Living the Tiny Cabin Life

The cabin guidelines ask you to be courteous and not too loud for your neighbors. No one near us was loud, even though most of the cabins appeared to be occupied. There are rules about too many people gathering at one site, to deter parties. This wouldn’t be the place to bring a big group and play drinking games.

2025-01-13T07:53:31-05:00January 9, 2025|

Fighting the Klan in Ohio, 1924

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday, a crowd estimated at 1,700 gathered for Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Catholic church established by Italian immigrants 18 years earlier. By 10:30 a.m., the Knights of the Flaming Circle started gathering in a park at North Main and Federal streets in Niles, across the street from General Electric. They were armed to the teeth and setting up blockades to keep the parade from happening. “We’ll meet the Klansmen as they arrive,” one Knight of the Flaming Circle told a reporter from the Youngstown Vindicator.

2024-11-01T10:22:13-04:00October 31, 2024|

Collegiate Gothic

“I’m hoping for a good turnout at the conference. That might help our case. Some national recognition wouldn’t hurt. Maybe we could find someone to cover the conference in Philosophy Now? I also have a few other ideas, but we need a refill first.” Harvey stood. “You want another beer?”

2024-10-28T08:28:32-04:00October 24, 2024|

Lincoln and Douglas are Still in Illinois

While coastal politicos like to believe that large decisions must be made within sight of an ocean, reality differs:  It was in seven frontier towns carved from the Old Northwest -- our Midwest – that the idea that “A house divided against itself cannot stand” was given shape and form. All else flowed from that.

2024-10-21T09:08:26-04:00October 17, 2024|

On Picking Apples in the Lower Midwest

Supposedly, it all started with an apple. In the beginning was the garden, the serpent, the woman—and “those fair apples,” as Milton writes in Paradise Lost. That was the beginning, or perhaps the beginning of the end.

2024-10-17T08:59:07-04:00October 14, 2024|

Wisconsin’s Wooden Skyscrapers

But the biggest and most transformative benefit of mass timber is invisible. Since trees absorb and store CO2 as they grow, they have the potential to sequester carbon at scale — if harvested responsibly. Buildings could go beyond net-zero and achieve negative emissions.

2024-10-02T14:30:53-04:00September 26, 2024|

Improvising Milwaukee and Jazz

Milwaukee’s actually representative in many ways of jazz in other cities. “It’s probably no different than any other Midwest city.... you have these smaller midsize, Midwest cities like Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, and Cleveland. They have this great history, but it’s largely unacknowledged by the greater folks that are interested in jazz.”

2024-09-23T09:25:06-04:00September 19, 2024|