Kids in Blackface Controversy in Armstrong County

White silence

Content Note: racism, racial justice, white complicity   Around Halloween, two 12-year-old girls allegedly decided to dress up in blackface for Halloween. They were spotted and photographed at a local Dunkin Donuts. The ensuing thread on Facebook, seemingly including the girls’ family members, is filled with threats and more racism and also resistance. While I […]

Yinzers and Jagoffs, Oh My #NaBloPoMo2019 #NaBloPoMoPgh

The Prompt – Do you identify as a ‘yinzer’ or ‘jagoff’ or some other Pittsburghese term altogether? How so? Is there anyone in your life that fits your perception of these terms? In my mind, jagoff is an insult and yinzer is a posture. I use both terms liberally, including variants like “a jag” and […]

#NaBloPoMoPgh Writing Prompt Three #NaBloPoMo2019

These prompts are for anyone interested in or connected to Pittsburgh Some of you grew up here, some relocated as adults. If the prompt isn’t a perfect fit, feel free to adapt to your circumstances – insert your own towns, tweak it a bit, write about something else entirely. Do you identify as a ‘yinzer’ […]

A History of My Friendship With Mayor Bill Peduto

One of the longest running relationships has been with Mayor Bill Peduto. Our friendship is a very loose use of the word; we aren’t personal friends and have rarely had a lot of face-to-face contact. What we’ve shared has been our investment in LGBTQ and other progressive issues, even though we haven’t always been on the exact same side every time.

Five Pieces of Pittsburgh History I Never Knew #NaBloPoMoPgh #NaBloPoMo2019

Westylvania

The Prompt: Summarize what you learned about Pittsburgh’s history in your school days? As an adult, did you learn anything new about Pittsburgh’s history that surprised you? What parts of local history would you like to learn about now? I attended a public school in a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh. To my recollection, we never […]

#NaBloPoMoPgh Writing Prompt Two #NaBloPoMo2019

NaBloPoMo 2019

These prompts are for anyone interested in or connected to Pittsburgh Some of you grew up here, some relocated as adults. If the prompt isn’t a perfect fit, feel free to adapt to your circumstances – insert your own towns, tweak it a bit, write about something else entirely.   Summarize what you learned about […]

#NaBloPoMo2019 My relationship to Pittsburgh

The Prompt – Tell us about your geographic relationship to this region. Were you born here? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now? Do you feel a strong tie to any particular neighborhood? What about living in the urban neighborhoods versus the suburbs and rural regions? I was born in a Pittsburgh […]

#NaBloPoMoPgh Writing Prompt One #NaBloPoMo2019

NaBloPoMo 2019

These prompts are for anyone interested in or connected to Pittsburgh Some of you grew up here, some relocated as adults. If the prompt isn’t a perfect fit, feel free to adapt to your circumstances – insert your own towns, tweak it a bit, write about something else entirely.   Tell us about your geographic […]