Opinion Archives - Page 10 of 11 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.” — Mark Twain My campaign for mayor showed me two Pittsburghs. The first exists as all others do, with big problems, big challenges and big possibilities. …

Campaign Retrospective Read More »

Opinion

Suitcase, Unpacked

by Lori Jakiela

I knew my son before he was born. “That’s ridiculous,” my mother said. I was seven months pregnant and had just told her that my unborn son had a great sense of humor. “How in God’s name,” she said, “would you know that?” I knew because every time I tried to take a nap, he kneed me …

Suitcase, Unpacked Read More »

Opinion

Image and Reality: When They Don’t Match

by Chris Allison

There’s a saying in Texas, “He’s all hat and no cattle.” I don’t know why I was thinking about Texas as I flew aboard a US Airways flight bound for Ireland. It’s probably because I had just read Doug Parker’s Letter From The CEO in the in-flight magazine, Attaché. Parker’s obligatory dear-dummy letter was an …

Image and Reality: When They Don’t Match Read More »

Opinion

From the Publisher, Winter 2008

by Douglas Heuck

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, winter comes early. You can feel it when the mercury drops to 30 and you’re in a summer cottage with just a fireplace for heat. And so it was one late fall day, when Smokey and I were the only dog and person left on the island. Cold rain fell on …

From the Publisher, Winter 2008 Read More »

Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Winter 2008

by PQ Staff

Just after saying it has no plans to cut here, US Airways has reneged again. Pittsburgh built the airline a $1 billion airport and has supported US Airways despite high fares and poor on-time performance, spurning low-cost carriers interested in this market. The result? Astounding cuts and the loss of hub status as one new …

Stocks & Pedestal, Winter 2008 Read More »

Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Fall 2007

by PQ Staff

In the stocks: Polluted air When we recall Pittsburgh’s old nickname, “The Smoky City,” we think of it as a pejorative description of a dirty, industrial place. But when Pittsburgh first got that appellation, in the still agrarian 19th century, it was a badge of honor. Smoke meant factories, and factories meant progress and wealth. …

Stocks & Pedestal, Fall 2007 Read More »

Opinion

The Bionic Entrepreneur?

by Chris Allison

For me, fall marks not only the return of autumn leaves, cider and football, but returning to my role as a college entrepreneurship instructor. Despite this being my third year teaching this subject, I’m still troubled by a gnawing, fundamental question: Can you actually teach someone to be an entrepreneur? Is it a trait you’re …

The Bionic Entrepreneur? Read More »

Opinion

From the Publisher, Fall 2007

by Douglas Heuck

I grew up on what had been an old apple orchard, and fall meant turning the crank of our oak-and-iron cider press. It meant picking up apples from the grass and quickly unhanding those whose undersides had rotted and were crawling with yellowjackets. After a strong rain, it meant the inevitable loss of old trees …

From the Publisher, Fall 2007 Read More »

Opinion

No regrets

by K.J. Bryant

When I drove my 22-year-old son from our home in Los Angeles to his new life in San Francisco, I didn’t realize I, too, was starting off on a new road. I used the six-hour drive to deliver last-minute motherly advice. He wanted to talk about his dream of becoming a musician. For him, the …

No regrets Read More »

Opinion

Cut Me, Mick!

by Chris Allison

Right about when I purchased new 36-inch-waist pants and my self-loathing reached a peak, the new Sylvester Stallone film, “Rocky Balboa” opened. As I shaved the morning after seeing the movie, I wore my towel up high to cover my Dunlop’s disease — when your belly done lops over your belt. With a half-lathered face, …

Cut Me, Mick! Read More »

Opinion

From the Publisher, Summer 2007

by Douglas Heuck

If all goes as planned this summer, my family and I will sail the waters of the remote North Channel between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Canada in a 28-foot sloop. I’ve sailed a lot on Lake Huron but have never skippered a longer voyage on open waters. It’ll mean preparation in navigation and emergency procedures …

From the Publisher, Summer 2007 Read More »

Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Summer 2007

by PQ Staff

It took a little doing — the blacksmith had to add a few links in the chains — but we’ve put obesity in the public stockade. It’s often said that in many cultures being corpulent is a sign of wealth and even beauty. In ours, being obese is neither. Some see it as a natural …

Stocks & Pedestal, Summer 2007 Read More »

Opinion

The Revelation of China

by PQ Staff

To be in China now must be like witnessing the construction of the pyramids. In Beijing, the world’s most powerful totalitarian regime is preparing for next year’s Olympics. Shanghai, a garden of skyscrapers, is getting ready for the 2010 World’s Fair. New highways, airports, power plants, dams and towers are fueled by China’s $1 trillion-plus …

The Revelation of China Read More »

Opinion

The Chair, the Blow-Dryer and the Bombshelter

by Lori Jakiela

The world, my father liked to say, is a dangerous place. “Just when you think you’re clear,” he’d say. “It sneaks up and bites you.” Which might explain how I ended up on the bathroom floor, my ankle twisted, my hairdryer whirring in the sink. There’d been no warning, other than the one on the hairdryer that …

The Chair, the Blow-Dryer and the Bombshelter Read More »

Opinion

Get Some Sleep with SOX

by Chris Allison

For managers of public companies and their shareholders, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has done for business what the Department of Homeland Security has done for air travel. It’s a necessary work in progress that makes us feel more secure. But for frequent fliers, such as CEOs, CFOs and their audit firms, taking your shoes …

Get Some Sleep with SOX Read More »

Opinion

From the Publisher, Spring 2007

by Douglas Heuck

One day at work a few years ago, I asked a colleague, “Do you ever have the feeling you’re living the same day over and over again?” She told me I ought to see “Groundhog Day.” I’d heard of the movie, and even though an old family friend has a memorable, small role in it, …

From the Publisher, Spring 2007 Read More »

Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Spring 2007

by PQ Staff

What a year for college basketball in Pittsburgh! Regardless what happens in March, could there have been a more interesting and exciting hoops season anywhere in the country? First, there’s Pitt. Their defense and passing have been a treat to watch since the Ben Howland days, and that’s continued, as has their great record, under …

Stocks & Pedestal, Spring 2007 Read More »

Opinion

Training women for office

by PQ Staff

An observer of the Legislature might conclude there’s something rotten in Harrisburg. Whether it’s the middle-of-the night pay raise in 2005 or recent revelations about the legislators’ fatuous bonus expenses, it’s clear where their interests lie. And with 253 of them, we have the most state legislators in the nation (except for New Hampshire’s anomalous, …

Training women for office Read More »

Opinion

Hold That Thought—Now’s the Time to Act

by Mark DeSantis

“Things do not change; we change.”—Henry David Thoreau Soon you will be asked to choose the purpose, shape, size and basic character of your local government. Fellow citizens are organizing now to ask you whether to reorganize the many layers and types of local government that have defined Allegheny County for almost 250 years. The …

Hold That Thought—Now’s the Time to Act Read More »

Opinion

Reading Between the Lines

by PQ Staff

In September, Block Communications announced that if it’s unable to reach satisfactory agreements with its unions by Dec. 31, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette may be sold. News outlets reported it as a provocative salvo in stalled negotiations, but it would be a mistake to view the release as posturing. Several facts shed light on the situation …

Reading Between the Lines Read More »

Opinion

From the Publisher, Winter 2007

by Douglas Heuck

Eight years ago, working at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I suggested that the city editor have someone check the number of sunny days we’d seen, or rather the lack of them. Weather stories tend to bore journalists, and no one checked. When I finally did, it turned out we’d had four sunny days in four months. …

From the Publisher, Winter 2007 Read More »

Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Winter 2007

by PQ Staff

Mayor Tom Murphy used to decry the lack of risk-tolerant Pittsburgh developers willing to invest in the city. In Damian Soffer, the city found the perfect partner. Together, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Soffer turned blight into beauty and created the dynamic Southside Works. The URA bought and remediated the land, and Soffer brought the …

Stocks & Pedestal, Winter 2007 Read More »