Unless this is your first time reading this, you're probably noticing the new look, and the entirely new concept. But if this isn't your first time reading this, it's probably not all that unfamiliar. I've realized, since getting married and starting law school, that I don't really write personal blogs all that much anymore. Sometimes I do, but most of the time, even then, it's more like a way to share extended thoughts with friends far and wide on a level at least a little deeper than Facebook.
For the most part though, for quite some time, I've realize that I focus on a just a few things: entertainment, sports, food, but mostly, Cleveland.
Since moving here, even when I try to think about other topics, my thoughts always devolve back to what it means for this city that's propped up a spot in my heart. So I decided, for better or worse, to actually dedicate my blog, for the foreseeable future, to writing about Cleveland- the people, places, things I encounter, the stories I hear, the thoughts and feelings it stirs inside me. This is where my life is now. I've hitched my future to Cleveland's future, so I thought I'd chronicle it, best I can, along the way.
But why "Post-Modern?" 3 reasons really:
1. The term itself is perfect for where Cleveland is now. Ever since the seventies, Cleveland has been struggling to attain an unfulfilled promise of greatness. Industry built Cleveland, and now the city, still, strives to reach its past by reinventing itself for the 21st century.
2. Timing. For better or worse, we've been in the "post-modern" era since the sixties as a society (or longer, depending on what you're looking at), and the tenants of post-modernity (namely non-centrality) have finally broken into the subconscious of adults. Cleveland is going to be shaped by those people. By "those people" I mean "us" because I'm right there in it.
3. Diversity. Cleveland is a fractured city when you look at it up close. East-West, White-Black, rich-poor. But Cleveland somehow pulls it all together. No matter where you're from or where you're going, Cleveland's shared sense of striving and pushing forward for the greater good brings people together here. People, individually, are very different from each other. But when Cleveland is at its best, those differences combine to make something strong, something tenable and beautiful. Cleveland's identity is hard to pin down, because it is defined by so many people who are not like one another. Like any big city, that's not always an easy fact: there is plenty of racism, sexism, and "side-ism" to go around. But Cleveland has the potential to be truly cosmopolitan and communal, because we're all in this together in ways that cities without so much shared struggle don't have to be.
Federico Fellini once said that he never really saw the world til he look at it through the lens of a movie camera. Well, I'm not a filmmaker, but I like to write. So here I am, starting a journey to look at Cleveland and document what I find, to maybe see it a little better, to understand the people more, and to give a voice to the comeback. Comeback though, is not the right word. The industry won't come back. Rebirth, perhaps, after a decentering and deconstruction, as something bigger, stronger, and better than ever before.
-Zack
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