There can be gems in the mud, so journal writing should not be taken lightly.
I thought I would like Autumn. I think I spend most of the year thinking about the arrival of the fall. September, and the world seems to renew itself. This must be a leftover sensation from childhood when we headed back to school in autumn. Always the start of something new. The season also meant there would be a new line-up of shows on television.
What spring is to most people, autumn has been for me -- at least the month of September. A sign of hope; a sign of renewal. A sign of a second chance, of starting over.
Then there is November. By November I am no longer reminded of a young boy headed back to school; instead I think of an aging man, rushing to make a final push in his life before he's too old for it to matter. Winter fast approaches on his heels.
Autumn. Always a promise in spring, but by September I realize I'm not yet ready for it. And by November I feel as though another year has passed me by. Where did it go? Where did all the promised and hoped for dreams and accomplishments go?
It doesn't matter where I am in Autumn -- if I am in Pennsylvania or New York or Ohio, it smells like burning wood. Even in the city, the air smells of burning wood. Maybe its a smell that rotting autumn leaves lend to the air. A crisp smell. A somewhat comforting smell. Almost always associated with hot chocolate, football games, apple cider, pumpkin pie...autumn.
It begins by signaling return: return to old friends -- or new. Return to work. Return to school. A promise of continuity and renewal. But by the end of the season a mild depression sets in -- the passing of time, life slipping through your fingers -- your destiny beyond your control.
By October it is too late to squeeze out the last of summer. November is particularly harsh and barren -- a harsh reality. Dead looking brown tree branches against a gray sky. An image not even softened by the white snows of December or January.
November is reality. November is death.
If poets think that December, January and February are old age, they are wrong. November is death. I guess we die at middle age.
The Chinese see renewal in the dead of winter -- in January or February. We see it too. That's really where the rebirth begins; in the dead of winter. Once we get past the Winter solstice we begin a new cycle of renewal.
The Christmas holiday marks the beginning of our own rebirth. New Years follows fast on its heels to make it official. For many, the Christmas-New Year season is the most depressing of all. More suicides in the West than at any other time of year. Those of us who have lost most of their family are reminded that we are ultimately alone.
But that's not the only way to look at it. Christmas-New Years is yet another time of renewal. Another rebirth. Another second chance.
Spring is also seen as a time of re-birth and second chances.
Turns out there are many second chances and periods of renewal throughout the year. That's what change is all about.
How do I reconcile myself with autumn, though? How do I reconcile myself with the harshness that November brings. The drab gray -- the November death?
Thursday, December 15, 2005
When The Word Became Flesh
About a week ago during Mass I was reminded of the way a priest had described the Mass along time ago. He said that Mass is essentially a family gathering. We start with the liturgy of the Word, which includes the public confession of our sins and our need for redemption. It is followed by telling the stories of our faith, much in the same way that a family will gather to recollect the past and tell stories that give their present lives meaning.
For Christians, these stories center on the ongoing Spiritual odyssey depicted in the Old and the New Testaments. This is the liturgy of the Word. In the Mass, these stories are followed by the liturgy of the Eucharist, which is the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine into the body and blood of Christ. This becomes our spiritual meal; again this is reflective of a family gathering in which the group is united to share a common meal.
In this frame of mind, as I listened to the scripture reading I had a sudden encounter with who Jesus actually was and is – from a uniquely Christian perspective. One starts with the concept put forth at the beginning of the Book of Genesis, which states that in the beginning was the Word or “logos.” This suggests that the universe is actually an intelligent affair, rather than some object that is developing by randomness and chance.
If the universe is actually an intelligent affair, essentially a product of a divine intelligence, then the birth of Christ was (according to the Christian understanding of things) the incarnation of this divine wisdom. Christ was, as stated in the Gospel of John, the Word made flesh. The challenge for contemporary men and women is this: when the Word became flesh, what economy of values did He uphold? How do we measure our lives in comparison to this? How do we partake in this mission?
Think for a moment about what it means for the Wisdom behind the universe to become flesh; to be born homeless, to a unwed mother; to be forced into exile, a refugee the first years of his life; to walk amongst us and to associate with disreputable persons and unpopular minorities; to be betrayed by one of his inner-circle of followers; to be tortured, tried, publically humiliated and sentenced to capital punishment; ultimately to be publically executed. What can we learn through the life of the Wisdom of the universe when He became a man? What can we learn from his teachings about what is really important during the brief span of our mortal lives?
By His words and His example, we are taught that we should devote our lives to love for humanity and to bear witness to Truth. We should seek first the “Kingdom of Heaven;” we should make our highest priority the pursuit of the sublime in our earthly lives. We must live in communion with that which transcends our temporal existence. This means taking on the life of Christ, including His passion for humanity and for life and His selflessness to the point of a painful death on the Cross.
Even though we do not wish to endure the suffering that greets those who live by a different economy of values than are prevalent all around us, we must say with Christ, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
To live in the sublime is to live with passion; not physical passion but the passion of the spirit. Such spiritual passion is otherwise known as “agape,” or “love.” It stands in contrast to physical passion, which is known as “Eros.” When the Word became flesh, He placed it as the highest priority that we seek the “Kingdom of Heaven” and that we live with unconditional – even ontological – love. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Christ answered, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of soul, and all of your mind, (and) Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are called to place the love of God above all idols of money, popularity, power, and material things. We are challenged to love our neighbor – whom we can see – if we are to be true to what we profess is our love of God, whom we cannot see. We are challenged to live in the ongoing pursuit of the sublime, and to make this the basis of our thoughts, words and actions.
When we live with consciousness of the sublime, this means that we do not judge the meaning and quality of our lives by short-term measures, outward appearances, or transitory standards. In the end triumph awaits us, but it is a triumph that defies all human calculation and reasoning. This is where faith and hope come in, completing the three points of the economy of salvation: faith, hope, and love.
For Christians, these stories center on the ongoing Spiritual odyssey depicted in the Old and the New Testaments. This is the liturgy of the Word. In the Mass, these stories are followed by the liturgy of the Eucharist, which is the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine into the body and blood of Christ. This becomes our spiritual meal; again this is reflective of a family gathering in which the group is united to share a common meal.
In this frame of mind, as I listened to the scripture reading I had a sudden encounter with who Jesus actually was and is – from a uniquely Christian perspective. One starts with the concept put forth at the beginning of the Book of Genesis, which states that in the beginning was the Word or “logos.” This suggests that the universe is actually an intelligent affair, rather than some object that is developing by randomness and chance.
If the universe is actually an intelligent affair, essentially a product of a divine intelligence, then the birth of Christ was (according to the Christian understanding of things) the incarnation of this divine wisdom. Christ was, as stated in the Gospel of John, the Word made flesh. The challenge for contemporary men and women is this: when the Word became flesh, what economy of values did He uphold? How do we measure our lives in comparison to this? How do we partake in this mission?
Think for a moment about what it means for the Wisdom behind the universe to become flesh; to be born homeless, to a unwed mother; to be forced into exile, a refugee the first years of his life; to walk amongst us and to associate with disreputable persons and unpopular minorities; to be betrayed by one of his inner-circle of followers; to be tortured, tried, publically humiliated and sentenced to capital punishment; ultimately to be publically executed. What can we learn through the life of the Wisdom of the universe when He became a man? What can we learn from his teachings about what is really important during the brief span of our mortal lives?
By His words and His example, we are taught that we should devote our lives to love for humanity and to bear witness to Truth. We should seek first the “Kingdom of Heaven;” we should make our highest priority the pursuit of the sublime in our earthly lives. We must live in communion with that which transcends our temporal existence. This means taking on the life of Christ, including His passion for humanity and for life and His selflessness to the point of a painful death on the Cross.
Even though we do not wish to endure the suffering that greets those who live by a different economy of values than are prevalent all around us, we must say with Christ, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
To live in the sublime is to live with passion; not physical passion but the passion of the spirit. Such spiritual passion is otherwise known as “agape,” or “love.” It stands in contrast to physical passion, which is known as “Eros.” When the Word became flesh, He placed it as the highest priority that we seek the “Kingdom of Heaven” and that we live with unconditional – even ontological – love. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Christ answered, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of soul, and all of your mind, (and) Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are called to place the love of God above all idols of money, popularity, power, and material things. We are challenged to love our neighbor – whom we can see – if we are to be true to what we profess is our love of God, whom we cannot see. We are challenged to live in the ongoing pursuit of the sublime, and to make this the basis of our thoughts, words and actions.
When we live with consciousness of the sublime, this means that we do not judge the meaning and quality of our lives by short-term measures, outward appearances, or transitory standards. In the end triumph awaits us, but it is a triumph that defies all human calculation and reasoning. This is where faith and hope come in, completing the three points of the economy of salvation: faith, hope, and love.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Pittsburgh New and Old
Pittsburgh is a new old city, or an old new city, depending on how you look at it. We have experienced severe population loss since the 1960s. We have lost at least 25% of our population. Much of this population loss has been due to de-industrialization and the loss of good jobs that would pay the kind of wages that could support a family. Imagine being that greedy!
As the jobs disappeared so did the people. Most people I have talked to who have left the city have relocated in the Sunbelt. They are turning up in places such as Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to the loss of population the city is aging. I understand that Pittsburgh has one of the oldest populations of any city in the United States, possibly with the exception of some areas in Florida. In their wisdom, city officials, city boosters, and philanthropic foundations have embarked on a strategy to make Pittsburgh more attractive to the 20 – 40 demographic crowd, which they refer to as “hip”, “cool”, “hot”, and other outdated and embarrassing adjectives. Maybe these people are hipper than we think; maybe they are so hip that they are being retro.
It is not just anyone in the 20-40 age cohort that Pittsburgh power brokers are trying to attract, they want a population known as “knowledge workers” who are expected to have well-paid professional jobs. In order to attract this crowd, some Pittsburgh funders have a bright idea – no, I mean that literally. They want to pay to have over a thousand plastic bubbles filled with some kind of luminescent substance and floated in the rivers. They also want to attach these glowing plastic bubbles to bridges. As if that’s not enough, they want to build wind mills that will be outlined with neon lights of multiple colors so that they will leave a glowing hallucinogenic-like trail as they spin in the night. If that doesn’t convince the knowledge workers that this is a city where the brains are, I don’t know what will.
Pittsburgh has become mesmerized by the ideas of Richard Florida, a former professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Despite the fact that Florida’s name suggests yet another area of the country younger Pittsburghers are moving to, he is embraced almost uncritically by those who are in positions to shape the city’s strategy for economic development. Florida’s idea is that we must make the city “fun” and “funky” so that it will attract and retain the aforementioned “knowledge workers”. These “knowledge workers” would replace the old fashioned formerly industrial workers now selling hamburgers at McDonalds, or greeting customers at Wal Mart.
Florida has been a big promoter of the future of Pittsburgh, and has inspired a great deal of confidence in our future due to his vision. Too bad he grabbed the first opportunity he could find to get out of town and teach at a university in another city, but it’s the thought that counts.
Florida’s idea is that the knowledge workers will be smart enough to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon University, yet dumb enough to want to stay here and work for, well – the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University – and also the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which really is a business unto itself and has very little to do with the actual university.
Along these lines Pittsburgh foundations have supported a number of “neat” organizations, such as “40 under 40” to promote younger up-and-coming talent. Pittsburghers do this, even as they lay off more than 50 over 50, regardless of their experience or their skills. There are other organizations for exciting young professionals, or professional wannabes, to join. These organizations have nifty names such as “Pump” and “Jump” and “Kurplunk.”
Florida’s hip new ideas also center on, or have been translated as meaning, that Pittsburgh must attract more Asians (particularly young Indians) and Gays and Lesbians. The reasoning behind this strategy is that these populations are most likely to have disposable incomes, to boost our sagging real estate market while supporting our hip new retail outlets such as “The Waterfront” in Homestead and yet another waterfront on the South Side.
Additionally, they are believed to be willing to support the nightclub “waterfront,” otherwise known as the “strip district” between Lawrenceville and Downtown. Then there is the “waterfront” in Aspenwall, which is known as the “Waterworks,” and yet another “waterfront” in the Southside, known as “Station Square.” Pittsburgh, you see has many “waterfronts” and is planning a few more, such as the “waterfront” in Hazelwood, which doesn’t have a name yet. This is because we have three rivers that form a point, otherwise known as the “Golden Triangle,” which is perhaps the oldest and most celebrated “waterfront” of them all. When you visit Pittsburgh these days, and you say to a native, “let’s go to the ‘waterfront’,” they are likely to reply, “which one?”
There is yet another prospective waterfront for the “knowledge workers” to support, which is known as the “North Shore.” Prospective commercial development would be located between the PNC Ballpark, which is where the Pirates lose baseball games, and the Heinz Stadium, where I think the Steelers might be currently winning. The North Shore also has fancy new buildings that grace the skyline, such as the new Alcoa office building, which is largely aluminum and glass, and the Carnegie Science Center, which is so close the water it is almost in it. The North Shore “waterfront,” however, extends to inland areas where you can no longer see an actual body of water. This is to expand marketing opportunities for realtors, and potential commercial opportunities for retailers.
The North Shore is located in an area that was formerly known as the City of Allegheny, before it was incorporated into the City of Pittsburgh. This happened around the turn of the last century. The main drag of the old business district is the new home of prostitutes who were forced out of downtown when the city was trying to clean up its image by building the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The Cultural Trust makes sections of downtown attractive, with bright lights and large outdoor video screens. The O’Reilly theater, the Heinz Music Hall, the Benedem Center, and the Byham Theater host the Pittsburgh Symphony, Broadway performances, live theater, modern dance and other entertainment. The School for the Performing Arts, a location for budding young artists and performers, is also located in the vicinity, as is the David Lawrence Convention Center, which few national organizations can fully utilize due to the lack of adequate hotel space and the dead commercial environment in downtown at night.
Prostitutes used to run the area that currently surrounds existing hotels. Maybe that could have been an attraction for convention-goers, but the prostitutes have all been pushed across the river. When they walked the streets of downtown, the area was alive with people after dark; now that they are gone, nighttime city streets are like a ghost town. I don’t know if the prostitutes brought street action, or if the street action brought the prostitutes, but now both are gone.
The North Shore stops, abruptly, where older African American neighborhoods are located. Then it becomes known as the “North Side.” Unlike the Asian Indian population, and Gays and Lesbians, Pittsburgh does not show any signs of wanting to attract or retain its African American population, who are pretty much seen as a nuisance, just like the old steel workers. This is especially true of educated blacks who “forget their place” and want to cause “trouble” by applying for jobs. It’s not that Pittsburgh has glass ceilings for African Americans exactly; a better description would be to say that the city has iron walls.
The University of Pittsburgh (one of the centers of “knowledge worker” employment) has conducted of series of studies of indicators of economic disparity between blacks and whites in 50 major U.S. cities of comparable size to Pittsburgh. For every positive indicator of economic success for blacks, relative to whites, Pittsburgh ranked among the bottom three cities. However, for every negative economic indicator for blacks Pittsburgh was right up there among the top three. I think this goes to show that Pittsburgh is able to be first in something.
It’s not as though the Urban League or the NAACP in Pittsburgh do anything to help matters. Mostly they throw banquets for each other, congratulating themselves on being good at, well – throwing banquets for each other. Maybe Pittsburgh can improve its image concerning blacks when it constructs an African American Heritage Museum, to extend the cultural center across Liberty Avenue. If that doesn’t show Pittsburgh’s good will towards blacks, the city can always actually put blacks in the museum on display to show what the city used to look like before gentrification was fully implemented.
Our favorite mode for dealing with the problem of racial disparity is – denial. This is because, overall, Pittsburgh is a very polite city with a governing consensus between private Republican wealth, low-key but highly active philanthropic interests, and a noisy City-County government apparatus run by Democrats. Contrary to our historic image as being a fighting steel town, Pittsburghers really don’t like controversy – at least not the kind that will challenge the status-quo. Then again, all that’s left of the steelworkers is their union building, which is still one of the skyscrapers downtown so there must not be much to fight about. Not all controversy is off limits, however; when it comes to bold and daring controversial fashions as promoted by Pump, Bump, and Kurplunk, – we thrive off of that kind of quirky energy.
Pittsburgh also boasts the Warhol Museum (a tribute to Andy Warhol, who was born in Pittsburgh and escaped to New York and never looked back) and the Carnegie Institute Art Museum. These two museums are indicative of the City’s eagerness to claim its place in modern art, and to capture all that vibrant energy that appears to be escaping in droves. So, despite the pot holes and crumbling neighborhoods, as contrasted against the sparkling downtown skyline, the many over-priced waterfronts, and the ever-expanding downtown cultural center for entertainment without corresponding retail, Pittsburgh is a city that is kind of new – even though it is also still kind of old.
As the jobs disappeared so did the people. Most people I have talked to who have left the city have relocated in the Sunbelt. They are turning up in places such as Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to the loss of population the city is aging. I understand that Pittsburgh has one of the oldest populations of any city in the United States, possibly with the exception of some areas in Florida. In their wisdom, city officials, city boosters, and philanthropic foundations have embarked on a strategy to make Pittsburgh more attractive to the 20 – 40 demographic crowd, which they refer to as “hip”, “cool”, “hot”, and other outdated and embarrassing adjectives. Maybe these people are hipper than we think; maybe they are so hip that they are being retro.
It is not just anyone in the 20-40 age cohort that Pittsburgh power brokers are trying to attract, they want a population known as “knowledge workers” who are expected to have well-paid professional jobs. In order to attract this crowd, some Pittsburgh funders have a bright idea – no, I mean that literally. They want to pay to have over a thousand plastic bubbles filled with some kind of luminescent substance and floated in the rivers. They also want to attach these glowing plastic bubbles to bridges. As if that’s not enough, they want to build wind mills that will be outlined with neon lights of multiple colors so that they will leave a glowing hallucinogenic-like trail as they spin in the night. If that doesn’t convince the knowledge workers that this is a city where the brains are, I don’t know what will.
Pittsburgh has become mesmerized by the ideas of Richard Florida, a former professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Despite the fact that Florida’s name suggests yet another area of the country younger Pittsburghers are moving to, he is embraced almost uncritically by those who are in positions to shape the city’s strategy for economic development. Florida’s idea is that we must make the city “fun” and “funky” so that it will attract and retain the aforementioned “knowledge workers”. These “knowledge workers” would replace the old fashioned formerly industrial workers now selling hamburgers at McDonalds, or greeting customers at Wal Mart.
Florida has been a big promoter of the future of Pittsburgh, and has inspired a great deal of confidence in our future due to his vision. Too bad he grabbed the first opportunity he could find to get out of town and teach at a university in another city, but it’s the thought that counts.
Florida’s idea is that the knowledge workers will be smart enough to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon University, yet dumb enough to want to stay here and work for, well – the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University – and also the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which really is a business unto itself and has very little to do with the actual university.
Along these lines Pittsburgh foundations have supported a number of “neat” organizations, such as “40 under 40” to promote younger up-and-coming talent. Pittsburghers do this, even as they lay off more than 50 over 50, regardless of their experience or their skills. There are other organizations for exciting young professionals, or professional wannabes, to join. These organizations have nifty names such as “Pump” and “Jump” and “Kurplunk.”
Florida’s hip new ideas also center on, or have been translated as meaning, that Pittsburgh must attract more Asians (particularly young Indians) and Gays and Lesbians. The reasoning behind this strategy is that these populations are most likely to have disposable incomes, to boost our sagging real estate market while supporting our hip new retail outlets such as “The Waterfront” in Homestead and yet another waterfront on the South Side.
Additionally, they are believed to be willing to support the nightclub “waterfront,” otherwise known as the “strip district” between Lawrenceville and Downtown. Then there is the “waterfront” in Aspenwall, which is known as the “Waterworks,” and yet another “waterfront” in the Southside, known as “Station Square.” Pittsburgh, you see has many “waterfronts” and is planning a few more, such as the “waterfront” in Hazelwood, which doesn’t have a name yet. This is because we have three rivers that form a point, otherwise known as the “Golden Triangle,” which is perhaps the oldest and most celebrated “waterfront” of them all. When you visit Pittsburgh these days, and you say to a native, “let’s go to the ‘waterfront’,” they are likely to reply, “which one?”
There is yet another prospective waterfront for the “knowledge workers” to support, which is known as the “North Shore.” Prospective commercial development would be located between the PNC Ballpark, which is where the Pirates lose baseball games, and the Heinz Stadium, where I think the Steelers might be currently winning. The North Shore also has fancy new buildings that grace the skyline, such as the new Alcoa office building, which is largely aluminum and glass, and the Carnegie Science Center, which is so close the water it is almost in it. The North Shore “waterfront,” however, extends to inland areas where you can no longer see an actual body of water. This is to expand marketing opportunities for realtors, and potential commercial opportunities for retailers.
The North Shore is located in an area that was formerly known as the City of Allegheny, before it was incorporated into the City of Pittsburgh. This happened around the turn of the last century. The main drag of the old business district is the new home of prostitutes who were forced out of downtown when the city was trying to clean up its image by building the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The Cultural Trust makes sections of downtown attractive, with bright lights and large outdoor video screens. The O’Reilly theater, the Heinz Music Hall, the Benedem Center, and the Byham Theater host the Pittsburgh Symphony, Broadway performances, live theater, modern dance and other entertainment. The School for the Performing Arts, a location for budding young artists and performers, is also located in the vicinity, as is the David Lawrence Convention Center, which few national organizations can fully utilize due to the lack of adequate hotel space and the dead commercial environment in downtown at night.
Prostitutes used to run the area that currently surrounds existing hotels. Maybe that could have been an attraction for convention-goers, but the prostitutes have all been pushed across the river. When they walked the streets of downtown, the area was alive with people after dark; now that they are gone, nighttime city streets are like a ghost town. I don’t know if the prostitutes brought street action, or if the street action brought the prostitutes, but now both are gone.
The North Shore stops, abruptly, where older African American neighborhoods are located. Then it becomes known as the “North Side.” Unlike the Asian Indian population, and Gays and Lesbians, Pittsburgh does not show any signs of wanting to attract or retain its African American population, who are pretty much seen as a nuisance, just like the old steel workers. This is especially true of educated blacks who “forget their place” and want to cause “trouble” by applying for jobs. It’s not that Pittsburgh has glass ceilings for African Americans exactly; a better description would be to say that the city has iron walls.
The University of Pittsburgh (one of the centers of “knowledge worker” employment) has conducted of series of studies of indicators of economic disparity between blacks and whites in 50 major U.S. cities of comparable size to Pittsburgh. For every positive indicator of economic success for blacks, relative to whites, Pittsburgh ranked among the bottom three cities. However, for every negative economic indicator for blacks Pittsburgh was right up there among the top three. I think this goes to show that Pittsburgh is able to be first in something.
It’s not as though the Urban League or the NAACP in Pittsburgh do anything to help matters. Mostly they throw banquets for each other, congratulating themselves on being good at, well – throwing banquets for each other. Maybe Pittsburgh can improve its image concerning blacks when it constructs an African American Heritage Museum, to extend the cultural center across Liberty Avenue. If that doesn’t show Pittsburgh’s good will towards blacks, the city can always actually put blacks in the museum on display to show what the city used to look like before gentrification was fully implemented.
Our favorite mode for dealing with the problem of racial disparity is – denial. This is because, overall, Pittsburgh is a very polite city with a governing consensus between private Republican wealth, low-key but highly active philanthropic interests, and a noisy City-County government apparatus run by Democrats. Contrary to our historic image as being a fighting steel town, Pittsburghers really don’t like controversy – at least not the kind that will challenge the status-quo. Then again, all that’s left of the steelworkers is their union building, which is still one of the skyscrapers downtown so there must not be much to fight about. Not all controversy is off limits, however; when it comes to bold and daring controversial fashions as promoted by Pump, Bump, and Kurplunk, – we thrive off of that kind of quirky energy.
Pittsburgh also boasts the Warhol Museum (a tribute to Andy Warhol, who was born in Pittsburgh and escaped to New York and never looked back) and the Carnegie Institute Art Museum. These two museums are indicative of the City’s eagerness to claim its place in modern art, and to capture all that vibrant energy that appears to be escaping in droves. So, despite the pot holes and crumbling neighborhoods, as contrasted against the sparkling downtown skyline, the many over-priced waterfronts, and the ever-expanding downtown cultural center for entertainment without corresponding retail, Pittsburgh is a city that is kind of new – even though it is also still kind of old.
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