Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Beast links to a recent article I co-wrote talking about how the Rust Belt needs to be treated in mainstream narrative. Cleveland and Detroit and the rest of us deserve respect, attention, and not just diatribes about how we are dying or how we are edging near magnificence. Life is complicated. Collective lives in Rust Belt cities are complicated. Shit, I think that is what makes us more interesting than most cities. But complexity doesn’t sell like glorious decaying or glorious reclaiming. But what sells rarely reflects reality. Let other cities sell. Let us project truth in all its painful hoping.
Brownfield in Cudell Neighborhood. Cleveland, Ohio.
richeypiiparinen 
I am simply overwhelmed at your posts. The new book will be going out to friends in D.C. and S.F. I was recently having a spirited email disagreement with a D.C. friend who helps set the agenda for the AFL-CIO about an article in the NYT that concerned a struggling Elyria diner operator. Your post on memes was really helpful in explaining my irritation with it.
I have lived in some of the nice places like SF and Scottsdale AZ and highend Jersey shore. But this is where I raised my family. I have never encountered a voice like yours that expressed so many of my attempts at explaining this to those who I know still live in the cool geographies. I’ll continue to follow this blog and have forwarded it to several.I can’t believe you are not getting picked up by bigger media.
I know you appear in Rustwire and Atlantic Cities. Recommendations on other major sites would be greatly appreciated.
Keep it up!
Thank you so much Michael. Encouragement like yours is what really keeps me going. I usually archive my stuff here https://richeypiiparinen.wordpress.com/about/ At the least, my latest pieces are there. Anyway, most of my pieces that I write for other outlets will be reposted or linked from my blog or over at rustbeltchic.com. Again, your words encourage me to keep carving a rust belt voice for the rest to listen to.