Happy St. Pete Pride to all!

Lollipop

Caliaha Thomas, 6, watches her friends dance at Juneteenth in Campbell Park. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when news of their freedom reached slaves in Galveston, Texas. It is now a celebration designed to promote appreciation of the African-American experience.

Bob Devin Jones

Bob Devin Jones is the heart, soul and creative spirit behind the productions at Studio@620, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary on June 20th.

All-Academic Team

PHU swimmer Chris Mertens and Northside Christian track star Rachel Logemann, both 18, are the St. Pete Times student-athletes of the year. Both have pretty impressive resumes and were really nice kids who were super accommodating and patient with this floundering studio photographer.

D-Day

Drafted while he was still in high school, Ernest Nicks fought in seven major battles and landed in Normandy during D-Day in 1944 while serving in the Army's 238th Engineer Combat Battalion during WWII. Nicks died on June 4, 2008 at the age of 84. His daughter Chris Mecham said this past year has been "tough and filled with lots of tears," but she keeps his memory alive with framed keepsakes of her father's service, photographs and stories about his remarkable life.

What?!

Anonymous comments make me laugh. Especially head-scratching ones like this:

"I think that this picture is disgusting. Are you a TEACHER?"

Class of 2009

Congratulations to all the Northeast and Gibbs high school grads!