Really Bad Cleveland Accent

S---

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:02:00 +0000

It's dark outside and it's snowing.

Jim doesn't know it yet -- he's still sawing logs in the other room, sleeping off a bucket of Thirsty Dog Christmas Ale¹-- but as soon as he gets up I'm going to make a big breakfast of buckwheat pancakes with maple-vanilla butter, scrambled eggs, and potatoes. And Mexican hot chocolate.

The only way to beat Cleveland winter is by stuffing as much food into your face as possible.

Often.

1. Get this at the Old Angle while it lasts. It's WAY better than Great Lakes Christmas Ale, which the OA ran out of in 3 days. (I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sick of all the hype. the created-demand, the neighbors killing each other for a keg.... OK, I exaggerate. But if you do decide to go to the Angle today, it's definitely a Lamb Stew and whiskey kind of day. You won't be disappointed.)

Take the cleveland.com challenge!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:28:00 +0000

On this fine gray Cleveland morning, I'm urging you all to take part in a form of culture-jamming.

I'm urging you to start participating in the discussions at cleveland.com. I'm asking you to defuse the negativity, add some thoughtful insight, and drain the cesspool of ignorance.

I've come to the conclusion that by not participating, we are committing the intellectual equivalent of suburban flight. That is, we are taking our intellectual tax base and fleeing to the fringes, to where people are more like us, rather than staying behind and trying to change things for the better. We are leaving what should be the epicenter of intelligent discussion about our region -- our daily newspaper -- to decay just like we left our urban core to decay.

I'm not asking you to be a cheerleader, to shout, "hey! Things are peachy keen in Cleveland! We have Iron Chef! Take that, cleveland.comholes!"

What I'm asking you to do is provide a foil to all the name-calling, the shortsightedness, the stagnant thinking. To engage in dialogue, to write your opinions in a way that makes others respect you -- and to encourage the other citizens of cleveland.com to respect each other. To provide and document information where there is only loud and opinionated speculation, well-intended misinformation, and outright lies.

We have to prove that there's a way to bring everyone to the table to talk about our city's problems without constantly picking at a festering scab.

You might ask, "why do I have to do this? All the smart folks online already know to avoid cleveland.com like the plague."

Well, maybe. But imagine cleveland.com as a marketing campaign for the city. As someone who moved away from Ohio not once but twice, I can tell you that the first thing I looked at before relocating was the online news site for my new town. Is the circus of negativity really the first thing we want people to see?

I think the answer is no. So please, take a moment to sign up.

Two Perspectives on Ohio's Favorite Unlicensed Plumber

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:09:00 +0000

I've become increasingly fascinated by Joe the Plumber, particularly because he embodies a sort of poignant absurdity that I've come to expect from Our Great State of Ohio.

Here are two interesting perspectives I just came across, which I'm filing away for later use....

First, from Extraordinary Observations:

When the McCain campaign decided to use Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher as the spokesperson for average, hard-working, entrepreneurial Americans, they actually demonstrated that success in America isn't all about being dedicated and hard-working; that major success comes from being in the right place at the right time, and that sometimes you don't even need to work hard to get there . . .

Unless the symbolic "everyman" is supposed to represent a celebrity, then Joe the plumber no longer exemplifies average people. The hypocrisy, of course, is that Joe is supposed to stand for a very specific ideal: that government shouldn't reward or punish people based on anything other than their hard work. If anything, Joe has become the target of his own criticism: someone who receives something unfairly, as a result of someone else's hard work!

And second, from Columbia law professor Patricia Williams, in an interview with Bill Moyers last week:

And, but the new black working class is literally any black person who has a job all the way up through Oprah Winfrey. And then upper class is almost invisible. We don't deny that there is an upper class. And that's why I think, you know, people like John McCain and George Bush can say that they are sort of Joe Six Pack rather than the true elites, I mean, in terms of — at least in terms of income.

And so all of that has very invisible weight to it. So that's why I think that, for example, Joe the Plumber becomes an icon of somebody who wants to buy a $250,000 business at least. But at the same time, really seems to have resented and denied the fact that he's earning $40,000 and has a lien on his house. So he's both the product of a kind of fantasy of what he ought to be and a deep resentment of where he actually is in the economic stratum.

And that, you know, that resentment, the distinction between where he wants to be and where he actually is, you know, the emotional foundation of what I think we really have to work with to get people to come together.

[emphasis all mine]

My wish for Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:45:00 +0000

My high school French teacher, Mrs. Demico, had this bit of wisdom she'd always say. (And make us repeat in French - but don't make me do that!)

It went like this:

He who knows not and knows not that he knows not -- he is a fool, shun him.

He who knows not and knows that he knows not -- he is simple, teach him.

He who knows and knows not that he knows -- he is sleeping, wake him.

He who knows and knows that he knows -- he is wise, follow him.

I hope President Obama remembers to take care of the simple and the sleeping, leaves the wise to their own devices, and pays the fools so little mind that they drown in their own ignorance.

Most RTA-Friendly Restaurants in Cleveland?

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:22:00 +0000

So, a girl at work was asking me for suggestions as to where she and her boyfriend could have a special anniversary dinner. The only stipulations: the place had to be college-student priced and RTA-friendly.

I suggested Bar Cento, Don's Lighthouse, and Balaton.

What are your favorite RTA-friendly restaurants in Cleveland?

Attention Westside Red Line Riders!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:09:00 +0000

Your rush hour ride is about to get a lot cozier. Starting November 9, the following RTA service changes will take effect:

#75 North Olmsted
Route will converted to a Red Line feeder route operating to/from West Park Station (see map).

#87 Westwood
Route will be converted into a Red Line feeder route to/from West Park Station (see map). Not all portions of the current #87 route will be served.

#96 Butternut
Route will be converted into a Red Line feeder route to/from Triskett Station (see map).

This means that the Red Line will be taking on three additional bus routes' worth of people during rush hour.

During the winter (when people don't like to drive), and when the price of gas goes up, the Red Line can get pretty crowded. Like, Manhattan crowded.

Looking at these changes, I am seriously concerned about whether anyone's even going to be able to get on at all past West 117th!

Final thought about the election

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:06:00 +0000

Just a few final thoughts....

I hope that if Barack Obama wins, this will put to rest the nonsense about who's a "real American" or not. Every time I hear a variation of that thought coming out of a right-winger's mouth, it makes me cringe. Hell, I stood in line for three hours at the polls on Sunday. Don't ever suggest to me that I'm not a "real American" just because I'm not a Republican!

I hope the political left will use this opportunity to, once and for all, wrestle the ideas of patriotism and the American dream out of the clutches of small-minded bigots.

And I hope that we'll remember that this country is supposed to be rooted in the ideal of pluralism and tolerance.

The day after the 2004 election, I remember moaning to my dad, "I feel like this isn't even my country anymore!" And he said, "No, it is your country. You've just got to remember, it's their country too."

For all those people who seem to think that a black man named Barack Hussein Obama couldn't possibly represent them, consider this: you're not the only person in the country, and not everyone's like you.

I survived early voting....

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:52:00 +0000

....but just barely. Really, the first two hours weren't so bad, but that last hour -- it was a killer. Both on my feet and my will to live.

The fascinating part was that no one seemed to be complaining. Not even a little. The air was positively electric with a singleminded purpose: to elect Barack Obama. I've never experienced anything like it. It was like the first free elections after the fall of the Iron Curtain. It was like all of these people in line had been living in a closed society that just secretly, quietly, decided to open up.

As for my vote (if you are interested), after two months' worth of agonizing, I decided to Nader-trade with a friend in New York. That is, I stood in line to cast his vote for Barack Obama in a state that might make a difference, and he's going to vote for Ralph Nader tomorrow in a state that's not contested. It's a decision I feel mixed about. Nader's platform is more in line with my -- for lack of a better word -- values. Particularly regarding single-payer healthcare and not invading Pakistan.

On the other hand, I felt strongly about casting a strategic vote against Sarah Palin and the angry Strongsville mobs. I love Ohio and I want the rest of the country to see the Ohio I see, not the ignorant, angry Ohio that's always on the lookout for a convenient scapegoat to its social ills.

So that's that. I'll be writing to both Obama and Nader encouraging them to work together. I'd love to see Nader be offered a position in the Obama administration. More to the point, though, I'd love to see Ralph accept it.

On the other hand...

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Even though I just got done trashing the "just like me" argument in US presidential politics, I feel compelled to suggest a few of my own personal qualities that I would like to see in the next White House occupant:

1. I can identify all of the Central Asian republics on a map, as well as name their capitals and leaders. In Silk Road to Ruin, Ted Rall suggests that Central Asia might be the next geopolitical hot spot. So it might be good for the next leader of the free world to know a little something.

2. I read -- a lot. I read books and magazines and blogs and news sites. I read things I often agree with, and things I often don't. I read things I don't even understand. I read things to try and understand people whose idea of reality seems totally different from mine -- like after September 11, I read the New Testament when the Bush administration started invoking God as a justification for war. I try and pay close attention to what's going on -- this is, incidentally, how I knew what the Bush Doctrine was.

3. I am financially conservative in my day-to-day life and I believe other people should be the same way. Want to talk about personal responsibility? I believe it's the responsibility of every American citizen to live within their means so that they can have money left over to contribute to the common good.

4. I believe that people actually have more personal freedom when there tighter social safety nets in place.

5. I love American democracy. Hell, I'm drunk on American democracy. Woo hoo! The m-f-ing Constitution! But I don't believe the USA is the center of the universe, and I don't believe we're doing everything better than any other country that ever existed.

In what ways would you like the next President and Vice President to represent what you're about?

Morning After

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:27:00 +0000

Let me get this straight.

Even though half of likely voters would've liked to see third parties included in the debates -- and even though Ralph Nader and Bob Barr offered to jump-in and take John McCain's place -- we're left scratching our heads this morning about why last night's debate was so uninspiring.

Why not just let them debate?

Maybe because something like this might happen:

(My deepest, deepest apologies for the boy-band soundtrack.)

This is not someone I want anywhere near the White House

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:49:00 +0000

From Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric:

Asked why she only obtained a passport last year, Palin said, "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture."

More here.

Not Like Me

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:19:00 +0000

For the last few weeks I've been in a real quandary about whether to vote based solely on issues, on principle -- or out of fear.

I've always found the idea of strategic voting distasteful. I don't think we should vote based on likeability or electability or whatever.

I want to cast my vote for Ralph Nader because I'm much more in line with him than with the Democratic Party (which Kevin Phillips, in an interview with Bill Moyers last week, described as having lunch-bucket flesh while its soul was wearing a pin-striped suit). I believe we need to break the two-party monopoly. I also believe you should vote for who you want, rather than the person you think other people would be most likely to accept or get behind.

At the same time, I really want to cast a vote against Sarah Palin.

Now, I knew she wasn't my kind of person from the get-go. And putting a woman on a Republican ticket would never get me (a woman) to vote Republican. But I'm alarmed by the way she's making people act.

I don't have a problem with her teenage daughter being pregnant. I don't think it makes her a bad mother; these things happen. However, I don't like talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and James Dobson making exceptions for her in their blanket "teen sex is causing the downfall of society!!!" rhetoric.

And what I really don't like -- what really, downright scares me -- is the "but she's like me!" argument.

Please! Stop and think! Do you think you would make a good Vice President of the United States? Despite my education, despite my level-headedness, despite all my experience working in the public sector, and despite my near-pathological tight-fistedness with money, I'm quite sure I would make a terrible Vice President. No. What I want is someone in the White House who's much, much better, much smarter than me. Who knows gobs about economics and the history of the Middle East and who's been to at least one non-English speaking country.

Is that too much to ask? Is it truly a crazy, far-out demand that proves I'm out of touch with Red State Values or Mainstream America or whatever? Please tell me. I'm starting to feel like I've lost my marbles.

The Best Day of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:51:00 +0000

The first Sunday after Labor Day, because that's when the library opens again.

Week in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Here are some headlines from my week.

1. PD Peddles Panic, Reader Gets Jaded
Nowhere in this story did the reporter capture the sentiment that was expressed repeatedly in our block club: namely, that this kind of crime can happen anywhere, and that we weren't "terrified."

2. Breaking News: Cleveland.com Still Sucks, Just in Different Way
Have a look at the site redesign for yourself. Does anyone know a good way of figuring out what's going on in Cleveland? Because the local news outlets are becoming unreadable/unwatchable. I might just have to start reading the city council minutes.

3. Supermarket Closing, Neighborhood To Become Less Walkable
While stopping off for a loaf of bread after our semi-regular pizza night at Papa Nick's in Edgewater, we noticed a sign on the Giant Eagle across the street: "This Giant Eagle will be closing permanently on September 10. Please visit our pedestrian-unfriendly megastore near the I-90 onramp." (It didn't say that explicitly, but that's what it amounts to.)

4. McCain Taps Barracuda, Nader Supporter Fills with Angst
In choosing the exact kind of person I can't stand as his running mate, Grandpa McCain might have singlehandedly wooed me out of the Nader camp. However, I don't like emotional manipulation, so stay tuned.

The Seven Houses of John McCain

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:15:00 +0000

I found myself watching with horror as David Brooks, on the NewsHour last night, vocalized much the same sentiment I'd said to Jim an hour earlier.

(Horror because I've had a longstanding negative visceral reaction towards David Brooks - you know like if you eat curly fries and throw up, you can never eat curly fries again? Something like that.)

Namely, will most Americans care if John McCain has seven houses? Isn't there something in being so affluent that you forget how many houses you own that we're all supposed to be aspiring to, in the name of the American Dream?

Just wondering

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:05:00 +0000

Has anyone else received an awfully lot of scratched, cracked, or otherwise unplayable DVDs from Netflix lately? Yesterday I opened one that looked like it'd gone through the laundry. I'm not sure how it even made it to me without getting reported!

RIP Stephanie Tubbs Jones

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:16:00 +0000

My congresswoman died last night. She was young -- only 58 -- and had a promising future. She was the first black woman elected to Congress from the not-always-progressive state of Ohio.

And what a lonely, undignified way to go: she passed out after having a ruptured aneurysm behind the wheel of her car.

How awful that her years of public service ended in such a way as to be subjected to ignorant, uninformed comments on cleveland.com suggesting that maybe she'd been drunk or maybe there'd been some kind of cover-up.

She's going to be hard to replace.

Block club meeting roundup, 8/19

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:52:00 +0000

As I posted last week, the Bridge/Carroll/Jay block club met last night to hear the proposal for a new "gay-friendly lounge" in the Rialto building (the old Moda space) at 1871 West 25th St.

I won't reinvent the wheel here; you can read a summary of the meeting at cleveland.com.

A couple of points and impressions, though.

1. With a couple of notable exceptions, the tone of the meeting was much less hostile than the one in January. I had wondered beforehand if this might be the case -- I don't know how else to say this, but I wondered if a gay club might be viewed as more welcome than a club owned by people who might have hip-hop night.

2. I feel that it's safe to say that the community would rather someone else own the Rialto building other than its current owners. (You'll recall that during the January meeting, the Rialto's current owners scolded the crowd with such unendearing classics as "If you don't like noise, you shouldn't live in the slum," and "You shouldn't be raising kids in the city anyway.")

3. I can agree that Cleveland could probably use an "upscale gay lounge." But despite Beudert's promise to "shrink the space by design," the venue's capacity is simply too large for such a residential neighborhood. I might have considered supporting him if he agreed to get the place rezoned (or whatever) from 550 max to 275 max, but he made it clear that he didn't intend to do so.

4. While he seemed like a generally good guy, I felt like he spent more time stroking the community ego than laying out the particulars of his business plan.

Thoughts?

Things to look forward to next summer

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:12:00 +0000

I'm of the firm belief that you need things to look forward to in life. Now that summer's winding down, I've started thinking about what I'm going to look forward to next year:

1. Tecumseh! Jim's brother lives in Chillicothe and for whatever reason, totally failed to invite us down to see the acclaimed outdoor drama despite the fact that he knew I wanted to see it. Ah well, bitterness aside. There's always next year.

2. A visit to the Chautauqua Institute. "The most American thing about America," according to my loverboy Teddy Roosevelt.

2a. And maybe Lily Dale. Where "the energy of the universal life force can be felt, experienced and developed ... in this serene 19th century lakeside community surrounded by towering, old-growth forest."

3. Gardening. I hope that by this time next year, we'll be living in an actual house where I can grow actual food and thus break free from the tyranny of City Fresh. (One thing I will NOT grow in my garden: zucchini. I feel the need here to coin a new onomatopoeic yuck-sound to describe how I feel about the stuff: Fleaaaaachh. Yeah. That's the sound of me throwing up zucchini.)

4. Feast of the Assumption. I've managed, through an unlucky combination of forgetfulness and being-out-of-town-itude, to miss this every year. Although last year I did manage to get to the Festival of San Gennaro in New York. (For those of you who don't know the creepy story of San Gennaro's blood, click here.) So don't worry about me being cannoli-deprived.

5. The much-anticipated eighth Harry Potter book. Sorry, I'm just kidding - no Harry Potter and the College Loans of Doom. I made that up, mostly out of wishful thinking. And maybe I also wanted to boost my Google hits.

21

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:32:00 +0000

This summer I've been working with a group of college interns at the "important cultural institution" where I'm temporarily employed. Yesterday they were gabbling excitedly about the upcoming 21st birthday of one of their ranks.

Which got me started trying to remember my own 21st birthday -- though I was quickly overcome with horror that I couldn't even remember my 30th birthday. Which was only a few months ago.

I think it involved a bottle of cheap chardonnay (bleah, how utterly 1990s) and going to see the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. And probably Taco Bell. I ate probably a literal shit-ton of Taco Bell in those days.

Ah, to be 21. To stare down the long nose of your future and say yeah, I've got time for that. I'll do that later.

I wouldn't want my twenties back, to be honest. As I found myself saying recently to an old friend (hi Kathy!), my twenties were worse than adolescence. This totally blindsided me, too -- as a teenager wishing desperately for independence and freedom, I had never prepared for that possibility.

Crikey, not again

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:49:00 +0000

This came in my email today. I'd wondered about it, as the "For Lease" sign had once again disappeared from Rialto's marquee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bridge/Carroll/Jay Block Club

Monthly Meeting Announcement

August 13, 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are invited to attend the next meeting of the Bridge/Carroll/Jay Block Club on:

Tuesday August 19th at 6:30 pm

The meeting will be at the Carnegie West Library, located at 1900 Fulton Road.

Meeting Agenda

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special Guest: Jason Beudert of Vista Hospitality & Logistics Group, who is interested in bringing "an upscale, alternative lifestyle entertainment center with nightclub qualities" into the Rialto Building (the old Moda space).

This will be your opportunity to review this business plan and ask questions about the proposed establishment. Members of the block club will be invited to vote via secret ballot on their support or objection of the proposed liquor license transfer to the Rialto Building (1871 W.25th). Please be on time, as the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30 pm.

Please note the follwing excerpt from a message on this subject from your councilman:

From: Joe Cimperman
Subject: Moda
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008

Bob, I did not, do not, nor will I, support a liquor license @ that address. Period. End of discussion. I do not believe a liquor license in this facility in any way, shape, or form is a good idea. I feel the need to be consistent here: if it didn't pass muster for the previous owner, if I didn't support Eric and Mac, why on God's Green Ohio City would this be any different? I wlll object until I stop drawing breath. Is this clear enough? Please feel free Bob to forward this to the block club.

Joe Cimperman, Councilman, Ward 13
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Please tell your neighbors to attend this important meeting!

Ohio City or Not Ohio City

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0000

After a series of conversations with Cleveland Bachelor, I'm left undecided about whether Ohio City is where I want to buy.

I decided to move here because of two things: the West Side Market (without which there would never have been an Ohio City) and the sheer number of public transit options (one of the two best places in Cleveland to live without a car, an RTA insider once opined to me. The other is Shaker Square).

Thing is, I wonder how many other people who have moved here in the last five years moved here for those reasons. How many of them actually shop at the West Side Market? If they do, what are they buying? Are they buying one or two prepared items, or are they walking out with a heavy shopping bag laden with meat and produce? Or are they just going for the atmosphere, to have an "authentic experience?" (See "Meat the Neighbors" from the Scene vault; scroll down for the article).

And how many of the people taking up space in this transit-friendly neighborhood are operating car-free? Maybe it shouldn't matter, but it irks me. How can we have the kind of business district that comes with transit-oriented development if everyone who lives here has a car?

The answer seems to be we can't. Ohio City is turning into another entertainment district a la the Flats, albeit a higher-priced, ostensibly "classier" one. The Warehouse District II, I guess. Which is disappointing to me -- it seems like a real missed opportunity. I don't think an entertainment district is a long-term solution, really.

On the other hand, I love the beautiful houses here. I love the overstuffed, postage-stamp-sized gardens. And I do love the West Side Market. I love nipping down there 2 or 3 times on a Saturday just because I can, because it's so close. I love the sheer cheapness of all the raw ingredients; I feel thrifty and powerful because I know how to cook. I love how shopping at the Market is like thrillseeking in New York -- you never run out of things you haven't tried.

What do you think?

My own four wheels

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:50:00 +0000

Jim and I are thinking about getting one of these.

I've been daydreaming about what it'd be like to live in a place where this is the main mode of transportation, instead of the automobile.

Obviously, it wouldn't fly around here -- it doesn't look like a winter-friendly vehicle.

But if we bought a house in Ohio City that was *just* a bit farther than we wanted to haul our melons and potatoes and fifteen pounds of Slovenian sausage back from the West Side Market, I think this would be an excellent alternative to walking, at least in the summer.

I've seen a guy riding an adult tricycle around the neighborhood, and I saw a girl in Tremont riding one to the farmers market. But I tried to ride one of those suckers once and it was pretty hard to steer. I felt like I was going to tip over at any moment.

Why not just get a bicycle, you ask? This isn't much of a secret because I've revealed it before, but I can't ride a bicycle. I never learned how, because as a kid I had a mortal fear of falling, skinning, breaking, and/or bruising something. (I also had a mortal fear of dirt, food with "spots" in it, volcanoes suddenly erupting from beneath my feet, ET, and -- inexplicably -- shoes. Yeah, I was like baby girl Monk.)

In fact, I remember that on one of our family vacations (probably in Michigan or Canada -- we didn't really go anyplace else), we stayed at a campground where you could rent one of these. And they were great fun.

Some people like urban decay

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:29:00 +0000

What do these cities have in common?

My husband has had, by turns, an obsession with each and every one of them.

Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Rediscovered this via even cleveland. I remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was the most profound thing I'd ever seen -- yes, little children can definitely experience profundity.

In fact -- without being too histrionic -- I think this piece has underscored every creative thing I've ever done.