Dave Speaks to the World :: Dave Barry Essays

Dave Speaks to the World When I was back home and lived with my mom, we were reading the paper together one day, she was reading the Tropic and I, the comics. When she was through with the Dave Barry column, she gasped and said out loud, "I know that shark!" Now, of course this startled me and I wondered what on earth she meant. Mom explained that the article was about a hammerhead shark, famous to Miamians and Florida Keys residents, playfully named "Big Moe". She continued to tell me that when she was about nine she went lobstering under Bahiahonda Bridge in the Keys with her dad. While lifting an old sunken car hood to retrieve the bugs, she saw a shadow pass over her. She stopped abruptly and dropped the hood to swim back to the boat. On her way back, if I remember the story correctly, the huge hammerhead passed directly over her head. This time it wasn't just the shadow she saw. Sitting in our living room at home my mom was insisting that the shark Dave Barry wrote about just HAD to be the same one . I thought this was pretty cool. Ever since then I've known who Dave Barry is. He speaks in mysterious ways. Dave Barry is a humor columnist; his fans express what can only be explained as hero worship. After doing some light research I learned that not only is he a writer for the Miami Herald, but also for many newspapers throughout the United States. It was also brought to my attention that he has won a Pulitzer Prize for his articles and he is, or was, the lead guitarist in a rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders. It's been said that they weren't the greatest musicians and they are no longer playing. To quote my Internet source, Dave is "an all-around nice guy who tries to protect his readers from the dangers of the world around them . . ." The text goes on to say that these dangers are exploding cows and trout falling from the sky. I suppose we would have to be devout Dave fans to really understand that. Something else I recently learned about Dave Barry is that there is a show based on his personality.