Angels of Detroit by Christopher Hebert: A Q&A
By Kelsey Ronan Detroit is a city of contradictions. It’s a city stricken by poverty and population loss, of [...]
Announcing the Belt Book Club!
Belt Publishing publishes quality non-fiction about the Rust Belt and the Midwest. Our books have won awards, been praised by Vanity [...]
Here on the Ground: An Introduction
There’d better be a blimp in here. Seriously: if there is not a blimp in this book, I’m going to return it to the library I stole it from. Right now, I’m like you, Dear Reader. I haven’t read this book yet. I don’t know what’s in it. We’re both here at the beginning. I know what I want. You know what you want.
We Are Good In Glenville: A Visit To The Honey Do Club Neighborhood Bar
Cleveland is a city of neighborhoods. Each tells a story with its own unique culture and history, the restaurant you have to eat at, and of course, a neighborhood bar. Being a Glenville resident my entire life, one would assume that I have ventured to my own neighborhood bar before 2015.
Overwhelmed by the Swarm: Brood V Periodical Cicadas
The cicadas have been winding down. Chitinous, black bodies crunch underfoot on my driveway every time I step out the front door.
You’ll Never Vote Alone
I arrived in Cleveland convinced the RNC would be the death of me. There is not a drop of hyperbole in this statement. And it’s true what they say: when people think they’re close to death, they do crazy things.
Within The Convention City, A Ghost Town
Public Square, 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Some guy is sprawled out on the steps at the front edge of the speaking stage below the Moses Cleaveland statue, fast asleep.
Memorializing Tamir Rice With Pokemon Go
The gazebo at Cudell Recreation Center is four miles away from the Republican National Convention. It is also a stop on the popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go.
For Some Clevelanders, It’s All About the Side Hustle
Search for downtown Cleveland on Google Earth before Friday and a giant, pixelated blob of commemorative Trump-themed swag will appear before your very eyes.
Clowns To Trump: You’re Giving Us A Bad Name
Donald Trump is a clown; a buffoon; a fool. The 2016 election in general and the RNC in Cleveland in particular is a circus. Just ask Comedy Central, which has trucked in its own Daily Show sideshow for the occasion, and whose alum, Steven Colbert, crashed (or “crashed”) the stage of the Q Sunday evening tricked out in his blue fright wig. But a circus is supposed to be fun, and clowns are supposed to be funny. And as a group of Cleveland clowns maintain, in this instance, none of this is the case.
How To Make Your Own Billboard: A Clevelander’s Homegrown Anti-Trump Sign
“If you walk down any protest line, there’s no discourse. It’s just yelling,” says Eric Helms, plausibly the only Clevelander to put up his own billboard in anticipation of the arrival of the Republican National Convention. “No one is listening to each other. Discourse is dead.”
Journey to the Epicenter of Something: Cleveland Meets RNC
“This is the Johnny Manziel of conventions.” That quip has been ringing in my head, a very Cleveland one-liner shared by a friend a few days before I set off to spend a week at the Republican National Convention.