august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8 · thedevilstrip.com
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Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
There’s Nothing to do in akron returns PAGE 6
Pride is back (and now at Lock 3)! PAGE 12
A different take on death PAGE 31
Decadent, delicious vegan magick PAGE 36
VITAL Vax and Go Summa Health is committed to providing accessible care no matter where you live. That includes keeping our community safe and healthy from the COVID-19 virus by providing vaccines. Our Vital Vax and Go is heading to a neighborhood near you!
Get your COVID-19 vaccination. Check out where we will be next: Date
Location
Time
Aug. 3, 2021
Channelwood Village
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Aug. 3, 2021
Hillside Terrace
5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4, 2021
ASIA Inc - HAPI Fresh Market
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Aug. 5, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Tallmadge
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Aug. 5, 2021
Akron-Summit County Library - Mogadore
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Aug. 5, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Springfield-Lakemore
12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Aug. 5, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Ellet
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Aug. 5, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Goodyear
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Aug. 7, 2021
West Akron African American Male 5K
7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Aug. 8, 2021
Bethany Church
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Aug. 9, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Kenmore
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m
Aug. 9, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Highland Square
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Aug. 9, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Firestone Park
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Aug. 9, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Green
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 9, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Main
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Aug. 10, 2021
St. Vincent Church
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Aug. 11, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Nordonia Hills
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Aug. 11, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Richfield
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Aug. 11, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Fairlawn-Bath
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Aug. 11, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Norton
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 12, 2021
Kohl’s YMCA
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Aug. 13, 2021
EANDC
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Aug. 17, 2021
Open M BBQ
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m
Aug. 20, 2021
Heart to Heart Family Support Center
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Aug. 24, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - North Hill
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Aug. 24, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Maple Valley
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Aug. 24, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Odom Boulevard
12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Aug. 24, 2021
Akron-Summit County Public Library - Portage Lakes
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Aug. 26, 2021
Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Aug. 28, 2021
LINK’s Pantry Event
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
For more information, scan the QR code, call 234.867.7110 or visit summahealth.org/vitalvax
2 | The Devil Strip
August 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
thedevilstrip.com
IN THIS ISSUE Summit Artspace 140 East Market Street Akron, Ohio 44308 Board of Directors: Rita Kelly Madick, Sharetta Howze, Emily Dressler, Michael Gintert, Richelle Wardell, Marc Lee Shannon, Katie Robbins, Frank Varca, Kally Mavromatis directors@thedevilstrip.com
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President: Chris Horne chris@thedevilstrip.com
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Editor-in-Chief: Jessica Holbrook holbrook@thedevilstrip.com Audience Development Director: Floco Torres Membership Director: Jessica Goldbourn jessica@thedevilstrip.com Client Services Director: Anna Adelman anna@thedevilstrip.com
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Public Health Reporter: H.L. Comeriato HL@thedevilstrip.com Economic Development Reporter: Abbey Marshall abbey@thedevilstrip.com Digital Audience Manager: Sonia Potter sonia@thedevilstrip.com
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Client Services Assistant: Allyson Smith allyson@thedevilstrip.com Distribution Manager: Derek Kreider derek@thedevilstrip.com Layout & Design: Jenn Shaw Copy Editors: Megan Combs, Dave Daly, Emily Dressler Freelance Contributors: Ilenia Pezzaniti, Emily Anderson, Angie Agnoni, Abbey Bashor, Martha Belden, Nahla Bendefaa, Julie Ciotola, Kyle Cochrun, Jeff Davis, Nic deCourville, Megan Delong, Ken Evans, Charlotte Gintert, Charlee Harris, Zinga Hart, Jillian Holness, Todd Jakubisin, Dani Jauk, Jamie Keaton, Diane Pitz Kilivris, Laura Lakins, Marissa Marangoni, Sandy Maxwell, Brandon Meola, Vanessa Michelle, Yoly Miller, Melanie Mohler, Brittany Nader, John Nicholas, Brynne Olsen, Susan Pappas, Michael Roberts, Arrye Rosser, Mark Schweitzer, Marc Lee Shannon, Teresa Sroka, Karla Tipton, Paul Treen and Steve Van Auken
Want to help make The Devil Strip? Write to holbrook@thedevilstrip.com. Find us online: www.thedevilstrip.com Facebook: facebook.com/thedevilstrip Twitter: @akrondevilstrip Instagram: @thedevilstrip
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Our Mission
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Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
6 THERE’S NOTHING TO DO IN AKRON 9 CIVIC GROWS AT GOODYEAR 10 DEVIL’S DISPORT 11 HIGHLAND SQUARE’S FAVE FEST IS BACK 12 PRIDE DEBUTS IN DOWNTOWN 13 PORTRAITS OF PRIDE 2019 14 CELEBRATING ONE YEAR IN LOVELAND 15 Q&A WITH MARIGOLD SOL 16 ALEX HALL PAYS TRIBUTE 17 THERON BROWN AND “SPIRIT FRUIT” 18 RFEN GIVING AKRON A VOICE 19 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: ABBY DARIN 20 A MEDICAL MYSTERY 22 VINTAGE STRUCTURES: THE CARLTON BUILDING 23 AKRONISMS: WHAT’S IN THE WATER? 24 SHARING RUBBER WORKERS’ STORIES 27 SPOTTED OWL PLANS A COMEBACK 28 NOHI CAFE BOOSTS COMMUNITY 29 REVIEW: SANDY BOTTOM BOWLS 31 THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT DEATH 35 A ¼-POUND OF JOY 36 MOUTHWATERING VEGAN MAGICK 38 AKRONITES ON THE RUN 41 GOOEY GRILLED CHEESE COMES TO HIGHLAND SQ. 43 MARC HAS GRACE AND GRIT 44 HOROSCOPES AND TAROTSCOPES 45 UNENCRYPTED: STAYING SAFE FROM CYBERCRIME 46 URINE LUCK: AKRON’S NICEST SMELLING POTTY
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august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
The Devil Strip exists to help more people care more about Akron and all its residents. That’s why we’re building a community of Akronites committed to making this a better place to live by connecting you to your neighbors, our city and a stronger sense of shared purpose through stories and meet-ups that showcase the folks who make this place so unique. The Devil Strip is published monthly by the Board of Directors of The Devil Strip Local News Cooperative. Distribution: The Devil Strip is available free of charge. Copyright: The entire contents of The Devil Strip are copyright 2021 by The Devil Strip Local News Cooperative. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials or other content. All editorial, advertising and business correspondence should be sent to the addresses listed above.
The Devil Strip
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august 1 goodyear metro park
AKRON S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
OUT SIDE VOICES
Christopher Wilkins, conductor
august 8 f i r e s t o n e pa r k Eric Benjamin, conductor
august 15 forest lodge park Christopher Wilkins, conductor
all three concerts featuring the
Akron Symphony Virtuosi
2 0 2 1
A FREE community-wide celebration featuring the works of: J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON . FLORENCE PRICE JULIA PERRY . JAMES WELDON JOHNSON NKEIRU OKOYE . WILLIAM GRANT STILL GEORGE WALKER . JESSIE MONTGOMERY KIMBERLY ARCHER . CLARICE ASSAD OMAR THOMAS . MIGUEL DEL AGUILA FREE ADMISSION — All performances subject to change — All performances begin at 7:30 pm For more information, please visit akronsymphony.org
Journalism about akron By AKronites
Editors Note I moved to Akron from Alliance about 10 years ago for a reporting job at a publication covering the plastics industry. My first summer here, looking to branch out from Highland Square, I stumbled upon some marketing material promoting 100 reasons to love Akron (or something along those lines). I remember being struck by how many of those reasons involved Akron’s proximity to other places — Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Michigan. I had just arrived here. I wasn’t interested in spending my weekends somewhere else. I wanted reasons to fall for the city I was in. Eventually, I found those reasons. When the job left Akron, I stayed behind. When I took another reporting job in Canton, I became intimately acquainted with 77 South rather than relocate.
I love Akron. I love that I can’t walk down the street without someone saying hello or waving at my daughter in her stroller. I love finding a new piece of public art I hadn’t noticed before. I love that so many folks have ripped the grass out of their devil strips and replaced it with wildflowers. I love hiking a Summit Metroparks Trail and pausing to take in all the glorious wilderness tucked into our neighborhoods. I love fireworks on a warm summer night at Canal Park. I love that I can find locally-made food from nearly every continent minutes away from home. My daughter, Lydia, was born last summer. I love that Akron is her hometown. I hope she’s proud of where she came from. As editor-in-chief of The Devil Strip, I want to help all of us to be proud of Akron. I want you to fall in love with this city, whether you were born here or you’re just visiting for the day.
What we believe: STORIES MATTER. We believe the most important stories are the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves, and that this is as true for cities as it is for individuals. For better or worse, every city’s chief storyteller is its media. We take responsibility for our work because we know it shapes the way Akronites see each other, and the way we see each other influences how we treat one another. OUR WORK IS FOR AKRON. This is our reason for existing, not merely our editorial angle for stories. We are advocates for the city of Akron and allies to its people, so we may be cheerleaders, but that won’t keep us from challenging the city’s flaws. What’s the point of being part of the community if we can’t help make it a better place to live?
OUR WORK SHOULD BE DONE WITH AKRON. We would rather build trust through cooperation and collaboration than authority. Our place in the community is alongside it, not standing outside looking in or standing above it looking down. WE CARE ABOUT YOU, NOT JUST YOUR EYEBALLS. Sometimes, we love a good fight with the status quo. But conflict and antagonism will never be a way of life for us, especially not to boost clicks, views, comments, shares and “eyeballs.” We are watchdogs to hold our leaders accountable, not to keep the neighbors up all night with our barking. WE LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS. Our stories humanize the people in our city. We not only want to counter sensationalized and alarmist reporting but to eventually render it obsolete. We advocate for
Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
And I need your help. Tell me what you love about Akron, what you love about us, and what you want to see changed. Send me your ideas (holbrook@thedevilstrip.com). Who, and what, do you want to see in these pages? What questions should our reporters be asking? This is our city, Akron. Let’s make it one worth falling for.
Contributor Mandy Kraynak gives us a look inside Akron’s running clubs, folks who are making a community out of a shared hobby and having a great time doing it. And, like always, you’ll find profiles of local businesses, artisans and musicians. I don’t think you’ll get through this issue without wanting a cocktail or a birthday cake.
In this issue of The Devil Strip, you’ll find stories that illustrate some of what I love so much about this city: Check out details about the return of PorchRokr — one of my favorite summer traditions — and the Akron Pride Festival. H.L. Comeriato profiles a local death doula, Angela Laakso, who wants to bring the death positivity movement to Akron. It’s a fascinating story paired with beautiful photos of Akron’s Glendale Cemetery.
justice, freedom and equality because those qualities make this city, and our lives, better. JOURNALISM SHOULD LIVE BEYOND THE PAGE. Information without context or connection is inert. We believe journalism can connect people to each other, our city and even a sense of purpose. Though our work begins on the page, both printed and web, we promote and plan events so people can meet faceto-face where real life still happens. PEOPLE OVER PROFITS. The local businesses, nonprofits and civic organizations who support The Devil Strip are part of our community and are as vital to our culture as our artists and musicians. That’s why we don’t accept ads for national chains, things in large metros outside Summit County or businesses that profit from the exploitation of women. We are not a coat hanger for advertising. WE GET ONE SHOT AT LIFE, SO LET’S
august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
Jessica Holbrook is the editor-in-chief of The Devil Strip
HAVE FUN. We want our readers to fall in love with Akron (again and again and again), to buck the temptation to only live vicariously through the people they follow online. One thing that makes art, dance, theatre, music, film, food, civic engagement, biking, hiking, and public space so great is that all these things can bring us together, helping us find new friends and have fun with the ones we already have. That makes us all a little happier. That’s what it’s all about.
What is a devil strip? The “devil strip” is the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. The precise origins of the term are unknown, but it’s only used in Akron. Today, the devil strip is what connects residents to the city — its public space, its people and its challenges. The Devil Strip seeks to do the same thing.
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there’s nothing to do in akron After more than a year-long hiatus, The Devil Strip’s comprehensive monthly argument that there’s plenty of fun to be had in Akron returns! AUGUST 5, 12, 19 & 26
AUGUST 7
AUGUST 11
Water Tower Marketplace
Long Time Gone
Reservoir Park in Goodyear Heights // 5 – 7 pm // 399 Brittain Road // Visit Reservoir Park every Thursday evening in August and September for local produce, crafts, baked goods, candles, food trucks, musicians and more. This event is free and open to the public.
The Rialto Theatre // 6:30 – 11 pm // 1000 Kenmore Blvd. // Enjoy the music of local band Long Time Gone, known for specializing in the music of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young. Doors open at 6:30, and the show begins at 7:30. Tickets can be purchased online at therialtotheatre.com ahead of time or at the door, for $12 and $15 respectively.
Inlet Dance Theatre Showmobile Interactive Performance
AUGUST 6
Kenmore First Friday: Spiderman’s Birthday Bash The Rialto Theatre // 6 – 9 pm // 1000 Kenmore Blvd. // Head to Kenmore Boulevard for musical performances, free comic books, food trucks, vendors and activities perfect for the whole family. This event is free and open to the public. AUGUST 6 & 8
Guided tour of “Present and Retro, led by artist “The Grizzled Wizard” P.L. Miller. Summit Art Space // 5:30-6:30 pm August 6, 2-3 p.m. August 8 // 140 E Market Street // Listen to P.R. Miller share stories about some of his most pivotal works on display. The tours will be limited to 35 attendees and are first-come, first-served. AUGUST 7 & 21
Downtown Zumba with Christy Leenheer Cascade Plaza // 9:30 – 10:30 am // 1 W Mill Street // Get moving with a Saturday morning Zumba class! This event is free, but online preregistration at devilst.rip/2Ve4TMA is encouraged, as space is limited.
6 | The Devil Strip
AUGUST 9
State of the City 2021 Lock 3 // 6 pm // Join Mayor Dan Horrigan for his 2021 State of the City Address. This event is hosted by Akron Roundtable and will feature food and live music. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online. The event will also be livestreamed on the City of Akron’s Facebook page. More info online at akronroundtable.org. AUGUST 10, 17, 24 & 31
Summit Lake Neighborhood Farmers’ Market Summit Lake Community Center // 4 – 7 pm // 380 W Crosier Street // Visit Summit Lake every Tuesday evening for locally grown produce at affordable prices. Cash, credit, debit, EBT and WIC vouchers are all acceptable as payment. Be sure to take a free canoe ride, too! AUGUST 10 & 24
Bike Ride from Downtown to Summit Lake Farmers Market Lock 3 // 5:30 – 7 pm // Meet at Lock 3, 200 S. Main Street, to embark on a bike ride to the Summit Lake Farmers Market for fresh produce and locally made goods. This event is free and open to the public.
Summit Lake Community Center // 2 pm // 380 W. Crosier Street // The Akron Dance Festival presents an interactive performance on the theme of racial identity and social justice. Attendees of the event will be encouraged to participate on the grass in front of the stage. This event is free and open to the public. AUGUST 11, 18 & 25
HAPI Fresh Farmers’ Market Akron Cooperative Farm // 4 – 7 pm // 381 Ontario Street // Visit the farmers’ market every week for fresh produce and local goods. This market is accessible by metro and accepts SNAP/EBT. AUGUST 11
Sunflower Terrarium Globe Succulent Paint & Sip Art Class Nauti Vine Winery // 6 – 8 pm // 3950 S Main Street // Get your sippin’ and paintin’ on with this guided art class. Tickets are $44 and can be purchased online.
// Drop in to remove invasive plants from CVNP in order to improve the habitat for native wildlife. This event is free, but you can register online ahead of time. The specific location for this event will be sent via email. AUGUST 13
Akron Video Speed Dating – Filter Off Online // 8 – 9 pm // devilst. rip/3xhvKV6 // Akron singles are invited to participate in this speeddating event. Each participant will get to have three 90-second dates. This event is free, but participants are required to download the Filter Off app. AUGUST 14
Tomato Tasting by Countryside Food and Farms Howe Meadow // 9 am – 12 pm // 4040 Riverview Rd Peninsula // Countryside Food and Farms’ annual tomato tasting is here! Try over 30 varieties of tomatoes from eight local farmers, then spend some time strolling around the market. This event is free and open to the public. AUGUST 14
AUGUST 11
Sunnyside Jazz Musica // 6:30 – 9:30 pm // 51 E Market Street // Give a listen to this New Orleans jazz band, which draws on the music of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and others. Tickets are $12–$15 and can be purchased online. AUGUST 12
Invasive Plant Removal Drop In Cuyahoga Valley National Park // 1 – 3:30 pm // conservancyforcvnp.org
August 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
Jazz on Blues Jilly’s Music Room // 8 pm // 111 N Main Street // Enjoy this modern take on R&B, Jazz, Nina Simone classics, and the Blues. Tickets are $5–$10 and can be purchased online. AUGUST 19
Downtown Akron Scooter Tour Downtown Akron Partnership // 6 – 7 pm // Meet at Lock 3, 200 S. Main Street, for a guided scooter tour of Downtown’s public spaces, art, businesses and more. This event is free, but you can register ahead of time online at downtownakron.com. thedevilstrip.com
AUGUST 19
Monthly Herbal Class The Healing Brew // 7 – 9 pm // 1672 Merriman Road // Learn about the metaphysical, magical and energetic properties of various herbs at this monthly class. Tickets are $15. AUGUST 19
Akron Promise Beer Tasting Fundraiser The Rialto Theatre // 7 – 10 pm // 1000 Kenmore Blvd. // Join local beer expert and author Rick Armon in tasting beer from Akronym Brewery to benefit Akron Promise. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online at therialtotheatre.com.
streets and porches will be filled with local musicians and vendors. This event is free and open to the public. More info at highlandsquareakron. org. AUGUST 21
Bubbles & Bouquets by Countryside Food and Farms Old Trail Farm // 12 – 3 pm //2371 Ira Road // Sip bubbly while building your very own bouquet with flowers picked fresh from the farm. This open house-style event will take place in the healing garden area of the farm, which you’re welcome to explore. Arrive any time during the three-hour window. Tickets for this event are $50 and can be purchased online at countrysidefoodandfarms.org.
AUGUST 21
perfect opportunity to find all your vendors in one place. Find ideas for every aspect of your vision with the help of more than 50 Northeast Ohio wedding professionals. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at todaysbride.com. AUGUST 24
Downtown Yoga benefitting the Akron Pride Festival Lock 3 // 5:30 – 6:30 pm // Yoga Squared will be leading an hour-long yoga class benefitting this year’s Akron Pride Festival. This event is free, but donations are welcome. Preregistration is encouraged and can be completed online. More info at downtownakron.com AUGUST 25
2021 Highland Square PorchRokr Festival
AUGUST 22
Highland Square // 10 am – 11 pm // PorchRokr is back! Head to Highland Square for Akron’s biggest local music festival, where the neighborhood’s
John S. Knight Center // 12 – 4 pm // 77 E Mill Street // If you’re planning a wedding, this event provides the
Today’s Bride Wedding Show
Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
Free Coworking Day Bounce Innovation Hub // 8 am – 5 pm // 526 S Main Street // Every fourth Wednesday of the month is Free Coworking Day. See what
august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
Bounce has to offer, and get to know the community in the process. This event is free and open to the public. AUGUST 28
Akron Pride Festival 2021 Lock 3 // 11 am – 10 pm // 200 S Main Street // Akron Pride Festival returns this year after taking a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic. Stop by for food trucks, vendors, entertainment and a celebration of our LGBTQ+ community. This event is free and open to the public. AUGUST 29
Akron Coffee Roasters Century* Ride Akron Coffee Roasters // 8 am // 30 N High Street // Bring your bike and be prepared to roll out at 9 am. ACR will provide refreshments and bike support. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online at facebook.com/ akroncoffee.
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/// Our Fruited Sour, Brewed with Raspberry & Blackberry Purée /// % 7.0 ABV /// AKRON, OH
Eighty-ThreeBrewery.com
This advertisement has been purchased through a generous gift from the Republic Services Foundation.
Left: Akron Civic Theatre and the Knight Stage; Right: Entrance to Goodyear Hall/Theater in the East End Photos by Derek Kreider
Akron Civic expands operations with addition of Goodyear Theater BY: DEREK KREIDER, GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER PHOTOS BY DEREK KREIDER
A
kronites can expect much more in the way of entertainment starting in August.
The Akron Civic Theater has reached a deal with The East End— Akron’s redevelopment of the old Goodyear Tire and Rubber headquarters— enabling the Civic to take over programming and operations of The Goodyear Theater. In addition to managing The Goodyear Theater, The Civic owns the Knight Stage. They also handle booking for Lock 3 and box office operations at EJ Thomas. Live Nation will be handling the promotion of national and internationally touring acts at the Goodyear Theater. Howard Parr, executive director at
the Civic, is responsible for booking the 1,458 seat venue. He says the Goodyear Theater will be following the Civic’s general programming model. “What you’ll see,” Parr says, “is a mix of nationally touring programs, along with community based local and regional programs.” He estimates that 20-30% of the schedule at the Goodyear Theater will be out-of-town talent, while 60-70% will be homegrown, “everything from a local-regional band to a graduation or a dance recital.” Bob Ovesny, vice president of portfolio management at Industrial Realty Group and point person for IRG at The East End, echoed Parr’s sentiment. “Local, for us, is the focus,” he says. Between both venues, Akronites can expect more than just weekend events, Ovesny says. “We’re trying
Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
to have doors open and options for people now that restrictions are lifted, and people are able to congregate again.” According to Parr, efficiency plays a key role in the partnership between the Civic and The East End, comparing the arrangement to Playhouse Square or Columbus Area Performing Arts. It’s easier, he says, to have multiple venues under the same leadership than it is to have separate operations. Despite these different venues falling under a single administrative umbrella, Parr insists there’s no need to fear homogenization. The introduction of another venue under the Civic’s wing will instead increase the diversity of performers coming through Akron. Not that the current programming lacks variety, he points out. “There are artists that will feel comfortable in a space [the size of the Goodyear Theater] that would not feel comfortable doing either Civic Theater or EJ Thomas,” says Parr. “We’ll see more artists playing in Akron as a result of having a venue
august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
image courtesy Akron Civic Theatre
that is right sized for them.” Both Ovesny and Parr are refreshingly enthusiastic about providing the community with a place to showcase their talent, or gather together in celebration. “We want this to be the spot in Akron where everyone feels comfortable and anybody with any type of following can host an event,” Ovesny says. Derek Kreider is a general assignment reporter and distribution manager for The Devil Strip
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REDSOUL & 9/3 EBONY BROWN SUGAH 6-9 PM MATTHEW ALEC &
THE SOUL ELECTRIC
FOOD, VENDORS, FREE FAMILY FUN
Info: betterkenmore.org
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10 | The Devil Strip
August 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
thedevilstrip.com
Photo: Jarett Theberge
august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
N. Highland Av e.
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“To see people who may not have otherwise walked down that street, or may not have otherwise spent time with one another, building friendships and spending time getting to know people [who are] different from
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After a year of loss and isolation for many Akronites, PorchRokr Music and Art Festival is much anticipated.
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“You see these huge houses with big porches highlighted,” Carver Reed says. “[But] there’s charm on all of the streets in the neighborhood.”
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Akron’s Community-Owned Magazine
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Carver Reed says organizers have also
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“Times are different now,” Carver Reed says, “so we’re trying to go back to the way things were a little
In a move to make the festival more accessible, organizers have secured an accessible van that will provide free transportation within the festival footprint throughout the day.
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es
This year, organizers and Highland Square Neighborhood Association members Katie Carver Reed and Jon Morschl say they’re excited to see the event take place in-person.
The festival’s beer garden will also return, provided this year by Cleveland-based Platform Beer Company.
Portage Dr. Dopler Dr.
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To adapt to public health orders and recommendations, organizers rebranded the festival as “CouchRokr,” and offered free, pre-recorded live sets from the bands and artists that typically perform on porches of private homes in Highland Square.
From returning crowd favorites like Indré, Detention, Samatha Grace and Hayden Gilbert and The Ruckus, to a handful of exciting newcomers, Carver Reed and Morschl say the festival will host more than 100 performers throughout the day, along with 6 food trucks and more than 50 local vendors selling handmade jewelry, art, clothing and other artisanal items.
Every year, organizers rotate the location of the festival between each of Highland Square’s quadrants in hopes of encouraging attendees to explore and enjoy parts of the neighborhood they may be less familiar with.
Hereford Dr
Wye Dr.
Casterton ave.
The Highland Square Neighborhood Association, whose members have organized PorchRokr since it began in 2012, opted to host the event virtually last year as COVID-19 cases climbed across Summit County.
In 2019, Morschl says the festival had more performers on the bill than ever before. This year, he says performer submissions far surpassed that record.
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orchRokr — Highland Square’s beloved music and arts festival — will return to the neighborhood August 21.
bit and bring the music back into the neighborhood — and bring people back into the neighborhood too.”
Herefo
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BY H.L COMERIATO, TDS STAFF REPORTER
partnered with METRO to offer free rides to and from the festival, and secured refillable water-bottle stations to help limit plastic waste during the event.
N. Portag e Path
Highland Square’s PorchRokr festival back this month
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them,” Carver Reed adds. “I think [that’s] something really special.” For more information on parking, transportation, vendors and performance times and locations, visit www.facebook.com/porchrokr H.L. Comeriato covers public health at The Devil Strip via Report for America. Reach them at HL@thedevilstrip.com.
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Akron’s Pride Festival is back with a debut at Lock 3 BY ABBEY MARSHALL, TDS STAFF REPORTER PHOTOS BY SHANE WYNN
T
he Akron Pride Festival is returning this summer at a new location.
The festival, scheduled Aug. 28, will kick off with the Akron Equity March at 10 a.m. The parade steps off on S. Main Street near Spaghetti Warehouse, winding through Downtown streets and finishing at Lock 3 at 11 a.m., where the festival celebrating the LGBTQ+ community will take place until 10 p.m. In previous years, more than 20,000 people flocked to Hardesty Park in Wallhaven for the festival. After canceling the 2020 celebration due to the pandemic, the Pride organizers
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decided to expand to a larger and more accessible venue. Lock 3, which is more centrally located and has more accessibility via public transit, allows for more people from every Akron neighborhood to attend, says festival chair Julie Pryseski. The festival will feature food trucks, more than 180 retail and non-profit vendors and entertainment across three stages located at Lock 3, Lock 4 and Cascade Plaza. A new partnership with Akron Children’s Museum, which is located at Lock 3, brings an expanded children’s area from 12–3 p.m. All events are free. Entertainers include comic, actress and singer Sandra Valls, television personality and social
media influencer Gia Gunn and drag performer Jiggly Caliente. Additionally, performers from June’s Drag Battle at the Civic will be featured, alongside winners from previous years. The festival’s headliner is Wrabel, an EDM artist who has collaborated with and written songs for high-profile musicians such as Ke$ha, Louis the Child and Marshmello.
People,” released by his own label Big Gay Records, was awarded one of Billboard Pride’s 20 Best LGBTQ albums of the year. For a full line-up or ways to participate and volunteer, visit www. akronpridefestival.org. Abbey Marshall covers economic development for The Devil Strip via Report for America. Reach her at abbey@thedevilstrip.com.
In 2019, his EP, “One of Those Happy
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Portraits of Pride BYLINE: INTERVIEWS BY KAREN STARR, PHOTOS BY SHANE WYNN The last non-pandemic Akron Pride Festival was in 2019, and writer Karen Starr went with photographer Shane Wynn to ask people there: “Why do you celebrate Pride?” These are their answers, which we originally published during Pride Month in Oct. 2019. You can see all the Portraits of Pride at https://devilst.rip/ pride2019
Krystal Rockenfelder
Mona Delwest
Rainbow Girls
“That’s why. Right there. Murdered,” Krystal Rockenfelder says, gesturing to the exhibit honoring transpeople who were murdered in 2019. “So we come out here, and we show that we are not going to give into that. We’re just not. ...I’m not letting that stop me from going out in America and being who I am. So Pride is, ‘This is what we are.’”
“I celebrate Pride because it’s diversity — it brings everybody together — it’s love. Jesus is love, this is love. It brings this whole world together, and that’s why I celebrate it: to celebrate the love and friendship that I have gathered over the years.” - Mona Delwest
“I celebrate Pride because I’m all about equality and love.” - Jacqueline Adams
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“I celebrate because I love the rainbows, I love the community, and I love the LGBTQ community.” Melanie English
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a person.” For Cargle, having her mother present for Elizabeth’s first anniversary was an unexpected joy. “To be nourished by her, again, right now, in a moment when I didn’t even know she’d be there, it gives me such a groundedness and settledness in my purpose,” Cargle says. ‘This is a rooting’ Cargle sips from a glass of champagne. Behind her, the Theron Brown Trio play a jazz rendition of “Pure Imagination.” In the coming months and years, Cargle plans to keep building community in Akron. As part of Elizabeth’s anniversary celebration, she partnered with the Akron Art Museum to offer free admission to Cleveland artist Jordan Wong’s 10,000 Things exhibit.
Photo credit: Sula Johnson
‘One Year in Loveland’: Elizabeth’s Bookshop celebrates first anniversary with joy and community BY H.L. COMERIATO, TDS STAFF REPORTER
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achel Elizabeth Cargle is filled with gratitude.
Behind a table lined with packaged appetizers and bottles of champagne, she pours herself a celebratory glass. Last year, Cargle opened Elizabeth’s Bookshop and Writing Centre — Akron’s only Black-owned bookstore — in collaboration with The Well and Compass Coffee. She gave the space her own middle name and curated its shelves with care and affection. On July 23, after both a joyful and tumultuous year, Cargle hosted a day of public events to mark the bookshop and writing centre’s first anniversary — along with the first anniversary of her umbrella company, The Loveland Group. A writer, lecturer and public intellectual, Cargle has spent the last five years building an online learning community across social media platforms, along with a structured, anti-racist learning collective called
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The Great Unlearn. In 2018, she founded The Loveland Foundation, an organization designed to cover the costs of therapy for Black women across the country. That year, she also thought a lot about home: what it means, how it feels and who gets to claim it. ‘We planted seeds and we have toiled the ground’ When her mother was diagnosed with cancer last summer, Cargle moved back to Akron. For the first time, she explored and experienced the city as an adult, and found her relationship to it had changed. “I’m just really committed and invested and excited to be part of Akron,” Cargle says. “We planted seeds and we have toiled the ground and we have been committed to watching this happen. I’m just really grateful that Akron welcomes me and Loveland and Elizabeth’s.” As part of her “One Year in Loveland” celebration, Cargle invited poet, essayist and native Ohioan Hanif Abdurraqib to participate in a
public conversation about writing, community, identity and home. For Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America, living in the East Columbus neighborhood where he grew up and watching it change has been both heart-wrenching and nourishing. Cargle, too, says she’s tied to her hometown both creatively and emotionally — for better or worse. “To go out and cultivate ourselves and our lives and careers and then come back and pour out the fruits of that? We’re coming back to serve our younger selves,” she says. “To serve what the new Ohio deserves.” Between generations As part of Loveland and Elizabeth’s anniversary celebration, Cargle also hosted a children’s book reading featuring her mother, Miss Gwen. Cargle’s relationship with her mother is the most formidable in her life. As a child, her mother read aloud to her often, which is where Cargle first caught the spark — a love of reading and literature that would build her career and last a lifetime. “It was just special to be able to do that with my mom. The way that she read the book to the kids is exactly the way I got stories read to me my entire life,” Cargle says. “She was not performing. This is who she is as
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Cargle says she’s committed to building a connected, creative community here in Akron — something that music, art and literature have historically helped cultivate.
“This isn’t a one-time deal,” she says. “This isn’t just for the show of it. This A is a rooting that’s happening for me, i for my company.” r “I feel chosen to have thought of an idea that doesn’t even belong to me,” Cargle adds. “My only job was to birth it and now it’s here. It’s in conversation with the museum, with the library, with kids and adults. It’s no longer mine. It’s the community’s. It’s ours. It’s Akron’s.” Near the register, a display of children’s books — A is for Activist, Hair Love, Drawn Together — sits alongside goods made by local artisans such as Akron Honey.
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Cargle scans the room, watching as guests browse shelves filled with T books by Toni Morrison, James b Baldwin, Carmen Maria Machado, Celeste Ng and Saeed Jones, among B others. i “[This] is so far beyond what my vision was,” she says. “Now, I can only sit back and revel in it.”
L s p f H.L. Comeriato covers public health at o The Devil Strip via Report for America. l Reach them at HL@thedevilstrip.com. t
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Marigold Sol: Revitalization through sustainability, function, and art BY BRYNNE OLSEN FOR TDS At Marigold Sol in Kenmore, it’s in with the old and out with the renewed.
BO: What was it like opening in April during a pandemic?
“We have enough furniture in the world, so I feel this is sustainability meets function meets art,” Lori says.
LJ: I was a little worried, but I felt people are so focused on their homes. I'm a retailer for this great paint line, Wise Owl Paint, and I wanted to share it with everybody. I was doing custom work during the pandemic and painting for people and saw people rearranging their space to accommodate change and spending time fixing up their houses, so I thought it was a good time to open.
Marigold Sol specializes in painted furniture and home decor. The smell of patchouli and lace meander through the naturally lit store as I sit down on an antique sofa with Lori.
BO: So on Kenmore Boulevard, there's more businesses coming in, multiple have opened during the pandemic, and half of them are women owned.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
LJ: Yes. I was not planning at this point in time opening a shop, but it was on my radar for the future. I was doing custom work for people and my husband and I were down here in January and we've watched what Tina Boyes has done with Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance. She has kicked butt down here in revitalizing. We saw this space was available and it fits with what I'm trying to do with sustainability. I wanted to be part of the revitalization that was down here and I knew from when they did the
Owner Lori Julien recently joined other new business owners in working with Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance to revitalize the historic Kenmore Boulevard area.
Brynne Olsen: What got you started in the antique and shabby chic look? Lori Julien: I have loved this stuff since I was a little girl. I started painting furniture prior to 2010. I found a chalk style paint and it took off from there. I love it because I feel like any of the new furniture you buy today, it's crap honestly.
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Better Block what people wanted. So I reached out to Tina and she was super excited and supportive. She hooked me up with the landlord and the rest was history. It happened fast, but I was excited to be part of what's going on here because it's going to help all of us. BO: Can artists and creators sell items here? LJ: Possibly, if I have space. I have some sellers in here now, like candles and jewelry. Some of the pieces up front are from a couple from Nashville who build their own furniture. They bought the entire gingerbread (trim) off of the front of a Victorian house that was going to be torn down and then they incorporate them into pieces. We also have items from This Found Object and she does a lot of repurposing out of old stuff as well. I've done this before all by myself and I didn't want to do it by myself anymore. There’s lots of love here. From the minute I stepped in here it felt like good energy to me. BO: Besides the smaller businesses you work with, how else do you get your pieces? LJ: I go to flea markets, auctions, a lot of curbside picking. I used to embarrass my kids, but now when I tell them I'm pulling the car over, they'll get out and help. My husband's good with it as long as I don't bring it home.
BO: How can people incorporate this style in their home? LJ: I do a lot of custom work and work with some interior designers as well. We could go in and do whatever services they wanted. If they just wanted a rearrangement of the pieces that they have or they could purchase pieces. They could learn to paint or hire me to paint as well. There’s something for everyone and every budget. I have the product line ReDesign with Prima here as well. They have easy transfers and molds. You can also take a class or bring home a DIY kit. Another thing we do here is Pinterest parties. People send me what they saw on Pinterest and I'll figure out how to do it. Then I'll put the price package together and then they just come with their friends and do the craft that they've chosen. Private events can happen here as well, and formal gift cards are coming soon. We're going to have clothing coming soon. It's going to be curated used clothing mixed with some new pieces. My vision is that this could be a one-stop shop. Marigold Sol is located at 962 Kenmore Blvd in Akron and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and marigold-sol.com. Lori can be reached at (330) 803-0419 and marigoldsol@icloud.com Brynne Olsen is a wanderer who enjoys eating dessert first, writing, photography and meeting the demands of her fur children.
Alex Hall Pays Tribute to Childhood Friend’s Trials and Tribulations in latest album, Johnny NAHLA BENDEFAA FOR TDS
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lex Hall’s Figurehead is a Northeast Ohio-based progressive rock band fronted by Alex Hall. Last fall, they released Johnny, a concept album written by Alex Hall and co-produced by Pete Drivere of Ampreon Recorder. A Southwest Ohio native, Alex Hall moved to Stow a decade ago. He has been the frontman for a number of jam bands in the area including Aliver Hall. He is also a member of the Americana band Summit Sky. Hall credits his parents’ record collection for inspiring him to learn to play music. “I discovered a whole bunch of music from the ’60s and ’70s that I just really love,” Hall says, “and that just made me want to pursue playing the guitar and writing my own music that much more.”
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As a child, Hall grew up watching MTV music videos where the guitar was often a prominent instrument. He took guitar lessons where he learned to figure out how to play songs by ear. The first song he learned was Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Hall’s childhood left marks not just in terms of skills learned, but also relationships. Johnny, which Hall describes as an “honest-to-goodness, classic-meets-modern, progressive rock concept album,” centers around the experiences of a childhood friend with whom Hall had recently reconnected. “I happened to run into a family member of his who told me that he was living in this house where I used to play as kids,” Hall recalls, “I actually go see him, and when I did I found him in a wheelchair in really bad shape and he eventually passed away.”
In the time between Alex Hall’s Figurehead 2016 album Carrion and the time Hall started working on Johnny, he started listening to a lot more progressive metal bands such as Haken and Between the Buried and Me. Nevertheless, he says it has never been an intention of his to write a progressive metal album. “That’s a very particular sound that I just wouldn’t have the ability to reproduce,” Hall says. “I mean, I don’t know what it would sound like if I tried to do that.” Hall initially set out to write an album that would lend itself to being played by a trio. It also was not his intention to write about his friend Johnny. However, working on the song “A Dream in a Nightmare’s Place’’ proved to be pivotal to the end result and the creative process as a whole. “The piano riff that opens that song was the piano riff that I kept playing over and over again,” Hall says. “And by the time I got a demo of that song written out — because the whole middle section’s in a different time that’s in the intro or the outro are — by the time I got the whole song finished as far as like the demo, I was like ‘well this is more than a tune I would play with just a trio. I think I have something more here.’”
Place” that Hall felt the lyrics were reminiscent of his friend’s struggles with addiction, illness, and navigating the healthcare system. The result was a riveting album that practically wrote itself as music and lyrics came to Hall relatively quickly. For the first time in his songwriting career, Hall did not workshop the songs or perform them live before recording. “It was a risk in that way because I don’t have any classical music training,” Hall says. Johnny was recorded with Tim Wilderoder on bass and Zach Connolly on drums. It is available on all major streaming services and YouTube, etc. Nahla Bendefaa is a journalist, photographer and content creator from Akron, Ohio by way of Kenitra, Morocco. She enjoys rewatching Friday Night Lights, painting and confusing Spotify’s algorithm while making her way through a seemingly never-ending tea collection.
Hall says he let his “creative side take over” instead of trying to tell it what to do. It was while writing the lyrics to “A Dream in a Nightmare’s
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Photo credit: taken in 2015 by Svetla Morrison, for The Devil Strip
Theron Brown focuses on new album Spirit Fruit BY: LAURA LAKINS FOR TDS
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t the age of two, jazz musician Theron Brown began experimenting with music. With a piano at home, and countless instruments at the church his father preached at, he could try just about any avenue of music he wanted. By the time he was five, he was learning how to play music by ear — a skill that took him all the way through childhood. With only a handful of structured lessons, Theron is mainly a self-taught musician. As he continued to perfect his craft, Theron began booking gigs at local church events. Through these performances he, along with his audiences, began to realize that the stage is where he belonged. “At first I’d get to play one song, and then two songs, and then they asked me to start playing half the service, and next thing you know I was playing for the whole service,” Theron says. “This showed me that anything I wanted to do musically, I could figure it out.” With some inspiration from jazz greats like Thelonius Monk, Herby Hancock, and Oscar Peterson, Theron began to develop his own unique style. All the while, his passion for creating and playing was only growing. By the time he was a senior in high school, he knew he wanted to seriously pursue music. In 2005, Theron made his way from his hometown of Zanesvilleto Akron to study music at The University of Akron. Little did he know, this
city would provide him countless opportunities to grow as a creator. During his time at UA he began to form relationships with other Northeast Ohio musicians in the same program includingNathan Paul Davis, Steve Miller, Phil Anderson, Matthew DeRubertis, and a variety of others that are still playing in the area today. “I didn’t know what I was doing, I just knew I liked the music, but I knew the only way to get better was to play with other people,” Theron says. “We would have small jam sessions, which is in the history and culture of jazz. It’s all about getting together and making music.” As his relationships with his peers began to strengthen, so did his ties with Akron. Though he moved around between then and now, eventually his heart was called back home here where he currently resides. “The Northeast Ohio music scene holds one of the biggest parts of my heart,” Theron says. “I developed here. There have been so many musicians that have helped me, even when I wasn’t ready. I think that’s why I’m so involved and indebted to the area.” With a mission of giving back to the community that gave so much to him, Theron has gotten involved with various organizations and boards around town. He founded the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival in an effort to elevate local musicians. Currently, he is the program coordinator for artists in residency
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with Akron’s Curated Storefront, a nonprofit focused on giving artists a platform in our city. Through his work with Curated Storefront, he is involved with the I Promise School, and expandedhis role to work with aspiring artists there as well. In addition to his work with Curated Storefront, Theron also works as a content creator for Playground Sessions, a top-rated online piano lesson app. Hislessons reach students on a global scale. His recent work with the Curated Storefront and Playground Sessions follow years of being a professor of music at Kent State University and Youngstown State University. “This past year really set me free. I’ve never slowed down and pumped the brakes, ever,” Theron says. “I learned that Theron Brown needed to pay a little more attention to Theron Brown.” With all of the changes Theron has experienced over the past year, he has also been working on his next studio album that is set to be released early 2022. Going with the theme of newness and change, Theron’s album will bring some new sounds to the table. “This is a project I’ve been working on for a really long time,” Theron says. “I think it’s just now coming to fruition because of the pandemic. I’ve
had a lot of time to think, pray, talk to people, and listen.” The album, titled Spirit Fruit, will be his second full length album. It is inspired by the Fruits of Spirit scripture from Galatians in the Bible. Straying from his norm, Theron has vocalists and various orchestrations accompanying him on this project. As we wait for its arrival, his debut album, No Concepts, is available for purchase on his website, theronbrownmusic.com. You can also find his music on all major streaming platforms, as well as Bandcamp. Theron is still able to allot some time for live performances. He is currently slated to be at Lock 4 on August 11 with fellow jazz musician Tommy Lehman. You will have the chance to see Theron, as well as other local musicians, perform live. August 26-28 at the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival in Downtown Akron. Coming off a year of limited live music, this is bound to be one for the record books. To keep up with Theron on social media, you can check out his Instagram @theronbrown, and Facebook @TheronBrown. His website offers updates and contact information as well. // Laura Lakins is an educator and freelance writer from Akron.
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Radio Free Entertainment Network aims to give Akron community a voice BY MICHAEL ROBERTS FOR TDS
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adio Free Entertainment Network began in a room on the north side of downtown in December 2018. Christavus “Chris” Dominic was helping out at local radio station 96.9 WMVU when he received a text from a coworker that said, “Hey I’m done with the station. The keys are all yours.” Chris slept on the floor of the station’s office that night. When he woke up the next morning, he got to work. WMVU and Radio Free Entertainment Network are an outlet for community voices. Whether it be through music or words, local artists are provided an opportunity to share their message with the world. The network combines blocks of music with community interest programming to allow a larger audience. Chris and hard work are the best of friends. After graduating from St. Vincent-St. Mary high school, he earned his bachelors of communications and his masters in arts administration at the University of Akron. While attending UA, Chris also worked at the James A. Rhodes Arena, helping with the booking and
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promotion of concerts by national acts. He discovered a natural aptitude for promotions and event planning. He also worked for WZIP radio and began to form an idea of making Akron an entertainment hub, he says. “Why can't we establish something here in Akron that can go nationwide or even international,” he says. It would be many years before the idea began to blossom, but this is where it started. Chris’ spent four years as a District Executive for the Boy Scouts of America. After a successful stint with the BSoA, Chris then returned to his alma mater as a professor of communications, followed by six years in Alabama working for different organizations. He returned to Northeast Ohio in 2018 to be an instructor at the Ohio Media School. He also began helping out with WMVU at this time. WMVU started in 2014 as WOMB. It was a low-power FM station with a focus on community interests. It went through changes in management over the next few years until Chris took over and it was rebranded as WMVU. Chris was then hired by the Rubber City Radio Group and 97.5 WONE as
on-air talent. He worked for WONE for the better part of a year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Living by the adage “a rolling stone gathers no moss”, Chris rolled on. In May of 2020, he gathered his partners and investors and founded the Radio Free Entertainment Network. WMVU stands for Many Voices United and this became the rallying cry for the new network. Using WMVU as the roots, RFEN is growing beyond local to achieve Chris’ vision of making Akron an entertainment hub. RFEN has partnered with the Young Artists Radio Network from Des Moines, Iowa, to allow their content to reach a wider audience. Chris is in the process of striking agreements with many other smaller content providers to help them achieve success as a community. In addition to streaming radio, RFEN also offers podcast hosting. Some of their current shows include Sage Lewis’ “Homeless Activist” podcast and “The Spark Podcast” which focuses on topics of social justice. RFEN recently announced that they have partnered with Ted “The Golden Voice” Williams for “The Golden Voice Show with Ted Williams”. Williams gained internet fame when his exceptional singing voice was discovered by a Columbus reporter in 2011. Chris is thrilled to be working with the inspirational Williams. “The relationship just kind of evolved and I think it was meant for him to start with us,” he says
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RFEN has recently completed construction on their new studio, which provides an hands-on environment for students to learn in.
Chris imparts his experience to interns from UA and the Ohio Media School. It gives the interns an avenue to get real world experience. They are able to produce their own shows with Chris’ guidance. With many new content partners lining up to join the Radio Free Entertainment Network, Chris seems ready to make his vision a reality. By making Akron the center of a media empire that encompasses radio stations, podcasts, artist management and event production he’ll do just that. By looking at a large media network with a fresh perspective that includes education, diversity, and empowerment RFEN is working to realize their motto of many voices heard and united. Chris’ hard work and the support of his partners have built a foundation upon which they are hoping remarkable things can happen. “You’ve got to invest in yourself. It’s not going to be handed to you,” he says. Radio Free Entertainment Network can be found online at radiofreenetwork.com Michael (he/him) is a lifelong resident of Highland Square, a performance artist, a traveler, a writer and a parttime mad scientist.
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Member Spotlight
The Devil Strip is co-owned by more than 900 Akronites! To join, visit https://thedevilstrip.com/be-a-member.
BY ALLYSON SMITH, FOR TDS Even though she was never a girl scout herself, the Girl Scouts of America brought Abby Darin all the way to Akron from New Hampshire. “Once I graduated school, I was like, ‘I need a change of scenery or I’m not ever gonna leave,” Abby says.
accessible to local students and families. She also worked as the assistant camp director at Camp Ledgewood, a Girl Scout camp in Peninsula. Then, she became the community membership executive for Stark, Portage and Mahoning counties and worked to recruit and train volunteers. After working with the Girl Scouts for a while, Abby decided it was time for a change of pace.
So on a whim, she joined AmeriCorps Vista in Akron working with the Girl Scouts.“And I have been here ever since.”
She’s now the staff development specialist at the Oriana House, a substance abuse treatment and community corrections center.
Abby’s role with the Girl Scouts involved “school programming and volunteer and membership recruitment and building.” She worked with Jennings CLC and other schools in North Akron to help make the program more
“What I like about the job is I get to support so many other people in Oriana House doing that really hard person-to-person work,” she says. For her, this includes training staff and helping them keep up on their licenses.
Akron area permanently, but the vibrant arts culture, along with all of the delicious restaurants and excellent parks system, drew her in. Blue Door Cafe and Bakery in Cuyahoga Falls is Abby's favorite place to eat. When looking for ways to get involved in the community, Abby found the theatre scene welcoming. She is a part of improv group Point of No Return and has also done performances with theatre company Wandering Aesthetics. As a friend to some TDS contributors, Abby felt that it only made sense to become a member of the co-op. “I just think one of the cool things about Akron and Summit County as a whole is that it’s so communitybased, and just the fact that you’re taking something more nuanced, like
a paper or a cultural art magazine, and making it into a community really interested me,” she says.
Abby didn’t plan on staying in the
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He was also a regular drinker and smoker, which exacerbates psoriasis symptoms, though he wasn’t ready to give up his habits just yet.
Center for Functional Medicine, practitioners employ “a holistic approach to treat chronic disease, with a focus on nutrition.”
“Going through this process, I learned that, when you have a skin issue, your body is trying to tell you something… and I wasn’t listening,” he says.
That doctor sent Aaron to a nutritionist, who put him on an elimination diet and banned his trigger foods such as sugars. On the elimination diet, Aaron began to gain energy little by little. But it wasn’t enough, so he returned to the doctor, who ran more tests.
The symptoms progress About five years ago, Aaron began experiencing an unusual amount of fatigue. “I’m always a high energy person, I’m always trying to do things, and I don’t like sitting still very much. I just noticed myself having a really hard time and it just escalated from that,” he says.
A New Lease on Life WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY ILENIA PEZZANITI FOR TDS
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literally felt like I was dying, and nobody could understand it,” says Aaron Novak, co-founder of Whiskertin Lighting and now founder of Novak Heating and Cooling. At the beginning of the pandemic, Aaron took a voluntary layoff from the K Company Inc., an HVAC company where he had worked for the last 20 years. Aaron planned on going back to his full-time job but after spending time away, realized that wasn’t what he wanted. Instead, Aaron started his own HVAC company, in hopes he might help other people avoid health problems he experienced.
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In the early 2000s, Aaron bought a house in North Hill. After a year of living there, he had an outbreak of psoriasis, a chronic autoimmune skin disease that hurries the growth cycle of skin cells and causes patches of thick red skin and silvery scales. “The first time I got it it kind of just exploded all over my body. It was on my face, it was under my arm, it was on my legs,” he says. Aaron says he had never had rashes or skin conditions before, and the outbreak was so severe that he went to the emergency room, where doctors suggested he see a dermatologist, who told him he would likely have psoriasis for the rest of his life.
When he ate certain foods, especially foods with a lot of sugar, his symptoms worsened. Desperate for help, Aaron went to every doctor he could find. He had multiple tests, including blood work and CT scans, but no one could pinpoint what was actually happening to him. Aaron grew anxious. “I’m still managing my life, but I’m deteriorating, and falling apart, and getting sicker and sicker by the day.” In May 2019, Aaron’s fiancé, Kat Sim, called to tell him they were the new owners of the Orchard House on Maple Street. Two months later, the family moved in, but Aaron’s health continued to decline. Getting a diagnosis Aaron found a functional medicine doctor who told him he had SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth. According to the Cleveland Clinic’s
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Finally, Aaron had a diagnosis: mold toxicity. But his initial relief was quickly dampened by his doctor, who told him healing this kind of damage would be extremely difficult long term. She suggested he test for mold toxicity in the home where he and his family had already been living for eight months. “There are molds that produce toxins, but these need to be remediated from houses. Most other molds are important parts of our ecosystem, and should neither be feared or demonized,” says Hazel Barton, professor and director of integrated bioscience at the University of Akron. Aaron says he and Whiskertin cofounder Glenn Miller spent two years building light fixtures, working above a drain in Aaron’s North Hill basement where he noticed mold had been growing. At the time, Aaron says he wasn’t concerned because he assumed it didn’t affect the rest of the space, so he didn’t consider it a serious health or safety issue. But mold spores can be released into the air, then inhaled, which can lead to serious health issues for people with compromised immune systems, like Aaron, who has celiac disease. “Generally, if people who become thedevilstrip.com
very sensitive to a mold growing in a place they live, they will have to move,” Dr. Barton says. However, according to the CDC, mold can also attach itself to objects, so a person’s possessions may trigger the illness further. “When we left the house in North Hill, we brought everything from that house and filled this entire house with it...” Novak says. “Once you’re unmasked from the sickness, and you walk back in, it’s like walking into a brick wall.” Searching for solutions In a Facebook group about toxic mold sickness, Aaron found tips on how to recover. He set up a tent in his backyard and lived there all summer, while his two daughters and his fiancé slept in the house. He showered with the ice-cold water using a hose. “I couldn’t come in to even change my clothes or take a shower, it was that bad,” he says. Among the challenges of this temporary fix, cross-contamination became an issue. Aaron couldn’t even get into the car with anyone who was staying in the house without rolling down the windows. When it got colder, Aaron slept in a camping trailer. Meanwhile, his family tried to rid household objects of residual mold, and eventually put everything into storage before giving up on the Orchard House and staying with Aaron’s parents. Still struggling, Aaron tries something different Aaron took to cycling to cope with his illness, which became a way for him to detox, along with taking supplements like binders and clay and using a home sauna. But he still struggled. That’s because the brain’s limbic system can get caught in a loop when people experience significant trauma. Dr. Ashley Kline, Director of Clinical Services at Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center of Summit and Medina explains even after the threat has dissipated, the brain doesn’t recognize that until it’s specifically addressed. “To effectively remedy those symptoms for the treatment it would be necessary to address that trauma and get it to a place where you can
pass it along in the brain where it becomes more neutral and does not hold so much emotional charge anymore,” Kline says. That’s why Aaron turned to DNRS, or Dynamic Neural Retraining System, an intensive neuroplasticity therapy, which rewires the limbic system to build new neural pathways. In order to complete the program successfully, Aaron needed to dedicate four uninterrupted days to rewiring his brain, so he went to his fiancé’s parents’ cottage in Sandusky. The first night, Aaron says, he was instructed to repeat the practice 100 times. After he finished, Aaron says he felt different, which surprised him. In the shower that night he found a shampoo bottle that wasn’t his. Curious, he opened it and took “a big whiff” to give himself a reaction. But nothing happened, not even when he lathered his hair with it. Now, (number) of months later, Aaron is again living and working in the Orchard House, though he keeps his clothes, which are all new, in airtight containers, and uses unscented detergents. He’s also hired a coach to help him through the rest of his healing. “Air quality is one of the biggest things for me now because of going through this,” he says, so he wants to help others. He says Novak Heating and Cooling can remedy the conditions that allow mold to grow inside and spread through HVAC systems. Utilizing West Hill’s live-work zoning, which allows residents to run commercial businesses inside residences, his new company is based out of the Orchard House. “I’m hoping that everything that has happened over the course of all of this is going to turn over onto itself into a positive spin,” he says. “I don’t really want to get back to my old life. I did it. I was on that side of the fence for so long, and I lived unhealthy, and I didn’t listen to my body.” Ilenia Pezzaniti is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in documentary storytelling who has been a collaborator with The Devil Strip since issue #2. You can learn more about her and her work online at ileniapezzaniti.com
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Clockwise from top left: The front entrance to the Carlton Building. The facade was completely remodeled in 2008. (Photo: Pritt Entertainment Group) A photo from the late 1930s shows the Carlton Building when it housed Carlton’s Clothes (far left behind the light pole). The front facade was remodeled in metal in 1937. (Photo: Pritt Entertainment Group) The staff kitchen on the second floor. (Photo: Pritt Entertainment Group) The front lounge of Pritt Entertainment Group’s new office space. The front windows have an impressive view of downtown and Lock 3. (Photo: Pritt Entertainment Group)
THE CARLTON BUILDING BY CHARLOTTE GINTERT FOR TDS PHOTOS COURTESY OF PRITT ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
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f you’ve walked down South Main Street by Lock 3 recently you have probably noticed it looks quite different now that the massive construction project is complete. The old main drag is looking much more fresh and vibrant. Another change you may have noticed is that the Carlton Building at 201 S. Main St. is looking more fresh and vibrant too. When Pritt Entertainment Group outgrew the space it was renting farther south on Main Street, they decided it was time to own their own space. They wanted to be in another historic building downtown, but one that they could renovate to fit their needs. The Carlton Building was the perfect fit. The building is the oldest structure in the South Main Street Historic District, although you cannot tell thanks to a 2008 facade remodel. Little of the interior remained by the time PEG purchased the property in
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2018. This ended up being a blessing because the company wanted to custom build office and studio space. While the historic shell remained, they could basically start from scratch on the inside. Ryan Pritt, PEG president and cofounder, has a thing for old buildings. He and his team spent countless hours researching the history of the building and looking for historic photographs. Honoring the building’s story was very important to the team and they retained as many historic details in the remodel as possible. At the rear stairwell, old photographs and newspaper ads offer a tour of the Carlton’s history. The Carlton Building was built in 1900 in the standard brick commercial style of the turn of the century. No photographs of it during its early years could be found, but later images show that a distinct metal facade was added in 1937. The building gets its name from Carlton Clothes, the company that occupied it from 1936 to 1981.
Prior to that, it was home to the Motor Supply and Tire Co., Brown’s Furniture House, Sokol’s Furniture Store, Central Hardware, Kahn’s Jewelry Store, the Doll House and Akron Sporting Goods. Carlton Clothes catered to Akron’s executives, especially those in the rubber industry, and carried men’s high end clothing and shoes. After Carlton’s closed, a few more businesses occupied the building until it was vacated in 2001. Despite the lack of information known about the original design and all the renovations over the years, it was included in the South Main Street Historic District in 2008. However, the building remained vacant until PEG’s acquisition. During the remodeling project, PEG staff found a box of old Carlton business correspondence and company ephemera. They also found a metal Carlton sign for a service entrance. The sign is now hanging in the stairwell amongst the historic photos. PEG is keeping the letters with the hope of studying them
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further in the future. The renovations were completed in spring 2021. PEG’s offices and studio space occupy the second and third floors. The first floor is available to rent. The building’s opening coincided nicely with the completion of the renovations of Main Street. south of Mill Street Many other historic storefronts on South Main Street are now ready for occupancy and hopefully the new PEG headquarters will welcome several new neighbors soon. Their renovations of the Carlton Building are evidence that these historic structures can be a part of downtown’s next chapter. Charlotte Gintert is an archaeologist and a photographer.You can check out her photos at www. capturedglimpses.com or follow her on Instagram at @capturedglimpses.
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Left: Four lab technicians constantly monitor water quality as it moves through the plant in Kent. The facility purifies about 35 million gallons of water each day.
Private homeowners of the day often dug their own wells or built cisterns to store rainwater and snowmelt. There were also public wells downtown, according to water department records, and water was sometimes pumped from ponds. But none of the water was disinfected as it is today, so it sometimes smelled pretty bad and killed lots of people. Cholera sometimes. Typhoid more often. Water in the United States wasn’t chemically treated to prevent infections until 1908.
Akronisms: The things and places you didn’t know about our fair city.
Getting thirsty? BY JEFF DAVIS FOR TDS PHOTOS BY JEFF DAVIS
A famous U.S. Department of Agriculture study from the 1990s found that one in five Americans didn’t know that hamburgers are made of beef. Another study done in California by the non-profit group Food Corps found that half the students they surveyed didn’t know pickles are cucumbers. Three in 10 students didn’t know cheese is made from milk. People, it is said, have disconnected from farm life and no longer know where their food comes from. One wonders if they know where their drinking water comes from. For many people, the answer is the supermarket, right? Don’t the commercials imply that the stuff in those convenient plastic bottles comes from pure lakes in northern Canada or the high mountain streams of the Rockies? But ask yourself two questions: Would you drink water right out of any lake? And how can anyone make money by shipping across the country something that costs so little and is so widely available? With the exception of fizzy waters that come from Europe (at about triple the cost of gasoline), virtually all grocery store bottled water in the US comes from nearby municipal water supplies. It often says so right on the plastic bottle labels. Oh, the marketers will try to cast a spell over
you and make you think their water is better, but is it really? On Akron store shelves, some bottled water comes from Lake Erie via the Cleveland water department and a Cuyahoga County bottler. At least one Summit County bottling plant, unnamed here but whose headquarters is in Atlanta, gets all its water from the City of Akron water supply system. In fairness, these bottlers often filter their supplies to remove any particles picked up in the pipes. And they usually add inorganic salts (for taste, or to make you thirstier?). But, otherwise, they are bottling the same water you might drink from any faucet in Akron, Fairlawn, Tallmadge, Stow, and parts of Hudson and Kent. And all that water comes from the Cuyahoga River by way of Akron’s vast water supply system, a marvel of early 20th century civil engineering. Before Akron had a public water system, Akron’s water sources were varied. Dr. Eliakim Crosby, of Crosby Street fame, lived near the corner of Maple and Market and may have had the first private system. In 1836, he “installed a ‘continuous cement pipe’ to supply water to his house and nearby neighbors from a spring at the foot of Perkin’s Hill,” according to university professor Morris Pierce in his History of American Water-works. Akron’s first commercial supplier was Akron Cold Spring, which built a small system supplying spring water to the west side of town in the 1850s.
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The makings of Akron’s current public water system began when a March 1869 fire burned down all the buildings on Market Street between Main and High Streets. Downtown cisterns supplied only a fraction of the water needed. So, in 1880, local investors built an actual pipe system downtown with 150 scattered hydrants supplied by artesian wells. But Akron’s population quadrupled between 1880 and 1910 and was set to grow faster still. Fire underwriters said the water system was now much too small and that malfunctions in the existing distribution system made it undependable. Something needed to be done. Fast. So, in a May, 1912 special election — back when citizens and government cared about infrastructure — Akron’s residents voted to build a new water system from scratch. As with all water systems, the first phase was securing the raw water. Fortunately, the Cuyahoga was close at hand. It rises near Montville, just below the chimney of Geauga County, then travels roughly 40 miles southwest to Akron before making a big right turn toward Cleveland. Engineers planned to gather most of the upstream river into a reservoir that would feed a new treatment plant in Kent. Over time, Akron bought up about 30 square miles of land in the Cuyahoga River watershed. Its 20,000 acres in Geauga County make it that county’s largest property owner. The city then dammed the river to create not one but two reservoirs, LaDue Reservoir and Lake Rockwell, to assure the city a nearly endless supply of water. Of necessity, most of the upstream area is forested and all of it protected, according to biologist Jessica Glowczewski, Akron’s current watershed superintendent. She
adds that close monitoring upstream assures it’s a very clean river feeding the second part of the water system, the water plant itself. The Kent operation is spread out over a half-dozen buildings or so. It is largely automated but has a staff of about 30 chemists and technicians who monitor every step of the process and keep things within established tolerances. All key systems have back-ups in case something breaks or the power goes out.
At Lake Rockwell’s edge, huge grates keep fish and other water critters out of the plant’s intake. Vegetation and silt are separated out and sent to a nearby landfill. The water is then dosed with chemicals to disinfect it and eliminate algae by-products and other organic matter. The operators then filter the heck out of the water and add trace chemicals to neutralize the pH and further purify it. Before heading out the 54- and 48-inch pipes to Akron, the plant adds a small dose of fluoride – the anti- tooth decay chemical – and orthophosphate to protect the distribution pipes. (Without that last step, we would have a Flint, Michigan situation.) It is those pipes, pumps and storage units that make up the third and final part of the system, which is monitored as closely as the first two. Like every public water works in the country, Akron’s entire process – from the watershed to drinking fountain – is highly regulated by the EPA. Four lab technicians at the plant constantly test its output and about 25 sites throughout the distribution get sampling visits once a week to assure there’s pure water throughout the neighborhoods. With tire production gone, Akron’s water system is now running at about half capacity, but still pumps out about 35 million gallons of pure water a day. It’s available from our faucets for about one-third of a penny per gallon. Bottled water costs about 1,000-times as much. Buying it for anything other than emergencies seems a little nuts now, doesn’t it? Not to mention the craziness of all those plastic bottles. Jeff Davis is a retired writer, editor, and teacher who actually got thirsty writing this story. He’s also a proud co-owner of this newspaper. He can be reached at jeffdavisds@gmail.com
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Left: The Akron Rubber Worker statue located in the roundabout at Main and Mill Streets"
talk about whatever they like. All of the stories touch on similar themes of people and identity, industry, culture, life in Akron, or history itself. “I don’t try to stop [them]. I let them go as long as they’re comfortable,” Mac explains. “You can see it happen as they recall the stories, you see this pride and warmth come over them because I think in telling the stories, they kind of return to that identity.” When asked for a favorite or notable story, both Miriam and Mac say that they can’t name just one because all of the stories that they’ve heard are incredible.
New statue and oral history project commemorates Akron’s rubber industry workers BY MELANIE MOHLER FOR TDS PHOTOS BY MELANIE MOHLER
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hile the seemingly neverending construction continues on Main Street, a new landmark is making downtown a sight to see. In a new roundabout constructed at Main and Mill Streets stands a 12 foot statue of a rubber worker. Cars slow down and the drivers stop to stare in awe. Across from the statue stands a tall black kiosk surrounded by engraved bricks. Passerbys scan the bricks, searching for a familiar name or stop to listen to the kiosk sharing stories. The rubber worker statue, created by Zanesville artist Alan Cottrill, was unveiled on May 13. It’s modeled after a 1917 photo of an unidentified man preparing a tire for the vulcanization process. The photo is best known for serving as the cover photo of Steve Love and David Giffels’ book, Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron. Miriam Ray, a life-long Akron area
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resident and instigator of the project, was inspired by a 2016 article in The Akron Beacon Journal. A reader wrote to Bob Dyer asking why Akron did not have any memorials dedicated to the city’s rubber workers. Miriam wanted to see a memorial happen. Although she had no experience in projects like this, her husband encouraged her to go for it. Miriam set up an email, historicstatue@gmail.com, where people could reach out to her and share their rubber industry stories. Bob wrote a few more articles for the paper and mentioned Miriam’s work. “Any time someone responded to an article, I would get those emails and then call them to pick [their] brains,” Miriam says. Slowly, Miriam’s project gained traction. She also created a Facebook page, Rubber Worker Statue & Stories Project, that amassed a small following. But Miriam cites Beth Becker as the catalyst that really got things going. In 2017, the team approached
the city with the statue proposal. Mayor Horrigan was immediately on board and the city took financial responsibility for the statue. The statue was originally scheduled to debut in September 2020, but it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The May 13 ceremony was also invite-only due to the pandemic. Beth later introduced Miriam to Mac Love from ArtxLove to work on the oral history side of the project, as she thought Mac’s background in unique creative projects would be beneficial. Akron Stories was created as a branch of the project in order to fund the stories that play at the kiosk as part of the oral history project. “The story aspect to me was just as important [as the statue] because I heard amazing stories,” Miriam says. The oral history recordings were originally scheduled to take place at various Akron-Summit County Library branches last year but were cancelled due to the pandemic. Instead, interviews were conducted over the phone or virtually. Interviewees were also asked to submit photos or memorabilia that would help bring their stories to life. The interviews generally start with some set questions, which vary slightly for rubber workers or family members of rubber workers. However, interviewees are able to
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Some examples include an interview with a woman whose father worked at BF Goodrich and made, among other products, rubber belts for conveyor belts used in pineapple plantations in Hawaii, and another woman who worked as one of 13 female draftswomen for Goodyear Aerospace. Mac and the team then work to create videos for each interview. They use small audio clips from the interview, ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes, then pair it with submitted photos. So far the team has completed 50 of these short videos and are working on more. They plan to periodically release several at a time on the Akron Stories website. These stories will also play on the kiosk located across from the statue. The outdoor kiosk was specially designed to withstand the elements. Eventually it will also be touchscreen enabled for visitors to scroll through the stories. To date, Mac says that Akron Stories has completed about 100 interviews, with another 100 or so people interested in being interviewed. Nearly 1,200 commemorative bricks have been sold by the Akron Stories project. “We thought it would be so cool if the power of people’s stories could fund public art for the people,” Mac says. And it is something they have been able to accomplish. The sale of the bricks alone has paid for the kiosk and all of the costs for the oral histories. Mac mentions that no
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A close-up of engraved bricks, the sole funding source for the Akron Stories project
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The Akron Stories kiosk and engraved bricks located at the corner of Main and Mill Streets
grants or other forms of funding have been utilized for the oral history portion of the project. Both Miriam and Mac point out that it is not just the two of them making this project happen, there is a team of people that have greatly contributed. Josy Jones, Malik Hudson, and a handful of others have worked hard to make this project become reality. Akron Stories also received support and guidance from the AkronSummit County Library and the University of Akron’s Archival Services rubber industry collection. The full audio recordings of the interviews will be stored at the University of Akron’s Archival Services later this year. For now, the Akron Stories project does not have an end date. Miriam and Mac figure they will eventually reach a point where they have recorded and collected all of the stories that are willing to be told. It is ultimately up to Miriam if she would like to continue or end the project.
invite-only, Miriam and Mac anticipate a public unveiling of the space once the remaining commemorative bricks are installed later this summer. Both Miriam and Mac have been humbled by the community support and the countless stories they’ve heard. They hope this project will serve as an example for others wishing to pursue a similar grassroots-led initiative. “People’s stories are important. People want to be seen, they want to be known,” she says. The rubber worker statue is located at the roundabout at Main and Mill Streets in downtown Akron. You can listen to snippets of stories, locate a brick and learn more about the project at akronstories.com. Melanie Mohler is a West Hill resident with a love for baking, cross-stitch and local history.
EXHIBITIONS July 10 – September 25
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While May’s unveiling event was
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COVID-style service, Hollingsworth and his team opted to open the patio and feature cocktails that are packaged as kits that can be enjoyed on-premise, taken home, or even given as gifts. Twin Palms is a baby step towards normalcy at the Spotted Owl, designed to celebrate lifted restrictions while still offering quality options for anyone who isn’t ready to be out yet.
Spotted Owl Aiming for Another Fall Opening Above: The interior of The Spotted Owl in West Hill. The bar plans to open for full indoor service this fall.
BY EMILY ANDERSON FOR TDS PHOTOS BY HEIDI M. ROLF, PROVIDED BY THE SPOTTED OWL
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earing that Spotted Owl is opening up this fall might sound familiar to you — they opened their Akron location for the first time in October 2019. A few short months later, they, along with everyone else, had to shut their doors for much of 2020 because of COVID-19. This summer, they’re open for drinks on the Twin Palms-themed patio, with some limited seating indoors. This fall they are, once again, opening up for full Spotted Owl bar service. Spotted Owl is an upscale yet playful cocktail bar that originally opened in Tremont in 2014. They quickly earned local notoriety for their off-beat, wheel-shaped menu, and for their reliably high-quality preparation and presentation of each and every drink served.
The second location of Spotted Owl is in the elegantly remodeled Old Firehouse #3, on the corner of Crosby & Maple in West Hill. The open space features a long bar framed by a leafy green mural, velvety booths, sultry lighting, an exposed cooking space and a roll-up door that opens up to a gated patio. Like the comfortable, stylish decor inside, everything at the Spotted Owl is on-brand. The cocktails are top-notch — the thoughtfulness and precision that went into recipe development and is obvious with each sip. At the same time, the menu is accessible to all types of drinkers and non-drinkers, and the bartenders and servers are ready and willing to help you out if you’re unfamiliar with any of the offerings. Emily Dee, general manager at Spotted Owl in Akron, loves her job. Everyone who works at Spotted Owl is guaranteed $15 an hour thanks
to a 20% service fee on all checks. (Servers and bartenders keep any additional tips left on top of the fee.) According to Dee, the culture at Spotted Owl is one of respect, stability, growth and creative freedom. “We talk a lot about being fulfilled by the work,” Dee says. “Everyone who works at Spotted Owl is encouraged to explore their creativity and use the job as an opportunity for personal growth.” Dee also credits owner Will Hollingsworth, who kept in touch with the team and has been supportive of everyone’s individual comfort zones throughout the shutdown. One example of Hollingsworth’s attention to inclusion and sensitivity is the concept for Spotted Owl’s summer patio Twin Palms. Instead of reopening the indoor bar for pre-
The cocktail menu at Twin Palms, created by Dee, offers an impressive collection of colorful cocktails that all invoke that lazy, bougie vacation feeling you get by the pool in Las Vegas. The lineup has some elevated favorites — a French 75 with orange blossom water, a daiquiri with fried pineapple syrup, and a margarita with smoked salt and champagne. More adventurous drinkers might be drawn to the Rosewater Julep with its Garam Masala spice, or the purple Chicha Morada, inspired by ancient Amazonian brewing techniques. The nonalcoholic Jungle Bird ensures everyone can take part in the experience. The next step will be opening the indoor space for full service this fall. Even though they opened this space once before, “everything is different this time around,” Dee says. My visits to Twin Palms tell me that not quite everything is different this time around. Hollingsworth, Dee, and the rest of the team want us to see Spotted Owl as a friendly neighborhood bar, where folks go to share big ideas, discuss issues and enjoy amazing cocktails. Twin Palms at Spotted Owl is open Wednesday-Saturday, 4 pm-10 pm. Emily Anderson is on Instagram @ ladybeerdrinker
Left: Colorful cocktails make up the menu at Twin Palms at Spotted Owl. They can be enjoyed on the patio or taken to-go. Center: The pineapple daiquiri, featuring house pineapple-infused rum blend and fried pineapple syrup, at The Spotted Owl. Right: The staff of The Spotted Owl in Akron’s West Hill.
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Left: A selection of tea at NoHi Cafe in North Hill Right: NoHi Cafe displays and sells art by local artists on about a six-week rotating basis.
COVID-19 shutdowns, a friend got her a job at the NoHi popup and she began taking on more and more responsibility. She was a natural for the job of café manager, greeter and head barista. “I had lost all of my ‘regulars’ when I lost my bartending job. That was my favorite thing about the service industry, making friends. So, I’m really excited about this new job,” she says.
Zoe Reese is Manager of the now permanent NoHi Cafe in Temple Square.
NoHi Café & Notique promotes community in North Hill BY DIANE KILIVRIS FOR TDS
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or those who have lived in North Hill for more than a decade, the accelerated cultural transformation of that community over the last few years has been, at the very least, interesting. For some, it’s an immersive cultural experience. For others, honestly, it’s been a bit uncomfortable. The influx of immigrants and refugees from South Asia and Africa combined with the established mix of Italians, Poles and African-Americans has made it one of the most culturally diverse communities in the state. Connecting the diverse populations has been a challenge. But now North Hill has a space that can bring people together like no other – a neighborhood café. The new NoHi Café, run by the North Hill Community Development Corporation,
occupies the same space as the popular NoHi popup carryout in Temple Square at North Main Street and Cuyahoga Falls Avenue. Since opening in mid-April, locals have been slowly discovering the coffee house and adjacent shopping boutique Notique. “It’s really about connection,” says Zoe Reese, NoHi’s manager. Reese, who was a history major in college, spoke about the historical significance cafés have within a community. “It’s really like the epicenter where everything happens in a city. It’s such a key to a tight-knit community,” says Reese. She added that there is no similar coffee shop in the area for gathering and relaxing. A bartender before the pandemic, Reese is one of those people who’ll remember your name and your drink. After losing her job due to
The café and its next-door neighbor, the Notique boutique, are the latest ventures of the North Hill Community Development Corporation. Their aim in Temple Square is to create a walkable shopping experience, promote local makers and vendors and celebrate the area’s diversity. The café has a welcoming feel. Bright and airy with plenty of seating including a long bar and spacious patio, the walls display colorful artwork by area artists. Locally roasted coffee is supplied by Bereka Coffee and Yada Yada Roasters of Akron. A variety of specialty teas are made by Mani Kitchen in Kenmore. Notique, which started as an occasional pop-up but opened permanently in April, is connected for a seamless walk-through experience so customers can shop while they sip. The shop’s vendors are local makers or locally-based importers. Unique gifts include leather jewelry, soaps, candles, hand-sewn gifts, clothing and more. The NHCDC introduced the two new storefronts to the community at their Envision Temple Square event in June, during which the café hosted an Ethiopian coffee ceremony by Bereka Coffee. Tickets were sold out, and
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the crowd brought over 200 visitors through Notique as well.
The NHCDC’s Development Associate, Anuj Gurung, says that the Envision event as well as their Juneteenth Celebration and World Refugee Day (also held in June) are opportunities w to connect the diverse communities. L “The idea is we have all the resources t here, the manpower… We just need s to connect the right people with the T o right resources.” e
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The café has one of the right resources in Reese. On a recent Saturday, she handily juggled coffee customers with carryout orders for the busy NoHi popup,which is operating out of the same space.
F ( s T a o b “I’ve been in the service industry forever, and you always think of the t service industry as something you do for a while and then you get a ‘real S job’,” says Reese. “But I got to make o the service industry my ‘real job’. This a f is what I like to do. I like talking to people, learning about people and I serving. I love this place.” i NoHi Café hours are Monday – Thursday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Notique hours are Thursday Noon – 3 p.m., Friday and Saturday Noon – 8 p.m., and Sunday Noon – 6 p.m.
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“ f p F Diane Kilivris is a freelance writer, podcaster and native Akronite. When w not working, she can be found on thes tennis court or obsessively knitting in f a cozy chair.
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Mikayla Campbell and Ariel Myers, owner of Sandy Bottoms Bowls, pictured inside the food truck.”
Sandy Bottoms Bowls signature bowl topped with granola, strawberries, blueberries, banana, goji berries, and a drizzle of Ohio honey.
Review: Local food trailer brings açaí to Akron BY MELANIE MOHLER FOR TDS PHOTOS BY MELANIE MOHLER
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n a hot and humid day at the Jenks Building in Cuyahoga Falls, all I could think about was cooling off with a cold treat. Luckily, Sandy Bottom Bowls was there for the afternoon selling açaí smoothie bowls out of their trailer. The trailer is easy to spot with its ocean waves and tropical leaves encircling the structure. For those unfamiliar with açaí (pronounced ah-sigh-ee), it is a fruit similar in shape and size to a grape. The fruit grows on açaí palm trees and is native to the northern area of South America. Açaí berries have become a trendy superfood within the last decade. Sandy Bottom Bowls, owned and operated by Ariel Myers, touts itself as Northeast Ohio’s first açaí bowl food trailer. Initially, Ariel did not have a business in mind. The idea started in 2016 as she was experiencing pregnancy cravings for clean, healthy foods. She made salads, smoothies, and other healthy foods at home. “I started making the toppings look fun and then I’d take pictures and post them on Instagram,” Ariel says. Friends loved her creations and asked when she was opening a smoothie shop, which eventually turned into a food trailer idea. A few months after the birth of her daughter, Ellie, Ariel devoted time into making Sandy Bottom Bowls a reality. By July 2017, Ariel was serving up
açaí smoothie bowls in a trailer that was formerly used for shaved ice. The name Sandy Bottom is meant to invoke thoughts of the beach. “I wanted [Sandy Bottom Bowls] to be like a little tropical paradise in Ohio,” Ariel says. She originally envisioned adding granola to the bottom of the bowls, to create the “sandy bottom,” but realized it looks better as a topping. Sandy Bottom Bowls’ season typically runs through May until the end of October. The trailer can be found at events such as farmers markets and festivals, or parked outside businesses including Jean + Lou and SDMyers, where Ariel works full-time in their warehouse. “I like to collaborate with other businesses because we both benefit,” she explains. I love checking out new things in and around Akron. Since following Sandy Bottom Bowls in 2017, I have discovered many new events, businesses and Akron neighborhoods where the trailer sets up, such as Canyon Trail Park and the Lavender Festival at Maize Valley in Hartville. Once you place your order, Ariel and her team make your bowl fresh. There are usually three people working in the trailer: one takes the orders, one makes the smoothie base, and Ariel typically adds the toppings to each bowl. Despite the fact that there is usually a line, I always receive my order quickly. The açaí bowls begin with the same base: açaí, bananas, strawberries, and apple juice blended together to create a thick consistency .
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“I do feel like my competitive advantage [is] my base. It’s what I think brings people back,” Ariel says. Her trick to obtaining the perfect smoothie bowl consistency is using frozen fruits and blending the mixture slowly. You can then select a bowl from their menu, or you can create your own by choosing from an assortment of toppings including fresh fruit, coconut flakes, and chia seeds. Special toppings are also occasionally offered, such as peaches marinated in cinnamon and honey, which is as wonderful as it sounds. Ariel notes that the best-seller is the PB&A, which includes granola, creamy peanut butter, bananas, strawberries, cacao nibs, and a drizzle of Ohio honey. I went with my usual, the Sandy Bottom Bowl, which features the açaí base topped with granola, strawberries, blueberries, banana, goji berries, and a drizzle of Ohio honey. The smooth base topped with fresh fruit and crunchy granola make for a delicious treat with interesting textures. Despite all of the sweet flavors, I always feel good after finishing a bowl. Prices for the açaí bowls are very reasonable. Except for the PB&A, all of the bowls start at $6 for a small bowl. The PB&A is an additional dollar due to the peanut butter. Sandy Bottom Bowls also offers a punch card, which rewards you with a free açaí bowl after purchasing ten bowls. Although it has taken me a few years to fill my punch card, I have a free bowl waiting for me on my next visit. Before this year’s season began, Ariel experimented with pre-orders for her signature açaí smoothie bowl bases. Customers could order the base and
sides of granola in order to create their own açaí bowls at home. “That was amazing,” she says. “I had no idea so many people would order them and they're still ordering them [even though] the trailer’s open.” Last year was challenging, as many outdoor events and festivals were cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think I cried when Elevate Akron canceled because I had four of my events send out cancel emails all in the same day,” Ariel says. But that didn’t stop Ariel. She set up the trailer in parking lots and various neighborhoods, “side of the road” style. And customers showed up. Ariel is grateful for customers’ support, and she loves seeing familiar faces return week after week. Ariel hopes to expand and eventually open a storefront. She would like to offer different smoothie bases, such as dragonfruit, and provide other items including soups, fresh pressed juices, and coffee that are made by her chef friends. Sandy Bottom Bowls has a packed schedule this season. Next time you find yourself at an event with Sandy Bottom Bowls, I suggest you order a bowl, sit down at one of their lime green tables set up near the trailer and enjoy. You can find Sandy Bottom Bowls’ schedule and more information on their Facebook and Instagram (@ sandybottombowls) pages. Melanie Mohler is a West Hill resident with a love for baking, cross-stitch and local history. You can find her ordering an açaí bowl at the Sandy Bottoms Bowls trailer throughout their season.
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GIVE THE GIFT OF READING
United Way’s Imagination Library gives kids one free book a month from birth until their fifth birthday, giving them a head start in school. It supports our Bold Goal 1– to raise third grade reading scores for Akron students. The result? More early readers means more kids ready to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
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Death positivity can help us die better deaths. One death doula wants to bring the movement to Akron. BY H.L. COMERIATO, TDS STAFF REPORTER PHOTOS BY: H.L. COMERIATO
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ngela Laakso traces a name etched in stone with the tip of her index finger.
Nearly 200 years ago, Glendale Cemetery was founded in Akron’s West Hill neighborhood. Today, it holds the city’s dead in more than 26,000 graves. On a humid, summer morning, Glendale’s hills are lush against a gray sky. At the main entrance, a row of elaborate family mausoleums stretch around a curve in the narrow road. “I’ve always been enamored with the dark side of things,” Laakso says. “I was into goth music in high school and in my early 20s. I always loved hanging out in cemeteries. [I had] kind of a fascination with death, but also a good dose of healthy fear of death.” “This must have been a child,” she adds, finger still pressed to the stone. As a death doula, Laakso, now in her
late 40s, helps dying people and their loved ones navigate the dying process and what comes after. Often, she takes on more pragmatic tasks, like drafting a living will or health care power of attorney, planning or officiating funerals or advocating for the dying in medical settings like hospitals or hospice care centers. But death doulas also practice spiritually and emotionally intimate work with the dying and their loved ones, and they can help families learn to care for their own dying in the process.
launched Astral Dragonfly, an Akronbased nonprofit designed to provide death education, promote death positivity and provide death doula services to dying people and their loved ones. Much like birth doulas, death doulas have a long legacy spanning cultures and continents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Laakso completed a program with the International End of Life Doula
Association (INELDA) and earned an official certification. But death doulas, sometimes called death midwives or end-of-life-doulas, don’t always operate in an official capacity. INELDA began offering doula certifications in 2016, but this type of intimate, communal death work has been practiced for centuries, and it is often deeply connected to indigenous customs and ancestral knowledge. Death doulas treat dying as a natural
It’s that type of work Laakso hopes will spark a thriving death positive community across the city — and radically change the way Akronites think about, talk about and experience death and dying. What is a death doula? To help make that death positive community a reality, Laakso and her teenage son, Casper — a student enrolled in Firestone Community Learning Center’s International Baccalaureate Programme — Above: Death doula and educator Angela Laakso at Glendale Cemetery in Akron.
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process rather than a medical emergency, and they help the dying and their loved ones prepare for and navigate the experience of death and dying. Either through formalized training or cultural and generational tradition, death doulas are often taught to recognize and respond to signs of active dying — like changes in breathing patterns or discolored skin. But when it comes to the spiritual, emotional and psychological experience of death, not every death doula practices the same way, and not every dying person has the same wants and needs.
planning and talking about death and dying with loved ones helps the dying person experience a “good” death — whatever that may mean to them. Slowly, the social and cultural perception of death and dying is shifting in the United States, Laakso says. Especially with the growing popularity of the death positivity movement — a term coined by Los Angeles mortician and death educator Caitlin Doughty. Death positivity works to destigmatize death and dying, educate people about the dying process and encourage ways of dying that center peace, healing and autonomy in place of trauma, chaos or fear. Death positivity encourages ordinary people to make decisions about death, burial, cremation, medical and end-of-life care that bring them comfort and align with their values — regardless of societal norms.
Sometimes, dying people want to die surrounded by nature, or have simple requests — like a specific type of chapstick, a bouquet of flowers or their favorite music.
“If you can be at peace about your death, what a wonderful life you can live,” Laakso says. “That’s 90% of why we all fear death so much: we’re not in control. We don’t know. But if you can control those last moments, or feel that you have some control, how wonderful is that — and how does that change the way we live, even as healthy, functioning adults?” Death care was considered domestic work in many cultures and communities
Often, the dead and dying were mourned, cared for, dressed, bathed and prepared for burial or cremation in their own homes — a practice that waned in many areas across the country as the funeral industry became more formalized.
“When someone is dying,” Laakso says, “let’s try to get [the details] right.”
A headstone marks the grave of Mary Walker (Jackson) Tynan.
“The most important thing to me is the honoring of sacred space and active listening,” she says. “I think that’s the most important thing we can do for someone, and for families. Just listening [and asking], ‘What do [you] want?” Still, a person’s death may be emotionally, spiritually or psychologically difficult for their loved ones, even if it’s an expected death they helped plan and prepare for themselves. Many doulas, including Laakso, also offer grief coaching services for family and friends after a loved one’s death to help remind them of their strengths and set and achieve personal goals.
Rather than deny death, or live in fear of it, death positive communities seek to acknowledge and embrace it as a natural part of life.
In the United States, death care is a $20 billion industry. But prior to the 1860s, women often cared for the dying in their own families or communities, then passed down that knowledge between generations.
Death doula and educator Angela Laakso traces the name on a headstone with her fingers.
Laakso also does a “summing up” with the dying person to learn more about what’s most important to them. In those moments, Laakso focuses intently on what the dying person wants or needs to share.
burials, which allow for burial or cremation in ways that don’t harm the environment with caskets, concrete vaults or toxic embalming chemicals, but rather, enrich the earth as a person’s body begins to decompose.
After embalming gained popularity during and after the Civil War, women were largely excluded from the same care they had provided within their own families and communities for hundreds of years. That cultural shift fundamentally changed the practice of death care in the United States: Death care became a profession, and it was no longer an extension of women’s domestic work as mothers and caregivers. “There would be one woman in the town that knew what to do when someone was dying,” Laakso says.
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‘It is such an incredible honor to be with someone in their most vulnerable time’ Humans have always performed death rituals — from Second Line parades in New Orleans and open funeral pyres in the streets of Varanasi, India, to sky burials in Tibet and coffins hung from sheer rock cliffs in the northern provinces of the Philippines. For thousands of years, cultures and communities across the world have also invented and passed down ways to care for the dying. That care may include instructions on how to clean, wrap or feed the dying, but may also utilize spiritual, emotional or ancestral practices to connect with and honor the dying and their loved ones — like prayer, vigil, poetry or song. For Laakso, those spiritual and emotional ties are sacred. “It is such an incredible honor to be with someone in their most vulnerable time,” Laakso says. “Whether I’m officiating a funeral, or whether I’m talking to someone about their grief or whether I’m actually tending to a dying person, I can’t believe [that] somebody would trust me enough to bring me in.” It’s important to establish trust with the dying and their loved ones, Laakso says, so she’s able to work with them in the ways that best fit their needs. Often, that’s some combination of medical care and the types of death care Laakso teaches and provides. “People see a death doula as the antithesis of the health system,” she says. “We are not. We work with the health care system. Just because you have an absolutely fantastic hospice setup doesn’t mean a death doula doesn’t have a place.” ‘This is an ancient practice.’
Angela Laakso displays a tattoo on her forearm in memory of her grandmother, Patty Jean.
Donna Baker — who founded Columbus Community Death Care in 2019 — says her own role and work as a death doula has taken on new meaning over the last three years.
For instance, death positive communities often encourage green
Through Columbus Community Death Care, Baker and a small team of death educators help people plan
What is death positivity? Mostly, Laakso says the process of
“When I think of my family, and probably a lot of families in Akron, Ohio, we certainly don’t have anyone like that. And we haven’t for a couple of generations.”
A custom headstone marks the graves of Rose L. Robinson and Rev. Coleman Robinson Sr. at Glendale Cemetery in Akron.
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“People either understand alternatives to [the processes] of birth and death or they don’t,” Baker adds. “And the people who seem to understand it and embrace it are people who are understanding and embracing alternatives in their daily life.” Baker also offers end-of-life vigils and home funeral guidance — a practice she wishes more Ohioans knew was both a legal and affordable funeral option, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lamparter family mausoleum at Glendale Cemetery in Akron.
ahead for their own deaths, make personal arrangements for their final days and discern exactly what a “good death” will entail for them. Often, the people most interested in Baker’s work aren’t terminally ill or actively dying. “I’m discovering that it really is a specific group of folks who are already seeing the world with a lot of imagination,” says. “It’s a lot of marginalized folks, people of color, single mothers, queer folks.”
But overwhelmingly, Baker says people contact her not to perform doula work herself, but to learn how to care for their dead and dying independently. To address that need, Baker is shifting her own ideas about doula work and death education. Instead of offering specific services at an hourly rate, Baker plans to expand her death care education efforts to better equip families and communities to care for their own dying. The idea, she says, is to help return the honor and responsibility of death care and doula work to the families, communities and loved ones of the dying.
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educators. “[We need] to be able to kind of pause and say, ‘This isn’t working,’” Laakso says. “And this isn’t how I want my kids to know about death or feel about death.”
A custom headstone marks the grave of Dr. Samuel Toan-Sen Su at Glendale Cemetery in Akron. According to his obituary, Su was an avid fisherman and practiced pediatrics for nearly 30 years.
“I want to teach you how to be with your mother at the end of her life,” Baker says. “The right move is reminding people that this is in our bones. This is what we’ve been doing forever, and I’m not special because I attended an online program.” “This is work we can all do,” she adds. “If we can just get a little guidance and trust [that] we are the best people to be with our dying loved ones, and that we don’t need experts.” Flipping the script: ‘This is not how I want my kids to know or feel about death.’ Many Americans live with an intense fear of death — something Laakso and Baker hope to change through their work as doulas and death
After losing more than 600,000 Americans to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baker and Laakso say thinking differently about how we die is more important than ever. In Columbus, Baker holds virtual “death cafes” or “death dinners” at her home, where attendees are encouraged to discuss their fears and experiences with death. Laakso hopes to host similar events in Akron, and build a community of people committed to incorporating death positivity in their own lives. “We want to show families how to take care of their dying,” says Laakso. “You want to be able to take care of your own dying family? Then that’s what I want. I want you to be able to do this for the people you love.” H.L. Comeriato covers public health at The Devil Strip via Report for America. Reach them at HL@ thedevilstrip.com.
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2021 AKRON RUBBERDUCKS SCHEDULE
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The business’ first event was Taste of Cleveland at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. “We gave away 500 free cookies that night,” Howe says. “My company was like three or four days old. It probably put (us) in the red.” Fat T’s was still a cottage bakery and Howe was churning out cookies from his mom’s house — “one dozen with the Kitchenaid, one dozen in the oven. Sometimes I would be baking for 20 hours a day because I could only make a dozen at a time.” Today, Howe is at a professional production facility. Howe is big on the word “we.” Fat T’s is not a one-man operation, he says. “I call my following on social media platforms the ‘Fat Fam.’ They are part of that ‘we.’ I didn’t win an award, we did,” he adds. Howe now ships cookies as far as Australia, Hong Kong and China. His Facebook page updates his weekend markets so fans know where to find him. Cookies are available online and at several local retailers, including Acme.
Above: Travis Howe of Fat T’s Cookies.
Travis Howe brings happiness a ¼ pound at a time with Fat T’s Cookies BY TERESA SROKA FOR TDS PHOTOS BY TERESA SROKA
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ravis Howe didn’t set out to become a baker.
“I started this company the first time I baked,” says Howe, chief cookie officer of Fat T’s Cookies. Howe, who graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School in 2010, returned to the area with a masters degree in sports management. He’d hoped to get a job as an athletic director, but soon found that, “you need a teaching degree for everything.” Rather than return to school, Howe explored his options. And one night in June 2017, feeling down about his situation, made cookies.
“I thought, hey I could sell these,” he recalls. That same night he baked that first batch, he made a Facebook page to let friends know he was in the cookie selling business. His next move was baking and selling cookies out of the trunk of his car at the Hartville Marketplace. Messages from markets inviting him to sell cookies and customers seeking special orders flooded his inbox.
says.“Because if the [customers] see you sell out, then they know you are good and will come to you earlier next time.” The next event, Howe brings a dozen more cookies and sells out again. “And that keeps going and going until the point I can’t bring anymore,” he says. At one event, he sold 227 pounds of cookies in a couple of hours. Bringing more inventory is physically impossible, he says. “It’s a good problem to have.” In August 2017 Howe got a call from Cleveland Magazine. Fat T’s had been voted the best cookie in Northeast Ohio.
Howe, with no experience selling at farmers’ markets, used the sports sales tactics he learned in college and applied them to cookies.
“I thought it was my buddies putting someone up to a prank, so I hung up,” Howe says with a laugh.. “They gave me an ultimatum — become a real business, or don’t be in the magazine.”
“When I go to events, my goal is to sell out. Not to make the most money. My goal is to sell out,” Howe
In October 2017, a few months after baking that first batch, Fat T’s Cookies, the company, was born.
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Howe’s experience working at The Akron Rotary Camp, a YMCA camp for children and adults with disabilities, helped him realize the importance of giving back to the community. He continues to support the organization by giving the camp half the proceeds of his s’moreinspired S’mummer Camp cookie. Nearly $6,000 has been raised so far. Howe says it’s the face to face interactions with customers that continues to drive his passion. “When I open my shop, it will be here in Akron, it’s got to be Akron. Even my business card, notice the odd colored chip, that’s Akron,” he says. “Anytime I make a list, if they say Cleveland, I call them and have them change it to Akron. It’s where it’s at.” Find Fat T’s Cookies on Instagram and Facebook at @Fat_Ts_Cookies and online at www.FatTsCookies. com Teresa enjoys spending time at the Akron Art Museum, quilting and reading
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Lemon olive oil coffee cake Jansen & Pierce in their home in West Akron.
out of plants,” they say.
Burial Grounds Vegan Bakery is Plant-Based Magick BY EMILY ANDERSON FOR TDS
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or Madison Pierce and Noah Jansen, plant-based baking isn’t just about finding the best egg substitute for an old recipe. They’re challenging everything you thought you knew about vegan baking and manifesting harmony in the world, one delicious treat at a time. Pierce and Jansen both grew up in Northeast Ohio before they met in Lakewood. “We were the two vegans in Lakewood with blacked-out arms,” Madison remembers, referring to the striking, solid tattoos they both happened to have. While living in Lakewood and working in various service industry positions, the couple baked vegan desserts for themselves as a hobby. They both have sweet tooths and love developing vegan recipes together. They mused about owning their own coffee shop one day and decided on the name Burial Grounds Vegan Bakery for their future project. The first pop-up for Burial Grounds was in February 2020. They were baking some individual orders and getting ready to drive to Texas to buy a coffee truck when the COVID-19
travel bans started. Without the truck, they leaned into baking from home. After freelance baking all summer, the couple needed more space. They decided to move back to the Akron area and set up a cottage-style bakery from their home. The first house they found available in West Akron had a huge room adjacent to the main kitchen, perfect for all the equipment they needed to bake on a larger scale. They’ve been turning out birthday cakes and brownies ever since.
While everything coming out of BGVB is made with a touch of magick, the most popular offerings have been zodiac cakes. Each zodiac sign gets a special cake during their season, made with ingredients that correspond specifically to that sign. “I love being a Sagittarius, so I made one for my birthday,” Pierce laughs. It turned out so well she’s made one for each season as they’ve come this year. Pierce and Jansen currently both work full-time running Burial Ground Vegan Bakery from their home in West Akron. They’re baking for several locations, such as Cloak & Dagger and Forest City Shuffle Board in Lakewood, the Nightlight
downtown, and a steady flow of custom orders from individuals. Despite the success they’ve experienced baking from home so far, the ultimate goal for BGVB is still its space with a coffee shop. “I can’t wait to have a space with art & music,” Jansen says.
You definitely don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy what BGVB is offering. Their menu offers unique seasonal cookies, brownies, cakes, breads, and more. To see their full menu and place an order for pickup, visit www. burialgroundsvegan.com. Emily Anderson is already excited to get a Libra cake on her birthday.
Pierce and Jansen are passionate about veganism and proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish in the kitchen with plant-based ingredients. They also genuinely love to eat the products — their favorite thing to chow down on are the miso cookies. If you follow Burial Grounds Vegan Bakery on Instagram or check out their website, you’ll notice that they have a unique take on their baking practices - they incorporate a little “magick.” Pierce and Jensen use intentional ingredients and vegan recipes with minimal waste that they believe promote harmony in the world. “It’s like alchemy making magickal things Cosmic brownies
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Now, the only bend in her spine is the one she practices in dance class.
Treating the most challenging back problems in babies, kids and teens. A scoliosis or spinal condition diagnosis might seem scary. But it doesn’t need to be. The Spine Center at Akron Children’s is here with the best possible options for your child. From 3D scans, to nonsurgical therapies, to treatments that grow with patients, our offerings are tailored to the unique needs of kids. Learn more at
akronchildrens.org/Spine.
Spine Center
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From left) Bill Robb, Adil Orfi and Larry O’Neil take off on a 400-meter interval during a Tuesday evening Lawn Wranglers Running Club session.
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Sharing miles: Akron running clubs form community through training, races BY MANDY KRAYNAK FOR TDS
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any runners wear hightech running gear to races, but members of the Lawn Wranglers Running Club sport cotton T-shirts with iron-on logos of a push lawn mower with flames and their group name written in Sharpie. At the Burning River race last year, fellow runners jokingly asked them where their lawn equipment was, referencing a promotional video for the club featuring group members running with tools such as weedwackers and fertilizer spreaders. “We’re also goofy. We’re also kind of clownish,” said Larry O’Neil, a founder of the club. “We love the running community. We feel we’re a part of it, but we’re also kind of our own little subculture within the running community.” The Lawn Wranglers Running Club
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is one of many running clubs that make up a larger running community in Akron. Trails like the towpath and MetroParks, as well as events such as the FirstEnergy Akron Marathon, Half Marathon and relay keep everyone in Akron’s running community connected, said Michael Dilisio, the owner of the running store Second Sole Akrun. The Akron Marathon relay event is connected to the origin of the Lawn Wranglers Running Club and its group name. In 2010, a five-runner relay team that included a landscaper chose the team name “Lawn Wranglers,” which comes from the ‘90s comedy film Bottle Rocket. The group has grown since then, picking up steam in the past three-and-a-half to four years, O’Neil said. The club meets in Highland Square for group runs on Wednesdays and does weekly interval sessions at Bolich Middle School, as well as trail runs on
the weekends. The lightheartedness of the Lawn Wranglers Running Club stands out to Mike Nix, a member of the group who went to high school with O’Neil. “Everybody’s always rooting for everybody else — that’s the best part of it. And there’s always somebody to run with,” Nix said. About a decade-and-a-half ago, Bernie Rochford was running one morning with a nameless running group that had formed when two groups combined into one. As they were running along the canal, the group decided on the name Canal Rats, a name that Akron’s minor league baseball team had considered. The Canal Rats meet in the early hours of the morning, with weekday group runs starting between 5:20 and 5:50 a.m.
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The Friday morning runs, which are coffee Fridays, are the most popular group run days. The Canal Rats used to meet at Bruegger’s Bagels on Merriman Road. Now that the location has closed, Rochford brings carafes of coffee for the runners instead.
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“There’s nothing else that can get me up at that hour of the morning other S e than the Canal Rats and knowing that they will always be there,” group R e organizer Liz Tucci said.
T The Canal Rats include runners of various levels who call themselves the t H “Overachieving Rats,” or “OARs,” and the “Rats of Leisure,” or “ROLs.” p c M In addition to being a founding member of the Canal Rats, Rochford r is also a mentor for Running2bWell’s Akron group and the president of the T y organization’s board. R Running2bWell focuses on using thedevilstrip.com
Chad Ledley, Teri Kollin and Adil Orfi of the Lawn Wranglers Running Club rest after running intervals at the Bolich Middle School track.
exercise as a form of treatment for mental health struggles and addiction. The group aims to make sure that people have the support that they need to use physical activity in their recovery, which means more than just education, said Keith Johnston, the founder and executive director of Running2bWell.
“It’s a matter of giving that support and community. That’s why we have weekly group meetings where we go out for a walk together or a run, and we make sure that people are supported and encouraged and given the tools that they need,” Johnston said.
Part of the group’s mission is that everyone has struggles and that nobody’s left behind, Johnston said. After showing up to three group runs, participants can receive a free pair of running shoes.
when, on April Fools’ Day, the Akron Beacon Journal invited beginning runners to participate in the Akron Marathon Race Series. Jennifer Kline, whose mother convinced her to participate in the series, had never run a race at the time. Now, Kline is the director of the group, which has continued to grow and participate in the race series. The location of the group’s runs changes each month. They have been meeting at North Street in Clinton in July and are set to meet at Lock 29 in August. Walkers are also welcome in the club, and the point is to get out and get moving, Kline said. “People shouldn’t feel intimidated that they’re not a runner and that they can’t come to a running group, because we’re just excited you’re
Blue Line Beginners club members chat and stretch at the Brust Park trailhead in Munroe Falls, which was their June meeting location.
there, and we will help you any way we can,” she said. The sense of community within the group extends beyond the Blue Line Beginners into the running community as a whole, which is filled with “runners helping runners,” Kline said. Last year, the Blue Line Beginners participated in the Akron Marathon’s virtual race with another group, Portage Lakes Running Club. Nicole Gareri-David started Portage Lakes Running Club, also known as PLX Running Club, about nine years ago. The club is open to runners of all levels, with some people running one mile or walking and others training for ultramarathons. Gareri-David wants to get rid of the misconception that running clubs are only for fast, young runners or people who run
marathons. The club is “more of a family than just random strangers that run together,” and it already seems as if the people who just joined last year have been there forever, she said. “Runners kind of have a unique way of getting to know each other pretty well early on. We share miles with people. You just kind of talk about things you probably wouldn’t talk about with a normal stranger, but because they’re a runner, I feel like you trust them a little bit more,” Gareri-David said. Mandy Kraynak is just a writer from Akron. Reach her at mandykraynak@ gmail.com.
The organization will host a race called Around the Beach on Aug. 7 at Munroe Falls Metro Park, which will be a celebration of fitness and wellness as well as a 5K and one-mile walk. The race will not conclude until everyone has crossed the finish line and “that very last person is cheered on even more than the winners,” he said.
Some running clubs participate in events such as the Akron Marathon Race Series, which consists of three events.
This year, the 8K and one-mile race took place on June 26. The Goodyear Half Marathon and 10K will take place on Aug. 14. The series will culminate on Sept. 25 with the Akron Marathon, Half Marathon and team relay.
The Blue Line Beginners has the yearly goal of running the Akron Race Series. The club started in 2017 Holly Bishop (second from right) receives the “motivator award” after a run with the Running2bWell Akron group, which meets at Second Sole Akrun.
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It’s almost Pumpkin Season! You can make a glass pumpkin right here in Akron. No experience needed Must be at least 15 years old Sign up on our website www.akronglassworks.com
Hot Glass Studio and Gallery
421 Spicer St. Akron 330.253.5888 www.akronglassworks.com
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August 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
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Twisted Meltz brings sandwiches, ice cream to Highland Square BY EMILY ANDERSON FOR TDS PHOTOS BY EMILY ANDERSON
H
ighland Square has filled another one of its empty spaces.
This one was the original home of Mr. Zub’s Deli, and after that, housed Cheese and Chong’s. Now, after sitting empty for over a year, It’s serving up sandwiches from Twisted Meltz. Twisted Meltz is a fast-casual sandwich and ice cream shop. They’re open for business now, with a “good vibes” neon sign above the service window, and a drippy, melty mural by Art Bomb Brigade covering the largest wall. When I met with the owner, Steve Tannous, the space was still dusty and the details were still coming together. We chatted over a scoop of ice cream while he detailed a tabletop. Tannous, who grew up in Lakewood and spent 15 years working in sales, decided he wanted to open up a restaurant after falling in love with all the fun food on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives series. He established Twisted Meltz in Kent in
2013, featuring a whimsical menu of grilled cheese sandwiches named after Kent State University Alumni. A second satellite location of Twisted Melts opened inside of Dominic’s Pub in Cuyahoga Falls this January. The choice to open up a third Twisted Meltz — this time in Highland Square — was easy for Tannous. He moved to the area in 2019 and fell in love with it. “It reminded me of where I grew up — the diversity and walkable neighborhood. I feel at home here,” he says. When I asked Tannous if he was worried about being in competition with Zub’s right across the street, Bob’s Hamburg’s inside Ray’s, and Mary Coyle’s ice cream a few doors down, he quickly said no. “There should be more unique dining experiences in Highland Square,” he says. “It’s not a competition, it brings more people into the area and helps everyone.” He’s right. People visiting Twisted Meltz are extremely likely to visit other shops and restaurants, while
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customers from other places are likely to be curious about Twisted Meltz. Now, about the food. Whether you’re a proud carnivore or herbivore, you have something to get excited about on this menu. Twisted Meltz serves sharable fried appetizers, grilled cheese sandwiches, burgers and ice cream. Tannous cares a lot about the products he uses in his sandwiches and sundaes. The cheese is thoughtfully sourced from Wisconsin, and the ice cream is from Ashby’s in Michigan. Everything at Twisted Meltz is made to order, and most sammies are available vegan and/or gluten-free with a few simple substitutions. Tannous is most excited about this new location of Twisted Meltz because he believes it could become a staple in town. Also, the kitchen is the biggest one he’s ever worked with, so he’s thinking about
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expanding the menu eventually. “Maybe some loaded mac ‘n cheese bowls,” he hints. “I always wanted to offer those.” After spending the summer focusing on Twisted Meltz, Tannous plans to take over operations at the Matinee in August. He wants to give the place a facelift — update the floor, ceiling and bathrooms, and install a garage door out front facing the sidewalk. “It’ll be mostly the same,” he tells me reassuringly. Twisted Meltz is open from 11am to 10 pm Sunday-Wednesday, and 11 am to 11 pm ThursdaySaturday. Follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates and job opportunities. Emily Anderson believes there is no such thing as too many sandwiches.
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You
A R A D I O S TAT I O N A S UNIQUE AS YOU ARE, POWERED BY MUSIC, COMMUNITY &
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old days, I am working without the high-wire net that used to be my goto fallback. Yet, some days require something MUCH more. More than the ordinary teeth-gnashing and anticipatory anxiety. I am that person that is prone to some pretty incredible low-skilled shenanigans when peacock prancing and showing off my fantastic foibles. A few come to mind frequently, and some of these are hard to forget.
Grit and Grace BY MARC LEE SHANNON FOR TDS What is it? What drives you to your daily destination, the approach, the planning and the completion of another 24 frames? Every single one of us hears that inner voice when we fire up our ultra-modern communication device, inhale deeply and face another start of the day. What gets you up to meet this existence as a sensational, yet sometimes perfectly flawed, human being? We are all so much more than what we do; we are complex beings with extraordinary abilities, yet how do we find the daily, everyday ju-ju just to get going? Is it Grit or Grace? Most days, for me, it’s just Grit. That dive deep, get it done, desire not to let anything stop me. Not this time. Not like before. Not ever. You see, I had this happen and … Right. As a person in long-term recovery, I am very aware of my past and often am keen that I need something more better-er at times because, unlike the
Like the time a while ago when I got mixed up and somehow forgot it was the day of the week I always call my 92-year-old mom in Florida. Every Friday at 7 a.m., pronto. . Sharp as a razor —diligent and on schedule —she had been up, dressed and had her small breakfast of two bites of a donut, bran cereal, fruit and coffee. She’s there waiting for her predictable and constantly reliable every weeksame-time call. Waiting and waiting and looking out to her quiet tropical garden flowers on the lanai from her tiny kitchen table. There are no self-apologies that can fix that knowing feeling that you have disappointed your mom. Or that time when I missed a vital work assignment deadline and found myself crashing into the spotlight, and the “everybody look at me” wall at 165 mph— the perfect outline of my pathetic reluctant form. A highlighted, enlarged image of me, arms flailing, and my confused head served up on a virtual public billboard in the midst of my all-star dufus mistake. I was breaking the one rule of survival in corporate life: One must avoid, at all costs, that idiot reveal of incompetence. Don’t be the one, the one that sticks out for the wrong reason. Ever. How about that time long before I got it together and was rambling lost and distracted in my texting drama walking down a Highland Square neighborhood pavement path at 1
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a.m. A not-so-great idea on many levels. My car had been apparently re-parked by some alien entity that was secretly sent this one time to confuse and annoy me, perfectly ending a mistake-laden circus-like day from hell. I must have been a sight to see as I rambled down that dark street lamp-lit lane. “It was going to end well,” I screamed out loud in my best reassuring cheerful voice. “It was going to end well.” Damned aliens. Well, maybe when Grit won’t get it, maybe there can be something else. Grace. Humility and compassion. Sympathetic concern for the suffering that we all share in the world of the living. Maybe I’m talking about simple elegance, courtesy and goodwill. Having the class to say and do the things that score some ninth-inning runs in the decency department. Maybe move us up a spot or two in the long, sweaty, hot queue in that imaginary waiting room in the sky. The self-awareness to know that we are all the same human beings and when Grit fails, we can always revert to Grace to remind ourselves that we are capable of significant failure—standing back up and using that lesson to learn and be a little better next time. An elegant recovery after a public sidewalk slip in the rain, coat muddied and trousers damp and our composure tested but not lost. A smile and a laugh at ourselves when it is our turn to fail and everyone just happened to see it and think it’s funny as hell. Grit is when we get back up, pull out our best mid-60’s debonair dash, brush back our jet black hair, light a smoke and pop a dimpled grin. You know, like Sean Connery’s Agent 007? The problem is that I have none of that in my bag. That’s where Grace comes in.
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Grace. The simple humbleness that says, “yes, I messed up, but that’s what happens to everyone.” No one is immune to the moments of revealing ourselves as we are — just one of the 7.5 billion imperfect people on this planet. And yes, you just got to see some of mine. Grace is me owning my less-thanperfect self. It’s part of the lesson that I needed to learn over six years ago when my life crashed, and I got sober. It has been a long river to float, but I think I am learning that letting go of holding onto things, the treacherous rocks that are my ego and swirling downstream, is more fun and easier on the heart. Yes. I have more Grit. But it's Grace that gets me over the rapids and keeps the raft inflated. It is the lifting updraft that gently carries me over the rougher parts of my day. It is the Grit that gets me to it and the Grace that gets me through it. It quietly reminds me to remember I’m not uniquely special in my failings and sufferings. The universe, like some kind of spiritual Amazon, delivers some of this to everyone. and in that way, we are all very much the same. Right. Now to set that alarm appointment in my phone calendar to call my mom... Steady on. mls Reach Marc Lee Shannon at marcleeshannon@gmail.com. Listen to “Recovery Talks: The Podcast” from 91.3 The Summit at: www. recoverytalks.org, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Find his music on bandcamp. com.
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August Horoscope BY ANGIE AGNONI FOR TDS
E
ntering August during the Zodiacal time of Leo. It’s the hottest time of the year in the northern hemisphere and why our ancients associated Leo with the energy of the sun. And like the sun, Leos love to glow. Rewatch the movie, “Little Miss Sunshine” and you’ll get the idea. This year’s Leo new moon takes place on Aug. 8 and is aligned with a powerful annual cosmic occurrence called Lion’s Gate, which is a bit
of a new-agey holiday where the fixed star Sirius aligns beside Orion's Belt and the pyramids of Egypt. It is said to bestow many spiritual blessings that accelerate personal transformation, cleanse negativity and enhance love. Leo is the sign of the brave-hearted, so take a chance and express what’s in your heart. Legendary Leo, Bert Lahr, famously as the Cowardly Lion in MGM’s “Wizard of Oz” would remind us, “laughter is never too far away from tears.” So have fun and play some, even if you’re feeling sad.
On Aug. 16, Venus leaves the particular sign of Virgo and moves into the romantic sign of Libra. Another indication of love is currently in the air. Be sure to look for it if that’s what your little heart desires. On Aug. 19, there’s a 2021 climax when the great awakener planet, Uranus, will station retrograde and shift backward until Jan. 18. The day a planet stations (either backward or forward), the energy it bestows intensifies, so pay attention to how your life alters around these times. You might get that ah-ha moment
you have been waiting on to come in like a flash of lightning. On Aug. 22 two things happen: First, we’ll have our second full moon in a row take place in the sign of Aquarius. Two, the sun moves into the sign of Virgo. The way I see this playing out is after a few weeks of the Leo and peak heat of the sun’s energy swirling around, something gets real laser-focused in your life.
Tarotscopes BY ALLYSON SMITH
T
he month of August is bringing introspection, union and fresh starts. A general sense of positivity, newness and a willingness to embrace change allows us to explore avenues we have never taken and achieve balance with those around us. Perhaps new adventures will occur and we can bring new friends along with us to find us new perspectives. Our first card, The Hermit, encourages us to indulge in soulsearching and reflection. Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? While being a hermit implies loneliness and isolation, this
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month is encouraging you to get to know yourself, the new you that is beginning to emerge. You have the option to be whoever you want to be. Who is this new person that you’re bringing to the table? Allow them to flourish and grow. It’s OK to be the center of attention sometimes. With the influence of the II of Cups, we’re being asked to balance this self-reflection and self-focus with connecting with those around us. Now is the time to build bridges, break bread, and find common ground with the people around us.
shell and make new friends. There is always room for more people at the table. Partnerships have the opportunity to become stronger, whether they are in the workplace, friendships, or romantic relationships. Take the opportunity to network and make new connections, wherever you can. You never know what doors may open. Echoing that sentiment is The Fool. The Fool isn’t called this because he is silly or unwise, but because he is venturing into the unknown without fear. He represents innocence and a sense of freedom.
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Allow yourself to experience the unknown this month. Let go of the need for control, the tendency to say no, and simply experience what life brings to you. Entertain new beginnings, new friends, and new adventures. The opportunities are endless once you open yourself up to them. This card drives home the messages The Hermit and II of Cups are bringing us this month. The theme of August is “new.” Allow yourself to experience it. Tarot cards: These cards are from the Rust Belt Arcana tarot deck, released in 2018 by Belt Publishing. Each card in the deck features a creature from Northeast Ohio, illustrated by David Wilson.
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Unencrypted | Pipeline held for ransom BY JOHN NICHOLAS FOR TDS
T
he recent hack of the Colonial Pipeline by a Russian cybercriminal group called DarkSide is the second big warning shot in the past year, the first being the SolarWinds hack late last year. While the SolarWinds hack may have been obscure for most of us, everyone can relate to the gasoline supply being cut off. Ransomware is malicious code usually downloaded through phishing emails or embedded in a website. Once it has been downloaded onto your device, it begins encrypting all of the files on your computer. It can also encrypt files on a shared drive, a mapped drive, and the files stored in the cloud if those folders are shared on your device. Once all of your files are encrypted, they are unusable and the ransomware provides a pop-up window informing you how and where to pay the ransom to get the key to restore your files. This can be devastating for the individual and catastrophic for companies. But what can you do once you have been affected by ransomware?
First: Contact the FBI. Ransomware is a big problem from both a criminal and cyber-warfare point of view and should not be taken lightly. It is a threat to our economy and our democracy. Once you have done that, there are really just three options.
Option 2: Call in cybersecurity experts Contact a cybersecurity company. These companies are dedicated to the craft of cybersecurity. If the ransomware is known by these companies (meaning not a new variant) then they may be able to restore your files for a fee.
Option 1: Frequent back-ups As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I always have backups on three cloud services and a removable hard drive. The cloud service backs up in real time. The removable hard drive served as an “air-gapped” device, meaning that it has no connection to my machines when it is not physically connected to one of them. I back up my files every other day with the removable hard drive. Cloud service providers backup all data they store for you regularly and if you are hit by ransomware, you should be able to recover most files quickly from that backup. It is like having a backup for your backup. If you restore the files, you should still inform the FBI of the attack.
This is much more practical for companies than individuals, however, their fee will be less than the cybercriminal’s fee. There are limitations to their ability to unencrypt all the files or even to unencrypt any files depending on the level of the ransomware. Option 3 (not recommended): Pay the ransom. If you do not have backups and the FBI and private companies cannot help you, this might be the only choice. But it is still a bad idea. Colonial Pipeline paid $5 million in ransom despite the pleas from the U.S. government to not do so. We do not pay ransom to terrorists who hold humans hostage, so why would we pay to liberate data? Further, you are
dealing with international criminals and there is no guarantee that they will give you the key to unencrypt the files even once you have paid. You are contributing to the expansion of cybercrime. Paying the ransom should always be the last option. In the meantime, backup all of your data regularly and in different places. Do not open a link or file in an email unless you are 100% certain you know who sent it. Do not click on random pop-ups on a website. There is no quick solution to cybersecurity issues. It is a matter of diligence, patience, common sense and using cybersecurity best practices. I would like to hear your questions and concerns for future articles at jbnicholasphd@gmail.com. Dr. John B. Nicholas is a Professor of Computer Information Systems and Co-Founder of the Cybersecurity Degree Track at The University of Akron. Dr. Nicholas has over 30 years of experience in the technology field in both the private sector and in higher education.
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URINE LUCK with Marissa Marangoni Brews and B(ath) rooms BY MARISSA MARANGONI FOR TDS PHOTOS BY MARISSA MARANGONI
L
ast Thursday, I had completed approximately 90 minutes of work by 2 p.m., and it was very clear that I would be getting approximately nothing else done unless I completely ditched my plan for the day and re-started. And, well, what better way to reset than to go to the newest local brewery and drink a flight of beers and then try to resume content design and development? Copley is home to the longanticipated Brighten Brewing Company at 1374 South ClevelandMassillon Road. It’s been under construction for a while — as has the damn road — and I am pretty certain the pandemic that I am so sick of only complicated its opening. Brighten opened its doors this summer, and after more than a year of avoiding eating at any restaurant/bar/brewery, I threw caution to the wind. Sort of. Fine, not really, because Brighten has outdoor seating, and I wasn’t going to bother getting out of the car if the parking lot was full. Thursday at 2 p.m. isn’t a hot time to go to a brewery and my husband and I were the only two people in the place. This was ideal, but since there was no one else to look at, I likely seemed pretty strange when, after using the women’s room, I announced, “I have to go look at the other bathroom now” and did just that. I may have lost my bathroom reviewer finesse since I last acted as half of Urine Luck. It is possible that I never had any to begin with and counted on other patrons to help me blend in when I did my reviews. It is also possible that I never actually blended in to begin with. I should probably just get a T-shirt that says, “Don’t mind me, I just have to pee” to further spotlight my social ineptitude. Brighten Brewing has a big, open floor plan, so it is impossible not to
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see the bathrooms. They are along the wall to the right of the bar. There are four—that’s right, FOUR!— bathrooms at this brewery: a men’s, a women’s and two family bathrooms. This is great for a variety of reasons. The main one being that if there’s a line—which is inevitable when your main dish is beer—there are plenty of options for relief. I sadly did not look in all four bathrooms, so we have to work off of assumptions here. Based on the women’s room, the men’s room also has two stalls—one regular and one handicapped stall. The family bathrooms, again only working off of the one, are spacious single-stallers where you can drag your kid in with you and make them wait in the center of the space without every inch of their skin coming into contact with every surface in the room. The downside here is that I didn’t find any changing tables. I didn’t need any, luckily, and I suspect that until there is a food menu (which is in the works), there might not be much of a demand for them. Even so, when you find a family bathroom, you usually find a changing table. The bathrooms have the same style: clean and modern. Maybe a little industrial. You might say that these bathrooms are so clean you could eat off the floor in them, but I won’t say that, and I won’t try it, either. But you could say it and probably do it and likely be okay. I sincerely appreciated the lack of grossness. The walls are tiled in a dark gray then painted in a calming sea-foam green. The sink counter is made from what looks like butcher block, which is a cool touch, and the floors are cement with that sort of unfinished-finished look. The stalls are gray. All in all, the color palette is pleasing, and it matches the rest of the brewery décor. These are bathrooms I’d go to after drinking a few beers instead of just crossing my legs awkwardly at the table until it was impossible to stay seated any longer. Brighten’s bathrooms are quiet. There’s nothing overly exciting in them, but after this whole year and a half, I’m all for peaceful pooping vibes. The brewery is very new and
there’s plenty of time for excitement later. I can easily picture some pieces of local art on the walls to add some flair in the future. What stood out to me the most was how good they smelled. That, I think, is something I have only said one other time in a UL review, and I am hard-pressed to say that ever (for obvious reasons). These bathrooms smelled so good, though, that I had to do some investigation to uncover the secret, which was hidden in plain sight: a few wooden sticks partially submerged in the goodsmells-solution in a glass jar. There is probably a name for this, but I don’t know it, and I am worried that if I Google it, I will be stuck here at my computer for the next six hours reading about the best scents for every bathroom. At any rate, I wish my own bathrooms smelled like this mix of what I imagine is probably titled “fresh laundry” and “ocean breeze.”
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I give Brighten Brewing Company in Copley a 4.5/5 toilets because I appreciate the number of goodsmelling toilets available and the clean, quiet design. Go to Brighten for the beers (I am partial to their red ale Paddy’s), and don’t be afraid to use the bathrooms. Marissa is the co-author of Urine Luck with Emily Dressler. She writes about bathrooms and other things and has been writing for the Devil Strip since August 2015.
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august 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #8
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Lock3Live.com
Sunday
7-10 PM
Cinema Family-Friendly Movie Nights Movie begins at dusk
Sunday
DANIEL HORRIGAN, MAYOR
AUG 6 Hotel California The Original Tribute to the Eagles with Heart & Soul First Friday $5 Admission
AUG 13 Full Moon Fever
Gospel
at LOCK 4
August 8th and 22nd 4-6 PM
Wednesday
Tom Petty Tribute Band with Ravenwood
AUG 20 Straight On Heart Tribute with Detention
AUG 27 Simply Queen
Lock 3 Stage 7-9 PM through Sept 29
Thursdays 7-9 PM
Queen Tribute with Twist Offs
SEPT 3 ZOSO The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Tribute with Lady Lyre First Friday $5 Admission
Yard games, drinks specials, music, and more!
Visit Lock3Live.com for dates and locations of movies throughout the city.
AUG 7
Akron’s ReaL DeaL with Forecast
Free Admission
AUG 14
AUG 28
SEPT 11
Akron Jazz Festival
with Willie B & Friends and Floco
Akron Pride Festival Naughty By akronpridefestival.org Nature
The Platters
with Jul Big Green
Pieces of A Dream at Akron Civic Theatre Sponsored by Lock 3 akroncivic.com
Free Admission
Tickets on sale at Lock3Live.com
FRI. SEPT. 3rd 5-11 PM 7:00 PM 8:30 PM
Lady Lyre ZOSO
SAT. SEPT. 4th Noon-11 PM
The Akron PIZZA Fest is a 3-day food and music festival featuring pizza parlors from all over the Akron-Canton area. Live music, pizza eating contests, free-to-play cornhole, kids land and much more.
ADMISSION $5 September 3-5, 2021 $2 age 13 to 17 | Free 12 and under | $3 Students with current college ID
12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:45 PM 8:30 PM
Latin Jazz Players Bradfords Gate Rock Radio Band The Iron Maidens
SUN. SEPT. 5th Noon-8 PM 1:30 PM 4:00 PM
The Besides Bad JuJu
FRIDAY 11 AM–2 PM – Free Admission
AkronPizzaFest.com
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