Class is now in session -Identity Crisis

Welcome!

Let's start out by "defining our terms."

What do we mean by "Cleveland?"

The 75 or so square miles that make up the nation's 40th largest (gulp!) city?
For the purposes of this blog, no. If you are looking for a blog about city developments and neighborhoods, this isn't it.

No, sorry residents of the City of Cleveland. We are going to take your name, for better or worse. Kind of like when the airport baggage check guy says "where you headed?" You say "Cleveland," not Hiram or Strongsville.

So we are from Akron, Canton, Mentor or Medina but we will call it Cleveland. Calling it anything else sounds fake, or forced. Kind of like the Cleveland+ campaign. I know what they are going for, but it just doesn't cut it. "The North Coast?" kind of better, except you get a few miles from the lake (and when we say "the lake" we all know the lake to which we refer, a true Cleveland marker) and you can't even get good perch. --so how much "coast" is in Canton?

If I could come up with a better all-inclusive substitute name for "Cleveland" I could really cash in. Even Northeast Ohio doesn't work. Try saying "Northeast Ohio" to people in Mansfield or Sandusky.

It's one of the reasons I''m skeptical about the future of Regionalism. But much more on that later.