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When I was a child growing up in West Mifflin, a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh, there were a few consistent holiday rituals. These included: making Advent wreaths at CCD; watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special; and fire truck Santa. Each year the local volunteer fire department would drive around the neighborhoods with Santa on a […]
Some blog posts are more for me, than for you. This is one such post. I’ve decided to make a list of all of my teachers and what impression they made on me. I include my age when I began that grade – I was very young in my class and probably should have been […]
Editor’s Note: It seems appropriate to share that Keith is the first openly LGBTQ person that I knew; we grew up together. He was the second person that I came out to myself. And even having that history – and decades of friendship – his answers took me by suprise, in a good way. ~ […]
As part of our partnership with FIERCE! International Queer Burlesque, #AMPLIFY will be featuring some of the performers this week. Today, we hear from Luna La Creme who is scheduled to perform at the Friday evening showcase, 7 PM. Tickets still available. Burlesque and queer performing arts are an important part of our community heritage. Name: Luna La […]
I grew up Catholic so rarely read the Bible. Actually, never read the Bible except for the year I was confirmed and I was infatuated with my Children’s Bible. My overall religious knowledge was pretty low, but my knowledge of all things culturally Catholic was pretty solid. Case in point – I assumed Joseph of […]
Like most kids, I grew up with a mixture of urban legend and cultural frights that together made for terrifying experiences. Our neighborhood was the border of “The Woods” which lent itself as a source of horrifying creatures sneaking through the backyard and into our lives. Nevermind that during the day, we ran wild and […]
When I was a child, I kept coming across passages in books about olden times that described how Independence Day was celebrated. It was nothing like my own experience in the 1970s’ and 1980’s Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin. Here’s an excerpt from a particularly vivid memory – Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder From […]
But … I was a cheerleader? Seriously, I was – for one season of midget football (uggghhhh) in 1982. My brother played and for some reason, my parents decided it would be a good thing for me to do. I did not want to, but I also secretly hoped it would transform my life. I […]
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. […]
The prompt: What is your favourite autumnal flavour? OK, so this makes me giggle. There are so many to choose from such as pumpkin, pumpkin spice, pumpkin pie, pumpkin latte, pumpkin pie Blizzards, pumpkin roll, pumpkin seeds- not so much – and then every type of candy bar known to mankind but wrapped in a […]
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