CINspirational People
Melvin Grier Shares His Journey
For so many years as a public relations professional has spent a lot of time working in and around the media, I have met and been impressed with so many gifted photo journalists. Their lens is their eye to the world, capturing scenes with vivid images no words could do justice.
Award winning photographer Melvin Grier has been top on my list. In the days when Cincinnati was home to two daily newspapers, Melvin enjoyed a 33 year career at The Cincinnati Post. His images compellingly took us to places we would never have been exposed otherwise. They shared raw human emotions. They celebrated life. They shared kindness, ugliness, grief and joy.
Revisit Melvin’s journey in a very special new exhibit called White People: A Retrospective at the Cincinnati Art Beyond Boundaries Exhibit Venue (1410 Main Street in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine) running from this Friday through May 13, 2016. There will be a FREE opening reception on Friday (March 25) from 6 to 9 pm with wine and hors d’oeuvres.
White People: A Retrospective
The photography exhibit is an encore show that was first shown in 2011 at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. It is a forerunning installation of FOTOFOCUS 2016.
One of Melvin Grier’s photographs that will be on exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Beyond Boundaries Gallery art exhibition venue in Over-the-Rhine.
Melvin told me the idea for the show evolved from a conversation he had with his daughter, photographer Samantha Grier. She was working for the Hamilton Journal at the time and made an observation. She noticed that at many of her assignments, she was the only black person there. It got Melvin thinking, and actually he had the same experiences.
The exhibition will highlight a collection of photos that were taken during his career at The Cincinnati Post. You may recognize some. You may recognize their story. You probably will be moved.
Let’s get to know Melvin.
Lisa: Where did your love for photography come from?
Melvin: I was in the air force stationed in England, about an hour train ride from London. I remember going to London to take pictures when I could, and develop them in a hobby shop with a dark room. I entered a military photography contest called Stars and Stripes, and won first place. I taught myself. My first love was fashion photography but I discovered journalism photography and later decided to make it a career.
Lisa: Tell us about one of your experiences as a photojournalist that moved you.
Melvin: One of my assignments at The Post was going to Africa with a local group during a civil war. I went with Reporter Lisa Rose Cardillo. I remember getting on the flight and seeing the entire crew was black, and getting to Nairobi and feeling like everyone looks like me when I got off the plane.
The whole experience was very meaningful. I saw people running around with automatic rifles. When we went to a clinic, I saw children who were skin and bones. You have to be a professional and not let your emotions get involved. I wished I could have done more. I went to an orphanage, and there were so many beautiful babies. I remember picking one up and thinking I wanted to take it back to Cincinnati.
I knew that my job there was to create the best photographs I could so that people here could see what I saw. I wanted the reader to see things that were accurate. It was my obligation.
Lisa: Your daughter, Samantha Grier, is also a very talented photographer. How do you feel about your daughter following your path?
Melvin: Samantha reminds me that I was very lucky. I came to work at a newspaper when they were sort of thriving. There was a downward trend during my career. Young people today face a whole different set of circumstances up to and including that there are no jobs. For anyone who aspires to be a journalist, I know you don’t get into it to get rich. It is something you do out of a sense of wanting to contribute.
Lisa: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Melvin: Ben Klein, one of the owners of a printing company I had worked for, had one standard. That was excellence. I remember how he would say that everything we did represented his company, whether it was a free job or not. I learned a lot from him. I know that everything that I shoot as a photographer is far from perfect but I try to make everything as good as I can make it.
Lisa: There is a poem that you read to people a lot. Tell us about it.
Melvin: It is a poem by James Baldwin from a book called Nothing Personal that has a lot of meaning to me. For me, it reminds me that my job as a photographer is to witness things so that people who could not be there for future generations would have a record of it. That was my responsibility, to document things and people.
For nothing is fixed
Forever and forever and forever
It is not fixed
The Earth is always shifting
The light is always changing
The sea does not cease
to grind down rock
Generations do not cease
to be born
and we are responsible to them because
We are the only witnesses they have
– James Baldwin
#GoodThingsCincy
Arzell Nelson Inspires Through Music And Civil Rights Advocacy
Pictured: Arzell Papazell Nelson receiving the “KARMAVEER PURASKAAR’S” GLOBAL AWARD for SOCIAL JUSTICE and CITIZEN ACTION and NOBEL LAURETTE under the GLOBAL ARTISTES 4 CHANGE MUSIC category for 2011.
How often it is that we find out how very little we actually know about the details of many of the people who are loosely part of our lives. One great benefit for me to writing this blog is getting the opportunity to learn about those stories.
Arzell ‘Papazell’ Nelson is one of those people in my world. We have been ‘connected’ as Facebook ‘friends’ for more years than I can remember; but I am finding out there is so much to this man who has politely offered encouraging words that needs to be told. I am awe struck at the accomplishments of a man who, up until now, has been under my radar.
A composer, playwright, musician, music promoter, civil rights advocate, mentor, leader, and family man, what Arzell has achieved, what he stands for, and the example he sets truly needs to be told proudly and widely.
It struck me as very humbling how his answer to my question about his proudest accomplishment was unequivocally his being honored locally (just one of many) in 1981 with the Kool Jazz Festival Award, Dino Santangelo Award and the Ohio Valley Jazz Award. This may sound huge to anyone reading this, but take into account this is a man who, in 2011, flew to India where he accepted the “KARMAVEER PURASKAAR’S” GLOBAL AWARD for SOCIAL JUSTICE and CITIZEN ACTION and NOBEL LAURETTE under the GLOBAL ARTISTES 4 CHANGE MUSIC category. Arzell also has been given the key to our city by three different Cincinnati mayors, was recognized twice by Ohio’s Governor George Voinovich by proclamation for his civic leadership, and was recognized by the Shreveport, La. Ukraine’s Department of State and the AFL-CIO. President Bill Clinton wrote him two letters of appreciation for Arzell’s work in human relations.
What caused this internationally respected leader to be so proud of that Kool Jazz Award? It was presented to him for his musical score and show, ‘Little Boy Jazz’ performed at the Playhouse in the Park Marx Theatre which most importantly to him included his daughter and son playing lead roles, and many School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) students performing alongside them.
Truly, this is a man with a huge heart for changing the world beginning with the young, impressionable minds of youth.
The evolution
Arzell’s childhood came at a time when segregation was still very familiar. When his family moved from the West End to East Walnut Hills, they were the first black family on the street. It was many years later – in 1973 – when he joined the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission and was charged with reducing juvenile delinquency in the first neighborhood he knew.
He asked his boss, Executive Director Virginia Coffey, “What do you want me to do?” Her answer is what pretty much has changed the course of Arzell’s life. “Whatever you can do to keep kids off the street,” he told me he replied.
Music was part of his entire family. It was one of his great memories growing up. And so, with this task, Arzell began organizing workshops with a borrowed electric piano. Attendance took off and soon he began writing songs for his students to perform.
“I didn’t really have a plan in terms of pursuing music,” Arzell told me. “It just happened.”
One morning he saw Sammy Davis Jr. show support of President Nixon on television. It upset Arzell and moved him to write a musical, Straighten Out Sammy. He put together a group of local singers and actors and was getting about 300 people to show up for performances. That led to Arzell’s group, the Corporation of Truth, which played Cincinnati’s first Martin Luther King concert.
And from there, this man who has been under my radar all this time, went on to write over 300 songs and more shows. He has recorded at Columbia Records; promoted concerts of big names; and opened up on stage for well known artists such as Philip Bailey, George Dukes and Freddie Hubbard.
Through it all, he has continued his pursuit of social justice. His career with the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission spanned 25 years, ending with him in the role of executive director. He also served as a cultural/ethnic diversity consultant. He has been with programs such as Share Food, which involved food distribution to poor and working class citizens at minimum cost; and was also involved with ‘Back on the Block’, a program offering education, recreation and employment opportunities to youth.
Currently Arzell is working on a film documentary and television series called, ‘Don’t Count Me Out’ that will address the issue of violence against women and children.
I asked him about an experience that touched his life. He shared with me a time when he called home to his dad from college asking for money. “I said, ‘dad, I need $50,” Arzell told me, “and my dad told me, ‘Oh you do? Tell you what, call me back in a couple days to let me know how you are doing.’
“I ended up getting the $50 on my own and I remember that I was so proud,” he continued. “I called my dad to tell him and he told me, ‘Great, I am so proud of you.’ Dad taught me to look out for myself and that put me on my right track of believing in myself and my abilitiess.”
Yes, Arzell, you definitely have abilities. And I am so glad that I learned about them!
Please click here to listen to a sample of Arzell’s music.
#GoodThingsCincy
Marty Polk Inspires By Example
Marty Polk has smiled at me and asked me about my day more times than I can count. No matter what I am doing or where I am on the exercise floor at the TriHealth Fitness Pavilion, I can’t help but notice him. Holding a towel in one hand, his eyes are drawn to people like magnets. His is that familiar face that always 
carries a smile, inviting everyone to take up conversation. Marty knows no strangers there. His is everybody’s friend. On a day when there is no sunshine, he brightens it just by being present.
I had known that Marty was a retired police officer but not much more. After sitting down with him and his son, Martin, I developed a whole new level of admiration and respect.
For 30 years Marty was a plain clothed officer working in the Cincinnati Police Department’s park unit. Often his job was undercover, helping to bring to justice the people selling drugs. But there is much more to his story than searching for the bad guys.
On those days when he walked Cincinnati’s parks, he was also on the lookout for those needing a step up. Marty had a reputation for fairness and integrity. He wanted to help people he met who were down on their luck. “I wouldn’t give them money,” he told me. “I would take them to White Castle or someplace else to get them something to eat, or I would bring them food or coffee. As long as they tried, I was always helpful to them.”
I am willing to bet Marty paid for this out of his own pocket. He was also known for taking people who were homeless to the Drop Inn Center or another agency like the Salvation Army.
Those acts of kindness changed and empowered lives. Several individuals even came back to tell Marty he turned them around from a path headed toward destruction, saved them.
“It is why I wanted to be a police officer,” he said. “We are here to help people. I always tell people to try and do the right things, be positive and return favors to others. When I know I have helped someone, it makes me feel good inside. It shows that police officers can do more than just be police officers. We can take care of people.”
But Marty’s story has taken a turn since those days walking the Cincinnati Parks. Just three months past his retirement, January 18, 2012 to be exact, he had a stroke that took away use of his entire right side…and one of his greatest gifts, his speech. He was hospitalized for three months, during which his family never left his side. He endured a rigorous schedule of therapies that detoured when he coded three separate times from a blood pressure drop. He battled long and hard. Ultimately Marty’s journey took him from a wheelchair to a cane to being able to exercise three days a week….with enough energy left over to greet everyone with whom he comes in contact. His trainer has him spend 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, ride the stationary bike for 5 miles and walk a mile in less than a 15 minute stride.
Since his stroke, Marty has even become a seasoned 5K participant, having walked in two Flying Pig races, the American Cancer Society 5K, and the NFL Hall of Fame Walk.
“He is my best friend and role model,” Martin said sitting next to his father.
Lisa: What are some life lessons you have taught your sons?
Marty: I always have taught them that when you approach people, you call them ‘Yes Sir’ or Yes Ma’am’. I try to teach my sons the way my father taught me to be honest, have integrity and do the right things in life.
Lisa: What do you hope you impact will be?
Marty: I like to inspire people. It is the reason why I try to speak to everyone to see how their days are going because not everyone has good days. But you’ve got to keep fighting to maintain what you have got.
#GoodThingsCincy
Russ Childers Shares His Appalachian Roots
For more than 20 years, I coordinated the media relations for the Appalachian Festival at Coney Island; and two of my favorite people who I got to know through it were Barb and Russ Childers. Musicians, storytellers, educators, square dance fans, and all around kind hearted people who are also passionate about their Appalachian roots, they were always fun to be around.
I caught up with Russ the other day, and I thought he would be a perfect person to feature here.
As fiddler, and banjo and dulcimer player, for more than 40 years, Russ has been sharing his heritage with our community through music at our region’s most popular events and venues. On stage he is often recognized as part of the Rabbit Hash String Band or his and Barb’s husband-wife team known as Bear Foot. He is a master musician with the Ohio Arts Council. Russ’s banjo playing has even earned him numerous state awards including the Kentucky State Clawhammer Banjo Champion. In May 2000, he was the recipient of the Appalachian Heritage Award from the Cincinnati Appalachian Community Development Association.
School children throughout Kentucky and Ohio look forward to his presentations where he demonstrates instrument building, teaches them how to make music on reclaimed materials, and has even been known to get them up and square dancing.
Let’s get to know a little more about Russ.
Lisa: What is one of your greatest accomplishments?
Russ: I am most proud my ability to give the gift of music to people. I have a knack for helping others learn how to play it. When they are successful, it makes them very happy. And makes me happy too. I have a buddy who wanted to play the banjo. He became my apprentice and even played in my band. It is such a joy to see how his face lights up when he is on stage as part of our group.
Lisa: Square dancing is an important part of your story. Can you explain?
Russ: My dad used to talk about how he would ride a mule to the dance, and ride the mule home again. When he moved to Cincinnati in the late 1930s there was a square dance at the YWCA downtown, and that is where he met my mom. Barb is an accomplished Appalachian clogger and we met at a square dance too.
These days, for the past three or four years, the Rabbit Hash String Band has been playing music and I have been honing my skills as a square dance caller at the Northside Tavern. It is all about spreading information on the Appalachian culture in a positive light. Our philosophy is that we are not there to make you a better dancer but we want you to leave smiling, and, if you gain some knowledge about square dancing, all the better.
Lisa: What would you like for people to remember most about you?
Russ: I want people to think of me as a nice person who wants to share his knowledge. Someone who is a good friend.
Lisa: Can you tell us about someone who has been an important influence on you?
Russ: My wife, Barb. She believes in everything I do and encourages me to try everything. When I am feeling down, she is always there to bolster me up and encourage me to look at things from a new perspective.
Deneen Wolber Is Passionate About Helping
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Deneen Wolber. I met Deneen when I was promoting the 2015 Cincinnati ReelAbilities Film Festival. She worked in development at one of the Festival’s beneficiary agencies, the Spina Bifida Coalition of Greater Cincinnati.
If you have been fortunate enough to know Deneen, you know she is someone absolutely passionate with life, making the most of it, and giving back to making the 
world a better place. She has an endless supply of energy that she generously gives to better the lives of animals, those in her circles and causes she holds dear.
Deneen told me she has been a fund and event organizer for more than 30 years, having gotten started as a volunteer in her community and for her son’s school. She worked for the Spina Bifada Coalition for four years before joining the Muscular Dystrophy Association to serve as a fundraising coordinator.
Please take a few minutes to learn more about Deneen below.
Lisa: When people first meet you, what do you think they notice first?
Deneen: Definitely they can feel my passion right away. I get so excited when it comes to helping people and animals. I often put others before myself. I just enjoy life and meeting people. I always seem to make friends for life.
Lisa: You talk about how your job at the Spina Bifada Society was life changing. Can you elaborate?
Deneen: It is so very important to me that everyone be included and be given the opportunity to experience life to their fullest. Those affected by a disability or medical condition are no different. What was so very special about my time with the Spina Bifada Coalition is how my son, who is almost 18, chose to volunteer with the organization and how he learned about people who are different from himself. He got his friends involved also. I raised him to have a huge heart for helping people and it has been great to see his continued growth.
Lisa: What are some accomplishments for which you are most proud?
Deneen: There has been a lot. Of course my son is top on that list. When I was vice president of the PTO for his elementary school, I started its Spirit Shop and helped create a lot of very successful events and those Festivals are still going strong. When Ben was a baby, I helped start the Mom’s Club of Ft Thomas as a group for support each other and sharing ideas; and I served as its vice presidents. It is wonderful to see that still flourishing and to know so many new mothers are benefitting.
Lisa: Tell us about someone who impacted your life.
Deneen: My mom and my grandmother were my best friends growing up. My grandmother passed away in September when she was 95. I will always cherish time spent with her. I see so much of my grandma in me. She too was very strong willed, social, and goal oriented. She worked until three months before she died.
Grandma used to tell me to always read, and to interact with people and keep moving and thinking, because those are all things that will keep you alive. She also used to tell me that I have a gift of never looking at anyone differently. Even growing up as a child, I was friends with everyone.
Lisa: Tell us about an act of kindness from your life.
Deneen: A close friend of mine since the fourth grade, when Nancy was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer she was given one year to live. I refused to accept that. I did everything I could to keep Nancy alive from doing fun things with her to raising money. I put my life on hold during that time because I was not going to let Nancy give up. I look back on that time now and it really makes me feel good. It made me so happy to do that for her.
Lisa: What advice do you have for others on living life?
Deneen: You need to go out there and do what you love doing. What Nancy taught me is that life is short. Just be happy and do what you love.
#GoodThingsCincy
Have you registered for the upcoming A Night of CINspiration? More information is here.
