Art All Night Bans All Weapons at Community Art Event

Some good news from Art All Night, a community art event held annually each spring in Lawrenceville. They have put an official no-weapons policy in place, for volunteers and the public. No guns – permit or not. As you may recall, last year we found a volunteer openly carrying a handgun in his waistband. From […]

The Time I Volunteered On Election Day

Kerry Edwards Rainbow Button

Way, way back in 2004, I was an active member of Steel City Stonewall Democrats and I was drafted to help out on Election Day in November. Based on my (ahem) vast social service experience (& lack of experience with poll data), I was put in charge of volunteers. I dutifully began recruiting people to […]

Ten Things You Can’t Buy With SNAP (Food Stamps)

Personal Care Closet Pittsburgh

  I was terrible in Home Ec (8th grade) because I had little appreciation for how practical the skills would be some day. I regret not being able to sew for sure – how much money can we save if we could even do basic sewing? I also regret not learning more about cooking. I […]

Simon Rescued Himself

Rescued Cat

The Prompt: Tell us about the time you rescued someone else (person or animal) from a dangerous situation. What happened? How did you prevail? I can’t really share stories about clients, but I do want to give a shout out to the front line workers – least paid and most abused – who put themselves on […]

Baby, It’s Cold Outside (But Nina Sat at the Table Anyway)

I love this photo and I’m not one to say that about my own shots. Saturday evening, Laura and I along with our friend Lyndsey headed out to the Waterfront for dinner and a trip to I Made It! For the Holidays. It began to snow during our travels and when we arrived, Lyndsey and […]

Malcolm X and Blogher

The Prompt: Malcolm X said, “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” Discuss. My first thought was that as a middle class white woman, I needed to get more context on this quote before wading in. I did read Malcolm X in college so I had a sense that this quote wouldn’t be […]

LGBTQ&A: Mike Testa Works for Equality

An occasional series where we pose some questions to local LGBTQ folks (and Allies) to learn more about their personal experiences with LGBTQ culture. Click here for a complete list of all LGBTQ&A profiles.  During Pride 2013, we are trying to feature someone each day. Mike is the chair of GLEC so I’ve only met him […]

LGBTQ&A: Sam Thorp Explores What’s Super (and Not)

An occasional series where we pose some questions to local LGBTQ folks (and Allies) to learn more about their personal experiences with LGBTQ culture. Click here for a complete list of all LGBTQ&A profiles.  During Pride 2013, we are trying to feature someone each day. Sam is curating the current art show at the Gay and […]

Eight Ways To Pay It Forward

If you use Facebook or Twitter, chances are that you’ve come across some pretty amazing people – especially parents who have lost a child – asking others to pay it forward in honor of their loved one. That often gets me thinking of how we want to focus on individual actions sometimes at the expense […]