This is a guest post by Joe Baur. Joe is a native Clevelander who has lived in many cities across the country. He is returning to our gem on the lake and I asked him to tell me why. I mean, I know how great this city is, but sometimes others do not. I wanted to share his perspective. Joe is a personal trainer and is establishing his business, Healthy Day Fitness here in CLE.
The expression “home is where the heart is” probably best explains why I only ever feel at my full potential when Cleveland is involved. I’ve filmed in Northern India, hiked in Thailand, spent a summer in Los Angeles, traveled most of our country and currently reside in Chicago. Yet for better or worse, checking out Cleveland.com has been part of my routine every morning – even with the Himalayas at my back in Dharamsala, India.
I was recently asked by someone writing for Mentor’s Patch.com website when I realized I need to be in Cleveland. For whatever reason, my mind went back to an early Los Angeles morning. Sometime between 5 and 6am I awoke to the sound of rain. That’s right – rain. Rain was something I hadn’t seen in a couple of months. Whereas folks from Southern California were probably just fine going months at a time without any rain, I was craving it. I immediately threw open my bedroom window and stuck my head to feel the water dripping off the roof above.
“It’s raining!” I whispered to myself, with the excitement of a child who just found out school was canceled for the year. I guess that’s when I realized I was craving life back in Ohio.
Now I’m not saying or trying to prove that rain only happens in Ohio. I took junior high science and know my Water Cycle with the picture of the clouds and whatnot. My point is, Cleveland has it all. And I say that without a drop of sarcasm or any burning river jokes on the tip of my tongue.
Growing up in the suburbs, downtown Cleveland was scary. Sure, go down for a ball game in the afternoon. Otherwise, you were asking to be shot. Despite not having really done much in Cleveland itself, I still called myself a “Clevelander” and said I was from Cleveland all throughout my life. And damn skippy I cheered for the right teams. I’d cheer for the freakin’ Cleveland Checkmaters, if such a thing existed. It wasn’t until I was living in Chicago that I started to feel a painful yearning to be back in Cleveland. (Again, no sarcasm).
I moved to Chicago in May of 2009 for a fitness specialist job (essentially a personal trainer who can still be told to clean benches), in order to register for classes at the iO theater, and because my older brother lived there. After all, he did introduce me to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so why not base major life decisions on what he did!?.
So there I was! The personal trainer/comedian taking classes at iO. For those who don’t know, the iO is basically the Lake County Captains to the Saturday Night Live of the Cleveland Indians (oddly enough, both organizations have been in quite the decline in recent years). My plan was to learn some improv comedy at iO, leave after a year and bring back what I learned to Cleveland. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with my newfound comedy knowledge, but it involved keeping comedic talent in town. Months and months down the road, I created a political comedy show for the internet called Mildly Relevant News. After achieving some moderate success (CNN appearance, Rally To Restore Sanity project) I eventually decided that would be my Cleveland comedy project. I made it my 10 year goal to have a studio in Cleveland proper, filming with a green screen backdrop, with Cleveland comedians as guest correspondents, starting each show with “Located in Mildly Relevant News’ Cleveland headquarters.” These days with the interwebs, I figure anything’s possible.
During the time I was beginning to create and promote Mildly Relevant News, I began to feel an incredibly odd and admittedly irrational sense of guilt. I felt like another Clevelander who left town, and I’ve been reminded of it, too, while in Chicago. From “mistake by the lake” insults to “Columbus sucks” because I was wearing a Buckeye hoody, Chicago isn’t always all that friendly to Cleveland. Sometimes I felt like Christmas for Redeye writers was whenever a Cleveland team was in town. “They lose no matter what, because they have to go back to Cleveland, hah!” All of these terrible attempts at insult humor made me think about our perception. Eventually, that led me to thinking about kids who grow up in Cleveland. However irrational, and it is, I felt like I was telling those kids that their best chance in life is to become moderately talented at something so they can get the hell out of Cleveland like everyone else. I don’t want to send that message – I want to beat the crap out of it and set a new tone.
At this point in the story, I had quit my job at the gym to start my own personal training service, Healthy Day Fitness. I created it, because (like the website says) I don’t agree with the corporate gym philosophy. Many lock you into year long contracts, over charge you and treat you like a dollar symbol as opposed to a person struggling to reach your fitness goals. I charge less than the national average, so much so that I’ve actually had clients tell me that I should raise my rates. Truth is, I’ve never been a money guy. As long as I have a place to sleep, food to eat and the occasional beer to drink (I’m a fun trainer!), I’m a happy guy.
As time moved on, I slowly started to realize that my life was already happening in Cleveland. Given our lackluster economy, you wouldn’t think Cleveland would be a gold mine for opportunity. But lo and behold, things have simply fallen into place for me there. During my time in Chicago, I’ve made sure to come back to Cleveland as much as possible, sometimes as much as twice a month. I would frequent a new neighborhood each time, getting to know Tremont, Ohio City and the Detroit Shoreway a little better. I’d pick a restaurant on E. 4th downtown and check it out. People in the suburbs told me Collinwood is a dangerous place, so I went to Walk All Over Waterloo by the Beachland Ballroom and had a damn good time.
I’ll admit that we have our areas to work on and that there are some things we can learn from other cities cough lakefront development cough. But all in all, we have a nearly perfect area. I’m going to live in one of the above mentioned West Side neighborhoods and have the option to take public transportation downtown, walk around or hop in my car for a quick 30 minute drive to the mind bogglingly gorgeous Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 30 minutes in a car in Chicago might get you down the block. I’ll have the freedom to travel around Cleveland and other cities in Ohio, continuing to offer video services to various non-profits. Right now, I’m working with We Run This City down at the Y. It’s the perfect fitness-helping Cleveland combo for me – check them out.
Right now, it’s go time for me. I’m in full-blown transfer mode as I count down the days until I’m back in Cleveland full-time. In the meantime, I’m offering free sessions to Clevelanders in order to get people interested in my personal training, coming up with new ways to promote fitness in Cleveland proper by building partnerships with some great organizations, continuing my work on Mildly Relevant News and compiling my list of goals I have for the city to accomplish in my lifetime. Luckily I’m a healthy guy, because I have quite the list…
