I’m In an Akron State of Mind

Ohio Is Where You Go to Stop Daydreaming

I didn’t choose Ohio, it chose me.

“No, you chose it here. You could’ve gone somewhere else. You had options,” says my roommate, a New Yorker, as he snarks through a puff of cigarette. I suppose he’s right. I was living in New Orleans when I was accepted to doctoral programs in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Indiana, Pennsylvania, and I freely chose to spend my next five years in Akron, Ohio. But I didn’t want to admit to myself, or anyone else, that my current geographic location was my choice.

Family …

The Third-Most-Influential Piece You’ll Ever Read About Charlotte

The Democrats’ Convention City Is Big on Banking-and Ranking

 

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …

What We’re Debating In Paul Ryan’s Hometown

‘Chainsville’ Offers Two Competing Visions of the American Future

 

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …

My Hard Times in Tampa

The Sunsets Are Still Free, But Economic Change Has High Costs

 

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …

Eat Cheese and Die

How Politics Soured Community—and Conversation—in Wisconsin

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …

A Reborn-Again Kansan

My Diverse, Bloody, Odd, and Treasured Sunflower State

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …