Essays
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.
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."
Traveling While Black
Learning the racial geography of Indiana as a young Black girl in the 1980s.
Eight Gardens
On family, community, and gardening as social practice.
Get the latest stories from around the region sent straight to your inbox.
Get the latest stories from around the region sent straight to your inbox.
Support independent, context-driven regional writing.