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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
Urban Exploration
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 […]
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: […]
Cleveland Coffee Shops: A Guide for Freelancers / Sep 03
At a certain point in one’s freelance career, somewhere between “sweet, I can work from home in my pajamas!” and renting, like, Real Office Space, there’s the coffee shop. Coffee shops provide many of the benefits of an office without the risks. You get to leave your house, drawing a distinct line between work and […]
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 […]
From Cleveland to Milwaukee: The allure of the mid-size city / Aug 14
Maggie, a fashion stylist and my Airbnb host in Milwaukee, stuffs a biking map and tourist guide to the city into my hands. Her two adopted Boston terriers wiggle and pant at my feet. “You’re gonna have a great time here,” she promises. “It’s a fun town.” I thank her, somehow balancing the maps and […]
Kayaking the Cuyahoga / Jul 17
Oooh, I’m excited. Next weekend I’ll be kayaking the whole length of the Cuyahoga from Kent, Ohio to Downtown Cleveland — a length of 50 miles in two days, with an overnight camp in between. The trip is organized by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, “to promote the river as a shared regional asset for education, […]
Exploring: Hartford, Connecticut / Jul 14
Hartford (founded 1637) doesn’t show up on too many people’s “must-see” lists. Heck, as I discovered during a recent stay with relatives near there, it doesn’t even rate very highly among Connecticuters. (Cuter than what? I’m not sure!) “There’s the Wadsworth Atheneum,” my uncle told me, referring to one of the country’s oldest art museums. […]