Culture Archives - Page 15 of 38 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Until the sudden cancellation Friday due to coronavirus concerns, the world’s biggest annual Spring Break for tech/media hotshots and musicians was ready to reconvene March 13–22 all over the fair city of Austin, Texas. South By Southwest (SXSW) is a massive gathering of music, film, comedy, interactive media performers and speakers that in 2019 hosted 2,200 musical …

Austin’s “South by Southwest”—Should It Happen in Pittsburgh? Read More »

Books

Three Pittsburgh Poets, Three Distinct Voices

by Fred Shaw

Poetry can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s celebrating the glorious music found in the end-rhymes of Robert Frost. For others, it’s a love of language poetry or blunt confessionalism. For Pittsburgh’s Sam Hazo, former Poet Laureate of Pennsylvania, it’s the “visionary” poetry of T.S. Eliot and Seamus Heaney. Hazo, in his …

Three Pittsburgh Poets, Three Distinct Voices Read More »

Arts

The Carnegie’s Jasper Johns Exhibition: Out of Step With His Time and Ours

by Vicky A Clark

The major fall show at the Carnegie Museum of Art, “An Art of Changes: Jasper Johns Prints, 1960–2018,” raises questions about the museum’s programming. Jasper Johns is an American master whose work set the stage for pop art, which, in turn, changed the course of art of the last 75 years. He merged abstract expressionist …

The Carnegie’s Jasper Johns Exhibition: Out of Step With His Time and Ours Read More »

PQ Poem

Fence

by Michael Simms

All morning through my window I watch a man building a fence In my neighbor’s yard. He’s old, Almost as old as I am, too old For this kind of work. It’s spring— The first blossoms of the apple tree Spread their light above him. He lifts and drops The post-hole digger all morning. At …

Fence Read More »

Arts

Pittsburgh Cultural Events Calendar

by PQ Staff

In every issue, in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Quarterly presents a calendar of arts and events happening in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. Copies of this 16-page guide are also made available in theaters, venues, restaurants and hotels across downtown. Complete with a 3-month season-at-a-glance calendar, you’ll see just how many not-to-miss events …

Pittsburgh Cultural Events Calendar Read More »

Opinion Pittsburgh Immigration

Pittsburgh Tomorrow: Facing Facts and Seizing Opportunity

by Douglas Heuck

I arrived in Pittsburgh on July 5, 1985, for a 12-week internship at the old Pittsburgh Press. I expected to stay that long. However, from my entry through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to my first front-page story on one of the last big steel strikes, Pittsburgh was a fascinating place. It was also a place …

Pittsburgh Tomorrow: Facing Facts and Seizing Opportunity Read More »

Arts

PICT’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

by Stuart Sheppard

There is an effulgence to William Shakespeare’s work that is always better to channel than to distort. And this is especially true of the luminous “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” his first undeniable masterpiece, composed during the winter of 1595-96, and performed this midwinter in sly context by PICT Classic Theatre. For when better to have …

PICT’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Read More »

Opinion

On a Pedestal: Moe Coleman Awards, Kiski School, Women in Leadership

by PQ Staff

Finding someone able to debate politics with civility and respect is difficult today, when public discourse all too often turns coarse and divisive. Former Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey and his “across the aisle” friend, Duquesne University law professor and former Pittsburgh deputy mayor Joseph Sabino Mistick, are trying to cultivate more people who are …

On a Pedestal: Moe Coleman Awards, Kiski School, Women in Leadership Read More »

Books

A Graphic Look at Pittsburgh

by John Allison

Frank Santoro’s “Pittsburgh” is a loving portrait of his Swissvale family, a rich evocation of Pittsburgh’s recent past and a complex exploration of how memory informs the present. After years in California and New York, Santoro now lives in his late grandparents’ home in Swissvale. Internationally revered by his peers, he is one of the …

A Graphic Look at Pittsburgh Read More »

Architecture & Neighborhoods

Mill 19: A Magnificent Blend of Past and Future in Hazelwood

by Charles Rosenblum

At an early September opening for Mill 19, the new robotics research incubator and office space in Hazelwood’s former LTV Steel site, a robotic arm participated with scientists and dignitaries to help cut the ribbon in the voluminous lab space with a high-tech flourish. Tenants include Carnegie Mellon’s Manufacturing Futures Initiative and the affiliated nonprofit …

Mill 19: A Magnificent Blend of Past and Future in Hazelwood Read More »

Arts

City Theatre’s “Downstairs” Showcases Pittsburgh’s Dazzling Acting Talent

by Stuart Sheppard

The stage of City Theatre’s “Downstairs” is an open maw of things forsaken, a dirty basement stuffed with so many neglected and discarded items—tools and tires and crates and old clothes and worn-out furniture—that it casts the audience in the dingy ether of pathos well before the lights go down. Tony Ferrieri’s overpowering set is …

City Theatre’s “Downstairs” Showcases Pittsburgh’s Dazzling Acting Talent Read More »

Arts

Liberty Magic: Magic on Liberty

by Matthew John Milligan

“I know what you’re thinking.” It’s a common expression, an uncommon occurrence—you don’t actually know what somebody is thinking. Were that the case, we’d hardly do any thinking at all. But Liberty Magic knows what you’re thinking. This hidden gem is tucked away on Liberty Avenue, right in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. The 60-seat …

Liberty Magic: Magic on Liberty Read More »

Books

Bridging Ayn Rand and Pittsburgh

by Scott Holleran

While conducting research for “Atlas Shrugged” during a cross-country train trip in 1947, Ayn Rand wrote in her journal what she saw when she came upon Pittsburgh while traveling east: “From the parkways, to the old, vertical houses on steep hillsides, to the slums, with narrow, cobblestone streets—then the sudden view of the river and …

Bridging Ayn Rand and Pittsburgh Read More »

Culture

The Flavors of Pittsburgh

by Teake Zuidema

The Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every Pittsburgher knows these holidays and celebrations. But less familiar are the many religious and secular holidays celebrated by ethnic communities in the region. Photographer Teake Zuidema documents five festivities that took place this year. Cinco De Mayo in Beechview Many bars in Pittsburgh offer Mexican beers …

The Flavors of Pittsburgh Read More »

Opinion

The Migrations of Hunting

by Douglas Heuck

“Nature is a wet place where large numbers of ducks fly around uncooked.” —Oscar Wilde I didn’t grow up in a hunting family. When it came to wild animals, we enjoyed simply seeing them, not killing them. And the least likely kind of hunting for me might have been ducks. I liked the book “Make …

The Migrations of Hunting Read More »

PQ Poem

Hoopie: A Haibun

by Hannah Starcher

The Starcher’s used the word everywhere—In the confined spaces of the one-story home, the living room floor accommodating all fifteen of the cousins for bed. Hoopie sat with us in that house on top of the rolling hills, overlooking Easter Flower Hollow. It circled the round oak dining room table, just barely big enough to …

Hoopie: A Haibun Read More »

Books

Appalachian Reckoning: An Antidote to Hillbilly Elegy?

by Fred Shaw

Tasteless jokes abound on the internet, including one I recently read: “Did you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? Anywhere else and it would have been called a teeth brush.” I chuckled before considering the misguided notion that it’s still OK to trash poor whites. Writing for NPR’s “Code Switch,” Leah Donnella explains …

Appalachian Reckoning: An Antidote to Hillbilly Elegy? Read More »

Architecture & Neighborhoods

Charlie’s Village Turns 100

by David Weber

It all started after Charles Bowdish returned to his hometown of Brookville, Jefferson County, after a stint in the U.S. Army during World War I. Exposed to mustard gas during the war and left with respiratory illness, he commenced building a miniature railroad and village so finely detailed that it was an instant hit when …

Charlie’s Village Turns 100 Read More »

Arts

Nuts About Nutcrackers

by Barbara Eichenlaub

When Steubenville comes to mind, you probably don’t think of the Rust Belt town as a travel destination. Mayor Jerry Barilla has been intent on changing that and the narrative of industrial decline that has dominated the town. Its population of 18,000 is less than half what it was in 1940—between 1980 and 2000, Weirton-Steubenville …

Nuts About Nutcrackers Read More »

Architecture & Neighborhoods

Hard Times in Yellow Dog

by John Beale

In 2014, Joe Meyer moved across Pennsylvania with a dream of transforming Yellow Dog Village, an abandoned limestone mining town in Armstrong County, into a living historic site where tourists could experience life in the early 1900s. Five years later, facing tax liens and unable to secure financing, Meyer’s dream of restoring Yellow Dog into …

Hard Times in Yellow Dog Read More »

Opinion

Holiday Thoughts from the Dalai Lama’s Physician

by Douglas Heuck

Dr. Barry Kerzin, Buddhist Monk and physician to the Dalai Lama, is back in Pittsburgh, continuing his work with UPMC nurses, building compassion, resilience and mindfulness into their daily activities, with the goal of decreasing stress and increasing fulfillment. (See a longer PQ story on Kerzin here). He is in discussions to possibly begin similar …

Holiday Thoughts from the Dalai Lama’s Physician Read More »

Arts

Andy Warhol Returns to Pittsburgh

by Gordon Nelson

On an autumn evening in Pittsburgh 40 years ago, a larger than usual, fancier than typical, and more expensive than ever event was staged as an acquisition benefit for the Carnegie Museum of Art. On this special Saturday night, 250 formally dressed ladies and gentlemen entered the Heinz Galleries to find a simply decorated space …

Andy Warhol Returns to Pittsburgh Read More »