Brier Hill

Youngstown’s Brier Hill sits along the first ridge out of the Mahoning Valley to the east. We traveled there weekly for church, back to the brick streets and slate sidewalks of my mother’s childhood.

2016-03-09T09:11:13-05:00March 9, 2016|

Making a Case for Youngstown

When my wife and I first started dating, she lived in rural Georgia and had no knowledge of Youngstown. We hadn’t been dating long enough to even really discuss what my hometown was like.

2016-08-20T09:37:03-04:00July 8, 2015|

A State Of Quakes

As sun set on the final evening of 2011, a loud boom interrupted New Years’ Eve revelries in eastern Ohio. Valerie Dearing, who was ringing in the New Year in her living room in the small town of Poland ...

2017-11-21T10:09:41-05:00June 30, 2015|

Steel Grit

The year was 1976. I was a college student going down to US Steel to apply for a summer job. I had never been there before, but it was one of those places that lined the Mahoning River, over which I had driven a million times.

2015-10-25T09:21:32-04:00March 12, 2015|