Witness to History
Juanita Mitchell, now 107 years old, saw the 1919 Chicago Race Riots firsthand.
At the Lake County Fair
The fair connects communities that often seem worlds apart socially and politically, but are intimately linked by economics and geography.
Trick or Treat
Celebrating the season in one Chicago "Halloween neighborhood."
The Potential of Public Art
The work of public memory is not only about the past, but about a shared vision for the future.
The Rebirth of a Regional Library
After a long period of disinvestment and decline, Chicago’s first regional library is returning to prominence.
An Appalachian Community in Transition
In the last fifty years, loss of coal industry and frequent flooding have driven people out of Sharpsburg, Ohio. But not everyone is ready to leave.
Returning to Pittsburgh
"For all the intervening years, Pittsburgh had lived in my memory...viewable but not touchable, sequestered behind a one-way mirror of time."
A Love Letter to Dayton
"When I became editor-in-chief of the city’s alt weekly, Dayton City Paper, it became my job to know Dayton intimately."
Power and Possibility in Dayton’s Oregon District
An elegy for a wounded place.
The Summer We Went to the Moon
That summer, my parents and I were arguing about God.
Chicago’s First Nations Garden
“While this is a space for Native people to use, to heal our traumas...[it's also] a space so we can outreach to the greater Chicago community."
Summers at White Birch Lodge
Reflections on three generations of family and community in Michigan.