Lauren Calig was inspired when she attended the "Facing History Together" Common Ground conversation in June, geared at restoring trust and civility in public discourse. But it didn't stop there—Calig, Laurel School's director of multicultural curriculum, decided to institute a series of ongoing lunchtime Common Ground conversations for middle and upper school students at Laurel. 

Perhaps fittingly, I was at the Cleveland.com offices yesterday morning when I learned that arts and culture reporter Nikki Delamotte’s life had tragically been cut short. Though she and I had only worked together for a short time, the news knocked the wind out of me—I had admired her writing long before meeting her personally, and my respect for her only grew during a short but satisfying collaboration working together to promote FreshWater’s recent On the Ground series.

With dozens of yoga studios throughout the Cleveland area, it's not hard to find your flow. Just ask Dawn Rivers of Daybreak Yoga, Melissa Klimo Major of Balance & Brews, and Anjua Maximo of GrooveRyde—all of whom own successful yoga businesses that are truly hitting their stride with new locations and ventures.

Right now, members of the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn are busily preparing for the organization’s annual “Potluck Show-n-Tell” event in November—when local history buffs will get the chance to show off their favorite collectibles from the neighborhood. (In the past, totems have ranged from depression glass to a Mabel Footes opera cape to a Dr. Otto’s business sign to turn-of-the-century pharmacy prescriptions.)

At the heart of Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle—currently on exhibition at MOCA—are five mural-sized paintings unlikely to be forgotten any time soon. It’s the past, present, and future makeup of the Great Lakes on which the exhibition focuses: invasive species; mastodon bones left over from the lakes’ inception about 14,000 years ago; a genetically modified cow grossly mutilated; and byproducts from the agriculture industry feeding tributaries that will birth toxic algal blooms.

With heaps of history and major new business momentum, the ever-evolving Pearl Road is at a fascinating crossroads. Our writer Ken Schneck takes a proverbial spin down Old Brooklyn's main drag.

The Tinseltown glitz and glamour of Hollywood. The romantic late-night movie shoots of New York City. The internationally-recognized booming filmmaking industry of…Ohio?

If that last scene feels off and you’re doubting our fair state’s place on a list of bona fide filmmaking capitals, then it’s time to take notice of some monumental efforts aimed at not only attracting film productions to Ohio, but also establishing a veritable film industry right here in our own backyard.

Thrity Umrigar was merely going out to run some errands. But as she was waiting to pay a bill at her Cleveland bank, she turned around and saw a long line of people behind her. Suddenly, she wasn’t just an award-winning, nationally best-selling author; she was an engaged citizen who saw an opportunity that was just too good to pass up.

When LaRaun Clayton and his husband decided to buy a house, they sought a neighborhood where they’d be comfortable and fit in. “For us, it was about finding a place where we weren’t going to be the only ones,” shares Clayton. “Sometimes, being a same-sex couple—not to mention African-American—puts a target on you.” The couple looked in familiar places: Lakewood, Fairview Park, and Gordon Square (where they already lived). But the home prices were at the top of their budget, so their real estate agent took them to another neighborhood: Old Brooklyn.

As Cleveland's largest neighborhood, Old Brooklyn has no shortage of compelling stories to be shared, and our storytelling event provided the perfect platform to do just that.

While The Land looks toward the future with a boom in growth and development, many Clevelanders are turning towards the past with a growing interest in crafts dating back thousands of years. Cases in point: MidTown's burgeoning Glass Corridor, and the trendy-by-accident Cleveland Blacksmithing.

The average distance an Old Brooklyn resident travels to visit a grocery store is 4.2 miles, and Save-a-Lot is the neighborhood’s only true grocery store within boundaries. For these and other reasons, Old Brooklyn is considered a food desert, where one-fifth of the residents report choosing between food and housing in terms of affordability. So beyond the burgeoning dollar menus of the neighborhood's abundant fast fooderies and not-so-abundant grocery stores, how does one navigate this food desert?

Meet the new wave of makerspaces, where communal workshops for tinkerers of all backgrounds foster ideas and turn dream projects into reality. While the usual suspects of California and New York lead the way, Ohio is no slouch—hosting the world’s largest makerspace in Columbus, as well as a growing ecosystem right here in Cleveland championing innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Cleveland has long been considered a hotbed of healthcare innovation, but how healthy are its own communities at the neighborhood level? That’s the question that Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation sought to answer by commissioning an ambitious Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for the Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

When portrait photographer Matthew Greene took a mission trip to the Ugandan village of Kabingo back in 2010, he had no idea he would later become the official photographer for Hope for Kabingo and return to the village twice to capture more photos. Tonight, those portraits take the spotlight here in Cleveland with “Faces of Kabingo,” a three-day exhibition at Hudson Fine Art & Framing Company.

It’s not easy to take an historic neighborhood known for its charm, tree-lined residential streets, and opulent architecture and create a brand-new urban downtown. But, after more than five years of planning, that is exactly what the city of Shaker Heights and developer RMS Investment Corporation have done in building phase one of the Van Aken District—Shaker Heights’ new downtown.