Welcome to the Dayton’s Alive blog! I am Paul Harvey Livingston, creator, owner/operator, writer, reporter, photographer, editor, and—as you probably guessed—the only person working on Dayton’s Alive right now. But I hope to enlist more help in the future. I’m going to need it if I want my dream to come true.
So what is my dream? Well, here’s the story:
I started visiting Dayton from Youngstown, Ohio about three years ago. I was driving back and forth pretty much every weekend for a year and a half when I finally decided to move here, which I did on October 22, 2011.
During my travels back and forth and since my move to Dayton, I’ve been to a lot of events and met a lot of people from the Dayton area. After meeting and talking with these people, one thing stood out to me: the prevailing attitude among them was that “Dayton’s dead.”
I love to take pictures. I take a lot of them. Everywhere I go. One day, while backing up my hard drive, I was going through all the photos I had taken at the myriad of events I’d been to in this area over the past three years. There were (are) hundreds … and I’d only attended a fraction of what was out there.
Another thing stood out to me: Dayton is very much alive! The pictures I have show fun, happy people at fun, happy events.
So why do people here think Dayton’s dead? Hell, I have no idea. Maybe the same reason people from New York City have never been to the Statue of Liberty: they don’t know it’s there.
So this is my dream. To convince citizens and visitors that Dayton’s Alive! And I intend to do it any way I can. I’m going to show people, by posting pictures and stories on this blog; on the Dayton’s Alive website; on the Dayton’s Alive Facebook page; and on Twitter (after I figure out how to use it).
Yeah, I know. There are already sites showing happenings in the Dayton area. But people must not be seeing those sites, or else why the ‘Dayton’s dead’ attitude?
I want everybody to see my sites and I’m going to build and promote them as best I can. Please visit them often. Post comments, suggestions, requests, etc. where and when you can. And—this is very important—tell other people you know about the sites. Prompt them to visit and comment. Often.
With your help, this thing will take off. And after it does, the negativity towards this great city will fade and be replaced with positive, upbeat attitudes. So please visit my links. And spread them around. Here they are again:
This blog: http://daytonsalive.com/blog
Main website: http://daytonsalive.com
Facebook page: http://facebook.com/DaytonsAlive (Don’t forget to “Like” us!)
Thanks!