Articles Archive - Page 27 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

“Speaking from the gut” was known in ancient Greece as gastromancy. It also became known as an early form of ventriloquism. According to Encyclopaedia Brittanica, “the noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret …

Taking Flight With the Ordinary Read More »

Creative Capital

U.S. Policy Blunders Helped Provoke Ukraine War

by Greg Curtis

Whose Fault is the Ukraine War? “[Post-Cold War], many American elites embraced a vision of a U.S.-led ‘liberal international order’ which could theoretically integrate the entire world… into a single, globalized whole.” – Stephen Kotkin, Princeton University Previously in this series: A Coat of Varnish Part V, ESG Investors Need to Wake Up to Reality …

U.S. Policy Blunders Helped Provoke Ukraine War Read More »

Food & Wine

How About a Delicious Peach Cobbler (and more)?

by Barbara Eichenlaub

There is something about comfort food that evokes a feeling of old-fashioned delight. And when it comes to dessert, there’s nothing like fruit cobbler, bread pudding, gobs or banana pudding to transport you to a time when calories didn’t count and a big scoop of dessert made everything better. Today, not everyone has time to …

How About a Delicious Peach Cobbler (and more)? Read More »

Business Money

Rough Ride for Markets

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly asked regional financial experts to respond to two questions, one about effects on the economy of the war in Ukraine and the other of the effects Federal Reserve actions (or inaction). Many of their answers to the first question are below, followed by the second question and many of their answers …

Rough Ride for Markets Read More »

Creative Capital

ESG Investors Need to Wake Up to Reality

by Greg Curtis

Will ESG Finally Grow Up? “ESG is a huge, gross gravy train for fund managers, consultants, and marzipan layer technocrats of various flavors. The whole thing is rotten. If you work in the space, your choices are to be a useless idiot trolling in the trenches for what you think is a good cause, be …

ESG Investors Need to Wake Up to Reality Read More »

Regional News

Opportunity Awaits, but…

by Jeffery Fraser

Kendell Pelling knows vacant and blighted property. For more than 15 years he was in charge of land recycling at East Liberty Development, Inc. There, he saw how, even in a real estate market that was heating up, new houses priced to sell couldn’t find a buyer when blight was nearby. But once the abandoned …

Opportunity Awaits, but… Read More »

Events

Pittsburgh Quarterly Wins 15 Golden Quills

by PQ Staff

For the 16th year in a row, Pittsburgh Quarterly led all magazines by a wide margin in the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania’s Golden Quill Awards for journalistic excellence. PQ writers, photographers, illustrators and cartoonists dominated the 58th annual competition with 15 Golden Quills, including Best of Show. If you would like to read and …

Pittsburgh Quarterly Wins 15 Golden Quills Read More »

Nature

Making the Cut

by Kate Benz

I need to get the chains from our chainsaws resharpened, but there’s a line at Lloyd’s counter. June is standing in front of me, a gas-powered, STIHL MS 251 CB-E with the 20” bar in her hand. June is 80 years old. Thin as a rail. Her back curves like an S, she kinda leans …

Making the Cut Read More »

Creative Capital

The Fed’s Failure – and There Goes Climate Change

by Greg Curtis

The Fed Is Having a Bad War “The Fed’s odds [of achieving a soft landing] are now substantially below 50-50.” — Alan Blinder “The Fed that Failed.” Title of an article in “The Economist” “I have been humbled.” Fed Chair Jay Powell Previously in this series: A Coat of Varnish Part IV, History’s Lessons and Historic …

The Fed’s Failure – and There Goes Climate Change Read More »

Money

Will Stocks Go Lower this Year?

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly asked regional financial experts to respond to this question: “Do you believe U.S. markets have already seen their lowest levels for 2022? If so, why? If not, why not?” The question was asked in March with an April deadline. We thank them for giving readers their responses, which follow. Linda Duessel, …

Will Stocks Go Lower this Year? Read More »

Arts Culture

The Tamburitzans, Pittsburgh’s Oldest Stage Act, Holds Fundraising Gala

by PQ Staff

“The Tamburitzans share the world’s cultures through folk song and dance, as well as through authentic ethnic dress, with audiences across the United States,” said Alyssa Bushunow, Tamburitzans Executive Director. “By coming together to celebrate the folk culture of diverse nations — most traditionally those in Central and Eastern Europe —The Tamburitzans transcend politics to …

The Tamburitzans, Pittsburgh’s Oldest Stage Act, Holds Fundraising Gala Read More »

Obituaries

Hampton, Gumberg, Fox, O’Brien, Weber, Green

by PQ Staff

Slide Hampton, 89The virtuoso jazz trombonist, bandleader and Grammy Award-winning composer and musical arranger hailed from Jeannette, where his sister gave him the nickname Slide. One of 12 children, he spent his entire life in music, beginning as a singer and dancer with a family band and progressing to trombone at age 12. The Hampton …

Hampton, Gumberg, Fox, O’Brien, Weber, Green Read More »

Arts Culture

PICT Theatre’s “Endgame”

by Stuart Sheppard

“Endgame” is an enormous play set in a small room occupied by four persons who speak absurdly, recounting stories or delivering monologues apropos of nothing — as nursing home residents often do — prompted by memories that float into their minds from the effects of old age, disease, or boredom. Written by Samuel Beckett as …

PICT Theatre’s “Endgame” Read More »

Creative Capital

History’s Lessons and Historic Mistakes

by Greg Curtis

Angela Merkel’s Reputation Is Trashed – But Is America at Fault? Merkel’s reign at the top of Germany’s political apparatus was remarkable, and she stepped down as something of a secular saint with a 77% approval rating. But it’s amazing what six months can do. Previously in this series: A Coat of Varnish Part III, …

History’s Lessons and Historic Mistakes Read More »

Home & Lifestyle Homes

A Classic Colonial

by Marylynn Uricchio

Houses are like people in many ways. They tend to get better with age as they develop character and the rich patina that comes from living, and being lived in. Up to a point, that is. And then they start to require maintenance, and eventually, if they last long enough, more serious renovation. Such was …

A Classic Colonial Read More »

Obituaries

Favorini, DeSantis, Johnson, Virdon, Diamond, Baskin

by PQ Staff

Attilio “Buck” Favorini, 78After earning a Ph.D. in History of the Theatre from Yale, the New York City native came to Pittsburgh in 1969 and spent 50 years here, founding the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, which became one of the top Shakespeare festivals in America. He joined the Pitt faculty and founded the university’s Theatre …

Favorini, DeSantis, Johnson, Virdon, Diamond, Baskin Read More »

Creative Capital

Not Everyone Agrees with Us

by Greg Curtis

Let’s Talk Nukes “If a third world war is such a crippling worry, how can the premise of NATO be credible? Its effectiveness has always depended on the belief that NATO is indeed prepared to run the risk of nuclear war.” — Martin Wolf in the Financial Times Previously in this series: A Coat of Varnish Part …

Not Everyone Agrees with Us Read More »

History

The $3,000 Hippopotamus

by John G. Hennon

“Lucy is dead” was the headline of the March 17, 1902 Pittsburgh Press article that announced the passing of Lucy Juba-Nile, the popular hippopotamus that had been dwelling at the Highland Park Zoological Garden (now called the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium) for the previous three years. Lucy had been ill for about a week. …

The $3,000 Hippopotamus Read More »

Obituaries

Cohill, Corbett, Walton, Lewis, Wymard, Ford

by PQ Staff

Judge Maurice Cohill Jr., 92A national leader in juvenile justice, Cohill heard hundreds of cases involving juveniles and often had adults tell him how his influence had turned their lives around. He founded the nation’s oldest juvenile justice research organization, the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh, and was its chairman for decades. In …

Cohill, Corbett, Walton, Lewis, Wymard, Ford Read More »

Books

Reflections on Masculinity

by Fred Shaw

In his award-winning recent memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, Brian Broome lovingly describes the antechamber of the now-defunct Hills Department store in his hometown of Warren, Ohio as smelling “like the emotions of a child. Pre-adolescent bacchanalia. It was dizzying. It was a roasted peanut, soft pretzel factory wrapped inside a chocolate-covered everything. …

Reflections on Masculinity Read More »

People

The 5th Northumberland Fusiliers

by Len Barcousky

When Jim Zunic was about 10 years old, he got the shock of his young life. After he had enjoyed watching a TV series about Sherlock Holmes, the librarian at McNaugher Elementary School on Pittsburgh’s North Side encouraged him to read some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about the fictional detective. “The librarian started …

The 5th Northumberland Fusiliers Read More »

Creative Capital

Posture of U.S. Weakness Encouraged Ukraine Invasion

by Greg Curtis

What do Caesar’s Wife, Justice, and Military Deterrence Have in Common? “The lure of appeasement – in essence, a return to the policies pursued in many Western capitals for the past two decades – will be strong.” — Thomas de Maizière, former German defense minister Previously in this series: A Coat of Varnish “It is better …

Posture of U.S. Weakness Encouraged Ukraine Invasion Read More »