Sensi Magazine - Pittsburgh (January 2020)

I PITTSBURGH J A N 2020

Doc Jim Withers takes to the streets to provide medical care to the homeless ›››

OK, BOOMER

The viral phrase that’s dividing generations

THE LAW WON

Ridiculous cannabis laws that set businesses back

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PITTSBURGH SENSI MAGAZINE JANUARY 2020

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F E AT U R E S

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16

The Doctor is Out

22

The B-Word

28

Doc Jim takes medicine to the streets to challenge the nature of health care.

Is “OK, boomer” a slur, a sign of generational conflict, or just a meme-able mic drop?

SPECIAL REPORT

Arrested Development

These six ridiculous cannabis restrictions are still in effect around the country.

D E PA R T M E N T S

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER

9 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 THE BUZZ News, tips, and tidbits

to keep you in the loop SUNDAY SERVICE A local wine lounge opens in an abandoned church.

CURLY QUEUE Line up with some buddies at America’s first curling bar.

KOM-BREW-CHA Mother mushroom beer blends

34 THE LIFE Contributing to your

38 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip

hangouts around town BEFORE STEEL Pittsburgh Glass Center preserves the beauty of the Steel City’s first love.

AROUND TOWN Recapping TEDxPittsburghWomen CALENDAR Get cultured this January.

50 THE END

ON THE COVER Dr. Jim Withers, the founder and medical director of Pittsburgh Mercyʼs Operation Safety Net, has become a savior for people who live on the streets.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH CLARK

Food photographer Adam Milliron returns to his roots.

ORIGINAL PHOTO PROVIDED BY PITTSBURGH MERCYʼS OPERATION SAFETY NET. USED WITH PERMISSION.

health and happiness SEVEN SPRINGS is a great place to take the family for a weekend on the slopes.

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H

EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC. © 2020 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

Ron Kolb CEO ron@sensimag.com

Tae Darnell Co-Founder, VP of Business Development tae@sensimag.com Alex Martinez Co-Chief Operations Officer alex@sensimag.com

Mike Mansbridge Co-Chief Operations Officer mike@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Stephanie Wilson Editor in Chief stephanie@sensimag.com

Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Aaron Bible Managing Editor aaron.bible@sensimag.com

Leland Rucker Senior Editor leland.rucker@sensimag.com

Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large robyn.lawrence@sensimag.com Helen Olsson Copy Chief

Lindsey Bartlett Contributing Writer DESIGN Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak Designer Kiara Lopez Designer Josh Clark Designer Jason Jones Designer em@sensimag.com PUBLISHING Gina Vensel Publisher gina.vensel@sensimag.com Matt Raymond Associate Publisher matt.raymond@sensimag.com

B U S I N E S S /A D M I N Kristan Toth Head of People kristan.toth@sensimag.com Amber Orvik Administrative Director amber.orvik@sensimag.com Andre Velez Marketing Director andre.velez@sensimag.com Neil Willis Production Manager neil.willis@sensimag.com

Happy New Year,

and welcome to the third issue of your new post-Prohibition lifestyle magazine, Sensi.

Our hand-picked crew of top editors and publishers has put together something unique and worthwhile, and we hope you’ll join us on the journey.

We’re entering the new year with an open mind. Sensi is a place for your stories to be heard. Even for people who don’t have a voice, we are here for you. We want to see Sensi on the coffee table in your business, at home, in the coffee shop and the spa, and we want to speak to the authentic, progressive, thinking adults of our amazing town. We want to be a safe and inclusive place to celebrate all aspects of living our best life with a community mind and giving spirit.

With the holidays just barely in the rearview mirror, we wanted to take a hard look at what’s happening in Pittsburgh, around the country, and around the world. We asked some of our town’s most relevant influencers—no, not Instagram influencers—What’s the next big thing for Pittsburgh? What should our town’s New Year’s resolution be? And these answers formed the theme for this issue as well as our thought process and editorial eye for the coming year.

We also took a deep dive into a subject that touches all of us: living with homelessness. To give voice to the marginalized people in our society, we went to the streets to find out who the unsheltered are—and who’s helping them. As we turn the corner on the giving season, what do we have left to give? What’s really important this year and always?

In the words of our publisher, Gina Vensel, who many of you know, “When we find compassion in our hearts toward others and open our minds to the diversity of our city, we can begin to see how we can find understanding for what makes us different while also celebrating that we all call the Three Rivers our home.”

I’d like to invite you to join us in our new normal—to our town, to the celebration of every lifestyle—and dig in to the January issue of Sensi.

As we turn the corner on the giving season, what do we have left to give?

What’s really important this year and always?

THE END

Market on Your Calendar Savor the taste of old PGH with a modern dining experience

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

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The holidays are the best time to indulge with Southern Italian cuisine in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. Browse and shop at the Downtown Holiday Market that takes place in Market Square and take in the tastes and smells of Italy with dishes crafted by one of Pittsburgh’s most renowned chefs, Domenico Cornacchia. Molinaro’s knowledgeable and famously friendly staff will assist you in selecting the best wines to pair with your holiday celebrations and toasts to the final days of 2019. molinaroristorante.com

PHOTOS BY CODY BAKER

EXECUTIVE

D EC E M B E R 20 19

CORRECTION: In our December 2019 issue, we miscredited the photographer for the story “Market On Your Calendar,” page 50. The photographs are by Adam Milliron and styled by Ana Kelly. You can see more of Millironʼs work at adammilliron.com.

Hector Irizarry Distribution distribution@sensimag.com M E D I A PA R T N E R S Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Aaron H. Bible aaron.bible@sensimag.com JANUARY 2020

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CONTRIBUTORS

Aaron H. Bible, Doug Schnitzspahn

Refined Wine and Dine Mary’s Vine, a recently opened wine lounge experience, makes its home in the unique atmosphere of a turn-of-the-century church.

Breweries and distilleries get all the press these days, but wine bars are still very much a thing. Newcomer Mary’s Vine is an approachable yet upscale wine experience that caters to vino lovers in a unique historical location. PGH local Cheryl Stasinowsky, CEO, and her son Jordan, wine director, came up with the concept after realizing most of the good wine in Pittsburgh is found in 10 P I T TS BU RG H

restaurants. At the same time, Jordan was looking for a place to live, and he discovered the abandoned church (built in 1903) in Rankin at Third and Kenmawr Avenue.

When the Stasinowskys realized they could never feasibly restore the property as a home, they resolved to launch their wine bar experience there instead, kicking things off with an Indiegogo campaign two

JA N UARY 2020

years ago that in part helped connect all the locals who had known the church in its previous life. Now open to the public since September 2019, it’s a family operation. When you arrive for brunch or a special night out on the town, you’ll be taken care of by Cheryl, Jordan, Cheryl’s husband, Wally, their daughter, Amber, and her husband, Daniel. marysvine.com

BY THE NUMBERS

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YEARS

GIVE IT A CURL

America’s first ice-curling bar opens in Pittsburgh.

When it comes to trendy bar games—life-sized Jenga, axe throwing, bean-bag corn hole—Pittsburgh’s new Sliders Bar and Games takes it to the next level. From the owners of Lumberjaxe, who operate four axe-throwing facilities around the city, America's first competitive bar-style ice-curling rink has just emerged this winter in Pittsburgh. Open to the public and available for parties and special events, Sliders is connected to the Millvale Lumberjaxe location, ready for you to try your hand at one of the most fascinating yet elusive sports. Groups of four compete in their own lane and then as teams.

The bar gives out gold, silver, and bronze medals to the top three scorers on an Olympic-style podium.

Sliders Bar and Games / slidersbarandgames.com

Amount of time that has passed since politician Milton Street first advocated for the legalization and taxation of cannabis.

Today, his nephew, State Senator Sharif Street, is pioneering an adult-use cannabis bill.

“Work hard. Don’t quit.

Be appreciative, be thankful, be grateful, be respectful. Also, never whine, never complain. And always, for crying out loud, keep a sense of humor.”

—Michael Keaton, Actor

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Number of unused vacation days in the US in 2018, up 9 percent from the year before. Thatʼs more than $65.5 billion in forfeited benefits.

841 FEET TALL Height of the US Steel Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Pittsburgh

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THE BUZZ

“They

Greener Green Green Mill Supercritical is bringing manufacturing back to Pittsburgh with botanical extraction machinery.

Green Mill is not your average business, or even your average cannabis business.

Founded in PGH back in 2014, the company took three years to develop its first botanical extraction machine. But this month, Green Millʼs new product went from prototype to finished machine in less than three months, due primarily, the brand says, to the quality of its team—all engineers from Pittsburgh.

Although it doesnʼt interface directly with consumers, Green Mill has quickly become known as a maker of extraction equipment for cannabis processors of all sizes. The new product is promising drastic changes in efficiency by using carbon dioxide in its supercritical state as a solvent.

“Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries the worldʼs ever seen, so along with everyone else, the extraction companies are trying to scale up with customer needs,” says Jeff Diehl, director of marketing for Green Mill. “We are no exception, but weʼve taken a different approach. [With our new system] called the Parallel Pro, weʼve kept our components the same size, added more of them, fitted them onto roughly the same chassis as our existing machine (which is already very compact), and programmed them to produce double the output while maintaining the time it takes to produce a given amount of oil. And we did it while actually lowering power requirements. Itʼs going to do things that a lot of people in the industry thought were impossible.” greenmillsupercritical.com

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always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

—Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

SENSIBILITIES WHAT MATTERS THIS MONTH BY STEPHANIE WILSON

1 GOALS ARE THE NEW RESOLUTIONS. And since we’re in a new decade, let’s set loftier targets, hit them, surpass them. Where do you want to be in 2025?

2030? Start manifesting the life you want. In the shorter term, however… ______ 2 MANIFEST THE OUTFITS YOU WANT by signing up for Nuuly clothing rental

from Free People’s parent co. For just $88/mo., you get six temporary additions to your wardrobe—perfect excuse to try out new trends.

______ 3 BE EXTRA EXTRA. I resolved to be just that at the start of last year. Met that

goal and have a photo of the statement jacket I borrowed from Nuuly as proof.

See @stephwilll if you’re curious just how extra “extra extra” is.

______ 4 SEE ALSO: posts about my apartment/urban jungle. ______ 5 PUTTING IT OUT THERE NOW. I’m setting my first intention for 2020: I will get my place featured on Apartment Therapy as a home tour this year. Boom.

______ 6 WANNA BE MY GOAL BUDDY? DM or post a comment—we’ll start a club.

One with books and discussions involved. Community and knowledge will result.

We’ll call it…The Book Club. Let’s do this.

THE BUZZ

VOX POPULI

Question: What is the next big thing for Pittsburgh in 2020?

JULIE STRICKLAND-GILLIARD

RONDA ZEGARELLI

JENNIFER O’BRIEN

DAN GILMAN

MATT PERELLA

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Regional Director, Western Pennsylvania, Office of the Lieutenant Governor Pittsburgh

Keep an eye on the arts and culture scene. Our vibrant arts community is developing innovative programming with live shows and exhibits that highlight and celebrate the changing landscape of Pittsburgh.

President, Acrobatique Creative Branding Pittsburgh

The 50th Anniversary of Pittsburgh Earth is an important time for the continued movement from a Steel to Sustainable City.

As a part of the “Green Cities” initiative, Pittsburgh will have to focus on “Action and Practice.”

Pathway Program Director, Tech Elevator Pittsburgh

The next big thing is having a greater focus on the impact Pittsburgh as a city has on the environment. Our local leaders have committed to powering the city entirely by clean, renewable energy in our near future.

Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor William Peduto Pittsburgh

Director of Operations, Two Ugly Mugs Gourmet Salsa Co. Pittsburgh

From the Hill District Cap to the Strip District Produce Terminal, and from the two-way conversion of Allegheny Circle to Stargell Field in Homewood, 2020 will see projects that transform neighborhoods.

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Progressive health and wellness. Everyone is more open-minded to the idea of natural health. We are shifting toward simple ways to care for our mind and body through food and medicine.

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Pittsburgh’s Doc Jim takes medicine to the streets to transform and challenge the nature of health care.

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

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LEARN MORE

Street Medicine Institute streetmedicine.org

D

“It made more sense to start with idealism as the engine. Our moral obligation is to be a virus inserted into the health-care system, holding it accountable in a persistent way,” Withers says. When he finally came clean with his employer, Pittsburgh Mercy (formerly a hospital, now a health-care system with a focus on behavioral health), about his undercover efforts, inLIGHT FROM THE SHADOWS stead of firing him, they gave him a What began in 1992 as a personal grant to do the work. And that was volunteer mission under the cover the beginning of legitimizing this of darkness, with much time spent journey in the eyes of the estabunder bridges and at odd hours of lished medical community. the night, has become a national In 1992, Withers founded Pittsand global movement to provide burgh Mercy’s Operation Safety care, treatment, and medicine to Net (OSN), the first full-time, one of the most marginalized pop- comprehensive medical service of ulations in nearly every developed its kind for the unsheltered homenation for the last 50 years. less. Medical care is delivered and dismissing them. People just get sicker, and they come to the ER more, and they die. Judging as a way of solving doesn’t help.”

In fact, says the 61-year-old founder of Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net, the Street Medicine Institute, and the International Street Medicine Symposium, “Thinking itself is at stake.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH MERCYʼS OPERATION SAFETY NET. USED WITH PERMISSION

id you know we have our very own modern day Mother Teresa right here in the heart of Pittsburgh? In the figurative sense, it’s true: Dr. Jim Withers, founder and medical director of Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net, or “Doc Jim” as he’s affectionately known, is one of the most iconic global providers of compassion and care for people who are experiencing homelessness, and his Street Medicine Institute was born from under Pittsburgh’s bridges.

“Are we starting from where the person is, or are we making the person start where we are?”

Withers says with a friendly and unhurried tone. “We spend so much time labeling and judging instead of solving. Lumping people into predetermined categories

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Pittsburgh Mercyʼs Operation Safety Net pittsburghmercy.org

directly on the streets, along the river banks, and in the abandoned buildings of Pittsburgh, with full social service and housing follow-up. But no matter what, Withers says, the work is done through the lens of working with people who sleep outside.

In 2005, he established the annual International Street Medicine Symposium (with current partners on all six continents) to foster collaboration in the care of those sleeping on the streets. In 2008, Withers and others created the Street Medicine Institute to help other communities establish street medicine programs and create student learning opportunities. Although much of the work was done over the years on his own time, Withers is officially employed by

the Pittsburgh Mercy system, is on the teaching faculty of UPMC Mercy Hospital, and is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Today his medical students are out doing the work themselves, growing the institute on a national and global level. The last symposium this past October had upwards of 500 people in attendance. And there are now 35 medical schools nationwide that have sanctioned street medicine programs, virtually all of them started by students in conjunction with mentors like Withers.

LIVING ON THE STREET According to the Harvard Library and a dissertation by Jill S. Roncarati, the US homeless popula-

tion is one of the most misunderstood and difficult to count and track for some various and obvious reasons. What we do know is that the homeless suffer a mortality rate four times that of the general population; and the mortality rate of “rough sleepers,” or unsheltered homeless, is three times higher still, according to the paper.

“People don’t always make it.

They can come off the street and have a lot of success, but sometimes they haven’t dealt with their recovery,” Withers explains. “You can be responsible for your actions but not for the results. It’s a trap to put your expectations on other people. It’s a deadly mindset. If you don’t have big expectations and hopes, you can enjoy people a lot more. Sometimes the biggest

“I had to reinvent what it meant for me to be a doctor. I committed myself to one of the most radically excluded populations, and that was the homeless camps.”

—Dr. Jim Withers

Dr. Jim Withers (left), founder and medical director, Pittsburgh Mercyʼs Operation Safety Net

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someone who had done this before and found Jim and Street Medicine Institute. I remember hiding in the stairwell for more than two hours at work talking to him for the first time. When we were done, there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life than street medicine.”

FINDING A MORAL COMPASS Feldman is also the director Withers’ calling may have been of street medicine for the Keck part destiny. He was raised in ruSchool of Medicine at the Uniral south-central Pennsylvania, making house calls with his dad, a versity of Southern California and has been practicing street medifamily practitioner. He saw firstcine since 2006. Born and bred in hand that this kind of personal, bedside—or street side—care was Philadelphia, he first founded a program in the Lehigh Valley that about much more than money, grew to nine clinics, a street team, for both patient and provider. As a hospital-based consult service a teenager, Withers had his first and a medical respite. experiences with medicine as a “After hearing about the homemountaineer and wilderness inless crisis in Los Angeles with alstructor, which eventually took most 45,000 unsheltered homeless him to India. He did his underon any given night, I had to see for graduate at Haverford College and completed his medical school myself. I’ve seen homelessness and training at the University of Pitts- street medicine all over the world and was awestruck by what I witburgh. After his residencies, he nessed in LA,” Feldman says. “I joined The Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh full-time teaching fac- was inspired to move there to give ulty in the Department of Internal street medicine a try.” This made Medicine. His official areas of spe- USC’s Keck School of Medicine the first to actively recruit a position cial interest have been domestic violence, wilderness medicine, in- to start a street medicine program, not on a grant or government fundternational medicine, and homeing but on operational dollars. The less health care. fact that this model has gained “I first came across Jim and the widespread acceptance in the most Street Medicine Institute after prestigious institutions in our starting a shelter-based clinic at country is a testament to the work the Allentown Rescue Mission in Withers has done over the decades.

Allentown,” says Brett Feldman, Feldman says that Withers provice chair of the Street Medicine vides the moral compass to the Institute board of directors. “We street medicine movement. “The were tied to the shelter, and as love and humility he teaches propatients left the shelter, we would vides the lens through which we lose them. Knowing how sick they see everything, from programmatwere, we knew they wouldn’t survive long outside without the treat- ic decisions to patient level care.

If a decision doesn’t match up to ment we started, so we took the care to the streets. I was looking for that moral code, the idea is forsuccesses aren’t the ones you work the hardest on.” Yes, he says, people have to own their own destiny, and they should, but sometimes they need a lot of love and support to achieve their goals.

gotten, no matter how lucrative it may be,” says Feldman.

“As a medical educator, it offends me that we make people fit into systems exclusively,” Withers says.

“I had to reinvent what it meant for me to be a doctor. I committed myself to one of the most radically excluded populations, and that was the homeless camps. I found a guy who had been homeless, and he was taking food and blankets into the camps, and I convinced him to let me come with him. And I began seeing the world from the enormity of that point of view. And it’s a war zone out there.”

Withers helps people understand that homelessness isn’t really a choice. There’s a narrative arc. “There are things that predispose folks to not make it.

The folks who are outdoors were either never given the tools to keep a job or the self esteem that many of us take for granted. People who were told ‘you’re a piece of shit’ their whole lives are starting from a totally different world view about themselves,” Withers says. “That’s all invisible. If you’re seeing someone under a bridge, you’re seeing a story of trauma.

People adapt to survive.”

“This whole work is all about story,” says Withers. “To be able to come into that narrative arc, understand it, respect it, puts healthcare workers in a place that we’re not the Wizard of Oz. It’s not this paternalistic, capitalistic approach, where you must follow it or you don’t fit into our system and labels.

We’re looking more and more at what really works. If you learn how to partner with people in a way that doesn’t disregard their reality, things are ultimately better.”

“People who were told ‘you’re a piece of shit’ their whole lives are starting from a totally different world view.

If you’re seeing someone under a bridge, you’re seeing a story of trauma.

People adapt to survive.”

—Dr. Jim Withers

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Is “OK, BOOMER” a slur, a sign of increasing generational conflict, or just a meme-able mic drop?

TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

C

aitlin Fisher, an Ohio writer who describes herself as “queer as hell, autistic, prone to sudden outbursts of encouragement” and a lover of avocados, cats, plants, and soy chai lattes, released a new book this year, The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation, based on a blog post by the same name that caught Twitter’s fancy and went viral in 2016. “The millennial generation has been tasked with fixing the broken system we inherited and chastised for not doing it right or daring to suggest improvements,” she wrote in the original post. “If you think we’re doing a bad job, ask yourself how it got this way in the first place.”

For Fisher, “OK, boomer”—the catch phrase that has surfaced as a way to dismiss stubborn, intolerant older folks—is nothing new. “We live in a meme culture, and this is a viral punchline,” she says. “It’s the new ‘whatever,’ a mic drop of, ‘I’m not dealing with this anymore.’”

Most boomers were blissfully unaware of the phrase “OK, boomer” until this fall, when a 25-year-old member of the New Zealand Parliament let it fly during a speech about climate change and the New York Times ran a “Style” section piece on it. Nearly every mainstream media outlet followed suit. Establishment boomers, publicly butt-hurt, declared intergenerational war, culminating in 60-year-old radio host Bob Lonsberry calling the phrase “the n-word of ageism” in a tweet he later deleted. Reaction was swift, fierce, JANUARY 2020

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TALKING ’BOUT MY GENERATION Pundits break US generations into generally accepted categories, though thereʼs hardly universal agreement about when one ends and the next begins. Age can be a powerful predictor of attitudes and behaviors because it denotes where someone was in their lifecycle during specific time periods and historical events. “Boomers” born after 1960 were toddlers during Woodstock and Vietnam and are more likely to identify with The Breakfast Club, not The Big Chill. And the lines between millennials and Gen Z are as fluid as its members. They share a lot of characteristics and have quite a bit in common with their great-grandparentsʼ generation as well.

GREATEST GENERATION: 1901–1925 Conservative, security-oriented, grew up in Depression and came of age during WWII SILENT GENERATION: 1925–1945 Thrifty, moral, conformist, patriotic, came of age as America became a superpower BABY BOOMERS: 1946–1964 Indulged, self-centered, iconoclastic, goal-centric, competitive, came of age during post-WWII boom

GENERATION X: 1965–1980 Freedom-loving, family-oriented, multicultural, jaded, grew up as latch key kids after Watergate and Vietnam MILLENNIALS (A.K.A. GEN Y): 1981–1996 Technological, independent, image-driven, open-minded, ethnically diverse, grew up during peaceful times but lost innocence to 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and the Great Recession GENERATION Z: 1997–2012 Traditional, family- and security-oriented, image-driven, open-minded, collaborative, most diverse (52% non-Hispanic whites), grew up with global terrorism, school shootings, smartphones, and social media

and often hilarious. “You can’t say that, #boomer is our word,” @JazzHendrix tweeted. “But you can say booma.”

Though new to the mainstream media, #OKBoomer has been around awhile. Its first recorded use is in 2015 on 4chan, and it made its way to Reddit by 2017, according to Know Your Meme. In 2018, it erupted in a flurry of tweets responding to politicians criticizing millennials and their successors, Gen Zs, and it’s now a Twitter and Reddit standby.

On the subReddit r/BoomerTears, 17,400 members post “any sour or garbage logic from boomers explaining why they’re special or complaining.” #BoomerAdvice, blasting out-oftouch words of wisdom from you know who, trends pretty regularly on Twitter. And of course, there’s a viral TikTok of a white-haired boomer ranting while a teenager scribbles “OK, Boomer” (flanked with hearts) on his notebook as well as an “OK, booomer” song that has spawned 4,000 TikToks.

Hoodies, t-shirts, phone cases, and stickers emblazoned with the phrase are available on Redbubble and Spreadshirt.

This is not your father’s generation gap; memes

like “OK, boomer” spread exponentially faster in 4G. “We can talk to people across the world, and we have the power to create whole new movements and share information really fast,” Fisher says. “Teenagers are no longer rolling their eyes at the dinner table. Now, teenagers are joining the revolution.”

WHAT IS THIS REVOLUTION? Millennials—along with their predecessors, Gen X, and successors, BEFORE IT WAS OK Gen Z—are angry. And The term baby boomer was first used in a 1963 whether they deserve it Salt Lake City Tribune or not, boomers are takarticle about the spike ing the blame for social of births that occurred and historical factors that during the decade following World War II. haven’t been kind to the generations that followed them. Boomers got college degrees “for the price of a McChicken,” according to one Redditor, while millennials are strapped with record student loan debt. The climate crisis and the rising tide of nationalism, inequality, and economic uncertainty all happened under the boomers’ watch. They elected Donald Trump.

Even to boomers, it’s pretty clear this hippie-cum-capitalist generation kicked a lot of cans down the road while they were chasing profits and partying like it was 1999 (well into the 21st century). “How many world leaders for how many JANUARY 2020

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decades have seen and known what is coming but have decided that it is more politically expedient to keep it behind closed doors? My generation and the generations after me do not have that luxury,” Chlöe Swarbrick told the New Zealand Parliament in her climate speech just before she dropped the OK bomb.

Even more maddening, boomers won’t acknowledge that younger generations are being forced to operate in a completely different economy, without the equity and safeguards boomers had and with huge fear about the future. “The world is just different,” says 30-yearold Lindsey Turnbull, who owns an empowerment company for teen and tween girls, MissHeard Media. “We need the adults to acknowledge that and not brush kids’ very real worries off as hormones.”

These millennials are quick to point out that not every boomer is a “boomer” (thank God!).

And furthermore, anyone who is intolerant to new ideas and unwilling to unlearn their biases can be “OK, boomered.”

It’s more about attitude than ageism.

“I know how exhausting it can be to debate with people, especially online, who are really adamant

about not seeing another point of view,” says Turnbull. “‘OK, boomer’ just says you’re not wasting all that time and emotional energy trying to come up with a well-thought-out response when the person on the other side doesn’t listen.”

hoarded all the wealth and polluted the planet in the process; they haven’t had to witness—or deal with the ramifications of—old age and precarity for millions of working people in that generational cohort,” he writes in the Guardian. “Instead they get to revel without self-reflection in oedipal TRENDING ON angst about their elders— WHITE TWITTER many of whom were kind One of the biggest issues many people see with this enough to pass them their ill-gotten privileges.” meme-inspired revoluFisher doesn’t distion is that its guerrillas agree. “It’s important to tend to be of a type—upacknowledge that ‘OK, per-middle-class white youth—and they’re com- boomer’ is about priviplaining about issues like leged older people, baby boomers in Congress who lack of economic opporkeep voting to give themtunity and silencing that people of color have been selves pay raises but don’t dealing with for centuries. want poor older people to have affordable health Black Twitter sees #Okcare,” she says. “While Boomer as nothing more than disrespect for elders. we’re fighting against the “White Brogressives never ‘royal boomer’ we can’t cared about income ineq- ignore the needs of older uity when it was just black people in our communities. Ageism is really serior brown folks on the ous. There’s elder abuse, wrong end of it,” @Wonderbitch82 posted. and medical debt is bankBhaskar Sunkara, found- rupting older Americans. er of Jacobin magazine and We can’t point to all older author of The Socialist Mani- people and say they are the problem the way they festo: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme point to our generation and say we are the probInequality, believes white lem. We have to open up upper middle-class youth the conversation.” who find themselves shut The conversation opens out of the housing market up for Turnbull, who lives and exploited by the gig economy should aim their angst at investment bankers, not boomers. “These young people are surrounded by baby boomers who’ve

in Washington, DC, when she mingles with people of all ages during political marches and protests.

But in many places in the US, opportunities for cross-generational conversation are becoming rare as children are shunted into age-based sports and activities while the elderly are sent to care facilities, says Timiko Tanka, an associate professor of sociology at James Madison University. “As is said in an African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’” she says. “But today, many children are growing up without such a community.”

Tanka says intergenerational care centers, which are starting to crop up across the country, have been proven to be useful in reducing age-based prejudice and stereotyping. In her Social Gerontology course, students spend at least 20 hours interacting and becoming comfortable with elderly people—so comfortable that by the end of the semester, they’re playing cards together. Schools, care facilities, and municipal governments need to create more opportunities for people to share different perspectives, she says. “‘OK, boomer’ is a warning that we need to find a bridge, not a wall, and have meaningful conversation,” says Tanka.

Generationalism: the systematic appeal to the concept of generation in narrating the social and political as a way of explaining political and social shifts.

SOURCE: Baby Boomers and Generational Conflict by Jenny Bristow (2015)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robyn Griggs Lawrence is the author of the bestselling Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook and the recently released Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis.

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SPECIAL REPORT

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT While legalization is on a roll, these six ridiculous cannabis laws and regulations made it onto the books across the country.

TEXT LINDSEY BARTLETT

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C

annabis prohibition is falling like an old empire across the United States. Yet not all new laws and regulations surrounding cannabis are winners. There are many laws in legal marijuana markets, both medical and adult-use, that are not based on data but are in fact quite arbitrary. At best, these regulations are off-base. At worst, they are curtailing access for medical patients who desperately need to access their medication. Laws have forced patients, adult consumers, and cannabis companies alike to jump through unnecessary hoops in order to get weed. But why?

Lawmakers have predisposed notions of what would happen if weed became legal. Unfortunately, many of the laws you see today were written by people coming from the perspective of a deeply ingrained “Reefer Madness” culture. Those in charge fear repercussions that are simply not backed by the data. When laws are developed through that lens, they are not likely to make a lot of sense.

It will take time to iron out these regulations, but someday they will be history. Fingers crossed. Here are six ridiculous, arbitrary, and damaging cannabis laws across the country.

NO RESTROOMS ALLOWED In West Hollywood, a lot of attention has been given to the country’s first open cannabis consumption lounge licensee. The Original Cannabis Cafe (previously known as Lowell Farms) has one bizarre quirk in its regulations forced by zoning. The restroom, formerly a part of the building located within the walls of the restaurant, had to be built out with a separate entrance.

The café owners told Sensi they were asked to disconnect the bathroom from the main building space.

This forces customers to exit the front door and walk around the exterior of the building to use the restroom. Before opening its doors in October 2019, the restaurant scrambled to comply with this seemingly arbitrary building requirement.

As far as zoning is concerned, cannabis consumption needs to happen in a closed space. It is all very confusing. But the first cannabis consumption licenses to get off the ground will undoubtedly have some kinks.

LIMITED LINEUP Yes, there is a medical marijuana program in New York.

No, it is not making a dent in the demand in the unlicensed market. This can be attributed to the state’s strict regulations, which make it so the only available products are items that aren’t as popular with medical patients.

Products in New York are limited to edible cannabis concentrate oil, capsules, or topicals. You can’t smoke it. Keep in mind, the allowable cannabis concentrate oil is not the same as the popular oils you’d dab with or put in a vape pen. You also can’t buy edibles that are already made with cannabis. Just capsules. New York consumers and patients do not have the option of regular ol’ flower.

This tight restriction on the products available for sale has deterred many cannabis patients, store owners, and cultivators from participating. While its medical program was enacted in 2014 by the Compassionate Care Act, the state has fewer than 30 medical dispensaries five years later.

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ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFRIENDLY All the largest markets have one unfortunate regulation in common: You cannot recycle or reuse any cannabis packaging. In Oregon, plastic childproof containers are required, but once the container is used to store cannabis, it is not allowed to be recycled, meaning all this plastic packaging ends up in landfills. The Bureau of Cannabis Control in California and Washington State laws make recycling products difficult.

Colorado does not have any language in place for the recycling of cannabis containers.

It will become a Goliath issue if these laws are not amended to make practical recycling a part of the cannabis industry. Companies want to recycle, and they want a safe and effective way to reuse the old vape cartridges that are brought back into the store. Bad news is, because of these strict state regulations, they can’t. One solution companies are finding is to begin with recycled and reclaimed plastic, like products made by Sana. An innovative company called TerraCycle offers another solution in melting down and cleaning cannabis packaging waste. But like all other industries grappling with the plastic problem, the most impactful changes will be made top-down, not at the consumer level.

NOT FIT TO PRINT Marketing regulations for the cannabis industry are a patchwork of chaos. There remain a limited number of ways that companies can advertise, and those laws vary state-by-state. Facebook and Instagram have gone out of their way to shadow ban cannabis companies, sometimes deleting the accounts of licensed, legal businesses. Google AdWords doesn’t play nicely with cannabis companies either, offering payment ad options to very few exceptions. In Colorado, you can’t advertise on billboards, on mobile, in banners, or in handout leaflets. California allows cannabis companies to advertise on billboards, but there is currently a lawsuit attempting to ban that method.

As a result of this mess, the industry has gotten creative with advertising. This very magazine is one avenue that exists without restriction, paving the way for marketing in the cannabis world.

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CASH OR… CASH States that legalize cannabis want cannabis tax money. But they don’t allow companies to have a safe way to pay their bills, pay their employees, and to store revenue. Until the SAFE Banking Act makes its way through the Senate and eventually to the desk of President Trump, there is a massive regulatory issue.

Dispensaries across the country are forced to operate as cash-only businesses—in a cash-only billion-dollar industry.

Stripe, Square, and other payment apps are cracking down not only on cannabis businesses, including CBD businesses, but on ancillary companies as well.

Hopefully a solution will be found in the SAFE Banking Act. Cannabis businesses need to be able to lean on legitimate financial institutions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lindsey Bartlett has been writing about cannabis since 2012. An advocate and 10-year medical cannabis patient, her work has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Benzinga, and The Cannabist.

MANDATORY MONOPOLY Some cannabis regulations go so far as to defy capitalism at its core. In Vermont’s medical cannabis program, for example, a registered patient must choose one—and only one—dispensary to buy from.

Patients can change their designated dispensary, but only once every 30 days, and only for a $50 fee. The cost is an access issue for many medical patients.

Another peculiar move for Vermont: while any 21plus adult can legally grow two mature and four immature plants for personal use outside in the sunshine (fenced yard, screened from public view), medical cannabis patients must grow indoors if they want to take advantage of the higher plant count available to them (seven immature).

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Going Downhill A trip to Seven Springs Mountain Resort is the perfect way to start the new year.

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF SEVEN SPRINGS MOUNTAIN RESORT

While you may think of it as the local ski hill, a part of the winter—and summer—landscape of the area for more than 80 years, Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, just 60 miles from Pittsburgh, is the ideal January escape for families and anyone looking for a winter adventure.

Boasting some of the Mid-Atlantic’s best ski and snowboard terrain with 33 slopes and trails of every difficulty level across a sprawling 5,500-acre property, Seven Springs was one of the first resorts in the country to pioneer snowmaking for more reliable conditions. They’ve also installed seven progressive terrain parks on the mountain for skiers and riders to hone their skills and reach for the sky. The resort offers season passes and lodging packages as well.

And while meteorologists are predicting an excellent winter for skiers, Seven Springs isn’t just for adrenaline junkies, and the fun doesn’t stop at the slopes.

Guests to Seven Springs Mountain Resort love the sleigh rides, snow tubing, snowshoeing, and snowmobile tours that the resort offers.

And for après, don’t forget about the resort’s 11 lounges and restaurants, including the legendary Foggy Goggle.

Hosting more than a million guests each year across all seasons, Seven Springs has become a popular destination for conferences and weddings as well. The resort has a large convention center that hosts hundreds of meetings and other events throughout the year. Still others come for the pampering tranquility of the resort’s world-class Trillium Spa. Forget the outdoor JANUARY 2020

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THE LIFE

GO THERE

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SEVEN SPRINGS MOUNTAIN RESORT

Seven Springs Mountain Resort 777 Water Wheel Dr., Champion 7springs.com

adventure: just get a group of friends together and make it a spa day in the mountains.

New for 2020 is the Wednesday Night Family Four Pack, beginning on January 8. For just $120, families can get four nighttime ski and snowboard tickets, four equipment rentals, four beginner group lessons, four hot dogs, and four Pepsi beverages. That’s a deal too good to pass up.

Sister Resorts The Seven Springs family has two other resorts that are worth checking out this winter. The nearby Hidden Valley Resort (hiddenvalleyresort.com), which opened with great conditions on November 23, is a smaller ski and

snowboard resort that caters perfectly to families just ten minutes from Seven Springs. Its quiet atmosphere and more beginner-friendly terrain and lifts are the ideal place to get away and to introduce your loved ones to the sport.

Hidden Valley offers a renowned snowsports school for both skiers and riders, snow tubing, as well as three restaurants and lounges to warm up and fuel up for the day. When the snow melts and summer rolls around, come back for the 18-hole mountaintop golf course, replete with clubhouse and lounge.

Meanwhile, the beautifully simple Laurel Mountain Resort (laurelmountainski.com) is among

the few unique mid-Atlantic ski areas operated as a concessionaire within a state park. And as locals can attest, Laurel Mountain State Park near Ligonier is one of the region’s outdoor treasures. Like its larger cousin Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain features ski and snowboard lessons and equipment rentals, along with a rustic facility that houses the Laurel House Cafe and Wildcat Lounge. Despite its vintage vibe, the mountain boasts one of the steepest slopes in Pennsylvania, called Lower Wildcat.

Being located within a state park, Laurel Mountain does not offer lodging, so come for a day of fun and bonding out in nature with the family.

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GO THERE

Pittsburgh Glass Center 5472 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh pittsburghglasscenter.org

Before Steel, There Was Glass Learn about Pittsburgh’s origins—and maybe discover a new passion—at one of the wonders of the Steel City.

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

As many PGH locals know, Pittsburgh was “America’s Glass City” before it was the Steel City. The region’s first two glass factories date back as far as 1797.

Continuing to build on this heritage, the acclaimed Pittsburgh Glass Center will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021.

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Pittsburgh’s strategic location on an inland river system, with its easy access to raw materials, coal, and trade routes, made it an ideal manufacturing site.

According to the Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC), citing a 1998 companion book to the Historical Society of Western Penn-

sylvania Exhibition Glass: Shattering Notions, by Anne Madras, Pittsburgh’s glass production boomed after the Civil War, due to its strategic location on rivers and trade routes as well as its access to raw materials, including furnace coal. By 1902 there were more than 150 glass fac-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER

tories in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

In the early 1900s, in addition to glass windows and tableware, Pittsburgh-manufactured glass could be found in the tiles of New York City’s Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, in traffic and railroad signals, in searchlights on the Panama Canal, and in the headlamps of Ford automobiles. The discovery of natural gas further ignited the region’s economic and industrial development, and by 1920, this area produced 80 percent of the nation’s glass.

However, as time went on, pressures and challenges including Prohibition (the alcohol one); the Great Depression; the advent of alternative materials such as paper cups, plastic, and aluminum; and competition from national and international producers shut down many glass plants in western Pennsylvania by the late 1960s.

A few glass companies such as Kopp Glass (which currently serves a high-tech niche market) and Jeannette Specialty Glass (which manufactures commercial, industrial, and residential glass products) still thrive. And traditional glassmaking techniques are enjoying a resurgence in Pittsburgh.

Glass studios run by artists who studied at PGC and other glass-focused businesses are popping up all over the Greater Pittsburgh region, including workshops and storefronts in Braddock and Millvale, and the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Larimer, Lawrenceville, South Side, and West End, says Paige Ilkhanipour, marketing director of the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

“Many of these artists developed and honed their skills at PGC

CLASSES IN GLASS The success of the PGC hits close to home for some residents. One 2008 student, Andrew Certo (@certo.glass on Instagram) recently won first place in the Pipe Classic. At age 14, he fell in love with glass at the PGCʼs Teen Boot Camp, then honed his skills at the center. This eventually allowed him to study glass at Temple University. Today he teaches what he loves across the country and will return to PGC this year to teach a series of classes:

and continue to contribute to its culture. An incubator for artistic innovation and individual creative development, PGC is truly contributing to the region’s economic and cultural advancement,” she says.

According to the PGC website, the group is building on Pittsburgh’s legendary glassmaking heritage and emerging as one of the nation’s top contemporary art glass facilities, featuring live

demonstrations, classes, gallery exhibitions, studio rental opportunities, and state-of-the-art workspaces that draw visitors, students, and professional glass artists from around the world.

“We are moving into a new era of glass in Pittsburgh, and we are thrilled to showcase the key role glass has played—and continues to play—in building this city,” says Ilkhanipour.

• 2-hour workshops year-round • 4-week classes, Jan. 18–Feb. 14 • 8-week classes, Feb. 16–Apr. 19 • 1-week classes May–Aug.

A BLAST OF GLASS: A sampling of the pieces on display at the PGCʼs Art on Fire Celebration and Auction, held Sept. 2019.

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W THE SCENE

TEDxPITTSBURGHWOMEN WHERE: ROXIAN THEATRE WHEN: DEC. 5, 2019 PHOTOS: CHRISTOPHER SPROWLS

HIGH SOCIETY

Women Take the Stage Hundreds of attendees gathered in a sold-out crowd as TEDxPittsburgh brought the city together through impassioned speakers who are making an impact. The TEDxPittsburghWomen event was tied to the national TEDwomen series, but TEDxPittsburgh is an independent event organized entirely by volunteers. The chapter raises sponsorship dollars that go back into event production and videos, ensuring these voices are empowered and able to have their ideas shared globally.

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THE SCENE CA L E N DA R

LEFT: 2020 YOGA EXPO BELOW: TRAVEL SHOWCASE RIGHT: PITTSBURGH OPERAʼS ALCINA

On the Calendar

Work from Home Summit

Cirque du Soleil OVO

Jan. 11 Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh Tickets on Eventbrite

Jan. 23 PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh cirquedusoleil.com

Nursing Careers Open House

Umphrey’s McGee

Jan. 11 UPMC Childrenʼs Hospital of Pittsburgh Event info on Eventbrite

Jan. 24 Stage AE, Pittsburgh promowestlive.com

Holiday Magic!

Winter Flower Show and Light Garden Jan. 12 Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh phipps.conservatory.org

Yoga expos, operas, and bluegrass to fill your schedule.

Taste of Fitness Pittsburgh

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

Jan. 12 Ace Hotel Pittsburgh Tickets on Eventbrite

Don’t be afraid of the cold. January is a great time to greet old friends and meet new people. We’re all in when it comes to post-New Year’s celebrations around the PGH area.

Cresco Job Fair

Pitt Floyd

Jan. 4 PA Medical Marijuana Education Center, Pittsburgh Event info on Facebook

Jan. 11 Jergelʼs Rhythm Grille, Warrendale druskyentertainment.com

Pittsburgh Golf and Travel Show Jan. 10–12 Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville pittsburghgolfandtravelshow.com

Presented by Jergel’s & Drusky Entertainment, Pitt Floyd performs Pink Floyd’s The Wall in its entirety.

Surround at City of Asylum Jan. 16 Alphabet City Bookstore, Pittsburgh aliamusicapittsburgh.org

The titular character is a malicious sorceress who makes men fall in love with her, then turns them into animals or inanimate objects once she tires of them.

Alcina’s current captive is the a chivalrous knight Ruggiero. Ruggiero’s fiancée forms a rescue party to bring him home.

But Alcina has no intention of letting that happen.

Pittsburgh Opera A Night in presents Alcina the Garden Jan. 25, 28, 31, Feb. 2 Pittsburgh CAPA School Theater, Pittsburgh pittsburghopera.org

Jan. 25 Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh phipps.conservatory.org

Sung in Italian with English texts projected above the stage, Alcina is a baroque masterpiece by George Frederic Handel.

Health-care professionals, friends and family will come together in the botanical gardens for a fundraiser to support the Light

of Life Mission, a local organization devoted to fighting the opioid epidemic.

Pittsburgh Travel Showcase Jan. 24–26 pittsburghtravel showcase.com

2020 Pittsburgh Yoga Expo Jan. 26 Pittsburgh Opera Tickets on Eventbrite

Dancing with the Stars: Live!

Jan. 29 Benedum Center, Pittsburgh trustarts.org

Lettuce Jan. 30 The Roxian Theatre, McKees Rocks roxianlive.com

Afro-Caribbean Saturdays Jan. 18 Spirit Lodge, Pittsburgh Info on Eventbrite

Greensky Bluegrass Jan. 19 The Roxian Theatre, McKees Rocks roxianlive.com

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Green Mountain Energy From its start as a trailblazing pioneer in the renewable energy field to now, Green Mountain Energy is making a difference.

P

ittsburgh has a lot to be proud of: a beautiful waterfront, thriving downtown, and some of the best sports fans in the country. But one thing Steel City residents can’t yet hang their hats on is the quality of the air they breathe. According to a recently released report from the American

Air Association, the city’s air ranks right next to smoggy Los Angeles’s.

Luckily, Green Mountain Energy offers customers the power to make responsible energy choices for their homes and businesses. By allowing you to choose what form of electricity you wish to use, you are able to change your habits and make an impact

on the local environment—and even more importantly, the rest of the world.

One of the biggest problems affecting the planet today is the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the air daily. By choosing to work with Green Mountain, you are able to pick from a varied list of energy sources.

It offers wind and solar energy that you purchase using renewable energy certificates. Once you switch to its supply, you stay with your local utility but from then on you’ll be buying wind energy instead of the default— mostly fossil fuel—supply.

Once you’ve purchased your energy from Green Mountain, nothing changes.

It still comes through your lines from the Duquesne Light Company, but you know “All it you are helping make a difference. requires is “To me, this is the lowest hanging fruit in going green,” says Ian Darwin, you making area sales manager for Western PA a change Green Mountain. “It doesn’t require in- in where stalling anything; it doesn’t require you you spend changing anything in your lifestyle. All your money, it requires is you making a change in where you spend your money, and that and that has a direct impact on the planet.” has a direct Even better, a portion of all the impact on money you spend on your electricity the planet.” with Green Mountain goes into its Sun Club, the company’s sustainable —Ian Darwin, area nonprofit. Since 2002, it has worked sales manager with local communities to promote renewable energy, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship through partnerships and grants.

So, do your part to help clean up our planet’s air so that on the next sunny day in Pittsburgh, you can smile knowing you have done your part.

Green Mountain Energy Renewable Energy Provider greenmountainenergy.com JANUARY 2020

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E T H E H E A LT H Y Y I N Z E R

The Healthy Yinzer The new decade has arrived; it’s time to whip your body into shape.

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ick Venuti is on a mission to change how Pittsburgh residents view themselves and their fellow Yinzers. Instead of sporting beer bellies and high cholesterol, Iron City residents should be showing off their slimming waistlines and overall good health, according to Venuti. To accomplish this, the lifelong Pittsburgh resident launched The Healthy Yinzer in 2017.

Ten years working as a chef in various kitchens, a master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh, and being a certified trainer has equipped Venuti with the perfect set of skills to transform lives.

By working in a one-on-one setting, he is able to offer his clients a curated program that focuses on their overall health and well-being, not just pumping iron. Starting from the ground up, he ac-

movements to ensure you have the proper foundation to build your brick house upon. Once that is prepared, Venuti likes to add a cardio boxing component to help improve VO2 max—which is a great way for letting off steam after a grueling work day. From there, the sky is the limit as Venuti adapts the plan and fine-tunes your goals.

Whether you are looking to shed a few inches around the waistline or transform your body, he will be next to you the entire journey. In the end, you will be able to proudly look into the mirror and see one healthy Yinzer.

cesses a client’s diet and teaches them how to eat healthier, often employing recipes that he has developed himself.

Venuti develops a plan that ensures clients have the perfect caloric input throughout the day, week, and month.

“Most people don’t realize the difference they will have in their life by just changing their diet,” says Venuti.

“Once you pair that with a fitness component, your body will respond quickly, and you will feel better.”

On the gym side, he works toward a sustainable program. Instead of diving into heavy workouts that can cause injuries and issues, he focuses on something he likes to call “Anatomical Adaptation.” “We focus on getting the body ready for exercise and improving your motor pathways,” he says.

The Healthy Yinzer He teaches core strengthening, Health and Fitness Program correct lifting techniques, and proper @TheHealthyYinzer

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THE END

Tastefully Done

Photographer Adam Milliron captures the Pittsburgh foodie scene.

“Now that Instagram has gotten more competitive and people want really good images, we’ve circled back and are able to do [work] for local businesses.”

—Adam Milliron, Food Photographer

With big-name national clients like Coca Cola, Nike, and Marriott—as well as local clients such as Primanti Bros. sandwich chain and Natrona Bottling—you’d think local Pittsburgh food photographer Adam Milliron would have been around a lot longer than just nine years. But his connections with local chefs, his background in studio photography, and a special eye for color came along at just the right time.

“Just as the foodie scene was really taking off in Pittsburgh, I started shooting in restaurants with chefs, and at that time there was no place for it to go,” says Milliron, who had previously worked as a paint color designer. “We started to get more commercial and work with more national brands, but now that Instagram has gotten more competitive and people want really good images, we’ve circled back and are able to do more menus, social media, billboards, and website imagery for local businesses.” Milliron leads a small team including PGH food stylist Ana Kelly, with whom he’s been collaborating closely for seven years. Just last month, they shot Natrona’s Red Ribbon Soda Company (pictured at right). adammilliron.com

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PHOTOS BY ADAM MILLIRON

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE