Essays

Fighting the Klan in Ohio, 1924

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday, a crowd estimated at 1,700 gathered for Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Catholic church established by Italian immigrants 18 years earlier. By 10:30 a.m., the Knights of the Flaming Circle started gathering in a park at North Main and Federal streets in Niles, across the street from General Electric. They were armed to the teeth and setting up blockades to keep the parade from happening. “We’ll meet the Klansmen as they arrive,” one Knight of the Flaming Circle told a reporter from the Youngstown Vindicator.

Vince Guerrieri2024-11-01T10:22:13-04:00October 31, 2024|

On Picking Apples in the Lower Midwest

Supposedly, it all started with an apple. In the beginning was the garden, the serpent, the woman—and “those fair apples,” as Milton writes in Paradise Lost. That was the beginning, or perhaps the beginning of the end.

Naomi Kim2024-10-17T08:59:07-04:00October 14, 2024|

A Bungalow of My Own

Every time I moved felt like facing my entire life all over again.

Jean Iversen2024-10-14T09:14:56-04:00October 10, 2024|

Living in East Chicago, Workshop of America

However, maybe because of the cantankerous aging process or a rekindled love for the region’s history, I often find myself staring at these sites now, wondering what once was and one day could be.

Emiliano Aguilar2024-10-07T09:27:35-04:00October 3, 2024|

Hands that Carry Their Own Maps of the World

On this day in end-times 1999, Jimmy Carter, the former president of the United States, that sweetheart, was on a flight I was working. It was a shuttle flight, D.C. to New York, maybe. No First Class, no fuss.

Lori Jakiela2024-10-07T09:27:54-04:00September 30, 2024|

Swing Set: The Giant’s Footsteps

The concept and meaning of risk changed as we aged. As kids, the risk of our fathers losing their factory jobs never occurred to us. The notion that anything as large and permanent as the factories would disappear seemed ludicrous.

Jim Daniels2024-09-23T09:23:30-04:00September 16, 2024|

A Northern Appalachian Syllabus

Today’s generation of Appalachian writers has been able to find outlets for an array of work that delves deep into the complexities and nuances of a geographic region larger than many nations in both area and population.

Christina Fisanick and Damian Dressick 2024-09-12T09:18:37-04:00September 5, 2024|

Carnegie Mellon’s Demarest Metals

Few exhibitions would be more appropriate for me to walk past on my way to work than the Demarest Metals, a reminder that Belt Magazine is grounded in the history – and the future – of this region, that labor deserves to be honored, that there are complicated, beautiful, and essential stories being written about and by people in areas too often passed over.

Ed Simon2024-09-09T09:19:43-04:00September 2, 2024|

The Common Prayer of Immoderate Soils

Now there's an ubiquitous phrase on the Plains: we excel at "putting down roots"...Growing up in Kansas there is quite the opposite idea. Less so roots and more so treacherous vines.

Jeromiah Taylor2024-09-02T09:57:04-04:00June 27, 2024|

On Raymond Thompson’s “Appalachian Ghost”

Thompson captured photos of the place — the hills of WVA folding into each other like origami, holding mist and dew in the hollows. And he staged new photos which conjure these working men, bearing up under hours of physical labor, covered in white dust, looking otherworldly but also fully human and integral to the achievement.

Jody DiPerna2024-06-27T13:59:35-04:00June 20, 2024|

Garbage Boy

John was unbelievable with a trash bag. He threw the lighter ones from his hip, like an uppercut. The heavier bags were more like a hammer throw. You could tell he was accustomed to using, and needing to use, all the muscle he had left.

Jake Maynard2024-06-24T10:20:44-04:00June 17, 2024|

The Fire Beneath Our Feet

Centralia became an attraction for both horror movie fans and ordinary people fascinated by the story.

Eric D. Lehman2024-06-17T09:56:26-04:00May 9, 2024|

Title