Articles Archive - Page 16 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

2023 Summer A Farm Life

One Lone Bat

I never noticed so many ash trees in the forest until hundreds toppled over. The drumming of the ruffed grouse is dearer to me now because of its absence. But of all the things on the farm that have revealed themselves by passing away, none is more striking than the decline of bats. Thirty-five years …

One Lone Bat 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

Mom

by Greg Curtis

More of my experiences at my summer job at VA, a halfway house for juvenile delinquents in Stilton, Vermont. I forgot to mention that everybody in the Northeast Kingdom hated VA. When I first started, Meg had said to me, “The dopes up here think the girls are going to seduce their sons and the …

Mom Read More »

People

What Do I Know? Carol Brown

by Jeff Sewald

I was born in Columbus, Ohio. my father was the youngest of 10 children from an immigrant German family, and my mother hailed from a family of Irish immigrants. They fell in love very young and decided to get married, even though their parents did not approve. My mom was an amateur artist, and a …

What Do I Know? Carol Brown Read More »

Books

Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town

by Fred Shaw

Amid outcry over the recent train derailment and subsequent leak of vinyl chloride in nearby East Palestine, Ohio, and environmental rights groups’ concerns about emissions from Shell’s ethylene cracker plant in Beaver County, dialogue over the balancing act between commerce and public health continues. In his well-researched new book, Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and …

Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town Read More »

Creative Capital

Losing It…

by Greg Curtis

Although Meg Petronius had warned me that working at VA was no walk in the park, I found it pretty much to be a walk in the park. Maybe that was because I was a teenager myself. I was nineteen and not much older than the kids, and most of the things that interested them …

Losing It… Read More »

Books

Pittsburgh’s Orphans and Orphanages

by Joann Cantrell

For as long as I can remember, every time my grandmother spoke of her childhood, it made me sad. Margaret Schall, affectionately known as “Tootie,” was raised in the Odd Fellows Home for Orphans on the North Side of Pittsburgh from 1920 until 1933. She was an orphan of circumstance, rather than by the death …

Pittsburgh’s Orphans and Orphanages Read More »

People

The International Poetry Forum Is Making a Comeback

by Douglas Heuck

Started in 1966 by poet and Duquesne University Professor Sam Hazo, the International Poetry Forum had a remarkable run of 43 years, bringing the best poets in the world to Pittsburgh, as well as some of the biggest names of stage and screen. Hazo wound up operations in 2009, never expecting a renewal until he …

The International Poetry Forum Is Making a Comeback Read More »

Regional News

Latin American Cultural Center Opens in Oakland

by Julia Fraser

A woman spins a crisp white thread, a vermillion sky rises over water and doves hover in Paula Nicho Cúmez’s painting, “Process and Vision of the Peace Accords.” She composed the painting in the wake of the 1996 Peace Accords in Guatemala, which brought an end to the country’s 36-year civil war. “The only thing …

Latin American Cultural Center Opens in Oakland Read More »

Creative Capital

Meeting Miss Perfect

by Greg Curtis

I’d just come face-to-face with The Most Perfect Girl in the World and I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh, sure, The Most Perfect Girl in the World just happened to be hanging out in Stilton, Vermont, population 124.” Previously in this series: Surprise, Surprise…Allow me to explain. You see, every guy has his …

Meeting Miss Perfect Read More »

Nature

Forever Chemicals

by Deborah Weisberg

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first-ever national drinking water standard to limit six chemicals whose potential health effects are raising red flags. They are part of a family of about 9,000 per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds — collectively known as PFAS — that are used to impart water-, oil-, grease-, stain-, and heat-resistant …

Forever Chemicals Read More »

History

Ye Olde Parking Meter?

by John Beale

Municipalities struggle with parking. Some have eliminated parking meters. Pittsburgh, Sewickley, Mt. Lebanon, and Carnegie have installed kiosks instead. The time for parking meters hasn’t expired, but in many communities, you’ll no longer need coins. In Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Dormont, McKeesport, and others, meters still exist, but thanks to the innovative Pittsburgh-based app company MeterFeeder, payments …

Ye Olde Parking Meter? Read More »

Birds

Listen for the Song of the Wood Thrush

by David Liebmann

The wood thrush sings a haunting song, “Ee-oh-lay.” Just three syllables, it’s a brief, ethereal mix of bouncing notes and plaintive, romantic flutings. I have heard the males sing from brushy patches of suburban scrub in the late spring and from deep in the summer woods. Their notes are almost elven, with something beckoning and …

Listen for the Song of the Wood Thrush Read More »

Creative Capital

Surprise, Surprise…

by Greg Curtis

The lady at the artists’ colony had told me, just before slamming the door in my face, that Vermont Academy was the “next house.” I looked up that way but didn’t see a next house. Previously in this series: VAI sighed, climbed back on the Vespa and headed north. Almost immediately the next house came …

Surprise, Surprise… Read More »

Sports

Have a Duke: Baseball and Beer

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

While baseball fans are happy with the pitch clock because it has, on average, cut 30 minutes off this season’s games, there has been an unanticipated problem. If fans are spending less time at the ballpark, they’re consuming less food and drink. Major league teams have been particularly concerned about the declining consumption of beer. …

Have a Duke: Baseball and Beer Read More »

Travel

Ohio’s Amish Country

by Barbara Eichenlaub

If you were lucky, at some point in your childhood, you collected a bunch of old boards, raided your dad’s toolbox, teamed up with your pals and built a treehouse. It might have been rickety, or so simple that it was basically a platform in a tree. But seen through the eyes of a child, …

Ohio’s Amish Country Read More »

Books

A Satiric End of the World

by Fred Shaw

What might the end of the world be like? According to Michael Simms in his debut novel, Bicycles of the Gods: A Divine Comedy (Madville Books, $ 19.95), it could happen a bit like a “screwball comedy” as he navigates a wacky scenario by using “apocalyptic satire” to boldly comment on the troubled state of …

A Satiric End of the World Read More »

Arts

The Carnegie International

by Vicky A Clark

Like it or not, the Carnegie International eclipses everything the Carnegie Museum of Art does. Every director has grumbled about how it commandeers all available resources. But it’s a time-honored tradition, still associated 125 years later with the values of founding father Andrew Carnegie. It has survived the vicissitudes of world wars, economic crises, evolving …

The Carnegie International Read More »

Creative Capital

Where is This Place?

by Greg Curtis

I was calling Vermont Academy to set up a summer job interview. In those days the protocol was that you let a phone ring 10 times – if your party hadn’t picked up by then he was either on the can or he didn’t want to talk to you. Previously in this series: VAI’d just …

Where is This Place? Read More »

Nature

Touring Pittsburgh’s Community Flower Gardens

by Thomas Saunders

This column usually focuses on remote places to hike around Western Pennsylvania, but there are beautiful outdoor destinations to see in the heart of Pittsburgh. A biking tour of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s community flower gardens is one way to simultaneously enjoy nature and explore the uniqueness of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods. Each May and June, the …

Touring Pittsburgh’s Community Flower Gardens Read More »

Food & Wine

A Simple Summer Treat

by Lidey Heuck

Farm fresh cherry tomatoes are one of summer’s most special and fleeting treats. It’s tough to beat eating them straight from the vine, but when I want to dress them up for company, I make these roasted tomato crostini, with creamy fresh ricotta cheese and a hint of heat from calabrian chili oil. While these …

A Simple Summer Treat Read More »

Money

Wall of Worry

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly asked regional financial experts to respond in 200 words or fewer to this question: What are your expectations for inflation, interest rates and U.S. equities (stocks) this year, and how are you advising clients during this continuing market volatility and uncertainty? (Responses were submitted by late April.) Previously in this series: Wall of …

Wall of Worry Read More »