Christopher SpataEnterprise Reporter
I love stories of people pursuing unusual goals, and what drives them. I've written about retirees attending Santa Claus School, competitors at the World Sign Spinning Championships and an optician rebuilding old Chuck E. Cheese robots in his bedroom. I'm seeking local culture stories, from tracing the global path plastic beads take to Tampa's Gasparilla festival, to pondering mysterious butt graffiti in downtown St. Pete. I previously worked for the Tampa Tribune and Ocala Star-Banner. I'm a rare, native-born Floridian. Florida isn't "weird," it's just more interesting.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/56185c67-7091-4e37-a11f-01cc3c2619d6.png "Christopher Spata - Enterprise Reporter")
![A supporter of former President Donald Trump takes a break outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, March 21, 2023.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 562 316"/%3E "A supporter of former President Donald Trump takes a break outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, March 21, 2023.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/GS2PX2ODXBGYFKOXT7RKFQKHJ4.jpg "Owner Tim Kaye, left, and Rita Casillas, a team member, help Antonio Garcia of Largo with a jewelry repair at Tim's Trading Post & Pawn in Largo. Kaye knows some see his line of work as predatory. “Those people have probably never needed a pawn shop before,” he said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/DYUYNUGBMQI6TNV2IBWI6S7HAY.jpg "The alternative holiday known as Festivus can be traced to the classic 1997 holiday episode of \"Seinfeld\" titled \"The Strike.\" In this scene, Frank Costanza, played by Jerry Stiller, participates in the Airing of Grievances.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/X2LHANG7SNGH7KZFFXV53HDC5Y.JPG "Decorative wooden deer sit on the front yards of homes in the Bayshore Beautiful neighborhood in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ZBBFTJKMXJGMLED62YZ3BKOYNM.jpeg "A cheeseburger served at El Cap restaurant in St. Petersburg. It’s fresh, charred, tangy and savory. It’s big enough, but not an unwieldy mess. The fatty burger juice increasingly soaks the bottom bun as the meal progresses.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/MXJNLUZTCZBRJLMDIW5RHSUCZE.jpg "Marilyn Fassell, a la izquierda, y Thomas Fassell, el 6 de enero de 2021, en fotos adjuntas a los registros de la corte federal.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/FT6MOJ6MQVAMLGGZM5LFZEHPCQ.JPG "Liam Kunkel of Spartan Solar canvasses a neighborhood in Tampa, going door to door seeking leads for solar panel installations.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/U2RLUQVLPNGBNHW4AUQTKFVX3Y.jpg "Florida Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist and his fiancee Chelsea Grimes wave hello to supporters and voters as he visits outside of the Coliseum in St. Petersburg on Election Day.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/5WNQ7N3JI3WKM6UTOOQAWMZICA.jpg "The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6LFWSPSEPZDY7NBUYEIGRN736Y.JPG "An aerial view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 2018. A man was shot to death on the south fishing pier on Friday evening, deputies said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3HPME47I2FENTF753QQBKGJ4KE.jpg "Hilleary Gramling, 28, walks her dog as she avoids a blocked sidewalk where a tree splintered due to winds from Hurricane Ian in front of a house at 2201 Fifth Ave. N on Thursday in St. Petersburg.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/WMJVI5LXB267NIAKTW5G3QCJJI.jpg "Los veleros anclados en Roberts Bay son arrastrados por vientos de 50 mph en Venice, Florida, cuando el huracán Ian, se acercaba a la costa oeste de Florida, el miércoles 28 de septiembre de 2022")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/OPJMP3PH6MN35NM4EAC3RPOUIY.jpg "A supporter of former President Donald Trump takes a break outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, March 21, 2023.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/UYIB4RHK4BEI7LTOTK5SZIAQZ4.JPG "University of Tampa freshman Elle McHale, 18, reacts while taking a picture with Robert Burck, 52, right, the Naked Cowboy, during his visit to downtown Tampa, Wednesday.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QZMPQZ5HVBAI3AIQFUTUXX3WCU.jpg "Frank Zaitshik, owner of Wade Amusements, poses for a portrait at the midway of the Florida State Fairgrounds on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/4FN3AN4NGJA3BKTLHAXAL4YNTI.JPG "The scene at University Mall in Tampa on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. The mall wasn't empty, but it was far from busy.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/DT63BYZGFVE57F45A52TFQKQBM.jpg "Jack Sweeney poses for a photo while displaying flight tracking data on his phone in June in Clermont.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YXUOJZGEQ4I6TKTRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "The alternative holiday known as Festivus can be traced to the classic 1997 episode of Seinfeld called “The Strike.” (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television Inc.)")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/4RRNHXYQLND2VIDFXTDHGXZVZY.jpg "For Thanksgiving, the Tampa Bay Times wants to know what you're grateful for in 2022.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/CWFMDZQFEVFUXMCHAFSMX2NJM4.jpg "Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. - Demonstrators breached security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/TM3UP34X5FEOXIZVL6TL6PEKQA.jpg "Federal prosecutors have charged 29 residents of the Tampa Bay area with crimes related to the Jan. 6 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Tampa Bay Times spent weeks analyzing their backgrounds to better understand how extremism spread in this region.")