The fix-it shop
Fixing more than appliances at the Toledo Repair Café
TOLEDO – It’s my favorite digital camera of all time, and Kodak stopped making it years ago. So, when my Kodak EasyShare stopped functioning properly I was desolate. Wonderful photographs and happy memories were created with that camera. An artist will tell you there’s nothing quite like their favorite paintbrush and when it’s broken or lost, things are never quite the same. That’s how I feel about my dark blue digital camera.
“Junk it!” was the most common advice I was given when looking for a way to fix my camera, but why should I throw it away? I didn’t want to give up on it when it seemed like a simple fix, but who fixes cameras in the Toledo area nowadays? Not many I discovered.
While searching for a new lightweight digital camera, I discovered they are complicated and costly. My simple-to-use, inexpensive digital camera has gone the way of the passenger pigeon. People tell me to use my cell phone camera for photography projects, but a phone is a phone in my opinion. I want a dedicated camera with a decent variable lens that takes a crisp picture and not just blurry selfies.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered a group who understood my plight and feelings in regards to my cherished camera, and they’re located right here in Toledo – and coming to a library branch near you.
The Toledo Repair Café meets in community rooms at various Toledo/Lucas County Public Library branches on the last Saturday of the month (barring holidays) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I attended their most recent event on Saturday at the Kent Branch at 3101 Collingwood Blvd.
Local fix-it experts (some young, some not so young) freely donate their time and talents to this co-ministry of Park United Church of Christ and the Baha’is of Sylvania. Their partnerships also include the Toledo/Lucas County Public Library, Northwest State Community College and the MultiFaith Council of NW Ohio.
Tim Casida, who works on computers and other related electronics, tried his best to repair my digital camera. A tiny plastic piece on the battery compartment door had snapped off, keeping the batteries from making consistent contact with the mechanism that turns the camera off and on. It’s the equivalent of a broken fingernail. Why should we fill our landfills with items that could be repaired, repurposed or reused?
Tim brought along a variety of old cameras to cannibalize parts from, but none quite fit. He thinks he might have an exact match lying somewhere in his attic, so he said to come back next time and see if it will work for my camera. In the meantime, Ol’ Blue is rubber-banded together and works well enough with a few glitches. But not everything can be saved—like the broken motor in our year-old UV fan—so it helps to maintain a realistic view.
The Toledo Repair Café is the brainchild of John Krochmalny and Gary Batts. According to Krochmalny, the repair café movement started in 2009 in Europe. There are now an estimated 3,191 repair cafés worldwide from the United States to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, India and Japan.
The folks of the Toledo Repair Café do more than just fix cameras; they also repair lamps, fans, small appliances, bicycles, jewelry and clothing items. They help fix holes in our hearts, too. Krochmalny noted that our need for community and fellowship is sometimes lacking in this post-COVID world. The café is a place for folks to come together and enjoy a casual conversation over coffee and cookies while getting a prized possession fixed.
Krochmalny related a story from their first event that emphasizes their mission:
A woman came in with a very old piece of jewelry. It was broken and needed some links repaired so she could wear it again. She cried with joy as the repaired piece was handed back to her. She told us it had been given to her by her late husband who had passed away the week before. We mended more than just a piece of jewelry that day.
Yes, they did.
This is the angle I want to take with my column here at the Toledo Free Press. I’m calling my column Surviving and Thriving in Toledo. Each story will focus on a particular person or group/organization that is making a difference in how Toledo-area residents are surviving and thriving and helping their neighbors do the same.
Some topics I’d like to cover are food preservation and gathering tips, urban gardening, health care accessibility, housing, finding affordable clothing, self-help groups, and mutual aid groups. I’m open to hear about whatever you think would be of benefit to the community.
If you have an idea for a person or a group you think should be featured, please let me know. I’d love to share their story. Together we’ll create a record of the ingenuity and graciousness of Northwest Ohioans for future generations to learn from and possibly follow.
There’s no use in denying it—life isn’t easy nowadays. But if we come together and show each other hints and tips to get through these tough times, it will be worth it. Like the woman who thought her cherished piece of jewelry—and the precious memories surrounding it—were lost to her forever, we could find ourselves pleasantly surprised when a neighbor gives us a hand up and helps us along the road of life.
We can do more than survive, Toledo. We can thrive.
Click here to learn more about the movement and how you can even start your own repair café. You can also follow them on Facebook at Toledo Repair Café and online, where they have a calendar page with information on their upcoming fix-it events.
And … the TFP is back!
Toledo Free Press returns as nonprofit newsroom
TOLEDO – Like so many Toledoans, I was heartbroken when the Toledo Free Press announced it would close its doors in April 2015.
During its tenure, the Free Press published independent, award-winning local journalism that never failed to give our city something to be proud of. While maintaining a “glass half-full” outlook, the paper still engaged in important investigative work and facilitated deep conversations on crucial topics, acting as a lively town square for Toledo.
It was some time in 2018 when I noticed the TFP website was gone – and with it 10 years of local news. The ethereal nature of important information in our much-heralded information age struck me, and I felt something had to be done. Through my friend Sarah, I was able to reach out to Tom Pounds, founder and publisher of the Toledo Free Press, who agreed to embark on a project of restoring the Free Press archives with me.
After a few conversations at The Blarney (and a few beers), we decided to use my nonprofit Toledo Integrated Media Education to put the Free Press archives back online. Thanks to a team of volunteers, we succeeded in creating a new website in 2019 that restored public access to much of the paper’s content spanning an entire decade. Writers could once again share links to stories they had written, and citizens could once again share our articles through social media.
Naturally, this led to deeper conversations about the state of journalism and what we could do about it. Approximately 1,800 communities across the U.S. no longer have local newsrooms, and thousands of others operate with a skeleton crew producing little of substance. This decline has been a crisis for our citizenry, resulting in increased polarization, lower voter turnout, higher rates of corruption, and more government waste. Is this a state of affairs we can accept for Toledo?
Our civic patriotism led us to decide it was necessary to revive the Toledo Free Press – not simply as a museum that houses the news from years past, but as an active, muckraking pillar of the community.
What followed is several years of planning and fundraising that has brought us to the moment we now find ourselves in. Through our 501c3 nonprofit, Toledo Integrated Media Education, we are prepared to ensure that Toledo has a quality local newsroom for years to come.
We’re proud to stand at the precipice of a new Toledo Free Press; one that understands and takes advantage of digital publication, embraces multimedia content delivery, and leverages the emerging model of nonprofit journalism as a way forward. Our mission, then as now, is to provide high-quality independent local journalism that is accessible to the public. That means no paywalls, no partisanship, and an exclusive focus on local news.
We are committed to being Toledo’s independent news outlet – one that can provide comprehensive coverage with an editorial staff that has the freedom to speak truth to power. We believe, as the authors of the First Amendment did, that a free press is vital to the preservation of our democracy.
If you share our beliefs, please help us carry out our mission by signing up for our newsletter, and by supporting us financially.
Our future – and our independence – depends on you.https://toledofreepress.com/tfp_returns/
Post Settings
Toggle panel: Post Settings
Post template:?
Single Post Template – Magazine PRO
Primary category:? Auto select a category 101 Things To Do – [ id: 37 ] 2012 – [ id: 79 ] 2013 – [ id: 55 ] 2014 – [ id: 3 ] 2015 – [ id: 18 ] 2020 – [ id: 77 ] Arts – [ id: 67 ] Arts & Culture – [ id: 2656 ] – Flavor in the 419 – [ id: 2691 ] – Local Travel Haunts – [ id: 2692 ] Arts & Life – [ id: 68 ] Back to School – [ id: 36 ] Bridal Guide – [ id: 20 ] Business Link – [ id: 7 ] Car Care – [ id: 16 ] Catholic Charities – [ id: 33 ] Cinco de Mayo – [ id: 70 ] Columnists – [ id: 2693 ] Commentary – [ id: 2675 ] Community – [ id: 6 ] Coping – [ id: 12 ] Dine 419 – [ id: 24 ] Easter – [ id: 72 ] Economic Development – [ id: 19 ] Facts – [ id: 2658 ] Fall Dining Guide – [ id: 30 ] Fashion – [ id: 2659 ] Father’s Day – [ id: 58 ] Featured – [ id: 40 ] Fitness – [ id: 2660 ] Gadgets – [ id: 2661 ] Gaming – [ id: 2662 ] Global – [ id: 2663 ] Graduation – [ id: 63 ] Health – [ id: 14 ] Holiday Gift Guide – [ id: 11 ] Indulge Toledo – [ id: 21 ] Leadership – [ id: 76 ] Letters to the Editor – [ id: 4 ] Levis Commons – [ id: 15 ] Lifestyle – [ id: 2664 ] – Music – [ id: 2665 ] – Receipes – [ id: 2667 ] – Travel – [ id: 2670 ] – What’s Hot – [ id: 2672 ] Local Heroes – [ id: 32 ] Local News – [ id: 2686 ] – Business – [ id: 2687 ] – City Hall – [ id: 2689 ] – Education – [ id: 2688 ] – Public Health & Safety – [ id: 2690 ] Marathon Classic – [ id: 38 ] Media – [ id: 61 ] Military Yearbook 2013 – [ id: 69 ] Military Yearbook 2014 – [ id: 56 ] Money Matters – [ id: 31 ] Mud Hens 2014 – [ id: 74 ] Mud Hens 2015 – [ id: 28 ] Neighborhoods – [ id: 29 ] Newsmakers 2012 – [ id: 78 ] Nursing – [ id: 59 ] Opinion – [ id: 5 ] Outdoor Oasis – [ id: 57 ] Parenting – [ id: 60 ] Pets – [ id: 64 ] Photography – [ id: 2666 ] Podcasts – [ id: 2694 ] Private Schools Guide – [ id: 22 ] Red, White, & You, Too! – [ id: 39 ] Religion – [ id: 73 ] Review – [ id: 92 ] – Film Review – [ id: 93 ] Seniors – [ id: 9 ] Showbiz – [ id: 2668 ] Special Report – [ id: 35 ] Sports – [ id: 27 ] Spring Car Care – [ id: 62 ] Star – [ id: 2 ] Star: 5 Years – [ id: 26 ] Style – [ id: 2669 ] Summer Camps – [ id: 75 ] Technology – [ id: 91 ] Toledo Free Press: 10 Years – [ id: 25 ] Toledo Golf Show – [ id: 23 ] Toledo Pride 2014 – [ id: 34 ] Toledo Walleye – [ id: 17 ] Transitions – [ id: 71 ] Uncategorized – [ id: 1 ] Veterans Day – [ id: 13 ] Video – [ id: 2671 ] Wheels – [ id: 8 ] Worship – [ id: 10 ]
If the posts has multiple categories, the one selected here will be used for settings and it appears in the category labels.
Subtitle:
This text will appear under the title
Gallery:
Add images which could be used to display a gallery on a post.
Quote on blocks:
Show a quote (only when this article shows up in blocks that support quote and only on blocks that are on one column)
Source name:
This name will appear at the end of the article in the “source” spot on single posts
Source url:
Full url to the source
Via name:
Via (your source) name, this will appear at the end of the article in the “via” spot
Via url:
Full url for via
Custom Label:
Custom Category Label name, this will appear on flex modules/blocks like a category tag
Custom Label url:
Full url for Custom Label
Yoast SEO
Toggle panel: Yoast SEOPostBlock
Summary
VisibilityPublic
PublishJuly 9 5:34 pm
URLtoledofreepress.com/staging/2757/thank-you-toledo-free-press-for-being-the-jobsite-of-my-work-and-home-to-my-heart-these-guys-are-making-more-money-than-anybody-could-guess/Stick to the top of the blogPOST FORMATAudioStandardVideoAUTHORSwitch to draftMove to trash
Yoast SEO
Readability analysis: Needs improvement
SEO analysis: Needs improvementImprove your post with Yoast SEO
Categories
SEARCH CATEGORIESCommentary101 Things To Do20122013201420152020ArtsArts & CultureFlavor in the 419Local Travel HauntsArts & LifeBack to SchoolBridal GuideBusiness LinkCar CareCatholic CharitiesCinco de MayoColumnistsCommunityCopingDine 419EasterEconomic DevelopmentFactsFall Dining GuideFashionFather’s DayFeaturedFitnessGadgetsGamingGlobalGraduationHealthHoliday Gift GuideIndulge ToledoLeadershipLetters to the EditorLevis CommonsLifestyleMusicReceipesTravelWhat’s HotLocal HeroesLocal NewsBusinessCity HallEducationPublic Health & SafetyMarathon ClassicMediaMilitary Yearbook 2013Military Yearbook 2014Money MattersMud Hens 2014Mud Hens 2015NeighborhoodsNewsmakers 2012NursingOpinionOutdoor OasisParentingPetsPhotographyPodcastsPrivate Schools GuideRed, White, & You, Too!ReligionReviewFilm ReviewSeniorsShowbizSpecial ReportSportsSpring Car CareStarStar: 5 YearsStyleSummer CampsTechnologyToledo Free Press: 10 YearsToledo Golf ShowToledo Pride 2014Toledo WalleyeTransitionsUncategorizedVeterans DayVideoWheelsWorshipAdd New Category
Tags
ADD NEW TAG
jeremy baumhower (1 of 3)jeremy baumhower
memorial (2 of 3)memorial
toledo free press (3 of 3)toledo free press
Separate with commas or the Enter key.
MOST USED
- toledo
- 2012
- election
- toledo free press
- lighting the fuse
- publisher
- university of toledo
- lucas county
- investment
- opinion
Featured image
ReplaceRemove
Excerpt
Discussion
Featured Video
Toggle panel: Featured Video
Paste a video link from Youtube, Vimeo, Dailymotion or Twitter it will be embedded in the post and the thumb used as the featured image of this post.
You need to choose Video Format from above to use Featured Video.
Featured Audio
Toggle panel: Featured Audio
Paste an audio link from SoundCloud, Spotify or self-hosted it will be embedded in the post and the thumb used as the featured image of this post.
You need to choose Audio Format from above to use Featured Audio.Open publish panel
- Post
Notifications
Upload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.
Living on campus mandate
Forcing students to live on campus: Expensive, violates rights, state law
Most of Ohio’s state universities require students to live on campus. For example, BGSU requires most freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. They can claim an exemption if they live with their parents within 50 miles of campus.
Two narratives explain why many state universities require students to live on campus. Most universities justify these mandates by stating that living on campus improves the likelihood of academic success. Yet, the research literature does not uniformly find that living on campus increases the grades of students.
Ohio University’s Distinguished Professor of Economics Richard Vedder states that on-campus living requirements represent “monopolists” practices since they require students to purchase housing as a condition of enrollment. Student housing has become a multi-billion-dollar industry with private equity firms profiting handsomely.
On-campus living mandates not only cost students dearly, but these mandates also violate Ohio law and likely infringe several constitutional rights.
An Ohio Revised Code (3345.47) states that:
“No state university shall require a student to live in on-campus student housing, if the student lives within twenty-five miles of the campus.”
The condition in this statute relates to where the student lives, not where the parent lives. Since almost all college students are legally adults, BGSU should exempt students based on where the student lives – not where the student’s parents live. It may be wise for many young adults to live on campus or with a parent – but state universities have no business mandating this.
The First Amendment has been interpreted to include the right to associate (or to not associate) with others for religious or expressive purposes. It is well known that on many campuses, many students feel the need to self-sensor on hot-button issues. A touchy issue today is the conflict in Gaza. It is reasonable to expect that some observant Jews would feel threatened for their physical safety if they were forced to live on campus. Yet, the policies at most of Ohio’s state universities would require them to live in an environment where they have good reason to feel unsafe.
Contrary to popular belief, dorms are not necessarily safe places for all students (the vast majority of campus sexual assaults occur in the dorms). The Second Amendment has been interpreted to allow adults to keep a gun in their home for self-protection. State universities should not be allowed to mandate that students make their “homes” in a dorm, while simultaneously prohibiting weapons for self-protection in the dorms. I am not advocating for guns on campus – I am advocating that state universities should not be allowed to mandate that students make their “home” in a dorm while prohibiting these same students from possessing weapons in their dorm-room “home”.
The Fourth Amendment states that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Yet, the housing policies at most universities allow housing staff to search student dorm rooms with or without cause. As with gun rights, if a state university wants the right to search students’ rooms without warrants, then they should not require those students to live on campus.
The penalty for not living on campus is often a fine rather than an academic penalty. If a student chooses to not live on campus (in violation of an on-campus living mandate), the cumulative fine can be as high as $30,000. Yet, a similarly situated student in Ohio would face no penalty if that student’s parents lived within 25 miles of campus. The Eight Amendment prohibits excessive fines, and the Fourteenth Amendment requires equal treatment. These large fines seem to be both unequal, arbitrary and excessive.
Living on campus may be desirable for many students. Even so, it is expensive – often financed by student debt. Student debt in the US is nearly $1.8 trillion. Ohio’s state universities should not be allowed to increase the cost of college education while violating state law and the constitutional rights of students by mandating that students live on campus.
(The opinions expressed are his and not those of Utoledo)
Dr. Douglas Oliver is an attorney and an Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toledo.
Book Review: Nicole Ryan
Nicole Ryan’s contemporary romance with a Swifty twist
SYLVANIA – Nicole Ryan’s contemporary romance with a Swifty twist
None of us escapes this life without some level of regret accompanied by the sense that, if it were possible, going back in time would fix everything. That’s what local author Nicole Ryan explores in her third novel, The Very First Night, a contemporary romance with a time traveling protagonist.
“Kat wakes up five years in the past, and she really wants to make it work with this person,” says Ryan. “We think about a lot of things through rose-colored glasses, and it’s a story of self-growth and self-worth. Those are huge themes in the book, just because I think that impacts all of our relationships with ourselves and other people.”
This novel is a departure from Ryan’s earlier work (her Just Peachy series concludes with its third novel being released in March 2025) in that it is considered a new adult novel. The characters (at least post-time-travel) are college-aged. To tap into the mindset of an undergrad like Kat Marritt, Ryan drew from her own experiences navigating life and love in her early 20s.
“I did take a lot of inspiration from my relationship past, especially Kat’s relationship with Elijah…the aspects of it that weren’t totally healthy,” she said.
I wanted to give it the care that it deserved, and I think, as a writer, you’re always growing. I wanted to have a few [books] under my belt before I tackled something so personal.
The initial inspiration came to Ryan while listening to Taylor Swift’s Red album. In her song “The Very First Night,” Swift sings, “I wish I could fly. I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time. I’d write this in the sky. I miss you like it was the very first night.” That’s where Ryan first thought about time travel for a protagonist who is having a hard time moving on from the one that got away.
A Swiftie to the core, Ryan’s release party at Finch & Fern Book Co. included an Eras costume competition and other references to Taylor Swift lore. What she hopes for Swifties and contemporary romance lovers alike is that they’ll come away feeling self-assured when they read The Very First Night.
“Don’t settle. I think we often think to ourselves that we put so much time into this person, that if you let it go, it was all for nothing. But holding onto that person is what could be holding you back from meeting the right person.”
Learn more about Nicole Ryan’s work at nicoleryanbooks.com, and follow her on Instagram @nicoleryanbooks for the latest news on her work. She also has a Facebook group for her readers called Nicole Ryan’s Peaches for her fans.
About the author:
Favorite romantic gesture: I’m a big acts of service kind of person, and gift giving in the sense of “I saw this and thought of you.” The small gestures.
Top date night in Toledo: Nagoya, which is where we went the night we got engaged.
Favorite writers: K.A. Tucker and Anna Huang.
What are you reading right now? The first Zodiac Academy book.
Best book of all time in your opinion? The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker.
While writing, music or no music? Music, but no lyrics.
Do you write everyday? Toward the beginning of a book, not so much, but when I’m close to a deadline, for sure.
Best heroine of all time: Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.
Favorite romcom movie: Something Borrowed.
What you do to get inspired when you’re in a writing rut: Read. I find that reading other people’s stories gets my gears going a little bit more.
UToledo adds women’s rowing
TOLEDO – The University of Toledo announced the addition of women’s rowing as a varsity sport during a press conference on July 24 at the Glass City Pavilion.
Toledo Women’s Rowing will be the university’s 17th varsity sport. The team will compete at the NCAA Division I level and in the Mid-American Conference, which is adding women’s rowing to its lineup of sports. Competition begins in the 2025-2026 school year.
Toledo will compete against Eastern Michigan and UMass, as well as affiliate members Delaware, High Point and Temple.
A full squad will include approximately 50-60 student athletes.
“Today is about showing an example of an athletic department that’s not afraid to be bold,” said University of Toledo vice president and director of athletics Bryan B. Blair. “We want to be uniquely Toledo and take advantage of all this great community and university has to offer.
“We are going to be adding high-achieving young ladies who will be adding so much to our campus and the vibrancy in our athletic department,” added Blair.
“We have a culture of excellence that we want to extend to this new program, and we have a department that’s ready to embrace the addition of rowing. It gives us the opportunity to pursue a MAC Championship in another sport, which we intend to do like we do in our other 16 sports.”
Toledo Women’s Rowing will practice and compete on the Maumee River and will utilize the Philip LeBoutillier, Jr. Memorial Boathouse in International Park in downtown Toledo. The boathouse is owned by Metroparks Toledo and is operated by the Toledo Rowing Foundation.
A search for the coach is ongoing.
