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Father Tom Burke leads mass at St. Bede of Saint Mary Magdalene Parish

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MAIN FEATURE

BY CHRIS HEDLIN // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

LGBTQ AND CATHOLIC? Some parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are creating LGBTQ ministries.

For LGBTQ Catholics, it bring out hopes and concerns, faith and uncertainty.

Editor’s note: Three of the LGBTQ Catholics featured in this story, Jane, Richard, and Jamie, are using pseudonyms to protect their safety and privacy in their religious communities.

JANE WAS BORN AND RAISED CATHOLIC. When she came out as bisexual about 10 years ago, her father told her it was probably just a phase. Or maybe a byproduct of her anxiety. He urged her to “turn to God” for help. One summer, he recommended she attend an online program for people experiencing “same-sex urges,” a form of religious conversion therapy.

It wasn’t out of step with Catholic teachings. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church,” a summary of church doctrine written in 1992, called “homosexual tendencies” “objectively disordered.”

Recent statements from the Vatican have deemed same-sex unions not “even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”

“At 16, 17, 18, I felt like I was pretty much just gonna go to hell no matter what,” she said.

This past year, when Jane heard that parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in the East End had started an LGBTQ ministry group, she was curious.

For a long time, she questioned her

Catholic identity. Could she rightfully call herself a Catholic if she disagreed with some of the church’s stances? Did she even want to? Would it make her complicit in things she did not support?

She decided to reach out to the new LGBTQ ministry group. In part, she was looking for a space to work through these questions. But she was also looking for a community where she could be herself, where she could be “seen” within the church.

Some days, remaining Catholic feels like an “uphill battle,” she said. Then again, there are aspects of Catholicism, like its focus on Mary and the saints, that she really likes.

CP PHOTOS: KAYCEE ORWIG

Jane, who wishes to remain visually anonymous, photographed at Sacred Heart Church

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COULD SHE RIGHTFULLY CALL HERSELF A CATHOLIC IF SHE DISAGREED WITH SOME OF THE CHURCH’S STANCES? DID SHE EVEN WANT TO?

“People say things like, ‘Oh, if you’re not happy, you just leave.’ But I feel like it’s more complicated than that.”

She doesn’t know if or how the church as an institution might become more inclusive. But she has seen people — the church ', "'g#0#,2 1#,1# !0# 2',% “welcoming pockets.”

2&#0 2&-*'!1 $##* "'g#0#,2*7 Some see the new LGBTQ ministries as too little, too late — too constrained by church teaching to be truly inclusive. Some LGBTQ Catholics or former Catholics are done with religious institutions altogether.

To be an LGBTQ Catholic is not to share a single experience or perspective. It’s more complicated than that.

LISTENING FIRST Vicki Sheridan’s three daughters came home from Pittsburgh Pride in 2017 with a story she didn’t expect: They had seen .#-.*# 0#.0#1#,2',% , $ʉ'0+',% Catholic organization.

“All four of us were astounded,” Sheridan recalled. Sheridan’s daughters, in high school and college at that time, are part of the LGBTQ community. The messaging they’d heard in the Catholic Church had always been “very negative.”

It was a turning point for Sheridan.

She decided she wanted to be someone who supports LGBTQ Catholics “exactly as they are,” and says so publicly.

When she joined St. Mary Magdalene Parish in 2020, Father Tom Burke gave her

the go-ahead to start an LGBTQ ministry.

There was momentum building: similar programs already existed in other dioceses, and a couple of other local parishes were doing the same thing.

When Pope Francis launched his “Synod on Synodality,” calling upon parishes to listen to people who the church had marginalized, the moment felt all the more right.

A diocese is tasked with “gathering people from all walks of life,” explained Jennifer Antkowiak, the executive director of community relations for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The information gets synthesized at the diocesan level, then the national level, then gets passed along to the Vatican.

As for ministry groups, those are not overseen at the diocesan level, she said.

“Parishioners work with their pastors to start groups when they see a need.”

The local LGBTQ ministries’ goals are two-fold. # ʉ'012 ," $-0#+-12 ,##" 2- *'12#, said Deacon Keith Kondrich, who is involved with the ministry at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, east of Pittsburgh. It’s “the only way to have any kind of healing.”

The second goal is to attune church members to the discrimination that LGBTQ people face. At St. Joseph the Worker, for example, the communal prayer during Mass now regularly includes a petition asking God to help end discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

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LGBTQ AND CATHOLIC?, CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

At St. Mary Magdalene, one week of the Catholic Church’s designated “Respect Life” month is now dedicated to educating people about LGBTQ youth suicide prevention.

Although sometimes there’s pushback from parishioners, Kondrich said in his view, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“When there’s pushback on a prayer, it opens up an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, guess what? There are people probably sitting in the pew next to you who are afraid. They’re afraid. We can’t have that.

That’s not who we are as a community.’”

An LGBTQ ministry group wouldn’t work at every parish, Burke of St. Mary Magdalene said. But for them, an economically and racially diverse congregation, it does work.

That doesn’t mean he and other Catholic leaders could teach whatever they want. They must “live within the parameters of church teachings,” Kondrich said.

“We’re not going against any current church doctrine,” Burke emphasized.

“Like, I cannot perform a same-sex marriage,” he said. “The bishop has told me I can’t do that. So I’m not doing that.”

Welcoming and supporting LGBTQ people in the congregation, though — that’s in keeping with the diocese’s goals.

“I think we would want LGBTQ Catholics, and all Catholics, to know that they are not alone. God loves them and God is with them,” Antkowiak said. “The Church wants to welcome everyone, and to help everyone build a stronger

relationship with Jesus.”

For Burke, that feels like a basic part of his calling.

“I’ve always been taught by my parents that you don’t judge people, that you love people,” he said.

“Being a police in the bedroom, that’s not my job. My job is to be the pastor.”

CAN THERE BE SAFE SPACES IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH? Richard has been active as a lector and Eucharistic minister in his parish for many years. When he first came out as gay in his 50s, he “didn’t say too much about that” at church. Now he’s becoming more open.

To Richard, now in his 70s, the LGBTQ ministry group at his parish feels like a step in the right direction. He hopes that, if they start by creating a “welcoming place,” it can then lead to better dialogue outside the group.

He said most people at his parish make him feel “pretty welcome.” As to the rest, he’s made his peace with it. “I don’t see anybody as perfect,” he said. “I believe the church is divine, and it’s human. And this is the human aspect of it.”

Other LGBTQ Catholics approach the LGBTQ ministries with more skepticism.

Is it actually possible, they question, to create a safe space within an institution that they’ve experienced as oppressive?

Jamie, who grew up Catholic, points to the teachings in Father James Martin’s Building a Bridge, a popular book on Catholics’ relationship to the LGBTQ community, as an example.

“It’s the best thing that the Church has to offer, and it still falls so far short of what we actually need,” she said. “It doesn’t actually say we should have equal rights. It just says, like, ‘You shouldn’t bully LGBTQ people.’” To her, that feels like a low bar.

CP PHOTOS: KAYCEE ORWIG

Father Tom Burke leads mass at St. Bede of Saint Mary Magdalene Parish

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CP PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG

James Nusser

“THE CHURCH WANTS TO WELCOME EVERYONE, AND TO HELP EVERYONE BUILD A STRONGER RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.” She suggested LGBTQ Catholics might be better off forming groups without official parish affiliation. It reminds her of a situation that arose at her Catholic university. She and some other students wanted to create an LGBTQ student group.

When the university said no, they created one underground.

Years later, the university did approve an LGBTQ student group. But there were strict rules: The students had to have a faculty member present, for example, and they couldn’t host house parties. (“They thought that parties would lead to people hooking up,” Jamie said. “But, of course, like, they don’t put any limits on the ski team, and everyone on the ski team was hooking up.”)

Maybe it’s not possible, she said, to have a truly affirming place within the church’s official purview.

Through Dignity, a national Catholic organization with a Pittsburgh branch, LGBTQ Catholics have carved out their own inclusive spaces for more than 50 years.

A 72-year-old lifelong Catholic Pittsburgher, Ken Pruszynski has been involved at Dignity for 35 years. Since the pandemic began, the group has been meeting virtually. Still, it feels “like

a family,” he said.

He generally felt “comfortable and included” in the parish he attended through the Diocese, too. Still, what he’s experienced at Dignity is different. In his former parish, he’d tell people he was gay if they asked, but he preferred to be a “little bit cautious.”

He doesn’t feel that inclination at Dignity. “At Dignity, you know, you can be really outrageous and hug somebody,” he said, laughing.

Wil Forrest, member and coordinator of the LGBTQ Ministry at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, said terms like “safe,” “welcoming,” and “inclusive” must be used carefully in religious settings.

Many churches that say they are inclusive are not, he said. He recounted once telling a pastor he was gay. The pastor affirmed that Forrest was definitely welcome in their church — but that, of course, they would “seek to help [him] live a right life.”

“I was like, ‘Thank you for your honesty. You will never see me again,’” Forrest recalled. The pastor genuinely believed they were being inclusive, Forrest said — inclusive “of everything that Scripture lets them.”

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LGBTQ AND CATHOLIC?, CONTINUED FROM PG. 7

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James Nusser

Forrest advises churches on the journey to becoming LGBTQ inclusive to set benchmarks for themselves, including first determining whether they can say “with integrity” that Scripture is supportive. If a church uses the word “welcoming” or “inclusive” but then an LGBTQ person has a bad experience there, he said, “that does more damage than good.”

WHY NOT JUST LEAVE THE CHURCH? One of the things Pruszynski appreciates about the congregants at Dignity is their seriousness about the Eucharist, or the sacrament of communion in which Catholics receive bread and wine to honor Jesus’ death.

When he comes to Mass, he seeks a spiritual experience. He finds that at Dignity.

“I’m stubborn,” he said, laughing.

“Maybe the church left me behind, but I didn’t leave the Catholic Church behind.”

He also takes refuge in his sense that local Catholics’ views on sexuality and church doctrines aren’t the same thing.

“If it was put to a vote in a city like Pittsburgh,” he said, “I think we would be accepted.”

Jamie said people frequently ask her questions like, "Why not just leave the church?"

She feels “conflicted.” She has had good as well as bad experiences in the

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church, and she’s a fan of Catholic Social Teaching, a tradition focused on human dignity. Then again, the Catholic Church is aging, and when she’s actually participated in church reform efforts or social action groups, she’s been frustrated.

“There was so much pushback to even the most moderate changes that I just sort of stopped believing that the church wanted to change anything,” she said.

At this point, she’s not regularly attending Mass. However — and although she sometimes questions it — she does still identify as Catholic. She’s had a Catholic education. She’s studied Catholic theology.

If she feels she’s Catholic, she said, no one has “the right to take that away.”

“Like, they can’t unconfirm me,” she said. “The bishop is not any more important than I am.”

James Nusser, a 54-year-old Episcopalian who also worships with Catholic congregations, has grappled with his identity as a gay person of faith in several different religious institutions.

At one Episcopal congregation where he served as the groundskeeper, a new priest came in and, during worship, fired the LGBTQ members from their roles, preaching that “the gays were an abomination.” He had the landscaping that Nusser had carefully planted and tended, including memorials to deceased members, ripped out.

It felt like “my heart was ripped out,” Nusser said. “It took some years to heal.”

Nusser has also witnessed homophobia in Black faith communities. Although Nusser is white, his late spouse was a Black man who was HIV positive.

Nusser and his spouse would travel to Black churches doing HIV/AIDS education. Some churches refused to have them, Nusser said. Others, upon hearing that AIDS could affect people of all races, gay or straight, refused to believe them.

Still, for him, the question of whether to forgo faith altogether doesn’t really feel like a question at all. He sees his faith as something that starts not with him or any institution, but with God. “How can any human resist the call of God?” he said. “Once you’ve been baptized and you’ve had that Spirit given to you, it’s not something you can turn away from.”

COULD THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CHANGE? Last month was Father John Oesterle’s 81st birthday. He works as a hospital chaplain and helps lead the Association of Pittsburgh Priests (APP), a Catholic organization that seeks to “carry out a ministry of justice and renewal.” Last June, the APP published a statement questioning the Vatican’s claim that same-sex unions were “not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”

“ONCE YOU’VE BEEN BAPTIZED AND YOU’VE HAD THAT SPIRIT GIVEN TO YOU, IT’S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN TURN AWAY FROM.” Whether the church might become more inclusive and grow its LGBTQ community, Oesterle is not sure. If it were to happen, he senses ordinary people would play a key role. Parishioners might step up to bring their visions for the church into being — like those who started the local LGBTQ ministries did.

Jamie worries there aren’t enough progressive voices left in the Catholic Church to make bottom-up change happen. It feels to her like most young progressives have “given up” on Catholicism, if not on organized religion altogether.

When Nusser looks around at churches in America, he senses the fastest growing ones are not LGBTQaffirming. That’s “the scary part for me,” he said. He sees people coalescing around hate, not love.

If the Catholic Church were to change its stance, he thought, it would surely take decades — probably spanning multiple Popes’ terms.

Still he doesn’t think it’s impossible.

He offers his own experience with the trans community as evidence. For many years, he was transphobic: “I avoided trans people because I didn’t understand them,” he said.

That changed when he got a chance to listen regularly to the stories of people from his church who were going through gender affirmation.

“Like, the scales fell off my eyes,” he said, citing a biblical passage. If church leaders would look LGBTQ Catholics in the eye, listen to their stories, and repent for the harm they did, he thinks the church would look different.

CP PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG

Consuelo (Chelo) Cruz-Martinez

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LGBTQ AND CATHOLIC?, CONTINUED FROM PG. 9

Central Outreach Becomes Pillar in Community Health Care: Annual Report

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n just its sixth year in business, Central Outreach Wellness has become a leader in Western Pennsylvania for culturally competent care, expanding while keeping their high level of quality for patients. Specializing in care for the LBBTQ+ and HIV(+) communities, Central Outreach’s Annual Report for 2021 shows how much help has been delivered to those communities through their work.

As always, Central Outreach’s main goal is providing top of the line care for underserved populations. They had 43,671 total patient appointments in 2021, including 4,105 new patients at their North Shore location, a 76.9% jump from 2020. Of these, they had 1,935 trans patients, with a majority being under 29, and 974 HIV(+) patients.

This excellent care for underserved groups provided tangible results that impacted lives, all throughout 2021. With their STI screens always being completely free, Central Outreach provided 9,800 tests last year, including 4,400 at their North Shore location. Additionally, there were 2,216 patients on PrEP in 2021, in an attempt to provide prevention and care simultaneously.

2021 also saw further efforts from Central Outreach in preventative care in ways that made sense for patients. They offered health care options at home with PrEP2Me and HepCMyWay Powered by Central Outreach. Both services allowed people to fulfill their labs at home: for PrEP2Me, they could complete the at-home STD test kit themselves, and for HepCMyWay, an experienced phlebotomist was dispatched to their home to collect their blood samples. After a telemedicine visit with a clinician, PrEP or the Hep C cure would ship directly to the patient.

Obviously, the biggest health challenge over the past two years has been COVID-19, and 2021 brought the introduction of vac-

cines. Of course, Central Outreach was on the forefront of vaccine distribution. They pivoted towards a walk-in vaccine clinic, and ended up distributing 12,000 COVID Vaccines, including 1,600 to people who were not COWC patients. They also distributed to low-income areas and places where the vaccine would otherwise be tough to access, including senior high rises, latino and hispanic communities, and black communities in Beechview’s Casa San Jose and the Hill District’s Bedford Hill Apartments, respectively in Pittsburgh.

Of course, with 2020 came extreme change, and Central Outreach responded by expanding and facing these new challenges.

This started with their Aliquippa Satellite office, which opened in December 2019. This office now sees 15% of all new patients. Additionally, Central Outreach has opened another new location to expand their reach, this time in Erie, PA. 2021 also saw growth and institutional successes that will continue into 2022. These included the opening of a new location in Cleveland, Ohio, upgrades to the Washington and North Shore locations, and two more outreach RVs. Central Outreach won Best Health Advocacy Group in the Pittsburgh City Paper’s Best Of Pittsburgh readers’ poll. Also, the Washington County Prison Board honored Central Outreach nurse practitioner Kathi Scholz for giving the COVID vaccine to 461 inmates and the Hep C cure to those who needed it. Lastly, Central Outreach clinician Dr. Marvin McGowan, D.O. became one of 1,700 Functional Medicine Certified Practitioners in the world.

All of these developments were exciting for Central Outreach, but most importantly they were necessary towards providing the care and compassion that its clients expect, and continue to expect heading into 2022

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CP PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG

Consuelo (Chelo) Cruz-Martinez

HERETICAL QUESTIONS When Consuelo (Chelo) Cruz-Martinez overheard a fellow parishioner praying that God would “help the gays who are hurting our church,” she wasted no time confronting her priest.

“I said to him, ‘You’re going to talk to her or I am going to talk to her,’” she recounted, the latter clearly posed as a threat he’d best want to avoid. She laughed, telling the story. “The priest has to deal with me because I’m so explosive, you know?”

“My spirit is a warrior one,” she said.

“It’s only because of the grace of God that I am a Catholic.”

And not just a lay Catholic. Before coming to Pittsburgh, Cruz-Martinez spent seven years serving as a nun in Mexico, where she was born.

She didn’t become a nun because she agreed with all of the church’s teachings, she said. She became a nun because she felt called to a life of service.

“I continued thinking, ‘I have to be in the Catholic Church because it’s where we need lots of change,’” she said.

As a nun-in-training, she “questioned everything,” she said. That included the church’s stances toward women and the LGBTQ community and doctrinal matters

like Mary’s virginity.

S h e re ca l l e d w i th d e l i gh t th e comment of a classmate: “Chelo, every time that you open your mouth, inside of me is an old lady that says, ‘Kill her! She is a…’” Cruz-Martinez paused, thinking how best to translate the word. “Ah, a heretic, yes!” she finished, grinning.

Cruz-Martinez married in 1997 and came to Pittsburgh the next year. She now teaches in a Spanish-speaking Catholic education program and volunteers with Latinx populations in hospitals and prisons.

Trained as a psychologist and the parent of LGBTQ children, she also counsels Latinx Catholic families whose children are LGBTQ. Some Latinx Catholics in Pittsburgh come from conservative backgrounds and are not LGBTQaffirming, she said. She draws upon her religious and cultural background to help families reach a place of understanding.

As to whether the church might change, Cruz-Martinez holds out hope.

She thinks of all the hospital patients she’s seen survive incredible odds, or of her church running a Catholic education program in Spanish.

“I’m a dreamer,” she said. “I see miracles all the time.” •

Chris Hedlin is PublicSource’s faith and religion reporter. Follow her on Twitter @ChristineHedlin.

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SOULSHOWMIKE’S ALBUM PICKS Hugo Cruz and Caminos’ Punto de Partida

BY MIKE CANTON // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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ITTSBURGH’S Latin music scene experienced a palpable bump when Cuban percussionist Hugo Cruz started visiting the city several years ago. It began with a friendship with musicians Gizelxanath Rodriguez and Ben Barson of local jazz band Afro Yaqui Music Collective. He is now firmly planted in the Steel City with his own band, Hugo Cruz and Caminos, and there’s a new album, too: Punto de Partida, or Point of Departure.

Hugo has been promising this debut release for a while, and I couldn’t be more pleased that it’s finally here. “Latin Morning” was written in honor of his father, himself an accomplished violinist and Grammy winner. “Experiment” is straight-up fusion, reminiscent of Chick Corea. The album is diverse and multilayered, a wonderful first effort.

By the time you read this, Hugo would have presented his April 12 feature, “The History of Cuban Jazz,” at Downtown’s Greer Cabaret Theater. We talked about both the upcoming Greer show and the album on The Soul Show on WYEP; the full Zoom interview is at soulshowmike.org.

Advice for Artists SPRING IS HERE, and the music scene will soon explode. I asked experienced festival organizers Amy Constantine Kline, of

f Look for coverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to pay hundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid. f Shop for coverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.

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Even if you’ve had quality dental work in the past, you shouldn’t take your dental health for granted. In fact, your odds of having a dental problem only go up as you age.2

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Treatment is expensive — especially the services people over 50 often need.

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Consider these national average costs of treatment ... $217 for a checkup ... $189 for a filling ... $1,219 for a crown.3 Unexpected bills like this can be a real burden, especially if you’re on a fixed income.

1 “Medicare & You,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2021. 2 “How might my oral and dental health change as I age?”, www. usnews.com, 11/30/2018. 3 American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute, 2018 Survey of Dental Fees, Copyright 2018, American Dental Association.

Dormont Arts, and Shelley Johansson, of Flood City Music Festival, to offer expectations for artist success: • A vibrant social media presence that actively promotes gigs.

• Good publicity materials, including track samples and great images. (No “crappy” cell phone images or obvious Photoshop manipulations; high-res, landscape, and color images encouraged.)

• A bio representing the band’s current lineup.

• An accurate stage plot.

• Attention to contract details, such as dietary requests and method of payment.

Come back for more pointers in this column on May 18. •

Mike Canton is the longtime host and producer of The Soul Show on WYEP 91.3FM. He recently launched a syndicated edition of the program, now airing in four markets. Both are produced in his Electric Basement Studios. Canton is also a Pittsburgh-area voice artist.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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CP PHOTO: PAM SMITH

The Refillery owner Larissa Russo fills a laundry detergent bottle.

RETAIL

SHOP SMART

BY DANI JANAE // DANIJANAE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS in Squirrel Hill has taken on one of the world’s biggest challenges in an effort to make the city more environmentally friendly: single-use plastics.

Pittsburgh-born and raised Larissa Russo started The Refillery to try and reduce consumers’ use of nonrecyclable plastics used in packaging for household items like dish soap and makeup.

The concept is simple: Customers bring in their own empty glass or plastic containers, and The Refillery supplies them with personal care and home essential products, which are sold by weight. (The containers are weighed prior to filling.) Russo, who has a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in engineering from Duquesne University, says that after working in a corporate environment for six years, she started thinking about how she could have a greater impact.

She says it was the pandemic that motivated her to shift her focus to the environment.

“I’m definitely in that great resignation group, the group of people that saw the pandemic as an opportunity to slow down,” says Russo. “It caused me to really think about my consumption habits. In the early stages of the pandemic, I’m ordering things from Amazon and I just thought, ‘What am I doing?’”

THE REFILLERY 1931 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill therefillerypgh.com

In early 2020, Russo says she was inspired by videos she saw on TikTok about similar stores in other cities. After resigning from her job in April 2021, she launched The Refillery and had her first pop-up event at The Neighborhood Flea in the Strip District two months later. Her store now has a permanent storefront on Murray Avenue, providing a wide variety of refillable items like hand soap, dishwasher powder, shampoo, body wash, and lip balm, as well as refillable jars and dispensers.

A 2017 study by Science Advantages found that 91% of all plastics aren’t recycled at all, but Russo says the fault isn’t solely on consumers. Small items like straws can often fall out of the crevices in recycling machinery, and there are also items that just aren’t accepted by recycling centers, including single-use plastics. More than 300 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year, according to The Natural Resources Defense Council, and half of that comes from single-use items. Reducing plastic use can help limit pollution, including plastic waste ending up in waterways.

But Russo says it’s important to move away from the model that blames consumers for their “reliance” on plastics.

“I believe that major corporations don’t have an interest in selling a great product, right?” says Russo. “Their interest is in selling a quick product, an easily accessible product, you know, it’s all about convenience.”

Russo says her goal with The Refillery is to make refilling accessible, budget-

Follow arts & culture writer Dani Janae on Twitter @figwidow

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friendly, and convenient.

The Refillery sources all of its products through Russo’s company The Local Instead, which highlights local and small businesses who offer similar items to big box stores. It provides items that are ethically sourced and produced, including a large number of products made in Pennsylvania, which are marked with “PA Local.”

For those looking to limit their use of single-use plastics and make the switch to using refillable containers, Russo says to start by taking stock of what you have and using all of it.

“I always tell people, ‘Go slowly,’ when you’re changing over and creating new habits,” she says. “So maybe you do start with dish soap. Then, maybe in a few months, when that new habit is formed, you switch over to the liquid laundry refill. It’s just about breaking those habits, going slowly, and being mindful about something that is convenient that, unfortunately, is going to last forever.” •

Earth day Resource & events Go Green at Market Square re

Go Green at Market Square is a FREE community celebration filled with fun, educational, and inspirational activities and events for all ages. The Square becomes a hub for music and eco-friendly activity booths. Live music fills the air as local businesses share their sustainability stories. Friday, April 22, 2022 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Learn more at pittsburghearthday.org

Tree Pittsburgh

Tree Pittsburgh is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and growing a healthy and robust urban forest for all.

Help us protect and grow the urban forest.

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Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Make every day Earth Day because nature near you needs you!

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WaterLandLife.org/volunteer PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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HISTORY

THE MAYOR OF CHINATOWN

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD // JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

FTER 12 YEARS OF ADVOCACY, f o u r s e p a ra t e a p p l i c a t i o n attempts, and a successful fundraising push, OCA Pittsburgh, an organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in Pittsburgh, will celebrate the official recognition of Pittsburgh’s Chinatown as a historic landmark.

The Historic Pittsburgh Chinatown Celebration, scheduled for Sat., April 16 on Third Avenue between Grant and Ross streets, will be a free outdoor event featuring live music, cultural performances, crafts, and food.

In its heyday in the early 1900s, Pittsburgh’s Chinatown, a Downtown neighborhood on Second and Third avenues between Ross and Grant streets, was a vibrant area full of Chinese-owned businesses and restaurants.

able to successfully send for his wife and six-year-old son. Because he worked for his cousin, Tong Yee, in the Quong Ye Tang mercantile store, Toy could classify himself as a merchant, Shirley says, allowing him to skirt the ban on Chinese “laborers.”

Shirley describes the Quong Ye Tang store as “the nerve center of the whole Chinatown.”

“It was like a general store,” Yee tells Pittsburgh City Paper, “with a kitchen, and on Sundays, [it was] the community meeting place to drink tea, play mahjong, and chat with friends.

Through the Depression years, my grandfather cooked free meals for the lodgers (former laundrymen) who lived upstairs and for any Chinese person who needed a meal. In the early 1950s, the elder laundrymen lodgers moved next door (522 Third Ave.) to the On Leong

YUEN WROTE THAT HE “NEVER REALLY LEFT CHINATOWN.”

CP PHOTO: PAM SMITH

Chinatown Inn on Third Avenue in Pittsburgh's historic Chinatown

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Although the city destroyed much of the neighborhood in 1921 to build the Boulevard of the Allies, after which most of Chinatown’s residents slowly relocated elsewhere, it remains an area of historical significance.

Shirley Yee, daughter of Yuen Yee, the last informal mayor of Pittsburgh’s Chinatown, plans to contribute to the historic landmark celebration by offering a walking tour of the neighborhood featuring places of significance to her family, which was invested in the wellbeing of the city’s Chinese community.

Shirley says her grandfather, Toy Yee, came to Pittsburgh in 1919 and lived on Second Avenue in Chinatown before returning briefly to China, where he married her grandmother and conceived her father, and then moved back to Pittsburgh.

In 1930, despite the fact that the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act had banned “both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining” from entering the U.S., Shirley says Toy was

Tong Association (Peace and Fraternity) building. In 1967, it became a permanent retirement home for the former laundry workers. Then, my father, Yuen Yee, like his father before him, served his community by becoming their caretaker, providing for their needs, until the end of their lives.”

When Yuen and his mother moved to Pittsburgh’s Chinatown in 1930, Shirley says “half of the businesses [had] closed and many of the people moved away. …

My family was the last family to settle in Chinatown. But there were a couple of other families, mostly lodgers and laborers who lived upstairs of the few remaining shops. And in about the 1930s and ’40s, that was reduced to about 10 or 12 businesses and shops and the two fraternal organizations.”

After the Yee family moved away from Chinatown in 1951, first to East Liberty and then Mount Lebanon, Shirley says they continued to visit every Sunday. Yuen wrote that he “never really left Chinatown.”

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY SHIRLEY LEE

A photograph of Shirley Lee's father, Yuen Yee (center), on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Shirley says her father “became the spokesman and representative of Chinatown and the unofficial mayor because he grew up here. He went to grade school and high school and college here in Pittsburgh.”

According to his 2008 obituary, Yuen provided crucial support for Chinese immigrants who came to Pittsburgh in the 1940s and 1950s. “He accompanied them to hospitals and the public assistance office, did their taxes, tutored them for citizenship tests, and negotiated their leases,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He interpreted for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and mediated arguments between landlords and tenants, cooks and dishwashers. He even helped former restaurant employees open competing restaurants.”

PITTSBURGH CHINATOWN CELEBRATION 1-4 p.m. Sat., April 16. Third Avenue, between Grant and Ross streets. Free.

Search "Pittsburgh Chinatown Celebration" on Facebook

Yuen’s obituary quotes from his handwritten memoir of an “irrepressible life” and “the dramas, large and small” of Pittsburgh’s Chinatown.

Shirley, a graphic designer by trade, says she had always planned to publish her father’s stories as a graphic novel,

but recently decided to combine his life stories with her own to tell a bigger story about Chinese life in Pittsburgh. “The plan is to have it published in about a year or so,” she says.

Many of the stops on Shirley’s walking tour are inspired by her father’s stories, largely taken from his handwritten notes — penned with his left hand because his right side was paralyzed from a stroke — about his childhood in Chinatown. One stop will be a now-boarded-up secret from her father’s manuscript.

“There’s a secret passageway that I just looked at the other day, it’s blocked off. I heard that from my childhood, and my father mentions it in stories, the secret passageway that connected from Second Avenue to Third Avenue,” Shirley recalls.

“It was just right along the side of the On Leong Association building. And so my father would play on Third Avenue, and his father would warn him not to go down that secret passageway.”

Speaking of what Pittsburgh’s Chinatown means to her, Shirley says, “A lot of my heritage, my roots, my identity, [are] all from there. And even though I didn’t grow up there, my ancestors arrived there and lived and worked there. But it was through their hard work and perseverance, that helped us, the next generation, go to college and blend into the society at large. We were all able to accomplish our dreams thanks to their hard work.” •

Follow news reporter Jordana Rosenfeld on Twitter @rosenfeldjb PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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continues on page 20

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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PHOTOS: COURTESY OF AUGUST WILSON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER

August Wilson: The Writer's Landscape

LIT

A FIRST FOR WILSON

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

F

OR ALL THE WORKS dedicated to the legacy of late Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright August Wilson — the productions, the award-winning film adaptations, the entire arts and cultural center named after him — he had yet to receive an exhibition. Now, the celebrated writer of plays about Black life in Pittsburgh has, for the first time, a permanent public display paying tribute to his life and work.

After years of planning, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center will debut August Wilson: The Writer’s Landscape, an expansive, immersive look at its namesake. Set to open on Sat., April 16, the 3,600-square foot exhibition is described as examining Wilson’s creative process and “the people and places that had a profound impact on shaping his worldview which served as the inspiration

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for his unprecedented 10-play American Century Cycle.”

Wilson was born and raised in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, which served as the inspiration for many of his works, including Fences, which was made into an Academy Award-winning film directed by and starring Denzel Washington.

The August Wilson Center’s president and CEO, Janis Burley Wilson, spearheaded the creation of The Writer’s Landscape and says that, when planning started in late 2018, they envisioned the show occupying a small gallery space “with a few pieces on view from the August Wilson Estate.” She says the idea “quickly expanded to a much larger space with custom interactive features.”

Much like Wilson’s own plays, the exhibition unfolds through a three-act series of areas representing stages of his

life. The Coffee Shop is described as being inspired by an eatery in the Hill District where “a young Wilson frequently went to observe the day-to-day interactions of its diners” and “scrawled notes on napkins, which subsequently provided the basis for many of his characters and the inspiration for his storytelling.”

AUGUST WILSON: THE WRITER'S LANDSCAPE Opens Sat., April 16. August Wilson African American Cultural Center.

980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free.

Timed ticketing, registration required. aacc-awc.org/the-writers-landscape

The Coffee Shop is followed by The Office, a replica of Wilson’s home office that features his prized writing desk, manuscripts, and books and records from

his personal collection, all donated by the Wilson Estate. The Street includes a recreation of the Hill District and incorporates video, props, and costumes from Broadway productions of Wilson’s work, providing insight into the “major themes from each play in the American Century Cycle.”

“The research for every aspect was intensive and required weekly meetings with the design and research team and August Wilson estate,” says Burley Wilson.

She adds that the story for the exhibition, which visitors hear as they walk through the space, was written by Constanza Romero-Wilson, Wilson’s widow and chief curator of the exhibition.

Burley Wilson says that lead exhibition designer Victoria Edwards spent months working with Romero-Wilson and scholar-in-residence, Dr. Sandra Shannon, professor of African American

“VISITORS WILL BE TRANSPORTED INTO THE SCENES WE DESIGNED AND TRULY GET A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF AUGUST WILSON’S LIFE AND LEGACY.” Literature at Howard University and founder of the August Wilson Society, to “develop the exhibition while also doing independent research to create what visitors will experience in the space.”

Also involved were Wilson collaborators and Tony Award-winning scenic designers David Gallo and Viveca Gardner.

The August Wilson Center’s website says the exhibition was designed and fabricated by Eisterhold Associates, Inc., a firm whose past projects include the Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum in Missouri, and Display Dynamics, Inc., a “full-service custom exhibit design company” touted as being “the only Black-owned company of its kind.”

The nonprofit organization sees the exhibition, with its interactive, multimedia presentations, as a big part of its mission to offer programs and resources that “advance Wilson’s legacy, celebrate Black culture, and champion future innovators in arts and culture.”

“Through the use of motion sensors, audio, video, and other technologies, visitors will be transported into the scenes we designed and truly get a deeper understanding of August Wilson’s life and legacy,” says Burley Wilson. “There are elements that are so extraordinary, like magic, with the swipe of a hand the exhibit comes to life. We are very proud of this exhibit and the incredible team we assembled to bring August Wilson: The Writer’s Landscape exhibit to fruition.” •

Follow a&e editor Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH

IRL / IN REAL LIFE EVE EVENT ENT VIRTUAL / STREAMING G OR ONLINE-ONLY EVENT HYBRID / MIX OF IN REAL R LIFE AND ONLINE EVE EVENT NT

PHOTO: KINO LORBER

^ Stunt Rock

THU., APRIL 14 ART • IRL For over 40 years, Fireborn Studios has been teaching classes and featuring the ceramic works of regional artists in their gallery. Join them for the next Ceramixer, an event where you can fire your own creations in their gas kiln, have a cocktail, and chat with other makers. This event is presented by Pittsburgh Ceramics Collective, an organization dedicated to creating events that put a spotlight on the local ceramic arts community.

6:30 p.m. 2338 Sarah St., South Side. Free. instagram.com/pittsburgh_ceramics_collective

FRI., APRIL 15 FILM • IRL Withits harsh climate, wicked wildlife, and shark-infested waters, Australia has a reputation for being dangerous.

That reputation will only grow with the screening of Stunt Rock at Harris Theater.

Described by film company Kino Lorber as

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“part documentary, part rock film, and all kinds of crazy,” the restored 1978 release pays tribute to Grant Page, a “fearless Australian stuntman” known for his work on Mad Max, Road Games, and The Gods Of Egypt, among other titles. The film stars Page as a stunt person who travels to Los Angeles to work on a television series, all while developing “pyrotechnic magic tricks” for his cousin’s rock band Sorcery. 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Continues through Wed., April 20. 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $11. trustarts.org

STAGE • IRL Fans of RPGs should head to Greer Cabaret Theater for The Twenty-Sided Tavern.

Described as an “interactive, rowdy, immersive theater experience that makes you feel like a hero,” the show syncs with an app that allows audience members to determine the characters’ fates. Bring your smartphones and decide as a group how the show will play out. This is the first show in the Pittsburgh CLO Kara Cabaret Series.

Guests under 21 must be accompanied by a chaperone 25 or older. 7 p.m.

Continues through April 30. 655 Penn Ave., Downtown. $20-49.75. trustarts.org

SAT., APRIL 16 ART • IRL Goodlander Cocktail Brewery is a relatively new space known for crafting beautiful cocktails. For one night only, they will operate as a gallery space for Found / Assembled, an exhibition featuring large-scale paintings

by Pittsburgh artist Grant Catton.

Produced over the past year, the pieces demonstrate Catton’s style of using found surfaces as canvases, which his website says could include anything from an IKEA cabinet door to a scrap of wood he found on the curb. 7-10 p.m.

6614 Hamilton Ave., Larimer. Free. grantcatton.com

EVENT • IRL Evolve Coaching, a local nonprofit that supports individuals with autism, will host its first annual charity Cornhole Tournament at Railroad Park. The tournament is open to all ages and will raise money for the Bridge Fund, described as helping Pittsburgh’s young,

neurodiverse people “achieve their goals of completing college and finding meaningful work.” Register any twoperson team for $40. Guests are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and sample local businesses like Mechanic’s Coffee, Inner Groover Brewing, and the Tango Food Truck. 1-5 p.m. 737 East Railroad Ave., Verona. Free to attend. evolve-coaching.org/cornhole

SUN., APRIL 17 CRUISE • IRL Do Easter a little differently this year with a boat ride on the Gateway Clipper. The Easter Dinner Cruise invites guests to enjoy a holiday meal on the water, all while listening to fun music and taking in the sights of the city. The event includes buffet-style dining, fullservice bars offering liquor, beer, wine, and soda, and DJs playing hits from the 1970s through the 1990s. 4-6 p.m.

3:15 p.m. board time. 350 West Station Square Drive, South Side. $30-70. gatewayclipper.com/holiday-cruises

NEW CITY PAPER PIN PACKS ARE HERE! PHOTO: COURTESY OF ALGONQUIN BOOKS

COMEDY • IRL Arcade Comedy Theater pays homage to one of the best sitcoms in television history with The Golden Gays: Golden Games.

Presented by Golden Gays NYC, the drag show takes guests on a hilarious musical journey through the favorite game shows of Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose, all while the

WED., APRIL 20 LIT • IRL Best-selling author David Sedaris will take the stage at Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland as part of a new tour. Known for his humorous personal essays, Sedaris has published a number of acclaimed books, including the 2021 release Carnival of Snackery. Presented by Drusky Entertainment, Show and Tell Presents, and 90.5 WESA, the night will showcase the sardonic wit of this “one-of-a-kind” literary figure. 7:30 p.m.. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $41.50-61.50. All ages. druskyentertainment.com/event/david-sedaris

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KIDS • IRL Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy continues its Earth Month celebration with “Meet Me in the Park” Children’s Activities. Kids and their caregivers can fly kites, decorate binoculars for a bird scavenger hunt, and enjoy time outdoors during this familyfriendly outing designed to connect people with Pittsburgh’s beautiful parks.

This event will take place in Sheraden Park off Surban Street, near the shelter and lower playground. 3:30-5:30 p.m. Surban St., Sheraden. Free. Registration suggested. pittsburghparks.org/earthmonth

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Oncology nurse Theresa Brown thought she knew everything about cancer, but that all changed when she received her own breast cancer diagnosis. In her new book Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient, Brown, who also wrote the 2015 New York Times bestseller The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives, talks about her journey from her first mammogram appointment to diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. A press release describes the book as an “intensely personal story” that presents “an honest — and rare — look” at struggling with cancer while “navigating the maze of American health care from the unique standpoint of both a patient and a practitioner.” Brown will read excerpts from the book and engage in a discussion with Ken Segel, co-founding principal and CEO and managing director of Value Capture, at City of Asylum. 7-8:30 p.m.

40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free.

Registration required. cityofasylum.org

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three friends search for a missing Sophia.

Be ready to answer some trivia questions because this event includes audience participation. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

943 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $30-50. All ages. arcadecomedytheater.com/events

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G-STRINGS

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM

ACROSS

1_4.75_x_4.75.indd 1

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1. Financier Carl 6. Material in handkerchiefs 4/7/22 5:43 PM 10. Final bad guy in video games 14. Rapper who was originally a dancer in Digital Underground 15. Norwegian king name 16. Chemical compound 17. Enthusiastic cry to Stefani while playing hide and seek?

20. Lever part 21. Had a (matzo) ball 22. Rice’s vampire 23. Experimental musician ___ Tumor 25. Supermodel Lindvall 28. Band in ninjutsu 29. Drive-in that serves Brownie Batter Shakes 31. Old gold coin 32. Masters support 33. Swerving crime: Abbr.

35. Prefix for pressure 36. Animal on California’s flag 37. Mr. Padre in due course?

41. Iris’ place 42. USB ___ (multiple slot computer device)

43. Pantheon of greats: Abbr.

44. Batting cage protection 45. King in a touching story 47. Sagal of The Connors 51. Before, in some odes 52. Shoe part 54. Gad about 55. In jeopardy 57. Number at the top of some faces 59. Crooks’ patterns, for short 60. Avocado and omelet refuse dish?

64. Sea bird 65. Filling dessert?

66. Pitted tapas morsel 67. Take it easy 68. Stepped (upon) 69. Yearns deeply

DOWN 1. “And I quote from this book ...”

2. Jose ___ (tequila) 3. Missing links 4. Dried forage 5. Frozen Four org.

6. Budget-priced 7. Bitter, e.g.

8. Hard seltzer container 9. “Mwah-ha-haha-ha!,” e.g.

10. Queen’s servants 11. Common

rating scale 12. Protein in 45-Down 13. More gray-colored 18. Ultraviolent Rockstar Games game, for short 19. Ticketmaster selection 24. Album opener 26. What a Micronesian baseball player uses?

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IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-22-000001 In re petition of Maurre Clemm for change of name to Maurre Moore El. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 26th day of April, 2022, 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.

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1 “Medicare & You,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2021. 2 “How might my oral and dental health change as I age?”, www. usnews.com, 11/30/2018. 3 American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute, 2018 Survey of Dental Fees, Copyright 2018, American Dental Association.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 13 - 20, 2022

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