Issue No. 24 · Autumn & Equinox · September 2026

Field notes, longform essays, and cultural dispatches from the Great Lakes.

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The essay archive

Browse longform reporting, histories, and field notes by the places and practices that shape the inland coast.

4 essays

Work & Industry
14 min read

The Last Shift at Tower Foundry

Three generations clocked in under the same south-side timber roof. On closing week, we sat down with the last mold-makers to ask what work leaves behind.

Waters & Ecology
9 min read

A Better Map of the Milwaukee River

Paddlers, urban ecologists, and bridge tenders describe the river by use, water depth, and seasonal currents rather than civil street grid coordinates.

Neighborhoods
11 min read

Who Keeps the Corner Store Open?

Inside the family accounting, distributor routes, and sixteen-hour days behind four immigrant-run neighborhood counters in the South End.

Food & Heritage
8 min read

Notes From a Friday Fish Fry

A culinary and social history of a Wisconsin ritual, told through the rhythm of one church basement dining hall between morning prep and last call.