Articles Archive - Page 28 of 156 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Curley, Martin, Kreisman, Rocher, Sarni, Lampl Read More »

Mary Taylor Walton Curley, 97The daughter of John and Rachel Mellon Walton and granddaughter of Gulf Oil founder William Larimer Mellon, she graduated from Vassar and worked at Pitt after World War II assisting women veterans on the GI Bill. She and her husband, oil executive Walter Curley, lived all over the world, from India …

Profiles

The Selling of Mellon

by Martin G. McGuinn Jr.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on the upcoming book published by Lyons Press:“From Swampoodle to Mellon Bank CEO; An Irish American’s Journey, the Autobiography of Martin G. McGuinn Jr.” When I came to Mellon Bank in 1981, it was the dominant bank in Pittsburgh, much to the chagrin of Pittsburgh National Bank, which later, …

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The Book on Pittsburgh

The Book on Pittsburgh Read More »

Wherever Stefan Lorant went in his life – whatever job he held, whatever town he lived in, whatever nation – he had a remarkable knack for being in the right place and for sniffing out who the most important people were and meeting and befriending them. Previously in this series: Stefan Lorant, Part I In …

Business Money

Russia, Ukraine and the Markets

Russia, Ukraine and the Markets Read More »

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly recently asked regional financial experts to respond to the following question: The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further increased energy and food prices and disrupted supply lines for key manufacturing inputs. What are the implications for the global and U.S. economies? James Armstrong, Henry Armstrong Associates Free and open trade have …

Culture PQ Poem

A Parent’s Shame

by Jessica Whipple

She grips a chunk of chalk in her fistscratches onto black construction paperfamiliar fury of scribbles:a moon todayyesterday, an egg someone’s headside by side, two are apples. Sometimesthe picture isn’t the pointit’s powder on palmswows and ooohs and beautifulsfingers and focus and finishingit’s preschool prideit’s fine-motor joy neither of us realizingshe’s tall enough nowto see into …

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Arts Culture

Kinetic Theatre’s World Premiere of “The Illustrious Invalid”

by Stuart Sheppard

There is a saying in the world of martial arts that “Control is the mother of speed,” and it could be said that in the world of theater, control – in the form of precise writing, acting, and directing – is the mother of farce. In both cases, when speed is the sole objective, things …

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Stefan Lorant

Stefan Lorant Read More »

Stefan Lorant, the pioneering photojournalist, was born at the turn of the twentieth century and died 96 years later, at the century’s end. In between, everywhere Lorant went and everything he did ended up having momentous consequences. Some of those consequences were micro and personal – but memorable – while others were macro and geopolitical. …

China’s Xi Is Having a Really Bad War

China’s Xi Is Having a Really Bad War Read More »

“Putin’s War Is Xi’s Worst Nightmare” — Headline above Craig Singleton’s article in Foreign Policy The term idée fixe refers to a monomania of the brain, a pathology of the mind, an erroneous notion that nonetheless powerfully resists almost any attempt to modify it. When an idée fixe establishes itself in the mind of an all-powerful autocrat, the consequences are always …

Business

The Fed and Inflation

The Fed and Inflation Read More »

Editor’s note: Pittsburgh Quarterly has regional financial experts to respond to this question: Inflation has proven to be higher and “stickier: than the Fed expected. Do you think the Fed’s policies are appropriate or is the Fed behind the curve? What is your best estimate for inflation at the end of 2022? Linda Duessel, Federated …

Culture History

Pittsburgher’s Report

by Bill Zlatos

The sun burned brightly on june 17, 1876, promising a hot day in southwestern Montana. Gen. George Crook’s column of about 1,300 soldiers, friendly Indians and civilians relaxed while their horses chomped prairie grass and quenched their thirst in Rosebud Creek. At about 8:30 a.m., as Crook played whist with fellow officers, Crow and Shoshone …

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Regional News

Let’s Take “the Pits” out of Pittsburgh

by Douglas Heuck

In my spring column, I wrote about the borough of Wilkinsburg, encouraging Pittsburgh City Council to vote in favor of annexing the failed municipality. When I wrote it though, it had been years since I’d veered off of Wilkinsburg’s main drag — Penn Avenue — and actually explored the borough. Last month, I drove all …

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Culture

On a Pedestal, Summer 2022

On a Pedestal, Summer 2022 Read More »

When Harris Ferris became executive director, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre had lost its orchestra and faced a mountain of debt and a dubious future. Nearly 17 years later, he leaves the PBT stronger than ever. A former principal dancer, armed with a Rutgers MBA and a winning personality, Ferris expanded the company’s national and international …

Nature

The Perch

by Kate Benz

I have found a perch. It’s at the top of a rocky, rutted trail that shoots up a 70-degree angle from terra firma. Today’s destination: closer to the clouds. I have a book, The Genius of Birds, an old, wooden folding chair that functions as a plant stand in our living room, and a bottle …

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People

Seven Young Women Debut at the 96th Cinderella Ball

Seven Young Women Debut at the 96th Cinderella Ball Read More »

Friends and family gathered over Memorial Day weekend at the Allegheny Country Club for the 96th presentation of the Cinderella Ball. The Ball celebrates a formal introduction to society for a group of debutantes and the culmination of a year of charitable work and personal development through the completion of the Leadership Forum for Young …

Books

Taking Flight With the Ordinary

by Fred Shaw

“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 …

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U.S. Policy Blunders Helped Provoke Ukraine War

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

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 …

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 …

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Business Money

Rough Ride for Markets

Rough Ride for Markets Read More »

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 …

ESG Investors Need to Wake Up to Reality

ESG Investors Need to Wake Up to Reality Read More »

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 …

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 …

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Events

Pittsburgh Quarterly Wins 15 Golden Quills