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."
The Power and Possibility of Dayton’s Oregon District
An elegy for a wounded place.
Rebel Girl of West Ridge
From the Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook.
The Summer We Went to the Moon
That summer, my parents and I were arguing about God.
The Packard Presence in Columbus
Walking around Columbus, Ohio, the influence of Frank Packard's architecture is everywhere you look.
Cadillac Hill
"Almost every girl I know has the same story about a car, about a boy. This is mine."