Mandy Bolen has to have one of the toughest jobs on the planet. The poor girl lives in Key West, Fla, where she works as a reporter for a local newspaper. There, employees quake under iron-fisted rules like, \Try to show up for work by 11 a.m. or so,"" and the dress code runs along the lines of ""We prefer that you wear clothes.""
As part of her job, Bolen is frequently called upon to do publicity-related events such as serving on a panel of judges at a contest to see which local bartender can make the best daiquiri. Other days, she may find herself snorkeling with a dive boat in order to write about an underwater music festival.
Over her tenure as a reporter, Bolen has written frequent columns that have appeared in her newspaper, the Key West Citizen. These columns have covered a wide range of topics and have dealt with issues both large and small. Recently, Bolen compiled several of her best pieces and offers them in her first book, ""Tan Lines.""
This book will appeal to just about every type of reader out there as Bolen demonstrates a keen sense of humor, a razor-sharp writing style and an uncanny ability to pick topics that readers will either relate to or will be interested in learning about.
And then, of course, there is the fact that these stories are set in what may possibly be the wackiest place on the planet.
Key West is famous in its own right for Fantasy Fest, a week-long festival where a disturbing majority of the population runs around without clothes on. The island is also known for this past summer's unfurling of the world's longest gay-pride flag, and the island also recently made national news when a man went into the police station to see if they had recovered the marijuana he had... lost somewhere.
Bolen has a front seat for all of this craziness and offers her readers a chance to see things from the viewpoint of a ""local,"" which makes this book all the better. While most of us cannot afford the airfare, housing and exorbitant liquor prices associated with a vacation, ""Tan Lines"" will allow a reader a chance to escape cold climates, if only for a few moments at a time.
One story, called ""Sittin' Pretty"" is especially funny, and readers here on campus will be able to commiserate as Bolen gripes about stupid people and mopeds, especially those idiots in skirts who try to ride side-saddle. She also picks on the other stereotypes that scooter-users seem to fall into, and her observations are absolutely dead-on accurate and extremely hilarious.
""Let us not forget the two straight-guys-on-a-scooter phenomenon,"" she writes. ""The guys, through some unfortunate turn of events in their evening, ended up having to share a scooter on the way back to their hotel ... the two position themselves as far from each other as possible, while still remaining, barely, on the seat. The guy in the rear would just as soon slide off the back of the seat than hold on to the driver, who leans as far forward as possible.""
Some of her stories cover daily experiences she faces, such as cutting her hand open on a sharp spear of plastic that was created after opening a heat-sealed package in order to get a hairdryer out, or getting out of a speeding ticket. Another great one discusses that one rude woman we have all experienced, who takes forever at the ATM, and then has to shuffle around in her purse and write things down in her checkbook before she moves so someone else can use the machine.
Bolen's style is successful because of her outlook on life. Quick to find humor in a situation, able to laugh at herself and her own quirks and rabidly intolerant of stupidity, Bolen has debuted well and is sure to score big in future endeavors.
""Tan Lines"" is published by Phantom Press, Key West.
