Cincinnati Post

I know my posts have been rather gloomy lately with me bitching about things with ML and how my adventures in Georgia aren't starting off with employers lowering the drawbridges and offering me the pick of the litter. So I decided to take a cue from another blog I've been reading lately. It turns out that Jenn is writing about how much she loves Austin. She is graduating and is waxing poetic on the city. I've decided to do the same about Cincinnati and give some props to a city that had it's share of faults but also turned out to be a damn fine place in the long run.

First off, I know ... I know ... I know. You're saying to yourself "What? Has the Devil gone soft?" Well, the truth is ... well, yeah. I guess right now since things aren't going too hot, I thought I should look back at the positive experiences I've had in the 'Nati.

When I first got to the city, I didn't know one person other than the admissions director at the law school. Even then, however, I was made to feel at home. When I didn't have my first apartment yet, one of the staff at the admissions office offered to let me use her home address so that I could register for my parking pass. They also hustled to find me temporary accommodations in the dorms until my apartment was ready to move into.

However, I have to say that Cincinnati is a beautiful city. The city is old, but there are some parts of it that are absolutely gorgeous When you drive through the Hyde Park and Mt. Adams areas, you're immediately drawn to these stately old homes with gorgeous lawns. And there are parks .... I mean there are parks everywhere in Cincinnati. If there is an open field, the city will somehow turn it into a park. It seemed as if there would be a park on one block and another across the street (sort of like the Starbucks moment in Shrek II).

However, it is the people that I went to school with that made the experience what it was. After my first year at law school, I really thought that it wasn't for me. I had ordered applications for grad school and was already looking at registering to take the GRE. To put it simply, I was miserable. But, my friends got me through it and eventually made it something to look forward to. I found my niche and ended up pretty happy that I had stayed in law school. These guys took what probably could've been the worst 3 years of my life and turned them into 3 of the best that I'll ever have. I've got friends for life and valuable contacts in the legal world. Thanks guys; you know who you are!!

Now, I bitched about the city's problems with racism, police brutality, and so on. I think I was going back into an old Devil pattern of looking so far into the future, that I didn't take stock of what I had here and now. I didn't appreciate the city for what it really was until my family came out for graduation. Dad and his new g/f (now his new wife) came and pretty much left the Monday after the Saturday ceremony. But mom and my sisters stayed. I gave them the tour of the city for a week. It's funny how much you appreciate a city more when you are showing it off to loved ones. We went to Skyline, Mt. Adams, the CAM, Newport On The Levee, the Aquarium, and just about any other place you can think of. Once you step back from your situation and observe it with an objective eye, then you can appreciate the beauty that is there.