Essays
The Farmer and I: In the Middle of It All
When you marry a farmer, you marry not only a person but also a line of work, a place, and a way of life.
Ring Leader
Inside a beat-up boxing gym in a beat-up southeast Ohio coal town, Sam Jones trains kids to fight the right way.
LeBron and I
Unlike many Clevelanders, I was glad when LeBron won a ring. Glad isn’t exactly the word. Relieved is more like it, like when an ex finally gets married.
Unfinished Identities
On Ashtabula's Finns, the power of diversity, and nurturing neglected cultural roots.
Neither Created Nor Destroyed
There are people who don’t believe Cincinnati can, should, or will change. But it is changing and I like what I see. I like that I can be a part of it, even from what some would consider the outside.
Shut Up and Dance
I loved my mother desperately. She loved me desperately, too. We didn’t destroy each other. We found peace before she died. That is its own kind of miracle.
On Lee Road
Bert Stratton does a lot on Lee Road. Not everything, but a lot.
Moundsville
The civilization on this little speck of earth was falling apart. But the mound would remain.
Boomerang
The longer I stayed away from Cleveland, the more I couldn’t stop thinking about the blank spot so close to where I started.
The Many Cities of Cleveland
Every place is composed of layers of mental places and historical spaces on top of the dirt and grass and wood and concrete.

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