Saturday & Sunday, July 26 & 27
I attended the fourth annual Jehovah's Witnesses' 2008 "Guided by God's Spirit" District Convention, held at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The event was free and open to the public, and the following four photos are from it. Around 7,000 members of various Jehovah's Witness congragations from all over Florida and some from Georgia and elsewhere met at this convention (first photo). Members sing a song out of the Jehovah's Witnesses' songbook "Sing Praises to Jehovah" (second and third photos). Finally, John Koopman and Gary Iwanowski act out a scene from a full-costume drama titled "Do Not Leave the Love You Had at First" Sunday afternoon at the 2008 Jehovah's Witnesses regional convention in the O'Connell Center (last photo).
Alexis Somwaru, center, and other children reach out to touch Chomper, a baby alligator held by Scott Rainbow, during the Reptile-O-Rama part of an educational presentation on reptiles and the Florida panther for children of all ages at the Millhopper Branch Library Saturday afternoon. The demonstration was part of the library's once-a-year summer reading program and was hosted by the Panther Outreach Program in order to raise awareness of and educate listeners on the plight of the Florida panther and its endangerment.
UF sophomore Claire Fluker, right, listens as Anthony Crenshaw, director of the UF Institute of Black Culture, talks to a small crowd of students in the Orange and Brew during a pre-discussion to a public viewing of the CNN documentary "Black in America." Crenshaw spoke of the challenges facing the black community, both nationally and at UF.
UF Ph.D. student and bicycle accident survivor Casey Schmidt speaks to a small crowd in the Reitz Union's Rion Ballroom Wednesday evening about the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle. Schmidt said that wearing a helmet saved his life when a semitrailer ran him over while he was riding his bicycle earlier this year.
