Finding Refuge in Southwest Detroit
Since the early twentieth century, the area has been a safe haven for Latinx—including my family.
Game Day at the Ohio Pen
Remembering the Ohio State Penitentiary Hurricanes—and the day my father played against them in 1965.
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."