If Kevin Acklin Had Lunch at Bistro-to-Go

Nikki Heckman

Tell us about a time you made a false assumption about a person or a place — how did they prove you wrong? I have a few stories in the vein. First, there was Kevin Acklin.  I wrote this in 2009 when Kevin submitted a guest blog post. My first encounter with Kevin was at the January 10, […]

Win Free Passes to See “Empire” Dance Performance at Off The Wall Theater

Empire Pittsburgh

Our friends at Off The Wall Theater have offered a chance to giveaway 2 sets of 2 tickets to see the world debut of “Empire” this weekend As we imagine in our own minds the legacy we are creating and those created by great icons before us we examine the roles of power, instinct, cunning, […]

Donate Back To School Supplies for LGBTQ Youth

School supplies

Backpacks or similar bags are de rigueur for school students, no matter what grade. There are always trends in terms of what’s a cool bag, but for many youth – a durable bag that functions is pretty much what they want. So I have this blue backpack that I purchased in August 1998 for grad […]

Brittney Griner: LifeSize

A terrific 15 minute short film about WNBA player Brittney Griner. This is about her first season playing for a Chinese national team. It was produced by ESPN. The video is a bit wonky – it is set on autoplay and some other things that I think were designed to make it “not copieable” so […]

Watch This Terrific Documentary on PBS This Week

Grace Lee Boggs

Over the weekend, I was introduced to Grace Lee Boggs who is a 99-year-old Chinese American activist deeply enmeshed in the fabric of Detroit. I learned about Grace from a reference on Bitch Media to a free documentary streaming on PBS (through Thursday July 30) “The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs.” Grace’s story is an […]

YOLO So Please Stop Hurting People with “Cray Cray”

cray cray

I can be as much of a language snob as the next person, especially when it comes to middle aged adults appropriating youth terms (as I am wont to do.) Sometimes it is amusing – my former supervisor used to say “Hit Me On My Hip” and slap her hip which was her way of […]

Pgh City Council Votes to Update Trans Non-Discrimination Protections

  Something very interesting took place in Pittsburgh City Council today – they directly addressed a matter of transgender municipal equality for the first time in history. The issue is non-discrimination which Pittsburgh City Council first took up as far back as the late 1980’s. In 1990, the City amended the Human Relations Ordinance to […]

Can I Call Marty Griffin a Jagoff?

Marty Griffin

When was the last time you watched something so scary, cringe-worthy, or unbelievably tacky — in a movie, on TV, or in real life — you had to cover your eyes? I haven’t answered a daily prompt in quite a bit of time, but this was low hanging fruit.  The answer for me is the new […]

Review: Pittsburgh CLO Tribute to Johnny Cash

Pittsburgh CLO

One of the coolest ‘square’ places to spend a weekend evening is the CLO Cabaret. Part musical, part performance art, the shows are always entertaining. I’m not hip enough to stay up late for the “Late Late Night” shows and I’m pretty sure I’m banned from the political shows, but we can blend with the […]

Weird Al Yankovic Parody of “Blurred Lines” Made Me Smile

Weird Al Yankovic

Not only do I finally have a reason to justify that I like the tune, but the “Word Crimes” described in the lyrics are just awesome. I violate many of them everyday. On this here blog. But I still skew toward the smug side when it comes to grammar. I’d much rather deal with the […]