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With a surname of “Kerr” you probably aren’t too shocked to learn that I’m part Irish. What was shocking to me was when I learned the whole story about my ethnicity. I grew up in blue-collar West Mifflin, the daughter of a steel family. We were Kerr’s and Pryor’s – and everyone told me that […]
Today’s prompts – 3 in 1! 1. I was born in Upper St. Clair, lived in Mt. Lebanon and then Baldwin before landing in West Mifflin at the tender age of 2. My parents still live in West Mifflin. My earliest memory of our home in West Mifflin is the smell of a diaper pail […]
I can’t recall specific great dreams or even my worst nightmare (who would want to?) so I thought of some recurring themes. 1. Banshee. My father told me about the banshee when I was a kid. So wailing winds combined with the tree branches scratching my window and an overactive imagination led to some terrible […]
Today’s blogging prompt asked me to explain the socioeconomic class structure in the neighborhood where I grew up. That would be West Mifflin, PA. I have six attempts in my drafts folder. All devolved from thoughtful class analysis of a working class suburb into various rants. Clearly, I have some unresolved issues with my hometown. […]
Do you still feel pressure of conform? If no, what age did it stop? Also, Write a post inspired by your sixteenth birthday. Oh, my dear question generator, you are obviously not part of a subculture or a subculture within a subculture. The “pressure to conform” to being straight is all around you. Open the newspaper […]
Today’s blogging prompt involved finding a headline in my local paper and this is what I found Teacher Evaluation Fight May Prove Costly I could tell you about my public education in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the West Mifflin School District. I could tell you about what I’ve learned through my work as a […]
Friday evening, Pittsburgh native Karen Mould known professionally as Bitch will perform one show only at Club Cafe, fronting her new concept BEACH. You can buy tickets for the 7 PM performance of her show (doors at 6) online. When Opus One Productions first hinted that Bitch was bringing a new concept to Pittsburgh, I […]
I didn’t watch manyepisodes of GLEE last year because of the change in the schedule. Still, I felt an investment in knowing what happened to the characters I had come to appreciate. I was also pleased GLEE made it this long – I still feel bad about “My So Called Life” and “Popular” ending too […]
Remember when Schenley High School was closed? In 2008. Four years ago. Remember when nearly 300 employees of the Pittsburgh Public School District (PPS) were laid off? Four months ago. Sigh. Schenley had/has a robust alumni group that vigorously protested the closure of an important institution to the East End identity. That’s fine. They are […]
Editor’s Note: This week, I’ll be sharing guest blog posts from folks who identify as allies and what that means to them. Jason Togyer shared a personal commentary at the Tube City Almanac. Jason grew up near McKeesport; I grew up near McKeesport, too. His perspective resonates with me both as a reflection on my […]
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