2022 Fall Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

The fresh snow and twinkling lights had Pittsburghers in the holiday spirit, but alone in his hotel room John Grigas had spiraled into a dark place. He had played 19 games in his professional football career. His teams had lost all 19. With his soul suffering and his body battered, could he drag himself through …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Dr. Robert M. Friedlander

by Jeff Sewald

“My mother’s father was born in 1905 in Pinsk, in the old Soviet Union. He was Jewish and had witnessed pogroms against his people, during which half of his family lost their lives. In fact, his father and some of his brothers were killed right in front of him. So, when he was 15, my …

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Culture

On a Pedestal, Fall 2022

by PQ Staff

Sculpture All AroundHats off to two local sculpture efforts. The first, by longtime design innovator Dan Droz is “The Gathering,”(above) the largest sculpture to be installed in a public setting in Pittsburgh in over 20 years. It is sited at the entrance to The Heritage Trail, at 15th Street and Waterfront Place in the Strip …

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Culture History

A Princess on the Bluff

by Samuel Hazo

On February 26, 1978, Princess Grace of Monaco presented a poetry program entitled “Birds, Beasts and Flowers” in the Carnegie Music Hall under the auspices of the International Poetry Forum. This was her first professional appearance in the United States since her marriage in 1954. This would also be her first visit to Pittsburgh. Though …

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Books Culture

The Power and Danger of Storytelling

by Fred Shaw

Sway. for Jonathan Gottschall, author of the riveting nonfiction, The Story Paradox: How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down, this lone syllable jotted on a bar napkin while watching interactions in a tavern becomes the answer to a question: What are they actually doing? His thesis: human communication stands “to influence …

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Culture

Canton – a Great Fall Getaway

by Barbara Eichenlaub

For most Pittsburghers, canton, Ohio is synonymous with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And why not? Thirty-two of the 362 enshrined members are Steeler-related. But the birthplace of the National Football League (originally the American Professional Football Association in 1920), has more to offer than football. Founded in 1963 with two rooms, the Hall …

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Culture History

Touring Our Industrial Past

by Evan Pattak

Step on board the good ship Explorer and get ready to enjoy your exciting outing on Pittsburgh’s signature rivers. No jazz combo, no dancing here, but there is a tour guide who will introduce you to the stops along your journey. Over there are the former iron-making Carrie Furnaces spanning Rankin and Swissvale, abandoned in …

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Obituaries People

Ferlo, Treganowan, Chaplin, Simpson, Poliziani, Fuhrer, Henderson, Lovelace, Grefenstette, Dunlap, Grata

by PQ Staff

Jim Ferlo, 70A former state senator, city council president and community advocate, Ferlo was an active supporter of causes that included attempting to save the landmark Syria Mosque. He was Pennsylvania’s first openly gay senator after coming out publicly during a 2014 debate about an LGBT hate crimes bill. Ferlo began his career as a …

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Education Nonprofits

An Untapped Resource? Pt. II

by PQ Staff

We’ve asked the presidents of this region’s colleges and universities to address our critical workforce shortages by penning a response to the following question: “As you know, the western Pennsylvania region faces a more acute workforce shortage than almost any other major region in the country. Working as closely with young adults as you do, …

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Education Nonprofits

An Untapped Resource?

by PQ Staff

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Pittsburgh Today

Pittsburgh Passport

by Jeffery Fraser

Even before the pandemic, economic development officials worried the western Pennsylvania labor force was lacking the volume of workers necessary to fuel aspirations of sustained economic growth and increased global competitiveness among the region’s businesses. How to boost the labor force was a tough question to answer. The region’s population had flatlined, having risen only …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

Full of Flavor

by Marylynn Uricchio

Wanderlust quite literally means a lust for wandering, and Richard DeShantz has it big time. One moment he’s skiing out West, the next he’s exploring the food and culture in Turkey. Trying to catch up with the chef and owner of nine successful Pittsburgh restaurants can be a challenge, but it also explains the myriad …

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Arrivals People

McCarroll, Maneval, Medlar, Barrett, Rieck, Benoit

by PQ Staff

David McCarroll has been appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, holding the Rachel Mellon Walton Concertmaster Chair beginning with the 2022-2023 season. McCarroll joined the orchestra as concertmaster for its European tour in August and will make his Pittsburgh debut in September. He performs regularly around the world with major orchestras and as a chamber musician, playing at …

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Books Culture

The Blue Continuum

by Robert McNeilly Jr.

“Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.”— Robert F. Kennedy Policing in any community is only as effective as the elected officials being informed and prudent enough to avoid common mistakes. When officers make mistakes, they jeopardize …

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Nature Sports & Outdoors

Streaming Views

by John Beale

Books Culture

Behind a Biography

by Maxwell King

I first got interested in John Kane 20 years ago. I was working at The Heinz Endowments, the large charitable foundation in Pittsburgh, which has a wonderful collection of the work of Pittsburgh artists, going back over 100 years. A local art dealer named Pat McArdle was talking to me about the collection when he …

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Nature

Surviving Summit Mountain

by Ben Moyer

Snowbound residents of Pittsburgh’s hilly neighborhoods may not share this view, but part of the appeal of being a Western Pennsylvanian is that our natural geography still imposes influence on daily life. Not all regions enjoy, or endure, that dash of topographic spice, but it’s inescapable on my travels over and atop Summit Mountain, looming …

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Birds

This Fall, Look for the Red-Shouldered Hawk

by David Liebmann

Our raptors are ubiquitous but easily confused with one another. In western Pennsylvania, with its thick forests, sloping mountains, and suburban regrowth, we regularly can see sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper’s hawks, red-tailed hawks, broad-winged hawks, and the occasional rough-legged hawk, northern harrier, and northern goshawk. Add in the red-shouldered hawk, and we have some eight species …

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Books Culture

Consequences of Love

by Fred Shaw

With kidnapping and murder in the storyline, a “whodunit” often ensues. But like the Coen Brothers film masterpiece, Fargo, sometimes the crimes are less interesting than how the characters react to their circumstances and the events that led them astray. Stewart O’ Nan, a Squirrel Hill native and Pittsburgh’s preeminent novelist, uses this tactic to …

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Pittsburgh Today

Unlike Pittsburgh, Detroit is Waging an All-Out War Against Blight – AND WINNING

by Jeffery Fraser

Her city was in trouble when Tammy Daniels joined the Detroit Land Bank Authority in 2015. Detroit’s population had cratered 65 percent from its peak in the 1950s. Well-paying jobs had melted away when the auto industry that defined the city contracted. Foreclosures reached a crisis following the Great Recession. Vacant properties claimed as much …

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Culture History

What Happened to Youngstown?

by Vince Guerrieri

It’s a hell of a thing to know your birth coincides with a line of demarcation in your hometown. On one side is prosperity. On the other, ruin. I was born in Youngstown in 1977. At the time, it was an industrial city, known for its steel production and a variety of attendant industries. The …

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Nature

Enjoy Hiking the Improved Trails in the Laurel Highlands

by Thomas Saunders

People in Western Pennsylvania are fortunate to have the beautiful Laurel Highlands nearby as a destination for hiking, fishing, hunting, boating and all kinds of exploring. One of the many great places in the Laurel Highlands to escape and explore is Bear Run Nature Reserve, a 5,100-acre natural area owned and managed by the Western …

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