Welcome to episode one of Brain Drain, a Midstory podcast that explores the city of Toledo through the eyes of the people who’ve left it behind. In this episode, we untangle Toledo in its past and present — and perhaps most importantly, in all its dissonance.
“The Paper,” the spinoff mockumentary series to “The Office,” is set in Toledo, Ohio. It might seem like an odd setting for a sitcom, but the story of a declining newspaper has quite a bit in common with the Glass City’s trajectory.
Superman has become one of the world’s most recognizable pop culture icons, but you may not know that his story started with two teenagers from Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland’s influence on the character’s early comics may have been forgotten as years passed and ownership of the character shifted, but today, the city is staking its claim to the Man of Steel and securing the legacy of his creators.
A crowdsourced database chronicles the dates, locations and content of over 200,000 U.S. historical markers — and that number is growing. But behind these numbers is a larger story about how cities and towns choose to commemorate their past.
Ohio will go down in NBA history as the birthplace of LeBron James, but that's not the state's only claim to basketball fame. Cincinnati-based Robbins Sports Surfaces manufactures courts for nearly every team in the league — from the Lakers to the Spurs.
As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. At least, it used to. In each presidential election between 1964 and 2016, the candidate that won Ohio also won the presidency. Ohio’s streak stands as the longest in American history. During this period, Ohio was not only a bellwether, but also the quintessential swing state, with candidates focusing their time and resources on the Buckeye State in election after election to punch their ticket to the White House. But not anymore. What happened?
America's fresh water is in danger. The Great Lakes hold roughly 20% of the world’s surface freshwater, and Lake Erie alone provides drinking water to more than 11 million residents in the United States. But serious water quality, access and infrastructure problems are threatening our fresh water future.
The tractor pull has fascinated and enticed Midwesterners for over half a century, cementing itself as a pastime of the rural Midwest. But the tractor pull of today isn’t the same as the pull of your papa. Tractors have ballooned in size, power and budgets as the county fair sideshow evolves into a motorsport of its own right.
The Van Aken District was once a glorified strip mall with more parking space than storefronts, but thanks to a strategic plan designed to help improve Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, the District has been revitalized into a vibrant, welcoming space for dining, shopping and community gatherings.
From the magical “Wizard of Oz” tornado to the massive tornadoes in 2024’s “Twisters,” storms have captured the American imagination for centuries. But outside of fiction, storm chasing has quickly become a popular activity for thrill seekers. In the Midwest, where giant storms are common, people from all walks of life are facing beautifully destructive tornadoes in storm-chasing adventures of their own.
Colors of Climate Change, Episode 1
As climate change becomes an increasingly important issue in our nation and world, how might Ohio be uniquely impacted — both its landscape and its communities? In this first installment, we explore the lay of the land: what does a changing climate mean for Ohio?
In Transit is a podcast that brings you dispatches from the cusp of a new era in Midwest public transportation. In this episode, we travel to St. Louis, where the city’s light rail is undergoing a comprehensive security upgrade. Transit officials claim that the Secure Platform Plan will finally address the public safety concerns that have hampered the system for decades, but some riders wonder who these changes are really meant to serve.
Toledo has a long history of roasting and selling coffee. When mass production of coffee in the United States first began, Toledo was at the forefront of the industry on an international level, and locally, coffee was a special part of shopping for many Toledoans. Today, Toledo's rich heritage in coffee production lives on in the image of a lion and through local roasters reviving the tradition.
This project presents an interactive gallery of Asian American individuals who have made Ohio their home, and serves as an open archive depicting another side of the American story — one often whitewashed and rendered invisible. Explore maps, watch curated videos and interact with colorful and moving narratives.
Generations of Ukrainian immigrants have called Chicago’s Ukrainian Village home. An explosion of avant garde creativity in the area in the ‘60s and ‘70s gave birth to an art museum whose mission seems prescient today. Now, the art that hangs in the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art's galleries serves as a small but mighty protest against Russia’s attempts to erase Ukrainian culture.
In Chicago, an ancestrally nomadic people settle down and bring their food traditions with them. A historical journey of empires, conquests, cultural diffusion and migrations, all captured in the spices, textures and ingredients of Kyrgyz cuisine.
Some distinctions are clear-cut: California is iconically West Coast, New York unabashedly screams East Coast and Mississippi just sounds right when said with a Southern twang. But move toward the middle of the U.S. and boundaries may not be as simple as you think.
For nearly two decades, a futuristic robot and his robo-dog sidekick amazed the nation — a spectacular vision of the world to come. Then, they disappeared. Fast forward half a century and a basement, storage room and retired Westinghouse truck later, and Elektro and his pup reappeared, restored, in their birthplace of Mansfield, Ohio.
Countryside vineyards and centuries-old cellars bring to mind the elegant wineries of France or the rolling hills of California with their idyllic combination of warmth, sun and tradition. But at one point in time, Ohio produced a third of all wine in the United States, and the historic Lonz Winery on Middle Bass Island still stands as a testament to the history — and potential — of Great Lakes viticulture.
Wisconsin is the number one producer of ginseng in the U.S. with ginseng products that are coveted nationally and internationally. The healing herb highlights the unique commercial and cultural interconnectedness of Asian communities across the globe with communities in the rural Midwest.
For decades, the Midwest was the example of perfect, accent-less English. Now, increasing dialectic quirks are changing that perception, and with it, Midwestern identity.
