Our crosstown neighbors.

The Kadner Mansion in Mount Gresham -- the pride of the 8th Ward!

My goodness -- it always surprises me how quickly the time passes. I've been so busy lately that I've neglected my blog, for which I do apologize! I gave my assistant Marisha the week off to finish up her thesis paper, which I can't wait to read -- come this summer, Marisha will finally be have her M.A.! I'll post it here on the blog so you can all read what she's been up to (here's an enticing hint: it involves the social history of Mason jars, early color photography, the creation of the Mishipeshu Bypass Highway in 1961, anorexia in second-generation immigrant families and jazz)!

I've noticed that Councilman Stephen Massey Keller (R.-8th Ward) across town (he represents the Croxton, Mount Gresham, Seabridge, Ostegwan and East Pond District neighborhoods) has a really entertaining blog called the High Atop the Hills of Ostwegan, which he manages to update almost every day! Maybe I should take some tips from Steve, although his focus in his daily posts is quite a bit different than mine. The 8th Ward has a very different set of challenges than we do here in the 3rd, which Steve tackles like a pro in the City Council. Certainly we've had our differences in the City Council -- Stephen wasn't a big fan of the expansion of the Mishipeshu Rail Authority eastern lines, the Kaplan-O'Hara 'Right To Work' bill, the South Hanley public school improvement initiatives, or the creation of Fletcher O. Casady Day -- but we've always enjoyed working together. Check his blog out, and take a day trip across town to see some of the lovely attractions in the 8th Ward, like the private Seabridge Arboreum, the Alfred F. Kadner Mansion and Kadner Museum of Commerce and Enterprise in Mount Gresham, or the new Hummer dealership in Ostwegan. You'll have to drive out there on the Mish Bypass of course, or transfer from the 13 bus to the 82C, since the funding for the Rail Authority lines out to the east metro are being held up in the City Council. But tell them Sherman sent you!