Essays
Are You Staying in South Bend?
On identity, possibilities, and giving my hometown a chance.
Blessed Nativity of Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh
In the Carnegie Museum's holiday presepio, a mingling of the sacred and profane.
A Visit to Milwaukee’s Last Public Drinking Well
The Pryor Avenue Iron Well is a remnant of the past—and maybe a glimpse of the future.
Searching for the Elusive Plum Dumpling
Could the dish reconnect me with my Slovak heritage?
Hair and History in ‘Akron’s Harlem’
On Howard Street, in downtown Akron, Black life and culture flourished.
My Garden Folly
Backyard gardens are for you. Front yard gardens are for others.
The Girl in the Mall
Growing up in my rural Ohio town, the mall was our refuge. It could also be dangerous.
My Summer of Steel
Before my junior year of college, in 1972, I worked at the manufacturing plant where my father was a foreman. It was an education.
Grasping at Shifting Sands
On the eroding shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron, a buried eighteenth-century lumber port, and the stakes of inaction.
A History of the Pride Flag in My Doorway
Notes on living and moving as an out queer person in the Rust Belt.
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