Heather Burns
Jennifer Hudgens
WRD 110-055
October 12th, 2015
Pieces
of the Puzzle
If
you were to look at Cincinnati on a map, you would see that there is a highway
that circles around the downtown area from the northern suburbs all the way to
the Ohio river which separates Ohio from Kentucky. These suburbs that are both
inside and outside of the circle are considered to be part of the Greater
Cincinnati area. There is a northeastern suburb that lies just off of highway
I-275, that is called Loveland. Loveland is home to more than twelve thousand
people and has historical background that can be traced back to the late
1700’s. Within the last 5 years, the Greater Cincinnati area has seen a sudden
increase in the number of heroin overdose deaths and that number continues to
rise. After being involved in the Loveland community for over 3 years, I have
learned that Loveland is not only a town, but a community that grows, cheers,
and enjoys time together. The following images were taken in order to highlight
the background of this wonderful place and to discuss this epidemic in further
detail to analyze the best way to handle this situation.
The first photo I
decided to capture was the famous welcome sign that is located on the city
limits. When I had first moved to Cincinnati from Chicago, I was overcome with
nerves because I was unsure of what kind of community I was becoming a part of.
I grew up in a community of wealthy Jewish families, which I learned was quite
unusual because Judaism tends to be a minority everywhere else I have been. As
I was driving to see my new home, I witnessed a large, red sign that read,
“Welcome to Loveland,” as I entered the city. It was designed in front of a
dark gate that would usually be placed outside of a house and a brick sculpture
that held beautifully blooming flowers. I can still remember that day because
that is when I finally took a deep breath and realized that Loveland wasn’t as
bad as I had imagined it to be. I think of the sign as being the first object
to make me feel welcomed in this community.
Then I
travelled down the street to the very populous Loveland bike trail to take a
picture of Paxton’s Grill. The city of Loveland was actually founded by Colonel
Thomas Paxton. Paxton was born in Ireland in 1730 and served as Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Battalion of the Bedford County
Militia. Paxton even shared a Christmas dinner with General George Washington
at Valley Forge in 1777. He is known to be the first man to build a log cabin
in the area, where he retired after his military service. In honor of Thomas
Paxton, the grill has been built in one of the oldest buildings in Loveland and
it captures the friendly charm of the area. The bike trail is just across the
street from Paxton’s Grill and is 70 miles of a flat paved scenic route through
the Little Miami State Park. Both of these are located in the heart of Loveland,
where families from all around travel to bond and seek new adventures that can
be found throughout the downtown area. The Loveland area provides a place full
of exploration and the drug problem is detracting from the beauty immersed in this
community
My final
picture is an image of the home where I first became aware of this major
problem in my community. It was one of those mornings where nothing was going
right, and everyone was just running a few minutes behind. I was trying to
speed a little bit because I really did not want to be late to class.
Unfortunately, there was backed up morning traffic that added on almost 10
extra minutes. Later in the day, I told the story to my boyfriend and he told
me there had actually been a heroin overdose that involved a couple in their
late 20’s. I had never been so shocked because I had only experienced people using
extreme drugs in television shows and it really made me question what else I
didn’t know about the world around me.
The two
secondary sources I found were released by the local news station, Fox19. One
of the articles was about how a piano teacher at the University of Cincinnati
was hit by a car due to a man overdosing behind the wheel. The other article
was more of an overall view of the current epidemic presented by the US
Attorney. The US Attorney was able to present updated statistics and discuss
how they are planning to approach the problem. These sources allowed me to have
broader understanding of the problem that does not just stop in Loveland.
Through
this process, I was able to find locations around the community that sparked my
interest on a topic about Loveland that I had never thought about before. It
allowed me to have a better understanding of the roots that Loveland was grown
upon and I grew an even bigger desire in me to make sure that Loveland remains
this wonderful, thriving community. Once I was finished taking these pictures
around Loveland, I had some time to enjoy reminiscing in the town where I had
experienced so much in my life and I couldn’t be happier to say that I will
always be a part of the Loveland community.
Works Cited
"Cincinnati's Heroin Heartbreak." FOX19 Now.
WorldNow, 27 June
2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Wood, Emily. "US Attorney: Ohio at
Center of National Heroin Epidemic."
WLWT5.
Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst Television Inc., 14 May 2015. Web. 15
Oct.
2015.
Word Count:
905
