From My Hammock

Hello everyone! My name is Savannah Oglesby and I am a small-town girl from Everglades City, Florida. I’ve lived in Everglades City my entire life and I have loved every second of it! I attended Everglades City School, which is Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade, for 15 years (I went to Pre-K for two years). Now I attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where I am a rising senior studying Advertising.

I have been very fond of writing and sharing stories all my life. When I was in elementary school I used to write short fairytale stories and make them into booklets. I was so proud of them I’d bring them to school with me and let my classmates pass them around to read. Then I remember one day my mom bought me a blank book with the letter “K” covering the front. That’s when I began writing a story surrounding a girl named Kay and her everyday life. I never finished the book because the next chapter of my own life is where my attention would be for the years to come.

At eight years old, I wrote my first article about rescuing a loggerhead sea turtle from red tide in Everglades City’s own newspaper, “The Mullet Rapper.” This opened my eyes to a new type of writing, where I could not only share my stories and experiences with my classmates but with anyone who reads the local newspaper. I wrote for “The Mullet Rapper” for ten years in my own column titled, “From Savannah’s Eyes.” I ended up taking a break from it when I began classes at the University of Florida since I needed to focus on the five classes I was taking at the time. I am still so very thankful for the experience and how it broadened my views about writing.

When I tell people that I live in the Everglades many ask, “Do you have pythons in your backyard?” or “I didn’t know anyone lived that far down there.” Everglades City consists of warm summer weather mornings, with salty air kissing your cheeks as the breeze passes by. Palm trees grow tall and strong, swaying back and forth as if they’re waving hello. Vehicles pulling boats of all kinds at five in the morning silently pass your house, eager to be on the water and off to catch a fish. Sunsets and sunrises glow in the sky, looking as if someone painted them every morning and night. No traffic lights, no traffic jams or traffic of any sort. Living in Everglades City is like no other. Almost like you’re traveling back in time to Old Florida when everything was so simple. Where there was more earth than skyscrapers blocking people’s view. I have so much love for this historical little town and that love will never end for all the years to come. Once you visit or live here you’ll only truly know what it’s like to be in an Old Florida paradise.

I’ll begin to share more about life in the Everglades and living in a small town in the columns to come! Until then, I’ll be laying in my hammock smiling as the palm trees wave hello.