Meet the main characters of Camp '67

In 1967 Cathy Wilkes created Camp Hopenoke, an engaging safe space where children of all races or creeds could come together and learn to be friends in a world that was severely, racially divided. While the camp at large may not have had a lasting impact on all of the campers there were a few who took something away from their time at Camp Hopenoke… 

Nicky was shorter than most of the boys and even some of the girls in his grade. He didn’t care much about his appearance or his hygiene. Mr. Amoretti was a rather large man with a thick mustache and a head full of graying hair that he kept manicured. He owned two small car lots, a smoke shop, and was preparing to open up a bar. Sitting in the passenger seat was his wife and Nicky’s mother, Mrs. Amoretti. She was a very stunning woman for her age with brunette hair and a keen eye for fashion. While her husband worked Mrs. Amoretti played homemaker, happily raising their family in a sumptuous suburban lifestyle.

Nicky’s oldest brother Luca was 25 years old and lived out of town with his wife and newborn son. The Amoretti’s middle child Mike was preparing for his freshman semester at an out of state college in the fall. Nicky was very close to Mike and imitated everything he did. He looked up to his big brother like most boys would. Nicky wore the same jersey number Mike wore during his first year as a member of the town’s junior high football team. Even Nicky’s resemblance to Mike caused many of his teachers to mistakenly address Nicky by his older brother‘s name.

Starry Nights in Heaven by Brendan Whitt

My summer in Cleveland has been full of adventure. I attended my first Parade the Circle, enjoyed the festivities of The Cleveland Museum of Art’s centennial and even flew on a plane for the first time. This past Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the 81st Anisfeld-Wolf Book Awards. The winners included Lillian Faderman (The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle) and Brian Seibert (What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing) both for nonfiction, Mary Morris (The Jazz Place) for fiction and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Orlando Patterson (The Cultural Matrix Understanding Black Youth).

Although Patterson’s speech personally for me was the most moving moment of the awards it was Rowan Ricardo Phillips who had captured my attention. Rowan was the recipient of the Anisfeld-Wolf Award for Poetry for his second collection titled Heaven published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The first poem of the book titled “The Mind After Everything Has Happened” posed the question “Who in the Hell’s Heaven is this?”

My Truth, My Fiction

Fiction is more than just a genre. It is most often a mirror that reflects the world of which we live in. Sometimes the fictional worlds that we consume can tell us more about reality than we can understand on our own.

Cleveland is the basis for all of my writing. I was born here, raised here and I hope to make a living here. Artists have always reflected on their lives through their work. Picasso’s “Terror and Annihilation” depicted his negative feelings towards WWI and it’s no secret that Spike Lee shares his sociological views through such films as School Daze and Do the Right Thing.

When I first decided to pursue creative writing I had no idea how much of my subconscious and memories would unlock themselves and become exposed on the page. I started off as a hopeful journalist in high school but by college I had figured out that I wanted to become an author and screenwriter because of the power of creativity.

My first short novel, A Summer In Harlem, told the story of 14 year old Beloit, Alabama native Thad as he traveled alone to Harlem during the summer of 1948 to visit his aunt and three cousins. Originally I was trying to create my own Gatsby-esque storyline. The story in turn ended up becoming a representation of the urban life I knew growing up in Cleveland’s east side neighborhood of Hough. Much like a drive from Downtown Cleveland into the upper east side the scenery is telling of Thad’s surroundings.

A Summer In Harlem, Chapter 2:
“In New York the entire street was filled with cars and buses and trucks. And it wasn’t just one street. On every street it seemed like there was traffic from one intersection to the next. Thad hoped the scenery in Harlem was as beautiful as this...

Blought #33: DMCA vs Music Pt. 2

In part 1 of this piece I explored my legal understanding of the DMCA and what it means for the music business. The concerns of piracy and illegal distribution of content has led to the increasingly strong push for digital only music. Streaming also seems to be the industry’s fix a flat approach to curbing piracy.

Personally I believe this is a bit of a twist-arm approach. On one hand subscribers have access to millions of songs by countless artist. On the other hand not all content is available through all services. For example Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt is not available on Spotify.

The streaming industry is enjoying exponential growth as competition increases. Companies like Pandora and Spotify have been joined by Apple Music and Tidal as the newest horses to the race.

Blought #32: DMCA vs Music Pt. 1

When Kanye West announced the release of his latest album The Life of Pablo I was ecstatic. Sadly it came with a rather large asterisk. Not only did Yeezy announce that the album would be released exclusively in digital format, but that he was also only releasing it through Tidal. Thankfully the album was made available on Spotify but I’m still not able to complete my collection of Kanye’s physical albums.

Of course this issue is bigger than Kanye. After a bit of digging I’ve drawn the conclusion that the music baseness is moving away from physical music releases. This past spring over 400 musicians, mangers and labels signed a petition urging congress to make changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA.

The DMCA was unanimously passed by congress before being signed into law in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. At the time the internet as we know it was still in its infancy.  The DMCA was created as a provision to protect an artist’s work from being illegally distributed on the internet.

My First Parade the Circle

I have been a resident of the historic Newton Avenue for 21 years. Newton Avenue is just a stones throw from University Circle (UC), the rapidly growing cultural center in Uptown Cleveland. Since my childhood UC has grown exponentially. UC is the home of The Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals , Case Western Reserve University, The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) as well as the world renowned Severance Hall which houses the Cleveland Orchestra.

One sunny afternoon during the summer of 2014 I went on a museum trip with my girlfriend Laina. On our way through the CMA’s Arts Garden. The arts garden is a beautiful space that overlooks Wade Lagoon, a duck pond that is situated outside of the CMA’s former entrance.

Blought #31: The Lonely Soccer Fan

Whether you call it the world’s game, football, futbol, or simply soccer; one thing stands true. It is a bit lonely being an American soccer fan. The exchanges of goals and saves accompanied by the prideful chants and harmonious cheers of any given club or country's supporters are only matched by those of drunken college American football fans on Saturday afternoon.

I love soccer. Growing up Black in America during the 90’s soccer had no presence. On television even the NHL got more coverage. During the summer of 2006 I had just finished my freshman year of high school. I was laying around the house bored out of my mind when I decided to tune in to a soccer game. It was the Group E matchup between the US and Italy.

America drew 1-1 with Italy that game later failing to make the knockout round of 16. Italy later went on to claim the championship. That day soccer left two impression on me. The first one was seeing Brian McBride’s face covered in blood after a contested header. I remember thinking “Wow, soccer is a lot more physical than I thought.” The second was “I have a new sport to follow.”