ED Comment: Dear Loopers, let's talk about this AI revolution. Everyone's up in arms about robots stealing our jobs, but truth told, it's not ALL bad. We at loopcircus, we're using this AI stuff like a painter uses a brush, you know? It's a tool, not a replacement. Sure, we messed up Ohio and Iowa, but hey, that's just human error. We're not some soulless machines cranking out stories like a factory. We're still here, flesh and blood, trying to make sense of this crazy world. And if that means confusing cornfields with buckeyes? Well, that's just the price you pay for being a human in the digital age. 

Cheers... Loopcircus

Anyway, Ohio, sprawls across the American midsection like a contented hippopotamus. It’s a place where the sky is often as vast and indifferent as the soul of a Midwestern farmer, and where the earth is a rich, loamy tapestry, perfect for growing corn and disillusionment.

Hot springs? You’re kidding, right? This is Ohio, not Iceland. We’ve got hot flashes in July and frozen toes in January, but hot springs? No… not here.

Colleges? Ohio is littered with them, like fallen leaves in autumn. There’s Oberlin, a place where young people learn to play their chosen instruments and protest injustice with equal fervor. Then there’s Ohio State, a behemoth of higher education, where they churn out lawyers, doctors, and accountants like sausage. And don’t forget Kent State, a place where history was made, or rather, unmade.

Cultural landmarks? Well, after being upstaged by Rock n Roll’s Hall of Fame, there’s The Works at Newark, a place where they used to turn sand into dollar bills and now they turn sand into glass. It’s like alchemy, but with less magic and more pottery. And then there’s Victorian Village, a quaint little dollhouse of a neighborhood where time seems to have paused, like a stuck record on a dusty gramophone. All of this and much much more. After all, Cleveland does indeed, rock.

Ohioans are a singular breed. They’re as tough as a worn-out plow and as friendly as a puppy. They’ll share their last beer with you, but don’t expect them to beat around the bush. They call ‘em like they see ‘em, these folks. The weather? A fickle mistress. The economy? A roller coaster without the safety bars. And the brain drain? Well, let’s just say some of Ohio’s brightest bulbs prefer the cosmopolitan coasts.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is Ohio’s piece of nature’s playground, a patch of green in a sea of cornfields. It’s very pretty, for sure… trees and rocks and the sound of silence.

Famous Ohioans? Presidents, inventors, and comedians. A real mixed bag. Edison, the man who brought us light, also brought us the electric chair… a true Ohioan.

The state runs on a three-legged stool: manufacturing, agriculture, and healthcare. It’s a sturdy foundation, but sometimes it feels like the whole thing is about to tip over.

As for everyday life? Ohio is a place where you can buy a house for the price of a parking spot in New York City. The jobs are there, if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. And while it may not be Paris, there’s a certain charm to watching the seasons change, and knowing that your neighbors will shovel your walk when you’re snowed in with a case of the RONA.

The drive from Medina to Kent, was a pleasure, but this was a pilgrimage of sorts. Ronnie felt obligated to stand on the ground where four students died in the cause of ending the Vietnam war. This event holds special significance for Ronnie as he was just waking up to the world, and it was not an encouraging sight. He was 10 years old in 1970, and the adult world appeared to be a super-hostile place. In the end, Mr. Nixon paid a political price and the US withdrew military forces from the Republic of Viet Nam before Ronnie’s actual entrance into the adult world. But he witnessed all of this on his family’s TV screen each night at the dinner hour, and the scars are still visible.

So… the pilgrimage is complete, and Ronnie leaves this soul-work nugget behind. Ohio… not the Ohio of hillbilly heartbreaks and Rust Belt blues, but the Ohio first flights and moonshots, the Ohio of young lives cut short. A place where humans learned to fly, where Rock and Roll history highlights the power of youthful energy and Kent State reminds us of the limits of that energy when colliding with the blunt force of authority. Ohio… the best and worst of humanity. But always… pure Americana.

From Rockin’ Cleveland…
To Cincinnati…
Your home Ohio…
Aviation alley…
You got Neal Armstrong…
You got Cuyahoga Falls…
Something on tap for everyone.