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Homeless in Chicago: Tree
Tree His street name is Tree, because he’s very tall. He’s from Dixon, [...]
Homeless in Chicago: Jet & Stone
Jet and Stone They are train hoppers from Southern California. I’ve seen them [...]
Thoughts of a Lonely Man: A poem by a resident of Lower Wacker Drive
By Gregory D. Smith Photograph by Lloyd DeGrane Walking these crowded streets Feeling like I’m [...]
Bezos, the Koch Brothers, and the Waltons want to save the Rust Belt, but only on their terms
By Elizabeth Catte In JD Vance’s latest chapter as champion of America’s forgotten heartland, the [...]
In Today’s Ohio, ‘Home Rule’ Is Not About Cities Being Self-Governed; It’s Cover For State Officials Moving Economic Growth To The Exurbs
By Tom Bier Photo by Maddie McGarvey In my new book, Housing Dynamics in Northeast [...]
On Being ‘In Real Estate’ in Cleveland, OH
I usually tell people “I’m in real estate.” That’s not as charged as “I’m a landlord.” Everybody hates landlords. Everybody got free rent as kids and thinks rent should be free.
Countdown to 2018 Midterms Begins: 8 Rust Belt Congressional Races Already Starting to Foreshadow 2020
With Election Day 2017 safely behind us, the race to the 2018 Midterm Elections has officially begun. And with Donald Trump sitting in the White House ...
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.
Big Ag vs. Lake Erie: How Ohio’s Biggest Industry Threatens Its Greatest Resource
In late September, temperatures in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan eclipsed 90 degrees for six straight days.
White Lady Problems: On Celeste Ng’s ‘Little Fires Everywhere,’ and the Portrayal of ‘Rich, Lily White’ Shaker Heights, OH
By Lynda Montgomery The publication of Celeste Ng’s second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, has once [...]
A Pair of Dominion Pipelines in Appalachia Are Uniting a Coalition of Environmental Activists That Crosses Racial, Economic, and Geographic Lines
"While there are no Neo-Nazis in the streets of Charlottesville today, white supremacy is very much at work in the offices of Dominion Energy. Money rules, African Americans suffer. It is an old story of power and heartlessness."

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