Articles Archive - Page 97 of 154 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

There are times in your life that mark changes in your composition. Our trip to Antarctica was one of those times. It’s a continent without native people, but where wildlife thrives in an unpredictable environment. It’s a world without infrastructure. The scale is otherworldly and the landscape staggeringly, breathlessly beautiful. It is a landscape difficult …

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Innovation

Silicon Valley—and the Rest of Us

by Paul Scripko

Last week I was in northern California’s Bay Area for a few days and, as I prefer to do when traveling even to familiar places, I make sure to read and watch the local media rather than “the usual” array of nationally available sources. I caught a TV report on a meeting of Silicon Valley …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part X

by Greg Curtis

“Without courage all other virtues are useless” – Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire We are talking about climate change, this being the tenth and (finally!) last post in my long series on “changes” that might be considered by the new Trump Administration. In my last post, I alluded to scientific misgivings about the seminal “Seven Nations” …

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Events

Shake Your Booties Down Bourbon Street

by PQ Staff

Silver platters overflowing with bejeweled masks and long strands of vibrantly colored beads ensured guests of The Children’s Home & Lemieux Family Center wouldn’t be empty handed for their Mardi Gras-themed Shake Your Booties party. At least, for those who didn’t come fully prepared. “I found this upstairs in our house and thought, ‘If I …

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Events

Green Gala Honors Sy Holzer

by PQ Staff

“He’s what makes Pittsburgh go,” said Art Rooney II. “He’s been one of the spokes of Pittsburgh for the past 30 years or so, and we’re excited to give him his dues tonight.” Accolades abounded for PNC Executive Vice President and Special Advisor to the Chairman Sy Holzer, honored with the 2017 Chairman’s Award for …

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Events

Gentlemen’s Night Out

by PQ Staff

Gentlemen’s Night Out was hosted on Friday, February 17 at Heinz Field Champions Club. The black-tie event was presented by Mascaro Construction Company, and chaired by the company’s Executive VP Michael Mascaro to benefit the National Aviary. Nearly 200 guests arrived to the Champions Club where they were greeted by various National Aviary birds! Guests …

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Events

Kicking Off a Collaboration

by PQ Staff

More than 400 guests filled the August Wilson Center Thursday for the Private Performance and Premiere Party kicking off Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Dance Theatre of Harlem’s two-week collaboration celebrating the diversity of talent and styles in American ballet. Presented by BNY Mellon, the collaboration spans nine joint performances and 27 educational programs throughout the …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part IX

by Greg Curtis

Headline of the future: “Oat Bran—the Silent Killer.” (Woody Allen or David Letterman, I forget which.) We are courageously dealing with the controversial subject of climate change, but since my courage is running low, this will be our next-to-last foray into the subject. My fundamental argument about the climate issue is that while the climate …

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Arts

Reflections on “1984” in 2017

by Stuart Sheppard

Critics have argued that we cannot evade Shakespeare’s influence on our conception of human nature, nor Freud’s influence on our understanding of psychology, and I would suggest, as a corollary, that we cannot escape George Orwell’s influence on our notion of the political. The Orwellian ethos, manifested in works such as his final novel, “1984”, …

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American Spirit

The Voice of…Living

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

It’s that voice. Like smoldering embers from a raging bonfire, three ice-cold rocks swimming in aged whiskey. No, make that scotch. Deep. Mysterious. Alluring. The no-way-in-hell-you-can-or-want-to-ignore-that voice. “Yeah, all coming from a short, skinny guy in Baden.” The short, skinny guy in Baden is leaning out of his kitchen door, taking a few long drags …

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PQ Poem

Assisted Living

by Barbara Edelman

“Every simile’s an insurrection” (unknown) Her phone is like a cordless baby. Her children are a blur of programmed digits. Each week she learns new rituals to survive, from toothbrush to spoon. Her softball glove, her Raleigh 3-speed are not even memory. Her new sports are dress, food, hygiene. A slalom course to every doorknob. …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part VIII

by Greg Curtis

“What have future generations ever done for us?” – Groucho Marx Last week we took on the controversial subject of climate change. This week, just to demonstrate how reckless a humble blogger can be, we’ll return to the scene of the crime and do it all over again. When I was in college I took …

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Opinion

Train Shows & Guys

by Tim Menees

When they hit male menopause, some men buy a sports car, or a sailboat, or take off with a young woman named Amber. Others take the cheaper and more benign route: buy electric trains and go to train shows. A local volunteer fire department held one Sunday and it was jammed, mainly by men who …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part VII

by Greg Curtis

In my last post we looked at the need for “change” in one controversial domestic sector, education. But since that wasn’t nearly contentious enough (I only got about 400,000 death threats), let’s move on to something really controversial: climate change. Strangely enough, climate science is a subject I actually know something about. (You needn’t be …

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Arts

CMU Brings Vivid Life to Marlowe’s Great Work

by Stuart Sheppard

Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama manages to combine some of the strongest and rarest elements of great theatre in their production of Christopher Marlowe’s “Edward II”: rawness, mystery, risk and precision. This is the kind of performance of a classic play that eschews the pitfalls of tired masterpieces, and instead, evokes its subject like …

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Events

Let the Good Times Roll

by PQ Staff

“He’s one of those CEO’s in Pittsburgh who makes everything better,” said Epilepsy Foundation Western/Central Pennsylvania board member Joyce Bender. “He cares for all people with disabilities.” It was one of many accolades being echoed amongst 800 guests who arrived to the Westin en masse to toast Covestro’s Jerry MacCleary as 2017 King of the …

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Sustainability Watch

Unemployment Trends in Pittsburgh

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Southwestern Pennsylvania’s economy suffered less during the last recession than most regions and one key reason was that unemployment was relatively stable when other places were reeling with more widespread joblessness. While unemployment in the region has largely fallen below the national average since, recent data raise the prospect of trouble ahead, according to U.S. …

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Events

Right on Q

by PQ Staff

Raw space on the second floor of the Union Trust Building saw its fair share of excitement on Feb. 25 when Quantum Theatre hosted what turned out to be an eye-popping inception of their annual Q Ball. A cherubic male model served as the most notable of many tableaux installations that paid homage to the …

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Events

Rated PGH

by PQ Staff

The Pittsburgh Film Office rolled out the red carpet—515 feet to be exact—during the 17th annual Lights! Glamour! Action! Oscar Party at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Feb. 26. With a guest list that topped 700, the evening kicked off with a champagne-infused VIP reception that saw the likes of PFO director Dawn …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part VI

by Greg Curtis

In my last few posts we looked at some of the more controversial “changes” in the international arena that seem to be demanded. Now we’ll turn to the domestic sector, beginning with education. The controversy surrounding Betsy DeVos’s nomination as Education Secretary obscures a far more urgent issue: the state of American public education today, especially …

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American Spirit

A Crumbling Pittsburgh Treasure

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

There may be an historical marker outside 1727 Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, but the building’s condition says a lot more than the words on the marker. Plywood patches where a front door used to be. Beyond it, plaster has fallen from the interior walls, exposing the crumbling red brick frame. The living room …

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Opinion

Reunion-ited (And it Feels OK)

by Elizabeth Wiethorn

I recently attended my 30-year high school reunion, or as I affectionately call it—Operation “Glory Days.” Quite the surreal experience, and one I approached with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. High school was a weird time for me. I was incredibly self-conscious, didn’t really have a ton of friends, and was never a member …

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