"Catching the Light in Lakewood"

[Alex Belisle]

10/6/15

The "light" in Lakewood is dark and getting darker. Acrimony abounds, bitterness, accusations, mistrust. lies and attempts to claim truth as it relates to what side you're on in the "Save Lakewood Hospital" debate.

Silly me. I thought Lakewood was going to be a utopia and like I told my wife the other day, Lakewood is more like one of your soap operas.

But I've been lucky to be hired to do a classical music shoot where I can enshroud myself with beautiful music while taking photos. Here's a post-processed photo of the conductor who's leading the group's practice sessions.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Thanks you, we so often get too caught up, which causes us all forget why we live here.

[Gary Rice]

Alex, my friend...

Lakewood is as idyllic as it ever was, the only problem being that people happen to live here.

When you have people, you have, well....people, and when you have passionate caring people, you will, at times, have controversy. My parents were both such people, and the disputes around our dinner table were often lively ones.

Would you rather live around uncaring dispassionate robotic people? I think not. As Arlo Gunthrie discovered, he realized that he had more in common with passionate caring people that he disagreed with than with people who just go through the motions in life.

The people of Build Lakewood and Save Lakewood Hospital are therefore, much the same in that way. They ALL care, they are ALL proactive, and they ALL represent the future of this city.

Your idyllic impressionistic photo of the conductor is beautiful indeed, but the problem there lies in the idyllic portrature itself. Idyllic vision alone so often roughly masks the hard work that it takes in order to arrive at that ideal. You cannot possibly appreciate the idyllic end without celebration of the struggle that it takes to arrive there.

Case in point, in June of 1941, the German Army invaded the Soviet Union. One of the cities in the crosshairs of their sights was Leningrad. Evacuations were ordered, and by September, the city was cut off from the rest of the country, and the 900 day siege of Leningrad began. Over time, rations were cut, buildings were destroyed, starvation began, and near-chaos ensued.
Except...
...through it all, the people of Leningrad endured, helped each other, and were determined NOT to descend to the level of animals, and in fact, to show the world how people can not only work together to overcome their differences, but more than that, to show the world HOW to do so.

Enter a composer named Dmitri Shostakovich. When the war began, he volunteered for the armed forces and was refused. Instead, he worked in the volunteer fire brigades and refused to leave his beloved city. He continued to write music, and in fact, decided to write his 7th symphony and dedicate it to the suffering and starving people of Leningrad. He first played the symphony for some friends and family in his fifth floor apartment during a serious German attack. They did not even leave for the shelters as the music played during the bomb blasts around them. A few weeks later Shostakovich was ordered flown to Moscow, and from there to Samara, where the symphony was first performed. Soon thereafter, it was performed in Moscow and from there, was sent around the world. Musicians in Leningrad however, wanted their opportunity to perform the piece too, so the score for it was flown to the still-under-siege city and on August 9, 1942, somehow enough musicians were found, many virtual skeletons in rags as they performed the piece in Leningrad's Philharmonic Society Hall.

My father and I have written and composed many works, including band marches for Lakewood's schools. (Dad's first march for Lakewood, the Harding March, he completed himself when I was a wee lad)

Our song for Lakewood was unfinished, but here are the lyrics below. Now, I'm NOT intending to directly compare Dad and me to Shostakovich, or Leningrad with Lakewood, but the mission is nevertheless the same here:

Peace, but out of struggle and with purpose....Idyllics...forged from idealism chained to reality...

Back to the banjo...

Lakewood, Ohio, Is Our Home by Robert and Gary Rice

Golden diamonds on the lake, caught by the morning sun.
Cliffside caves and river trails where freedom's hopes were won.
Kirtland's Warblers, Templar cars, on old plank roads we roamed.
Lakewood, Ohio, is our home!

Emerald canyons seen through pale reflections from the moon,
A hundred ways to worship God, and sing our favorite tunes,
See the eagles soaring over Erie's stormy foam.
Lakewood, Ohio, is our home!

Refrain:
Come with us to our...hometown!
This is Lakewood, Ohio, won't you come right down?
Come with us, sing a song of cheer,
As we celebrate another hundred years!

Lakewood, Ohio, where the present and the past,
Forever blends together with new memories that will last.
In the hearts of Lakewoodites, wherever they might roam,
Lakewood, Ohio, is our home!

[Lori Allen _]

Thanks Gary. A very interesting read. By the way, Happy belated Birthday!

[Alex Belisle]

Thanks Gary,

As we know, in the bottom of Pandora's Box resided HOPE.

[Alex Belisle]

I have yet to see the "face" of homelessness in Lakewood. (Or does the LPD make sure they are quickly removed?)

There might have been some drunks sleeping it off on curbs or lawns but nothing like what I've seen in NYC or other large cities.

This photo was taken in lower Manhattan. I was attracted to his sign and the colors in the composition. I was torn between starting a conversation with him or respecting his space. I decided on the latter.

[kate e parker]

I could look at your photos all day, alex.

some days I do.

thanks.

[Alex Belisle]

I could look at your photos all day, alex.

some days I do.

thanks.

Thank you Kate.

[Marguerite Harkness]

The ones who
help you up are those
who know how it felt
to fall down

It was hard to read the handprinted card - but this is what it said.

[Gary Rice]

Great photo Alex, and a profound message, as well.

In the past several days, I've had the opportunity to speak with two wonderful, honorable people who are different sides of the hospital issue. Both went to great lengths to offer me their perspectives. These experiences combined into a single poignant reminder to me about the importance of keeping things in perspective.

In the final analysis, it will be fine people like Alex who are helping to keep Lakewood together through all of this.

Back to the banjo...

[Alex Belisle]

Wow! I hope the LFD firemen who made a video about the issues they would have if Lakewood Hospital didn't exist anymore, won't suffer retaliation since they work for the city and their Vimeo video was deleted.

Who deleted it? That is the question and why.

[Alex Belisle]

10/18/15

Going over my photo album I realize how much I miss the hordes of humanity, the varied multitudes, the colors and the landmarks of Manhattan.

This is a processed photo of people listening to a concert in Madison Square Park, near 23rd St. with the famous Flatiron Building in the background.

[m buckley]

Cool photo Alex. That approach to the Flatiron building heading south towards the Village is truly an iconic image

[Alex Belisle]

Thanks Mark.

[Alex Belisle]

10/20/15

A ribbon-cutting today to celebrate a renovation/restoration project. Once again a good idea that local government fails to follow through on due to lack of supervision, oversight and a failure to give good advice to the people directly involved in this project - the homebuyers.

I'm assuming that LakewoodAlive is an extension of municipal government since it receives Federal money to initiate its projects? Since it's operated mainly by volunteers (?) it maybe doesn't have the time to follow up on all of its projects? But I have repeatedly mentioned this travesty in progress and the excuse I heard most often was, "It's up to the homeowners." Here are comments from my daughter and myself that were written on the Lakewood government main page on Facebook:

My daughter's comments:"It's not so amazing when you live in the neighborhood and you work from home and every single day including Saturday of the last two years has been nonstop noise. Or if you share a driveway and your tire has been punctured by nails carelessly strewn about. Or if you live next door and the contractor and/or owners have backed into your fence so hard that it's broken and fallen down, but no one wants to take responsibility. I encourage everyone to carefully examine the entire situation. And if you don't believe me, take a survey of the neighbors in close proximity."

Mine:"This renovation project has been a sham, a travesty from the moment I moved next door and probably before that. Lack of oversight, inadequate supervision and a poor choice of contractors probably are at the cause. Just look at the renovation on Mars - the total opposite of this. Should Lakewood and LakewoodAlive be proud of this renovation? I don't think so. And as for the Lakewood Historical Society, Ohio I don't think they'll think much of the manner in which the historical architectural fidelity has been retained either."

By the way, it's not just me. Ask my neighbors on Grace Avenue.