Essays
We Are Good In Glenville: A Visit To The Honey Do Club Neighborhood Bar
Cleveland is a city of neighborhoods. Each tells a story with its own unique culture and history, the restaurant you have to eat at, and of course, a neighborhood bar. Being a Glenville resident my entire life, one would assume that I have ventured to my own neighborhood bar before 2015.
When The Number 9 Bus Was Like Home, And Downtown Was My Playground
I strained my neck to look down the row of occupied orange seats to see who was getting on the bus. A big crowd -- I should slide over close to the window, scrunching my book bag on my lap...
Homecoming Of A Clevelander In Exile
I’ve finally returned home to Cleveland after a ten-year absence. While away, first at college and then for a drawn-out period of military service, I kept up on Cleveland happenings ...
After The World Ends, What Next?
If you, like I did, woke up on summer mornings with a mini boom box and a blank tape to listen for hours on end waiting for The Foo Fighters or Everclear or Rage Against the Machine or ...
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.

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