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ideastream
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Vision, Work, Change
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This Is Where I Live
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Freelance Writing
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Sidewalk
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Munchen, Minnesota
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Cleveland Transformation Alliance
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Writing Without Hiding
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Cleveland’s Greater University Circle Initiative
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New to Cleveland
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Biking in Cleveland
Cities
Cemeteries Offer Physical Distancing, Perspective & Nature / Jul 07
There’s nothing quite like a cemetery during a pandemic. For one thing, roaming among graves reminds me that bad as things are, I’m still alive. And healthy enough to walk. For another, cemeteries are typically empty (of other living souls, at least… mwoohahahaha). Physical distancing happens by default. And lastly, the oldest ones (with the most mature trees) […]
Storytelling Creates Inclusive Planning / Nov 27
A willingness to listen and amplify all voices may be our best chance to build trust between planning professionals and the neighborhoods that have often viewed them askance. It’s also an opportunity to contribute to places that truly reflect the people who live there. How can stories and places inform each other? Check out this brand-new editorial […]
The Hills Are Alive (and Kicking): A Three-Day Hut-to-Hut Hike in Austria’s High Alps / Aug 29
Often, when we think of European vacations, we think of cities. Sipping espresso in gilt Baroque cafes. Ogling masterworks in gargantuan museums. Dutifully following Rick Steves audio tours through the old towns of Prague, Rome, Paris. What we tend to forget, amid all this civilization, is that Europe also has some of the most stunning wilderness in the world. Exploring […]
Getting Around: When the Car-Free Become the Car-Full / Feb 05
When Tim Nevits gave up being car-free and bought a car, his family rejoiced. “I’m eccentric enough as it is,” says the fortysomething, stray-cat-adopting, tiny-house-dwelling computer programmer. “To them it was like I was coming back into the fold from one of my more eccentric indulgences.” He’d been living without a car for two and […]
Ikaria, Greece: Lessons, and a Couple Caveats, from a ‘Blue Zone’ / Nov 20
The small Greek island of Ikaria shot to fame a decade ago, when it was named one of the world’s five Blue Zones — places where people live longer than anywhere else. In Ikaria, a third of the population lives into their 90s, compared with 5 percent in the U.S. People in these places, the […]
Mojave National Preserve, the ‘secret sibling’ to Death Valley / Apr 25
Considering its size, Mojave National Preserve, in far-eastern California, doesn’t get much attention. At 1.6 million acres, it’s the third-largest unit of the National Park Service in the continguous United States — but only gets about half a million visitors a year. Compare that to nearby Grand Canyon National Park, which at “only” 1.2 million […]
Coasting through Cornwall / Sep 29
Cornwall’s spectacular coast path remains unknown to many Americans On about the 100th granite step above Port William, on Cornwall’s north coast, my boyfriend managed a few strangled words. “These people,” he panted, “are crazy.” I’m not sure whether he was referring to the builders of the trail we were hiking — the South West […]
Audio, the most ’emotionally honest’ storytelling medium / Feb 01
I’m starting to produce audio pieces about people and places! Last month, I got to travel to St. John to participate in the week-long Transom Traveling Workshop. Transom is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people tell stories in the medium of audio, which Alex Blumberg calls the most emotionally honest storytelling format — because you’re actually hearing […]
Road-tripping the Yucatan Peninsula / Aug 18
With the booming of the tourism industry along the so-called Riviera Maya — the 100-mile stretch of Carribean coast in southern Mexico centered around the resort city of Cancún — it’s easier than ever before to reach this warm and wondrous part of the world. There are direct flights to Cancún even from non-hub cities, […]
Erie, Pa: You Fulfill Me / Mar 19
I never would have predicted that Erie, Pennsylvania would become my contemplative home away from home. I mean, Erie’s kind of a smaller version of Cleveland, where I live. It’s perched on the shore of Lake Erie. It’s got Victorian-era neighborhoods full of grit and beauty. It’s got hulking factories, many of which appear to […]
The best urban parks are more immersive than pretty / Oct 07
The other day, after a work meeting, I walked through Washington Park in Cincinnati, on the edge of the city’s Over the Rhine district. A couple of work colleagues joined me. The six-acre park has just been redone, so it has sleek new benches and green green lawns and glass-and-hardwood bathroom huts. The weather’s beautiful: […]
Kayaking the Cuyahoga: A How-To / Aug 27
There are few better ways to immerse yourself in the geology and nature of Northeast Ohio than to kayak the Cuyahoga River. Huh? Geology, nature, Northeast Ohio? In the same sentence? Well, yeah. The river flows through a full spectrum of landscapes, from farms to acres of national park woodland to the angry steel furnaces […]