How Do We See Cleveland?

I just began writing for a lovely publication by the name of the Urban Times, and my first piece explored how imagery is utilized and received within the Rust Belt. It features some photography of mine captured in the City of East Cleveland-- and continues a dialogue started at an event I attended hosted by Saving Cities and facilitated by Peter Kageyama (author of for the Love of Cities) focused on energizing cities like Cleveland, and what we can do to move citizens to action and get invested in place. Our discussion quickly went to the semantics used in the Rust Belt, and how the names of our organizations and the images we present help to expose the realities and nature of our region, or to reinforce a stigma that may be counterproductive to future revitalization.

So what's your take? Give the piece a read HERE and let me know how you feel. What do you want the message of NEO to speak?