“As with Joyce’s Dublin, place isn’t simply geographical–it is inherent in the working-class culture in which characters live. The tension remains across stories because it is, at root, based in economics and class status.”
“Every time he saw another building in Pittsburgh being spray washed to remove the decades of soot… he would think of their legacies being slowly erased.”
The more of Wilson’s plays I read, the more I appreciated The Piano Lesson for its stark symbols and robust characters: Boy Willie and his determination to buy the land his ancestors had slaved on; Berniece, resolved to keep the piano and build a life for her daughter in Pittsburgh; Sutter’s ghost haunting the house, the family, the instrument, from the top of the stairs.
A poem by Jeffrey Nathan Marks.
"Baseball is poetry in motion." This phrase, one I use a lot, though it might elicit an arched eyebrow from those unfamiliar with the nuances of either pursuit, perfectly encapsulates the grace with which Clemente played the game. His elegant movements in right field, his powerful swing glorified in stanzas, and his laser-like throws from the outfield demonstrated an athletic artistry that few players have matched.
For starters, we need to talk about suicide. We need to not be afraid to say the word “suicide,” because the word “suicide” will not kill anyone. We need to clean up societal problems that increase the likelihood of suicide, not just push the responsibility for prevention onto the mental health profession. We need to worry less if a homeless person wants to live by choice under a bridge and more about the social bridges of connection, kinship, and community collapsing all around us.
Saunders grew up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and attended Saturday art classes at the very museum that houses his first major retrospective exhibition.
Frick’s rapidly growing art collection soon filled Clayton’s sumptuous interiors. Around 1895, his enhanced status at the Carnegie Company and developing acumen as an art collector led to an explosion of painting purchases. Frick was truly becoming a collector.
Unexpected guidance came in the form of a job with yet another Detroit legend, James Osterberg, who if you know anything about rock music, you recognize as Iggy Pop.
Bill Morris interviews rock journalist Jaan Uhelszki of CREEM Magazine about MC5.
This riveting father-son collaboration is at the Library of Michigan in Lansing closes tomorrow.
Pittsburgh is one city made of hundreds of distinct enclaves. Variation is richness, diversity is beauty. - A photo essay by Karen Lillis.