News: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Zach Fisher Working for RESPECT are (L-R) Judi Mendriski, Vermell Perkins, Amen Latham and Elinore Bailey. The acronym for a new program by the Central Vine Street Block Club explains what participants want from police: RESPECT (Resident Power Equals Change Today). The group consists of about 30 Over-the-Rhine residents who are organizing in an effort…
The Graying of Hip-Hop
Woodrow J. Hinton Imagine a 60-year-old man standing in a grocery store checkout line with a portable CD player blasting a classic Mos Def and Talib Kweli mixtape. That will be me in 20 or so years, unable to shake the strong hold that Hip Hop music has had on me since I first heard…
That’s Soooo Cincinnati
The cicadas are coming. Billions and billions of them. Bulging red-eyed monsters with wispy orange, veined wings and black bodies. If you weren't around for the last cicada plague in 1987, be forewarned. "They'll be here on or around May 21, and you'll find them all the way up to Dayton," promises Dr. Gene Kritsky,…
News: A Woman’s Place
Jymi Bolden Mary Pierce Brosmer says many women "lose their voices" as teens. She helps women reclaim them. A recurring dream still visits Mary Pierce Brosmer. She's screaming in a crowded theater. "My voice is just swallowed up," she says. Brosmer uses dreams as guides. In fact, she drew the idea for Women Writing for…
Strip Tease
I was more surprised that The Cincinnati Enquirer even ran Boondocks than I was by the paper's Jan. 4 decision to pull the caustic black-themed comic strip. Pop goes the proverbial carrot before the noses of many blacks and enlightened Others who got, no needed, Boondocks. "Changing comics is never easy," writes Sara Pearce, The…
Wife receives tongue-lashing for complaining about her husband’s behavior
I've been with my husband for 4.5 years. I'm currently very frustrated. My husband can't maintain an erection while performing oral sex on me. He manually stimulates himself while giving me oral sex. I feel rejected, because shouldn't the act of giving someone you love and find attractive pleasure be pleasurable for you as well?…
Looking Ahead, Soberly
The holiday tidal wave of booze finally came to a close as I rang in New Year's Eve quietly with my family and a couple of friends over dinner and a lone chocolate martini. I began 2004 alert and energetic, which separates me from the mobs of young Americans who party and drink to excess…
Enquirer Tunes out, Turns off Broadcast Coverage
John Kiesewetter is back where he started more than a quarter-century ago, reporting on suburban issues and events for The Cincinnati Enquirer, an unfortunate move that leaves the TV/radio beat vacant. Even three months later, the change still generates a buzz among TV and radio executives, as well as current and former staffers at…
Cover Story: Necessity Is the Mother of Attraction
Matt Borgerding and Sean Hughes SWF writer seeking man to provide me with valuable organizational tips to live my life exactly as he identifies it. Prefers to turn down numerous invitations from girlfriends to attend hip parties, gallery openings and spa weekends and instead watch hours of ESPN and channel surf with that special Average…
Writer’s Block
Michael Griffith Just before the holidays, MICHAEL GRIFFITH won the artistic lottery. He was awarded a 2004 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS FELLOWSHIP in fiction writing. Griffith, an assistant professor in fiction writing at the University of Cincinnati, is one of 42 recipients in literature. Recipients receive $20,000 towards their projects. The grant is designed…
Locals Only: : Dawn of the ‘Deaf’
Matt Borgerding Moth One year after being released from their contract with Virgin Records and almost two years after their major label debut, Provisions, Fiction & Gear, Cincinnati-based Moth is unveiling their first independent release in over four years on Saturday at Bogart's. The self-produced Drop Deaf was completed in record time last year. And…
Fromt Row for the Meltdown does ‘All the Wrong Things’ beautifully
Front Row for the Meltdown Front Row for the Meltdown Thursday · Sudsy Malone's While the recent signing of Dayton's Hawthorne Heights by Victory Records would suggest otherwise, our neighbor to the north might not exactly be the prime location for bands in the hunt for a record deal. At least that was likely the…
Hogscraper and Plow on Boy
THEN: At the end of 1996, Music Editor Mike Breen compiled the Cincinnati Top 40, a list of the best local CD releases of the year. Hogscraper's self-titled release, which occupied the No. 2 position, earned the title of "most original release." With a sound dubbed a "Satanic Jug Band," they traveled all over the…
Art for the Sole
International artist, teacher, lecturer and printmaker Radha Chandras-hekaran was born and raised in Southern India. Her current works combine printmaking techniques with other media such as paint and natural dyes, and she's brought these together in her "Art for the Sole" — special hand-painted natural coir floormats decorated with traditional Kolams. Kolams are sacred ritual…
