When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati.....Really?

"When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times."

Mark Twain



Really?
OK, so its not known if he actually said that, but since moving to Cincinnati this quote has confused me. Repeated many times by people who seem the most resistance to change, I can’t find a quote farther from the truth. Look around, from downtown to U.C. there are amazing buildings going up all around. Behind the times? No Ohio in general and southwest Ohio in particular is leading the way in forward thinking architecture.

And public art? Nothing risked nothing gained. I heard complaints about Julian Stanczak's hard-edged abstraction on the north side of the Fifth/Third garage. Love it or hate it is daring and hardly behind the times. Art is really meaningless if it doesn’t promote dialog and raise strong emotions, so I guess in a way it’s done its job already.

Then there’s the remake of Fountain Square, I can’t believe how people complain that they liked it better before the remake. Really, broken up by barriers and walled off from 5th and Vine? Now the whole city can enjoy it. No, I think the pieces are finally coming together for Cincinnati.

Cincinnati will never be Chicago or New York, but when the world ends you might want to be somewhere else.