The Natti

I just made it back from my annual spring trip to Cincinnati. We now lovingly refer to it as the Natti, although that nickname didn't exist when I lived there. It's still the place where I feel home. I feel a rush of nostalgia and emotion when I travel north through the cut in the hill on I75 and catch a sight of downtown that I simply don't when I head to my actual hometown in southern Indiana. I spent years in Cincinnati pursuing my MA and Ph.D. but even before that it just always caste a very long shadow over my life. Every spring I travel back for my fantasy baseball draft (more on that later) and to spend time with my best friend, David Kelley. It was made even better that my oldest friend, and best friend from high school, Jack Schultz made the drive up from Atlanta. It was four days of eating really good (albeit bad for me) food, drinking beers, talking baseball and movies and reconnecting. I miss it already. Here are a few pictures I'll post in a hurry. Threeway chili and coney dog at a little hole in the wall restaurant around the corner from where Dave works. I know it horrifies my good friend Bob Mayer, but I love Cincinnati chili (and brought some cans of Skyline back to Vermont). Then there's a picture of Dave and his new dog Scout at Monk's Cove - how can you not like a bar that allows dogs? Scout was a very big hit. Then a couple pictures with sort of a film noire quality that are probably vying for the cover of a Townes van Zandt retrospective album (we were grabbing some fantastic burgers at the very cool Terry's Turf Club - Cincinnati has so many dives, something Vermont is really lacking). The last picture needs no explanation if you grew up in the Natti. Yes, Cincinnati is pretty messed up, has some real race issues, and sometimes I don't think it's actually within walking distance of having an actual, functioning democratic institution for a government, but I do love it.