Cleveland Magazine - November 2022

FEATURED

OUR MISSING HEARTS Celeste Ng's third novel explores a polarized version of our world. By Jacqueline Marino

AT HOME & ABANDONED Local photographer Johnny Joo brings new life to long forgotten buildings. By Anthony Elder

ON THE COVER

45 WAYS TO EMBRACE WINTER A guide to getting out and making the most of the snowy season. Story by Laura DeMarco and Cleveland Magazine Staff

Photo by No Numbers, courtesy Brite Winter

FROM THE EDITOR

CONVERSATION

LAY OF THE LAND

CONNECTING OUR PAST Meet the two newest curators at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

THE VIRTUAL LAND Virtual reality comes to Cleveland with three new spots.

FOOTBALL AND FUN IN INDIANAPOLIS Follow one reporter's travels to the Big Ten Championship and Indy's best stops.

FORAGE & FEAST

BEHIND BARTLEBY A new seafood-forward kitchen replaces Ohio City's Crop Bistro.

DINING GUIDE Find the best vegan and vegetarian fare around the city.

WORD OF MOUTH Kyler Smith of Filter and the Sauce Boiling Seafood Express shares his favorite Cleveland bites.

GRIT & GLAMOUR

CITY GOODS Ohio City is home to the newest hot spot for shopping local.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Find the perfect Christmas gift for everyone on your list.

LOOK BACK It's 1979, and Carl B. Stokes is entering the next era of his career.

SPECIAL SECTIONS

Dillon Stewart editor

managing editor Ron Ledgard senior editor Annie Nickoloff associate editors Anthony Elder, Gracie Wilson editorial assistant Becky Boban editor at large Colleen Smitek contributing writers Laura DeMarco, Vince Guerrieri, Kristen Hampshire, Kate Bigam Kaput, Jacquie Marino, Henry Palattella, Jill Sell editorial interns Berkeley Chadwick, Cassidy Gladieux

art director Erin Stinard assistant art director Abigail Archer contributing artists Casey Rearick, Madeline Salata, Heather Linn Young

illustration intern Alexandra Schmitz photography intern Katie Holub editorial@clevelandmagazine.com

advertising vice president Paul Klein senior account managers Sarah Desmond, Tiffany Myroniak account manager Julie Bialowas traffic manager Corey Galloway associate marketing manager Julianne Radish adsales@clevelandmagazine.com

content marketing managing editor Jennifer Bowen Sima managing art director Rayanne Medford senior editor Ann-Marie Vazzano associate art director Megan Rosta contentmarketing@glpublishing.com

production manager Jennifer Roberts associate production manager Alyson Moutz Cowan production@clevelandmagazine.com

director of

Jacquie Chakirelis

Daniel Klinzing

Camille Ross

Denise Polverine

girls

MAYOR

ASK

DUGGAN

Mount Vernon Square 6690

Drive, Suite

Mayfield Village,

44143 440-442-9300

(fax) 440-442-9308

Cleveland Tough

IF YOU SAW the Cleveland Magazine staff brainstorm the words that go on the cov er, you’d think we were absurd. In the fi nal few hours before an issue goes to print — overthinking every word, phrase and comma, as our loved ones with normal jobs wait at home while dinner gets cold — I’d probably agree with you.

This month, for instance, could have been called “Winter Fun Guide” or “45 Ways to Enjoy Winter” or “Get Outside!” or “Winter Wonder-Land” (oh, now I kin da like that one). But instead, we landed on “45 Ways to Embrace Winter.”

Why embrace? It’s certainly not because Cleveland winters feel like a warm hug. This month starts a frigid descent toward February, where average temps hover around but mostly less than 30 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 or more days.

No, we selected embrace because to tru ly have a great winter in Northeast Ohio

Your guide to a winter full of adventure in Northeast Ohio starts on page 49

— heck, a great life in a city that is cold at least seven months a year — one must confront the cold with eagerness.

Yes, one must make a choice. In a city that averages about 30 more inches of snow than the national average, one must decide to see the potential in each snow flake, not as an impedance on one's route to work but as a final brushstroke on the branch of a white pine at Holden Arbore tum or a powdery run down a black dia mond at Boston Mills/Brandywine.

The idea that Cleveland’s fun cools off during winter is simply a misconception — a rumor spread by those who refuse to kick off their slippers before May. You must get off the couch. We hope this month's cover inspires you to do so. Bun dle up, go outside, uncover something new or rediscov er an old favorite.

Because after all, no one simply is tough and neither is a city — even a Rust Belt one like Cleveland. Tough ness is a choice, something we all must embrace.

Dillon Stewart, editor stewart@clevelandmagazine.com

BRITE WINTER: KEN BLAZE / DILLON STEWART: THE

ROOM

Tommy Bahama

@cleveland_ schwill says on Instagram “I’m saving this list, lots of new things to try”

@clevsandco comments “We are honored and LOVE THE LAND!!!!”

@oliverstwist blog comments “So many good ones!! Jojo's Back yard is such a great patio ����”

@marybeth marks shares “Knew in an instant [the cover] was @lisa_quine”

New Staff on The Block:

The Cleveland Magazine staff has grown this fall as we welcome managing editor Ron Ledgard and senior editor Annie Nickoloff . Ledgard is a Pittsburgh native who edited The Athletic and the Akron Beacon Journal Nickoloff grew up in Amherst and previously wrote about art and culture for cleveland.com. We picked their brains about the #BestOfCLE and all the city has to offer.

What is your Best of Cleveland?

AN: It’s the places with the people I love the most. Happy Dog has a great pinball selection and great music, but also the best people.

RL: My favorite place is Barrio. That’s the most Cleveland thing. My girlfriend Tracy and I come up here and that’s the first place she wants to go.

How would you describe Cleveland in three words?

AN: Scrappy, Vibrant, Special.

RL: Variety, Prideful, Unexpected.

What brought you to Cleveland Magazine ?

AN: The opportunity to dig deeper into stories in a maga zine environment.

RL: I always wanted to work at a magazine. My main focus is on doing longer stories better.

QUESTION OR COMMENT ABOUT THE MAGAZINE?

Reach out to us at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com

On the Web

Purchase a print subscription and receive access to a digital version of the magazine at no extra charge. Visit clevelandmagazine.com/ subscribe today.

Sign up for our free e-newsletters to get updates on entertainment and dining delivered straight to your inbox. Register at clevelandmagazine.com/ newsletter.

@clevelandmagazine @ClevelandMag

KATIE

SHELLY DUNCAN

TRAVIS

“I

JOHN

was just blown away with who [Travis Mills] is, what he’s been through. When you use the word ‘sacrifice,’ I would say he’s probably the embodiment of that word, a guy that’s left his arms and his legs overseas, fighting on behalf of freedom. And so, when I got into his foundation — he uses the word recalibrate — he said, ‘I like to get veterans out here that are having difficulty and help recalibrate them body, mind and soul.’ Who better to help recalibrate, a struggling veteran...”

DAVE MORTACH

After meeting Travis Mills five years ago, I said what many of my clients say now— “How can I NOT help him?” Travis being a quadruple amputee and now running the best foundation for injured vets, PTS Vets and now opening it up to first responders, is absolutely one of the greatest American stories I have ever seen. I hope everyone reading this will help our veterans—and this is the best run charity for vets that I know of. Please join us at the John Rich benefit concert for the Travis Mills Foundation.

M U S E U M S

A YEAR INTO the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s $150 million transformation, your senses pick up the change. Walking through the Wade Oval entrance invites the scent of fresh cafe food and coffee. Stepping into the Smead Discovery Center presents a variety of interactive exhibits where children of all ages dig for dinosaurs, exploring biodiversity and the story of life.

“The whole reason we’re doing this project is for the community,” says Sonia Winner, president and CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. New features interweave art and science.

The Corning Gallery — a new home to rotating installations — now features screen prints from Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species series: 10 vibrant, colorful works featuring endangered ani mals, including an African elephant, black rhinoceros and orangutan.

MUSEUMS

Connecting Our Past

Cleveland Museum of Natural History adds two curators to help understand today’s human condition by analyzing its history.

The prehistoric stone harpoon is graceful and artistic. Even as a weapon of death, it is beauti ful, etched carefully with three small lines. The harpoon fits across the palm of the hand belonging to Dr. Elizabeth Sawchuk, the newly appointed assistant curator for hu man evolution at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Sawchuk discovered the harpoon this summer in Northern Kenya — not on a beach but in a desert. She is co-directing excavations “at an ancient fishing site that used to be on the shores of Lake Turkana when the lake was much larger.” The Tur kana Basin has been called the cradle of life because diverse hominid species have lived there for millions of years.

Sawchuk and her team’s research found evidence that the lake fluctuated quite a bit 10,000 years ago. The “ancient fisherforagers had to adapt pretty creatively to their changing environments,” she says.

So, what is an anthropologist now based in Northeast Ohio doing in Africa on a three-year grant assignment?

Sawchuk and Dr. Emma Finestone, assistant curator of human origins, were both hired by CMNH in May. The two

newly created staff positions round out the team of interdisciplinary scientists focused on connecting the human past with our lives today. The long-buried se crets of human behavior in regard to diet, tool-making, biodiversity, migration, hu man health and other life practices help us better understand “how these ances tors made a living,” according to Fine stone, previously with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human Histo ry in Germany.

Equally important, the research is a foundation and link for ideas of how modern humans could respond and adapt to our own climate change concerns and other global challenges.

“By using their technology (including the creation of stone tools), our ancestors spread across the globe into new environ ments where they would not have other wise been able to. Technology, coupled with biological adaptions, helped them adjust to high altitudes, colder tempera tures and differences in UV radiation,” says Finestone, originally from Boston.

Finestone enjoys the entire process of excavating a buried bone, tooth, ostrich egg, stone tool or shell bead. The item is documented, identified, studied and

shared (the origi nal or a cast) with the entire world. Throw in a little CSI and Indiana Jones adventure, and you have an idea of what the two new staff members do.

Dr. Emma Finestone and Dr. Elizabeth Sawchuk bring new findings to CMNH.

Finestone believes her work is putting together a puzzle from pieces found on archaeological sites. Being able to do that construction at an internationally known and respected institution for human origins and evolution, such as CMNH, is an incredible opportunity, she says. The two women are part of the expansion of CMNH’s anthropology department, a seg ment of the museum’s current $150 mil lion transformation campaign.

Sawchuk’s present excavation is being conducted in partnership with The Na tional Museums of Kenya and the Turka na Basin Institute, and funded by the Na tional Science Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Coun cil of Canada. She is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and most recently was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta.

The anthropologist claims much is be ing learned from the artifacts she is find ing and that the projects boost the mu seum's reputation. But Sawchuk is also worried about the fate of the remains of ancient people discovered on site. The need for preservation is urgent.

“Erosion," she says, "has exposed a number of artifacts and features which are now in danger of being lost forever if not recovered."

Voting Rights Activated

Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America’s Voter Registration Laws

details Gregory T. Moore’s experiences.

IT’S THE 1970S IN CLEVELAND. The Cleveland Agora is in its prime, the af termath of a burning Cuyahoga River is in the air and surrounding suburbs are on the come up. And in Cleveland Public Schools, segregation is still alive and well. That’s when Gregory T. Moore knew it was time to take a stand. A cav alier for change, Moore was born and raised in Cleveland where he attended John F. Kennedy High School and grad uated in the class of 1978. After gradua tion, he attended Ohio University where he knew that the importance of voting rights stretched far beyond the current issues. From then on, he has dedicated his life to the cause of voting rights activ ism, spending time in Washington D.C. working in voting and civil law before making his way back to Cleveland and returning to OU in 2019 to earn his master’s degree. With voting rights laws in flux around the nation, the local change-maker details his story in his new book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Strug gle to Reform America’s Voter Registration Laws.

Q: What led you down the path of voting rights activism?

A: I graduated in 1978, right before de segregation happened in Cleveland and I was active back then, helping pass school levies and being involved in the transition. Then I got active in voter reg istration as a student activist on [Ohio University’s] campus, running voter reg

istration drives across the state. I learned a lot about it in early age and started using some of that background and skill to build sup port for voter registra tion reforms.

Q: How did your involvement with the Motor Voter Act shape you and the country?

A: We worked over five years on the bill, and it was over the course of the 1988 and 1992 presidential elections. The bill was filibustered the entire time by Re publicans, and we were actually trying to push through a bipartisan bill. We didn’t give up. The League of Women’s Voters, the NAACP, labor organiza tions and faith-based organizations kept meeting over those years and that Motor Voter Coalition is why I was able to work over those five years. It took the election of President Clinton in 1992 before the bill was enacted into law and that became the National Voter Regis tration Act.

Q: What is the value of voting as a young person?

A: There’s so many issues that affect young people more than anyone else and young people have more at stake

than anybody. I was a student activist for a long time, and I still believe that young people can be very decisive in every elec tion. A lot of people get uninspired, and they don’t vote in some of the elections, especially in Cleveland. We got 18% in the last primary, so it’s well over 80% of people not voting and that is a bad thing.

Q: What do you hope to see for the future of voting in America?

A: A more engaged electorate that stays involved, not just during presidential elections but during local elections. It involves more than just voting, it’s showing up at city council or going down to Columbus and showing up at a hearing. It takes people staying vigilant and engaged, writing letters to the edi tor, writing letters to your council mem bers, sending a tweet, an email, showing up. The important part of keeping our democracy healthy is strengthening it.

College Currency Changes

Name, image and likeness money flows to collegiate athletes now, but without structure, some worry about the funds getting lost.

Ted Ginn Sr. has seen how money can change a kid.

The Glenville High School football coach saw students who were dealing drugs tell teachers, “I made more mon ey than you last year.” But even legitimate windfalls could be dizzying.

“There are kids who thought they were rich when they got their Pell Grant mon ey in their pocket,” he says. “It’s harder to coach those kids.”

And now, student-athletes — at least on the college level — can tap into a new revenue stream. Although it hasn’t come to Ohio high schools yet, it has become a part of college recruiting. Ginn’s not opposed to name, image and likeness, or NIL, rights for college athletes, but his kids seeing dollar signs – the Tarblooders have 11 players who already have scholar ship offers — has become one more chal lenge to the coach.

“I believe kids should be paid,” he says. “You want people to be paid for what they do. People make money off the kids, but the kids don’t make money. But there’s a better way to do it. It should be put into escrow as an incentive to keep them on the straight and narrow.

“Coaching football is easy. Coaching them in life is hard — and this makes it harder.”

In 2009, Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA because colleges and the NCAA could profit off an athlete’s name, image and likeness through things like merchan dise sales and video game licensing, but the students themselves could not. A judge ruled that was a violation of anti trust laws, and in 2021, a new NCAA rule went into effect allowing students to sign deals that let them profit off their name, image and likeness. That June, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order allow ing Ohio athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, with exceptions (ath letes can’t sign deals with casinos or com panies manufacturing alcohol or other controlled substances).

It’s turned into an arms race — and one more tool for colleges to use in recruit ing. Texas A&M athletes made a reported $4 million in NIL deals in the 2021-22 school year. (The state of Texas requires disclosure of NIL contracts — as well as their amounts.) In June, The Ohio State University rolled out its NIL Corporate

Ambassador Program, urging local com panies to sign Buckeye athletes to NIL deals. It was there that football coach Ryan Day threw out the figure of $13 mil lion as the amount it would take to keep the football team intact.

“It’s a new market, and like any new market, it will be chaotic for a while,” says U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who intro duced NIL legislation in Congress.

Gonzalez, an all-Big Ten receiver at Ohio State who went on to play for the Indianapolis Colts, has always been an advocate for NIL rights. He said he intro duced the legislation to try to make a uni form NIL law, leveling the playing field between states, but it’s stalled in Congress.

“What has happened is what I’d feared would happen,” says Gonzalez, who opt ed not to run for re-election this year, and will leave the House in December. “There are 50 states with 50 different sets of rules and no real transparency.”

On the collegiate level, NIL deals have to have a signed contract, which must be

the university’s compliance office. NCAA rules forbid universities and their employees from signing players to NIL deals, and athletes can’t use any type of university branding (like wearing their uniform or even a hat or shirt with the school’s name on it).

assistant athletic di rector for athletic communications at Kent State, says universities can’t take any role in brokering deals. But Kent is one of many schools that has partnered with Opendorse, an online platform that vets companies for potential NIL deals and presents potential deals to participating athletes. Griffin says Kent offers a class on social media best prac tices but can’t go beyond that for any type of advice for students.

Taiyier Parks, a North Royalton High School graduate now playing basketball at Michigan State University, says NIL deals are a function not necessarily of athletic accomplishment but of social media following.

“If you’re a high-profile athlete and you have a following and you’re doing well in college, it’s easier to get brand deals and get people looking at you,” says Parks, a senior public relations major. She was able to sign a deal with Michigan State Federal Credit Union. She received $500 monthly during the season, and in ex change, she promoted the brand on social media and made personal appearances.

Sencire Harris, a Canton native, gradu ated from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in 2022. A highly touted guard, he’s at the University of Illinois. He hasn’t signed a NIL deal yet but is evaluating options and hopes to do so for basketball season.

“This is a new environment for me,” he says. “My parents are helping me manage things and put me in good situations. You have to be patient and make sure you have people who can help you better yourself — and not them.”

It’s even trickling down to the high school level. Sixteen states allow NIL deals for high school athletes — and

another 10 are considering them.

In May, OHSAA member schools vot ed — by a nearly two-to-one margin — against allowing high school students to profit off their name, image and like ness. But that doesn’t settle the issue, says OHSAA executive director Doug Ute.

“I would guess at some point in the coming years it would come up again in some form,” he says, noting that 16 states allow for high school students to make NIL deals. “I think the two things we heard were number one, it’s too soon and let’s see how it unfolds with colleges and universities, and number two, that the schools would be accept ing some of the liability of any deals they might sign.”

Even if it’s coming, Ginn says, student-athletes need to stay focused on the bigger picture.

“I tell the kids, don’t let money trick you,” he says. “Name, image and likeness money isn’t a career. That’s an opportuni ty to get you jump-started in life.”

Hitting The Right Note

A variety of electronic, ambient, experimental and rock artists in Cleveland have capitalized on and moved toward instrumental formats in recent years.

THE LOCAL SCENE

In Cleveland, instrumental music takes all kinds of forms. Bands like Item and Oregon Space Trail of Doom dip into the genre, and other artists define them selves by it: post-rock band Royal Beasts, jazztronica performer Nathan-Paul, at mospheric horror duo Midnight Syndi cate, electronic artists like ZOD1AC and p.stoops, experimental musicians like Stephan Haluska and ambient groups like Nomads.

Regardless of genre, they’re all crafting textured soundscapes, rarely giving listen ers any words to sing along to.

Elijah Bisbee, a solo artist and founding member of instrumental band Nomads, recently moved into singer-songwriter ter ritory from his work hosting retreats and house shows in Cleveland. He still sees instrumental music as his musical base and makes it a cornerstone of his work, as seen in his 2022 collaborative album Geneva created with Chris Bartels and Blurstem.

Bisbee says he’s heard from listeners who connected emotionally with his re leases and were able to resonate with his instrumentals in helpful ways.

“There is something that’s being ex pressed with [instrumental music], that might not land in the same way if there was a lyric trying to convey that idea,” Bis bee says. “It’s promoting introspection, promoting this idea of creating spaces for people to take time to themselves or accomplish something that they need a hand with.”

Marcus Alan Ward found more things to say without singing a single word on his latest album Cruiserweight. The Cleveland musician returned to his foundations of jazz guitar when crafting the project — eight funky tracks inspired by the musician’s boxing hobby. Collaborators pop in and out, some singing, some rapping, but the mostly instrumental album never once features his voice. “I took a step back from worrying about accessibility or making music for people to sing along to, and I think that was really a game-changer for me in terms of self-expression,” Ward says. In Cleveland, there are, of course, plenty of musicians making plenty of instrumental music, whether it’s jazz, rock, hip-hop, classi cal, pop or something else. Those musicians have noticed a rise in the format in recent years, watching new subgenres pop up. According to a 2021 report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, people are consuming more music than ever before, listening for an average of 18.4 hours every week — some of it through TikTok and Facebook. "A lot of our music is listened to in the background while we do other things," Ward says. "It’s usually on while you’re working out, doing laundry or commut ing on the train, so instrumental music fits perfectly into modern life today.”

He connected his musical “spaces” to the phrase “wallpaper music," a phrase popularized by Brian Eno. (“It’s supple menting someone’s environment rather than taking the focus of it,” he says.)

“There’s a lot of weight on the idea of creating a space for someone to find inspi ration, find rest, find some other deeper part of what they need. It could be study ing, it could be sleep,” Bisbee says. “It’s all about creating spaces, all about trying to get people to experience something.”

MAKING SPACE

Stephan Haluska, the managing director of Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, aims for the organization to make perfor mance space for music like the work he releases as an experimental harpist.

“We are very much on the ‘cusp’ of

Marcus Alan Ward

“of

Playlist:

instrumental

scene

“Day

“Time

“Sierra

“Ocean

“Zwang

Matthusen, Dana Jessen

“Sunset

“The

“Together

Torres

of

what is current, what is new in the new music sphere,” Haluska says. “It really ranges in what music, what instrumental music, could be or what it means.”

While Haluska performs some tradi tional covers and classical songs for events like weddings, he also focuses creative energy on inventive harp performanc es where he toys with the instrument it self. Wrapping tin foil around the harp’s strings or dangling bells from its frame, Haluska forges new sounds in the process.

It’s one of the ways he expresses musi cal ideas, through a format without any lyrics, Haluska says.

PRODUCING NEW VIBES

Akron’s Floco Torres, known for his solo material and as half of the hip-hop duo Free Black, uses instrumentals to show his ability as a producer. The artist composed music for and helped produce the 2022 podcast inCOPnegro: Black & Blue, exam ining Blackness and law enforcement. Torres composed the music real-time while listening to inCOPnegro interviews.

After the podcast’s first season debuted, Torres also released his soundtrack to showcase his skills as an instrumentalist.

“If

Cock

“summer

“Kitsune

“Lift

Alan Ward,

“Four”

Negus

“Monday

“I

Grand

Bisbee

“Landscape

McDaniel, Jacob Kirkwood

“Instrumental music is a way to express one’s self through a rawer form of sound,” he says. “That’s something that certainly you have in music that incorporates vo cals too, but when it does happen, that takes a secondary role. This is really much more on the forefront: being able to real ly explore sound, explore tambor, explore things like instrumentation.”

Instrumental music took a backseat to the booming rock and pop genres of the 1950s. Now, the internet and electronic music have created new pathways for mu sicians and listeners alike, Haluska says.

“There’s just been a large explosion of music all across the board, especially due to the internet and people being able to find all sorts of more niche kinds of genres,” Haluska says. “Sometimes there’s no real clear distinction.”

For some, instrumentals offer a way to break out of their typical sound and to break expectations on their artistry itself.

“I’m always going to be a child of hiphop, but for most people, it also pigeon holes you. It’s flexing that muscle that I can make things like this too,” Torres says. “As a hip-hop artist people think I rap and that’s it. But I play bass. I play keys. I know my way around the studio.”

For Torres, the ethereal nine-track al bum tapped a new form of musical ex pression. (“I think I’m still having a little trouble shutting off the lyric part of my head,” Torres says. “Everything I make, I want to rap to it.”)

But it’s also indicative of a larger trend within the music industry, of hip-hop art ists showcasing a range of skills.

“There’s been a big shift in all indus tries as a whole. Creators are trying to take their power back, and producers in the past 5-7 years, I’d say, have been into put ting out instrumental albums and brand ing themselves instead of trying to get to one artist,” Torres says. “If all I have is this batch of beats, I can put these out myself and now you’ll listen to me.”

Nathan-Paul

Stephan Haluska

Floco Torres

The Virtual Land

Virtual reality has escaped the gate of science fiction.

It’s here, immersing itself into Cleveland, a steampunk daydream of a futuristic Rust Belt city. With two new locations opening, we took the tech for a test drive.

WE TRIED IT: OUR VR IMMERSION EXPERIENCE

The floor is decked out with zigzags. I pull down my VR visor. There's a flash, then a fuchsia frog is looking up at me on a golden pathway.

In late September, the Cleveland Maga zine squad headed to Cleveland’s local VR original, Boss VR Arena. The world we'd enter first was Engineerium. Few words describe it, but “tiki utopia” comes close.

“This might be weirder than the zom bies,” managing editor Ron Ledgard says.

I can hear him crystal-clear through my microphone-equipped headset. We’re suspended in air on floating sidewalks that curve and twist. Despite recalling I’m in a spacious room without obstacles, I spread my arms to keep balance and take baby steps.

As our avatars hover along the paths, I begin to take in the surreal graphics around me, fed by the aforementioned, seemingly arbitrary zigzags. They enable the game to keep track of where my team mates are.

“I can’t do it,” associate editor Anthony Elder says, peering over the edge. Senior editor Annie Nickoloff doesn’t hesitate. She walks off into the blue oblivion and hangs in space. I lean to my right and see a red grid. I step back and it disappears. I’m a foot from an actual wall.

I’ve forgotten all about my gear (visor, vest, computer backpack) by the time we’re transported to the next game. Un dead Arena is an apocalyptic game show that could take place on Sakaar. My team mates’ avatars look primal in battle gear.

I don’t have much time to think about what I might look like. The zombies are like emails: They just keep coming.

Elder’s inner gamer kicks in, and Nick oloff isn’t too bad either, reprimanding the undead villains with a “No!” as if they’re cats on a kitchen counter.

I had been nervous while previewing the game. The trailer gave us tips on how to explode barrels and change weapons, but all I could think was, shoot, I’m going to get killed

But during play, my index finger finds the button to switch weap ons easily. My assault rifle transforms into a shotgun, then a cross bow. I use all three, and while I like the dull thud arrows make in virtual, undead flesh, my favorite’s the shotgun.

Warnings pop up

when you’re close to another player or a wall, so if you’re not too absorbed in the slaying, you can reorient yourself. Despite my reservation, I only die twice. I’m also pleased with my 25 headshots, though I’m wary standing beside assis tant art director Abigail Archer, who had the most at 35.

VR worlds are exquisite, but what makes them richer are the people you play them with.

That night I dream of killing zombies. I might have to go back to Boss VR Arena to make sure they stay dead.

SITES IN CLE

BOSS VR ARENA

Boss VR Arena was the first to break ground on Cleveland’s immersive entertainment scene — literally. Af ter experiencing VR out of state with family, co-owner Brad Copley knew he had to bring it home to Cleve land. In March, the 1,512-squarefoot arena featuring Zero Latency Technology’s system opened. By far, he says, the most popular game is Outbreak Origins. "Everybody loves to kill zombies," Copley laughs. “You always have fun when you scare yourself just a little bit." 1-8 players, $45, 18301 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, 216-938-6335, bossvrarena.com

SANDBOX VR

The graphics in Amber Sky 2088 are convincing. Just ask John Specht. By early November, Cleveland ers will be able to don the haptic vests and trackers, which allowed Specht, Sandbox VR district lead er of the eastern division, to be transported onto a stunningly re

alistic platform in space. "It wasn't the creatures, it was the height that got to me," he says. Afterward, players receive complimentary video of their antics. “This is more than just a niche,” Specht says. “This is going to be huge.” 2-6 players, $50-$55, 294 Crocker Park Blvd., West lake, sandboxvr.com

SCENE75

For the newcomers and skeptics, consider Scene75’s residential HTC VIVE headsets and controllers on a pulley. Family and friends can watch players move within their own padded cubicle. Corporate di rector of marketing Maggie McCart ney reassures the zombies are just as much an invasive nuisance, which is why she prefers the cheesy job sim ulator games. “It’s a really good in troduction to VR because you’re get ting these simple cutesy tasks," she says. 1 player, $10 for 15 minutes, 3688 Center Road, Brunswick, 234-803-1100, scene75.com/cleveland

Reality Check

Virtual Reality isn’t only for gamers zesting to squash zombies. Dr. Jay Alberts, vice chair of innovation at the Cleveland Clinic's Neurological Institute, is heading research on VR to improve the prognosis, treatment and detection of neurological diseases.

Using Microsoft HoloLens and Infinadeck’s omnidirectional treadmill to simulate ev eryday tasks like grocery shopping to re cord motor and cognitive data, the Clinic is integrating the technology into medicine.

Since 2014, Case Western Reserve Uni versity has reinvented class with Holo Lens. Schools as esteemed as University of Oxford in England and those in Poland have adopted curriculums featuring HoloAnatomy Software Suite, a mixed reality application built by the Interactive Com mons at CWRU. Reports reveal students learn concepts twice as fast as they would with 2D models and perform as well as traditional cadaver-based lab students.

“We took one of the oldest classes that you can imagine, human anatomy, and in a period of about five years, we went from hundreds of years of history to teaching in this new way,” says Dr. Mark Griswold, Pavey family professor of radiology and faculty director at CWRU.

And it's not just medicine. Cleveland Museum of Art partnered with Interactive Commons to launch the most immer sive mixed-reality exhibit to date for any museum, Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain

Last fall, 22,000 visitors fastened Holo Lens to interact with art like never before. Jane Alexander, chief digital information officer for Cleveland Museum of Art, says Revealing Krishna generated the highest approval rating in the museum’s history.

At Home in Indianapolis

One writer travels to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship and discovers the city’s hidden treasures along the way.

Beyond Columbus, heading west, there isn’t much outside of rest stops, flat prairies and the World’s Largest Candle in Centerville, Indiana. Then, deep in the American heart land, the Indianapolis skyline emerges.

While I myself am not a convert to the Scarlet and Gray altar, I realize Bru tus’ disciples will travel anywhere to watch Ohio State play. So, last fall, I was pitched the idea of traveling to In dianapolis at the start of December to take in Ohio State fans’ descent upon the city. There was just one problem: The Buckeyes didn’t make it.

After a season spent dominating the Big Ten, Ohio State choked in the final game, falling 42-27 to Michigan. Instead of spending a weekend with fellow Ohio ans, I was going to Indy surrounded by Maize and Blue in last year's Big Ten Championship Game.

Even without a team to cheer on, Indi anapolis carries its own Midwest manner reminiscent of home.

The drive’s a manageable five hours. While I don’t recommend making it in the dark like I did, it’s completely con ceivable to leave in the morning and be in Indy for a late lunch.

Upon arriving in Indy, my girlfriend Céilí and I walk around downtown to get ourselves acquainted. You can’t talk about Indianapolis without mentioning how walkable it is. Despite being a much larg er city than Cleveland, Indianapolis’ com pact downtown punctuated by one-way streets and crosswalks made it feel homey.

In the morning, we walk four blocks to breakfast, stopping at Gallery Pastry Bar. With big windows, communal seating and a hearty menu of drink offerings, it’s the perfect place to wake up with the city. I have the Hoosier Omelette ($15) (when in Rome, right?), which is filled with

goose jowl bacon, vegetables and topped with a hearty, house-made sausage gravy. I sit and read the day’s news with a wonder ful mixed berry mimosa ($8).

After lunch, we venture to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, located on the northern tip of Indy’s downtown. To get there, we walk along the city’s nearly three-mile-long canal walk. In a city filled with tourists, events and movement, the walk along the calm canal is like visiting a different planet.

Though it’s been a while since I read Slaughterhouse-Five, once in the museum I’m in heaven. Along with outlining Von negut’s background, creative process and advocacy works, the space also boasts a “banned books room.” (Some standouts among the shelves: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Color Purple.) I grab a copy of Cat’s Cradle on the way out and ride a high of creativity back to the hotel.

HENRY PALATTELLA

Before Céilí and I head to the game, we grab dinner at Harry and Izzy’s, an Indi anapolis staple part-owned by Peyton Manning, the football king of Indy him self. Upon arriving at the table and meet ing Visit Indy Communications Man ager Nate Swick, we order the St. Elmo’s shrimp ($16.95) with a delicious spicy cocktail sauce that clears out my sinuses.

For dinner, I order the penne alfredo ($25) while Céilí gets the steak “Oscar Style” ($15), which comes with crab, as paragus and bearnaise. To drink, we both have the Elmo Cola ($15), a glass-bottle Coke mixed with St. Elmo Whiskey. It tastes excellent and dangerous.

The Big Ten Championship Game is in the Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium. I’m an ad vocate for sports teams playing in stadi ums without a dome, but Lucas Oil had me ready to throw away my morals. Just because some of my favorite memories involve sitting by a freezing lake watching a Browns team whose season was over in September doesn’t mean I can’t occasion ally enjoy the benefits of a dome.

PILE ON THE MOMENTS

With Indy being closer to Ann Arbor than Iowa City, the stadium is filled three-quarters of the way with Michigan fans, so it’s not hard to imagine the stands be ing filled with Ohio State colors.

A trip to Lucas Oil Stadium and the Peyton Manning statue also needs to include a stop at the Slippery Noodle Inn.

Once the game gets out of reach, we head to the Slippery Noodle Inn, which ends up being the highlight of the trip. Located less than a block away from Lu cas Oil Stadium, the neon lights and am bient jazz music draw us in like moths to a Blues Brothers-inspired flame. Inside, the bar boasts two stages, one of which is occupied by a local jazz band. For a good two hours, Céilí, Nate and I drink and play cards with jazz in the background in a time that stands out as one of the best bar experiences I’ve had in a long time.

After last call, we head outside and walk back to our hotel, feeling alive in a city that’s beginning to feel like home.

Winter is lively by the lake. Here, you can sled, snowshoe, cross-country ski and tour Ohio Wine Country’s wineries on convenient shuttles. Then warm up by the fire at our lakeside resort or your own private cottage. Explore winter in Geneva-on-the-Lake.

PEYTON

how you winter.

Cropping Up

The owners of Bartleby know you’ll be thinking about Crop Bistro and Bar when you first step in the door of their new Ohio City restaurant — and they’re OK with that. Longtime friends Morgan Yagi and Ryan Britton knew they had a lot to live up to when they took over the historic United Bank Building that was home to Crop from 2011 until early 2021.

But after a few visits, we think Bartleby is up to the challenge thanks to transformative decor, excellent pizza and a Sunshine State-influenced seafood menu made for Midwesterners.

“It’s a well-loved space,” Yagi says. “We want to be good stewards of it.”

Before opening in early August, the first order of business was changing the decor to make the giant, cavernous room feel, well, less so. With a 30-foot ceiling and 17,000 square feet to work with, it was no small feat. But Yagi was eager to execute his vision for the 1920s-era space.

“Everything was so beautiful and at the same time presented a blank canvas,” he says. Though no city-mandated preservation laws prohibited him from changing the historic space, he decided to keep its original features intact and opted instead for cosmetic coverups and strategic design choices.

The ornate, coffered ceiling remains, providing a dramatic but somehow-still-subtle re minder of the building’s former identities. But nearly everything beneath it has changed.

Tall, wide bookshelves serve as makeshift walls, segmenting the dining area into small er sections that make the entire restaurant feel more intimate. Lush rugs, velvet chairs, opulent candelabras and gold-toned knickknacks lend an air of luxury while simulta

neously cozying the place up. The room’s centerpiece — a preserved tree trunk with far-reaching silk foliage — is sure to brighten the mood during cold Cleveland winters.

The finished product is reminiscent of an upscale hotel lobby — exactly the vibe Yagi hoped for, incidentally.

“Ryan and I travel to a lot of bigger cit ies to check out places we’ve read about, and that includes a lot of grand hotel lobbies,” he says. “That was a big design target for us.”

On the menu, the partners’ vision for a comfortable, upscale spot includes sim ple but elevated food, plus a bar area that could serve as a standalone space for pa trons who just want a quick cocktail. The small drink menu, which is still in flux but ranges from “light and silky” vodka drinks to “bold and boozy” whisky cock tails, was designed by famed local bartender Will Hollingsworth of The Spotted Owl, a friend of Yagi’s who offered his help.

Longtime friends Morgan Yagi and Ryan Britton teamed up with chef Matthew DePante on the Ohio City spot.

Although it’s the duo’s first for ay into launching its own place, neither Yagi nor Britton is any stranger to the hos pitality industry. Yagi operates Hibachi Japan in Cuyahoga Falls, which his father owns; Britton is a former general manag er of Forward Hospitality Group, which runs spots like The Boneyard in Broad view Heights and Good Night John Boy in the Flats. And chef Matthew DePante, too, fits right into those grand hotel as pirations. The Miami native, who trained at the famed French Culinary Institute in New York City, was most recently the chef de cuisine at the Hilton in Cleveland.

“I closed my eyes and tried [to] picture the space and the clientele and what the restaurant would look like when it was full,” DePante says. “I saw it as a place where people would split a couple of appetizers and order an entree or two to share with the table.”

To that end, the menu is composed and succinct, heavy on shareables and per haps surprisingly seafood-forward for a restaurant that doesn’t bill itself as such.

Inspired by his Florida roots, DePante started with the dishes and flavors he’s ac customed to and adapted them for Mid

The historic United Bank Building offers notable pizza, pasta and seafood in a vintage setting.

western diners who don’t typically trend toward ingredients like octopus and crab.

“Certain dishes work in Miami that won’t work here, and vice versa,” says DePante, who consulted with local chef Dante Boccuzzi to curate Bartleby’s offer ings. “I changed things up a bit to work them onto the menu here, and so far, they’ve been pretty big hits.”

The octopus appetizer ($24), for exam ple, has been stripped of its skin and suc tion cups to make it less daunting to din ers. Instead, it’s presented as a neat, meaty tentacle set atop a jet-black cauliflower mash colored by squid ink that, for ap proachability’s sake, is covered in a small arugula salad with pickled red onions and a refreshing mint salsa.

“Now it’s a better-tasting dish, and it’s a cleaner version that doesn’t intimidate people,” DePante says.

The lump crab pizza ($24), too, threat ens to be overtly of-the-sea but is instead perfectly balanced by the addition of both fire-roasted corn and a sweet corn puree on crispy, paper-thin dough — a filling but feather-light dish that you can split with others or scarf solo sans regrets.

Evidence of DePante’s past is also ap parent in the angel hair pasta ($26), a near-identical dupe to the one he made at Miami’s Proof Pizza. People raved about it there, too: a bundle of buttery

noodles topped with lump crab, zesty Calabrian chili and crispy breadcrumbs in a lemony sauce.

And contrasting DePante’s adventur ous dishes are a few familiar, seafood-free counterparts. The gemelli ($22) is anoth er product of Proof, a decadent pasta dish in a thick meat sauce and a creamy ricot ta, and the spicy pepperoni pizza ($20), made with house tomato sauce and a little bit of arugula, are simple and straightfor ward but executed well enough to wow.

“We’re not trying to be pretentious, and I’m not trying to compete with anyone else that serves a great pizza,” DePante says. “We’re just trying to do something a little bit different.”

Not everything works just yet. A few dishes fall just a little bit short of ideal. The tuna steak sandwich ($22), for one, is a potentially brilliant take on both ahi tuna and a burger, but it’s not as flavor ful as it should be, despite the addition of Asian-style slaw and a sweet soy sauce. Its pillowy, artisan bun doesn’t seem like quite the right fit, overwhelming the deli cate texture of the fish.

The bun works better on the hearty Bartleby burger ($20), made with grassfed beef from Ohio City Provisions. But it, too, is slightly unsatisfying, lacking the level of juiciness and flavor you’d expect from toppings like white cheddar, cara

Featuring dishes like the lump crab pizza ($24), a seafood-forward menu offers new takes on old favorites such as pizza and pasta.

melized onions, pickles and garlic aioli. (Take note, though: The latter is a truly stunning dip for a side of fries).

Still, though, the majority of the menu works exactly as it should, appealing to daring and dependable diners alike. And because nearly everything is designed to be shared, if you’re so inclined, Bartleby offers a low-stakes opportunity to tastetest various ingredients and combos without committing too hard to anything you’re unsure about.

With very few kinks left to work out, the Bartleby team’s commitment to continued iteration bodes well for the restaurant’s fu ture. Yagi, Britton and DePante are all en thusiastic about evolution and eager to ex periment with new ideas, guest feedback and their own whims — as evidenced by a still-changing menu, late-night tavern offerings and upcoming plans for a base ment bar, among other things.

“We know we can’t be everything to ev erybody, but we really do think our appeal is broad,” Yagi says. “We want to become both a destination and a neighborhood spot for people who live in the area.”

With a gorgeous space and such tasty food, it’s clear that Bartleby is a morethan-worthy successor to Crop. It might even — dare we say it? — prove itself to be a cut above.

Bartleby

Dining Guide

AND

BARRIO TACOS

WHY WE LOVE IT: Let’s taco ‘bout just how easy it is to be a vegetarian at this Northeast Ohio chain. Choosing from options such as gochujang barbecue tofu, pan-seared portobellos, cauli flower rice, napa slaw, black beans and more; plus nine sauces ranging from cloyingly sweet to practically on fire, design the taco of your dreams. TRY

THIS: Don’t trust your DIY skills? The El Vegano ($5.50) goes hard. It’s stuffed with mushrooms, caramelized veggies and three kinds of salsa in a double shell held together by guac. Various locations, barrio-tacos.com

BEET JAR JUICE BAR & TAKEAWAY

WHY WE LOVE IT: This teeny-tiny hipster hang wouldn’t be out of place in Los Angeles or Portland, but here it is in the heart of Hingetown, sating Cleve landers’ green juice and imaginative sandwich fix. “Having a finite menu of items created in small batches is the trick,” says co-owner Joseph Joseph.

AMBA

WHY WE LOVE IT: Amba’s small plates are so filling and full-flavored that even meat lovers can leave happy. Chicken, lamb and venison all make menu ap pearances, but the majority of dishes are meatless. “It’s a nice assortment of flavors, textures and options,” says chef-owner Douglas Katz. “There’s something for everyone, but the idea is that everything works well to eat to gether.”

TRY THIS: If you’ve never had savory lentil donuts ($12), now’s your chance. These South Indian snacks are served with a sweet and spicy serrano chili jam and cooling coconut chutney.

1430 W. 28th St., 216- 417-6718, ambacle.com

BALANCE PAN-ASIAN GRILLE

WHY WE LOVE IT: Feeing picky? This health-conscious cafe welcomes and encourages you to customize your order to your exact liking, from bowls and tacos to bright bubble tea. The owners also run an 8,600-square-foot aquaponics farm that serves as the source of their greens, herbs, toma toes and peppers. TRY THIS: The Fili pino Adobowl ($9.50) is as flavorful as it is colorful, thanks to ingredients like fried garlic, seasonal potatoes and crunchy red cabbage. Make it meat less by choosing tofu or lentils as your protein. 515 Euclid Ave., 216-523-1111, balancegrille.com

TRY THIS: The Buffalo Springpea Wrap ($10) is a chickpea-based take on chicken salad is not only super yummy but also super healthy. 1432 W. 29th St., beetjar.com

CLOAK AND DAGGER

WHY WE LOVE IT: Eerie vibes, creative cocktails and vegan food reign su preme at this elegant but laid-back Tremont hotspot. “We don’t want to just be the best vegan, we want to be the best,” says owner Cory Hajde.

TRY THIS: Though the bar’s themed food and drink menus change with the seasons, one item remains con sistent: the red miso and sumac pop corn ($4). 2399 W. 11th St., 216-795-5657, cloakanddaggercle.com

Munch: A Simple Kitchen

Lower & Middle School

OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, 11/20/22

Lyndhurst Campus Toddler

BRIGHT SIDE

WHY WE LOVE IT: This new and aptly named Ohio City spot is all vivid colors and ephemer al vibes — and we don’t just mean the decor. “The menu features comfort food prepared with healthful ingredients, the wine list is champagne-forward and the cocktail program is bright and adventurous,” says owner Sam McNulty. Honestly? That kind of says it all.

TRY THIS: Pickled mustard seeds and creme fraiche give a new-American spin to fried spaetzle ($13), an old German favorite. 1948 W. 25th St., 216-274-1010, brightsidecle.com

CLEVELAND VEGAN

WHY WE LOVE IT: More than a decade in business has made this an OG spot for local, plant-based cuisine. As a fullservice catering company with a bus tling cafe and organic scratch bakery, it offers just about everything but animal products. “It's always been our goal to showcase a wide variety of vegan foods,” says co-owner Laura Ross. TRY THIS: This juicy gyro is made with Cleveland Vegan’s homemade seitan, which includes a little bit of chickpea flour and a lot of spices ($13.50). 17112 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216- 221-0201, clevelandvegan.com

CORNER 11

WHY WE LOVE IT: Thiwaporn Sirisuwan noticed that there weren’t many fast casual spots in Tremont, so she opened her own. Now, her poke place is so well-known for its tasty, healthy options that many diners tell her they first learned about it from their doctors and nutritionists. “We try to focus on the healthy food,” Sirisuwan says. TRY THIS: The vegan ramen ($15), made with fried tofu, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and more, is so creamy that some customers insist it can’t be vegan. Don’t worry: It really is! 2391 W. 11th St., 216-713-1757, corner11cleveland.com

REDEFINED

Upper School

OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, 11/6/22

Gates Mills Campus Grades 9

Mastery School

OPEN HOUSE Sunday, 11/13/22 1:00 pm

University Circle Campus Grades 9

Coed Toddler –

12

Lyndhurst Cleveland–West Gates Mills University Circle

EMPRESS TAYTU

WHY WE LOVE IT: Vegan and vegetarian cuisine are a big part of Ethiopian culture, so it’s no surprise that this authentic local spot in the St. Clair-Superior neighbor hood offers a variety of hearty meatless entrees and rainbow-hued sides. Soak it all up with spongy injera, a soft, light weight flatbread made of wheat flour and teff. TRY THIS: Tibs, a popular stir-frymeets-stew dish, is often made with beef or lamb, but the inguday tibs ($22.50) feature sauteed portobello mushrooms instead. To go vegan, ask for oil instead of butter. 6125 St. Clair Ave., 216-391-9400, empresstayturestaurantcleveland.com

FORAGE PUBLIC HOUSE

WHY WE LOVE IT: Forage’s neighborhoodbar-meets-artisan-restaurant vibe means it’s somehow suitable for everything from brunch with friends to a business lunch or a fancy night out. The menu centers around sustainable, farm-to-table in

gredients, and each dish’s source loca tion is listed on the menu. TRY THIS: The cauliflower tacos ($15) are beautifully crispy and slightly spicy, thanks to scal lions, ginger and a sweet chili gastrique. 4600 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-226-2000, foragepublichouse.com

HAPPY DOG

WHY WE LOVE IT: It would be all too easy — expected, even — for a hot dog joint to exclude diners who don’t eat meat. Instead, Happy Dog has created a fully inclusive menu with the option to choose vegan dogs or burgers in an egg-free bun. And because its menu is all about DIY-ing your own wacky creation, this is one hot dog joint where it’s surprising ly easy to avoid meat. TRY THIS: With 45 vegetarian-friendly toppings to choose from (many of them vegan), order your Field Roast Artisan Vegan Dog ($7.50) and go wild. 5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-9474, happydogcleveland.com

INDIA GARDEN

WHY WE LOVE IT: India is home to the world’s largest vegetarian population, so it makes sense that this authentic Lakewood spot offers nearly two doz en vegetarian entrees, almost all of which can be made vegan upon request. From korma to kofta and masala to daal makhani, this menu offers carnivores and herbivores alike a variety of foods fit for feasting. TRY THIS: The rich, creamy vegetable korma ($15.95) is packed with cauliflower, peas, carrots and more in a thick coconut sauce. 18405 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-221-0676, indiagardencleveland.com

JOHNNY MANGO WORLD CAFE & BAR

WHY WE LOVE IT: With the word “world” in its name, you know what kind of cuisine you’re going to get from this funky, vibrant Ohio City eatery. What you might not ex pect are so many meatless options, from jackfruit tacos and Khmer-style fried rice

THE TIME IS NOW. THE PLACE IS TOWER CITY.

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THE GREEN KITCHEN AT LITTLE ROSE TAVERN WHY WE LOVE IT: It’s not every day that you find a charming dive bar with a fully vegan menu. This one boasts a small but standout menu of creative, composed dishes that still feel right at home alongside tall boys and draft beers — think smashburgers, wings and gigantic tater tots. “I try to keep it pretty mellow,” says chef John Haggerty. “I'm just going for comfort food.” TRY THIS: What’s a cheesesteak without steak? As it turns out, scrump tious. Haggerty’s Hail Seitan Cheesesteak ($14) also features cashew cheese and a chipotle mayo that subs in aquafaba for eggs. 14206 Lorain Ave., greenkitchen216.com

JUKEBOX

WHY WE LOVE IT: Good music and great pierogies make for a Clevelander's dream come true at this friendly Hingetown

COURTESY THE GREEN KITCHEN AT LITTLE ROSE TAVERN to a tofu/tuna surf-and-turf — and many of the dishes have been on the menu since the '90s. “It’s about being consis tent without being complacent,” says co-owner and chef J.T. Haynes. TRY THIS: Since its big menu debut in 2005, the vegan pad Thai ($10.50) has been one of the restaurant’s bestsellers. 3120 Bridge Ave., 216-575-1919, jmango.com

haunt. Known for music trivia nights and a truly excellent back patio, Jukebox also offers a dedicated vegan and vegetar ian menu that always includes at least two kinds of scratch-made pierogies and roasted butternut squash and sweet potato soup ($9). “We hone the classics while also pushing things a little bit,” says chef Tony Smith. TRY THIS: Smith uses flaxseed instead of eggs in the dough of his buffalo chickpea pierogies ($9), fill ing them with mashed chickpeas, tahini paste and a blend of hot sauces. 1404 W. 29th St., 216-206-7699, jukeboxcle.com

MAHA'S FALAFIL

WHY WE LOVE IT: : Family-owned and op erated since 1986, this local falafel dyna mo is taking prepared grocery store food to new heights inside the Dave’s Super market in Ohio City. Named for co-owner Maha Zyed, this food stand’s reputation as one of the most authentic Middle East ern spots in town is well-earned. TRY THIS: Maha’s offers plenty of items, but it is, at

More than a million lights Musical light show

©Registered

its core, a falafel stand. Whether you order the falafel platter with hummus, veggies and pita ($6) or prefer it neatly bundled in the falafel wrap ($5.50), you can’t really go wrong. 2700 Carroll Ave., 440-552-5380, mahasfalafil.com

MUNCH: A SIMPLE KITCHEN

WHY WE LOVE IT: What started as a spe cialty kitchen at Case Western Reserve University has since become a full-scale restaurant and catering operation. The Solon cafe is known for a menu that melds traditional Jewish deli fare with Mediterra nean favorites. Order at the walk-up count er and take your time enjoying breakfast or lunch with friends. You can even bring the kiddies with dishes like the cheese pita pizza ($9). TRY THIS: The Max ($14) is where falafel wrap meets patty melt, featuring scratch-made chickpea patties topped with mushrooms, sunflower seeds and melted cheese. 28500 Miles Road, Solon, 216-231-0922, munchasimplekitchen.com

THE ROOT CAFE

WHY WE LOVE IT: Since 2009, this Lake wood staple has been setting the bar for quick, easy and delicious plant-based food on Cleveland’s West Side. Boasting a ful ly vegetarian kitchen and organic scratch bakery, The Root is many local’s go-to for work-from-home days, meetings and friend dates. Filling, health-conscious meals are made with seasonal heirloom veggies

PROPAGANDA COFFEE

WHY WE LOVE IT: Gluten-free, soy-free, vegan and full of flavor? This indie cafe is pulling off the seemingly impossible with a menu of creative drinks and light bites that hits all the marks, no matter your dietary restrictions. TRY THIS: Hanukkah’s potato pancakes get the year-round treatment in the form of Propaganda’s crispy latke waf fles ($9), served with traditional applesauce and vegan sour cream. 17806 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216- 767-5811, propagandacoffee.com

and caffeinated creations are made with local duck-rabbit coffee. From faux tuna salad sandwiches to breakfast burritos, we suggest trying whatever specials are offered. TRY THIS: Move over, corned beef, there’s a new kid in town. The tempeh Reuben ($13) makes for a perfectly plantbased version of this old-school deli fave. 15118 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-226-4401, theroot-cafe.com

SAGE KARMA KITCHEN

WHY WE LOVE IT: Suburban hippies, re joice! This Willoughby sit-down spot is everything you want in a vegetarian- and vegan-friendly date night: extensive meat less options with far-out names like the Karma Bowl and the Go With the Flow Flatbread, plus CBD-infused mocktails, an organic vegan wine list and the scent of — what else? — lightly burning sage to set the atmosphere.

TRY THIS: The Par vati ($14) is the perfect white pizza, load ed with caramelized onions, Ohio sweet corn, pickled peppers and a little bit of vegan ranch. This is still the Midwest, af ter all. 4051 Erie St., Willoughby, 440-946-2300, sagekarmakitchens.com

SUPERIOR PHO

WHY WE LOVE IT: Nothing is cozier than a steaming-hot bowl full of pho, which is also a sneaky way to get your fill of nu tritious veggies while feeling like you’re eating something ridiculously indulgent.

TRY THIS: There’s only one vegetarianfriendly pho on the menu, but when this one’s so good, who needs more? The pho chay ($9.95/$10.95) is chock full of bean sprouts, herbs and soothing spices like roasted cloves, coriander and star an ise. 3030 Superior Ave., No. 105, 216-781-7462, superiorpho.com

TARTINE BISTRO

WHY WE LOVE IT: It’s not always easy to find meat-free French food, so thank goodness for this upscale Rocky River restaurant. A surprisingly large and fully vegan menu is available for diners who want to indulge in a little culinary joie de vivre, sans animal products. You can even order the freshly baked bread service with vegan butter! TRY THIS: The wild mush room pizza ($21) is a freshly foraged de light, baked to a crisp and complemented by caramelized onions, leeks, and roast ed garlic. 19110 Old Detroit Road, Rocky River, 440-331-0800, tartinebistro.com

TOMMY'S RESTAURANT

WHY WE LOVE IT: This Coventry mainstay is known for its massive menu, and it’s not the kind of place with a “no substitutions” clause. Recognizing that Clevelanders’ appetites and food preferences are as diverse as the community itself, owner Tommy Fello has intentionally worked popular substitutions into the restau rant’s offerings, which include milk shakes, brunch fare and some of the area's earliest Middle Eastern-inspired offerings. “We know a lot of peo ple can't have things like dairy, gluten or soy,” says Fello, who opened the restaurant in 1972 as a 19-year-old Cleveland Heights High School gradu ate, “so we try to offer something for ev erybody.” TRY THIS: Tommy’s is probably most famous for its milkshakes and malts ($5.79 to $7.59). Tofutti and oat milk op tions mean vegans don’t have to miss out on the fun. 1824 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-321-7757, tommyscoventry.com

THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE, CREATE, AND INNOVATE.

Join us for our All-School Open House Sunday, November 6th | 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM Register at www.us.edu/visit

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The application process is now open for boys entering the ninth grade in fall 2023 at www.us.edu/jarvis.

THE VEGAN CLUB

WHY WE LOVE IT: Chef Porsche Phillips is up for the challenge of convincing nonvegans to love vegan food. “I really want to change people's minds,” she says. Though she dabbles in Asian, Indian and Spanish flavors, her entire menu is infused with a taste of her Southern roots. Down-home touches like okra, pecans and Cajun seasoning provide a true South-in-your-mouth experience, no butter or bacon required. TRY THIS: Phillips is particularly proud of her crab fries ($12), which are, of course, crabless. Hearts of palm and artichoke replicate the texture of clawed crustaceans, and flaky seaweed lends a bit of fishiness. 13228 Shaker Square, 216-465-2054, theveganclubcle.com

THE VEGAN DOUGHNUT COMPANY

WHY WE LOVE IT: Sisters Kharisma and Kyra Mayo got into the business of making vegan doughnuts for a sim ple reason: They wanted to eat them. “Once we went vegan, we couldn’t find doughnuts, so we started mak ing them at home,” Kharisma says. Now, they run one of the only baker ies in town that makes desserts that are big on flavor but completely free

of eggs, milk, nuts, peanuts and tree nuts. TRY THIS: Flavors rotate sea sonally, but the reliably refreshing lemon lavender ($2.50) is available all year long. 14811 Detroit Ave., Lake wood, 216-712-4192, thevegandoughnutco.com

WANT MORE?

Check out more recommendations at clevelandmagazine.com/food-drink

COURTESY THE VEGAN CLUB

KYLER SMITH

Owner of Filter Restaurant and The Sauce Boiling Seafood Express

BEST BARBECUE “Mabel's BBQ (Cleveland, Woodmere), I love it. I will say it’s some of the best beef ribs ($52) I’ve had in the country. It’s seasoned well, so they don’t really need a lot of sauce. It’s not like a traditional barbecue sauce. It’s more like a glaze.”

SOMETHING SWEET “I’m a sweets type of guy. So, for dessert, I like sweet things, Sprinkles and Milk in South Euclid. Everything from there is good, but I love their milkshake ($9.50) with Oreos, and I mix up the toppings. It's right across from The Sauce, too, which is dangerous because I’ll just walk over there and get it all the time.”

WEEKLY FAVORITE “I’m always going to this place downtown, it’s called Primo African Cuisine. It’s a dope authentic African spot. It’s my ritual to get the fried red snap per ($25) and rice — I eat there every Monday.”

COURTESY KYLER SMITH

In recent years, DJ and entrepreneur Kyler Smith intrigued Cleveland foodies with restaurants Filter and The Sauce. “I never really cooked growing up, so it’s funny that now I’m in the hospitality industry." Here's where you might find the restaurateur off the clock.

— BERKELEY CHADWICK

GRAB AND GO “I love going to Kafela on St. Clair Avenue. I always get some thing different. Sometimes I’ll send my staff there, I tell them to get me a Kafe Overload wrap with salmon ($16) and a different smoothie every time. Everything there is good.”

MOST INNOVATIVE CHEF “It’s a collective. It's hard to pick just one. I look at everything from high-end to fast-casual. Everything from (owner) Joseph Jordan over at Primoz Pizza (various locations) to Grill 55 in South Euclid, those are my guys. I'm bouncing around, because I'm still in the space of seeing what everyone is doing, being nosy and tasting everyone's new items. So, it's hard to name just one.”

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CURIOSITY WAS THE KEY for Sam Friedman as he walked down 28th Street in Ohio City and saw the beginnings of new construction. When he found out that seven studio apartments would inhabit the space, he knew there was potential for something more. That’s when City Goods was born. The market space is comprised of seven “hangars” housing 24 local makers, as well as a bodega bar where shoppers can grab local beer and wine to enjoy as they peruse products from artisans such as Svona Studio, Funktini, Papercutz and more. “A lot of folks in town want to access the Cleveland public but don’t have the mechanisms to do that,” says Sam Friedman, owner of Chagrin Valley Soaps and Salve. “Use this as a fun space. Access it, see what it can do for you. The most important thing to understand is this is about supporting local.”

SH O P L O C AL

That Giving Feeling

Struggling to find the perfect gift? Cleveland’s small business owners and local makers have the perfect gift for your loved ones.

LEOPARD PRINT STROLLER BLANKET ($42) Britash Baby Boutique, Mentor Mom and baby will love this cute, modern cover-up against harsh winds and falling snow. britash.shop

OIL BOTTLE ($30) Funktini, Lakewood These stainless-steel oil bottles add an eclectic pop of color to any kitchen and come in a variety of bright colors. To top it off, they are dishwasher safe. funktini.com

CLEVELAND FOOTBALL DAWG POLO ($60) GV Art and Design, Various Locations Being a Browns fan is a way of life, and this polo is perfect for the sophisticated fan. gvartwork.com

NINO COAT ($695) Haven, Chagrin Falls This faux fur screams luxury and warmth with its neutral tones in a look built for combating the cold in the height of fashion. shop-haven.com

CUSTOM CRYSTAL ACCENT NECKLACE ($168) The Sis Kiss, Westlake Life needs a bit of sparkle, and this necklace is made special for each wearer. thesiskiss.com

BUFFALO PLAID SHERPA PULLOVER FOR DOGS ($36) Milo & Me, Lakewood Keep your pet cozy during the winter with this cotton pullover. shopmiloandme.com

By JACQUELINE MARINO

KEVIN DAY

MAKING A

MAKING MAKING AA

Celeste Ng’s new novel, Our Missing Hearts , explores intervention in a polarized world similar to ours.

DIFFERENCE

Ng was 11, or maybe 12. She and her sister were waiting for a bus near Tower City, along with their aunt and uncle who were visiting from Hong Kong.

“This man came up and was scream ing at us,” Ng recalls. “And he was really screaming in our faces and saying things like, just go back to, you know, Vietnam or wherever you came from. And he spat at the ground.”

Experiencing a sudden display of hate was unnerving; it came out of nowhere. But so did an act of bravery.

“There was a woman at the bus stop,” Ng says. “And she intervened. And she said, ‘Why don’t you leave them alone? Why don’t you just, you know, take a step back’ and then he began yelling at her, which was, I think, her goal, and then the bus came, and we got on it. But that was I think maybe one of the only times that a bystander has ever intervened in a case like that. And it strikes me now looking back how brave that woman was, and how grateful I am to her.”

In Our Missing Hearts, Ng explores how bystanders can make a difference, how in our increasingly polarized society, she be lieves they must. In some ways, the novel itself is a form of bystander intervention. Although she began writing it as an explo ration of a parent-child relationship, her newest novel took a darker turn after the 2016 election.

“That started to raise a lot of questions for me about how you raise a child in a world that feels like it’s got so much hate in it,” Ng says. “How you raise a child, for me, in particular. I’m raising a multiracial son.”

While it’s possible some readers will find Our Missing Hearts too political, Ng says her other two novels also questioned the way society functioned. They, too, delved into issues of discrimination and other injustices.

“The older I get, the more I realize that my life is political, whether I want it to be or not because I walk around in this body,” Ng says. “I am an Asian American woman. I am a child of immigrants.”

In her mind, she isn’t moving through the world as an Asian person. She’s mov ing through it as herself. “But then there’s a moment where you might be on the bus, or you might be in the train station and someone calls you out on it, and they let you know that you’re not like us or you’re not welcome,” she says. That’s the moment when you realize the world sees you differently than you see yourself.

In Our Missing Hearts, 12-year-old Bird Gardner is constantly reminded of his dif ferences. He is the son of Margaret Miu, a Chinese American poet who has disap peared. Bird has never read her poems be cause they too have disappeared — they were deemed too dangerous to be read in the authoritarian society America has be come. Despite his father’s insistence that Bird forget about his mother, Bird goes in search of her instead. Unlike Ng’s other two books, Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, which take place in the 1970s and the 1990s, respectively, Our Missing Hearts takes place in a dys topian future, where actions questioning American patriotism could result in harsh punishment, including the removal of children from their parents.

Taking children (the “hearts” in the ti tle of the book) — or threatening to do so — is one way the government tries to control its critics. Ng’s readers learn about the historical precedents for this in America at the same time Margaret does. Children were separated from their parents during slavery and at Indigenous boarding schools. More recently, children have been taken from their parents at the border and then kept away from them, re vealed by The Atlantic as a planned effort (not an unfortunate result) of the Trump Administration’s mission to dissuade mi grants from entering the U.S.

“There was a long history of children taken, the pretexts different but the rea sons the same,” Ng writes. “A most pre cious ransom, a cudgel over a parent’s

head. It was whatever the opposite of an anchor was: an attempt to uproot some otherness, something hated and feared. Some foreignness seen as an invasive weed, something to be eradicated.”

For this novel, Ng embarked on an in formational journey through dense his torical books about living under tyranny in occupied France and McCarthyism in America. She filled notebooks and digital files with her research on the totalitarian regimes of the past and threats to free societies today. In an author’s note, she explains why she drew inspiration from actual news and history by quoting Mar garet Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale: “If I was to create an imaginary gar den I wanted the toads in it to be real.”

The time after the 2016 election gave Ng plenty of “toads” to inspire the bleak society in which Bird lives, including po litical polarization and social unrest. It was also a time of rising anti-Asian sen timent. Nearly 11,500 incidents of hate directed at Asian Americans and Pacif ic Islanders were reported to the hatetracking coalition Stop AAPI Hate between March 2020 and March 2022. Its leaders have followed the wave of anti-Asian hate since the pandemic, blaming it in part on the rhetoric of some politicians.

Shaker Heights resident Samantha Chin, Ng’s friend since fifth grade and the mother of a 9-year-old daughter, of ten talks with her about what it’s like to raise a child of Asian heritage in America today. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chin’s daughter was subjected to a racist

CELESTE NG’S NEW NOVEL IS NOT SET IN CLEVELAND, BUT ONE OF ITS THEMES BUILDS UPON SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED TO HER HERE.

This is Celeste Ng's third novel.

joke at school. “That never would have happened when we were in school,” Chin says. “It [society] seems to have regressed in some ways.”

That’s one reason Ng felt she had to set Our Missing Hearts in the future.

“I couldn’t write about what was hap pening now,” Ng says. “I felt like I needed it to be a world that was not quite ours but was maybe five degrees off of ours. ... I think it’s difficult to write about things that are right in front of your face. And in some ways, I think that speculative fic tion, whether it’s dystopian, whether it’s fantasy, whether it’s science fiction, what ever it is, it can allow you in some ways to hold things at a slight distance, and you can see them a little bit better. You can un derstand them a little bit better, in a way that you couldn’t if you’re being told, this is our world.”

For Little Fires Everywhere, which be came an original series on Hulu starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in 2020, Ng crafted a provocative portrait of Shaker Heights, where she attended Shaker Heights High School in the 1990s. Even in that community, which prided itself on its diversity and progressive poli tics, racism simmered beneath the surface in quiet, powerful ways. In the “From the Archive” podcast, which aired in 2017, Ng explained how she worked to achieve “a middle distance” — one that lets in infor mation gleaned from personal experience but does not rely exclusively on it.

Chin remembers Ng talking about race in high school. “When we were in school, it was ‘no one sees race’ and that was how people dealt with race,” she recalls. Ng al ways lent her support to people who felt marginalized, Chin says. She’s always had “a protective spirit.”

In Little Fires Everywhere, as well as in her new novel, Ng provides a window that looks to readers like a mirror, one where we recognize our wrinkles but also our fa ther’s good hairline or why our classmates voted us “best smile” in high school. Our Missing Hearts shows America’s tendency toward nationalism as well as its respect for resistance.

The bystander at the bus stop is one of many ways Cleveland influenced the nov el. The city’s legacy of public art is anoth er.

As a high schooler, Ng spent many days at the Cleveland Museum of Art, sketch ing her favorite works. Only later in life did she realize how unusual it was that you can go to the world-class art museum for free.

“That was sort of one of the things that I was thinking about when I was writing Our Missing Hearts — is that sense that art can be all over the place,” she says. “And it can kind of come at you and shake you out of your normal complacency. It’s like a little jolt. It wakes you up.”

She says one of the actions in the book was inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors installation in 2018, where the

Japanese artist wrapped trees outside CMA in red fabric with her signature pol ka dots.

After Little Fires Everywhere came out in 2017, Entertainment Weekly called Ng “the novelist of the moment” for the way she confronts racism in her work, but that characterization shortchanges her work. There is a timeless quality to the com passionate way she writes even her most unlikable characters. Their outlooks and biases have devastating effects on society — and usually on Ng’s always-relatable main characters. But she takes the time to show us who they are. We are remind ed of the complexity of every person, no matter how despicable their actions or how blind they are to their bias.

All three novels have one thing in com mon. Ng goes into the most terrifying place for any parent regardless of race, ideology, nationality or gender — the place where they are separated from their child. This is where her window feels like a mirror again.

Perhaps we should lean into our fears, like the best writers do, so we can move beyond them. In her novels, Ng answers the questions we don’t dare ask. She shows there is life after loss. And, in this novel especially, after fear and hate, too, as long as we are willing to intervene.

“I think a lot about that woman in the middle of Public Square,” Ng says. “One person stepping in can actually make a difference.”

Early life experiences come out in all three of Celeste Ng's novels. Her latest is marked by the 2016 election.

Local photographer Johnny Joo breathes new life into the long-vacant, forgotten buildings of Northeast Ohio. by ANTHONY ELDER photographs by JOHNNY JOO

must have driv en by that house dozens of times.

I never noticed it. To enter, we step through wet leaves, mud, thorny bushes and into a oncewhite bathtub. The gaping hole serving as our portal threatens to eat the entire wall.

Local photographer Johnny Joo looks almost at home; it’s his fourth time back to photograph the place.

This deflated home sits just be hind the tree line on Canal Road, directly across from the Wilson Feed Mill. The Wilsons themselves owned the property — evidenced by the curly iron “W” welded onto the storm door — but the house has been vacant for more than a decade.

By the dozens, family homes like this one emptied in the wake of 2008’s foreclosure crisis. A 2020 report from Cuyahoga Land Bank claimed that more than 500 aban doned apartment buildings sit idle in Cleveland — awaiting demoli tion or simply forgotten.

“When it’s warm, you can really smell the house,” says Joo, whose photography particularly features abandoned structures.

The scent of wood, plaster and

wallpaper that hasn’t been dry in years overwhelms me for a moment. The air feels thick and damp. As we make our way into the house, we avoid rust ed nails, wasps and bowing sections of wood. Joo recalls a time when his foot broke through a rotten bit of floor; another when his friend fell waist deep. I’m suddenly hyper-aware of my 250-pound steps.

Our Goonies-esque adventure turns surreal when we round a corner and I notice the grand piano, years out of tune and crusted with dust. Left be hind. Also among the detritus: framed paintings, moldy books, an ornate rug hung like a tapestry.

Joo wastes no time. Brandishing a film camera, he gets to work capturing various angles of the house. He’s focused. He becomes quiet. In between shots he pieces together a story in his head. Why did they leave the piano? Is this room an office? Was this one a nursery?

He stops for a moment, helping a sluggish bumble bee find the gap in a window, muttering words of encouragement as it scuttles along the sill. A peacefulness takes the room. This is exactly where Joo wants to be.

QUELLING THE ANXIETY

He told me earlier about his social anxiety. Every day, people expect things of you. You must act a certain way or fulfill certain roles. We all have inescapable responsibilities. For Joo, photographing caved-in walls, moldy beds and smashed windows calms the roar. Here, where so many pass by without taking note, the pressure evaporates. There are no unpaid bills, no meetings to attend. Like a liminal space between lost and found, “no one knows you’re there,” Joo says.

He moves through this fantasy like Indiana Jones in an ancient tomb. Discovery sparks joy, a sense of adventure, as he breathes new life into a forgotten bit of time.

This is how Joo makes a living — photographing the abandoned structures and urban decay littered throughout the rust belt. His camera snaps the past back to the present, preserving tiny pieces of history and Americana. His work — hosted on his blog Architectural Afterlife and in photo books, including Forgotten Dreams — takes people back in time.

“It’s like modern urban archaeology,” Joo says. “I figured, ‘Okay, where can I take this? Can I write a story about this? Can I piece it together with other stuff? How can I make a story from it?’ And I just kept doing that.”

Eventually, that pursuit put dinner on the table, selling the moments

Johnny Joo leaves the abandoned buildings he photographs how he left them. No souvenirs.

captured to companies like BuzzFeed or collecting them into photo books for his website.

Many, if not most, of Joo’s photos focus on Ohio, reclaimed by nature in the absence of people. Scrolling through his blog conjures familiar names — the cracking concrete bleachers of Akron’s Rubber Bowl stadium, or the overgrown Johnny Appleseed Amphitheater in Ashland — alongside provocative unfamiliar titles, such as “White Mesa — a town contaminated by greed,” depicting Joo’s journey into the Ute reservation in Utah.

Long before the profit, however, Joo explored for curiosity’s sake. Fueled by horror games like Silent Hill and Fallout, abandoned places felt eerie and mysterious; they created a space where the recognizable turned otherworldly.

Joo recalls his first journey: an abandoned farm in 2006.

“I really liked when we went into that first farmhouse — I went in with my mom — and I just thought it was really cool how everything was kind of tilted, you know, weird,” Joo says. “You walk in at an angle and it looks creepy. And it had this really good feeling to it . . . like you were separated from people. And that’s one of the things I like the most still, to this day, about it.”

Around the same time, Joo first delved into photography. He enrolled in Mentor High School’s black and white photo class, expecting something laid back and artsy. Instead, the course provided a challenge — photography required focus and tempered skill — and engaged him more as a result.

The class utilized traditional film processing — picture red-lit rooms where people dunk blank pages into chemical solutions to produce an image — and Joo credits this tactile, heavily involved style for inciting his passion. Loading the film, working in the darkroom, making prints, provided a sense of ownership.

That artistic passion for photography quickly seeped outside of the initial class. An art

teacher at a Euclid High School supplementary program, Edith Mellen, noted Joo’s burgeoning drive and raw talent for photography. You could tell he was going to be a photographer, she says, remembering Joo’s excitement.

As a student, Mellen describes Joo as misunderstood. He exemplified the counter-cultural ‘emo’ kid of the late aughts: dark hair, darker clothes, metal spike-adorned belts and all.

He was “trying to find where he fit in; where his passion was going to be,” Mellen remembers. This prompted her to make more opportunities for Joo’s photography. She even loaned him a camera for the year.

“So that’s how it all kind of began,” Mellen says. “You know, he wasn’t the greatest drawer, but he could draw if you asked him to. He was more interested once I got him hooked on that camera — it didn’t stop. I’m like, ‘Johnny, just take this camera and go take some pictures,’ because he was really interested in it. I was just super impressed with the way he was shooting objects or still lifes.”

FINDING THE PATH

Joo continued shooting well after high school. He envisioned a career in art, with no strong idea of where to begin. So, he worked entry-level jobs and photographed urban decay in his free time.

Things felt uncertain. Shooting abandoned structures fueled him, but he assumed the subject lacked public interest. More than likely, he would spend the early part of his career shooting weddings, events and the occa sional senior portrait.

Eight years after the pivotal farmhouse excursion, Joo worked for Jakprints in Cleveland — printing designs on hoodies and T-shirts by the hundreds — when the company unexpectedly fired him in 2014. At the time, he main tained his photography only as a passionate hobby. He planned on printing a photo book. Friends and family would buy it, but it couldn’t sustain him. Making ends meet meant finding another job within the week, and sudden unemployment left Joo exhausted and nervous. However, in what he refers to as a “perfect movie” moment, opportunity knocked.

Mere hours after getting fired, Joo noticed an email from BuzzFeed. They found photos of his explorations into abandoned malls. They wanted every shot. With just a few hundred dollars to his name and little to no financial traction as a photographer, he needed chances like these. But Joo felt more preoccupied with finding another job, any job, than the opportunity now pounding at his door.

He sent over the photos, went to bed and thought nothing more of it.

“I woke up and I have all these missed phone calls, missed emails from different news places, like 'we want to buy your photos for this story,'” Joo says. “And then my friends are texting me. They’re like, ‘I just saw your photos on this thing!’ And I go look at the article and it’s got, like, two million views.”

Overnight, seemingly everyone wanted his work. Barely a week had gone by after the mall photos blew up when Huffington Post reached out to Joo, wanting to tell a story about his photography and upcoming photo book. He hoped to leverage the opportunity to sell more copies.

The article ran, and instead of the anticipated 20 or so sales, Joo sold 100 books at $90 each.

His momentum couldn’t stop there. The photo books made a meager profit, but going full-time remained out of reach. Then, another knock came less than six months later when Steris, a purveyor of medical equip ment, reached out to Joo to shoot their headquarters in Mentor. The com pany offered him more than he’d ever been paid for his work — $16,000 — a stark contrast from his recent earnings.

“It was enough to cover my bills for five months at the time,” says Joo. “So, I took that five months and I used that whole entire five months — like the minute I woke up to the minute I went to bed — just learning how I

could turn my art into more of a business.”

For help, Joo reached out to local artists like Derek Hess — whose manager responded — in quiring about gallery events and self-promotion. He figured, “who better to really reach out to than a Cleveland artist that I look up to?”

RESPONSIBILITY AND PRESERVATION

As we make our way back through the bathroom, I ask Joo what sto ry he’s pieced together about the house. He tells me he already knows the history. But he won’t post it yet. Many more people see Joo’s work now; many more peo ple will know about this house once it’s online.

“I want to post to share the his tory,” Joo says, “but then someone will be like, coming and smashing the piano.”

Another eight years have passed since the amazing year he lost his job. Now Joo’s work bears more weight — protecting the dying worlds he inhabits. Despite the added responsibility, he sounds relieved.

He works full time. He doesn’t shoot senior portraits or weddings (usually). He’s produced more than 10 photo books, with more on the way. On occasion, he has visited Mellen’s class to teach.

“I’ve actually had these mo ments that I never thought I would have,” says Joo. “This 13-year-old kid in Alabama, I got him into photography. And so by doing that . . . I got him into something that now he loves — that just feels cool. Without even trying to, I have made a change.”

“SO, I TOOK THAT FIVE MONTHS AND I USED THAT WHOLE ENTIRE FIVE MONTHS — LIKE THE MINUTE I WOKE UP TO THE MINUTE I WENT TO BED — JUST LEARNING HOW I COULD TURN MY ART INTO MORE OF A BUSINESS.”

WINTER IN CLEVELAND:

WAYS TO EMBRACE THE SEASON

Experts say it’s going to be a COLD and SNOWY winter in Northeast Ohio. That’s OK with us; we’re CLEVELAND TOUGH. And we’ve got plenty to do, from WINTER FESTIVALS to THEATER to OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, to raise your pulse — and indoor COMFORT EATS for afterwards. Not to mention CHRISTMAS ALE! So don’t hide from winter, EMBRACE IT. Read on for 45 ways to enjoy a full Cleveland winter.

By Laura DeMarco and Cleveland Magazine Staff

TOP 10 MOST CLEVELAND WINTER ACTIVITIES

A Christmas Story House and Museum: What’s Cleve land's most popular holiday destination? Not a museum, festival or major cultural institution. It’s an unassuming yellow, two-story house looking over Cleveland’s steel mills at the end of West 11th Street in Tremont. But this house holds more histo ry than many of its neighbors. You’ll recognize it from 1983’s A Christmas Story, a holiday classic set in 1940 that follows the Parker family’s Christmas traditions and Ralphie Parker’s hopes for a spe cial gift under the tree: a Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle. The iconic restored house found new ownership in 2006, purchased by super-fan Brian Jones, who made sure the space shares all the best sights and experiences from its cinematic past with fellow fans of the Bob Clark film. “It’s just a really spe cial movie with an underlying sense of humor, it’s not a fake or cheery movie in which everything always works out,” says Jones. “It really has that nostalgic childhood feel.” The house has that feel, too: downstairs visitors will find the “major award” leg lamp, along with other details like the Parkers’ Christmas tree and kitchen. Head upstairs and spot a tasty bar of Lifebuoy soap and Ralphie’s decoder ring. Beyond the house itself, you’ll find more memorabil ia in the museum across the street. Maybe make a night of your vis it: Overnight reservations are available both at the house and at the Bumpus House located next door, on the organization’s website. This will be a special year to visit the Christmas Story House, since the film will finally receive a sequel on Nov. 17 on HBO Max. A Christmas Story Christmas features an adult Peter Billingsley return ing in his role as Ralphie — but, you won’t see the yellow house here, since the movie was filmed in Hungary. The house is open year round with extended holiday hours. achristmasstoryhouse.com

Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Ale: Ring in the holiday season by raising a pint of GLBC Christmas Ale. The seasonal beer, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, features festive notes of cinnamon, honey and ginger. Find it at local restaurants and stores.

Jack Frost Donuts: There’s always a themed option available from this local dough nut shop during the holidays. Taste sweet Thanksgiving and A Christmas Story-themed donuts at the Pearl Road shop or at its stands at the Cleveland MetroParks Zoo and the West Side Market. jackfrostdonutsusa.com

WinterLand: The weekend after Thanksgiving, WinterLand gets underway. Formerly known as WinterFest, WinterLand kicks off for its 37th year on Nov. 26 with San ta, carolers, hot chocolate and the open ing of the Cleveland Foundation ice skat ing rink. It culminates with a massive tree lighting and fireworks display in Public Square. winterlandcle.com

Scrooge, beer, donuts, scary monsters, rock 'n' roll and Ralphie’s beloved Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle … winter doesn’t get more Cleveland than these 10 activities.

TOP 10 MOST CLEVELAND WINTER ACTIVITIES

Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival’s A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens’ holiday sta ple takes the Mimi Ohio Theatre stage, running Nov. 25-Dec. 23. The Gerald Freeman adaptation has been a Cleveland holiday hallmark since 1988. greatlakestheater.org

Toboggan at the Cleveland Metroparks: Take a thrilling race in one of the two 700-foot toboggan chutes at the Chalet in Mill Stream Run Reservation. It's open weather depending, Nov. 25-Feb. 26. Riders must be at least 42 inches tall. clevelandmetroparks.com

Cleveland Kurentovanje: Fluffy monsters bop with bells around the street in an effort to scare off winter in this Slovenian cultural event. For the past decade, Cleveland’s Kurentovanje festival has grown to draw more than 10,000 attendees to view the “Kurent” creature costumes, taste pierogies and drink plenty of beer, all at the Slovenian National Home in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Its location makes sense; St. Clair-Superior is home to one of the largest Slovenian populations in the world. (Kurentovanje traditionally takes place in Slovenian communities, leading up to Ash Wednesday.) Beyond the big festival day (which lands on Feb. 18), other events lead up to the finale; in past years, that programming has included concerts, cooking classes and a 5K race. “We will continue to do both online and in-person events. And we never do the same thing the same twice,” says event organizer Nicole KusoldMatheou. “Programming is fueled by incorporating St. Clair-Superior and Slovenian culture and things that are just fun. It’s a way to bring Slovenian culture to our audience, a way of exploring what is Kurentovanje, what does it mean to be Slovenian, and to provide a holistic view of the culture. It’s grown so much since we began, on both a local level and internationally. People are booking flights to come to town already.” clevelandkurentovanje.com

Scrooge, beer, donuts, scary monsters, rock 'n' roll and Ralphie’s beloved Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle … winter doesn’t get more Cleveland than these 10 activities.

The Rink at Wade Oval: One of the best deals on ice skating in town is in University Circle. The Rink at Wade Oval offers $2 admission and $3 rentals, with even cheaper deals available for students. Skate under starry lights and sip hot cocoa from Dec. 2 to Feb. 26. universitycircle.org

Brite Winter: Brite Winter proves that an outdoor music festival can work, in Cleveland, in February. The daylong event returns to the West Bank of the Flats, under the Main Avenue Bridge, on Saturday, Feb. 25 with dozens of local bands and artists. britewinter.com

Wild Winter Lights presented by NOPEC at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo: At night, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo comes alive in a new way during Wild Winter Lights. More than a million bulbs light up to music, offering a festive, animal-filled excursion for the holidays. Drive-through experiences allow families to roll past the sights, along with walking nights, on select evenings Nov. 15-Dec. 30. futureforwildlife.org

ON THE STAGE

Hamilton: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s awardwinning Hamilton will be THE show of the winter, taking over Playhouse Square’s KeyBank State Theatre from Dec. 6 to Jan. 15. The hip-hop-fueled retelling of Alexander Hamilton’s life shares the “story of Amer ica then told by America now.” playhousesquare.org

14.The Nutcracker: The sug arplum fairy and mouse king come alive in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. You’ll find several versions of the show around town, including Cleveland Ballet’s which runs Dec. 15-18 at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace. clevelandballet.org

Black Nativity: Langston Hughes, one of Karamu House’s most famous alums, penned this gospel adaptation of the nativity of Jesus in 1961. The play will take the stage at Karamu, the country’s old est currently producing Black theater, in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood Dec. 1-23. karamuhouse.org

Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concerts: Nothing beats hearing festive songs performed by the world-class Cleveland Orchestra. The show runs Dec. 8-18 at University Circle's Sever ance Music Center. clevelandorchestra.com

Elf the Musical: Buddy the Elf finds Christ mas cheer at several local playhouses this season, including Lakewood's Beck Center, Akron's Weath ervane Playhouse, Chagrin Falls' Chagrin Valley Lit tle Theatre and Parma Heights' Cassidy Theatre.

Land of Oz: Based on the sequel to Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this fantastical play makes its world premiere at Cleveland Heights' Dobama Theatre, Dec. 2-31. dobama.org

Beetlejuice: Tim Burton’s 1988 horrorcomedy film takes the Connor Palace’s stage in Play house Square’s first Broadway Series show of the new year, Jan. 10-29. playhousesquare.org

Hadestown: This political Tony-winning musical takes the Connor Palace Stage Jan. 31-Feb. 19. playhousesquare.org

Buddy the Elf, the Nutcracker, the three wise men and … Alexander Hamilton? The winter theater season will have some familiar names and some unexpected ones. Looking for something festive? Several holiday classics are headed for local stages, too.

Circlefest: The final Holiday CircleFest is set for Dec. 4, with horse-drawn carriages, ice carving and, of course, photos with Santa, all on Wade Oval in University Circle. The festival will change in 2023, add ing more weekend activities to the mix. This year, enjoy one day of fun, which also includes artsy activities inside the Cleveland Museum of Art and elements from CMA’s Winter Lights Lantern Festival. universitycircle.org

The Cleveland Botanical Garden Winter Show: The inside and outside portions of University Cir cle's Cleveland Botanical Garden will feature lights, plant displays and other festive fun, like the annual Gingerbread House contest. See it all Nov. 19-Dec. 31. holdenfg.org

Cleveland Museum of Art: A group of new art acquisitions makes its way to the Cleveland Museum of Art through Jan. 8. Joseph P. and Nancy F. Keithley made a massive gift to the museum in 2020, donating a collection of modern European and American paint ings, along with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. clevelandart.org

Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Clevelanders can enjoy free entry to the Cleveland Mu seum of Natural History on Sundays. With proof of resi dency, Clevelanders and East Clevelanders get access to the planetarium, Balto and plenty more. cmnh.org

Holiday Tours at the Cleveland History Center: Learn about Cleveland’s holiday traditions and festive pastimes at this spot, while enjoying its usual an nual holiday decorations. Head to Crawford’s Street of Shops for a reserved tour to delve into Cleveland’s eth nic and cultural groups. Tours available on select Thurs days: Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29. wrhs.org

University Circle comes alive with festivals and museum events.

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

Spend some time with Mr. Jingeling: "Mister Jingeling/How you ting-a-ling/ Keeper of the keys/On Halle's seventh floor/We'll be looking for/You to turn the keys." Sure to get stuck in your head, this little jingle belongs to Mr. Jingeling, the Christ mastime icon who first appeared in 1956 in Halle’s department store. You’d have to head up to the building’s seventh floor to meet the Keeper of the Keys, stationed in the space from Thanksgiving to Christmas. In the early 1980s, when Halle’s closed its Euclid Avenue store, Mr. Jingeling went away with it — until recent years when the figure resurfaced to appear at festive events once again. “Cleveland was really ready to see Mr. Jingeling again,” says Mr. J. “When I see faces of people who grew up with Mr. Jingeling, they just light up. Seeing Mr. J. bring back their childhood memories, with the lights and festivities — that childhood feeling.” You can catch Mr. Jingeling at the Christmas Connection at the I-X Center Nov. 18-20, along with a variety of other Northeast Ohio stops this holiday season.

“If you grew up in the 1950s or ‘60s, it was almost more important to see Mr. Jingeling than Santa,” Mr. Jingeling says. “Now these children are grandparents, sharing their feel ing of childhood joy with their children and grandchildren.” mrkringle.com/mrjingeling

Celebrate the holidays, Cleveland-style, with these experiences.

Castle Noel: It’s Christmas year-round, at Castle Noel. But it’s extra-special to visit the merry Me dina market around the holidays. Customers can ex plore Santa Mountain, a set piece used in A Christmas Story, or check out other holiday movie memorabilia. Visit by reservation only. castlenoel.com

Candy Land Gone to the Birds: Play a round of Candy Land with some birds thrown in, all while learning about birdwatching and local ecosys tems, at Willoughby’s Penitentiary Glen Reservation. Plus, try out snowshoeing at the park, depending on the weather. lakemetroparks.com

Scuba Claus at CLEAquarium: Santa Claus might be known for fly ing around the world in his sleigh, far overhead, but he also goes un der the sea in this annual Greater Cleveland Aquarium tradition. Wave at Scuba Claus himself as he dips into tanks filled with creatures like eels, sharks and angelfish – and be sure, while you're there, to say hi to all of the aquarium's other creatures, like the octopus, weedy seadragons and stingrays in the touch pool. greaterclevelandaquarium.com

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s “Read with a Ranger” at Tower City Center: Live your Polar Express dream on Dec. 10 when the CVNP Rangers read the classic children's book during this free event at Tower City. towercitycenter.com

Deck the Halls at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens: There is really no bad time to visit this bucolic Akron estate, with historic mansions and garden features that earned it National His toric Landmark status. But the holiday season is truly the best time to visit the former home of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. found er F.A. Seiberling. From Nov. 25-Dec. 30, the museum's annu al holiday event invites guests to gawk at more than 1.2 million lights across the 70-acre grounds. Massive, bright Christmas trees adorn the Carriage House Courtyard and the Corbin Conservato ry, a tropical greenhouse comprised of 4,322 panes of laminated glass that features a 20-foot tree during the holidays. In the Manor House — 64,000 square feet of English-inspired architecture that took three years to complete in the early 1900s — the contribu tions of Gertrude Seiberling, F.A.'s wife, are on display for the first time. The Music Room, decorated in red, green and gold, highlights Gertrude's musical talents and exquisite fashion, by displaying her holiday dresses. Children find photo ops and fun with Santa, Ru dolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and at Gingerbread Land. Don't miss sweets from the Gingerbread Bakery. stanhywet.org

Celebrate

Hale Farm & Village Holiday Lantern Tours: Like the ghost of Christmas past, go back in time to see how holiday traditions have evolved from the early 19th century to now. But don't worry, there's nothing spooky about this candle-lit tour, running Dec. 3-23, of the historic Summit County property operated by the West ern Reserve Historical Society. With 32 struc tures plus farm animals and crafting opportuni ties, Hale Farm is truly a blast in the past. wrhs.org

Cleveland Bazaar Artisan Market Pop-up: Cleveland's best small businesses will pop up a few times this season at Cleveland Bazaar's events, including Dec. 17-18 in Tower City. The event will also have live music, balloon artists and giveaways. clevelandbazaar.org

Tower City Center’s Noon Year’s Eve: It's tough to find a family-friendly way to celebrate the new year. Luckily, Tower City offers a free daytime event on Dec. 31 complete with a balloon drop at noon, dance parties, face paint ers and more. towercitycenter.com

GREAT OUTDOORS

Cleveland Foundation Ice Skating Rink at Public Square: Under the shadow of the Terminal Tower, Cleveland's take on the The Rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City might be the most picturesque ice patch in the Midwest. The more than 5,000-square-foot rink is the perfect place to take in Public Square's festive holiday lights. Admis sion to the ice rink, which is open from Nov. 25 to Feb. 21, is $12 and includes rentals. Private parties and lessons (free on Saturdays with admission) are also available. clevelandpublicsquare.com

Scott Hamilton at Public Square Rink: Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton glides into the ice rink at Cleveland's Public Square on Dec. 8 for Sk8 to Elimin8 Cancer, a free event to raise money for innovative cancer research. scottcares.org

Snow Trails: Just an hour down Interstate71, Mansfield’s charming Snow Trails features more than a dozen trails and lifts, plus a quaint lodge restau rant perfect for apres ski. snowtrails.com

Boston Mills/Brandywine: Though the park opens Dec. 17, it's not too early to start planning your season at Northeast Ohio’s premiere ski and snowboard resorts. The two ski areas are just five min utes apart and feature three black diamonds, a terrain park and snow tubing. bmbw.com Metroparks Snowshoeing: This great winter workout is available at Metroparks golf courses, such as Big Met, Sleepy Hollow and more. Rentals are available at Big Met, Hinkley Lake Boathouse and North Chagrin Nature Center. Expect to break a sweat, though no experience is required. clevelandmetroparks.com

Snowshoe at Holden Arboretum: Hike through winter gardens, around frozen lakes and through woodland forests, all winter long. holdenfg.org

Sledding: Where? A hill near you! C’mon, do we have to plan everything?

From skating to skiing, snowshoeing and sledding, Northeast Ohio is your outdoor winter playground.

COMFORT FOODS AND WINTER WARMERS

The South Side: Ukrainian-born The South Side chef Natasha Pogrebinsky has a way with comfort foods. The wide-ranging menu at her cozy Tremont spot, which features a sweet indooroutdoor fireplace, includes many hearty favorites with modern twists that warm on a winter day. The chef recommends the Spinach Alfredo Salmon Pasta ($15.25) with salmon belly baked in pepper and lemon sauce. To try it at home, saute spinach in a compound butter with roasted garlic and rosemary and then add a bechamel cheese sauce and serve atop pasta. Salmon filet works fine. “It’s a slightly more grown-up version of the classic comfort food mac and cheese. It's healthy-ish, but comfort food is all about that warm-hug feeling," she says. "This will put a smile on your face after a cold day.” southsidecleveland.com

Georgetown Arctic Igloos: Baby, it’s cold outside, but not in these cozy igloos on the treecovered, string-lit patio at Georgetown in Lakewood. Featuring personal heaters, these dining bubbles are a delightful and safe way to enjoy winter — just be sure to make a reservation. georgetownvosh.com

Prosperity Social Club: Nostalgia is cozy, too, and Old World flavor is served up to new gener ations at this homey Tremont hangout. Vintage beer signs, board games, a bowling machine and comfort ing Eastern European foods from pierogi to paprikash make for a Cleveland classic. prosperitysocialclub.com

Heat up the night or find comfort in the cold. Greater Cleveland has countless creative — and tasty — winter dining options. Here are a few of our favorite cold-weather bites.

Irie Jamaican Kitchen: Heat up your winter with jerk chicken, beef pat ties and more from this fast-casual Jamaican joint with locations on East 185th Street, Old Brooklyn and Akron. Build your own bowl from favor ites across a menu that fuses traditional and modern Jamaican cuisine or bring home dinner with the family pack. iriejakitchen.com

Algebra Tea House: This colorful cafe nestled between Case Western Reserve University and Little Italy is the perfect place to sip the day away with a wood-burning stove, artful decor, tables made out of polished tree trunks... oh, and dozens of black, white and herbal teas. algebrateahouse.com

Fat Tuesday at Rudy's Strudel & Bakery: While some cities usher in winter's end with color ful Mardi Gras parties, Clevelanders line up before dawn on frigid Fat Tuesday (Feb. 21) to snag a delicious paczki at this Parma bakery. Luckily, the bakery's sweet and savory flavors are worth the wait. rudysstrudel.com

RETIREMENT living

ADVENTURE KNOWS NO AGE

The COVID-19 pandemic has kept a lot of people close to home.

But now, with fewer restrictions and more op portunities for travel, peoples' wanderlust is on its way to being sated.

“We’re swamped,” says Gail Cochran, who has owned Flite2 Travel in Beachwood for 44 years. “All travel agents are.”

Cochran says her business is split just about equally between corporate and leisure travel — a marked change from years past, when corporate travel was 70% of her business.

And a large segment of that change is due to travel by senior citizens. A 2016 Visa study indicated that by 2025, senior citizens will comprise the only growing segment of international travel ers. But retirees’ trips can encompass an Alaskan cruise to a day bus trip down to Amish Country.

Travel can seem daunting at any age, especially as a senior, when mobility and memory issues may arise. However, there are steps senior travelers can take to minimize those risks.

Just the act of traveling can provide health benefits. Ursel

McElroy emphasizes lifelong learning as director of the Ohio Department of Aging. She says the experience of going new places is an important part of that.

Also, travel keeps you mentally acute, and the socialization that goes along with it can benefit mental and physical health. Lone liness and isolation have been identified as a public health crisis for senior citizens.

McElroy points to a CDC study that indicates social isolation was associated with about a 50% increase in the risk of dementia, and poor social relationships (a characteristic of social isolation or loneliness) led to a 29% increased risk for heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke. Loneliness is also associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide, she says.

“Travel may feel like a good time, but it also helps your health,” McElroy says.

John Latkovich, owner of JKL Tours in Willoughby, can see it in the faces of the seniors he takes on bus tours.

“Traveling is a great way to stay young at heart,” he says. “Trav eling as part of a group also makes them feel safe and secure. They can share the trip with a friend, make friends on the bus

Local organizations are making travel for seniors a possibility, from Alaskan cruises to one-day bus trips.

or even feel safe traveling alone knowing they are part of a group.”

Latkovich’s bus tours are almost exclu sively for seniors. He says of the 161 trips he has done or planned for this year, 159 are senior trips — and most are day trips, from history tours to wine-tasting events. But some are several-day excursions, to places like Myrtle Beach, New York City and the Canadian Rockies.

The tours try to accommodate travel ers' mobility issues. Tour buses feature a wheelchair lift. Riders who may need a walker or scooter can sit in the front of the bus, and the bus stops every few hours to allow riders to stretch their legs – and that’s important, says Dr. John Weigand, a geriatrician who serves as medical direc tor for the Ohio Department of Aging.

Weigand says if you’re driving, try not to overdo it. And if you’re flying, try to get the aisle seat.

“The tendency is not to get up if you’re in the middle or by the window,” he says, "and you really do want to get up occa sionally to avoid issues like soreness or potentially blood clots.”

If you’re flying, you can also request a wheelchair for easier mobility at the air port, Cochran says.

“It doesn’t mean you have a broken leg or anything,” she says. “I get one myself. It puts you at the front of the line and saves you some steps.”

It’s free, but the important thing, Co chran says, is to do it beforehand. You can request a wheelchair when you make your airline reservation.

Sherri Gouddou, manager at Kollander World Travel in Cleveland, echoes the ad vice. She says a wheelchair can be import ant when you’re navigating an unfamiliar airport and if there’s a language barrier. Also, with TSA check-in times being even longer than expected — sometimes three to four hours — it’s important to have someplace to sit.

Taking daily medication is a routine for many senior citizens. It’s estimated that 40% of those age 65 and older take at least five daily medications a day, and 20% take at least 10. It’s important to keep with you a list of everything you take and why, Weigand says.

“Sometimes people take different med ication for different reasons,” he says. “Your list should include dosage and frequency, even for herbal and over-thecounter medicines. A lot of people think

those don’t count, but they certainly can, especially if you’re in an emergency room situation.”

Weigand also recommends making sure you’re caught up on your vaccina tions. And if you’re flying, make sure your medication is in your carry-on, Co chran says. “Your suitcase can get lost or delayed.”

For that reason, Gouddou says, you should also keep a change of clothes in your carry-on. Also, when scheduling planes, she says, make sure you leave yourself plenty of time if you have a layover.

Also, think about your destination, Weigand says. Particularly, its altitude.

“If you have cardiac or cardiopulmo

nary issues or sleep apnea, those con ditions might be fine in Cleveland, but could be exacerbated in, say, Taos (at an altitude of more than 6,900 feet),” he says.

And remember to stay hydrated, he says.

“Dehydration is one of the leading causes of falls,” he says. “A lot of times, older people might not have the best thirst reflex, and sometimes they don’t want to drink because they’ll have to go to the bathroom frequently.”

The most important thing, McElroy says, is to know your limitations — but also know what you like to do.

“Start with what you love, and align it to what your abilities are,” she says.

COPING WITH A LOVE LOST

Losing a spouse later in life can literally break your heart — after years of companionship, sup port, memories and coping with tough situations together, a grieving spouse can suffer from the widowhood effect. Older adults who lose a spouse have a 66% higher risk of dying within 90 days, according to a study published in The Journal of Public Health.

“It doesn’t matter if you were married for 10 or 15 years or 50 to 70 years, when you lose someone that has been in your life for a long time, it has a profound impact and is one of the big gest stressors,” says Dr. Ronan Factora, a physician in Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Geriatric Medicine.

“When you reach a certain age, it’s hard to fill in that gap,” Factora says. “Everyone goes through grief. It’s natural to feel loss, but grief can lead to depression and broken heart syndrome where they lose all hope and pass away within a year.”

Whether an older adult is living independently or in assisted living, the loss is compounded with age, says Debbie Gouker, a discharge planner in social services at The Welsh Home in Rocky River. “If they have been living in a facility and lose a spouse, it’s one more part of life that has been taken away from them.”

With time, a senior’s connections can dwindle, but avoiding isolation and finding ways to fill the gap are essential for main taining health and happiness, Factora says. “The loss is out of your control, but the key is to be connected to those who are

Spouses who engage, connect and seek support can push through the significant loss of a life partner.

– Friday, 8am – 5pm

Snow Road, Brook Park, OH 44142

Harper Road, Ste A, Solon, OH 44139

Pearl Road, Strongsville, OH 44136

still around you,” he says, suggesting that families focus on what is intact over what is lost. “It’s hard to do alone,” he acknowledges.

Also, quality of life can diminish during times of grief. The widowhood effect can trigger self-neglect, as older adults who spend all their time caring for an ailing spouse can overlook their own health, according to The National Council on Aging.

The advice to stay connected and allow for self-care is easy to offer but can be challenging to initiate. Here are some ways families can support loved ones who have lost a spouse and what surviving widows can do to find purpose and peace of mind amid a significant loss.

Make Plans. After a death, the rush of pre paring and planning can distract a sur viving spouse from falling into despair. Funerals bring in family and visitors, and arrangements consume time that might

otherwise be spent dwelling on loss. “You have so much support during the funer al and then that dwindles," Factora says. "That is when you have to continue to keep those connections."

Everyone responds to and recovers from grief differently, he adds.

“Most of us need to go through that en tire first year without a loved one present — major holidays, anniversaries, birthdays and significant dates,” Factora says, advis ing that loved ones keep an eye on the sur viving spouse and check in frequently. “Be watchful and look for changes that trans fer simple grief to depression.”

Indicators include withdrawn behavior, loss of appetite and remarks that life is just not worth living.

“These are all reasons to intervene, but you can’t watch out for symptoms if you are not in contact.”

Take Stock. “Look around and consider all that you have,” Factora suggests. “Try to

build a life based on that. Do you have good contact with friends or neighbors? Are you involved in community organiza tions, a local church or religious group?”

Fill time with activities to take the mind away from loss, he advises.

“It’s cliché to say, ‘Get your mind on something else,’ but try to avoid that alone time when you are dwelling on loss.”

Send in Support. Older spouses often have traditional roles in the household that can leave the survivor with new tasks that can be overwhelming — whether it’s pay ing the bills, preparing meals, caring for the lawn or filling the social calendar.

“For families, you can help them learn new tasks or arrange for services to help with housework,” Factora suggests. “Even the bank can help set up accounts for auto-pay.”

Take Time with Big Decisions. The family home without a spouse can feel empty and be a lot to manage.

Loved ones might encourage moving to a community setting with more support and social connection.

This can be a solution — just take care to bench major decisions during initial periods of grief, Factora recommends.

“It’s better to take a deep breath, wait and think it through,” he says. “Get through this period and then plan ahead if you want to make a move.”

Ideally, major planning and organizing occurs before the death of a spouse.

“Many of my patients have involved families and they want to make sure their older family members are living the type of life they would want and achieving their goals whether that’s maintaining independence or quality of life,” says Factora.

Seek Counseling. If a late spouse was in a hospice program, find out about available grief counseling services, Gouker suggests.

“Church groups are a great resource as well, and if a loved one is living in a fa cility, see about enrichment programs and activities that can get a spouse’s mind off of the loss,” she adds.

Gouker says she connects residents coping with grief with other older adults living in the community who can share their experiences. “It helps to know they are not the only ones going through this,” she says.

Above all, Gouker says this: “My biggest advice is, take it one day at a time.”

We Help You Help.

When you help care for a loved one, you take care of everything. But are you taking care of yourself?

When you help care for a loved one, you take care of everything. But are you taking care of yourself?

AARP can help with information and useful tips on how you can maintain a healthy life balance, care for your own physical and mental well-being, and manage the challenges of caring for a loved one.

AARP can help with information and useful tips on how you can maintain a healthy life balance, care for your own physical and mental well-being, and manage the challenges of caring for a loved one.

Get help from others. Ask family and friends for assistance. Seek advice from other people caring for their loved ones.

Get help from others. Ask family and friends for assistance. Seek advice from other people caring for their loved ones.

Care for yourself. Don’t forget about your own needs. It’s just as important to make a plan to take care of yourself as it is to create a caregiving plan for your loved one.

Care for yourself. Don’t forget about your own needs. It’s just as important to make a plan to take care of yourself as it is to create a caregiving plan for your loved one.

Tap into AARP’s resources. AARP.org/caregiving has a wide array of information, including legal and financial guidance.

Tap into AARP’s resources. AARP.org/caregiving has a wide array of information, including legal and financial guidance.

You’re there for them. We’re here for you.

You’re there for them. We’re here for you.

Find free Care Guides to support you and your loved one at AARP.org/caregiving

14900 Private Drive, Cleveland // 216-851-8200 // mcgregoramasa.org

McGregor Senior Living, every thing you planned for and more, is a Cleveland tradition in senior living that provides more attentive lifestyle amenities and health care services as your needs evolve. McGregor is fully prepared to meet senior living needs now and in the future, allowing many to secure their plans in a senior living community that brings together lifelong care. You’ve planned for your senior living needs. So have we.

Nestled on a 45-acre estate among trees, gardens and walking paths, McGregor invites seniors and their families to ex plore a community that helps navigate the choices and opportunities throughout the continuum. Five levels of care services, one place. McGregor operates McGregor Assisted & Independent Living and The Gardens of McGregor — all on the main campus, which also provides rehabilitative services, nursing care and hospice, with a history of over 145 years of distinguished care for seniors. Located just minutes away from University Circle, residents have ac cess to art, music and philanthropic attrac tions, as well as world-renowned health care at Cleveland Clinic, University Hospi tals, Metro Health and Cleveland VA Med ical Center. Established as one of Cleve land’s first private rest homes, McGregor is one of the best places in the nation to en joy the experiences of midlife and beyond. McGregor supports some of the region’s most remarkable resources that define Cleveland, officially, as an “age-friendly” city.

A health care safety net like no other senior living community in Ohio, should health care finances run out, McGregor is Ohio’s only provider of the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), providing additional options for support. No other senior living community in Ohio keeps PACE like we do.

McGregor PACE uses a communi ty-based approach, enabling older adults to remain among familiar surroundings while receiving the help they need, when they need it, throughout our campus and

in the community. McGregor is helping older adults and families age successful ly in the place they call “home” through unique services and supports.

The McGregor Foundation continues its mission by providing support to all of Cuyahoga County and beyond through philanthropy that enables continued availability of programs, services and resources. The foundation’s priorities include affordable housing, education and total quality of life programming in all

Key Info

NUMBER OF FACILITIES: McGregor, McGregor Assisted & Independent Living, The Gardens of McGregor, McGregor Hospice, PACE locations in Warrensville Heights, Old Brooklyn and Forest Hill

TYPE OF FACILITY: Life Plan Community, Program of AllInclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)

REGION: Greater Cleveland, East and West Cuyahoga County (PACE)

settings. We also advocate staff development through our "Earn and Learn" program for those who work with seniors to create a viable pathway of work and a more accessible ladder to higher pay ing positions in the nonprofit sector. This program is ideal for individuals looking to make a difference in a career. The McGregor Foundation, established in 2002, was incorporated as Ohio’s only private grantmaking foundation solely focused on the needs of the economically disadvantaged and el derly. Since its inception, it has provided 697 grants to 138 organizations, totaling more than $16.8 mil lion in contributions.

When it comes to finding the right lifestyle choice and recognizing the need for more afford able housing choices, McGregor is expanding op tions for a growing senior community. McGregor’s newest assisted living community offers 90 pri vate and affordable living options within its stan dard market rate facility. Subsequently, construc tion is underway on 54 affordable independent living units opening in fall 2023, offering amenities and comforts that allow residents to be a part of a vibrant and enriched way of life. Our street name may be Private Drive, but don’t let that fool you. We welcome everyone to come see, hear and feel it to believe it!

Judson Senior Living

Since 1906, Judson Senior Living has been serving Northeast Ohio under a mission of Bringing Com munity to Life. With three active retirement communities offering a range of health and wellness services and programs, the not-for-profit, continuing care retirement community thrives on assisting older adults in the ways they need it most.

“Knowing how we can best support older adults and provide them with great opportunities to engage and interact is all a part of what we do,” says Kendra Urdzik, president and CEO.

From independent and assisted living to memory care and at-home services, Judson encourages older adults to part ner with associates at Judson. This ap proach has led to program innovations, broadened the community’s cultural di versity and earned global recognition.

“We’re the experts in the service side, and our residents are the experts in life,” says Dianna Huckestein, vice president of sales and marketing. “We create programs that support their physical needs and come alongside them so they can dream, explore and be passionate about life.”

Judson

Lifelong learning opportunities through community partnerships, artistic resourc es and recreational activities encourage vibrant lifestyles and the exploration of new interests.

Judson’s reputation has drawn gener ations of families over the years. Whether transitioning from the Judson at Home program or moving from another state, new residents are engaged from day one. Associates and resident ambassadors partner together to welcome them to their new home.

For residents, Judson offers an exciting opportunity to reclaim independence and enjoy life to the fullest while having access to care and support. For families, Judson provides peace of mind.

“We had a couple move in, and the wife needed memory care support,” Urdzik recalls. “They lived at home, and their children realized they couldn’t keep up with their physical needs. When they moved in, we were able to support her needs and engage his artistic side in our expressive arts center. He would be in the art room for hours knowing his wife was being taken care of.

“Age well, live well, be well — that’s our residents,” Urdzik concludes. “It epitomiz es our communities, associates and the families so engaged here every day.”

Key Info

NUMBER OF FACILITIES: 3

TYPE OF FACILITY: Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, ShortTerm Rehabilitation, Long-Term Skilled Nursing, Hospice, Home Care, Judson at Home

REGION: East

Renaissance Retirement Campus

26376 John

The Normandy Senior Living

22701 Lake Road, Rocky River // 440-333-5401

thenormandy.com

TYPE OF

THE NORMANDY IS A SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY that embraces and encour ages

at every age and stage to enrich residents’ days with fulfilling experiences.

REGION: West

LOCATED ON 80 PRISTINE acres in Olm sted Township, the Renaissance Retire ment Campus offers choices to design a personalized, fulfilling lifestyle. Spacious villas and apartments provide options for independent, maintenance-free living. Exciting new renovations offer inviting spaces to relax or meet with friends and neighbors. A new fitness center with a heated saltwater pool, equipment room and exercise studio is designed to promote optimum well-be ing. Experience world-class culinary fare prepared by executive chefs, served in a newly expanded, elegant bistro dining venue. Construction is near completion on a new 48-unit assisted living residence that will offer memory care and traditional assisted liv ing suites. Skilled nursing and rehabilitation therapy are located on campus if the need for additional care arises.

Its campus, home to Breakwater Apart ments, Lakeside Assisted Living and the Normandy Care Center, offers indepen dent and assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care, respite stays, rehabilitation and hospice services.

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TYPE OF FACILITY: Independent Living, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, Memory Care, Respite Stays, Rehabilitation, Hospice

REGION: West

We Help You Help.

When you help care for a loved one, you take care of everything. But are you taking care of yourself?

When you help care for a loved one, you take care of everything. But are you taking care of yourself?

AARP can help with information and useful tips on how you can maintain a healthy life balance, care for your own physical and mental well-being, and manage the challenges of caring for a loved one.

AARP can help with information and useful tips on how you can maintain a healthy life balance, care for your own physical and mental well-being, and manage the challenges of caring for a loved one.

Get help from others. Ask family and friends for assistance. Seek advice from other people caring for their loved ones.

Get help from others. Ask family and friends for assistance. Seek advice from other people caring for their loved ones.

Care for yourself. Don’t forget about your own needs. It’s just as important to make a plan to take care of yourself as it is to create a caregiving plan for your loved one.

Care for yourself. Don’t forget about your own needs. It’s just as important to make a plan to take care of yourself as it is to create a caregiving plan for your loved one.

Tap into AARP’s resources. AARP.org/caregiving has a wide array of information, including legal and financial guidance.

Tap into AARP’s resources. AARP.org/caregiving has a wide array of information, including legal and financial guidance.

You’re there for them. We’re here for you.

You’re there for them. We’re here for you.

Find free Care Guides to support you and your loved one at AARP.org/caregiving

Thank You for Volunteering

As the world moves into a postpandemic phase, we are all trying to return to our regular vacation schedules, visiting family and getting back to chamber of commerce net working events. Our time is limited, and how we choose to volunteer has changed, too. With most companies still experienc ing staff shortages, sending employees to events for the day has also been challeng ing. The NOACC Chamber Bright Star Awards celebrate those who have given their local chambers of commerce their precious time and industry expertise, as well as service to their local communities.

“People have a lot of options when it comes to their free time these days,” says NOACC president and CEO Cindy Holzheimer. “Volunteering with your local chamber of commerce not only gives back to your community, but the social contact

of helping and working with others can have a profound effect on your psycholog ical well-being.”

The 14th Annual NOACC Chamber Bright Star Awards, sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, held Oct. 20 and simulcast at LaCentre in Westlake and the Neeley Center at Terra State Community College in Fremont, celebrated over 50 amazing chamber volunteers with a spe cial evening of recognition.

Missy McWhorter, executive director of the Fairlawn Area Chamber of Commerce

and NOACC board chair adds, “As we navi gate through the new norm in the chamber and business world, I would like to share my admiration for our chambers and their members for continuing to utilize those im portant benefits that are offered, as well as continuing to build those vital relationships to grow their businesses and memberships. Hats off to this year’s Bright Stars for their devotion to providing value within our chambers. We appreciate your allegiance to volunteering your time, efforts and energies towards making your chambers amazing.”

NOACC, an association of over 130 chambers from northern Ohio, established in 1995, is dedicated to helping chambers and chamber professionals through dynamic resources and cost-saving solutions for chamber-member businesses. Visit noacc.org for more information.

Solutions that work.

HONORS VOLUNTEERS AND CHAMBER LEADERS FROM ACROSS NORTHERN OHIO FOR THEIR TIME AND DEDICATION.

Member Spotlights

MEET LOCAL CHAMBER MEMBERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Robbie Anderson State Farm Insurance

CHAMBER: North Olmsted Chamber of Commerce

Robbie has served on the NOCC board for eight years. He is the first to volunteer for any cham ber event or project. Robbie is a born leader.

Mary Bond Volunteer

CHAMBER: Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Mary is the volunteer chair of the Taste of Lakewood committee and always goes above and beyond. This year we were short-staffed leading up to the event. Mary stepped up and worked tirelessly alongside our staff to help prepare for the event. Mary’s positive attitude, organizational skills and high energy contributed directly to the success of the event.

Christopher Carraher Volunteer

CHAMBER: Greater Ashtabula Chamber of Commerce

Christopher is a dedicated volunteer who goes above and beyond to support and sing the chamber’s praises to all. He’s a consistent presence through membership committee, ribbon cuttings and networking.

Amy Cover Farmer & Merchants State Bank

CHAMBER: Archbold Area Chamber

Amy currently serves as the president of our chamber board. Just this year, she has led initiatives to revamp the executive committee structure of the board to streamline decision-making and idea implementation. She was also instrumental in creating com mittees for our board that focus on events, marketing and com munications and sponsorships. Amy is committed to making the Archbold Area Chamber one of the best in Northwest Ohio, and we are extremely grateful for her leadership.

Sheila Custer

Send Out Cards

CHAMBER: Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce Sheila has been an active mem ber and ambassador since 2012. She goes above and beyond to recruit, engage and welcome members. Sheila also volunteers at events and sends out cards to new members.

Bob Earley

Rockin’ on the River

CHAMBER: Lorain County Chamber of Commerce Bob started the renaissance in downtown Lorain with the ROTR concert series, proving to visitors and residents alike — if you build it, they will come.

Kristin Endsley City of Orrville

CHAMBER: Orrville Area Chamber of Commerce Kristin graciously stepped up as board chair when the 2021 chair had to resign due to a job change. She also serves on the chamber finance committee and is very supportive of our mis sion to be the essential resource for our members.

Eric Faulds

Galion Town Money Saver

CHAMBER: Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce Eric is a positive leader in the community and works tirelessly to promote our small businesses and the chamber benefits. His energy is amazing.

Douglas Fender CoreCivic

CHAMBER: Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce Doug always puts the chamber and community first. He brings such fresh ideas, and not only shares his time, but delegates his staff to help as well. He has really upped our game.

Amy French OEC

CHAMBER: Richfield Chamber of Commerce

Amy served as our chamber president for two years and was an exemplary leader. A very hands-on president, she helped plan and/or participated in all our events.

Larry Funk Northshore Properties

CHAMBER: Oberlin Business Partnership

Larry’s enthusiasm for Oberlin is infectious. He served for more than 20 years in roles from board presi dent to “anything you need” volun teer. His legacy includes leading a downtown renovation project.

Michael Goddard Crawford Insurance Agency

CHAMBER: Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce Mike has been on the board of di rectors since July 9, 1997 and served as president in 2002 and 2003. He chairs and serves on several com mittees, attends all chamber events and is always very supportive.

Doug, Mandy, Piper and Finn Hanna Anderson & Vreeland/ First Presbyterian Church

CHAMBER: Bryan Area Chamber of Commerce All four members of the family participate heavily in two of the chamber’s major summer events. Whatever needs to be done, members of the Hanna family, including the kids, pitch in.

Dave Herwerden WestPoint Wealth Management

CHAMBER: Berea Chamber of Commerce Dave has been an outstanding leader for our chamber, serving as president the past two years. His contributions helped in growing membership and developing new programming in support of the community.

Peter Hill

Pymatuning Fabrication Lab

CHAMBER: Pymatuning Area Chamber of Commerce Pete is always available to help not only with chamber events but in the community. He is al ways searching for new ways to do things to improve something that is happening and expand our membership.

Tina Horn

Key Bank

CHAMBER: Louisville, Ohio Area Chamber of Commerce

Tina is the face of our chamber and our biggest advocate. She em bodies the spirit of volunteerism and community involvement and is passionate about the success of our area businesses.

Lisa Hovanec

Retired

CHAMBER: Aurora Chamber of Commerce

Lisa is a long-time chamber/ board member who can pretty much recite our bylaws. She is always coming up with new and exciting ideas to help raise money for the chamber.

Bill Hricovec

Tom’s Country Place

CHAMBER: North Coast Chamber of Commerce

Bill has served on the NCCC board of directors for 12 years. An nually, Tom’s Country Place hosts our four-mayor luncheon, along with numerous other events.

Jim Hull

Summit Glove

CHAMBER: Minerva Area Chamber of Commerce

Jim masterminded a car show bringing more than $25 million in rare automobiles to Minerva’s downtown and raising more than $10,000 for the historic Roxy The atre, funding major renovations.

Tara Isbelle

Huntington National Bank - Madison CHAMBER: Eastern Lake County Chamber of Commerce

Tara attends chamber events, is an active board and committee member and cares deeply about chamber goals and initiatives. She gives freely of her time and is a champion of our golf outing.

Jason Jacobs

O'Neill Health Care

CHAMBER: North Ridgeville Chamber of Commerce

Jason has given his constant attention to making sure our chamber of commerce remains successful. Jason has been on our board of directors for several years, our golf event chairman and North Ridgeville’s president of city council.

2022 Member Spotlights

Dr. William (Bill) Kegerize

Genoa Family Eye Care

CHAMBER: Genoa Area Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Kegerize has served our chamber for many years and continues to do a great job by volunteering countless hours and assisting with many events and activities. He is a past cham ber president and a member of many chamber committees. Dr. Kegerize is an outstanding business owner in Genoa and an invaluable member of our cham ber and community.

Wayne Lawrence Weiss Movers & Storage

CHAMBER: Warrensville Heights Area Chamber of Commerce

Wayne is a visionary, provides guidance, is knowledgeable, fair, honest, a mentor, generous, enthusiastic, a good listener and respected. He is also a wonderful motivator and friend.

Rebekah Lombardo Andrako Insurance Consultants

CHAMBER: Fairview Park Chamber of Commerce

Rebekah is kind, thoughtful and professional. She is always the first to step forward and offer assistance. Her enthusiasm for the Fairview Park business community — and chamber of commerce — is infectious.

Brad Lubinger

Town Planner & More Than Pens

CHAMBER: Fairlawn Area Chamber of Commerce

Brad shines not only as a stellar board member but as an active chamber member who utilizes his membership by continually growing his business.

Joe Malacky

Two Men and a Truck

CHAMBER: Streetsboro Area Chamber of Commerce

Joe goes above and beyond and is always one of the first to volunteer — even filling in last minute for our executive director at an event.

Courtney McIvor McIvor Insurance Agency

CHAMBER: Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce

Courtney leads our golf outing committee and, despite the health challenges she’s faced, continues to promote the cham ber and refer new members. She always offers support in any way she can.

Matt Metyk LaBella Associates

CHAMBER: Mayfield Area Chamber of Commerce

Matt recently joined the cham ber and took the lead to host our board meetings at his office. He is the co-chair of our important program committee and has worked at tons of events, such as breakfast networking meetings, after-hours events and special events. We are certainly a better chamber because of Matt and his efforts. As a part of one of our member city’s board of zoning appeals, Matt has kept the chamber at the table for city events and initiatives.

Abigail Mikesell

Good Samaritan Society - Arlington

CHAMBER: Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce

The first person to volunteer for any event, Abigail genuinely believes in the chamber mission and always represents us in a professional and personable way.

David Nedrich

General Motors - Retired

CHAMBER: Parma Area Chamber of Commerce

Dave has been dedicated to our chamber for more than 20 years. He goes above and beyond in his role as senior advisor to help the chamber succeed.

Traci Paponetti

The Lubrizol Corporation

CHAMBER: Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce

Traci, board chairwoman, designed our strategic plan tem plate, chairs the Turkey Bowl (a bowling extravaganza that draws 250 members), helps lead our workforce development commit tee and updated our business and student scholarship applications.

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Erica Phillips D&S Automotive Collision & Restyling

CHAMBER: Chardon Area Chamber of Commerce

Erica assisted with our website rebuild, chairs the fundraising committee and works extensively on our car and bike show. She generated the chamber gift certif icate program. Erica is generous and always positive.

Karin Reale

Goosefoot Acres - Home of Dandy Blend

CHAMBER: Northern Medina County Chamber Alliance

Karin goes above and beyond her responsibilities as a board member and chamber champi on sponsor. She sits on various committees, is generous in her donations and works to bring new members to the chamber.

She also volunteers for our chamber at the state level by sit ting on the Ohio Chamber Small Business Council.

Emily Roach Kingston of Sylvania

CHAMBER: Sylvania Area Chamber of Commerce

Emily is our 2022 volunteer of the year. Emily volunteers for everything she can, not just for the chamber. She helps coordi nate the farmers market and a plethora of other community events. A week doesn’t go by without seeing Emily coordinat ing an event on our community social media pages.

Jackie Robertson

Dieco

CHAMBER: Solon Chamber of Commerce

Jackie recently joined our board in 2022 and has gone above and beyond in being an active member on multiple committees and helped us rejuvenate our programs committee. She also helps at all programs and events.

2022 Member Spotlights

Kathy Romito Western Reserve Hospital

CHAMBER: Cuyahoga Falls Chamber of Commerce

Currently serving as board chair, Kathy lives, works and plays in Cuyahoga Falls. She is always proactive in the chamber and community, offering support, enthusiasm and encouragement wherever needed.

Jolene Sabo City of Northwood

CHAMBER: Eastern Maumee Bay Chamber of Commerce

Jolene attends and offers to vol unteer at almost every chamber event. With our chamber having a unique footprint spanning two counties, Jolene has been a great resource helping make intro ductions to local businesses in Northwood.

Dan Sage Machor Sage Insurance

CHAMBER: Middleburg Heights Chamber of Commerce

Dan has served as a consum mate advocate for the chamber. He is and has been an active board member. He has been a consistent volunteer at chamber events, and he helps foster many positive relationships.

Cherie and Manny Salazar

Ottawa County Pest Control CHAMBER: Oak Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce

Cherie and Manny Salazar have been involved with the chamber for more than 13 years. Cherie serves on our board, and they both help at every event we do. They are both there from setup to cleanup, and Manny is also our town Easter Bunny. We really don’t know what we would do without them.

CONGRATULATIONS

BRIGHT STAR AWARD WINNERS!

2022 Member Spotlights

Cheryl Selby Grand Valley Public Library

CHAMBER: Grand Valley Area Chamber of Commerce

Cheryl attends every meet ing and is always the first to volunteer and donate for the community and the chamber.

Matt Smith RadioActive Electronics

CHAMBER: Middlefield Chamber of Commerce

Matt is always ready to gener ously volunteer his time and experience with the newest technology for chamber and community events.

Joe Spooner Spooner Inc.

CHAMBER: West Shore Chamber of Commerce

Joe serves on the WSCC board of directors. Not only is Joe a team player, his leadership and drive have brought the WSCC to its highest level.

Brian Szabo Szabo Apparel Co.

CHAMBER: Vermilion Chamber of Commerce

Szabo Apparel is a veteran-owned business, and Brian actively sup ports fellow businesses through B2B promoting. He also designed a fundraising event for Maxton Soviak, a Navy Corpsman who passed away on Aug. 26, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan, supporting Operation Allies Refuge.

Kristopher Toth

Toth Painting Solutions

CHAMBER: Brecksville Chamber of Commerce

Kris has led our chamber as president for the last three years during an unprecedented time for our small business communi ty. Kris personally worked with our chamber staff to ensure that our members were supported with resources and information throughout COVID-19.

Christopher Truax University Hospitals Beachwood Medical Center

CHAMBER: Beachwood Chamber of Commerce

Our chamber operations simply couldn’t function without Chris. Serving as treasurer for the past two years, he has been an invalu able member of our team who truly cares about the success of our organization.

Jodi Turk

PowerMax Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning

CHAMBER: Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber of Commerce

Jodi actively participates in HRCC, showing up to webinars and events, always making time in her busy workday. She promotes HRCC to the community and is a great ambassador.

Jim and Deanne Wade West Main Street Winery & Brewery

CHAMBER: Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce

Jim and Deanne Wade are incredi bly smart, kind, giving and selfless business owners. They are always willing to do their part, and they go above and beyond.

Steve Wild Cox Communications

CHAMBER: Olmsted Chamber of Commerce

As fundraising committee chair, Steve has gone above and beyond with the annual golf outing. That event is by far our biggest fundraiser and simply wouldn’t be possible without Steve’s help.

Mike Yeagle Yeagle Farms

CHAMBER: Chamber of Commerce of Sandusky County

Mike is our longest-standing volunteer at the chamber. He was nominated to the board in 1981 and has since been a valued and committed member of the Ag Committee. He single-handed ly takes care of our 20-plus ag billboards throughout Sandusky County and is always willing to help whenever needed.

Congratulations to Lorain County Chamber of Commerce 2022 Bright Star Bob Earley Rockin’ on the River

In 2015 Bob Earley brought Rockin’ on the River to downtown Lorain and nothing has been the same since! Restaurants, bars, and shops have opened on Broadway along with investment in a new streetscape, signage and even a hotel. Friday nights in the summer attract people of different ages and different backgrounds from all over Northeast Ohio to Black River Landing to hear bands, catch up with old friends and enjoy the most amazing river and lake views. Bob and his wife Sandy sparked a renaissance where it was most needed, and it continues to burn brighter every year. Thank you Bob Earley, we hope to keep Rockin’ along with you for years to come!

“Congratulations Bob Earley on being chosen as a Bright Star...it’s something we have known all along”

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making

ANNA HEINZ

GEORGIA WILDER

MICHAEL KOVACK JASON COOPER

North Olmsted

School safety and security is always a top priority and topic of conversation in North Olmsted. Leaders from North Olmsted City Schools and the City of North Olmsted started having collaborative meetings to discuss safety. These meetings have included walk throughs of different safety scenarios, strategy planning in the event of a threat, and discussions detailing how each entity would respond and individual responsibilities based on role.

Before students returned for the new school year, all school district staff members participated in ALICE training. School Resource Officer Jim Carbone along with other officers from the North Olmsted Police Department ran multiple active safety scenarios in all of our school buildings. Each building debriefed and discussed each scenario after.

North Olmsted City Schools also hired a second school resource officer. Officer Joann Felton joined the district as a part-time school resource officer assigned mainly to North Olmsted Middle School. Joann comes to North Olmsted from the Solon Police Department where she earned State DARE Officer of the Year and National DARE Officer of the Year.

Pictured top: North Olmsted School Resource Officer Jim Carbone discussed the active shooter drill with staff members at the high school.

Pictured left: Leaders from North Olmsted City Schools and the City of North Olmsted came together to discuss safety both in the schools and in the community.

City Schools

Student Learning In Action!

The Model United Nations Club (above) hosted Rev. Nta William Nche, a Cameroonian peace activist and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian faith. He shared his experiences and lessons from his peace building efforts. A select group of 6th grade students (above) had the opportunity to attend the Westshore Young Leaders kick off event. Students participated in leadership and teamwork activities while interacting with students from other local schools.

Fourth grade students (above) used LEGO Spike kits and Chromebooks to build and program their own cars! Students worked together as a team to problem solve and construct their car. These LEGO sets were purchased through grant money.

First grade students (above) were introduced to sphero indi - a robot car! Students used colored mats to create routes and patterns for the car. These kits were purchased through grant money.

Visit www.northolmstedschools.org for more information!

DEPARTMENTS

5 Welcome from the Mayor

6 Celebrating Diversity

Two summer events celebrated the city's diverse community.

7 Park Plans

Check out the latest updates planned for the city's parks.

10 Sparks of Innovation

See how the business community is adapting to change.

14 Star Students

Meet two standout students from North Olmsted High School.

15 Skill Building

Discover a unique class that provides students with important life skills.

16 Faces of North Olmsted

Get to know community members making a difference.

19 City Information

8 Meet the Mayor

Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones leads North Olmsted toward a bright future.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this special edition of North Olmsted Magazine. It continues to be my great honor and privilege to serve as North Olmsted’s mayor. Our city is a vibrant melt ing pot of diverse cultures and people, and we feel it’s a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family, not to mention a great destination for visitors.

North Olmsted boasts close proximity to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and an abundance of amenities to enjoy, including beautiful parks and direct access to the Cleveland Metroparks, as well as major shopping at Great Northern Mall and a host of fantastic restaurants.

I invite you to explore all that North Olmsted has to offer. You certainly won’t be disappointed.

look forward to seeing you very soon.

Sincerely, Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones

Stay Connected Websites - north-olmsted.com - springvalegolfcourseandballroom.com - northolmstedschools.org

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Subscribe to the city’s e-newsletters and receive community information on a variety of topics regularly to your inbox. Visit north-olmsted.com to sign up.

- Latest updates, news and events

- Mayor’s Newsletter

- Senior Center Newsletter

- Parks and Recreation Newsletter

Get customized news, events and updates for the schools in which you are interested by visiting northolmstedschools.org.

Celebrating Diversity

North Olmsted hosted summer events to celebrate the city’s Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

By Jamie Brian

In June, North Olmsted celebrated its di versity with Juneteenth and Pride events.

“North Olmsted is a melting pot of different communities,” says communi cations manager Julia Bejjani. “Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones has really made it a prominent issue to show our diversity.”

The Juneteenth commemoration, which took place June 19, showcased artists, performers and Black-owned businesses. Vendor selections includ ed clothing from Future Motives, sweet treats from Le’ Scoop Dessert Boutique and organic products from I AM Well

Holistic. The musicians Eroc and Anu Imani shared the stage, and writer Solé performed her poetry.

“It was a day for us to remember the generations that have been oppressed and to celebrate their achievements and ongo ing battle for racial equality,” Bejjani says.

On June 25, North Olmsted also honored the LGBTQ+ community with a Pride fes tival. Participants sang karaoke and created colorful chalk art. Local vendors Fortunes Cookies, Fosters Old Fashioned Fudge and Marissa McShepard sold their wares.

The Juneteenth and Pride events high lighted the resilience of the Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

“Both groups have struggled for de cades,” Bejjani says. “Both groups deserve the right to express themselves and to be themselves and to celebrate how far they’ve come.”

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Destiny McGill showcases her artwork at the Juneteenth commemoration.

“North Olmsted is a melting pot of different communities.”

— Julia Bejjani, North Olmsted communications manager

Park Plans

Updates to North Olmsted Community Park will beautify the greenspace while eliminating maintenance issues.

By Jamie Brian

Visitors to North Olmsted Commu nity Park will notice some changes to trails, fields and facilities in the coming months. Implementation of the master plan for North Olmsted Community Park is expected to begin in 2023 and will involve relocating the baseball fields from the south end of the park to the north end, connecting the park’s walk ing trails and adding fields for addition al sports, including lacrosse and soccer. Plans for a new stage for the band con cert series are also in the works.

“North Olmsted Community Park has remained the same for decades,” says Tim Pinchek, director of recreation and public engagement for the city of North Olmsted, adding that he hopes the up dates will eliminate maintenance issues, such as puddling of water on fields after heavy rain and poor electrical perfor mance. “This will be a beautification project that has been needed for many years and will be vital for the continued success of that park.”

With these improvements, fami lies can continue making memories at North Olmsted Community Park for years to come.

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Non-profit NOPEC softens the ride with stable rates and no-risk terms. We buy electricity and natural gas in bulk, then pass the benefits on to you.

We even help protect you from unreasonable utility rate increases and unfair regulation by fighting for consumer-friendly energy legislation.

To learn more, call (855) 667-3201 or visit nopec.org.

Meet the Mayor

Discover Nicole Dailey Jones’ dedication to leading North Olmsted toward a bright future.

By Rachel Hagenbaugh

The first time Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones considered a career in politics, she was in junior high school. Her father, who had worked in factories his entire life, had lost his job for the second time. She remem bers watching TV with her parents, Greg and Arlene Dailey, in their small bunga low in Parma on Parklane Drive when she heard a disturbing message.

“The president at the time was doing an interview and made a comment about how if people are unemployed, it’s their own fault and they’re not trying hard enough to find employment. Watching my parents’ faces while that comment was being made on TV shocked me be cause my parents are two of the hardest working people I’ve ever met,” she says, crediting them with giving her the op portunity to become the first person in her family to attend and graduate college. “It all came to a head and clicked with me that if I ever had the opportunity to be elected to anything, that I knew I would remember that moment at all times and

make sure that the way that I treated whomever I was representing and what ever decisions I made in office would be reflective of the fact that every person out there is doing the best they can.”

Passion for Politics

Jones’ desire to effect change through government started at St. Francis De Sales in Parma, where she served as the vice president of student government. At Parma Senior High School, she served as the pres ident of her freshman, sophomore and ju nior classes, as well as senior president of student government. At Ohio Wesleyan University, where Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, government and international studies, she also participat ed in student government and was elected president during her senior year.

During college, Jones spent a semester in Washington, D.C., working at a strate gy firm, where she saw firsthand how poli cy was influenced through different groups and organizations. She also interned for

Mary Boyle, who was running for U.S. Sen ate in the state of Ohio, for two years during college. Upon graduation, Jones got a job in the U.S. Senate, where she learned how the legislative process worked.

“I had a great experience in D.C., but it was always in the back of my head that I wanted to return to Ohio and serve in the local government,” she says. “The best way to effect change was to be right here in my own community.”

When Jones moved back to Ohio, she chose North Olmsted as her new home and wasted no time getting involved in various volunteer boards and commissions within the city. When a position opened on city council, she ran and was elected as the Ward 3 representative, where she served for six-and-a-half years before being elect ed and serving as city council president for nine years. During her more than 20 years of experience in municipal, county and federal government, Jones also worked as a congressional aide to democratic U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur.

The mayor honors recent Eagle Scout William Witalis with a special proclamation.

Members of North Olmsted City Council pose with the mayor (center).

Mayor Dailey Jones congratulates veterans after the 2022 “Quilts of Valor” ceremony.

“Through all of those positions, you have the opportunity to make your own con nections with different people and orga nizations that help shape who you are and the way you approach problem solving, but also just observing,” Jones says. “You can learn a lot from how others around you deal with situations and have the oppor tunity to see a lot of different leadership styles. All of those experiences combined have been helpful leading up to this mo ment to serve my community as mayor.”

Growing a Greater Community

One of the aspects of North Olmsted that Jones appreciates most is its abili ty to change while also remaining true to its roots. During the 1970s through 1990s, the city experienced a tremendous growth period. Now, Jones is focused on what the next 20 years will hold for North Olmsted, which includes taking action to refill storefronts, attract new business es, rebuild the city’s streets and invest in quality city services.

“Retail is not going to look the same as it has in the past,” she says. “That’s one thing I heard as I was running for com munity office and sitting on city council and observing the changes that have been taking place. It’s been a really big chal lenge navigating how to position the city and allow for economic development and how we shape that and what kind of poli cies the city can implement to ensure that our trajectory into the future isn’t stag nant — that we’re not letting things hap pen to us — we’re shaping the future.”

A different kind of mayor — that’s the platform on which Jones ran and the rea son she believes she was elected.

“I think that the feeling in the commu nity was that we had remained stagnant for a long time and needed a fresh start. We needed to have some new eyes on chal lenges that our community was facing and present some solutions to those challeng es,” she says. “I believe that cities that con tinue to evolve and look at problem solving all of the time are the ones that are setting themselves up for success. Now is the time to make those changes and five to 10 years from now see some real change.”

Jones also is honored to become the city’s second female mayor and hopes to continue to inspire other women to pur sue their goals and dreams through her

service. What advice does she have for those looking to follow in her footsteps?

“I always encourage all young peo ple to serve their community — no mat ter what that looks like,” she says, adding that communities need people to be lead ers in so many ways, whether that’s serving on boards and commissions, volunteering through churches or other organizations or participating in groups such as the Junior Women’s Club or local garden club. “All of those organizations make a community a wonderful place to live. I want young peo ple to know that there’s leadership oppor tunities everywhere. Serving your commu nity doesn’t mean you need to be elected to city government.”

No Place Like North Olmsted

When Jones and her husband, Daniel Jones, decided to move back to Ohio, they considered many communities near her hometown of Parma. What attracted them most to North Olmsted is the big-city ame nities coupled with small-town charm. Ev erything is connected for those who live and work in the city.

“The proximity to whatever type of ser vice or need you could want is amazing,” says Jones, who has lived in North Olmst ed for 21 years. “You have access to any thing you could possibly want to get to, such as retail or any services you might need. Medical services, the airport, free way systems — everything is connected to you in North Olmsted.”

Jones also appreciates the city’s prox imity to the Cleveland Metroparks, which her family of seven enjoy great ly. Her five children, all of whom attend North Olmsted City Schools and range from a third grader to a high school se nior, are involved in scouting and spend a lot of time outdoors. The family also is active in St. Clarence Church, and Jones is an active PTA mom.

When it comes to managing a house hold and a city, Jones says it’s all about staying organized, finding balance and having a strong support system.

“My husband, parents and all of my children and their friends and families, we all help each other out,” she says. “That’s something I’m so thankful for in North Olmsted — the people around here and the people my children are growing up with — it’s such a great thing.”

City Service Department employees pose with the mayor and director of public service Kevin Kearney (right).

The mayor (center) meets with director of public safety Jennifer Scofield and fire chief Edward Schepp.

By Rachel Hagenbaugh

NORTHERN

Those who live and work in and around North Olmsted boast of its amazing ame nities. Within just under 12 square miles, residents and visitors are connected to any type of service they could need or want. North Olmsted’s reputation as a desirable destination to conduct business continues to garner the attention of national retailers and investors. During the fourth quarter of 2021, Bridge33 Capital, a commercial real estate investment firm in Seattle, Wash ington, purchased Great Northern Plazas for $63 million as part of a five-property acquisition featuring shopping centers in four other states. And the old Bed, Bath & Beyond space is being repositioned as an Amazon Fresh grocery store, bringing a new food concept to the city.

“One of the things we’ve seen nation ally is that the retail market is changing. What remains true for North Olmsted is that it continues to be a strong market,” says Max Upton, the city’s economic and community development director. “It’s really interesting that the innovators and disruptors who are changing the face of retail still view North Olmsted as a geographically significant and strong real estate market.”

Part of the reason, Upton says, is that people who live, work and play in North Olmsted spend a lot on retail services.

“Per capita, we spent three times as much as the state and national average on retail goods and services,” Upton explains. “Initially, I was shocked when I saw that. But, as I dug deeper and deeper, I realized it made a lot of sense.”

Strides at Great Northern Mall

Great Northern Mall consists of 1.2 million square feet of shopping, dining and entertainment options, which include a diverse mix of more than 100 national, regional and local businesses.

Overall, malls throughout the nation are going through a period of transition, Upton says, adding that Great Northern Mall, which is at nearly 90% occupancy, is continuing to thrive due to its ability to find new uses for old spaces.

“Great Northern Mall continues to build on its rich, 46-year history and adapt to the changing needs of consumers,” says Dan Crandall, the mall’s marketing and business development manager, adding

“We plan to use this business to connect with the North Olmsted community and give back to the community we love.”

— Matt Rotheram

that in addition to being a popular desti nation with an inviting atmosphere, Great Northern Mall prides itself on its creative promotions, unique experiences and spe cial events (Kids Club, Princess Parties, Malloween and free community yoga classes, to name a few) to further engage visitors. “Stroll through Great Northern on any given weekend, and you may find yourself in the middle of a salsa dance class, a community bingo tournament or a family story time,” Crandall says.

Children enjoy Great Northern Mall's Princess Party.

been

quality skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term

more than

years in

west side communities.

been providing quality skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term care for more than 60 years in Cleveland’s west side communities.

addition to special events, the mall adds special touches that make people’s visits even more enjoyable. Earlier this year, it commissioned the talents of local artists to create more than 20 new pieces of public art that are on display through out the property.

shopping trip or a quick errand, Great Northern is a convenient place to do it all.”

Booming Business

is achieving the highest level of function during a therapy stay, helping them return home as soon as they are safely able.

goal is achieving the highest level of function during a therapy stay, helping them return home as soon as they are safely able.

also offer Assisted Living

offer Assisted Living

allowing seniors to live in a community with services and amenities, with our exceptional medical team close at hand.

allowing seniors to live in a community with services and amenities, with our exceptional medical team close at hand.

those diagnosed with

with

Disease or dementia,

Disease or dementia,

designed memory support unit promotes positive

By the third quarter of 2022, Great Northern Mall had welcomed a dozen new businesses, including local kiosk tenants such as Go Games, RC Toys, Charging Cables and More and Alice’s Candy. Jo Jo’s Arcade and First Team Actors Stu dio brings Hollywood-caliber training to Northeast Ohio and adds a unique use of mall space. Meanwhile, Fiesta Grill, a new concept offering fresh Latin cuisine, opened in the food court. Before the holiday season, Kona Acupuncture and Zebrano Furniture will open.

One of the mall’s goals to ensure its success is to continue to fill retail spaces with options that will appeal to the greater community and keep the mall relevant for the next generation of shoppers.

“We want to further entrench Great Northern into the community through special events, partnerships and charita ble activities,” Crandall says. “In addition to everything happening inside the mall, it is also worth noting everything that surrounds it. Great Northern is ideally situated in the center of North Olmsted’s retail district, with its own highway exit off of Interstate 480. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is just minutes away, and a number of nearby hotels, offices and corporations contribute to the regular daytime traffic. So, whether it is a leisurely

As Great Northern Mall continues to experience success, the rest of the city’s business community also is booming. This year, North Olmsted welcomed a variety of new businesses, including Eagle Cabinet and Design, a kitchen remodeler; Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, offering tasty, tradition al American fare; Pathway Caring for Children, which helps children and families realize the possibilities of their lives through foster care, adoption and mental health services; K9 Resorts, a luxury pet hotel; and popular fast-food establishment Arby’s.

Also new to North Olmsted is Pulp Juice & Smoothie Bar, an Ohio-based franchise that offers more than 40 smoothie blends, as well as a variety of fresh-squeezed juices, wraps, salads and more.

“My wife and I have always had a plan to open a small business in our home town,” says Matt Rotheram, owner of the North Olmsted Pulp store. A former NFL football player, Rotheram adds that protein shakes and smoothies were a dai ly part of his life as a professional athlete. So, he was naturally drawn to Pulp’s fresh smoothie concept. “Pulp is a business model focused on the community. It’s a place where you can come with any one — young children, friends, parents, grandparents, etc. I can guarantee you will find something for everyone on this diverse menu.”

Rotheram says North Olmsted is a community that needed a food/drink concept such as Pulp.

“My wife and I both grew up in North Olmsted and graduated from North Olmsted High School,” Rotheram says. “We plan to use this business to connect with the North Olmsted community and give back to the community we love.”

In addition to new businesses, the city also is celebrating a variety of expansions for existing businesses. Earlier this year, Ashley furniture completed its expansion from 12,000 to near ly 40,000 square feet. RollHouse, formerly a bowling alley, is investing nearly $5 million to transition into an entertainment concept that will feature a private bowling suite, themed escape rooms, a patio and dining options that include burgers, wings, pizzas, ribeye bowls and more.

Although North Olmsted’s business com munity is thriving, Upton emphasizes the city’s urgency to maintain momentum. That in cludes the creation of a Community Improve ment Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing and promoting the economic and civic development in a commu nity, as well as considering initiatives put into place by other cities and implementing strate gies that will allow for future growth.

“We’re trying to have a relentless urgency to succeed now,” Upton says. “That’s what we’re doing every day, and we’re just getting started.”

Check out these upcoming events happening at Great Northern Mall.

Don't Miss This Learn Sign Language

NOV. 6 AND DEC. 4, 2022

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

No prior experience is necessary, and children accompanied by an adult are welcome.

Location: Community Room

Santa Parade

NOV. 18, 2022, 5:30 P.M. – 7 P.M.

This family-friendly event will include live entertainment, face painting, balloon artists and more.

Location: The parade will begin at 6 p.m. at the Regal Cinemas wing and end at Santa’s sleigh.

Kids Club

DEC. 18, 2022, 1 P.M. – 2 P.M.

Fun activities for little ones will include story time, crafts and more. There’s no fee to attend, but registration is required. Visit greatnorthernohio.com for regis tration information.

Location: Great Northern Mall Community Center

Star Students

By Chrissy Kadleck

A gifted musician, honors student, swimmer and avid golfer, Nagy, 16, doesn’t let being visually impaired since birth limit his ambitions or over shadow his natural talents. In fact, this past summer, he golfed in the Firestone Junior Cup.

At school, he uses assistive tech nology provided by the district to help navigate schoolwork. One such tech nology, called Braille Note, converts worksheets and printed material into braille for Nagy and enables him to enter his information, which is then translated back to the teachers in their preferred format.

Nagy had the idea to make a video prior to starting his junior year that would share the accommodations he uses as well as some tips and tricks for his teachers ahead of the new school year.

at Petco at Steelyard Commons. “Things like getting project summaries ahead of time is really helpful for me.”

A member of Special Edition, an a cappella vocal group at the high school, Nagy wants to go to college to become a music teacher. “I’ve wanted to do that since I was seven or eight,” he says. “I’m really, really into music, and I'd like to start writing my own songs.”

Huston Nagy doesn’t miss a beat as he sings a cappella and moves through the halls of North Olmsted High School guided by his full-time aide.

“Since I’m blind, it usually takes me longer when we have a big project or something,” says Nagy, who had his first job over the summer stocking shelves

says the softspoken Sako, whose work entitled, “Fighting for Your Freedom,” stood out among the 7,000 submis sions from across the state. “It’s a pic ture of a veteran, but his face is my dad’s face,” she says.

Especially talented in colored pencil and oil painting, Sako says she start ed drawing when she was young but began taking it seriously around eighth grade. Always strong in art and math, she recently grappled with the deci sion of whether to pursue advanced studies in engineering or architecture.

“Anything that I wanted to do, I was allowed to do, and that was helpful in my personal growth,” she says with a smile. “That experience has been so valuable, and it improved my overall creativity.”

At only 18, senior artist Bianca Sako has amassed an impressive portfolio and a list of accolades that include one of her art pieces being named a Top 25 in the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition, as well as yielding a Gover nor’s Award of Excellence — one of her proudest recognitions.

“I love realism. If I could do art for the rest of my life, I would just do that,”

But with the encouragement of her art teachers (especially Mr. K.), Sako is applying for early acceptance to Rhode Island School of Design, one of the first and most prominent art and design schools in the U.S.

While she considers herself selftaught, she credits her art instruction at North Olmsted High School with giving her the freedom and encouragement to focus on artwork she wanted to create.

Huston Nagy

Bianca Sako

Skill Building

North Olmsted High School’s Home Repair and Maintenance class offers life skills and a taste of the trades.

By Chrissy Kadleck

To fully understand the demands and complexities of homeownership, students in North Olmsted High School’s Home Repair and Maintenance class spend most of a semester building a house from the ground up — a very cozy house measuring about 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 6-and-ahalf feet high.

Open to all grades, this popular class teaches high school students how to mas ter skills related to residential repairs and provides a veritable toolbox of skills and knowledge involving home foundation, home framing, roofing installation and repair and electrical safety and repair.

“My big mission is, I want kids to under stand how a house is put together. What is underneath your house? What’s inside your walls? What’s above the ceiling? How was the roof framed?” says Todd Eberhardt, who has been teaching in the district for 29 years. “But we need a model to fix and

repair things, so we build that model first. Once the house is done and when the stu dents aren’t there, I’ll go through and pull shingles off or break holes in walls or I’ll mess with the electricity. I play it up like the houses have been vandalized. Then they have to troubleshoot and fix it.”

This non-traditional class appeals to all kids at all levels and abilities and encour ages them to consider career pathways into skilled trades.

“I come from a trades family,” Eberhardt adds. His father was a master craftsman, and even though Eberhardt showed inter est in following his family’s lead into the construction business, his father insisted he go to college. “I have many friends who worked in the trades and they make a very good living and they love it,” he notes. “I try to push that as much as possible, and I know we have had a lot of kids show in terest in the trades because of this class.”

Heights, Ohio 44130

www.polaris.edu

Faces of North Olmsted

Meet four community members who use their unique talents and passions to make a difference in the community.

By Rachel Hagenbaugh

Anna Heinz

Children’s Services Supervisor, Cuyahoga County Library North Olmsted Branch

Since Anna Heinz started working with the Cuyahoga County Library, she has been spearheading changes that af fect children throughout Greater Cleve land. In her first role as the county’s toy librarian, she helped expand the Brook lyn Branch’s lending program so that toys could be sent to members throughout the library system’s 28 locations.

Heinz also was instrumental in bring ing a StoryWalk to the Brooklyn Branch. When she became the children’s ser vices supervisor for the North Olmsted Branch, adding one in her own commu nity was a top priority.

“The StoryWalk is a way to connect both exercise and physical activity, but also lit eracy and having something that families can do together,” she says, adding that the StoryWalk will be located at North Olm sted Community Park, beginning at the

Georgia Wilder

Case Manager, Oxcart Pantry

Today’s Oxcart Pantry looks very differ ent from when it started nearly 50 years ago as part of the city’s human resources de partment. Located in the basement of Old Town Hall, it offered a minimal amount of food and didn’t have many clients. Now, the pantry serves about 120 people per month, offers a variety of canned and fresh foods and is nestled in a house that has been converted to serve the pantry’s needs.

“Now, we can develop very nice rela tionships with the clients, and I think the environment has a lot to do with that,” says Georgia Wilder, the Oxcart Pantry’s case manager, noting that the pantry, which serves North Olmsted residents who meet certain income guidelines, also hosts special events, such as mobile produce, fill your backpack and holiday

programs, as well as operates a com munity garden. Although most of the food comes from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, the pantry also depends on individual and group donations. “Every month, we distribute a flyer letting peo ple know what the pantry is in need of.”

Wilder is responsible for running the pantry, which includes stocking and or dering food, making sure products are rotated, assisting clients, making referrals and taking care of administrative duties, such as making sure the pantry is follow ing federal guidelines.

“When this position became available, I thought it was perfect for me because I’ve always been in social work,” she says. “It’s just natural for me.”

Although she’s vital to the pantry’s suc cess, she’s quick to credit the 30 volunteers who help keep things running smoothly.

“Without them, we couldn’t do every thing that we do,” she says, adding that her favorite aspect of running the food

playground and circling around the top portion of the new walking trail. It will in clude 18 posts, each of which will contain a page spread from a picture book, as well as questions and activities that help par ticipants engage with the story and trail. Books will rotate on a quarterly basis. For the first book, Heinz chose Someone Builds the Dream

“It’s such a beautiful story about how so many people come together to make this dream a reality, and that’s how I’ve always felt about North Olmsted,” Heinz says. “It’s a community that comes to gether to make it the best place possible to live and raise a family.”

As the children’s services supervisor, Heinz also plays a vital role in the creation and implementation of the branch’s vari ety of programs geared toward youngsters from birth through fifth grade.

“We’re trying to promote literacy skills and a lifelong love of learning, as well as community and social skills that will car ry children on through adulthood,” Heinz says. “All of these skills are essential for anything they’ll be pursuing in life.”

pantry is serving the clients. “When you have something that’s such a basic need that might not be being met complete ly and you can help someone with that, you give that person a little hope. That’s the best part.”

COURTESY

HEINZ

JULIA BEJJANI

Michael Kovack Senior Outreach Coordinator, North Olmsted Senior Center

Michael Kovack spent his entire ca reer as a social worker interacting with children and their families. He never considered working with older adults. But last fall, the outreach coordinator position for the North Olmsted Senior Center became available.

“North Olmsted is near and dear to my heart,” Kovack says. “At no point in my ca reer was I able to work in a community that felt like home. That was the original driving force.”

Ready to try something new, Kovack was excited to take on the challenge. His responsibilities include everything from facilitating programming and health and wellness initiatives to acting as a social worker, helping the six to eight clients who contact the senior center daily.

“Whether someone needs assistance paying their utility bill or help with their lawn care — you name it — my job is to problem solve it and figure it out,” Kovack says, adding that he also

conducts home visits, performs crisis management and cooks for the center’s food program. “I want people to know that they don’t have to age alone. If you ever catch yourself being over whelmed by things like Medi care or Social Security or want to downsize and check out assisted living options, call me. Whether it’s a referral or something else, I’m going to help you out.”

In addition to assisting older adults with financial needs, activi ties of daily living and other inqui ries, Kovack is dedicated to out reach efforts, including educating the community about the senior center. He’s also spearheading a theater group to provide a fun way to engage with the community.

“We made a video, a parody of The Office TV show,” he says. “I write the skits myself and had someone from city hall film it and put it on Facebook and Instagram. The feedback was awesome.”

Kovack can be reached at 440-716-4264.

Jason Cooper grew up appreciating all that police officers do for the communi ties they serve. Now, working as a fleet mechanic for the North Olmsted Service Department, he’s able to utilize his tal ents to help ensure the safety of those he’s admired since childhood.

“I feel like it was always one of my goals to work in public safety, and I love that I’ve found my spot,” Cooper says. “My boss encourages training and self-improvement. It’s an atmosphere where you’re encouraged to grow.”

Cooper helps build and maintain ap proximately 140 vehicles and 360 pieces of equipment ranging from plow trucks to police cars.

“We’re kind of like family doctors for the city’s vehicles,” he says, adding that North

Olmsted’s service department is one of the few that performs all of its maintenance in-house. This allows for a lot of custom ization, specifically to the city’s police cars. Programming for the vehicles is written inhouse, and Cooper is constantly research ing ways to make them better.

“The cars are built to calm things down and deescalate situations,” Cooper says, highlighting features that include automat ically turning the siren off when a police vehicle is put into park, a low-frequency si ren that allows motorists to feel (rather than simply hear) when a police car is approach ing, vehicle-to-vehicle sync capabilities that allow the lights on police cars to flash together using global satellites and a sensor that dims police car lights by 20% when the sun goes down or during overcast days.

“One of the cool things that you prob ably won’t find in a lot of other places is that our police cars are personalized. If the officers need something, they can contact me through the chain of command, and I’ll research it and see what I can do,” he says. “I try to give the officers something that they can rely on and make their day a little bit easier and safer to give them more peace of mind and help them do their jobs the best they can.”

COURTESY JULIA BEJJANI

Jason Cooper

Fleet Mechanic, North Olmsted Service Department

City

Facilities

City Hall 5200 Dover Center Road 440-777-8000

Fire Station #1 24291 Lorain Road 440-777-1214

Fire Station #2 29592 Lorain Road 440-777-3544

Police Department 27243 Lorain Road 440-777-3535 (Non-Emergency) Recreation Center 26000 Lorain Road 440-734-8200

Oxcart Food Pantry Georgia Wilder, Case Manager 26272 Butternut Ridge Road 440-716-4165

Senior Center 28114 Lorain Road 440-777-8100

Springvale Golf Course and Ballroom 5871 Canterbury Road Golf Course: 440-777-0678 Ballroom: 440-777-0161

Elected Officials

Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones

Director of Law Michael R. Gareau Jr.

Director of Finance Carrie B. Copfer City Council Lou Brossard, President of Council Christopher Scarl, Ward 1 Chris Glassburn, Ward 2 Mary Gilchrist, Ward 3 Mary Ellen Hemann, Ward 4 Patrick Kelly, At Large Duane H. Limpert, At Large Angela M. Williamson, At Large Bea Taylor, Clerk 440-777-8000

City Departments

Building Jeffrey Grusenmeyer, Commissioner 440-777-8000

Economic and Community Development Max Upton, Director Kristine Jones, Administrative Assistant 440-777-8000

Engineering Pietro A. DiFranco, City Engineer 440-777-8000

Finance Carrie B. Copfer, Director 440-777-8000

Fire Edward M. Schepp, Chief 440-777-1214

Human Resources Lisa Kidd, Director 440-777-8000

Law

Michael R. Gareau Jr., Director 440-777-8000

Mayor’s Court Stacey Freeland, Clerk 440-777-8000

Mayor’s Office Rick Haase, Assistant to the Mayor 440-777-8000

Police

Robert Wagner, Chief 440-777-3535

Public Safety

Jennifer Scofield, Director Kristine Jones, Administrative Assistant 440-777-8000

Public Service

Kevin Kearney, Director Deborah Samrani, Administrative Assistant 440-777-8000

Recreation and Public Engagement Tim Pinchek, Director 440-777-8000 Deborah Samrani, Administrative Assistant

Senior Center Tiffany Hunt, Administrator 440-777-8100

Youth and Family Services Christine M. Allegra, Part-time Juvenile Diversion Coordinator 440-716-4166

Waste Water Treatment Plant Brian Blum, Superintendent 440-777-1881

North Olmsted City Schools

Board of Education

Terry Groden, President Tom Herbster, Vice President Brian Hall, Member

Gina Lehmann, Member Megan Murphy, Member Administrative Offices 26669 Butternut Ridge Road David Brand, Superintendent 440-588-5300

North Olmsted High School 27301 Butternut Ridge Road Main Office: 440-588-5800

North Olmsted Middle School 27401 Butternut Ridge Road Main Office: 440-588-5700

Pine Intermediate School 4267 Dover Center Road Main Office: 440-588-5530

Birch Elementary School 24100 Palm Drive Main Office: 440-588-5400

Chestnut Elementary School 30395 Lorain Road Main Office: 440-588-5500

Maple Elementary School 24101 Maple Ridge Road Main Office: 440-588-5515

Community Resources

Cuyahoga County Public Library North Olmsted Branch 27403 Lorain Road 440-777-6211

Frostville Museum 24101 Cedar Point Road olmstedhistoricalsociety.org

North Olmsted Community Council nocc.clubexpress.com 440-777-4918

North Olmsted Chamber of Commerce nolmstedchamber.org 440-777-3368

VFW Post 7647 30036 Lorain Road vfw7647.com

Post Office 28475 Lorain Road 440-777-4225

Regional Income Tax Agency ritaohio.com 800-860-7482

SHAKER HEIGHTS

Charming

BRATENAL | $775K

One

LAKEWOOD | $1.5M

Lake

CLEVELAND | $700K

Sensational

WESTPARK | CLEVELAND

Simply gorgeous WestPark

“storybook”

cod.

BY THE TIME THIS PHOTO was snapped on Dec. 5, 1979, Carl B. Stokes had left the political scene, winning an Emmy as a news anchor for WNBC-TV in New York. But the 8-year-old newspaper spread from the Call & Post, dated the year of Stokes’ leave as mayor in November 1971, reveals Cleveland still loomed in his mind.

Stokes’ life is headlined with firsts. His 1962 entrance into politics began as the first Black Democrat elected into the Ohio House of Representatives. November 1967 saw Stokes elected as the first Black may or of Cleveland. At a time when people of color made up roughly 37% of Cleveland’s population, Stokes’ 50.5% majority-win exhibited the city’s favoritism for Stokes — its choice over Seth Taft, the grandson of a former president.

Under Stokes, Cleveland would see its

first Black law director, first Black safety director and a Black woman appointed to a commissioner rank among nearly 3,000 city employees hired.

The Call & Post spread records Stokes’ historic hiring. Why particular photos are crossed out, and who wielded the pen, is unknown. Though there are some notables: Cleveland’s Department of Health and Wel fare Director Dr. E. Frank Ellis left his po sition in 1978 to become president of the American Public Health Association. Pho tographed beside him, Dr. Bailus Walker, Jr. would take the same presidency in 1988, founding its first caucus, the Black Caucus of Health Workers.

As for Stokes, he returned to Cleveland as a municipal judge from 1983-1994, making him one of the first Black people to serve all three branches of U.S. government.