News Around the Neighborhood
Letter from the President – December 2016
Above & Beyond
Since this is the month of the Christmas tour, if I wrote the Above & Beyond that managed to recognize everyone who helps out with the tour, the newsletter would have to be 20 pages long. Carrie Doyle, our Ways and Means chair, wrangles hundreds of volunteers to make the tour happen. An incredible amount of work goes into managing the tour, so thank you to the:
- homeowners
- folks who answer the phones & handle the tickets
- guides
- train museum volunteers
- volunteers at the houses
- greeters and volunteers at Calvary Church
- folks who handle the luminaria
- bundlers and hangers of greens (shout out to the crew of the show Manhunter who hung some of the greens this year because of their filming on Beech Ave)
- maker of 50+ holly pins for the tour guides
- hosts and volunteers for the volunteer party (very meta)
- booklet designer (Thanks Greg!) and the folks who solicited ads and grants from local businesses
- folks who cleaned up the streets and the neighbors who moved their cars
We literally couldn’t have done it without you! (Hope you had an awesome time at the volunteer part at Mitchell & Elaine’s).
2016 Old Allegheny Victorian Christmas House Tour: Our 35th Year!
Submitted by Carrie Doyle
As I write this, it’s a cold night – 30 degrees to be exact – and I’ve just returned from the Tour Guide training for this year’s tour. This month’s Gazette will be printed post-tour but I wanted to take a moment to reflect and to thank many of you in advance of a busy weekend. A big thank you to Trish Burton, Gloria Rayman, Cathy Serventi, John DeSantis and Carole Malakoff for their words of wisdom and knowledge from the many years of producing such a wonderful tour.
Additionally, Doug Sprague (guides), Brandon Williams (greeters), Mary Ann Murphy & Cecile Canales (trains), Martin Fuess (Christmas Shoppe), Greg Coll (photos, brochure and mailer), Nonie Knauss (house sitters). Of course – our homeowners, too: Clayton Harris, Mark & Kimberly Moore, Carole & Bob Malakoff, Nick Duerlinger & Hal Dixler, Q Development and John DeSantis. I hope to have finalized numbers for January’s Gazette, and a more detailed thank you list as well! Until then, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Allegheny West Fundraiser A Success!
Submitted by Sara Sweeney, on behalf of Dennis Bergevin
Neighbors Dennis Bergevin and Linda Iannotta developed a new fundraising event that debuted last month titled “Art at Home”. Six Allegheny West home owners sponsored the event raising funds for the Northside Community Food Pantry.
Each homeowner chose a favorite art piece from their collection to talk about and provided food and drink for the 24 participants. It was a beautiful evening that raised $750 for the Food Pantry.
Discounted Tickets for Northsiders: Redemption Sons
Part of the Community Supported Art Series
December 8 | 8 PM
The New Hazlett Theater Community Supported Art Performance Series continues its 2016/2017 season on Thursday, December 8th at 8:00 pm with Dr. Tameka Cage Conley and Dr. Jason Mendez’s Redemption: Sons.
Redemption: Sons is hope. It is change. It is a parent’s soul split in two and fused back together again. An African American mother from Louisiana and a Boricua father from the South Bronx engage in a call and response “duologue” as they weave a story of race, ancestral memory, trauma, and healing.
Northsiders Get $15 Tickets
Use Discount Code: NorthsideCSA
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Every Student Succeeds Act Meeting
The Pittsburgh Black Elected Officials Coalition is partnering with the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and A+ Schools to host a public discussion with the PA Department of Education on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and was intended to represent good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.
It is important that the community comes together at this time of political transitioning to discuss what this law means for students of our Commonwealth and City.
When
Friday, December 2nd at 9:30 am
(Registration starts at 9:00 am)
Where
CCAC Allegheny Campus,
Tom Foerster Student Service Center
Award-winning Chatham University novelist Marc Nieson Debuts Memoir
Marc Nieson
Friday, December 9th
8:00 pm
City of Asylum @ Alphabet City
40 W North Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
“Someone once told me that School and Life were different; in school they give you the lessons before the test, in life it’s the other way around.“
Marc Nieson, Schoolhouse: Lessons on Love + Landscape
Join us on Friday, December 9th for a reading by long-time friend of City of Asylum, Chatham professor and author Marc Nieson. We are honored to host a reading of his newly published book Schoolhouse: Lessons on Love + Landscape, in which he explores love, identity, and writing during his time in Iowa.
Structured like a schoolhouse primer, Marc’s personal and introspective memoir examines his life subject by subject. Each subject – from “Geography” to “History” to “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” – is a chapter describing his life-changing experience as part of the University of Iowa’s intensive writers’ retreat.
Marc will be joined by visiting City of Asylum writer-in-residence Ukamaka Olisakwe (Nigeria) from the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program.
Marc Nieson is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and NYU Film School. In the 1990s he worked with the International Writing Program, and is thrilled to be joining their ranks again for this reading. His memoir, Schoolhouse: Lessons on Love & Landscape just released from Ice Cube Press. (www.icecubepress.com) He’s won a Raymond Carver Short Story Award, Pushcart Prize nominations, and been noted in Best American Essays. He teaches at Chatham University, edits fiction for The Fourth River, and is at work on a new novel, Houdini’s Heirs.
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Police Training Center Open House: November 29th
Our new neighbor, the Pittsburgh Police training center on N Lincoln Avenue has invited all of us in Allegheny West to join them for an open house this coming Tuesday. Here are the details:
When: Tuesday, November 29th from 4:00-6:00 pm
Where: 900 N Lincoln Avenue (at the corner with Galveston)
Come out and learn more about this new Pittsburgh Police facility!
Discounted Tickets for Northsiders: Three Days in the Country
Presented by Kinetic Theatre
November 23, 25 + 26 | 8 PM
Set on a beautiful country estate in mid-nineteenth century Russia. A handsome new tutor brings reckless, romantic desire to an eccentric household. Ivan Turgenev’s passionate, moving comedy, A Month in the Country, has been a source of inspiration for films, a ballet and the plays of Chekhov. It’s presented here in a new version by Patrick Marber.
Northsiders Get $11 Off the Price of Admission
Use Discount Code: Northside
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Coming Soon: City of Asylum Books @ Alphabet City
Coming Soon
City of Asylum Books is Almost Here
City of Asylum Books @ Alphabet City is an independent bookstore specializing in works in translation and world literature. We carry over 7000 titles for adults and children. We are dedicated to offering a geographically and linguistically diverse collection of translations from many genres: literature, poetry, history, travel, cookbooks, and children’s literature.
City of Asylum Books will also feature:
- Complete collections of some of the most prominent publishers of translated literature, including: New York Review of Books, Archipelago Books, Dalkey Archive, New Directions, along with many others
- A robust children’s section dedicated to promoting diverse authors and stories
- A weekly Saturday morning story hour for children
- A cookbook section (my personal favorite) featuring gorgeously produced regional and ethnic cookbooks from all over the world
- A Free Book Program for our low-income community members
The bookstore is committed to furthering City of Asylum’s mission of giving voice and promoting cross-cultural exchange. We hope you will visit with an open mind and an open heart.
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