Pro-Palestine students at the University of Pittsburgh face dismissal, criminal charges, and the threat of canceled visas
BY: INDIA KRUG
PERSONA NON GRATA
PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
BLACK IN BLUE
A former Pittsburgh cop takes readers into the city’s underbelly in new memoir
BY: DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Brenda Tate spent more than 40 years in law enforcement: five with the Housing Authority Police and another 40 as a Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officer. Tate’s new memoir, Journal of a Black Woman in Blue, recounts her experiences as an alcoholic and narcotic-addicted cop on the beat.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Retired police officer and author Brenda Tate
“I started off writing about being an African American policewoman,” says Tate. “I wanted to talk about my community, and when I started talking about my community, these other visions started popping in.”
Tate’s community may sound familiar to many older yinzers: bars, numbers stations, and poverty. Families like Tate’s struggled to raise children and make a living in a city infamous for throwing up roadblocks to Black residents, especially women.
“I grew up in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District in the 1950s and early ’60s, and I have lived here all my life,” Tate’s book begins. The book provides a look at the Hill District during the civil rights era and afterwards.
Tate grew up in a home where her mother struggled to make ends meet while
her father disappeared into the neighborhood’s bars and brothels, sometimes for hours, other times for days and weeks. A union worker, Tate’s father died in 1964 at age 48. He left the family with a depleted pension fund — as in empty — and pathologies that would take decades to repair.
“That day was the worst day of my life,” Tate writes of his passing. After the funeral, she joined family members in a Herron Avenue bar, one of her father’s favorites, where the bartender offered the teenager a drink. “This was my first drink in a bar. I was 15 years old, and the experience would change my life forever.”
The 630 Bar was a Hill District favorite, along with Lou’s Ringside Bar and the Black Beauty Lounge on Centre Avenue. Vann’s Bar on Webster Avenue provides the setting
for much of Tate’s memoir.
Characters in Tate’s book, like “Mr. Jackson the Ragman,” who ran a numbers station inside his Rowley Street store, and “Cigar Annie the Wannabe Gangster,” seem too colorful to be true. Yet, Pittsburgh’s newspaper archives and criminal court records make them plausibly anonymized real-life figures.
Nothing is off limits in Tate’s book. She recounts in stomach-churning detail the many episodes of sexual abuse she survived, from her mother’s male friends to her own partners.
“The first male friend I remember my mother having was Mr. Gump, who lived around the corner and spoke with a strange accent,” Tate wrote in Journal. Tate’s mother would send her to the man’s apartment
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Tate addresses the audience at Senior Jazz Connection on Feb. 21, 2025.
to borrow money. “The first time he molested me, I had no expectation that he would do anything except give me the money.”
The environment followed Tate into adulthood, and she self-medicated. Alcohol, and later cocaine, took the edge off. Whether it was abusive men or the racist, misogynist cops who were her peers and supervisors, a chemical escape was never far away: bars on her beats where she could duck in for a quick drink or score some coke, and her own Hill District home she once turned into a beer garden for on-duty cops.
“I always left the back door open so that officers could park behind my house and have access any time to my Beer Meister,” Tate wrote in Journal. Tate, who walked a beat in the Hill District’s Zone 2, joked that her house had become known as “Zone Two and a Half.”
Tate wasn’t the first Pittsburgh cop to struggle with alcohol and drug abuse. But by the time she became a cop in 1979, she was in the minority of Black women in uniform. As a Black woman, she entered the force with two strikes against her.
“THERE’S SO MANY OF US THAT ARE STILL ALIVE, THAT ARE SO MUCH PART OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY IN THIS CITY, THAT SOMETIMES THEY GO UNNOTICED.”
“You have to remember this was a white-male-dominated time,” says Tate. “They were used to protecting and interacting with the white male. If there was a
white male with a drinking problem, they knew how to handle him. That was one of their boys.”
Tate claims that her gender and race left her vulnerable to hazing and abuse. In the book, she recounts one episode when she was walking a beat on Mt. Washington. When she asked her sergeant for a radio, he told her there were none left. Unable to answer calls from the station, she got a three-day suspension for leaving the station without a radio.
Tate says she took the multiple attempts to sabotage her career in stride.
“People in my community respected me as a Black officer … when I put my uniform on,” she says. “I kind of knew what I was and who I was, even through the haze of the alcoholism. It was something that I was raised with, being an African American woman.”
After hitting rock bottom, Tate entered
Lou’s Bar formerly stood on Centre Ave. in the Hill District.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRENDA TATE Cover of Tate's book Journal of a Black Woman in Blue
rehab. In recovery, she got certified as a counselor and worked with other alcoholic and addicted women police officers to get them help. he ended up founding a women’s recovery program.
Tate later got assigned to the police department’s Witness Protection Program, and she was assigned to protective details for visiting dignitaries, including presidents Bill linton, eorge W. Bush, Barack bama, and oe Biden. he also protected the Dalai ama and osa Parks while they were in Pittsburgh.
Tate retired in 2 1 and turned to community service. In 2 22, she founded the enior azz onnection. It meets at the Blakey enter and connects seniors with local jazz artists. Before that, she had organized jazz sessions at the entre Avenue YM A.
In 2 2 , W D featured Tate’s story in a short documentary, Brenda Tate: Making a Difference . Tate’s book came out in 2 2 . Her memoir does double duty: it’s a long apology and a vehicle to explain her complicated life to her two sons, and it’s a window into Pittsburgh Black history that’s quickly closing.
“I think there’s so many of us that are still alive, that are so much part of the African American history in this city, that sometimes they go unnoticed,” says Tate. “We all have a story, especially the ones 7 and over.” •
“WE BELIEVE WELLNESS ENCOMPASSES THE WHOLE PERSON — BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT”
HEAL TURN
Pittsburgh community leaders draw on the legacy of Black radicals who saw healthcare as a right
BY: JORDAN SNOWDEN // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Wellness in Pittsburgh’s Black community isn’t just about self-care; it’s about survival. It’s about resistance. And it’s about legacy.
From the radical healthcare initiatives of the Black Panther Party to today’s Black-led mental health programs, yoga collectives, and community spaces, Black Pittsburghers have continually forged paths to healing. As these wellness movements continue to grow, they reinforce the belief that care is not a privilege but a right.
Local leaders at the heart of this movement
recognize that healing must be holistic and culturally rooted to thrive. Brittany Steiner, a licensed professional counselor at the Counseling and Wellness Center of Pittsburgh, sees therapy as an act of defiance in a community where seeking professional help has often been stigmatized.
“I sometimes see a resistance to self-care in the Black community because it is perceived as a luxury versus a necessity,” Steiner tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “This is likely in part due to the way it is commercialized in mainstream media but can also be re ective of self-worth.”
Her perspective is part of a more significant trend that's been unfolding for decades. While the general act of self-care today is often commercialized, its roots are radical. As Teen Vogue highlights, the Black Panther Party saw healthcare as a human right, launching free health clinics, food programs, and mental health initiatives to combat the racist healthcare system. In Pittsburgh, the presence of the BBP was relatively low. till, its in uence inspired local activists to push for Black-led healthcare initiatives, feeding the larger Black Power movement that was active in the city during the late 1960s, addressing police
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FELICIA SAVAGE FRIEDMAN YogaRoots On Location
brutality, food insecurity, and medical disparities that disproportionately affected Black residents. That legacy continues today through Black mental health professionals and community healing spaces prioritizing culturally relevant care. Recently, Steiner has seen a shift in how Black Pittsburghers approach therapy. “The demand [for Black therapists] has certainly increased,” she says. “I also notice specific spaces for healing in the community from Black therapy providers in Pittsburgh and educational spaces specifically for BIPOC mental health providers on a national level.”
Despite this progress, significant challenges remain. Some of the most common diagnoses Steiner sees in the Black community are those of trauma and PTSD, marital/relational issues, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression — often linked to systemic problems such as gentrification, police violence, and economic inequality.
“I SOMETIMES SEE A RESISTANCE TO SELF-CARE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY BECAUSE IT IS PERCEIVED AS A LUXURY VERSUS A NECESSITY"
Therapy can be a crucial tool, but Steiner emphasizes that healing must also be communal. She incorporates community-based healing into her work by offering somatic release workshops, where participants process trauma through breathwork, meditation, and movement.
Faith and spirituality also play critical roles in Black healing. Steiner notes that more Black Pittsburghers embrace a dual approach, saying, “‘I can talk to God and go to therapy. I say ‘Amen’ to that, and I would add taking psychiatric medication to that.”
“My first ideas of healing involved taking everything to God and the church without addressing mental health,” Steiner says. “From the time I was a little girl, my mom would always say, and often [still] does, ‘You can’t just lay on the train tracks and pray you won’t get run over.’ We have to pray and do some other things and that may include therapy and medication.”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Dr. John Wallace Jr. and Cynthia Wallace walk through Homewood on Feb. 16, 2024.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Oasis Farm and Fishery in Homewood
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Dr. John Wallace Jr. and Cynthia Wallace visit the Oasis Farm and Fishery in Homewood.
Everyday Cafe, a church-run social enterprise in Homestead, exemplifies this approach. Founded by Dr. John M. Wallace Jr. and his wife, Cynthia, both pastors, the cafe is an extension of Bible Center Church’s mission to uplift the Homewood community.
“We believe wellness encompasses the whole person — body, mind, and spirit,” Dr. Wallace tells City Paper. “Our cafe serves as more than just a place for quality food and beverages; we strive to be a sanctuary where our community can gather, connect, and be nurtured holistically through the power of food and fellowship.”
Everyday Cafe hosts pop-up markets for Black businesses, breast cancer awareness programs, and local wellness collaborations, ensuring that healing remains accessible to all. They also offer nutritious meals,
wellness initiatives, and community-building events. Additionally, through Own Our Own Entrepreneurship Academy and Business Development Center, the cafe fosters economic empowerment by mentoring Black entrepreneurs and providing resources for business growth.
Dr. Wallace, a social scientist, envisioned Everyday Cafe as a “third space” for members of the Homewood community. He explains that the term refers to a place that is neither home nor work but a hub where residents, business leaders, and activists can gather and build relationships.
Through its connection to Bible Center Church, the restaurant also integrates faithbased wellness with tangible resources, from financial literacy workshops to health fairs, and allows for the addressing of mental,
physical, and spiritual well-being, ensuring that Pittsburgh’s Black residents have a holistic wellness space rooted in both cultural and religious traditions.
On the body movement side of wellness, YogaRoots On Location, founded by Felicia Savage Friedman, brings trauma-informed yoga with a racial justice lens to Pittsburgh’s Black community.
“My self-care living practice is an act of resistance against a system that does not value my life,” Friedman tells CP . “YROL is my private and public commitment to my survival and thrive in this life, in this arrangement of intersectional oppressions. Yes, my breath is radical resistance.”
Friedman traces her practice back more than years, first learning aja Yoga from a Black woman in Pittsburgh. From there, she
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Bible Center Church in Homewood.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Cynthia Wallace stands in the Oasis Community Kitchen in Homewood on Fe. 16, 2024.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Pastors Cynthia and John Wallace Jr. sit in the conference room of Own Our Own in Homewood on Feb. 16, 2024.
built a teaching practice that expanded throughout the city, bringing yoga to the Healthy Black Family Project, local jails, and various community spaces.
Her curriculum incorporates social justice principles, mindfulness, and movement, letting yoga serve as a tool for Black liberation. She sees her work as a natural continuation of the Black Panther Party’s legacy of community health initiatives. “YogaRoots On Location aligns with The Black Panther Party’s 10-point plan for Black people,” she says. “However, YROL extends the 10-point plan to include all humans who want to live in harmony with all people.”
While Pittsburgh’s Black communities continue to navigate systemic healthcare inequities, grassroots movements are reclaiming self-care as a revolutionary act, not just as a trend, but as a transformative force for future generations.
“Practicing my agency and being as healthy as possible is my birthright,” says Friedman. •
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BRITTANY STEINER Brittany Steiner
PERSONA NON GRATA
Pro-Palestine students at the University of Pittsburgh face dismissal, criminal charges, and the threat of canceled visas
BY: INDIA KRUG // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
It was a cold night in November, and Oakland was quiet. Adam* was studying with friends. While checking their email, they saw an alert from the Office of Student Conduct. Under their name were the words persona non grata—they had been dismissed from the University of Pittsburgh, and their presence was forbidden on Pitt grounds.
This was no surprise to Adam, who had spent the last three months embroiled in student conduct hearings for their participation in pro-Palestine demonstrations. But that made it no less terrifying.
“When I got that notification, all I felt was fear,” Adam tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “It felt like my future was being closed off.”
Last April, students began peacefully occupying Pitt’s campus to show their support for Palestine and call for Pitt’s divestment from
Israel. Two students were arrested during an encampment in Schenley Plaza. In June, a second encampment was set up on the Cathedral of Learning lawn, which later escalated into a standoff with police.
Pitt did not respond to detailed questions about the ongoing disciplinary process by press time.
“IT FEELS VERY MUCH TO ME LIKE THE UNIVERSITY JUST WANTED THEIR POUND OF FLESH.”
Encampments like the ones last spring have been used throughout history to bring attention to issues, from the Vietnam War to South African apartheid. But they are
generally received more negatively than other forms of protest, such as marches.
“Camping has a level of permanence and potential for property damage that is higher than for marches or other forms of demonstrations,” Sara Rose, deputy legal director at ACLU PA ., tells City Paper.
“Universities don’t like the attention; they want to maintain control over their image,” Tanisha Long, a community organizer with Abolitionist Law Center, tells CP. “And people are deeply uncomfortable with what they view as a land takeover in support of a country in the Middle East that has been politically and socially demonized.”
Long was present at the encampment as a representative of ALC. She says she witnessed campus police erect barricades at the Cathedral of Learning, shoving and elbowing students who were nearby. They
Police and protesters clash on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning on June 3, 2024.
prevented supporters from giving anything to those inside, including food and water. In one instance, she says a community member trying to get items over the barricade was thrown to the ground and dragged away.
“Pitt police were very aggressive,” Long says. “I have videos of them slashing water bottles. I have videos of them dragging someone down the stairs.”
The Cathedral of Learning encampment reflected a national movement on college campuses, with students setting up encampments at 117 universities across the country. Its forcible disbandment reflected a trend, with nearly 51% of encampments getting dispersed by law enforcement. Student encampments at Columbia and the City University of New York made headlines, but what made fewer headlines was the dismissal of Columbia students and the 22 CUNY students who faced felony charges after the fact.
Following the Pitt encampments,
demonstrators say campus police combed through photos and video to identify them. Many chose to turn themselves in, which led to their arrest. Since then, 25 students and community members have been arrested and charged, with Adam being one of them. Adam’s criminal proceedings commenced over the summer, and they face felony charges.
“THERE’S NOT A LOT OF DUE PROCESS THAT STUDENTS ARE ENTITLED TO COMPARED TO A CRIMINAL PROCEEDING.”
Then, early into their senior year, Adam was informed that, in addition to criminal charges, the university was opening disciplinary action against them, following a referral from campus police. In the hearings, Adam sat across from the campus police that had charged and
testified against them in court.
“Sitting in the disciplinary hearings felt incredibly oppressive and scary,” Adam recollects. “It felt like I was facing the wrath of the entire institution coming down on my head.”
Then it came time for Adam to defend themself.
“My hands were entirely tied from being able to say or admit anything that could shed light on the situation,” Adam shares. “I was afraid it could be subpoenaed and used against me in my criminal trial.”
Rose says that Adam made the right decision. “You absolutely should not be saying anything during the disciplinary process because it could harm your criminal case,” she explains. “It puts students in a difficult position.”
Long says she voiced concerns to the student conduct officer about Adam’s disciplinary and criminal processes taking place concurrently. “[The officer] was like,
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Police on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning on June 3, 2024
‘I understand it’s not the not the best process. There’s really no other way. We have to do it,’” Long repeats.
Pitt’s code of conduct gives students three options in a hearing — to accept the charges and accept the sanction, to accept the charges and reject the sanction, or to reject the charges and reject the sanction.
“Nowhere does it give students the option to reject the charges and accept the sanction,” Adam says. “And I couldn’t accept the charges, for fear of self-incrimination.”
Adam had to reject the charges and reject the initial proposed sanction, which was suspension. This intensified their disciplinary process. Fellow Pitt student Natalia* served as a character witness. They say that, halfway through speaking to Adam’s kindness and maturity, they realized it was in vain.
“Everything I was saying was falling on deaf ears. The university was intent on making an example out of them,” Natalia tells CP . They
suspect race played a role. “As a person of color, Adam is up against stereotypes branding them as violent. No testimony seemed sufficient enough to penetrate that assumption.”
Adam was an honors student and active in their school community. They had 11 credits left to graduate. “It feels very much to me like the university just wanted their pound of flesh,” Adam shares. “I was a senior. I was graduating in May.”
Adam is the first of the demonstrators to be dismissed from the university, but Natalia says Adam’s situation is far from unique — they believe it’s a reflection of a broader, institutional effort to stifle student dissent.
“Their case is not an isolated incident,” Natalia remarks. “Many students have found themselves in disciplinary hearings for antigenocide protesting.”
Rose says that the amount of due process that one is owed depends on the severity of the consequence, and, historically, courts
have deemed disciplinary action against students as “not punitive.”
“So, there’s not a lot of due process that students are entitled to compared to a criminal proceeding, where there are very robust due process protections,” she says. “But you know, in cases where there is the possibility of expulsion, possibility of losing financial aid, those kinds of things — that is punishment. I think that it is.”
“I think that it is important for students to have due process protections that are perhaps more robust than the courts have recognized,” she continues.
Students for Justice in Palestine, a club on campus, is also facing conduct hearings. They are accused of holding a protest at Hillman Library this December, after students with keffiyehs and literature welcomed peers to come sit with them and learn about Gaza. SJP leaders Andrew* and Amelia* say that the students were approached by Pitt staff and police
and told to leave.
“Students were told varying rationales as to how their presence contravened university policies,” Andrew tells CP. “That students couldn’t use whiteboards for non-study purposes, that they had modified the space, that their signage was ‘facing outward,’ or that they were holding an event.”
Andrew and Amelia were notified of disciplinary action over a month later. They say that, throughout this process, they have had to be their own lawyers.
“It’s basically forcing us to neglect a lot of our school work, because we’ve had to read through documents, we’ve had to strategize arguments, defenses,” Amelia shares with CP
Andrew and Amelia characterize Pitt’s 67-page student code of conduct as “intentionally vague and confusing,” and share that when they asked clarifying questions, they were often directed back to the code of conduct “at large.” In one instance, they were told by the student conduct officer that they would have to submit all of the questions they planned to ask in their hearing in advance.
“This was not a practice in use as recently as October 30, 2024, when one of us was present for another individual’s conduct hearing,” Andrew says. When Andrew and Amelia asked the officer to locate the practice in the code of conduct, he could not. Soon after, he walked back his words.
But Amelia and Andrew claim there is an even more glaring issue at hand — Students for Justice in Palestine still don’t know exactly which codes they violated. At their disciplinary conference, they were presented with a list of alleged violations. These included:
19. Violates or assists in the Violation of any policy, procedure or guidance of the University including but not limited to the following: k. Any other policy, procedure or guideline of the University whether or not listed in the Code
36. Fails without just cause to comply with the lawful direction of a University official, or other lawful authority have just cause and acting in the performance of their duties and authority
“We were walking into the hearing not knowing the full extent of what our violations
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Police on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning on June 3, 2024
were,” Amelia says.
For Andrew, this was not his first encounter with Pitt authorities. Last April, a video circulated around campus of him surrounded by five Pitt police officers who pinned and straddled him while he was peacefully protesting. Like Adam, he faces criminal charges. He says the university and campus police’s actions are meant to isolate and paralyze students.
“It makes people think that they cannot speak up, especially when it matters the most,” he says. “It’s a violation of freedom of speech when you are under the impression that it is not safe for you to speak out without retaliation, without disciplinary or legal measures being taken against you.”
An unnamed Pitt professor agrees. “Like many universities, Pitt is weaponizing the student code of conduct to silence
pro-Palestinian speech,” they tell CP. “Many students I’ve spoken with are scared and anxious. They are being forced to choose between speaking out against an egregious moral wrong and their safety and futures.”
Andrew and Amelia are both people of color. They say that they feel unprotected by the university. “There have been incidents where individual members of SJP, as well as other Palestinian students, have received threatening, hateful messages, calls to their personal phone numbers, and been doxxed,” says Amelia.
Andrew reminds her to mention Betar, a national Zionist organization that visited campus. “They posted on social media, saying that they ‘looked forward to giving a beeper’ to SJP,” Amelia says. A screenshot from Betar’s Instagram story confirms this. She says they brought the
incident to the university. “Nothing happened,” she remarks.
Betar has since sent a list of “pro-Palestine” Pitt students who are on visas to the Trump administration. Recently, the administration announced they would be canceling the student visas of Pro-Palestine protestors. Pitt has not publicly responded to any of this news.
“The silence from the university is deafening,” Amelia says, noting that there are no universities left in Gaza. “It doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by Palestinians, especially by Arabs, especially by Muslim people who feel as if we have been ‘othered.’ They will use us for diversity shots to make their public image look better, but at the same time, criminalize us when we point out their complicity in genocide.” •
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
One of the anonymous protestors now facing prosecution
REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR
Israel Centeno’s new noir novel is a layer cake of Venezuela, Pittsburgh, and Poe
BY: RACHEL WILKINSON // RWILKINSON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Much of Israel Centeno’s work has challenged historical myths, even reimagined history.
In 2002, the celebrated Venezuelan author penned the thriller El Complot (The Conspiracy), in which an assassination plot stokes violence and paranoia, upends the country, and calls its foundational principles into question. As the novel went to press amidst a failed coup attempt on Venezuelan president Hugo h vez, it was viewed as an affront, resulting in Centeno and his family’s exile to Pittsburgh 15 years ago.
“I refused to disappear,” he recently wrote about that time. Centeno arrived as a writer-in-residence at City of Asylum and attended English classes at Literacy Pittsburgh (formerly Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council), where he now serves as a Compass AmeriCorps member. “Every publication, no matter how symbolic, was an act of defiance. It was a way to keep moving forward, even if only by an inch, to remain alive as an author.”
A decade after El Complot’s translation into English, Centeno says he’s still finding new ways to push forward and open new perspectives. In November, the award-winning writer self-published his 20th novel, and his first-ever book written in nglish, The Poe’s Project: Stealing Genius
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ISRAEL CENTENO Israel Centeno's The Poe's Project
Described by Centeno as three noir novelettes, the new book was “inspired by the gothic aura” of Edgar Allan Poe, and follows in the writer’s footsteps to examine “the dark corners of [his] literary legacy.” Poe’s life contains a number of mysteries, including his cause of death.
“I tried to rewrite his biography,” Centeno tells Pittsburgh City Paper Set in the turbulent 1890s — sometimes called the “reckless decade”— The Poe’s Project blends distinct historical settings, unfolding across Caracas, Venezuela, then embroiled in a civil war, New York City amidst the Spiritualism movement, Poe’s adopted hometown of Baltimore, Md., and Gilded Age Pittsburgh. At the book’s center is protagonist Clementina, the granddaughter of a Venezuelan independence general, who eventually finds herself in Homestead during the infamous 1892 steel strike.
“IT’S NOT LIKE I AM DOING A NOVEL WITH A HIGH CONTENT OF POLITICS, BUT IT’S PART OF THE PROCESS.”
Centeno tells City Paper he’d long hoped to explore historical links between Pittsburgh and Venezuela, both places where steel production once boomed.
“When I came here, Pittsburgh was very different. It was coming out of this experience of being almost on the brink of being broken and was in the transition [from] being a steel city,” Centeno says. “Before I even imagined myself coming here, I knew about Pittsburgh because of that, building our own steel industry [in Venezuela].”
Characteristic of his approach, Centeno says the book’s structure was partially inspired by the parlor game exquisite corpse. In the game, players draw or write on a sheet of paper, fold it, then pass it to the next player who contributes without seeing what
others have written. Invented by the Surrealists — and used by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, who also wrote a Poe biography — the game is intended to encourage creativity and the process of “writing over,” inviting new interpretations, reconstructions, and affinities. In the same way, the structure of The Poe’s Project traverses seemingly disparate historical events and sees what parallels emerge.
While there are some thriller conventions from his earlier books, Centeno describes The Poe’s Project as closer to “a parody of a thriller,” and instead categorizes it as a “historical mystery.”
“I am now trying to revisit everything through this lens … revisiting authors and going through some mystery that needs to be solved,” Centeno says. Formerly a professor of American literature, Centeno says readers will also recognize references to other literary icons of the era, including Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Similarly, a forthcoming book project features science fiction and horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, who receives a letter from a Venezuelan man warning him against supporting aviator Charles Lindbergh (who later ran for political office) due to his Nazi sympathies.
“I can touch [on] things about politics, [and] it’s not like I am doing a novel with a high content of politics, but it’s part of the process,” Centeno explains. “When you revisit a time, you always take something [from] that period of time.”
Centeno describes writing his first book in English in Lovecraftian terms.
“I transcend my own universe,” he says. “My universe of thought is in Spanish, and I transcend it.”
While Centeno has worked as a translator, and his previous works have been released in translation, he says the decision to self-publish The Poe’s Project came about due to ongoing reticence about his work among Venezuelan and other Spanish language publishers.
“I’m still on a sort of blacklist,” he says. “One of the things that
challenge[s] you when you are in exile is not only to lose your identity, but if you are a writer or an artist, to lose your natural audiences.”
Still, literature cannot be understood as something done in isolation, Centeno says. In that spirit, he espouses the practice of “radical charity.” Half of the royalties from The Poe’s Project will be donated to The Red Door, a program at Downtown’s Saint Mary of Mercy Church (where Centeno is also a church member). Started during the Great Depression, The Red Door provides daily meals to those experiencing homelessness.
Calling Pittsburgh his “second city,” at 67, Centeno says he feels it’s now time “to give something back.”
He describes his shock at the “lack of compassion” toward unhoused people after living in the United
States for 15 years.
“They are invisible for us, and you pass through them,” he says. “If somebody comes to the United States and sees the streets full of homeless [people], it’s like seeing the ugly face of the country.”
“Sometimes you get lost in abstraction, how to change the whole world,” Centeno says. “But you forget that you can do something very concrete, just sending an Amazon box of soup to The Red Door or other charitable work.”
That sense of community extends to his artistic practice.
“I love to write, and to recreate the world, and to see the world through art,” he says. “For me, it’s very important to not lose the connection. It’s how I find my connection with people also.” •
SAT., MARCH 1
IN PITTSBURGH
TUE., MAR. 4
THU., FEB. 27
ART • OAKLAND
Gala Porras-Kim: The reflection at the threshold of a categorical division Opening Celebration. 6-8 p.m. Continues through July 27. Carnegie Museum of Art. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free. carnegieart.org
ART • EAST LIBERTY
East Liberty has become the focus of discourse around gentrification in Pittsburgh, with several local artists acknowledging this issue through their work. Njaimeh Njie adds to this list with Lifting Liberty, a new exhibition opening at Kelly Strayhorn Theater. The multimedia artist uses collage, photography, and text to celebrate cultural spaces in the historically Black neighborhood, and imagine “what the future of an artsanchored East Liberty could be.” 6-8 p.m. Continues through May 31. 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Free. kelly-strayhorn.org
MUSIC
• LAWRENCEVILLE
Giant Day with Pairdown and The Garment District. 8 p.m. Spirit. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. spiritpgh.com
FILM • NORTH SIDE
After Hours: Screening of Isla Hansen’s How to Get to Make Believe and Artist Q&A 6-8 p.m. Mattress Factory. 509 Jacksonia St., North Side. $10, free for members. mattress.org
FRI., FEB. 28
THEATER
• LARIMER
Alumni Theater Company presents Love Is… A Collection of Short Plays by the Voices Shaping Black Theater Today
7 p.m Continues through Sun., March 2. Alumni Theater Company. 6601 Hamilton Ave., Larimer. $15-25. Ages 8 and up. alumnitheatercompany.org
ART • LARIMER
Jordan Wong: PRACTICE +/ -
5:30-7:30 p.m. Continues through April 30. The Portal Art Gallery-Bakery Square. 6425 Penn Ave., Larimer. Free. bakery-square.com
CONVENTION • SOUTH HILLS
Horror Realm 6-10:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 2. Crowne Plaza Suites Pittsburgh South. 164 Fort Couch Rd., South Hills. $15-40. Free for kids 10 and under with paid adult admission. horrorrealmcon.com
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ATOM SPLITTER PR Killswitch Engage at Stage AE
MUSIC • DOWNTOWN
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents Pixar in Concert 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 2. Heinz Hall. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $25-107. trustarts.org
FRI., FEB. 28
FESTIVAL • MILLVALE
Millvale Maple Fest and Seed Swap. 10 a.m. Millvale Community Library. 213 Grant Ave., Millvale. Free. millvale.librarycalendar.com
CONVENTION • DOWNTOWN
World Oddities Expo 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 2. David L. Lawrence Convention Center. 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. $20-25. Free for kids 12 and under. worldodditiesexpo.com
ART • POINT BREEZE
Two Years of Exhibitions. 6-8 p.m. Bottom Feeder Books. 415 Gettysburg St., Point Breeze. Free. bottomfeederbooks.com
DANCE • DOWNTOWN
Yanlai Dance Academy presents Radiance: A Chinese Dance Performance. 7 p.m. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $35-50. yanlaidanceacademy.com/performance
SUN., MARCH 2
DANCE/ KIDS • OAKLAND
Dancing The Wizard of Oz with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. One Schenley Dr., Oakland. $20-30. Open to kids 3-7. phipps.conservatory.org
FILM • DOWNTOWN
Fly Fishing Film Tour 2 p.m. Doors at 1 p.m. The Oaks Theater. 310 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont. Call International Angler for tickets at 412-788-8088. theoakstheater.com
COMEDY • STRIP DISTRICT
Fans of the HBO series Hacks know Meg Statler as the endearingly incompetent (or is she?) assistant to a Hollywood agent. See this rising comedy star when she brings her The Prettiest Girl In America Tour to the Original Pittsburgh Winery. Co-presented by Bottlerocket Social Hall, the event promises to showcase the satirical, surreal style that has made Statler a talent to watch. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Doors at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. 2809 Penn Ave., Strip District. $35. bottlerocketpgh.com
MON., MARCH 3
MUSIC
• DOWNTOWN
The High Kings and Mary Black 7:30 p.m. Byham Theater. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $46.50-96.50.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Horror Realm
LIT • OAKLAND
Question everything you know about human evolution when Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures presents Cat Bohannon. The author will discuss her book Eve, described by Penguin Random House as a “mythbusting, eye-opening landmark account” of how the female body drove mammalian development over 200 million years. Delve deeper into this fascinating work by a researcher with a PhD from Columbia University. 7:30 p.m. Carnegie Music Hall. 4440 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $25-35. pittsburghlectures.org
TUE., MAR. 4
TUE., MARCH 4
MUSIC • NORTH SHORE
Killswitch Engage with Kublai Khan TX, Fit For a King, and Frozen Soul. 5:30 p.m. Stage AE. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. $55-99. promowestlive.com
MUSIC • STRIP DISTRICT
Solas 30th Anniversary Tour. 7:30 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. City Winery Pittsburgh. 1627 Smallman St., Strip District. $40-55. citywinery.com/pittsburgh
THEATER • DOWNTOWN
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presents Kimberly Akimbo 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 9. Benedum Center. Seventh St. and Penn Ave., Downtown. $38-117. trustarts.org
WED., MARCH 5
PARTY • GREEN TREE
International Women’s Day Celebration 5:30-7:30 p.m. Global Links Headquarters. 700 Trumbull Dr., Green Tree. $30-55. pittsburghprofessionalwomen.com
MUSIC • SOUTH SIDE
Handsome Dick Manitoba with The Strains and The Cheats. 6:30 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. The Smiling Moose. 1306 E. Carson St., South Side. $20-25. smiling-moose.com
PHOTO: NJAIMEH NJIE Lifting Liberty at Kelly Strayhorn Theater
PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS
Kimberly Akimbo at the Benedum Center
HELP WANTED TMS SOFTWARE SPECIALIST Pittsburgh, PA.
AAS. Wage: $57,512/year. Resume: ibatayev1998@gmail.com, IBRA Technologies, 1913 Columbia Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15218.
HELP WANTED
DIGITAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER
Solventum Health Info Systems, Pittsburgh, PA (remote). Write & enhance code for a large-scale backend HL7 FHIR data repository. Write tests, optimize SQL & NoSQL databases, & deploy code using Kubernetes. Doc. processes & features. Bachelor’s in Comp. Sci. or Info. Sci. req’d. Must have 3 yrs work exp. w/: (i) Coding in Java & Spring Boot Java; (ii) Utilizing & optimizing large SQL & NoSQL databases; (iii) Deployment in cloud environments; (iv) Utilizing Kafka in a microservices environment; & (v) Deploying software using Gradle & Kubernetes. Exp. may be gained concurrently. Position eligible for telecommuting from any location in US. Apply at: solventum.com/ en-us/home/our-company/ careers/.
MARKET PLACE
ESTATE NOTICE
ESTATE OF FISHER, JAMES, P, A/K/A, IF NECESSARY, JAMES PAUL FISHER, JAMES FISHER DECEASED, OF CORAOPOLIS, PA No.02240189 of 2024
Joseph R. Fisher Extr. 210 Synder Drive, Corapolis, PA, 15108 Or to Caruthers & Caruthers, P.C. Attorneys. 660 Adele Drive, North Huntingdon, PA 15642
ESTATE NOTICE
ESTATE OF CHALFANT, ROSS, D, DECEASED OF GIBSONIA, PA No. 022500526 of 2025 Arlyn Garcia Chalfant Executor, 3779 Bakerstown Rd, Gibsonia,PA,15044.
ESTATE NOTICE
ESTATE OF BARCHFELD, CHARLES, J, A/K/A, IF NECESSARY, CHARLES JOSEPH BARCHFELD DECEASED, OF BRENTWOOD, PA No. 022407914 of 2024
Richard W. Snyder Extr. 26 Dogwood Lane, Grove City, PA, 16127
ESTATE NOTICE
ESTATE OF BENSON, MARY, E, DECEASED, OF MONROEVILLE PA No. 022500887 of 2025,
Carl J. Benson Extr. 421 Middlesex Road, McKeesport, PA. 15135.
FINANCIAL
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NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-24-000227
In petition of Lorraine Phillips, parents and legal guardians of Arleena Small, minor, for change of name to Arleena Small-Phillips. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 5th day of March 2025, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
SERVICES
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LEGAL
Need Help with Family Law? Can’t Afford a $5000 Retainer? Low Cost Legal Services- Pay As You Go- As low as $750-$1500Get Legal Help Now! Call 1-844-821-8249 Mon-Fri 7am to 4pm PCT (AAN CAN) https://www.familycourtdirect. com/?network=1
FINANCIAL
SAVE YOUR HOME!
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MISCELLANEOUS
FINANCIAL
Struggling With Your Private Student Loan Payment? New relief programs can reduce your payments. Learn your options. Good credit not necessary. Call the Helpline 888-670-5631 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Eastern) (AAN CAN)
STUDY
SMOKERS WANTED
The University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol & Smoking Research Lab is looking for people to participate in a research project. You must:
• Currently smoke cigarettes
• Be 18-49 years old, in good health, and speak fluent English
• Be right handed, willing to not smoke before two sessions, and to fill out questionnaires
Earn up to $260 for participating in this study.
For more information, call (412) 407-5029
NO LOOSE ENDS
ACROSS
1. Like the polar opposite of this clue
5. Jazzy style 10. ___-Hulk (Jennifer Walters’s alter ego) 13.
Plow team
14. Big name in motorcross equipment 15. Hot guy 16. Cover with gold 17. Classic aquarium fish
18. Like a scammer
19. Gut punch reaction
20. Places where card skimming crimes are committed
21. Media ___ 23. In a stylish way
25. Waters of Drunk History
26. Peace-and-love type
27. Russian man’s name that means “the Lord is my God”
28. One after the other?
31. Computer program that shares its name with a drink
33. Situation where the comments far outnumber the likes on socials
35. “Cutting it fine, huh?”
36. Kind of account
37. College basketball channel
38. Follow closely
39. Flush, e.g.
40. Utensil used for making applesauce
41. Jungfrau’s home
42. Peacock’s parent company
43. Lady doc, informally
44. ___ mater
46. Draw forth
48. Actor who removed Donald Trump from the Screen Actors Guild
51. Silicon Valley star ___ Nanjiani
53. Kathryn of Agatha All Along
54. It’s spotted in casinos
55. Level
56. “You beat me”
58. Pizzeria stock
59. Length of some fundraiser runs
60. Montana, famously
61. “I’m working ___!”
62. Granola morsel
63. Birds that fly in a V-formation
64. Prima donna’s have big ones
DOWN
1. Industrial arts?
2. Words to live by
3. Bit of personal growth
4. Boom sticks?
5. Collection at some liquor stores
6. Opposite camp
7. Some wagers
8. Crew member
9. Empty billboard’s come-on
10. Successfully complete a task, and a hint to the endings of the other theme answers
11. Only Murders In the Building streamer
12. Slow-churned ice cream brand
15. Fit to be tied
20. O -roader’s wheels, for short
22. Financial planner’s suggestion
24. Explorer Amundsen
25. Nose tackle’s squad
27. One setting up firewalls
29. Cry
30. Birds with asymmetrical ears
31. Legend of the music biz
32. Ka iyeh wearer
34. Teamed up
35. Collision sounds
43. Pictorial PC display
45. O ice computer system
47. Like good weed or sick memes
48. Lightens the load
49. Letters sung after many a farm animal
50. Stops playing
51. Caveman diet alternative
52. Iris’s place
53. Sharpen up
57. Slab of baloney
58. Supposed inventor of detective fiction
New jobs are posted every Sunday online and in our Tuesday City Pigeon e-newsletter.
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