Articles Archive - Page 133 of 157 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

After 17 years as editorial assistant at the weekly Valley Mirror newspaper in Munhall, Marilyn Schiavoni’s boss informed her last year that he planned to retire and sell the newspaper. Marilyn was 62, and the prospect worried her. Would the new owner let her keep her job? If yes, would she get along with the …

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Homes

Painting with Light

by Marylynn Uricchio

What price beauty? When one lives in a house designed by Richard Meier, the costs are as monumental as the Pritzker-Prize-winning architect’s international reputation. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”68″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] They aren’t measured in terms of dollars, but rather in a commitment to the ideals and vision that have driven Meier to create stark, modern structures …

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Shopping

Retail Report: Holiday 2011

by Alecia Dean

The holidays traditionally represent a key time for retail businesses. However, in Pittsburgh and across the country, retailers face an increasingly challenging atmosphere as shopping habits continue to change and a sputtering economy persists. In this context, we asked leading local retailers a handful of questions: What percent of sales occur during the holidays? What …

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Shopping

Shopping in WashPa

by Barbara Eichenlaub

With the holidays’ approach, a visit to The Shoppes at Quail Acres in Washington, Pa. will help you get presents, hostess gifts and decorations under control. Half a mile from The Meadows Casino & Racetrack and the Tanger Outlets, The Shoppes are on the grounds of the former Quail Acres estate, featuring the beautifully restored …

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Birds

Return of the Falcon

by David Liebmann

A pigeon flaps lazily above the University of Pittsburgh campus. Suddenly, a streaking peregrine falcon dives toward its unaware prey at 100 to 150 miles an hour. Weighing two pounds and just 15 to 20 inches long, the raptor tucks its wings—usually 3Q feet across—close to its body for maximum speed. The capture is quick, …

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Nature

Sideling Hill

by Thomas Saunders

One of the wonderful qualities of western Pennsylvania is that it offers out-of-the-way locations with varied landscape and terrain. The unique characteristics of each place are often the result of geology. One of these places is Sideling Hill Creek in southern Bedford County. The pristine waters of Sideling Hill Creek flow through narrow valleys with …

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Books

Black Humor

by Sandra Levis

“See you in the funny papers” is a phrase one seldom hears these days. Indeed, with the possible exception of “Daddy-O” or “23 Skidoo,” few expressions seem more obscure.But once upon a time, when newspapers were the Internet of their day, conversational reference to the funnies was the equivalent of an emoticon.

Arts

Changing the Venerable

by Graham Shearing

Almost no building remains fit for its purpose forever, except perhaps a mausoleum. However great a museum or a gallery may be, there is always the lure of a new wing or a re-fit. Nothing remains the same, even in western Pennsylvania. Let’s look at how some of our institutions have faced, and continue to …

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Profiles

William S. Dietrich II, Businessman and Philanthropist

by Jeff Sewald

Once, Pittsburgh was the world capital of the steel industry and it was, as recently as 30 years ago, the third largest headquarters city in America. Back in the 1970s, when the mills began to shut down, we all sighed. “Well, there goes manufacturing. The muscles are gone. But at least the brains are still …

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Opinion

A Pittsburgh Original

by Douglas Heuck

At a civic event 11 years ago, I saw an unusually dapper fellow—navy pinstripe suit, rep tie and perfectly combed white hair. The fact is, I thought he was someone else. I went over and introduced myself, and he said, “Bill Dietrich.” The name meant nothing to me. But after chatting for a minute or …

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Arts

The Gospel of Brass

by Justin Hopper

Pointing a handheld video camera at himself, James Gourlay made an eccentric sight on the streets of Pittsburgh, as the native of Scotland made tiny films literally “picturing” what it would be like to live in this city. The eminent tuba player, educator and brass band director was in town not quite two years ago …

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Opinion

Neighborhood Academy / Saks Fifth Avenue

by PQ Staff

A calling made good slowly but surely, like the Little Engine That Could, something remarkable has been climbing and climbing in Pittsburgh’s East End. It started as a vision to help children for whom effective guidance and results had been wanting. The Neighborhood Academy’s mission is to “break the cycle of generational poverty by preparing low-income …

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Health

Shall We Dance?

by Kelly Casey

Don Shepherd may have stumbled upon the closest thing to the fountain of youth. While millions of Americans—and Steelers fans—tuned in to watch Hines Ward glide and smile his way across the dance floor in “Dancing with the Stars,” Shepherd was leading his own dance partner. The 58-year-old Peters software salesman took up ballroom dancing …

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Money

Blockbuster!

by Sean D. Hamill

There were no hidden tape recorders, car chases or safe houses involved, but you can almost hear the theme music from “Mission Impossible” when Gary Saulson, PNC’s director of corporate real estate, describes the steps he took to veil PNC’s purchase of almost a block of downtown Pittsburgh. The transactions along Wood Street between Fifth …

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Special Reports

Nobody Home: The Rise of Vacancy

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

In this seven-part series of articles, Pittsburgh Today takes an in-depth look at the quiet crisis of vacancy and blight in southwestern Pennsylvania, the state and the nation, reporting on the people and places affected, its social and financial impacts, the strategies that have failed to stem the problem and the innovative solutions that offer …

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Education

Schools ‘R’ U.S.

by Reid R. Frazier

College costs are rising, but that has yet to deter one group of students from entering American schools. International student enrollment has surged since the middle of the decade, after dipping during the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 700,000 foreign-born students are enrolled in U.S. universities, up from 550,000 a …

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Education

The College Cost Question

by Reid R. Frazier

Jerry schmitt had just finished paying for the college educations of his two older sons, Ben and Jordan, when it came time for the college years of his daughter, Ameeta. Jerry knew what to expect. Large tuition bills. Loans. Paperwork. A rush of financial decision-making that induced an odd mix of confusion, outrage (how could …

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Nature

You’re in ‘Steelie Country’

by Deborah Weisberg

When summer gives way to early fall and warm days yield to cool nights, an annual obsession begins to surface on Lake Erie streams. Steelhead and those enamored of the silvery salmonid (Oncorhynchus mykiss) migrate en masse to dozens of tributaries in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. Anglers wade knee-deep into the chilly, slate-blue water …

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Region

The Cost of Blight

by Jeffery Fraser

The Helen S. Faison Arts Academy, Pittsburgh’s newest elementary school, was built with the hope it would help kindle the revitalization of Homewood, which has long been one of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”56″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] With its modern red brick and glass facade, innovative interior design and grassy five-acre campus, it’s …

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Innovation

Breakthrough

by Matt Stroud

On a hot afternoon in late summer 2010, a man in his 30s drove an all-terrain vehicle on an unpaved path. He was doing nearly 40 miles per hour on rough terrain. And though he was strong—a construction worker by trade—his ATV hit a bump for which he wasn’t prepared. He drove off the road. …

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Homes

City Chic

by Marylynn Uricchio

Like many diamonds, the house that sits discreetly back on one of the most beautiful streets in the city was in the rough when the owner first saw it. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”57″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] “I walked through the front door and immediately loved the home, but envisioned five or six changes I would make,” she …

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Travel

Road Trip

by Alecia Dean

In May, my wife, Cindy, and I became the first Americans to drive from coast-to-coast in a natural-gas-powered vehicle. The idea first occurred to me last fall after retiring from EQT. I had the time, and the project intrigued me. First, I’m a believer in energy independence for America. We import more than 65 percent of …

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