St. Petersburg, FL



The Internot

By Leonora LaPeter

Robert L. Webb II walked into the Krispy Kreme on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, a black briefcase hanging from his shoulder, a silver pentacle earring dangling from his left earlobe. He headed to a group of 18 people eating glazed doughnuts around a clump of tables pulled together. . .

This was the fourth and largest meeting of the witches, who gathered last week because of a Web site that is trying to get people with common interests out of chat rooms and into coffee shops for face-to-face meetings. Many of these Pagans had met before, online or at rituals and drum circles around the Tampa Bay area, but www.Meetup.com is bringing them together like never before.

. . .It is also gathering Boxer dog lovers and Oprah Winfrey watchers. Atheists. Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses. People with a cleft lip or palate. Vampires. Japanese pop fans. Young people who keep online journals. People who want to talk about the Republican Party or abolishing the death penalty. . .

On Tuesday [the Witches] talked about sponsoring a Pagan Pet Parade at Philippe Park in Safety Harbor to benefit the black kitten that got stuck in asphalt at a paving company in Tarpon Springs this month. . .

"This is totally new for us," said Supel, high priestess of a Clearwater coven and the host of the most recent witches meeting. "We're using it by getting all the leaders in our locality together to coordinate our calendars. We always used to meet at our homes, and there were kids and dogs running around. This is more like a Pagan parent night out. We can talk, and we don't have to watch what we say."

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Link: http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/28/Floridian/The_Internot.shtml