We’re three weeks into Pulptown – we’ve shared some Orlando history, swapped funny stories, even learned a thing or two about the local shuffleboard team (who knew?). We’ve got a lot coming to you – from suggested running routes by town to in-depth neighborhood guides, to Q&A with city officials, and interviews with our local crossing guards, our favorite baristas and friendly neighborhood gas attendants.

We’re anxious to spark further conversations about the future of Orlando. We’ll talk about difficult topics – gentrification, homelessness, and transit. We’ll have meaningful conversations surrounding race relations, the LGBTQ community and politics (eek).  

We’ll share the best place in town for ice cream, where to swim with the manatees, how to do touristy things on a budget. We’ll show you how to get involved in your local government and in local nonprofits. We’ll make it easy AND fun.

While we’ve enjoyed being here with you in this launch phase, we’re now ready to spread our wings and fly. You can help us with that by doing the below. 

Tell all your friends. If you’re enjoying Pulptown with your coffee every morning, spread the word. Forward this email to your friends, share this link on Facebook and Twitter, shout us out on Instagram.

Tell us your Orlando story. While we do our best, we can’t be everywhere at once and the truth is, we certainly don’t know everything there is to know about Orlando and all of its many neighborhoods. We want to know everything there is to know in Osceola County, Seminole and Orange. Share with us your Orlando by tagging #pulptown when you’re out and about.

Tell us when we could do something better. Tell us when we’re right and more importantly, when we’re wrong. Tell us what we’re missing, tell us who we’re missing. Tell us what’s happening this weekend – the events we don’t want to miss. Email us, DM us, send us a message. Whatever you do, just talk to us. This newsletter is meant for you, for us.

While this would normally be a round-up of daily news in the city, today it’s a love letter from founder/local director Katie Johnston to Orlando and all of its eccentricities.

It was the summer of 2006. I was fresh out of college. It was hot, uncomfortably humid at best, and completely new to me. I had uprooted my entire life from Alabama the Beautiful to relocate to The City Beautiful — and I had done it for love.

Then, a few years in, I realized I was in it for the long haul. No longer in a relationship with a person, but instead, in love and fully committed to the city — a city that lived and breathed opportunity.

Over the years, I’ve watched us embrace a growing pride in what it means to be an Orlandoan. We stopped apologizing for being from Orlando and defended our “small town” to outsiders. We challenged them to find a more thriving taco town, to discount our burgeoning mixology scene, and to sway our newfound love of our soccer team as we turned the streets purple and shouted Vamos Orlando. And when others tried to tell us our town was anything less than great, we embraced a new motto: “You Don’t Know the Half of It.”

The Orlando I arrived in is not the one I live in today. The city changed with me as I meandered through my twenty-somethings.  What was once known as a tourist-infested destination has evolved further into eclectic boroughs filled with the most welcoming of locals. The gaggle of chain restaurants that were once a hallmark, has grown into a vibrant mix of farm-to-table experiments and Mom-and-Pop eateries, and guess what? This Orlando doesn’t suck. In fact, it is truly wonderful. But of course, like any growing city, we still have challenges ahead of us.

I am with you agonizing over Sunrail and I4 Ultimate, as we navigate this transition into a “real” big city with “real” public transit. I am still learning that the division that exists in our city is more than the street in which it is named after – and I am researching, asking questions, and making conversations about it.

Like you, I know what it means to light a candle at a vigil after one of the worst terrorist attacks in history. And like many of you, I am still shook. I am acutely aware of our homelessness problem and affordable housing crisis and specifically want to spark change there. I recognize that every Orlandoan feels these struggles, and I believe we can take them on together.

But this new Orlando excites me – with its grandiose plans of building a budding sports and entertainment district, the plans it has for the future of Creative Village, and opening a $60 million UCF Downtown location. We’re now home to a world-renowned soccer stadium and a state-of-the-art performing arts center, and both of our major hospitals are ranked #4 in the country by US News and World Report.

Orlando, while you were changing, I was changing too. (Meanwhile, the eyesore on I-4 perennially earns its name). I wrote you this love letter, because I mean it when I say I’m here, I’m listening, and I truly hope to share your fresh perspectives on Greater Orlando; to help foster much-needed conversation and connection about the future of our city and our region.

Borrowing from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, I’ll leave you with this.

Dear Orlando,

How do I love thee? Let me the count the ways.

I love thee to the depth of Lake Eola and breadth of the Orlando Urban Trail and height of the SunTrust Center.

My soul can be reached at a show at Plaza Live or by way of The Social.

For the ends of being and ideal grace that I can find at Celebration Orlando.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, from the Orange County Library to Lake Lucerne and Bok.

I love thee freely, like a night spent on Mills 50 or out in the wide open spaces of St. Cloud (it’s true).

I love thee purely, like I love Planet Pizza at the end of a night, or better yet, the white sauce at Kobe.
I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs and with my childhood’s faith – from Disneyland to Gatorland to Sanford Zoo,

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; from the nights I danced until my feet hurt at Spy Bar to the songs I belted at Big Daddy’s Karaoke or O’Shucks off I-Drive,

and if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

So Orlando, if you’re willing to take a chance on Pulptown, and learn more of our history, share more of your stories, then subscribe to our daily newsletter and tell your friends about us. Give us a thumbs up on Facebook, and a follow on Instagram and Twitter. Let’s live our best Orlando lives together. And show others how to #livelikeyoulivehere.

Pulptown is a daily newsletter connecting curious locals in Orlando. Katie Johnston is the founder and local director.

We’re hiring. Are you or someone you know looking for a sales job with a kickass company? Because if so, I’ve got your back. Take a look at this job posting and if you’re interested in becoming Pulptown’s Sales Manager, drop me a line. Would love to connect, preferably over coffee – or tea – or that rose latte from Sanctum I think I’ve mentioned a time or two – or food, because food is good.

ONE LAST THING

Hey, sincerely, thanks for doing this with us. It means a lot. 🙌

See you again on Monday!

—Pulptown