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But, if you feel that aside from this local schools are unsupportive of the community here, some more detail would be helpful as to what specifically you're referring to. One can, and many officially do, study Cuban history and culture officially from UM or FIU, and likely from many other local schools. I'm not as familiar with MDC's programs, but they seem like they would also be very supportive of Cuban study as a focus. I don't know which program you're referring to that does not include Cuban topics in their programs of study - I know quite a few that do.
OK I'll be more specific. If you want to study Cuban History at UM you can't as of 2014. Graduate programs don't work the way you just posted. You can't just pick any topic, your University has to have an interest in that topic and have faculty dedicated to those studies. That is not the case in UM, they don't specialize in Cuban studies. I am 100% sure they don't. If you don't want to believe me don't, I am just a poster on the internet who might know more about those programs than you or I might just be someone who just makes up information to bash a city. I am not gonna tell you how I know because it doesn't make a difference. If you think I am lying about this, you are also gonna think I am lying about my sources. All I can suggest is that you might want to further investigate about this topic because what seems logical it isn't. Academia and logic don't always go together.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarfishKey
But looking at a whole at your post, I would say if you don't like or are indifferent to nearly everything that Miami is best at, I don't think you should be living here. Unless for some reason you LOVE many of the things it happens to suck at...?
I was giving my opinion about Miami and I agreed with some of the positive things you posted so maybe you should go back and reread what I posted. I am not engaging in personal attacks just because we have a different opinion. I would have abstained from participating in this tread if I knew you would react with sarcastic comments and emoticons just because I don't share your opinion 100%. I didn't think you would react to disagreement this way since your other posts seemed non confrontational.
Quote:
And if anyone here thinks for a while and you truly can't, you really should seek professional counseling because finding one nice thing to say about ANYTHING is not very hard and you might be suffering from depression or something else that needs some outside help. And I mean that seriously, some people on these boards seem negative and unhappy to a clinical degree.
You are patronizing. You don't know any of these posters. You can't make a clinical evaluation of someone just with some internet posts. All these attacks just because people don't respond to your thread the way you wish they did? Maybe you should evaluate your own reaction. Who has attacked you directly? Why is it so difficult to understand that others might have different perspectives and opinions?
There are no shortage of comments when the topic is a negative one. That is just the nature of regular posters to C-D - both on the Miami forum, and the general Florida forum. A negative thread will easily get 6 pages within 2 days of posts, whereas many of the purely positive threads that I start (usually in the Florida forum) get some reads but virtually no posts, and fade into oblivion quickly unless I post to them myself. This is not an issue with threads started by me, because the few negative ones I made the mistake of starting became very popular pretty much overnight.
People love to commiserate. Some people just love to be trolls. But think about it, in our culture there is not much practice for nice things to say - we assume it has all been said, there is nothing else to contribute. How about many people adding their favorite parts about the city? How about someone seconding a point that was made, or disagreeing in favor of something else? There were certainly enough points made for everyone to agree and relate to SOMETHING - what about a hearty agreement, "Yes, this is my favorite thing about living here..."? How about an enthusiastic anecdote "This is so true, I remember when I first moved here..."? Or what about just "Good post, nice to see something positive here"?
People can think of 1,001 replies to disagree with somebody, to criticize them or attack them personally, or to add negativity to a thread. But given the opportunity to say something nice, so many are left with their mouths hanging open in awkward silence... what to say to this?
It would be nice if we could consider this for a moment in our day - for each of us, how many negative posts do we write, how many negative or just plain trolling or stupid threads do we contribute to, and how many times do we contribute a positive comment, start a positive thread, or contribute to the growth and popularity of positive or thoughtful threads we see?
I am guilty of this too - being positive is awkward in our society, people perceive it as dumb, whereas we perceive the critical as somehow more intelligent or at least not as naive. But it makes visiting C-D on a regular basis a draining and unpleasant experience, to constantly see the endless racism and sexism, baseless hatred, stupid questions and equally stupid comments, and hordes of negativity heaped on every discussion. Life is too short to waste reading all that, to invite it into your home (when you don't even have to encounter it at all because you are on the computer and could just click away!), much less replying to it.
Anyway, I thought it was a valid point that amid countless threads complaining about or outright hating Miami, we don't have many threads about the good for people who want to learn about that. And even though I myself chose to move to the Keys recently because that was a better fit for me personally, I still like visiting Miami several times a month, and all the things I listed are still true.
Surely people who live in Miami for a few years or a few decades could think of SOMETHING nice to say to contribute to a thread about the nice side of Miami.... And if anyone here thinks for a while and you truly can't, you really should seek professional counseling because finding one nice thing to say about ANYTHING is not very hard and you might be suffering from depression or something else that needs some outside help. And I mean that seriously, some people on these boards seem negative and unhappy to a clinical degree.
Miami is a great place to be for some people. And even though it wasn't the right fit for me, I can see why.
The things is you said to please feel free to add more positive things about Miami. You pretty much covered it all.
Negativity was brought to this post by someone saying I was a cynic for trying to explain a positive reason why there might not be a lot of posts on the thread. I said nothing negative, but was called a cynic. Seriously?
Maybe next time list one or two good things and then ask for others to pitch in other things. Your post just really happened to be very thorough so it's hard to add to it.
3. The beaches. These are really top notch, and several in the area routinely make the Top Ten list of US beaches. There are both busy beaches, and quiet beaches. But there are no huge waves for surfers really, the water is mostly shallow and fairly calm. Wide beaches with higher waves can be found further North in the state.
honestly all my life i've lived in miami and I had never been to the beach until 3 weeks ago
Ok folks in keeping with the OP's through points but adding MY own take on it even if it replicates her own this is why CUBANCHIC loves Miami even though I also hate it at times... Sorry it is like a mismatched marriage at times.
1. A the summer : The weather, god she is a ***** in the summer and when you feel you just can't take her anymore then the utter beauty of a storm with dark almost purple skies and the smell of the earth right before it hits, the breeze that comes in and then the almost relentless showers that seems to calm everything down and bring a slight relief from the brutal heat. Yes is is almost always like clock work in the afternoon and mostly during rush hour but at least it is like clock work and not for the most part all day long. I still look out my window, go outside and witness in silent awe the anticipation of these powerful daily storms.
1 b the weather in winter : in the fall the harvest moon which sometimes is so huge it looks like a planet. Since we are so flat this is amazing to see especially if you get to see it way out west towards the everglades or Redlands areas. In my old place I would just sit in the middle of my street and see this beautiful sight and just sigh. In the December through march time, the temperture is so damn freakin nice at night and very pleasant during the day. Florida and Miami really shine during this time and nothing is as inviting at the breezes during the high winds that is typical.
2. The cultural differences within just friends and family at least for us. Our celebrations become really fun from Jamacian and Caribbean goat curry on new years day, to Noche Buena with my Cuban side to Irish and Germen festivals in Ocotber to traditinal all American Fourth of July. Then there is all sorts of little mom and pop ethnic food all around us along with little ethnic grocery stores that we can shop at. The food culture here can be extremely high end as well as little hole in the wall gems.
3. The Everglades.... Have any one of you seen the sunset over them? One of the most stunning views or scenes ever to exist is that one. Being a boy scout den mom I got to witness quite a few in the winter and nothing compares to that with all the colors in the sky reflecting on the river of grass for miles and miles.
4. The beaches and what I mean is NOT Miami beach but the little haven that is north beach crandon park with it's coconut trees all clustered together and the nice white noise they make with the ocean breeze. All the different aspects of just one shore line that each beach has each having a different character to it. dania beach is vastly different from Haulover, from crandon, from Hobie from delray. Each section has it's own little flavor and each is within a least a hour's reach.
5. The Redlands and way south dade. In the winter time the Knotts farm and the berry farms open up so you can pick your own fresh fruits and the awesome cinnamon rolls freshly baked. Here's Roberts is fun to visit and all the gourmet locally produced jams, jellies honey and fresh produce, plus the farms animals to visit with the kids. Pinecrest gardens is super nice to picnic in and just stroll, fruit and spice park has the Asian festival and often you can buy nice citrus trees at good prices.
6. The spring time festivals.. Art Basel, the food and wine, the coconut grove art festival,etc etc. there is so much to do and see come around feb and march here.
7. The birds.... The migration of northern birds down here is really nice as well as our native birds. I currently have a fascination with my local peacocks that seem extremely friendly but are very loud.
8. Each little nieghborhood has it's own little vibe and just going to each one has it's own different experience. So just going out to eat at Coconut grove will be different then venturing out to Miami beach. Miami shores is quite different then say dining at El Toro in homestead. Basically we can within a short travel time experience different little clicks of certain areas.
9. If you own a boat like I do then this is paradise ( and sometimes a royal pain) for you. There are only a few places that exist for Few hours at a time and Biscayne bay has them. We love to fish, shrimp and just passing the time bay hopping. It is lovely to see the fireworks from our boat, great to go lobster diving and AWESOME to see the reefs. Our kids have grown up on boats and they love the sea, we have lots of long time friends that we go on long trips to Bimini and the keys. There is a Florida fisherman culture here and those bonds tend to last within our circles.
10. I bet there is way more but those happen to be my favorite reasons why I like living here even though I ***** about it quite a bit.
Last edited by Cubanchic; 08-16-2014 at 02:33 AM..
What Miami does best is offer a special combination of heat and water which living creatures crave in some way, some more than others, in the framework of US administration. Since the 1890s and increasingly over the past century or so, industrialization has made it possible for millions of humans to enjoy what Miami does best. And that is why we have a monument to Henry Flagler and such monumental architecture as Vizcaya and Deering Estate, among others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by valicky
I think the thread has little attention because there's nothing more to add. Starfish covered it all.
How about Miami-Dade County's unique role in US agriculture, going back more than a century.
In particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 13601 Old Cutler Road, Miami, Florida 33158.
Through 100 years of research efforts, this USDA-ARS station has persevered and focused on improving tropical horticulture. As southern Florida has grown and changed, the needs and desires of the populace for agricultural commodities and ornamentals have kept pace. Originally envisioned as a facility for the importation, testing and distribution of plant material from around the world, this laboratory, since 1972 called the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station.
Now occupying 197 acres of what was previously a bayside army aviation training center named for the first U.S. flier killed in France in World War I, Victor Chapman, the station currently has four missions:
1) germplasm* repository for numerous tropical species including mango, avocado, lychee, carambola, and sugarcane, accumulating a collection of clones useful for breeding new cultivars better adapted to the needs of consumers and the local environment and for distribution to other research institutes.
*A germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for an organism. For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection (even a large seed bank) or, for trees, in a nursery.
2) A second focus through much of the last 25 years has been studies on the Caribbean fruit fly, which invaded Florida in 1965 and attacks many fruits, requiring the development of quarantine treatments before susceptible commodities can be marketed outside the state.
3) Coupled with this program has been a unit that has sought to improve the post-harvest quality of locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
4) In 1998 a unit associated with the restoration of the Everglades was also established that seeks to accommodate grower concerns into the restored ecosystem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cubanchic
3. The Everglades.... Have any one of you seen the sunset over them? One of the most stunning views or scenes ever to exist is that one. Being a boy scout den mom I got to witness quite a few in the winter and nothing compares to that with all the colors in the sky reflecting on the river of grass for miles and miles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cubanchic
5. The Redlands and way south Dade. In the winter time the Knotts farm and the berry farms open up so you can pick your own fresh fruits and the awesome cinnamon rolls freshly baked. Here's Roberts is fun to visit and all the gourmet locally produced jams, jellies honey and fresh produce, plus the farms animals to visit with the kids. Pinecrest gardens is super nice to picnic in and just stroll, fruit and spice park has the Asian festival and often you can buy nice citrus trees at good prices.
Not unrelated, also quite interesting is Miami-Dade's role in US military history and the history of water management in Florida. For example, it is quite instructive to read in parallel the history of the Seminole Wars and the history of Florida's Water Management Districts, including Dade County, named after a brevet major in those same wars.
Heat and water, then, agriculture and the military.
These are themes in human history that go far back, back to the year one.
So there is a lot of fundamental and important human history here in Miami-Dade County with national implications and implications for the entire Caribbean region.
By the way, I did a quick research on US university faculties with a focus on Cuban studies, or Latin American studies including Cuba, and at the top of the list are Harvard University and the University of Pittsburgh. Also Burlington College in Vermont. The northeast, then, and I am not surprised.
In the south, Tulane University.
The University of Miami does have an "Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies" and FIU has a "Cuban Research Institute", though I am not sure what they actually do.
In any case, when it comes to graduate and post-graduate study, despite advertised titles, the actual course of study in practice often depends on the personal interests of the professors on the faculty. So the prospective student really has to investigate on a case-by-case, faculty-by-faculty, professor-by-professor basis.
Yes, petty politics does play a role, unfortunately.
Ok folks in keeping with the OP's through points but adding MY own take on it even if it replicates her own this is why CUBANCHIC loves Miami even though I also hate it at times... Sorry it is like a mismatched marriage at times.
1. A the summer : The weather, god she is a ***** in the summer and when you feel you just can't take her anymore then the utter beauty of a storm with dark almost purple skies and the smell of the earth right before it hits, the breeze that comes in and then the almost relentless showers that seems to calm everything down and bring a slight relief from the brutal heat. Yes is is almost always like clock work in the afternoon and mostly during rush hour but at least it is like clock work and not for the most part all day long. I still look out my window, go outside and witness in silent awe the anticipation of these powerful daily storms.
1 b the weather in winter : in the fall the harvest moon which sometimes is so huge it looks like a planet. Since we are so flat this is amazing to see especially if you get to see it way out west towards the everglades or Redlands areas. In my old place I would just sit in the middle of my street and see this beautiful sight and just sigh. In the December through march time, the temperture is so damn freakin nice at night and very pleasant during the day. Florida and Miami really shine during this time and nothing is as inviting at the breezes during the high winds that is typical.
2. The cultural differences within just friends and family at least for us. Our celebrations become really fun from Jamacian and Caribbean goat curry on new years day, to Noche Buena with my Cuban side to Irish and Germen festivals in Ocotber to traditinal all American Fourth of July. Then there is all sorts of little mom and pop ethnic food all around us along with little ethnic grocery stores that we can shop at. The food culture here can be extremely high end as well as little hole in the wall gems.
3. The Everglades.... Have any one of you seen the sunset over them? One of the most stunning views or scenes ever to exist is that one. Being a boy scout den mom I got to witness quite a few in the winter and nothing compares to that with all the colors in the sky reflecting on the river of grass for miles and miles.
4. The beaches and what I mean is NOT Miami beach but the little haven that is north beach crandon park with it's coconut trees all clustered together and the nice white noise they make with the ocean breeze. All the different aspects of just one shore line that each beach has each having a different character to it. dania beach is vastly different from Haulover, from crandon, from Hobie from delray. Each section has it's own little flavor and each is within a least a hour's reach.
5. The Redlands and way south dade. In the winter time the Knotts farm and the berry farms open up so you can pick your own fresh fruits and the awesome cinnamon rolls freshly baked. Here's Roberts is fun to visit and all the gourmet locally produced jams, jellies honey and fresh produce, plus the farms animals to visit with the kids. Pinecrest gardens is super nice to picnic in and just stroll, fruit and spice park has the Asian festival and often you can buy nice citrus trees at good prices.
6. The spring time festivals.. Art Basel, the food and wine, the coconut grove art festival,etc etc. there is so much to do and see come around feb and march here.
7. The birds.... The migration of northern birds down here is really nice as well as our native birds. I currently have a fascination with my local peacocks that seem extremely friendly but are very loud.
8. Each little nieghborhood has it's own little vibe and just going to each one has it's own different experience. So just going out to eat at Coconut grove will be different then venturing out to Miami beach. Miami shores is quite different then say dining at El Toro in homestead. Basically we can within a short travel time experience different little clicks of certain areas.
9. If you own a boat like I do then this is paradise ( and sometimes a royal pain) for you. There are only a few places that exist for Few hours at a time and Biscayne bay has them. We love to fish, shrimp and just passing the time bay hopping. It is lovely to see the fireworks from our boat, great to go lobster diving and AWESOME to see the reefs. Our kids have grown up on boats and they love the sea, we have lots of long time friends that we go on long trips to Bimini and the keys. There is a Florida fisherman culture here and those bonds tend to last within our circles.
10. I bet there is way more but those happen to be my favorite reasons why I like living here even though I ***** about it quite a bit.
What I like especially about what you've said here is that it obviously comes from your heart. And it's so descriptive, it's easy to visualize exactly what you are talking about.
Speaking of birds, have you by any chance had any visits in your neighborhood from the blue and gold macaws we used to see flying overhead, and occasionally landing in our coconut palm and yellow poinciana trees in Palmetto Bay to help themselves to some goodies?
OK I'll be more specific. If you want to study Cuban History at UM you can't as of 2014. Graduate programs don't work the way you just posted. You can't just pick any topic, your University has to have an interest in that topic and have faculty dedicated to those studies. That is not the case in UM, they don't specialize in Cuban studies. I am 100% sure they don't. If you don't want to believe me don't, I am just a poster on the internet who might know more about those programs than you or I might just be someone who just makes up information to bash a city. I am not gonna tell you how I know because it doesn't make a difference. If you think I am lying about this, you are also gonna think I am lying about my sources. All I can suggest is that you might want to further investigate about this topic because what seems logical it isn't. Academia and logic don't always go together.
I was giving my opinion about Miami and I agreed with some of the positive things you posted so maybe you should go back and reread what I posted. I am not engaging in personal attacks just because we have a different opinion. I would have abstained from participating in this tread if I knew you would react with sarcastic comments and emoticons just because I don't share your opinion 100%. I didn't think you would react to disagreement this way since your other posts seemed non confrontational.
You are patronizing. You don't know any of these posters. You can't make a clinical evaluation of someone just with some internet posts. All these attacks just because people don't respond to your thread the way you wish they did? Maybe you should evaluate your own reaction. Who has attacked you directly? Why is it so difficult to understand that others might have different perspectives and opinions?
You REALLY misunderstood me, and sound very defensive. This is the problem with the internet, I guess. I was being sincere in my concern, and playful with my . It sounded like you don't like a lot of things that Miami is good at, and it sounded like that would make a person not very happy to be here. I did not mean that as an attack in any way, just a simple observation. I had a hard time liking Miami, and I liked most of the things I listed a great deal. If you don't even care about many of those things, then it would seem that you like living in Miami even less than I did, which is a shame. That's why I made the hopeful joke that maybe you like some of the things it's NOT good at, which would even out the score and be a reason to stay - like say, maybe you LIKE the traffic even though many others don't... You totally misunderstood me, none of that was said with malice.
I am definitely very curious about your inside knowledge of what is going on at UM. As a professor who is involved in cultural studies, I have seen the inside of UM quite a bit and am familiar with how many of the Depts. work. UM takes a different stance on culture to what many universities up North will do - instead of creating designated depts. that correspond to a culture for students to major in, they allow majors from multiple fields to concentrate in a specific interest. So, instead of having a "Cuban Studies" dept, they have opportunities in a variety of depts - History, English/Literature, Modern Languages, Art History, Africana Studies, Anthropology, International Studies, etc. - to focus on a topic of interest regarding Cuba. The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at UM is quite strong, and is a resource to support such study. There are several classes taught that involve Cuban culture, history, or literature, and I know personally of some in the works to be offered in the future by certain professors within the next 2 years. There is also the Cuban Heritage Collection as I mentioned, which many students I know of personally have accessed to assist their studies. Some of their professors are actively engaged in traveling to Cuba via the Key West flights under exchange visas for research for articles and books they will publish, and I am privy to some of their plans for this summer and this coming year. I know of students who have come to UM to focus on Cuban issues, and I know of no student who has been turned away or discouraged from this study. CLAS has a list of professors at UM with some scholarly expertise in Latin America: UM Faculty with Expertise in Latin America - College of Arts and Sciences and any grad student with an advisor on this list would be supported in a concentration on Cuba within their field.
I do not say this to claim that UM is perfect when it comes to cultural studies - I personally think they are far behind where they should be. I think they absolutely should have a concentrated Dept. of Cuban Studies, and a Dept. of Haitian Studies as well, and I think they should be actively hiring staff whose expertise is fully Cuban in scope. But UM makes a lot of stupid financial and PR decisions, and continues to make more mistakes in that regard because of a few ignorant old-fashioned Deans and Dept. Chairs who continue to further European studies over any and all other cultural studies - including American Studies, which is rather weak.
Anyway, that is what I know of the inside. I have seen many students take advantage of these opportunities, and have been involved with some of the development of future classes, so I know this is an active and current thing. But perhaps you know some behind-the-scene dealings that I am not privy to, and a specific anti-Cuban agenda of certain people in certain Depts. or offices that I am not aware of? I can only say I have never seen it and am not aware of it. And again, for the purposes of this thread, it IS true that students come here from all over to study in Miami on a range of topics, and it is true also that people come from all over the world to do grad and post-doc research in the Cuban archives at UM - I have met some of them myself. Here is the link to the Collection: Mission & History | Cuban Heritage Collection
So even if they could do it better, there are still people who find it to be a positive of Miami that it even exists at all.
honestly all my life i've lived in miami and I had never been to the beach until 3 weeks ago
That seems so sad to me. Did you like it? Which one did you try? (Different beaches have different feels, they're not all the same and some may be better for individuals than others. Like for me, I go to the beach to relax, so I don't like to have a South Beach-type "scene" environment, and I don't like waves so rough they knock me down and drag me out to sea with the undertow (at least, not most of the time - once in a while watching waves crashing is really nice). So, going to Crandon in the middle of the week on a school day in the off season when no one is there is the best to me. But I like all the wildlife at Bahia Honda in the Keys, and I like watching South Beach from up on a friend's balcony because the colors are amazing. And there are days when I prefer the huge wide beaches with normal waves and dunes up North along the East Coast of FL, which are loaded with natural sand and not Bahamian stuff that has to be trucked in. It all depends...
Ok folks in keeping with the OP's through points but adding MY own take on it even if it replicates her own this is why CUBANCHIC loves Miami even though I also hate it at times... Sorry it is like a mismatched marriage at times.
1. A the summer : The weather, god she is a ***** in the summer and when you feel you just can't take her anymore then the utter beauty of a storm with dark almost purple skies and the smell of the earth right before it hits, the breeze that comes in and then the almost relentless showers that seems to calm everything down and bring a slight relief from the brutal heat. Yes is is almost always like clock work in the afternoon and mostly during rush hour but at least it is like clock work and not for the most part all day long. I still look out my window, go outside and witness in silent awe the anticipation of these powerful daily storms.
1 b the weather in winter : in the fall the harvest moon which sometimes is so huge it looks like a planet. Since we are so flat this is amazing to see especially if you get to see it way out west towards the everglades or Redlands areas. In my old place I would just sit in the middle of my street and see this beautiful sight and just sigh. In the December through march time, the temperture is so damn freakin nice at night and very pleasant during the day. Florida and Miami really shine during this time and nothing is as inviting at the breezes during the high winds that is typical.
2. The cultural differences within just friends and family at least for us. Our celebrations become really fun from Jamacian and Caribbean goat curry on new years day, to Noche Buena with my Cuban side to Irish and Germen festivals in Ocotber to traditinal all American Fourth of July. Then there is all sorts of little mom and pop ethnic food all around us along with little ethnic grocery stores that we can shop at. The food culture here can be extremely high end as well as little hole in the wall gems.
3. The Everglades.... Have any one of you seen the sunset over them? One of the most stunning views or scenes ever to exist is that one. Being a boy scout den mom I got to witness quite a few in the winter and nothing compares to that with all the colors in the sky reflecting on the river of grass for miles and miles.
4. The beaches and what I mean is NOT Miami beach but the little haven that is north beach crandon park with it's coconut trees all clustered together and the nice white noise they make with the ocean breeze. All the different aspects of just one shore line that each beach has each having a different character to it. dania beach is vastly different from Haulover, from crandon, from Hobie from delray. Each section has it's own little flavor and each is within a least a hour's reach.
5. The Redlands and way south dade. In the winter time the Knotts farm and the berry farms open up so you can pick your own fresh fruits and the awesome cinnamon rolls freshly baked. Here's Roberts is fun to visit and all the gourmet locally produced jams, jellies honey and fresh produce, plus the farms animals to visit with the kids. Pinecrest gardens is super nice to picnic in and just stroll, fruit and spice park has the Asian festival and often you can buy nice citrus trees at good prices.
6. The spring time festivals.. Art Basel, the food and wine, the coconut grove art festival,etc etc. there is so much to do and see come around feb and march here.
7. The birds.... The migration of northern birds down here is really nice as well as our native birds. I currently have a fascination with my local peacocks that seem extremely friendly but are very loud.
8. Each little nieghborhood has it's own little vibe and just going to each one has it's own different experience. So just going out to eat at Coconut grove will be different then venturing out to Miami beach. Miami shores is quite different then say dining at El Toro in homestead. Basically we can within a short travel time experience different little clicks of certain areas.
9. If you own a boat like I do then this is paradise ( and sometimes a royal pain) for you. There are only a few places that exist for Few hours at a time and Biscayne bay has them. We love to fish, shrimp and just passing the time bay hopping. It is lovely to see the fireworks from our boat, great to go lobster diving and AWESOME to see the reefs. Our kids have grown up on boats and they love the sea, we have lots of long time friends that we go on long trips to Bimini and the keys. There is a Florida fisherman culture here and those bonds tend to last within our circles.
10. I bet there is way more but those happen to be my favorite reasons why I like living here even though I ***** about it quite a bit.
What a beautiful list!
What kind of boat do you have? I want to start but I can't make up my mind which direction to go in - I can see advantages to all different types. The only thing I know is that given I am in the Keys, even if I go out to deeper water, it would probably be best to have one with a shallow draft so I can do plenty of local exploring before I go out further. I would love to hear more about your boating experiences!
You reminded me of things I forgot about that make Miami great. If I had family there, I'm sure I would have liked it better. I made some great friends whose families are also local, but we were all so busy working it was hard to hang out much - we ended up being on the phone more. If one is in a laid-back state of mind, and could afford either not to work, or not to work very hard, I think Miami would be a great place to live. But it's kind of stressful if you're always in a rush and trying to pinch pennies, a little more so I think than other places. But I can totally see why the rich and famous like to keep a home or two locally. And I am so pissed I miss the Asian Festival at the Fruit & Spice park every year! Something always comes up, lol!
What Miami does best is offer a special combination of heat and water which living creatures crave in some way, some more than others, in the framework of US administration. Since the 1890s and increasingly over the past century or so, industrialization has made it possible for millions of humans to enjoy what Miami does best. And that is why we have a monument to Henry Flagler and such monumental architecture as Vizcaya and Deering Estate, among others.
How about Miami-Dade County's unique role in US agriculture, going back more than a century.
In particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 13601 Old Cutler Road, Miami, Florida 33158.
Through 100 years of research efforts, this USDA-ARS station has persevered and focused on improving tropical horticulture. As southern Florida has grown and changed, the needs and desires of the populace for agricultural commodities and ornamentals have kept pace. Originally envisioned as a facility for the importation, testing and distribution of plant material from around the world, this laboratory, since 1972 called the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station.
Now occupying 197 acres of what was previously a bayside army aviation training center named for the first U.S. flier killed in France in World War I, Victor Chapman, the station currently has four missions:
1) germplasm* repository for numerous tropical species including mango, avocado, lychee, carambola, and sugarcane, accumulating a collection of clones useful for breeding new cultivars better adapted to the needs of consumers and the local environment and for distribution to other research institutes.
*A germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for an organism. For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection (even a large seed bank) or, for trees, in a nursery.
2) A second focus through much of the last 25 years has been studies on the Caribbean fruit fly, which invaded Florida in 1965 and attacks many fruits, requiring the development of quarantine treatments before susceptible commodities can be marketed outside the state.
3) Coupled with this program has been a unit that has sought to improve the post-harvest quality of locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
4) In 1998 a unit associated with the restoration of the Everglades was also established that seeks to accommodate grower concerns into the restored ecosystem.
Not unrelated, also quite interesting is Miami-Dade's role in US military history and the history of water management in Florida. For example, it is quite instructive to read in parallel the history of the Seminole Wars and the history of Florida's Water Management Districts, including Dade County, named after a brevet major in those same wars.
Heat and water, then, agriculture and the military.
These are themes in human history that go far back, back to the year one.
So there is a lot of fundamental and important human history here in Miami-Dade County with national implications and implications for the entire Caribbean region.
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Some interesting points! A little bit of this is covered in the documentary "Fruit Hunters," showing a good deal of Miami-Dade's interest in tropical fruits and research.
I believe that Seminole knowledge of how to use the Everglades for medicinal purposes has also informed some of our medical advances today against modern disease, although I am not very knowledgeable about it yet. I have several books lined up to read soon about this.
There is certainly a lot of amazing agriculture here!
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I said nothing negative, but was called a cynic. Seriously? 
