ASL, pg. 4 Culley said the University's accommodations are crucial to inviting an effective learning environment for everyone. "Providing this type of accommodation is part of the University's commitment to creating an accessible environment where everyone can be successful and feel welcome and included," Culley said. "It's also required by [the] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits individuals with a disability from being excluded from participation or denied services because of their disability." Students learning ASL, like Amara Novotny, the vice president of Pitt's ASL club, especially benefit from interacting with and learning from the deaf community. Novotny said they had a great experience when the club visited the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in New York. "During the trip, we went on a tour of campus and learned a lot about the school," Novotny, a senior rehabilitation sciences and studio arts major, said.
"Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and having the opportunity to be immersed in the deaf community and culture." Isabel Gessner, the outreach coordinator for Pitt's ASL club, said she found more open opportunities in communicating with the ASL community which allowed her to create memorable experiences, like being able to interact with a larger group of people. "ASL means that I am able to talk with a whole group of people that I wouldn't be able to communicate with otherwise," Gessner, a sophomore communication sciences and disorders major, said. "Learning ASL means that I become aware of and possibly immersed in an entirely different culture that people who don't learn ASL are not aware of." When Pitt students interact with students who have interpreters, Gessner said it’s important to respect the student by approaching them and not their interpreter. "When you are communicating with someone who requires an ASL interpreter, make sure to talk to the person, not the interpreter,” Gessner said. “You are having a conversation with the person who is deaf, not talking about the person
with the interpreter." Even though ASL is becoming an increasingly popular language to study, there are misconceptions about the language, according to Rijul Amin, the president of Pitt's ASL club. Instead of a universal sign language, Amin said there are many different variations, similar to spoken languages. "There are many misconceptions surrounding sign languages. One of the biggest is that sign language is universal," Amin, a senior biology major, said. "However, different countries use different sign languages, and deaf signers from the U.S., England and Australia wouldn't be able to understand each other." Gessner said more people should learn ASL not only because it’s a less commonly taught language, but it also opens more opportunities to emerge into a new culture and make meaningful connections. "More people should learn ASL because it is the gateway to a beautiful community as well as a whole new range of people," Gessner said, "It opens up a whole new culture that is within the hearing community. You simply just have to look to find it."
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Snyder, pg. 6 days, so I prefer the spring semester for this reason. Regardless, the seasons experienced within the fall and spring semesters provide a different feeling from one semester to the next. With that being said, vacation times are a large factor when I consider which semester is better. Considering mental health days, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break, both semesters are about even when it comes to time off. However, the spring semester puts an emphasis on relaxation — often beckoning students to the beach with their friends. Pitt’s football season was pretty spectacular this year, which might make the spring semester seem dull in comparison at Pitt at least. I’m not really a sports person, but it is nice to have bragging rights when your team is doing well. As of right now, Pitt’s fall semester overshadows its spring semester athletically. Other schools that regularly participate in March Madness might put more emphasis on the spring semester accordingly. There are other ways, such as class registration, in which the fall semester can be more forgiving than the spring semester. Fall semester classes are generally more plentiful with more available prerequisites, making spring semester classes seem harder in comparison. Time and weather also come into play here once again, as some classes are just more optimal to teach in the fall semester if they include outdoor field work. There is also an oddity during scheduling at Pitt that generally doesn’t favor the spring semester. In a five-year academic cycle at Pitt, before the pandemic, 60% of spring semesters will start on a Wednesday, while only 40% will start on a Monday. While this
might not matter outwardly to most, starting the spring semester in the middle of a work week may put a wrench in the plans of students who live outside of Pennsylvania in terms of planning transportation. But overall, for me, the spring semester is the most favorable semester, although there is merit in believing the fall semester is better. With the spring semester starting, we can be confident that some students are starting off the term on a good note with the schedule of their preferred semester ahead. Jessica Snyder primarily writes about controversy in art and politics. Write to her at jes341@pitt.edu.
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Liez, pg. 10 Every person exists within their own individual universe of which they are at the center. We each see the world from a personalized point of view, watching society shift and people change around us, not around anyone else. Until we bring in the perspective of another, every choice we make is inherently selfish, as it is being made only with our limited vision. When we form relationships with other people, this perspective changes and we adopt the perspective of others. Empathy, the capacity to understand another person’s emotions, builds connections. Empathetic bonds are the key to understanding what another person experiences, and these bonds are created when we engage in a true friendship. Friendship means expanding your point of view to include that of another person. It widens your perspective, allowing you to see the world through a pair of eyes other than your own. Once you achieve this delicate connection, your actions are impacted by a perspective outside of your own, allowing you to make choices that reflect shared viewpoints, compassion and wisdom. You can spend as much free time as you have with another person and call them your friend. You can attend parties together, go on walks together, eat lunch together and call them your friend. But until you build that line of empathy, the relationship is skindeep. Knowing a lot about someone, having many shared memories in your mental catalogue or doing favors for each other means nothing unless you understand their emotions, their wants and needs, what makes them who they are and how you can help each other. Friendship is void without the capacity for empathy. Moreover, you can tell an honest friendship from a false one by the decisions you make in relation to each other. If your choices reflect mutual understanding, compassion and even putting their needs before your own, you have forged an empathetic connection. You can trust, value and love each other because you know that when things are tough, you will be there for each other. Thus, you can tell a false friendship from an honest one by similar decisions you make. If your choices reflect an isolated viewpoint, indifference and consistently ignoring the other person’s needs, you do not have an
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empathetic connection. You can have fun together, but you will never be true friends without that connection, because you will never take into account that person’s needs when the two of you are no longer having fun. You will never put their needs before your own when it matters most. With that being said, friendship is a twoway street. Empathy must be built on both sides, or you will create an unhealthy relationship in which one individual takes into account the other’s perspective while the other individual only considers their own. In thinking more about which friends of ours are real versus vapid, we need to learn
not to settle. As young adults — who must balance work, education, family, social life and more — we don’t have time for shallow relationships. With so little free time and spare energy, neither should be wasted on people who we know are only in it for a good time, not a long time. Since we are no longer limited to our high school or hometown, we have ample options to find the people we truly empathize with — who we want to be there for, and who will be there for us. There is no need to settle for vapid friendships that fill the void. Instead, we should prioritize meeting, and maintaining relationships with, the
people we want to keep close. False friends — like mine from high school — can bring us down. They can leave us in times of need, focus on themselves when it is easy to help others and leave you feeling empty and alone. We simply do not have the time in our busy lives to prioritize the wrong people. Instead, as we enter the spring semester and continue our college experience, we should spend our time and energy finding those who matter, and then exploring those relationships as best we can. Sarah Liez writes primarily about gender issues and social phenomena. Write to her at sjl88@pitt.edu.
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Restaurant, pg. 11 ate special menus that wouldn’t otherwise be featured during the year. These winter menus follow the theme of “new dishes for the new year.” “Restaurant Week isn’t a discount program, it’s simply an opportunity for restaurants to create limited-time menus,” McCollum said. “It's a great opportunity to try new dishes out on the public or feature something that you can't reliably produce year-round.” Some restaurants, such as Garbarino’s, offer a special with multiple courses for a set price. Others highlight a specific meal. According to Courtney Caprara — manager of direct channel marketing at The Porch’s parent company, Eat'n Park Hospitality Group — The Porch will offer only one special. “For our menu, we are once again offering our pasta bolognese for this Restaurant Week coming up,” Caprara said. “This recipe is actually adapted from the recipe that we served for this past summer’s Restaurant Week.” Although the pasta bolognese is the same dish from the summer, Caprara said they tweaked the recipe for a winter variation. “We've changed it up a bit for the winter, where we've swapped the feta for ricotta cheese, which makes it fresher,” Caprara said. “And it’s just the perfect winter comfort food.” Other participating restaurants, such as Carmella’s Plates and Pints, don’t have their official menu chosen yet. But according to Carmella Salem, co-owner of the restaurant, the menu will likely feature vegetarian options to cater to the restaurant’s high volume of vegetarian guests. Even though Salem hasn’t chosen the featured restaurant menu yet, she said the menu always experiments with new dishes to gauge customer opinions. “We always try to lean towards plates that we're looking to put on the menu,” Salem said. “So we'll try it out on Restaurant Week because that gives us a good indication of how guests like it or not.” This year’s winter Restaurant Week will mark the 10-year anniversary of the event. Formerly a food blogger, McCollum founded Pittsburgh Restaurant Week in 2012 with the help of his connections
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in the food industry. “I have a passion for food, Pittsburgh didn't have a Restaurant Week, and I had a background in project management, so I decided that I would take on creating Pittsburgh's first Restaurant Week,” McCollum said. “The restaurants were very pleased, it was very well attended.” After initial success, McCollum said he listened to restaurant requests and expanded the event to take place twice a year. According to McCollum, Restaurant Week brings restaurants business in their slowest times of the year, along with other benefits.
“The restaurants really see an uptick of business because it helps avoid the traditional dips of revenue in the month that they would otherwise struggle with,” McCollum said. “It also exposes them to new diners that may or may not think of them on a regular basis.” McCollum said the toughest months for restaurants are January, July and August. Salem agreed with this sentiment in respect to her own business. “New Year's you slow down a little bit, but then you've got this great pop in the middle of January for a whole week, and same with August,” Salem said. “That's
a lot of travel and vacation time people take, so it boosts a slow time of year and it definitely brings a lot of new clientele in.” According to Caprara, Restaurant Week also gives The Porch an opportunity to highlight its finest meals while welcoming new guests. “It really gives us a chance to showcase the best of our menu alongside so many other great restaurants in Pittsburgh,” Caprara said. “It's really just a great way to put our name out there and welcome in those folks that have or haven't heard of us, and we're always happy to have them.”
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