‘We Aren’t Stuck Here’: Midwestern culture, basements, and disasters

A conversation with Taylor K. Phillips about how to have a Midwestern conversation

I was sitting in my home on a Sunday in the fall of 2021 when I got a call from the mother of a friend of mine. Sue wanted me to come to the local bookstore immediately — there was a writer in town who was working on a book about the Midwest. Sue thought I should meet her.

I don’t remember why I didn’t go to the bookstore. But I did end up meeting the au…