About 40 yards inside the boundary marker of Cincinnati’s city limits, in what is now known as Finneytown, sits the Bahr barn, dating from 1810, part of the oldest remaining farm in the Queen City and a vivid reminder of our agricultural past. Is a barn worth saving?
There is a growing trend of high no-shows for training sessions, programs, happy hours and more. It’s a challenge that affects more than just event logistics – it affects resources, reputations, programming and the ability and interest in providing future programming.
The decline of arts in education is not an isolated occurrence. For years the arts have been de-prioritized in primary and secondary education, and it would seem that the humanities in general are an endangered species. Yet daily we see proof of the desperate need for the critical and creative thinking and true cultural literacy such programs foster.
The Art Academy of Cincinnati has been a key creative catalyst in our region for over 150 years. Our graduates have gone on to create work that imbues our everyday lives with a sense of civic pride and collective identity. Our alumni put Cincinnati on the map with work featured in art history books, prominent museums and public spaces worldwide. Moreover, our alumni contribute significantly to the region’s economic impact.
In the beginning, the concept was simple. I envisioned a program where professionals could visit classrooms, share their experiences and provide guidance to students who might not otherwise have access to such mentorship.
In addition to a good stable relationship and close friends, we all need those next-level friendships, people we see from time to time on a repeating basis. We need people we catch up with and talk about what’s going on with us, even on a superficial level.
My investigation into the 1867 John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, spanning the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, began last January when a friend asked me to edit a novel. I found quickly it was difficult to get definitive answers to my questions, especially when a river is very … well, variable.
But the question does keep coming up: Why travel? I look at a bustling airport and wonder what’s so important that gets all these people out of their routines and sends them hither and yon, standing in lines and running for gates.
I thought, when given this amazing chance to have a first-person column, I would be offering my opinion on a variety of subjects. I’ve got opinions. But that’s harder than it seems.
On the other hand, while I was writing a book about Cincinnati food history, I realized that the stubbornness pays off: We have our unique regional menu because the Graeters kept doing things the old way until the rest of the world caught up with them. Grandmothers and neighborhood butchers never stopped making goetta, though no one made it anywhere else. That’s to be treasured.
