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HISTORY
HOUSING
Grasping at Shifting Sands
On the eroding shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron, a buried eighteenth-century lumber port, and the stakes of inaction.
CITIES
Rebel Girl of West Ridge
From the Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook.
POSTCARD
The Rebirth of a Regional Library
After a long period of disinvestment and decline, Chicago’s first regional library is returning to prominence.
The Rebirth of a Regional Library
After a long period of disinvestment and decline, Chicago’s first regional library is returning to prominence.
Independent, context-driven regional writing. Support Belt Magazine today. »
More Stories
Portraits in Transition
On photographing non-binary community members in the Midwest and Rust Belt.
Exhibit O: A Look Inside Indiana’s Opioid Crisis
A new exhibit at the Indiana State Museum wants to break the taboos around addiction and recovery.
Black Freedom, Black Joy: A Juneteenth Reading List
Honoring Black joy and freedom struggles in the Rust Belt.
A History of the Pride Flag in My Doorway
Notes on living and moving as an out queer person in the Rust Belt.
Midwest Modern’s Architectural Road Trip
Josh Lipnik uses Twitter to document regional architecture and design.
In Hudson, Ohio, Whose History Matters?
A recent event highlights the messiness of the town’s white-dominated abolitionist narrative.
Rust Belt Pride
A queer Rust Belt reading list.
Madeline Davis’s Queer History of Buffalo
Davis, who died last month at the age of eighty, dedicated her life to LGBTQ+ history in Buffalo.
The Long Tail of Indiana’s Oil and Gas Boom
The state’s early industry remade more than the landscape.
Around Lake Michigan on the Circle Tour
Sixty years ago, my parents took us on a driving tour of Lake Michigan, the quintessential Midwest road trip.
The Sweetest Little Town Around
Inside the Shepherd Sugar Bush, an old-school community maple syrup operation in Michigan.
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From the Archives
Rightsizing Thanksgiving in the Rust Belt
As the jobs have vanished, as education and employment have lured our young people out-of-state and overseas, our holidays have been transformed as well.
Fear and Loathing on Euclid Avenue: Dispatches from the RNC in CLE
“I’m not here because I agree with everybody.”
Belt News
Call for Submissions: A Sioux Falls Anthology
Belt Publishing will be compiling an anthology of essays about Sioux Falls in 2021/22 as part of its City Anthology series.
The Best of Belt Magazine 2019
Announcing a new anthology of regional writing, available exclusively to Belt members.
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