The Beaches of Chicago: The Miraculous Making of the Riviera of the Midwest

September 18, 2021 / by Malcolm Logan

Without doubt, one of the biggest surprises for first time visitors to Chicago is the extent and quality of its lakefront beaches. Many don’t even realize that Chicago has a developed waterfront, much less that it boasts twenty-six miles of some of the finest urban beaches in the United States….

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Ohio, The Midwest

Tallest, Steepest, Fastest: The Roller Coaster Capital of the World at Cedar Point, OH

August 14, 2021 / by Malcolm Logan

A roller coaster is a funny thing. It seems dangerous, but it’s actually quite safe. On average, only four deaths occur annually in the United States out of more than a hundred million rides. That makes riding a roller coaster safer than driving a car or crossing a street in…

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Maine, The East

A Perfect Summer’s Day in Bar Harbor, Maine

July 17, 2021 / by Malcolm Logan

The painters noticed it first, the beauty of the place. To the Native-Americans it was mostly about the clams, how they littered the banks, the sandy shores strewn with their cast off shells, pried and discarded by the Wabanaki who came here to fish and hunt. In 1604 French explorer…

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Tennessee, The South

Plain and Simple Poetry: A Visit to Nashville, TN

April 24, 2021 / by Malcolm Logan

Andrew Jackson was a tough customer. At the age of fourteen, while acting as a courier for the American forces in the Revolutionary War, he was captured by the red coats. When a British officer tried to make him polish his boots, Jackson refused, whereupon the officer slashed him repeatedly…

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Minnesota, The Midwest

Springtime Doesn’t Last Forever: The Rise and Fall of the Indoor Shopping Mall in Minneapolis, MN

April 3, 2021 / by Malcolm Logan

There are innovations that, when we first experience them, are so striking, so clearly a terrific idea, that we cannot conceive of their ever fading away. For anyone born before the year 2000, the indoor shopping mall was one of those things. Repositories of consumer culture and social engagement in…

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Texas, The Plains States

Texas with Open Arms: Cozying up to the Music Scene in Austin

January 31, 2020 / by Malcolm Logan

She was not a good student. She had tried college and it hadn’t really worked out. She had fallen in with a hard partying crowd, musicians and such. It was a weakness. So she quit school and moved to Los Angeles, thinking she could become a singer there. But that…

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Florida

Sand, Sex and Style on Miami Beach, the Sexiest City in America

January 2, 2020 / by Malcolm Logan

It was awful, one of the most disgraceful examples of urban blight imaginable. Block after block of gorgeous buildings gone to seed, paint peeling, plaster crumbling, porches sagging, weeds, filth and decay. And there on the porches impoverished retirees clinging to the last vestiges of life, sick, dying, tubes sticking…

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Illinois, The Midwest

The Catch: Exploring New Opportunities to Fly at Trapeze School in Chicago

December 2, 2019 / by Malcolm Logan

Face it. There are some things you are not permitted to do. For example, you cannot perform surgery without a license. You cannot practice law without one either (but that’s all right, there are more than enough lawyers as it is). And you cannot jump off a diving board at…

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Florida

Away Again in Margaritaville: A Perfect Winter’s Day in Key West, FL

January 18, 2018 / by Malcolm Logan

Lincoln rebelled at the idea of getting wet. “My blood has become too thin living in Miami,” he declared. But by the time we got to the place on a tranquil channel beside a mangrove swamp in Key West the temperature had climbed to 74 and the sun was shining…

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Florida, The South

Jesus Christ vs Harry Potter: Two Orlando Theme Parks Build Their Brands

December 14, 2017 / by Malcolm Logan

People disagree about Jesus. That’s no surprise. Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows, the Son of God, the lamb, Jehovah, the almighty, is a slippery character. By comparison, Harry Potter is easy. The Harry Potter saga consists of seven books and a single, consistent narrative. The Jesus saga, by comparison,…

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fun places to travel

The Beaches of Chicago: The Miraculous Making of the Riviera of the Midwest

Tallest, Steepest, Fastest: The Roller Coaster Capital of the World at Cedar Point, OH

A Perfect Summer’s Day in Bar Harbor, Maine

Plain and Simple Poetry: A Visit to Nashville, TN

Springtime Doesn’t Last Forever: The Rise and Fall of the Indoor Shopping Mall in Minneapolis, MN

Texas with Open Arms: Cozying up to the Music Scene in Austin

Sand, Sex and Style on Miami Beach, the Sexiest City in America

The Catch: Exploring New Opportunities to Fly at Trapeze School in Chicago

Away Again in Margaritaville: A Perfect Winter’s Day in Key West, FL

Jesus Christ vs Harry Potter: Two Orlando Theme Parks Build Their Brands

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