Richard Hatcher’s Gary
Remembering the life and leadership of one of the first Black mayors of a major American city. [Excerpted from "The Gary Anthology."]
Home Again at the Southside Reunion
In Flint, Michigan, a gathering of the descendants of the men and women who joined the ‘Great Migration.’
Crossing Over
From "Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology."
The Enduring Legacy of Decatur’s Carnegie Library
An ode to a community institution.
At the Lake County Fair
The fair connects communities that often seem worlds apart socially and politically, but are intimately linked by economics and geography.
Fit to Kill: A Reactionary Existence (Part One)
An excerpt from "Life Sentences: Writings from Inside an American Prison."
Something Like Irresponsibility
"Just a few minutes of vacation from my straight life; then back in the car."
Lost and Gain
An excerpt from "Life Sentences: Writings from Inside an American Prison."
Between Old House and New
Coming to terms with a complicated family legacy on an Illinois farm.
Returning to Pittsburgh
"For all the intervening years, Pittsburgh had lived in my memory...viewable but not touchable, sequestered behind a one-way mirror of time."
A Love Letter to Dayton
"When I became editor-in-chief of the city’s alt weekly, Dayton City Paper, it became my job to know Dayton intimately."
Power and Possibility in Dayton’s Oregon District
An elegy for a wounded place.