Letters (40)

This house was home

As I was looking through Cleveland Magazine's top 250 homes ["Home, Huge Home," March 2005], I noticed a familiar home. No. 213 was the house I grew up in. For me, it brought back memories of comfort, fun and family.

My father was 13 years old in the early 1940s and worked for the city of Shaker Heights as a sanitation worker (that's how he told it to us kids) and said one day that he would live in one of the fine homes on South Park. Some 30 years later, he'd worked hard and made his dream come true and filled a beautiful house with my mother and five siblings and made it a home.

I remember him walking through the house and turning off lights, televisions and whatnot and exclaiming, "Do you pay the heat and electrical in this house? No, I do. Turn off the lights when you leave the room!" — even when we were still in the room but going to get a snack.

Thanks for spotlighting beautiful homes. It really isn't how much they cost, but how beautiful they still are. They don't make them that way anymore.

Amy Rothenfeld
Cleveland

(Smaller) size matters

Many friends I've talked with found your March cover story fascinating, yet overwhelming! We hope you can do a story in the future on the many older homes in this area that have withstood the test of these huge developments and homes around them, yet remain so cared for, quaint and homey.

The homes that seem to emit character and charm are all around us, where the owners care for their own lawns, the exteriorand interior decorating, and the square footage is more like 1,600 to 2,000. Please go for a nice drive and take a look at these dear homes!

Jane Sheard
Avon Lake

Shame on you, Bob Golic!

While Cleveland is always glad to welcome back its own, Bob Golic should be ashamed to say such disparaging words about Manhattan Beach, Calif. ["What About Bob?", March 2005]. I have visited there often and it is a wonderful city for families with a great public school system and an outstanding recreational program for children in which the Golic family participated.

I am sure his Manhattan Beach friends would be very surprised to see his comments. We Clevelanders would be the first to agree that untrue remarks about a city can be very damaging. Too bad Mr. Golic just didn't tell us he missed us in Cleveland and he could hardly wait for an opportunity to come home.

Suzanne Blaser
Shaker Heights

Would prefer less accuracy

I enjoyed Amber Matheson's "Michigan's Beachland" article [March 2005]. I grew up in Michigan also. My mother was raised "up north" (East Jordan), so my best childhood memories are from that area.

Don't write too many more articles describing Michigan so accurately, or it will become overrun when people discover what a treasure it is.

Sherry Campbell
Avon Lake

Cha-ching!

I read in your March issue that there was a great exhibit coming to COSI Columbus, featuring artifacts from the Titanic [Great Lakes Options].

For the small price of $20, we can get in to see these treasures. For my family, with two adults, a middle-school student and a teen, with gas and parking, this would only cost $110.

Upps! That's just a little over our budget for a Sunday afternoon. I think maybe that's why COSI Columbus did not receive the community support it wanted.

Pam Hansberger
Norwalk

Flag of a different color

Just a few lines to let you know that we enjoy Cleveland Magazine very much.

In a joking way, we would like to know why an Irishman was holding an Italian flag ["St. Patrick's Daze," March 2005]. Perhaps it got dipped in the tomato sauce?

John and Jean Kelly
Willoughby

Editor's note: Actually, the flag shown in the illustration is colored correctly (green, white and orange) for the flag of the Republic of Ireland; the Italian flag is green, white and red. But it's shown incorrectly for either country, since in both cases the green rectangle should be nearest the staff.

Never again

Your article on "The Price of Liberty" [December 2004] struck me. It was well done and thought provoking.

I don't know if you know who Hank Tanaka is: He is a man who has been a champion of human rights for all of his life. He has led efforts and has changed the treatment for persons with mental illness as well as led efforts with others for Japanese reparations [for the World War II internments].

This is an inspiring and remarkable human being who is very quiet and humble. Thank you for telling his story and allowing us to learn from his awful lessons. Mostly, however, thank you for letting others know so that we may never repeat those horrors.

Judith Z. Peters
president and CEO
West Side Ecumenical Ministry
Cleveland