You Are Here # 4

Bill Pearson

68 years old
Former Lutheran Pastor; Currently an Intake Worker for Lakewood Christian Service Center
Lakewood resident for 6.5 years

Favorite Place(s): The Coffee Pot and Lakewood Home Furnishings, both businesses on Lakewood's Madison Avenue.

Bill enjoys "The Coffee Pot" on Monday mornings with his wife, Sarah Henderson.
Photo by Kristine Williams

Lakewood's Diversity and the Appeal of The Front Porch
“Someone said to me recently that twenty-six languages [are spoken] in Lakewood High School, I think it was the Spanish teacher that said in her classes, twenty six different languages, and they’re primary languages. And we’re seeing, at the Center [Lakewood Christian Service Center], we’re seeing an increasing number of Albanians, Lebanese, Syrians, and African Americans are on the increase at the High School certainly and probably at all the other schools. I ran across a gentleman from the Republic of Congo who lives here in the area and his son is one of the top cross country runners, not only from Lakewood, but he’s one of the top in whole area..

...it’s been an ethnic community, if you look at "Bird Town" especially, I think that it kind of has a reputation for being ethnically diverse, and again, it’s close to church, it’s close to downtown, it’s close to whatever work it is that people are doing. It’s typical of first-ring suburbs; it has a lot of multiple housing so that we see families where you’ve got two or three generations living in a double, so it’s an easy place to do that.

Lakewood is a community with a lot of front porches. So we see, there’s a lot of people, ourselves included, that sit on their porches in the summer and just enjoy watching people go by and throwing stones at them… It helps you know who lives in your neighborhood, and I tend to talk to people, even if I don’t know them. As we look at French, several new families have moved in [over] the last year with small children so we see them pushing the kids in the strollers and it’s fun to get to know them and watch the kids grow. You miss that if you don’t have a front porch.”

You Are Here* is a project that highlights what Lakewood residents think and feel about their city. We feel that a project like this shares a great affinity with many of the community efforts beginning and ongoing in our city. We are witnessing the emergence of an engaged, pro-active and committed community dedicated to creating the kind of place that we want to live in. But the question remains: who are you? To that end, we would like to use this project as a forum to meet as many Lakewood residents as possible. We would like to photograph you in your favorite place in Lakewood and discuss with you what you feel makes Lakewood a special place. These biographical vignettes will regularly be published in the Lakewood Observer. Publishing them in the Observer means that you get to share, and other people get to learn about, who you are and what you feel makes Lakewood a special place. Ultimately, a quilt of individuals and experiences will be available to all who live here, and those who do not live here yet, strengthening the sense of community that is Lakewood, Ohio.

Are you interested in participating? Contact Jason Weiner and Kristine Williams at lakewoodandyou@yahoo.com or by calling 216.221.5146.

*A photo-documentary project highlighting the individuals who live in the city of Lakewood, Ohio.

Jason Weiner lives in Lakewood with his wife, Kristine. He teaches Sociology, does research and plays drums. His favorite place in Lakewood is the Purple Martin house in Lakewood Park.

Kristine Williams lives in Lakewood with her husband, Jason. In addition to teaching 3rd grade, she paints and knits for local galleries. Her favorite spot in Lakewood is under the oak trees in her own backyard.

They enjoy gardening and watching the birds in their backyard with their two dogs (Max and Gracie), cat (Emily) and several fresh water fish.