Recent writing

I cover politics, crime, arts & culture, history, urban thinkers, and whatever else grabs my curiosity, all for Cleveland Magazine.

I’ve written about a micronation, a microvillage, surfing Lake Erie, and going places you’re not supposed to go. 

Here are my latest stories.

Color Wonder

He escaped the Soviet gulag and created mesmerizing abstract paintings that fueled a starburst of fame in the 1960s. Now Julian Stanczak is enjoying renewed interest and acclaim. (May 2013)

It’s Time to Stop Underestimating Frank Jackson

With his victories for the Cleveland schools, the mayor showed incredible political savvy, passion and dealmaking ability. Yet at the high point of his seven years in office, a police chase and the waterfront are testing Jackson again. (March 2013)

A Bridge Too Far

Were the five men arrested for trying to blow up a bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley a Cleveland-grown terrorist group, dimwit outsiders lured by an FBI informant or both? (October 2012)

Harvey Pekar’s Nagging Muse

Harvey Pekar — the grouch, the pessimist, the quitter — wrote about the Cleveland that really was, not the Cleveland we aspire to be. (Rust Belt Chic: A Cleveland Anthology, 2012; Belt Magazine, 2013)

The Other Serial Killer

He operated in the same neighborhood and with the same methods as Anthony Sowell. And if not for the efforts of Cuyahoga County’s cold case unit, Joseph Harwell probably would have gotten away with it. (July 2012)

King’s Speech

In April 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. launched a drive in Cleveland to prevent another riot in Hough and help elect the city’s first black mayor. His aides — including Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young — and local leaders recall the struggles and tensions 45 years ago. (April 2012)

Pop Goes the Museum

Cast out of the art world, Dennis Barrie reinvented himself as a museum-making pop-culture historian at the Rock Hall and Washington’s Spy Museum. Now, he’s bringing the secret history of Las Vegas, and America, back to life inside Sin City’s new Mob Museum. (March 2012)

Urban Active

Ari Maron masterminded East Fourth Street’s atmosphere and assembled its dream team of shop owners and top chefs. Now he’s bringing his ideas about making cities exciting to Ohio City and University Circle. His goal is nothing less than to change Cleveland’s destiny. (November 2011)