Community ⁽⁸⁾

Just did a quick scan of my local Cleveland area Mastodon connections, and quite a few haven't posted since 2024. Many of those are active on Bluesky. Based on their posts and shares there, it looks like there's a pretty decent Cleveland local scene, at least for the material I sought on twitter (urbanism, community organizations, local journalism, local politics, sports). I have resisted creating an account there, because at it's core Bluesky just another Silicon Valley startup play (created…

A long winter lies ahead. Trump has won the US presidency, in what appears to be a fair and mostly by-the-books election. It's a mess. I fear the foundations of the country are so rotted that our long-held institutions will not recover. I have a lot of thoughts, but they're not well organized this morning. For now, Terry Pratchett sums it up pretty well: "People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found…

We are lucky to be an hour's drive from the world-class amusement park Cedar Point. We finally took the kids in October. The ride cameras aren't the best, but this one so perfectly captured our collective terror on the Magnum XL200... (Weird crop because I had to cut out their crappy auto-frame.) Me, just trying to figure out why I voluntarily got on this thing. She is willing to ride nearly any coaster, but she's not sure about this one.

Notes for discussion of the Obama/Springsteen podcast (and book) "Renegades: Born in the USA". Obama and Springsteen talk a lot about the American Experiment. In an ideal state, America is a melting pot of people from all nationalities, all cultures. Each person has a voice and a vote, and one vote isn't more valuable than another. In their view, this is why other countries are so interested in America. It's what it stands for. However, we are drifting away from…

COVID has permanently shuttered many bars and venues, but the announcement from El Chapultapec in Denver really hits home for me. This unassuming little bar in downtown was a long-standing institution in the music scene, not just locally but nationally too. You could go and hear incredible musicians in this tiny joint any night of the week, most playing not for the patrons but for the love and joy of music. National touring performers have been stopping by El Chapultapec…

My Facebook feed is on fire this week. The anti-Trump posts, ever present, seem to have reached a boiling point. Several people I know wrote posts requesting that any Trump supporters in their network defriend them immediately, be they acquaintance or blood relative. Lots of calls for Nazi punching. Normally I get a giggle out of the funny or ironic posts, but the stuff I'm seeing this week is alarming. America isn't getting less divided. It's going the other way…

My wife and I are planning a family move in 2018, relocating from Denver to Cleveland. There's no one thing that's pushing or pulling us, really. Many things aligned to make this a good time to consider a move. There's lot of great stuff happening in Denver, and it's a neat place to be. When I talk to people in other parts of the country, they often say "Oh, you're lucky! I'd love to live out there." Intentionally giving it…

My wife and I are planning a family move in 2018, relocating from Denver to Cleveland. There's no one thing that's pushing or pulling us, really. Many things aligned to make this a good time to consider a move. She went to college at Case Western Reserve University, so she has some familiarity with the city. She's always had good things to say about it. Until recently though, I had the typical outsider attitude: "Rust Belt city? Why would I…