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It is not a good week when you are comparing the poor customer service of both local grocery chain Giant Eagle and local healthcare giant, Allegheny Health Network. Note – if anyone chimes in with the word “Aldi’s” – you will be on my list. On Tuesday, I went to my PCP on Federal Street […]
We have published 279 Q&A’s to date. Western Pennsylvania has about 4 million residents and about 210,000 LGBTQ residents. How many have you read? And have you shared your story using our online Q&A? Below is a reverse chronological list of the AMPLIFY Q&A’s Maria Talks Lesbian Life in the North Hills of Pittsburgh Suzanne, […]
Name: Maria Vincenzia La Monica Age: 33 County of Residence: Allegheny Pronouns: she/her How do you describe your identity? Female, Lesbian, writer, cancer survivor, advocate, enthusiast. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I was deeply closeted until I was 29, I walked out of the closet and into the […]
In a twist of irony that is just basically unfair, I find myself facing yet another round of the dreaded abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds. Last January, I had a complete hysterectomy – complete means they removed my uterus and my cervix, leaving the ovaries. I was just 47 at the time of surgery so not […]
You are welcome, Rick. I’ve kept this since December 1991. Please feel free to circulate in place of the photo with Maria Butina. Even better, a friend of mine created this and sent it to me earlier today …
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I had a sort of NPR ‘driveway moment’ this weekend. Mine was in the parking lot of Walgreens where I was heading to pick up a medication for the dog. I flipped on WESA because I was a little weary of Christmas music. Listening to Lee Smith on The Moth Radio Hour reminisce about his […]
The phrase ‘a new low’ seems inadequate to describe the mean-spirited, churlish, vicious, nasty, hateful bitterness of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial Board. But writing out that serious of descriptive words repeatedly is equally insufficient to capture the true evil this Board has embraced. This week, they published this scathing indictment of Twitter’s new speech policies […]
Pop rock band HAIM created a shirt on their playful Haimukkah ditty as a way to show support for the 3 Jewish congregations targeted by a white domestic terrorist in October in Pittsburgh. It is a lovely gesture. Dreidels, Candels, Latkes oh my! All the things you need to get your Haimukkah celebration going! […]
Zahair Martinez, a Black transgender man living in Pittsburgh, claims he was assaulted inside a 7-Eleven on Wood Street in Downtown Pittsburgh by a group of seven people. This was 10:15 AM on Sunday December 2. Martinez spoke with WTAE “ZAHAIR MARTINEZ TELLS ME HE WAS TARGETED FROM THE SECOND HE WALKED INTO THIS DOWNTOWN […]
