Articles Archive - Page 86 of 157 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Protecting Free Speech on Campus Read More »

For this special feature, we invited the presidents of the region’s leading institutions of higher education to respond to the following: The American Civil Liberties Union has written that “An open society depends on liberal education, and the whole enterprise of liberal education is founded on the principle of free speech.” Yet surveys suggest that …

Health

A New Way to Fight Overdose

by Nick Keppler

When Dave Lozier campaigned to be the district attorney of Beaver County, one topic dominated conversation at every meet-and-greet and campaign stop. “I was up in rural Darlington Township and down in Monaca and the [more populated] river towns and everyone kept asking, ‘What can we do about these overdoses?’ ” recalled Lozier, a former …

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Arts

An Ear for Music and Life

by John W. Miller

On a Tuesday morning in Squirrel Hill, Ceinwen (pronounced Kine-Win) King-Smith taps out notes on her piano. I stumble along, up and down the scale, straining my voice to match pitches. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”140″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] Ceinwen listens. She’s been blind since birth, and is so good at listening that according to her daughter she …

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Birds

The Elusive and Beautiful Green Heron

by David Liebmann

The green heron lay cradled in the crook of Bob Mulvihill’s arm like a baby, or at least that’s how I remember it. He blew on the bird’s belly and a cloud of powder down swirled forth, an adaptation that in all likelihood adds some moisture-shedding resistance to the wing feathers of this water-loving species. …

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Money

Three Questions on the Markets

Three Questions on the Markets Read More »

Each year in our Summer issue, we ask a group of the region’s leading financial experts to help our readers by responding to a question. This year, we’ve asked three. Part I of this four-part series begins below. Question 1: Why has market volatility spiked in 2018? Do you expect markets to remain volatile? LINDA …

Nature

Fleeting Blossoms of the ’Burgh

by David Aschkenas

April showers bring May flowers, but May showers can quickly destroy the delicate blossoms on flowering trees. Sometimes the blooms only last a few days before a sudden downpour—of which Pittsburgh has been experiencing often these days—washes them away. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”244″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] In this collection of images, Pittsburgh photographer David Aschkenas captures the …

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Events

Maecenas XXXIV Brings Contortionists to the Opera

Maecenas XXXIV Brings Contortionists to the Opera Read More »

Pittsburgh’s best-dressed celebrated at Pittsburgh Opera’s 34th annual Maecenas Gala on May 12th in a crowd of 250. Local performing arts patrons Pat and Michele Atkins were presented with Pittsburgh Opera’s Maecenas Award. Pittsburgh Opera awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Honorable Tom Wolf, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which was accepted on his …

The Stubbornness of Culture

The Stubbornness of Culture Read More »

In 2013 J. D. Vance graduated from Yale Law School, an accomplishment he shared that year with the following fraction of his fellow Americans: 0.00000063. I deduced this remarkable statistic very simply, by dividing the number of students in the Yale Law School class (208) by the population of the United States, which, at this …

Sports

Steelers Add Key Players Who Should See Playing Time

by Matthew John Milligan

The 2018 NFL draft is in the books. The league again elected to feature a number of former NFL players to make team selections, perhaps to quell the booing of Commissioner Roger Goodell. It didn’t make a difference. It did, however, produce a very emotional draft moment. To a roaring crowd, linebacker Ryan Shazier walked …

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Events

Pittsburgh Public Theater’s “Bon Voyage!” Bids Ted Pappas Farewell

Pittsburgh Public Theater’s “Bon Voyage!” Bids Ted Pappas Farewell Read More »

“Bon Voyage!” a red carpet event celebrating Ted Pappas and Pittsburgh Public Theater, took place on Monday, April 30 at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown. This August, Ted will say goodbye to the theater after 18 years at the helm and more than 450 well-wishers were on board to bid him farewell. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”242″ …

Don’t Even Think About Crossing a Hillbilly

Don’t Even Think About Crossing a Hillbilly Read More »

We’ve talked about several obstacles to success in middle class Ohio for migrants from southeastern Kentucky: they had horrible accents and they tended to dress funny. But the biggest obstacle was the most difficult to overcome: their behavior. As I’ve noted, Scots-Irish immigrants to America brought with them a constellation of characteristics. These included an …

Arts

Play Unlimited: The Public’s Ambitious “Hamlet” Rewards on Many Levels

by Stuart Sheppard

“The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” is a monster of a play: at about 4,000 lines, it’s Shakespeare’s longest—full productions can easily run past four hours. (Hamlet himself has 1,500 lines, which alone would constitute an entire drama). And it’s monstrous not only in word-count, but body-count. By the end, the prince has been …

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Business

How My English Degree Helped Build a Tech Company

by Chris Allison

When I was 26, my dad got sick and asked me to take over as CEO of the tech company he started. I was armed with my English major from Allegheny College and a couple of years in a retail management training program. In other words, I didn’t have a clue. Or so I thought. …

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Don’t Dress Like a Hillbilly

Don’t Dress Like a Hillbilly Read More »

Last week we discussed one of the major hurdles recent immigrants from southeastern Kentucky faced when they tried to assimilate into middle class society in Ohio: they talked like hillbillies. This week we’ll look at a second hurdle: the matter of dress. In “Hillbilly Elegy,” J. D. Vance notes that his Papaw wore the same outfit every …

Events

Behind-the-Scenes of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Season Finale

Behind-the-Scenes of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Season Finale Read More »

This spring, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) joins in international centennial celebrations for choreographer Jerome Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein with an all-Robbins program featuring three company premieres. “UPMC Presents West Side Story Suite + In the Night + Fancy Free” with the PBT Orchestra takes the stage May 4-6, at the Benedum Center. In addition …

Business

The Agency Game

by Evan Pattak

Pipitone Group, an ad agency in Pittsburgh’s Observatory Hill neighborhood, counts Vitro Architectural Glass as one of its largest clients. For the Cheswick-based company, which purchased PPG Flat Glass in 2016, Pipitone manages advertising and web strategy. Yet when Vitro wants to develop and implement a public relations initiative, it brings to the table another …

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Nature

The Allegheny River

by Thomas Saunders

In many ways, the Allegheny River is the centerpiece of our region. It traverses landscapes from wilderness to urban and provides recreational opportunities in many different places along its course. One of the most spectacular parts of the river is the free-flowing 125 miles of the middle Allegheny from the Kinzua Dam in Warren County …

The Allegheny River Read More »

Opinion

Opining on Eponymy

by Diane Vrabel

It used to be you had to die to get your name etched in stone. Not anymore. Now all you need to do is fork over enough cash to your local school or library and you can purchase a brick with your name chiseled on it while you still register a pulse. Bricks are only …

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Arrivals

Kelleman, Fech, Kaminski, Thors, Bhattacharya, Crawley, Miller

Kelleman, Fech, Kaminski, Thors, Bhattacharya, Crawley, Miller Read More »

Katharine Eagan Kelleman is the CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, succeeding Ellen McLean. Kelleman comes to Pittsburgh from Tampa, Fla., where she led the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority and won that region’s 2016 Businesswoman of the Year Award for economic development. She has previously worked in transit agencies in Baltimore, Dallas …

The Inscrutable Foibles of Hillbilly Talk