How did you first come to join a Gasparilla krewe?

L.L.: I was born and raised in Ruskin. It started out as a very hometown krewe for me. There are women on this krewe that range in age from 26 to 76.

There are women on this krewe that carted me around when I was a kid, to school. Now we throw beads together. TC: Always wanted to do it, ever since I was a kid.

Wanted to be a pirate. Yep. Have you seen a lot of drunken debauchery during the parades?

TC: It's not so much that. It's people falling off floats, breaking arms. Being clumsy enough to walk between a vehicle and a float.

LL: At the night parade, when you're down in the middle of Ybor City and it's very late, we all stay together as a group. Guys are there to walk us through, because if you've still got beads left, you're a moving target. How many sets of beads would you estimate you have in your house right now?

TC: I'm really a bead-monger. I'll go through a case and a half during the day parade. I probably have in excess of 2,000 beads at my house right now.

And that's not ... more.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.