Articles Archive - Page 15 of 156 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Basel Knaineh and Maisaa Jamal Eddin fled their native Syria after Basel was imprisoned — for no reason and with no timeline, he says — at the start of the Syrian War in 2011. He spent a month in jail, frantic and bewildered, before being released as suddenly as he was detained. Desperate, he and …

Hello Neighbor Read More »

Books

The Allman Brothers Band – and Me

by Alan Paul

The road may go on forever, but it began in my brother’s bedroom on Inverness Avenue, where he handed me a copy of the Allman Brothers Band’s Eat A Peach and told me to listen to it, when I was in seventh grade. I put on some headphones, lay down on the yellow shag carpet, …

The Allman Brothers Band – and Me Read More »

Creative Capital

Disaster Strikes

by Greg Curtis

As I’ve mentioned, from my first day at VA I’d been flirting vigorously with Meg Petronius, albeit to no avail. What I didn’t know was that Meg had recently ended a troubled, long-term relationship and the last thing she wanted was to fall into another one. Previously in this series: The Resignation But as the …

Disaster Strikes Read More »

Sports

A Victim of the Life He Led

by Clayton Trutor

Pittsburgh is unquestionably one of the great fighting cities in the United States. The city and its surrounding boroughs have produced world champions Billy Conn, Michael Moorer, Paul Spadafora, and a whole host of other world-class pugilists. Experts in the fight business place two-time world champion Harry Greb on top of Pittsburgh’s pugilistic slag pile. …

A Victim of the Life He Led Read More »

Arrivals

Jedlinski, Filippini-Fantoni, Riley, Rodriguez, Garvey, Sen

by PQ Staff

Jason Jedlinski, a veteran broadcasting and publishing executive, will become WQED’s next president and CEO. He arrives from Washington, D.C., where he was general manager of The Hill, launching a new streaming channel and setting audience records. He has spent nearly 25 years growing digital reach and engagement for The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY and …

Jedlinski, Filippini-Fantoni, Riley, Rodriguez, Garvey, Sen Read More »

Creative Capital

The Resignation

by Greg Curtis

Meg had asked me to tell the girls they could get out of their beds, but I’d told her I couldn’t, “Because I don’t work here anymore.” Previously in this series: End of the Line“What the hell are you talking about?” she said. Still sitting under the pine tree, I said, “I quit. I’ll turn …

The Resignation Read More »

PQ Poem

Colors

by Deborah Bogen

Colors Blood-red was all the rage that year — in the fashion magazines and the furniture showrooms. So, now we had the new loveseat, my mother’s find — the fabric called blood-red, but it looked older and dried up. Something closer to rust. The walls of my room were a perfect sky blue and my …

Colors Read More »

Books

The Rebellious Spirits Still Haunting Pittsburgh

by Stuart Sheppard

Some historical events seem so fantastical that they sound like myths when retold, while others are so intrinsic to our nature that they could be today’s news, and actually help us understand our contemporaneous existence more deeply. After reading The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis by Brady J. Crytzer, I would …

The Rebellious Spirits Still Haunting Pittsburgh Read More »

Home & Lifestyle Homes

A Second Chapter

by Marylynn Uricchio

When most people become empty-nesters, they think about downsizing, buying a vacation home, perhaps, or seeing the world with their newfound freedom. But one Fox Chapel couple decided to pursue a different dream — staying home and making the renovations to their 1965 Colonial that years spent traveling with two children active in sports had …

A Second Chapter Read More »

History

A Fascinating New Museum

by Barbara Eichenlaub

While you probably have never heard of David Karpeles, his accomplishments likely have affected your life. Born in Santa Barbara, Calif., he lived there until he was 6. In 1942, his mother saw a Japanese submarine in the water and decided that it would be safer to move the family to Duluth, Minn. He earned …

A Fascinating New Museum Read More »

PQ Poem

Empty Hands

by Bart Solarczyk

Empty Hands I dream you naked in a worldwhere touch is forbidden this is death, this is longingempty hands squeezing air.

American Spirit

All Aboard

by Julia Fraser

Hulking steam engines, nearly a century old, await repairs in their original roundhouse in Rockhill Furnace, Pa. The crisp country air fades into the smell of an industrial past next to No. 14, a “snappy engine,” according to Linn Moedinger, a mechanical advisor at East Broad Top Railroad, who works on restoring the machines. “It’s …

All Aboard Read More »

Creative Capital

End of the Line

by Greg Curtis

I’d just broken up a fight between Earl and Eddie – I was seriously disappointed in Earl and had sent him to the front room to serve a time-out until bedtime. Earl had been a good Head Boy, he had a good job at a sawmill and he was on his way to being a …

End of the Line Read More »

Nature

Roaring Run Natural Area

by Thomas Saunders

A beautiful place for hiking and exploring is the Roaring Run Natural Area within Forbes State Forest in the Laurel Highlands. Roaring Run is a 3,600-acre wild and rugged expanse of forest on the western slope of Laurel Ridge in southern Westmoreland County. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy protected this land in 1970 and transferred it …

Roaring Run Natural Area Read More »

American Spirit Arts

The Ruins

by Ben Moyer

When Rachel Sager bought a house, she didn’t know it came with a coal mine. Obscured by woods in her “backyard,” and flanking the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) bike trail, are the sprawling ruins of the once robust Banning No. 2 coal mine: a labyrinth of crumbling brick and weathered concrete, wedged between bluffs and …

The Ruins Read More »

PQ Poem

Evacuate My Brain

by Lisa Alexander

Evacuate My BrainAlong that wallI could be quietin the dark—club kids, drag queensbrush by in a stiff hitof hairspray, cigarettes,something candysweethoney bring it close to my lipsI’d stand there smoking,watch the crowd on the floormove as a whole, look for facesI know, faces that surprise me,faces I might want—honey bring it close to my lips …

Evacuate My Brain Read More »

Creative Capital

It Came to Blows

by Greg Curtis

I’d returned to VA after visiting a crazy lady’s house and was heading up to my room to sleep off all the beer I’d drunk. Unfortunately, Meg and Terry had heard the Vespa and they came rushing through the kitchen calling my name. My heart sank. Previously in this series: Genny Cream Ale“Thank God you’re …

It Came to Blows Read More »

Nature

The Common Snapping Turtle

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

Each spring before my first real swim, I stand at the house and gaze downhill to the pond. (I have dipped every month of the year, but that doesn’t count as a real swim.) I scan the water’s surface, looking for snapping turtles. I see them when they come up for air — their little …

The Common Snapping Turtle Read More »

Birds

The Peak Before Migration

by David Liebmann

I appreciate the wisdom of Ecclesiastes. There are seasons of want and seasons of plenty, seasons of abundance and seasons of scarcity. That’s true for both people and birds. With all this year’s hatchlings taking to the wing, fall marks the annual peak for avian populations before the rigors of migration, predation, and the other …

The Peak Before Migration Read More »

People Profiles

What Do I Know? Smokey Robinson

by Jeff Sewald

Everyone is born with a gift from God. Some people discover their gift, and use it to a positive end. Some discover their gift, but squander it. And others, for one reason or another, never discover their gift. I discovered mine very early in life. I was blessed with the gift of music, and worked …

What Do I Know? Smokey Robinson Read More »

Creative Capital

Genny Cream Ale

by Greg Curtis

The VA building had many quirks, probably because no one had ever thought through anything – stuff was just added on when it was needed, without any relation to what was already there. Previously in this series: Enter: The Ill-fated LovebirdsOne of the oddest quirks wasn’t structural, though – there was a large, overstuffed, living …

Genny Cream Ale Read More »

Regional News

Noteworthy, Fall 2023

by PQ Staff

A Pittsburgh Great for 140 yearsIt was all the way back in 1883 that captain john B. Ford and John Pitcairn started the first commercially successful plate glass factory in the U.S., in Creighton. By the early 1900s, the company was expanding into paint, because paint and glass reached customers through the same distribution channels. …

Noteworthy, Fall 2023 Read More »