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Apr
30
Cleveland: not a city you can pretend to know
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
“My favorite U.S. cities, in no particular order: Savannah, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. They’re the inverse proposition to places like Buffalo, Detroit, and Cleveland, which are in ruins and left to die.” Bernard-Henri Levy
This quote appeared in the magazine, Departures, a publication of American Express that began to arrive at my house maybe three or so years ago. I don’t know what milestone my husband reached in order to trigger the free subscription, but have no fear: it seeks to induce the recipient - via advertisements or articles or otherwise detected advertisements, to indulge in only the most expensive, exclusive opportunities that will then trigger some other higher milestone. I can’t imagine the name of the next milestone’s publication - but then again, neither can American Express, or what pricier items could be included, but then, I’m not the type who aspires, in general, to more and bigger and more, bigger, expensive possessions anyway.
I’ve passed the quote in front of a couple of level-headed local bloggers and one of them seemed to think that Levy had it, more or less, right. At least as far as the “in ruins and left to die” part.
But to me, the content of this self- and otherwise professed uber intellectual wasn’t new or shocking or enlightening or affirming.
What made me notice this quote, by this person, in this magazine, was the publisher’s or editor’s decision to include this quote.
Departures’ demographics, according to its media kit, include moneyed, traveling, spender types. Some of whom live in the NEO area. Those folks probably have second maybe even third and fourth homes, outside of Cleveland. Who can even guess as to how much time they spend on the North Coast each year.
So its not even myself or other Clevelanders for whom this quote disturbs me.
I’m disturbed by this quote on behalf of all the people who’ve never stepped foot in Cleveland, or, like Levy, have barely experienced Cleveland.
Cleveland is not a place that seduces you with its skyline, uniqueness, immensity, antiquity or any other easily recognizable but also easily mimicked or one-upped attraction. To love Cleveland is a process, a process that involves everything about the city. Including all that it possesses and lacks.
And yet Departures is a magazine seen by whom? People who want to be seduced easily and visually. And yet, who have the publishers allowed to speak to these wealthy and tony folks? A person who is supposed to be an intellectual but who, nonetheless, criticizes cities for failing to seduce him quickly, easily and predictably, the way the other very excellent cities - Seattle, San Fran, Chicago and Boston, all cities I’ve visited and know to greater and lesser degrees - can seduce, without question. This is not their fault, but to then judge other cities - such as Detroit and Cleveland - by the same standards?
Shallow. And lazy.
Learning to love, like and live in Cleveland is a process. And for truly, sincerely, soulful individuals - not just those who pose as such or write as such or seek to make others think they are such - Cleveland is rewarding beyond the attempted reduction to a single sentence quote in a magazine that only people who charge a lot of purchases on their credit cards read.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:18 pm April 30th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Apr
30
Cleveland: not a city you can pretend to know
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
“My favorite U.S. cities, in no particular order: Savannah, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. They’re the inverse proposition to places like Buffalo, Detroit, and Cleveland, which are in ruins and left to die.” Bernard-Henri Levy
This quote appeared in the magazine, Departures, a publication of American Express that began to arrive at my house maybe three or so years ago. I don’t know what milestone my husband reached in order to trigger the free subscription, but have no fear: it seeks to induce the recipient - via advertisements or articles or otherwise detected advertisements, to indulge in only the most expensive, exclusive opportunities that will then trigger some other higher milestone. I can’t imagine the name of the next milestone’s publication - but then again, neither can American Express, or what pricier items could be included, but then, I’m not the type who aspires, in general, to more and bigger and more, bigger, expensive possessions anyway.
I’ve passed the quote in front of a couple of level-headed local bloggers and one of them seemed to think that Levy had it, more or less, right. At least as far as the “in ruins and left to die” part.
But to me, the content of this self- and otherwise professed uber intellectual wasn’t new or shocking or enlightening or affirming.
What made me notice this quote, by this person, in this magazine, was the publisher’s or editor’s decision to include this quote.
Departures’ demographics, according to its media kit, include moneyed, traveling, spender types. Some of whom live in the NEO area. Those folks probably have second maybe even third and fourth homes, outside of Cleveland. Who can even guess as to how much time they spend on the North Coast each year.
So its not even myself or other Clevelanders for whom this quote disturbs me.
I’m disturbed by this quote on behalf of all the people who’ve never stepped foot in Cleveland, or, like Levy, have barely experienced Cleveland.
Cleveland is not a place that seduces you with its skyline, uniqueness, immensity, antiquity or any other easily recognizable but also easily mimicked or one-upped attraction. To love Cleveland is a process, a process that involves everything about the city. Including all that it possesses and lacks.
And yet Departures is a magazine seen by whom? People who want to be seduced easily and visually. And yet, who have the publishers allowed to speak to these wealthy and tony folks? A person who is supposed to be an intellectual but who, nonetheless, criticizes cities for failing to seduce him quickly, easily and predictably, the way the other very excellent cities - Seattle, San Fran, Chicago and Boston, all cities I’ve visited and know to greater and lesser degrees - can seduce, without question. This is not their fault, but to then judge other cities - such as Detroit and Cleveland - by the same standards?
Shallow. And lazy.
Learning to love, like and live in Cleveland is a process. And for truly, sincerely, soulful individuals - not just those who pose as such or write as such or seek to make others think they are such - Cleveland is rewarding beyond the attempted reduction to a single sentence quote in a magazine that only people who charge a lot of purchases on their credit cards read.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:18 pm April 30th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Apr
30
“My favorite U.S. cities, in no particular order: Savannah, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. They’re the inverse proposition to places like Buffalo, Detroit, and Cleveland, which are in ruins and left to die.” Bernard-Henri Levy
This quote appeared in the magazine, Departures, a publication of American Express that began to arrive at my house maybe three or so years ago. I don’t know what milestone my husband reached in order to trigger the free subscription, but have no fear: it seeks to induce the recipient - via advertisements or articles or otherwise detected advertisements, to indulge in only the most expensive, exclusive opportunities that will then trigger some other higher milestone. I can’t imagine the name of the next milestone’s publication - but then again, neither can American Express, or what pricier items could be included, but then, I’m not the type who aspires, in general, to more and bigger and more, bigger, expensive possessions anyway.
I’ve passed the quote in front of a couple of level-headed local bloggers and one of them seemed to think that Levy had it, more or less, right. At least as far as the “in ruins and left to die” part.
But to me, the content of this self- and otherwise professed uber intellectual wasn’t new or shocking or enlightening or affirming.
What made me notice this quote, by this person, in this magazine, was the publisher’s or editor’s decision to include this quote.
Departures’ demographics, according to its media kit, include moneyed, traveling, spender types. Some of whom live in the NEO area. Those folks probably have second maybe even third and fourth homes, outside of Cleveland. Who can even guess as to how much time they spend on the North Coast each year.
So its not even myself or other Clevelanders for whom this quote disturbs me.
I’m disturbed by this quote on behalf of all the people who’ve never stepped foot in Cleveland, or, like Levy, have barely experienced Cleveland.
Cleveland is not a place that seduces you with its skyline, uniqueness, immensity, antiquity or any other easily recognizable but also easily mimicked or one-upped attraction. To love Cleveland is a process, a process that involves everything about the city. Including all that it possesses and lacks.
And yet Departures is a magazine seen by whom? People who want to be seduced easily and visually. And yet, who have the publishers allowed to speak to these wealthy and tony folks? A person who is supposed to be an intellectual but who, nonetheless, criticizes cities for failing to seduce him quickly, easily and predictably, the way the other very excellent cities - Seattle, San Fran, Chicago and Boston, all cities I’ve visited and know to greater and lesser degrees - can seduce, without question. This is not their fault, but to then judge other cities - such as Detroit and Cleveland - by the same standards?
Shallow. And lazy.
Learning to love, like and live in Cleveland is a process. And for truly, sincerely, soulful individuals - not just those who pose as such or write as such or seek to make others think they are such - Cleveland is rewarding beyond the attempted reduction to a single sentence quote in a magazine that only people who charge a lot of purchases on their credit cards read.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:18 am April 30th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
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Apr
29
Betty Sutton, Emily’s List: Do the Right Thing
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
Many blogs now link to views about the use of images created and produced by Scott Bakalar, who writes the Word of Mouth blog. His last entry wraps up a lot of what’s been said and I made a couple of comments in his earlier post about it.
I’ve now sent the following letter to Ms. Sutton (Dem candidate for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District) and forwarded it as well to Ramona Oliver, Communications Director, at Emily’s List:
Dear Ms. Sutton,
I do not live in your district, but I’m a woman, a registered Democrat, an Ohio resident (Pepper Pike) and support, in principle at least, Emily’s List.
I’m also a blogger and ardent support of Meet the Bloggers. Although I was unable to attend your session with MTB, I have attended many others.
I am urging you to tell Emily’s List to
1) provide the proper attribution to the photos of Capri Cafaro which originally appeared on Scott Bakalar’s blog, Word of Mouth;
2) write Scott an apology, with an explanation for how it happened that they used his work without crediting it
3) promise to never use a blogger’s work without proper attribution.
Ms. Sutton, you no doubt have a keen sense of the power of the Ohio blogosphere. I have an appreciation for the power of Emily’s List. Please, do the right thing and tell Emily’s List that you do not support what they’ve done re: Mr. Bakalar’s work and that they must write him and acknowledge the contribution of his work to their work, on his behalf, as well as yours.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
Again, I urge both Betty Sutton and Emily’s List to just do what they should have done in the beginning - contact Scott, attribute to his work and stay above board. Why on earth would you be so careless as to alienate people who actually WANT to vote for your candidate, and perpetuate the mistake by not acknowledging it? Crisis managers will tell you: the longer you withhold the apology, the more damaging it is for you.
Not to mention just plain crazy, thoughtless, insensitive and illogical. Maybe it’s the price we pay for living in Ohio - no one expects a state that went for Bush to be comprised of logical-thinking folks. But there are a few of us.
And we blog.
A lot.
About you.
Until you apologize.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:01 pm April 29th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Apr
29
Betty Sutton, Emily’s List: Do the Right Thing
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
Many blogs now link to views about the use of images created and produced by Scott Bakalar, who writes the Word of Mouth blog. His last entry wraps up a lot of what’s been said and I made a couple of comments in his earlier post about it.
I’ve now sent the following letter to Ms. Sutton (Dem candidate for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District) and forwarded it as well to Ramona Oliver, Communications Director, at Emily’s List:
Dear Ms. Sutton,
I do not live in your district, but I’m a woman, a registered Democrat, an Ohio resident (Pepper Pike) and support, in principle at least, Emily’s List.
I’m also a blogger and ardent support of Meet the Bloggers. Although I was unable to attend your session with MTB, I have attended many others.
I am urging you to tell Emily’s List to
1) provide the proper attribution to the photos of Capri Cafaro which originally appeared on Scott Bakalar’s blog, Word of Mouth;
2) write Scott an apology, with an explanation for how it happened that they used his work without crediting it
3) promise to never use a blogger’s work without proper attribution.
Ms. Sutton, you no doubt have a keen sense of the power of the Ohio blogosphere. I have an appreciation for the power of Emily’s List. Please, do the right thing and tell Emily’s List that you do not support what they’ve done re: Mr. Bakalar’s work and that they must write him and acknowledge the contribution of his work to their work, on his behalf, as well as yours.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
Again, I urge both Betty Sutton and Emily’s List to just do what they should have done in the beginning - contact Scott, attribute to his work and stay above board. Why on earth would you be so careless as to alienate people who actually WANT to vote for your candidate, and perpetuate the mistake by not acknowledging it? Crisis managers will tell you: the longer you withhold the apology, the more damaging it is for you.
Not to mention just plain crazy, thoughtless, insensitive and illogical. Maybe it’s the price we pay for living in Ohio - no one expects a state that went for Bush to be comprised of logical-thinking folks. But there are a few of us.
And we blog.
A lot.
About you.
Until you apologize.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:01 pm April 29th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
29
Many blogs now link to views about the use of images created and produced by Scott Bakalar, who writes the Word of Mouth blog. His last entry wraps up a lot of what’s been said and I made a couple of comments in his earlier post about it.
I’ve now sent the following letter to Ms. Sutton (Dem candidate for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District) and forwarded it as well to Ramona Oliver, Communications Director, at Emily’s List:
Dear Ms. Sutton,
I do not live in your district, but I’m a woman, a registered Democrat, an Ohio resident (Pepper Pike) and support, in principle at least, Emily’s List.
I’m also a blogger and ardent support of Meet the Bloggers. Although I was unable to attend your session with MTB, I have attended many others.
I am urging you to tell Emily’s List to
1) provide the proper attribution to the photos of Capri Cafaro which originally appeared on Scott Bakalar’s blog, Word of Mouth;
2) write Scott an apology, with an explanation for how it happened that they used his work without crediting it
3) promise to never use a blogger’s work without proper attribution.
Ms. Sutton, you no doubt have a keen sense of the power of the Ohio blogosphere. I have an appreciation for the power of Emily’s List. Please, do the right thing and tell Emily’s List that you do not support what they’ve done re: Mr. Bakalar’s work and that they must write him and acknowledge the contribution of his work to their work, on his behalf, as well as yours.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
Again, I urge both Betty Sutton and Emily’s List to just do what they should have done in the beginning - contact Scott, attribute to his work and stay above board. Why on earth would you be so careless as to alienate people who actually WANT to vote for your candidate, and perpetuate the mistake by not acknowledging it? Crisis managers will tell you: the longer you withhold the apology, the more damaging it is for you.
Not to mention just plain crazy, thoughtless, insensitive and illogical. Maybe it’s the price we pay for living in Ohio - no one expects a state that went for Bush to be comprised of logical-thinking folks. But there are a few of us.
And we blog.
A lot.
About you.
Until you apologize.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:01 am April 29th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
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Apr
28
Just yesterday, I lamented to a fellow blogger about how I should audit my blog to see how often, or how infrequently one might say, I follow-up on questions I raise or issues that should be followed. Frankly, I’m in denial about the need to do this because I suspect that my rate might not be any better than I give the MSM credit for (I love my newspapers, but I really hate when they tell us news but don’t follow-up; blogging about news drives home a similar dilemma).
However, I’m excited beyond words, well, not quite beyond words since I’m finding these to blog about it, to follow up on this post I made on 12/6/06, which I titled, “The REAL Hot 100 my sagging (fill in the blank, or blanks as the case may be).”
Women’s eNews today ran this long article on The REAL Hot 100, a project founded by this eclectic group of women. They founded this group because,
We’re tired of the media telling young women how to be “hot”! Maxim Magazine’s annual “Hot 100″ list exemplifies how young women are viewed in popular culture. The women featured in this leading men’s magazine are chosen solely for their appearance.
The REAL hot 100 shows that young women are “hot” for reasons beyond their ability to look cute in a magazine.REALLY hot women are smart. REALLY hot women work for change.
REALLY hot women aren’t afraid to speak their minds. And while some REALLY hot women might look awesome in a bikini, they know that’s not all they have to offer.
The list (with photos) of about 250 nominees doesn’t seem to be alphabetized by name or city, or organized in any other way that is easily discernable, but, to the best of my knowledge, I’m not on the list (I didn’t nominate myself) and no one I know is on the list (although I did say I would enter my mother, I never did - sorry Mom - how about next year, you know, after we see what the judges are looking for?).
If you know any of the nominees, or are yourself a nominee (I can think of ten women immediately who could be on this list), please give a shout out.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of my mom and me - maybe we could do a mother-daughter REAL Hot List. I can just imagine the search terms that would lead people to this blog if I did that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:31 pm April 28th, 2006 in Politics | 6 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
28
Just yesterday, I lamented to a fellow blogger about how I should audit my blog to see how often, or how infrequently one might say, I follow-up on questions I raise or issues that should be followed. Frankly, I’m in denial about the need to do this because I suspect that my rate might not be any better than I give the MSM credit for (I love my newspapers, but I really hate when they tell us news but don’t follow-up; blogging about news drives home a similar dilemma).
However, I’m excited beyond words, well, not quite beyond words since I’m finding these to blog about it, to follow up on this post I made on 12/6/06, which I titled, “The REAL Hot 100 my sagging (fill in the blank, or blanks as the case may be).”
Women’s eNews today ran this long article on The REAL Hot 100, a project founded by this eclectic group of women. They founded this group because,
We’re tired of the media telling young women how to be “hot”! Maxim Magazine’s annual “Hot 100″ list exemplifies how young women are viewed in popular culture. The women featured in this leading men’s magazine are chosen solely for their appearance.
The REAL hot 100 shows that young women are “hot” for reasons beyond their ability to look cute in a magazine.REALLY hot women are smart. REALLY hot women work for change.
REALLY hot women aren’t afraid to speak their minds. And while some REALLY hot women might look awesome in a bikini, they know that’s not all they have to offer.
The list (with photos) of about 250 nominees doesn’t seem to be alphabetized by name or city, or organized in any other way that is easily discernable, but, to the best of my knowledge, I’m not on the list (I didn’t nominate myself) and no one I know is on the list (although I did say I would enter my mother, I never did - sorry Mom - how about next year, you know, after we see what the judges are looking for?).
If you know any of the nominees, or are yourself a nominee (I can think of ten women immediately who could be on this list), please give a shout out.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of my mom and me - maybe we could do a mother-daughter REAL Hot List. I can just imagine the search terms that would lead people to this blog if I did that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:31 am April 28th, 2006 in Politics | 6 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
28
Just yesterday, I lamented to a fellow blogger about how I should audit my blog to see how often, or how infrequently one might say, I follow-up on questions I raise or issues that should be followed. Frankly, I’m in denial about the need to do this because I suspect that my rate might not be any better than I give the MSM credit for (I love my newspapers, but I really hate when they tell us news but don’t follow-up; blogging about news drives home a similar dilemma).
However, I’m excited beyond words, well, not quite beyond words since I’m finding these to blog about it, to follow up on this post I made on 12/6/06, which I titled, “The REAL Hot 100 my sagging (fill in the blank, or blanks as the case may be).”
Women’s eNews today ran this long article on The REAL Hot 100, a project founded by this eclectic group of women. They founded this group because,
We’re tired of the media telling young women how to be “hot”! Maxim Magazine’s annual “Hot 100″ list exemplifies how young women are viewed in popular culture. The women featured in this leading men’s magazine are chosen solely for their appearance.
The REAL hot 100 shows that young women are “hot” for reasons beyond their ability to look cute in a magazine.REALLY hot women are smart. REALLY hot women work for change.
REALLY hot women aren’t afraid to speak their minds. And while some REALLY hot women might look awesome in a bikini, they know that’s not all they have to offer.
The list (with photos) of about 250 nominees doesn’t seem to be alphabetized by name or city, or organized in any other way that is easily discernable, but, to the best of my knowledge, I’m not on the list (I didn’t nominate myself) and no one I know is on the list (although I did say I would enter my mother, I never did - sorry Mom - how about next year, you know, after we see what the judges are looking for?).
If you know any of the nominees, or are yourself a nominee (I can think of ten women immediately who could be on this list), please give a shout out.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of my mom and me - maybe we could do a mother-daughter REAL Hot List. I can just imagine the search terms that would lead people to this blog if I did that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:31 am April 28th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
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Apr
27
Yesterday, I asked for an MSM response to what’s the point of newspaper blogs (a question posed by many, but yesterday, in particular, by Amy Gahrans in a PoynterOnline piece). Here, in one place, are answers, thus far, from three different Plain Dealer folks, in reverse order of receipt:
From Henry Gomez, business staff writer of Tech Link and Tech Ink:
What is the point of newspaper blogs? Jill challenged her PD readers to chime in. Jean Dubail already has. I’ll offer a different response.I started Tech Link not necessarily to break news stories (few, if any, stories have been broken on this blog).
I started it to have a conversation beyond the newsprint. Say what you want about Cleveland.com not allowing comments. I receive more feedback on this blog than I do on its print sister, Tech Ink.
Readers offer news tips, suggestions, criticism. Having this blog makes me a better reporter because it opens me up to sources that I wouldn’t have from making phone calls or visiting offices. By blogging, I feel that — in a way — I am speaking the language of many people on my beat.
I also am able to include stuff that ends up on the cutting-room floor when working on a piece for the print edition. Simply put: Blogs are valuable to MSM because they give us another outlet. What can’t fit in column inches can carry over to the Web. We’re able to give you more. And it’s free. I think it’s a pretty good deal.
From John Kroll, deputy business editor:
With due respect to Jean [Dubail whose response is below], I’d have a different answer to the question of the point of newspaper blogs. (I’m a deputy biz editor at The PD.) The point is simple: To do our job, that being to report the news.
It’s true that for some time, most newspapers defined that job more narrowly — to report the news in print. But it wasn’t always so. In the early days of radio, many newspapers set up their own stations and delivered their own newscasts. Sure, in the decades since we retreated into the print bunker as radio and then TV set up independent news fiefdoms. But news is news, and newspaper companies are reclaiming their original role.
So now we blog and podcast and all that. They’re all extensions of our job.
What can obscure that is the way we share the Net with — well, with blogs like yours, and other sites put up by people who fit in various spots along the spectrum from professional to amateur. Not so in print or broadcast, because of cost and technology.
It can be an awkward thing, this sharing of the same medium. Newspapers may bump elbows with other papers in print, but they all generally play by the same rules and have the same motivations. Online, there’s no consensus. This one says a blog must have comments, that one says it must have opinions. People who have the diligence to maintain blogs without getting paid for it have to have a powerful motivation — passion or boredom or glossolalia, say — and they’re going to be curious about how those things could possibly translate to a corporate blog.
But on my side of the keyboard, I don’t worry about whether the content I’m putting up fits this person’s definition of a blog or not — I just use the software I’m provided to do the job I came to do, delivering as much news as I can to as many people as I can. I’d send it out by carrier pigeon in haiku, if need be. Most of the audience still reads us in print, but if I can pick up some extra eyes online — or provide some extra information there to our existing readers — tha