Essays
The Common Prayer of Immoderate Soils
Now there's an ubiquitous phrase on the Plains: we excel at "putting down roots"...Growing up in Kansas there is quite the opposite idea. Less so roots and more so treacherous vines.
On Raymond Thompson’s “Appalachian Ghost”
Thompson captured photos of the place — the hills of WVA folding into each other like origami, holding mist and dew in the hollows. And he staged new photos which conjure these working men, bearing up under hours of physical labor, covered in white dust, looking otherworldly but also fully human and integral to the achievement.
Garbage Boy
John was unbelievable with a trash bag. He threw the lighter ones from his hip, like an uppercut. The heavier bags were more like a hammer throw. You could tell he was accustomed to using, and needing to use, all the muscle he had left.
The Fire Beneath Our Feet
Centralia became an attraction for both horror movie fans and ordinary people fascinated by the story.
May Day is a Rust Belt Holiday
May Day isn’t just an estimably American holiday, it’s a particularly Rust Belt holiday, forged in the cauldron of Chicago’s streets and factories, born from the experience of workers in the mills and plants of Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.
Pittsburgh Was Better Than NYC
Would a return to my hometown after 20 years in and around New York prove the perfect move for a mom determined to say “yes” and kindle community? Here’s how it went for me.
Colleen Moore’s Fairy Tale Castle of Chicago
Moore used her fairies and their castle to stitch up an alarmingly tattered social contract, providing an occasion for people of all ages, races, classes and backgrounds to look together at an astonishing object and to contemplate how collaboratively through the pooling of their individual contributions, they could move proverbial mountains.
Confessions of a Radioactive Man
I wanted to travel to Bridgeton, Missouri’s West Lake Landfill to see the kind of radioactive waste dumped there, a journalistic urge to see things firsthand.
Of Fish Fries Past
Author Jake Oresick on some Western Pennsylvania fish fries of yore.
Phantom Phone in St. Louis
Living without a smartphone in a smartphone world.
Get the latest stories from around the region sent straight to your inbox.
Get the latest stories from around the region sent straight to your inbox.
Support independent, context-driven regional writing.