James Bigley II, features editor
Story: Do Good: 7 Good Ideas
Issue: December 2018
By: Abby Burton
Quick Take: Abby Burton talks to a Cleveland Clinic behavioral health specialist about seven different ways to infuse positivity into your daily life.
Why We Love It: “The world is a really difficult place right now. There’s so much uncertainty and it’s hard to determine what we can do to help each other and help ourselves without being bogged down. This list comes in handy in the simplest of ways, and it’s a good reminder that even the smallest things can make such a significant impact.” Read More >>
Jason Brill, managing editor
Story: Journeys on the Cuyahoga
Issue: June 2019
By: Sheehan Hannan
Quick Take: Sheehan Hannan kayaked about 20 miles of the Cuyahoga River to survey what the river was like 50 years after it notoriously caught on fire. In this feature, he visits the river’s beginnings near Burton, its wild water sections and more.
Why We Love It: “I’m fascinated by rivers and the courses they chart, so it was really cool to see the Cuyahoga through Sheehan’s eyes, especially the headwaters. The story goes a long way in telling the story of this important body of water that people too frequently and quickly dismiss because it caught on fire.” Read More >>
Arbela Capas, editorial assistant
Story: The Misfortune Teller
Issue: June 2018
By: James Bigley II
Quick Take: This feature is a deep dive into the story of a local psychic, Gina Miller, who ended up conning several individuals out of thousands of dollars through her falsified readings. One woman shares her firsthand experience with the psychic, how she got sucked in — and how she eventually got out.
Why We Love It: “I’m a sucker for any good con man story, but this one has an especially interesting twist. Not only is it a fascinating story about how this woman conned so many people, but it also touches on different themes like faith, spirituality and how we as humans will sometimes do anything to get a glimpse into the future.” Read More >>
Sheehan Hannan, associate editor
Story: A Traffic Fable
Issue: August 1979
By: Dick Feagler
Quick Take: A fable (or is it real?) about a car crash on Interstate 77, with a pointed message about the suburbs, written by one of the finest columnists this city has ever produced.
Why We Love It: “This normcore horror tale is from the glorious year that Feagler wrote for Cleveland Magazine. It reflects Feagler’s conflicted feelings about the daily march to and from suburbia. He saw it killing the city he loved. But he couldn’t help ending up in Bay Village himself. The story is moved by some familiar and inevitable doom, like we are seeing the cogs of a machine collectively put in motion by us all, a machine which simply cannot be stopped.” Read More >>
Lee McKinstry, associate editor
Story: Lessons Learned From Stacks Of Calendars
Issue: September 2019
By: Marsha McGregor
Quick Take: Marsha McGregor’s personal essay finds her sifting through years of accumulated calendars and datebooks, both her and her mother’s, retracing the moments that make a life.
Why We Love It: “This essay, ostensibly about rereading old refrigerator calendars, nearly brought me to tears. In thoughtful prose, Marsha finds the sacred in the mundane, the way we often don’t know where or who we were until the whole calendar is laid out before us, the dates worn and the time past. An endorsement for not just calendars (ha!), but gratitude for life, even when it’s hard.” Read More >>
Jessa Moser, art director
Story: Our Epidemic
Issue: September 2017
By: James Bigley II and Sheehan Hannan
Quick Take: After 1,095 opioid-related deaths in Northeast Ohio in 2016, officials were calling it the public health crisis of our time. This story examines the impact of the opioid problem, how it has infected the region and the solutions needed to recover.
Why We Love It: “The first part of this story has always stuck with me. It goes beyond statistics and humanizes the epidemic, which is something we’re still dealing with.” Read More >>
Kim Schneider, editor
Story: We’ve Got Big Plans
Issue: February 2014
By: Connie Schultz
Quick Take: The February 2012 Chardon High School shooting left Nick Walczak paralyzed. But as Connie Schultz details, he’s piecing his life together with the help of family, friends and a service dog.
Why We Love It: “Schultz delicately weaves through Walczak’s life two years after the Chardon shooting. It’s a beautifully written story of survival, activism and finding yourself and your voice when your life has been turned upside down. It’s also haunting to read this story today — six years after it was published — and still find so many threads and layers that are relevant in terms of gun control and school shootings.” Read More >>
Dillon Stewart, associate editor
Story: Trail Blazers
Issue: February 2018
By: Lynne Thompson
Quick Take: Calling attention to the fact that Cleveland’s fire department had just three female firefighters in early 2018, the story also celebrates the strong women’s triumphant careers and highlights the challenges and sexism they faced throughout their time on the force.
Why We Love It: “I’ll always have a soft spot for first-responders, heroes who run toward danger with the sole intention of helping others, but I also found the idea of these powerful women inspiring other little girls out there to be whatever they wanted to be really powerful. I’ve also enjoyed how the magazine has followed this story by covering Lauren Phillips, the first female firefighter hired in 30 years by the department, and Lt. Justina Saxby’s retirement last year.” Read More >>
Erin Stinard, associate art director
Story: Nwaka Onwusa Helps Lead Rock Hall Into The Future
Issue: April 2019
By: Lee McKinstry
Quick Take: Lee McKinstry sits down with Nwaka Onwusa to ask the new director of curatorial affairs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame a few questions about her new role and her inspiration.
Why We Love It: “Nwaka Onwusa is just so cool. It’s awesome that we have places like the Rock Hall in Cleveland that can pull in people like Nwaka from the Grammy Museum. You can get a feel for her positive energy and her talent in this interview. Then we got to learn even more about her when she was named a Most Interesting Person this year.” Read More >>