Misery loves company and Cleveland

My goodness. Is there no end to the bashing my beloved Cleveland is taking today? Following the Mardi Gras madness and the good feeling generated by the world championship of the New Orleans Saints, there is little doubt that good spirits will abound here for some time to come. But, according to Forbes Magazine, the tiny area bounded by Cleveland, Akron and Canton is the most miserable in the United States with Cleveland listed as number one, Canton at number nine and Akron at 12. When you add Toledo into the equation at number 15 and Youngstown at number 18, Ohio is clearly the runaway as most miserable state with 25% of the top 20. With a notable exception for the league-leading NBA Cavaliers, Forbes determined the combination of lousy weather, high taxes, public corruption and high unemployment present in Cleveland was their clear choice for most miserable city, beating out last year's number one, Stockton, California. Having lived there for close to two years, I agree that the weather is not the nicest. In fact I never knew what it was to see so much snow in all of my days, but I dealt with it as best I could. A good pair of boots is de rigeur in order to walk about during winter and driving in snow and ice was a constant challenge. Nonetheless, I lived through it and my car is still in working order today, almost three years since I returned to New Orleans. There is a lot to love in Cleveland, especially the arts and cultural scene there. The Cleveland Museum of Art was going through a major expansion phase during my time there, but the parts that were opened to the public were quite impressive. The theatre district is home to the largest grouping of theaters in the country outside of Broadway, which most people will find hard to believe. The downtown district is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and several noteworthy museums. Then there are special places like the City Club, which serves as a speakers bureau nearly every Friday throughout the year and has done so for almost a century. For all of the harsh conditions they must endure, the people of Cleveland have proved to be indomitable. Indeed, many of the young residents have chosen to settle elsewhere after college, yet there are those diehard Clevelanders who will never leave and cannot envision living anywhere else. My sister has lived in Cleveland for more time than she spent growing up here in New Orleans or attending school at nearby L.S.U. She seems to have adjusted and, were it not for a lack of Mardi Gras and other amenities there, I might have stayed in Cleveland longer. But there's the rub. Perhaps, if Cleveland got more into the Carnival spirit, the people there might not be so miserable. I've started in my own way by sending beads to my friends living there. Perhaps some doubloons, cups and specialty throws are needed to pull them out of their doldrums or maybe some good New Orleans cuisine. Recently, Louisiana was given top honors as being the happiest state and I can assure you that New Orleans is the happiest place in our state, despite the sluggishness of the recovery in some areas of town. Yes, we have our share of corrupt politicians, but we're having so much fun, we don't seem to mind as much. The other factor here is the amount of sunlight we experience here and the lack of it in Cleveland. There's little I can do about that other than offer my Cleveland friends an opportunity to visit the Crescent City during the darkest and snowiest of winter days.

To Cleveland and back

It's been an awesome, eventful week as I traveled to Cleveland and back just in time for the Passover holiday. The reasons are numerous. My sister's family still lives in the frozen suburbs there and I had an opportunity to see them again. Then there were my friends who work at the Cleveland Jewish News; I needed to see several of them before their upcoming retirements, in particular editor Cynthia Dettelbach and CEO Rob Certner. I also wanted to see my other friends on staff there and knew this would be a good opportunity. However, before I could see them I needed to also do some volunteer work with Jewish Scouting there. The fact is that most of the training that is offered, nay, all of the training that is offered in that council takes place on Saturdays. That's usually not a problem, but in religious observant communities that do not do work on Saturdays, training is out of the question. So, leave it to me to offer my services. I trained four pack leaders and two different chartered organization representatives. With the training done, I was able to enjoy a bit of a breather. I managed to have a little down time with the family on Sunday night before steeling myself for the visit to the CJN. It was great to see my old friends and to see firsthand how the paper's staff has shrunk due to the economy and other factors affecting Jewish newspapers nationwide. The staff was busy, but they made me feel right at home. I was happy to have taken time out to visit with Rob and "Cindy" especially. I wish them all the best. Monday I spent reacquainting myself with the "lake effect" snow I had know while living there. The snow started light and later came in heavy with foreboding winds and gray skies. I headed to the Greater Cleveland Council of the Boy Scouts of America to meet with the Scout Executive, Barry Norris. I took him out to a Cleveland original, a place called Slyman's, the home of the biggest and best corned beef sandwich there. Before I left, I had time to chat with him about the training I did the day before and to offer my help as it relates to the Jewish units there. Then, it was off to pick up Jerry and Phyllis Lockshin, who were due in to Hopkins Airport en route to their home in Canton, Ohio. It was a short hour-plus drive to Canton, where I chilled for a few hours before having to drive back to Cleveland. I left very early in the morning with only one problem: I lost my moderately expensive Cross pen as I cleared TSA on my way to the flight. I was told that I couldn't make it back to security and back, so I left the pen in Cleveland. I guess someone else needed it more than me, because it was never turned in. Oh, well... Meanwhile Passover started on Wednesday night, just in time for what my mom called "The Last Seder."