Association of Asian Indian Women in Ohio (AAIWO) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization for Asian Indian women promoting professional development and education through scholarships and cultural outreach programs. Their aim is to foster and support women for personal and professional advancement while providing volunteer opportunities.
AAIWO promotes culture and education while establishing productive social networks for women. AAIWO sponsors multi-cultural activities to promote cultural understanding in our community.
On September 17, 2023 they hosted Children's Day in the India Cultural Garden in Cleveland. Before the cultural performances MC Mahima spoke about AAIWO and introduced AAIWO president Vineetha Jayaram who also spoke.
Multicultural Women’s Health Fair & Empowerment Expo
Saturday, September 30 from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. Free health screenings begin at 11 am. No insurance is required. Event programming begins at noon
Egyptian Art by Cleveland Woman architect Sahar Makar at Egyptian Festival
The annual Egyptian Festival at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Seven Hills Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) was held August 25-27, 2023. Architect Sahar Makar created a big entrance gate for the Festival which might be seen in Egypt. It took her a month to complete.
New Art Museum Exhibit China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta
A new exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art called China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta will be open from September 10, 2023 to January 7, 2024.
It's a large and diverse exhibition. It features more than 200 objects from Neolithic times to the 18th century, ranging from jade, silk, prints, and paintings to porcelain, lacquer, and bamboo carvings.
Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts
African Heritage Day - Cleveland Cultural Gardens World on Stage
The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation 2023 World on Stage events in the Gardens are showcasing various heritages. The first 2023 event was African Heritage Day on July 1, 2023.
MC Sia Nyorkor with Ethiopian coffee
There was delicious West African food, an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, drummers, dancers and fun for families.
The 45th anniversary dinner/dance of the Murphy Irish Arts Center was held at the Irish American Club East Side in Euclid, Ohio on Saturday June 17, 2023. The Murphy Irish Arts Center is dedicated to preserving Irish culture and the art of Irish Dance and to sharing their heritage with audiences everywhere.
It was founded in 1978 by Sheila Murphy Crawford. Sheila is a Certified Irish Dance Instructor and Adjudicator of An Commissum, the world governing organization of Irish Dance. Besides her commitments to Murphy Irish Arts Center, Sheila is very active in the Cleveland Irish Community, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Irish Cultural Gardens.
Thinking of buying an Electric Car for tax the credit?
CPA Sam Tanious, who is a former IRS agent/auditor, gives this advice for those thinking of buying an electric vehicle in 2023.
Not all electric vehicles and not all car manufacturers qualify. Qualifying vehicles must be assembled in North America.
The $7,500 tax credit is all about the battery, has been split into two parts: You get $3,750 if a certain percentage of critical battery minerals were sourced from the U.S.
The other $3,750 is dependent on the percentage of battery components manufactured or assembled in the U.S.
There are now significant eligibility limits on both the price of the vehicle and the income of the buyer; if either figure is too high, you will not qualify for the tax credit.
The new electric vehicle must have an MSRP price cap of $55,000 or less.
Buyer income limits are based on modified adjusted gross income and tax filing status. (150K for single, 300K for married filing jointly)
Based on the above, you might get the full credit of $7,500 or less than the $7,500 or even Zero. It depends on the vehicle and your tax situation. So please do your homework before you buy.
Have questions? Contact CPA Sam Tanious at 440-991-6864 or e-mail samytaxservices@gmail.com
Funny Mental Fitness Evaluation
This test is to ascertain your mental state now. If you get one right you are doing OK, if you get none right you better go for counseling. (I'll meet you there.)
There are 4 test questions. Don't miss one.
Giraffe Test
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
Stop and think about it and decide on your answer
before you scroll down.
The Correct Answer:
Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.
Elephant Test
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?
Wrong Answer.
Correct Answer:
Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through
the repercussions of your previous actions.
Lion King Test
3. The Lion King is hosting an Animal Conference. All the animals attend... except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer:
The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.
Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.
Crocodile Test
4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?
Correct Answer:
You jump into the river and swim across. Haven't you been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Conference. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes. Ha Ha!
Cleveland Woman Sara Lucy Bagby
The last person returned to slavery in the US
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the US during the early 1800s to help slaves escape into free states and Canada. It was run by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees. Ohio had many stops on the Underground Railroad and since Canada was an ultimate destination, the short distance across Lake Erie from Cleveland to Canada made the city a popular destination. Cleveland was codenamed Hope on the Underground Railroad.
Restore Cleveland Hope operates the Underground Railroad Interpretive Center in the Cozad-Bates House, the only surviving pre-Civil War building in University Circle. They offer tours and events and it was here that we learned of the story of Sara Lucy Bagby.
Sara Lucy Bagby display at Cozad-Bates House
Sara Lucy Bagby was born in the early 1840s in Virginia. On October 3, 1860 Bagby fled from slavery in Wheeling. She eventually escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad and made her way to Cleveland, Ohio.
Her arrest in Cleveland on January 19, 1861 became a test case of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Wheeling resident John Goshorn and his son showed proof of ownership, and the federal court ordered her return to Virginia. Sara Lucy Bagby was the last person in the United States forced to return to slavery in the South under the Fugitive Slave Act.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Democrat Party of the US were both pro-slavery so despite the state government's and citizens of Cleveland's attempts to intervene, Lucy was transported back to Goshorn's property in Wheeling, then still part of Virginia.
After the Emancipation Proclamation, Bagby eventually resettled in Cleveland, where she died in 1906 and was buried.
In this video, Kathryn Puckett, Restore Cleveland Hope Board Chair, tells the story of Sara Lucy Bagby.
Sure, air fryers achieve a satisfyingly crisp finish with just a fraction of the fat, putting a healthier spin on fried foods. But there’s another reason to love your air fryer: the mind-blowing array of exciting new dishes you can add to your everyday repertory.
John McCann told some stories about his beloved late mother Mary Murray McCann who came to America alone on a ship in 1952 from Ireland. John says his mother would often state she was "Irish by birth, American by choice and Catholic by grace". That is a good framework in which to remember her life.
When we think about the Underground Railroad the first name that comes to most of us is Harriet Tubman. While Tubman was exceptionally heroic, many other women played keys rolls in the efforts to help freedom seekers reach safety. In NE Ohio we have learned the names of men who were property owners, businessmen, judges, lawyers and were activists in the abolitionist movement.
Most of them had wives and daughters, sisters and mothers all of whom must have been involved in UGRR efforts.
In what is now University Circle and East Cleveland families named Cozad, Ford and McIlrath owned and farmed great swaths of land, operated a gristmill, owned a brickyard and ran a tavern. We know that many freedom seekers sought food and shelter in what was then rural sparsely populated farmland, as they headed to freedom across Lake Erie.
In the 19th century women could not own land or vote. They lived in the legal shadow of their husbands and their lives were played out in private. But the role women played in each household was essential not only for the survival of each family but also for the secret activities of the UGRR.
Restore Cleveland Hope’s historian and Board member, Wrean Fiebig, in her tireless research has recovered the names of the women in these families who most certainly played a vital role in the UGRR. Volunteers from Restore Cleveland Hope will guide you through time and answer your questions. It is open to the public every Saturday from Noon-4 PM. No Charge, No tickets. Just come and learn about this important time in Cleveland’s history. Come in through the back door and be sure to explore the historic markers in the newly landscaped grounds around the house. More information.
Jessica Davis - Cleveland Women Entrepreneur
Rebuilders Xchange (RBX) buys and sells construction material from ordinary to extraordinary. RBX is in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood in an organized, 50,000 sq. ft. warehouse. It may not be the first business you think of for a woman entrepreneur but it was a dream of founder Jessica Davis and she made it happen.
In this video, Jessica tells the vision behind the project - reusing and repurposing construction materials, bringing wealth to the people of the neighborhood, keeping things out of the landfills and so on. She tells what it's like being a woman in a non-traditional industry. Ron tells of the jump from pipe fitter and welder to starting 16 IT and tech companies and now back to making custom pieces and design in the Fab Lab metal and wood shop in the Rebuilder's Xchange.
Victims of human trafficking find themselves forced or coerced into engaging in specific types of labor or commercial sex acts without their consent. Often, human trafficking remains a hidden crime. Victims fear their abusers as well as law enforcement and suffer such significant trauma that they struggle to reach out for help.
Human trafficking impacts people across genders, races, and ages. Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking, and all too often, that victimization occurs in the shadows. Human trafficking traps an estimated 24.9 million people–64% are exploited for labor, while sexual exploitation accounts for an estimated 19% of human trafficking.
Isolation can increase the risk of violence at home. Use this discrete gesture during a video call to show you need help:
Hold hand up with palm facing other person.
Tuck thumb into palm.
Fold fingers down over thumb.
A missing teenage girl was rescued in the US after using a hand gesture that signals distress or domestic violence to capture the attention of a passing driver. The 16-year-old was spotted travelling inside a silver Toyota near London, Kentucky, about 150 miles south-east of Louisville, on November 4th. A driver called police after noticing "a female passenger in the vehicle making hand gestures that are known on the social media platform TikTok to represent violence at home - I need help - domestic violence," the Laurel County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on 6 November.
Good idea
Murder in the Cultural Gardens
"It just didn’t seem right to DJ. A body found bludgeoned in a place known for “Peace through Mutual Understanding.” But there she was, crumpled behind a bust of composer Franz Liszt in the Hungarian Cultural Garden. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. “What is the nature of your emergency?” the dispatcher queried. With a suddenly very dry mouth DJ managed to get out, “There’s been a murder in the Cultural Gardens.”
That's the beginning of the recently published first novel by Dan Hanson.
The whodunit, titled Murder in the Cultural Gardens, takes place in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens and all 30+ gardens are featured during the mystery. You may even recognize some of the characters.
Click the link above to learn more or to purchase in paperback or Kindle version from Amazon. Or contact Dan via the Murder in the Cultural Gardens webpage to have a signed book delivered.
ClevelandWomen.Com Book of the Week
The Girl on the Train
The #1 New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Book of the Year, now a major motion picture starring Emily Blunt. The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.
Intersecting, overlapping, not-quite-what-they-seem lives. Jealousies and betrayals and wounded hearts. A haunting unease that clutches and won’t let go. All this and more helps propel Paula Hawkins’s addictive debut into a new stratum of the psychological thriller genre. At times, I couldn’t help but think: Hitchcockian. From the opening line, the reader knows what they’re in for: “She’s buried beneath a silver birch tree, down towards the old train tracks…” But Hawkins teases out the mystery with a veteran’s finesse. The “girl on the train” is Rachel, who commutes into London and back each day, rolling past the backyard of a happy-looking couple she names Jess and Jason. Then one day Rachel sees “Jess” kissing another man. The day after that, Jess goes missing. The story is told from three character’s not-to-be-trusted perspectives: Rachel, who mourns the loss of her former life with the help of canned gin and tonics; Megan (aka Jess); and Anna, Rachel’s ex-husband’s wife, who happens to be Jess/Megan’s neighbor. Rachel’s voyeuristic yearning for the seemingly idyllic life of Jess and Jason lures her closer and closer to the investigation into Jess/Megan’s disappearance, and closer to a deeper understanding of who she really is. And who she isn’t. This is a book to be devoured. -Neal Thompson
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Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is a pattern of repeated physical, sexual and emotional violence and behaviors that one person in a relationship uses to exercise power and control over the other. Cleveland and Northeast Ohio have many resources for victims of domestic violence.
How about something for the Cleveland foodie on your list?
The Cleveland Cooks Cookbooks are packed with hundreds of the best recipes from Cleveland people. Volume 1 is sold out but there are special offers for Volume 2 and 3.
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