Writer, journalist, and editor from Western Pennsylvania. Founded the journal Annals of Americus; published by The Atlantic, Esquire, Forbes, and Guernica, among others. Currently at work on No Place for Disgrace, a collection of nonfiction stories about the death and life of the American suburb.
Worked at my studio in Braddock last night, attempting to build a chapter-by-chapter story grid on the wall to help me better visualize an outline for No Place for Disgrace. There’s still lots of research and reporting to do (and a considerable amount of writing). But I’m hoping that using a more visual system to plot the chapters and concepts that I’m working on will be helpful.

Worked at my studio in Braddock last night, attempting to build a chapter-by-chapter story grid on the wall to help me better visualize an outline for No Place for Disgrace. There’s still lots of research and reporting to do (and a considerable amount of writing). But I’m hoping that using a more visual system to plot the chapters and concepts that I’m working on will be helpful.

Morning Ritual

I went mall walking this morning at 6:30 a.m. I watched elderly couples and those not attached to a loved one engage in their daily exercise routines. Some talked to each other while they walked. Some didn’t. One couple held hands as they made their rounds. The man, who was plump around the middle, wore bright white tennis shoes, footwear that seemed to be reserved for this activity alone. The woman, who was lean with curved posture, looked happy. Their conversation was quiet but steady, heard in snippets each time that they passed.

Most of the walkers strolled side by side, however, with no physical contact. Some walked by themselves, arms swinging fast at their sides, indicators of movement and speed. One man wore shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, a look of determination on his face. Another man, by himself, waved across an atrium to another walker, the way bus drivers do when passing in traffic. A Muzak rendition of “She’s Gone” by Hall and Oates played over the sound system.

“Blissfully free from bumper-to-bumper tie-ups, Tori Carman and Olivia Jeffery cruise down their cul-de-sac in Alpharetta, Georgia, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Atlanta. Developments like this one, with their acres of single-family homes that are miles from the nearest retail strip, drive opponents of sprawl crazy. But Kim Jeffery, Olivia’s mom, says seclusion was the whole point. “We wanted to live on a cul-de-sac,” she says, “so the kids could ride their bikes and scooters and play out front.” Photograph by Sarah Leen [via National Geographic]

“Blissfully free from bumper-to-bumper tie-ups, Tori Carman and Olivia Jeffery cruise down their cul-de-sac in Alpharetta, Georgia, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Atlanta. Developments like this one, with their acres of single-family homes that are miles from the nearest retail strip, drive opponents of sprawl crazy. But Kim Jeffery, Olivia’s mom, says seclusion was the whole point. “We wanted to live on a cul-de-sac,” she says, “so the kids could ride their bikes and scooters and play out front.”

Photograph by Sarah Leen

[via National Geographic]

In response to the New York Times’ much talked about “Hipsturbia” article, Dana Goldstein rebuts the claim that hipster paradises are taking root in suburbia by pointing out that the American suburbs are actually “becoming browner, poorer, and older”: If we look at actual data, however, we’ll notice that American suburbs are not becoming hipper and younger, but are in fact becoming poorer (as young adults with economic means increasingly choose to live in cities), browner (as immigrants and African Americans are priced out of central urban neighborhoods), and grayer (as the suburban population ages). I grew up near the Times’ “hipsturbia” in a gorgeous riverfront town that illustrates all these trends: Ossining, New York. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the town fathers dreamed of building commuter-friendly luxury condos to attract more Wall Street workers, while farmer’s market types hoped developers would instead renovate our downtown’s historic warehouses and loft spaces, to attract artists. We all argued a lot and screamed at each other, because we wanted our town to have a broader tax base and be more culturally vibrant. But very little downtown development of any sort ever happened, and the reasons why demonstrate why the Times piece is so facile [via]

In response to the New York Times’ much talked about “Hipsturbia” article, Dana Goldstein rebuts the claim that hipster paradises are taking root in suburbia by pointing out that the American suburbs are actually “becoming browner, poorer, and older”:

If we look at actual data, however, we’ll notice that American suburbs are not becoming hipper and younger, but are in fact becoming poorer (as young adults with economic means increasingly choose to live in cities), browner (as immigrants and African Americans are priced out of central urban neighborhoods), and grayer (as the suburban population ages). I grew up near the Times’ “hipsturbia” in a gorgeous riverfront town that illustrates all these trends: Ossining, New York. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the town fathers dreamed of building commuter-friendly luxury condos to attract more Wall Street workers, while farmer’s market types hoped developers would instead renovate our downtown’s historic warehouses and loft spaces, to attract artists. We all argued a lot and screamed at each other, because we wanted our town to have a broader tax base and be more culturally vibrant. But very little downtown development of any sort ever happened, and the reasons why demonstrate why the Times piece is so facile

[via]

I’m currently reading up on how ‘We Buy Gold’ shops operate. (Research for a story I want to write.) So far, this Reddit AMA with a former employee of such a store, has been fairly fascinating: A lot of people brought in gold from prior relationships and whatnot. A lot was stolen from grandma. I once had a couple come in and sell me their wedding rings off of their fingers. Awkward. (Photograph: We Buy Gold via Flickr)

I’m currently reading up on how ‘We Buy Gold’ shops operate. (Research for a story I want to write.) So far, this Reddit AMA with a former employee of such a store, has been fairly fascinating:

A lot of people brought in gold from prior relationships and whatnot. A lot was stolen from grandma. I once had a couple come in and sell me their wedding rings off of their fingers. Awkward.

(Photograph: We Buy Gold via Flickr)

A new essay I wrote for americanguide about the abandonment of Santiago Street in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Into the Wild: Santiago Street When I parked my car at the end of Santiago Street in Lincoln Park, I half expected to find a cul-de-sac devoid of houses. That’s because days earlier, during a conversation with Chris Blackwell, principal planner from the Penn Hills Department of Planning and Economic Development, he told me how his department had demolished nearly all the street’s blighted properties in recent years. “There’s almost nothing left down there,” he said. “Almost” was the key word. Once a quiet suburban cul-de-sac that boasted upwards of 20 or more homes, the housing stock on Santiago has dwindled to almost nothing in the last two decades. Today only four houses remain on the street. Two are vacant, with broken windows and kicked-in garage doors, weeds sprouting from gutters and trash bags lying heaped in the driveways. Two are not. Read more A new essay I wrote for americanguide about the abandonment of Santiago Street in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Into the Wild: Santiago Street When I parked my car at the end of Santiago Street in Lincoln Park, I half expected to find a cul-de-sac devoid of houses. That’s because days earlier, during a conversation with Chris Blackwell, principal planner from the Penn Hills Department of Planning and Economic Development, he told me how his department had demolished nearly all the street’s blighted properties in recent years. “There’s almost nothing left down there,” he said. “Almost” was the key word. Once a quiet suburban cul-de-sac that boasted upwards of 20 or more homes, the housing stock on Santiago has dwindled to almost nothing in the last two decades. Today only four houses remain on the street. Two are vacant, with broken windows and kicked-in garage doors, weeds sprouting from gutters and trash bags lying heaped in the driveways. Two are not. Read more A new essay I wrote for americanguide about the abandonment of Santiago Street in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Into the Wild: Santiago Street When I parked my car at the end of Santiago Street in Lincoln Park, I half expected to find a cul-de-sac devoid of houses. That’s because days earlier, during a conversation with Chris Blackwell, principal planner from the Penn Hills Department of Planning and Economic Development, he told me how his department had demolished nearly all the street’s blighted properties in recent years. “There’s almost nothing left down there,” he said. “Almost” was the key word. Once a quiet suburban cul-de-sac that boasted upwards of 20 or more homes, the housing stock on Santiago has dwindled to almost nothing in the last two decades. Today only four houses remain on the street. Two are vacant, with broken windows and kicked-in garage doors, weeds sprouting from gutters and trash bags lying heaped in the driveways. Two are not. Read more A new essay I wrote for americanguide about the abandonment of Santiago Street in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Into the Wild: Santiago Street When I parked my car at the end of Santiago Street in Lincoln Park, I half expected to find a cul-de-sac devoid of houses. That’s because days earlier, during a conversation with Chris Blackwell, principal planner from the Penn Hills Department of Planning and Economic Development, he told me how his department had demolished nearly all the street’s blighted properties in recent years. “There’s almost nothing left down there,” he said. “Almost” was the key word. Once a quiet suburban cul-de-sac that boasted upwards of 20 or more homes, the housing stock on Santiago has dwindled to almost nothing in the last two decades. Today only four houses remain on the street. Two are vacant, with broken windows and kicked-in garage doors, weeds sprouting from gutters and trash bags lying heaped in the driveways. Two are not. Read more

    A new essay I wrote for americanguide about the abandonment of Santiago Street in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

    Into the Wild: Santiago Street

    When I parked my car at the end of Santiago Street in Lincoln Park, I half expected to find a cul-de-sac devoid of houses. That’s because days earlier, during a conversation with Chris Blackwell, principal planner from the Penn Hills Department of Planning and Economic Development, he told me how his department had demolished nearly all the street’s blighted properties in recent years. “There’s almost nothing left down there,” he said. “Almost” was the key word.

    Once a quiet suburban cul-de-sac that boasted upwards of 20 or more homes, the housing stock on Santiago has dwindled to almost nothing in the last two decades. Today only four houses remain on the street. Two are vacant, with broken windows and kicked-in garage doors, weeds sprouting from gutters and trash bags lying heaped in the driveways. Two are not.

    Read more