“When somebody’s 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be? They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that’s part of the magic of what we do at PINK.”
  

We need a bit more mindfulness and maybe a little less blind, thoughtless passion. Let’s make some hard decisions about who we are and acknowledge the “strange” diversity of our bedfellows.
  

Best news we already knew: Science has confirmed that just the taste of a single sip of beer can make you happier by jump-starting dopamine levels in your brain. WORLD +2    

At the end of past spring classes I’d spend weeks in a thick-headed fog, obsessing over the state of America’s education system; I was confused by our simultaneous political demonization of China and our dependence on Chinese students to grow and improve our science and technology departments. Wow, I used to think. Then in spring 2009 — after three years of teaching it — I realized how piously I had been thinking.
  

On April 15, Cincinnatians focused their attention on a nearly 400-year-old city 800 miles from us because, in the grand scheme of things, that’s really not so far away. We watched, listened and talked about what happened to hundreds of people at the finish line of the world’s most famous marathon.
  

MONDAY APRIL 15: Believe it or not, a cruise ship full of people are miserable and pissed off. In the most recent case of this happening, a seven-day Caribbean cruise on a Crown Princess ship turned real un-fun after the toilets stopped flushing.   

Ohio CEOs are making more than 160 times more than the average Ohioan, according to a new report from the AFL-CIO. In 2012, the average CEO salary was about $6.2 million; the rest of us teeter around $39,000. CINCINNATI -1    

 A couple of months ago, I started seeing the words “Harlem Shake” out of the side of my eye at an increasing rate. Natural, mindless curiosity — which creates the “viralness” of a cyber phenom — would usually have me clicking to see what this thing — … song? … dance? … video? — was all about.
  

The only movie I can clearly recall seeing on the West Side screen is Lady Sings the Blues in 1972. My parents were finally splitting up the same year that movie came out and I took to the darkness in movie theaters from that point on as my own private Idaho of insular thinking, mourning and disappearance. Darkness: visible.  

 Positively Cleveland offered me the chance to experience the Indie Cleveland vibe (based around the opening weekend of the 37th annual Cleveland International Film Festival), so I signed on for the press tour, but I was skeptical. Would it cramp my style, force me into a box of pre-packaged highlights with little of my own vaunted trial and error?    

WEDNESDAY APRIL 3: Weed, gay marriage, what’s next? Apparently, the next liberal trend to sweep the nation will be bringing your pet along to work with you so you can both be miserable and underpaid together.   

Cincinnati Republican Bill Seitz in an interview with The Wall Street Journal compared Ohio’s energy efficiency laws to former Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin’s five-year plan. CINCINNATI -1   

Members of the Kentucky state legislature are pondering the merits of "angel investors," while admitting that rich angels are crucial when it comes to competing with Ohio businesses.  

Think about all the things wind does to you: makes you cold, blocks your movement, messes up your hair, makes noise, etc.   

Westwood's 170-year-old Gamble House, the pink Victorian mansion once inhabited by the inventor of Ivory soap, was demolished after years of efforts by neighbors and preservationists to keep the property alive. CINCINNATI -2