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Posted inEditorials

A Place for You

by Editor

One year ago we published the first issue of the Riverwest Currents. It had 12 pages, some black and white photos, and a group of folks dedicated to the vision of a paper focused on our community. Our cover story was on the Reservoir on North Avenue. I have lost count of how many people were surprised by the fact that the hill they were so familiar with for so many years was filled with water. Likewise, it is gratifying that so many are so interested in the characters that fill our homes and businesses. Their inner stories comprise a vital ingredient of our mission. Our niche is in and around our neighborhoods. Our audience is the 12-year-old and the 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-, and up-year-old black, white, and brown people who live, work, and play here. We are not “glam” and we are not “square” either. There is a place for you here in our neighborhood and in our paper.

Posted inColumns

Why Doesn’t Riverwest Have an Arts Complex?

by Mark Lawson

Riverwest has always been home to artists and galleries. However, the disappearance of most of the affordable studio space in the neighborhood due to economic development is threatening the neighborhood’s viability as a place where artists can afford to live and work. One possible answer to this ongoing problem would be the development of a large arts complex somewhere in the neighborhood.

Posted inColumns

Oh Cosmic Particle Undefined!

by Eudemon

Riverwest hugs the River and the River hugs back. Most of the land in the River Valley as it runs through the neighborhood has been allowed to revert to wildness. Eudemon hikes down the trail to the River through the Koenen land preserve at the Friend’s Center….

Posted inEditorials

This is the Place

by Editor

A new year is a good time to take stock of what’s good and what’s bad in your life. For many people, one thing that’s good is this place we’re all in together. It’s where we live. It’s our neighborhood. So we’re devoting some space this issue to reflecting on the past year — in photos and writings — and on this place we live in together. Just what is it that makes a place a neighborhood? You may think it’s something as simple as location and boundaries, but even that can be complicated, as Dan asks in “Where is Riverwest?” Boundaries are fluid and changing; we decide what they are. You may think it’s the people that make a neighborhood, and that is mostly right. People have everything to do with a neighborhood’s character, which is why Riverwest has so much character. We live in one of the few diverse neighborhoods in one of the most segregated cities in the nation. But we still have a ways to go, as Tanya talks about in this month’s View from Here.