member of their research group had stumbled upon a previously unknown prehistoric pictograph. By analyzing the calcite “popcorn” that had built up over millennia on the surface of the paint (a method of chronometric dating based on the slow decay

Plutarch said, “Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.” Nicole Nikdel speaks volumes through themes of grief and growth, time and transition, with a visual aspect that paints the finishing touches onto her words. Her Instagram handle, @extroverted_introspection, is an ode to the beautiful contradiction that is Nicole Nikdel. She’s as highly extroverted as they come, but said, “I do find myself trying to stay grounded, and very insightful, thoughtful an

My editor sat in a bar across from a new friend a year ago. When she asked about his hobbies, he rattled off a few and added, “...and I write poetry.” That comment sparked a ‘secret poet’ monthly feature in the magazine. Each month since, this private poet has submitted work to be published in the magazine. We’ve heard guesses that this poet was someone on our staff, a local business owner, or a community leader. Haven Magazine’s secret poet, who goes by The Lost Words of a T

There is magic on the pages and in the minds of Hocus Pocus creators Dwight and Rebecca MacPherson. The Lakeland couple met and fell in love through a comic book – now they make their own. Creative Roots “I love literature; I’m a literature nerd first,” said Dwight MacPherson. “I love the way you can create a movie in a book.” Influenced by the work of Alan Moore and Chris Claremont, Dwight has been interested in comics since childhood. He remembers reading Moore’s “Swamp Thi

He’s probably served you a beer at Grove Roots Brewing sometime in the past year, but don’t let his laidback vibe fool you. This past April, the indie filmmaker premiered his latest film, Something Else at the Tribeca Film Festival. In July he was invited to the The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland. NIFFF is a Swiss film festival renowned internationally as one of the foremost film festivals in the world for genre cinema. He will be attending two