Browse Interviews

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…

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…

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…