Articles Archive - Page 78 of 156 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

The shopping cart wasn’t going that fast. For once, I wasn’t careening through Walmart like a contestant on Guy Fieri’s “Grocery Games,” simply because my cart was weighted down with two large cases of water, two big containers of clothes detergent (so much cheaper in the 255 ounce unliftable bottles), four vats of kitty litter …

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Creative Capital

The Really Horrible Versus the Ordinarily Horrible

by Greg Curtis

By “PVCs” I don’t mean the stuff they make pipes out of. I mean “premature ventricular contractions.” When people have heart attacks, especially serious ones, heart muscle dies and turns into useless, deadweight scar tissue. To make matters worse, hearts that are pocked by scar tissue conduct electrical waves very differently than hearts that are …

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Events

Pittsburgh Playhouse Opens Its Doors with a Gala

by PQ Staff

Point Park University’s new Pittsburgh Playhouse opened its doors in a big way on Saturday, October 13 with a black-tie gala event for over 400 guests, including Oscar and Tony-Award winning alumni, Point Park University administration, trustees, civic and community leaders, faculty, students and Pittsburgh Playhouse patrons. The evening kicked off with a cocktail reception …

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PQ Poem

i am the sea

by Ali Whitelock

that january. prestwick beach. the sea heaves. swallows herself down like cough syrup in thick slow gulps. we’d sat on this rock just two days before, both of us with our backs to the world staring out across and into the thickness. i counted a thousand and one seagulls that day watched them huddle together, …

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History

Meadowcroft—Western Pennsylvania’s time machine

by Barbara Eichenlaub

Most people are aware of western Pennsylvania’s rich history, but few know just how far back that history reaches. A trip to Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village in Avella in Washington County indicates how significant our region is. Meadowcroft comprises 275 acres on part of the former Miller farm, and is celebrating its 50th season …

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Education

What’s the Big Idea?

by PQ Staff

Pittsburgh Quarterly invited the heads of the region’s top independent schools to address, in 200 words or less, this question: What is your school’s biggest challenge and how are you addressing it? Scott D. Fech, Head of School, Winchester Thurston School From our very beginnings, our founder, Miss Mitchell, issued the imperative to the Winchester …

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History

A Day of Reflection

by Ken Kobus

It was a warm, clear, sunny, wonderful day with a deep blue sky, so untypical for Pittsburgh. I remember it like it was yesterday, although some three-plus decades have since passed. The city is noted for being one of the cloudiest in the US, ranking up there with Seattle and Portland. So, I was enjoying …

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Opinion

What’s Right, What’s Left?

by Samuel Hazo

So much of modern culture seems bent on eliminating humanity from life itself. In many instances, this is identified as progress. But is it? Consider the current attitude toward handwriting, i.e., cursive. In many of our schools there is no longer any emphasis on the handwritten word. When I asked my grandson recently if handwriting …

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Opinion

I’d Find You Again

by Sylvia Catello

There’s this line in a Lukas Nelson song that goes, “If I started over I’d find you again.” I have no sense of direction, so I hope this is possible for me, but salmon do it all the time. Fall is here, and this is the time when salmon make their run. Not like a …

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Birds

A Century of Protecting Birds

by David Liebmann

My great-grandfather Samuel Feins emigrated from the Old Country, in his case, Russia, in 1899. He came through Ellis Island and then quickly made his way to Massachusetts. Fifteen years later he was firmly established as the proprietor of the New Hat Frame Company of 55-63 Summer Street, Boston. He was a milliner, a hat …

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Homes

Some Enchanted Cottage

by Marylynn Uricchio

Tucked into a hidden corner of Squirrel Hill is a house that looks as if Cary Grant should step out of the front door, the star of a romantic comedy set in the Cotswolds. It oozes charm from every leaded window, and every window box. Built in 1925, it has a come hither look that …

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Nature

The Brush Hog: Thoughts on a Fall Field Cutting

by David Macpherson

Twice a year, in June and October, I cut the long grass and other species of plants, named derisively as weeds, in my fields. It’s a bit like cutting grass with a huge lawnmower. I use a Kubota tractor with a twin-bladed brush hog attached. The cutter is about eight feet wide. For most, no …

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Opinion

Spinning Out of Control

by Elizabeth Wiethorn

Working from home for the past year has provided me with a one-minute commute to my home office and easy access to my favorite meal replacement—potato chips and dip. One of these perks resulted in my favorite jeans shrinking considerably and the realization that it was time to again try a dreaded fitness class. I …

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Region

With the Local Newspaper in Decline, What is the Fate of Local Reporting?

by Neil Strebig

Local newspapers have struggled for more than a decade to secure a foothold in the digital era and stay in business. Dwindling revenues and flagging demand for print editions have led some southwestern Pennsylvania papers to close and others to downsize their newsrooms, affecting coverage of local news. To make matters worse, there doesn’t appear …

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Architecture & Neighborhoods

Pittsburgh at Twilight

by David Aschkenas

Some cities are known for spectacular sunsets. Photographer David Aschkenas finds that, in Pittsburgh, the most interesting light is just before sunrise. Experience Pittsburgh at twilight in this collection of intriguing photographs. View more of David Aschkenas’s work at www.daschkenasphoto.com.

Creative Capital

How Many Heart Beats Do You Want?

by Greg Curtis

So there I was, at the end of April 2015, off all my prescription meds. (I still took a baby aspirin and a multivitamin, don’t ask me why.) I was feeling great and knew I needed to exercise, but knowing and doing are two very different things. Before my heart attack I had a very …

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Profiles

Ageless Wisdom: Abraham Twerski, 87

by Douglas Heuck

Try and find happiness in everything. And that’s not easy. There are a lot of things that cause you misery. Right now I’m disabled in a wheelchair. I’m dependent on other people for so many things. I don’t like being dependent on people. But I still try and find some happiness in that. I once …

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Arrivals

Cudd, Farmer, Schuler, Buford, Kraybill, Martin, Gunther

by PQ Staff

Ann E. Cudd is provost and senior vice chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, supervising the academic and research operations of more than 700 full-time faculty and 7,000 students. A native of Gambier, Ohio, she comes to Pitt from Boston University where she served as an administrator and professor of philosophy for the past three …

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Health

The Powder of Death

by Nick Keppler

Marley Fisher walked away from several overdoses during her six years of opioid addiction. The batch that finally killed her left her unable to even stumble out of the Point State Park bathroom stall into which she ducked to shoot up. In April of 2017, Fisher, 28, accompanied a friend to buy heroin from a …

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Events

Pittsburgh Native, CNBC’s Epperson Raises Money, Awareness

by PQ Staff

CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent Sharon Epperson reminded attendees of the Brain Aneurysm Foundation’s 12th Annual Research Grant Symposium to always remain “present, mindful, and grateful” in their daily lives. Epperson, a brain aneurysm survivor, captivated a full house with her inspirational story of recovery, perseverance, and advocacy. She drew an audience of researchers and …

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Region

Austin’s Conundrum of Success

by Paul Scripko

Austin, Texas is one of a handful of cities in the world currently blessed in reputation—big enough to have almost all the cultural amenities of cities twice our size, yet small enough to be tops on any of those innumerable “livability” lists. A recent cover story in “The Economist” looks at the Silicon Valley and …

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Arts

Barebones’ “Lobby Hero” Combines Comedy with Tragedy to Stunning Effect

by Stuart Sheppard

Dichotomies in art usually succeed brilliantly or fail dreadfully. Bringing together disparate forms is inherently risky: it challenges the artist, but even more so, it challenges the audience. In the case of “Lobby Hero,” Kenneth Lonergan’s 2001 play about four people whose lives collide in a random apartment building lobby, barebones productions has dropped this …

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