Posts Tagged "cincinnati"

We Stood to Witness Officer Sonny Kim’s Funeral Procession

Dear Kid,

Yesterday was the funeral of Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim.

Officer Kim was shot and killed in a violent episode last week.

There’s been a lot written about the shooting and about Officer Kim’s life as a community builder, husband, father, and karate instructor. Clearly he had a huge impact on those whose lives he touched.

Officer Sonny Kim's funeral procession stretched for 14 miles along Montgomery Road in Cincinnati. DearKidLoveMom.comYesterday, after the service, the funeral procession drove up Montgomery Road to the Gates of Heaven cemetery.

Most of the people in my office took a break from the day to go outside and watch the processional.

For 45 minutes we stood in silence as police cars from different municipalities—and different states—drove by. We just stood in tribute.

And all along the 14 mile route, people stopped what they were doing, came outside, and witnessed the day.

There was something profoundly moving about the tribute to the fallen officer.

Nothing can make up for the loss to his family, to the police force, to the community. And yesterday’s events probably didn’t touch the lives of those who live in violence or mental illness.

But I like to believe that – for a short time at least – we, the Cincinnati community, were joined together hoping and praying for a better world.

Love, Mom

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It’s 513Day! And Everyone Can Celebrate

Dear Kid,

#513Day Let's celebrate Cincinnati! DearKidLoveMom.comToday is 513Day!

Really.

It’s May 13th, 513 is our area code, and the Amazing Debba has created 513Day.

Really, really.

The Mayor is even declaring it (which is pretty nifty).

So, it’s official! May 13th is hereby declared (officially!) ‘513 Day’ in Cincinnati!

You don’t have to be anywhere at a particular time. You don’t have to pay anything. You don’t have to dress up or dress down. You don’t have to train for it. You don’t have to worry about the weather, or carry an umbrella, or wear sunscreen for it.

(You should wear sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen. But it’s not because of 513Day.)

513Day is a day and movement to celebrate the good things happening in the 513 area code area (the whole region, even you Northern 859 Kentucky! – sorry there’s no 59th of August :).

513Day was started by Debba Haupert, founder of Girlfriendology.com – online community for women based on female friendship. The goal is to celebrate the good things about Cincinnati on May 13th and every day between May 13ths.

How (you ask) does one celebrate 513Day?

It’s easy.

Celebrate Cincinnati. Enjoy our town. Flood social media with the hashtag #513Day. LIKE DearKidLoveMom (that’s not 513Day related, but it can’t hurt).

Isn’t it cool to be part of the first ever 513Day?

Love, Mom

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Interfaith Hospitality Network | Doing Good in Cincinnati

Dear Kid,

Last week I went to a fundraising event for the Interfaith Hospitality Network (because I’ve bonded with them, we can call it IHN).

The IHN is a coalition of 90 congregations throughout Cincinnati that help homeless families stay together and escape homelessness. IHN is one of only two shelters in the area that keeps the entire family together (most organizations separate fathers and teenage boys from the women and children).

Twenty seven of the congregations open their doors during the year to feed the families, play with their children, and give them a place to spend the night.

Instead of an invocation, Rabbi Wise gave a very nice d’var Torah (only he didn’t call it that) on the theme of “The best way to give thanks is to share what we have with those in need.”

Over 350 use IHN each year and 250 of those are children. That’s 28,000 meals.

Dr. Santa Ono, President of the University of Cincinnati speaking at the breakfast for the Interfaith Hospitality Network DearKidLoveMom.comDr. Santa J. Ono was the guest speaker. (In case you don’t remember, he’s the Very Impressive President of the University of Cincinnati.)

In serving others, you learn how to model yourself. –Ono

The fact is, being homeless is not a disease. It is not contagious. No one deserves to be homeless or poor and homelessness can happen to the best of us. Every person you know, every person you have ever known, every person you will ever meet has the potential to face difficult times, to find themselves unable to pay their rent, unable to buy food for their family, unable to find a job.

At UC, they work to educate students not just in academics but in being good people. “We want them—wherever they go—to serve others as a part of their lives.”

Dr. Ono believes that when we help others, we help ourselves. He’s not alone in that belief—and that is a wonderful thing.

After Dr. Ono, Beatrice, a former IHN client, spoke. Wow. Just Wow. She had been homeless but with IHN’s help within 35 days she and her son were in an apartment and she had a job. “Homelessness does not mean helplessness.”

Following Beatrice, the executive director of IHN spoke. In a morning of powerful statements, she made one of the most impactful. She said, “Children should not have to shoulder the burden of a family. They should run and play and screech with joy.” No child should know the fear of sleeping in a car.

Given what I learned at the YWCA event, I know that there are often times when children don’t have the luxury to be children. We all need work to let kids be kids.

85% of the families that use IHN services never return to homelessness. That is an amazing statistic.

Thank you, Stacey, for inviting me to the breakfast and introducing me to the Interfaith Hospitality network and all the good it does in our community.

Love, Mom

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Cincinnati Bengals Win in a Nail Biter (Don’t Bite Your Nails)

Dear Kid,

In case you were studying (yeah, I’m laughing too) and missed the Bengals game (or in case you were watching in Spanish of which I happen to know you speak not a word [did you know they simulcast in Spanish?]), I thought I would bring you my own special brand of Broad-casting.

Love Watching the Bengals Win! Who Dey! DearKidLoveMom.comKickoff through the endzone which is a touchback. Amazingly, even though it got to the endzone differently than Pi’s did, it has the same effect and Our Boys take the field on the 20. Striped dudes quickly get a first down. Sanu catches an uncatchable throw from Dalton by extending his arm three inches beyond his reach. Timeout Cincinnati (What? Why?) which turns out to be a bad idea, because they got sacked immediately afterword.

I think commentators need to change their perspective. They keep talking about “settling for a field goal.” How silly. The correct phraseology is “have the wonderful luck of scoring with a beautiful field goal” or possibly “being rescued by the kicker who managed to get points on the board when the rest of the time couldn’t.”

TD Bengals. Woot! PAT is solid. 7:0.

Kickoff, runback, penalty, bunch of plays, we almost intercept but dude was bobbling as he went out of bounds (still a good try), fourth and inches to the goal (what to do, what to do), they go for it, pass incomplete (should have let your kicker rescue you, boys), and the Bengals take over.

Your father, and several other Sycamore dads have pointed out on more than one occasion that Sir Madden says “Get the points.” Which we interpret to mean “let Pi kick the FG rather than blowing it on a fourth down attempt.” Baltimore should pay more attention to Dads and Sir Madden.

Bengals start on the not-very-many yard line. And the first quarter comes to an end.

Bengals, Ravens, commentary, commentary. Excellent D, and the Bengals get the ball back. Well, it was about to go that way. Instead, we oopsed, got a penalty, they oopsed, got a penalty. And the Ravens pay attention and allow their kicker to rescue them. 7:3.

Allergy medicine commercial makes me want to get a new puppy. Not sure that’s what they intended.

Commentator: And a new set of downs for Andy Dalton and the Bengals.

Makes me wonder if they ever recycle downs. “And a gently used set of downs for Dalton and the Bengals.”

Killer bunch of penalties (coaches will not be happy) and we punt. Bye-bye ball. Play, play.

Whistle was blown erroneously. Commentators are having a field day with that phrase. Not sure if they don’t really know what it means or if they just like the word “erroneously.” Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously. Extra points if you get the reference.

Ravens try a 50 yard FG. 7:6. See what happens when you listen to Papa Madden?

A few plays later, the half ends.

I’m sure interesting things were said during halftime, but I was in the kitchen dealing with the chaos there, so I didn’t hear any of it firsthand. I suspect it had something to do with the number of penalties the Bengals enjoyed.

Ravens get the ball. No biggie, because we intercept it. Woot! And promptly turn it into a touchdown. PAT is perfect. Of course. 14:6.

Kickoff. Play. Play. We intercept. BENGALS ROCK!!!

And we promptly allow Nugent to show how wonderful he is. 17:6.

Sorry. Got distracted for a minute. Turns out the Ravens decided to play football and scored a touchdown. With the two-point conversion, the score is now 17:14.

All is fine. Our boys take the ball. Nugent kicks a FG. 20:14.

This is the commercial point in our show. As in 1 minute of football, 17 hours of commercials. Rinse and repeat. Yawn.

Ravens have the ball. Hail Mary full of incomplete. More commercials. Punt. AND WE HAVE THE BALL BACK!

But wait! There’s more! Dalton loses the football (yark!), a Raven-type person picks it up and runs to the 8 before being tackled. (Officially: sack/fumble.) Next play is a Raven TD. The next play puts the Ravens in the lead. If you’re a Raven fan, you’re pretty happy right about now. I’m not. 20:21.

Come on, Bengals, time to get some more points.

Sigh. Ravens intercept. Booker is sighing too. But we have 5 minutes left (which is about 6 hours in football time), we have plenty of time left. Ravens kick a 53 yard FG (yay for kickers in general but not for this play specifically). 20:24. Some fans are leaving the stadium. Silly people.

Two incomplete passes (talk of doom and gloom by the commentators). Then Dalton rips one about 1,000 yards to Sanu! We’re on the 18. Small pass. Run goes nowhere. They want to run because there is so much time on the clock the commentators explain. So Dalton passes to inside the 10.

Two minute warning.

Did that commercial just show a guy leaving his dog alone, overnight, unplanned!!!? I hope I misunderstood because that’s just awful. Unplanned indeed.

Bengals to the 5.

Bengals to the 1 centimeter line. Ravens call time out.

Cinci to the 1 foot line. Ravens time out. Fourth and goal.

TOUCHDOWN!! THE CROWD GOES WILD. Booker sneezes. PAT perfecto.

57 seconds on the clock. 27:24. CanNOT believe people left this game early. Even those of us that might be napping are watching with mucho interest.

In case math isn’t your strong suit, the Bengals job is now to keep the Ravens out of field goal range. (See what I mean about kickers rescuing teams?)

Kick is bobbled in the endzone and the Ravens start on the 20. Two incomplete passes. Third and 10 with 47 seconds. This is so exciting! Holy @#$%@#$%. Pass complete, in for a TD, but brought back on a penalty. (It’s ok. I don’t need the couple of years that just took off my life.)

Thirty-two seconds.

Third and 20. Somebody tackle him!!! Flacco has to throw it away.

Fourth down.

Short pass. Dude runs a little but out of bounds short of the first down.

AND THE BENGALS WIN! THE BENGALS WIN! Who Dey!!! And don’t all those people who left early feel dumb now?

Nicely done, Striped Ones, nicely done.

Love, Mom

Real Bengals fans Like DearKidLoveMom.

 

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Candy Corn, Cincinnati, and the Greatest Diet Ever

Dear Kid,

Once upon a time, there was no such thing as candy corn. There was candy. There was corn. But the two remained independent.

Then in the 1880s, George Renninger of the Philadelphia, PA-based Wunderle Candy Company got tired of keeping veggies and dessert separate and created candy corn (which of course has everything to do with candy and much less to do with corn).

The history of candy corn, how Cincinnati is involved, and the greatest diet ever. DearKidLoveMom.comGeorge may have been the first, but Gustav Goelitz is the true father of candy corn. He’s the first candy maker to begin commercial production (1898) in – wait for it – Cincinnati, OH. Yep, candy corn’s real life began here in the Queen City.

Back in the Day, candy corn was made by cooking sugar, water, and corn syrup, adding fondant (for texture) and marshmallow (for softness) and then pouring the hot deliciousness into big buckets 45 pounds at a time. The 45 pounds was then applied directly to my hips. No, wait. It just seems that way.

The candy was poured (one color layer at a time) into molds (shaped like corn kernels—sort of), cooled, and sold. Turns out veggie candy was popular and the Goelitz Candy Company made other veggie shapes for a while. Fortunately, they got over that and vegetables went back to being made out of marzipan which is how it is supposed to be.

During WWI, Herman son of Gustav moved to California and formed the creatively named Herman Goelitz Candy Company. Continuing the creative process, Herman made candy corn. Lots and lots of candy corn.

These days over 25 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually. Most bypass retail locations and head directly for my hips. No, wait. It just seems that way.

“Indian corn” is candy corn with a chocolate bottom. This is an approved (by me) version of candy corn.

There are all kinds of imposter-type candy corn (candy corns? candies corn? yark! What’s the protocol here?) including a blackberry cobbler candy corn (in Canada), Christmas “reindeer corn,” Easter “bunny corn,” Valentine’s “cupid corn,” and patriotic “freedom corn.” These are all ridiculous, but probably require much research on my part. Especially the blackberry cobbler corn.

Candy corn has 3.57 calories per kernel. I estimate it takes about 4 calories to chew and digest a single candy corn. Which means this may be the greatest diet ever invented! I just love estimation.

And I love you, too.

Love, Mom

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