The Forgotten Legacy of Buford Gordon
Buford Franklin Gordon’s name is unlikely to ring any bells among most residents of South Bend, Indiana. Part of this is understandable — Gordon only lived in South Bend for a period of five years...
The Jungle Is A Terrible Novel – So Why Does It Still Work?
Some time back, two friends gave my wife and I a housewarming present: a copy of Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, The Jungle. Not the sunniest way to help a couple settle into a new house, but it’s a thoughtful gift if you know us.
Cleveland’s Recovery Never Happened, Report Finds
Cleveland is the most economically distressed large city in the country, with three out of four residents living in zip codes with high rates of poverty, joblessness, and vacant housing.
Weekly Links Roundup
News of the Rust Belt from around the world, brought to you weekly by the staff of Belt Magazine. News from the week of February 22-28, 2016.
A Flint Manifesto for the Rust Belt
Flint’s water crisis has become an alarm bell that’s ringing across the country, especially in the Midwest. Now that the poisoning of a Michigan city has become national news, the press and public are looking for lessons.
Stoplight
By Amy Jo Burns A long time ago, I fell in love with the stoplight in the center of my [...]
A Walk Through North Collinwood
The Beachland Ballroom is a crowd of people and noise. But there is no band on stage at the iconic music venue on Waterloo Road in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood.
Celebrities Descend Upon Flint — For Better Or For Worse
It started with Cher calling for Rick Snyder’s head, and really, who could blame her? This was in January, when the media had fully descended upon Flint, Michigan, in the midst of its water crisis...
Weekly Links Roundup
News of the Rust Belt from around the world, brought to you weekly by the staff of Belt Magazine. News from the week of February 15-21, 2016.
Happy, Sad, Gay, Or Just Interested: The Queer Legacy of WBFO
Our meeting was improbable, but lucky. I found Alex van Oss through a research project involving the University of Buffalo’s Leo Tolstoy College/College F.
Lamentations Of A Clevelander In Exile
I moved to Cleveland on a whim in 2004. I met a girl while visiting a Clevelander friend and I fell in love with both the girl and the city. The rock-and-roll mythos, blue-collar grit, pierogies — I was wonderstruck.
Weekly Links Roundup
News of the Rust Belt from around the world, brought to you weekly by the staff of Belt Magazine. News from the week of February 8-14, 2016.