It’s a hazy shade of spring in Ohio

May 10, 2025

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed, but you almost can’t go anywhere now without smelling pot. Ohio’s legalization of marijuana isn’t completely responsible for that development, but it has doubtlessly played a role in the proliferation of people going about their daily lives smelling like they just went on an 420-mile road trip with Cheech and Chong. The stuff was out there and noticeable before the new law, but it usually depended where you were at the time. When my daughter was young, we went to Geneva-on-the-Lake one day and stopped for dinner at a restaurant with ...

Answer that newsroom phone at your own risk

May 3, 2025

Anyone who has spent time in a newsroom will tell you that answering a random telephone call can be like playing a milder version of Russian roulette. We just never know what the next call will bring. The possibilities are endless. It could be: • A news tip. (This is ideal.) • A complaint about a story we published. (Even when we think it’s an innocuous story, someone won’t like it.) • A complaint about a story we didn’t publish. (People often say we’re “not covering” something because we’re “in cahoots” with some business people or politicians. The reality is ...

You’re offended? So what? Get over it

April 19, 2025

Ricky Gervais, whose infamous rant as host of the Golden Globes in 2020 ensured he wouldn’t be invited back any time soon, is known for telling it like it is. He did so that night in Hollywood and more recently during an appearance on “The View.” (Bet you didn’t expect a mention of that cringefest of a show in this space.) The subject was how people increasingly seem to go out of their way to be offended by anything and everything. Gervais wasn’t having it. “That’s the thing being offended, isn’t it? Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re ...

You can’t always say what you want, nor should you

April 12, 2025

Many people carry a misconception about the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment does indeed protect our freedom of speech, but nowhere in the Constitution is a provision protecting us from the consequences of whatever it is we feel compelled to say. Shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater or “Bomb!” in an airport, and you’re likely to find out quickly that while your freedom of speech is absolute, you won’t be free of the consequences of that speech. Those are terroristic threats. Two recent but unrelated situations got me thinking about this. The ...

Here’s to winter’s end and a hot dog at the game

March 15, 2025

“I watch baseball and it’s my game. You know, you take your worries to the park and you leave them there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It’s good for your lungs, it gives you a lift and nobody calls the cops. A hot dog at the game beats roast beef at the Ritz.” — Humphrey Bogart If you grew up in Northeast Ohio or settled here later in life, you know the sun and relative warmth this week is most likely what we call “false spring.” A week like this turns the thoughts of young and old men alike to baseball, golf and fishing. I’d be lying if I tried to convince ...

Some people can’t or won’t hear a word you say

March 8, 2025

Have you ever met or spoken with someone and quickly realized there wasn’t going to be an actual conversation? That doesn’t happen often for me, because I’m usually able to relate to all kinds of people, regardless of our differing backgrounds, life experiences or political feelings. But nowadays, the last item can create friction right from the start. The p-word — politics — seems to be where a lot of emails and phone calls can go off the rails. I bet you can see where this particular train is headed. A reader sent me a letter recently. Actually, it was more like a list ...