John Ames Follow

John Ames entered the University of Florida intending to major in drama. After a season of summer stock, he decided he wasn’t the dramatic type and changed his major to English, becoming a Ford Fellow and eventually graduating with a master’s degree. After graduation, he built a rustic house and lived for several years on the edge of a spiritual community located near Gainesville, Florida. John’s search for enlightenment ended when he decided that he was too far from a movie theater. He moved inside the Gainesville city limits and taught English and film for thirty years at Santa Fe College. He has produced and acted in numerous short films and videos, including the cable TV series Tub Interviews, wherein all of the interviewees were required to be in a bathtub. For ten years he reviewed movies for PBS radio station WUFT. He has appeared as a standup comedian and has designed and marketed Florida-themed lamps. In addition to writing Adventures in Nowhere, he coauthored Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story and its sequel, No Way Renée: The Second Half of My Notorious Life, as well as Speaking of Florida.