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More Stories
Chicago Was Almost a Country Town
In the 1970s, Chicago's Uptown neighborhood was a hotbed for people looking for something better—and their music.
How Some Communities are Monitoring Their Own Air Quality
In Ohio, local advocacy groups are using low-cost sensors to gather information.
Figments of a Pittsburgh Imagination
Andy Warhol meets the Breatharians.
The Rise and Fall of ‘New Work’ in Flint
In the 1980s, the Flint, Michigan-based Center for New Work proposed a radically different industrial future.
Breezewood, Pennsylvania: The Most American Place on Earth
The meme-able turnpike is a nexus of American culture.
Reconsidering Public Housing in America
The National Public Housing Museum is pluralizing the program's mythic narrative.
Why Wisconsin’s 1858 Abortion Law Matters Now
The obscure nineteenth-century legislation shaping Wisconsin’s post-Roe reality.
Are West Chicago’s Radiation Worries Over?
A local factory in West Chicago, Illinois was once the largest producer of thorium in the world. This fall the “radioactive capital of the Midwest” is doing one last cleanup.
Indigenous Hauntings
Native grief and resurgence in the Midwest.
Work With Us: Executive Director [Remote]
Belt is hiring an executive director to help shape the future of the publication.
Eating Local with the Pennsylvania Dutch
In rural Pennsylvania, an underrated and distinctive regional cuisine.
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