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FEATURE
Unbreakable: Glass in the Rust Belt
What’s left of domestic glass manufacturing in the U.S. remains concentrated in the Rust Belt–eight of the industry’s top ten employers are in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Midwest. But studio glassblowing is adding relevance to a material long forgotten by many communities shaped by it. Today, the Rust Belt is home to three of the United States’ top five hubs for glass studios.
Unbreakable: Glass in the Rust Belt
What’s left of domestic glass manufacturing in the U.S. remains concentrated in the Rust Belt–eight of the industry’s top ten employers are in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Midwest. But studio glassblowing is adding relevance to a material long forgotten by many communities shaped by it. Today, the Rust Belt is home to three of the United States’ top five hubs for glass studios.
ESSAY
Art that’s Rooted in the Rust Belt
Thriving creative communities can be found throughout the Rust Belt in other small- to mid-size industrial cities like Racine. Places like Sheboygan, Rockford, Peoria, Flint, South Bend, Dayton, Toledo, Canton—the list goes on.
Art that’s Rooted in the Rust Belt
Thriving creative communities can be found throughout the Rust Belt in other small- to mid-size industrial cities like Racine. Places like Sheboygan, Rockford, Peoria, Flint, South Bend, Dayton, Toledo, Canton—the list goes on.
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More Stories
The Phosphorus Paradox
Harmful algal blooms are a growing concern in the Great Lakes. The toxins they produce can close beaches, and even poison drinking water. What’s fueling these blooms? Phosphorus, a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. But the way it’s being used comes at a cost.
Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh
Belt Magazine is proud to be the media sponsor for author Tom O'Lenic's discussion about his new book cowritten with Ray Hartjen Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh as part of the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival this Sunday March 26th at Noon in the Trust Arts Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The Last of Cleveland’s ArtCraft Building
It wasn’t the sale of the building that came as a shock - it was the buyer that caught the Cleveland art community off guard.
What It Looks Like When
By Jeanette Beebe Jeanette Beebe is a poet and journalist who lives in Akron’s Highland [...]
Megan Giddings Reimagines the Rust Belt
Reimagining the Rust Belt in Megan Giddings' "The Woman Could Fly."
Novelist Idra Novey on the Places That Made Her
"I came from somewhere that has a lot of character and really fascinating people who have carved out really beautiful lives, and they don't fall easily into the caricatures that we see of rural Pennsylvanian people in the news."
Two Poems by Frank Rosen
"All in the Water" and "Cuyahoga Thanatos" by Frank Rosen
“Poetry for Everybody” – Doralee Brooks in Allegheny County
Life-long educator and poet Doralee Brooks named new Poet Laureate for Allegheny County.
That That Is… (Not): 1991-1992
When I announced that I was writing this book, I was immediately asked several times if Albini would be providing a cover blurb. The question was posed partially seriously and partially sarcastically, with the ratio dependent on the questioner.
People here don’t even know where the stationhouse is
A poem by Chris Carosi.
Dreaming at the Mattress Factory
Given that the Mattress Factory once made literal mattresses, the place where dreams most often form in our minds, it feels fitting that it’s now a site for collective dreaming.

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