I had a big week a few weeks ago. Not only did I sell out the art show, but I found out that I was CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati 2008 pick for journalist of the year.

I’m quite honored by the distinction - even thought I did not know the category for best journalist existed - and especially because anonymous readers voted for me.

To those who took the time to fill out the survey and chose me, first off, thank you. I really am flattered.

I was so surprised, in fact, that when I attended CityBeat’s “Best of” party that I made a beeline for Editor John Fox. Even though he and I had spoken a few times that week about the column I write for the publication, he had never mentioned it to me.

Turns out he wanted it to be a surprise and that the contest wasn’t fixed. I actually got the most votes of any journalist in the poll. So, thanks again. You made my month! (Sorry I didn’t get this posted sooner. Had my blog not been on the blink I would have written about it when it happened.)

Things, to say the least, went a little better than I ever expected. As I blogged last month, I have always wanted to have an art opening for some of my photographs, but had never pursued it. So, in February when I was asked by a local art dealer to show my work at the United Way for a show called “Beauty Matters,” I was pretty excited.

The show ends today and I am proud - and a bit astonished - to report that I sold five of the six photographs I showed. That makes me the top-seller of any artist for this show. Only one of the pieces sold actually went to someone I know, too, which also kinda blew my socks off, and this person only figured out that I took it after he bought it.

I’m told by the curator of this show that this has every indication that I can now officially call myself an artist. It also, apparently, allows me to tell the photography instructor at UC who gave me a “C” in an elective photography class I took through the evening college several years ago (that I took to get an easy “A”) he can kiss my ass. I think I might do that in a letter to the dean, unless he or she (or the professor) reads this blog. Just e-mail me for my student number.

I’ve been taking photos since I was 12 years old. That’s when, after a little begging on my part, my parents and my Uncle Steve, an avid photographer himself, combined my Christmas and birthday (which is in January) gifts and got me a used Nikon EM, a couple lenses, some film and a flash.

My desire to have a nicer camera came from a more practical place, though. The year before I was a sixth-grader at Colerain Elementary toward the end of the school year - the last before I headed off to teenagerdom, seventh grade and Colerain Junior High School I took several photos of my friends and classmates. The camera I used was a 110 I earned by selling greeting cards door-to-door in my neighborhood, a venture started after I saw an ad on the back of Boys Life magazine (though I had always wanted the top prize, a 13-inch black and white television, I never was able to sell the required number of “units”). After a day of photographing, the photos came back all grainy and dark. I was convinced I needed a new camera to avoid such a calamity in the future.

Once I got the EM and some nice folks gave me pointers on how to take good photos (including Mr. Corcoran, the shop teacher at Colerain Junior High and my Uncle Steve), I began to develop a deep love for the hobby. It’s actually responsible for the career path I took into journalism and writing - a whole other story.

I’ve taken a few photography classes over the years, but not too many. Much of what I have learned is self-taught or learned informally from other pros and hobbyists. Recently, though, a local art dealer and critic happened to see one of my photos and asked if I had more. Before I knew it I was invited to show some of my work at my first-ever art show. Needless to say, I’m super excited. It’s 5 to 8 on the evening of March 27 at the United Way Building, 2400 Reading Road. More details will follow as I learn them…

Photo courtesy of MReece

I’ve been meaning to weekly post links to my column as they appear in CityBeat. Haven’t really gotten around to doing that. I’ve done four so far and you can see the archives of those and a couple other stories I’ve written for CityBeat.

This week’s column, though, was a little personal. It involves the area where I grew up and one of the “suburban” legends that flourished when I attended Colerain High School and, I found out Saturday night, lives on today. Except, as I also learned, that the physical part of the legend is being torn down, possibly ending the stories for good - but also possibly finally giving the soul of the woman who was tormented by those legends a little peace. But it also ends the chances of seeing a familiar sight from my childhood growing up on Dry Ridge Road - loads of happy, giggling hayrides through Colerain’s rolling hills.

Even though my parents have sold the house I grew up in and I now live in the local near-antithesis of my boyhood confines, Over-the-Rhine, I still have a fondness for where I grew up. I have little desire to live there anymore, not because I am a snob or think I’m too good for the area. It’s more of a been-there-done-that sort of feeling I get when I go back to that part of town.

I just like the urban life more than I care for the suburban life. I was explaining this to my lovely ladyfriend, Melissa, the other day, summed up, in part, as my irritation of having to drive more than 20 minutes to get to anything. I’d prefer not to drive at all when in town, but if I have to travel more than about 20 minutes I start get a little irritated (sometimes I just take a bus).

Luckily Melissa lives in Mount Washington, an easy 15 to 20 minute drive from downtown (and though it’s a bit suburban, it’s still in the city). Colerain, well, that takes about 30 minutes to get to. Bummer.

Northgate Mall, Colerain Avenue, Colerain Elementary and (the former) Colerain Junior High School, my old high school, the YMCA, the Skatin’ Place - where I attended numerous school skating parties and later was a deejay - plus places as simple as Farbach-Werner Nature Preserve, Groesbeck United Methodist Church or White Oak Presbyterian church, where I attended numerous events, all bring back memories. It’s not a bad place. Just not my place anymore. And a nice place to visit.

Never since high school have more people asked me the same question over and over again. Back then it was what I was going to do when I graduated, including what college I planned to attend and what my major would be.

These days it has been what I would be doing after The Cincinnati Post closes Dec. 31. Despite many believing otherwise because of the frequency my stories appear in The Post, I am technically still a freelance writer and not a staffer. In that role, much like staffers who preceded me, I have been covering Cincinnati and Hamilton County government, politics and a vast array of general assignments since jumping on board there in March 2006.

Though I have managed to squeak out a piece or two for other pubs in the interim, The Post has pretty much bought all my time and thus is where just about all my reporting has appeared since March ‘06. During that time my experience has has turned out to be exactly the opportunity in journalism I have always wanted (well, except for the lack of health insurance and retirement package benefits) and I am extremely grateful for it.

I’m one of the lucky people who can honestly say that I love my job. I like being a journalist and am very proud of the role I play in our democracy. Whether it’s being at the Board of Elections on Election Day, being a thorn in the side of the mayor or sniffing out a good story that I know my readers will care about, I get a big thrill out of what I do. So, with the Post’s closing I knew I needed to find a way to stay in the business, a business that is experiencing lay-offs, closings, buy-outs and cutbacks across the board and around the country. And I am happy to say I have a way to stay in this field.

For several months now I have been working to launch a comprehensive, thoughtful news Web site for Greater Cincinnati. Though the idea for exactly what it will be is somewhat fluid and developing very rapidly at this point, look for something soon to be online at CinDaily.com.

In the coming weeks and months you will begin to see major changes, enhancements and features to CinDaily.com that I think just about every Cincinnatian will find useful. The features of the site will have a distinctly community-driven aspect and the site will be built from and by the users.

An official launch to the site will occur in early 2008, if progress continues to happen at the speed we have seen thus far.

While I cannot yet discuss all that is planned, suffice it say that you will see familiar names, cutting-edge professional journalism, thoughtful and creative news coverage, as well as breaking news and many other features. We will strive to present the news - and help redefine news online - in an amoral and non-ideological way.

CinDaily.com comes at a critical juncture in the media and journalism scene in Cincinnati. I think it will provide a critical voice for the citizens of our community - in a way that focuses on possibilities for all of Cincinnati. The site will also deliver the region’s most thoughtful news in a way that has never been attempted around here. I can’t wait to get started.

Please come follow along in the coming days as things get ramped up. I think you will enjoy what you see…

At least that’s what I am telling everyone. Have a happy holiday season, everyone. Shop to your heart’s content, but at my house Santa’s dead - and has been for seven whole years.

You will pay a lot for this muffler. As seen yesterday on their Kenwood store’s sign. I like funny signs.

No one ever said gambling wasn’t profitable. And proof might be from the I-want-to-choke-a-pit-boss sensation I get after the repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated playing of a particular Cincinnati-area casino’s commercial - sometimes twice or more during one commercial break - during the newscast that is on in The Post’s newsroom. Get a friggin’ new jingle, for heaven’s sake. Or try playing your commercial less, and maybe funding Gamblers’ Anonymous groups more - something.

UPDATE: Cincinnati Police clarified that Zachariah Hassell surrendered himself to the Criminal Investigations Section on Broadway, downtown, and was not apprehended, per se.

Just a few minutes ago I received an e-mail from Cincinnati Police Department public information officer Fran Cihon. And few times have I been happier.

Why? They caught Zachariah Hassell, the barely 15-year-old kid who also goes by the nickname “Little Zach,” who is accused by police of shooting and killing Michael Aufrance on June 18, 2007 on East McMicken in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine.

A boy who is capable of this sort of thing really freaked me out - whether he gets convicted or not. Couple that with him living in my neighborhood and it was downright unsettling. When I got the original “wanted” e-mail from police back in June I remember opening it and just staring at this kid’s face. And staring.

He looks like a child. A little boy. But murder? It just seemed so impossible, but yet so very real. Every now and then one of these news stories we cover just sort of makes me pause. This one was one of them.

It reminded me of the countless children that age that I have worked with in my life. Whether it was at the now-razed Columbia Parkway YMCA or during my eight summers as a camp counselor, it just shocked me. Not much does, really, anymore. I see, read and write about horrible shit all the time. But this one just sort of got me. I wonder if his photo makes you feel the same way? Does it feel like you could have known this kid? Maybe talked to him, been his friend, talked him out of hanging with the wrong people?

A man I respect - but have not seen since my early 20s - is Stephen Kaye, the former CEO of the Tuscaloosa, Ala. YMCAs and a member of the United States Army Special Forces (one of the toughest, yet kindest, people I have ever come in contact with). He used to talk about how there were no practice children. Each one was special and not one is worth giving up on. I think of that message when I look at Little Zach’s face.

Thanks and congratulations to the Cincinnati Police for apprehending this person, but I’m sorry Zach didn’t get to meet someone who could have changed his life and sent him in a better direction. I can’t help but feel we have collectively failed as a community when I read about situations like this.

Had nothing particular to do Saturday evening, so I wandered down to Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati. I was little surprised - and delighted - to see square dancing happening right in the middle of downtown. I just needed a partner…

I was very happy to see Graeter’s Ice Cream had opened. I grabbed a scoop of my favorite raspberry chocolate ice cream. As I was doing so I was told Saturday was their “soft opening,” leading into the grand opening this week (which means they will add pastries to the line-up). In light of my recent and continuing slim-down venture, this came with mixed feelings.

Another much-anticipated business opened this weekend, Via Vite. It was another soft opening for the only stand-alone building on the Square. It’s the same family that owns Nicola’s, the popular Over-the-Rhine eatery, that owns Via Vite (Italian for “Vine Street”). I later met up with some friends and joined them for a light dinner. I had the pesto, artichoke, goat cheese pizza and it was delightful. I also tried a little bit of a Bolognese and pasta dish and - wow - it was wonderful. Probably what I’ll get next time. Didn’t get a price for that, nor it’s name (but it did say something about being “Grandma’s recipe,” if you go).

The atmosphere at Via Vite is very nice, with very contemporary finishes on two levels. They did a great job decorating and designing the interior. I agree with my friends that this place will quickly become one of Cincinnati’s “it” places.

Via Vite will be open starting Monday for both lunch and dinner and has moderately reasonable prices (the pizza was $11, for example).

Saturday’s business was a little slow. But Friday’s word-of-mouth opening was packed, the owner said.

There are other photos from the Square that evening. Click on either photo on this post to be taken to the set.