Arrangements for Detective Jonathan "A.J." Schroeder include: A viewing from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at A. Ripepi & Sons Funeral Home, 18149 Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights. A Mass at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. John Cathedral, East Ninth Street and Superior Avenue, Cleveland. Burial will be in Monroeville, Pa. Donations The Cleveland Police Credit Union is collecting donations for the Jonathan Schroeder Memorial Fund. For more information, call 216-861-3535 or go to www.cppa.org.

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The host, he says that all is well
And the fire-wood glow is bright;
The food has a warm and tempting smell,—
But on the window licks the night.

Pile on the logs... Give me your hands,
Friends! No,— it is not fright...
But hold me... somewhere I heard demands...
And on the window licks the night.

There is an amazing sculpture on the edge of the Cuyahoga River by former CSU professor and renowned NEO artist Gene Kangas, created in tribute to near-Cleveland born poet Hart Crane, situated in far less than a park, but a beautiful site, marked by a wordless sign. You'd only know the sculpture if you know the Flats, or Cleveland sculpture, and I only knew of poet Crane for knowing of the sculpture, and I'm glad for both. This 1992 master work by Kangas is the Art of the Day, and Crane is the poet of the day, today. See and learn more below...

I am very excited! I recently volunteered to become an Energy Ambassador at Case Western Reserve Univeristy, part of the Adopt a Building program. I will be adopting Mather House, the building where I work. Mather House is a  century old Gothic Revival former girls dorm  turned office building -- probably not the most energy efficient on campus. I suspect the most  significant improvements at Mather House will be directly related to changing the residents' behavior. I think I could be a good energy ambassador; I am always turning out lights, I go to great pains to recycle, I hate air conditioning and I walk rather than using the campus shuttle bus. But I am looking for suggestions as to how myself and the other residents of Mather House could really make a difference. Please post your ideas. I would also appreciate links to good energy conservation sites. The Adopt a Building program is just getting started. My first "Ambassador's" meeting will be next Wednesday. I will fill you in with more details late next week.

The disturbing juxtapositioning of social unconsciousness in NEO, reflected by the billboards above, found on Detroit at W. 28th Street, says it all about what is wrong with America today and our economy. Raw selfishness championed by the baby-boom generation has corrupted core, co-conspiring, selfish Gen-X leadership, placing Cleveland and human existence in jeopardy. In a quote from a 20/20 program today on the end of life on Earth, a scientist said "our children and grandchildren already tell us we ruined everything" and that is so correct. I apologized this weekend to my 12 year old daughter for today's leaders destroying her planet, and challenged her to focus her life on saving Earth, as the future clearly depends upon her and the next generations. After an hour and half of the 20/20 program "Last Days on Earth", exploring what may end human existence, from comets and pandemics to nuclear war, the program's conclusion was that we are already destroying the planet through CO2/pollution, and climate change will end human existence in less than 100 years, without significant change in human behavior and global leadership.

There's an interesting, very colorful new installation of public art right at the W. 28th on-and-off ramps for Highway 2, by Detroit Avenue. While you can get a fair glimpse of the overall work from the road, that does not do it justice at all, as the greatest importance is in the details. For this work, Cleveland Institute of Art graduate Emily Acita collaborated with the Children of Lakeview Terrace Community Center, which is located right down the road from the mural location, explaining the unusual site selection, being where these children and their families pass-by daily on the way to work, school and play.

I went to the Beck Center for the first time for the Masumi Hayashi memorial. I was interested to see the place, as it has sufaced in controversy as the Beck Chairman of the Board wants to move it to Crocker Park, and the media and arts powers that be agree. What I found was a very expensive, expansive, high quality arts facility, as ugly as sin, on the skin, and poorly managed in obvious ways, but far from beyond redemption. That the regional arts leadership is ready to demolish this solid facility is beyond belief and shows how disposable our leadership finds our core and inner-ring community.

As a largely grey and blue crowd of arts and peace lovers assembled in Lakewood to think and talk about renowned contemporary artists John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, now living only in spirit and retrospect, a young and multi-colorful crowd gathered in the "Market Square" pocket park at W.25th and Lorain (across from the West Side Market) to give props to scores of nameless contemporary artists that live on in the streets of Cleveland's urban core, through their art of aerosol paint, rap, scratch and break... otherwise known to the establishment as counter-culture, noise and pollution.

Today the bleak Beck Center for the Arts had a heart pounding inside, to the beat of a Masumi Hayashi retrospective... that is the power of art, even when the artist is dead. 100s of friends of slain artists Masumi Hayashi and John Jackson consoled themselves and those who joined them, with staged remembrances to the memorial gathering, which were broadcast throughout the center and had great impact. There were places to read some of the articles that have been written about Masumi over the years... mostly since her death... and a project of having attendees write messages to the artists on tissue paper and tying them to cords strung in front of the center, in what was described as a Japanese tradition.

During a gathering tonight of 100s of Clevelanders, promoting peace and honoring the lives of artists John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, at the West Clifton Park and labyrinth at W. 65th Street and W. Clinton Avenue, now dedicated in the artists' honor, the heavens shed tears in a light, cleansing rain... followed by scores of uplifting tributes to the artists and other lost lives, numerous musical selections, the play of dozens of innocent children, in a coming together of good souls with love in their hearts.

Leave it to a great artist to know great artists, and to a great publication to get the right words out. In this week's Free Times, one of my favorite artists from Northeast Ohio, and our finest arts journalist, Douglas Max Utter paid tribute to John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, and finally shared true insight about these great artists and their work, characters and visions with the world.

I highly recommend joining in with this great group: see last week's write up here!

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

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Edgewater Park no.2, Cleveland, Ohio. Panoramic Photo Collage with Kodak type C prints, 1992. Size: 36” x 77”. Artist: Masumi Hayashi

From a blog posting by Laura McShane:

We have all seen a rise in brutal, subhuman behavior.  Children deprived of artistic, natural, and cultural literacy and rich human interaction are fed by a world of drugs and video game inspired violence. John Jackson and  Masumi Hayashi faced brutal death at the hands of a "29 year-old kid," because we have allowed this disease to destroy our communities.Councilperson Matt Zone will hold a ceremony to dedicate a Peace Garden in their memory this Thursday, August 24th at 7 p.m. at the intersection of West 65th and West Clifton in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood (one block south of Detroit Ave).  I do not have a lot of information at this point, please contact Matt Zone or the Detroit Shoreway Development Corporation for more details.Please tell anyone you know to reflect on the life of these artists.  There should be more media information in the following days.I know that there are preliminary plans to establish scholarship funds at CSU and CIA for both artists.   Please remember these quiet, peaceful souls who both revered art and life

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The best recognition of Masumi Hayashi to appear online or in print is not in the Plain Dealer or on Cleveland.com but the LA Times, where they actually went to some effort in celebration of her success. Read great insight and true caring about Masumi in LA and worldwide, below...

The Flats in the Fog. Cleveland, Ohio. Panoramic Photo Collage with Kodak type C prints, 1987. Size: 34” x 64”. Artist: Masumi Hayashi

When I saw The Redhead's posting on REALNEO for "green :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck :: every sunday!" I knew this was a good thing and decided to invite some friends and attend. I'm certainly glad I did. Not only did I have the best meal in recent memory, from good homes and hearts, but it turned out to be a real "NEO Excellence Roundtable" where I met a bunch of awesome people making NEO special... we all even learned lots about vegan baking, from an entrepreneurial pro chef... all on a beautiful Summer's eve, in a setting hard to beat, on the shore of Lake Erie, at Lakewood Park. Learn more about all of this, and plan to join in next week... read on!

Cuyahoga County Courthouse no.2, Cleveland, Ohio

Panoramic photo collage with Kodak type C prints, 1986. Size: 18" x 46. Commission: CSU Law School. Artist: Masumi Hayashi

Granada Relocation Camp, Foundation, 1997,panoramic photo collage, 23"x 31

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

concept :: to promote healthy and conscious 'meatless' eating (along with educate on living a 'green' lifestyle)...  to think about how we eat and what we eat and the effect it has on the planet.  if you eat meat we still want you to come!  try new things, meet new people and learn a little.  it is about health, support and the celebration of life!  no judgement here!  : )  i personally am a 'new vegetarian' and am still learning myself!  it is just amazing all the incredible foods that do not contain meat! 

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John Jackson, "Green Goddess", 2005: Graphite, charcoal, and paint on paper

Manzanar Relocation Camp, Monument, 1995, panoramic photo collage, 48"x 80"

In one respect Northeast Ohio is world-class: addressing the lead poisoning crisis rampant here and in all older communities of America. For this excellence in action, credit the St. Luke's Foundation and all affiliates of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC) and Concerned Citizens Organized Against Lead (CCOAL). GCLAC held our quarterly Steering Committee meeting on August 07, 2006, where University Hospital's Dr. Ash Sehgal, Director of the Center for Reducing Healthcare Disparities, presented his research findings on the implications of lowering the threshold level of blood lead poisoning considered a trigger for intervention from 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to 5 micrograms per deciliter. The GCLAC Steering Committee strongly supports this action, which will make NEO the most progressive community in America and the first we know to take such bold and intelligent action, setting a safer standard for our citizens than that mandated by the Federal government.