By Chan Lowe April 3, 2012 05:43 PM
In this morning’s Sun Sentinel, my colleague Robert Nolin wrote of a “Best Building” contest sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, wherein signature buildings from each county in Florida would be voted on to comprise a “Best 100 in the state” list.
Palm Beach County, of course, is home to Marjorie Merriweather Post’s (now The Donald’s) Mar-A-Lago and Henry Flagler’s Breakers Hotel. Miami has the Freedom Tower and the Biltmore. For some unfathomable reason, Broward County is to be represented by the Fort Lauderdale Municipal Parking Garage. This is the building we will present to the world to compete against other great structures in the state.
I’m no architect, but I did concentrate on architectural history in college (Wow! I can’t believe I finally get to use this!). My personal choice to represent Broward County in all its riotous panoply would be the futuristic and fanciful cylindrical structure at the corner of Oakland Park Boulevard and Federal Highway (seen here, if I can overcome the technological impediments to posting it). 
Most locals know of it. Those who have been around for a while might agree that the renovation performed around 20 years ago catapulted it into the forefront of memorable buildings in the county. There’s a fabulous mosaic in front depicting South Florida nautical themes, and Jetsonian frou-frou festoons the top rim, which is enhanced at night by dramatic neon lighting.
Continue reading "Chan Lowe: Broward's Best Building" »
By Chan Lowe February 27, 2012 05:12 AM
This is it. You've all been warned. As of today, there will be no new postings on this platform. If you would like to continue reading and receiving my blog, The Lowe Down, please use this simple URL: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/chan
Thank you for your continued interest.
Chan Lowe
By Chan Lowe February 24, 2012 04:55 PM
When you consider that there exists no coherent strategy for conventionally “winning” the war in Afghanistan, and that the only way we’ll ever exit that morass is if we somehow convince the natives to cooperate with us on a permanent basis, you realize what a tragedy the Quran-burning blunder really was.
We’ve been involved in that star-crossed chunk of real estate for over ten years now. Many families have lost loved ones who volunteered to fight for American freedoms, and were let down by a succession of civilian leaders who either never knew or lost sight of our strategic purpose for being there.
Maybe all the money, time, effort and lives we’ve squandered over there were starting to pay off in terms of convincing the locals we were working in their best interests⎯that’s a matter of debate. What we know for sure is that the fateful trip to the Bagram incinerator probably set us back several years in that fight.
Continue reading "Chan Lowe: The Afghanistan Quran-burning" »
By Chan Lowe February 23, 2012 12:53 PM
Here in America, the land of the free, we freely pass laws designed to showcase our detestation for those unlike the majority (for example, my former home state of Oklahoma passed legislation banning Sharia Law⎯as if it were a real threat to the Sooner State, or as if the legislators even knew what it was they were outlawing). The same with sanctimoniously titled and thinly disguised legislation like the “Defense of Marriage Act.”
Continue reading "Chan Lowe: The Republican crusade" »
By Chan Lowe February 23, 2012 01:18 AM
For those of you who enjoy (or even detest) your daily fix of The Lowe Down, the tech wizards inform me that it is being migrated to a new platform. I'm not sure what this means, but if you would like to continue receiving the blog, please use this new address: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/chan-lowe/, or simply sun-sentinel.com/chan
If you have an RSS feed, you might want to sign up again for it at the new address. You will notice the layout is different. If the cartoon appears small and is off to one side, just double-click on it to enlarge. There's also a big, fat ad in the middle of my comments, placed there to appease the Gods of Free Enterprise. Just scroll past it to catch the remainder of my deathless prose.
Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll keep you posted with any further developments, even if I don't understand them.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
