Hey Paula

Thanks for your input. Instead of in the comments section, I decided to pull out your comment and respond to you here.

You sound so very defensive and righteous in this entry. A few points, if I may.

Defensive and righteous wasn't my intention, though it could come across that way. This entry was the product of a night of sudden joy and profound irritation--but more on that later.

1. To my knowledge, you haven't ever spent enough time in another city to even have a fair comparison. How can you claim Cleveland to be the epitome of urban existance? You're living in an ivory tower. You might think you have an accurate view of the city from your nightime wanderings, but you're so deluded. You do not realize the poverty and depression of especially the east side, how hopeless the lives of people who have actually lived in Cleveland their whole lives and can claim their city are.

It's true. I grew up in a rural town (more on that in the next point) but I have never claimed that Cleveland is the epitome of urban existence. In fact, I tried to state the opposite in this entry--that Cleveland is for people who love Cleveland. If you don't love it, you probably shouldn't be here.

I'm not ignorant of the poverty here. There's a lot of it. But every city has some. And focusing entirely on the negatives will never allow this city to grow beyond its bad reputation and become the city it can be. Instead of saying "there's poverty, Cleveland sucks," I see the situation more as "there's poverty, but it can be overcome."

I don't think I'm deluded. I think I'm optimistic and positive. Which can seem deluded at times.

2. Cleveland WAS a steel town. It has not been for several decades. The factories of which you speak are simply the shells of what used to be. The city is in a state of decay. You can drive down any street and see abandoned, boarded-up buildings. Cleveland is no Velveteen Rabbit. Falling apart isn't giving it more value. It's only making it worse for the people still living here.

As previously stated, I grew up in a very rural town. My school district was the largest area-wise in the state--we have a lot of family farms in our area, and my grandfather still owns his. Because of my background, I value any place tied to the land, and any place that doesn't try to gild that over.

Industry and agriculture are a lot alike. Yeah, there are decrepit buildings in my hometown too--or what's more relevant, out in the fields. There's equipment in various stages of disrepair. But it doesn't change the fact that no one's trying to hide that we came from the land, and it's that that I value.

3. Name me the "best restaurants" that line the burning river. Which ones have you eaten at?

Windows on the River and the Cleveland Chop House and Brewery.

4. Now how many of the more glitzy and glamourous ones on West Sixth have you tried?

Brasa and Sushi Rock. I'd like to point out now that I am a college student and my budget does not really allow for a ton of restaurant hopping.

5. What cities in America are "fake"? What is a fake city?

"Fake" cities to me are the cities that people glamorize without reason--much as you argue I am doing to Cleveland. People who think their lives will be better in "new york" or "seattle" or "chicago"; quotation marks because they are all lovely cites and I don't want to talk trash. It's just that people who talk about a city like it will solve all their problems by not-being-Cleveland don't understand that the problem (my sample set is all academics, by the way, so the poverty thing doesn't play into my experience) is them, not Cleveland. It's irritation after yet another one of these conversations (where someone told me that every stop on the new york subway led to a place of delight and wonder) that led me to write this post.

6. I sense some contradiction between this post and one of your earlier, where you placed a great amount of importance on external beauty. I realize you were talking about yourself, but you have surely personified "your" city, have you not? In an earlier post you talked about how you wanted a former lover to remember you only by how attractive you were. You didn't want to be remembered for your wit, sense of humor, ambitions or kindness. Just that you were a hot piece of tail. If Cleveland isn't a place for the shallow people, then how is it a place for you?

Ouch. I would hope that my former significant others remember those things about me as well. But I'd also hope they had the sense not to glamorize me in front of their children as "the one who got away" because they were happy with their current spouse. The people who still know me will know that I am more than the sum of my parts.

I would never categorize myself as a shallow person. You are free to draw your own conclusions, of course. But I don't think Cleveland is utterly devoid of beauty either.

7. I feel like these are all your own jaded opinions on a city you don't even know. You haven't done your research. What evidence do you have that can back up what you say?

I've lived here. I've loved here. I've had the happiest years of my life here and it's because of this city, partly.

8. How exactly does Cleveland say fuck you and good riddance to anyone?

By making them so miserable they have to get out.

9. Graffiti is an act of vandalism, NOT poetry. Is this how you plan to revive your city? By vandalizing it?

I would refer you to the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He started out as a graffiti artist and they are still finding his building works today. Graffiti is all in how you look at it--as an act of malice? Of course it's vandalism. As a work of public art? Public art that no one had to pay for? I'd say it's all in the artist's intent.

10. So you fucking love Cleveland. It doesn't sound like you love the Cleveland I know. It sounds like you love a Cleveland that would be better found in novels or poetry than in the streets I have walked and the ghettos I have seen.

And that's fine. I don't have to love your Cleveland, and you don't have to love mine. In fact, I can't love your Cleveland, because I haven't lived your life. But I do love mine. It belongs in novels and poetry.