Skating with Lori Jakiela

Jakiela is a master of an essay form that is distinctly her own, a kind of integrated collage style that brings together her background as a journalist and the author of collections of poetry, weaving together quotes, facts, musings, digressions, and stories.

2025-03-27T09:54:17-04:00March 20, 2025|

Jan Beatty – Poet. Madwoman. Ally.

Write the poem you’re afraid to write.  That’s the mantra-like advice Jan Beatty has been prescribing to budding poets of all stripes for over three decades, as the now-retired professor has seemingly had a guiding hand in the education of every writer in Pittsburgh. 

2024-12-12T08:06:49-05:00December 5, 2024|

On Raymond Thompson’s “Appalachian Ghost”

Thompson captured photos of the place — the hills of WVA folding into each other like origami, holding mist and dew in the hollows. And he staged new photos which conjure these working men, bearing up under hours of physical labor, covered in white dust, looking otherworldly but also fully human and integral to the achievement.

2024-06-27T13:59:35-04:00June 20, 2024|