CATEGORY
Stories
Charity Appeal: Celebrity Influence in Times of Crisis
It might seem counterintuitive that entertainment and cultural icons thrive during tremendous times of hardship, but history has proven it true.
Toledo ABCs
Toledo ABCs is a mini-series that highlights, from A to Z, just a sampling of those aspects that make Toledo unique and, in some cases, world-renowned. Designed to be viewed individually or as a set, the graphics use archival images, photography and white space constrained by typeface outlines to memorialize the beauty and significance in what we often might see as mundane.
Toledo’s Timeline Historians
Karolen Eid - 0
Vintage whiskey bottles, faded newspaper clippings and lengthy historical descriptions are perhaps most likely to be found in a small, eclectic museum. But Toledo, Ohio’s history buffs have found an unlikely place for archiving, research and lasting connection: Facebook. With as many as 15,000+ members and 20+ posts a day that garner hundreds of comments and reactions in a single group, the community is one of the most lively public forums in the mid-sized Midwestern town.
Billboards and the Re-imagination of the American Landscape
Few things are quite as Midwestern as long, open roads on monotonously flat stretches of land, broken up by fantastically mismatched billboards...
Ope! The Midwest on Twitter
Geography, politics and demographics are all typical ways we define regions, but Twitter account @midwestern_ope demonstrates a more creative approach: jokes, memes & good ol’ fashioned self-deprecation that make fun of but also highlight the people and day-to-day characteristics of the Midwest. In the process, these tweets highlight Midwestern identity in a manner often left out of the national conversation recently focused on the region’s politics.
65 Years Later: Racial Divides in Northwest Ohio School Districts
Legal segregation may seem a bygone era—a chapter in U.S. history textbooks. But systemic racism persists today, including in the very institutions teaching that history: schools. We take a look at data from school districts in Northwest Ohio to see how our region measures up.
The Conundrum & Commitment of Classical Music Organizations Amid COVID-19
The classical music world—symphonies, operas, ballets and more—has long struggled to adapt to changing times, to appeal to younger audiences and to...
Ohio Colleges’ Fall Reopening Plans—the Rundown
Karolen Eid - 0
For the past few weeks, students have been eagerly refreshing their universities’ websites, seeking updates on the fate of their upcoming academic...
Computers for a New Era of Learning
A look at how Detroit Public Schools Community District spearheaded—and is continuing to deliver on—an initiative to provide its 51,000 students with devices and Internet access amidst a pandemic.
“The Right Time for Reform”: Legal Aid and COVID-19
Karolen Eid - 0
Chandi Bozeman had never applied for unemployment compensation. But when the state of Ohio issued a stay-at-home order in late March, Bozeman...
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Think
Charity Appeal: Celebrity Influence in Times of Crisis
It might seem counterintuitive that entertainment and cultural icons thrive during tremendous times of hardship, but history has proven it true.
Art
Entropic Peace in Isolation: Revisiting Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water in 2020
The Toledo Museum of Art exhibition program brought together a special presentation of Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water installation, just for a global pandemic to hit soon after. Despite what seemed to be a major set-back, COVID-19 has instead transformed Fireflies on the Water into a deeper reflection into what isolation and the individual mean in the chaos of 2020. What was once an incomprehensible escapist dream is now a sober dissolution into universal existentialism.
The Voting Project
The 2020 Election Dilemma: How Ohio has Handled Voting During the Pandemic
The 2020 presidential election stands to be one of the most complex and highly anticipated U.S. elections in recent history, primarily because...
Stories
Toledo ABCs
Toledo ABCs is a mini-series that highlights, from A to Z, just a sampling of those aspects that make Toledo unique and, in some cases, world-renowned. Designed to be viewed individually or as a set, the graphics use archival images, photography and white space constrained by typeface outlines to memorialize the beauty and significance in what we often might see as mundane.
Books
Sustained Outrage in the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic: A Review of Death in Mud Lick
Pulitzer-prize winner Eric Eyre’s new book exposes how hard drug distributors work to keep eyes off of their numbers and how important it is for journalists to keep looking. In the small towns of America, it can literally mean life or death. The opinions expressed in this series are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official organizational stance. Cover graphic by Ruth Chang for Midstory.