Welcome to the season finale 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 talk to Midstory’s cofounders, who graduated from Princeton and Harvard and gave up careers on the coast to help build Toledo’s tomorrow.
In the last eight years, Midstory has brought over 200 bright, young people from across the nation to Toledo through their internship and fellowship programs. In this first part of the season finale, we bring the Midstory interns back into play to talk about what would make a city like Toledo worth living in and fighting for.
Many choose to leave Toledo, but there are those who choose to stay. Their awareness of the exodus around them strengthens their resolve to dig deeper, keep insisting on Toledo’s promise and to encourage their friends and neighbors to work harder on behalf of this city. But, how long can Toledo keep counting on its biggest advocates to swim upstream? In this episode, we tackle the recurring and thorny matter of investing in a city that might not always love you back.
Toledo isn’t short on amenities. It’s got a world-class art museum, an award-winning library system, a zoo that could rival any across the nation, and an ambitious parks system looking to revitalize the city’s riverfront. That, coupled with the low cost of living, makes it — in theory — the perfect place for anyone to build the life they want to live. In this episode, we take a closer look at Toledo’s calling card and ask whether it’s enough to continue to define this city.
Jake Vriezelaar loved being a creative in Toledo, but after a stint in LA, realized the scale of his ambitions in the film industry would lead him elsewhere. Now, he lives in New York. Alyssa Brutlag grew up in Toledo, and dreamed of one day being a professional dancer — but Toledo just didn’t have a big enough appetite for the arts. Now, she lives in Chicago. In this episode, we explore what it takes to make room for the arts — and young people looking to work in the arts — in Toledo’s post-industrial economy.
