Support independent writing by and for the Rust Belt. Become a member today. »
(Cancel anytime.)
Independent, context-driven regional writing. Support Belt Magazine today. »
(Cancel anytime.)
More Stories
Boy Shot
For me, the details surfaced Sunday morning, over coffee, nearly eighteen hours after it happened: Twelve-year-old boy Tamir Rice shot dead by a Cleveland police officer at Cudell Recreation Center Saturday, November 22, 2014, at 3:30 in the afternoon.
Why Readers Care About Journalism, And Why The Cleveland Plain Dealer Should Care About Its Readers
I’m a news junkie. While my bandwidth for online news consumption exceeds that for print, I still receive two daily newspapers, three if you count the four days of the week that The Plain Dealer is home-delivered.
From Cleveland to Ferguson, With Love
I am watching Twitter and TV, where rage spills onto the streets of Missouri like gasoline. But my heart is not in Ferguson tonight.
Tamir Rice Shooting and Cleveland Police Violence
We are gathering writing that furthers the discussion of the shooting of Tamir Rice in [...]
Life Without Bats
I grew up in a tiny rural township, ten minutes outside of Akron, Ohio in a neighborhood surrounded by looming second-growth hardwoods and whispering cornfields.
Mayor Jackson Was Wrong About Ferguson and Cleveland
Last week, a spokesman for Mayor Jackson brushed off the idea that Cleveland had anything to learn from Ferguson, MO, where the killing of an unarmed young black man, Michael Brown, by police has caused massive protests and civil unrest.
A Safer World? On Militarization and Police Violence
In 2013, the number of law enforcement officers killed in this country in the line of duty by firearms (33) was the lowest since 1887, when the U.S. population was about 240 million less than it is now.
A Chilling View: Protesting The Tamir Rice Shooting In Cleveland
The police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland on November 22 became an international story in less than 48 hours. Activist group Anonymous even shut down the Cleveland city government’s website Monday morning in protest.
From Carpet Joints to Racinos: How Midwest Gambling Went Legit
Wherever my paternal grandfather is – and if it’s his idea of Heaven, it probably looks like the old Dairy Queen in Lisbon, Ohio, with a couple pool tables – he’s got to be laughing his ass off.
I Used to Live Here
“I Used to Live Here” is a collaborative essay and set of images about cities and how they can and cannot be archived or preserved by Mexican artist and writer Veronica Gerber Bicceci and American writer Kathleen Rooney.
Who Was That Masked Cartoonist?
In 1976, police in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid were after what they considered perhaps the most wanted man in their city, a teenager who wasn’t exactly the kind of criminal who would show up on FBI posters inside the local post office.

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.