The Coldest Darn Place In The World: The Great Lakes Bowl
Once upon a time, Municipal Stadium wasn’t the Mistake by the Lake. In the 1940s, an optimistic time in Cleveland’s history, the stadium was virtually the center of the sports universe.
Who Gives A Hoot? Searching For Owls By Moonlight On The Lake Erie Islands
Our pilgrimage began on a freakishly warm day in early November. A south wind calmed the lake as David Wilson and I crossed the four-mile stretch from the Marblehead Peninsula to Kelleys Island.
One Block, Two Businesses, Three Families: A Detroit Story
The building at Mack near Chalmers resembles thousands of Detroit properties: abandoned, in tax foreclosure, burned-out, dangerous, overdue for demolition.
What’s In A Vowel? In Search Of The Disappearing Short-A Rising
Last Thanksgiving, I was in Houston, visiting my wife’s family. “How far is it from here to Dallas?” I asked my sister-in-law. “To where?” she asked. “To Dale’s house?”
The Chatpattey Room: Refugees Creating a Home — And A Business — In The Rust Belt
Nestled between a modern-day bistro and a jewelry shop, just inside of Akron’s North Hill neighborhood, sits a small inconspicuous building.
Indiana’s One Weird Trick For Municipal Expansion
It was a bright July day in 2013 and just like most other summer days in most other years, the tall stalks of corn, green and shining under the Indiana sun ...
King Coal and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum
Wilma Steele sits on her screened porch and watches the last of the apples fall from her tree. It’s a beautiful, crisp day in Mingo County, West Virginia.
“A Flair for the Scare”: Inside Ohio’s Nationally Ranked Haunted Hoochie
Sometime around 9 p.m., a hollow-eyed corpse in coveralls will appear on the balcony overlooking a 1,000-odd patrons dancing in place in the 40-degree Ohio evening.
The Fight Over Graffiti: Banksy In Detroit
The boy looked back at me, his eyes defiant. Dressed in head-to-toe black, he was standing in a Detroit police station, holding evidence of his crime ...
The ArtPrize Tension Machine: Power, Politics, And Populism At The World’s Strangest Arts Competition
Ruben Ubiera, shirtless on a humid night in early September, runs back and forth across Front Avenue under US-131 in Grand Rapids, shaking a can of spray paint.
Still The Vehicle City: Back To The Bricks Reminds Flint, And The World, Where The Auto Industry Was Born
“I think people are seeing this can have a lot to offer,” said Beth White as she walked along the dozen or so red-bricked blocks of Saginaw Street that constitute Flint, Michigan’s downtown.
The City-States of the Rust Belt
I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. During the summer, on weekends and breaks, my friends would often go to Milwaukee (1 1/2 hours drive ) and Chicago (3 hours) with their families for vacations.