Paradise Lost in Pittsburgh
To walk through Frick Park – at least for me – is a pilgrimage into Milton's Paradise Lost, read not in words, lines, and stanzas, but rather rocks, trees, and water.
Maxo Vanka’s Radical Gaze
If a focus on workers tied Vanka with New Deal artists, he diverged by drawing on Catholic spirituality and forcefully critiquing capitalism.
The Complexities of Jewish Identity
She made a choice in life, and I respect her right to choose to practice (or not practice) a religion that best suits her beliefs. That doesn’t mean I think a pastor should be speaking from a synagogue pulpit on Shabbat.
The Accident that Changed a City
And so, it dawned on me - Pittsburgh is a city of very hard stops.
Drumming Up Cleveland Baseball
The 70s were tough for Cleveland. And they were especially tough for the Indians.
“As Tough as the Steel We Produced”
There seems to be a complex equation that residents have to live with, a struggle between acknowledging the past and hoping for the future while demonstrating their community’s resilience. A necessity of crafting out a tomorrow in the rust.
Charting the Pittsburgh Novel with Jake Oresick
"I do appreciate titles that use the terrain instead of making their characters sit inside. I also enjoy titles that reveal the parts of our region that outsiders are unlikely to see, like Homewood, Butler, or old school, residential Oakland. Yinzers don't gaze down from Grandview Avenue all day like the movies would have you believe."
Dreaming of Chicago with “The Bear”
The untamed energy of the show woke something in me. Carmy’s life in Chicago was real. Authentic. Social. I knew that restaurant and those people. How many times had I eaten at a joint like that?
#Buffalo Syllabus: A Love Letter to Black Buffalo
The Buffalo Syllabus, then, exists not only as a love letter to Black Buffalo, but as a remembrance and acknowledgement. It serves to fill in gaps and correct narratives.
The Ax Man Cometh, Again
Among the sleeve of tattoos on his left arm is a still frame from his favorite film, the neo-noir classic Le Samouraï. He wears his former Brewers number, 59, on his red Canadian jersey. He is two weeks shy of his 40th birthday.
Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh
Belt Magazine is proud to be the media sponsor for author Tom O'Lenic's discussion about his new book cowritten with Ray Hartjen Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh as part of the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival this Sunday March 26th at Noon in the Trust Arts Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The Last of Cleveland’s ArtCraft Building
It wasn’t the sale of the building that came as a shock - it was the buyer that caught the Cleveland art community off guard.