CANOES MUST PORTAGE

Dear readership,

The Goat and your humble hostess are endeavoring to walk the entire 85 miles of navigable Ohio and Erie Towpath, which is a subtle wonder of the Buckeye state considering the massive amount of hoop-jumping one must do in order to gain right-of-way for such things. Add the fact that the accessible portion of the Towpath traverses four counties and requires the collaboration of god-only-knows how many public and private entities, and this accomplishment really astonishes me. That the Towpath team is nearing its goal of reaching all the way to Lake Erie fills me with unprecedented joy.

Just wow.

Hi Lillian

Every section of the Towpath has something to offer and while I probably should have been documenting our travels upon it, dear readership, I have not. All I do is document and write and document and write and document and write. Hence when I'm walking the Towpath, I don't want to worry about documentation. I just want to walk the Towpath and think about the guys who dug the entire canal with shovels.

SHOVELS.

DANGER SPILLWAY 500 YARDS CANOES MUST PORTAGE

Yesterday, we did more than three and a half miles of the trail that took us south of Massillon. I'm not sure what I expected of this section, but *man* did it deliver. My favorite parts of the Towpath are not necessarily the lovely pastoral stretches (although I do enjoy those), but instead those that say something about who we were, who we are and who we're going to be. In other words, those spans that have content.

Rancheros or El Caminos?

The miles traversing Massillon had it in nines and then some. Of particular interest was the on-street section, which is one of the few left on the Towpath (where the powers-that-be haven't yet been able to wrangle a dedicated trail). It went through a neighborhood that's clearly changed over the decades, but still has so much heart and hometown pride that it filled me with sighs: signs in windows cheer on the Massillon Tigers, American flags wave in the breeze, plastic jack-o-lanterns linger.

Don't listen to the sonsabitches. You're still standing.

*sighs*

We traversed a bridge lined with plaques dedicated to those we lost in Vietnam. Readership, you don't see stuff like this unless you're walking.

Thank you for your service, Private First Class Hill.

When we do these walks, they are a round trip to the car and back, so yesterday's stroll was more than seven miles. Afterwards, we were famished and went in search of an eatery.

Time for lunch

Downtown

I do.

A Friday night lights kind of town

As evidenced by the photos, we found a burger and then some. I never tire of these beleaguered Ohio towns.

Yeah, yeah.

We've got about 25 miles to the trail's end in New Philadelphia in Tuscarawas County. Can we finish it up in 2016? Dunno.

Stay tuned ...

Bye for now, Massillon. I think you're beautiful.

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Dear Tools I See At County Fairs Across Ohio Displaying Confederate Flags:

Ohio tools

This "symbol" has nothing to do with your "heritage." We are Yankees--Ohio Yankees, which are some of your Yankier Yankees. Hence, when you display this item, you're supporting ... what? Secession? Slavery?

More than 35,000 Ohioans died fighting against those ideologies and the Confederate Flag that represented them (incidentally, we won).

You might as well wave a German or Japanese flag before a WWII Vet.

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Phone cam round-up, Canfield Fair edition

Round and round at the Canfield Fair

Honey tree with big bears and little bears

BoozeFighters on the scene

Spoiler alert: Pickle Surpize reportedly contains, pickle, chocolate and peanut butter.
Contents not independently verified by Owner's Manual field staff.

Goat perusing Men's Garden Club Display

Humble hostess, giant pumpkin and friend

Fine Arts, rooster of locks and admirers

Fine Arts, revealed

Entertainment adjacent to Fine Arts

Terrified beasts threatened, but did not attack

Dining option: Cheese-Chili-Loaded-Garbage

Dahlia contest entrants

Parking row recorded on thumb of Goat under duress

Photos admittedly not taken with a phone cam, but your humble hostess will assume that the readership gets the proverbial picture.

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Fantasy getaway: Bedford, Ohio

Welcome to fabulous Bedford, Ohio!

This weekend, Bedford hosts the much-anticipated Cleveland Pagan Pride festival. Hope over here for more magical pix of the event courtesy of your humble hostess.

A mysterious millrace adjacent to Tinkers Creek in Bedford's historic Viaduct Park.

Uptown shoes at Twisted Blu Boutique.

A seductress temps from the shelves of Spirit Apothecary on the strip in bustling downtown Bedford.

And finally, hitting rock bottom after a whirlwind afternoon in breathtaking Bedford, Ohio

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The times they are a-changin--at a hiVelocity

The readership may be a bit curious about my online absence of late.

Well folks, I've been occupied with my new duties as Managing Editor for hiVelocity, a weekly online publication that covers Ohio's entrepreneurial, tech and start up communities. I am beside myself with joy over this.

Where do I start? How about with some of what we're featuring this week:

--I love that Cleveland Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert's business accelerator snags peeps from the coasts and brings their talents to Ohio.

Take that, LeBron.

--Now dig this quote from Toledo entrepreneur Gene Powell:

Too much emphasis is placed on working smarter. I think it’s overrated. Most times you just need to roll up your sleeves and work harder than anyone else around you.

Got truth?

As a fifth generation Northeast Ohioan, I've seen a lot of changes in this state. My ancestors came in the 1850's to farm the rich soil of the Cuyahoga Valley. My dad designed and built machinery in the heart of the Rust Belt while it was still thrumming with life.

Now I will be covering what's next, new and razor sharp at points across the state. What can I say about that? Oh wait--I know.

HELL YEAH!

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Fired up: TEDxCLE, hackers and a brain

I had a ball researching and writing about Ohio's newest hackerspaces for this week's hiVelocity.

Can you call it work when you get to hang out with a bunch of hackers who are controlling mushroom grow houses with a Raspberry Pi and installing giant interactive fire art displays at the Burning Man festival? I think not!

Next up, I kindled some flames with a slew of fascinating peeps who will ignite the 2013 TEDxCLE event for this week's Fresh Water.

Two of the interviewees therein, Scott Simon and Jennifer Margolis, are self-titled "TED talk addicts." When I asked them to recommend a great TED talk, they said Jill Bolte Taylor's "Stroke of Insight" was one of the best, so here you go:



People, I tried. I tried hard, but I couldn't get past the brain. I have not given up. I will try again. Maybe later in the evening after fortifying myself with a toddy.

Thanks to all who visit the links and spend time with my work.

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Tea Party Express Rally, Brecksville, Ohio

Dear readership,

Your humble hostess captured this video of a Tea Party Express rally on April 27, 2012 in Brecksville, Ohio--a predominately white upper middle class suburb of Cleveland. The rally was scheduled for 5-6:30 p.m. I arrived at about 5:15. Although I mixed it up a bit to keep things lively, the footage is more or less chronological and includes what I think is a fair representation of the event. Things wrapped up a little before six.

Enjoy.

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John O'Brien on "The Irish Hungarian"

The following review of The Irish Hungarian appears in the April 2012 print edition of Irish American News Ohio. It is authored by John O'Brien, the publication's co-founder, co-publisher and editor.

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I have been reading columnist Erin O'Brien's work for about five years, I think. She is not related to me, though we share a surname, and a belief in respecting other people's opinions when they are well thought out and respectful. Debating ideas is different than arguing, or insulting. Her writing is always thought provoking, and she never takes the easy way out.

Some people can handle opinions different than their own, and they debate; some can't, and instead of using their brain, they just use their mouths, taking the easy way out themselves. It is their right to speak before they think, but it doesn't reflect well on their intelligence. Erin O'Brien is a very intelligent writer.

I knew O'Brien's book would have controversial passages, opinions I don't agree with, but I also know she honestly presents what she believes. I don't have to agree with another's opinion to respect it—people often call that civil debate.

I loved The Irish Hungarian Guide to the Domestic Arts. Honest, straightforward, filled with laugh out loud stories and observations, I read the book in one sitting. O'Brien's humor is dead-on, and comes across in her writing; it is not easy to convey laughs to letters. Frank discussion of life, family traditions and food, the joys and tears of being married, of living with a view wider than just your own self, trademarks much of what 0'Brien writes. She has courage, and a willingness to engage the squirmy topics that you overcome, only by taking them on.

Like life, Erin O'Brien is not for the faint of heart, neither is her writing. You can handle it; get the book. The Irish Hungarian Guide to the Domestic Arts is a Top Shelf selection, highly recommended.

See more on Erin at a book signing on April 25th at Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Boulevard, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120.

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Drilling, baby, drilling

Behold the lead story in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer Metro section: Oil and gas drilling in Ohio sinks to low level, but boom expected soon.

For many of us in Ohio, the boom has already begun. Here's what it looked like yesterday about a half mile from my house:



All of the houses in that video were built when municipal laws prohibited drilling in residential areas. A few years ago, state legislation usurped home rule and now you can erect an oil derrick just about anywhere in Ohio.

The regulations governing the wells are strange and convoluted. You have to amass 20 acres of mineral rights (for most wells) in a collective "pool." They have to be contiguous, but that's about it. Hence, a property owner may have no say about a well going in 100 feet from their property line while someone a half mile away is in on the royalty pool. Add the phenomenon of horizontal drilling and things get really twisted. I was obliged to learn about all of it for this in depth feature I wrote in September 2009.

A voice enters the vid at about 1:20, but it's not the fellow walking towards me in the frame. It was a man who pulled up to the intersection of the side street next to where I was recording. The man pictured in the vid, however, seemed a bit miffed by my presence. As I was leaving he yelled this at me:

"This is good for everyone. This benefits everyone."

An operating well a few miles from the one in today's embedded video.

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The only "whackadoodle" in the room

Governor Kasich:

As a lifelong Ohio resident, I am disgusted and furious over your referral to residents of California as "whackadoodles." I may disagree with your politics, but you represent the state of Ohio and its residents nonetheless. Your "whackadoodle" reference, which I heard on Fox News and also saw on YouTube in a talk you gave at the Columbus Athletic Club, is inaccurate and juvenile. You disgraced your office, yourself and your constituents.

At the very least, an apology is in order. Until then, the only whackadoodle in the room, Governor, is you.

Sent to Governor Kasich on August 9, 2011

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