12-1-2016

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | December 1, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 87

CITY PROPOSES CONVERSION THERAPY BAN Alexa Bakalarski

Assistant News Editor Pittsburgh may soon have something in common with Cincinnati besides demographics: a ban on psychological therapy designed to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of someone younger than 18.

City councilmembers Bruce Kraus, who represents District 3 and serves as City Council president, and Dan Gilman, who represents District 8, introduced legislation Tuesday at a City Council meeting that would ban conversion therapy for minors in the city, making the therapy illegal conduct in the city.

The legislation would ban the practice for minors, who often would not have a choice in being subject to conversion therapy, though it would still be legal for adults.

Medical and LGBTQ+ communities have widely denounced conversion therapy — also called reparative therapy — as extremely harmful. A 2000 statement from the American Psychiatric Association states that the potential risks of conversion therapy are great and include selfdestructive behavior, depression and anxiety.

Gilman said the regulations will be much like any other illegal conduct in the city code.

Someone who saw the illegal conduct would report it to Pittsburgh police or city government, who would then refer for an investigation. If a person had violated the law, they would be cited and a judge would decide the penalty.

Peter Crouch, president of Rainbow Alliance, said conversion therapy makes LGBTQ+ people feel as though they’re wrong as individuals, and that some part of them needs to be righted.

See Conversion Therapy on page 3

Kaleigh Mellett, a nursing student, makes confectionary creations at a cookie decorating competition hosted by the Pitt Dance Marathon. Meghan Sunners SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

OAKLAND NIGHTS: THEN AND NOW Over the decades,the number of bars and niche entertainment spots in Oakland declined, leaving students wanting more options for late-night hang outs.| by Stephen Caruso | Senior Staff Writer After a long week of term papers and 9 a.m. classes, Pitt students in the 1990s had a pitcher full of options when they needed to knock back brews and let loose to Spice Girls or Biggie Smalls.

Pitt ’96 grad Christine Mattiko would spend those reckless college nights at Calico’s, a bar where Fuel and Fuddle is today. Every Thursday, Calico’s offered a deal Mattiko, or any money-

starved college student, couldn’t turn down — nickel drafts. “[You’re] rubbing two quarters together like, ‘I’m going to get wasted,’” Mattiko said.

Since returning with her husband and kids, Mattiko is delighted by a few changes. Schenley Plaza’s transformation from a gray lot filled with cars to a bright green park with studious sun-

bathers in the mid-2000s comes to her mind.

But as Oakland has matured over the past 20 years, it has traded dive bars and longtime rock joints for corporate fast food and student housing, leaving alums longing for their college nights.

Business owners take the change as a blank See Nightlife on page 2

News Nightlife, pg. 1

check for higher quality and more specialized drinks and food — with higher prices — while many Pitt students might be happier with bargains and a variety of choices for fun nights out.

A parent herself, and a proud alum, Mattiko is content to let go of her memories though, if it means a thriving, more vibrant Oakland for her children.

“You have these memories of things that may have happen, but it’s good to see the universities keeping up with the time so kids still want to go there,” Mattiko said.

Then According to Scott Kramer, in the 1990s, Pitt students had a lot of ways to amuse themselves on Forbes Avenue. “[Oakland] used to be an entertainment district,” Kramer said, mentioning bowling alleys, cinemas, live theater and enough bars — with names like CJ Barney’s, Laga, Zelda’s Greenhouse and Sanctuary — to comfortably hop from pitcher to pitcher on a cool Pittsburgh night without ever getting chilly.

Kramer, a ’80s Pitt alum, is also a former Oakland business owner. His shop, The Beehive, which he ran with business partner Steve Zumoff, served as a general hangout. Students could grab a coffee, study, hang out or catch a movie — then later concerts — all in the same spot.

The Beehive even added a liquor license halfway through its life span — from 1992 to 2002. Mattiko described the store as “eclectic”.

“You could be standing right next to somebody all decked out in Doc Martens and piercings, and I’d be there ... all preppy,” Mattiko said.

Those Doc Marten-wearing feet could then walk a few blocks down to The Decade, a bar and concert venue, then The Next Decade, a rehashed version of the venue on Atwood Street.

In the ’80s, The Decade, located where Garage Door Saloon is now, hosted the likes of U2 and The Police. In the ’90s, The Decade and its predecessors mostly hosted some blues performers, like Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as small-time acts looking for a start.

Jay Yander, a ’99 Pitt grad, often went to the two venues, which he remembers “focused on ... local bands.”

“I couldn’t even remember what bands I

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John Elavsky, the owner of Hemingway’s Cafe, said he has watched the decline of nightlife in Oakland. John Hamilton SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER would have seen there,” Yander said, but he remembers most tried to be “as close as they could get” to Nirvana.

Now David Patlakh and Sera Passerini sit outside Towers, smoking cigarettes and chatting with their friends, which they say is their usual freetime activity.

Patlakh, a first-year computer science major from Philadelphia, admits his hometown spoiled him when it comes to nightlife. However, he is still disappointed at his options for a night out in Oakland.

“Downtown Pittsburgh is great for shows, but if you’re in Oakland there’s not a lot to do,” Patlakh said, who, if he is out in Oakland, goes to house shows at friends’ homes.

As executive director of the Oakland Business Improvement District, Georgia Petropoulos is used to competing with Downtown.

OBID is a government-chartered area that provides services above and beyond that of the city government by taxing property holders within Oakland. Its goal — provide coordination for

Oakland’s economy.

Over the decades, Oakland pushed through a population dip — as Pitt did — and became overwhelmed by the University’s ever-encroaching boundaries. After a decline following the 1970s, Pitt’s enrollment grew from 26,328 in 1995 to 28,649 in 2016.

Petropoulos takes great pride in Oakland’s rise over the past years to the third largest commercial district in Pennsylvania — behind Philadelphia and downtown Pittsburgh — mostly on the strength of the neighborhood’s daytime economy.

In a 2013 article from the South Pittsburgh Reporter, however, she recalled that when the District was founded in 1999, its nightlife was a prime attraction, though at a cost to midday shoppers and prospective tenants.

“We had clubs. We had bars. We had a really strong nighttime scene, but we didn’t have a strong daytime scene, so that was a challenge,” Petropoulos told the Reporter. “It wasn’t an attractive district. It definitely wasn’t clean, and it wasn’t a place where tenants bent over backward

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to locate to.”

As the neighborhood cleaned up and bars shut down, partying seemingly moved to Central and South Oakland houses. In response to the raucous partying, permanent Oakland residents formed Oakwatch — a coalition of residents, business owners, city officials and landlords — in 2011 to identify and monitor code violations and help residents, students and institutions in Oakland work together.

Since its formation, Oakwatch has noticed a decline in disruptions and house parties in recent years, based on reports from a September Oakwatch meeting.

With house parties seemingly on the decline and a few years too young for Oakland’s bar scene, Claire Drew, an undecided first-year student, bemoaned how little she and her friends can do in Oakland at night.

Drew and her friends then content themselves with raging at house shows in Oakland basements or partying at friend’s homes — habits that have drawn the ire of Pitt police and See Nightlife on page 3

2

Conversion Therapy, pg. 1 “They feel broken and not a part of society,” Crouch said. “[Conversion therapy] tends to build those feelings in people rather than actually healing them.”

Gary Van Horn, president of the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s leading LGBTQ+ non-profit organization, said the Delta Foundation was “obviously in support” of the legislation.

“As we continue to have the conversation about the LGBTQ+ community being treated with dignity and respect, this is another thing that we need to continue to bring awareness and understanding to,” Van Horn said.

Van Horn said the impact of passing the legislation will be two-fold.

“One, obviously preventing such torture from actually happening in the city of Pittsburgh,” Van Horn said. “And bringing awareness and understanding about the LGBTQ+ community and about this horrendous thing that has happened throughout the United States.”

Gilman said conversion therapy has been on his radar since he came into office in 2013.

“It’s something that I find to be incredibly detrimental to the health and welfare of children,” Gilman said. “Unfortunately, it’s been brought back to the forefront with the most recent election and particularly with Vice President-elect Pence’s previous championing of this therapy.”

Vice President-elect Mike Pence has been linked as a supporter of conversion therapy.

A statement on his archived website for a 2000 Congressional campaign regarding the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides federal funding for patients with HIV/AIDS suggests that the

Nightlife, pg. 2 Oakland residents alike.

“We usually stay in Oakland,” Drew said.

However, she said she would spend money out at official nighttime activities “if someone would give me an option” at a “low price.”

Despite the memories of a thriving nightlife, Petropoulos feels Oakland’s nightlife should match this new professional student body, along with the professionals at UPMC and Pitt.

While Pitt and UPMC attract daytime traffic, employees of the institutions might not always stay within Oakland as the sun sets and students come out. Petropoulos mentions spots like The Porch as ways to attract a more formal nightlife crowd.

“One of the things we’re thinking about [at OBID] is ... what would it take to maybe see if we can get more destination, nighttime-type of establishments,” Petropoulos said. She did not

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government should fund institutions that support conversion therapy.

“Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,” the statement reads. It’s listed under “Strengthening the American Family,” after bullet points opposing same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBTQ+ people.

Pence hadn’t addressed speculation regarding support of conversion therapy until this past weekend, when Pence spokesperson Marc Lott told The New York Times it was “patently false” that Pence supported conversion therapy, and that the statement from the archived website was misinterpreted.

But that didn’t stop a legislator in New York’s Erie County, Patrick Burke, from proposing a bill the week after the presidential election for his county banning conversion therapy for minors called Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangerment — or PENCE. The bill’s acronym got national attention.

Five states — Vermont, New Jersey, Illinois, California and Oregon — ban conversion therapy for minors, as well as the Washington, D.C., area and Cincinnati. Seattle and Miami Beach have also banned conversion therapy for minors.

In February 2016, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced regulations to ban conversion therapy for minors.

The legislation will come up for a preliminary vote Dec. 7, and if passed, the legislation will be up for a final vote Dec. 13. If the legislation passes the final vote, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto will have 10 days to sign it into law or veto it.

“It was clearly time for us to at least make a statement that in the city of Pittsburgh, it’s something we won’t accept,” Gilman said. mention any specific plans within the near future.

Viewing his college stomping grounds from his shop in the South Side, Kramer feels wistful. “[Oakland has] became more sterile. It lost some charm, but ... maybe it was time for that,” Kramer said.

Why Current business owners say the key to attracting students is offering higher quality products, even if the price tag goes up, but former business owners like Kramer say the cost of space near Pitt’s campus is still too high for many venues.

“There shouldn’t be any nightlife [in Oakland because] the rents don’t allow for that,” he said, referencing tight profit margins on cinemas and bars. “There’s one or two bars, there’s no movie theatre ... there’s nothing.”

Find the full story online at

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Opinions from the editorial board

Pittsburgh City Council must protect LGBTQ+ children Let’s just get this out of the way: Being gay, queer, trans or any other member of the LGBTQ+ community is not a choice.

There’s no way to “fix” it.

It’s disappointing that, on the precipice of 2017, people are still arguing about this.

Moreover, it’s a tragic reality that some of those people will raise children who identify as members of these communities and tell them that it’s a flaw. These parents may turn to strategies known as conversion therapy, which ultimately scar their children in an attempt to alter their identities.

But on Wednesday, Pittsburgh City Council members Bruce Kraus and Dan Gilman introduced legislation banning the city’s mental health workers from placing minors in such programs. The legislation will come up for a preliminary vote Dec. 7.

If passed, the legislation will be up for a final vote Dec. 13, and Mayor Bill Peduto will have 10 days to sign or veto it. Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ children need this protection, and it’s the city’s moral obligation to offer it.

Support for conversion therapy has come primarily from deeply religious groups, but this ban is not an attack on religion. It’s a necessary step to keep unconsenting minors from emotional, sexual and mental abuse. Five states already ban conversion therapy for minors, as do several cities, including Cincinnati and Seattle — and Pittsburgh should join them in doing so.

Programs that offer conversion therapy have no professional standards or guidelines, making them difficult to characterize broadly, but they generally involve intensive counseling sessions in which therapists coach children into believing their sexuality is rooted in trauma. These therapists argue that such trauma eventually stifles “normal” heteronormative development, leading to

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homosexuality. Chaim Levin, a gay man who in 2012 told the New York Times about his conversion therapy experiences, was reportedly forced to touch his genitals in front of his counselor in order to “reconnect with his masculinity.”

With a vice president-elect who, as governor of Indiana, advocated for diverting government money from HIV research to fund these programs, the danger of conversion therapy is becoming an imminent reality. Mike Pence’s spokesperson denies that Pence actually supported its funding, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from this election season it’s that we can trust almost nothing the incoming administration has said about the past opinions of its leaders.

In an interview with The Pitt News, Gilman highlighted Pence’s past support for the practices as a core reason for proposing the legislation. But even without a pending Donald Trump-Pence administration, this therapy shouldn’t be necessary and is long overdue.

According to research on family acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth conducted at San Francisco State University, compared with LGBTQ+ young people who were not rejected because of their gay or transgender identity, LGBTQ+ young people whose parents were extremely unsupportive were eight times more likely to attempt suicide.

These young people were also six times more likely to report high levels of depression. This is just some of the damage caused by conversion programs, which have no scientific evidence of their efficacy.

Parents who place their children in these programs are putting their own priorities before the well-being of kids unable to speak for themselves.

Pittsburgh should pass this legislation, and quickly.

column

CHOOSE PASSION OVER PRESSURE

Saket Rajprohat introduces First Lady Michelle Obama at her Pitt appearance supporting Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Elaina Zachos VISUAL EDITOR

Saket Rajprohat

Ever since I was a first-year in high school, I’ve dreamt about making it big in life, starting with getting into an Ivy I wake up with a jolt, worried I missed League school. I compiled a list of things my alarm. successful people do: wake up early, study The clock read 5:29 a.m., a minute bebefore breakfast, exercise, join clubs, read. fore my alarm was supposed to ring. TurnI tried to shape my life around these strating off my tentative wake up call, I immeegies, hoping to build a foundation that diately began to panic, “How could I do would propel me toward loftier aspirathis to myself ! Without that extra minute tions. of sleep, I might as well have not slept at But, in high school, things didn’t work all.” out for me too well. One failed class, two I quickly try to salvage whatever few Cs and a multitude of Bs — not to mention seconds of sleep I have left, closing my my own lack of focus — shot that dream. eyes, pretending it would make a differI even had some trouble getting into Pitt, ence in my day while taking the risk of though obviously I eventually made it. waking up late. More days than not, this See Rajprohat on page 5 cycle repeats on an endless loop.

Columnist

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Rajprohat, pg. 4 There are many people just like me, who wish and hope to work hard in school, in the process becoming excessively involved in clubs, attending every semi-interesting event and befriending anyone willing. But more often than not, stretching beyond your limits ultimately demolishes any chance of succeeding in any one arena.

I started my first year at Robert Morris University, a local college in Moon Township, as a biology major on the pre-med track. I later transferred to Pitt for my second semester of college and switched to a neuroscience major. I’m not sure if it was simply the transition to a bigger school or if the academics were truly more rigorous, but my grades dropped substantially, and, over the summer, I realized I had to make a change.

Now a sophomore in college with a new major, I’ve come upon a question that I’ve been avoiding for most of my life: Do I have what it takes? Finding an answer required me to focus less on the structure of my day and consider the personal roots of my struggles.

Coming into college, I knew time management would be key if I was going to be as involved on campus as I had wanted.

Just before sunrise I would begrudgingly get up to hit the gym and go for a run at 5:30 a.m. I thought this would be a good way to keep myself healthy and stay alert in my classes. After eating breakfast, I would head to the library to prepare for my classes. Typically that involved falling asleep at 9 a.m. while reading passages from John Rawls’ “A Theory of Justice” or getting distracted by a video about the presidential election.

My classes were fine. I did my best to come prepared, listened to the lectures and devoted meaningful time to preparing for exams — albeit nodding off occasionally. I felt like I worked hard. My occasional falling asleep and lack of focus coming from the side effect of waking up early and studying to no end. Nevertheless, last semester was a struggle, and I fell short again. I was unsatisfied with my grades in two of my classes and finished with Bs in most of my others.

Even with my checklist for how to be successful and my drive to fulfill my goal, there was still something missing in my

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efforts.

Reading my textbooks about acid-base reactions or how evolution occurred was interesting, but it didn’t spark the fire in me the way other things did. Seeing myself as a doctor always was a dream of mine but wasn’t something I could see myself actually following the path to become. My checklists, early mornings and raw effort weren’t enough.

Cliche as it may sound, I discovered that the missing component was passion, or whatever you want to call personal investment in the path to success rather than just the results.

Stress can cloud how we actually feel about the material we study, but a fundamental mismatch between professional pursuits and personal interests can undermine or even sabotage those good intentions.

Rather than working until I’m exhausted in an attempt to find a space that someone else could just as easily fill, I’ve gotten to work and volunteer in roles that make me feel like an individual with purpose surrounded by others with a common desire to make a difference. This fall, for example, I helped register voters for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. I had to throw away the blueprint I set for myself and follow what made me feel like I belonged and mattered.

I still haven’t figured out all of my problems or exactly what I want to do in my future, but I do know I feel more confident about my new starting blocks. I’m applying to Pitt’s School of Business and minoring in political science — something that drives my passion, rather than stifling it for hours of uninteresting reading.

In short, I’ve released the old pressures I used to put on myself.

It’s important to spend time discovering yourself, finding out what you truly enjoy and what makes you want to learn more. Leaving my major in medicine to pursue business with a work-in-progress focus on public service has been lifechanging for me. No longer do I read the textbook just to pass a test, I do it because I often find myself wanting to go even beyond the material assigned.

The pursuit of knowledge should be our goal.

Getting out of bed in the morning becomes much easier with the knowledge that I have something exciting to look forward to: actual fulfillment.

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Culture

Courtesy of Marissa Perino

GETTING CRAFTY

Maybe you’ve tried your hand at an adult coloring book, or pinned a new favorite craft to your Pinterest board. But on campus and throughout Pittsburgh, there’s plenty of places to get involved in a new project and stay artsy this fall.

Marissa Perino For The Pitt News

In a brightly lit room at the William Pitt Union, the Pitterest crafting club gathers on a Thursday night at round dining tables covered with yarn, ribbon and other supplies.

Abby Sites, an anthropology major and vice president of Pitterest, has seen the club grow in the past year and a half from about 15 to the 100 members registered this semester.

“It’s a relaxing club at the end of the week,” Sites said. “That’s why we have it on Thursday nights, so it’s a wind down after a stressful week … We just want people to have fun.”

With the increasing popularity of crafting groups like Pitterest, Pittsburgh’s artsy streak has continued this fall with new groups and projects leading up to this weekend’s Handmade Arcade, Pittsburgh’s largest independent craft fair, in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Last year’s event housed 160 vendors and 8,500 attendees.

In the past decade, there has been an increase

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in hands-on art shops alongside the city’s many art galleries. Some include new pop-up workshops that feature themed projects for participants, while others — such as Fireborn Pottery Studios and Pittsburgh Glass Center — have been in surrounding neighborhoods for years.

The rise of Pittsburgh’s crafting culture coincides with a national upswing of interest in artsy products and planned events for people to develop and experiment with their crafts. This includes adult coloring books, planned private painting events like Painting with a Twist and the popularity of the social media platform Pinterest, where users often share images of crafts and instructions for how to recreate them.

In keeping with students’ need for a creative outlet, Pitt launched its own Center for Creativity this fall, located in the basement of the University Store.

The center, a product of last year’s Year of the Humanities, is a space for working on projects ranging from coloring, painting and sculpting, to music production and writing on a vintage typewriter — and all the necessary supplies are

provided.

The space, with tables covered in crayons and colorful shelves filled with yarn and glue, looks almost like a daycare, only it’s for young adults.

And maybe that’s the point. In recent years, the line between art and craft has blurred, as people just looking for artistic ways to relax meet serious crafters, who produce works of art designed from craft materials. Pittsburgh itself has joined the two separate genres — “serious art” with arts and crafts — with installations such as the 2013 “Knit the Bridge” display, when crafters covered Andy Warhol Bridge in knit patterns.

“I think that craft is an art,” said Cammie Brady, a local crafter. “Like any kind of art, it’s totally subjective. I know some people are really critical of the crafty side versus fine art. I think whatever makes you feel like you are artistically satisfied.”

Brady works at the nonprofit Center for Creative Reuse, located on North Lexington Street in Point Breeze just off the 71C bus route from Oakland, where visitors can, for a small fee, use

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donated art supplies and home objects to repurpose for craft projects.

Now in her fifth year at the center, Brady said working at the center allows guests to discover old belongings and make them into something new, much like a hands-on flea market.

“You’ll get a box and piece together someone’s whole life,” Brady said.

The Center for Creative Reuse features monthly workshops such as “Creative Conundrum” to promote creative expression and make use of hard-to-use materials, such as bubble wrap, cardboard boxes and VHS tapes.

One of Brady’s coworker’s, Althea Denlinger, just completed her first summer with the nonprofit.

“I think everything in the store can be used to make crafts or fine art,” Denlinger said. “The line is where you decide to draw it.”

Alongside the popularity of the Center for Creative Reuse’s programs, new startups keep joining Pittsburgh’s craft scene. The newest, Steel City Fiber Collective, is located on Ellsworth AvSee Crafts on page 8

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DING, DONG: HANDBELL ENSEMBLE GROWS ITS RANKS Rachel Glasser Staff Writer

Pitt’s Handbell Ensemble has almost doubled in members since its formation in 2004. Courtesy of Pitt Handbell Ensemble

“One, two-and-three-and-one, twoand-three-and-one,” Mary Johnson, student conductor of the Pitt Handbell Ensemble, calls out over a cacophony of ringing bells.

The students of the ensemble continue to follow Johnson’s count for a few measures then slowly start to drag behind the beat. Johnson begins to clap as she counts until she finally decides it’s time to start again, from the top.

“Boy,” she says. “Y’all slow down.” The group was going to need some more practice.

Every Thursday in William Pitt Union’s Dining Room B, the Handbell Ensemble runs through its repertoire of music with Johnson at the helm, working out the kinks at rehearsals so that each song is concertready.

The ensemble — formed in 2004 — began with only about 10 members. It now boasts nearly double that, at 18 members.

Additionally, for the first time in the club’s history, the club officers had to cut individ-

uals at auditions this year — some of whom had prior handbell experience. While the handbells aren’t the most trendy musical instrument among young people — it’s a talent many youngsters develop in church — the skill level and interest in Pitt’s group is garnering increased recognition from the community.

The ensemble has performed at the Nutcracker Ballet at Benedum Center for the last five years, and last December, the Handbell Ensemble opened one of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Pops concerts. The Three Rivers Ringers, a premier adult handbell ensemble in Pittsburgh, also performed along with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in that concert last winter.

For the first time this year, the ensemble earned money to perform, bringing in a $200 honorarium at Heinz Chapel Nov. 20.

Cassie Berkey, a senior neuroscience major at Pitt and the ensemble’s president, said she’s proud of the connections the group has made with organizations such as See Handbell on page 8

The Pitt News SuDoku 12/1/16 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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Crafts, pg. 6

Handbell, pg. 7 the PSO and Heinz Chapel.

“We’ve definitely done a much better job of trying to reach more out to the community and get people understanding that we’re here if they want us and that we would love for them to be involved with our organization,” Berkey said.

But bell ringing isn’t a one-man job.

Ryan Marsden, a first-year molecular biology major, like many others in the ensemble, emphasized that playing handbells is a group effort — one of the characteristics that sets it apart from other instruments.

“If one person’s missing, it doesn’t sound right because something’s missing,” Marsden said. “It relies on everyone being there and everyone being on their game.”

A passion for music unites the diverse group of students in the ensemble, which is comprised of students that wanted to try a new instrument in college in addition to experienced handbell ringers. Many of those with prior handbell experience began in church handbell choirs in middle school.

Each member of the ensemble gener-

ally commands two to eight bells — cast in bronze in a curved shape with a handle and internal clapper — where four bells is the standard. Each bell rings out a single musical note. The individual notes each member of the ensemble plays join together to create a piece of music.“It’s like if every single person was sitting in a piano and everybody had their own four notes and was just playing chopsticks fingers,” Berkey said.

Handbells grew in popularity in the United States throughout the 20th century, beginning with Margaret Shurcliff, an avid handbeller and the first American woman to ring a complete peal on tower bells in England. Today, the Handbell Musicians of America recognizes about 5,000 member organizations nationally and internationally.

Pitt’s ensemble has five octaves of handbells in addition to the original three octaves of chimes. The ensemble acquired its most recent octave of bells after successfully petitioning Student Government Board’s Allocations Committee last se

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The Pitt news crossword 12/1/16

enue in Shadyside. Founded by four women — Anna Sylvester, Becca Kreiger, Cheryl Koester and Nora Swisher — the shop made its debut this past June.

Steel City Fiber Collective sells finished projects from students and other locals, along with teaching classes. It specializes in knitting and weaving, teaching customers and providing an open space to work on personal projects.

Nora Swisher, one of the founders, is a grad student studying physics at Carnegie Mellon University. Due to the proliferation of various kinds of fiber arts shops in Pittsburgh, from yarn to fabric, she said she’s not sure if Steel City Fiber would be successful elsewhere.

“I don’t know if we would be successful in another place,” Swisher said. “There’s already a lot of fiber arts and crafts in Pittsburgh.”

Shops like Steel City Fiber prepare for festivals where artists and crafters can come together to present their work. CRAFTED 2016 took place on Nov. 4, at the Society for Contemporary Craft in the Strip District.

Residents and students can learn these skills that vendors promote through pop-up workshops like the one done by Pop Craft, founded

by Mount Washington resident Monica Yope in 2008. The “maker workshops” are housed in lo-

cal bars and restaurants, and participants walk away with their art that evening. There are two featured holiday pop-up workshops on Nov. 28, and Dec. 4, using reclaimed wood to create tree decorations. For $42, all supplies are included, as well as food and drinks.

Crafting culture is just as big on campus, where there are several student groups that have taken the initiative to focus on art and crafts, including Pitt Knits and Pitterest. Started through Student Affairs, Pitterest is headed by Monica Morrison, a student in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Focused on DIY projects and themed activities, the club’s mission is to promote a stress-free outlet for students.

Catherine Meissner, a nursing student, serves as the creative director by organizing project ideas and purchasing materials.

Recent projects have included dream catchers, wall hangings and corkboards. Next meeting, the group looks to make ornaments for the holiday season.

“We buy all the materials, they come and we try to make [the project] in about an hour, and as low stress as possible,” Meissner said.

From Pitt organizations to off-campus resources, each of Pittsburgh’s crafting centers aims to adapt the local art scene to residents.

“We try to be as involved with the community as we can, because that’s obviously a part of our mission,” Brady said.

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Sports BEATING TERPS BIG FOR PITT, BIGGER FOR ARTIS Steve Rotstein Sports Editor

The Pitt men’s basketball team’s 73-59 win over the University of Maryland Tuesday night made a statement, and not just for the team. For senior point guard Jamel Artis, the win was a little more meaningful.

Artis, who put together another solid all-around performance with 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, got a bit of revenge on the Maryland Terrapins — a team that never reached out to him as a recruit, even though he went to high school only 45 minutes away.

“I played with a chip on my shoulder for that,” Artis told the Pittsburgh PostGazette’s Craig Meyer after the game.

The rest of the team was playing for pride as well, as it was the first true road game for the Panthers this season.

When the Panthers left the friendly confines of the Petersen Events Center for the first time under new head coach Kevin Stallings, they suffered their first loss in a neutral-site game against SMU at Madison Square Garden in New York City, 76-67.

Pitt came back the next day to defeat Marquette at MSG, 78-75, but the team was only 1-1 away from home. It was fair to wonder how the Panthers would handle themselves when stepping onto an opponent’s home floor for the first time.

And their first step into enemy territory was inside Maryland’s Xfinity Center, home of the undefeated Terrapins and their rabid fan base. One of toughest places to play in the country, the Terps had won 33 of their last 34 games at Xfinity going into the contest.

No sweat, right?

Apparently not for Artis, Michael Young and company. The ACC’s top-two scorers entering the matchup, Artis and Young combined for 47 points in a game that was never really as close as the final score. Pitt led by as many as 25 points early in the second half before Maryland narrowed the gap late.

Young continued his dominant start to the season, in which he has led the

women’s basketball

PITT SUFFERS FIRST LOSS Quiet nights from Wise and Bradley, 31 points from Purdue G Ashley Morrissette lead to Panthers’ first defeat of 2016, 67-61

Pitt C Brandi Harvey-Carr (44) put up a double-double in a 67-61 loss to Purdue. Steve Rotstein CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Mackenzie Rodrigues Staff Writer

The Pitt women’s basketball team could do nothing to stop Purdue point guard Ashley Morrissette Wednesday night, and it resulted in their first loss of the season.

“It wasn’t our best game. We struggled offensively the whole night,” Pitt head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said. “Give Purdue credit. They’re a really good team, they’re an experienced team, and they’re led by a really good point guard.”

Morrissette tallied 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting for the Boilermakers (4-4) in a 67See Men’s Basketball on page 10 61 win over the Panthers (6-1) at the Petersen

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Events Center. First-year guard Alayna Gribble scored 14 points to lead the way for Pitt, while 6-foot-4 center Brandi Harvey-Carr chipped in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“I liked the competition. The speed of the game was way faster than the other teams we’ve played,” Harvey-Carr said. “I got 10 rebounds, but every game I want to look at my performance and get better. Every game is a game to progress.”

The Boilermakers put the first points on the board just over a minute into the game on Morrissette’s layup, but Harvey-Carr answered with a layup of her own to tie things up.

December 1, 2016

The Panthers adjusted to Purdue’s steady playmaking on defense, but were unable to stop the players in the paint as the Boilermakers increased their lead to four points, 6-2. Pitt was able to find direct lines to the basket on offense, but unable to finish as eight shots in a row missed the mark.

The Panthers decreased their deficit when junior guard Aysia Bugg made one of her goto mid-range jump shots. Gribble then returned to the court for the Panthers after missing the last three games with plantar fasciitis and quickly added three to the board, giving Pitt its first lead at 7-6.

See Women’s Basketball on page 10

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Women’s Basketball, pg. 9 “I had to get adjusted,” Gribble said. “I was out for about a week and a half with an injury so I just had to get back in the rhythm. I didn’t really start hitting shots until the second half.”

The lead flipped back and forth before the quarter ended in Purdue’s favor, 12-11.

This was the first time all season the Panthers found themselves trailing at the end of a quarter.

After the Boilermakers put up four more points to start the second quarter, McConnell-Serio called a timeout to stop Purdue’s run.

Shortly after the timeout, Bugg and sophomore forward Kalista Walters put up a pair of baskets and closed the gap to 16-15. Showing her power outside of the paint, HarveyCarr nailed a 3-pointer to give Pitt a twopoint lead. Another three from Bugg and a layup from first-year guard Jasmine Whitney pushed the Panthers’ lead to 23-18.

The five-point advantage was the largest lead Pitt would enjoy all night.

After a layup by Boilermakers forward Ae’Rianna Harris, guard Andreona Keys followed with four straight free throws to put Purdue back in the lead by one point, 24-23.

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Pitt forward Destinie Gibbs answered with her first basket, returning Pitt’s lead to 25-24.

The first half ended with Bugg leading the Panthers in scoring with seven points and Pitt clinging to a one-point lead.

Harvey-Carr started the second half with a layup, but Purdue knotted the score again with a 3-pointer by Morrissette. After two free throws from forward Brenna Wise, the Boilermakers took control of the game with an 11-0 run.

A jumper, 3-pointer and layup in quick succession pushed Purdue to a 34-29 lead.

Two foul shots and a jumper made it a ninepoint game for the Boilermakers’ largest lead yet.

Coming back from the bench, Gribble nailed her second 3-pointer of the game.

Shortly after, Harvey-Carr banked in another 3-point shot, and all of a sudden it was a onepoint game at 44-43.

Purdue senior forward Bridget Perry landed a jumper after a timeout, but a foul from her teammate, center Nora Kiesler, sent Harvey-Carr to the foul line.

Both teams continued to draw fouls in a physical, back-and-forth game. With a minute left in the third quarter, Pitt had already committed four team fouls while Purdue had

five. The quarter ended with Pitt behind by five points, 53-48.

Although the Boilermakers opened the final quarter with the first basket, Pitt was able to come all the way back and tie the game at 55 with two layups from Walters and a 3-pointer from Gribble. Both players reached double digits at 11 points apiece.

Purdue then broke away, putting up the next eight points and denying the Panthers any baskets until Gribble drilled her fourth triple of the game. Whitney continued to find herself at the foul line, but was unable to make her shots, finishing 3-of-8 from the stripe.

Morrissette proved to be virtually impossible for the Panthers to guard, drawing several fouls at the end of the fourth quarter to cap off her 31-point performance. After a close game featuring six ties and 10 lead changes, Purdue held on for a 67-61 win.

“She’s very good. Coming off of on-ball screens, she’s very good at scoring,” McConnell-Serio said about Morrissette. “If you go under screens, she’ll stop behind and hit threes. If you help too much with your post, she finds open players, she’ll disrupt. She can pick things apart.”

The Panthers host the Charlotte 49ers at the Pete Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m.

December 1, 2016

Men’s Basketball, pg. 9 Panthers in scoring in every game since the opener and failed to score at least 20 points only once. He tallied 25 points and nine rebounds along with a crucial blocked shot and drained six clutch late-game free throws.

But for Artis, a native of Baltimore, the win may have been a bit more special than others — and not just because it was supposed to be the Panthers’ toughest nonconference challenge.

“I thought in the first half Jamel was spectacular and it was nice for him, kind of a homecoming of sorts,” Stallings said at his postgame press conference.

The numbers back Stallings up and the game film does too. Artis seemed to play with an intensity rarely seen from a player who usually makes the game look effortless.

“I’ve got a lot more to show,” Artis told Meyer. “I’m ready for the ACC. I don’t like how they picked us 12th.”

Artis was referring to the ACC preseason poll, where media members projected the Panthers to finish 12th out of 15 teams in the conference despite the team returning six of its top seven scorers from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.

It’s still early, but a performance like Pitt put on Tuesday night could have some voters rethinking those predictions.

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I N D E X

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412-596-8732 3408 Parkview Avenue 412-455-5600 CALL NOW Close to Campus!

Studios, 1,2,3 BRS Avail May- Aug Pet Friendly & Parking 4 bedroom house near Playhouse & Mcgee Hospital. Spacious, equipped kitchen w/ dishwasher. Two large bedrooms. Freedom of expression encouraged! You can paint mural, engineering technology improvements. Material costs deducted from rent. $1800/mo+ utilities available immidiately. Contact Ron at 412-983-0279.

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John CR Kelly Realty has studio, 1, and 2 bedroom apartments available for rent for Fall 2017. Starting from $635-$795. Located on Meyran, Pier, Ward. Call 412-683-7300 to make an appointment today!

Limited 4,5,6 bedroom apartments & townhomes located in South Oakland.

Larger Groups may want to explore renting 2 or 3 smaller apartments located in the same building.

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Newly renovated apartments for rent.

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December 1, 2016

OFFICE INTERN Shadyside Management Company seeks person w/ min 3 yrs. college, for upcoming spring semester, to interview & process rental applicants, do internet postings & help staff our action-central office. Part time or full time OK starting on January 2; full time in summer. $12/hour.

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RESEARCH STATISTICAL INTERNSHIP (unpaid) available immediately in the Biobehavioral Oncology Program of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). We are seeking a student to volunteer up to 10 hours/week, continuing through the spring semester, to help with analysis of data from studies of psychological, behavioral, and brain influences in cancer.

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December 1, 2016

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