Amy Whipple
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Articles by Amy Whipple
Pittsburgh Sports Teams Unite for a Cause
PHOTO BY ALEX JURKUTA/COURTESY OF THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES In late 2021, Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, saw an opportunity to help feed people facing food insecurity throughout the region. That Thanksgiving, players for the Pirates, Penguins and Steelers had come together for the first — but not the last — time to distribute turkeys to families in need.
What’s It Like Living in Pittsburgh’s South Hills?
What makes a neighborhood feel like home can be found in the details: a winding street, an old house with character or neighbors who show up for one another. For these two Pittsburgh-area residents, living in South Hills means finding that sense of belonging in very different ways, from Mt. Lebanon’s architecture to Dormont’s close-knit community. Both Ali Harvey and Asmodeus Greer returned to the Pittsburgh area and found ideal places to live in the South Hills.
Pull Up a Seat at The Longest Table in Pittsburgh
This Saturday, Pittsburghers will gather under the Veterans Bridge to share a meal with strangers. The inaugural local edition of The Longest Table continues a tradition that’s brought people together in more than 30 cities over the past four years. While it’s true that Pittsburghers are hard-pressed to cross a bridge to find each other, Renee Ratay hopes that they are willing to meet people underneath one. On October 3, Pittsburgh will host its first Longest Table event.
The Artists Behind Lawrenceville’s Creative Community
Artists Amy Garbark and Rachel Pfennigwerth arrived in Lawrenceville more than a decade apart — but both found a place to create and thrive. According to Amy Garbark, Lower Lawrenceville in 2005 was the kind of neighborhood where $2,000 covered half of the closing costs on a house — and it was a time in her life where that was the biggest check she’d ever written. “I was sewing and making jewelry out of bike tubes and art out of bike chains, all the free things that were around me,” she says.
Find Passionate Pages, Pittsburgh’s First Romance Bookstore, in Lawrenceville
Passionate Pages, Pittsburgh’s first romance bookstore, invites readers (spicy and otherwise) to Lawrenceville. If anyone knows how to make the most of being snowed in, it’s a romance reader. On January 31, six days after a once-in-a-decade snowstorm, Joedda McClain celebrated the grand opening of Passionate Pages, her romance bookstore. The Central Lawrenceville shop is the city’s first dedicated to romance — although another, The Shelf Love Society, opened down the street in April.
Get Your Nails Done and Make a Connection at Mavka Nail Salon
For Yana Liesnichenko, what started as a solitary COVID hobby became the catalyst for a thriving community. Today, her business, Mavka Nail Salon in Shadyside, is “based on friendship,” she says. “We were locked down,” in 2020, “so I started doing my own nails just for fun,” she says. At the time, Liesnichenko was relatively new to the United States. She had left Ukraine about a year before and brought with her a love of rubber manicures.
A Look Back at Daniel and Carole Kamin's Philanthropic Giving
Daniel and Carole Kamin are leaving a legacy of giving to make Pittsburgh a better place. Daniel and Carole Kamin have had a busy two years. Since January 2024, they have made headline-worthy donations to six organizations in Pittsburgh. The total? More than $165 million. “Three years ago, we wouldn’t even be thinking about any of this,” Carole says. That changed when the chief financial officer at Daniel’s company suggested they start a foundation.
The sidewalk vendor debate continues, a new electronics, chemical recycling contract and studying city-wide composting
City looks to keep more compostables out of the landfills 🔗 The Department of City Planning (DCP) is trying to divert the compost the city currently sends to landfills over to a composting program in order to create richer soil. DCP, the Department of Public Works and Citiparks will soon dig into phase two of SoilMill PGH, a community composting pilot program. It seeks to improve soil quality in Pittsburgh through composting.
Cleaning endless litter, catching illegal dumpers, automating traffic tickets and repairing city steps
City may borrow cameras to catch illegal dumpers 🔗 The Department of Public Works wants to catch illegal dumpers in the act. Allegheny CleanWays has agreed to lend surveillance cameras at no cost so the Department of Public Works (DPW) can monitor and investigate illegal dumping. DPW director Chris Hornstein said every council district has “illegal dump sites that just go above and beyond.” Illegal dumpers primarily target vacant properties, alleyways and hillsides.
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
The conservation of thousands of letters written in the Museum of Natural History’s infancy reveals new chapters in the story of one of the world’s great museums. Already a trusted resource for science learning, the Science Center aims to be a real-time information source on topics affecting us all. Carnegie Museum of Art’s Empowered Educators lifts teachers up by bringing them together. Through screenprinting, The Warhol empowers youth to explore identity, expression, and community action.
Who Is Diane Turnshek, Pittsburgh's Dark Sky Advocate?
Where do you even start with Diane Turnshek? Seriously. She announced that she wanted to be an astronomer when she was 7. Nineteen years later, she earned a master’s degree in astronomy from the University of Arizona. She stayed at home to raise her four sons and turned to writing during that time, creating works of science fiction. She successfully auditioned for a TEDx Talk — on the day of the deadline, without having watched one — but first she had to Google how to record a video.
Exhibit chronicles how Andy Warhol's screen prints went from sloppy to chic
At first glance, Good Business: Andy Warhol’s Screenprints, the latest exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum, might seem a little too familiar. But the 85 prints on display, along with archival and educational materials, in theory, serve as an accessible way to enjoy the everyday again and again. “We haven’t really had a show highlighting just the prints in quite a while,” Amber Morgan, the Warhol Museum's director of collections and registration, tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
Choosing residential care for my son
On my first night alone, I deleted alarms for my 10-year-old son from my phone: five for running his feeding tube, one for picking him up from daycare, one for stopping his pump at midnight before anesthesia. In doing so, I removed the scaffolding that held my days in place for nine years.
How Pittsburgh's Comedy Scene Is Rebuilding Itself
On a Sunday evening in February, Steve Barth and Brad McNary welcomed the audience for their monthly show, “Your ACT With Nonsense,” at Arcade Comedy Theater. “How’s everyone doing?” Barth asked. The 17-person crowd murmured a response. Barth replied, “That is the lackluster energy we want.” The show, featuring Barth’s and McNary’s two-person improv team, is a community night of sorts for the two-stage, 150-seat Downtown theater.
5 Pittsburgh Comedians to Know
Around his 31st birthday, Joey Welsh was in a rut, so he took an improv class at Arcade Comedy Theater. There, his teacher singled him out for his talent, and he took his newfound confidence into his real love: stand-up. “I always like being funny on my own terms,” he says. Nine years later, Welsh is a regular feature comic at the Pittsburgh Improv and otherwise gets on every stage he can, be it at a bar or a VFW.
Private youth detention in Allegheny County, 1844-2024
As soon as Allegheny County announced in September 2023 that it would be reopening Shuman Juvenile Detention Center through a contract with an independent nonprofit, proponents and critics alike reopened a 180-year-old conversation about local juvenile incarceration. Do children belong in jail? One just for them? One with adults? What do we owe children and teenagers before, during, and after they are incarcerated?
Anxiety and dread meet youthful nostalgia at KAWS + Warhol
Aside from “Silver Clouds,” I don’t typically associate The Andy Warhol Museum with kids. (To be clear, the museum does not have this disassociation.) But, as someone who has spent almost 30 years either working with or parenting children, I couldn’t not see most of the new KAWS + Warhol exhibit through that lens. Like, immediately, even before now-former Warhol director Patrick Moore shared the inspiration behind the show. The second-floor exhibition — now on view through Jan.
What Makes People Sick or Healthy? These Pennsylvanians Are Part of a Study That Tries To Answer That Question
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
What Makes People Sick or Healthy?
The pioneering genetic research study All of Us aims to collect health data from 1 million people during the course of its research. Rachel Cannon had a deadline for herself: if she didn’t have children by the time she was 35, she wasn’t going to have any. Two years ago, Cannon — a librarian in the East End — found herself up against her self-imposed deadline.
Incarcerated artists convey toll of life sentences with Kelly Strayhorn Theater show
In Darrell Van Mastrigt’s “Still Hoping,” locs fall across a man’s forehead, framing one brown eye that demands your attention. The man is curled under a blanket, soft around his scrunched-up shoulder and over the hand on which he rests his cheek. His look — right at you, you can’t avert your gaze for long — is vulnerable, pleading. What he’s about to say to you, what he just said, seems likely to have been intimate and not much louder than a whisper.
The Andy Warhol Museum Is Showing Never-Seen-Before Art
It’s been nearly 30 years since The Andy Warhol Museum opened its doors. You’d be forgiven, then, for thinking that the institution would have nothing new to show from its namesake, who died in 1987. But with 10,000 items in the collection, it turns out it still has plenty of work to share for the first time. In 2022, Patrick Moore, the museum’s director of six years, learned that approximately 200 pieces had never been shown before, at the museum or elsewhere.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents a mother of an art show with Eternal Maternal | Pittsburgh City Paper
While viewing the Eternal Maternal exhibit in the lobby of the historic Kelly Strayhorn Theater, I thought about the months I spent puzzling through a sudden, intense desire to have a baby with my partner after over 20 years of wanting to do just about anything other than be pregnant/give birth.
How This Pittsburgher is Providing Hope for Ghana
Pittsburgh pediatrician Steve Greene works to build wells, libraries and computer labs in the African nation. Steve Greene has been thinking a lot lately about retirement. He’s been a pediatrician for 31 years, a vocation he’s loved. He’s also at the helm of Hope for Ghana, a tax-exempt public charity he founded in 2011.
How A Charter School On Troy Hill Is Defeating Dyslexia
Provident Charter School, the state’s first public school aimed at helping students overcome dyslexia, uses a mind, body and soul approach to learning. A morning last March had three things going against it: it was a Monday, the clocks had sprung forward the day before and the sky was gray with snow flurries. But inside Provident Charter School in Troy Hill, the morning was bright and busy. Deon L.
New York Foster Care Providers Sue State over Reimbursement
Cuts will ‘destabilize’ nonprofit agencies struggling to retain staff, plaintiffs say. Organizations that run group facilities for New York’s children and youth in foster care are fighting a rate change set to begin April 1 that represents a funding cut so significant it “will destabilize the operational budgets for many child care agencies,” according to an ongoing lawsuit.
What You Can See and Do at Pittsburgh's New Moonshot Museum
The nonprofit on the North Side — touted as Pennsylvania’s first space museum — is already drawing hundreds of visitors. At the Moonshot Museum, all that stands between you and what may become part of the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in 50 years is a pane of glass. On one side is a Clean Room, where protectively clothed and hair-netted team members from Astrobotic Technology are assembling the 6-by-8-foot Peregrine lunar lander.
New Memoir Shares Lessons from Foster Care
The Imprint reviews “A Place Called Home,” by former foster youth-turned Amazon exec David Ambroz. Growing up in the late 1980s and early ’90s, David Ambroz and two older siblings slept in New York City’s Grand Central Station and other public places along the eastern seaboard. They did their laundry in bathroom sinks of fast food outlets. Having enough to eat was a persistent problem.
Program helps Black parents in Pittsburgh with postpartum depression
For 10 years, 33-year-old Charvon Conner tried to get pregnant. She has polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, a condition that can make it difficult to become pregnant or complicate a pregnancy. Conner said all she wanted was to become a mother, but her PCOS was severe enough that she said a doctor even laughed at the idea. “Literally every day I was depressed,” she said.
Tracing Pittsburgh's Roots to Fort Ligonier
Accurate detail and a commitment to a rounded view of history are paramount at Fort Ligonier, a site of great importance in the country’s history. To visit Fort Ligonier is to visit the events and stories that eventually led to Pittsburgh and, in a roundabout way, to the United States. “This is what starts it all,” says guide Spencer Pfrogner. In September 1758, about halfway through the French and Indian War, the 8-acre historic site was home to 5,000 British-American soldiers, led by Gen.
Best Activities for Kids in Pittsburgh with Mobility Impairments
Pittsburgh is a city of many delights, but accessible spaces and activities for kids who have mobility impairments are true treasures for kids and their families. Here are three of my favorites. 1. Open Up. Need an antidote to kids’ winter restlessness? Open Up, an organization dedicated to teaching “mindfulness tools and movement practices, centering people living with disabilities,” fits the bill.
Why Didn't "Kate & Allie" Ever Come Out of the Closet?
Picture with me the perfect lesbian sitcom, originally titled Two Mommies: it’s about two 30-something women raising two teenage daughters and a seven-year-old son in the West Village. Brassy Kate works as a travel agent and pearl-wearing Allie works inside the home. Their kids often breezily call out, “Hey, Moms!” as if that’s a perfectly normal thing to do. Each episode begins with Kate and Allie walking around the city and ends with drinks in their living room. They talk and talk and talk.
What Special Meanings Do The Clemente Bridge's Locks of Love Hold?
There are 11,000 of them on the span. They’ll soon be removed as part of the bridge’s rehab project February 10, 2022 Amy Whipple, Photos by Huck Beard, On Dec. 12, 2019, 9-year-old Kelsey Hanahan started her morning with her 52nd — and final — chemotherapy treatment at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She went to lunch with her parents and, before they drove to Virginia for a celebratory trip to Busch Gardens, they stopped at the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
How the OneTen Coalition is Ensuring Black Talent Without Four-Year Degrees Grow Their Careers
SUKANTA NAG | ADDA COFFEE & TEA HOUSE OWNER AND ONETEN CHIEF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Are there family-sustaining jobs in technology, sales, manufacturing, health care and other professions that can be successfully filled by workers without four-year degrees?
I have a medically complex child. I've been waiting for the day to get him vaccinated, and now I can finally breathe. Original
My 7-year-old is a medically complex child, and the pandemic has had me on edge about his safety. I am fully vaccinated and was anxiously waiting for his turn to get the vaccine. He now has received his first dose. Loading Something is loading. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A Pittsburgh-based expert in helping children with neurological blindness seeks new home for progressive practice
Christine Roman-Lantzy welcomed the Johnson family into her office at West Penn Hospital. Kelsey, Todd and their 22-month-old daughter Seda had traveled five hours from Virginia to have Seda assessed for cortical visual impairment [CVI]. At four and a half months, an ophthalmologist said Seda couldn’t see much more than shadows and lights, implying there was nothing to be done.
A Helping Hand for New Parents in Allegheny County
The innovative Hello Baby program offers resources for new parents, seeking out those that might need support the most. Every year, an average of 13,000 babies are born in Allegheny County. The county’s Department of Human Services wants parents to know that it’s okay to ask for help. “The reality is that parenting is hard for everyone and that everyone can use support,” says Amy Malen, assistant deputy director in DHS’ Office of Community Services.
How Kinship Care Transformed Allegheny County’s Child-Welfare System
ILLUSTRATION BY CHUCK BEARD In 1993, Sharon McDaniel saw an opportunity. The need was dire, but McDaniel felt that her career had built up to that moment — the opportunity to tackle a desperately broken part of Allegheny County operations. McDaniel wanted to create a kinship care agency for the county’s cratered foster care system. In those days, Allegheny County’s child-welfare systems had earned a reputation as among the worst in the nation.
How Rock against Racism Fought the Right
With images of Confederate flags and anti-Semitic slogans, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol not only sparked outrage, it also left many wondering what could be done to stop such violence. The U.S. is hardly the first country to reckon with questions like this. In Britain, for example, the growth of the right led to the creation of Rock Against Racism (RAR), a movement against the rising tide of white supremacist violence, in 1976. The fires had been stoked for years.
How to Improve Workplace Diversity in Pittsburgh
There is a narrative about Pittsburgh that isn’t on any promotional material and one that community leaders are working hard to change. “Pittsburgh has been a place of prosperity and opportunity for white people, and it has been a place of negative interactions, lack of opportunity and elevation and equity for people of color, specifically Black people,” says Sabrina Saunders Mosby, president and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh.
Choosing A Family
Frequent PM contributor Amy Whipple always intended to become a foster parent. Now the adoptive mother of a 3-year-old boy, she shares the story of her new family. photos by Becky Thurner Braddock When people ask why I chose to be a foster parent, I share with them a now-almost-25-year-old story: A boy in my fifth grade class told us he was being adopted by his foster parents.
The Maine Event: This Fighter Won't Quit on Her Dream
Rebecca Maine’s unlikely journey to the sweet science began in Punxsutawney and took shape in Pittsburgh rings. On the drive to a fight, boxer Rebecca Maine needs music. While she’s having her hands wrapped, she needs it again. Then the music stops. Maine, 28, drops herself into the sounds of the venue to meditate. “I want that to be what I’m used to,” she says, “just kind of be OK with my surroundings.” Inside the ring, her only thoughts are about boxing. Keep your knees bent, elbows in, hands up.
I'm At Home With A Profoundly Disabled Child And I'm Afraid I Can't Meet His Needs
(Photo: robert reader via Getty Images) So far, my favorite days are Saturdays. I fundamentally understand Saturdays. For 40 weeks of the year, we have zero standing Saturday obligations. We mark time with my 6-year-old’s five tube feedings. WD sleeps in and later avails himself of cat naps, for which he simply must snuggle. I’m not here to argue about being forced to watch TV and enjoy time with a boy who will soon be physically too big for this.
Rowing on the (Mon) River
Students in the Mon Valley hope to row their way into competitions and college scholarships. PHOTOS BY MARTHA RIAL AT VIRGIN RUN LAKE The thing about rowing, Nathanael Stevens says, is that it’s remarkably simple. “You sit down and you have to row 2,000 meters. Every stroke is about 10 meters. It’s as fast as you can do it.” Stevens, president of the Mon Valley Rowing Club, says the sport rewards hard work: you practice, your time drops, you feel the thrill of beating your own personal record.
A Thirst for Literature: Welcome to Books on Tap
The Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh offer 29 book clubs, but only one combines literature and beer. December 20, 2019 Amy Whipple, Photos by Renee Rosensteel, On an October night, 10 people sat at Allegheny City Brewing, beers in hand. The topic of discussion, however, was not local news, sports or politics: It was “Where the Crawdads Sing,” a novel by Delia Owens. The small group — couples and singles, younger-ish and older-ish — attended the gathering, a meeting of the Books on Tap book club.
They Do It for Love, Not Money
Being great at something doesn’t necessarily mean you can make a living off of it. These six people have reached national and even international heights in their respective fields — yet all six still have day jobs. Here’s how (and why) they do what they do so well.
Nightlife in Pittsburgh: 5801 Video Lounge and Café
Are you ready for summer — and ready for Pride? Check out 5801 Video Lounge and Café. By Amy Whipple May 29, 2019 PHOTO by Renee Rabenold Video Star 5801 Video Lounge and Café (5801 Ellsworth Ave., 5801videolounge.com), has been an East End LGBTQ staple since 2005.
Underdogs United: Trading Jerseys for Water
Underdogs United’s global jersey exchange connects star athletes with Kenyan kids. by Amy Whipple April 24, 2019 PHOTOS COURTESY UNDERdogs UNITED In 2017, Stephen Gabauer spent six months working for a sustainable forestry initiative in Kenya. One of his coworkers, Mariam Naipanoi, was also a part-time clothing designer. “Some of the stuff she’d wear was really interesting to me,” Gabauer says; Naipanoi, who is from Nairobi, connected him to local tailors.
Giving the Little Ones Room to Learn
An expansion at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf will allow the storied institution to better serve the needs of its youngest students. by Amy Whipple | Photos by Renee Rosensteel March 14, 2019 In a common room at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf’s Children’s Center, a kindergarten class clamors around a table. It’s the students’ second day back after winter break and most are buzzing with post-holiday energy.
What Does Adult Education Look Like in Pittsburgh?
The last Thursday afternoon in August was a relatively quiet one in the Downtown headquarters of , which usually sees 150 to 200 students each day. That’s not to say the space was empty or still. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pace of change and growth as rapidly as I do now,” says Executive Director Don Block, stepping out of the way for staff members carrying boxes into freshly painted rooms — which today host a training for volunteer tutors in the Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring Program.
Perspectives: Making Space
A playground trip causes Amy Whipple, whose son has extra needs, to reflect on how simple — and charitable — it can be to make space for someone else. Lawrenceville’s Arsenal Park is thick with grill smoke and cheering voices one sunny Sunday afternoon. My 4-year-old son and I are walking past a kickball tournament, bound for the playground. For a second, I’m nervous when I see kids packed onto the wheelchair swing platform, commandeering it as if it were a Viking vessel.
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