Dr. Hou-mei 后楣 Sung 宋 knows the challenge of overseeing an East Asian collection in a Western art museum. The collection, housed in a wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum, consists of paintings on scrolls, pottery, statues, plates, knives, armor – and one very special mirror – that were gifts, donations, or are on loan. Throughout our time together on a cold February afternoon, Dr. Sung emphasized the importance of art education in breaking down cultural and language barriers.
Read More
Ready to escape the grey clouds and cold weather? We are, too! That’s why we assembled just a few of the many events happening around town this month. With new art exhibits, dance performances, Black History Month programs, sweet treats, crafting, and more, you can celebrate our community by supporting locally organized events.
Read More
As another year comes to a close, we are reminded again of how important it is to support your local small businesses during the holiday season. Where you spend your dollar matters – using your dollar to uplift local businesses strengthens the community and our city. The good news is that we have a wealth of hidden small business treasures all around, ready to be found! The holidays are a time to give to our loved ones – let’s include our city and community on our list this year.
Read More
There may be no better place to spend a rainy Monday evening than amid the shelves of a cozy bookstore. Add coffee, laughter, and great conversation, and it’s instant magic.
This was the setting in early June when I sat down with Sheila Williams at Roebling Point Books & Coffee. Williams is the author of six novels, including Dancing on the Edge of the Roof, adapted into a Netflix film starring Alfre Woodard in 2018, The Secret Women, and the recently released Things Past Telling. Today, Williams calls northern Kentucky home, but she proudly notes that she is “a product of Columbus Public Schools.”
Read More
A career in fiction writing seemed out of reach for Emery, but she had been writing from a young age. She started writing with silly, sarcastic, and fun end-of-year newsletters that her parents sent out to their friends – in one, she talked about how her brother won the Nobel Prize at 10! So it makes sense that she eventually landed in writing young adult fiction and that she’s still writing today with five books published. Emery and I talked about being passionate about what you’re writing, the core questions at the center of books, and whether writers are our characters.
Read More
Each day begins with big toothy smiles,
But these tragic events have left us all in denile.
There is no answer or magic potion
No way to quell the brimming sea of emotions.
Read More
Anne Saker is a firecracker of a woman. In her line of work, you have to be. A self-proclaimed “servant of the people,” Anne has taken her role as a journalist with great pride and even greater dedication. She’s had an expansive career from North Carolina, to Portland, to Cincinnati. It was in Cincinnati that she chose to finish her years as an active journalist at the Enquirer.
Read More
Even before I had the chance to meet her in person, I had a hunch that Kathryne Gardette’s energy was something special. Her texts and emails regularly begin with anything from “magnificent Monday” to “spectacular Saturday” and always ALWAYS sign off with an invitation to “share your joy.”
Read More
“Cincinnati Is Beautiful.”—This simple and colorful mural in Camp Washington, just off Martin Luther King Drive near its overpass with Central Parkway, catches my eye every time I drive past it to get to the University of Cincinnati. Heading downtown, as I walk or drive around Over-the-Rhine, I take a closer look at the doors and walls of some boarded buildings and am often surprised to find them painted with cute door knobs, windows, and flower boxes.
Read More
How can you sum up a person in just a few sentences with a few lines of text on a page? Raneem Salem is too infinite to be condensed into a few paragraphs, especially when his life is about creating space; space for freedom, for creative self-expression. He creates spaces like Girls Rock Cincinnati, a music and arts camp for girls and gender-variant youth, where he serves as executive director. Raneem co-founded the Cincinnati branch of Girls Rock in 2018; it’s a space he wishes he had as a child to explore his own gender and power. Raneem identifies as transmasculine but chose to interview based on his historical proximity to womanhood.
Read More
Blackness should be celebrated year-round, not just in February. However, this month brings the chance for people to intentionally reflect and learn more about the long, and often hidden, history of Black people in our country. High school history classes around the country are profoundly guilty of omitting Black history in their curriculum, and 28 days is certainly not enough time to dismantle a long cycle of educational exclusion. We’ve curated a list of books specifically detailing the history of Black people in Cincinnati by local historians, scholars, and writers as one way to help fill this gap.
Read More
To step into Grainwell is to step into a rustic charm interior design wonderland. Nestled within the historic, red-bricked West Pike Street in Covington, Kentucky, Grainwell has established itself as the go-to place for sentimental family gifts and modern design.
The sisters behind the shop and business – Christine, Michele, and Melyssa – never set out to create a multi-faceted business; rather, it snowballed into one. They began by pursuing their interests in design by making items for family and friends while they were in school. Eventually, they teamed up and brought their collective skills together to form Grainwell. Their business now provides custom corporate work, wholesale items, and in-store shopping.
Read More
Erika Nj Allen is a soft, spoken, beautiful soul from Guatemala. She’s been on my mind for the past two days as I ponder what to write for her introduction. Should I describe Erika’s studio, where everything had a purpose and a reason why it was there? Should I describe her beautiful soul? Or maybe I should take a cue from her story and highlight how Erika comes full circle over 30 plus years – all of it starting in Guatemala with a letter of invitation to a U.S. art school she couldn’t, at the time, accept.
Read More
This list began with a simple question that came to me one evening. It was after a long day of reading about the protests in Cincinnati sparked by the death of George Floyd. As the wave of peaceful protesters marched down the historic streets of our city, the question emerged, “What do I know about the history of Black people in Cincinnati?” The answer was a resounding, “Almost nothing.”
Read More