No Place Like Tally

In praise of a wild, weird, and wonderful city

One of my favorite things about my home is its little back porch, which overlooks a wild little yard. If you walk through the French doors off my dining room, you’re pretty much walking into a different world. Banana trees grow year-round, swaths of heady jasmine claim the back fence in the spring, cheeky orange chanterelles peep out from beneath dead leaves in the early fall. I’ve read countless books on that porch under the giant oaks overhead, hosed pollen, barbecued, built fires, stirred cocktails. I’ve battled invasive Coral Ardisia and been stung in the face when I disturbed a few yellow jackets nesting behind a mini fridge. I’ve given stray cats a place to rest and peered into the eyes of opossums, raccoons, cardinals, hawks, frogs, puff-chested anoles—even a fox. 

My small downtown parcel is but a minuscule fraction of Tallahassee’s untamed character, which is something I think about often. The sheer force of the natural world is somehow mirrored in what it feels like to live here—every day is both energetic and surprising. We are the capital of Florida, after all, infamously regarded as America’s most unpredictable, and arguably bizarre, state. But I use those words with pride. After growing up in a quiet Georgia suburb, I love living in a place that’s a little off-kilter. 

My meditations on Tallahassee pride ultimately led to the theme of this issue: Wild, Weird, and Wonderful. I wanted to hold up everything natural, everything unexpected, everything you can’t find anywhere else. 

What I found, though, is that a single issue only scratches the surface of what makes Tallahassee wild, weird, and wonderful. When collecting the micro-essays, which make up our feature on Tallahassee lore, I kept wishing the feature could be three times as long. I want to hear everyone’s stories about what makes Tallahassee special. Luckily, though, the rest of the issue has plenty of those stories in the form of profiles like Jessica Fuller’s trip to North Flora Collective, conversations like Christina Cush’s conversation with botanical and interior artist Laura Patrick, and style meditations like Rebecca Frett’s deep dive into swimwear for all types of Tally aquatic occasions. 

Cheers to this odd and awesome place!

Olivia

Photo by Nathan Saczynski / NASCO photo