Apologies from Florida

You may or may not know that I am from Florida. So all the media attention on us with the Zimmerman trial is literally in my backyard. Well, technically it is 35 minutes away from me, but I am more than familiar with the Sanford area. It was worse with the Casey Anthony trial two years ago since it was right in my hometown. The apartment complex where she claimed to have dropped off her daughter at before her disappearance is less than 10 minutes from my house. One of my old co-workers actually lived in the same neighborhood as her parents and would tell us crazy stories of Casey as a teenager. I'm not going to get into my opinions of those two verdicts, but I cringe at how all of this media attention is making my home state look like the idiot state. We have been the butt of jokes since the botched 2000 presidential election and all those hanging chads. Insert a Florida joke during an election year and people still laugh. To be fair, I laugh too. 

So to the rest of the country and world, please don't paint all of Florida with a broad brush. We are the southern most state, yet the rest of the South won't claim us. In my opinion most parts of the state do have a Southern mentality. Just wanted to remind non-Floridians that educated, progressive, forward thinking people do inhabit the sunshine state. And yes we shake our heads too on our state's decisions.

On another note I was saddened to hear of Cory Monteith's death. Even though my Glee love tapered off with the new season, I love me some Glee. My thoughts and prayers are with Cory's family and Lea.