Articles Archive - Page 88 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce, or soon will leave it, in an unprecedented wave. Census data tell us that the number of retirees in the region soon could swell to six figures. In this final edition of our “Silver Tsunami” series, we ask, as Butch Cassidy might, “Who are those guys?” Though their circumstances …

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Birds

The Cedar Waxwing

by David Liebmann

Pittsburgh has produced some renowned birders and ornithologists. Our hills and rivers attract a wide variety of birds, and they, in turn, inspire generation after generation to look to the skies—from John James Audubon, who painted the long-extinct Passenger Pigeon while passing through the Gateway to the West (an old moniker for our fair city), …

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Creative Capital

A Pampered Generation

by Greg Curtis

The typical trust fund baby is well-known to all of us: a life devoted to spending down the family’s capital on themselves, not working, having difficulty maintaining relationships, living empty lives. The fear that people will be ruined by money is so pervasive that, following the French Revolution, trusts were abolished in virtually all civil …

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Profiles

Saying Goodbye

by John Beale

As a child, my mother often reminded me that we all enter and leave this world the same way. It’s what we do between those two events that will define our lives. It’s likely that my mother, Edith Beale, wasn’t much different than other mothers raising families in and around towns lining the valleys of …

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Events

Allegheny County Parks Celebrate 90th Anniversary

by PQ Staff

More than 200 guests celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Allegheny County Parks January 10 at an evening reception at the Heinz History Center. “90 Years of Allegheny County Parks: Celebrating their Legacy, Imagining their Future” brought acclaimed landscape architect Thomas Woltz to Pittsburgh to envision the next era for our nine county parks. Woltz, …

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Creative Capital

Poor Parenting Saps the Wealthy

by Greg Curtis

We are talking in a roundabout way that has taken us back to first principles about the human maturation process and how it interacts with the fear of affluent parents that money will ruin their children. There are several characteristic ways that affluent families go wrong, launching the shirtsleeves-to-shirtsleeves phenomenon that, as Jay Hughes has …

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History

New Long Stairway in Mill District, 1940

by Jennifer McNulty

Perched atop a network of stairs, photographer Jack Delano captured this snow-dusted Hazelwood scene in 1940 for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). A Russian native who settled in the Philadelphia area around age 10, Delano studied art and music at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Known primarily for his dramatic images, Delano, who …

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PQ Poem

Pittsburgh’s Famed Stairways to…

by Paola Corso

“Pittsburgh is undoubtedly the cockeyedest city in the United States. Physically, it is absolutely irrational. It must have been laid out by a mountain goat…And then the steps—oh, Lord, the steps!” –Syndicated Columnist Ernie Pyle, 1937 (as qtd. in “Steps of Pittsburgh”) “Long stairway in mill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” 1940 Medium-format nitrate negative by …

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Profiles

Helen Hanna Casey, Real Estate Maven

by Jeff Sewald

I grew up in Shadyside, the daughter of Howard W. Hanna Jr., and Anne Freyvogel Hanna, with an older brother and younger sister. Eventually, all three of us went to small Catholic colleges. My brother, Howard W. “Hoddy” Hanna III, to which he has added Howard W. Hanna IV and V, attended John Carroll in …

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Arrivals

Blankenship, Rossi, Rizzo, Peddada, Finkel, Davitt, Reis

by PQ Staff

Chip Blankenship is CEO of Arconic, the former Alcoa division that makes aluminum and titanium parts for the aerospace and automotive industries. A metallurgist by training, Blankenship began his career with General Electric in 1992 after earning a B.S. in materials engineering from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the …

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Nature

Winter Patterns

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

“Where, twisted round the barren oak, The summer vine in beauty clung, And summer winds the stillness broke, The crystal icicle is hung.” —From “Woods in Winter,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Walking our woods in winter, I see the natural world differently than in the warmer months. Distracted by neither color nor blossom, I instead …

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American Spirit

Flo’s Wisdom—on the Eve of 50 Years as a Waitress at Pamela’s

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Around 1 p.m., right after the lunch rush, 87-year old Flo Silbach will start slowing down. She won’t quit, though. Oh no, no way she’s quitting. Her shift at Pamela’s Diner in Millvale doesn’t end until four. So, instead of shuffling around the tables and booths, jotting down orders in neat cursive and clearing empty …

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Creative Capital

Understanding the Trust Fund Baby

by Greg Curtis

We are talking about the complex process through which infants and children are transformed from little beasts into responsible adults. More particularly, we are talking about how that process often goes wrong and never goes perfectly. In “Civilization and Its Discontents,” for example, Sigmund Freud proposed a…, well, a “Freudian” take on the issue. Freud pointed …

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Creative Capital

The Talk

by Greg Curtis

No, not that talk. Talking to kids about sex is a walk in the park compared to talking to kids about their family’s money. The worst that can happen with the-birds-and-the-bees conversation is massive parental mortification. The worst that can happen with the money talk, however, is… Well, let’s look into that. For more than a century, …

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Creative Capital

Make your Plan Now (While You’re Calm)

by Greg Curtis

“Would I say there will never, ever be another financial crisis? I hope that it will not be in our lifetimes and I don’t believe it will be.” –Janet Yellen. Last week I suggested six steps we could take to prepare ourselves for the next market crisis—which, Janet Yellen notwithstanding, will in fact happen. This …

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Food & Wine

Combat Cold Weather with Époisses Cheese and Crisp Wines

by Dave DeSimone

Enduring cold weather at the start of a new year calls for serious measures. Time to break out the Époisses de Bourgogne cheese and tasty wines. Those already familiar with the glories of Époisses know what I mean. Once you’ve experienced Époisses, the intense sensory impressions cannot be forgotten. Passionate reactions are common. Époisses cheese …

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Books

The Perfect Winter Blend

by John Allison

I loved reading “The Plot to Scapegoat Russia” by Dan Kovalik, a lawyer with United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh, even though I disagreed with just about every page of it. We all benefit from hearing sustained arguments by serious people who challenge our beliefs and assumptions. In the end, Dan did not change my …

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Health

The Trouble with Sugar

by Kelly Casey

As a liver specialist for more than 25 years, Dr. Michael Babich has seen a seismic shift in his practice. No longer are viruses or chronic alcoholism destroying the livers of most of his patients at Allegheny Health Network. Now, it’s the overconsumption of fructose—an industrialized form of sugar that has crept into the American …

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Obituaries

Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2017

by PQ Staff

From Henry Hillman to Dr. Thomas Starzl, we’ve said goodbye to many influential Pittsburghers this year. Remember those who have passed away and their impact on the region—and the world—in this compilation of our Last Chapter department. Henry Hillman, 98 Henry Hillman had a keen interest in the future and an unusual ability to see into …

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Obituaries

Burger, Beaumont, Fincke, Lowry, Frankel, Papadakos, Dozzi, Troan

by PQ Staff

Herb Burger, 87: A leading Pittsburgh advertising executive, Burger led the PR effort that created the 1980s slogan, “Pittsburgh: The city with a smile on its face” while president of Creamer Inc. After the firm was sold, Burger started the St. George Group. He was the first chairman of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and was …

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Creative Capital

What Will You Do in the Crisis? Part II

by Greg Curtis

“I’m less interested in the return on my money than in the return of my money.” –Mark Twain Whether the markets crash next week or years from now, it’s not too soon to be thinking about how we will navigate the next crisis. With asset prices as high as they are and investor complacency (measured by market volatility) as low …

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Nature

Becoming a Deer Farmer

by Bridget Fertal

Deer may be the taxidermy industry’s essential resource, but living deer are making a much bigger economic impact now, thanks to the growing business of deer farming. Deer farming is growing faster than any other industry in rural America, according to a study by Texas A&M University. The business provides jobs to tens of thousands …

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