Today at the Editor’s glance: The Sheltering Tree’s cold-weather shelter will open tonight and Sunday night at the Church on the Rock not only for the homeless, but for anyone who is without heat. Church on the Rock is at 2200 N. State Street. The cold-weather shelter will open at 5:30 p.m. each evening and will close at 8 a.m. the following day. Free transportation is available for those who need it through Flagler County government. There are two routes that follow the schedules below:
- Hidden Trails Community Center, 3 p.m.
- Espanola Community Center, 3:30 p.m.
- Bunnell Free Clinic, 4 p.m.
- First United Methodist Church in Bunnell, 4:30 p.m.
- Veteran’s Park Flagler Beach, 3 p.m.
- Flagler County Social Services, 3:15 p.m.
- A1A Tennis Center, 5633 N Oceanshore Blvd., 3:30 p.m.
- Dollar Tree (by Carrabas), 4:10 p.m.
- Palm Coast Main Branch Library, 4:30 p.m. (possibly as late as 4:40 p.m. depending on traffic)
Don’t tell some of our right honorable school board members, but today is the birth anniversary of Francis Bacon (1561), who wrote “Advancement of Learning” and “Novum Organum” and is at the origin of the scientific method. It is also John Donne’s birthday (1572), who I happen to know is one of Dr. Stephen Bickel’s favorite poets (Bickel being the medical director at the Flagler County Health Department, among many other things), especially for these lines, frontispiece of Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
There’s also this (I particularly identify with the “saucy pedantic wretch”):
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time …
Which always reminds me of this:
Or, when I’ve not had enough Bourbon Barrel Ale with my Übermensch Bob Cuff, this:
Finally, it is also George Balanchine’s anniversary (1904). Philistine that I am, ballet gets me about as excited as an interview with a NASCAR tire-changer or state house legislator, but who am I to deny others the pleasure of an art that no doubt has more fans than the Flagler County Socialist Party. See the PBS documentary on Balanchine below. Since we should get to the day’s more artful happenings in our little renaissance city (I have definitely not had enough ale): City Repertory Theatre stages “Wait Until Dark” at 7:30 p.m. in CRT’s black box theater at City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B207, Palm Coast. Tickets: $20 adults, $15 students, available online at eventbrite.com, by calling 386-585-9415, or at the venue just before showtime. True to part of its mission, City Repertory Theatre once again is offering a play that is typically off the radar of the local theater scene: a genuine, suspense-filled thriller. Susy has just been blinded in a car crash. While Susy’s husband Sam is away, three sadistic thugs track a heroin-stuffed doll they’re looking for to Susy’s apartment. A harrowing cat-and-mouse game ensues and soon involves Gloria, a young girl who lives in a nearby apartment. See Rick de Yampert’s preview, “Justice Blinded and a Heroin-Stuffed Doll Spark Thrills in City Repertory Theatre’s ‘Wait Until Dark.’ “Mass Appeal,” a two-character play at the Flagler Playhouse, at 7:30 p.m., 301 E Moody Blvd., Bunnell. The play was written by Bill Davis in 1980. The comedy-drama is about the popular but conventional and conservative Father Tim Farley who gets challenged by a rabble-rousing seminarian called Mark Dolson, first about the ordination of women, then about other matters. Book tickets here.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
December 2025
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Democratic Club Meeting
Flagler Beach City Commission Meeting
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series
‘Annie,’ at Limelight Theatre
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn
‘Greetings,’ A Christmas Comedy
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Friday Blue Forum
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
The Bronx Wanderers at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center
‘Annie,’ at Limelight Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
“There was this crazy teacher, Mrs. Gill, in fifth grade,” Katie said. “Every year she picked out one boy. A sort of psychological pincushion for her. And physical, too. Don’t ask me why no adult interfered. They knew about it, but they would tell themselves two things: one, Mrs. Gill has been teaching for decades and must be respected, and, two, it affects only one boy per year, so the rest of the class will still benefit from having a good teacher.”
“What did she do to the boys?”
“Nothing criminal. She gave them nasty nicknames. She pinched them on their upper arms when she felt like it. In winter she hid their coats and told them they had to go out to the playground during recess without the coats. One boy per year. No one could do anything to help you if you happened to be that boy. And the funny thing is, she knew to choose the boys who could do nothing to help themselves.”
–From “Hello, Goodbye,” a story by Yiyun Li in the November 15 issue of The New Yorker.
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