Hanging with Rich

Our Great Battle With Canada..... Recently, the Cavalier's playoff series with the Toronto Raptors provided a reminder of the friendly rivalry that exists between our two countries. I think Canada is great. I always love to visit. It's beautiful, and there's plenty of good things to do there. It's hard to believe there was a time when we were at war, and a very interesting battle took place. I'll try to tell that story. JetBoat dock in Lewiston. Canada on opposite shore. Lewistown, New York today is a charming little village on the banks of the Niagara River, only a few miles from the falls. It has maybe 2 traffic lights, Lots of little shops, good places to eat and drink, and even a trendy resort/spa. The two best things about Lewiston today are the Artpark; a concert venue, and it's the home dock for the fabulous Whirlpool Jetboat Tours of the Niagara River. But it actually has an important part of our nations history. Let's go back to the night ...

My Commencement Address to the Non-Graduates..... Congrats to the Class of 2016. However you got there. This is graduation season for both high schools and colleges. While most people graduate from high school these days, a college graduation is truly a time to reflect and be proud of your achievement. You have worked hard and completed the task. For some, education was easier, and you used it like an Olympic athlete uses a workout. To tone and train. For others, it was more difficult. You had to really put yourself out there and work like the devil to just get decent grades. But if you did it, congratulations. Still others graduate, but didn't put the time and effort to best use. Maybe you partied too much. Congratulations to you people too. But don't worry. You'll pay for the lost opportunities someday. But today, I'd like to address another group: the non-graduates. The people that don't go back to school and choose another path. This group includes mysel...

Cleveland Readies for The Fifth Migration..... How about that title? Sounds ominous, doesn't it? It's not sci-fi or a plague. It's about how Millennials will be re-urbanizing my town, and my observations of it. Old bank building built in 1908. Now a grocery store for Millennials. But everybody wants to know about the first four migrations, so here they are: The first migration were the original settlers and founders of my town. The second migration was the shift from agriculture to the industrial revolution. The third migration was the creation of a metropolis that became Americas 5th largest city. The forth migration was the (white) flight to the suburbs.(And out of the area entirely.) The fifth migration is the re-urbanizing of Cleveland, primarily by Millennials. I, as a member of the Baby Boomer generation, saw the forth migration up close. I was born and raised in my younger years in a safe,and lovely suburban place called Middleburg Heights, Ohio. (Is...

The Stain of Kent State..... Last Wednesday was a very important day to me. Now it's called Star Wars Day. May the fourth. Get it? May the fourth be with you. Very cute. But to me. and people of my generation, May the fourth has a totally different meaning. It's the anniversary of May 4, 1970. That was the day 4 unarmed students were killed, and 9 others were wounded by the Ohio National Guard on their own college campus. It was one of those days that change everything. May 4, 1970. Ohio National guard on the Kent State campus. If you live long enough, you will go through days where everything seems to change after that event. I was a very young kid, but I remember November, 1963 when President John Kennedy was killed. I remember May 4, 1970, and I remember 9/11. Things were just distinctly different after those things happened. I'm sure I will fail at this, But let me try to explain the times surrounding the events of Kent State, The Vietnam War was by far the d...

Will We All Be Living In a Megacity?..... We have all seen science fiction movies where the story goes something like this: Earth has become unlivable. It is either too polluted, to crowded, not enough food, or some trouble of that sort. So the people of Earth pack into an intergalactic Conestoga Wagon and look for greener pastures. Could things ever get that bad? Right now, it's easy for me to scoff. There seems to be plenty of everything. Of course, I live in a medium sized city where there is plenty of room, plenty to eat, and I greatly enjoy riding my bike through the seemingly never ending park system. But it's not like this everywhere. Life in Tokyo. Don't think it's the place for me. A friend of mine recently told me that there were 35 million people living in greater Tokyo, Japan. I laughed at that figure. Surely it was wrong. The decimal point had to be wrong somewhere. So I checked that figure myself. It was wrong. There correct number is 38 million pe...