2024-02-23
To experience the region's Fish Fries. On Fridays during lent, various Catholic Churches (usually) host fish fries. Growing up, I sort of took these for granted, but now when I go back, I see them through different eyes. It reminds me of something like Basque Cider Season, a sort of cultural coming together that is specific to a place.
2024-01-08
New to me this week is Dean Bog who does 15 minute videos on various neighborhoods around the city of Pittsburgh.
If you have any interest at all in the city, I suggest you check them out. The Bloomfield video (I think his first one) is a good one to start with, but they're all worthwhile. As someone who grew up in Pittsburgh, I'm amazed at how much they teach me, both about the "facts" of the city and it's culture.
One thing Dean points out is that the city neighborhoods have a distinct feel because of the geography. The hills and rivers mean that two neighborhoods that are side by side on a map may not have any actual connections between each other and so can evolve totally differently.
I found out about Dean via this City Cast Pittsburgh episode where he talks about his process. I'm paraphrasing here, but one thing he does is basically walk around and talk to people until they introduce him to the unofficial mayor of the area, who tells the story of the place.
2023-12-26
The furnace proved that coke made from the nearby Connellsville seam of bituminous coal was uniquely able to be used in the blast furnaces that transformed iron ore into pig iron. For decades, coke made with coal sourced elsewhere proved unusable — giving southwestern Pennsylvania an enviable competitive advantage as the second industrial revolution powered explosive demand for iron and then steel.
That technical innovation gave coal-rich Pittsburgh, which was already a successful region for energy-intensive industries like iron and glass, an overwhelming advantage in ore-based steel production.
via Chris Briem. Despite growing up in Pittsburgh, I found this explanation enormously helpful.