Sensi Magazine - Pittsburgh (March 2020) by Sensi Magazine

DON’T GROW IT ALONE

Urban gardens are uniting communities

POT’S FIRST POP-UP BOOK I PITTSBURGH M A R C H 2020

TINY HOUSES

The big deal about small living

NOW OPEN

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5600 Forward Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 22095 Perry Highway, Suite 301, Zelienople, PA 16063

200 Adios Drive, Suite 20, Washington, PA 15301 Follow us: (412) 422-0420 • info@solevowellness.com SolevoWellness.com

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PITTSBURGH SENSI MAGAZINE MARCH 2020

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

F E AT U R E S

34 28

Planting the Seed

Two local companies unite to promote urban agriculture and community spirit.

In a New Dimension

Paper engineers create the first pop-up book to explore the world of cannabis.

Beauty in Imperfection

The delicate art of wabi-sabi and how difficult it can be to live out the philosophy

D E PA R T M E N T S

9 EDITORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOTE 10 THE BUZZ News, tips, and tidbits

to keep you in the loop YINZER SWEETS AND GREETS

Cards and chocolate bars with a Pittsburgh touch CHILDLIKE WONDER New exhibit supports local youth artists PRODUCT Tougher clothes for tougher folks MUSEUM African American art at the Westmoreland THE NEXT VIAGRA?

One brand promises longer-lasting sex.

16 THE LIFE Contributing to your

health and happiness SIZE MATTERS

The wins and woes of tiny house living HOROSCOPE What the stars hold for you

34 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip

ON THE COVER Grow Pittsburgh strives to turn our city into a community of sustainable growers.

hangouts around town OH, THE HUMANITIES

Highlighting a festival of music, art, and history CALENDAR Spring into action with these events.

50 THE END

Pittsburgh Opera melds music and fashion.

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FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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FACE BOOK Like Sensi Media Group for the parties, topics, and happenings we’re obsessed with right now.

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The Healthy Yinzer Personal Training

T W I T TER Follow @sensimag to stay up-to-date on the latest news from Sensi cities.

Living Well CBD CBD Shop Maitri Medicinals Grower Metro Community Health Center Community Health Center

I NSTAG RAM @sensimagazine is home to exclusive photos and content.

EXECUTIVE Ron Kolb Founder, CEO ron@sensimag.com Mike Mansbridge President mike@sensimag.com

Alex Martinez Chief Operating Officer alex@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder, 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 Melissa Howsam Senior Copy Editor Bevin Wallace Copy Editor Mona Van Joseph 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

EDITOR’S NOTE

The new decade keeps building momentum

here in the Steel City as well as for all of us at Sensi and across the country. We’ve been on a journey in one of the greatest cities in the world for more than six months now. When I started working with the Sensi team, I had no idea just how incredibly rich the history and culture of Pittsburgh really were. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to know many of you and share so many gems of this historic city with our ever-broadening readership. And yes, though it’s hard to believe as I write this, spring is in the air. Even when there’s snow on the ground, we believe that March is the best time to spring into action, whether that be in your community, your state, or in your personal life. It may be to embark on a new volunteer service project, to focus on personal health and wellness goals, kickstart new home renovations, or plan your summer vacation. There’s no better way to shake off any wintery blues. There are so many local nonprofits that can use a lending hand in the spring, including many we’ve tried to include here—such as Grow Pittsburgh, Project Love Coalition, and Tree Pittsburgh. Spring is an invigorating time that gives us motivation to start anew. So find a new perspective, learn a new hobby, or support a new community project. “I’m excited for the first moment when the sprouts cut through the frost, and the leaves share their green glow,” says publisher Gina Vensel. “It’s a sign that we’ll revive once again, and this time hopefully with a full heart and open mind. Our world continues to show its harsh realities, and I find comfort in moments when we embrace the true meaning of community: helping others, giving back, and moving our city forward.” Join us in these sentiments. Crack open this month’s issue of Sensi Pittsburgh to see what’s new and inspiring inside. And remember, Sensi is a place for your stories to be heard.

Even when there’s snow on the ground, we believe that March is the best time to spring into action. There’s no better way to shake off any wintery blues.

Andre Velez Marketing Director andre.velez@sensimag.com Neil Willis Production Manager neil.willis@sensimag.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 @ahbible

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Yinzer Cards and Bars A comedian, a radio personality, and a cartoonist create greeting cards and chocolate bars that capture the heart and soul of Pittsburgh. In 2007, Bill Cowher held a press conference to announce his retirement as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As he stood in front of the collected news media, he said, “I’m one of you. Yinz know what I mean?” He wasn’t just saying he was a Pittsburgher; he was showing it using a word that’s meant to foster camaraderie with his hometown. “There’s a reason Coach Cowher took that approach,” said Jim Krenn, a Pittsburgh stand-up comedian. “That’s because in Pittsburgh, ‘Yinzer’ and ‘Jagoff ’ are terms of endearment. Saying ‘dahntahn’ is as much a beloved tradition 10 P I T TS BU RG H

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as putting french fries on a ‘sammich’ or waving a yellow towel.” As a way to celebrate the city they love while supporting causes they care about, Krenn, radio personality Larry Richert, and cartoonist Rob Rogers teamed up to create a specialty greeting card and chocolate bar line called Yinzer. This uniquely Pittsburgh line of cards and chocolate bars is now available in the greeting card and candy departments of local Giant Eagle, Market District, and Hallmark stores, as well as the Heinz History Center and Visit Pittsburgh gift shops. Yinzer cards retail for $5 and include greet-

ings for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation, new baby, weddings, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Yinzer Bars retail for $3 and feature downtown Pittsburgh and “The Immaculate Confection,” a spin on the most famous play in NFL history. A portion of Yinzer card proceeds will benefit Animal Friends, while the bars benefit Spenser’s Voice Fund.

CONTRIBUTOR

Aaron H. Bible

FUTURE ARTISTS

Upcoming art exhibition supports local youth artists.

Boom Concepts needs submissions for its youth art exhibition this April. This organization works to provide art education and opportunity for students throughout Pittsburgh. The upcoming show, titled Our Future!, encourages young artists to consider what lies ahead, both in their own lives and for their city. What does our future—as individuals and as a community—look like? What do we need to do to get there? What needs to change so that our future remains bright? For this show, the next generation gets the chance to answer some of these questions. Artists from preschool through 12th grade are welcome to submit their work to Boom Concepts for consideration. As part of the exhibition process, Boom Concepts will organize two separate TeenBloc studio sessions in February and March as opportunities for artists to spend time in a creative space, complete with supplies and guidance, to craft their work. There will also be an installation session to prepare for the show as a cohesive group. The exhibition will be up through the month of April and will also feature related events and workshops. Donations for the event will go to supporting BoomConceptsʼ citywide youth programs. ioby.org/project/our-future

BY THE NUMBERS

178 NUMBER OF YEARS

since Yuengling Brewing, Americaʼs first brewery, opened in Pennsylvania

DEGREES Pittsburghʼs highest temperature in January, which broke a 130-year record SOURCE: cnn.com

1794 YEAR OF THE WHISKEY REBELLION,

an uprising of farmers and distillers in Western Pennsylvania

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

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THE BUZZ

The Eyes of History and Heritage

COURTESY OF THE WESTMORELAND MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

One of the most significant collections of African American art is on display at The Westmoreland.

From February 15 to May 10, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art will present African American Art in the 20th Century, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museumʼs collection, on view in the Cantilever Gallery. The exhibition features 45 works by 34 black artists, painters, sculptors, and printmakers from the 1930s through the 1990s. The artworks encompass diverse subjects and a variety of genres, from representational to modern abstraction to the postmodern assemblage of found objects. “The art reflects the American experience through the eyes of these artists, and we are excited to offer our visitors the opportunity to learn more about them,” says chief curator Barbara L. Jones. The Harlem Renaissance, World War II, the Civil Rights movement, and forces for freedom around the world shaped the lives and worldviews of these artists. Family and personal history became subtexts for some. Others interpreted the syncopations of jazz in visual form. Still others translated observation into powerful emotional statements. In styles that range from painterly expressionism to abstractions that glow with color, these artists explore myth and memory, acknowledging the heritage of Africa. African American Art in the 20th Century Wed.–Fri., 11 a.m.–7p.m. / Sat.–Sun., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Free / thewestmoreland.org African American Art in the 20th Century is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go. Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Hillman Exhibition Fund of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Additional financial support provided by the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund.

Loïs Mailou Jones, Moon Masque, 1971, oil and collage on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, bequest of the artist.

VOX POPULI

Question: How will you spring into action this year?

SARAH ZEFFIRO

JESSE WORSK

LASHAUNA BROADWAY IVAN GABRIEL GIL-SILVA

___________________

Artist and Educator Squirrel Hill

I’ll spring into action by asking myself each day, how can I be of service? How can I share creativity and learning with others?

Dispensary Manager, Cresco Labs, New Kensington

We will continue to provide patients with expert knowledge. My team will continue to find ways to support our local community through outreach and social equity.

Owner, Total Peace and Wellness CBD Store, Moon Township

Owner, Mi Empanada South Side

This spring, I look forward to living outside of my comfort zone— meeting new people and engaging with others about our commonalities and shared experiences.

The opening of Mi Empanada will give me the leverage to become an active participant in making Pittsburgh everything I wish it was growing up.

___________________

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Good planets are hard to find.

Help keep ours green. Choose 100% wind energy for your home.

Visit greenmountainenergy.com.

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THE BUZZ

BILITIES

BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF

1 READING ROOM The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf, $27). Showcasing her signature literary prowess, Mandel explores the infinite ways we search for meaning in this much-hyped new release, expected March 24. Also out this month: It’s Not All Downhill from Here by How Stella Got Her Groove Back author Terry McMillan.

2 STREAM THIS Freeform’s The Bold Type. Now in its third season, this sleeper hit could be your new favorite series. It’s mine, in no small part because it centers on three young women working for a New York mag. But also because it’s witty AF, aspirational, and depicts successful women who are defined not by their relationships but by their careers. It’s empowering, and you should watch it for free on Freeform, or on your favorite streaming platform. 3 LISTEN UP NPR’s Life Kit podcast offers tools to keep it together. And by you, I mean me; I need all the help I can get. Picking out a lightbulb last fall had me staring mouth agape in a store aisle for a half hour trying to make sense of all the options. After listening to “Picking Out a Lightbulb, Made Easy,” I know which bulb’s for me. Life Kit’s episodes are short, to the point, and offer tips on how to do things like start therapy, start a book club, master your budget, remove stains, and juggle paperwork, appointments, and repairs. Basically how to adult. 4 GROWING TREND Pot in Pots. The Swiss-cheese-leafed Monstera is last year’s “It” plant. Cannabis is the hashtagable houseplant of 2020. Get in on the trend. Depending where you live, you can find clones or seeds at select dispensaries with an easy google—while you’re at it, look up local laws regarding home grows. Cannabis cuttings (a.k.a. clones) are pretty easy to root—check Leafly.com for tips—and you should definitely bring some to your next plant swap. Spread the word, spread the love.

The Next Viagra? Promescent promises longerlasting sex. Although PE, or premature ejaculation, doesn’t have quite the same stigma as ED (erectile dysfunction), it can definitely become a barrier to intimate and meaningful lovemaking. It’s also a common problem for couples. In fact, Psychology Today recently reported on the “orgasm gap.” In case you hadn’t noticed, men tend to reach an orgasm during heterosexual lovemaking about three times faster than women—5.5 minutes vs. 18 minutes. According to the new brand and product Promescent, up to two billion women go without orgasms each year as a result of this issue. Makers of Promescent, a climax-delay spray, claim it prolongs lovemaking. So, will it become the next Viagra? Check it out for yourself and see if it improves your sex life. promescent.com

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this? What if I knew I would never see this again?’” —Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring

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Tiny homes are an obvious solution to housing and climate issues. Why isn’t it easier to find places for them? TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

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of McMansion Mania. Shafer’s 130-square-foot home (yes, you read that right), built for $40,000, was a hard “no” to all that. It was also cozy and inviting, and Shafer described himself as a claustrophile (someone who loves closed-in spaces). Shafer won the Philosophy and Innovation Award

in our Natural Home of the Year contest because his adorable house embodied everything the magazine stood for, and he wasn’t afraid to say things. He said that we Americans like our homes like we like our food—big and cheap—and he was the first to figure out that putting a tiny house on

PHOTOS BY POVY KENDAL ATCHISON

Size Matters

I visited Jay Shafer’s meticulous American Gothic–style house in a sun-dappled Iowa City backyard shortly after we launched Natural Home magazine in 1999. The Dow had just surpassed 10,000, mortgage credit requirements were melting into oblivion, and America had a bad case

wheels makes it an RV and therefore not subject to city and county minimum-size standards and codes. He wasn’t shy about his intention to make tiny homes a revolutionary alternative in a housing market headed for disaster. “I am certainly not proposing that everyone should live in a house as small as mine,” Shafer wrote in the letter accompanying his contest entry. “Such minimalism would be excessive for most people. What I am saying is that the scale of our homes should be as varied as the spatial needs of their inhabitants, and that it is those needs rather than government regulations and conspicuous consumption that should determine house size.” Shafer’s message was radical, and largely ignored, in the frenzy

leading up to the 2008 crash. But his company, Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, built a following, and he built a name for himself as the godfather of a fledgling tiny house movement (one blogger called him “the George Washington of simple and sustainable living”). He wrote The Small House Book and was on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Then he lost the company in a business dispute and his house in a divorce, and he was homeless for a while, living in a pigpen inside a shed. Determined never to live that way again, Shafer designed a 50-square-foot home that cost $5,000 in Sebastopol, California. He gives master class workshops at tiny house festivals around the world (including the Tiny House Festival Australia in Bendigo, Victoria, March 21–22).

operating and maintaining them costs a lot less. When the International Code Commission made changes to its residential code to facilitate tiny house construction in 2018, it reported lifetime conditioning costs as low as 7 percent of conventional homes. That reality is driving the spike in interest in tiny homes, which are getting a lot of attention as a solution to the affordable housing and homeless crises, with the added bonus of being A Status Symbol for kinder to the planet than Humble Braggers a traditional three-bedThough 82 percent of room/two-bath. Whether renters say they would like to buy a home some- they live in tiny homes for financial reasons day, according to Fannie or not, climate-aware Mae, homeownership is homebuyers get a status at its lowest point since symbol that flaunts their 1965. Ordinary people can’t afford the American honorable choice to reduce their footprint and Dream (median listing live with less—no easy price: $310,000). In the thing to do, even in this Bay Area, homebuyers post-Kondo age. paid twice their annual It doesn’t hurt that tiny income for a house in the homes—generally defined 1960s; today, they shell out nine times their year- as homes with less than ly salary. Only 13 percent 400 square feet—are now readily available in every of millennial renters in style, from your basic the United States will shed to sleek Dwell-worhave enough cash to put thy models. You can buy 20 percent down on a plans and build a tiny house in the next five house yourself or pick out years, according to an one online and have it Apartment List survey. shipped to you. You can Tiny homes are much cheaper, with prices rang- even order one on Aming from $10,000 to more azon. Used tiny homes, along with inspirational than $200,000 (averagstories and information, ing about $65,000), and “The evolution of tiny houses has paralleled the digital revolution, since this whole tiny thing started at the turn of the century,” Shafer told foxnews.com in 2014. “Once it became possible to have a remote little phone instead of a landline and a wall-mounted flat screen instead of a 2-foot-by-1foot chunk on the dresser, folks started seeing the potential for living in what basically amounts to a laptop with a roof.”

LIVE TINY AND FREE More than twice as many tiny homeowners—68 percent compared with 29 percent of all US homeowners—have no mortgage, and 78 percent own their own home. SOURCE: thetinylife.com

LEFT: The dining table in Jay Shaferʼs 130-squarefoot home can be taken down and stored in a closet when not in use.

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THE LIFE

TRY TINY

Think you might love a tiny house? airbnb.com, vrbo.com, glampinghub. com, and getaway.com all have tiny home listings to sample the lifestyle.

SECTION

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN TINY HOMES

can be found at sites like tinyhousefor.us, tinyhousetalk.com, and tinyhouselistings.com. Tiny Home Nation: 10K Strong More than half of Americans would consider a tiny home, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey. Potential buyers and just-dreamers flock to check out micro-houses, “schoolies” (converted school buses), and vans at tiny home festivals like the Florida Suncoast Tiny Home Festival in St. Petersburg (March 28–29) and the People’s Tiny House Festival in Golden, Colorado (June 6–7). But the reality is that only about 10,000 people in North America—the lucky ones who have managed to find parking spots—actually live in tiny homes. Like anything that disrupts the norm in a conformist capitalist culture, building a tiny home in a world of ticky-tacky boxes is not easy. The good news is that times are changing, as municipalities consider tiny home villages as a way to house the homeless and marginalized communities. Still, most states only allow tiny homes to be parked in rural areas (Massachusetts, California, Florida, and Oregon are somewhat more

lenient). Because most zoning laws in the United States don’t have a classification for tiny houses, most owners have to follow Shafer’s lead and register them as RVs, trailers, or mobile homes. In most places, zoning ordinances won’t allow you to buy land, park your tiny home/RV, and live happily ever after. You either have to rely on the kindness of family and friends with backyards or pay a monthly park fee to rent a space in one of the tiny home villages cropping up across the country. Park Delta Bay, an RV resort in Isleton, California, now has a row reserved for tiny homes. At Village Farm, an RV resort that’s turning into a tiny-home community in Austin, Texas, residents pay about $600 to $700 a month to park and use the services. Slowly, city and state governments are responding to homebuyers’ demands for tiny home

opportunities beyond RV resorts. Portland, Oregon, (but of course) has relaxed its ordinances to allow for everything from tiny house communities to tiny house hotels. In Rockledge, Florida, citizens demanded zoning changes allowing for a pocket neighborhood with homes ranging from 150 to 700 square feet. A tiny home community for low-income residents is under way on Detroit’s west side, and Vail, Arizona, built two dozen 300to 400-square-foot houses for schoolteachers. Advocacy groups have been paving the way for tiny homes since Shafer and a few friends founded the Small Home Society in 2002, and they’re seeing a resurgence. In 2017, a group of University of California-Berkeley students launched the Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY) project to promote research and development and raise awareness of tiny house communities.

Operation Tiny Home is a national nonprofit that helps people “maintain a life of dignity” through high-quality tiny housing and empowerment training programs. In Canada, activists calling themselves Tiny House Warriors are taking the revolution to the next level, placing “resistance-homes-on-wheels” along the pathway of the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline. “We are asserting our inherent, God-given right to our lands,” says Kanahus Manuel, a leader of Tiny House Warrior. “We’re defending what’s ours, and tiny homes are how we’re doing it.” M ARCH 2020

Interior and exterior of the Letʼs Get Stoked tiny house model from Rocky Mountain Tiny Homes.

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THE LIFE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mona Van Joseph has been an intuitive since 2002. She is an author, columnist, and host of Psychic View Radio. She created dicewisdom.com, which also has a smartphone app. mona.vegas

HOROSCOPE

MARCH HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold for you? TEXT MONA VAN JOSEPH

you are—and totally step JULY 23–AUG. 22 back from the people Listen to the compliwho are taking advanPeople are about to ment that presents ittage of your good nature. prove to you how much self to you as a critithey love you. March is cism; energies will make MAY 21–JUNE 20 when your gratitude toyou better through jealward people who are ousy and roadblocks. It It’s time to apologize for supporting you will make could be that you realize the things you have done all the difference. it’s time for a change. to hurt people. If your ego won’t let you actual- AUG. 23–SEPT. 22 MAR. 21–APR. 19 ly call them to apologize, write them a “spiritual” There are angels surThere is something to letter telling them you rounding you. Pennies celebrate that presents were unfair to them and and feathers in your path itself to you. To thank the that you are sorry. are likely. This is a month universe for this opporof being aware of how tunity or inspiration, do- JUNE 21–JULY 22 things are lining up for nate to an organization a you. Accept all invitations. few times this month. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” SEPT. 23–OCT. 22 APR. 20–MAY 20 The door to your future couldn’t open any wider. Coincidence will be your Do not try to impress If you want the job, you best friend this month. anyone who isn’t treating can have it. If you want It’s time to drop (old) you well. Please agree that relationship to go ideas that you can’t have with the vibration that to the next level, you what you want…you toyou are perfect the way can have it. tally can. Pay attention! FEB. 19–MAR. 20

PISCES

LEO

GEMINI

VIRGO

ARIES

CANCER

TAURUS

LIBRA

OCT. 23–NOV. 21

DEC. 22–JAN. 19

Practice saying nice things about people. Do not take on the bad karma right now of backstabbing those who truly do not deserve it. Ask yourself: “Am I basing my opinion on someone else’s agenda?”

When you focus on one thing at a time, you are a genius. Avoid multitasking this month. Better to spend the time to make sure it’s done right the first time.

SCORPIO

PISCES, ENERGIES WILL USE JEALOUSY AND ROADBLOCKS TO MAKE YOU BETTER THIS MONTH. IT COULD BE THAT IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE.

CAPRICORN

JAN. 20–FEB. 18

AQUARIUS

Embrace the high energy of spinning lots of You are the owner of this plates right now. You are lifetime and acting as the chef who has many though you do have the pots simmering, and it’s power to change things time to admit that you will make all the differlike it this way. Thrive by ence this month. You will making the magic hapget a sign that you are on pen with all the resourcthe right track. es available to you. NOV. 22–DEC. 21

SAGITTARIUS

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PLANTING THE SEED

Grow Pittsburgh partners with Garden Dreams to grow the legacy of urban agricultureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and fosters community along the way. TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

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GO THERE

Grow Pittsburgh 6587 Hamilton Ave., #2W, Pittsburgh growpittsburgh.org

row Pittsburgh’s mission is simple enough: to teach people how to grow food— and, in the process, to promote the benefits that gardens bring to neighborhoods. With its focus on three main program pillars— School Gardens, Community Projects, and Farm Education & Production—Grow Pittsburgh is also assuming the reins at Garden Dreams Urban Farm & Nursery in neighboring Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, this year. It will allow them to up their seedling production from about 10,000 seedlings per year to more than 30,000. Currently the nonprofit grows its starter plants in greenhouses located at The Frick Pittsburgh, including all types of small vegetable plants, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and flowers to promote pollinators. The organization was founded in 2005 and has been a registered 501c(3) entity since 2008. According to Jake Seltman, Grow Pittsburgh executive director, simply planting one seed is the best way to get involved in the movement. “It’s easy to get involved and to experience the positive benefits that growing food can bring to your life,” explains Seltman, who has been at the helm of the nonprofit for three years now. “I personally love to grow food, and I have a large vegetable, herb, and flower garden here in Pittsburgh. Growing food helps us connect to the world around us. It connects us to our food, to the soil and our environment, to our community, to our history, and to ourselves. Food is one thing that brings us all together.”

Grow Pittsburgh uses growing food “as a platform to bring people and communities together,” according to the group’s website, “while inspiring them to be healthier, learn new skills, care for the earth, [and make] the region a more livable, equitable, and desirable place to be.” Seltman began with Grow Pittsburgh as the director of educational programming in 2012, tapping into his deep background in education and a specific passion and belief in the value of experiential farm-based programming for people of all ages. He manages a staff of about 20, which grows seasonally, no pun intended. With a budget of approximately $1.5 million annually, Grow Pittsburgh is on the average to medium size for national nonprofits.. So, how exactly does gardening and growing food build community and uplift people? “When we ask people what they love most about participating in a community garden or urban farm, in addition to providing access to delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, we often hear that the sense of community that is built when working alongside neighbors toward a shared goal of growing, preparing, and sharing food is unique and extraordinary,” Seltman says. It is simple yet powerful food for thought. “We see growing food as a vehicle toward creating positive and impactful change in the social, economic, environmental, and educational sectors of our lives,” he says. “One of Grow Pittsburgh’s values is food sovereignty—which we define as supporting everyone’s right to access, produce, and distribute healthy M ARCH 2020

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34 Bridge Street, Etna, PA 15223 | (412) 781-1109 www.porkysbarandgrill.com

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF GROW PITTSBURGH

and culturally relevant food. We know that urban farms and gardens are one of the ways in which we can support this effort.” In terms of reach, the group has helped start 37 community gardens in Allegheny County (with a population of about 1.2 million people) and supported another 65 by making mini-grants of tools, seedlings, and equipment. Grow Pittsburgh has started 40 school gardens as well, including 30 in the Pittsburgh public school system. It estimates 15,000 backyard gardeners are active in the area through clubs and seedling sales. A community garden differs from an educational garden program in that it is adult- and neighbor-driven. “We help with community participation work and get buy-in before they start,” explains Ryan Walsh, Grow Pittsburgh development and communications director. “These vary widely in terms of space, number of beds, and why they grow.” For example, the goal might be to stock a food pantry or to feed a family.” School gardens, on the other hand, are intended for learning about growing food and finding ways to integrate eating healthy and gardening into a school’s curriculum. Another reason all this matters is the group’s mission to assist designated “food deserts” throughout the US by partnering with other organizations in the region and nationally. Much of the programming happens in places where there’s no access to fresh food within a walkable distance (defined as about a mile). In another program, called the Youth Market, Grow Pittsburgh hires 20 high school students for

the summer so that they have a paid job while learning how to grow food, cook it, and sell it at farm stands that pop up in communities without access to fresh food. The students sell the produce at a low price, even though it’s organically grown, keeping it on par with local grocery store prices. All proceeds go back into the programs. Another great partner for Grow Pittsburgh is Tree Pittsburgh, which grows trees to be planted all over the city. The group offers educational programming and organizes tree giveaways. It’s working to reforest the city’s urban canopy of shade trees, ensuring open spaces and curb strips are full of diverse and healthy trees. Chasing the Next Dream After two decades as an urban agricultural resource and private business, Garden Dreams is be-

ginning a new chapter. Garden Dreams owner Mindy Schwartz, who also co-founded Grow Pittsburgh, donated her garden center property to the Allegheny Land Trust, preserving it as part of the new Three Rivers Agricultural Land Initiative, a joint venture with Grow Pittsburgh to support the major functions of acquiring and supporting land and projects for long-term agricultural use. Garden Dreams grows seedlings for backyard and community M ARCH 2020

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gardeners, making for a perfect alignment with Grow Pittsburgh and its seed growing project. A new agreement between Grow Pittsburgh and Garden Dreams will give Grow Pittsburgh one more place for its production, tripling or quadrupling its seedling growth. Grow Pittsburgh will expand its operations to the site immediately and will retain the Garden Dreams name for the location. This longtime urban farm and plant nursery joins Grow Pittsburgh’s other urban agriculture production sites at Braddock Farms in Braddock and Shiloh Farm in Point Breeze North, as well as its partnership with The Frick Pittsburgh. Grow Pittsburgh plans to build upon the Garden Dreams legacy and increase capacity for urban farmers and gardeners by creating an agriculture hub and social enterprise in Wilkinsburg that will be home to a retail seedling business, youth job training program, a new greenhouse space, and an urban farmer workshare program. A robust educational workshop series will support the network

“Growing food helps us connect to the world around us. It connects us to our food, to the soil and our environment, to our community, to our history, and to ourselves. Food is one thing that brings us all together.” —Jake Seltman, executive director of Grow Pittsburgh

of gardeners and urban farmers throughout Allegheny County. Grow Pittsburgh will provide seedlings for sale to gardeners at the Garden Dreams site this spring while implementing plans to demolish two abandoned buildings on the property and build three new greenhouses that will host a workshare program with urban farmers in the region and bolster organic seedling production. “We are thrilled to continue the long tradition of farming and growing,” says Seltman. “Garden Dreams has been a great resource and pillar in the urban agriculture community, and we are honored to be charged with continuing to grow the legacy that Mindy has created.” Early funding partners in support of the project include Neighborhood Allies, the Segal Family Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Grow Pittsburgh will host an open house, seedling sales, and other public events throughout the spring to ensure that Garden Dreams customers, neighbors, and local gardeners can help guide future programming on the site. M ARCH 2020

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Paper-engineering obsessives create the first pop-up book to explore the world of cannabis.

In a New TEXT LELAND RUCKER

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GET YOUR OWN

Dimensional Cannabis: The Pop-Up Book of Marijuana Poposition Press, $50 marijuanapopup.com

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF POPOSITION PRESS

ollaboration is a wonderful thing. When my friend Rosston Meyer told me a few years ago that he was planning a pop-up cannabis book, I thought it sounded like a great idea. I knew Meyer ran an independent publishing house designing popup books in collaboration with artists. Meyer is a designer with a passion for art and pop culture, so I imagined his books were a modern upgrade of the old-school pop-up books I played with as a child—3-D elements and foldouts, tabs to pull and wheels to spin— but with a modern aesthetic that appeals to adults. “A pop-up on pot would be cool to flip through and play with,” I remember thinking. “I hope he does it.” A few years later, Meyer came around to show me a physical mock-up of his pot-themed popup, which he’d titled Dimensional Cannabis. What he showed me was a modern art form I wasn’t aware existed. Yes, the book featured 3-D elements and foldouts, with tabs to pull and wheels to spin, but what I had pictured was similar only in concept. These were intricate and elaborate kinetic paper sculptures that painted a picture and brought it to life. I was blown away. So, when he asked if I’d be interested in writing the words to go on the pages before me, I signed on immediately. Altogether, Dimensional Cannabis took more than three years to complete, with a total of nine people contributing to the final product published by Poposition Press, Meyer’s independent publishing house. A small press, Poposition designs, publishes,

and distributes limited-edition pop-up books that feature artists or subjects that Meyer finds of deep personal interest. He got started in the genre in 2013, when he started working on a collaboration with Jim Mahfood, a comic book creator known as Food One. The resulting Pop-Up Funk features Mahfood’s diverse designs transformed into interactive three-dimensional pop-ups. The limited-edition run of 100 copies were all constructed by hand. Since then, Poposition has worked with a number of contemporary artists to publish titles like Triad by cute-culture artist Junko Mizuno and Necronomicon by macabre master Skinner. Meyer has been fascinated by pop-up books since he was a kid, and in 2013, he began concentrating on paper engineering and book production. “After making a couple books focused on just artists, I thought that creating a popup book about cannabis would be a good idea,” he says. “There’s nothing else like it in the market, and there’s an audience for adultthemed pop-up books.” For Dimensional Cannabis, Meyer collaborated with Mike Giant, a renowned American illustrator, graffiti writer, tattooer, and artist. Giant’s medium of choice is a Sharpie, and Giant’s detailed line work is instantly recognizable. An avid proponent of cannabis, Giant illustrated the entire Dimensional Cannabis book. Giant and Meyer met at a weekly open studio Giant hosted in Boulder. “When the idea of doing a pop-up book about cannabis came up, he asked if I would illustrate it,” Giant says. “I’ve been an

advocate for cannabis use for decades, so it didn’t take long for me to agree to work on the project.” Meyer began by sending Giant reference materials to visualize. “I’d get it drawn out, hand it off, and get some more stuff to illustrate,” Giant says. “He’d send me previews of the finished pages as we went. It was really cool to see my line drawings colored and cut to shape. That process went on for months and months until everything for the book was accounted for.” The process of making pop-up books is called “paper engineering.” I love obsessives, and the engineers who put this book together, make no mistake, are the ones who spend endless hours figuring out the tiniest details of the folds and materials necessary so that water pipe emerges every time you open the paraphernalia page. “David Carter and I started talking about the idea a couple years prior to actually starting on the book,” Meyer says. “The initial concepts for each spread were figured out, and a different paper-engineer peer was asked to design each spread so that the book had variation throughout.” Dimensional Cannabis is divided into six pages, or spreads, covering the cannabis plant’s biology, medical properties, cultivation, history, and influence on popular culture. The paraphernalia page features many items we associate with cannabis consumption over the years in America, from rolling papers and pipes to vaporizers, dabs, and concentrates—and that foot-long bong that miraculously appears as you turn the page. One spread opens to the full plant, with information on its M ARCH 2020

LEFT: Dimensional Cannabis includes six pop-up pages, including this colorful, meditating figure that dominates the medical spread. It was designed by Isabel Uria.

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Left: The paraphernalia spread shows the many ways people consume cannabis, and includes many items, including a clear, acetate bong, rolling papers, and a vaporizer. It was produced by Ray Marshall, who, Meyer says, “basically knocked it out of the park on his first version.” Below: Well-known illustrator Mike Giant provided the cover, with Kevin Steele providing the coloring for the bookʼs six pop-up spreads

unique and fascinating properties. Another opens to a colorful, meditating figure with text about the healing properties of cannabis. One page is dedicated to its cultivation possibilities, basic genetics, and the differences between indoor and outdoor growing. The history spread takes us back to the beginnings of the curious and long-standing connection between humans and cannabis. Engineer Simon Arizpe had worked with Meyer before and jumped at the chance to work on that one. “I wanted it to be Eurasian-centric as the viewer opens the page, showing the early uses

of cannabis in ancient Vietnam and China,” Arizpe says. “As the viewer engages with the pop-up, cannabis’s use in the new world spreads across the page,” he adds. “We decided [to focus] on moments in time that were either politically relevant, like weed legalization, or culturally significant, like Reefer Madness.” Arizpe feels like the entire project is an example of what can be done working with talented people outside the traditional publishing engine. “Rosston came up with an idea that has a big following and made it happen,” he says. “It is pretty exciting when people can do that out of nothing.” M ARCH 2020

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For Meyer, who says he likes a good sativa when he’s working, the project was a labor of love that spans all his areas of interest. “Not only was this a great experience putting together such a unique book, but having different paper

engineers work on each spread made this a real collaboration,” he says. “There have only been a couple pop-up books produced with a roster of engineers. Dimensional Cannabis is for cannabis lovers and pop-up book collectors alike.”

POP-UPGRADE If the book alone isnʼt enough to decorate your coffee table, Poposition Press offers two more ordering tiers, complete with extra merch to maximize your enjoyment. The Collectorʼs Edition ($240) includes an enhanced pop-up book with gold-foil case wrap, a foil-stamped slipcase, The Good Stuff enamel pin, and a Hemp art print on hemp paper. The Connoisseur Edition ($420) comes with a wooden laser-etched slipcover, two sets of enamel pins, a Dope art print, and a Gramps art print, both on hemp paper.

Meyer originally conceived a scene showing people looking at the book, which morphed into a celebration of the universality of the plant in many cultures and people throughout history.

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Confessions of a Wabi-Fraudie, or Pay No Attention to WhatÊ¼s Under the Stairs. TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

I had so much shit. I got rid of most of it.

Wabi-sabi me?

hen I started writing about wabi-sabi, right around 9/11, the Japanese philosophy of finding beauty in imperfection had a serious underground following. But most people still thought wabi-sabi was that spicy green stuff you eat with sushi. Marie Kondo was, like, 10. Wabi-sabi was a great umbrella for a lot of conversations I was enmeshed in as the editor of a green lifestyle magazine: simplicity, the Slow movement (starting with Slow Food and evolving into Slow Everything), reduction, recycling, reuse. It was still pretty early for a lot of those conversations in 2001, though, and it was early for wabi-sabi in America too.

In those first few months after the planes hit the towers, my agent and I and a handful of people in publishing were pretty certain Americans would retreat and nest, plant Victory gardens, and live more thriftily, as they always had during times of war. I got a fat advance to write The Wabi-Sabi House just as Americans—at the directive of President George W. Bush, who told them it was the patriotic thing to do—embraced easy credit and went shopping. My book wasn’t the runaway bestseller we thought it would be. Wabi-sabi—if you’re being real about it—is a tough sell for Americans. An ancient philosophy with roots in Zen, it’s about revering austerity,

nature, and the everyday and accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. A reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials in 15th-century Japan, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, and revering authenticity above all. “It’s everything our sleek, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t,” I wrote in The Wabi-Sabi House. “It’s flea markets, not warehouse stores (today I would say Amazon); aged wood, not Pergo (today I would say vinyl planks); rice paper, not glass. Wabi-sabi celebrates cracks and crevices and rot, reminding us

that we are all transient beings—that our bodies, as well as the material world around us, are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came.” Well, this didn’t land all that well in the forever-rich, forever-young early aughts, which launched the Kardashians and eventually crashed into the Great Recession. A simple, unpretentious oasis in a weary world. In 2011, while Americans were still smarting from the financial meltdown four years earlier, I wrote a follow-up book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House, for a small, progressive Canadian publisher. I didn’t get a fat advance. But it seemed like the time might finally M ARCH 2020

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be right for wabi-sabi, and I wanted to see it have its day. If everyone embraced it, we would have a completely different world. Wabi-sabi was born from the Japanese Tea Ceremony, a simple Zen ritual for making and sharing a cup of tea that warlords in 15th-century Japan turned into a means of showing off their immense wealth through gaudy Tea houses full of gilded imported goods. The wabi way of Tea (wabichado) grew out of a backlash to that, championed by a master so powerful his style is practiced to this day. Sen no Rikyu’s quiet, simple Tea ceremony, with tea served in locally fired bowls and flowers in fishermen’s baskets, was what everyone wanted. Wood, bamboo, and hospitality were in; porcelain, lacquer, and pretension were out. Japan had just gone through several centuries of war and extravagant consumerism, and Rikyu’s Tea ceremony provided the simple, unpretentious oasis that society craved. For wealthy merchants and shoguns, it felt like the ultimate luxury, the epitome of high art. For peasants and commoners, it made the art of Tea accessible. Preparing and serving the bitter green tea

Being a wabibito means living modestly, satisfied with things as they are, owning only what’s necessary for its beauty or utility.

became a means for everyday samurai, who had few material comforts, to escape for a moment and share a ritual. Ichigo, ichie, or “once in a lifetime,” is perhaps the most important tenet when learning the art of Tea. We never know what might happen tomorrow, or even later today, but right now we can stop for a cup of tea. Wabi, the name for Rikyu’s style of Tea, was often used by poets to evoke melancholy. One of my favorite descriptions of it is “the feeling you have when you’re waiting for your lover.” It evokes a little monk in his torn robe, enjoying a night by the fire, content in poverty. No one’s quite sure how or when the word sabi got hooked up with wabi, but conjoined it takes on an entourage effect. Meaning “the bloom of time,” sabi connotes tarnish and rust; the enchantment of old things; appreciation for dignified, graceful aging. Wabi-sabi, then, is a philosophy that reveres age, imperfection, and natural order. We don’t practice Tea in this culture, though, and it can be hard to see how it translates for 21st-century Westerners who drink lots of coffee. Like all good philosophies, wabi-sabi gives us

a launching point toward thinking about what matters. To practice it, or to become what is called a wabibito, means living modestly, satisfied with things as they are, owning only what’s necessary for its utility or beauty (ideally, both). But what’s under those stairs? Both of my books have entire chapters on the importance of uncluttering and how to do it. I’m something of an expert. Unfortunately, they both have chapters on decorating with salvage and flea market finds and how to find them, so I’m something of an expert on that as well. These areas of expertise don’t play nice together, as you can imagine. I wrote Simply Imperfect post-divorce, after I’d moved into a townhouse and left most everything behind. Looking back, I’m hilarious. “Living in a small space keeps me from acquiring things,” I wrote. “Except for storage, my little house has just enough of everything.” I was so smug and such a wabi-fraudie, hiding everything under the stairs in the basement. My townhome had a terrible little crawl space, far too deep and narrow, that encouraged layers upon layers of crap to

5 COMMONSENSE STEPS TO DECLUTTERING YOUR HOME 1. Donʼt try to do your entire house at once. Move to larger areas once youʼve had smaller success. 2. Spend a few minutes per day cleaning so it doesnʼt get overwhelming. 3. If in doubt, throw it out (or give it to a charitable organization like Goodwill). 4. Get rid of two items every time you buy a new one. 5. If you canʼt get rid of it, hide it well. Storage should make up 10 percent of your homeʼs square footage. Based on an excerpt from Simply Imperfect

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build up. When the space became impenetrable, I would stand in the doorway and throw stuff in. The woman I bought the house from warned me about it during the closing. She’d thought she could show the house furnished until she looked in there. When it came time for me to sell the place 10 years later, I felt her pain. “Where the hell has all this stuff been?” everybody asked as I unearthed bins and boxes of my memorabilia, my kids’ art projects, photo albums, toys, sports equipment, appliances, file cabinets, record albums, CDs, books, dishes, phones (four of them!),

textiles, dog beds, jars, tools, old paint, door, light fixtures, screws, nails (so many screws and nails), and assorted other crap I had tucked in there and forgotten about over a decade. “In hell,” I would say. Clutter smudges clarity. I spent a solid three months clearing out that townhouse, mostly under the stairs. I dumped a camper truck and several carloads of stuff at Goodwill and left weekly loads for the Vietnam Veterans Association. I had a garage sale and got depressed watching no one want my coffee table books and pink midcentury nesting ashtrays,

even for a dollar. I got tired of being rejected by my son when I texted, “Sure you don’t want those red dishes from your childhood?” Some people did want my junk. It felt good to give away an Eastlake chair I tripped over in my bedroom for nine years to a furniture refinisher who understood its value and could give it the love and attention it deserved. I sold my daughter’s bed to a woman who had gotten rid of everything to hit the road in her van 10 years earlier and was starting over again. I gave her all the bedding too. When it was all over, I felt like I’d had an ayahuasca-strength purging.

“Clutter smudges clarity, both physically and metaphorically,” I wrote in Simply Imperfect. “Things you’re holding onto because they were expensive, because they were from your mother-inlaw, or because you might need them someday are all getting in your way. In a wabi-sabi home, space and light are the most desirable ornaments.” I bought an Airstream with brilliant space and light, limited but efficient storage, no room for furniture, and no basement. After all these years and all these words, I might finally be a wabibito. If not, I can always find a bed on Craigslist.

Live Wabi-Sabi without buying anything. Everyone from NBC News to Rachael Ray is talking about wabi-sabi. It doesnʼt seem like most media get the philosophy at its core, though, since they use it as a basis for featuring new products that consumers should buy to get the wabi-sabi “look.” Here are a few tips on getting to wabi-sabi without buying a bunch of shit. • Pay attention to your daily bread. Is the food youʼre eating in season, and is it available locally? The meals you choose and prepare connect you with the earthʼs cycles and where you live, and youʼll live a healthier life. Buy food from your local farmersʼ markets and ask your grocer where different items came from. • Bring a small gift when invited to someoneʼs house or even to a meeting—nothing extravagant, just a small gesture (homemade jam, apples from your tree, or a luxurious bar of soap) that lets them know theyʼre appreciated.

• Next time you sweep the floor, consider it a meditation. Opt for the broom when possible. • Offer every visitor a cup of tea. Serve it with something sweet. If no one comes by, enjoy a cup of tea by yourself in the late afternoon. • Keep one vase filled with seasonal flowers, ideally picked within a mile of your home. • Take a walk every day. • Learn to knit or crochet. Partially excerpted from Simply Imperfect

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Ira Glass headlines Pittsburgh Humanities Festival at Carnegie Mellon University. TEXT LUCIE HANES

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PHOTO BY RAH PETHERBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Oh, the Humanities

PHOTO (ABOVE) SHAWN THEODORE (BOTTOM) SANDY HONIG

The annual Humanities Festival returns to Pittsburgh this spring for its fifth year running. The festival features an impressive lineup of experts and professionals from all across the artistic spectrum. Theater, history, music, visual art, literature, sociology, politics, and entrepreneurship all come together through a variety of avenues to help connect the community. Leaders in all of these intellectual and creative spheres will occupy the Cultural District from March 20 to 22 for three full days of interviews, roundtable discussions, performances, readings, and exhibitions. Community members also have the chance to present alongside these pundits, thanks to the Public Open Call opportunity, which invites anyone with their own knowledge or work to audition

for a spot in the Festival’s lineup. The Festival includes events each of the three evenings along with Core Conversations presentations during the days. Kicking off the featured evening events, Sh!t-faced Shakespeare takes the stage at Byham Theater on March 20 to

perform its unconventional interpretation of Macbeth. Combine copious amounts of alcohol with dignified Shakespearean actors in front of a live audience, and no censors, and you get a version of “the Scottish Play” that would make even the playwright himself roll—or laugh along—in his grave. Join the cast in its rowdy imbibement throughout the show for a lighter take on tragedy. Ira Glass from This American Life shares “Seven Things I’ve Learned” on the same stage the following night. He will discuss his experience developing and sustaining his iconic broadcast show

and share more of the anecdotes that keep his nearly 5 million listeners coming back week after week. The broadcast, which boasts six Peabody awards, has led Glass throughout communities and environments all over the spectrum and left him with more lessons from the road than some might ever garner—but he’s eager to spread the love through storytelling from a bright, wide perspective. Sunday night takes us to the Greer Cabaret Theater to hear from Blair Imani, who tackles issues of civil rights, equality, safety, and culture through the lens of the Great Migration. M ARCH 2020

Above: Blair Imani takes on civil rights and equality.

LEFT: The festivalʼs lineup includes NPRʼs Ira Glass.

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

THE SCENE

MORE INFO

Pittsburgh Humanities Festival March 20–22 trustarts.org/events/festivals/humanities

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST

Staycee Pearl: Dance Maker

Imani titles her talk Making Our Way Home and focuses on how the flow of Black culture out of the South and throughout the rest of the United States has created the complex, diverse society that we know today—for better or for worse. Her two publications, alongside her nonprofit organization Equality for HER and countless public speaking appearances, have taken Imani to the forefront of the ongoing fight for equal rights, both within the Black community and beyond it in support of LGBTQ

rights and female empowerment. Above all, she represents the intersectionality of minority identities as proof that there are no limits on individuals or communities when it comes to all the puzzle pieces of our character. Throughout the daylight hours, Core Conversations sessions meet at the Trust Arts Education Center for discussions on topics ranging from musical influence to political predictions, beer brewing, film awards, racial relations, the criminal justice system, nutrition, and more.

Core Conversations are an opportunity for attendees to absorb the topics and presenters in a more close-knit setting, engaging in what the Humanities Festival calls, “smart talk about stuff that matters.” The selections align with current issues of controversy and significance within and far beyond the local Pittsburgh community, and include something for anyone interested in diving deep through cultural layers. One of these presentations will be led by whoever wins the Public Open Call audition.

The Humanities Festival is the brainchild of Carnegie Mellon and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, whose relationship helps create this intersection between lofty intellectual thought and everyday street smarts. The University brings in strong research and solid ideas, while the Cultural Trust helps install those elements within the community. Because the festival focuses so heavily on public involvement, you can be sure to leave this event feeling rejuvenated and interested, not just talked at. M ARCH 2020

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THE SCENE CA L E N DA R

William H. Johnson, Sowing, ca. 1940, oil on burlap. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the Harmon Foundation.

It’s time to come out of hibernation, and we’ve got a host of events to check out, including a Farm to Table expo, a Blues festival, St. Patty’s Day fun, and Bugs Bunny at the symphony. TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

Following is our exclusive listing of where we’ll be this month. There’s nothing like connecting to our people, our readers, and our supporters at real life events, and we’ve scoured the streets and the calendars to bring you an exclusive look at all the haps that will matter to you, and to us, this month. 44 P I T TS BU RG H

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Mar. 1 Fifth Avenue, Downtown raceplace.com

The Rex Theater, South Side rextheater.net

African American Steve Aoki March 8 Art in the 20th Stage AE, North Shore Century Mar. 1–May 10 Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg thewestmoreland.org

promowestlive.com

14th Annual Farm to Table Local Expo

March 9 275 Georgetown Ln., Beaver Tickets on Eventbrite

March 6–15 David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown farmtotablepa.com

Learn from seasoned hemp farmers about the realities of hemp farming, from planting and growing

AgraPharm Hemp Symposium

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WESTMORELAND MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

On the Calendar

Sportsburgh 10k Dopapod March 7 Tour

THE SCENE CA L E N DA R

LEFT: AFRICAN AMERICAN ART IN THE 20TH CENTURY BELOW: SCOTT BRADLEEʼS POSTMODERN JUKEBOX

to harvesting and processing. Beginners and current licensees alike will learn about new avenues to save the ailing farm. Lunch is provided.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

March 13, The Priory Hotel, North Side Event info on Facebook

Ace Hotel, East Liberty Event Info on Facebook

March 14 Downtown Pittsburgh Event info on Facebook

Eric Gales March 15 Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall, Lawrenceville thunderbirdmusichall.com

Pittsburgh Arts & Crafts Spring Fever Festival March 20-22 Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville Event info on Facebook

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Electronic Music Psychedelic Club Record Fair Support Group Bugs Bunny at Meeting the Symphony Donnybrook 2020 March 14

Speakeasy After Dark March 13 Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Oakland carnegiemnh.org

Steel City Blues Festival March 13-15 Rangos Auditorium, Carnegie Mellon University Campus steelcityblues.com

March 18 & 25 Pennsylvania MMJ Education Center, Strip District Event info on Facebook

Bastard Bearded Irishmen’s Saint Party’s Day Keller Williams’ March 14 Grateful Grass The Rex Theatre, South Side featuring Love Event info on Facebook Canon Black Forge II Drag Brunch March 15 Black Forge Coffee House, McKees Rocks dragqueenparties.com

March 19 Byham Theatre, Downtown trustarts.org

Bob Weir and Wolf Bros March 20 Roxian Theatre, McKees Rocks roxianlive.com

March 20-22 Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Downtown pittsburghsymphony.org

Allies Ball 2020 March 21 Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, Oakland Tickets on Eventbrite

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox March 23 Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall, Munhall Tickets on Eventbrite

EOTO March 25 Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall, Lawrenceville thunderbirdmusichall.com

ANTIfest 2020 March 28 Roxian Theatre, McKees Rocks Tickets on Eventbrite

Going Deep Summit 3.0 March 28 Union Trust Building, Downtown Tickets on Eventbrite

30th Annual Pittsburgh Bridal Showcase March 29 David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown pghbridalshowcase.com

AIGA Design Conference 2020 March 30-April 1 David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown my.aiga.org

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Liquid Gold

than a cold one while watching the Penguins vanquish all and hoist the Stanley Cup. Nowadays the brewery is still going strong and delivering fresh and flavorful beers across the region. Its IC Light is the perfect way to relax after a hard day, and the IC Light Mango beer is a fruity concoction to sip on a hot summer day. And as the beer that has celebratay back in the 1899, it merged with a host of other ed numerous generations of Pittsmid-1800s, an breweries to form the iconic Pittsburgh burghers, the original Iron City lager enterprising young Brewing Company. As time passed, remains one of the best brews around. German immigrant the brewery thrived and survived the named Anton Benitz started mixing numerous upheavals that accompanied water, hops, and grains together in the 20th century. downtown Pittsburgh. Little did he During Prohibition, it adapted to keep know that he was in the process of Pittsburgh natives satisfied, brewing creating one of the legends that has near beer, soft drinks, and even making helped define the Steel City: the Pitts- ice cream. In the celebratory times after burgh Brewing Company. the 18th Amendment was repealed, Back in 1861, it was called Iron locals embraced their lagers, and City Brewing, and from the moment it Pittsburgh Brewing led the way, with started pouring its liquid goodness, the its Iron City beer, the breweryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship beer was embraced by the hardworktraditional American lager brewed in ing residents of the city and surround- classic Pittsburgh style. ing region. In fact, it was so popular Pints of Iron City lager were hoisted that the brewery quickly outgrew its when the Pirates won their five World original location. By the end of the Series crowns. As the Steel Curtain Pittsburgh Brewing Company 19th century, Iron City was one of reigned in the NFL, coolers were filled Longtime Local Brewery the largest brewers in the country. In with the beer. And nothing was better pittsburghbrewing.com

Pittsburgh Brewing Company has a long history and a devoted following for its iconic Iron City brew.

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E S H A DY G R OV E

Shady Grove This popular Pittsburgh bar and eatery offers a venue for serious snacking.

et’s be honest here. Is there anything better than kicking back with a cold brew while munching on some damn tasty food? We don’t think so and are damn sure that most locals we know would agree. Well, that’s just what Pittsburgh’s own Shady Grove has been offering to the hungry masses for the last 15 years. Located in the heart of Shadyside, this local’s mainstay has 24 beers on tap, a full bar, eight televisions, live music, DJs, and two levels of fun with a patio and deck to relax on when the weather is cooperating here in the Steel City. But what really sets it apart is the food and the staff. “We source the highest quality ingredients to offer our customers upscale

bar food presented by an extremely friendly and inviting staff in a casual and fun atmosphere,” says co-owner, Matt Turbiner. “My partners and I all grew up here, so we feel our friends and neighbors deserve the best.” Start off the meal with an appetizer from the menu’s massive selection, including Tuna Poke Bowl, Platanos Fritos, and Jamaican Jerk Fish Tacos. Shady Grove’s lineup also features vegetarian wings that could convert diehard carnivores. The menu also offers more than a dozen salads, and the chefs can even accommodate certain diet restrictions with gluten-free options. Its varied menu offers something for everyone, with sandwiches, wraps, burgers, homemade soup, and some of the best pizzas in town. The Korean

Fried Chicken sandwich with a sunny side up egg is perfection, while the gourmet grass-fed and finished sliders are scrumptious. It also offers brunch from 11 to 4 on Saturdays and Sundays, half-price burgers on Monday nights, and daily drink specials. So, do yourself a favor and get over to Shady Grove. You won’t be sorry.

Shady Grove Creative American Comfort Food eatshady.com M ARCH 2020

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JOIN THE FUN

Roses & Thorns Fashion Event Pittsburgh Opera / Tickets, $45 pittsburghopera.org/fashion

High Notes

Every spring, Pittsburgh Opera mashes up fashion and music. Join the pageant with Carmen this month.

Ready yourself, toreador. Bizet’s classic Carmen will premiere at Pittsburgh Opera on March 28. And while the soaring story of the sultry Spanish cigarette factory worker, which will be directed by Garnett Bruce and conducted by Timothy Myers, is sure to leave audiences thrilled, the best way to kick off the season is the opera’s annual fashion show, which melds music and style. The March 9 event, “Roses and Thorns,” brings Carmen to the runway via a partnership with designer Lela Rose and Choices Pittsburgh as well as hair and makeup by Studio Booth. There will be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before and after the event and music throughout. Tickets ($45 for general admission, which includes a free glass of wine) are available online or in person the night of the event. 50 P I T TS BU RG H

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PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH OPERA

TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN