News Around the Neighborhood
Letter from the President – February 2021
Winter
When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When Blood is nipped and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who: a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who: a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
– William Shakespeare
I miss milk pails.
Well, I hear the polar vortex is about to make a return, so thanks to Shakespeare’s Tom for bearing those logs into the hall. Looking for a way that you can help others this month? Well, you could take a turn at keeling the pot so that greasy Joan can wash up, but I have a better idea. If you’re hale and hearty, consider joining the city’s Snow Angels program. It connects willing snow shovelers with nearby neighbors who need help clearing their walks due to age or disability.
If you’re fit and would like to become a Snow Angel, just go to the city’s website at: https://pittsburghpa.gov/snowangels/ If you need the help of a Snow Angel, just dial 311 and ask.
In other news, we have started a program to collect all those old civic council records that have accumulated in our homes. Over the years, many of you have volunteered your time as AWCC officers or committee members. And over the years, lots of records, both paper and digital have found their way into boxes, shelves, and hard drives. So, if you find that you have some old AWCC documents lying around, please don’t throw them out or burn them as winter fuel. Instead, drop a line to Cathy Serventi at communications@alleghenywest.org and let her know what you have. Please don’t just drop them off at her house, though. Thanks!
Time for me to sign off. A reminder before I go: don’t forget our next membership meeting on Tuesday, February 9 at 7:30 pm. You’ll be able to see your neighbors from the warm comfort of your home via the magic of videoconferencing. No masks required! The Zoom room details will be sent out in a e-newsletter. I look forward to seeing you then.
I hope you have a great February.
Bob Griewahn
President, AWCC
AWCC Informational Meeting – February 9, 2021
Via Zoom (details)
February 9th at 7:30 pm
- 7:30 – Gather, Say Hello, Make Trivia Contest Side Bets
- 7:35 – Update: City of Pittsburgh Zone 1 Police (Officer Burford)
- 7:40 – Update: City of Pittsburgh Mayor’s Office (Leah Friedman)
- 7:45 – Update: Councilman Wilson’s Office (Mohammed Burny/Faith Mudd)
- 7:50 – Update: Representative Wheatley’s Office (Thomas Graham)
- 7:55 – Update; Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (Erin Tobin)
- 8:00 – Treasurer’s Report
- 8:05 – Iron Deer Playground
- 8:15 – Executive Committee Report
- 8:25 – Conclude
Norfolk Southern Railroad Pittsburgh Vertical Clearance Project Updates
If you have additional questions or comments please contact Glenn Olcrest (glennolcerst@gmail.com) from RPPP or Northfolk Southern directly.
Poems as Resistance Language
Dr. Haki Madhubuti
Taught By Women: Poems as Resistance Language New & Selected
Monday, February 1
7:00 pm
Poet, author, editor, and publisher of Third World Press, Dr. Haki Madhubuti, visits City of Asylum’s virtual channel to celebrate his newest poetry collection, Taught By Women.
Written with warm verses and timeless reverence, each poem is a vivid portrait of the array of women who have influenced Dr. Madhubuti and contributed to his five-decade career. From his artistic mentor and mother-figure, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks; to Shirley Chisholm and Coretta Scott King; to Margaret Burroughs—the Chicago artist, and founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Taught by Women is filled with more than 100 women who have shaped Dr. Madhubuti as a person, poet, and leader.
A founding member of the Black Arts Movement, Dr. Madhubuti remains a leading Black artistic, political, and social revolutionary—”a poet who still writes about the Black experience from deep inside the community.” –Chicago Sun Times
This is Dr. Madhubuti’s first single-authored book of poetry since 2005 and is an event not to be missed. Moderated by Romi Crawford (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
PHLF: Lecture – Preserving Fallingwater
Fallingwater: Preserving A World Heritage Landmark
Thursday, January 28
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Fee: $5.00
In 2019, Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most widely acclaimed works, which best exemplifies his philosophy of organic architecture, along with seven other Wright structures, was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site. In this lecture, Scott Perkins, Director of Preservation and Collections at Fallingwater, will discuss current and upcoming preservation projects at Fallingwater, located in the Laurel Highlands in Fayette County, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh. He will also share recent acquisitions to the Fallingwater collection and introduce the site’s 2021 exhibition architect Joseph Urban’s design for Kaufman’s Department Store.
This lecture will be held via Zoom Conference. Click here purchase a ticket for your household. You will receive a login e-mail at 5:00 p.m. on January 28. (Don’t see an e-mail, be sure to check your Spam/Junk folders.) Please login at 5:45 p.m. to allow us enough time to let you into the lecture.
About the Presenter: Scott W. Perkins is Fallingwater’s Director of Preservation and Collections, and was previously Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He has written on Wright’s Price Tower and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum interiors, and his essay on Zaha Hadid’s addition to the Price Tower appeared in Richard Longstreth’s Frank Lloyd Wright: Preservation, Design, and Adding to Iconic Buildings. A frequent contributor to Save Wright, the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly and OAD: The Journal of Organic Architecture and Design, he most recently contributed to the effort to place eight Wright structures onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. He received his MA and MPhil from the Bard Graduate Center, in New York City, and his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Andrés Franco Conducting for PSO “Front Row”
Episode 5: For the People (Part 1)
Premiering January 22, 2021 7:30 pm
Recorded Live in October 2020
Washington Penn Plastics Hangar + Heinz Hall
A constellation of five female composers (Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price and Joan Tower) forms the foundation of Episode 5: For the People, a program of works all written in the past 100 years by American composers that brings a lens to the country’s unique soundscape and the cultural and musical forces of openness, possibilities, challenges and opportunities. This episode is led by Conductor Andrés Franco and Guest Concertmaster Alexi Kenney. Front Row concerts are presented for free.
Available to view through July 22, 2021
PHLF: Virtual Tour from Grant Street to 6th Avenue
Live, Virtual Architecture Tour: Grant St to 6th Ave
Wednesday, January 27
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Fee: $7.50
In 2012, the American Planning Association designated Grant Street one of America’s Ten Great Streets for its exceptional architectural character, mix of historic landmarks and modern skyscrapers, diversity of uses, tree-lined median, and “coherence and beauty.” Extending from the Monongahela River to Liberty Avenue, Grant Street is indeed Downtown’s grand civic boulevard.
This tour focuses on the section from 4th to 6th Avenues and takes in exceptional works by Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Osterling, Henry Hornbostel, Rafael Guastavino, and Daniel Burnham. It also provides a primer on Pittsburgh’s history from 1758 to the early 20th century, and reveals Henry Clay Frick’s enormous influence on this section of Grant Street.
This live virtual tour will be held via Zoom Conference.
Click her to purchase a ticket for your household and you will receive an e-mail with a link to Zoom at 9:00 a.m. on the day of the tour. Don’t see an e-mail? Please check your Spam/Junk folders. Login 15 minutes before the tour’s scheduled start to ensure that it begins on time.
PHLF: Virtual Tour of Penn-Liberty Cultural District
Live, Virtual Architecture Tour: Cultural District
Thursday, January 21
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Fee: $7.50
The Penn-Liberty corridor in Downtown Pittsburgh is one of the best turn-of-the-20th-century retail and commercial districts in the Golden Triangle. Featuring numerous excellent examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque by local architects as well as sturdy, handsome structures designed by an owner working only with a builder, the district comprises a remarkable collection of historic buildings.
This tour focuses on a14-block area within the district that the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has transformed since 1984 from an area of derelict and underused buildings to a singular agglomeration of venues for the performing and visual arts. The Penn-Liberty Cultural District tour highlights historic preservation’s power to redefine and remake neighborhoods.
This live virtual tour will be held via Zoom Conference.
Click here to purchase a ticket for your household and you will receive an e-mail with a link to Zoom at 9:00 a.m. on the day of the tour. Don’t see an e-mail? Please check your Spam/Junk folders. Login 15 minutes before the tour’s scheduled start to ensure that it begins on time.
Letter from the President – January 2021
The days are short,
The sun a spark,
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.
Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor.
Milk bottles burst
Outside the door
The river is
A frozen place
The trees of lace.
The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.
– John Updike, “January
I miss milk bottles.
I apologize for the delay in getting you your monthly Allegheny West Gazette. The delay is my fault, and I vow to do a better job in the coming months.
In Allegheny West news, we had a very successful Small Business promotion in December. Thanks go to Ann Gilligan, Sally Graubarth, Abi Webb, Aaron Bryan, Eric Grasso and everyone else who pitched in. We managed to get our local businesses some much-needed promotion, and there was a prize for the lucky raffle winner (Sara Beck Sweeney). Let’s all try to patronize our local businesses on Western and Galveston Avenues. They need our support!
Our Christmas tree event also was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came out for the tree lighting. I hope you enjoyed it! I know I did.
Thanks, too, to the organizers of the event. There’s a big overlap between those folks and the Small Business event volunteers, so I won’t list everyone, but I especially want to thank Sally Graubarth for rolling that big electrical spool / tree base down Galveston. Thanks also go to John DeSantis for providing the tree well and electricity for the lights.
And, last but not least, thanks to Aaron and all the other volunteers who helped to dismantle the decorations and haul the tree away last weekend. I very much hope this will become an annual event for our neighborhood. Perhaps next year we can add a horse-driven sleigh and a hot air balloon to the festivities. Or, not.
I wish everyone in Allegheny West a prosperous new year. Better things are around the corner, I’m sure of it. I hope to be able to see you all at a physical membership meeting as soon as it’s safe to do so. Until then, we’ll be continuing our Zoom membership meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, starting with January 12.
Take care, and I hope you have a great January.
Bob Griewahn
President, AWCC
AWCC Informational Meeting – January 11, 2021
Via Zoom (details)
Tuesday, January 11 at 7:30 pm
- 7:30 – Gather, Say Hello, Meet New Neighbors
- 7:35 – Update: City of Pittsburgh Zone 1 Police
- 7:40 – Update: City of Pittsburgh, Mayor’s Office
- 7:45 – Update: Councilman Wilson’s Office
- 7:50 – Update: Representative Wheatley’s Office
- 7:55 – Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
- 8:00 – Treasurer’s Report
- 8:05 – Ways & Means
- 8:15 – Conclude