Cincinnati’s Still Cool
(Photo: Cincinnati’s iconic Tyler Davidson Fountain at night.)
As I run out the door to have lunch with blog-diva Jasmine Davila (see her blog, News from the Flip Front), I wanted to note to regular readers a curious thing that has happened this weekend. Yesterday via Twitter, leading bloggers in Cincinnati discovered the guardedly positive trip-report/thinly veiled love letter I wrote regarding their fair city, Cincinnati Is Cool, after visiting there with Cincinnati Jamie in August 2008.
Out of nowhere, the four-month old blog post has made the rounds on the Cincinnati blogosphere for two days (along with another thoughtful Queen City trip report from fellow urban blogger Aaron Renn, blogging as The Urbanophile out of Indianapolis). My thoughts on the town–birthplace of my beloved Cincinnati-chili coneys and 5-ways–have been well received, and I’m gratified to have helped raise the debate about the real future potential (and current coolness) of my second-favorite Midwestern urb.
If you haven’t read either blog post yet, I invite you to do so. While you’re at it, click through to some of the Cincinnati blog sites mentioned in each post and comment thread to learn about the burgeoning blogosphere in the city that deserves to be famed for far more than merely Mr. Carlson.
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You may find this to be of interest; something I wrote last year about Cincinnati and my experience therein.
[Ed. Note: The commenter is Maya Drozdz, co-founder and partner at Cincinnati design studio VisuaLingual.]
Maya, thanks for the link to your post on Cincinnati’s uniqueness. I agree, cities should be the best that they can be in and of themselves, regardless of comparisons to other places. They should tell their own stories–in a confident and emotionally impacting way–and stay on point with them to give outsiders a better understanding of why they are worth visiting/doing business in/moving to.
Constant comparison with anything that is bigger, larger, or (allegedly) better is only setting oneself up for failure. Carless readers should check your post out.
It’s always great to hear the views of an outsider no matter if you agree with them or not. I thought you were pretty spot on with your observations and love Cincinnati for most of those same reasons. It’s a beautiful place with endless potential. There are many people out there (including myself) who are working tirelessly to make that potential reality. One day we’ll get there…and for a Midwest city, that’s pretty good.
[Ed. Note: Randy Simes scribes at the very browse-worthy Urban Cincy.com.]
Randy, don’t sell the place short. I think that’s pretty good for any city, Midwestern or not!