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SoapBox 1 - Base Camp
Ixi Chen

I'll admit it, I didn't think I could ever call Cincinnati my home.  My friends in California have stopped saying, "Hey how's Cleveland?" when we talk on the phone and I don't have to say, "Um, I live in Cincinnati" and then respond inevitably to, "How do you spell that?".   I know, it's confusing and hard to keep straight, all these Ohio cities that are all the same, right? In my mind, my sense of home has been the incredible feeling I always have as the plane dips down over San Francisco Bay.  As the years have passed, I haven't lost the excitement the feeling landing back in California over the Pacific Ocean, but now there's a irreplaceable sense of peace and belonging when I come down over the hill on I-71 from the airport and the view of Cincinnati drops in front of me, a city gleaming and vibrant on the river.  Home.

For me, Cincinnati is where I have made a life, where lifelong friendships and the seeds of truly deep meaningful work have been sowed. It's where I have grown into my own skin, discovered my voice and realized my passion. As an artist, it's a place where one can easily reach out and create something tangible out of dreams and full of people who are not only supportive of new ideas, but nurture them: they say "yes" that can be done!, "yes" I love that!, "yes" let's do it!  Ok sometimes it doesn't know it, sometimes it may be slow to respond, but Cincinnati is a rich and fertile community who takes itself seriously but knows how to have a good time.

The River, the Stadiums, the New Downtown, the Neighborhoods, that’s all great but let's face it, Cincinnati is about the people, people.  The imagination, creativity, spunk, risk-taking, community-building, and hands-on attitude of so many of the folks I’ve met since landing here is amazing. These last 8 years have netted me friends young and old, from all walks of life, work and background.  As the late Susan Sontag famously said, “Existence is no more than the precarious attainment of relevance in an intensely mobile flux of past, present and future”. If this is true, the relevance of existence here is based on our valuing quality relationships, taking the time to stop and listen to one another’s ideas, and having the desire to explore together our creative expression. Be it in business, education, urban planning, fine arts, this is what makes this city special in my eyes, that there lives so much possibility and kinetic energy in our nexus of interpersonal relationships.  And this is the aspect of living in Cincinnati that will transcend the passage of time.

It’s good to be home.