My Elf On The Shelf And The Legend of Belsnickel

Elf on the Shelf is creepy. The face, the disproportionate limbs, the mythology dating back to the mid-1990s – it is all creepy, commercialized and secularized. Obviously, it is destined for greatness. The history of Christmas as a holiday and tradition is rife with cultural appropriation, secularization and lots of red-n-green washing. Trees became mainstream […]

12 Lesbian Thanksgivings

This year, Ledcat and I will celebrate our 12th Thanksgiving as a couple. Our plans include dinner with our family of choice (aka The Sarahs and their 2 kids) who are vegetarian but prepare turkey breast for us. I’m pretty sure we’ll be schooled in a video game by the 8 year old and get […]

What Does It Mean to Amplify?

How To Be An Ally

The word amplify has been rolling around my brain for months now. I’ve been following two distinct, but interconnected threads on social media about the need for allies to amplify the voices of people of color and transgender people – in lieu of speaking for them. And let me be very clear here – these […]

The Risks of Moving Beyond the Blog

This past weekend, I was part of a panel discussion about the #ArtisticVisionPgh project. The audience was small, but asked terrific questions. I think it went well. Video will be available in a few months. This panel also marked my unofficial entry into the world of blogger artist in residence. To be honest, that’s a […]

Giveaway: Mary J. Blige Album The London Sessions

Enter to win The London Sessions from Mary J. Blige! THE LONDON SESSIONS the new album from global superstar MARY J. BLIGE Featuring the hit single “Therapy” and groundbreaking collaborations with UK talent including Sam Smith, Disclosure, Naughty Boy and more! Available December 2: http://smarturl.it/TheLondonSessions Follow Mary J. Blige on social media http://www.maryjblige.com http://facebook.com/maryjblige http://twitter.com/maryjblige […]

Artistic Q&A: Vannevar Bush on The Art of Urban Observation

As part my NaBloPoMo examination of art and blogging, I asked a few folks to consider some of the same questions I’m pondering. Today, I’m sharing the responses from local blogger Vannevar Bush.   I first met Vannevar via Facebook when I posted about my fear of cycling in an urban environment. That conversation led […]

WESA 90.5 Explores LGBTQ Poverty

WESA

This past week, WESA aired two segments addressing an often overlooked issue in the LGBTQ community – poverty. Deanna Garcia put together a solid segment focusing squarely on poverty, using data from The Williams Institute as well as interviews with local leaders. She interviewed a local lesbian who is disabled and living on Social Security. […]

North Side Food Pantry Hopes to Gives One Can of Tuna to All Families in Dec, 1000 cans needed

Donate Tuna to Food Pantry

So I intentionally distorted the image to show what happens when you stretch a can of tuna to feed multiple people. Today, I received this message from North Side Common Ministries In December, our goal is to give each of the 1,000 families that will visit the Northside Food Pantry one can of tuna. One. […]

Video For Our Podcamp Pittsburgh Panel on Art, Advocacy and Blogging

Podcamp Pittsburgh

See you Sunday at my Podcamp Pittsburgh panel at 2 PM. NEW NEW ART VISION VIMEO with slides/ pics from Brian Cottington on Vimeo.

Artistic Q&A: Maria Lupinacci on Absolute Blogging

Absolute Vodka

As part my NaBloPoMo examination of art and blogging, I asked a few folks to consider some of the same questions I’m pondering. Today, we’ll be chatting with the other political junkie, Maria Lupinacci.   Maria is probably the first Pittsburgh blogger than I met in person – we first spoke on the phone and […]