Submitted by lmcshane on Sun, 11/18/2007 - 16:56.
I just got back from hearing Sherman Alexie speak at the Cleveland Public Library. My sides hurt from laughing so much and, yet, at the same time, I want to cry. His voice is true and his message needs to be heard.
I wanted to ask him, how do you cope with the double-life? I didn't get a chance to speak, but there were many, many people who got to SPEAK and it may have been their first time, so I am happy for those people.
I am happy for Sherman Alexie, but I know he feels conflict. How can we have an integrated society, if we can't succeed by living together? And how do we share prosperity?
My neighborhood has diversity and much more. It is a healthy environment for children to experience, because they don't see the differences, when they are young. They are friends.
But my neighborhood is also becoming a reservation, because our society tells people living in the city that you have to run away to succeed and that crime is an inevitable factor of diversity. HUD is making my neighborhood a reservation, much like the reservation Sherman Alexie experienced as a child. Federal monies are driving a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and poverty. I have been told that HUD monies don't have to be applied the way they are applied in northeast Ohio. Columbus, Ohio has a better system for applying federal funding. I have to have hope. Sherman Alexie's book gives me hope. We can be a better society, and I can only hope that it starts with my neighborhood.
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Wahoo must go
And yes--Sherman Alexie said it for everyone to hear. We have to shed our racism. Cleveland will forever be trapped in this never-ending purgatory if we do not shed our racism.
Racism is region's most serious problem
Of course, racism is just a manifestation of ignorance, so I suppose ignorance is our most serious problem.
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National ignorance
Alexie pointed out that the terms and images casually thrown out in America to depict his people are vicious--
Our national football team uses the moniker "redskins," which to Native Americans is a word that describes the bounty put out for every dead Indian. Americans are viciously stupid.
Alexie also spoke out against the prejudice and mistreatment of Gay Americans yesterday. He is angry, but he knows how to take that anger and make the listener understand that we all need to work together to make a better democracy. It's not ever going to be perfect, but it can be better. Not all the stereotypes, Alexie spoke about were horrorific. He did make us laugh with a visual depiction of all the plastic figurines positions available in the typical cowboys and indians set and he credits his popularity with women with this depiction of dream warriors. Which makes me wonder about the Scottish thing, too. What's with Highlanders, ladies??
Putting police on the streets
This editorial by Mayor Jackson was buried in today's Plain Dealer. I suppose it is more important to proclaim Parma "safe."
(BTW, try finding the JKroll post and related comments that went with this Plain Dealer story--good luck--what's going on with the Breaking News section of the Plain Dealer online? I won't even complain that my comment to the post was never posted, because, afterall, where is this information being stored for future access? It is not.)
Between the lines--Tom Beres. A real reporter, not a Feagler. Today's segment featured Joe Calabrese to discuss progress on the Euclid Corridor project and then the show discussed the ? status of the Medical Mart project and the need for Ohio to make a real commitment to renewable energy.
How you live
From my neighbor, Gloria Ferris..."it isn’t about where you live, but about what you do and how you live." BTW, if you want to see how well Gloria and Tim daughter turned out--see this. Not bad for the poor girl growing up in the city.
I live well, and surprisingly, my neighbors with kids live well. Their kids have the independence to engage in sports without having to be driven everywhere. Kids walk to the libraries by themselves, but now more parents are coming with them because they don't want their kids in MySpace (which thankfully, seems to be losing its appeal)
Parents and kids can walk to the zoo, walk to Estabrook, walk to ALDI's, ride their bike to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, ride the bus down town and to the West Side Market (which to my mind, gives Cleveland one major advantage over Pittsburgh--we are a walkable city).
And, they can walk to school--but surprisingly, their parents drive them. Because, parents are parents, anywhere, and some are good and some are bad, anywhere.
Arthur Ziegler
I am happy to come back from Pittsburgh today, where my sister and her family have relocated from Seattle, WA, to the city neighborhood known as Point Breeze. We walked down her street to Frick Park, where the boys and Zoe, the family's guard dog, can freely chase a stick. What a beautiful neighborhood.
And, we enjoyed our stay at the Priory, Pittsburgh's historic inn. I am so thankful at Thanksgiving, that my brother-in-law is fortunate to work for Arthur Ziegler, a visionary, who preserves neighborhoods with diversity. And, ironically, the connection can be made between my sister and her husband and Sherman Alexie, because Seattle, WA, formed a part of their lives together, at one time.
When politicians jump into the foreclosure crisis
Beware. That is the warning from a real estate agent. By the way, look over Places Rated Almanacs picks for this year. Pittsburgh is number one (Come to the library to see it--we have a copy). Foreclosure rates are not as catastrophic in Pittsburgh--the numbers in Pittsburgh compare to pre-subprime scandal rates at approx. 3,000/qtr compared with Cleveland's 16,000/qtr.
Driven to distraction
This editorial says it all. Thank you Michael J. Cermak.
I think Fealer is developing nicely
No, I'm not into any rah rah for NEO. I think it was foolish to place the Rock Hall and Science Center and new Browns Stadium where they are and the designs and surrounding master plans are lame - a huge public-taxing waste of great land. The Euclid Corridor is frightening - we'll see where things wind up over the next 20-30 years... I'm more concerned about what RTA hasn't done, which is leverage existing rail and other public transportation assets for more TOD.
Fealer sees these and other social issues from an interesting perspective, having grown up in Cleveland and fled, in White Flight, and now regretting it, and sprawl, and war, and global warming, and contributing to the destruction of Earth. Admittedly not quite understanding the world well enough to have better solutions, he's old and out of touch and so sees the world for a third of the US population. And, he has been against the war in Iraq from day 1... the only such voice on the PD and in public in NEO media that I can recall.
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Disconnect
Norm--there is a horrible disconnect going on. Feagler, or Fealer as you seem to know him, is emblematic of the disconnect. I don't hate him--he represents my father's generation--and his generation seems to have given up a long time ago (with a few notable exceptions, who live in my neighborhood).
War horse against war
I've been reading Feagler and listening to him for most of my life... all the time I've lived here, on and off... and I find he has gone from being wrong with certainty to being in complete doubt about everything, and that is important. I am hopeful many of his generation will realize the failure of the world they built while they can still speak up to the next generation and apologize and help protect them from making the same mistakes. Feagler has the best shot at making that happen in NEO. Again... the lone voice against the war in Iraq, as a proud veteran.
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Lone voice?
Feagler is not the lone voice against the war in our region (and here is his own description of his military service.)
Norm--he lives in Bay Village. Tell me, that is not disconnect? Yesterday, as my neighbor and I raked leaves, we talked about how you need to have a double income of at least $100,000/year to live outside of city limits, and even then, it is a stretch with taxes and housing costs.
So, we live in the city and we sometimes have to congratulate ourselves on the fact that we live very well and we sometimes, even get along with our neighbors, who don't share our religion, skin color or language. My father went from poor schmuck in the city serving in the Navy with every nationality in the world to suburban dad schmuck struggling to make ends meet and survive in Rocky River. We should never have tried to run away, then, and Feagler should not run away and justify it now.
Voicing regrets
I see Feagler as a test of the potential of his generation to realize how badly they have destroyed the world, and living in Bay Village is essential to gaining such self-awareness. I've seen this happen with my parents, and I think Feagler has helped them slowly see the flaws of their world and explore them.
And, I don't remember anyone else at the PD, or on any of the local TV stations, who has been against the war in Iraq... who have I been missing?
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*Time to GO Wahoo
TIME For Wahoo to GO (Long time over due ) - Sign the Petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/cleveland-baseball-retire-the-chief-wahoo-logo
Akron wins residency rule
Good news for Akron, which may also mean good news for Cleveland.