Old Cleveland, New Cleveland
This past week I was in Cleveland just long enough to grab a PD and run down to Terminal A for a Burning River.
The Arts & Life section featured this story about the Old Cleveland image vs. the New (or, rather, wannabe) Cleveland image. Here's my letter to the editor, reproduced here in the event they don't publish it:
A recent casualty of the "brain drain", I chanced to be at Hopkins Airport the day of the "Old Cleveland, New Cleveland" story.
Speaking as someone who plans on coming back once I've made a quick and easy nest egg elsewhere, I can't decide if I'm annoyed or amused. So, let me get this straight: you want Cleveland to be full of Yuppie poseurs? I try my best to talk up Cleveland to my East Coast friends, but you're making it hard by presenting your dream image as exactly what New Yorkers think Midwesterners think New Yorkers are like.
What's more, I'm a librarian. Talk about a profession that's been maligned by that old stereotype of the harsh, shushing marm. Lately, though, we're plagued by the stereotype of the "next gen" librarian - a pierced, tattooed, intellectual, counter-culture ex-geek who'd just as easily Goth the night away as perform a knock-your-socks off Story Time the morning after.
Frankly, both are tiresome. What's most genuine is when you take the old stereotype and put a refreshing spin on it. Think of a young woman with a bun (dyed pink), glitzed-up sensible shoes, and a T-shirt that says "Marian [the Librarian] retired. I'm in charge now." Wouldn't we, as Clevelanders, rather take creative ownership of our grumpy, beer-guzzling heritage than become some hideous caricature of modern urban renewal?
I think so. It's actually pretty easy to twiddle your iPod in one hand while holding a Polish Boy in the other.
The Arts & Life section featured this story about the Old Cleveland image vs. the New (or, rather, wannabe) Cleveland image. Here's my letter to the editor, reproduced here in the event they don't publish it:
A recent casualty of the "brain drain", I chanced to be at Hopkins Airport the day of the "Old Cleveland, New Cleveland" story.
Speaking as someone who plans on coming back once I've made a quick and easy nest egg elsewhere, I can't decide if I'm annoyed or amused. So, let me get this straight: you want Cleveland to be full of Yuppie poseurs? I try my best to talk up Cleveland to my East Coast friends, but you're making it hard by presenting your dream image as exactly what New Yorkers think Midwesterners think New Yorkers are like.
What's more, I'm a librarian. Talk about a profession that's been maligned by that old stereotype of the harsh, shushing marm. Lately, though, we're plagued by the stereotype of the "next gen" librarian - a pierced, tattooed, intellectual, counter-culture ex-geek who'd just as easily Goth the night away as perform a knock-your-socks off Story Time the morning after.
Frankly, both are tiresome. What's most genuine is when you take the old stereotype and put a refreshing spin on it. Think of a young woman with a bun (dyed pink), glitzed-up sensible shoes, and a T-shirt that says "Marian [the Librarian] retired. I'm in charge now." Wouldn't we, as Clevelanders, rather take creative ownership of our grumpy, beer-guzzling heritage than become some hideous caricature of modern urban renewal?
I think so. It's actually pretty easy to twiddle your iPod in one hand while holding a Polish Boy in the other.
Labels: Cleveland
posted by Christine Borne at 2:00 AM
6 Comments:
Is there a difference in Cleveland? I have not been a resident of Cleveland since 1995 when my parents shipped me off to live with my grandparents to get me out of East Tech. The only difference between now and then is that Cleveland looks even more decayed and just dead. Slavic Village is not all that slavic any more either as the old grannies and others moved to places like Mentor/Mentor-on-the-Lake and farther (like Ashtabula County).
I don't see the difference. I do see Ohio in a death spiral. Maybe I might eventually succeed on getting out of here, eh?
Awww, c'mon, lady. This is why newspaper humor is so hard -- people take it seriously and get seriously pissed off at what was supposed to be either satire or plain silliness. If they never tried to be funny, they'd never take such grief -- and you'd be on their backs for being dull...
Hmmm. You think my letter is serious? :)
As a Clevelander and a future librarian I agree.
Yeah, I have both Theivery Corporation and Polkas on my iPod... and probably a speck of Stadium mustard too!
Hey,
Just on the off-chance that anyone is interested in moving home, we're selling out house by the Lake Erie shore in Euclid. It's $133,500, perfect for first-time home buyers...and anyone looking for a neighborhood where you'll know all your neighbors (and like most of them). lakeerielife.blogspot.com
Cleveland, by the way, isn't dead. Although its been resting quite awhile. It's disheartening to visit most American cities and see cranes and building...Charlotte, Chicago, anywhere in Florida. That's certainly not happening here. But there is a solid creative class that wallows happily in Cleveland's wonders, not entirely certain that it wants the world to rediscover the beauty that is The North Shore.
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