CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnCincinnatirnby Janet Scott BarlowrnStranger in ParadisernWhen I moved to Cincinnati fromrnChicago in 1973, I found I could gaugernthe personalit}’ of my new cih’ by listingrnthe things I missed about the home I’drnleft. I missed the bulging Chicago newspapers.rnI missed being in a place whererncynicism competes with humor as thernprevailing public attitude and humor oftenrnwins. I missed the Cubs. I missed thernpresence of an irrcpressibly vocal populace.rn(Spend ten minutes with a ChicagornSouth Sidcr and you’ll learn everythingrnfrom his views on the state of the world tornhis mother’s maiden name, and he’llrnthrow in a recommendation on where tornget a brake job on your car.) I missed politicsrnas a contact sport and Mike Royko’srnbig mouth. I missed Democrats.rnI went along like that for about a yearrnand a half, keeping my little list and indulgingrnmy grief, until it finally occurredrnto me that there’s more than one versionrnof paradise. I realized that political boredomrncan grow on you, especially whenrnit’s accompanied by civic order. I realizedrnthat one of the reasons my morningrnpaper seemed skimpy was that it didn’trncontain endless stories of horrific crimesrnfrom the day before. I discovered that it’srnacceptable, even enjoyable, to root for arnbaseball team that can actually win, andrnrather soothing to reside in a town wherernthe day’s biggest news might be “RedsrnSweep Road Trip.” I found it could bernrelaxing not to hear everybody’s opinionrnabout everything. I never stopped missingrnliving in the same city with Mike Royko,rnbless his angr)’, funny heart, but I had onernconsolation: I no longer lived in the samerncity with Bob Greene. As for Democrats,rnI stopped missing them when I prettyrnmuch stopped being one.rnToday, the biggest difference betweenrnme, the rooted transplant, and nativernCincinnatians is that natives get openlyrn— if politely—defensive when the cit}’rnis criticized, while I tend toward covertrndefensiveness. When New York acquaintancesrncome to town on businessrn(and a lot of business is done here) andrnsay to me, sometimes good-humoredly,rnsometimes not, “Wliat do you people dornaround here after 11 P.M.?” I tell themrnthat we just try to avoid stepping inrncowflop and getting overly excited at thernbingo games and hey, how about thatrnReds road trip?rnBut born-and-bred Cincinnatians arernnot given to leg-pulling, mixing it up, orrnplaying tit for tat. When big-cit)’ Easternersrncomplain that there is no place herernto get a seven-course meal at 3 A.M.,rnCincinnatians don’t say, “So what?” orrn”Wio the hell wants to eat at 3 A.M.?” orrn”Right you are; so the next time yourncome to town, pack a snack.” Wliat theyrnsay is, “That’s true, b u t . . . ” Then they gornon to mention the beloved Reds and thernsplendid Bengals (See? We’re in the bigrntime), the cit}’ ballet, the symphony, andrnthe museums (See? We’ve got culture);rnthe general qualit}’ of life, the niceness ofrnliving here. You want more? We’ve got arnfive-star French restaurant (it closes atrn11 — sorr)’) and a great zoo.rnSo Cincinnatians are defensive, yes,rnbut they’re also earnest. The cit’ is sornearnest, in fact, that if it finds itself misunderstoodrntoo often or consistentiy, thernwhole place breaks out in mental hives, arnkind of collective psychological rash.rnDefensive and earnest. That’s thernphrase tiiat ran through my mind duringrnthe course of our latest controversy, thernone centering on the now beyond famousrnRobert Mapplethorpe photographyrnexhibit. Our last municipal disturbancerninvolved, you’ll recall, Pete Rose and hisrnbanishment from baseball. Cincy tookrnits lumps for its response to the Rosernepisode, deservedly in my opinion (toornmuch defensiveness, not enough earnestness),rnand took its lumps again for communityrnreaction to the Mapplethorpernshow. But this time it was a bum rap. Asrnbriefly as possible, here is the program ofrnevents. The sequence is important.rn1) Amidst a nationwide debate over eitherrn”obscene” art or obscene “art,” dependingrnon who was doing the talking (Irncame to think of it as the war of the quotationrnmarks), Cincinnati’s ContemporaryrnArts Center (CAC) makes plans tornexhibit the Mapplethorpe retrospective.rn2) Citizens for Community Values, arngroup whose members include localrnbusiness executives, religious leaders,rnand various Cincinnati Bengals, objectsrnto the exhibit’s inclusion of seven photographsrnthat are described by the artsrngroup as “Mapplethorpe’s most challengingrnworks” and by the community valuesrngroup as examples of obscenity. In thernbackground, law-enforcement officials,rnciting local obscenity statutes, begin makingrnthreatening noises.rn3) The national media pick up on therncontroversy and cast the story more or lessrnas “Hick Town Has Fit Over Art Pix.”rn4) The conflict, which has become anrnissue, now stimulates a public debate onrnthe questions of censorship and free expression,rnthe definitions of art andrnpornography, the purpose and limits ofrncommunity standards. Through the vehiclernof their local newspapers’ op-edrnpages, countless Cincinnatians participaternin the debate by organizing theirrnthoughts, expressing them coherently,rnand signing their names. The debaterntakes this form: It is genuinely searching;rnit is marked throughout, with few exceptions,rnby civility, sincerity, and restraint; itrnis undergirded by the assumption that decentrnpeople can disagree and is thereforernalmost completely free of the suggestionrnby either side that those on the opposingrnside are, by virtue of their opinions, immoral,rnunpatriotic, subversive, or evil.rn5) The exhibit opens, whereupon cityrnand county officials treat Cincinnatiansrnto the unsettling sight of uniformed policemenrnclearing out and closing downrn(for an hour) a crowded art gallery. Immediately,rnthe CAC and its director arernindicted on misdemeanor obscenityrncharges by a Hamilton County grand juryrn(charges that will still be unresolvedrnwhen the exhibit closes on schedule sevenrnweeks later).rn6) The local debate, still restrained, intensifies;rnthe national Hick Town storiesrnincrease; the Washington Post editorializesrnthat what’s going on in Cincinnati,rnwhile superficially “amusing,” actuallyrn”isn’t funny at all.”rn7) Neither the “police raid” on the artsrncenter nor the indictment against it isrnuniversally applauded by Cincinnatians,rna fact that prompts city and county officialsrnto do their version of The ThreernStooges Play Politics: You prosecute thern.32/CHRONICLESrnrnrn