Flower Shops Miami AZ

Miami AZ Press

Miami native Flowers blossoms at QB, turns USF into winner

He's the guy," coach Willie Taggart said without hesitation Thursday after the Bulls arrived for Monday's Miami Beach Bowl encounter with Western Kentucky. The meteoric emergence of the sophomore quarterback who starred at Miami Jackson High took a lot of heat off Taggart from impatient fans and alumni eager to see his program gain traction after slipping to 13-25 overall at that point in its third season. Flowers leading the Bulls to seven wins in their final eight games had a lot to do with Taggart receiving a five-year contract extension recently. It also served to quiet critics who thought Flowers was miscast at quarterback, better suited to play running back or receiver. A school-record 21 touchdown passes (against 10 interceptions) to go with 10 rushing touchdowns and more than 2,900 total yards, including 2,023 via passes, provided a convincing argument. "He's a winner," said Taggart, who saw Flowers' aptitude in high school and as a freshman at USF, when the talent was raw. "You understand how he was brought up and the things that he went through. Those are the kind of guys you want to build around. "You knew with the things that he'd been through, football wasn't going to be hard for him." Not when you've lost both parents at a young age... http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fl-miami-beach-bowl-1218-20151217-story.html

Harrowing memoir examines childhood in Haiti

Catholic school. The feeling that something horrible can - and will - happen at any moment sticks to her like sweat. Fievre, who teaches at Miami Dade College, came of age in Haiti after Baby Doc Duvalier's exile, years that included several coups that ended with the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990. Aristide was quickly overthrown, which led to an embargo and rampant violence, the nightly sounds of gunshots as familiar to Fievre as the rooster's morning crow. Yet the threats were not only external. Fievre's terror was augmented by the violent torment her father unleashed upon his family, his instability and volatility making Fievre, her mother and sister live in constant fear. The memoir, a brief but dense reflection on her youth in Haiti, chronicles the parallels between these tumultuous years of transition for her country and her family's struggle to cope with her father's erratic, abusive behavior. Her father was like her nation: "He was an unstable man in an unstable country." Fievre's family was part of the educated upper middle class. Her father was respected, a university professor and author, and her mother worked at a bank, which offered a level of comfort but made them a potential target. Even the maid and the driver were treated with suspicion. Fievre, who inherited her mother's lighter skin and wavy hair, writes: "When I walked around the neighborhood, other kids followed my steps, staring, just like you'd follow a strange animal to study its behavior outside its regular habitat." The family's standing didn't always insulate them. Fievre watched in fascinati... http://www.bellinghamherald.com/entertainment/article52227705.html

For USF QB Flowers, two worlds converge during Miami homecoming

University of South Florida sophomore quarterback Quinton Flowers has returned to Miami — the Bulls play in the Miami Beach Bowl on Monday — but it’s more of an opulent fantasy than a true homecoming. USF’s South Beach headquarters hotel overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, offering Mediterranean restaurants, a day spa, a poolside concierge and art deco lifeguard stands. It’s nice. It’s wonderful. But it’s not real. “My teammates are asking me where to go in my hometown and I tell them, ‘We’re staying at the beach,’ ” said Flowers, whose Bulls (8-4) face the No. 25-ranked Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (11-2). “Amazing things happen at the beach. Everybody is happy. “You go over that bridge and good things aren’t going to happen. You go over that bridge and life gets real. People are struggling. You got to watch yourself. It’s not that far away from our hotel, but it’s a completely different life.’’ Once, it was Flowers’ life — the only life he knew. Across the Julia Tuttle Causeway, you will find the section of Miami known as Allapattah, an area they don’t include in trav... http://www.tbo.com/sports/colleges/usf-bulls/two-worlds-of-usfs-flowers-converge-during-miami-homecoming-20151219/