Randomville: Local Scene - Cincinnati's Christine MacConnell

The denizens of Randomville hail from every corner of the country, giving them a breadth of cultural experiences to draw from when writing for the magazine. We decided to exploit that by asking some of our contributors to take a look around their neighborhoods and tell us about local people of interest they find.

This time out, Cincinnati's Mackenzie McAninch interviews multi-talented writer, singer and songwriter Christine MacConnell. If your browser has trouble with the front page text box, simply click here to read the article on its own page.

It’s one of those snowy, winter nights that it’s so cold and silent outside, you can actually hear the streetlights. Inside of a small coffee shop on a narrow street in Cincinnati, a young woman creates music on an old piano. The sounds are along the likes of Chan Marshall, but maybe spookier. The audience of three (book finder, bartender, myself) has basically stopped what they were doing to listen. After her one and only song, she tells me that she just made it up. Christine MacConnell has introduced me to yet another side of her persona.

Though she currently calls the Queen City home, she’s lived in many cities from coast to coast. Today, she works like the rest of us just to get by, but once trained and showed horses professionally for fun and profit. Playing acoustic guitar and singing in coffee shops and bars has brought a smaller income, but money isn’t the draw there. It’s more about the artistic expression.

Perhaps MacConnell’s greatest talent is her abilities as a writer. “Track Three: Easter” is a story she wrote that crowned her the most recent winner of the local, prestigious Mercantile Library Short Story Competition. In stories such as this, she has the ability to use one and two word sentences to bring feelings and senses to life. Since winning the award, she’s been busy shopping her novel “The House of Anchor” to some of the most recognizable agents in the nation.

eight or nine. I don't own a piano, so I sneak into churches and play there. Great acoustics in sanctuaries. I've been singing for as long as I can remember, and I took voice lessons in college. I started playing guitar around eighteen after I saw a Counting Crows show at the zoo. I looked up at the band, and I decided I was tired of watching boys play and sing, so I bought myself a guitar the next day...

CM: When I was just a toddler, my mom had this slew of instruments in the basement. My brother and I would go down there and bang on whatever we grabbed. There was a hand drum, a flute, a harmonica, a tambourine, a xylophone, and all sorts of other things. We had a record player that played old 45s. We'd dance around to Fats Domino and such. Sometimes, we'd pull up the rugs and roller skate around the basement to the music.

CM: Oh, lord. I have some poetry that I wrote when I was really little; I wrote it when I first learned how to write. I used to go out in our backyard and sit under this willow tree and write. It was my "special place" and I thought no one knew about it. Mostly, I wrote journal stuff, but some poetry too. The stuff was really dark for a kid. I guess it was my way of getting out all of my child angst; lots of stuff about depression and longings. I loved Edgar Allan Poe, and I was a very quiet, introspective kid. I still am, but not so dark. I've learned that you can find depth in happiness as well.

CM: I haven’t played on stage around here in a long time, but my favorite thing to do musically is to write songs in parks or by fountains, letting the music touch people that are just around, randomly hanging out. Now I'm focusing on the writing. The most thrilling moments are when someone tells me they read my work; that it touched them. Or even better, that it changed them. It's all about reaching people. When I was little, I would read to "go someplace else for a while." If I can do that for someone else, I am thrilled.

CM: Somewhat. I read the New York Times, but I mostly keep up on the writing, art, and music world. I tend to stay more current on local issues and the local scene.

CM: Definitely horseback riding. I rode hunters/jumpers and showed professionally for fifteen years. I'm taking a break from it right now, but it's in my blood, so I'm sure I'll get back at it. I used to teach a number of students, and we traveled around competing all over the place. I do yoga and run a little to stay in shape for when I start riding again. Many people don't realize how much muscle and endurance it takes to ride. There have been several times in my life I've taken breaks and done nothing. Then when I went to ride again, it was painful. So now, I just stay prepared, b/c the riding always seems to come back.

CM: I love Clifton. I love the scene here, the mix of people, the random street performers, the arts and events around, and the fact that you can walk everywhere. My least favorite thing about Cincinnati is that it’s so slow to progress and change. Clifton is semi-progressive, but most people out in the suburbs (where I grew up) rarely venture to these parts. Cincinnati can be quite divided, but it is certainly better than it was ten years ago.

CM: I think it's all a shitty, acted-out, anti-reality. But I watched some of The Bachelor. I'd rather watch a crime show or Grey's Anatomy. I write a lot of murder mysteries, so I get into the crime shows quite a bit.