Today, New Voices Cleveland, a grassroots organization for, led by and about women of color, sent Michael Gonidakis, President, Ohio Right to Life, an open letter demanding the discontinuation of what the group calls “heinous billboards” in ORTL’s anti-abortion campaign that targets Black women. That letter in full can be viewed via the link at…

I’ll never forget the time I was talking to my dad on the phone about how my freelance writing career was going. It was 2005 and I’d been getting published, for pay, since 2002 (the Plain Dealer op-ed pages were the first, thank you, Brent Larkin). I had a 20 hour per week, two-year contract…

While re-heating some leftovers for lunch, I picked through the Sunday New York Times & Plain Dealer for sections to read once said leftovers were ready. I fingered through the PD’s sections, looking to 1) find the Forum section and 2) see the top row of who are the six or seven column writers to…

I ache to have not been there to hear that myself, or celebrate the birthday earlier this week of Marsha Mockabee, Urban League of Greater Cleveland‘s CEO, while she’s been part of the National Urban League’s annual conference in Cincinnati. But from the looks of it, she’s beyond being in her element and getting the…

Because that’s just how Amy Hanauer’s brain works. And we are the better for it. Amy is the founder and Executive Director of Policy Matters Ohio and she addressed the City Club of Cleveland’s Friday Forum audience today. If you care about education, the environment, wealth, poverty, social service, the economy, government, health care or…

Hattip to this morning’s Sound of Ideas which featured the outstanding and diverse 2014 Crain’s Women of Note class. By clicking on the photo of each of the 15 women at that link, you can see a very brief video of them and a written profile. They’re being honored today at a luncheon.You can catch…

Jennifer Lawless, Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, has been studying women and politics for more than a decade. And she even ran for office in 2006 when she was a professor at Brown University (she fell short in her Democratic primary). I’ve featured her several times over the years. Lawless’s latest research,…

The emails are coming fast and furious and I’ve got to reply with a few tears each time: I’m not going to be at this year’s BlogHer’14, which just so happens to be the 10th anniversary BlogHer annual conference. But I can honor the three co-founders, and in spirit, all the women (and men) they’ve…

Such is the backlash battled by Dr. Hassina Sarwari, the head of the nonprofit, Women for Afghan Women. The most recent situation in need of her assistance was chronicled just two days ago in the New York Times article, “Struggling to Keep Afghan Girl Safe After a Mullah Is Accused of Rape.” The organization’s Executive…

Ari Shavit, the author of, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, has been to Cleveland before and will be here in September again. I had a chance to hear him speak a couple of months ago and it was chilling, because of the content as well as how it resonated with me.…

I met the Democratic nominee for Nevada Lt. Governor, Assemblywoman, Lucy Flores, two years ago when she was a panelist on the BlogHer’12 session, Latinas in Election Office. At 32, with a life full of incredible experiences and obstacles behind her, it was easy to see how she also had so much ahead of her. And now…

No one understands the opportunities that may unfold for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio over the next several years better than the five panelists of this morning’s Press Club of Cleveland gathering. The panel, “The RNC and CLE,” featured, in alphabetical order, Tom Beres, Terry Egger, Dan Gilbert, Joe Roman and Andrew J. Tobias. Russ Mitchell…

This is no coincidence. Elaine Stritch has died and I hadn’t yet finished the woman of the day I’d planned so I’m pre-empting it for Elaine. And – she demonstrated that just because it might be dangerous to be a badass, like yesterdays’ A Woman A Day said, it sure makes for a rollicking life.…

Two days ago, I saw Emily Zanotti’s article about U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers (D-NC) advising men to stop using pie graphs and fancy charts on the floor of the U.S. Congress because they’re just too complicated for women who are balancing so much else in their lives. I enjoyed the banter with Em, Erica Holloway…

Having just finished writing, “10 Things You Need to Learn About Cleveland Before the 2016 Republican National Convention,” about where to start an education when it comes to Cleveland, and then realizing in follow up emails to my editors a couple of things I forgot, I’m going to decline identifying my collection of directions as…

Today’s A Woman A Day had herself photographed wearing boxing gloves, she says, because, “I wanted to send it to my kids to see I wasn’t at home crying and sitting in a corner.” You can find more affirming reflections in this Cosmopolitan interview of Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times.…

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking of the letters I have written, sent and unsent, and the letters I have received throughout my life.  The reason for this reflection has been a memory book that my cousins and I compiled for our Aunts-Mick and Connie.

When we began planning the book, we immediately knew we would include memories of Grandpa John and Grandma Esther as well as the picnics and holidays we spent together as children. And then, the Workman cousins asked for memories of their sister Cynthia who we lost way too soon in our lives. I was 21 when she died of complications from pneumonia and kidney failure, so was she. They were much younger, the oldest 15 and the youngest, just 7 years old. 

Their request made me realize that they too had lost someone way too soon. When I sat down to write that short essay I realized that one of the things I cherished most about my cousin Cynthia was her passion for writing letters to stay in touch. When she and her family moved farther away from us, and she didn’t see her cousins as often, she devised a “round robin” letter writing campaign, so that Peg, she and I could stay in touch by writing a letter a month.  She would start the progression, send it to me because she knew I was the procrastinator in the group and then, I then would send it on to Peg, who would write her contribution and send it all back to Cynthia who would then write the next month’s beginning letter, include Peg’s. and send it all to me.  How I looked forward to the mailman towards the end of the month when I knew a letter should be arriving soon.

Lo and behold, today, I received an email from her older brother who tells me he has a box of the letters she sent to him, and he will gladly share them with Peg and me.  To dwell in the past is not a good thing to do, but to be able to travel back to another place and time when you were young opens a connection to people that were very special and important to you and that is a good thing.

How often, when I open a box of the cards and letters that I did keep. I wish that I had kept just a few more of the everyday missives that I received from friends and relatives. I kept many of the letters my best friend Beth wrote to me when I was in college because she always included them with a card that made me laugh or remembered some event that she and I had shared together. She on the other hand, had a mother who saved a box of “school notes” that she wrote to me and other friends. Of course, it again had that “round robin” effect.

The year I had my heart attack I went to spend a week with Beth and her family. She opened that box and we spent a joyous afternoon, laughing until we cried, crying until we laughed because there was some sadness included in the writing of those notes. In the end, she and I were amazed at what we saw then as being obstacles and incidents that had the possibility of changing our lives forever, were in the here and now, not so important after all.

I guess that my intention for writing this post is to warn those of you who have the tendency to purge the past out of your lives periodically to be sure that you ask the question “Will I wish I had kept this letter, note or card when I am sixty four?  

 

Posted in Alex SukhoyBizTechCivic AffairsEducationEntrepreneurialismNewsTechnology

  5 Steps to a Fresh Start By Alex Sukhoy Lots of people lost their jobs this December. It’s a cruel month to be let go. And yet it’s when firms, focused on making their numbers, are most likely to do so. I know too many individuals — talented, educated, proven — that had to face [...]

Posted in BizTechEventsKidsMusic: Rock and RollNewsThomas Mulready

[ January 10, 2014; 11:00 pm; ]   High Acres are scheduled tonight Fri 1/10 at 9:30PM at House of Blues Cleveland for the opening night of the Tri-C High School Rock-Off. The 6-piece band features an electric viper cello and consists of: Max Mulready- Keyboards, Vocals Shawn Lopez- Vocals Morgan Fox- Bass Charlie Koenigsmark- Guitar Akin Hobson- Drums Daniel [...]

Posted in BizTechDrinksEatsKidsNewsSPONSOREDUncategorized

Melt Bar and Grilled – January 2014 Sandwich Special : The Potato Bacon Bomb Thick sliced golden fried potato planks, cheesy roasted garlic mashed potatoes, crisp hickory bacon, creamy sour cream & scallion sauce, sharp cheddar  Vegetarian Version Available Bread Pudding : Maple Bacon Pecan Bread Pudding Decedent maple and candied pecan bread pudding baked [...]