Why The Term “Rust Belt” Matters
The Rust Belt, linguistically speaking, is one of America’s newest regions. It was largely created in 1984 by, of all people, Walter Mondale. During a campaign stop during the presidential election...
What John Kasich Says Is Bullshit, But How He Says It Hits Home
John Kasich, you don’t speak for my people: most denizens of the Mon Valley aren’t clamoring for corporate tax breaks and massive deregulation. But — and maybe this is more important — you speak like my people.
How Michigan’s Municipal Policies Led To Crises In Detroit and Flint
Michigan has the most decrepit cities in the United States...It’s not just a result of neglect. It’s a result of policy.
Brier Hill
Youngstown’s Brier Hill sits along the first ridge out of the Mahoning Valley to the east. We traveled there weekly for church, back to the brick streets and slate sidewalks of my mother’s childhood.
Flint’s Water Problems are the Symptom, Not the Disease
I don’t recognize the Flint I’m seeing on TV these days. I was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1953, and attended public schools from kindergarten through high school, and two years of college, before leaving in 1973...
Lamentations Of A Clevelander In Exile
I moved to Cleveland on a whim in 2004. I met a girl while visiting a Clevelander friend and I fell in love with both the girl and the city. The rock-and-roll mythos, blue-collar grit, pierogies — I was wonderstruck.
Do Suburbs Make City Kids Poorer?
When I was in high school, a teacher once asked my class to use a word or term to describe the United States. A classmate of mine said it was “a meritocracy.”
Report From Flint: Don’t Call It “Katrina”
The drive from Lansing to Flint is relatively easy, a straight shot along I-69. It’s a drive I first made in August 2008 after accepting a teaching job at the University of Michigan-Flint.
Caring For All Parts: Hadad Farm
On the east side of Detroit sits an old two-story house washed sky blue. The paint is chipped and the windows are barred with thick grey metal. It is my grandmother’s house of over fifty years.
Not Just Another Soup Kitchen: Inside the Flint Community Cookout
“Hey, man, he got a spot,” says Kenny Lucas, pointing his thumb toward Dallas Schiestel, as another man joins the growing party in Riverbank Park, waiting for the Flint Community Cookout to begin.
Police Story
The record store was about two miles from our neighborhood and about one mile beyond the city limits. As teenagers a friend and I would go there whenever we had a little money ...
Rust Belt Vehicle Love
I saw a dinosaur carcass the other day in the driveway of an abandoned house on a side street off St. Clair Avenue. It was a dark green Ford LTD with a tattered brougham roof peeled back to the rusted metal.