Browse Interviews

Near West Side resident Mike Fiala recollects how his early life experiences shaped his role in Cleveland's Catholic Worker movement. He shares his involvement in activism on behalf of affordable housing and providing services for unhoused people on the Near West Side. Fiala highlights the rise of gentrification in the Near West Side, along with the expansion of St. Ignatius High School. He also recollects his involvement in the 2015 March for Tamir Rice.

Near West Side resident Mark Pestak shares what it was like living on the Near West Side in the early 1990s. Pestak highlights his involvement in the Catholic Worker Community along with some of the goals of the Catholic Worker movement. Pestak discusses his involvement in housing justice in the neighborhood. Pestak also recollects the community's efforts to close down a hazardous waste recycling facility on Monroe and Fulton in the 1990s.

Near West Side resident Kathleen McDonnell recollects her arrival to the Near West Side and her efforts as a community organizer. McDonnell shares her involvement as a mediator for Cleveland Mediation Center and as an educator on mediation in Euclid High School. She shares her experience dealing with a hazardous waste recycling facility in a residential area and the arrival of lawyers to pressure the Northeast Chemical Corporation to relocate operations away from the neighborhood. McDonnell…

Maryellen Eickman-Fiala details her early life growing up in Forest Park, an early planned suburb of Cincinnati. Eickman-Fiala recollects her college experience at Case Western Reserve University. She highlights her work in dietetics and as a diabetes instructor. Eickman-Fiala shares her experience living in the Near West Side and discusses its continued gentrification since her arrival. She shares her involvement in various community boards. Eickman-Fiala recollects her experience with…

Jim LaRue recollects his early childhood in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, eventually leaving for college at Bucknell University where he was student body president. At Bucknell, LaRue encountered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and took inspiration from King's use of translating love into justice, which became a lifelong mantra for LaRue in his involvement in the ministry and in his efforts in rehabbing homes in the greater Cleveland area.

Kristina Walter, an art educator, recollects her early life and how her faith has shaped her experience living in the greater Cleveland area. Walter notes the importance of religion and social justice throughout her education, which led her to join Cleveland's Catholic Worker Movement.

Megan Wilson-Reitz recollects her early life growing up in a diverse community which steered her towards a life of faith and social justice. Wilson-Reitz shares her involvement with community organizing in the Cleveland Nonviolence Network, the Cleveland Catholic Worker, and then her role as a board member for the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation.

25-year-old Gillian Prater-Lee (they/them) shares their experience growing up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. They discuss how social justice has played a key role in shaping their understanding of the city. Prater-Lee recollects their time living at the Catholic Worker House while interning at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH). After finishing their MA program at Penn State, Prater-Lee joined Bike and Build, and…

Twenty-five-year-old former German Action Reconciliation Service for Peace volunteer Line-Marie Eichhorst shares what it was like coming to Cleveland for a year in 2018 for ASRP while living at the Catholic Worker House. Eichhorst recollects her involvement with the Inter-Religious Task Force on Central America and the Witness Against Torture to protest the US military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. She returned from Germany to Cleveland and the Catholic Worker House in 2024 to undertake a…

Duane Drotar shares his experience growing up in the Buckeye-Woodland neighborhood, then living on the Near West Side for many years. Drotar highlights how the Near West Side was an example of "richness" in terms of offering a setting for being in community with people of diverse backgrounds. Drotar's background in psychology and theology has shaped his role as an outreach worker in various agencies and community non-profits throughout the years in the Cleveland area. He discusses his choice to…

Sister Catherine Walsh of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine recollects her early childhood growing up on a farm in County Mayo, Ireland. Before she made her religious vows, Sister Catherine immigrated to Ohio in order to work. After she made her vows, she taught special education at Parmadale and worked in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland. Sister Catherine then spent six years in El Salvador with the Cleveland Mission Team. After she returned to Ohio she helped establish the Akron…

Near West Side resident Jim Schlecht recollects his arrival to the Near West Side in the summer of 1972. Schlecht highlights how his faith has shaped who he is today. This interview focuses on Schlecht’s involvement in the Thomas Merton Community along with Cleveland’s Catholic Worker Community. Schlecht recollects his experience working with children and adults with special needs. He later shares how he provided transitional housing while raising a family in the community. Schlecht for many…

Gail Long recalls her early education which eventually led her to Cleveland’s Near West Side. Long worked as a community organizer at the West Side Community House, where she helped organize community block clubs that dealt with various issues in the neighborhood. She focuses on the affordability and gentrification of the Near West Side along with her involvement in Tremont’s Merrick House. Long recollects various initiatives she was a part of like the efforts to stop the privatization of Metro…

Maria Smith recollects her early life growing up in Jefferson City, Missouri, attending Catholic schools and later studying Political Science in college. Smith decided to go to law school soon after, later reconnecting with her faith. Smith highlights the need to find community in her life, which eventually led her to Cleveland’s Near West Side. Smith and her husband were involved in the Witness for Peace where they lived and worked in Nicaragua during the Contra War. They would eventually live…

Marge Misak recollects her early life growing up in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and attending Northwestern University where she received a degree in Journalism and met her husband, Jim. The young family then moved to Clinton, North Carolina, for four years where Misak got involved in a migrant ministry programs. The Misaks eventually decided to move to the Near West Side where they found a sense of community through Cleveland's Catholic Worker. While living on the Near West Side, Misak was…

Lifelong Clevelander Chuck E. Hoven recollects his early life growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and attending St. Ignatius High School. Hoven attended John Carroll University as an undergraduate and later attended Cleveland State University for graduate school. Hoven shares his involvement as managing editor for Cleveland's Plain Press, which is a vehicle for many people to raise awareness on community issues like affordable housing. Hoven highlights the imbalances of community…