the losses of insularity

Sometimes, you lose a lot in life from what you don't do and who you don't connect deeper with. I have met many people in my life that, because, at one point, I was so insular, I didn't connect with as deeply as I should have. These were people I could relate to and people I could understand that understood me. I ran into one of those people a couple of days ago....actually, this week, I have run into a few of those people.

Me and Cleveland...

I posted a comment on REALNEO and I said something that really encapsulates my feelings about Cleveland:

I grew up during arguably Cleveland's worst historical period. I am the product of black and white suburban flight. I am the product of Cleveland Public schools (post-Remedial order and pre-city takeover). I am the product of dedicated honors program teachers with short resources and good parents who didn't have either the resources or desire to move. I am the product of forced busing and tax abatements for Gateway, the BP Building, The Galleria, Tower City and other projects that took (and still takes) money from the schools. I am part of the first class of students subjected to the Ohio Proficiency Test which has become a tool to narrow the education of young Ohioans everywhere. I have taken all that Cleveland has thrown at me and I still exist. Cleveland owes a lot of people. Cleveland owes the next few generations more than it gave mine. People of my generation are used to thinking of Cleveland as less than a prosperous place because it hasn't been such during out lifetimes...and people wonder why I hate Reagan and Voinovich so much. Though there's much contempt and frustration, Cleveland was home when it wasn't en vogue to be home...so I can say whatever I want about it.

How do you feel about your hometown?