“I was reading an article in Belt Magazine and it mentioned a film called Moundsville, a documentary about Moundsville, West Virginia. I watched it and loved it. It was such an interesting portrait of a place. I started talking about it on Twitter, and one of the directors, John Miller, reached out and we began […]
“I was teaching weaving at Ohio University in my 20s when I heard one of the graduate students was holding a papermaking workshop, so I went and fell in love with the art of making paper from the moment that I tried it. I can’t explain how it happened—how do you explain when you fall […]
“I accidentally became an art major. I was into comics and drew a lot as a kid, but I had never met a professional artist—I didn’t know you could study art or that you could make a living. So I attended Alfred University, thinking I’d study business or something. I signed up for a class—not […]
“In 2009, my wife and I built a cabin in Glouster, near Burr Oak State Park, while I was working for a company in Columbus. We’ve had friends down here for years, so we saw and heard about the decline caused by the departure of the coal industry. After another company I worked for sold, […]
“I was riding my motorcycle home from work when a car blasted in front of me. I slowed down, but not in enough time: there was a work van there and I went into a slide, caught my leg on the bumper, and went flying through the street. My leg was crushed and broken in […]
“Years ago, my grandmother had a stroke and woke up in the hospital with her mind intact, but was completely unable to speak. I got firsthand experience with the tools available to help people in those situations, and kept asking like, ‘Wait, that can’t be it? There’s got to be something better available, right? We […]
“Music and art didn’t seem like the most realistic career path, so I studied biology. I got through school okay, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue down that career path, so I took a break, stayed here in Steubenville, and got a job working at Nelson’s. I also had a small group […]
“My father was an entrepreneur in Cleveland. He was a union drywall taper contractor, so I grew up with a sanding pole in my hands. Sometimes when you’re the son of the boss, somebody holds your hand and shoves a silver spoon somewhere, but that’s not really how it worked in my world. It was […]
“I grew up near here, a Hillsboro address but I went to Peebles High School. Once I left college, I ended up living in Columbus for three years and was the Assistant Manager of a condominium complex. There I met my future husband, who also happened to be a graduate of Peebles and is a […]
“The business started in Columbus, Ohio with my great-grandfather and his brother. They were working at a shoe factory until it went bankrupt during the Great Depression. Footwear was what they knew and grew up with, but ended up with nothing. Then they heard about this old shoe factory in Nelsonville, Ohio that had closed […]
