Uptown

Uptown includes all the neighborhoods around the University of Cincinnati including Avondale, Clifton, Clifton Heights, Corryville, Fairview, Mt. Auburn and University Heights, so it's a diverse mix of students and residents in one of the city's most distinct and eclectic group of neighborhoods. Uptown is the home of the Cincinnati Zoo as well as multiple hospitals and the Ludlow shopping district where you can find trendy and unique shops as well as any scent of incense you need. Ethnic restaurants, including a curiously high concentration of Indian eateries, multiple taverns, coffee houses, music venues and the Esquire — one of Cincinnati's finest independent art house movie theaters all make Uptown a one-stop walkable bazaar of exciting entertainment options.

UC professor leads national PTSD treatment study

By Newsroom

●

Education + Learning

●

April 30, 2013

A University of Cincinnati professor is one of three leading investigators in a national study that is comparing two treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The 17-site, $9 million study will take about three years to complete, and it will involve approximately 500 veterans at VA medical facilities across the country, says UC Clinical Psychiatry Professor Kathleen Chard. Researchers will compare two proven PTSD treatments: Prolonged Exposure (PE), which allows patients to work through painful memories by re-experiencing traumatic events in safe and supportive environments, and to engage in activities they've avoided because of trauma. Prolonged exposure also emphasizes education about treatment, common reactions to trauma and breath retraining. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which focuses on patients' thoughts and feelings. This approach emphasizes how traumatic experiences changed the patients' thoughts and beliefs, and how those thoughts influence current feelings and behaviors. Patients identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts through structured therapy sessions and practice assignments. The Institute of Medicine and the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences have endorsed both PSTD treatments, which are used for both military and civilian patients. One of the study's goals will be to determine which treatment works better when a patient has other problems, like depression or substance abuse. Chard is co-author of the CPT military/veteran manual and the national CPT implementation director for the Department of Veterans Affairs. "Both are gold standard treatments, but what we don't know is, if I have patient 'X,' which one should I put them in," she says. "What we have now is informed patient choice. We tell them about the treatments and they can decide what to do. We don't have solid research about what works best." Chard is also director of UC's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience PTSD division, which is based at the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center facility in Ft. Thomas. It likely will be one of the 17 testing sites. The findings of the study will have an impact that reaches beyond treatment for members of the military, as PTSD has been diagnosed in people who have never been in the miliary, but who have seen or lived through dangerous events, including survivors of physical and sexual assault, abuse, accidents and natural disasters. By Feoshia H. Davis Follow Feoshia on Twitter

My Soapbox: Nick Shah, UC Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence winner

By Caitlin Koenig

●

General

●

April 23, 2013

Nick Shah, who will graduate from the University of Cincinnati later this month, has already proven himself a 21st century Renaissance man. With a degree in biomedical engineering and a minor in Spanish, he'll start med school at UC this year, but he's already a fixture at the Ronald McDonald House, where he shares his talents as a pianist every week. Shah chats with Soapbox about his plans for the future and what he hopes to contribute to the world of medicine.

Neighborhood business gives back through Dewey’s DewMore

By Newsroom

●

For Good

●

April 23, 2013

Dewey’s Pizza, which brands itself as a “neighborhood pizza place,” lives up to its name with DewMore—the restaurant’s nonprofit that's aimed at giving back to organizations within the community. “Dewey’s wouldn’t be a company without all the people from our local communities coming in, so we try to give back to them as best we can,” says Kevin Dern, DewMore’s initiative coordinator. Dern, who is 27 years old and a lifelong Cincinnatian, began his work with Dewey’s as a server at the restaurant’s Oakley location. He then transitioned into the role of coordinating events and making sure DewMore’s efforts were reaching full potential. The most popular events Dern leads are DewMore’s Pizza Schools. “We’ll open the store early on a Sunday morning,” Dern says. “And people will sit down like it’s a normal dining experience at Dewey’s, but then the server comes up and takes them back into the kitchen, and our kitchen staff will train them how to roll out the dough, toss the dough and make their own pizzas.” The nonprofit’s most recent success came as a result of a pizza school at the Kenwood location in which the program broke a DewMore record by raising $3,000 for the Ohio Valley chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The pizza schools are led entirely by Dewey’s employees. They're not getting paid, but instead volunteer to come in early. Dern says many of the servers and cooks share the vision of wanting to give back, which makes the pizza schools a fun experience for all involved. “Cooks teach the kids how to throw flour at the window—and the kids love coming in to the back—some of them get really into it,” Dern says. “The cooks even teach them how to use the paddles to put their pizzas into the oven, and adults get really into it too. They want to cut their own pizzas, and slice them for others—it’s a fun, unique experience that you can’t really get at many other restaurants.” According to Dern, the events not only allow community members to come together for a family-friendly, behind-the-scenes experience at Dewey’s Pizza, but it also allows them to enjoy the company of their neighbors—including those from the nonprofit in which the pizza school is benefitting—as they sit back, chat and enjoy each other’s pizza creations. “Dewey’s has always wanted this to be a fabric of the company,” Dern says. “We’re willing and flexible to get out there and do whatever we can to help the community.” Do Good: • Contact your local store's manager to suggest organizations with which to partner. • Like DewMore on Facebook to keep up with the latest events. • Contact Kevin Dern to learn more about DewMore initiatives. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

ReSource launches new programs to serve nonprofits

By Newsroom

●

Architecture + Design

●

April 23, 2013

ReSource redistributed products to assist 330 local charities last year, and it has the potential to be able to reach even more organizations this year through its two new programs, which the nonprofit will unveil at its May 15 Launch Party in Sharonville. For more than 20 years, ReSource has collected surplus donations from corporations, and then made items like office furniture and personal care products available to nonprofits for pennies on the dollar. “We’re the connector to the nonprofit organizations,” says Development Director Martha Steier. She says ReSource’s ability to bring businesses together has broadened her ability to make an impact in the community. Steier says the organization’s mission is to help build stronger nonprofits, so ReSource provides warehouse space for member organizations to come shop for what they need. “So much we have here with a little creativity and a little open-mindedness can be put together for reuse,” Steier says. In addition to offering needed items for low-cost purchase, ReSource will now offer items for rental with its Event Décor Rentals program. “We’ve had—for about five or six years—a fall fundraiser, as many nonprofits do, and we have a decorations committee who is responsible for decorating tables and making invitations,” Steier says. “And we’ve had several board members that do these same events for other nonprofits, and everyone borrows from everybody else, or they go and buy things and end up storing them in their basements.” Rather than buying things and getting limited use from them, ReSource had the idea to get donations for décor, store the items in the warehouse space and then make them available for rental. This allows nonprofits to save money, which they can instead put toward serving the community, Steier says. In addition to the Event Décor Rentals program, ReSource will launch its room makeover program, which already has two clients: the YWCA Clermont County women’s shelter and the Lower Price Hill Community School. ReSource has several architects on its board with the skill and talent to show rather than tell community members the benefits of the nonprofit. With an all-volunteer design team, ReSource will create specifications to transform rooms within area nonprofits so that they are more useable and conducive to serving the organization’s mission. For example, ReSource will replace ripped carpet and make the YWCA’s living room more inviting for women and children. The organization will also renovate a 50-year-old annex within the LPHCS so that it can serve as a classroom for individuals enrolled in the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College’s Bridge program. “It’s sometimes hard to explain our story,” Steier says. “We really want to be able to show everyone what nonprofits can do with the corporate donations.” Do Good: • Attend ReSource's Launch Party at its Sharonville warehouse space. • Contribute to ReSource by donating. • Become a member nonprofit if you would like to shop at ReSource for needed items. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Cincinnati Public Staircases: A Walking History Abandoned But Not Forgotten

By Newsroom

●

Cincy In The News

●

April 16, 2013

The historic importance of urban staircases in Cincinnati was created in part because of geographic contrasts poised by steep inclines situated between neighborhoods. Read the full story here.

DAAP grad starts clothing line for kids

By Newsroom

●

Architecture + Design

●

April 16, 2013

When it came to starting a career, Mary Helen Boeddeker, 24, knew exactly what she wanted to do. As soon as she graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program in June 2012, she started her own clothing line for kids. “I knew I wanted to start a brand in Cincinnati to make kids feel great, make moms happy and to bring manufacturing and design back to the United States,” says Boeddeker. Today, much of the clothing bought and sold in the U.S. is created overseas, but Boeddeker didn’t want that for her clothing line, Mary Helen Clothing. She does everything from designing the garments to sourcing fabric, to patterning and creating the clothing. Boeddeker was inspired to start Mary Helen Clothing by her late grandmother, Mary Helen. “She was all about being positive and being yourself,” she says. Mary Helen Clothing isn’t sold in stores. It’s available online and at trunk shows, where Boeddeker goes to customers’ houses and puts on fashion shows with their children. “I love when the girls put on my clothes and their faces light up,” Boeddeker says. Right now, Boeddeker’s main focus is clothing for young girls. But in March, she started a small collection for boys, and she has plans for a collection for moms as well. She also has a collection of unisex clothing in the works. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

UC’s new MENtorship pilot aims to develop male nurses

By Newsroom

●

Diversity

●

April 16, 2013

As our aging population grows, they're asking more of our healthcare providers. Nurses increasingly are being asked to fill healthcare needs and are growing their skills and knowledge through higher education. Still, an untapped resource of nursing talent remains: men. About 94 percent of nurses are women, and that creates challenges for men who are entering the field, as well as patients who aren't always comfortable receiving treatment from a male nurse. These are some of the reasons that local medical and educational partners, including a University of Cincinnati College of Nursing student organization, started MENtorship, a program for male student nurses. The nursing program has partnered with Cincinnati Children's Medical Center and UC Medical Center to develop MENtorship. The six-to-eight week program is just wrapping up, with a group of 12 undergraduate nursing students. In addition to being mentored by professional nurses, higher ranking students also mentor younger students. So students are both mentors and mentees, says UC MENtorship faculty advisor Gordon Gillespie. "The junior and senior mentors can tell the freshmen and sophomores what the student nursing program is really like and the commitment that it takes, so the students aren't surprised," says Gillespie, who has been a nurse for 17 years. "They could be less likely to drop out." The program was initially inspired by a 2013 American Journal of Nursing article, "Men in Nursing: Understanding the Challenges Men Face Working in this Predominantly Female Profession,” that identified professional tribulations experienced by men in the nursing field. Students are mentored on educational challenges and expectations, but also on dealing with challenges they'll face after school, Gillespie says. "How do you approach intimate care for a female patient?" he says. "There are higher concerns about inappropriate touching with a male nurse. There are some cultures where it is taboo. When there are violent or aggressive patients, they were automatically assigned to me because I am the man. We talk about those issues and how to deal with them." The MENtorship program will be evaluated this year, and there are plans to offer it again based on feedback from this semester's participants. If given board approval, it will be offered for a full year starting with the 2013-2014 academic year. By Feoshia H. Davis Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Cincinnati Montessori Society celebrates 50 years

By Newsroom

●

Diversity

●

April 16, 2013

Fifty years ago, a group of parents who were passionate about Maria Montessori’s philosophy of education developed the first Montessori preschool in the area. And following the preschool’s inauguration, the group formed the Cincinnati Montessori Society, a nonprofit whose focus is to promote Montessori education while serving as a resource to countless schools, teachers, parents and students in the community. “One of my favorite quotes is, ‘Follow the child,’” says Heather Gerker, vice president of CMS. “We meet the child where they are developmentally.” Montessori classrooms, which are both child-centered and composed of mixed age groups, are set up so that children can learn through a multisensory approach that allows them to figure things out at their own speed—and the philosophy works, Gerker says. At CMS’s Annual Spring Conference and celebration of 50 years of success, neuroscientist Dee Coulter delivered the keynote address. “This work that Maria Montessori did over 100 years ago is now being proven through neurological work happening now,” Gerker says. “[Coulter’s address] was really affirming and validating to the teachers there.” Not only were teachers excited to go back to work on Monday after hearing Coulter’s presentation, Gerker says, but they also had the opportunity to participate in breakout sessions that were aimed at providing strategies and insight that lead to better education. Topics ranged from promoting mindfulness through music to strategizing ways of better assisting children with ADD and autism. Gerker says she’s particularly passionate about the resources that CMS provides because they’re based on a philosophy that’s now scientifically proven, and she’s seen it work in the lives of her own children. “It gives them a solid sense of self, that they’re so independent and happy, which I think is the ultimate goal,” Gerker says. “I just want to make sure it’s available to all children.” Do Good: • Become a member of CMS. • Check out the resources offered by CMS. • Connect with CMS on Facebook. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Grailville, public library encourage poetry, sharing

By Newsroom

●

Arts + Culture

●

April 9, 2013

Poet and teacher Pauletta Hansel leads a group of 13 women toward spiritual and personal growth in her weekly Practice of Poetry class at Grailville, a retreat center that takes up more than 300 acres of farmland in Loveland. The women meet in a 19th-century Victorian home where they learn, write, listen and share their work with one another. In one of her most recent classes, Hansel says the group of writers looked at the “events, people and places that live on in our memory in a way that we always come back to them as personal touchstones.” The women work together to see what they can “make come alive” in each other’s work, Hansel says. Just this past week, they had the opportunity to share their work on a larger scale through their partnership with The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for the 15th annual Poetry in the Garden Series. Seven of the 13 women from Practice of Poetry read their work in front of the audience of 58. Though most have read their poems in front of others before, Hansel says the event provided many of them with their first real opportunity to share in a more public way. “One woman read a poem that she had brought recently to craft class, and that was about a moment when both her parents were still alive, and she walked in and saw them in a very quiet, intimate moment at the kitchen table,” Hansel says. “It was about how moving that was for her to see her parents sitting quietly holding hands and taking that moment to—you know, [with] illness and their children’s worry swirling around them—to just be quiet and just be in love.” It’s these powerful and important life moments that Hansel’s poets and other community members have the opportunity to share during the Poetry in the Garden Series, which features contest winners in addition to local and regional poets who appreciate the art of poetry. “They’ve worked incredibly hard to promote and create a group of readers that is really diverse,” Hansel says. “There are some academically connected poets, but most in the group are community poets. They are people who are working in other walks of life who are using poetry as a way to communicate.” The series also provides audience members with the chance to read their work at an open mic session that follows each set of readings. Hansel says participation in the Poetry in the Garden Series was incredibly meaningful to her group of poets because many of them are inspired by listening to what they hear. “Just coming and having the opportunity to use writing as a way to pay attention to their own inner lives and listen to themselves and be listened to by other women is the most important thing.” Do Good: • Learn more about Grailville's programs, and register to participate. A new Practice of Poetry series will begin this summer with registration opportunities coming soon. • Attend readings or share your own work at the Poetry in the Garden Series, which takes place at 7 p.m. each Tuesday in April. • Like Grailville and The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County on Facebook to keep up with each organization's latest news and events. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Modern Makers: The Big Dinner with Chef Frances Kroner of Feast

By Scott Beseler

●

Arts + Culture

●

April 9, 2013

Soapbox's Scott Beseler shares a visual feast of the latest Modern Makers event, a celebration of food and art at the Niehoff Urban Design Studio in Uptown. Music by Maria Carrelli.