You’ll be able to ride The Diamondback for the first time this year on Saturday. The ride will be turning 15 years old this year. IMAGE COURTESY OF KINGS ISLAND Happy Earth Weekend! Whether you want to spend this beautiful spring weekend outdoors chowing down on some blue ice cream at Kings Island for the first time this season or listening and then re-listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, there will be an event just for you. Taylor Swift Album Release Party Swifties have been waiting on pins and needles for Taylor’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, to finally come out. At Ca ..read more

Maverick Chocolate Company works to ethically source cocoa for their products. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MAVERICK CHOCOLATE “It’s getting harder and harder every day to try and do the right thing,” laments Paul Picton, owner of Maverick Chocolate Company, during a recent meeting of the Cincinnati chapter of Slow Food USA. For his business, that means importing organic cane sugar from Brazil. What most people don’t realize is that white sugar is rarely vegetarian-friendly. Because of a wood shortage, it’s usually filtered through bone char—burnt cow bones. Picton pays a high tariff ($0.16 per poun ..read more

Just about the only thing that made sense about FC Cincinnati’s 2-1 loss Saturday evening at Montreal was the historical aspect of the setback. For the first time in nearly two years—May 21 and May 28, 2022, to be exact—the Orange and Blue have dropped back-to-back league matches. And just like then, the second leg of those consecutive setbacks came in Montreal. Embed from Getty Images Other than that statistical anomaly, not much about the way FCC are performing looks familiar or settling. Yes, I’m the same columnist who previously preached caution after a scoreless draw in the league open ..read more

Embed from Getty Images On April 7, the Reds dropped the final game of a series against the New York Metropolitans, scoring just a single run in the process. It was the club’s first series loss of the season, and shortstop Elly De La Cruz went 0-4 in the game, dropping his season numbers to .242/.324/.394 with no home runs. He’d struck out 17 times in 33 at-bats, and his defense was even shakier, with four errors in his first nine games. Predictably, a certain segment of the Reds fan base was ready to give up on Elly, demanding he be sent back to the minors. There are a few more hot ta ..read more

Iam not a doctor, but I play one in this magazine. I’m a specialist in the treatment of ACC (Acute Cincinnati Curiosity), a recurring condition that’s incurable, although it can be managed with proper care. The Doctor cares and shares every patient’s passion for finding answers to Cincinnati’s most elusive questions. With the publication of this month’s Dr. Know column, I have now occupied this esteemed position for 10 years. It’s time for a performance review. Dr. Know was created in 2008 by Albert Pyle, who apparently wasn’t busy enough as executive director of the venerable Mercantile Libr ..read more

Although some national publications made light of equine influenza, many American cities, including Cincinnati were brought to a standstill without ready horsepower. FROM HARPER'S WEEKLY 16 NOVEMBER 1872 It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. For nearly three weeks in the autumn of 1872, Cincinnati was paralyzed by a virus with no known cure. Humans were not susceptible to this virus. It only affected horses, but the entire operation of Cincinnati life and business depended primarily on horses. When the city’s horses were incapacitated, Cincinnati screeched into paralysis. Th ..read more

The big 4-0 is fast approaching, and most days I feel surprisingly calm about it. Most days, I recognize that reaching such a milestone is a gift. Most days, I understand that such an age is befitting of where I am in my life: a mom of four kids who are all potty trained but not yet driving; a full-time writer with a career I’m incredibly proud of; a daughter to two sets of healthy and active grandparents; a homeowner and minivan driver and proud pet mama. Most days. I’m not perfect. Some days, my upcoming birthday sends me spiraling into the depths of a full-blown existential crisis. This wa ..read more

He may have engineered cars in his first career in the automotive industry, but for the past three years Detroit transplant Nigel Agboh, 32, has been steering trends. With a design team that includes University of Cincinnati fashion design students on co-op, Agboh leads the vision for trendsetting ensembles reworked from upholstery fabric, curtains, blankets, and old unworn garments. Using jacquard bedspreads, the company custom tailored a blue-and-white suit for Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes, inspiring a fan on Instagram to comment, “This is why GQ keeps calling.” Agboh recently to ..read more

Katie Hunt hard at work excavating a specimen in the Paleo Prep Lab. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KRAMER Katie Hunt could not be more excited about the new specimen she’s working on. “I opened up this field jacket on Friday,” she says. “I found out there’s a whole second vertebra in there. And there was a fully articulated little tail in there, too, which is really exciting. It’s 21 little bones.” Hunt is the paleo lab manager for Elevation Science Institute, a nonprofit organization that works in the Cincinnati Museum Center’s Paleo Prep Lab located in the Dinosaur Hall. She spends her days excavati ..read more

Jesse Byrd leading a community storytelling session. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JESSE BYRD Two children’s book authors have joined forces to create a free event  where Ohio students can find their love of storytelling. Tracy Blom is a born and raised Cincinnatian who has authored more than 40 published books. She connected with Jesse Byrd, a fellow children’s book author who previously had a career in Silicon Valley working for Google, over their passion for what they do. The two have experience in leading story-times and workshops in schools on a smaller scale, and wanted to create something ..read more