Turning Technologies on China's Great Wall

Straight outta downtown youngstown and onto The Great Wall...


The Wall is a place to make friends and explain that the technology and software behind the product comes from the minds and portfolio companies within the Youngstown Business Incubator.


In this particular section of The Wall, it's almost straight up.


No gradualism here . . . wow.

elsewhere in contemporary Beijing...

defend youngstown in China - 2.8 miles up

Climbing up to 4,506 meters above sea level, one can stand on the southernmost glacier in the Northern Hemisphere - on Jade Dragon Stone Mountain.

the post-kulig feeling

talk about ethnic chic!

horses in the snow . . .


seven-foot tall ice-carvings with polish eagles . . .


roasted kielbasi over an open flame . . .


sleighs on display . . .


a zimna welcome . . .


custard pączki . . .


accordion and dancing . . .



You can see news coverage of the event by wytv here.

Credit to Mill Creek Park and its event staff for the first few photos on this post.

THE END


- - -

next big event?

Ostatski - a mardi gras celebration
Feb 26th @ The Youngstown Club

past coverage here.

for the first time, you can take a horse-led carriage around Lake Glacier - at Kulig

Kulig is the name of a Polish winter festival filled with sleigh rides, food, snow, and music.

And on Thursday, Kulig will be coming to Mill Creek Park, with (for the first time ever) horse-drawn rides on closed roads around snow-covered Lake Glacier.

The event will be up and down the hill near Fellows Riverside Gardens from 5:30pm to 9pm.

Components include:
- roasted kielbasi and hot drinks at the Old Log Cabin
- ice carving demonstrations
- horse-drawn sleigh rides (advanced sign up available)
- live music
- dancing (a lot usually)
- Polish comfort food

some wicked contemporary sleigh rides:



Kulig at 95 miles per hour!









more information can be found here.

Caput apri defero - I bring in the boar's head

In the heart of downtown youngstown, a tiny sprite with a lit candle runs though the stone passages of a 110-year old church.

Jumping between shadows and light filtered through Tiffany stained-glass windows, the young sprite presents the flame to the rector, and thus the Boar's Head Festival begins.

- - -

For 50 years this amazing tradition has occurred in the same fashion inside the stunning Arts and Crafts interior of St. John's Episcopal Church.

With over 150 costumed people playing roles throughout the two-hour brass, organ, and song event (with a feast afterwards!), one can't help but feel completed blessed that we have these types of events in the community.

Here's a four-minute video of just some of the performers walking to the sanctuary. Check it out:



What costumes!
What voices!
What an effort!

- - -

Photographer extraordinaire Bill Lewis has great pictures from the 2010 event you can see here, as well as a video of a musician playing trombone for 50 consecutive years here.

There were more beefeaters than in a baker's dozen of gin bottles.


- - -

The history of the Boar's Head Festival goes back to circa 1167 in Oxford University in England.

The boar's head itself comes from Roman traditions, as the beast - a menace to man - was served at feasts. Serving the head represents the triumph of good over evil.

In 1892 the first Boar's Head and Yule Log festival was performed in the United States.

In 1961 the music for Youngtown's event was selected, arranged, and composed by Dr. Ronald L. Gould, who served as conductor for the 2010 version.

If you've never seen this amazing display of pageantry, you'll have to wait until 2012.

Caput apri defero, indeed.

local arts + local talent = how much local dollars?

It's a question that perhaps Arthur Cecil Pigou would find interesting:

What is the total economic impact of the arts in within a geographical area?


Aside from the ticket costs, and labor paid, and the art pieces purchased, what are all the components that can funnel into calculating how much money flows through the local economy because of the arts?

We have a saying in Youngstown:

"yes, but how much peniaze?"

- - -

Monday afternoon will begin the kickoff to count the money.


Thus, the local uber-entity "The Power of the Arts" is partnering with "Americans for the Arts" to kickoff their Economic Impact Study initiative.

That kickoff takes place at . . .
Monday, January 10, 2011 @ 3pm
in the
Eleanor Beecher Flad Pavilion
(same building as Overture restaurant)
260 West Federal Street
Yo, O 44503

from their request for participants:

"Every art and cultural organization in the Mahoning Valley is encouraged to become a part of the Economic Impact Study initiative. One goal of Power of the Arts is to define the role of arts and culture in the economic development of our Valley.

During the kickoff reception, arts and culture organizations in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties will be provided materials concerning the study process.

Every organization is encouraged to send a representative."

For a quick primer on the components of economic impact studies, click here.

the motif of the university-based literary magazines in Cleveburgh: factory rust belt chic

2010 saw a lot of great artistic accomplishments in Youngstown, including the launch of an additional university-based literary magazine, simply named "Jenny".


from Jenny's website:

"Like many struggling postindustrial cities across the country, Youngstown, Ohio is a place defined by images of ruin and rust, and there are few images more striking than that of the Jeannette Blast Furnace.

“Jenny,” as plant workers called her and as Bruce Springsteen referred to her in his 1995 song “Youngstown,” was one of two furnaces located at Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

It [Jenny] was a place where things were made, shaped, created.

While the absence of our blast furnaces has been felt in terrible ways throughout our region, our fire has not gone out.

In the aftermath of de-industrialization, we are not a people without industry. Youngstown is not done creating, not done making.

We are each of us, every day, telling stories. Here in the pages of Jenny, we aim to display some of those artifacts made by wordsmiths and visual artists alike."

The motif of romantic rust belt infrastructure, with strong ties to "making things" is clear in Jenny, but what about elsewhere in Cleveburgh?



let's look around the region . . .

we've got the "Rubbertop Review" at the University of Akron.
(most recent rust belt chic cover here)

we've got the "Hot Metal Bridge" at the University of Pittsburgh.
(most recent rust belt chic cover here)

we've got "Whiskey Island" at Cleveland State University
(most recent rust belt chic cover here)

So here's a question:

Why is rust belt chic such a dominant theme of late in the literary magazines of the mega-region's largest cities?

- - -

editor's note:
details on submitting work to Jenny can be found here.

the geography of Cleveburgh - Yo on the axis

an interesting image on the Null Space blog . . .


. . . shows the geography of the Cleveburgh map.

Or, how the author puts it, "the Greater Youngstown Metropolitan Area. "

Now imagine on the map above interstate 80 running east-west through the map, and quasi-interstate route 11 running north-south.

The City of Youngstown is where all of these axes cross each other.

From a recent Post-Gazette story:

"Northeast Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania are far more interconnected with each other than either region is with other parts of Ohio or Pennsylvania. The day-to-day interaction of local businesses are geared toward regional partners, not Harrisburg or Columbus. Pittsburgh industries are far more linked to markets and suppliers in Youngstown, Akron and Cleveland than with those in Allentown, Scranton or even Philadelphia. In so many ways the state boundaries we think of as important are no more than lines on a map.

Annual migration among Cleveburgh communities dwarfs the movement of people to other places across the nation. Daily commuting over state borders is a growing phenomenon. It is not uncommon to see workers from Ohio and West Virginia looking for jobs in Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh residents considering jobs in Weirton or Youngstown or farther reaches of the region.

No one definition of our greater region is right for all circumstances. But we can't be limited by municipal or state boundaries that mean less and less as time goes by.

Roads and rivers, power lines and pollution; all ignore the lines arbitrarily drawn on maps centuries ago. It is our mental map of who we are that will have the most to do with who we become."

well said, Mr. Briem.

ysu basketball heating up

YSU Penguins are 6-0 on the home court in 2010 after last night's win.

What will 2011 bring?



Next game is downtown on campus on new yea's day @ 1pm.

civic crowdsourcing question: Has anyone taken the Chinatown bus from Youngstown to NYC?

Tonight the evening news was blanketed with stories of people stranded in airports across the country.

According to Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog (now at nytimes), with airline load factors at all-time highs of 82 percent, people won't be able to get a flight until after the new year.

Events like this massive snow storm show how limited our options are in the USA for public transportation.

- - -

side note: It would be great if Ohio had $400 million (a random amount) to begin implementation of passenger rail.

But money like that from the federal government would never be allocated.

- - -

here's a question:

Recently I heard there is now a Chinatown Bus providing cheap seats from Youngstown to New York City and back.

according to this site, there is a stop in Youngstown, right off Interstate 80.

Has anyone taken the China Bus?

Was it a pleasant experience?

How much was your ticket?

What time did you depart and arrive during both legs of the trip?

please leave your comments below...

it's going to be almost 50 degrees on Friday - First Night Youngstown buttons for sale downtown all this week

after one straight month of snow on the ground, it looks like we're getting a heatwave starting Friday . . .



What's also on Friday?

It's First Night Youngstown, the Mahoning Valley's new year eve celebration.


With events to run from 5pm all the way to the ball drop and fireworks at midnight, the entire schedule can be found HERE.

some events include:
- woodwind quartet and victorian holiday displays at MVHS
- lasers at the Planetarium
- Irish folk music at St. Columba Cathedral
- kids' art at SMARTS
- string concert at the stunning Trinity United Methodist Church
- open ice skating at the Covelli Centre
- horse carriage ride thru downtown
- karaoke at choffin
- classical acoustic guitar at the Masonic Temple

food discounts at:
- Cafe Cimmento
- Charlie Staples
- Pizza Joe's
- Touch the Moon Candy Saloon

a video from a recent ball drop downtown . . .



tickets are available ALL WEEK downtown at the ground floor of the City Center One building, 100 East Federal Street.

$10, adults
$5, kids and seniors
free, children under 12 yrs old

and this week only, if you go downtown and purchase an adult ticket, you get a free toy from a local toy company:



www.firstnightyoungstown.com

grassroots downtown youngstown music videos

here's exhibit one, just posted this week:



more to come...

addendum:
just for the record, the editors of this blog had nothing to do with the creation of the video.

it popped up on a google alert.

The "I Will Shop Youngstown" 100% Pledge

Looking over the gifts I've purchased for the holidays this year, the realization hit me that all of the items or gift certificates being given to friends and loved ones so far were attained in downtown youngstown.

Taking it a step further, presenting the:
"I Will Shop Youngstown" 100% Pledge. . .

"I, (insert name), will do 100 percent of the rest of this year's holiday shopping will in Youngstown, and I will continue to purchase the rest of the presents for birthdays and other holidays in 2011 locally as well."

Can you take the pledge?
Can you make that extra effort?

- - -

Purchasing locally made gifts is like a huge economic stimulus for the Valley, especially if we do it in aggregate.

In fact, it's downright patriotic.

When you purchase stuff at Best Buy and Barnes & Noble and all those chains, local folks take a small sliver in wages, but the bottom line goes somewhere else outside of the metro area.

Give the gift of investing in your community - buy local.

- - -

Some unique examples:

- All your holiday cards can be purchased at the downtown SMARTS store, designed by local students.

- Our artists in the Ward Bakery Building and Calvin Center Idea Incubator have a wonderful variety of products for both art and utility.

- Have a friend without medical benefits? There's a dentist on the 9th floor of the Huntington Bank Building. Give them the gift of clean teeth, with a gift certificate!

- Think your friends will enjoy a hot stone message or manicure/pedicure? Order them one from William Leonard's Extraordinary Gentlemen!

- Ever have a dress shirt custom made for a perfect fit? Try John Lisko's shop in the Commerce Building!

- Want to share the gift of knowledge with young children? Memberships to the new Science and Technology Museum downtown are available!

- Like live theater? Give a flex pass to the Oakland, and a one to yourself!

- Have a friend who is unable to drive? WRTA bus coupons!

- Have a friend addicted to barbeque sauce? Charlie Staples and cups and cups of love!

- Have a friend who eats too much bbq and needs to shed a few pounds? YMCA memberships!

- Love History? Memberships to the Tod Engine Heritage Park!

- Flowers from Briel's!
- Hardcovers from Dorian Books!
- Beer from the Rust Belt Brewery!
- Sausage from DiRusso's!

this list can become a very long one, but the core question remains the same...

If given the chance, can you exclusively shop local?

Will you take the "I Will Shop Youngstown" 100% Pledge?

the world's first ever horror film - from 1910 - to be shown downtown on Friday

This little blurb is a great example of the cool little things that keep popping up all throughout Youngstown.

On Friday, Dec 17th @7pm, the Oakland Center for the Arts will host Frankenstein, originally produced in 1910 by Thomas Alva Edison's film company.

$5 will get one in the door, which includes a lecture on the film by the great Youngstown artist Chris Yambar.

From the Oakland's press release:

"Due to the Victorian public’s outcry against the film’s content, all copies of the cinematic first were gathered and destroyed, making it one of the most sought-after “lost treasures” of Silver Screen history. When a lone copy surfaced in the silent film collection of Alois Dettlaff during the 1960s, it became a guarded reel, one shown in its entirety to only a select few over the next 40 years. The eccentric Dettlaff never allowed the film to leave his estate and refused to have it restored.

In 2003, Chris Yambar joined forces with illustrator Robb Bihun and examined the film frame-by-frame, noting everything that occurred. They fought the popular temptation to “gore it up” and decided to keep their adaptation as bloodless and straightforward as the original content. There were areas, however, that needed some bridging in order to have a cognitive narrative flow. This was done with thoughtfulness and respect. The result was a 40-page graphic telling of the legendary 15-minute film."

Coffee, cocoa, and popcorn will be available at the Oakland.

oh wow! - live downtown - right now

The crane is out...installing the sign.

global talent search: Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI)

want ad:
Youngstown Business Incubator, single, young, full of life, seeks Chief Operating Officer for building a beautiful relationship.

more info:
At the LinkedIn group: Greater Youngstown Global Talent Network
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS


details:
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Youngstown Business Incubator has the prime responsibility for the internal management of the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) and its managed technology campus.

The COO reports directly to the YBI's Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The COO will oversee all operational and administrative functions that support entrepreneurial activities but do not relate directly to participants.

A full job description for the position may be requested in advance
by contacting:
sdiamond (at) ybi.org

Interested parties should send letters of interest and resumes to:
James W. Cossler
Youngstown Business Incubator
241 West Federal Street
Youngstown, Ohio 44503

Electronic submission is preferred and can be sent to:

jcossler (at) ybi.org

[No telephone calls will be accepted.]

No resumes will be accepted
for consideration after 12/27/2010.

clips from Mazowsze dance workshop and performance at Youngstown's Wigilia dinner

The group Polish Youngstown continues to rack up victory after victory of quality ethnic-themed events.

Case in point:
Downtown Youngstown was chosen as the site for the first-ever U.S. dance workshop of Mazowsze - THE ethnic dance toupe of the country of Poland.

Held at Ballet Western Reserve downtown on Sunday, the five-hour event allowed people from around the U.S. to learn from this famous group. Here's a video that was posted online today:



Immediately afterwards, hundreds of people dressed up for the annual Wigilia Dinner at the Youngstown Club - organized by the Polish Arts Club of Youngstown (since January 1935) where people feasted on the traditional meal served on Christmas Eve in central/eastern european households.

I didn't know pickled herring could be so delicious.

Mazowsze performed with its 18-piece orchestra and 20-piece choral group between dinner and dessert.

Here are some videos of Mazowsze's performance at the Youngstown Club. They are excellent!















This week, the monthly Polish Happy Hour resumes on Thursday Dec 9th at Rips Tavern from 5:30pm-9:00pm
The focus will be on Old Polish Christmas traditions.

from last month's event:




Then on Thursday, January 13th, "Kulig" will take place...

with horse-drawn sleigh rides around Lake Glacier in Mill Creek Park,
roasted keilbasa in the old log cabin
bonfires at Fellows Riverside Gardens
Singing, Dancing, Ice Carving, Live Music, and Polish Food.

great gift shopping everyday in downtown youngstown - open house tues at SMARTS

The space that houses the SMARTS program downtown is like a hidden present along Federal Street.

Go inside and open the doors, and you'll find an explosion of color, laughter, music, dancing, opera, creative writing, and art throughout its two floors.

But you'll also find shopping - in the SMARTS Store. From 60 artists!


In fact, I think I can do just about all of my holiday shopping in here.


The SMARTS program will be having its annual holiday open house on Tuesday December 6th from 10am to 6pm.

There will be refreshments, music, and hands-on activities for kids.

Check out the variety of gifts for sale:






















as a bonus, all sales get a 10% discount on tuesday.

SMARTS (Students Motivated by the Arts) is a FREE downtown after-school program to provide instruction to grades k through 12 in art, music, an dance for children from all income levels.

Through its affiliation with YSU, students in the university's music education program and other programs teach students in various disciplines.

All proceeds from the SMARTS Store benefit future programming for students (maybe your children) downtown.

More information about SMARTS is available here.