Essays
Attracted To Isolation: Cleveland’s Flats
Piles. Piles of limestone, piles of gravel, piles of broken glass. Items haphazardly piled as if to signal that no one cares what happens here.
Bygone Neighborhoods / Luminous Effects
Every city is a text. You can read the city. My favorite way to read Chicago is like a book of poetry. Not necessarily straight through but jumping around, page to page, focusing hard on one thing, then flipping past others ...
Ohio: On the Cutting Edge of Amateur Entomology
Most people don’t like bugs. They are so disconcertingly unlike us – we can’t find ourselves in all those legs, wings and alien faces. Also, our sense of scale prevents us from seeing the vibrant and complex world of insects.
In The Cracks Between: A Faith-Based Start-Up In Cleveland
On a cold, clear Sunday in late March, I buttoned my wool coat. "This kind of thing terrifies me,” I turned to tell my spouse. “But I am doing it anyway." Then I went out my door and walked toward the houses of five neighboring families.
Local Tourist: A Roadtrip To Discover The Real Ohio
In early April of this year, I began reading John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, an account of his 1960 road trip from Long Island across and up the country to the West coast, and down through the deep south and back home again.
The Woman in the Red Glasses: Jane Scott Gets a Documentary
Jane Scott, the Cleveland music writer beloved by the rock stars she covered, was honored this week at a fundraiser for the documentary about her life and career and the iconic red glasses.
Roadway Battleground: Bicyclist vs. Motorist
Most car drivers don’t like me. I’m one of those people who rides a bicycle in the street, and over the years I’ve had cars swerve toward me, throw garbage, honk, shout nasty crap, and give me the finger when they ride by.
Robbing the Pillars: Frugal, Poor, or Sustainable in Rustbelt 1977
When I was in high school in the late 1970’s and people I didn’t know well would drive me home from my summer job, I would ask to be dropped off at a neighbor’s house.
Industrial Strength: What Rowing On The Cuyahoga River Taught Me About Myself, and My City
The Cuyahoga River is better known for catching fire than for its natural beauty. When I stepped into the rowing shell for the first time, I thought of the rumors that circulated about the Crooked River.
One Day I’ll Be a Clevelander
I was born in northeast Ohio, on the awkward border between green and brown farmland and the gray highways crisscrossing Ohio’s suburbia. It wasn’t exactly Amish country, but buggies did clip-clop down the road every so often.
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