Winter break

Dear Cleveland Bachelor Readers,

First of all, I truly appreciate both of you.

Second, I'm about to take a brief vacation from the blog, as I depart manana for the breathtaking expanse of central Illinois.

However, I will be back at the very end of the year, or maybe the very beginning of next. Either way, I have some interesting plans to begin next year, my own way of getting to know Cleveland better while doing my small part to promote the things about the city I'm growing to love.

In the meantime, as I prepare for my first sustained trip away since moving here in August, I have some thoughts.

In brief, while there are some pretty serious problems facing this city (too much crime, too few cops, suburban sprawl and some strikingly flawed economic development plans for staving off the impending downtown collapse, and - worst of all - some really terrible upper-level political leadership), there are also many, many jewels, architectural, commercial, and human. I've really enjoyed my efforts to immerse myself in the various cultural scenes here and have been helped along by some great people. The guys at the Glass Bubble Project (Mike, Chris, and Dave), proprietors and staff at local book and music stores (including Suzanne at Mac's Backs, Mike at West 25th, Kevin at Music Saves, and the clerk at Visible Voice whose name I am humbled to admit I cannot remember), and a number of other cool folks that I've met out and about, as well as through social networks like yelp and the prospering online community.

I'm looking forward to my return and spending 2008 continuing to explore the city, now as a member of the community rather than as a tourist or new arrival.