Stories

I remember when electric vehicles first began colonizing the gas stations along Interstate 5, the long, open California highway that stretches from the verdant...

Whether on campus or at home, college students have embarked on an unusual academic year during the pandemic. From on-campus outbreaks to spending entire...

In 2009, John Wilczynski was working as a quality planner at GM’s Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan when the company filed for bankruptcy. Over...

Over the past two centuries, African Americans have steadily migrated from the South to other regions in the United States, often because of entrenched...

In episode 1 of Weight of Sound, Toledo Symphony Orchestra President Emeritus Bob Bell discusses his decades-long connection with Bruckner symphonies as an audience member, a percussionist and a community leader: "We want quick satisfaction—whatever we want to do we want to always go as fast as we can. Bruckner’s music is for another time. Things are a little slower and more lofty in a way. But every bit is relevant today as ever..."

Where can you find nearly every issue of MAD Magazine, Twin Peaks trading cards and a Star Trek tie? Perhaps more likely to be...

2020 has been a momentous turning point in our lives. A global pandemic. Massive protests for racial justice. A divisive election. Moments that have amplified our fears, hopes and memories. We asked Toledoans what they would place in a time capsule from this historic year to be opened in 50 years. Here is what they would leave for the Toledoans of 2070.

For the last several decades, malls across the country have been closing one after another, leaving behind not only abandoned buildings, but also renewed interest in what malls mean to people, why they are disappearing in the first place and what can be done to save them (or if they should be saved at all). Toledo, Ohio, for example, remains enamored with the memory of its long-gone shopping complexes and what they meant for a thriving, mid-sized, Midwestern city. Cover graphic by Jessie Walton for Midstory.

The saying goes that you can only have two of three options: good, fast, cheap. In a world challenged by COVID-19 and other underlying unrest in 2020, however, designers are tasked with satisfying all three to solve complex societal issues. This piece outlines how formal and informal design can shape a world in trouble, and attempts a more human response to extraordinary circumstances. Cover graphic by Whitney Baxter for Midstory.

The word Ohio is one that elicits conflicting emotions and thoughts in me. The state is my home but also a place I’ve sought to leave. It’s a source of both pride and frustration. Leaving for college and then returning on a quasi-temporary basis has helped define the nature of my relationship with Ohio—one that’s been aided by distance. José Pablo Fernández García is a sophomore at Princeton University, currently residing in his hometown outside of Cincinnati during the pandemic. (Part I of a two-part series.)