What Question Should I Have Asked? #AMPLIFY

Pink House

Finally, what question should I have asked?  This is one of my favorite questions in the #AMPLIFY survey. I have used this information to modify the questions as the project has unfolded. As I look over the responses now to consider how to incorporate even more suggestions in to the survey, I thought I would […]

Elliot is Bi, Trans and Wishes Westmoreland County Was Talking More About Queer Youth

Westmoreland transgender bisexual

Name: Elliot Age: 20 County of Residence: Westmoreland, attends college in Allegheny county Preferred Pronouns: he/him How do you describe your identity? I am a bisexual transgender male Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? Most of my friends had said in terms of their sexuality that they “always knew”, but for […]

Gloria is a Happy Black Lesbian #AMPLIFY

Gloria Bigelow

Name: Gloria Bigelow Age:  Old Enough County of Residence: Grew up in Allegheny, now lives in California Preferred Pronouns: she How do you describe your identity? Happy black lesbian. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I found support in my friends and in other people in my community. I also […]

Win Tickets to See ‘Yinz ‘R Scrooged’ at Bricolage Sat Matinee

yinz 'r scrooged

This is fun. The folks at Bricolage liked our review of the holiday Midnight Radio show Yinz ‘R Scrooged so much that they offered us two tickets to giveaway for Saturday’s matinee performance. So if you’d like to win 2 tickets for a 2 PM performance on this Saturday, December 19 – do this! Leave […]

Moira Describes the Toll of Gatekeeping on The Trans Community #AMPLIFY

Transgender Beaver County

  Name: Moira Age: 33 County of Residence:  Beaver County, previously lived in Allegheny County Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers How do you describe your identity? I am a transgender woman 100%. That’s the easy part. My sexuality is a convoluted mess. I am demisexual. I wasn’t real sexual before starting HRT. Now there is little interest. However I have a […]

Why The Success of #AMPLIFY Has Left Me Discouraged

AMPLIFY Pittsburgh

I waited all day yesterday to learn if we were going to receive a $1000 grant for the AMPLIFY project, funds that would be used to turn my 2000 CRV into an art car to promote the project. Unfortunately, we did not secure the grant. We lost – just one of 84 applicants rejected for […]

Of Art, Death and Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol grave

I was in a bit of a funk earlier today – not really down, just a little out of sorts. The phone rang and I saw that it was my friend Kerry Kennedy, proprietor of K.S. Kennedy Distinctive Floral, and he had a very unusual request – would I come along to help him deliver […]

Northside Food Pantry Launches Food Drive Blitz To Meet Holiday Needs

The food pantry hosted by Northside Common Ministries on Brighton Road is the largest pantry in Western Pennsylvania. Each month, they distribute food to over 1,000 families and households in the Northside zip codes. The pantry is set up in a ‘shopping model’ which allows clients to select the items they prefer from whatever is […]

Sara, 35, on Her Reality as a Lesbian in Western PA #AMPLIFY

Allegheny County lesbian

Name: Sara Age: 35 County of Residence: Allegheny Preferred Pronouns: Me, herself, someone, somebody How do you describe your identity? Female, white, lesbian Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? It’s funny now but back in 1993 it was scary. I came out to my mother after listening to the Melissa Etheridge […]

‘Scared of Sarah’ Intense Exploration of Family, Relationships

I’ve been referring to this play by Off The Wall Productions as a play about autism, but I must amend that now having watched the play for myself. Lily and Sam are wrestling with the fact that Lily is unexpectedly pregnant, a turn of events that generates the usual array of fears about finances, parenting […]