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.
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."
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.
“Poetry for Everybody” – Doralee Brooks in Allegheny County
Life-long educator and poet Doralee Brooks named new Poet Laureate for Allegheny County.
Dreaming at the Mattress Factory
Given that the Mattress Factory once made literal mattresses, the place where dreams most often form in our minds, it feels fitting that it’s now a site for collective dreaming.
In Pittsburgh, Local Journalism Is Worth the Fight
Having two major news sources in the city owned by notoriously anti-worker management can’t be good. For local journalism to be good, local journalism jobs need to be good.
Carrie Furnace’s Blood, Sweat, and Fire
These hulking behemoths with their slag and hot metal are rarely described as beautiful, but yet I am drawn to them over and over again.
Kindness is Its Own Memory
On terrible pantyhose, bad sports writing, and the eternal kindness of the late great Franco Harris.
Under Kaufmann’s Clock
On Families, Department Stores, and America