On November 7, The LIT, Cleveland's Literary Center, celebrated its 35th anniversary at Convivium 33 Gallery. A large crowd filled the soaring space to mingle, reminisce and view an exhibit of photography by Cleveland artist Donald Black Jr. (View a gallery of photos from the evening here.)

The LIT reached back into its history and re-created one of the most popular events from its past, the "Mirror of the Arts" series, which combined poetry with other art forms. Titled "For Closure: Visions of Reality, Words of Promise," the night combined Black's images of the devastating effects of Cleveland's foreclosure crisis with a live reading of poems inspired by the photos. Later, an honors ceremony awarded lifetime memberships and recognized the contributions of the group's founding members.

For Cleveland's literati and LIT executive director Judith Mansour, the evening was a coup: a diverse crowd, lots of young people, a successful pledge drive. And though Black's unforgiving images showed the reality of a city with plenty of problems, poets like Shurice Gross, Giao Buu and Kristin Ohlson gave voice to the issue, and the LIT's founding members reminded us to keep building, keep striving, keep creating.

Another 35 years? I can't think why not.