Arielle Castillo

Miami's quickly growing bike scene remains tightly interwoven with the city's other do-it-yourself-spirited, artsy subcultures.

Sure, there are plenty of people with fancy road bikes and Lycra suits joining Critical Mass and speeding along on group rides. But a large number of the scene's most outspoken two-wheelers are young people who push for bicycling less as an exercise form per se.

It's almost a chicken-and-egg question. Do reporters and hosts with worldly or intellectual-sounding names naturally seek out public radio? Or are they drawn to this career after recognizing their fellow fancy-monikered peers on the air? Either way, among the staff at National Public Radio there are definitely a lot of fancy first-and-last-name combos like Ofeibea Quist-Arcton and Douali Xaykaothao.

Last month, we introduced you to nine acclaimed authors who call South Florida their home, at least part-time. But that was just a small sampling. South Florida boats a tribe of critically acclaimed scribes living anywhere from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach County. Below are seven folks who are building on the tradition of hometown heroes like Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen (who actually now lives just a little bit further north in Vero Beach.)

This weekend marks the 11th annual edition of the Heineken Transatlantic Festival, a project spearheaded by the Rhythm Foundation in 2003. Like most other musical events mounted by the area nonprofit, the focus here is on a confluence of sounds from across the globe.

South Florida may not exactly have the brainiest reputation -- but those of us in the area's intellectual trenches know that it's not all beach bimbos here. In fact, the pleasant weather and peaceful shoreline vistas may well be making the population collectively smarter.

If you've passed through or live in downtown Miami, you've probably already heard Ultra Music Festival testing its massive low-end speakers. Yes, the festival, which starts this weekend and then repeats all over again next weekend, brings plenty of bass. With the top names in electronic dance music converging on the massive event, the weekend offers plenty of straight-ahead, four-four beat oblivion.

If you're friends with any civic-minded folks on Facebook -- or people who just like to get around without a car -- you've probably come across this lovely little meme this week. We've known for quite a while that Miami public transit is lacking. But this handy web graphic, by Leah Weston via her Twitter account, @LeahSwanky, sure throws it into stark relief, doesn't it?

Last week, Jordan Melnick of Beached Miami posted an interesting interview with the organizers of a new event in Little Haiti dubbed "Sunday Stroll." The monthly event starts this Sunday, March 3, organized by the underground art studio and gallery Yo Space, and supported by Sweat Records and the Little Haiti Cultural Center. Melnick interviewed Yo Space's founder, Yuval Ofir, who wants to introduce a wider audience to small, creative businesses established in the area: