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Region's Rivers Speak Through Many Voices

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By KAREN HAYMON LONG

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 11, 2008

"Rivers of the Green Swamp," edited by Judith Redfern Koch and Albert W. Vogt III (Florida Studies Program and the Tampa Bay Writers Network at the University of South Florida, $15)

So many of us see the Hillsborough River every day but know very little about it. A new anthology, "Rivers of the Green Swamp," offers diverse looks at the Hillsborough River, as well as the Withlacoochee, Peace and Ocklawaha rivers, which all have headwaters in the Green Swamp.

Each chapter was written by a different person, so the styles, subjects and perspectives offer something new. Many are first-person reports written by students who took a USF course on the rivers of Florida and got to know the rivers well.

One, by co-editor Albert W. Vogt III, is a historical short story set in Fort Ogden along the Peace River. Another, by co-editor Judith Redfern Koch, offers a portrait of Gladys Shafran Kashdin, who painted and photographed the Hillsborough River over many years.

One of the best chapters - about alligators - was written by Donna Smith Self, a high school journalism teacher. A born storyteller, she offers all sorts of glimpses into the history and high jinks of gators and the tales of people who lived to tell them.

St. Petersburg Times outdoors editor Terry Tomalin's "The Ballad of Big Joe" is written almost like a crime novel, with a mammoth gator, Joe, as the villain.

Joe Guidry, deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune, draws on his childhood memories in his poetic essay about the Hillsborough River.

It isn't often that an anthology of such local interest is published. Thankfully, this one was.

Karen Haymon Long is the Tribune's book editor.

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