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A Few Educated Millennials, But Far More Human Misery: The Economy in Cleveland And Ohio
Bits of good news about Ohio's economy—as welcome as they may be—are dwarfed by a relentlessly bleak reality. The numbers are bad—and getting worse—and the suffering behind those numbers is more wretched.
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 ...
“A large city, near the Miller Factory”: The Glorious Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Great Midwestern Brewer
Yelp reviews of the Miller factory tour are, to be blunt, as bland as the beer. "Kinda cheesey but that's OK," one reads. "Better than I expected," says another. Bottom line? "It's free, people!"
Friday Link Roundup
Biz meetings in Cleveland: "Can I bring someone? Can my friends come?" Browns quarterbacks and symbology. It's all happening in Pittsburgh. David Lynch loves old factories. Distilling our mojo, or something.
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.
“Everything smells like a Polish Fiat that’s been out in the rain too long”: A Q&A With Gary Shteyngart
On October 6 at 7:00 p.m., Gary Shteyngart will be reading from his 2014 memoir, Little Failure, at the Beachwood branch of Cuyahoga County Library. Belt's Editor-in-Chief Anne Trubek talked to Shteyngart ...
Friday Link Roundup
Cities are organisms, whither Portland?, mortgages by race through the boom and bust, fly-over country and innovation, Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine growth, and Motor City West.
Love and Horror In The Rust Belt: A Novelist Haunts Home
After midnight. New York City. A shadow disengages and sucker-punches Ohioan Chris Barzak square on the chin — “The hardest hit I’ve ever felt in my life,” he says — sending the writer sprawling to the sidewalk.
Colorblind and Rising: What’s Behind The Surprising success of Cleveland’s Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School?
Rich Osborne is slowly walking through the gym of Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s High School (VASJ), a Catholic school on the east side of Cleveland. Villa Angela-St. Joseph has been around for about 25 years now ...

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