Thrity joins avalanche of authors in Georgia

Former BJ reporter Thrity Umrigar will be among more than SIX HUNDRED authors at the Atlanta Journal Constitution Decatur Book Festival in Georgia on Saturday, Aug. 30. This is the largest independent book festival in the country.

Thrity will be in the Marriott Conference Center Ballroom at 3 p.m. with author Porochista Khakpour discussing “Love in the Time of Globalization.”

When she returns to Ohio, Thrity will get ready for readings of her 7^th book and 6^th novel, “The Story Hour,” which was published Aug. 19, on Thursday, Sept. 4 in Woodmere, Ohio.

9/4/14: 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
28801 Chagrin Blvd Woodmere, OH 44122

(216) 765-7520

Bombay, India native Thrity’s previous novels are “Bombay Time” (2002), “The Space Between Us” (2007), “If Today be Sweet” (2008), “The Weight of Heaven” (2010) and “The World We Found” (2012), and all set in the country of her birth, as was her memoir, “First Darling of the Morning”  (2008).

Thrity teaches creative writing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
(216) 765-7520

$10,000 in Akron art prizes

There’s $10,000 up for grabs at the 3^rd annual Akron Art Prize, starting Sept. 6. Results will be announced Saturday, Oct. 4 in the grand lobby of the Akron Art Museum.

First place receives $5,000 and their piece displayed in the Akron Art Museum for the week following the finale.  There will be five $1,000 runner-up prizes.

Artists will show their works in five Downtown Akron venues Sept. 6-Oct. 4 during which time the public will determine the winners.

Participating Venues:

43 Furnace Art Complex
Zeber-Martell Studio Side Gallery (43 Furnace St.)
ARTWALLS at 43 Furnace Upstairs (Enter through Zeber-Martell Studio main doors)

Akron Glass Works (106 N. Main St.)

The Nightlight (30 N. High St.)

Palladian Palette (30 N. High St.)

Summit Artspace Gallery (140 E. Market St.)

Akron Art Prize 2014 is introducing a new Art Prize app with an enhanced voter and participant experience, getting you close to the entering artist.  The artist name, entry title, media type, artist statement, email and artist profile information – including links to websites and business information – will be available on your smart phone or via voting tablets. Voting will take place during a limited time frame and will only be allowed within Downtown, encouraging voters to attend and experience the events.

Former BJ Featurs Department editor and columnist Connie Bloom added:

“It'll be an embarrassment of riches: 4 popup artists (Mary Sandmann (Mary Sandmann Photography of Medina), Bernadette Houk, Sharon Wagner and James Leslie) and a new show by tattoo artists in the Penthouse (3rd floor), plus the opening of Akron Art Prize on the first floor.”

I wish I were there when St. Peter heard his first, "Go to Hell!" 

Michael the Archangel would reply: "Hey, that's my line to Lucifer!"

Burger King joining inversion tax avoidance strategy 

Burger King has decided to have it their way, by buying Canadian doughnut and coffee chain Tim Horton and then technically becoming a “foreign company,” thereby switching from the USA’s 35% corporate tax rate to Canada’s 15%.

The tactic is called inversion.

Firms don't move anywhere, except on paper.

While on paper the USA corporate tax rate is 35%, domestic firms average paying 12.6%. However, Burger King is paying 27%.

Other companies that have bought up a foreign business, mainly so they can claim to be doing business from the foreign country, are

Drug company Pfizer, looking to acquire British AstraZeneca, and the maker of Adderall, AbbVie, is seeking to buy Irish Shire. Chiquita banana is looking to merge with Irish Fyffes.

Pharmaceutical giant Milan, founded by West Virginia University’s late benefactor, Mylan Puskar, is on the same road.

But public pressure has unraveled at least one deal: Walgreens, the largest American drug store, decided not to go through with an inversion through buying Swiss Alliance Boots. It was the third major deal to collapse in recent months.

Ironically, the companies that pay the highest U.S. tax rates have been creating the most jobs.

To read the entire article, click on http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/08/25/3475124/burger-king-inversion/

It’s impossible to have Art on the Green in Hudson without Beacon Blue in there somewhere.

This weekend it was retired BJ chief artist Dennis Balogh hawking his wares in one of the many tents at the Ohio 91 and Ohio 303 intersection in downtown Hudson, a stone’s throw from the gazebo where music floats through the air every weekend.

In other years, it was former BJ photographer Denny Gordon’s wife and her sculptures, former BJ chief artist Art Krummel with his paintings and former Features Department editor and columnist Connie Bloom with her fabric art (formerly know as quilt art). 

And Balogh, in 2013 and earlier years.

Balogh’s illustrations have graced such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post (the cover), Kiplinger Financial, New York Stock Exchange, St. Louis Magazine, Success Magazine and  Harvard's HBS Magazine.

He has won so many awards that it could make this article too long to list them.

Balogh did some great original art for Channels television guide covers over the years, too. That was in ancient times when there was a Channels magazine worthy of the name when I gave birth to it with David Bianculli handling the writing when he wasn’t entertaining the newsroom with his antics before he left for New York City and Mark Dawidziak provided a sanier atmosphere. 

I took care of my baby for 16 years till my 1996 retirement.

Balogh went from Cooper School of Arts in Cleveland to the Cleveland Press to the Columbus Dispatch to the BJ.

After 21 years at the BJ, Balogh was part of a major exodus in 2006 when 335 years of experience walked out the door. 

Ol’ Blue has never been the same since. And the newsroom staff has been bludgeoned from more than 200 to fewer than 60.

Dennis lives in Broadview Heights – phone (440) 546-9223 or email baloghstudio@yahoo.com if you want to renew old times.

Here’s another slap in the face from reality: BJ Alums blog founder and BJ newsroom legend Harry Liggett’s house, where Harry and Helen and the boys made their home for forever, is up for sale.

Nephew Eric Poston and others have been sprucing up the Firestone Park domicile for weeks.

Harry joined Pat Englehart, Fran Murphey, John S. Knight and Ben Maidenburg Jan. 24, 20014.

Sad details on the house that Harry & Helen made a home after they arrived from Dennison, Ohio:

$59,900.00 est: $257.24 prin & int/month Assuming 20% down and 30 year mortgage at 5.000% interest rate (APR: %) 544 N. Firestone is a very nice 3 bedroom ranch with great features including some vinyl windows, hardwood floors in bedrooms, formal dining room, freshly painted, full basement, large living room, fenced in backyard. 1-car garage. Comes with a Home Warranty. You must see this one! Information Address: 544 North Firestone Blvd Akron, OH 44301 Bedrooms:  3 Bathrooms:  1 full Square Feet:  1225 Type:  Cape Cod Subdivision:  Mccourt Area:  South Akron (South) Firestone Park School Dist:  Akron CSD MLS ID:  3645990 Status:  Active
Features Garage: 1 Taxes: $1,440 / year Basement: Yes Fenced: Yes Formal Dining: Yes Roof Type: Asphalt/Fiberglass Parking Notes: Detached Lot Size: 0.13 Acres Lot Dimensions: 52x113 Heating: Forced Air Fuel Type: Gas Cooling: None Year Built: 1951 Water: Public Water Sewer: Public Sewer Stories: 2.0 Living Room Flooring: Carpet Kitchen Flooring: Linoleum Dining Room Flooring: Carpet Bedroom 1 (Master) Flooring: Wood Bedroom 2 Flooring: Wood Bedroom 3 Flooring: Wood Basement Features: Full, Unfinished Driveway Features: Paved Water/Sewer: Public Sewer, Public Water Home Warranty: Yes Room Information Living Room: 17.50 x 11.00 Level First Kitchen: 12.00 x 8.00 Level First Dining Room: 9.00 x 7.50 Level First Bedroom 1 (Master): 13.00 x 11.00 Level First Bedroom 2: 11.00 x 9.00 Level First Bedroom 3: 30.00 x 11.50 Level Second School Information School District: Akron CSD To see the listing and the photos and video, click on

http://www.ryancarter.biz/listings/detail.php?lid=85339790&hdoor=&state_id=39&listingcid=0271&fid=&navn=&aid=027100012&oid=027100046&aname=Ryan+M.+Carter&aimg=1&agent_hasfeat=44&&posc=&post=&cfq=&