Gulf winds blow through canopy roads all t Native names written on the land go through the red clay hills.

Where the scent of long-leaf Florida pine reach on up to that Georgia line.

Stroll through Tallahassee town to southern Apalachee bound, take the local roads and journey down the roads we call our home.

Take the local routes and journey down roads we call our home.

Welcome to Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith with WFSU Public Media.

We love to tell stories on this program through our local history, art, culture and ecology.

But at the heart of every one of these stories are the people that make this community so special.

And that's the focus of this episode of Local Routes.

We begin with an exhibit at the LeMoyne Arts Foundation in Tallahassee.

Running through October 30th, it's titled Women Among Us: Portraits of Strength.

WFSU's Mike Plummer looks at the collaboration behind this exhibit and introduces us to the local women who made women among us happen.

This is a story about five women and an idea.

The idea was to explore and capture the life experience of aging women.

The five women are from different walks of life in varying stages in their lives and careers, and none of them are getting any younger.

It all started with these two, Eleanor Dietrich and Linda Hall I remember her saying that she wanted to spend time with with women who were about 80 to sort of maybe inform her about how to understand the upcoming phase of her life.

And we, uh, we returned to that several times.

Linda and I were talking at one point about the idea of having portraits of older women who have had interesting lives.

And it just kind of took off from there.

Shortly after that, that we were opening and Railroad Square.

And Becki was there.

And I know, Becki, through FSU and through her work at Sail, and I knew she took fantastic photographs.

And we just turned to her and said, Becki, this is Eleanor, this is our project and she immediately said, count me in.

The Becki that Linda speaks of is photographer Becki Rutta.

Being a portrait photographer, a collaboration...

I see photography as a collaboration.

And then doing these women came into the picture.

It felt like a very natural thing to to start this collaboration with them.

And what was important to me is to let women age.

So oftentimes in film and photography, we see women, we say they look great because they look like they're thirty five when they're 60 years old.

The subjects depicted in their project are 17 local women, 65 years or older, who have been doing, teaching, and creating for their communities.

They've been helping others around them, often with little or no recognition, given or expected.

It's called The Women Among Us, and we call it subtitle Portraits of Strength.

So that kind of evolved after we got started.

Part of my goal in this was to show the wrinkles, to show the white hair, to let us be proud of those things and normalize it.

Also collaborating on the project was writer and Big Bend Poet Laureate, Mary Jane Ryals.

Well, it's kind of like what Becki said.

It's time to honor women of a certain age and we are we are still part animal.

And so what we assess people right away by how they look or who they are, etcetera.

And people tend to overlook older women and older men, too, I think.

And I just think it's a great way to bring them the attention they have earned so well.

Her job was to write a haiku about the subject of each portrait, as well as a profile of the person.

We all would love to have put two or three images up, but ultimately decided for impact, we're going to have the one on the wall and we'll put a second photo in the book.

That's happening.

But the other deciding factor is Mary Jane Ryals' haiku's.

Photogragh, big photograph and larger than usual writing beside it, which is the haiku felt very Becki wanted to honor the writing so that I really appreciated that.

That's just as important piece of art that's going to be on the wall, her writing and I match that to the image.

I said, how are these going to play off of each other Because that's so important to the show.

So that also helped me decide one image over the other and gave me good feedback for for how that was going to be seen.

And conspirator number five was Carol Lynne Knight, a graphic designer, writer and poet who was also one of the 17 women chosen to be exhibited.

I was one of the last people to get photographed.

And when I was sitting there waiting, While Sally Karioth was getting photographed and talking, I thought, from the description of the project.

That they needed a book.

And I didn't see anybody in the room who knew how to make a book.

And I've worked with Anhinga Press since 1992ish and done hund... A lot of books.

So I volunteered to do that.

I thought with all the work we were doing on photographs that there should be a permanent... recognition of all the women.

Something for them to take with them when it's over at the gallery.

Something to preserve those photographs Becki Rutta worked so hard on.

And we also needed a place to put the interviews that Mary Jane Ryals did.

We have historians, nurses, teachers and professors, scientists, librarians, naturalists, editors, professional protesters.

So we have quite a combination of women in this, 17...group of 17.

A lot of the people that were chosen were people that we've never heard of in Tallahassee, but are making significant contributions to what the town is.

In good ways.

The photo and haiku exhibit Women Among Us, Portraits of Strength will run October 14th through 30th at LeMoyne Arts.

The book will be available at the gallery as well.

For WFSU Public Media, I'm Mike Plummer.

Our next profile introduces us to a woman whose experience in nature is one that many others have gone through, but until recently rarely talked about in a story we first brought you in.

Twenty twenty WFA shoes robbed years.

David Agus introduces us to local birder Dara Wilson.

>>Dara Wilson: I’m just frustrated by thos I’m very frustrated by those who make me f Because it’s real.

People who try to take enjoying nature awa >>Amy Cooper: Please stop!

Sir, I’m asking you to stop.

>>Chris Cooper: Please don’t come close to >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Dara Wilson is a b >>Amy Cooper: Please take your phone off m >>Chris Cooper: Please don’t come close to >>Amy Cooper: Then I’m taking a picture an >>Chris Cooper: Please call the cops.

Please call the cops.

>>Amy Cooper: I’m going to tell them there >>Chris Cooper: Please tell them whatever >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Chris Cooper took He had been birding in Central Park when h park’s rules.

When she started threatening him, he start >>Amy Cooper: There’s an African American me, and threatening myself and my dog.

I’m sorry, I can’t hear- I’m being threate Please send the cops immediately!

I’m in Central Park in the Ramble, I don’t >>Chris Cooper: Thank you.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: In the aftermath o came forward in a major way to share their Today, Dara’s sharing hers.

>>Dara Wilson: There’s a red-winged blackb There are egrets in the distance.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Dara’s taking us b >>Dara Wilson: I know they’re not- I know but… >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Gotcha.

They lay the pink eggs.

But limpkins eat them anyway, so- >>Dara Wilson: Yeah they do.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Dara fell in love >>Dara Wilson: I was in the humanitarian f But that was too real for me.

That was too much on my heart.

So then I found myself in Bolivia walking Did that for a few summers.

Ended up in the Republic of Panama immedia conservation and communication.

So, frogs is how I… frogs is… frogs.

And then birds.

Because my roommate, who’s named Henry Pol and he just took my under his wing.

[rimshot] >>Dara Wilson: He just fostered that appre Took me bird banding, all of that.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: In Panama, Dara fo her.

But she has struggled to find someone to f >>Dara Wilson: Going back to mentorship- W out to people and say, “Can we go for a wa I want to learn this.

I want to learn that.” Let me see… gulls, sandpipers, hawks.

I have a lot of field guides, for example.

I have a LOT of field guides.

I’ve heard that be used against me.

Like, “oh, you have so many books.

You should know all this.” It’s like, I have so many books because I The people who I’m reaching out to, I see helping lift other people up, to others, w It feels like a slap in the face.

I’m frustrated by people who need to be sp To be honest, I need people to speak up mo If I’m being bullied, and a friend is next They’re not my friend if they see it happe >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: It’s back in the b Lake Jackson has no shortage of flora and But many people of color don’t have easy a >>Dara Wilson: The idea of access, when we >>Dara Wilson: The idea of access, when we And who’d allowed where, and who feels com And who’d allowed where, and who feels com Where can we go?

What is immediately accessible to us?

Like, I’m incredibly privileged to be in t This space.

This very beautiful space.

Not everybody has access to spaces.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: For many people, T recreation.

One urban park, built around a retention p >>Dara Wilson: I’m super proud of our loca I’m super proud of all the work our chapte And I say we because I sit on our local ch What was it- erected purple martin housing They also erected interpretive signs.

Installing native planting beds.

It just shows an amount of care that I hav black outdoor enthusiast, it makes me legi It just goes to show what collaborations d What we can achieve and what can be done w working together to achieve this goal.

I… I feel hopeful.

I feel hopeful.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: For WFSU, I’m Rob Diaz de Villegas.

Right now, I'm in WFSU's studio A.

Built over 40 years ago, along with the rest of our station.

It's been the scene of a lot of music over the decades.

One of the regular performers in this room was musician, singer and composer Velma Frye.

In a story we first brought you before the pandemic, WFSU's Robbie Gaffney sat down with Velma Frye to talk more about her career.

From the Florida State University Broadcast Center, WFSU TV brings you the best music in North Florida, Studio A Here's your host, Velma Frye.

Thank you for joining us on studio A for a very unusual program featuring dance and jazz.

I love the intensity of it, to tell you the truth.

I don't know what I looked like, if I ever smiled.

I had so many things going on in my head, I was going to perform, I was going to play with Sammy Tatr, do some singing.

There were other people, were they there on time, were they in the dressing?

You know, I was the only one that knew everything that was going to go on.

My name is Velma Fry.

I'm a music educator, performer, composer, chorus leader, piano teacher and a community member.

My mother was a nurse.

I don't think she read a lot of parenting books, but she did something really smart.

She said after dinner, either do the dishes or play the piano and didn't take me long to decide.

I'd rather go down the stairs to the basement and play the piano.

I just thought it was like a friend, a big toy that talked back to you, that made sounds.

And I mean, I was so short, I would stand up and just reach up and play little notes.

Which is just really fun.

My love for piano particularly has changed over the years because now I sing and I didn't sing until I was twenty three, is when I started.

Had a job as the pianist at the newly built Killearn Golf and Country Club.

We had a singer.

And after a few months, she left.

So they said, well, you have to sing.

So I sang really easy songs for a couple of years till I was twenty five.

And then I started singing in town for my friends.

They were so encouraging and it was so much fun.

And I loved the attention that I thought, OK, well, maybe I'll keep singing and I'll sing with my friends and and for various good causes around town.

With Studio A, I produced it and I hosted it and I performed on it.

So it was my whole idea.

After Ed Herp said, let's do a live broadcast with different styles of music, with audience.

Once a month, an hour long.

And they at the time, I don't believe had ever done live broadcasts.

And so I had a few months to prepare to book the acts and figure out what the set should look like.

And I'm actually not an extrovert.

I have fairly good social skills.

But it took a lot of energy for me to be that outgoing.

When that ended, I was ready for a break.

So I continued, as I've done since I was 15 years old, to teach piano privately, do a little performing.

And in the next year, I went to the Soviet Union to try to get the city of Krasnodar to agree to be a sister city program with Tallahassee.

There may not be that many people in Tallahassee who appear in Soviet Life magazine.

And this is an article about the group of 12 of us who went, the call was packed, standing room only, and at the end they all clapped at the same time.

Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh.

You know, in the same rhythm.

It was just so stirring and and so many people brought gladiolus flowers and put them on the stage.

Just made me weep.

I was so happy.

Then the next year, Reverend Emery Hinks invited Garrison Keillor to come to Tallahassee to do a Habitat for Humanity benefit, and Garrison Keillor arrived.

When I was sound checking in that afternoon at Ruby Diamond, and he said we should do something.

And then he kind of spun off and went to his dressing room.

And I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but he was rewriting a song that he wanted me to sing with him on and play piano on.

And he invited me to come up there and be to St. Paul and be on A Prairie Home Companion.

So I did that nine times.

And then I needed to do something else.

And so I wanted to be more at home.

I don't want to tour, but I want to use my skills.

And I had this vision of having home singing circles.

You come, you warm up, you use your body you sing for an hour or so.

Another thing is that the repertoire is very eclectic.

Anything goes in my singing circle.

As long as I like it.

But what's really different about this compared to the church choir, where you are going to sing, or a temple choir or a community chorus?

Where you are going to do a concert?

Is that this is all for us, in the moment.

I feel so happy after I have sung for an hour and a half.

I just don't worry about things.

You put on pause the stresses in your life and you go to this vocal spa for 90 minutes, you know, in my classes, and you feel transformed.

You feel better.

And that's why we do it once a week instead of, you know, once a month or once a season.

So I want to continue to write music.

And just glad to be able to still sing and play.

However, the technique level is I still enjoy it.

to reclaim our voice.

To me, is a symbol of reclaiming our personal power to speak up in this world for what we believe is right and just.

And to take a step forward and use our voice for positive change in the world can start with you're sitting with yourself.

I am here and here's what I think about what you are doing, and I have an idea.

This could be a little different.

I'm just making that up.

But that's just an example of reclaiming your voice.

Changed my life, discovering my voice when I was twenty three, changed my life and made me a more whole person.

When the pandemic started, Velma Fry had to shift her in-person singing circles to online song salons.

She says these days she is teaching one on one lessons for the piano, vocal coaching, songwriting and music theory.

Learn more about her music and career at VelmaFryeMusic.COM on September 30th.

American opera composer Carlisle Floyd passed away here in Tallahassee at the age of 95.

In his time as a Florida State University music professor, he got to know people in this community, including FSU professor Douglas Fisher, who sat down with us to talk about his memories of this American opera legend.

I feel very close to Carlisle Floyd, I've known him very well for probably 25 to 30 years.

Carl came here when he was 20 years old, wrote his first and still most successful opera, Suzana, when he was 25, 26 years old.

Through sheer naivety and hutzpah, he got internationally famous singers to come to Tallahassee and premiere that opera.

He was barely out of graduate school himself.

And shortly after that, it went to New York City Opera and really made his name as an opera composer.

Most of the operas that he wrote in his career, he wrote while he was teaching at Florida State.

Interestingly, he was never on the composition faculty here.

He was always a piano teacher.

Then he left Tallahassee after twenty six years to go to Houston to be the co-founder, along with the general director of Houston Grand Opera, David Gockley of the Houston Opera Studio, a training program for young professional singers and to teach at the University of Houston.

And then he came back here when he retired and actually wrote his final opera, Prince of Players, which premiered just a few years ago here in Tallahassee.

He's never been far from Tallahassee since he moved here.

Now, more than 70 years ago.

A person's experiences and their memories are the heart of the stories told in this episode of Local Routes.

This fall, we invite you to share your own story.

WFSU is proud to be the host station for the upcoming StoryCorps mobile tour.

Coming right here to Tallahassee, here's more.

Would you like to record and preserve some of your family stories or community's history?

StoryCorps provides a space for people to have meaningful conversations that can be preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Come share some of your stories when StoryCorps mobile tour comes to the Leroy Collins Public Library in Tallahassee, November 18th through December 20th.

Reservations to record open on November 3rd at 10:00 a.m.

Starting that day, visit WFSU.org to sign up.

That's it for this episode of Local Routes.

You can see all these stories and more on our Website, WFSU.org/localroutes And while you're online, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Plus, don't forget to sign up for our community calendar newsletter, delivered weekly to your email.

It's a great way to stay up to date on events happening in person and in the virtual world for everyone at WFSU Public Media, thanks for watching.

Have a great week, everyone.

Magnolia Trees greet the southern breeze in the land where rivers wind.

Seeds that spring up from the past leave us treasures yet to find .

Where our children play along the land our fathers built with honest hands.

Take a moment now, look around at the paradise we have found.

Take the local routes and journey down the roads we call our home.