Posted By Carlo on December 21, 2008

Since last I blogged, Karen has left the Plain Dealer and been accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Art. She starts Jan. 12. Her PD buyout goes through next September, though we have to secure health insurance and pay for it on our own starting next month. Creativity is on the rise, money on the down. I’m worried yet hopeful. And busy.

I’m going to start writing about cars for Northern Ohio Live next month and am eager to pontificate about an industry in the throes of change. I’m also looking forward to driving machines that, like them or not, so richly express politics, culture and economics. I promise I won’t be this highfalutin in my car column.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/1340318,autophobia-books-122108.article

I’m also debuting City Therapy, a column about how to make Cleveland better, in Live next month. My first topic is an innovative, midcity bus line that promises to heighten the profile of Cleveland, not to mention institute new, public and desirable traffic patterns.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/rtas_healthline_debuts_minus_f.html

What I’ve dropped is my annual Top 10 listing/ranking of record albums (so quaint a term) and singles. Couldn’t get it together this year, though I’ve been doing them since 1970, when my top album was Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” In the last year, politics took over from pop; I’ve spent more time and energy on politics than on music and recently attended one of the “change” meetings the Obama campaign has spawned. The meeting was a mixed bag, but promising overall.

I’ll post my No Top 10 column (it may be a swan song) separately. More soon, and happy holidays.

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