Kindness Rocks
And Sometimes It Rolls
Have you found one?
Kindness Rocks are turning up along sidewalks, on park benches, under trees — everywhere. The movement started on social media and has taken a rock-solid hold in Northeast Ohio.
Painted and shellacked, the colorful rocks usually sport a label with a hashtag so finders can see where their rocks have traveled. The biggest group is #NortheastOhioRocks! — with 175,000 members and about 3 million rocks that have been painted and hidden — but there are plenty of others here and around the country, including the Kindness Rocks Project with a more national scope.
All the groups encourage people to paint small rocks — with or without a message — and hide them as a random act of kindness.
Rock finders often snap a photo of their rock, list the location, and post it to Twitter, Facebook or another social media account. They then re-hide the rock and see where it ends up.
To get started, prepare your rock surface with a layer of paint. Use oil-based Sharpie markers to decorate the rock. If you feel like it, add a hashtag on the back such as #THEKINDNESSROCKSPROJECT, or #NortheastOhioRocks!
Here’s to a rockin’ — and kind — summer.
A Fairly Good Time
Groomed Cows & Elephant Ears
July marks the start of county fair season, and Ohio has nearly perfected the art of canned food judging, giant vegetable growing and corn dog eating.
The Summit and Lake county fairs are the week of July 25-30, the Medina County Fair is July 31-Aug. 6, the Cuyahoga County Fair (Berea) is Aug. 7-13 and the Portage County Randolph Fair is Aug. 22-27.
The oldest continuous fair in the state — and one of the very best — is the Great Geauga County Fair, scheduled for Labor Day weekend in Burton. I adore the cluster of restored buildings and the dog retrieving and wild animal exhibitions in the sprawling nature area that surrounds a lake — yes, a lake — in the back of the fairgrounds.
Geauga County remains largely rural, so there’s plenty of fruits and vegetables on display, along with home canned goods, an impressive cake decorating competition and lovely quilts.
Sticky kids, barnyard aromas, tractor displays and interesting-looking carnival workers. For my money, it’s not summer without a trip to the county fair.
A Midsummer Read
From a Prolific Local Writer
A lot of great writers call Northeast Ohio home. One of the best is Thrity Umrigar, who not only produces highly acclaimed books but also teaches at Case Western Reserve University, where she’s the Armington Professor of English.
The word from bibliophiles is that her latest, “Everybody’s Son: a Novel,” is one of her best. It was released in June.
“Everybody’s Son: a Novel” is about a boy separated from his mother who ends up living with a U.S. senator and his wife. The themes of class differences, privilege and race wind their way through the beautifully written book.
Umrigar’s other best sellers include “Bombay Time,” “The Space Between Us”(my favorite so far) and “If Today Be Sweet.”
Born in Bombay, Umrigar moved to the United States when she was 21. She’s won numerous national and local writing awards and is a popular lecturer. Learn more at umrigar.com.
