Welcome: 9.30.09

A short introduction.

My name is Evelyn Burnett and I will confess early that I am a Northeast Ohio lover. I was born and raised in a town called Youngstown, Ohio. I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Two years ago I moved to downtown Cleveland, Ohio which I absolutely love. I was building a life and career in Cleveland, and was even starting to make a small name for myself in the civic and social space.

Then a wrench was thrown into my happy little Midwestern way of life. I was offered a job by one of the most respected and reputable organization’s in the world but the catch was that I had to leave my comfortable Midwestern existence and head to the Big Apple. I must admit that initially I was dumbfounded. I've always dreamed of spending a lot of time in New York City for personal and professional reasons but I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would live there.

Throughout the duration of my blog, I will attempt to journal and highlight the strengths and weakness of these two places. I will journal my ups and downs of moving to such a new and different place. Of course I will highlight the similarities of these two great areas as well. I welcome and encourage my readers to comment and share their experience of these two vastly different places.
Before I get into my blog, I will also disclose that I am a proud member of an organization called GLUE (Great Lakes Urban Exchange) that aims:
To bolster regional identity amongst older industrial urban centers in the American Great Lakes region by connecting the people who love them to each other
To advocate for policies that promote sustainable and equitable growth for Great Lakes cities
To serve as a gateway of engagement for city-lovers who seek to participate in revitalization conversations and efforts
To facilitate inter-city and cross-sector conversations among the change agents around the region to empower their work and the propagation of their good ideas
To turn curious, casual city devotees into empowered, engaged change agents
http://www.gluespace.org/

That being said, understand that I have a foremost passion for post industrial, rust belt cities and particularly Northeast Ohio, but I am honored and excited about the opportunity to live in a new city and environment especially one like New York City. I invite you to come along with me on this journey and share your experience if you have experienced a similar transition even if it’s to a different set of cities under a different set of circumstances. I look forward to sharing my experience and hearing your thoughts!

Optimistically,
Evelyn