Articles Archive - Page 28 of 153 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

The Shang and the ZhouThe Shang dynasty (roughly 1600 – 1046 BC) is the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we actually have solid evidence. Earlier dynasties may have existed, but if so no one can prove it – they are referred to as “legendary” dynasties. Previously in this series: On Agency Part II, China and …

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Arts

The War Against Aesthetics in Contemporary Literature

by Stuart Sheppard

There used to be a saying in the painting department at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, “If you can’t make it good, make it red; if you can’t make it red, make it big,” which, as I understand, was not meant to be cynical, but to mock those attending art school for reasons …

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Regional News

Pittsburgh City Council Wants a Year to Look into Annexation

by Jeffery Fraser

Wilkinsburg residents will have to wait another year to learn whether they’ll get a chance to vote on the future of their borough. Pittsburgh City Council leaders said Wednesday that they won’t approve annexing the boroughthis year. Instead, they pushed the deadline for the decision to 2023 to give them more time toinvestigate the implications …

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Regional News

Local Unemployment Drops, But So Does the Labor Force

by Julia Fraser

Unemployment plunged in southwestern Pennsylvania to close out 2021, but the shrinking number of people choosing to leave the workforce remains a big problem, according to the latest Pennsylvania Department of Labor data. In December, 5.3 percent of workers in seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area were unemployed – down from 5.7 percent in November 2021. …

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Creative Capital

China and the Individual

by Greg Curtis

“We found that the belief in human agency in ancient Chinese philosophical and religious thought co-occurred with progress.” — Yukun Zhao et al., “Agency in Ancient China” Previously in this series: On Agency The history of human agency in China – one might better say the tribulations of human agency in China – is, in its …

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Regional News

Facing Facts and the Future

by Jeffery Fraser

Another year has begun with uncertainty clouding the future of Wilkinsburg, where residents wait to learn whether their borough, beset with high property taxes, severe population loss and scant prospects for reversing either, will remain independent or be annexed as a new neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh, its more stable neighbor. Vanessa Buffry sees …

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Opinion

The Dreaded Bumper Blocker

by Diane Vrabel

When you think about it, what’s more benign than a parking lot? A neutral zone where idled cars pass the time like languid dogs sleeping in the sun. Well, think again. Parking lots can be hazardous to your health. I’m not talking about fender-benders or road rages when careless drivers clash while parking their vehicles. …

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A Win for Wilkinsburg

by PQ Staff

After five years of construction and $6.5 million, the Wilkinsburg train station has changed from being nearly a ruin to being completely and beautifully restored. The restoration of the historic landmark provides a striking and hopefully catalytic example of what is possible in building a new Wilkinsburg. The 10,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts building opened in 1916, serving …

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Arts

Jazz Renaissance

by Marianne Dougherty

It’s hard to play the alto sax when you’re wearing a mask, so Tony Campbell simply cut a hole in his and played right through the pandemic, appearing at any number of venues from Wallace’s Whiskey Room + Kitchen in East Liberty to a concert on the lawn at a private home in Forest Hills …

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Creative Capital

On Agency

by Greg Curtis

“Agency” is a small word, but it has large meanings. In my day job in the financial industry, for example, “agency” issues refer to the differences in interests between investors (the principals) and their financial advisors (the agents). The classic example of a conflict between the interests of these parties involves stockbrokers. An investor can …

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Culture Opinion

Famous Last Word

by Ray Werner

I decided a few years back, as I approached the magic number 80 that it would be a good idea to die at home. Dying at home, I figured, surrounded by my children and grandchildren, in the house where Susan and I raised our three sons and daughter, would be a storybook ending to a …

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Books

An Alternative History of Pittsburgh

by Fred Shaw

Pittsburgh has been labeled variously as a “mosaic,” “hell with the lid off,” and “the Paris of Appalachia.” The East Liberty-born poet Jack Gilbert describes the city in his poem, “Searching for Pittsburgh,” as being made of “brick and tired wood/ Ox and sovereign spirit/ a consequence of America.” Those characterizations loom as well-played section …

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A farm life

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

From photographs I sent to expert tracker Linda Spielman, she was able to tell me wonderful little stories about what animals on our farm were doing last winter. At the top of our hill, a mouse bounded across deep snow, its hind feet sinking into holes made by its front feet. “Lots of animals do …

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Creative Capital

Are We All Actually Immortal?

by Greg Curtis

“There is a realm the laws of physics prevent us from accessing.” — Ryan Mandelbaum Previously in this series: On Consciousness Part VII: Entering Unitarity “Death, be not proud.” — John Donne We are discussing the phenomenon of unitarity, a core feature of quantum physics. Last week we noted that, in the mid-1970s, Stephen Hawking argued that unitarity …

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PQ Poem

After A Pitcher of Beer at Antlers Pub, I Believed I Was Brave

by Lori Jakiela

After A Pitcher of Beer at Antlers Pub, I Believed I Was Brave And walked with my friend Mike to the State Street Pier. Mike was funny, a good drinking buddy, and fearless. He pissed from the edge of the pier, then pole vaulted over the railing and landed hard with both feet, right on the lake below. …

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Nature

A Refuge for Wildlife-Watching

by Thomas Saunders

About an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh, Interstate 79 is the 120-acre Cussewago Bottom Conservation Area in Crawford County. The preserve provides an opportunity to explore forests, wetlands and wildlife near a tributary of French Creek. Cussewago originates from the Seneca Indian word meaning “big belly.” Cussewago Creek flows south from Erie County for 35 …

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Creative Capital

Entering Unitarity

by Greg Curtis

“Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.” — Socrates Previously in this series: On Consciousness Part V: Is It All Predictable? “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. –Woody Allen The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) states, simply, that “An individual who has sustained either (1) …

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Homes

An Urban Farmhouse

by Marylynn Uricchio

Like many couples, the owners of this Shadyside residence decided to sell the sprawling home they had lived in since 1972 when their children were grown and gone. That was 20 years ago. “We were early with the downsizing,” the wife says with a laugh. But they retained an acre of prime property next to …

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Birds

Keep Warm and Watch for Flickers

by David Liebmann

Forty below zero isn’t cold if you dress for it. I learned that in the Wyoming backcountry when I spent three weeks winter camping one February. We ate high-calorie diets, slicing butter into hot cocoa for the extra fat, and built thick snow shelters to pass the frigid nights. When it dropped below zero, we …

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Regional News

What the New Mayor Faces

by Jeffery Fraser

Sophie Masloff became mayor as the city of Pittsburgh was mourning the death of her popular predecessor, Richard Caliguiri. Tom Murphy was elected to the office in 1994, when the city teetered on the brink of financial calamity as the region scrambled to reinvent itself after the collapse of its steel industry. The mayors who …

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Ilkin, Stabile, Weizenbaum, Harper, Wholey

by PQ Staff

Tunch Ilkin, 63 The Steelers two-time Pro Bowl tackle, team captain and longtime broadcaster on the Steelers Radio Network died of ALS. He played 13 seasons with the Steelers and one with the Green Bay Packers before retiring in 1993. Ilkin was also vice president of the NFL Players Association from 1989 to 1994. He …

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Creative Capital

Uh-oh! Free Will Pulls Vanishing Act

by Greg Curtis

“I do not believe in free will.” — Einstein Previously in this series: On Consciousness Part V: Is It All Predictable? “There is no absolute or free will.” — Spinoza We are investigating my claim that free will is an illusion that grows out of our ignorance of the factors – the prior interactions – that engender …

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