CityBeat | May 17, 2023

Cincinnati's Hoxworth Blood Center Will Begin Accepting Blood Donations from Gay and Bisexual Men by End of Year

Expanded FDA regulations have opened new doors for blood banks and the LGBTQ+ community, but there's still some stipulations.

BY MADELINE FENING

For the first time in decades, many Greater Cincinnati area men from the LGBTQIA+ community will soon be able to roll up their sleeves and donate blood.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on May 11 that it has officially eliminated restrictions against gay and bisexual men from donating blood, marking a decline in homophobic health care policies that have stigmatized gay and bisexual men for years.

David Oh is the chief medical officer at Hoxworth Blood Center, the University of Cincinnati Medical Center’s blood donation center, which services more than 30 area hospitals and medical centers. He said he was at a medical conference when the news dropped.

“The room was full of blood professionals who gave a standing ovation to the FDA,” Oh told CityBeat. “The entire blood industry is very excited for these changes. We all feel like it’s an advancement for the field.”

Early restrictions on donating blood were designed to protect the blood supply from HIV starting in 1983 when the federal government placed a lifetime ban on men who have had sex with other men from donating blood

outright. Restrictions started to ease in 2020, giving men a deferred timeline of three months from their last sexual encounter with a man to donate.

The policies have been widely criticized as discriminatory and stigmatizing against the LGBTQ+ community.

Hoxworth and all other blood banks rigorously test donated blood for HIV, which is why Oh said the process won’t change too much now that access to donation has opened up.

“For us, the processing of blood after collection will not change as much,” Oh said. “We’re still going to send for all the current testing that we do; the process that had to change is the questionnaire.”

Repeat donors who sit down to sign up for a blood donation might find some new or changed questions now that the FDA guidelines have changed.

“We have to create algorithms for

what the answers are, flow charts,” Oh said. “Part of that complexity comes because blood is essentially considered to be a drug by the FDA. So all the things that pharmaceutical companies have to do for their manufacture of prescription medications, we do and are held responsible for through the production of blood.”

Once Hoxworth’s refined process passes the FDA muster, men who have sex with other men will be allowed to donate blood locally, which, Oh said, is expected to begin at the end of the calendar year.

While access to blood donation has been expanded, Oh emphasizes there are still those who cannot donate blood under the new guideline.

“We still will ask a lot of questions of people when they come in. People who have been diagnosed with or have HIV are not allowed to donate, even if

they are on anti-HIV regimens where it becomes undetectable,” Oh said.

Prospective donors will also be asked if they have a new sexual partner, or have had more than one sexual partner in the past three months. Anal sex in the past three months would also be deferred to reduce the likelihood of donations by individuals with new or recent HIV infection who may be in the window period for detection of HIV by nucleic acid testing.

“We’re still hopeful that this will generate many more people to donate and to be part of our community,” Oh said.

Jake Hitch, director of communications for Cincinnati Pride, told CityBeat that the change from the FDA is a great next step point, but it’s not the finish line.

“We are thrilled for patients who are going to benefit from the expanded blood supply. I think it’s good that [the FDA] is recognizing medical facts.” Hitch said. “There’s still a lot of stipulations around it … hopefully those are going to be re-examined as well.”

To see if you qualify for blood donation now at Hoxworth, visit donateblood.uc.edu.

While blood centers were crying out for donations, the FDA was continuing to defer healthy donors. That will change by the end of 2023.

PHOTO: CHARLIE HELEN-ROBINSON, PEXELS

“I think we have to improve our relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, because this policy has been damaging,” David Oh said.

“We have the chance here to eliminate a policy that can be seen as discriminatory."

Another Norfolk Southern Train Has Derailed 20 Miles from East Palestine

BY MADELINE FENING

Another Norfolk Southern train has derailed about 20 miles northeast of East Palestine in New Castle, Pennsylvania, the Associated Press has reported.

According to the AP, nine railcars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed late in the night on May 10, with no hazardous chemicals on board and no reported injuries.

The report says at least some of the cars that derailed contained paraffin wax and soybeans. The paraffin wax is used to make candles.

Representatives from Norfolk Southern have not returned CityBeat’s request

for comment as of press time.

The latest derailment comes after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, a small Eastern Ohio village near the Pennsylvania border, on Feb. 3. The derailment ignited a chain of events that ended in a controlled burn of the train’s toxic load of chemicals, mainly vinyl chloride, and released numerous chemicals into nearby waterways.

The plume of thick black smoke soared above homes and waterways, painting a dark picture for the weeks to come. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quickly took over managing the cleanup from Norfolk

Southern, promising to hold the multibillion-dollar rail giant accountable for the disaster, but surveys have suggested most Americans don’t believe the government has handled the fallout in East Palestine to this day.

Cincinnati voters are being asked to approve a sale of the city’s multi-state Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern, potentially this November.

Voters have raised concerns about future safety if the city relinquishes control of its railway to a company that has lobbied against safety regulations that some believe ultimately caused the fiery explosion in East Palestine.

Currently, the city receives $25 million annually to lease the railway to Norfolk Southern. Under the proposed sale, the city would receive $1.6 billion, which would be fed into a trust fund known as the "Building Our Future" trust fund. Mayor Aftab Pureval has said the deal with Norfolk Southern is crucial to fund the more than $385 million in capital needs facing the city.

Sale or no sale, the company still has the option to renew its lease with the city to continue using the Cincinnati Southern Railway for the next 25 years.

Nine railcars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed late in the night on May 10.

PHOTO: 4300STREETCAR, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Mayor Drops New Bengals Video, Addresses Chiefs 'Jabroni' Blunder

BY MADELINE FENING AND ALLISON BABKA

Mayor Aftab Pureval is poking fun at himself while showing the Bengals some love in a new video posted May 10.

Pureval announced the Bengal’s 2023 season rematch against Kansas City with the help of ex-Chief and new Bengals LT Orlando Brown Jr.

“The Bengals play the Chiefs Week 17 … and I’ve got nothing else to add,” Pureval says in the video posted to the Bengals’ Twitter.

“Yeah, I think that was better than the last time,” says Brown Jr., recording

the mayor’s statement.

The lighthearted video is a poke at Pureval’s failed Bengals "proclamation" from last season.

The 'paternity test' proclamation

It all started when Cincinnati's city administration raised the Bengals flag on Jan. 27. Flanked by faithful fans in black and orange chanting "WHO DEY," Pureval set up the stakes for the team taking on the Chiefs in the AFC

championship round in back-to-back seasons.

"I told you last year that this team perfectly personified our city. They are young, they are diverse, they are hungry, they've got that Cincinnati swagger and they are not 'just happy to be here,'" Pureval told the crowd from the steps of Cincinnati City Hall. "We belong here, and we're going to come back year after year after year."

As has been popular on social media, Pureval then called Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium

"Burrowhead Stadium," (a nod to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow) while mentioning local goods that Pureval and KC mayor Quinton Lucas put up in a friendly bet. Pureval said that if Cincinnati were to lose the AFC championship, he would send Lucas a Bengals bomber jacket from local shop BlaCkOwned Outerwear as well as a six-pack of Rhinegeist beer.

Pureval then increased his smack talk in a video posted to his social media accounts later in the week. In it, Pureval sat at his Cincinnati City Council chamber spot to deliver a "proclamation":

Be it proclaimed: whereas the Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Burrowed Stadium for their second consecutive AFC championship game, whereas [in] last year's game, the Bengals scored more points than the Chiefs, resulting in a Bengals victory and a Chiefs loss, whereas Joseph Lee Burrow, who's 3-0 against [Chiefs quarterback Patrick] Mahomes, has been asked by officials to take a paternity test to confirm whether or not he's his father, whereas all season long, Cincinnati has been on a path of destiny, fighting it out to overcome anyone who stands between them and a Super Bowl win, and whereas Kansas City is named after its neighboring state – which is, you know, just kind of weird. Now therefore, I, Aftab Pureval, mayor of the city of Cincinnati, do hereby proclaim Jan. 29, 2023, as They Gotta Play Us Day in Cincinnati.

The Chiefs then beat the Bengals 23-20 on Jan. 29 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Holding up the AFC championship trophy immediately after the game, Travis Kelce had some thoughts about Pureval's jabs at his team.

"Hey, I've got some wise words for that Cincinnati mayor: Know your role and shut your mouth, you jabroni," Kelce shouted on the NFL's national CBS broadcast before invoking the Beastie Boys. "You gotta fight... for your right... to PARRRRRRRRRTYYYYYYY!"

"Yeah. Deserved that," Pureval later wrote on Twitter. "Congrats to KC on a well-fought win, and good luck in Arizona. Proud of our fans and our @ bengals for all the energy this year. Who Dey!"

Mayor Aftab Pureval poked fun at his previous Bengals blunder in a new video posted on May 10.

PHOTO: KATHERINE BARRIER

Bob Huggins to Keep Job, Take $1 Million Pay Cut After Saying Slur on 700WLW, ESPN Reports

BY MADELINE FENING

Former University of Cincinnati

basketball coach Bob Huggins will reportedly keep his coaching job with West Virginia University after using a homophobic slur twice during an interview on Cincinnati’s 700WLW radio station.

According to an ESPN report, Huggins has agreed to a $1-million salary reduction, a “significant suspension” and sensitivity training. His salary is expected to be reduced from $4.2 million to $3.2 million.

ESPN reported that Huggins is expected to sign the amended contract agreement on May 10.

The decision comes just days after Huggins, who coached UC men's basketball from 1989-2005, called Xavier University fans "Catholic f**s" while talking to 700WLW's Bill Cunningham on May 8.

"Have you poached any Xavier guys to come to West Virginia?" Cunningham

asks in audio posted to Twitter.

"Catholics don't do that," Huggins responds. "I tell you what: Any school that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn't do it, by God, they can get away with anything."

"I think it was transgender night, wasn't it?" Cunningham says.

"It was a Crosstown Shootout, yeah. No, what it was was all those f**s, those Catholic f**s, I think is what it was," Huggins responds. "They were envious they didn't have one."

Laughter from Cunningham ensues.

Social media quickly called out Huggins for using the slur and Cunningham for laughing at it, while many pointed out that the bigoted conversation was typical for Cunningham’s show.

Cunningham and 700WLW have remained silent on the issue since May 8 as calls for apology and reprimand have grown on social media.

Bob Huggins used a homophobic slur twice during an interview on 700WLW.

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

STANDING SENTINEL

Cincinnati’s other police association, the Sentinels, assist minority officers — and seek to hold the department accountable.

BY MADELINE FENING

Danita Pettis became the president of the Sentinel Police Association in 2022.

PHOTO: EMORY DAVIS

The Cincinnati Police Department has made headlines twice in May for radically different reasons: News of yet another internal investigation into an officer who made racist remarks on the job broke on May 1, a problem CPD was hoping to leave behind in 2022. And then the department announced it plans to dissolve its fifth district into the city’s remaining four newly redrawn districts.

While CPD’s Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP) union was quickly front and center with reactions to both announcements, a lesser-known group of CPD officers, known as the Sentinel Police Association, has its own perspective — and sometimes a different take — on the winds of change blowing through the the department.

CityBeat sat down with the president of the Sentinels to talk about how these May events, while seemingly very different, tie into the mission of the decadesold police organization.

Founded in a seminal year

In 2003, Danita Pettis became the second-ever Black female captain of any CPD district. Pettis now leads District 2, but in January 2022, she also started to lead the Sentinels.

The association was formed in 1968 by a group of African-American officers.

“Because they believed that there was so much disparity in the hiring of African-American officers, and the promotion of African-American officers, and the selection for job assignments of African-American officers, they formed this group to kind of act as watchdogs — or sentinels, as the name suggests — to watch over and kind of keep close watch on how the police department was going about doing things,” Pettis tells CityBeat from behind her desk at the District 2 headquarters in Hyde Park. “At that time, in 1968, you can imagine what the political climate was like.”

The year 1968 was marked by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and subsequent riots in Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood. Two people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the civil unrest that prompted a response from the National Guard.

Ever since, the Sentinels have weighed in on issues for both civilian and badge-wearing minorities, including the creation of Cincinnati’s landmark 2003 Collaborative Agreement, which arose from federal court-ordered mediation after the 2001 police killing of 19-yearold Timothy Thomas, an unarmed Black man. The agreement sought to shift the Cincinnati Police Department away from aggressive policing tactics toward more community-oriented policing. It created the Citizens Complaint Authority and set out goals to diversify the city’s police force.

Pettis tells CityBeat the Sentinels, which has approximately 200 members, offers career coaching to Cincinnati officers who are trying to climb the ranks.

“We help individuals to better themselves. If people feel that, ‘Well, I put in for this job assignment, and I don’t seem to be able to quite hit the mark,’ what are some things I can do to better myself?” Pettis says.

CPD’s overall force is 27.5% Black — a ratio that remains relatively consistent across the city’s five districts. That’s far below the city’s Black population, which the census puts at 40.3%. And Pettis tells CityBeat the ratio is abysmal for higher-ranking officers, like those in the Investigations Bureau.

“Like less than 10%, maybe 15% were minority. And that’s in an Investigations Bureau when I know you have a lot of homicides, most of the homicides, a lot of them, are African American,” Pettis says.

Pettis says the Investigations Bureau jobs pay the same as beat patrol officer, but there’s more prestige, and there’s more overtime, leading to more consistent pay.

“They’re perceived as, you know, a higher tier of a police officer,” Pettis says. “Some people may have come on and they said, ‘Well, it’s always been my desire to be a homicide detective.’ Okay, a homicide detective makes the same per hour, the same hourly wage as a beat officer, but they’re subject to a lot more overtime, recall, so your income is higher just because there’s overtime built into your position.”

Pettis told CityBeat she brought up the hiring disparities to CPD Chief Teresa Theetge after she was sworn in as the

city’s first female police chief in January. Pettis says Theetge was receptive, but didn’t have a solution in the moment.

“And my question to her was, ‘Well, we have this assignment report that shows there’s a huge disparity here. So what do we use this report for? What are you going to do with the information?’” Pettis says. “And I can’t really say that she gave an answer in terms of, ‘Well, this is what I’m going to do to fix it.’ The conversation didn’t get there.”

Pettis says she still hasn’t heard a plan from the chief about how to increase hiring of Black and brown officers in high-ranking investigative positions, but Theetge may well be busy with other items on her agenda — several of which became public earlier this month.

Reduce, redraw — and fewer opportunities

City officials announced plans on May 9 to eliminate the District 5 headquarters in College Hill, reducing the number of police districts in the city from five to four, plus the Central Business Section.

“I know there’s probably a little bit of anxiety, both internally and externally, I expect that,” said Theetge during a press conference announcing the move. “You have my commitment that we will make this as flawless of a transition as we possibly can.”

District 5 headquarters has occupied a former Talbert House building on Hamilton Avenue in College Hill since 2018. The headquarters moved from a building on Ludlow Avenue that Theetge said was also designed to be a temporary headquarters starting in 1957.

“I owe it to them to give them some

stability in their workday and give them a permanent assignment and permanent district to work from,” Theetge said during the press conference.

By the end of the year, College Hill, Mt. Airy, Northside, and Camp Washington will be reassigned to District 3. Winton Hills, Spring Grove Village, and Clifton will be reassigned to District 4. CUF will move to District 1.

Other adjustments will include moving Mt. Auburn from District 4 to District 1, Walnut Hills from District 4 to District 2, and Mt. Adams from District 1 to the Central Business Section.

CPD will soon begin the process of reassigning approximately 90 officers and other CPD employees from the District 5 headquarters, but the overall change means more officers are likely going to have to move their home base. Theetge was clear that more senior officers will get their first pick.

“It’s all about tenure,” Theetge said during the press conference. “An officer with 20 years of service will get their first choice over an officer with one year of service.”

And with the reduction of districts comes the reduction of leadership positions in CPD. Though no one will be laid off, 24 sergeant positions will be eliminated through attrition — as one sergeant retires, another won’t be hired.

“Yes, unfortunately reducing the amount of sergeants does take promotional opportunities at the immediate time away, but as those 24 are treated out, those opportunities will come back,” Theetge said during the press conference.

At minimum, in the short term, the news will mean fewer opportunities for

The Fraternal Order of Police will hold union elections to replace president Dan Hils at the end of 2023. |

PHOTO: MADELINE FENING

officers of color to advance. With hiring rates for specialized positions among minority officers already skewing lower than their white counterparts, Pettis tells CityBeat the District 5 news raises some concern for the Sentinels.

“That’s always a concern, the number of African Americans that we have in leadership-supervisory capacities,” Pettis says. “But in order to understand what impact this particular change would have, we would first have to sit down and take a hard look at the numbers and see how many African American supervisors, sergeants, lieutenants and so forth are eligible to retire, because that’s not information that they have to divulge. If you look at that, it would always be purely on an assumption or a projection of how many people you think may leave. Because whenever somebody decides to retire, you don’t necessarily get any advanced warning of that.”

Theetge mentioned in her press conference that diversity will be the only caveat to the seniority system as CPD shuffles officers around its new district maps.

“We try to make sure we maintain diversity at each of our districts. We want to make sure we have diversity in ethnicity, gender, all of that, for each of the four districts and the Central Business Section,” Theetge said.

Cincinnati FOP president Dan Hils, who often has had quick, sharp words about racial politics within the department, said a diversity element to the seniority reassignment system isn’t something the union would fight.

“Assignment transfers is the right of management,” Hils tells CityBeat “There’s not a whole lot the union has in its authority to say on assignments. If they want certain people in District 4 that leave 5, and certain people in District 3, that’s management’s right. It’s when they get to the districts — as far as shifts they pick, vacations they pick — those are contractual issues where seniority is everything.”

Shock and frustration over a poorly-worded “joke”

The Cincinnati FOP office is right across the street from the office of the Sentinels on Central Avenue. Both, of course, represent police officers, but their two leaders couldn’t differ more on the second big story that broke this month about the police department.

The incident involves Officer Kurtis Latham, who is white, and is now on desk duty while the department conducts an internal investigation into claims that Latham told Officer Bakari Shaw, who is Black, “So, the master let you back in the field today,” according to a statement from the Cincinnati NAACP.

Hils defends Latham. He says the white officer had just been relieved of desk duty by a “demanding lieutenant” and placed back on patrol duty when he made the “master” comment.

The FOP’s statement on the incident quotes Latham’s words differently than the Cincinnati NAACP. The union claims Latham told Shaw, “I see the master has you back in the field with us.”

“In a sense, he was grouping himself with [Shaw] in the way they are treated by a specific supervisor,” Hils says.

Chief Theetge released a statement on the investigation, saying, “All personnel of the Cincinnati Police Department will always be held to a high standard of professionalism,” but did not say what consequences Latham could possibly face.

Hils commented on the investigation to CityBeat with a chuckle, saying Latham’s statement was a poorly worded joke that shouldn’t result in punishment at all.

“Investigation … we know what was said. The officer admitted that it wasn’t the best thing he’s ever said,” Hils says. “He did not intend it to be racially, you know, ‘Oh, that might not sound right,’ a completely innocent mistake. There was no maliciousness in it whatsoever. It was still a mistake, but my point is, what do you need to investigate?”

This is not the first time Hils has criticized an internal investigation into allegations of racist remarks or slurs within CPD.

In the case of Detective Joehonny Reese, who is Black, Hils was publicly outraged when the officer was relegated to desk duty while the department conducted an internal investigation regarding his use of the n-word on the job. In September, Hils told local media outlets that Reese should never have been suspended for “longer than an hour,” calling on Theetge to immediately reinstate the officer or face a vote of no confidence from the union.

At the time of Reese’s suspension, a release from the FOP defended the officer and called for his immediate reinstatement, providing more context to the incident that led Reese to say the n-word during an off-duty detail assignment.

“As the drunk white teenager threatened and demeaned two Black police officers repeatedly with the n-word, […] Detective Reese used the same word when he told the drunk teenager that he wouldn’t be an n-word,” the release reads.

Reese was one of three officers investigated for using the slur on the job in 2022, including officer Kelly Drach and officer Rose Valentino, who are both white.

Hils tells CityBeat he hopes officer Latham can “learn and grow from his mistake,” but that the investigation is unnecessary.

“You want to document it? I understand that,” Hils says. “But anything beyond documentation of it, to me, does not serve a purpose. And this constant delay doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose either.”

Pettis sees it differently.

“I don’t agree with that characterization,” Pettis says. “Any investigation has to run its course. Through the course of an investigation is where you really get to find out if there are other deeper implications as a result of the actions or comments that were made. No, I don’t think it was something that should have just been, ‘Oh, he was just joking around. It’s open and shut.’ No, I totally disagree with that.”

By the end of the year the Cincinnati will reduce the number of police districts in the city from five to four, plus the Central Business Section. |

PHOTO: CITY OF CINCINNATI

Pettis says Hils is making a conclusion about a situation where he was not present and where he’s only spoken to one officer involved: officer Latham.

“For one, you have to be careful with making a rush to judgment as to the context in which something was said. Particularly if you were not present,” Pettis says. “That means you’re going on the word of the person who made the comment, and that person has an interest in representing it in that light for obvious reasons. You would have to take the time to interview any other witnesses that were present when the statement was made, you would have to take into account the context when the statement was made, and more importantly, how did the other people that witnessed the statement, what was their perception?”

Pettis notes that Hils has not spoken with officer Shaw, who was subjected to the “master” comment by his colleague Latham.

“Last time I spoke with Bakari Shaw, Dan Hils had not spoken with him. Basically all of the information that Dan is taking a position on, it is all from the perspective of the person who made the ill-intended comment,” Pettis says.

Hils tells CityBeat that he encouraged officer Latham to reach out to Shaw, and that Latham “has attempted to do that.” The department’s investigation into Latham’s comment is still ongoing.

That person “has no place” in the CPD

When it comes to officers accused of racism, Hils and Pettis perceive their roles differently.

Hils is there to advocate that officers facing discipline get a fair shake. Pettis is there to make sure Black officers in the department also get a fair shake — and that’s not just about avoiding unfair discipline, but also about existing in a workplace that isn’t hostile to them.

That difference is apparent in the case of Rose Valentino.

Hils tells CityBeat that a decision will come down from a panel of independent arbitrators “very, very soon” on Valentino’s appeal to be rehired by the Cincinnati Police Department after being fired last August for saying the n-word on the job.

The incident was caught on camera in April 2022. Valentino, who is white, was stuck in traffic outside of Western Hills University High School, a predominantly Black public high school situated between Cincinnati’s West Price Hill and Western Hills neighborhoods.

Valentino can be heard in the body camera footage saying “Fucking n******s, I fucking hate them!” after pounding her fist on the steering wheel of her cruiser. The internal report says Valentino said the n-word after a student flashed the officer his middle finger, a claim that is only supported by Valentino’s testimony.

The FOP’s labor agreement with the city allows officers who have been fired to appeal to the union’s grievance board to present their case to an independent arbitrator, who has the ultimate authority to reinstate the officer. The Sentinels have no say in the matter once it reaches arbitration. Nor do the city manager’s office or department brass.

Hils tells CityBeat that the FOP board voted that the “across-the-board

dismissal” of Valentino from CPD “was not justified.”

Pettis is the lone Sentinels member on the FOP’s grievance board. She declined to reveal her vote on the Valentino case to CityBeat, saying the voting is closed door, but she made other feelings clear.

”In terms of her getting her job back, I think that, speaking for the organization, that that type of language and the person who would say that has no place in the Cincinnati police department,” Pettis says. “How can someone ever have confidence or any measure of certainty that she would not bring a degree of racial bias to the table when executing her duties?”

Pettis tells CityBeat that she feels the burden of officers who do wrong weighing down the efforts of officers who want to do right, but that she hopes Black officers can break through recruitment barriers to help carry the department forward.

“It’s difficult to change a perception of a culture, of a police culture,” Pettis says. “It’s just unfortunate because the actions of one or a handful reflects on the entire profession. And that’s one of the reasons recruitment is so difficult, because people don’t want to be lumped into, ‘You’re one of them,’ or, ‘You’re just like them.’ People don’t want to be painted with any color of a brush that they didn’t paint themselves.”

Danita Pettis is only the second Black woman to become a captain of any CPD district. | PHOTO: EMORY DAVIS

The Sentinel Police Association building sits across the street from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #69 on Central Avenue. | PHOTO: EMORY DAVIS

Caring For Our Watersheds is a program that empowers students to imagine, develop and create solutions in their local watersheds. The program promotes watershed awareness and stewardship, values student ideas and offers support when turning theoretical ideas into action. Judges in the environmental field score student entries and ten projects are selected to compete in the final competition which was held on May 6th. $10,000 in implementation funding (up to $1,000 per project) is available to all participants, allowing each and every idea to be turned into reality. At the final event, students presented their projects and finalists received cash awards and matching grants for their schools.

Caring For Our Watersheds is a joint program of the Hamilton County Conservation District, Nutrien and Nutrients for Life.

Caring For Our Watersheds Finalists

Out of over 100 entries submitted this year, these ten teams advanced to the Final Competition where students competed for $12,000 in awards for themselves and their schools.

Ladasia

Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students

Native Prairie Species Garden

Zachary and Ryan

Loveland HS

Community Based Clean-up Station

Hollis, Callie and Margot Wyoming High School

Fashion in America: Fast and Forsaken

Project: Community-Based Cleanup Station in Polluted Parks

Student: Zachary & Ryan

School: Loveland High School

Trash build-up from littering is a problem in local parks, which can lead to the pollution of nearby waterways. Zachary and Ryan created a solution to this problem by setting up a “park cleanup station” in their community. This station includes a box filled with empty coffee bags and signs to encourage people walking on the trails to grab a bag, pick up trash they see, and throw away the bag on their way out. This community-driven cleanup process educates people on the negative effects of trash in their environment and provides them with the necessary means to help fix this problem.

Project: Vapes of Wrath

Student: Ethan & Cullen School: Wyoming High School

Vaping has increased in practice in recent years, and many vapes today contain hazardous materials, like lithium batteries, which are rarely disposed of properly. Ethan and Cullen decided to raise awareness for this issue by setting up hazardous waste collection containers around their community so vapes can be easily and properly disposed of. They also distributed educational resources about the dangers of vaping throughout their school, this way people are aware of the ways in which vaping can affect both your health and local environment.

Project: Fashion in America: Fast and Forsaken (for the environment)

Student: Hollis, Callie & Margot

School: Wyoming High School

Fast fashion is a rapidly growing industry that is responsible for 10% of carbon emissions each year, having a huge impact on our planet. To combat this issue Hollis, Callie, and Margot decided to host a clothing drive and thrift event at their school. For every item donated, people received one credit to spend during the thrift event the next day. Their goal is to promote keeping as much as possible out of the landfill and encouraging their community to reuse! Along with this, the group aims to educate the community about how their personal choices can impact their watershed.

Project: Cloth Roll Towel Cabinets

Student: Lloyd

School: Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students

Paper towels are used in almost every public restroom, including in our schools. After disposing of these towels, people often don’t think about their environmental impacts. Lloyd decided to spread awareness for this issue by creating an educational campaign, using both posters and presentations, to bring attention to paper towel waste and encourage air dryer usage in his school. He also set up a booth to distribute cloth paper towels to staff and students, providing people with a reusable alternative to paper towel use.

Project: Bee the Change

Student: Keira, Erin, Ian & Melia

School: Loveland High School

Single-use plastic takes a long time to break down, and when it does, it releases microplastics and chemicals that harm the local environment and watershed. To help reduce this problem, this group opted to hand out beeswax wraps- a reusable alternative to single-use plastic- as well as pamphlets to everyone in their school. The pamphlets encompassed lots of information, including plastic’s harmful effects, why beeswax wraps are a great alternative to single-use plastics, and how people can help the plastic problem on their own.

Project: Native Prairie Species Garden

Student: Ladasia

School: Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students

Native plants are a great way to increase local biodiversity as well as reduce runoff from stormwater, which can carry harmful pollutants to local waterways. Ladasia decided to tackle the issue of low plant diversity on her school’s campus by planting a native prairie species garden. The garden contains educational signs as well as a native prairie, with a path for students to explore. This garden helps to stop runoff that pollutes the local watershed, educates students on different plant species, and builds land diversity in her school environment.

Project: The Impact of Styrofoam Lunch Trays

Student: Olivia, Sophia, Wyatt & Jacob

School: Loveland High School

Styrofoam, which is used by many schools for disposable materials like lunch trays, can have many negative impacts on our watershed. At Loveland High School, around 48,750 Styrofoam trays are used each year. To address this large amount of Styrofoam waste, this team decided to switch out their school’s old Styrofoam trays with paper lunch trays. Additionally, they created informational posters to help educate fellow students and faculty on just how much better this switch will be for their local environment.

Project: Sustainable Cooking

Student: Kendle, Maya & Audree School: Mount Notre Dame High School

It can often be a struggle to find food that is both good for you and the environment. Kendle, Maya and Audree tackle this issue by creating a sustainable cookbook, including recipes that encourage readers to eat a plant-based diet and buy locally sourced produce. They decided to offer access to the book online, reducing paper use in the process. This cookbook encourages readers to develop an environmentally friendly diet, all while offering recipes that are both healthy and delicious!

Project: Sign for Change

Student: Riley & Gavin School: Loveland High School

Idling cars release dangerous chemicals into the air like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that can have significant effects on our health and the local environment. Riley and Gavin decided to raise awareness for this issue by placing signs outside of their middle school drop-off line that asks people to turn off their car while waiting in line. These signs will not only help improve local air quality but also help to educate people on how their individual choices can affect the environment!

Project: Reducing and Removing Litter at School

Student: Gwendolyn (Gwen) School: Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students

Littering is a problem in many communities, this trash can travel to storm drains and eventually end up in nearby waterways. In order to address this issue in her own school, Gwendolyn decided to install trash and recycling cans outside her school’s campus to provide students with accessible and proper areas to dispose of their trash. She also created a litter club to meet monthly to help collect trash from outside of the school. This is a long-term solution to managing and reducing litter in her school and community.

Honorable Mentions

Clothing Swap: “When you shop, don’t go over the top”

Grace, Wren, Megan & McKenzie (Ursuline Academy)

Watch What You Are Drinking Out Of

Ellie, Paige, Hannah & Shohjahon (Loveland High School)

Fashion in America: Fast and Forsaken (for the environment)

Fast fashion has risen tremendously in the past few years from increased internet usage and social media access. Places like Shein, Fashion Nova, ASOS, etc. are seeing dramatic spikes in sales over the past few years as online presence in society is as high as ever. According to Statistica, fast fashion was marketed at 91 billion dollars and expected to reach 133 billion dollars by 2026. With this comes the giant toll on our environment and watershed as a majority of these clothes are worn a few times then discarded into landfills and even end up in waterways. There is so much more purpose these items can hold, and so much more life left in them. As Sustainably Chic states, the dyes of textiles derived from clothing manufactures produce near 20% of water pollution we see today; as of 2020, 79 trillion liters of water are used annually by the fashion industry.

Hollis, Callie & Margot understand there is a growing issue with fast fashion in our community. They devised a plan to host a clothing drive/thrift event to tackle this issue. Their goal was to start/continue a cycle of clean shopping with members of their community. The students gave the opportunity for people to clean out their closets and donate anything they do not wear anymore, giving these clothes a second life. With everything they donated, people received a credit which would then purchase them an item the following day; the point system they established was encouragement for donations. If people did not have any items to donate, they were given an opportunity to donate canned goods and toiletries to be donated to Matthew 25 in order to receive points another way. This substantially increased our turnout on both days of the drive.

Implementation took weeks of deliberate planning and preparation. For an adequate turnout, the students took time to make sure their message reached several audiences, including making an Instagram page, hanging flyers around the school, school announcements, encouraging teachers to spread the word, making Facebook posts, making street signs and having the principal send out information. Their goal was to make sure everyone, not just high school students, heard the news. They acknowledged that the issue of fast fashion should continue to be prevented after the clothing drive. To do this, they printed posters with links of places both online and in person to continue the cycle of clean shopping as well as taking it up with Project Lead at their school to turn the drive into a yearly tradition. They then collected thousands of items of donations on April 15th which were sorted and set up for easy shopping the next day. Collecting clothes from a range of toddler clothes to maternity clothes to anything in between, they received tremendous amounts of donations. With no extra expense for community members, they were able to shop for all items with a provided tote bag. People from a range of schools and age groups showed up to take home a new, environmentally friendly wardrobe. With only a fraction of the donations they received left by the end of the day, all remaining items as well as the donated canned goods and toiletries were donated to Matthew 25 to make their impact global.

Bee the Change

It takes one day to use a plastic bag and throw it away, but after that, the average plastic bag takes around 1000 years to photodegrade. As it does, the plastic becomes tiny microplastics that are carried by runoff and wind to bodies of water. In a study by Tel Aviv University, researchers found that those microplastics absorb and concentrate toxic substances, increasing their toxicity 10-fold. Some scientists have also estimated that humans consume 5 grams of these microplastics per week.

Keira, Melia, Erin and Ian, four students and friends from Loveland High School, wanted to help reduce this problem to protect their watershed and all creatures who live in and use the water. So, they made a plan to hand out beeswax wraps to the people in their school and community. Beeswax wraps

are a sustainable alternative to Ziploc bags and plastic wrap. They can be used to cover bowls, wrap around food, and can be folded into a pouch that holds snacks. They can be cleaned and used for up to a year, and once the wraps cannot be used any longer, they will completely break down within a few months of being disposed of, with no harmful after-effects.

The group went to their downtown area and handed out Beeswax wrap kits to people walking by. The kits included a small and medium or large wrap; information on how to use and clean the wraps; and a pamphlet with information on the plastic problem, ways people can reduce their plastic waste, and links to their website as well as other resources. In one day, they gave out 100 kits. They also gave them out to staff and students at their school. In total, they gave away 250 kits to encourage others to use the sustainable wraps. Assuming everyone uses one bag per day, five days a week, they hope their project will save 62,400 plastic bags from being used the following year.

The group wants to make an impact, but they know they can’t do it alone. “We hope other students will be inspired by our project and help the environment in their own way,” says Erin. “It’s all a ripple effect,” Melia adds. “Someone might see our project and make their own project, or if one person just enjoys sustainable products, they can pass that enthusiasm to another person. We’re making a difference beyond what we directly do.” Less plastic in the trash means less pollution in the water, and this group is set to “Bee the Change” in plastic pollution.

Native Prairie Species Garden

When you take a shower, drink water before gym class, or brush your teeth before school, you are using water from the Ohio River. The Ohio River is our closest major watershed and over 5 million people use it every day. Runoff waters from heavy rains travel over our land, carrying pollutants into the river and causing issues for organisms that use it. Creating a garden, especially one with species that are native to the land, reduces runoff and erosion. The plants create deep root systems that absorb the heavy rain waters, naturally removing pollutants and helping the healthier soil to remain in place. A garden also increases plant biodiversity to better support more native animal species.

Ladasia Faulkner, a junior at Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students, thought about how bad the vegetation biodiversity at her school is (the students calculated an average diversity score of 0.0765 and 0 means no diversity). She learned more about the importance of biodiversity to watersheds and decided to start a native prairie garden at her school. Through research for this project, she learned about the importance of the garden for health, education and aesthetics as well.

Her two-part garden features both a wild restoration area and an educational garden so that visitors can see individual species. She created informational books for visitors to use and learn more about each plant featured in the garden. Ladasia used volunteers to build the garden barriers, weed, pour gravel, till, spread the seeds, design and create mosaic steppingstones and more. By using lots of volunteers, she taught many people how to create a garden, potentially encouraging them to build their own. She even put excess seeds in custom seed packets and distributed them to students, staff and community volunteers who were interested in starting prairie restoration gardens at home. Ladasia hopes that, even after she graduates, this garden will flourish on and increase the health of the campus, the watershed, and the students and staff that attend the school for years to come.

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

County

Nutrien, Nutrients for Life and The Hamilton County Conservation District understand the importance of protecting our watersheds and conserving natural resources. But it’s equally important to cultivate future land stewards and tomorrow’s advocates for the environment. That’s why the Hamilton County Conservation District has partnered with Nutrien and Nutrients for Life to establish Caring For Our Watersheds in Ohio, a unique program that enhances classroom learning through the practice of environmental research, writing skills, public speaking and hands-on stewardship. The program, which is funded by Nutrien and run by Hamilton County Conservation District, asks high school students to propose ideas on how to improve local watersheds. Students with strong proposals have the opportunity to put those ideas into action. As projects are planned and implemented, students develop strong leadership skills, learn sustainable practices, and contribute to creating a healthier ecosystem. Students also have opportunities to connect with environmental professionals who volunteer and mentor the students as they learn new skills and develop deeper connections with the community in which they live. Caring For Our Watersheds is open to all high school students who live in or go to school in the state of Ohio.

CARING FOR OUR WATERSHEDS PARTNERS

Participating Teachers and Schools

Mary Brown - John Marshall School of Engineering

Kelly Dye - West Holmes High School

Tracy Majors - Wyoming High School

Bret Miller - The Summit Country Day School

Tonya Nkhata - Loveland High School

Monika Nuñez - Ursuline Academy

Mary Beth Rieth - Mount Notre Dame High School

Kira Rucker - Spencer Center for Gifted & Exceptional Students

Kat Sickinger - The Summit Country Day School

Thomas Smith- Batavia High School

Karen Stautberg- West Clermont High School

JUDGES, MENTORS AND VOLUNTEERS

Caring for Our Watersheds is sponsored by Nutrien, a worldwide producer and retailer of fertilizers and other agricultural products and services. As the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, Nutrien plays a critical role in Feeding the Future by helping growers increase food production in a sustainable manner. With nearly 20,000 employees, operations, and investments in 14 countries, Nutrien’s crop inputs and services reach every major growing region of the world.

Ellen Allen - Greenacres Foundation

Penny Borgman - Fernald Nature Preserve

Pat Bruns - Former OH Dept of Education Board Member

Holly Christmann - Hamilton County Assistant County Administrator

Dennis Clement - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Rachel Cranmer - Volunteer

Lori Dorn - Greenacres Foundation

Mary Dudley - Civic Garden Center

Sara Fehring - Hamilton County Conservation District

Mallory Fox - Greenacres Foundation

Gia Giammarinaro - Cincinnati Parks

The Hamilton County Conservation District (HCCD) is responsible for the conservation of natural resources within Hamilton County, Ohio. They have a special emphasis on soil and water with a focus on assisting landowners in planning and applying conservation practices on the land. HCCD is dedicated to the sustainable use of our natural resources and to encouraging positive behavioral changes that produce a higher quality of life for our citizens. The District assists all Hamilton County residents, schools, and jurisdictions through their services and dynamic partnerships that continually provide innovative solutions for the challenges of our region.

Cory Gonya - Nutrien, Inc.

Mendi Hartley - Hamilton County Conservation District

Emily Horne - Greenacres Foundation

Emily Hoskins - Hamilton County Conservation District

Scott Huber - Hamilton County Conservation District

Kylie Johnson - The Ohio Environmental Council

Sharon Johnson - Volunteer

Sarah Kitsinis - Advanced Testing Laboratories

Heather Lauer - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Jason Laughlin - Nutrien, Inc.

Christen Lubbers - Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati

Anne Lyon - Retired Educator

Niki Marengo - Clermont Park District

The Nutrients for Life Foundation is a global organization consisting of members and collaborative partners that develop and distribute sciencebased materials to improve plant nutrient literacy, soil health knowledge and promotes fertilizer’s role in sustaining a growing population. Plant nutrients, especially nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, are also required to keep our parks, gardens, playgrounds, sports fields and golf courses green and healthy in communities from coast to coast.

Sarah Meadows - Hamilton County Conservation District

Elise Roalef - Hamilton County R3Source

Tony Staubach - Hamilton County R3Source

Emily Storm - Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati

Fia Turczynewycz - Guide Us Green, Simply Zero

Claudia Zaher - Volunteer

Kat Zelak - Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District

Organizations dedicated to creating the next generation of land stewards in Hamilton

ARTS & CULTURE

The Art of Elegance

University of Cincinnati graduate Grayson

Thornberry is hoping to find success as an accessories designer at menswear brand Todd Snyder.

BY KATIE GRIFFITH

It’s about a week after the University of Cincinnati Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) seniors graduated and the hallways are empty. The sixth floor of the DAAP building is quiet, and the classrooms and studios where fashion design students work and learn are mostly empty apart from one, where recent graduate Grayson Thornberry brought pieces from his capstone collection to share with CityBeat

Like the majority of fashion design students at DAAP, Thornberry spent two-and-a-half years developing his capstone project. Between February and April of this year, it was time to create the garments that countless hours of research, design, sketching, material collection and technique practice would foster. Thornberry recalls sleeping in his car close to campus on numerous occasions during those three months, as to not waste precious time

commuting.

Refined, smart, elegant, expressive: a few adjectives Thornberry chose to describe his menswear collection, which also happen to suit his appearance and character.

He titled his capstone project Thornbrier. When Thornberry presented final pieces from the collection on social media, he wrote, “A collection of menswear inspired by traditional values passed down by generations before, analogous to the values inherited by those we love.”

Like most collections, Thornbrier tells a story. For his collection, Thornberry is telling a story inspired by family, love, loss and values inherited by generations passed. As Thornberry lays the garments out, he carefully smoothes material and thumbs delicate seams. He points out details of hand-picked stitching, hand-painted features with embroidered elements, herringbone

cuffs and welt pockets with flaps.

Then he takes out the showstopper. It’s a formal jacket made out of over 100 ties deconstructed and sewn together, evenly and perfectly patterned in a conglomerate of complementary, warm colors and an elegant touch of purple velvet piping.

“This was an idea I had had for a very long time,” he says. “And it was a tremendous amount of work, and I think if there was one garment that speaks to my style and design language as it is right this second, I think this would be it. It’s definitely a labor of love. I think it took about 300 hours.”

During the annual DAAP Fashion Show on April 28, Thornbrier hit the runway in front of a sold-out crowd and alongside 47 other collections created by Thornberry’s classmates. Thornberry was granted the Directors’ Choice award following this year’s 70th annual fashion show and graduation.

“It was a moment to see all of our hard work,” he said. “Not just mine, but all of the incredible designers of my class.”

The Director’s Choice highlights one senior in each area of study at DAAP. Students are awarded based on capstone projects that “demonstrate exceptional knowledge, creativity, and skill that has been applied to a focused

idea and then most effectively communicated by visual means,” according to DAAP’s website.

Laurie Wilson, associate director of student affairs at DAAP, noted Thornberry as a standout student in the class of 2023.

“[Thornberry] has this personal Ralph Lauren aesthetic, like the young American classic man,” Wilson said. “And he always looks like he just stepped out of a photo shoot. He’s been so true to his design aesthetic throughout his entire process.”

Wilson says that Thornberry got a head start in his fashion studies at DAAPcamps when he was in high school. DAAPcamps are a series of classes related to all disciplines for middle school and high school students. Courses range from fashion business and design to drawing, filmmaking and a sampler course.

When Thornberry first developed an interest in fashion, he was influenced by soccer culture and his teammates and friends at Sycamore High School, he says. In DAAPcamps, which he attended twice, he was interested in streetwear and footwear design.

“With a sport like soccer, I think style and impression in appearance is something that’s really prevalent, especially for teenage boys,” Thornberry said. “We

Grayson Thornberry’s capsule project, Thornbrier, is inspired by family, love, loss and inherited values.

PHOTO: KATIE GRIFFITH

always had to have our hair cut a certain way. There were all these stylistic points, like to wear your socks over your knees, or having your shin guard straps a certain way. So I think, just in that, I think style was always something that I was worried about. And something that was really prevalent to me whether it was on the field or off the field.”

In high school, Thornberry designed his own line of streetwear called Above All Others. He said it was an outlet for self expression and a good way to learn how to build a work ethic around a selfguided project.

“I don’t think that work was overly expressive in terms of like building something that was unique,” he says of Above All Others. “I think more so it was about creating a community based around this brand where I could give clothes to my friends and sell clothes to people I care about.”

At first, Thornberry was really invested in sneaker culture, he said. But as he found himself in a new environment at DAAP, a more genuine identity blossomed and he felt that a more mature wardrobe was true to his style. He traded his sneakers for loafers, which not only represented his personal identity but also his work and design.

“I always felt my best when I was wearing a jacket with a lapel or shoes with a wooden sole,” he said. “Funny enough. I met a few friends at DAAP that dressed a little more on the sartorial side. And that sort of was a moment where I was like, it’s okay to dress older than my age. So pretty quickly – I

transition.”

During his five-year program at DAAP, Thornberry did co-ops with Vera Wang and Todd Snyder and studied abroad at the London College of Fashion. He also worked for Romualdo Sartoria, a 55-year-old tailoring company in Madeira.

Now, at another point of transition following graduation, Thornberry said he is feeling excited and a bit scared but fortunate. He is going on to work as an assistant designer of accessories for Todd Snyder, a well-established menswear brand out of New York.

“I’m very fortunate to go back to a place that I’ve co-oped with twice,” Thornberry said. “I’m going to work at Todd Snyder in New York, with a team that I love and a brand that I love. So I’m very lucky in that aspect.”

Thornberry is dedicated to the Todd Snyder brand, as he embodies its refined, classy style and says that even five years from now he sees himself sticking with the company. Not unlike most fashion designers, with more experience he hopes to develop a successful brand of his own someday.

“Taste trumps knowledge,” he says. So far, he’s got the taste part down. And considering the accomplishments he’s achieved to date, it’s likely we’ll be seeing the name Grayson Thornberry as a future tastemaker in the world of fashion.

For more information about Grayson Thornberry, visit @graysonthornberry on Instagram.

Thornberry says that he found his own personal style as a student at DAAP.

PHOTO: KATIE GRIFFITH

Lloyd Library’s Newest Exhibit Highlights Work of Local Environmental Nonprofit Groundwork Ohio River Valley

BY MACKENZIE MANLEY

Aguilar doesn’t expect everyone who goes through the Green Team to leave as environmental scientists but rather to have a working knowledge of topics and issues facing their communities.

“For the kids that come in from these communities, they are vulnerable. Sometimes they’ll come in and they want to do the program and they’re supporting their families, in a way,” says Aguilar. “My goal is to make sure that, yes, this is a job. But when they exit the program, I want them to be more informed citizens for Cincinnati.”

At the Lloyd Library event, Edwards says they plan to give a deep dive into the organization as a whole and its various programs, including Citizen Science, Green Team and Climate Safe Neighborhoods. The latter looks at the relationship between the city’s history of redlining –– meaning the practice of race-based housing segregation –– and the current (and predicted) impact of the climate crisis on those neighborhoods.

heard.”

As for Citizen Science, Edwards says the program works with businesses, residents and the Green Team to monitor air quality. In Lower Price Hill, they placed monitors in both residential and industrial parts of the community, as well as in and outside of homes, to compare levels at different sections. According to Edwards, the program has only grown from there.

Citizen Science also has water quality programs. Green Teamers get to perform macroinvertebrate testing. Some macroinvertebrate organisms –– critters like mayflies, dragonflies, crayfish and snails –– are more sensitive to pollution than others. In water quality testing, their presence (or lack thereof) can indicate how polluted (or “clean”) any given stream site may be.

At the talk, the duo will also cover Groundwork’s partnership with the Miami Conservancy, in which they go out in the summer and collect data from four locations along the river.

Sea creatures have made their way to Ohio this spring and summer via the Lloyd Library and Museum’s exhibit The Mighty Deep: An Exploration of Sea Life. The carefullycurated exhibit features ichthyology illustrations and records of various fish, shells, crustaceans, algae, seaweed and kelp.

Walk into the Lloyd and you’ll likely notice the exhibit’s banner, just outside the adjacent gallery. On it reads a quote by nature writer and marine biologist Rachel Carson: “The sea has always challenged the minds and imagination of men and even today it remains the last great frontier of earth.”

The Mighty Deep, which runs through July 28, unearths treasures from the Lloyd Library’s collection that explore coastal environments, aquatic life and pharmaceutical marine plants. The adjacent gallery features larger, vibrant prints of a loggerhead turtle, land crab, angel fish, flying fish, rudderfish and freshwater perch. Each print in the adjacent gallery was pulled from 18thcentury naturalist Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands.

But there’s just as much to explore in Midwestern waterways and natural habitats. Museumgoers can enjoy programs throughout the exhibit’s run, including “Groundwork: Where Justice and the Environment Meet,” which is held on May 25 at 7 p.m. The event will feature Groundwork Ohio River Valley’s Jaeydah Edwards and Luis Aguilar, who will discuss the environmental

nonprofit’s initiatives.

“It’s really rewarding to work with the youth and residents to talk about water quality and what’s going on in their backyards, essentially,” says Edwards, who serves as Groundwork’s citizen science program director. “We’re in one big watershed and what everybody does affects not only Cincinnati, but it’s going into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.”

Groundwork has three goals, as stated on their website: “Pursue a future in which everyone’s neighborhood environment is green, healthy and resilient; undo legacies of poverty and racial discrimination; break the trend of widening disparity between communities that are enjoying a renaissance and communities that are experiencing disinvestment, neglect and deepening poverty.”

Groundwork has various on-theground initiatives to meet those goals. One of them is the Green Team: a program that works with local high school students to help them better understand the environment, learn green industry job skills and improve various spaces in Greater Cincinnati.

Aguilar, who directs the Green Team, says they equip students to do conservation work with other community organizations. Many of the programs are year-round, except for winter. This year, they’re aiming to have 80 to 90 kids working with them on everything from invasive species removal to restoration work to air and water quality projects.

“The climate crisis is more severe in certain neighborhoods,” says Edwards. “For example, Lower Price Hill has the lowest tree canopy coverage in the whole city of Cincinnati. Less tree canopy coverage makes it hotter, so it’s increasing the urban heat-island effect.”

Beyond finding the why, Edwards adds that they also help residents build and apply resiliency plans to fight the climate crisis; in doing so, those living within neighborhoods can voice what they want to see in their community, whether that be planting street trees, adding misting stations at bus stops or a green roof.

“People know what they want to see in their neighborhoods and they know what they want to see to make a change,” says Edwards. “But there’s a disconnect on how to make it happen. It’s very important, in my opinion, to let people know that their opinions and their voices are important and to empower them to have their voices

When speaking on the preservation of waterways here in Ohio, Aguilar says the historical context of what water sources were like pre- and post-industrialization is important. But they also ask: What can we do now? This year, Aguilar says they plan to amp up the water quality aspect of their program, immersing youth even more into the work.

“Where we come in is not to scare our audience, not to push them away from it, but to involve them,” says Aguilar. “I think the significance of our Citizen Science program –– that Jaeydah is operating –– is that it provides an opportunity for them to engage at a fundamental state.”

“Groundwork: Where Justice and the Environment Meet” will be held at 7 p.m. on May 25 at Lloyd Library, 917 Plum Street, Downtown. Info: lloydlibrary.org.

Groundwork Ohio River Valley educates local high school students about conservation work.

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY

Groundwork Ohio River Valley wants to help Cincinnatians build and apply resiliency plans to help fight the climate crisis.

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY

Energy and Anarchy: The Dazzling Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical Comes to the Aronoff

PREVIEW BY RICK PENDER

The touring production of one of Broadway’s most spectacular recent shows, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, is in Cincinnati for two weeks. The show opened on Broadway in July 2019. It shut down during the pandemic but came back strong when Broadway reopened, winning 10 Tony Awards in 2021, including Best Musical. It’s still running in New York City, racking up more than 900 performances so far. The show’s first tour launched early this month. Cincinnati is its second stop.

The show is an onstage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hit film from 2001. Recreating that dazzling cinematic experience that featured Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent and John Leguizamo was a big challenge, but it has been clearly met by scenic designer Derek McLane, who won a Tony Award for the show’s set designs.

McLane earned the design assignment in 2018. He had seen the 2001 movie and was struck by Catherine Martin’s spectacular design work, which earned Academy Awards for both Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. “I remember being in

awe,”McLane told CityBeat, “just struck by the whole view of the world in that movie and how it was shot. I did not go back and watch it as I began to work on the design because I really wanted to come up with my own version. But there were certain things I remembered vividly that I thought I should pay homage to in my design.” After he did his initial design, he watched the film again. “There were a couple of things that I picked up on in the movie, but when you actually look at the movie and our show side-by-side they are very different.”

McLane met with Martin and her husband, Luhrmann, who directed the movie. “They’re very much creative collaborators on all their projects [including La Bohème on Broadway in 2002 and 2003], and she was incredibly gracious and generous. I showed my design to her and Baz for their input, and they’ve been amazing from start to finish.”

McLane called the movie “iconographic in terms of its design. That put a certain amount of pressure on me because I was keenly aware that I did not want to disappoint the movie’s

many fans. Knowing that it had to be different for the stage, I still needed to meet their expectations. I also wanted to surprise people and not just do a faithful adaptation. That was the aesthetic challenge for me.

“When you enter the theater for our production you feel like you are going into the Moulin Rouge,” McLane said. “That’s partly the visuals of what you see, and there’s also the music you hear when you go in. The show really does take you on a journey, which is really exciting in the theater when that happens. But that journey starts the minute you walk in the auditorium. It’s a lovely, transportive experience.”

The legendary 19th-century nightclub at the foot of Paris’s Montmartre hill was frequented by a broad spectrum of Parisian society, from ordinary folks to wealthy foreigners and avant garde artists. The fashionable but bohemian venue offered exotic and varied performances by singers, dancers and acrobats. Many acts became famous, especially the ribald French “cancan” with a kick line and high-flying petticoats, which was an instant sensation.

For his stage design, McLane created

“a series of heart-shaped portals onstage. Versions of those exist in the movie, but they’re quite different, and you don’t see them for very long. You see much more of them in our production. They’re more detailed in our show production than in the movie because they weren’t such a big part of the movie.” He also designed a heartshaped window for the apartment of Satine (the role of a star singer played by Kidman in the extravagant movie).

Working closely with the show’s director Alex Timbers, McLane said, “I tried to capture a lot of the energy and anarchy of the movie. But obviously we’re on stage, and we had to do it in a totally different way than it’s done on film.

“In the movie there were these really crazy edit things, panning shots,” McLane pointed out. “That’s a part of the energy of the film. You obviously can’t do that onstage. You can’t move scenery that fast, and you don’t have a moving camera since the audience is sitting in their seats. One of the ways we tried to do that is that just about everything in the set lights up in one way or another. Sometimes it has a little bit of the energy of a pinball machine. The scenery can’t move the way it does in the movie, but the lighting can. By embedding so much lighting in the scenery — light bulbs and neon and things like that — it gives you something to make radically different looks from within a song. That also helps create the insanity that is part of the show.”

The show’s opening sequence immediately cranks up the energy with music from the film but also more contemporary numbers. It’s a mash-up of tunes by Patti LaBelle (“Lady Marmalade”), OutKast (“So Fresh, So Clean”), Barrett Strong (“Money, That’s What I Want”), David Bowie (“Let’s Dance”), The Talking Heads (“Burning Down the House”) and Fatboy Slim (“Because We Can”).

“It’s a lot of music,” McLane said. “Sonya Tayeh did a lot of amazing choreography, so there’s a lot of movement. And a lot of lighting cues. I think it’s pretty exciting.” He also cites the choreography and lighting at the beginning of the second act, which kicks off with Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” “It’s just such incredibly high energy that I get a thrill every time I see it.”

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, presented by Broadway in Cincinnati, will run May 17-June 4 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St., Downtown. Info: cincinnati.broadway.com.

The cast of the North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

PHOTO: MATTHEW MURPHY FOR MURPHYMADE

FOOD & DRINK

Hitting the Jackpot

Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati’s Council Oak offers steakhouse favorites with a few tasty signature dishes.

REVIEW BY PAMA MITCHELL

I’m not much of a gamer, but if you tell me there’s an interesting restaurant inside Cincinnati’s downtown casino, that catches my attention.

Council Oak Steaks & Seafood, a steakhouse, is the featured dining facility along with the more casual food choices at Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati.

There’s a story behind the name. Since 2007, the Hard Rock company — 18 casinos and 26 hotels nationwide — has been owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a federally recognized Indian tribe and the only tribe in America that never signed a peace treaty, according to its website.

Council Oak is a species of oak, and the tribe conducts meetings and other events around an historic specimen of the tree on their reservation in Hollywood, Fla.

The rebranding of JACK Casino took place in 2019, but it endured slow times during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Over the past year the Hard Rock management team has rebranded

and revised the casino’s food service, according to vice president of food and beverage, Morgan Rhule. Thanks to these revisions, all their food is now “from scratch,” he said, made fresh daily. They recently opened a unique coffee shop, Constant Grind, with coffee sourced from Italy and fresh, in-house pastries made daily. The casual eatery, Brick’d Pizza, was doing brisk business on the Saturday night we visited.

We made our way past the bells and whistles of the gaming machines to Council Oak for an elegant, complete meal with attentive service that almost rises to the level of pampering. The quality of service we received at dinner was remarkable — an impression I’ve also heard from friends who have dined there. While so many establishments are struggling post-pandemic to put together the kind of seamless service patrons used to expect in fine-dining environments, the team at Council Oak has managed to assemble a top-notch

dining room staff.

When it was JACK Casino, its fancy restaurant was Prism, a small steakhouse chain out of Detroit. Late in 2019, Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati transformed the restaurant into the casino chain’s ninth Council Oak and instituted a number of changes. There’s now a more open kitchen, a feature I’ve always appreciated — it’s so much fun to watch what goes into producing dinner for the multitudes. Two new

wood-burning ovens supplement the grills to add different flavors to many dishes, especially fish entrees and sides.

As Council Oak, they’ve instituted an in-house dry aging program. The meat receives 21-120 days of aging, which concentrates the flavor of the highquality beef. The meat is then butchered in-house, and steaks are cut to order.

There’s also a renewed emphasis on wine, with over 250 labels — strong on big reds to accompany the steaks,

Council Oak features a stylish interior and open kitchen.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HARD ROCK CASINO CINCINNATI

Council Oak serves up steak, seafood, shareable sides and decadent desserts.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HARD ROCK CASINO CINCINNATI

of course. Council Oak received its first Wine Spectator Award this year, according to Rhule.

The dinner menu resembles the offerings at many other steakhouses. I’ve wondered why they’re all so similar, and assume it’s because that’s what patrons expect from a steakhouse. They want the wedge salads; expensive cuts of prime beef; large, rich, shareable sides; cabernet sauvignon at all price points; and a couple of over-the-top dessert choices.

Council Oak checks all those boxes, plus a crab cake appetizer, Caesar salad, oysters Rockefeller and lobster bisque.

The only notable addition I could discern came from Rhule, who said they’ve recently focused on adding vegetarian dishes. “We’re not just catering to our carnivore-loving friends,” he said, and listed such vegetarian items as polenta and cauliflower steak. I told him that I didn’t see those dishes on the menu, but he said that they have been off-menu specials. Our server didn’t mention any vegetarian specials, so I have to conclude that they are not reliably available, at least not as of yet.

But you might ask, who goes to a steakhouse expecting vegetarian entrees? Not many, I would concede, but it still strikes me as a good move to improve on such offerings, since not everyone in a group of diners will want meat or seafood.

Our party of four were fine with the beef and seafood dishes. We started with a couple of salads. Both the iceberg wedge and panzanella salads were large enough to split. Of those, I preferred the panzanella, with olives, pickled fennel, plenty of croutons and roasted garlic vinaigrette. When the kitchen split the iceberg salad, it came out chopped rather than as a wedge but still was layered instead of tossed.

We did love the yeasty rolls topped

with sea salt our server brought as soon as we were seated. They went great with our cocktails. I would almost say those rolls were my favorite thing all night.

My companion’s filet mignon obviously benefited from dry aging and was delicious, as was another friend’s braised beef short rib. Two fish entrees, roasted Chilean sea bass and Faroe Island salmon, were nicely sauced and not overcooked, as happens all too often with fish dishes. The only side dish we tried was fried Brussels sprouts, which seems to have supplanted such old standbys as creamed spinach on steakhouse menus. These sprouts were a little undercooked and therefore not as tender as I prefer.

The star of the dessert menu is black raspberry baked Alaska, created with the folks at Graeter’s. So, yes, it’s that black raspberry. We were hoping to dig in to what sounded like a winner, but our server gave us the sad news that they were out of that dessert. Apparently, they want to be sure of its freshness and make only a set number each day. Grumpily, I thought it was too early in the evening to run out of the house’s signature dessert. The sweets we settled for included a variation on cheesecake that didn’t resemble any cheesecake we could recall.

We made our way to the parking garage through acres of flashing lights and the beeps, chimes and jangly music of the gaming machines. I still wanted that baked Alaska, which of course I didn’t really need after such a rich and satisfying meal. One day, maybe I’ll return, sit at the bar, and tuck into the elusive dessert treat.

Council Oak Steaks & Seafood, 1000 Broadway St., Downtown. Info: hardrockcasinocincinnati.com.

Council Oak received its first Wine Spectator Award this year.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HARD ROCK CASINO CINCINNATI

Themed Bars and Restaurants in Greater Cincinnati Everyone Needs to Try

BY CITYBEAT STAFF

Bircus Brewing

322 Elm St., Ludlow; 39 W. Pike St., Covington Ludlow, Kentucky’s nonexistent craft beer scene sent in the clowns, leading to the launch of Bircus Brewing Co., a branch of an original concept from Ghent, Belgium. Pronounce it like ‘beer-cuss,’ a hybrid of beer and circus, as the brew shares the limelight with carnival performances at the taproom. Performers can do everything from breathing fire to flying on the trapeze. The brewery’s Covington location also offers up popular wood-fired pizza and weekly drink specials.

Schoolhouse Restaurant

choose your faction (are you Team Prof. McCaw or Team Capt. Dory?) and get to sipping on some rum. If exploring isn’t your game, you can kick back with one of Tiki Tiki Bang Bang’s punch bowls or islandthemed cocktails.

Symposium

2835 Woodburn Ave., East Walnut Hills

We all need to cosplay a little bit to keep life interesting, even if that doesn’t necessarily look like dressing up in costume. In Greater Cincinnati, that could, however, look like checking out one of the really cool themed bars and restaurants in the area.

From the over-the-top experience that immerses you in your favorite movie to the subtler themes that come out through the menu, Cincinnati has a number of bars and restaurants ready for you to have a good time and fuel your imagination a little bit.

Galactic Cantina/Cosmic Gorilla

1834 Race St., Over-the-Rhine

Cosmic Gorilla is a comic book shop with a menu of comic-book drinks, like the Deadpool (Tito’s vodka, spicy bloody Mary mix, dill pickle brine and celery bitters) and the Dark Knight (espresso vodka, cold-brew coffee, almond milk, peanut butter fluff and Cocoa Puffs). Behind the shop, you’ll find their pop-up bar, which is now sporting a Star Wars theme as Galactic Cantina.

Overlook Lodge

6083 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge

Luckily this Overlook is much more fun than the hotel and isn’t haunted…that we know of. The Overlook Lodge is a rustic, neighborhood bar based on The Shining that features a seasonal cocktail menu along with a list of domestic, imported and craft beers; rotating taps; and wine you can order from the non-ghostly bartender. You can listen to live music here on Friday

and Saturday nights to keep Jack from becoming a dull boy, and hopefully you won’t spot any creepy twins at the end of a hallway.

Ghost Baby

1314 Republic St., Over-the-Rhine

This subterranean nightclub/music venue is located several stories below Vine Street in a 170-yearold lagering tunnel formerly used by Champion Brewing (beer was aged and cooled in lagering tunnels before the advent of refrigeration). The historic, dimly-lit space, which has been vacant since the 1850s, features soaring ceilings with stone archways and decor that is adorned with “crushed velvet and unpredictability,” according to the bar. Guests can expect an immersive experience with art, design, cocktails and live music.

Level One Bar + Arcade

1331 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine

Time to level up, Cincinnati. Level One Bar + Arcade features a lineup of pinball machines and old-school arcade games, some of which come from owner Paul Burkhart’s original collection that he’s been curating for 25 years. You’ll find over 50 games, a dozen pinball machines, multiplayer games and two skeeball lanes, plus a rotating list of rare titles. At the bar, there are two dozen local beers on tap along with themed cocktails – including drinks named after Pong and Frogger. Food isn’t served at Level One, but Burkhart encourages guests to order takeout from local restaurants and vendors.

8031 Glendale Milford Road, Camp Dennison

Built in the 1860s, this former Hamilton County schoolhouse was bought and saved from demolition by Donald and Phyllis Miller, who turned it into the Schoolhouse Restaurant. Keeping the schoolhouse theme, the restaurant features windows, yellow oak floors and blackboards, on which the menu is written, from the late 1800s. The menu features American comfort food like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, smoked ham, country-fried steak and homemade meatloaf.

Sundry and Vice

18 W 13th St., Over-the-Rhine

This apothecary-themed cocktail bar has drinks that lend more textures, colors and flavors than a classic list of libations in a warm, vintage-vibes atmosphere. The list of “tinctures, tonics and remedies” includes the Magical Mystery (rye whiskey, strawberry, amaro, lemon, egg white and bitters), the Night Cure (bourbon, honey, lemon and grapefruit oil) and Penicillin (blended scotch, honey, ginger and lemon), among a menu of other crafty cocktails, beer and wine.

Tiki Tiki Bang Bang

965 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills

Take a trip to the tropics at this hidden gem in the heart of Walnut Hills. Tiki Tiki Bang Bang is the only bar in Cincinnati that will take you on an island exploration without leaving the Ohio River Valley via the Discovery Rum Club. Ask your bartender about it to buy the super secret book ($25 with a special flight of rum to get you started),

Sporting a relaxed, Hemingway cafe-style atmosphere, wine bar and cafe Symposium features three bars, a main dining room with a lounge known as The Nest, a private dining and event space and a small outdoor patio for early birds and night owls alike. Each bar serves something different: one is drinks, another is coffee and the final has food. Owners J. Matt Nickels and chef Aaron Owens told CityBeat they want Symposium to also embody the stories of old Italy told to them by family. The drinks menu places a focus on avian-inspired cocktails, called “Birdtails,” like the mojito Macaw; the Meadowlark, their take on a Moscow Mule; or the gin and tonic Magpie.

Tokyo Kitty

575 Race St., Downtown

Sing your heart out at this Japanesestyle karaoke bar. You can enjoy some sake or a seasonal cocktail featuring Japanese liquor in the lounge before dancing or singing. Or, rent a private room where you can sing “My Heart Will Go On” among people who won’t judge you too harshly. The private rooms also come with a special drinkdelivery robot to help you get that liquid courage going before your big performance.

Pirate’s Cove Tropical Bar & Grill

4609 Kellogg Ave., East End Pirate’s Cove is perfect for a staycation or if you just want to feel like you’re on a beach somewhere. This paradise-themed restaurant has the occasional pirate roaming the grounds for the kids, signature cocktails, Key West-inspired cuisine and live music. The patio overlooks the Ohio River and the Four Seasons Marina.

Nostalgia Wine & Jazz Lounge

1432 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine

This intimate, 1940s-inspired lounge has the perfect ambiance

Sugar N’ Spice whips up delicious morning eats with mid-century flair.

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

for a romantic night out or even just a solo date. Nostalgia Wine & Jazz Lounge offers an inclusive approach to wine culture, focusing on minority and women winemakers and producers. They offer 40 wines available by the glass or bottle, including eight on tap, and curated flights, cocktails, spirits and charcuterie boards – the best combination to nosh on while listening to live jazz, soul, hip-hop and R&B music.

Sugar N’ Spice

4381 Reading Road, Paddock Hills (Temporarily Closed); 1203 Sycamore St., Pendleton; 10275 Summit Parkway, Blue Ash

This breakfast diner has been serving up delicious early-morning eats like their wispy-thin pancakes and fluffy omelets since 1941. Decked out in an array of bright colors, breakfastthemed murals and mid-century flair, Sugar N’ Spice also offers another fun pastime: you get to pick out a little rubber ducky after every meal.

Lonely Pine Steakhouse

6085 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge

This steakhouse, located next door to The Shining-themed Overlook Lodge, is inspired by Midcentury Modern styling and the spirit of America’s great landscapes. The menu features ribeyes, strips and rare cuts, along with steakhouse sides, cocktails and a “bold” wine list. All can be savored while taking in the Route 66-style atmosphere.

Somerset

139 E McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine

Somerset offers a lush oasis that brings to mind faraway places. Tucked away in Over-the-Rhine, the bar features a greenhouse bar, outdoor garden, a converted doubledecker bus that serves up a globetrotting menu of street eats and decor from around the world. Indoors, there are two bar spaces, one being the plant-filled conservatory and the other located in their cozy lounge. Outside, you can enter the garden through a set of antique gates from India where you’ll find tropical plants, unique seating nooks and imported pieces from co-founder and creative lead James Fisher’s collection, as well as the collections of his friends and family. It’s the perfect place to recharge and bask in the worldly ambiance while enjoying a delicious drink from Somerset’s oneof-a-kind cocktail menu.

HomeMakers Bar

39 E. 13th St., Over-the-Rhine

Sip like you’re in a magazine. With a “slightly retro-mostly modern” vibe,

Homemakers is a colorful, fun place to find your next favorite cocktail. The menu is inspired by domestic drinks of the 1950s-1970s and features nontraditional spirits with a cocktail program featuring lesserknown liqueurs, herbal and fortified wines and no-proof cocktails. There are also classic drinks complemented by modern and refreshing takes.

Hi-Fi Cincy

941 Pavilion St., Mt. Adams

If the feeling of getting a little drunk or stoned on your living room floor and popping your favorite vinyl into your record player while the rain falls outside were a bar, it would be Hi-Fi. This music-themed bar embodies the nostalgia of analog music and is itself almost like a giant crate of old records you can sift through while sipping on a handcrafted cocktail, listening to the songs that make up the soundtrack of your life.

Northside Yacht Club

4231 Spring Grove Ave., Northside

A little bit naughty nautical, a little bit rock ‘n roll, Northside Yacht Club serves up delicious sandwiches, burgers, wings and fries, as well as vegan and gluten-free options. They also have an extensive craft cocktail list – including their infamous peanut butter tequila shooter – as well as brunch during the weekend.

Hap’s Irish Pub

3510 Erie Ave., Hyde Park

Named after its former owner’s nickname, “Happy,” Hap’s boasts that it is the biggest Guinness distributor in the area and calls itself “the most authentic Irish pub you will find outside of the Green Isle.” Whether you want to pick up a casual game of darts, play a song on the jukebox or enjoy the dog-friendly outdoor patio, a visit to Hap’s is bound to be a good time.

La Ofrenda

30 Findlay St., Over-the-Rhine

Gorilla Cinema Presents, the group that created Tokyo Kitty and Cosmic Gorilla (among others on this list), helms this bar that nods to retro Mexican cinema. Inspired by the owner’s grandparents and his time growing up in Texas, the bar serves up tequila, mezcal and sotol in its small indoor space. There’s also an outdoor patio.

Hofbrauhaus

200 Third St., Newport

This German bier hall is modeled after the original Hofbrauhaus in Munich, featuring house-brewed beer, German fare like soft-dough pretzels with bier cheese and wurst

sausages, and servers in traditional dirndls. You’ll often find the sounds of German polka music, cheering and laughter drifting out into the streets, especially from the biergarten.

Fifty West Burger Bar

7605 Wooster Pike, Columbia Township Roadtrip- and Americana-themed

Fifty West Burger Bar has tons of activities to enjoy, like several sand volleyball courts, cornhole and pickleball, plus an ice skating rink in the winter. The menu features breadand-butter diner specialties like classic cheeseburgers, flat-top hot dogs and loaded crinkle-cut fries. Don’t miss the 12 specialty burgers named for the 12 states that U.S. Route 50 runs through. Grab a house-made root beer or orange soda to wash it all down, or choose from a wide range of Fifty West canned, bottled or draft beers.

Queen City Exchange

32 W. Court St., Downtown Buy, buy, buy and drink, drink, drink at this stock market-themed bar. Queen City Exchange has 41 beers on tap – all of whose prices fluctuate based on demand. A beer can go anywhere between $3.50 to $9 depending on how bargoers are feeling about it that night. The only difference is you can’t sell your beer back if its brewery’s CEO gets caught insider trading.

Saturday Morning Vibes

3539 Reading Road, Suite 101, Avondale

If you crave those memories of grabbing a bowl of cereal and plopping yourself in front of the TV to watch Saturday morning cartoons, this new cereal bar can help you relive those days. The nostalgia is real at Saturday Morning Vibes as it features cereals from around the world, as well as

toppings like strawberries, whipped cream and more to add to your bowl. Their menu also has avocado toast, waffles, muffins, bagels, fresh fruit and local coffee.

Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey

9039 US-42, Suite H, Union

This restaurant is inspired by the trappings of the American frontier and California’s 19th-century gold rush and is helmed by chef Christian Gill, who has appeared on several cooking competition shows. At Boomtown, the true delight comes plated. The signature biscuit isn’t a run-of-the-mill, thousand-layer, flaked baked good: it’s a buttery, soft disk with a close crumb and a browned, lightly bubbled top that no breakfast chain can compete with. Order the Gold Shoes to get this delightful biscuit topped with delicious sawmill, peppercorn, mushroom or goetta gravy.

Cock & Bull

601 Main St., Covington; 275 E. Sharon Road, Glendale

With two locations, Cock & Bull brings the spirit of the U.K. to Cincinnati with a name derived from two of the oldest pubs in London. With a beer menu featuring stouts and porters, and award-winning fish and chips, you’ll feel just like you’re in jolly old England.

Twenties

2733 Woodburn Ave., East Walnut Hills

This cocktail joint is the quintessential speakeasy with its 1920s vibes and basement decked out with leather couches and booths tucked under stone arches. For those who just want to drink in peace, Twenties offers a laid-back, judgment-free atmosphere with classic and craft cocktails and timeless music.

Descend several stories below Vine Street to find speakeasy Ghost Baby.

PHOTO: APARNA AVASARALA

MUSIC

A Note of Good

Cincinnati nonprofit Concerted is incentivizing locals to volunteer by cashing in volunteer hours for tickets to their favorite events.

BY KATRINA ERESMAN

Most folks know that volunteering is a win-win — good for the community, and good for the individual. A 2021 New York Times article titled “An Overlooked Cure for Loneliness” points to studies that suggest volunteering reduces stress, loneliness, and isolation. But if you’re not already in the habit of volunteering, getting started can feel daunting.

Concerted is aiming to change that. The Cincinnati-based “nonprofit social tech platform” makes it incredibly easy to find volunteer opportunities nearby, and it adds an irresistible incentive — free tickets to your favorite events.

The process is simple: make an account on the Concerted website, search for volunteer opportunities by neighborhood, complete your volunteer hours, then cash them in for tickets. Concerted partners with most of the area’s event promoters, so there are tickets to everything from Cincinnati Reds games to festivals at Riverbend Music Center. Most events will cost you two volunteer hours. “This is a one-of-one. There’s no other organization doing this,”

says Concerted founder and executive director Sarah Murray. Murray launched Concerted in Cincinnati this past January, but she’s been dreaming up the concept for a while now. She’s had the idea (and a time-stamped note on her phone to prove it) for ten years.

“I just saw this gap of nonprofits struggling to retain volunteers, to get people involved,” Murray says, “and then the lack of accessibility to shows.”

Murray’s background is a conglomeration of experiences that fuel the vision of Concerted. She’s been in the music industry since she was 17, working everywhere from indie music label Saddle Creek Records to Spotify. She has a Masters of Public Administration with a focus in Public Policy and Nonprofit Management. And after college, she did AmeriCorps for two years, working at University of Tennessee Office of Sustainability.

“[I] saw how important service is,” Murray says. “Not only to the communities you’re serving, but also [for] like dismantling beliefs that you have about systems and how people live.”

Since its launch, Concerted has helped nonprofits like Last Mile

Food Rescue and COVunity Fridge in Covington find and retain more volunteers. Murray says that their nonprofit partners have shared positive feedback. For instance, in the first three months of partnership with Hoxworth Blood Center, volunteers donated enough blood to save 400 lives, according to Murray.

Nonprofits often struggle to build a team of recurring volunteers, which is ideal when training or background checks are required for each new recruit. The Concerted platform helps get around that challenge by allowing nonprofits to list either episodic volunteer opportunities or recurring volunteer opportunities. This also makes it easier for members to build a habit of volunteer work.

“The nonprofits are citing really good retention,” Murray says.

Murray — who is just as much a proponent of concert-going as she is of volunteering — explains that accessibility to live events is also a key part of the Concerted mission.

“There are stats around sense of self, sense of belonging, sense of community when you both volunteer and go to live events, because you’re connecting with your community in real life,” Murray says.

Concerted works to make events more accessible in two ways, starting with the free tickets. According to Eventbrite, the average ticket price in Ohio between January 2021 and June 2022 was $39.

“It’s getting more and more difficult to get into shows based on cost and the economy and inflation,” says Murray, who gave up live shows due to costs during her two years in AmeriCorps.

But a $50 Matchbox Twenty ticket will only cost you one volunteer hour. And if you want to embrace your inner emo kid at the next Ohio Is For Lovers festival, you can bypass the $113.75 ticket and instead spend three hours tutoring kids or volunteering at a summer camp. Plus, you’ll benefit from the

Concerted volunteers making cards for the senior citizen engagement and joy-spreading program, Cards for Seniors.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CONCERTED

“There’s just such a wonderful community in Cincinnati that I think is very, very underrated from all the places that I’ve lived,” Sarah Murray says. “Cincinnati is not a major music market, but I think it’s a really wonderful city that has embraced us.”

“helper’s high” that researchers link to volunteering.

“Finding ways to use live entertainment and things that excite people to really catalyze service and togetherness is cool,” Murray says.

Murray also points out that making things more accessible could increase diversity at events, which may help build cultural tolerance.

“The more people you get into the same rooms for a show or to a baseball game or to volunteer, they’re going to talk to each other,” Murray says. “They’re going to get to know each other, and hopefully foster a bit more tolerance, because we all need more of that right now.”

The other move towards accessibility involves a new partnership with Go Metro. Now, also thanks to Concerted, Murray says “volunteers can get to and from both their volunteer events and live events for free through Go Metro.” Volunteers simply download the Transit app, text Concerted the email address they used to create their Transit account, and then the Concerted team gives them a free pass to get to the concert that they earned through volunteer hours. The website will be updated with icons that show the most

accessible opportunities by bus.

Greater accessibility is good news for artists and promoters, too. They want more people to attend their events, and Concerted makes that possible.

“We partner with event promoters and artists themselves, and they’ve all been really stoked to find ways to get more folks to their shows without, you know, breaking the bank,” says Murray, who makes it clear that artists are still getting paid. Concerted covers the cost of the tickets that they give to their volunteers.

“We’re going to find a way to make sure that our artists are supported regardless,” Murray says. “That’s something that’s very important to us, too, because without the artists none of this would exist.”

Concerted has partnered with over 150 nonprofits, and continues to grow. This summer, the platform will expand to serve four new cities — Boise, Idaho; Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; and Louisville, Kentucky. Murray says they’ll keep their headquarters in Cincinnati regardless of how much they grow.

For more information about Concerted, visit concertedusa.org.

Concerted founder Sarah Murray

PHOTO: KELSEY HUME

SOUND ADVICE

would like you to sing pretty much in the first couple of beats. But I like coming in late and singing whatever I feel like singing when I get there! Jazz is the perfect place for me to do that.”

Rickie Lee Jones plays Ludlow Garage at 8:30 p.m. May 18. Info: ludlowgaragecincinnati.com. (Greg Gaston)

RICO NASTY

May 27 • Top Cats

Rico Nasty is a gritty glam icon known for her boisterous, punk-trap raps atop arrays of instrumentals that mesh exuberance and standoffishness — a sound that she has dubbed “sugar trap.” The interplay of screamed brusqueness and purring playfulness make Rico Nasty’s music come off as a soundtrack to an intense life with the extremes of emotions put on display.

RICKIE LEE JONES

May 18 • Ludlow Garage

The next time you’re driving around Clifton’s Gaslight neighborhood, check out the music murals painted on various buildings on Ludlow Avenue. These are music legends who have played the historic Ludlow Garage, such as Albert King, Captain Beefheart and Iggy Pop. Rickie Lee Jones’ mural stands above the street too with her in a boho beret. The veteran singer-songwriter-chanteuse returns to play the Ludlow Garage on May 18 with a jazz quintet. This is her opening tour date to celebrate the release of Pieces of Treasure, her new record of Great American Songbook classics.

From her classic, self-titled debut in 1979 featuring the hit, “Chuck E’s in Love,” to her last release in 2019, Kicks, Jones has blended pop, jazz and folk/blues in her own inimitably soulful way. Equally adept on piano and guitar, the New Orleansbased singer often plays solo and delivers intimate, expressive versions of her own standards. Not just a great songwriter, Jones is also an excellent interpreter as you can hear on her handful of covers’ records — like the new Pieces of Treasure. Her quicksilver, emotional voice is a natural for this collection, and though her music has always been steeped in jazz overtones — this is her first jazz record of Great American Songbook torch songs, from “Just in Time” to “One For My Baby.”

Jones explains why she loves singing jazz to The Believer last December: “I’m so far behind the beat, and that’s hard in pop music, because pop and folk music

Effortless blends of flowery and poppy flows with militant and antagonistic grunge overtones make Rico Nasty one of the most unmistakable and puzzling acts in hip hop. This conflated air about her is sewn in her fashion too. The juxtaposition is apparent when scrolling through her music catalog or social media. Doubtless, she is a creature of outward reflection of her swaying internal states.

The juxtaposition of ambivalence and harsh emotion cuts through on her latest album, 2022’s Las Ruinas, more than ever. And the range of sounds that appear on the tracklist scatter into experimental, digital-inspired sounds that make the dizziness feel cohesive. This album, despite its synthetic vocal modulations and disjointed instrumentals, feels utterly human and raw.

Vocals dressed in a sparkly finish lend to the multifaceted emotions — sometimes pitch-corrected squeaks cast her as a lovably aggressive cartoon character, other times scratchy sheaths atop her vocals add to poignant vulnerability, and of course, straight-forward, brazen bars remind listeners of the underlying confidence at play.

We’ll see if some of the sentimental tracks that rounded out Las Ruinas make it on the setlist at her Cincinnati show, but their inclusion would make for a seismically radial spectrum of emotion.

A supporting cast of women emcees will open the show. Clip will add to the evening’s gentleness with her euphoric, lo-fi alt-rap sound. Omeretta the Great will sear the stage with her sharp-cut bars brimming with confidence.

Rico Nasty plays Top Cats at 8 p.m. May 27. Info: topcatscincy.com.

(Killian Baarlaer)

Rickie Lee Jones

PHOTO: SCHORLE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Rico Nasty

PHOTO: TOGLENN, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

FORIS

May 27 • Madison Live!

Some projects seem destined to be, and FORIS is one of them. The experimental electronic duo includes artists Johnny Glover (Audley) and Nathan Tipton (Junior Astronaut). Glover and Tipton never connected in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. But years later, after independently relocating to Chicago, they found each other on social media and decided to meet up on top of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

During their rooftop rendezvous, the duo established their mutual interest in experimenting with “meticulously crafted sound design,” as described by Glover in an interview with CincyMusic earlier this year.

“I had been on a quest for a while to find a sound in-between the softness of singer/ songwriter music, the maximalism and sound design of experimental electronic music, and the polyrhythmic technicality of metalcore,” Tipton told CincyMusic in the same interview. “Meeting up and creating with Johnny felt like a great outlet to make this happen.”

Glover and Tipton had their first writing session soon after, and quickly found their collaborative voice. This past January, they debuted their first release, “BREACH.” The four-track EP offers 17 minutes of sonic intrigue. Playful and detailed compositions feature a mixture of guitar, emotive vocals and electronic sounds, calling to mind acts like Animal Collective and The Books.

In March, FORIS released an album of remixes, featuring collaborators like GrandAce and Moonbeau.

With a slew of recordings out in the world, FORIS turns their attention to live performances. The group will return for their second show at Madison Live! on May 27. They’ll be joined by Cincinnati hip hop greats Patterns of Chaos, psych rock band General Baxter and Sylmar, who served as the backing band for Glover’s project Audley.

FORIS plays Madison Live! at 8 p.m. May 27. Info: madisontheater.com. (Katrina Eresman)

LOUIS TOMLINSON

June 3 • ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park

Former/lifelong One Directioner Louis Tomlinson is touring in support of his sophomore solo album and will be stopping in Cincinnati in June. It’s not everyday that you see a wildly popular boy band separate so that each member can go on and have their own successful solo careers, yet the boys of One Direction have proven it can be done. Thanks in no small part to their legion of adoring fans, that’s exactly

what Tomlinson and his former bandmates have done.

While Tomlinson was often voted “the funny one” by fans during his days in the band, he’s not without depth. That’s never been more apparent than in his newest album, Faith in The Future, and documentary, All of Those Voices. While the other lads have leaned on their roots in pop, Tomlinson’s sophomore album sounds decidedly more alternative. The album’s starting track, “The Greatest”, is anthemic

and emotional, relying on a chanting chorus and beat that trips over itself. Meanwhile, “Out Of My System” plows through you, building intensity across its short run in that familiar early 2000s way. The new documentary, which opened in March to solid reviews and heartfelt messages from his bandmates, takes a peak at what drove Tomlinson this far and inspired the heart in each of his albums.

If you’ve seen the wild fan videos of concerts from his former bandmates, take

note: Don’t expect anything too flashy from Tomlinson. While just as engaging, professionally delivered and memorable, Tomlinson’s shows tend to be stripped back. They lean entirely on his music and cheeky personality and inspire a bit wilder response in the crowd. Also notable: In Tomlinson’s world, middle fingers sometimes tend to mean, “I love you.”

Louis Tomlinson plays the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park at 7 p.m. June 3. Info: livenation.com. (Deirdre Kaye)

Louis Tomlinson

PHOTO: AVA LAMB

FORIS

PHOTO: FACEBOOK.COM-EVENTS

CROSSWORD

Across

1.  Similar to

5.  It’s a lie

8.  Badder than bad

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36. Passing fancy

37. Woman’s name that means “strong”

38. Gateway to a waterworld, perhaps?

64. Had a sense

Down

1.  Type of tea

28. Not good, but not bad either

29. Trade some punches

30. Fist bumps

31. “Conversations in Sicily” author Vittorini

13. Warren in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

14. “Pay close attention to”

15. River through Basel

16. Source of temporary invincibility?

18. Make some adjustments to

19. Twerking part

20. Whence Goya’s Duchess

21. Park rangers?

22. Journey made after taking something that’ll double your size?

25. Almost imperceptible

26. Shake, as a tail

27. “Gimme a G-D break!”

30. “It’s Diner Time” advertiser

33. Certain action after punching a “?” block?

35. Comic interviewer who says, “big up yourself.”

41. Big name in vaccines

43. Steel wool pad

44. Kimono accessory

45. Call to action?

46. Folks who love getting the ability to shoot fireballs?

51. Stuffed Mexican dish

54. Runner-turned-representative Jim

55. Cute dog nickname

56. Spanish rave island

57. Motivation to find a way to skip a few worlds?

59. Entrepreneur Thiel

60. Lenovo rival

61. Lenovo rival

62. They get pushed around at the gym

63. Ball girl

2.  ___ chicken (Japanese delicacy)

3.  “The bidding’s all yours”

4.  “It’s Been a Minute” channel

5.  Branding specialist?

6.  Best-of-the-best

7.  Barrels ___ day (energy metric)

8.  Call before the court

9.  Puppy

10. Piccolo’s cousin

11. Tight-knit group

12. “We’re game!”

14. “Things could be worse”

17. Event to wear a lampshade, maybe

21. Faux’s opposite

23. Door part

24. Having no depth

27. No. on a mouthwash bottle

32. Shots in a bottle

33. Is able to

34. Snack chip

36. “Just sayin’,” initially

39. Zimbabwean currencies

40. Philharmonic reed

41. Some ads

42. Evil spirit

45. Spicy barbecue application

46. A bit startled

47. Wipe clean

48. Numbers on a tag

49. Balancing tool

50. Give off

51. They might go into a jar jokingly labeled “college fund”

52. First person killed in the Bible

53. Biting bug

57. Large chunk

58. Its symbol features an eagle and a crown: Abbr.

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