Transforming the economy of Northeast Ohio - real NEO - will take incredible guts, new creations, a commitment to real openness, and 1,000s of Big Bangs.

real NEO, say hello to your little friend - ICEarth Big Bang 1. Created and Manufactured in Old Brooklyn - that's in Cleveland, Ohio, Earth.

It has been exciting to watch, over the past week, as this beautiful video clip of my beautiful wife Evelyn giving birth to our beautiful daughter Clara has been viewed by nearly 6,000 people on YouTube - a companion video clip of my wife in hypno-birth, water-birth labor has received nearly as much global attention... in a week. In a week, those two clips attracted around 10,000 unique viewers... about as many unique viewers as come to our REALNEO community, in a week. The value of sharing these videos on YouTube is obvious - that is a good distribution channel to teach people about childbirth. So is REALNEO.

There is a very disturbing article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, written by their urban-planning-master-in-training at Cleveland State University, that is so full of conflicts-of-interests and halftruths it will take weeks to dismantle the mess.

I just received this email for cat lovers, from Iams Cats - the Iams cat lovers email newsletter - and thought I would share these tips with the community. Obviously, there are product promotions here - perhaps some useful information as well. This is not an endorsement of Iams, although I endorse their use of the Internet to serve their customers well... a best performer with ICE - Internet Communications Excellence.

Winter Weather Tips For Cat Owners

Winter is here - and so are snow, ice, and a biting wind. And even though your cat might not go outside, some do. So here are things people do to insure their cat’s safe and warm out there. Read on to learn more.

Herman co-wrote the provocative new book, Immigrant Inc.--Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy, with Plain Dealer reporter Robert L. Smith.  Published by John Wiley & Sons, the book urges struggling communities like Cleveland and Akron to recall the immigrant energy that made their cities great.

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The Cleveland Metropolitan School Board District distributed the Working Draft Revision of the "Transformation Plan." 

As expected--Tremont and GINN/Spellacy were taken off the table.

I will let the Plain Dealer do their job and report the details tomorrow, which I will link to here when available. 

From SingingForOurLife's Channel on YouTube

In light of the recent decision by the John Carroll University administration to not specifically include the protection of Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexuals, Transgendered, and Questioning students in its Anti-Discrimination Statement, we, the students, faculty, and alumni of John Carroll University choose to voice our support for those the university leaves without protection.

On the second Tuesday of each month you can benefit Cleveland Peace Action, Women Speak Out for Peace & Justice and InterReligious Task Force, simply by doing something we all have to do. Grocery shopping. The Coop will generously donate a portion of your total to the three organizations. All you need to do is mention one of the organizations to the cashier when you check out.

The Food Co-op is located at 11702 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Hours are Monday - Saturday 9am-8pm & Sunday 10am-6pm.

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Expert hypnobirthing mother, during her third naturally-wonderful, perfect hypnobirth, January 31, 2010, delivering and receiving her baby - no medications or medical intervention - one hour and 10 minutes after she falls asleep between strong contractions here.

Notice the complete lack of screaming, scalpels, doctors, pain and gore... not one drop of blood in the water - observe the natural joy and beauty, and the smile on the mother's face just moments after childbirth... the baby immediately comforted in her arms.

The midwife is heard saying "Not a small child" - she was right... 8 pounds 13 ounces.

I am sending this plea to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Mayor Frank Jackson:

Women in labor under hypnobirth

This High Definition ambient film clip is of an expert hypnobirthing mother, during her third naturally-wonderful, perfect hypnobirth, January 31, 2010, in hard labor, fully dilated - no medications or medical intervantion, other than a midwife breaking her water, later - one hour and 10 minutes before the baby was delivered - where she falls asleep between strong contractions that are less than 2 minutes apart. She has been up the entire night before tiling a bathroom, has not slept, and was stressed until she began focusing on her hypnobirthing.

On Monday at the Localfood Cleveland meeting (So you want to be a farmer), Darwin Kelsey, of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, noted that farming in the future is gonna be largely women's work - women he said are just doing it more than men are.

Clara Evelyn Roulet, 1 minute old

I was so busy yesterday having a beautiful baby girl (by waterbirth - by hypnobirth - amazing photos and video to come), I didn't have a chance to thank Ronn Richard and the Board of the Cleveland Foundation for a second great gift that day, showing they recognized the need to transform our regional redevelopment and transformation efforts at the core, after many years supporting and funding what we now have. I believe this opens up new world's of opportunity for our region, just when they are needed most.

I've been thinking lead poisoning victims should send letters containing lead dust samples to the homes of people who clearly don't consider lead poisoning a serious matter. What do you think? Anything wrong with sending a perfectly legal substance that is spewed upon the public by Mittal and Cleveland Thermal to the families of the CEOs of the companies and enterprises that buy dirty power and steel from them?

How about sending lead to the politicians who vote for dirty coal burning, like the Cleveland City Council members who voted for AMP?

Good Afternoon Everyone!
The Social Sciences Department of the Cleveland Public Library will start a new session for their book club discussions beginning Thursday, March 11, 2010. Our discussion will be held in the Social Sciences Department where we will discuss the book entitled: Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century, by James Howard Kunstler.

Authorized bootleg recording of Deyora jamming in Parma, Cleveland-area, realNEO, Ohio.

Deyora is:

I saw the following Fan Club posting for BENNY ORZECHOWSKI/BEN ORR, of Parma, of the Cars - on Craig's List (which I thought was interesting) - and I figured folks on realNEO may be interested and able to help out... and enjoy the early 1960s Cleveland roots rock classic posted below (nice guitar).

A number of folks spoke with passion tonight to save the schools in their community at Whitney Young Academy in the Harvard-Lee neighborhood.  Pleas were heard for the following schools: Ginn Academy at Spellacy, Tremont Montessori, John Landis, East High,  Empire, Gracemont, John Raper and Mound Schools.

Tremont School Library was the forerunner of Jefferson Branch. The Library operated from a single room framed annex in the school yard of Tremont School from December 1911 until December 1918. photo 1916 CPL collection.

RAG - Resident Advocacy Group
http://rag14.weebly.com/index.html

I met an old friend for drinks at Nighttown, the other night. Nighttown is definitely one of my old real NEO friends' favorite East Side places to gather, and has been for decades, for many good reasons... starting with a great owner (in the video above) and staff, excellent, consistent food, and the world's best jazz. Open every day, from 11 AM-2AM, the ambiance is as good as it gets, as well... for a club inspired by the Red Light District of Dublin.

Interesting, Nighttown is also the home of The Press Club of Cleveland, The Press Club's Hall of Fame and Visual Archives... lots of related information is linked here... the video above introduces the Press Club Hall of Fame, hosted at Nighttown, which includes our own new media idol Roldo... since 2004.