Here at Cleveland Area History, we believe that locavorism doesn’t stop with eating local and buying local. We believe that taking the time to study local history, to understand what makes us who we are (warts and all!), is just as important.
"Knowing Local" is about brokering that essential truce between the good news and the bad news. At Cleveland Area History, we aim to interpret the present through the lens of the past, preserve our cultural memory, always ask questions, and look critically at the local issues of the day.
And we encourage you to do the same: having a solid background in local history can make you feel better if you are miserable, and can also help you to better understand where we can go from here. To take a lesson from Ebenezer Scrooge, Knowing Local is about learning to “live in the past, present and future,” with the spirit of all three striving within our civic consciousness.
Because we all want to see Cleveland live to fight another day.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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CAH continues the Cleveland identity conversation with posts on the Forbes article and, yesterday, Knowing Local. Today, I arrive here after reading this week’s hiVelocity newsletter. hiVelocity is a PR e-newsletter about “… the new economy in Ohio … a narrative of creative people and businesses …” Yes, hiVelocity is always upbeat as it strives to identify a positive regional identity. Today’s issue has an interview with Baiju Shah, head of BioEnterprise (http://www.hivelocitymedia.com/features/Shah2_25_10.aspx). Mr. Shah, a life-long Clevelander, has a great record in helping to attract and develop biomedical commerce in NEO. The interview is a good read in regard to NEO and Ohio identity issues. When asked about Ohio’s increasingly fertile culture for biomedical development, Mr. Shah responded with “… strength of universities … network of leadership … large industries and major anchor companies … [and] entrepreneurial ecosystem.” I’m not a biomedical entrepreneur, but I can identify with Mr. Shah’s regional pluses. My Cleveland has a fledgling entrepreneurial spirit dedicated to restoring and redirecting the region’s communities. This includes heritage and environmental components. The spirit I see must be related to that which drives biomedical development. Forget Forbes. Let’s get on with identifying and dealing with lost local Greek Revival cottages. Know local to restore identity.
ReplyDeleteRoy Larick