George Romero, Pittsburgh Auteur
By Ed Simon Before its premier in 1968, there had arguably been nothing like Pittsburgh director George A. Romero’s Night [...]
The Carnival
Excerpted from Rust Belt Chicago: An Anthology, coming in August from Belt Publishing. By Paul Dailing When I was a kid, [...]
RIP, Unknown Skeletal Remains
Excerpted from The Akron Anthology available from Belt Publishing. By Jennifer Conn The dirt path to the Summit County potter’s field in Tallmadge, [...]
Two Letters: Jackie Kennedy, Ray Bradbury, Suburbia, and Me
By Amy Kenyon This is a memory of two letters written during the last years before home computers and social [...]
When Ruby Jones Was Here
Excerpted from The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, coming in August from Belt Publishing. By Lakisha Dumas When Ruby Jones was here, Detroit was [...]
The N-Word: Let’s Cease and Desist
Comedian Bill Maher said it last Friday night on live TV. Now, an official with the Genesee County Land Bank in Flint has resigned after an audio recording of him saying it was posted online. I am, of course, talking about each man’s use of the n-word.
Making Music in Buffalo
Our story begins with a chance meeting in Buffalo at Nietzsche’s. It was a winter Sunday afternoon in 1988 and both of our groups were scheduled to play together.
A Blue Bird Lands In Flint And We Do Not Call It Redemption
Even though this is about a bird – miraculous blue jewel, transfiguration in a city backyard – it begins with a crash in the middle of the night.
A Big, Useless Bathtub, Or The Inland Sea
It’s easy to mistake the Great Lakes for the ocean, at first. I’ve brought a few people to see Lake Michigan for the first time, and that’s what they all say: “It looks like the ocean!”
Rustoration: How the Rust Belt Can Show America What it Really Means to be Great
By G. M. Donley Americans sure love to vote for celebrities: Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, Bill Bradley, Jack Kemp, [...]
Sorry, So-called Blue States, You Don’t Get to Walk Away
By Tim Carmody In 2016, I voted in my hometown, a Detroit suburb called Madison Heights. (It’s where the [...]
Yes, you can do something about Donald Trump
I was sitting at home on January 26, reading the news and having a hard time sitting still. The shock of a new president had not (and still has not) worn off, and story after story was pushing me toward a deeper sense of despair. It was far beyond politics—I grew up in rural Michigan, and Republicans are not foreign, scary creatures to me.