Beaver County Superintendent Comes Out as a Lesbian During School Board Meeting

Carrie Rowe Beaver County

Carrie Rowe, Superintendent of the Beaver County School District, has been an educator for more than 20 years. She’s also a lesbian and last night, opted to disclose that very publicly to directly address rumors, innuendo, and the fallout of both around a personnel matter involving a suspended Principal. In August, the district has suspended […]

Three Reasons I’m Not Attending my 30th High School Reunion

West Mifflin High School Class Reunion

It’s been 30 years and four long months since I was graduated from West Mifflin Area High School in May 1988. My tenth year class reunion in 1998 was pretty typical – sit down meal, cash bar, banquet hall, DJ, etc. This was before social media, but still a time when we could exchange email […]

Back to School Q&A with Trans Activist Daniel, 16, of Lakeview School District

We’ve blogged earlier in the year about the decision of Lakeview School District in Mercer County to expand their nondiscrimination policies to explicitly address needs of transgender students. This was a rule change to better comply with existing policy, not a new policy altogether. When the School Board met in May, one student – Daniel […]

Is Liberty University Online Targeting Pittsburgh Community Leaders?

Liberty University Online LGBT

Something of concern that I’ve noticed over the past years – an increasing number of regional community leaders have ties to Liberty University via the online school – folks pursuing higher degrees. This article from the New York Times and ProPublica lays out the reasons why that might be the case ($$) and it is concerning. […]

Q&A with a March for Our Lives Pittsburgh Student Organizer #MarchForOurLivesPGH

March for our lives Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is one of more than 800 cities hosting sister marches with the National March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 24. Pittsburgh’s march will kick-off at 11:30 AM at the City County Building on Grant Street. The march route will take you down Grant Street to Fifth, then Fifth to Liberty […]

IUP Assigns ‘First Amendment’ Hawk to Female Led Religious Studies Class

A recent academic situation at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in Western PA is raising  my concerns about academic capitulation to right-wing proponents who deliberately conflate free speech with bullying behavior. Here’s what happened. On February 28, Lake Ingle, 23, a senior religious studies major from Tyrone, Blair County, attended the class “Self, Sin and Salvation.” The […]

How I Remember My West Mifflin School Teachers (1974-1988)

West Mifflin Area School District

Some blog posts are more for me, than for you. This is one such post. I’ve decided to make a list of all of my teachers and what impression they made on me.  I include my age when I began that grade – I was very young in my class and probably should have been […]

25 Years Ago Today, I Was Graduated from College. Here’s What I Learned

My alma mater is Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia (1988-1992.) I studied Political Science with a minor in Philosophy/Religion. Marymount is a very small Catholic affiliated private university. I went there because it wasn’t in Pittsburgh and they offered me a full academic scholarship. That’s about all of the thought I put into it while […]

Guest Post: You Can Help LGBT Students in Pittsburgh Public Schools Right Now

Pittsburgh Public School transgender

Guest post by Rayden Sorock As you probably know, there have been numerous attacks on LGBT students’ rights recently, many of which revolve around the much-disputed “bathroom issue.” Here are several things you can do RIGHT NOW that will make a real difference in the lives of LGBT and gender-expansive youth in local public schools. […]

High School Class Refreshers I’d Like To Take At 45

Adult Education

Nearly every day,  I think “that’s science.” I wasn’t a science major or even a great science student. But as I use concepts like levers, gravity, chemical reactions, and so forth in my everyday life, I actually flash in my head to that “that’s science” commentary. Physics matters. It is something I use nearly every […]