Articles Archive - Page 80 of 154 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

As summer moves along, the big NFL machine quietly starts its engine. Training camps kick off across the league this week, with the Steelers setting up shop for their 53rd season at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. Most starting positions on the offense are set, but there are a few intriguing competitions worth monitoring. Planning …

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Creative Capital

Central Bankers Then and Now

by Greg Curtis

Not that anyone cares, but in these pages I’ve been highly critical of the “unconventional” policies pursued by every central banker on the planet since the Financial Crisis. My arguments have been many and simple: The policies not only didn’t work, they actually stunted economic growth. The policies were “immoral” in the sense that they …

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PQ Poem

Naming It

by Jen Ashburn

There should be a name for it: driving into a spring storm with the sun behind you, the spray kicking up from the interstate, the stacked periwinkle clouds, the sunlight still glowing into the trees, finding the naked white birch, the new green of the underbrush. Light has a name for high contrast chiaroscuro, and …

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Books

Grit, Striving and Some Redemption Highlight Rust Belt Collection

by John Allison

A Pittsburgher’s first reaction upon completing the 24 essays in “Voices from the Rust Belt” is bound to be: Jeez-o-man, we’ve got it pretty good here. The tales of city woe here are datelined Akron, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Flint, Youngstown… the usual suspects. But the value of “Voices from the Rust Belt” is not in …

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Nature

Getaway to the Pennsylvania Wilds

by Don Feigert

Sometimes a person just needs to get away—from work, from people, from everything in the city. For me that means heading up to the hills and waters of upstate Pennsylvania. On one particular occasion, however, not even my hunting/fishing cabin would do. So I packed a one-man tent and planned to sleep out under the …

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History

The Man Who Took Away Snakes

by Lisa Bianco

No, he wasn’t always a plumber for the City of Pittsburgh, and he wasn’t always called Pupi either. His wife called him Andy. Pupi told me this story one day when we were hunting at “The Farm.” I was his hunting dog that day. My job was to kick brush piles so that rabbits jumped …

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Events

Passport to Elegance Soiree Features Vintage Automobiles and Airplanes

by PQ Staff

The Voyager Jet Center at the Allegheny County Airport was the host venue of the second Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Passport to Elegance Jet Center Party on July 12, 2018. The guests at this red carpet luxury bash, held in the unique venue of the 18,000 square foot airplane hangar, were greeted to a weather-perfect …

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Creative Capital

Shined Shoes Can Save Your Life: The Conclusion

by Greg Curtis

It was now late winter of 1971 and I was running the traffic division at the 226th MP Company at Fort Benjamin Harrison, outside Indianapolis. In those days Fort Ben was the headquarters of the Army Finance School and the location of the Army Finance Center. The building that housed the Center was the second largest …

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Books

The Spirit of Animals Glows in Robin Becker’s “The Black Bear Inside Me”

by Fred Shaw

There’s a favorite scene in Don DeLillo’s sprawling masterpiece of a novel, “Underworld,” where a priest asks his student to name the parts of the boots the pupil’s wearing. The young man struggles with the assignment, allowing the priest to walk him through each aspect of this common accessory, an extension of the body, saying …

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Homes

Modern Family

by Marylynn Uricchio

A traditional English Tudor in Mt. Lebanon may not seem to be the perfect choice for a young family with progressive taste. The classic bones and signature Tudor elements, such as the use of wrought iron and stone, might have deterred less courageous buyers. But the 1931 residence had many of the qualities the couple …

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Culture

A Summer Sampling: Southwestern Pennsylvania’s County Fairs

by David Aschkenas

For many Pittsburghers, summer memories include fun days—and nights—at county fairs. In this collection of images, photographer David Aschkenas captures the spirit and fascinating culture of the region’s fairs over the past decade. The Big Butler Fair has already come and gone, but get your fill of country concerts and contests at these other fairs …

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Events

Black Tie & Tailpipes Gala Kicks Off Grand Prix

by PQ Staff

The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Black Tie & Tailpipes Gala on Friday, July 6 at Fox Chapel Golf Club kicked off a week of Grand Prix events, culminating on Sunday, July 15 with the races in Schenely Park. This year was another sell out for the gala as more than 300 people attended. The Fox …

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Creative Capital

The Legend of Duke Hock

by Greg Curtis

Sergeant Duke Hock was a legend in the Army while I was still in grade school. He was Jack Reacher before Lee Child was born. There are so many stories about Duke that, even though I’ve forgotten 90% of them, I can remember dozens. The two I’m about to relate happened to involve me. To …

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Nonprofits

Pittsburgh’s Hardest Working Angel

by Evan Pattak

Enter the warehouse and, if you aren’t bewildered by the seeming randomness of it all, you get a sense of the urgency. Mobile hospital beds. Crutches. Respirators. IV poles guarding bedpans. Hundreds of boxes of pharmaceuticals. Medical equipment bound for Nigeria, Uganda, Guyana. And for some reason, dozens of suitcases, many of them more than …

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American Spirit

Rocky’s World Behind the Diner Counter

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Where’s Apollo Creed? Oh, hardy, har, har. Like he hasn’t heard that one like, ten thousand times before. “I also get a lot of ‘Yo, Adrian!’” Rocky says from behind the counter of his corner diner in Bloomfield. The counter is short. Really short. Not even waist-high short. “About four and a half feet tall,” …

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History

Kennywood at 120

by Kate Benz

Everyone has at least one, and probably way more memories of Kennywood: Finally getting behind the wheel of the blue car on the Turnpike. Stealing a kiss on the Old Mill. Begging Mom for another hour at the park. Putting up with your own whining kids when you say it’s time to leave. The taste …

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PQ Poem

O Say Can’t You See?

by Samuel Hazo

We shout when we should be discussing, and the country in chaos accepts it. We shoot when we should be disarming, and the country in chaos accepts it. We claim that the poor are just lazy, and the country in chaos accepts it. We budget to build bigger prisons, and the country in chaos accepts …

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Creative Capital

Shined Shoes Can Save Your Life, Part II

by Greg Curtis

So there we were, in late 1970, having graduated from the U.S. Army Military Police Correctional Specialist Academy, the best-trained prison guards in the world. We had been assigned to one of the worst prisons in the world, the stockade at Long Bình, Vietnam, better known as the Long Bình Jail, or LBJ. Our job …

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Education

Black and White

by Bob Germaux

For the first eight years of my teaching career, the only white face in my classroom was mine. I was aware of that fact, of course, but only peripherally. My students were just that, my students. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I was colorblind. I just didn’t relate to my students at Westinghouse High School …

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Opinion

Lessons from the Farm

by Douglas Heuck

Out at the farm, there’s an old trailer that my parents bought about 30 years ago after the farmhouse we’d been restoring burned to the ground. I’m sure that when Mom and Dad were alive and used it on weekends, the trailer had enough of Mom’s touches to make it seem homey and nice. But …

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Regional News

Region’s Demographics Changing

by Julia Fraser

Southwestern Pennsylvania is starting to look more like the United States as the region’s population becomes more diverse, the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates suggest. The demographic shifts are most significant in Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh, where the Asian and Hispanic populations have been on the rise. In the five-year period from …

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American Spirit

Donna’s Dream and a Life of Roller Skating

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Donna’s knee has been bothering her lately. Which is why she isn’t lacing up her white roller skates right now, the pair her late husband bought for her in 1963 for, geez, it must have been five hundred dollars. The same pair she was wearing 10 years ago when she was 71 and broke her …

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