Leonard M. Trawick interview, 21 March 2014

Abstract

Leonard M. Trawick, a transplant from Alabama, describes living in Cleveland for over forty years. Trained to be an English professor, Trawick held positions at Columbia University before he came to Cleveland. He describes working at Columbia during the student unrest of the 1960s. In 1969, Trawick took a position at the newly created Cleveland State University. He relates the conditions of the school during those early years. He also has fond memories of the poetry programming that Cleveland State created in the 1970s and '80s. Apart from his work, Trawick mentions the various shopping areas in downtown Cleveland and closer to where he lived in Cleveland Heights. He notes the differences between Higbee's and May Company by relating them to New York landmarks like Bloomingdale's and Macy's. He concludes by reiterating how vibrant the Cleveland literary scene was in the 1970s and '80s.