Jeff Gore, Staff Writer
Jeff Gore joined the Orlando Weekly in September of 2010, though he had first started working for the Weekly three years earlier as in intern. Jeff graduated from the University of Central
Florida in spring of 2008; that fall he moved to Athens, Ga. and began writing for the alternative newsweekly Flagpole. There
he wrote news articles and created an interview feature called "Everyday People," which explored the lives of the town's residents. In the summer
of 2009, Jeff spent two months in the Palestinian West Bank, chronicling his experience in a blog called "Dispatches from the
Holy Land." In early 2010, he spent three months in Ecuador and Peru, which yielded a seven-part
travel series in Flagpole. Returning to the States broke and travel-weary, he spent a summer in Atlanta stuffing baggage into aircraft. By
chance, he revisited the Orlando Weekly’s webpage while in the break room.
Email: jgore@orlandoweekly.com
Jeff Gore Archives
- Bare minimum
Do sheltered workshops teach the disabled skills for the workplace or exploit them for cheap labor?
| 6/9/2011
- Happytown
In which Mike Haridopolos confuses himself into a lawsuit, Rick Scott confuses state universities for idiots and the gays are about to be less confused – legally speaking – in Orlando. A ball of confusion for everyone!
| 12/1/2011
- Happytown
The week we weathered Gov. Rick Scott's terrible foray into teaching Immokalee kids about owl pellets and farming ... before getting lost in the gay crossfire of a mayoral bitchfest over a benefits ordinance. Floridian pride overload!
| 11/17/2011
- A partridge and a side of beef
A Paleo Diet Christmas
| 11/24/2011
- Happytown
The local Democratic machine gets a swift kick in the ass, a Food Not Bombs founder exchanges anarchist recipes and we take a look at the sports that happen when no sports are happening. It's a Happytown Thanksgiving!
| 11/24/2011
- Preoccupied with nothing
Occupy Orlando needs to adopt goals, or else it will self-destruct
| 11/17/2011
- Happytown
Gov. Rick Scott crashes a gun range, state Republicans play a game of legislative chicken and wouldn't everything be better in the NBA (or otherwise) with an electronic whip? We've got that whip appeal, baby.
| 11/10/2011
- Happytown
| 2/18/2012
- Happytown
The week the city got all gay on the county, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd continued to get all hot on the porn and the Siegel's unfinished mansion overshadowed the region's hunger crisis. Sex and money, then!
| 11/3/2011
- Happytown
The week that Gadhafi got killed, the occupiers got arrested and the chamber got off scot-free. Is there no justice? Well, sometimes.
| 10/27/2011
- Business-friendly legislation
A new state law dismantles a hurdle for startup food vendors
| 10/27/2011
- The view from Venus
Jacque Fresco designed a society without politics, poverty and war. Will it ever leave the drawing board?
| 10/13/2011
- The long haul
The occupation of Orlando begins in the backyard of the Chamber of Commerce
| 10/20/2011
- Happytown
This week we contemplated cruel and unusual punishment. Would it be death by firing squad, electric chair or a blood-spitting whip at the Holy Land Experience with Lizz Winstead? We'd prefer the comedic Jesus option, frankly.
| 10/20/2011
- Happytown
We got preoccupied with the Occupation of the City Beautiful, then we snapped out of it and measured imaginary drapes with the latest mayoral contender. Orlando is on fire! Run for your lives!
| 10/13/2011
- Happytown
We're proud Linda Stewart was born this way and born to run for office. We're not so proud the the Creative Village may turn into Portlando. That Commander X hacking thing? We don't know what to think. We're too busy marching.
| 10/6/2011
- In the name of love (pride)
As Orlando prepares for Come Out With Pride, we highlight some reasons to be proud of our LGBT community
| 10/6/2011
- Happytown
The Republicans were coming! In lieu of eating pizza with Herman Cain, we popped in on a Ron Paul confab, looked for the sequestered bobbing heads of protest outside of the convention center and figured out that – surprise! – conservatives are talking about Jesus weather again. We were blown away.
| 9/29/2011
- Toxic avengers
Learn about one of Central Florida's most polluted bodies of water on a Toxic Tour of the Lake Apopka area
| 9/29/2011
- Seed money
A proposed urban garden near Lake Eola is burdened by ties to a giant agribusiness
| 9/22/2011
- Happytown
This week we take a SWAT at Patty Sheehan's condo-hostage shenanigans, get ready to take a bullet wound in all 50 states and listen to Newt Gingrich fans discuss a new target-practice immigration policy. BANG!
| 9/22/2011
- Unfinished Business
Bill Doyle is on a mission to prove that Saudi Arabia bankrolled the 9/11 attacks
| 9/8/2011
- Unfinished Business
Bill Doyle believes that Saudi Arabia bankrolled the Sept. 11 attacks, and despite U.S. government opposition, he hopes to prove it
| 9/7/2011
- Happytown
Alan Grayson called Newt Gingrich fat. We drank. A federal judge tossed out the redistricting lawsuit. We drank. The ACLU challenged piss tests for the poor. We drank. And then we, along with the firefighters, took to Facebook to post inappropriate pictures. We don't remember any of it.
| 9/15/2011
- Happytown
The week when Haridopolos learned how to lie on YouTube, Republicans falsely conjured reparations and objectivity was kicked out of the Middle East. This is the week we'll never forget?
| 9/8/2011
- Happytown
This week we get all hot and bothered with Debbie Wasserman Schultz at an Obama office launch, then we get get all cold and critical in our private prison cell. We go to extremes.
| 9/1/2011
- Doing time
Civil rights activists and ex-felons displeased with Florida's strict new clemency laws
| 8/25/2011
- Happytown
This week, we race for the merch booth on Rick Scott's rhubarb reinvention tour, hide in your backyard (because you don't want us in your backyard) on the municipal redistricting tour and adjust our baby monitors to the "controversy" frequency at Disney. We are everywhere.
| 8/25/2011
- Nonessential learning
A compendium of useless information about your campus
| 8/25/2011
- Happytown
Cover boy Rick Scott rolls into town in a Walmart shopping cart (we roll our eyes), the Republican machine rolls in the dirt of activist profiling and a bunch of trucker mustaches roll through the convention center. We're on a roll, here
| 8/18/2011
- Not forgiven, not forgotten
Thirty years after being falsely convicted of murder, and three years after being exonerated, William Dillon is still seeking justice
| 8/11/2011
- Happytown
| 8/11/2011
- Happytown
The traveling redistricting circus reminds us what wasting time feels like, Phil Diamond throws Jesus chicken at us and WFTV Channel 9 concocts a class war via homeless paranoia.
| 8/4/2011
- Union of the fake
Winter Park’s blue-collar workers vote on unionization despite the city’s union-busting campaign
| 7/28/2011
- Happytown
Wherein we work ourselves up for the redistricting tour of awesomeness only to be summarily dressed down (naked! In prison!) by Polk Sheriff Grady Judd. Oh, the agony.
| 7/28/2011
- Happytown
The wingnuts are coming! The wingnuts are coming! Oh, wait. They're already here. While we were busy scrubbing the vomit out of our polyester suits (a somewhat unavoidable catharsis resulting from our annual Best of Orlando shenanigans), an entirely different flavor of vomit was rising in our throats.
| 7/21/2011
- Fed up
How Orlando's homeless-service agencies have failed to solve the problem
| 7/21/2011
- Happytown
| 7/13/2011
- Point of no return
Florida’s Syrians and Libyans organize for change in their home countries, even if that means never going back
| 7/7/2011
- Happytown
Vouchers are like depression gift certificates, city elections are like moving goalposts and gas prices are too damn high for Brian Feldman.
| 7/7/2011
- Happytown
In which we playfully crash the bejeweled intentions of the Dr. Phillips Center's tent party and then try to get all up in the face of evil Gov. Rick Scott. We will survive!
| 6/30/2011
- Happytown
The week where we play Frankenstein inside Rick Scott's charisma vacuum, get taken for a ride down to J.J. Redick's pubic floor and dive Six Feet Under for a family photo. Scary!
| 6/23/2011
- Slurred speech
State prosecutor fired for alleged racist remarks, but colleagues say charges are out of character
| 6/16/2011
- Happytown
The city racks up more philanthropic arrests, the mayor tends to the million-dollar fountain and the police chief shuffles away. There must be something in the water!
| 6/16/2011
- Happytown
The one where Republicans try to pin the tail on Charlie Crist's donkey, the city bluntly reaffirms that it is indeed an cruel (fat!) mistress and the county is a joke that isn't funny anymore.
| 6/9/2011
- Happytown
A budgetary Sharpie blots out the Smurfs in the Villages, UCF takes over Orlando (or at least it should), the Casey Anthony trial ties up valuable talking-head resources and, hey, Jon Huntsman, welcome to our closet!
| 6/2/2011
- Happytown
Welcome to the Great Suppression! Maybe you’ve been going about your Floridian lawn-chair life just staring at the throbbing starburst on the inside of your eyelids – you know, the one that comes from looking up at the glorious sun – comfortably bathed in
| 5/26/2011
- Privacy policy
Florida prepares to hand over management of many of its prisons to private corporations
| 5/19/2011
- Happytown
The gurgle and pop of Democratic balls, the rattle and wheeze of a Disney challenge and the distant sound of justice dying in Florida
| 5/19/2011
- Happytown
The hottest new laws in the 2011 legislative session (as a sketch!) and The Fountainhead comes to Winter Park to bust unions.
| 5/12/2011
- Happytown
The feds give a royal two fingers to Medicaid privatization, the Dems shout down Dan Webster and not all chambers are full of secrets
| 5/5/2011
- Happytown
Unions get smart (and angry), gays get benefits (and ridicule), UCF hates environmentalists (and trees) and can somebody make Gary Siplin go away? Please?
| 4/28/2011
- Big IDEAS
Student environmental group at UCF turns activism into action
| 4/28/2011
- Happytown
The city starves its empathy (again), DPAC trips over its pretense (again) and your legislature does not want you to vote. No alarms, no surprises ... please.
| 4/21/2011
- The British connection
John McLoughlin makes a business out of teaching businesspeople to network
| 4/21/2011
- Happytown
How to incorporate your uterus, commodify the homeless and get Rick Scott fired (if you're Ralph Nader)
| 4/14/2011
- Layoffs at IADT
For-profit colleges eliminate positions in response to increased government regulation
| 4/7/2011
- Happytown
| 4/7/2011
- Happytown
The state descends into a puddle of tears as unions are busted, the minimum wage is challenged, homeless rolls skyrocket and everybody looks for a free bus. Sad town!
| 3/31/2011
- Tallahassee reconsiders mandatory minimums
Budget constraints have politicians questioning mandatory sentencing guidelines for nonviolent drug offenders
| 3/31/2011
- Happytown
DPAC looks for some Disney magic, Semoran is just another brick in Tony Ortiz's mustache wall and life is a pizza contest!
| 3/24/2011
- Afashee Theatre misses deadline
Loss of grant puts Renaissance at Carver Square Project further from reality
| 3/17/2011
- Happytown
The state of the city is fake, the state of the state is harrowing, state of the art cameras are watching you steal flowers and state Dems seek an altered state.
| 3/17/2011
- Happytown
| 3/10/2011
- Happytown
The week that the county and the city made (fake) nice, rail made more racket and justice took a markdown.
| 3/3/2011
- Church and State
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd's mission from God to eliminate obscenity knows no bounds
| 2/24/2011
- Happytown
| 2/24/2011
- Happytown
The week that the county squashed the city's "arts" dream, Maitland wondered what art was, cops and firemen got angry and Full Sail became a full male
| 2/17/2011
- Happytown
Mike Haridopolos gets sanitized, Teresa Jacobs conjures DPAC magic and rich people in apartments can feel a lot safer now
| 2/10/2011
- Orlando's ban on feeding the homeless goes to court
City, Food Not Bombs to spar over feeding ordinance in federal court
| 2/10/2011
- Growing pains
The reptile industry finds that popularity is a double-edged sword
| 2/3/2011
- Happytown
Playing Tea Party with the kids (and Dick Morris!), playing favorites with dog breeds and paying the Chinese for VA construction. God bless Orlando.
| 2/3/2011
- Happytown
Noisy tumbleweed Linda Stewart is back to rule the world, Alan Grayson will never stop pretending to rule the world and baseball will never really happen in Orlando. Strike!
| 1/27/2011
- Happytown
| 1/20/2011
- Happytown
Rick Scott's never gonna give us up, Social Security's never gonna let us down, Linda Chapin's always gonna run around and deter us
| 1/13/2011
- On the grid
Can a massive database of personal information help the homeless without violating their privacy?
| 1/13/2011
- Happytown
Nobody likes Rick Scott, liberals (still) love Alan Grayson, Bill Nelson hates chromium and you can't interfere with destiny!
| 1/6/2011
- Poison in the well
The EPA’s investigation of a toxic site in Parramore took two decades. How many more will it take to clean it up?
| 1/6/2011
- No more Mr. Nice Guy
A last hurrah for fake pot
| 12/30/2010
- Happytown
Looking back in anger, looking forward to no performing arts center and looking out for trigger-happy cops!
| 12/30/2010
- Crumbs
UCF’s prestige is growing, but some university employees are rewarded more richly than others
| 12/23/2010
- Happytown
A hitch in redistricting draws the attention of the ACLU, Gov.-elect Rick Scott makes Florida's miseducation even worse and there's a hairball in your homeless food!
| 12/23/2010
- Happytown
Scarecrow Rick Scott falls on the Republican rails, hot chicks wash cars and Alan Grayson for President? Oh, no.
| 12/16/2010
- Harvest of Hope
Against all odds, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is changing the agricultural industry
| 12/9/2010
- Happytown
Sen. Bill Nelson is lost in space, Florida is lost in translation, Winter Park dogs are lost in their owners' anger and Orlando tries to lose its gas issues.
| 12/9/2010
- Happytown
Sure, you love Jesus when you're shopping. But what about the gays and the homeless people?
| 12/2/2010
- Happytown
The attorney general's office wants you to die, Rick Scott wants you to remove your blouse, Publix wants a tomato in its face and Florida loves its Nazis!
| 11/25/2010
- From couch to couch, one traveler’s story
| 11/25/2010
- My sledding surprise
It was about a decade ago that our family traveled to Eagan, Minn. – a suburb of Minneapolis – to visit my aunt, uncle and two cousins for Christmas..
| 11/18/2010
- Happytown
Wherein we bemoan the demise of the Florida Democratic Party, decry the smugness of Bank of America and then stare into a mirror to discover the real ugly
| 11/18/2010
- Safety First
Local coalition to open region’s first shelter for gay and lesbian kids with no place to go
| 11/11/2010
- It gets better
A local take on the national project to save gay youth
| 11/11/2010
- Happytown
Mascot Gov. Rick Scott will be no challenge for CannonHair, the Holy Land turns 10 in secret and you'll never get high – legally – in Florida
| 11/11/2010
- Happytown
Just like you, beleaguered television viewer with your eyes crossed at the incessant parade of political noise bom-barding your brain, we are so ready for this election cycle to be over.
| 10/28/2010
- The price of popularity
New fees at a popular dog park threaten to sink the nonprofit that founded it
| 10/28/2010
- Reality Check
Gubernatorial candidate Michael Arth thought he could play politics by his own rules. He’s learning it’s not so easy.
| 10/21/2010
- Under construction forever
UCF asks the state to remove conservation status from a coveted patch of land
| 10/14/2010
- Happytown
Like most thoughtful individuals with hearts that actually beat, we spent a good portion of the past couple of weeks under a pink pall of doom.
| 10/14/2010
