Inspired Freelancer

Adventures in Cleveland: Allison Bencar and her Band

Julie Cajigas — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:08:21 -0500

My husband always teases me for my "adventures," which can involve anything from checking out the latest avant-garde gallery opening to traipsing through unfamiliar streets looking for ethnic delicacies. I will admit that I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to experiencing the city and the people in it. I will engage in conversation with just about anyone and my inquisitive nature always leads me to unique experiences.

For a good example of what I'm talking about, let's go back to my junior year of college. I was assigned to write a press release about Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll, a collection of monologues written by Eric Borgosian (I had no idea at the time that he was on Law and Order: Criminal Intent - and maybe he wasn't back then), for the University Marketing office, where I was an intern. I went to interview the director, and before I knew it, I had committed to singing in the show, which would feature a live band on a large platform above the stage, and which was opening in about two weeks. Beyond having a great time singing songs way outside my classical comfort zone like Heartbreaker and Deja Vu All Over Again, I also met some great people.

One of the people I got to know better through the show was Allison Bencar. Allison and I had met in the Cleveland State University Chorus, but we hadn't really had a chance to talk much during rehearsals. While preparing for the show, and during its weekend-long run, we had some time to get acquainted. Allison is one of those girls with an effortless, classic beauty and a vintage sense of style that evokes a sense of graceful beauty, like that of Audrey Hepburn. At first she might seem a little quiet, but as soon as she takes the stage, everyone around her is instantly captivated by her innocent yet sophisticated range of expression. Even my boyfriend at the time couldn't stop talking about her, and I suppose I never really blamed him. She was, well, she is something special.

After the performance, she and I connected via myspace and eventually via facebook. I kept up with her posts as they emerged in my news feed, but we hadn't kept in touch over the years. As fate would have it, we ran into each other at karaoke at Becky's, the requisite watering hole for Cleveland State University's Music, Communication and Theatre Departments, and Allie sang a beautiful rendition of Mazy Star's "Fade Into You." When I saw concert announcements on facebook over the next few months, I knew I had to get out and hear her.

In Summer 2009, Allie was playing in the Beachcliff plaza in Rocky River, and I was determined to finally make it. I asked two of my favorite Cleveland adventurers (and two of my favorite people in general), Paige (@shoesalwaysfit) and Kate (@kateeidam), to head out with me to hear Allison. I assumed the concert would be in one of the restaurants there, but instead, we saw the band setting up in the parking lot in front of the First Watch. We found a nearby curb, sat down and listened as Allison and her band played a few originals. I must say all of us were impressed with the performance.

I felt strange being there, among people who were clearly Allie's family and friends, who clearly new all the songs, along with a few shoppers and passers by who heard the music and wandered over. The music was romantic, bluesy and smooth and I was filled with a mixture of pride for my friend who was doing so well and an emotional connection to the music, which I found particularly moving. As Allie began to sing her rendition of Jewel's Foolish Games, she showed a refreshing vulnerability. It was clear that the song had personal meaning to her, and the emotion was palpable as she seemed choked up and overcome with emotion. She made it through the song, but the fact that we had seen something uncommonly beautiful hung in the air even as she moved on to other numbers.

After the performance I walked up to say hello and she greeted me as if we had maintained a close friendship over the years. That's Allison for you. It's been a long time since I've met someone who loves as openly and easily as Allison. She is the kind of person that makes you feel like you can be yourself and be completely accepted and appreciated. We chatted a bit and as I often do when I'm excited, I started telling her that I'd love to take photos of her sometime and maybe help her with some marketing. Then, I mentioned that I also played violin and maybe sometime, if she needed a violinist, I could play with the group.

That's how my adventure five years ago with the Cleveland State University drama department ended with me playing in a band.

Allison invited me to bring my violin to a few rehearsals to see how I would fit with the band. I like to think we had an instant chemistry. Allison is backed up by some very talented and supportive musicians, all of whom I immediately enjoyed working with. Within a few weeks I had learned the existing string parts for one or two songs, and written parts for all of the other originals in Allison's repertoire. I also picked up small percussion and some back-up vocals. In the past six months I have had the pleasure of supporting Allison at Brother's Lounge (multiple times), The Roc Bar and Cleveland Public Theatre's Pandemonium (among others) as a member of her band. The experience is one I never really expected. I'm a classical singer and violinist (though I did once enter a Scottish Fiddle Competition); I don't really sing or play popular music. Well, I do now.

What an incredible opportunity to be able to stand on stage with Allison, who, if I haven't mentioned it, is an excellent singer and performer, and to headline shows, even if only in local venues thus far. This Saturday night we played a three-hour set at Brother's Lounge in Cleveland after sharing dinner together at the iconic "My Friends Deli and Restaurant." It was a great show and a lot of fun. After the show, Allison invited everyone to celebrate with her and her family in her cozy Lakewood Apartment. As we were sitting in the kitchen while Allie's mom made grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone, and Allie made me a hot cup of tea, I realized yet again how lucky I am to live in Cleveland, a city where people like Allison are making a difference, not only through their art and music, which is abundant here in Cleveland, but through their open, wonderful personalities that have built a strong, vibrant and unrivaled community.

I can't wait to see where Allison Bencar's career goes, whether I stay on as her violinist or shift back to being a fan. Either way, I know our friendship will continue to be a special part of my life and a testament to my Cleveland adventures!

Thanks for the grilled cheese Allie.... :)

Oh, and if you read this and thought - hey, I want to know more about Allison Bencar... let me share some information. You can visit Allison's Myspace Page, become a fan on her Facebook Fan Page or the Allison Bencar Website, or, sign up to receive Allison Bencar Email Alerts about her concerts (I promise she won't spam you, only good stuff!). So there you have it!

Writing About Cleveland

Julie Cajigas — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:39:51 -0500

I probably should have made a New Years resolution to write in my blog more. But, if I'm being honest, the reason I don't write often is really a good one - I'm too busy writing for work. Now, if I could somehow figure out how to write for school, write for work, write for the blog and keep up with my twitter and facebook accounts, well, that would be quite a feat. In the meantime, I do what I can when I can, which leads to daily facebook and twitter use and only rarely leads to writing a blog post.

There has been a lot to write about the past three months that I haven't had the time to cover. Best of all, I've published several local stories including:

Pamper Yourself, One Natural Bar at a Time - a story about Cleveland's most remarkable soapmaker, Michelle Gilbert of Sarva Natural Artisan Soaps, written for Cool Cleveland.

Festivus - scroll down in Cool Cleveland's 12/16 newsletter to read a blurb and watch my video interview about the Festivus show at Cleveland's Walleye Gallery.

A Taste of Something Splendid - a recent story written for Ohio Authority magazine, Ohio's premier online magazine, about Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.

Sean Higgins, Cleveland's Rock and Roll Artist - a story about one of the coolest artists in Cleveland, Sean Higgins of The Bubble Process, written for Cool Cleveland.

On the Market Path to Fair Trade - scroll down in Cool Cleveland's 12/9 newsletter to see my video interview of The Market Path's Jennifer Browning. The Market Path is a cool fair trade shop in Akron's Highland square. After I wrote the story, I bought my new favorite hat there!

A Magical, Musical, Classical Christmas - an interview of Cleveland Orchestra Chorus director, Bob Porco about their upcoming series of Christmas concerts.

So, it has been an eventful time. I've enjoyed the opportunity to write about Cleveland, my hometown, and the place that is rapidly becoming a city people should want to visit. It's up to those of us who live here and experience the wonderful parts every day to show them why.

I would like to promise daily or at least bi-weekly posts, but school starts this Tuesday, and I will be immersed in the Health Communication and Multivariate Statistics world... So, for now, thanks for reading and I'll write soon!

Was this the worst "constructive" critique ever?

Julie Cajigas — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:52:55 -0500

I hate to have my first post after a long hiatus be a negative one, but I was recently exposed to what I consider a public relations faux pas. When recruiting for a position, as I'm sure many people have over the course of their career, you often receive cover letters and resumés that range from "needed a little more attention" to "laughable." If you have the time and feel you can assist someone, it can be a great act of mentorship to write someone back and offer them a meeting for constructive feedback on their cover letter.

What I wouldn't suggest as a great plan of action for assisting a new member of the workforce is the following:

1. Laugh at their letter - a lot. In fact, post it on the wall of your office for a year.

2. Decide to post it on the internet a year later (with all potential identifiers removed of course).

3. Ridicule the person within an inch of their life, within the context of faux pity, of course.

4. Be proud enough of this mean-spirited critique to leave it posted after many commenters point out its unprofessional nature.

5. Make ridiculous generalizations like "How full of themselves most young people are..."

Hopefully you are thinking, "gee Julie, who on Earth would do that?" Well, I'll tell you who: Ragan.com. I recommend reading the full letter in its entirety here: "Is this the worst cover letter ever?", so I can explain my disappointment in the letter and the author after you've had a chance to experience it for yourself.

Commence with my "constructive critique" (ha) of this post:

1. I hate to tell you this Ragan, but I had never heard of you before I read this piece. You had a wonderful opportunity to win me over with what you knew would be a strong PR piece because of its controversial nature. You failed. I do not think highly of your company based on this one piece, and if I was an average consumer, I would probably intentionally memorize your name so as not to do business with you, and never look at your page again.

2. You tell the letter writer "Excellent, except we don't do PR or Speechwriting." I'm not sure if you would be good speechwriters, but I think we can safely classify the "we don't do PR" statement under "duh." Nothing about this piece is good PR for your company, especially if you are hoping to attract nice people who value professionalism.

3. I was curious to see how the student got confused, so I went to your homepage. Frankly, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what it is you do. There's a publishing aspect, clearly, a consulting aspect that offers social media services (among others) and a "My Ragan." And then there's all those links on the left hand side bar. As a potential client, I find your page completely confusing. I don't blame this poor grad for not knowing exactly what it is that your company does.

4. I don't intend to address each and every poorly planned and insulting comment you made to this young lady, who was obviously extremely eager for a position without the guidance to position herself well. If you are a successful writer with a good career, in my opinion, you owe it to the world and to recent grads to offer mentorship and truly constructive advice. In this too, you have failed miserably.

To the person who wrote the ill-fated cover letter, I say the following. Chin up! I'm sure by now, an entire year later, you've learned some things about writing cover letters. I'm sure you didn't mean to misspell the company's name, but I also understand that the poor economic situation probably forced you to put out more cover letters then you had time to carefully edit and compose. Next time, you might want to have someone look over your letters alongside the job postings, just to make sure you haven't committed any fatal typos. I would also suggest checking out the vast body of internet sites that have "tips and tricks" for cover letters including major recruiter sites like Monster.com. There's a lot of valuable information out there that can help you with your search. I hope you've found something by now, but if not, and if you are reading this post, please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to help you edit your cover letters free of charge. I like to think I can give back to those who haven't been as fortunate as I have in the career department.

To Ragan, especially the CEO at Ragan, Mark Ragan, I implore you to take down that post. It is mean-spirited, insulting and it paints a very bad picture of your corporate culture and who your employees are as people. Instead of looking down their nose at a less fortunate person, they should be working to mentor and guide new grads - even folks who don't get hired by your company! The post is not instructive. If you want to get some positive PR, I suggest you replace it with a nice piece on how to write the perfect cover letter, referencing the removal of this post. I will be the first one to RT it on twitter and post it to every social network site I have access to.

And finally, to the commenters who said "lighten up, it's all in fun." Shame on you for laughing, chuckling, guffawing or otherwise deriving mirth from the suffering and struggles of another human being. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if we posted your mistakes and laughed at them - whether your name was on them or not. Then again, if you can't see what's wrong with that post, I'm certainly not going to convince you.

What do you think blog readers (those who have stumbled by and those who are regulars)? I'd love to know.

Romantic Ideas for Couples on a Budget in Cleveland

Julie Cajigas — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:23:12 -0400

UPDATE: This blog post was published as a guest post by Positively Cleveland. You can view it on their website here.

Recently I responded to Positively Cleveland's facebook posting about Cleveland being in the top 25 affordable places to go on a date. Another facebook user saw my response and asked for some restaurant recommendations, and here's what I came up with. I'm also adding some of my favorite activities so people can mix and match and make a great date!

I'm glad to hear that Cleveland is scoring praise for being an affordable place to date. My husband and I have been enjoying some of the quirky, fun date nights to be had here in Cleveland, so I thought I'd share some of our favorite spots with you. I'm sure I've missed a few hot spots, so feel free to leave comments with your favorite Cleveland dining/activities. (I'm trying to focus on places that are affordable, but feel free to name any that you like below!)

Here are 6 of my favorite spots for affordable, romantic dinners (some more affordable than others, but all of them delectable):

1. Le Petit Triangle
This little gem is in Ohio city. It's a good idea to make a reservation before you go because there is limited seating space. They have both sweet and savory crepes along with other French Cuisine and a great wine and drink selection. The service is a bit slow sometimes, but the food is worth it. Besides, it gives you more time to stare at one another longingly.

2. Johnny Mangos
Also in Ohio City, they have Taco Tuesdays and a very interesting blend of world cuisines. My friends rave about their margaritas and other alcoholic beverages. While it's a great place to hang out after work, it could also be a bustling, lively spot for a romantic rendezvous.

3. Mama Santa's
Mama Santa's is one of the best italian spots in Cleveland. It is in Little Italy, but it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Try the cavatelli, it's magic - and their pizza is also fantastic. It's "Lady and the Tramp" style romanza.

4. Mi Pueblo (google for address/reviews)
For authentic cuisine from Mexico you can't beat Mi Pueblo. They start you off with chips and salsa and spicy carrot slices, and it's always great to finish with their tres leches. They are located on Euclid near the campus of Case Western Reserve University. If you call ahead, ask about their strolling musicians, which can turn a plate of pollo azteca into the recipe for love.

5. Lucky's in Tremont
A great spot for a romantic brunch date. Have brunch, walk through the farmer's market and stop at Lilly's gourmet chocolates for a late morning treat. I recommend Lucky's housemade granola, the shipwreck or the baked macaroni. Sunny service and garden seating make this one romantic morning.

6. Rincon Crillolo (google for address/reviews)
You'll have to call them for restaurant hours, but if you like caribbean food, it can't be beat. The flavors of Puerto Rico are bursting out the front door. The traditional foods here are great - and they have the jibarito - a steak sandwich on plantains. mmmm.... If you miss holding hands at Lozada's (which very sadly closed), this spot should satisfy all your cravings.

What to do, what to do?

In addition to some great, affordable restaurants, Cleveland also boasts some mighty fun spots to enjoy before or after your romantic meal.

1. Go Fly a Kite at Edgewater

There's something romantic about flying a kite while enjoying the sounds of the beach. Head over to Edgewater State Park and use the wind coming off the lake to send your kite flying high. Bring a bike along or some charcoal and burgers and spend the evening, or pack up your kite and head to dinner at one of the hot spots above.

2. Take in a Foreign Film

Foreign films can be steamy and sexy, silly and comedic or just - well - foreign, but they are almost always a wonderful alternative to whatever is playing at the local cineplex. Cleveland has some great options from the Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights and the Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art to the Capitol Theatre in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood that is scheduled to open this October. In addition to the foreign films, the Cleveland suburbs boast more than three Drive-in Theaters. There's nothing more romantic than smooching in the car while the films on!

3. Get in Touch with the Local Bands

I am no expert about all the great live music venues in Cleveland, but what I do know is that there are so many! Take in an intimate performance at The Barking Spider Tavern, or enjoy a larger stage show at Brother's Lounge in Lakewood. See the latest and greatest at the Grog Shop in Coventry or check out the Hi-Fi or the Roc Bar in the flats (which is looking better and better!). There's great music happening in this Rock and Roll city, don't miss out! With $5 covers, the sky's the limit.

4. Enjoy Some Free Classical Goodness

Cleveland is full of some of the world's most talented musicians. While tickets to some events might break the budget, there are tons of amazing student and professional recitals that cost absolutely nothing to attend! Check out venues like Cleveland State University or groups like Cantores Cleveland for exciting, totally free performances. CSU has a great artist series that is free to students and community members alike and features professional performers from around the nation and occasionally from across the pond. Tri-C and CIM have similar programs and it doesn't stop there. Check out www.clevelandclassical.com, a great free resource that can help you learn all about Cleveland's classical scene.

5. Glow-in-the-dark Putt-Putt

So Strongsville is definitely a suburb, but that doesn't make glow-in-the-dark mini golf any less cool. Fire fly's mini golf features a full sized indoor mini golf course with cool glow-in-the-dark features and balls! This is a great thing to do in the winter, or any time year-round as they have great air conditioning. With a party room, a college ID night and a teen night, this spot is fun for all ages. I've been on several dates here, and can vouch for it as a fun spot!

6. Get Your Art On

With dozens of really cool galleries, Cleveland's a great place to get out and meet some artists. With so many cool spots to check out, I advise googling "art gallery cleveland." Some of my favorites include Spaces, Doubting Thomas, Asterisk and Artefino. Also great are Cleveland's exciting artisan events like Made in the 216 and the Bizarre Bazaar. Stop by and purchase a piece of Cleveland made art.

As I read this list, I realize there are probably 1,000,000 things I'm leaving off. So, I'll extend you an invitation. Post your favorite spots in the comments and we can create one giant list of all the fun eateries and activities in Cleveland. Then, I'll be able to plan the next six months worth of dates with hubby :).

Oh, and if you want to know what's "Cool" in Cleveland, check out our very awesome e-zine: Cool Cleveland. That's where I find out about new and exciting things to do with my weekends.

Happy date night!

Photography Portfolio

Julie Cajigas — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:29:05 -0400

Instead of referencing my facebook library constantly, I'm just putting together some of my favorite photos from the past six months. This is in no way an exhaustive portfolio - if you'd like to see more, please contact me!

Danger, Danger: Life Minus Routine

Julie Cajigas — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:04:44 -0400

So lately I've identified a major failing in my freelance life: routine. My routine is bananas, as my brother and Gwen Stefani would say, b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Well, perhaps, to be more accurate, the truth is, I don't actually have a routine. I'm up all hours of the night working, avoiding work, watching the 2 a.m. showing of the Nanny, eating dinner because I ate breakfast at noon. Freelance work lends itself to getting the work done with an all night writing marathon and sleeping in the next afternoon, which for me, leads to five weeks of a completely backwards sleep schedule.

In the meantime, everything is suffering. My weight is up because I'm not eating properly (i.e. no breakfast, little lunch, junk for dinner and whatever I can forage at 2 a.m.). I noticed the symptom (the weight), so I hired a personal trainer. While I make my training appointments (mostly), I have yet to get to the gym one single, solitary time in between appointments to actually do the workouts she is teaching me. The symptoms are becoming overwhelming, and I'm feeling increasingly guilty for not getting my butt out of bed in the morning to work, even if I had been working late the night before.

So how do freelancers do it? Make a calendar they tell me, get a planner! Schedule in time for your lunch and leisure. Tried and failed. I think it all comes back to some advice I gave an old friend - just get out of bed early one day, and then do it every day. Eventually you'll get your schedule back on track and be full steam ahead. The truth is, it's a lot easier to do that when you actually have a "reason" for getting up. My schedule was almost normal this spring because of my art class and my teacher's iron-clad attendance policy. I still managed to screw it up with all-nighters, but it was better. Now it's completely willy-nilly.

So, I'm sure you were expecting some grand solution to the schedule problem. Well, when I figure it out, I'll be sure to share the secret! In the meantime, I've got to unlock the motivation to create a routine. The healthiest time of my life was when I worked for Proforma. I had to be at work at 8 a.m., and lateness was really not an option. So I went to bed by 11:30 p.m., dragged myself up, showered, put my menu for breakfast and lunch in a lunch bag and drove off to work. With an eight hour day, a lunch break and true motivation (not getting fired), I lost 40 pounds and got a heck of a lot of work done.

How can I recreate that routine at home? Discipline - which has never been my strong suit. I get the work done, and I get it done right, but I don't always come out of that process unscathed. So this month's task: learn how to motivate myself into a routine that accomplishes four things 1. Gets the work done on time and at a high level of quality, 2. Allows me to get proper sleep, 3. Allows me to get proper meals, 4. Allows me free time to spend with my hubby.

Are those even in the right order?

Well, I'll figure it out eventually. Feel free to leave me your tips for creating a routine at home.

Harnessing the Power of Public Relations

Julie Cajigas — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:28:08 -0400

Hello blog readers. My apologies for this mini-hiatus the past month or so. Just when I thought I had a ton of free time, I found myself busy as ever! In the meantime, I had a great opportunity to byline an article for Corporate Logo Magazine, about PR practices for distributors in the Ad Specialties industry.

The article has come out online, and will come out in print over the next few months. If you'd like to check it out, it's available here: Harnessing the Power of Public Relations.

I hope you enjoy the article, and look for more posts coming soon!

The "Free" in Freelancer

Julie Cajigas — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:43:31 -0400

Instead of posting a factoid this Friday, I'd like to make some observations on my current situation. I was so worried a few weeks ago when I lost a large part of my regular magazine work. I had no idea what would happen - how would I keep my business afloat? Would I have to go full time? What would I do with all the extra time this month?

Here's the good news: I still have work! In the past few weeks I've worked on a bevy of interesting things including an e-marketing program for a coffee house, a multi-cultural travel guide, a logo design, a recital poster and a few ghostwritten articles for a CEO. While none of these are recurring or regular pieces of work, I'm still very excited to see that my business lumbers on without the big contracts I was relying on.

(If you happen to know someone who is looking for an experienced copywriter, here I am, with time to spare!)

Shameless self-promotion aside, one of the best parts about the last two weeks has been realizing what the "free" in freelancer really stands for. Even though I've kept busy, I've also utilized some of the extra time I've had to do fun things that I find personally enriching and rewarding. Here 10 of the unexpected and wonderful things I've been able to do because I'm a freelancer:

Come up with exciting marketing ideas to help another friend promote her amazing all-natural vegetarian/vegan soaps: Sarva Soaps ***Check out her soaps, I will be giving them rave reviews on the blog very soon!***
Help my friend promote his awesome indie film about a real-life (so the documentary subject says) vampire: Impaled: Painfully Blunt - it will show at the Geauga Film Festival on June 13.
Meet some exciting new friends that I can collaborate with in the future: John Ettorre, a great freelance/blog writer and Carol Drummond, an amazing illustrator.
Get together with friends for lunches, dinners, movies and fun! Friends like: @jodioneill, @marketing_mj, @kateeidam, @mikeschwabe and @shoesalwaysfit all of whom I've seen these past few weeks.
Take special photos for my friends Heather & Keith, @jonathanwehman & @kadihall, Sharon Shaffer and @shoesalwaysfit.
Give a few voice lessons to prepare a friend for a big audition.
Spend some time being there for a friend who really needed someone to listen.
Enjoy some time with my husband @izzymd. We've been missing one another with our overtly busy schedules.
Get ready for my Masters degree in the fall! There will be a blog post sharing the details of this soon.
Prepare for my trip to Cincinnati next week with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus where we will join forces with the May Festival Chorus to sing Mahler's 8th Symphony.

So the moral of the story is: the "free" in freelancer makes it worth all the trials and tribulations of being self-employed and being responsible for generating all the "business" to support your business. So, this fine Friday, as I enjoy the beautiful Cleveland weather, I'm glad to be a freelancer.

Factoid Friday: Travels

Julie Cajigas — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:15:23 -0400

Time for another factoid Friday - on Sunday. I guess that just goes to show you that I'm really living the life of a freelancer. I have hardly any time to keep up with my fun weekly blog post... that I started last week. So here's this week's interesting fact about me:

I've visited Stonehenge:

I visited Stonehenge back in 2005 when I was in Europe with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. We had one free day on the trip and my wonderful mother (happy Mother's Day Mom) gave me a day-tour pass as a gift. The tour took me to Castle Windsor, Bath and of course, Stonehenge.

It was quite an interesting day with long stretches of bus ride. The tour guide had quite a personality and shared all kinds of information about the destinations with us as we drove. I was fascinated by Stonehenge and the many interesting theories surrounding its creation. Apparently, many people believe the stones were placed there by magical or alien forces.

My first impression of Stonehenge was that it was not as big as I assumed. It was still rather large and impressive, but all those screen savers and posters had led me to believe I would be looking at a skyscraper sized monument. Standing up against the ropes, it was still an imposing construction. It is hard to imagine how those giant stones were erected before the advent of modern technology.

I also found it somewhat disappointing that we couldn't get close to Stonehenge. Apparently it used to be open for people to walk around the stones, but after tourists started defacing it and causing major erosion, they decided to rope it off. Now the only times tourists can walk amongst the stones are on the solstices and equinoxes, or on a private tour.

It was definitely quite an experience anyway, and I highly recommend visiting. I also recommend the book Sarum by Edward Rutherferd. It is a wonderful work of historical fiction that takes the reader from the earliest inhabitants of Sarum to modern day Salisbury. I purchased it at Stonehenge and enjoyed reading it on the subsequent bus ride and plane ride home.

So that's it for factoid Friday (Sunday). I hope you'll check out the book, and maybe even travel to see Stonehenge for yourself someday!

Almost, Maine

Julie Cajigas — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:35:46 -0400

This past Saturday night Izzy and I met up with a few good friends (@kateeidam, @mikeschwabe, @shoesalwaysfit), and went out for dinner and a show. The show was Almost, Maine at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre's River Street Playhouse. I must say we all enjoyed the show and the evening. If you didn't make it out to see Almost, Maine, I hope you will have a chance to see something by this director or featuring these actors in the future.

Closing night is always a very special night for any production. The actors have had a few runs to get the rhythm of the show under their belt, the lighting and set changes are fluid and easy. Any of the jitters that made opening night especially exciting have mellowed to an intense hum of energy that connects each solidly delivered scene. It’s both a last chance to breathe life into a character and a moment to say goodbye.

This poignant, closing night experience poured into the audience at the last performance of Chagrin Valley Little Theatre (CVLT)’s Almost, Maine.

A romantic comedy by John Cariani, Almost, Maine asked its audience to suspend reality, well, only a little bit. Once our eyes adjusted to this quiet, remote little town, we could really begin to see the gorgeous Northern Lights that breathe magic into each scene.

We follow four actors as they portray a variety of characters falling in and out of love, all in the town of Almost, Maine, on a cold winter’s night. Each scene asks the audience to accept a magical element - a broken heart carried in a paper sack, a man who feels no pain and a shoe falling from the sky.

The success of this show rested on the abilities and flexibility of the actors and actresses who moved in and out of roles. One moment an actress is a gorgeous girl at her bachelorette party and the next she’s a dowdy nursing student doing her laundry in the basement of an apartment building. All of these scenes occur with minimal sets on a mostly bare stage under mystical mood lighting, putting a sharp focus on the acting.

The actors and actresses in CVLT’s production excelled, bringing a different touch to each of their multiple characters. We never confused Rhonda’s brash innocence with Marci’s cranky melancholy – Maggie Leach played these characters and more brilliantly. Jon Gellot and Chuck Matthews portrayed multiple men falling in and out of love, but none quite so interesting as Chad and Randy who seemed to fall in love with one another (literally).

Perhaps the most poignant scene was one in which Natalie Dolezal appeared as Hope, a woman who had promised to return by sunrise to respond to her lover’s proposal, but didn’t make it back for years. Of all the actors, Dolezal’s characters all seemed to have nearly the same personality. But the audience didn’t seem to mind, perhaps because her characters possessed a wonderful, ebullient essence that lifted the mood of the entire production.

All four actors were expertly coached by director, David Malinowski, who created a show with charming and memorable delivery. Malinowski is an avid actor, stage manager and director in Northeast Ohio, and his experience showed on the stage. His clear vision for this production was articulated through scene after scene of emotive, beautiful acting.

The audience laughed, gasped, pondered and felt our hearts lifted and lowered by each of the scenes. With its short run-time, the play had a refreshing crispness that left us wanting more and satisfied all at the same time. I’m sure we will all wonder what happened to some of the characters as we were only given a momentary glimpse into their lives on a cold night in Almost, Maine.