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PERSPECTIVE
Protest and Power
Scenes from a moment of reckoning.
Protest and Power
Scenes from a moment of reckoning.
Featured Stories
HISTORY
Racism, Rebellion, and Police Violence in the Midwest
Stories on the long history of racism and police violence in the Midwest—and what to do about it.
ESSAY
Coming Into a Black Woman’s Anger
On Audre Lorde and Minnesota Nice.
PERSONAL HISTORY
My Life in Oil
Detroit, the tar sands, and burying my father in toxic ground.
EXCERPT
Not Another Working-Class Youngstown Story
An excerpt from "Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: The Youngstown Anthology 2nd Edition."
Not Another Working-Class Youngstown Story
An excerpt from "Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: The Youngstown Anthology 2nd Edition."
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More Stories
What Happened to Northeast Ohio’s ‘Chemical Shore’?
In the middle of the twentieth century, industrialists tried to rebrand the coast north of Cleveland. Like many marketing ploys, it straddled the fuzzy line between aspiration and actuality.
The Contradictions of a Progressive Police Chief
Newly-appointed CPD Superintendent David Brown left a complicated legacy in Dallas. Will he have his second chance in Chicago?
Reviving Detroit’s Historic Blue Bird Inn
Once “the nerve center” of the jazz scene in Detroit, the venue is now in shambles. But the Detroit Sound Conservancy and neighborhood leaders have plans to change that.
Finding Hope in Wicker Park’s Mexican Community
Coronavirus has devastated Latino communities in Illinois. But in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, one family is working and hoping for a better tomorrow.
The Last Children of Mill Creek [Excerpt]
"My father was the grandson of Mississippi slaves, and the son of a thrice-married and divorced mother who had cleaned white peoples’ homes and cared for their children in two states by the time they settled in St. Louis in 1929."
The Restoration of Maxo Vanka’s Working-Class, Immigrant Murals
On the walls of a Pittsburgh-area church, twenty-five scenes of God, war, justice, family.
Organizing Labor in a Pandemic
COVID-19 put a spotlight on worker vulnerability, but creates challenges for traditional in-person organizing tactics.
Homeless Chicagoans Could Face “Major Fallout” From COVID-19
People living in shelters or on the street, especially those addicted to opioids, navigate a new set of risks and challenges.
Remembering the Kent State Shootings, Fifty Years Later
Survivor Chic Canfora reflects on life then and now.
The Fight Over Wind Power in Lake Erie
The contested case of the Icebreaker Wind Farm has implications for renewable energy in the region.
How the Pandemic Has Changed Public Transit in Cleveland
Service cuts and risk of transmission affect those "who have no other choice."
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From the Archives
Akron’s Vietnam
How the war touched one Northeast Ohio neighborhood.
News
Call for Submissions: A Sioux Falls Anthology
Belt Publishing will be compiling an anthology of essays about Sioux Falls in 2021/22 as part of its City Anthology series.
The Best of Belt Magazine 2019
Announcing a new anthology of regional writing, available exclusively to Belt members.
Call for Submissions: Pittsburgh Neighborhood Guidebook
Announcing the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Guidebook, to be published by Belt Publishing.
