Lakewood

Face to face: Stephen Yusko
Tucked away on East 41th Street just across the way from Tyler Village, Stephen Yusko is toiling away at his studio wherein you'll find milling machines and band saws and the usual residents in a metalworking shop. But Yusko's tools also include anvils, a white-hot forge and the tongs and hammers that transform steel into the smith's graceful designs.
 
"My work is a combination of forging, machining and fabricating. It seems like more machining, but it always starts with a forged … something," says Yusko. "I enjoy that process: heating up a bar of steel and transforming it into a shape."
 
Yusko continues while a cat named M slinks around the shop, completely unimpressed by the craftsman's lofty musings:

Read them here, and find out where this able smith like to sup when he's not manning the forge.
Tiny vacant lot transformed into unique property
Early last year, a 35-foot by 95-foot plot of land at 1427 Scenic St. in Lakewood sat uncared for with a shaky past.

The Cuyahoga County Land Bank had razed the abandoned house, the adjacent neighbors had no interest in the land and the non-profit community organization LakewoodAlive was desperately searching for someone to plant some love on the property.

Find out what happened to the pint-sized property here.
CLE classic: Viktor Schreckengost combined form, function and beauty
A sculptor, ceramicist, industrial designer and Cleveland Institute of Art professor, Viktor Schreckengost's legacy continues to live out loud throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond.
First person: Inside the local fight against human trafficking
Fresh Water contributor Christopher Johnston steps inside Cleveland's human trafficking scene to uncover some dark realities — and the people and organizations battling them.
'In the 216' to open along Lakewood-Cleveland border
Offbeat eats: six of the best local ethnic eateries
Iraqi kebobs, duck blood soup and hard to find Latino spirits — that's just for starters in this under-the-radar roundup of some the best (and little known) noshing in the 216.
Trending: countywide co-op fuels residential solar power
Cuyahoga County residents are going green by banding together to reap the benefits of solar energy — and they're saving plenty of green as well.
Local: seven all natural beauty product lines
Beard balms, sugar scrubs, essential oils and bath bombs — that's just for starters in this go-to roundup of handcrafted personal care products developed, made and sold in Northeast Ohio.
 
Northeast Ohio agencies prepare for booming 'silver tsunami'
As some 76 million baby boomers retire, they are stirring a “silver tsunami” across the country, testing public and nonprofit agencies as well as the housing market. Fresh Water checks in to see how Northeast Ohio is preparing for the trend.
Meet the ironman behind Cleveland's food trucks
The man inside Cleveland Custom Trucks has a story that stretches far beyond the rolling kitchens he creates.
 
Biomimicry: nature meets industrial design at CIA
Cleveland Institute of Art professor Doug Paige is showing students how to take a page out of Mother Nature's playbook when it comes to industrial design.
Quiet Land Conservancy tackles blight, spreads green throughout Northern Ohio
From the reclamation of the Henninger Landfill to saving a Russell Township farm, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy fosters thriving urban centers, green space and more by preserving some 5,000 acres annually.
 
Five things: little known facts from inside the Cleveland Institute of Art
From an anthropomorphic aardvark to a golden guy named Oscar, the venerable CIA is brimming with surprises of fine art, pop culture and a heaping helping of quirk.
How big is Cleveland's heart?
In this special op-ed for Fresh Water, Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute, gives Clevelanders powerful and sobering reminders on the heels of the city's remarkable summer of 2016.
 
Edwins campus completes second phase
When De’Anthony Harris was released from Grafton Correctional Institution last October, he had a new outlook on his future. And, thanks to Brandon Chrostowski, owner of EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant  Institute on Shaker Square, Harris also has a second chance at a successful life.

During his eight years in prison Harris, now 27, did everything he could to improve his odds in the outside world. “The best thing that happened to me is I didn’t have kids when I went in,” he says. “The only responsibility was myself. I was blessed that I did the right thing.”
 
Harris enrolled in Chrostowski’s culinary training class at Grafton. He also earned his temporary commercial driver's license (CDL) for truck driving, a certification in pet grooming and any took just about any other workforce training program the prison offered.

Continue reading.