New York State of Mind: This Land Series

photo by Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Last quarter in my urban affairs journalism class, we learned how to write deep, meaningful stories influenced by a newsworthy topic or event. I find these type of features to be the most powerful. They put a human face on a issue or situation we may not otherwise understand or know about. It's nonfiction writing at its best.

Today I'm sharing Part 1 of the "This Land" series by New York Times writer Dan Barry. Take a few minutes today and step into Donna Dove's world of Elyria, Ohio. You may be surprised how much you can reality to her reality.

At the Corner of Hope and Worry by Dan Barry, New York Times

"From the vantage point of these booths and Formica countertops, the past improves with distance, the present keeps piling on, and a promising future is practically willed by the resilient patrons."

***

More about the series:
The dateline is Elyria, Ohio, a city of 55,000 about 30 miles southwest of Cleveland. You know this town, even if you have never been here. A place buffeted by time and the economy, a place where the expectations have been lowered, but not hopes for better days to come. A place where politicians, in this election year, say the American dream is still possible.