Jody DiPerna When Raymond Thompson, Jr. started looking through the archives of the Hawks Nest tunnel, he was struck by how absent the five thousand plus men who worked the dig were. It was, rather,…
“The Songs of Betty Baach” Is a Modern…
by Jody DiPerna Glenn Taylor's home state of West Virginia inspires his fiction. He tells stories of the resilience, struggle and joy of working people. There are labor battles, timbering, and coal mining; there is…
New Book “This Is My Jail” Digs Deep…
by Jody DiPerna Melanie Newport is an historian who teaches urban history and criminal justice history at the University of Connecticut at Hartford. Her book, "This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of…
Exiles Living in a Church
By Kristin Kovacic, Belt Magazine It certainly isn’t cool, or edgy, or funny–the things people say about what it must be like to live in a church. It’s relentless. . . . Blessed are they…
Keri Blakinger’s memoir interrogates the ordinary cruelties of…
by Jody DiPerna Journalist and writer Keri Blakinger spent about two years behind bars, serving time on drug charges in both jails and prisons in the state of New York. After her release, Blakinger became…
Under Kaufmann’s Clock
By Nick Ripatrazone, Belt Magazine An issue of Time magazine dated February 3, 1947 contained a short profile of architect Richard Joseph Neutra, who “ranks second only to lordly Frank Lloyd Wright.” The author explains that Neutra’s…
Rushdie and Free Speech, from Tehran to Pittsburgh
by Jody DiPerna, Belt Magazine Literature isn’t just under attack in Iran, China, or El Salvador Since the attempted assassination of the Anglo-Indian author Salman Rushdie as he prepared to speak at the Chautauqua Institution…
Doralee Brooks Opens Up About Poetry, Education and…
by Jody DiPerna Life-long educator and poet Doralee Brooks named new Poet Laureate for Allegheny County. Doralee Brooks, the new poet Laureate for Allegheny County, wants to highlight and spotlight poetry's intersections with other art…
A melange of history, lived experience and fable,…
With family stories leading the way, inherited photos sprinkled throughout, and cover art designed by her cousin, "Power in the Tongue" (Tolsun Books), really is a family affair. by Jody DiPerna Caitlyn Hunter is the…