Italianette Restaurant

Josh Levin

Travel Writing

5/23/14

Italianette Pizza

            Italianette Pizza is a little pizza place on Plainfield Road in Deer Park, OH. I visited the restaurant for the first time last Friday with my Travel Writing class for a late lunch. The first two things I noticed when I entered was that it was very empty and that all of the televisions were showing Sports Center. The server came right out, got our drink orders, and got them out to us quickly. The atmosphere was nice and calming and we were able to just relax and have a good conversation.

            We all took a little more time to look at the menu before ordering. They are known best for the pizza, but I wasn’t really craving pizza. I looked to see what else was on the menu. They had pasta, salad, and hoagies. I love hoagies! They had about ten different options of hoagies to choose from. I decided to go with the buffalo chicken hoagie. I love buffalo chicken! I was hoping that there hoagies were good; I was not to be disappointed.

            The buffalo chicken hoagie came out at the perfect temperature and the chicken was cooked just right. It was different than other buffalo chicken hoagies that I had eaten before in that it was one piece of breaded chicken instead of many pieces of grilled chicken. The hoagie was very messy, but also very delicious. They used just the right amount of hot sauce to give it a good kick without hurting my mouth. The hoagie bread was amazing as well! I would definitely recommend this restaurant to all of my friends! It’s quick, convenient, decently priced, and the food tastes great!

Leaves of Learning

     Leaves of Learning is an amazing home school program in Deer Park, OH. It covers ages 3-18. I absolutely love it here. The kids have either spent their whole lives here or they have come from other schools from being picked on or left out. Here at Leaves, no one is ever left out or feels not wanted.

     Being a student at Leaves is an incredible adventure. It's so different and unique that you just want to keep going and learn more. It turns heads at first and really makes you think and take a second glance. Once you see it, you want to explore it and see why these kids are having so much at a school.

     It's a very small, yet very warm and welcoming environment full of fun experiences.

   
     When you visit Leaves of Learning, you are sure to walk out with a smile on your face! The people are friendly and nice, very happy to be there and happy to help show the new kids around. Each classroom opens a door to a fun class! The average number of students in a class is 10, so it is a really small, intimate environment where you can have a better, closer relationship with your teachers. Our classes range from Science and Math to Pottery and Mythology, so the options are countless and the fun is endless. The teachers truly care about each individual student and are always more than welcome to help you whenever you need it. The administrators, Diana Osborn and Christie Sawyer, strive to have fun. They don't want to have a difference in fun and school, they want school to actually be fun.

Cincinnati Observatory Center Questions

Josh Levin

4/25/14

Cincinnati Observatory Questions

1. How old is your oldest telescope?

2. How far into space can you see?

3. Who started this Observatory?

4. Where did you get the telescopes from?

5. Did you have to reassemble the telescope once it arrived?

6. What important discoveries have you made using these telescopes?

7. Why did you choose to build this Observatory?

8. Why did you choose this location?

9. What year was the Observatory built?

10. How long did it take to build?

CincinnARTi's Dancing for the Stars

Josh Levin
4/18/14
Travel Writing

                                                              Dancing for the Stars

     I volunteered at Cincinnati's Dancing for the Stars charity event this weekend with mom. It was amazing. The event was held at Music Hall in downtown Cincinnati. It was a very high class, black tie formal event. Everyone looked amazing, except for one guy in a v-neck and jeans. There was great music from a live jazz band during dinner with an incredible horn section and a singer with a beautiful voice. Dinner included yummy food from local vendors. Also during dinner people could bid on a number of raffle items, mingle and dance, or buy a balloon. I helped my mom sell balloons. We sold all but five of the balloons. After dinner, the dance competition started. There were six pairs of local celebrities and professional dancers. They were all incredible! The dance competition part was just like Dancing with the Stars; a pair would dance, the judges would comment on their performance, and then give them a score from 1-10. Everyone seemed to be having a really great time; dancing, eating, drinking, chatting with friends. I had a great time meeting new people and selling them balloons. It was also really cool to help set up for the event and then come back at night and see it all in action. All the money raised at this event went to the Overture Awards scholarships for high school students in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.

Cincinnati Observatory Center

Josh Levin
Travel Writing
4/11/14
Charity Smith

                                                               Cincinnati Observatory Center
Where
     The Cincinnati Observatory Center is conveniently located in Hyde Park on Observatory Place

Who
     Craig Niemi is the Executive Director and the General Inquiries at the Cincinnati Observatory Center
     Dean Regas is the Outreach Astronomer and the Education and Outreach at the Cincinnati Observatory Center

What
     The Cincinnati Observatory Center is an Observatory located in the beautiful town of Hyde Park. It is just the perfect place to go at night to be up close and personal with the stars. You can see each and every little tiny detail on the moon and the stars. It's simply spectacular.

Spring Grove

Josh Levin

3/28/14

Travel Writing

Spring Grove

            It was the first beautiful day in weeks in Cincinnati. The sun was high in the sky, just the right amount of clouds, and there was a lovely breeze flowing through the trees. Our field trip for Travel Writing was to Spring Grove Cemetery this month. Before we stopped at the cemetery though, we stopped at A.J. Rahn, a greenhouse near the cemetery. We stepped in from the wind and were immediately engulfed with the sweet smells and aromas of springtime. It was warm and it smelled so fresh. I did not want to leave. There were just rows upon rows of beautiful flowers with a rainbow of colors.

            The greenhouse was cool to see, but the main part of trip had not even begun yet. We pulled into the entrance of Spring Grove and were instantly taken over by the beauty, peace, and tranquility of the cemetery. All my fears of old graveyards were washed away like a lilac floating down stream towards a spectacular waterfall.

            At every fork in the road, there were more and more beautiful views of trees and tombstones. Although some of the trees were not in full bloom, it was still so cool to see all of the giant trees throughout the cemetery. There was even a really pretty mausoleum with colorful stained glass as the windows, it overlooked one of the lakes and it was just a great sight to see.  

            What I took away from Spring Grove was that even in darkness, there is still light. Death does not always have to be sad. Remember the good times and the beauty as well.

Carew Tower

Carew Tower Trip

            I just took a recent trip to Carew Tower with my Travel Writing class. It was a great field trip. The lobby of the plaza was unique in that it was created with a beautiful Art-Deco style throughout. The entrance was a long hallway with many shops and a famous diner. This famous diner, called Hathaway’s, is the oldest restaurant in Cincinnati. It is a nice little quaint place to enjoy a great meal while also taking in the rich history of the diner itself. They have all of the original stations and seating except for a couple of booths they took out to open up the space. If you’re lucky, you might even get to sit in the exact seat that Elvis Presley sat in. It’s a really nice atmosphere. All of the waitresses have worked there their entire lives. There are old time pictures of the good ol’ days of Cincinnati all over the walls.

            The most important part of the trip was taking the elevator and some stairs about 40 flights up to the top of the Carew Tower. It was very scary the higher we got. Once we reached the lobby at the top, we could hear the wind whipping from all sides of the tower. It was a beautiful day, cold and windy but clear skies for miles. We could see everything. The views on all four sides were simply stunning. I could see my three favorite places in all of Cincinnati with my bird’s eye view; Great American Ball Park, Paul Brown Stadium, and US Bank Arena. We could not have picked a better day to be up there. We were pretty much the only group up there, so we were free to roam without bothering anyone. It was an awesome experience getting to see the beauty of our wonderful city from such high up. If you get a chance to go sometime, take it, I promise that you won’t regret it.

Foreign Cheese

I like Foreign Cheese!... Or do I???... Comment below!

Carew Tower Research

Josh Levin

Travel Writing

2/13/14

Carew Tower Research

            Carew Tower is located on Vine Street in beautiful downtown Cincinnati. It has a lot of rich history in the city. The tower itself is home to many shops, restaurants and the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. It is the second tallest building in the city just shy of the Great American Bank headquarters at 49 stories tall. Like the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago, the Carew Tower’s top floor has an observation deck where you can get a bird’s eye view of the entire city.

            The Cincinnati Netherland Plaza is a very historic landmark in downtown Cincinnati. It’s a great place to sit down and relax in an elegant setting and enjoy a nice meal. It’s one of the oldest hotels in downtown Cincinnati. It’s got beautiful rooms with great views of the city and it’s affordable. It’s inside of the Carew Tower, so as a guest, you can go up to the top of the tower and watch the lit up night skyline from the observation deck. If you’re in town for a holiday involving fireworks or a Fireworks Friday Reds game, you can even watch the fireworks from the observation deck and get a great unobstructed view of them.

            A fun event that the Carew Tower does every year is the Fight for Air Climb. This event is used to raise awareness for lung cancer and lung disease and all money goes to the American Lung Association. It is a $25 registration fee plus $100 from fundraising. The event itself is climbing up the 45 floors of the Tower, a total of 804 steps. It’s a fun event and you get timed while you are also helping to give money to find a cure for lung disease. The event is this Sunday morning at 7 a.m.

            Cincinnati is a beautiful city to visit and this is one of the great historic landmarks of the city. The tower is within walking distance of so many great things to do. There’s Fountain Square where you get lunch, enjoy some delicious Graeter’s Ice Cream, and go ice skating. There’s 3 great theaters; the Ensemble Theater, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and the Aronoff Center where you can see some amazing shows and productions. We love our sports in Cincinnati, so either catch a Reds game at Great American Ball Park, a Bengals game at Paul Brown Stadium, or a Cyclones game at US Bank Arena. There’s so much to do and see here, so please come and join us!

Cincinnati Bearcats

Josh Levin

2/7/14

Travel Writing

Charity Smith

Cincinnati Bearcats

            What a game last night! The Bearcats were on their home court facing a huge conference rival in the UConn Huskies. These two teams were big rivals in the Big East conference for years. Now they are both in the American Athletic Conference or AAC. The Bearcats have now won 15 straight games, are 22-2 overall and are 12-0 in conference play. It was a matchup of the top two point guards in the AAC with Sean Kilpatrick of the Bearcats against Shabazz Napier of the Huskies, both averaging 10+ points a game.

UC started off slowly, trailing the entire first half, but they were hanging on and fighting hard. They had an incredible second half led by Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Jackson; Sean Kilpatrick with his quick hands on defense and his great ability to make it rain from downtown, and Justin Jackson with his prowess underneath to defend shots and fight for rebounds. The biggest play of the game was in the second half with about 5 minutes left; Justin Jackson got the major block on a Huskie going in for the layup and the ball bounced around and was thrown up court where it was a race to get to the ball between, of course, Sean Kilpatrick and Shabazz Napier. Kilpatrick won the race and slammed it home for two, the crowd went wild, everyone standing and screaming. That changed the momentum of the game for UC just long enough to pull out the win with some key free throws in the final seconds of the game to secure the conference win against a tough opponent.

Sean Kilpatrick ended up with 26 points, 15 of them from beyond the arc, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. While Shabazz Napier ended up with 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. Point Kilpatrick!

 It was an amazing game! I had a blast! I am now adding the Cincinnati Bearcats to my list of teams along with the Kentucky Wildcats and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Winter Break

Josh Levin

Travel Writing

1/10/14

Winter Break

            I stayed home for the holidays this year, something I rarely do. I usually go up to Indianapolis to visit friends from Chicago or just go all the way up to Chicago to see them and some family. We didn’t go up to Indianapolis because my dog, Lulu, hurt her back and we didn’t want to put her in a kennel. My mom and brother were supposed to go up to Chicago the 1^st week of January, but my mom was sick.

            

            Since I stayed home this year, I was able to hang out with a lot of my friends. I went and spent two days at my friend Konstantin’s house. We just chilled most of the time, watched a couple of movies, and went to dinner at Keystones two nights in a row for their amazing mac and cheese and skillet cookies. But the most exciting thing that the two of us did was going to the Bengals game against the Vikings. It was my first Bengals game ever! It was so amazing. It was different, being a part of the game like that, the atmosphere, helping cheer the Bengals to a huge 42-14 victory. The Bengals have a song they play at the stadium after every touchdown they score but I didn’t know the song at all. Since the Bengals scored so many touchdowns, I know it a little better now!

           

            Another thing I did was go to the mall with Ari and Emily. We went the day after Christmas, perfect time to go because everything is on sale, at least, all the sports stuff was. So I bought myself some new basketball shorts for only $30 when they were originally $40. I was looking for a dress shirt and tie for the school dance, but everything I found was way too expensive. It was a fun day.

            

             Two times over break, I hung out with my best friend, Drew. The first time, I went over to his house to play video games, watch movies, and spend the night. I had a lot of fun. The next time, we went to a Cyclones game. It was a fun night, but a crazy hectic night as well. This Cyclones game was special because the tickets were only $8 and the pizza, hot dogs and soda were only $1. Only problem was that 13,000 other people showed up to take advantage of this special game. It took us half an hour just to get our tickets while we were freezing, standing there in line. We got in 2 minutes before the game started! Then, we got hungry, so with 5 minutes left in the 1^st period, we left to get food thinking we would beat the lines before intermission… we were horribly wrong. It took us an hour and a half just to get food! There were two sets of lines. We waited in a first line along the wall forever, and then squeezed our way into a second line heading towards the concessions counter, it was sheer madness! My friend and I were hopping up and down just about to lose it at how long this was taking. We missed three goals by the Cyclones and two fights and the entire 2^nd period! All in all, we had fun, we met some interesting people while in line, and the Cyclones won 6-2. I had a really nice break.