Nudists, Smugglers, Drag Queens All In 'The Thing About Florida'

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Florida has gained a reputation as a state with a lot of crazy folks thanks to "Florida Man" news headlines on everything from ginormous gators and drug dealers to dudes surfing during hurricanes and "The Tiger King" saga.

Pinellas County native and book author, Tyler Gillespie, 34, goes beyond the attention-grabbing headlines in his new book, "The Thing About Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State."

Florida's wild side and complexities that derive from its Southern history embarrassed Gillespie, a gay man who grew up as a Southern Baptist. When he lived in New Orleans and Chicago, he would try to avoid telling people where he is from, and when he did, people would usually say, "Oh, the other day I saw the weirdest Florida Man story," Gillespie wrote in his book.

Gillespie, who has a master of arts degree in journalism and media studies from the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, told Patch the book was originally a reporting project when he began writing it in 2015.

"I wanted to show the person behind those headlines because people probably have misconceptions of Florida," he said.

His reporting took him around the state to talk to the person behind the headlines such as "The Granny Beater," who was in a halfway house creating a better life for herself following years of alcohol addiction when Gillespie interviewed her.

He also interviewed drag queens, pet smugglers, nudists at clothing-optional camps, and python smugglers. And after several drafts, Gillespie decided to share some of his experiences in a book.

"I was moving memoir pieces to make it more of a narrative," Gillespie said. "And I was doing some archival work that talks about Florida from long ago. It's kind of a style that speaks to you. The more I drafted, the more memoir and humor I put in there. With time, I felt a little more comfortable with putting me in the work because as a journalist, we are trained to keep ourselves completely out of the story.”

The hardest segment for Gillespie to write was the last chapter, "A Revelation," that reflects on what it was like growing up gay at a Christian school and as a Southern Baptist.

"I didn't really have the words to articulate for being gay when I was in school," he shared. "All I knew is I was going to hell. My faith is really important to me, but being a queer person, I could have gotten kicked out of high school or the church for that."

Writing this book was like a healing for Gillespie, and he's no longer embarrassed by his home state.

He has written for GQ, the Guardian, the Nation, VICE, and Salon. He is currently a professor at Ole Miss teaching writing, and is working on his Ph.D in writing rhetoric and technical communication at the University of Memphis. He is also the author of "Florida Man: Poems," and co-editor of "The Awkward Phase: The Uplifting Tales of Those Weird Kids You Went To School With."

Tombolo Books is hosting a virtual conversation with Gillespie and author of "Rising And Other Stories," Gale Massey Thursday, 6:30 p.m.—7:30 p.m. Autographed copies of Gillespie's book are available at Tombolo.