I am the author of the novel MY CLEVELAND STORY and the novella HOME AND AWAY GAMES. I am also a monthly columnist for the ORANGE AND BROWN REVIEW, a Cleveland Browns fan magazine owned by Scout.com. Recently I have also spent time as a music journalist, reviewing albums and covering shows for several publications and websites. There are so many great venues in Northern Ohio, places like Nightown in Cleveland Heights, the Winchester in Lakewood, the Kent Stage in downtown Kent, and the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland. I wrote the liner notes for the Colin Dussault Blues Project CD "Live at the Main Street Cafe," wrote a biography of Blues Diva Kristine Jackson for her website, and edited the liner notes for the CD release of the four McGuffey Lanes albums that were originally released on Atlantic Records in the 1980’s. Many of my concert reviews appear on WWW.COOLCLEVELAND.COM. Over the years I have also written music pieces for JAZZ AND BLUES REPORT, THE NOOZ, and the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER. I have also written some play reviews for productions mostly at the Cleveland Playhouse.

MY CLEVELAND STORY (1998), my first novel, sold close to four thousand copies in hardback, and got great reviews (The Plain Dealer’s Michael Heaton called me “Cleveland’s Mark Twain”). HOME AND AWAY GAMES, a novella, came out to equally good reviews in 2007 . My next full-length novel A POEM ON A BAR ROOM WALL is almost finished, and hopefully will come out sometime in 2009.

I teach English, speech, and creative writing at Streetsboro High School in suburban Cleveland. I am also an Adjunct Humanities Professor at BGSU Firelands College; an Adjunct Speech/Theater Professor at Lakeland Community College; and an Assistant Varsity Football Coach at John Carroll University.

I am a graduate of Padua Franciscan High School, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Cleveland State University. Three of the last four summers I have been fortunate to have participated in National Endowment for the Humanities seminars and workshops, studying the literature and history of the Great Plains at North Dakota State University; the life of Henry Ford and the Rogue Auto Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, at Henry Ford Community College; and the design and history of the art deco hotels of Miami Beach, Florida, at the Wolfsonian Museum and Florida International University.

I am very proud of the fact former students of mine have nominated me for WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN TEACHERS four times since 1991. I have also made WHO"S WHO IN AMERICA in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Feel free to cantact me at the following: mailing address: 1528 Botany Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44109; email: cielec@hotmail.com; cell phone: 216.496.8286; fax: 216.749.7352