Free for All

CLE on the Cheap has presented some options for free reading material before, meaning getting access to books and such without having to buy them. It’s all aboveboard and a practical solution for those of us trying to live within our means. In Greater Cleveland, there are some good free publications available as physical copies and/or online files. 

Probably the oldest and best known is Scene, the weekly alternative newspaper that covers entertainment as well as hard news in Cleveland and surrounding areas. You can find copies at bars, restaurants, coffee shops and other places around town or read it online. You also can subscribe and get some perks.

A newer e-magazine and website is Freshwater Cleveland. It covers a wide variety of subject matter, including arts and culture, technology and social change in Cleveland proper. You can go to the site, follow Freshwater Cleveland on social media or subscribe to its weekly email newsletter.

Cool Cleveland is another e-publication. Besides the articles and extensive event listings on its website, it offers podcasts. Readers can follow Cool Cleveland on social media and subscribe to its weekly email newsletter, which a pop-up on the website suggests has more content than the website. I haven’t tested this.

As far as niche publications go, CAN Journal and Canvas cover the local arts scene. Hard copies of both magazines are distributed at local arts venues and events and content also is available online and via their email newsletters. (Paid subscriptions to the CAN Journal print magazine, which is published four times a year, help sustain the Collective Arts Network publication.) Canvas, which is published quarterly, also is mailed to Cleveland Jewish News subscribers.

Another niche publication is CLE DOG, which debuted in 2017. You can find hard copies of the full-color magazine — it’s going bimonthly in 2019 — at places where dog people hang out, or you can read each issue online. It also has an electronic newsletter and will offer paid subscriptions to the print edition starting next year.

I don’t have a dog, but I love reading this magazine to find out what dog-themed events are happening and to see pictures of other people’s dogs. Sometimes I even find an article about someone I know, human or canine. Full disclosure: The co-publisher is a friend and colleague, but I started reading the magazine before I met her.

A really new online niche publication is Modern CLE, which debuted in early November. It’s described as “the definitive digital destination for strong, stylish, successful Northeast Ohio women.” It also offers an email newsletter.

From what I’ve read, Modern CLE isn’t your typical “women’s magazine” offering impractical diets, unaffordable fashions, celebrity fluff and tips for getting and keeping a man. Sure, a recent issue featured a recipe and a DIY craft, but it also had articles on politics, mothers of premature babies and opening a business, among other topics.

The website has a tab called #givebackcle. Every six months, Modern CLE will give a local nonprofit a percentage of the e-magazine’s profits. Its first nonprofit is Girls With Sole.