Lincoln Heights

The Atlantic published an article titled "What Happened to Lincoln Heights" that explores the loss of population, tax base, and hope of the Cincinnati suburb that I've come to know as I teach students from there.

The article is interesting enough, but there's so much more information and history along those lines in the book Fly in the Ointment: school segregation desegregation in the Ohio Valley. The book isn't perfectly written, but it was hugely informative for me in learning about the history of Lincoln Heights.

Would you like to play a game?

There's a new bar in Cincinnati, 16-Bit, down in OTR.

Their schtick is that they have a whole bunch of 80s video game consoles that are all set on free play. Buy a drink, play for free.

I've been to the Columbus version and had a blast. The Cincy location, though, is new.

I'm there as soon as I get back from SC.

Wonder if they have a way to play Falken's Maze.

Consumerism for a good cause

The Friends of the Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (who desperately need a better, shorter name) are currently holding their annual, biggest book sale (which really means books, DVDs, CDs, and probably antiquated cassettes and video tapes) at the downtown branch, the coolest library branch in the city.

The sale goes through this Friday, and all proceeds go to supporting the best library in the country.

Ctrl+Alt+Dance - premiering tomorrow night in Cincy

How cool, a movie shot entirely in Cincy that looks pretty professional.

And it's premiering tomorrow night.

I think if I weren't on my way to Gatlinburg, I'd try to go to the premiere.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

Channel 9's Meal Madness took sixty-four Cincinnati-area restaurants and pitted them against each other to find the most popular restaurant in the area.

And they got it probably right.

But if they were going for the best restaurant, they got it most certainly wrong.

Let's break the restaurants into groups...

Places I've been and love...

• Senate - getting knocked out by Taste of Belgium in round 2 is a crime.
• Terry's Turf Club - A 1st-round loser? Tragedy
• Knotty Pine on the Bayou - At least this one made it to the final four.
• Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse - Way, way better than Embers which knocked it out.
• Eli's BBQ - Another crime that it lost in the 1st round.
• Bakersfield - At least it lost to Knotty Pine. I'm okay with that.
• Taqueria Mercado - I wonder if this is the one in Fairfield (my preference) or the one downtown.

Places I've been and think were pretty good...

• Nicola's
• Brown Dog Cafe
• Carlo & Johnny's
• Taste of Belgium
• Embers
• Nicholson's
• Boca
• Parker's Blue Ash
• Moerlein Lager House
• Celestial
• Mecklenburg Gardens
• The Precinct
• The Eagle

Places I've been and thought were just okay...

• A Tavola
• York Street Cafe
• Montgomery Inn (the winner)
• Anchor OTR 
• Jag's
• Zip's
• Primavista
• Relish Modern Tapas
• Jean Robert's Table
• Lavomatic

Places I haven't been and can't really rank...

• Meritage
• Bouquet
• Jimmy G's
• Dancing Wasabi
• Tony's
• Otto's
• Marribelle's
• Orchids at Palms Court
• Virgil's Cafe
• Bella Luna
• Tom + Chee
• Local 127
• Melt
• La Poste
• Oriental Wok
• Slung
• Dee Felice
• The Palace
• Andy's Mediterannean
• Abigail Street
• Myra's Dionysus
• Trio
• Sotto
• The Rookwood
• Pho Lang Thang
• Nada
• Zula
• Teller's
• Bistro Grace
• Buz
• Nectar
• Quarter Bistro...man, I should get out more. That's a far-too-long list.

Looking for Teachable Moments

I stumbled upon (not Stumbled Upon - I stopped using that service a while ago after getting a couple of nasty computer viruses) an NPR story about a Middletown High School English teacher who chronicles his teaching life via a blog of cartoons.

They're not all brilliant, but they're almost all spot on observations of his world, and it's one that I recognize all too well. I'll be following Teachable Moments for the foreseeable future.

Check out some of my favorites from the strip.

Not so helpful statistics

Sorry for the watermark - source

WLWT.com published an article last week (I'll link, but I warn you that there's an auto-playing video with an advertisement right at the beginning) reporting that Fairfield City Schools has to hire 79 new teachers, 13% of their district staff; and Hamilton City Schools has to hire 40 new teachers, 6% of their district staff.

The entirety of the context given for those numbers is this quote, "[b]oth districts said that's a jump over previous years."

The article also says that Ross Schools has to hire 12 new teachers, 8% of their district staff, which is, "fewer new faces than the last two years."

No hard numbers from previous years...no comparative numbers from other districts...no state-wide averages for districts of similar sizes (or even of not-so-similar sizes.)

From second-hand information, I've heard that Princeton City Schools have hired 58 new teachers district-wide this summer, about 18% of our district teaching staff (plus another seven administrators). Anecdotally it seems higher than in previous years, but I don't have any hard evidence to prove that.

Numbers without context aren't useful.

In this case, they're just evidence of lazy reporting.

A last summer in Cincinnati...

No, I'm not leaving, but some of my students certainly are.

Graduation was yesterday, and one of the graduates explained that this was probably going to be his last summer with some of his friends. He asked me what things he should do around Cincinnati to close the years out right.

Here is my list of suggestions...

• Places to eat
• Knotty Pine on the Bayou - best Cajun food in town...beautiful setting in Northern Kentucky along a creek...the new place actually seems to have a few floors and walls that are plumb, a change from the old place...
• Terry's Turf Club - no doubt, best Hamburgers in town, fun location that tends to be packed at the obvious meal times (weekend lunch, Thursday-Saturday dinners)...go at an off time (2pm, weekday afternoons) for the best chance at getting an immediate seat...burgers are awesome...stick with simple toppings the first time so you can see how great the actual burger is, then go for their creative and tasty sauces when you go back...
• Senate - This may not have been the first restaurant to go into the Gateway Quarter revitalization/gentrification of Over the Rhine, but it's one of the best examples (for good and for ill)...the food is outstanding (poutine, burgers, hot dogs, all of it)...the decor is very much new school reuse/recycle, and the menu is creative...
• Eli's Barbeque - My favorite restaurant in town...some might say it's an example of hipster gentrification of a blue collar neighborhood, but that's where the cheap land is, so I'm going to say it's a place that offers excellent food at dirt cheap prices ($7 for a perfect sandwich and two great sides) with loads of outdoor seating - particularly in the neighboring community park and garden space...free music on lots of summer evenings...food trucks stopping by to offer up dessert...last summer they offered rib tips up at 5lb for $8 toward the end of the summer because the tips sell more slowly than do the ribs 
• downtown food trucks - the food truck movement is making a serious impact around the city...of the choices, I would have said have a Cafe de Wheels burger, but they're gone through an ownership change, and things are very much up in the air...instead, try New Orleans to Go and get an extra cup of the glaze...it's to die for...
• Quatman's -this one comes to you from Calencoriel (aka Rebecca Heckman) because she's a big fan of the simplicity of a Quatman's burger...The Girl and I tried it, and she digs it, too...me? I think it's too plain...it's a remnant of a working man's era, a time when the factories would let out a few hundred guys for lunch, and they needed a good five-cent hamburger...it's an institution in Cincinnati, and because of that you should definitely hit the original in Pleasant Ridge/Norwood
• Zip's - another one that is a Cincinnati 'best burger' staple (even though The Girl and I both think Terry's and Senate are both far better burgers)...it has its strengths, but the thing that matters is that half the people in town name it as the best burger in town...
• Aglamesis Brothers - Graeter's is more well known and more widely spread, but Aglamesis Brothers is an east-side tradition with smooth, rich ice cream and high quality sweets...make sure to hit the original in Oakley Square and wander the neighborhoods to see some of the beautiful homes around...
• Graeter's - most everybody in Cincinnati has been to a Graeter's ice cream shop somewhere...the original doesn't exist anymore, but the second one does still exist, and it's in Hyde Park...go, get yourself some giant chocolate chips 
• GreekFest - This one's very much time-sensitive as it only comes around the last weekend of June...take a few bucks (but take canned goods to get in free)...and enjoy the baklava... 
• St Rita's Fest - Cincinnati is a Catholic city the centers around its church festivals, and this is the biggest of them...plus, it's in the Princeton district which makes it easy...I've never actually been to this one...I think I've only ever been to the St Max festival near my house, and it's a pretty small one...

• Places to visit (free)
• Eden Park / Krohn Conservatory - the views of the Ohio River to the east of CIncinnati from the overlook are unequaled anywhere in town...the Krohn Conservatory is one of the iconic locations in Cincy (including in Airborne)...mirror lake is a great place to see the river, too...
• Ault Park - Ault Park has a very different feeling than does Eden...overlooks over Lunken Field, formal gardens, a gorgeous pavilion...historically significant in Cincinnati...
• Mt Storm Park - the parks in Cincinnati really are gems that not enough people take advantage of...this one's in Clifton and has some great views...
• Sawyer Point / Serpentine Wall / Friendship Park - Cincinnati's defining feature is the river and the hills around town...this park, along the river, is the center of town...where the fireworks happen, where concerts take place, where the place was thirty-some feet underwater in the flood of 1937...
• Devou Park -  best place to see the Cincinnati skyline - obviously in Northern Kentucky...
• Purple People Bridge - lump this one in with the Sawyer Point visit and the Newport on the Levy, too...make a full day of it and have a blast walking around the river from both sides...
• Union Terminal - it's the frickin' real-world Hall of Justice...and it's the most distinctive building in all of Cincinnati...the museums are nice and all, but it's the building itself that is Cincinnati proper...make sure to enjoy the murals and Tower A...I loved when PHS had their prom here for a few years...great, gorgeous space...
• Northside - Cincinnati is a city of neighborhoods, each with very distinct character...Northside is a mixture of hipster kitsch, gay-friendly, and working-class people...start at Knowlton's Corner and work your way north to Bruce St...have a snack at Melt...visit the library...stay mostly on Hamilton Avenue until you get to probably Pullan...
• Findlay Market - Findlay is an interesting place, serving the needs of the local patrons (typically for a more urban, African-American palate - chitterlings, tripe, greens) and desires of a more hipster-ish crowd (upscale popsicles, imported cheeses)...the fires in the early 2000's lead to a much different, larger, fancier Market, but the spirit has survived...
• Newport on the Levee - mostly here for the aquarium and the river side of the levee...park and walk down to the river from the pavilion...maybe head into Bellvue via the river walk...
• main library (PLCH) branch - PLCH is one of the best library branches in the entire country, and the main branch is the mother ship...hang out there for a couple of hours, visit the children's museum, see the atrium on the south block, get your way to the rare books collection, and get up to the roof...beautiful...

• Places to visit (cost) 
• Cincinnati Zoo - my favorite place is the manatee room (but less so since they took out the seating wall)...check out the new African pampas exhibits, especially...beautiful polar bear viewing...wonderful white tigers...Calen asked that I also mention that lots of people miss the botanical gardens, check them out, too...
• Reds game - sit up high (400- or 500-sections) on the 3rd-base side of the stadium because you get the best views of the river from up there...pick a mid-day game if you can...eat the hot mett (or the Big Red Smokey)...get the garlic fries...have a helmet sundae...
• Carew Tower - It's $2 to get to the observation deck (plus parking downtown, somewhere)...it's the highest part of Cincinnati that you can get to...chuck a penny at Paul Brown Stadium if you must...
• Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park - technically in Hamilton, but it's the greater Cincinnati area, at least...private sculpture park set on attractive, very hilly grounds...price is a bit steep ($8 for adults)...unique place in the area...
• Morgan's canoes at Fort Ancient - take an afternoon (and some sunscreen)...take a lazy ride down the river...look up at the highest highway bridge in the state...have a blast...
• concert at Riverbend - wait to make sure the weather's nice, wait until the last minute, and buy a couple of tickets for the lawn...pack a picnic (check their website to make sure you know what you may and may not bring in)...make an evening out of it...

• Bit of a drive
• Young's Jersey Dairy - we all need ice cream...and miniature golf...and fried food...and candy...and a batting cage...and a driving range...and while you're there swing into town to get some Lego sets at Blokhedz...

Back home again, in Cincinnati

I finally hunted this down after having heard it a few times in the past couple of years during the Reds' seventh-inning stretch. Connie Smith, everyone...



More Cincinnati songs after the jump...

Who goes to Jungle Jim's?

I love Jungle Jim's grocery store in Fairfield.

It's easily one of the top attractions in all of Cincinnati, an absolute must-see for any out-of-town visitors. There's an acre of produce, fresh fish, seeming miles of imported foods, cheese as big as a small car, beer tasting, a great deli and bakery, and a whole bunch more.

It's awesome.

If anyone loves the Jungle more than I do, though, it's The Girl. She spends a couple of hours there every Sunday morning. She bakes Christmas cookies for her friends at the fish counter, in the kitchen goods area, and behind the produce section. She loves, loves, loves Jungle Jim's.

So it makes sense that she'd appear in the updated version of The Jungle Jim Story. Check her out above at 7:35. She's the one in the short, brown hair and the teal, 3/4-sleeve baseball shirt working her way through the produce section.

It's cold

I've had a half dozen 'cold weather' topics working at the margins of the blog this year. None of them have alone managed to work into a full post, but together they're coming out today.

So many of these winter photos - not all from this year by any means - are ridiculously impressive.

34 years ago today...

LonnieBurger Baskets: Bobby's Burger Palace

I don't think I promised that I was ever fully retiring the LonnieBurger Basket tag, just putting it on a bit of a hiatus until something interesting showed up. We'd tried pretty much every well-regarded burger in the Cincy area, and nothing seemed to be challenging the top burgers in my rating.

Would the arrival of celebrity chef Bobby Flay in town do anything to rattle the rankings?

Flay's Bobby's Burger Palace in the new Horseshoe Casino drew The Girl and me down into Cincinnati on Reds opening day - not to the ballpark, though.

Let's see how the Flayer did...

Burger

• Bobby does make a tasty enough burger. They're 1/2lb burgers - a little big for my preference - but certainly generous at the price. The burgers had a little spice to them and were nicely juicy. They did lack, however, the dark, crusty bits that are the mark of a great burger to me. Burger - 7 

Toppings

• I went with the bacon cheeseburger, lettuce, onion, and tomato. The Girl went for the Santa Fe Burger - queso sauce, pickled jalapenos, and blue corn chips. The bacon was crisp and flavorful; the onion, lettuce, and tomato were solid for being way out of summer time. The queso was slimy and tasty. The pickled jalapenos were sharp but not painful. Topping a very solid offering. Th five custom sauces on the table, though, weren't very good.  Toppings - 7

Fries

• The Girl and I split an order of fries. They were slightly salty and nicely crisp. They were, however, short and kinda stubby, no big, long fries in the tin. They were also served with a weirdo, flavored mayonnaise. It's supposed to be chipotle, but it's mostly just blah-flavored. Fries - 7 

 Ambiance

• The color scheme - gold, browns, rich warm tones - works nicely. The communal, serpentine tables don't work for me. The sharp lighting also not so good. And the music fights with the casino's sounds, which is a little weird. Ambiance - 6 

Cost

• $7.75 for my burger...$3 for fries (we split, so I'll take half the cost)...$2 for Diet Coke...That's $11.25 for burger, fries, and a drink...Cost - 4

Other Stuff

• It's in a frickin' casino. -2 
• You have to pay for parking  at the casino.  -1 
• On our way into the parking garage - where rates were posted as being $10 per car because it was Reds Opening Day when we visited the casino - we asked the parking lot attendant if there was any on-street parking nearby because we're cheapskates. Immediately the manager leaned over and told us that we could park for free because we were welcome. Seriously, outstanding customer service is an easy way to earn points in this competition. +2
• Seriously, we had to go to a casino and walk through the gambling floor to get to the restaurant. I'm not a big fan of casinos. -1 
• The restaurant has a full bar. +1
• Weirdly, alcohol from the restaurant bar cannot be taken out of the restaurant and into the casino. Apparently the casino's liquor outranks the restaurant's liquor. That's weird. -1
• I do generally like Bobby Flay when I catch him on television. Since this is a celebrity-branded restaurant, and I like the celebrity, I'm giving him a point. +1

Other reviews

• The Enquirer 
• Yelp.com
• UrbanSpoon.com
• CincinnatiBites.com
• EastSideVibe.com

 Overall point values...

• Terry's Turf Club - 45
• Cafe de Wheels - 44
• Senate - 43 
• City View Tavern - 40 (scaled from 32/40)
• Stuffed on Vine - 38
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries - 36 
• Roxy's - 36 
• FlipDaddy's - 35.5
• Sonny's Three Meat Burgers - 35 
• VanZandt - 34
• Gabby's - 34 
• Oakley Pub & Grill - 34 
• Gordo's (Norwood) - 33
• Quatman's - 32 / 34.5
• Troy's - 32 
• By Golly's - 32
• Wildflower Cafe - 31.25 (scaled from 26/40) 
• Sidetracks - 31 
• Zola's - 30
• Bobby's Burger Palace - 30
• Trinity Pub - 29.5
• SmashBurger (BWF) - 29
• Virgil's Cafe - 28 
• Tank's Bar & Grill - 28
• The Pub at Rookwood Mews - 28
• Smashburger (Cox Rd) - 28
• Habits Cafe - 28
• Graffiti Burger - 27
• Arthur's - 26
• Sammy's - 25 
• Skinny Legs - 25
• Zip's Cafe - 24
• Gordo's (Fairfield) - 20

Upstream Color coming to Cincy

I'm a geek for Pimer. I'll readily admit that.

I've seen it a half dozen times, and I get something new from every viewing.

Because of that, I'm willing to go into Upstream Color with almost blind faith. Shane Carruth has my total faith.

That's why I'll be seeing the flick either next Tuesday or Wednesday evening at The Art Academy of Cincinnati thanks to Cincinnati Film Society. It's not listed as coming to the Esquire in Cincy or the Neon in Dayton, so this may be my only chance to see it on the big screen.

Anybody wanna join me?

A new black and white revolution

This past Sunday morning - a lovely if a bit chilly Saint Patrick's Day morning - Calen and I headed down to the riverfront to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at a Mini-Marathon water stop.

The water and Gatorade handing-out wasn't too tough, largely because we had ten or so volunteers to run the stop with us. We were, however, also supposed to have a band playing at our stop to help the runnners move along. After a late night at Bogart's though, the band had a bit of a lie in and didn't make it to the stop until there were only twenty or so walkers still to complete our section of the course.

Lucky for us, though, Zebras in Public - the aforementioned band was pretty good. Take a look and a listen...





In case you wanted to know what they were all about, here's their website's introduction...

The public is a conglomerate of different races, religions, nationalities and social backgrounds, but we all bleed and breathe the same. With three musicians that are white, a black bassist and lead singer,  Zebras in Public is a testament that the public is one. Four different men, four different musicians, and four different backgrounds.

There's more music over on their site. It's worth a listen...

I'm like a dead tree...

It's been a weird week around PHS, the week when we give the state-mandated Ohio Graduation Tests to our sophomores (and any juniors and seniors who still need to pass). That means I've spent the first two-and-a-half hours of each day in my classroom watching students silently test - or sigh - or put their heads down. It's helpful (because I can get some work done), frustrating (I'm not free to come and go, and I have to be nearly silent), boring (really, two and a half hours of near silence), and tense (the tests are high-stakes for both the students and the staff).

Luckily, my co-proctor, Dennis Simpson, yesterday gave me an interesting bit of trivia before we began the test. Dennis mentioned that at one time, a movie was filmed at Princeton High School. He said it was more of a made-for-tv movie, but that it was a legitimate feature-length production. He could remember the approximate title: The Spider's Web or Spider Web. He had a vague memory of a few scenes: a flying car landed in the PHS gymnasium, students visited a 'nearby' quarry (actually filmed in Bedford, Indiana), and someone drawing a diagram on a chalkboard and explaining the interconnectedness of all things, as in the titular spider's web. And he also knew the director, Scott Wegener, then a cameraman at local WCPO and now a reporter at the same station. Dennis said he has been looking for a copy of The Spider's Web for years and that he had initially videotaped it when it was first broadcast (oddly before he came to teach at PHS) but had long ago lost his copy of the cassette.

I, being the bored teacher that I was - and with third quarter grades having been turned in the evening before - went a hunting via the web. I had no luck at IMBD, finding lots of other movies with very similar titles but not this one. Amazon and ebay were both strikeouts, too. YouTube didn't provide anything other than videos of spider webs in Cincinnati or filmed by someone named either Scott or Wegener. In fact, the only mentions of the production that I could find on the web were listed along with Scott Wegener and even then just in passing as one of his previous projects (adding that it was filmed in 1995). I did find his production company, on whose website I found the only production still (see above) and most in-depth plot summary that I have managed to locate.

Two high school students competing in a state science fair improve on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Stars Nick Arrom, Adam Winston

In a semi-desperate attempt, I sent Mr Wegener an email at his WCPO account (I oddly couldn't find any contact information on his production company's website) asking if he had or knew where I could purchase a copy.


Anybody know where I can find copies of twenty-year-old, locally-produced, probably never distributed, after-school-special-type 'movies'?

I would love to find a copy of this video (ideally on DVD or digital file) out there but am currently, as the post title suggests, stumped.

A dark day remembered

Part 2 of WKRP in Cincinnati's "In Concert" episode

In Concert Part 2 by giebergoldfarb

Part 1 of WKRP in Cincinnati's "In Concert" episode

In Concert Part 1 by giebergoldfarb

If you need to learn more about the events...

• Wikipedia
• CrowdSafe.com
• Entertainment Weekly
• Cincinnati Enquirer's website

A Classic

There has not been a better Thanksgiving-themed television episode than this WKRP classic...ever.

The Cincinnati Enquirer slits its own throat

The newspaper industry is dying.

You know it. I know it. The newspaper folks know it. Heck, The Onion knows it.

And in these trying economic times, the Cincinnati Enquirer is doing everything in its power to remain solvent and profitable.

They've consolidated the Cincinnati Post and Enquirer together (a few years back).

They have shrunk the size of the print edition at least twice that I know of.

They've outsourced the writing of most of their neighborhood content to local people looking to promote their own events, setting up a largely web2.0 article generator.

Now they're putting their online content behind a pay wall, allowing folks only twenty (or maybe it was thirty) free articles before locking the rest of their articles down for subscribers only.

Before hitting this pay wall, though, readers are treated to full-page, click-through ads for Furniture Fair (I tried to do a screen cap, but the ad disappeared as I hit the print screen button)...animated advertisements with rain and skidding cars...pop-up banner ads...

pop-up window ads for LowerMyBills.com...

...banner ads across the top and right-side of the screen...

...a slide-back countdown for the number of free articles the reader has left...sponsored links at the bottom of the page...another floating banner ad at the bottom of the page...

and a website that hasn't been redesigned in at least five years.

For all of this joy, sorry, for all of this hassle in trying to actually read their content, they are offering a digital-only option for $10 a month. Or readers can go digital AND print for $13 a month, meaning that the print option is worth a grand total of $3 a month...ten cents a day.

I can't promise that the post-subscription website still has all those ridiculous ads (I haven't paid), but I'm guessing it still does. The neighborhood content looks to still be free, as does the list of news stories within each category (news, local, sports, business, etc), but everything else directs you to a screen that looks like this...

Clicking on the close X sent me back to the main news page.

I get that the NYTimes has been partially successful with the transition to a paywall (temporarily suspended in the wake of Sandy), allowing ten free articles per month before a reader has to pay for more access. The Cincinnati Enquirer is not, however, the New York Times. They aren't remotely the New York Times. They are a local paper with a website designed to annoy rather than to inform.

They are, however, the only game in town. Nobody else in town covers the Cincinnati news market, though I'm thinking there might be a market for one soon because I'm just about done with the Enquirer and their grasping at monetary straws instead of improving the consumer experience.

Nearly a century gone

Thanks to 5chw4r7z for posting today about the 98th anniversary of the passing of the last passenger pigeon, Martha, at the Cincinnati Zoo.

I didn't know that, as 5chw4r7z posted, the last Carolina parakeet died in the same aviary four years later.