Building An Art House In Pittsburgh
A few years ago, Vanessa German sat on her front porch working on the sculptures for which she’s become well known -- complex black Madonnas made of found objects.
Announcing Belt’s RNC Fellows
When we cooked up the idea of inviting journalists to come to Cleveland this summer for the Republican National Convention, we thought it would be a fun experiment ...
After The World Ends, What Next?
If you, like I did, woke up on summer mornings with a mini boom box and a blank tape to listen for hours on end waiting for The Foo Fighters or Everclear or Rage Against the Machine or ...
Where The River Burned
On April 22, 1970, schoolchildren from around metropolitan Cleveland sat in their classrooms and wrote to Mayor Carl Stokes. Over the next few days, hundreds of letters poured into City Hall ...
What To Do When You’re Accused Of Gentrifying
Uh-oh, it finally happened. You’re caught in a debate -- most likely on Facebook -- about gentrification in Detroit. And everything was going just fine until someone called you -- you! -- a cause of gentrification.
Flint’s Younger Voices Get a Hearing on Stage
On a recent Friday evening, the cast of Flint Youth Theatre’s current production The Most [Blank] City in America, rehearsed a scene in which community members have gathered for a meeting ...
Tourism In The Rust Belt: If You Want A Bed, Pay Up
I’m looking for a hotel room in Pittsburgh, and it’s not going well. I search Kayak, Expedia, and Priceline. I recheck Hostelworld, although I know it’s pointless.
Pittsburgh’s Ace Hotel Markets The City’s Past To Its Future
The first person John Brewer saw when he entered the YMCA in the 1950s was not a receptionist as you see when you enter the same building today, but a security guard.
Abandoned Tires Prove Both Blight And Boon For The Motor City
One 2014 morning on Detroit’s northeast side, residents along Mapleridge were horrified to find that 10,000 tires had been stuffed into a row of abandoned houses on their street.
Preparing Cleveland, And Clevelanders, For The RNC
When Belt announced a fellowship to cover the RNC last week, comments included: “Hell, no”; “Does the fellowship include life insurance?”; and, “Only if you provide body armor.”
SGS Presents: Behind The Sign, Episode #4
In the midst of Lorain Avenue’s hookah parlors, nail salons and ready-made furniture outlets stands the nondescript storefront of Schindler’s Fabrics and Upholstery.
Tremont: A Product Of Its Past, A Piece Of Its Future
Originally known as Brooklyn Heights, before it was incorporated into Ohio City between 1836 and 1854, the neighborhood of Tremont was finally annexed by Cleveland in 1867 ...