Podcasts about hill district

How housing policy failed the people it was designed to help -- and how to fix it As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects: A New History of Public Housing (NYU Press, 2025), Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight. From First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the controversial city planner Robert Moses, many well-known historical figures made a convincing case for affordable housing in America. Despite the movement's lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing. Husock looks beyond these neighborhoods' physical conditions to their uncounted riches, from local artists like August Wilson to vital community institutions. As he shares residents' stories, he honors what they crafted through their own plans, rather than those of city planners. Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government's role in the housing market. Through interviews with residents, he reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

How housing policy failed the people it was designed to help -- and how to fix it As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects: A New History of Public Housing (NYU Press, 2025), Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight. From First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the controversial city planner Robert Moses, many well-known historical figures made a convincing case for affordable housing in America. Despite the movement's lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing. Husock looks beyond these neighborhoods' physical conditions to their uncounted riches, from local artists like August Wilson to vital community institutions. As he shares residents' stories, he honors what they crafted through their own plans, rather than those of city planners. Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government's role in the housing market. Through interviews with residents, he reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

How housing policy failed the people it was designed to help -- and how to fix it As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects: A New History of Public Housing (NYU Press, 2025), Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight. From First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the controversial city planner Robert Moses, many well-known historical figures made a convincing case for affordable housing in America. Despite the movement's lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing. Husock looks beyond these neighborhoods' physical conditions to their uncounted riches, from local artists like August Wilson to vital community institutions. As he shares residents' stories, he honors what they crafted through their own plans, rather than those of city planners. Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government's role in the housing market. Through interviews with residents, he reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

How housing policy failed the people it was designed to help -- and how to fix it As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects: A New History of Public Housing (NYU Press, 2025), Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight. From First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the controversial city planner Robert Moses, many well-known historical figures made a convincing case for affordable housing in America. Despite the movement's lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing. Husock looks beyond these neighborhoods' physical conditions to their uncounted riches, from local artists like August Wilson to vital community institutions. As he shares residents' stories, he honors what they crafted through their own plans, rather than those of city planners. Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government's role in the housing market. Through interviews with residents, he reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a new campaign going on that hopes to inspire more people to answer the call to become early educators and Tressa sits down for a wonderful chat with Cara Ciminillo and DaVonna Shannon to learn all about it.The campaign, “Your Career, Our Future”, is a collaboration between two nonprofits: Trying Together and the Early Excellence Project. The campaign has collected personal stories from early educators and families throughout the Pittsburgh area that they are sharing throughout the region.And Don returns for a round of Name That Neighborhood...Your Career, Our Future:https://tryingtogether.org/your-career-our-future/Trying Together:https://tryingtogether.org/The Early Excellence Project:https://www.earlyexcellenceproject.org/https://www.yinzaregood.com/Want to learn more about the podcast, including all of the guests who've been featured thus far? Check out our website: ⁠https://www.yinzaregood.com/⁠FOLLOW US on social media!Instagram: ⁠@yinzaregood⁠ Facebook: ⁠@YinzAreGood⁠Have a story of GENEROSITY or KINDNESS to share with us? Want a KINDNESS CRATE dropped off at your business or school? Email us at yinzaregood@gmail.com

On the latest episode of Chesterfield Behind the Mic, we talk to Jessica Schneider of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors to talk about her first year on the board, some of the big items facing the county in 2025, and a number of updates on projects in the Clover Hill District.   Credits: Director: Martin Stith Executive Producer: Teresa Bonifas Producer/Writer/Host: Brad Franklin Director of Photography/Editor: Matt Boyce Producer/Camera Operator: Martin Stith and Matt Neese Graphics: Debbie Wrenn Promotions and Media: J. Elias O'Neal, Katie Cominsky, and Lina Chadouli   Music: Hip Hop This by Seven Pounds Inspiring Electronic Rock by Alex Grohl   Guest: Jessica Schneider, Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors (Clover Hill District)   Recorded in-house by Communications and Media   Chesterfield.gov/podcast     Follow us on social media! On Facebook, like our page: Chesterfield Behind the Mic. On Twitter, you can find us at @ChesterfieldVa and on Instagram it's @ChesterfieldVirginia. And you can also watch the podcast on WCCT TV Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. as well as on weekends at noon on Comcast Channel 98 and Verizon Channel 28.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, may not be the first city that comes to mind when discussing Italian immigration, but its Italian enclaves played a significant role in shaping the region. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a wave of Italians arrived in Pittsburgh, particularly from southern Italy. Economic hardship and political instability in Italy pushed many Italians to seek a better life abroad, and Pittsburgh, with its booming industrial sector, offered opportunities for work and upward mobility. Unlike some immigrants, most Italians who came to Pittsburgh had little intention of returning to Italy. They viewed Pittsburgh as a land of opportunity where they could create a better life for their families. By the late 1800s, Italian immigrants began settling in downtown Pittsburgh, but as the city expanded, they relocated to nearby neighborhoods like Bloomfield, East Liberty, and the Hill District. Forgotten Little Italys: Two Italian Immigrant Communities in Pennsylvania Some of these Italian neighborhoods, once thriving hubs of culture and commerce, have largely been forgotten. In Pennsylvania, two such neighborhoods stand out: Hays in Pittsburgh and Roseto in Northampton County. These lesser-known "Little Italys" offer fascinating glimpses into the Italian immigrant experience and have left a lasting impact on the state, even if their visibility has faded over time.

Silver North Resources CEO Jason Weber joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has announced the beginning of its 2024 drilling campaign at the Haldane Property, located in the historic Keno Hill Silver District in the Yukon. Weber shared that the program will consist of approximately 1,000 meters of drilling across three key holes on the 8,579-hectare property, which lies 25 km west of Keno City and hosts multiple occurrences of silver-lead-zinc-bearing quartz siderite veins, similar to those found throughout the district. He moved on to highlight that the drilling will focus on expanding high-grade silver mineralization at the West Fault, Main Fault, and Bighorn areas. At the West Fault, previous drilling intersected notable results, including 3.14 meters averaging 1,351 g/t silver, 2.43% lead, and 2.91% zinc. The West Fault structure has been traced over 650 meters and is believed to extend up to 1.1km, merging with the 2.2km long main fault structure. The drilling program will also target silver-bearing vein mineralization identified in the Bighorn Target's only drilled hole to date, with hopes of expanding on these promising early results. #proactiveinvestors #silvernorthresourcesltd #tsxv #snag #otcqb #tarsf #mining #tomproperty #MiningNews #HaldaneProject #SilverNorthResources #JasonWeber #KenoHill #YukonMining #ExplorationUpdate #SilverInvesting #MineralExploration #mininginvesting #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

Marty discusses the latest in the Georgia school shooting, Salem's Market in the Hill District, Trump and Harris cookies, and Joe Biden pardoning Hunter Biden.

Hour 2 - Marty promotes Salem's Market in the Hill District and discusses Kamala Harris staying in Pittsburgh.

In Episode 1, we hear from Father Paul Abernathy, who discusses the impact groundbreaking nonprofit, the Neighborhood Resilience Project, is having in Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood. We also hear from Ray Prushnok, associate vice president of program development and executive director of the UPMC Center for Social Impact.The views and opinions expressed by the participants of this podcast are not necessarily those of UPMC Health Plan, Inc. or its affiliates.This content was originally published on December 8, 2020.

It's the Friday news roundup! A North Side horse took a river plunge this week, and the state DCNR wants you to weigh in on the next five years in park investments. Plus, few sports legends are headed back to the Burgh for a new fundraiser for the Neighborhood Resilience Project, and we're pouring one out for all of you who bought tickets to the Sudden Little Thrills music festival. (We're looking at you, Sophia.) We always cite our sources: The Pittsburgh Scanner X account had the play-by-play on a horse that escaped and took a dip in the Ohio River. Learn more about the DCNR's five-year plan, their access map, and take their survey through May 22.  Snag tickets to the Resilience Bowl here. Fr. Paul Abernathy's work with the Neighborhood Resilience Project started over a decade ago. Learn more about his work in the Hill District and big plans for the future. Friend of the pod Armin Samii shared a video on X of the cyclist recently hit on Smallman Street.  Hear Monday's pod on how the city needs your help to better track close calls and accidents: How Can Pittsburgh End Traffic Deaths? Learn more about our sponsor: Join AIDS Free Pittsburgh and True T Pittsburgh from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 30 in Allegheny Commons East Park for the 6th annual Too Hot for July HIV awareness event, including free HIV and STI testing, music, dancing, performances, and more. Visit TooHotForJuly.com. Become a member of City Cast Pittsburgh at membership.citycast.fm. Want more Pittsburgh news? Sign up for our daily morning Hey Pittsburgh newsletter. We're also on Instagram @CityCastPgh! Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watchers        Zany lies amid clutter on the floor beneath the dining room windows hugging her bandaged arm. She huffs loudly enough to reach the front porch where Mom and Aunt Vi imbibe scotch. Vi still isn't used to afternoon drinking. They can't hear Zany over the Krebbs' crying baby on the other side of the duplex wall. Stupid baby. Plus Zany's little sister overhead dancing to the transistor radio, rattling the light fixture dangling from the ceiling.        The fingertips on Zany's bandaged arm are cold and maybe even blue. This is slightly alarming. She considers running to Mom but knows better. Take the damn thing off then, Mom will say.        There's nothing wrong with Zany's arm, but that isn't the point. At breakfast, without preamble, she wound an Ace bandage from her palm to her armpit. The family no longer asks what she's up to. Last week during Ed Sullivan she sat at her TV tray dripping candle wax over her fist. Aunt Vi blinked with every splat, but Mom only said: “If you get that on my rug I'll take you across my knee. I don't care how old you are.” Zany is thirteen.        Week before, Zany taped a string of two-inch penny nails around her throat at the kitchen table where Dad rewired one of Mom's salvaged lamps. “Why don't you do that in your room?”  Dad didn't like sharing his workspace. Zany shrugged and the nail tips jabbed her collarbones.  She could have done it in her room, but doing the thing wasn't the point. It was having someone watch that mattered. If no one watched, who would believe she could endure that much discomfort?        Nobody is watching now, so Zany grips a dining table leg and pulls it toward her, or tries to. It's hard to budge through Mom's junk piles, plus the weight of the extra leaf Dad inserted when Aunt Vi and Cousin Lester moved in after their apartment collapsed. Aunt Vi brought cans of flowery air freshener to hide the hoard smell—rotten food and cat piss. They don't own a cat.  Lester, sixteen, bought a box of rubble-rescued books.        “You better be setting the table!” Mom calls through the screen.        Zany hates Mom's manly haircut and has said so. “It's Gig's turn!”        Overhead, Gig stomps the floor in the bedroom they now share. Aunt Vi got Zany's attic where Mom's hoard had been disallowed, but it's begun trickling up. “No, it's not!” Gig's transistor blares louder.        “Zany!” Mom calls. “I swear to God! And close those drapes!”        Mom can't stand looking at the neighbor's wall she could reach across and touch, but Zany craves fresh air, as fresh as Pittsburgh air can be. Plus, she likes counting the yellow bricks Andy Warhol surely counted when this was his childhood home, the dining room his make-shift sickroom when he suffered St. Vitus Dance. Zany is certain his bed would have been right here by the window where he could see a hint of sky if he cricked his neck just right. She lies in his echo and imagines the day she'll appear at his Factory door in New York City and say: “I used to live in your house.” Andy will enfold her in his translucent arms before ushering her inside, not to act in his films or screen print his designs, but to be his equal. Partner, even. Zany just has to determine her own art form. It sure won't be cutting fruit cans into flowers like Warhol's mother did for chump change.        Zany's legs start the herky-jerky Vitus dance as if she's running toward that Factory dream. Her pelvis and hips quake. The one free arm. The back of her head jitters against the floor. It's a familiar thrum even Aunt Vi and Lester are accustomed to now. Mom yells: “Stop that racket!” She mutters to Vi: “We never should have bought this place.”       A kitchen timer dings and Aunt Vi comes in to disarm it. Her cooking is better than Mom's, and Vi wears an apron and dime store lipstick while she does it. Fresh peas instead of canned. Real mashed potatoes instead of instant. Vi is a better housekeeper, too, organizing Mom's trash into four-foot piles that line the walls. Every day Mom trolls back alleys and neighbors' garbage in dingy clothes that make her look like a hobo. That's what the kids say:  Your mom looks like a hobo. She pulls a rickety cart and loads it with moldy linens, rolled-up rugs, dented wastebaskets. Zany wonders if Dad regrets marrying the wrong sister. She knows he regrets not having a son, a boy who could have been Lester if Dad had a different heart. Instead, Dad got Lester on at the blast furnace, because “No one sleeps under my roof for free.” Who needs a high school diploma?        In the kitchen, Aunt Vi lets out one of her sobs. She only does that in private after Mom's third scolding: “He's dead, Vi. Crying won't bring him back.”        Zany misses Uncle Mo, too. His pocketful of peppermints. The trick coin he always plucked from Zany's ear. The last time Zany's family visited, she walked through their decrepit Franklin Arms apartment with its spongy floors and clanking pipes, but no maze of debris to negotiate. No cat piss smell or sister blaring the radio. She found Lester in his room at a child's desk he'd outgrown, doughy boy that he then was, doing homework without being nagged.  Astounding. His room was spartan, plenty of space for a second bed if Zany asked Aunt Vi sweetly enough. But no. Zany couldn't abandon Andy in his Dawson Street sickbed. Lester's only wall decoration was a world map strung with red yarn radiating from Pittsburgh to France, China, the South Pole. She wanted to ask why those destinations, but didn't, entranced as she was by all that fresh-aired openness, plus his feverishly scribbling hand.       Now, Aunt Vi leans in the dining room dabbing her face with a dishtowel. She's aged a decade since moving here and it isn't all due to grief. She targets Zany on the floor. “Everything all right in here?”        Zany has stopped breathing. Her eyes are glazed and her tongue lolls from her mouth.  She's getting better at playing dead.        “All right then.” Aunt Vi is getting better at not reacting. The screen door slams behind her.        Zany pulls in her tongue and inhales. She starts counting bricks again until Aunt Vi calls: “There they are!” as she does every workday.        Zany pictures Dad and Lester padding up Dawson. Wet hair slicked back because they shower off the stench before coming home. Zany appreciates that. Their boots scrape the steps to the porch where Aunt Vi will take their lunchpails. And there she is coming through the door and dashing to rinse their thermoses at the kitchen sink. Mom will stay put and pour Dad a finger of scotch.        Lester bangs inside and pauses in the dining room entryway. He's leaner now on account of the physical labor. Taller too. He eyes Zany's bandaged arm, not with Aunt Vi's alarm, but with the kind of baffled wonder Zany has always been after. Their eyes meet and it's the same look he gave her the day she walked backward all the way to the Eliza Number Two—not  because Dad and Lester worked there, but because it was lunchtime, and a gaggle of men would  be eating beneath that pin oak by the furnace entrance. And there they were, her father among them, not easy to see having to crane her neck as Zany picked her way over the railroad tracks.        “What the hell is she doing?” said Tom Folsom. Zany recognized her neighbor's voice.  “She's off her nut,” said another worker.       Zany twisted fully around to see if her father would defend her, but he was already hustling back to the furnace.        “Something's not right with that girl,” said Folsom.        “Nothing wrong with her,” said Lester from beneath a different tree where he ate his cheese sandwich alone.        Folsom spit in the grass. “Shut up, fairy boy.”        Lester wasn't a fairy boy, Zany knew.        Today, leaning in the dining room, Lester looks as if he can see inside Zany's skull to the conjured Factory room she and Andy will one day share: walls scrubbed clean and painted white.  Her drawings or paintings lining the walls in tidy rows. Maybe sculptures aligned on shelves. Or mobiles overhead spinning in the breeze. Lester nods at her fantasy as if it's a good one. He has his own escapism. Zany knows that too, and she looks away first so her eyes won't let him know that she knows.        Lester heads to the cellar where he spends most of his time. Mom partitioned off the back corner for him with clothesline and a bed sheet. Installed an army cot and gooseneck lamp on a crate. Andy Warhol holed up in the cellar when he was a kid developing film in a jerry-rigged darkroom. Zany constructed one from an oversized cardboard box she wedged into that shadowy space beneath the stairs. She cut a closable door in the box and regularly folds herself inside to catalogue her achievements in a notebook. Stood barefoot on a hot tar patch on Frazier Street for seventy-two seconds. Mr. Braddock called me a dolt, but I said: You're the dolt!        From below, the sound of Lester falling onto his cot followed by a sigh so deep Zany's lungs exhale, too. Whatever dreams he had got buried under apartment rubble along with Uncle Mo.       Outside, Dad has taken Aunt Vi's creaky rocker. “He's a strange one,” he says about Lester. “What's he up to down there?”        Mom says, “Who the hell knows?”        Zany clamps her unbandaged hand over her mouth to keep that knowledge from spilling.  She saw what he was up to the day she was tucked in her box and forgot time until footsteps pounded the stairs above her. She peeked through the peephole she'd punched into her cardboard door as Lester peeled off his shirt, his pants. He left on his boxers and socks. Didn't bother to draw his sheet curtain, just plopped on the cot and lit a cigarette. His smoking still surprised her. The boy he once was was also buried under rubble. Zany regretted not making her presence known, but then it was too late with Lester in his underwear, and all. Plus, she was captivated by his fingers pulling the cigarette to his lips. The little smoke rings he sent up to the floor joists. She wondered if he was dreaming of China or the South Pole, or just sitting quietly at his too-small desk back in his apartment inhaling all that fresh air. Finally, he snubbed out the cigarette in an empty tuna can. Zany hoped he would roll over for sleep, but he slid a much-abused magazine from beneath his pillow and turned pages. Even in the scant light Zany made out the naked lady on the cover. Zany's heart thudded, even more so when Lester's hand slipped beneath his waistband and started moving up and down, up and down. She told her eyes to close but they wouldn't, both entranced and nauseated by what she shouldn't be seeing. She knew what he was up to, having done her own exploring when she had her own room. She'd conjure Andy Warhol's face and mouth and delicate hands—because those rumors weren't true. They just weren't. Harder to explore in the bed she now shared with Gig. Stupid Aunt Vi, and stupid collapsed Franklin Arms.       What Lester was up to looked angry. Violent, even. A jittery burn galloped beneath Zany's skin and she bit her lip, drawing blood. But she couldn't look away from Lester's furious hand, his eyes ogling that magazine until they squeezed shut and his mouth pressed into a grimace that did not look like joy. The magazine collapsed onto his chest and his belly shuddered. Only then did Zany close her eyes as the burn leaked through her skin. When Lester's snores came, she tiptoed upstairs to collapse on Andy's echo. She caught Lester seven more times, if caught is the right word, lying in wait as she was, hoping to see, hoping not to.  “You better be setting the table!” Mom yells now from the porch.        Zany grunts and makes her way to the kitchen where Aunt Vi pulls a roast from the oven.  Zany heaves a stack of plates to the dining room and deals them out like playing cards.  “Don't break my dishes!” Mom calls. I hate your hair, Zany wants to say.  There is a crash, but it's not dishes. It comes from overhead where Gig screams.  Thumping on the stairs as she thunders down, transistor in hand. “Zany!”  Gig rushes into the dining room, ponytail swaying, eyes landing on her sister. “He's been shot!”        Zany's mind hurtles back two months to when Martin Luther King was killed. Riots erupted in Pittsburgh's Black neighborhoods: The Hill District and Homewood and Manchester.  “Who?” Zany says, conjuring possibilities: LBJ, Sidney Portier. But to Zany, it's much worse.        “Andy Warhol!”        Zany counts this as the meanest lie Gig's ever told. “He was not.”        “Yes, he was!” Gig turns up the radio and the announcer confirms it: a crazed woman shot Warhol in his Factory.       Aunt Vi comes at Zany with her arms wide, because she understands loss. “Oh, honey.”  Zany bats her hands away. “It's not true.”        Vi backs into Mom's hoard. “Is he dead?”        Gig says: “They don't know.”        Zany can't stomach the smug look on Gig's face, as if she holds Andy's life or death between her teeth. Zany wants to slap that look off, so she does.        Gig screams.        “What the hell's going on in there?” Mom calls.        “Zany hit me!” Gig says at the very moment Aunt Vi says: “Andy Warhol's been shot!”  “No he wasn't!” Zany says again, wanting to slap them both.        Mom and Dad hustle inside where Gig cups her reddening cheek and bawls louder.  “It's nothing,” Mom says at the sight of her sniveling daughter, but Dad enfolds Gig in his arms. “There, there.”        “Don't coddle that child,” says Mom, and for once Zany agrees.        “Now, Mae.” Dad cups the back of Gig's head and there's a different look on her face.  Triumph, maybe.        Pounding on the shared duplex wall, Evie Krebbs, who never could shush that wailing baby. “Andy Warhol's been shot!” she calls to them. “Did you all hear?”        “We heard,” Mom answers as the baby cries louder, and so does Gig, who won't be upstaged. Mom says: “That's the price of fame I guess.”        “Being shot?” says Aunt Vi.        “Put yourself in the public eye and anything's liable to happen. Lotta kooks in this world.”       The neighbor kids' chant sounds in Zany's head: Your mother's a hobo.        “I'd rather be shot than a hobo,” says Zany.        Mom's head snaps back. “What the hell's that supposed to mean?”        Zany doesn't fully know what she means, or maybe she does.        Dad says, “Turn up the radio and see if he's dead.”        Zany doesn't want to know the answer, and to keep him alive she runs to the basement where Andy will always be a sickly boy developing film. Never mind Lester in his bed sending smoke rings up to the floor joists. Never mind her family still jabbering overhead.       Zany dashes to her cardboard box and closes the door, her body shaking, but not from any disease. Andy can't be dead. He just can't, because if he is Zany will never make it to New York. Will never pound on his Factory door. She will never be famous enough for someone to shoot.        She doesn't know she's sobbing until Lester's voice drifts over. “Zany?”        It's hard to speak with that hand gripping her throat and her father overhead still babbling: “Turn it up, Gig.” All Zany eeks out is a sob.        Lester's skinny voice slips through that slit in her door. “Zany?”        The grip loosens and Zany puts her eye to the peephole.        There he is, Lester, on his narrow cot in the windowless cellar where he now lives. He slides his hand into his waistband and he tilts his head toward her. “Are you watching?”  Zany's breathing settles, and the overhead voices disappear taking with them the possibility of Andy's death. Her eyes widens so she can take it all in, the violent strokes, his contorting face, because she won't look away from Lester's pain, or hers.  Finally, she answers him: “Yes.” 

Well, this could be awkward: when we last featured a story on the podcast a year ago, it also focused on parasocial relationships and included masturbation! This time around, we are again in deft hands. Marie Manilla's short story “Watchers”, set in 1968 Pittsburgh with both the steel mills and Andy Warhol as vital elements, is replete with narrative and thematic echoes that satisfy and leave us wanting more at the same time. Tune in for this lively discussion which touches on budding creative and identity-based aspirations, celebrity, performance art, pain in public and private, and much more. Give it a listen -- you know you want to! (Remember you can read or listen to the full story first, as there are spoilers! Just scroll down the page for the episode on our website.)   (We also welcome editor Lisa Zerkle to the table for her first show!) At the table: Kathleen Volk Miller, Marion Wrenn, Lisa Zerkle, Jason Schneiderman, Dagne Forrest   Listen to the story Watchers in its entirety (separate from podcast reading)   Parasocial relationships https://mashable.com/article/parasocial-relationships-definition-meaning   Andy Warhol's childhood home in Pittsburgh (the setting of this story) http://www.warhola.com/warholahouse.html   “History” article about Andy Warhol's shooting by Valerie Solanas https://www.history.com/news/andy-warhol-shot-valerie-solanas-the-factory    I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996 film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_Andy_Warhol      ** Fun Fact 1: the original poster for the 1996 film hangs in Jason's apartment.   ** Fun Fact 2: the actor who portrayed Valerie Solanas in “I Shot Andy Warhol”, Lili Taylor, is married to three-time PBQ-published author Nick Flynn.   Nick Flynn's author page on PBQ http://pbqmag.org/tag/nick-flynn/   Dangerous Art: The Weapons of Performance Artist Chris Burden https://www.theartstory.org/blog/dangerous-art-the-weapons-of-performance-artist-chris-burden/ In her fiction and essays, West Virginia writer Marie Manilla delights in presenting fuller, perhaps unexpected, portraits of Appalachians, especially those who live in urban areas. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Marie's books include The Patron Saint of Ugly, Shrapnel, and Still Life with Plums: Short Stories. She lives in Huntington, her hometown, with her Pittsburgh-born husband, Don.   Instagram and Facebook: @MarieManilla, Author website    Watchers        Zany lies amid clutter on the floor beneath the dining room windows hugging her bandaged arm. She huffs loudly enough to reach the front porch where Mom and Aunt Vi imbibe scotch. Vi still isn't used to afternoon drinking. They can't hear Zany over the Krebbs' crying baby on the other side of the duplex wall. Stupid baby. Plus Zany's little sister overhead dancing to the transistor radio, rattling the light fixture dangling from the ceiling.        The fingertips on Zany's bandaged arm are cold and maybe even blue. This is slightly alarming. She considers running to Mom but knows better. Take the damn thing off then, Mom will say.        There's nothing wrong with Zany's arm, but that isn't the point. At breakfast, without preamble, she wound an Ace bandage from her palm to her armpit. The family no longer asks what she's up to. Last week during Ed Sullivan she sat at her TV tray dripping candle wax over her fist. Aunt Vi blinked with every splat, but Mom only said: “If you get that on my rug I'll take you across my knee. I don't care how old you are.” Zany is thirteen.        Week before, Zany taped a string of two-inch penny nails around her throat at the kitchen table where Dad rewired one of Mom's salvaged lamps. “Why don't you do that in your room?”  Dad didn't like sharing his workspace. Zany shrugged and the nail tips jabbed her collarbones.  She could have done it in her room, but doing the thing wasn't the point. It was having someone watch that mattered. If no one watched, who would believe she could endure that much discomfort?        Nobody is watching now, so Zany grips a dining table leg and pulls it toward her, or tries to. It's hard to budge through Mom's junk piles, plus the weight of the extra leaf Dad inserted when Aunt Vi and Cousin Lester moved in after their apartment collapsed. Aunt Vi brought cans of flowery air freshener to hide the hoard smell—rotten food and cat piss. They don't own a cat.  Lester, sixteen, bought a box of rubble-rescued books.        “You better be setting the table!” Mom calls through the screen.        Zany hates Mom's manly haircut and has said so. “It's Gig's turn!”        Overhead, Gig stomps the floor in the bedroom they now share. Aunt Vi got Zany's attic where Mom's hoard had been disallowed, but it's begun trickling up. “No, it's not!” Gig's transistor blares louder.        “Zany!” Mom calls. “I swear to God! And close those drapes!”        Mom can't stand looking at the neighbor's wall she could reach across and touch, but Zany craves fresh air, as fresh as Pittsburgh air can be. Plus, she likes counting the yellow bricks Andy Warhol surely counted when this was his childhood home, the dining room his make-shift sickroom when he suffered St. Vitus Dance. Zany is certain his bed would have been right here by the window where he could see a hint of sky if he cricked his neck just right. She lies in his echo and imagines the day she'll appear at his Factory door in New York City and say: “I used to live in your house.” Andy will enfold her in his translucent arms before ushering her inside, not to act in his films or screen print his designs, but to be his equal. Partner, even. Zany just has to determine her own art form. It sure won't be cutting fruit cans into flowers like Warhol's mother did for chump change.        Zany's legs start the herky-jerky Vitus dance as if she's running toward that Factory dream. Her pelvis and hips quake. The one free arm. The back of her head jitters against the floor. It's a familiar thrum even Aunt Vi and Lester are accustomed to now. Mom yells: “Stop that racket!” She mutters to Vi: “We never should have bought this place.”       A kitchen timer dings and Aunt Vi comes in to disarm it. Her cooking is better than Mom's, and Vi wears an apron and dime store lipstick while she does it. Fresh peas instead of canned. Real mashed potatoes instead of instant. Vi is a better housekeeper, too, organizing Mom's trash into four-foot piles that line the walls. Every day Mom trolls back alleys and neighbors' garbage in dingy clothes that make her look like a hobo. That's what the kids say:  Your mom looks like a hobo. She pulls a rickety cart and loads it with moldy linens, rolled-up rugs, dented wastebaskets. Zany wonders if Dad regrets marrying the wrong sister. She knows he regrets not having a son, a boy who could have been Lester if Dad had a different heart. Instead, Dad got Lester on at the blast furnace, because “No one sleeps under my roof for free.” Who needs a high school diploma?        In the kitchen, Aunt Vi lets out one of her sobs. She only does that in private after Mom's third scolding: “He's dead, Vi. Crying won't bring him back.”        Zany misses Uncle Mo, too. His pocketful of peppermints. The trick coin he always plucked from Zany's ear. The last time Zany's family visited, she walked through their decrepit Franklin Arms apartment with its spongy floors and clanking pipes, but no maze of debris to negotiate. No cat piss smell or sister blaring the radio. She found Lester in his room at a child's desk he'd outgrown, doughy boy that he then was, doing homework without being nagged.  Astounding. His room was spartan, plenty of space for a second bed if Zany asked Aunt Vi sweetly enough. But no. Zany couldn't abandon Andy in his Dawson Street sickbed. Lester's only wall decoration was a world map strung with red yarn radiating from Pittsburgh to France, China, the South Pole. She wanted to ask why those destinations, but didn't, entranced as she was by all that fresh-aired openness, plus his feverishly scribbling hand.       Now, Aunt Vi leans in the dining room dabbing her face with a dishtowel. She's aged a decade since moving here and it isn't all due to grief. She targets Zany on the floor. “Everything all right in here?”        Zany has stopped breathing. Her eyes are glazed and her tongue lolls from her mouth.  She's getting better at playing dead.        “All right then.” Aunt Vi is getting better at not reacting. The screen door slams behind her.        Zany pulls in her tongue and inhales. She starts counting bricks again until Aunt Vi calls: “There they are!” as she does every workday.        Zany pictures Dad and Lester padding up Dawson. Wet hair slicked back because they shower off the stench before coming home. Zany appreciates that. Their boots scrape the steps to the porch where Aunt Vi will take their lunchpails. And there she is coming through the door and dashing to rinse their thermoses at the kitchen sink. Mom will stay put and pour Dad a finger of scotch.        Lester bangs inside and pauses in the dining room entryway. He's leaner now on account of the physical labor. Taller too. He eyes Zany's bandaged arm, not with Aunt Vi's alarm, but with the kind of baffled wonder Zany has always been after. Their eyes meet and it's the same look he gave her the day she walked backward all the way to the Eliza Number Two—not  because Dad and Lester worked there, but because it was lunchtime, and a gaggle of men would  be eating beneath that pin oak by the furnace entrance. And there they were, her father among them, not easy to see having to crane her neck as Zany picked her way over the railroad tracks.        “What the hell is she doing?” said Tom Folsom. Zany recognized her neighbor's voice.  “She's off her nut,” said another worker.       Zany twisted fully around to see if her father would defend her, but he was already hustling back to the furnace.        “Something's not right with that girl,” said Folsom.        “Nothing wrong with her,” said Lester from beneath a different tree where he ate his cheese sandwich alone.        Folsom spit in the grass. “Shut up, fairy boy.”        Lester wasn't a fairy boy, Zany knew.        Today, leaning in the dining room, Lester looks as if he can see inside Zany's skull to the conjured Factory room she and Andy will one day share: walls scrubbed clean and painted white.  Her drawings or paintings lining the walls in tidy rows. Maybe sculptures aligned on shelves. Or mobiles overhead spinning in the breeze. Lester nods at her fantasy as if it's a good one. He has his own escapism. Zany knows that too, and she looks away first so her eyes won't let him know that she knows.        Lester heads to the cellar where he spends most of his time. Mom partitioned off the back corner for him with clothesline and a bed sheet. Installed an army cot and gooseneck lamp on a crate. Andy Warhol holed up in the cellar when he was a kid developing film in a jerry-rigged darkroom. Zany constructed one from an oversized cardboard box she wedged into that shadowy space beneath the stairs. She cut a closable door in the box and regularly folds herself inside to catalogue her achievements in a notebook. Stood barefoot on a hot tar patch on Frazier Street for seventy-two seconds. Mr. Braddock called me a dolt, but I said: You're the dolt!        From below, the sound of Lester falling onto his cot followed by a sigh so deep Zany's lungs exhale, too. Whatever dreams he had got buried under apartment rubble along with Uncle Mo.       Outside, Dad has taken Aunt Vi's creaky rocker. “He's a strange one,” he says about Lester. “What's he up to down there?”        Mom says, “Who the hell knows?”        Zany clamps her unbandaged hand over her mouth to keep that knowledge from spilling.  She saw what he was up to the day she was tucked in her box and forgot time until footsteps pounded the stairs above her. She peeked through the peephole she'd punched into her cardboard door as Lester peeled off his shirt, his pants. He left on his boxers and socks. Didn't bother to draw his sheet curtain, just plopped on the cot and lit a cigarette. His smoking still surprised her. The boy he once was was also buried under rubble. Zany regretted not making her presence known, but then it was too late with Lester in his underwear, and all. Plus, she was captivated by his fingers pulling the cigarette to his lips. The little smoke rings he sent up to the floor joists. She wondered if he was dreaming of China or the South Pole, or just sitting quietly at his too-small desk back in his apartment inhaling all that fresh air. Finally, he snubbed out the cigarette in an empty tuna can. Zany hoped he would roll over for sleep, but he slid a much-abused magazine from beneath his pillow and turned pages. Even in the scant light Zany made out the naked lady on the cover. Zany's heart thudded, even more so when Lester's hand slipped beneath his waistband and started moving up and down, up and down. She told her eyes to close but they wouldn't, both entranced and nauseated by what she shouldn't be seeing. She knew what he was up to, having done her own exploring when she had her own room. She'd conjure Andy Warhol's face and mouth and delicate hands—because those rumors weren't true. They just weren't. Harder to explore in the bed she now shared with Gig. Stupid Aunt Vi, and stupid collapsed Franklin Arms.       What Lester was up to looked angry. Violent, even. A jittery burn galloped beneath Zany's skin and she bit her lip, drawing blood. But she couldn't look away from Lester's furious hand, his eyes ogling that magazine until they squeezed shut and his mouth pressed into a grimace that did not look like joy. The magazine collapsed onto his chest and his belly shuddered. Only then did Zany close her eyes as the burn leaked through her skin. When Lester's snores came, she tiptoed upstairs to collapse on Andy's echo. She caught Lester seven more times, if caught is the right word, lying in wait as she was, hoping to see, hoping not to.  “You better be setting the table!” Mom yells now from the porch.        Zany grunts and makes her way to the kitchen where Aunt Vi pulls a roast from the oven.  Zany heaves a stack of plates to the dining room and deals them out like playing cards.  “Don't break my dishes!” Mom calls. I hate your hair, Zany wants to say.  There is a crash, but it's not dishes. It comes from overhead where Gig screams.  Thumping on the stairs as she thunders down, transistor in hand. “Zany!”  Gig rushes into the dining room, ponytail swaying, eyes landing on her sister. “He's been shot!”        Zany's mind hurtles back two months to when Martin Luther King was killed. Riots erupted in Pittsburgh's Black neighborhoods: The Hill District and Homewood and Manchester.  “Who?” Zany says, conjuring possibilities: LBJ, Sidney Portier. But to Zany, it's much worse.        “Andy Warhol!”        Zany counts this as the meanest lie Gig's ever told. “He was not.”        “Yes, he was!” Gig turns up the radio and the announcer confirms it: a crazed woman shot Warhol in his Factory.       Aunt Vi comes at Zany with her arms wide, because she understands loss. “Oh, honey.”  Zany bats her hands away. “It's not true.”        Vi backs into Mom's hoard. “Is he dead?”        Gig says: “They don't know.”        Zany can't stomach the smug look on Gig's face, as if she holds Andy's life or death between her teeth. Zany wants to slap that look off, so she does.        Gig screams.        “What the hell's going on in there?” Mom calls.        “Zany hit me!” Gig says at the very moment Aunt Vi says: “Andy Warhol's been shot!”  “No he wasn't!” Zany says again, wanting to slap them both.        Mom and Dad hustle inside where Gig cups her reddening cheek and bawls louder.  “It's nothing,” Mom says at the sight of her sniveling daughter, but Dad enfolds Gig in his arms. “There, there.”        “Don't coddle that child,” says Mom, and for once Zany agrees.        “Now, Mae.” Dad cups the back of Gig's head and there's a different look on her face.  Triumph, maybe.        Pounding on the shared duplex wall, Evie Krebbs, who never could shush that wailing baby. “Andy Warhol's been shot!” she calls to them. “Did you all hear?”        “We heard,” Mom answers as the baby cries louder, and so does Gig, who won't be upstaged. Mom says: “That's the price of fame I guess.”        “Being shot?” says Aunt Vi.        “Put yourself in the public eye and anything's liable to happen. Lotta kooks in this world.”       The neighbor kids' chant sounds in Zany's head: Your mother's a hobo.        “I'd rather be shot than a hobo,” says Zany.        Mom's head snaps back. “What the hell's that supposed to mean?”        Zany doesn't fully know what she means, or maybe she does.        Dad says, “Turn up the radio and see if he's dead.”        Zany doesn't want to know the answer, and to keep him alive she runs to the basement where Andy will always be a sickly boy developing film. Never mind Lester in his bed sending smoke rings up to the floor joists. Never mind her family still jabbering overhead.       Zany dashes to her cardboard box and closes the door, her body shaking, but not from any disease. Andy can't be dead. He just can't, because if he is Zany will never make it to New York. Will never pound on his Factory door. She will never be famous enough for someone to shoot.        She doesn't know she's sobbing until Lester's voice drifts over. “Zany?”        It's hard to speak with that hand gripping her throat and her father overhead still babbling: “Turn it up, Gig.” All Zany eeks out is a sob.        Lester's skinny voice slips through that slit in her door. “Zany?”        The grip loosens and Zany puts her eye to the peephole.        There he is, Lester, on his narrow cot in the windowless cellar where he now lives. He slides his hand into his waistband and he tilts his head toward her. “Are you watching?”  Zany's breathing settles, and the overhead voices disappear taking with them the possibility of Andy's death. Her eyes widens so she can take it all in, the violent strokes, his contorting face, because she won't look away from Lester's pain, or hers.  Finally, she answers him: “Yes.” 

Tressa has the honor and absolute delight to sit down and chat with the generous, community-minded, and kind-hearted husband and wife duo, Troy and Theodora Polamalu. Steelers fans and yinzers around the world will be well-acquainted with Troy's work as a Strong Safety for our Steelers' defense for 12 years, earning 2 Super Bowls and a spot in the Hall of Fame. Troy and Theodora are philanthropists who deeply care about those in need and are here to talk about community, giving back, and The Resilience Bowl, which will benefit the Neighborhood Resilience Project. Trust us, you don't want to miss this episode! The Resilience Bowl The Resilience Bowl is coming to Acrisure Stadium on May 21st, 2024! Together we can make an impact and support the work of the Neighborhood Resilience Project. The Resilience Bowl is brought to you by the Neighborhood Resilience Project and Troy and Theodora Polamalu with generous support from Citrone 33 and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The mission of the Neighborhood Resilience Project is to create resilient healing and healthy communities. One block at a time.  The Resilience Bowl Hosted by Troy & Theodora Polamalu May 21, 2024 | Acrisure Stadium 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Celebrity Flag Football Game | Kickoff @ 7:00 p.m. The Troy and Theodora Polamalu Foundation https://www.yinzaregood.com/ Instagram: @yinzaregood Facebook: @YinzAreGood Have a story of GENEROSITY or KINDNESS to share with us? Email us at yinzaregood@gmail.com To request a KINDNESS CRATE drop off at your business or school, email us at yinzaregood@gmail.com

Will construction ruin your commute? PennDOT recently announced new projects in the Pittsburgh area, and the City Cast Pittsburgh team is breaking down what improvements are coming to our roads and bridges. Plus, we've got updates on how to get around now that the Mon Incline is closed – again.  We always cite our sources: PennDOT listed what construction projects are coming up and what projects are wrapping up in the Pittsburgh region. The Pittsburgh Union Progress reporter Ed Blazina wrote about PennDOT's projects and what to expect from the Commercial Street Bridge replacement. Check out what the Commercial Street Bridge will look like once it's completed and painted in Greenfield Green! Improvements are also coming to other parts of the Parkway East and McKnight Road.  Sidewalk repairs are coming to the Hill District and Larimer. The Monongahela Incline's closed again, and this time, PRT is planning for an independent review of the system. Become a member of City Cast Pittsburgh at membership.citycast.fm. Want more Pittsburgh news?  Sign up for our daily morning Hey Pittsburgh newsletter. We're on Instagram @CityCastPgh. Text or leave us a voicemail at 412-212-8893. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the latest episode of Chesterfield Behind the Mic, we talk to Jessica Schneider of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors to talk about the adjustments of the last few months since she was sworn in, her thoughts on some of the big items facing the county in 2024, and her updates on several things of note in the Clover Hill District.   Credits: Director: Martin Stith Executive Producer: Teresa Bonifas Producer/Writer/Host: Brad Franklin Director of Photography/Editor: Matt Boyce Producer/Camera Operator: Martin Stith and Matt Neese Graphics: Debbie Wrenn Promotions and Media: J. Elias O'Neal and Katie Cominsky   Music: Hip Hop This by Seven Pounds Inspiring Electronic Rock by Alex Grohl   Guest: Jessica Schneider, Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors (Clover Hill District)   Recorded in-house by Constituent and Media Services   Chesterfield.gov/podcast     Follow us on social media! On Facebook, like our page: Chesterfield Behind the Mic. On Twitter, you can find us at @ChesterfieldVa and on Instagram it's @ChesterfieldVirginia. And you can also watch the podcast on WCCT TV Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. as well as on weekends at noon on Comcast Channel 98 and Verizon Channel 28.

Owner of Salem's, Abdullah Salem joins Larry and Marty to discuss the opening of a new Salem's Market in the Hill District. 

Hour 2 - Larry and Marty discuss a new grocery store opening in the Hill District, the importance of pets and pet insurance, a Super Bowl ticket scam, and they have their weekly check in with Dr. Mike. 

Good Morning from the Big K Morning Show! Coming up, Larry Richert and Marty Griffin discuss the Hill District getting a new grocery store, a possible Public Works strike, and a fight at a local restaurant. 

MDJ Script/ Top Stories for Oct 13th Publish Date: Oct 12th Commercial: Henssler :15 From the Henssler Financial Studio, Welcome to the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast. Today is Friday, October 13th and happy heavenly birthday to MLB HOF Eddie Matthews. ***EDDIE MATTHEWS WALK OFF 1957 WS GM4*** I'm Dan Radcliffe and here are the stories Cobb is talking about, presented by Engineered Solutions of Georgia. 1. Cobb Commission Gives County Manager 3-Year Contract Extension 2. Marietta Welcomes Back First Black Homecoming Queen as Part of Festivities 3. Powder Springs Man Stole 4,000 pounds of Copper from Acworth Business All of this and more is coming up on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast, and if you are looking for community news,  we encourage you to listen and subscribe! BREAK: CU of GA STORY 1: Cobb Commission Gives County Manager 3-Year Contract Extension The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to extend County Manager Jackie McMorris's contract for three  years, from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2026. Her new base salary will be $350,000, an increase from her previous  $291,700. McMorris has held the role of county manager since April 2020, succeeding Rob Hosack. Before that, she had a  background in academics and had worked in government roles, including serving as the head of Cherokee County's  community relations department and chief of staff for former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard. The vote for  her contract extension took place with no discussion among the commissioners......…….Get more stories like this from  mdjonline.com STORY 2: Marietta Welcomes Back First Black Homecoming Queen as Part of Festivities Marietta High School is celebrating homecoming with a special guest, Brenda Russaw McCrae, the school's first Black  homecoming queen from 50 years ago. McCrae, a 1973 graduate, has returned for the festivities. She integrated the  previously all-white school in 1964 and was the first Black cheerleader. The celebration includes a homecoming kickoff at  Glover Park Brewery, a fan fest at Northcutt Stadium, and a parade along a revised route. Additionally, the event will honor  Marietta High junior Liv Teverino, who tragically lost her life in a car crash last month. Brenda McCrae's visit is a reminder  of the school's history and the progress it has made. STORY 3: Powder Springs Man Stole 4,000 pounds of Copper from Acworth Business Frank Donald McConnell, a temporary employee, is accused of stealing around 4,000 lbs. of copper tubing and pipe  from Hayes Pipe Supply in Acworth. He was apprehended on August 4th after an employee found him inside the  business after work hours. McConnell had worked there from March 30 to August 4, with a schedule of Monday to  Friday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The company's operations manager discovered approximately 3,900 pounds of  copper missing, valued at $32,400. McConnell allegedly made four sales of the stolen copper to Alsobrooks Recycling  in Hiram. He faces charges of second-degree burglary and theft by taking regulated metal, was arrested on September  28, and released the following day on a $35,000 bond.......................…..(pause) We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.799.6810 for more info. We'll be right back Break: ESOG – ELON – JRM STORY 4: All New, Award-Winning, Drive-Through Light Show Synced to Music coming to Jim R. Miller Park Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland, in partnership with Cobb County Parks, is launching a spectacular drive-through  light show at Jim R. Miller Park in Marietta, open from Nov. 17 to Jan. 7. The show features custom-built light displays  synchronized to Christmas music, including a 300-foot RGB tunnel, 50-foot Christmas trees, and North Pole-themed  displays. After the show, visitors can explore Santa's Village in the Jim R. Miller Event Center, offering activities,  inflatables, food, and the chance to meet Santa. This collaboration aims to bring joy to Cobb County residents and visitors. Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland is known for pioneering synchronized drive-through Christmas light shows.  For tickets and more information, visit Shadrack Christmas dot com slash Marietta dash ga. STORY 5: Atlanta Ballet Presents The Nutcracker at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre The Atlanta Ballet is set to perform its unique rendition of The Nutcracker from December 8 to 26 at the Cobb Energy  Performing Arts Centre, featuring live music by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. Award-winning choreographer Yuri  Possokhov reimagined this classical ballet in 2018, incorporating intricate costumes, ornate sets, advanced lighting,  and video projections. The production has received acclaim for its entertainment and innovation. The performance  will be accompanied by a festive atmosphere, with winter decorations, holiday shopping, sweet treats, hot cocoa, and  seasonal cocktails. Tickets start at $35 and are available online or at the Cobb Energy Centre Box Office. Group sales  are also available. Visit atlanta ballet dot com slash nutcracker for more information. We'll be back in a moment Break: DAYCO – DRAKE – POWERS STORY 6: Cobb Fire Saves Horse Trapped in Creek This week, Cobb County firefighters collaborated with a local nonprofit, the Large Animal Response Group, to rescue a  mare named Raven trapped in a creek near Stout Park in southwest Cobb. Raven's owners sought help when they couldn't  free her themselves. The mare was sedated, and with the joint efforts of firefighters and the rescue group, they managed  to pull her 20 feet across the creek and up a three-foot embankment. After about 20 minutes of recovery, Raven was up  and walking again. The Large Animal Response Group, formed seven years ago, focuses on rescuing horses but is also  equipped to help with cattle and llamas. They provide training for firefighters and volunteers and raise funds for  specialized equipment. Raven was successfully rescued and is now in good health. STORY 7: Whats happening on Friday In Cobb County tonight, you have three exciting options. Firstly, The Strand Theatre in Marietta is screening the classic  horror film "Friday the 13th" with a pre-show on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ. It's rated R, and those under 17 need a  parent or guardian. Next, Marietta's New Theatre in the Square, in collaboration with the New African Grove Theatre,  presents August Wilson's "Two Trains Running" on October 13-15 and 20-22, exploring life in the 1960s Hill District of  Pittsburgh, touching on themes of urban redevelopment and racial inequality. Lastly, the legendary Johnny Mathis will  perform at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, marking his 67th year as a recording artist. Tickets range from $65 to  $125. Find out more about these events at mdj online dot com Break: INGLES 10 – Henssler :60 Signoff- Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Marietta Daily Journal podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage  you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Community  Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties, or the Paulding County News Podcast. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at MDJonline.com. Did you know over 50% of Americans listen  to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure  you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. 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Tressa sits down with the phenomenal Brenda Tate, Founder of Senior Jazz Connection, recipient of the 2022 Sr. Susan Welsh Good Neighbor Award, retired Pittsburgh Police Officer and more...This is a soul-lifting and inspiring conversation for yinzers of all ages :) Senior Jazz Connection on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090798046645 https://www.post-gazette.com/life/goodness/2023/03/07/brenda-tate-mcauley-ministries-sister-susan-welsh-award-pittsburgh-mercy/stories/202303010116?fbclid=IwAR27uejU9AkBmMw0JY1HM29iMEbLJetFgPI5K0w0SOShBRinkCr2iEac204 www.yinzaregood.com IG: @yinzaregood FB: @ Yinz Are Good Email us with your good news, your notes of gratitude, acts of kindness that you've witnessed or experienced: yinzaregood@gmail.com

Water rates could rise as much as 70% over the next three years, and as homeowners, you stand to pay a lot more than a big commercial business. City Cast Pittsburgh host Megan Harris chats with Ann Belser, the editor and publisher of Print, about why PWSA says it needs so much more money, how the state's getting involved, and what you can do to have your voice heard before the price per gallon goes up. Ann's work also publishes online with NEXTpittsburgh. Check out her piece detailing why the rate hike got delayed from its proposed July 8 start date. Another one should be dropping soon. The state wants to hear from you! If you want to weigh in on the proposed rate hike, the Public Utility Commission is holding in-person hearings on tomorrow, July 25 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Jeron X. Grayson Community Center in the Hill District, and via Zoom at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 27. You can use the event links on the PWSA website, check in with the PUC schedule directly, or send letters of support or objection to:  Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Post Office Box 3265, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3265 Want some more Pittsburgh news?  Make sure to sign up for our daily morning Hey Pittsburgh newsletter. We're also on Twitter @citycastpgh & Instagram @CityCastPgh! Not a fan of social? Then leave us a voicemail at 412-212-8893. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk with the EPA regional administrator about environmental test results for samples taken from farms near East Palestine, after the train derailment and fires there. And, we visit a Black urban farmer in Pittsburgh's Hill District in our series, “Sowing Soil with Soul.” Plus, every part of an invasive plant now common along Pennsylvania roadsides, is poisonous. We'll tell you how to identify it.

In Episode 4, independent journalist Greeshma Kuthar critically examines the role of media — the fourth pillar of democracy — to report the realities of the Manipur ethnic violence, which began on the first week of May.  Greeshma spoke with Kaybie Chongloi, the only Kuki journalist from the Hill District of Kangpokpi, and with a woman survivor to understand if the mainstream media played an unintended role in vilifying a group of people through its coverage. Even as the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, visited Manipur and requested a 15-day peace period with the leaders of the Hill tribes, there had been violence in parts of the state. Misinformation or no information about the ground realities of the internally-displaced people, the violence, the death and the destruction have left those affected in angst and despair. Greeshma also takes a first-hand look at the situation in the Kangpokpi district with a Kuki woman leader who chose to remain anonymous.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In episode 3 of 'Dispatches from Manipur', independent journalist Greeshma Kuthar takes a first-hand look at the state of relief camps for hill tribes — how the civil society manages the relief, the lack of support from State and Central governments, and the experiences of those internally displaced. We want to issue a trigger warning as this episode contains distressing and harrowing experiences. The listener's discretion is encouraged. More than 38,000 people have been displaced internally due to the ethnic violence that has engulfed Manipur since the first week of May. At least 10,000 displaced people are in 46 relief camps in the Kangpokpi district alone. Greeshma visits the office of the District Relief Committee in Kangpokpi, where she speaks with NS Gangte, Secretary of the Kangpokpi District Relief Committee and a woman leader from the committee. At present, the relief camps for the Kuki-Zo people are equipped only to provide essential support. With a lack of funding or financial aid, pregnant and lactating mothers and those with chronic illnesses are in a dire and critical state.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

On this episode, we get to converse with Rashidah McCoy. While her background is in communications, she also has put her knowledge to use in addressing issues concerning Diversity Equity, and Inclusion. However, first, she wants us to know that, coming from Pittsburg she is a fan of all things Pittsburg. Good to be loyal. Like so many, she learned to survive, thrive, and grow, in spite of her environment and a disability which, as she says, she embraces today.   During this episode, Rashidah and I get to have a great discussion about communications, the ever-expanding number of ways data is thrown at us, and especially about information overload and how we should handle it. Rashidah has some wonderful thoughts on how we all can handle the vast amount of information we encounter every day.   We also spend time about how to change the conversation regarding diversity and inclusion to be more inclusive, as it were. Rashidah offers some great and wonderful observations concerning this and how we, as a society, ought to move forward concerning truly including everyone.   Rashidah offers us much to think about. I hope you will find this program as thought-provoking and pertinent as did I. I'd love to hear your thoughts.   About the Guest:     Rashidah McCoy is a communication professional with 7+ years of diverse background in public relations, marketing, digital engagement, advocacy, DE&I, and storytelling. She's skilled in executing comprehensive campaigns, integrated outreach, and developing strategic strategies to help deepen the connection with stakeholders and attract new constituents through the consistent execution of transmedia and traditional experiences.   Rashidah has worked on award-winning campaigns and concepts for the National Restaurant Association, CNET, Budweiser, Aon, CharmClick (located in China), and many more. She's a firm believer in building a strong relationship with clients to ensure goals are met and organizations flourish. As a testament of her dedication to the nonprofit sector, Rashidah received the Association Forum Forty Under 40 Award for her accomplishments, leadership skills, and commitment to the industry.   Rashidah graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelors degree in Mass Communications from Delaware State University and received her Master's of Science in Journalism with a concentration on International Public Relations from West Virginia University. When she's not knee deep in the marketing communications world, she enjoys baking, traveling, and family time with her daughter and fiancé.    Ways to connect with Rashidah:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashidah-mccoy/  Twitter: @Hey_RashidahPR Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maven_marketingllc_/ Website: https://www.mavenmarketing4you.com/about      About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:20 Well, hello once again. And yes, you are listening to unstoppable mindset. I am your host Michael Hingson. And today, we get to chat with Rashidah McCoy, who is a communications expert. She knows a lot about marketing and a variety of subjects, including one of the ones that we get to talk about often here on unstoppable mindset, diversity, equity and inclusion DEI. And we will be talking more about that as we go forward. I am sure, but we'll worry about that as we go forward. But for right now, Rashidah Welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Rashidah McCoy  01:56 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me. And I appreciate your viewers listening in.   Michael Hingson  02:00 And how are you surviving the day?   Rashidah McCoy  02:03 It's a good day so far. So we'll be out here in Maryland, so I'm not gonna complain.   Michael Hingson  02:09 What's the temperature?   Rashidah McCoy  02:11 It's like the 40s. You know, what a cool breeze. I'll take that over the snow from Pittsburgh any day.   Michael Hingson  02:16 Wow. When I checked the temperature here in Victorville just a little while ago, it was 50. I was like 55. So that's okay, actually not too bad. We are. We're a little bit up in the mountains. So our temperatures are pretty close to what you usually experience. But we don't get the snow. We're in a valley and the the water passes a spy which is okay.   Rashidah McCoy  02:42 I love it. Well,   Michael Hingson  02:43 we'll cope. Well, listen, I'd love to start by you just kind of telling me a little bit about you growing up and what life was like and all those kinds of things. So if we could start with that, and we'll go from there.   Rashidah McCoy  02:54 Sure, Michael, no problem. So I want to raise in Pittsburgh, I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and Paris fan. You name it all things Pittsburgh. So I grew up in a single parent household. My mother was amazing. And my grandmother was even more of an amazing foundation for our family. And being a Pittsburgh was it's kind of hard. I'm from the inner city from Pittsburgh from the Hill District. We're August Wilson was born and raised. And a lot of times, a lot of us aren't expected to make it out. When we don't make it out, unfortunately, just because of the hardship and the property and so forth. But it is a beautiful city. I had a great childhood. My mom worked three jobs to keep me in private Catholic school, from kindergarten to eighth grade, I made some great friends I was loved on and I did my best always to strive for excellence, because I knew education was my only way out. It was for me, I didn't play a sport. I was low asthmatic girls, I didn't play a sport. But I definitely was always involved in school. Because for me, first generation college student, that was important for me to go to school, to make a difference and to show my family, not only my little brothers and sisters, but also my cousins and my mom, that you know, all this effort that you put forth in life. You know, there's more to it. There's also more outside of Pittsburgh. So being able to do that has been great. And I left Pittsburgh for high school, and I went to Delaware State University. And after that I kind of went on to Washington University. Got to travel the world. So now now I'm almost 32 And it all feels good. And it was somebody to travel the hardships make it a lot brighter today.   Michael Hingson  04:35 Do you think that the troubles and hardships and all those challenges helped you as you were growing up or now that you're older that that benefited you?   Rashidah McCoy  04:43 Oh, most definitely. I have a greater understanding and empathy for individuals than I would have in any sense of life. If I would not have gone through some things. Just some things that people think are minor aspects from disabilities as a young girl who had eczema, sometimes a point in my life where I was out of school for two weeks because I was hospitalized for severe eczema and my skin broke out so bad, I couldn't walk. I'm having asthma, had severe asthma, severe allergies, those types of just hardships, understanding who I was and loving on myself, I know we are at an age right now where self care and self love is big. I did not grow up with a lot of that, because I was I looked different, you know, I was itchy girl, I didn't have the longest hair. And I didn't come from, you know, the greatest background where I had Jordans. And, you know, my mom and I shop at the thrift stores on Sundays. And I took pride in that. But as I got older, I realized that those hard moments made me more empathetic and made me love on people more and want to serve others and help them get through those moments.   Michael Hingson  05:50 So did you outgrow the eczema and asthma and so on? Or do they still somewhat be with you?   Rashidah McCoy  05:57 They're still with me. They're still with me. But at this age, I've learned to not only maintain them, but embrace them. I get allergy shots about once a month now, what's one of maintenance, and for me, I embrace it. I am someone who I used to not even wear shorts or skirts. I used to wear jeans and tennis shoes all the time. Now it's like, Listen, this is who I am. This is how I look to talk, Phil, I'm going to embrace this black excellence that's pouring from the inside out. And I raised my head a lot higher now. Because I love who I am. I am a new mommy. So that's another stage of loving who I am. You know, my body's changed, my mind changed. My outlook on life has changed. But what it has done for me is put me in a perspective of like, listen, love on yourself and love on others who around you are going through some of the same things you may not even though what every day.   Michael Hingson  06:49 So do you consider eczema actually a disability? Is it classified as a disability or anything like that? Or do you? No, no,   Rashidah McCoy  06:58 it's a skin condition. It's a skin condition. And for mine, it's a very, I have also sale ptosis. So it's a condition where I lacked the molecule of moisture is held in my skin. So it's not a disability. But for me, it has disabled me.   Michael Hingson  07:13 I'm sure now I understand that. Yeah. So under the like Americans with Disabilities Act, it isn't considered a disability as such.   Rashidah McCoy  07:20 No, but asthma is yes. Yes.   Michael Hingson  07:23 Could always you could always just hold your breath longer, I suppose.   Rashidah McCoy  07:29 Breath in my nose and my mouth.   Michael Hingson  07:33 Yeah, that's gonna happen. Right? Oh, yeah. So you got your bachelor's from Delaware?   Rashidah McCoy  07:44 Yeah. Delaware State University.   Michael Hingson  07:47 Hmm. And then you went on to West Virginia to get your Masters and and what were those degrees in   Rashidah McCoy  07:53 your, my degree from Delaware State University was a mass communications. And my degree from West Virginia University was in journalism with a concentration on international public relations. And my research, it focused on the mentorship and the importance of mentoring young minorities, specifically millennial minorities, as we enter the communications and marketing space, and making space for young millennials, black, brown and indigenous.   Michael Hingson  08:21 So what is fascinating to me about that is that communication is, in some ways has in some ways haven't hasn't changed over the years. That is we still talk to each other some sometimes we talk to each other. And sometimes we don't but but the the methodology or the ways that we have available to us to communicate, certainly has changed a great deal. So what do you think about now we have social media and now we have such ease of access to electronic communications and so on, set a plus that A minus or how would you how would you   Rashidah McCoy  09:01 really in between discuss that? I think is it in between? Honestly, Michael, I think that the spaces that we have have a lot of opportunity to communicate with each other in different forms and fashions. You know, for not only individuals who are in different states and countries on the internet, you know, you can now get your Google in a different language or you can transfer your translate your documents and communicate with people easier. From an app on your phone or even speaking into your phone. You can have it translated. Social media has put us in a in a space where you can look at and talk to your favorite celebrities all the time or keep up with family members. We haven't talked to in years or may not talk to every day, but it has put a pressure on young individuals like myself and my age and the current generation has put pressure on them to live up to what they see in here. In an on social media, you know, you're able to see the BBL is happening, you're able to see the money flow and whatnot. slike easily easy work. You're also a lot of space to see the news and real time, unfortunately, you know, we have, unfortunately and unfortunately, you know, we have police cams on chest now out on their chest, now you can those videos are automatically uploaded, or we can record it on our phone and it's seen or you can go live. Those are moments yes, that are positive for us to be able to fight racial injustice sees, but also those are traumatic for individuals who are black and brown to see those types of injustice happen in the streets in front of you as you try to live a quote whatever normal life looks like for us now, you know, we see it, we hear it, we're around it. But how we consume it, oftentimes can embody us as human beings.   Michael Hingson  10:46 Well, and whether it's black, brown, indigenous or white, for that matter. How are we doing? Or what can we do better? Maybe that's a loaded question. But concerning the whole, the whole issue of absorbing and really dealing with the incredible amount of information that we get today. And you know, what I, what I keep thinking of is and what you just mentioned the news, we get so many videos that we get to look at we we hear so many people talking about different things on the news, or we have so many other ways of getting information like social media and so on. How do we deal with that? And how do we start to learn to put all of that in perspective, as opposed just reacting? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really love it. I suppose that   Rashidah McCoy  11:37 one? Yeah. Honestly, I think having a balance to the best of your ability. I know we again, mentioning the self care, self care comes in different forms of fashions. It comes in a bubble bath that comes in chocolate, but it also comes in sometimes not opening the Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok app for a week to just Just breathe. You know, it's harder, it's easier said than done. And it's not just the social media. It's, you know, it's the TV, it's a lot at us, and we're still getting newspapers, we still get magazines, we're still gossiping, we're still talk, I think taking that time for yourself, to also figure out what information is best for you in your life. You know, how do you divulge this information and you share it, but how do you also take it in in order for it to be reshard? You know, are you taking that in in the morning, noon and night because it will keep you up at night? Statistics say that you're looking at social media, between nine and 12, you're liable to stay up a little bit longer at night, though, I think is taking that time to figure out how to separate it, you know, what does that mean for you? For me, personally, that means that I try to log off at least by nine o'clock at night, and I still like you know, and just be done with it. For me, I used to when I was an agency like I'm in a larger agency and a smaller agency, we had TVs mounted to the walls were all day CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC was running. And it was like an overload of information just coming in from around the world, from different places at different times, but different information and different topics. And it was information overload. So for me now being a nonprofit, we're actually going back into the office in two weeks, I actually asked that question I was on their TV in the office, do we have to listen to the news all day? You know, are there certain times we can listen to it on key moment? 6am 3am and 6pm? What does that look like for us five o'clock news. Because you have to watch what you take in because then oftentimes you project that out? And that becomes a part of you.   Michael Hingson  13:44 How do we teach people to do that? I mean, I agree with what you're saying. And so in a sense, I I didn't mean to say it was a loaded question in the try to obviously trap you in something. But how do we teach people what you just said? Because it's so very true. And the other part about it is, you've talked about young people? Well, I'd love to hear your thoughts on older generations and so on and dealing with it. But how do we first of all, just how do we teach people to back off, because so many people have just learned to let all of that overwhelm them. And they get overwhelmed and they react very negatively to it. How do we fix them of that?   Rashidah McCoy  14:27 I think that starts with teaching people how to balance it. I think that starts in the space of understanding yourself and what you're consuming and why. I think when we think about that, go back to the old school moment where you're just jotting down what you're looking at and what you're consuming. You know what how is this information positively impacting my life? Do I need to be on social media for five hours a day? What does that mean for me? sitting back and thinking about you know, taking the moments to block off some time during the day for you to have your scrolling moments, saying what you do for your emails at work, you may set times on your calendar to particularly look at emails in the morning and in the afternoons you can get work done in the middle of the day. Another example, I think, also is taking the time during certain times of the year to reflect also on the in the things that are on your phone, all the apps, you know, we can have the phones and there's 1000 apps on them, take a moment and look and see and reflect like, Hey, do I really need to talk social media, CNN, uh, you know, naming all the apps running down even the games, you know, what is there for me, that is important for me. And I know it sounds selfish, to think about just, you know, consuming that for yourself. But sometimes you have to be selfish in these moments for your own self care and self growth. Because we tend to what you know, what's your take in? And what you put out, you know, how do you speak to yourself, it's also how you grow within your space, you know, those positive affirmations, those positive moments, you're consuming positive content and important content, that you're oftentimes going to kind of reflect that same thing. But sometimes when your content isn't as positive, or it's a little bit harder on whoever you are, what you're doing, it makes you more critical yourself. So just taking those moments. Okay, those are a couple of tips and tricks people can use.   Michael Hingson  16:14 I think you're absolutely right. The fact is, we don't tend to take time for ourselves, we don't reflect at the end of the day, what went on today, how was it? What could I have done that? I could do better? Or even the good stuff? What can I learn from that? We never seem to want to do that. And we just keep going on and on and on. But the reality is, if we don't stop to take time, to reflect, and to process and analyze, and then decide what works, we're just going to continue down this rabbit hole, which is so scary.   Rashidah McCoy  16:53 Yes, terrifying. It's terrifying.   Michael Hingson  16:55 It is. What about older people? I mean, I know that there are more and more people who are getting more accustomed to using computers, although they're a bunch of people who say I'm not going to learn all that newfangled technology and all that. But the reality is, some of them do. And the reality is, but the other reality is it is here, whether we like it or not. Yes,   Rashidah McCoy  17:19 and you have to adjust to it, I have a friend who actually has a business. And what he does is he teaches older individuals how to use technology. He actually does it goes to a library around different parts of his state. And he sets up days out of the month where older individuals 40 Plus can come on in, and he shows you how to set your apps up on your phone. So it shows you how to use the voice notes on your phone. So shows you how to use simple things that we think are simple, but are often hard how to use Google Maps, you know how to go onto your computer and use a Word document and to type something out and use the spellcheck to assist you in your spelling. Or even if you're someone who has to say well how to use the read on your Word document how to set that up on your phone to translate if you may speak a different language. I think that's something that's definitely needs to be considered because technology is not going anywhere. And COVID has high end it for us has high end not only our understanding of the lack thereof, resources to distribute to individuals during a time of technological challenge, but at the same space is like how do we ensure that everyone knows or has access, but it's I know, I see a lot of people who are like my friend doing some of the work in the communities to do that.   Michael Hingson  18:34 I think some people may think me crazy for saying this, but I will anyway, the reality is that we're doing the same things we did 3040 50 and 60 years ago, just using different tools. You know, we used to write things that you said down on paper. When we were students we would turn things in, we didn't have computers to help with a lot of stuff. But the reality is that what we're doing is the same stuff. We're just doing it with more and more efficient information dissemination tools, and it's also allowed us to spread the word to a whole lot more people, which can be a plus and which can be a minus but the reality is communications is still communications and basic process hasn't changed.   Rashidah McCoy  19:21 Not at all. Not at all. It has not I think we've lost the art of just conversations like this, you know, getting on the phone and talking to a friend rather than shooting a text and saying, gee am i i seen a social media post yesterday said it literally said someone texted me said GM Have a good day and they said well General Motors a YouTube you know, take the time to pick the phone up and say Hey, good morning. How are you? Have a great day miss you love you. Okay, bye, you know, take minutes to have that human connection with people. I think we kind of have lost the art of that and I am that person who makes my friends it sounds weird but makes my friend wants to hang up as opposed to Hey, love you. Because you don't know what's going to happen next Tomorrow is not promised. So taking that moment to embrace that old school, quote unquote, community, and old school communications, it means a lot, you know, go visit your friend, you know, they live down the street, don't just text them and say, Hey, checking on you go, you know, check them and set up a time to actually meet and have lunch and have dinner. And as my grandmother was saying, me my say, lay eyes on, you know, make sure they're well, are you well know what someone's really going through. And I think sometimes, we indulge ourselves in so much, from media, to social media, to whatever's around us and happening to us, we forget to check on people, and you that who that human is and what they're going through, because every one is going through something, whether we know it or not.   Michael Hingson  20:53 Yeah, the reality is, again, communication is still the same. It's just that we are we are forgetting part of that. And you're absolutely right. The fact is that that personal contact is extremely important. And there's no reason that we shouldn't be doing it, the art of conversation has really gone away, in a lot of ways. I, it took me a while to get a mystery solved in my life, which is, why is it that we hear about the stories of a family driving down the road, and the kids are in the backseat texting each other? Why did they do that? Why did they do that? And somebody finally said to me something that unfortunately, makes sense, I suppose, which is they don't want their parents to know what they're talking about, which is so unfortunate. And so we're getting away from this whole concept of conversation, and, and trust. Because why should it really matter if your parents know if you really trust your parents? Now, the parents have to earn trust, too. It goes both ways. But definitely trust and respect. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But the fact is that we've, we see people, especially younger people texting, because we don't want our parents or other people in the car to know what we're talking about. Well, that's pretty bad. And we've got to, and unfortunately, I'm not sure how it's going to happen. But someday, that's gonna come back to bite people.   Rashidah McCoy  22:26 I agree with that one friend. I agree with that one. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  22:30 it's a real, it's a real challenge. Well, you went off to college, and then what did you do when you graduated?   Rashidah McCoy  22:35 After I graduated Washington University, I took a fellowship at one of the largest marketing communications agencies in the world. And I was a diversity equity inclusion fellow where I worked there for about a year and I worked under you name it, I did sector health, I did social media, I did marketing. I worked with larger clients, smaller clients, military clients. And after I left there, I continued on to a smaller agency, where I had bigger clients ranging from AON to Budweiser and National Restaurant Association, it was amazing. Being able to work in I call it that the rat race phase I was because it was like, you know, the earlier the better, the later you leave, the better. You know who it was kind of like who can say the longest, you know, who's watching office. So that was my younger face. And I thoroughly enjoyed it gave me a lot of exposure to a lot of different organizations, cultures, languages, media relations, techniques of writing aspects of politics, I got to work with multiple clients at one time, I also got to help mentor and most amazing, young, bright magnet scholars, and help them start their career off. But I'd really ultimately realized like I'm meant to serve. So after I left those agencies, I went to work with migrants or refugees. The one that's how when President Trump was locking down the borders, so I had the opportunity to work with refugees and migrants and tell their stories and give a voice to them. I also got to spend some time in South Sudan, where I got to tell the stories of those individuals that the organization was helping and get money for them to fund different programs to help them with the psychosocial work, to assist them with their rehabilitation programs and stuff. And that was amazing. And then another after that role, I left and went to work with an organization that works for Racial Equity and Inclusion amongst lower income children, to help them have whatever they need to succeed by any means. In school and beyond. And now I'm at the organization that where I'm at now with more than a membership organization bringing together nonprofits, foundations and charitable organizations for the greater good of the US. So I've had a pretty good career along the way, and it has been one that has been up and down, had some challenges in between But the work I do, and I'm still doing is one that's close to my heart. So you   Michael Hingson  25:05 started out at a big company, why did you then go to a smaller company?   Rashidah McCoy  25:10 The closeness, um, I needed more from my team. My fellowship also ended that too. Yeah, that part too. But also, I knew I didn't want to stay in the big agencies because I wanted to be closer to the on the ground work. And for me, that meant more than being at a higher level in that space.   Michael Hingson  25:34 So the whole idea of, of being closer and, and being able to accomplish more, because you were in a smaller organization, where here we go, again, you can communicate with people, we get something done.   Rashidah McCoy  25:46 Exactly. I got to actually go to those meetings and sit one on one with these individuals, and be close to them and talk about their work. And what do you need me to do? How can I help put together strategic plans and alliances amongst partnerships and do media relations for them, develop not only strategic plans, but you know, execute them, you know, develop the social media campaigns and editorial calendars, and put together dei calendars for them and also help them see their work through a dei lens, which oftentimes is ignored. When you're doing storytelling work, you're telling the story of someone else, but you're not allowing that person to use their own voice, when they're telling the story because you're telling their story, which is actually not equitable at all. So I've done a lot of that work to over the past few years.   Michael Hingson  26:34 So as you've been involved in this whole concept of Dei, for a long period, what does that mean to you? As a as an African American woman, what is what does the whole concept of dei mean to you?   Rashidah McCoy  26:54 For me, it means space, to not only have a seat at the table, but have a voice. And it means for me to have a space, have a voice and be able to mentor and bring along other individuals who look sound like me, or who are facing in justices every day. You know, a lot of times I get into the rooms, and I get asked the question, hey, who else is coming? And I'm like, Oh, it's just me. It's little me. I've also been asked, you know, oh, how old are you? You know, I've even had the question. You know, is it just you coming? Are you skilled, do you understand what you're doing? And for me, that gives me a moment of teaching. Because not only do I understand, but I'm good at what I do. And I'm even better at educating and mentoring the young individuals who are coming behind me to do this work, I want them to be better. I want them to have that space and time to ensure that people know who they are. They're educated, and they're self educating. And also beyond inclusion, the word belonging, making sure you have a space where you belong. You get into a room and you have a voice and you're not afraid, a comfortable space, where you can be yourself and do your work in order for you to serve society for a better tomorrow. I mean, it sounds cheesy, but for me, it's that's important to me. You know what, I have a three year old daughter I have a three year old little girl. Her name is Yara and for me I need to make space for Yara Yara needs to be able to walk into a room and not be questioned because she's young, black or excellent. I need for people to understand that Yara and my little brother Rashad have an understanding of who they are, that they stand on the backs of ancestral giants. And they will and can make a difference in this crazy world we live in.   Michael Hingson  28:40 Well, so here's a question. And not not trying to make it too challenging. But nevertheless, it is. So you've talked about dei in terms of race, which is absolutely true. But the problem is that some of us have found that that limits to race. So we talked about a number, any number of people who talk about diversity when we talk about black people and the fact that they need to be included. But the reality is one of the observations and I was thinking about it before we started this interview this morning. One of the things that I find is that people get locked into their particular area of diversity or equity. So the real question is when we're dealing with this whole idea of diversity, equity and inclusion, how do we get people to really recognize there's more to it than just their individual sphere, if you will?   Rashidah McCoy  29:44 Hmm, good question. Thank you for that, Mike. Well, I honestly think it's these open, honest conversations. In some spaces. I am the person to bring the discomfort to the room in a positive manner, of course, but let's have the conversations that it's not thought about just your aspect of dei or of inclusion or where you are me, particularly as a black woman, you know, there's an equities for individuals who are deaf blind who have medical conditions, you know, what does that mean for them? I think having those open, honest conversations, and not only the conversations, but bringing solutions to the table with these individuals of how they want to be talked about how they want to be seen and heard, and work that can be done to address the some of the injustice sees that they face every day, I think can help bridge those, those gaps that we often face.   Michael Hingson  30:37 Yeah, it's a trick. Because mostly, when I ask people to define the whole idea, what do you mean by diversity, they'll talk about race, or they'll talk about sexual orientation, and so on, and disabilities and disabilities usually get left out. And so diversity has kind of been so defined that it leaves all of that out. And I've said that many times on on this podcast before. But the other side of it is that, what do you do if you're going to deal with inclusion? You either are or you're not. And if you're truly inclusive, you can't leave different segments of the population out, but people are so locked into one area of it. How do we get people to really change that mindset? Because, you know, most people who happen to be black or who have a different sexual orientation, just want to focus on that. But we are inclusive, because we include those people, but you don't include the rest of society. How do we how do we really change that idea?   Rashidah McCoy  31:42 I think is, of course, it's going to take time, it's something that will never happen overnight. But I think it has a conversation between those different communities, per se. And then putting forth the efforts for us to put up the work, develop strategic plans, take the time, one by one, to have this conversation in the groups and within the communities and lift them up, you know, going to conferences, meeting like minded people, putting forth those changemakers and influencers and putting them in front of these different audiences and giving them the tools and keys, and also the proper words and terminologies. But in order for them to help us bridge those gaps for belonging, I think the word we need to use instead of inclusion oftentimes is belonging. Because inclusivity is like yes, everyone's here. We're welcome. But do I belong? So I'm in this space? And I'm included? But do I feel as if I belong? Like you said people use the DEI term? And it's like, okay, diversity, equity and inclusion, I'm included in the conversation, as a black woman are included in the conversation as a white man who was blind, but what does that mean for my belonging? What have you done to ensure that when I'm in this space, not only do I have a voice at the table, but you have also done the physical part, and made sure that my voice is heard, or made sure that, you know, there's Braille on the books in our, in our meetings and things of that nature, the conversation goes beyond that. And I think a lot of the work needs to be put forth. And I think the people who have the platforms to do it need to be equipped with not only the resources to do so, but also I think teaching our youth, the same thing, you know, teaching our youth, they, it's not just how you look and what you see about someone that may be a disability, you know, sometimes you can't see someone's disability until they may have a speech impediment, or something of that nature that impairs them from being accepted, or included, are feel as if they belong. So having those conversations with teenagers and myself, for a three year old, you know, my daughter, I have a lot of conversations with her as well, too early, of course, on her own level, but I think that helps as well. And one last thing I think also would be helpful is putting the academic research behind it. putting data in front of people, oftentimes numbers speak volumes, they still do, you know, money, talks, numbers talk, you oftentimes can't ignore the numbers in front of you. And what that means, you know, humanizing those numbers and breaking them down. In order for individuals to understand that, listen, it's not just a black brown thing. It's not just a racial thing. It's not just your sexual orientation or your gender. There's more individuals out there who feel as if they're left out, let's figure out how we can better include them. And what are the next steps to get them in these conversations so that change can be made.   Michael Hingson  34:30 So you and I talked a little bit in the past as we were getting ready and preparing for doing this podcast, about some of the things that are going on when we deal with diversity. You mentioned Rhonda Santos and his idea of banning diversity programs in public schools. Tell me more about that.   Rashidah McCoy  34:50 It's a disturbing pattern for me, that we keep seeing this is honestly like the silencing of black voices and the aggressive attempt to literally wipe out black history, it puts me in a space where I'm one uncomfortable, but to ready for change, it's like come on, are we still doing this years later, because it's also an attack on some of the most vulnerable, marginalized people in history who are still fighting for this. And in that sense, if this attack continues, it then leaves for our younger generations to be ignorant and have a lack thereof of knowledge of the country's history of its own. And then it denies them the skills and understanding to break down this information to make the decisions of how they want to be a part of this change, or if they want to be a part of change, and how to enact change, to change historical things and continue to make a difference. I think that then just leaves people blind and by and blind sighted in the sense of like, how do we then not understand that history is here, history is real. People are in classrooms, and they need to learn about who they are, and where they come from, in order to have a better understanding of where they want to go. And I pulled a quote that I want to share from Miss Janae Nelson, she'd had a New York Times article a couple of weeks ago. She's the president and director of counsel from the Legal Defense Fund. And she quoted and said, students will arrive at institutes of higher learning, Ely equipped to engage with historical fundaments of the fast up foundations of this country, which include and are inapplicable from the history of black Americans. More over it will deny future generations the full story of turmoil and triumph that is in America. And it will also so racial divides that are enabled through white supremacy, which the FBI has identified as a major domestic security threat to thighs. I think that was such a powerful thing that she said in that article. It just literally leaves people without knowledge as they continue to thrive and try to grow and learn. But they don't understand what the who the backs of this country were built on.   37:07 And again, going back to the question earlier, it goes further because it isn't just black Americans or, or different races LGBTQ plus   Rashidah McCoy  37:17 friends or family. Yes, it's not just color.   Michael Hingson  37:22 But we're dealing with a country where the unemployment rate, for example, among employable persons with disabilities, is 65%. Yeah, and, and so that quote is great. But it doesn't include discussing disabilities. And the question becomes why and how do we change that? Because quotes like that, really cover much more than race, color, gender, sexual orientation, and so on. But yet, it continues to be that, that the reality is that one of the very largest minorities in this country are left out that is people with disabilities who make up over 25% of our population. Yeah. And so somehow, the people who champion specific areas of diversity, need to recognize that it goes further. And yeah, that's, you know, that's kind of really the issue that I was thinking of. Hmm.   Rashidah McCoy  38:27 No, I agree with that completely. I think a lot of that conversation has to come from the forefront of just because Janae did speak a larger into her article, as she mentioned, LGBTQ plus individuals, and so forth. But I do think a lot of times, like you said, that ability community is left behind. I think maybe having individuals who are at the forefront, continue to be an influence and speak out on these topics as well, because it is very important that they not be left out of these conversations are the solution as a bigger thing, the solutions are, to me, most important outside of the competence were the next steps, after we had the difficult conversations, and make sure that everyone the proper stakeholders are at the table to make a difference, and have their voices heard. And again, like I said before, and that change from the beginning to the end, but they have to be present in the rooms. And I feel like oftentimes, individuals with with disabilities, excuse me, are often left out of these spaces.   Michael Hingson  39:25 Yeah. So unfortunately, another another thought that comes up with this. You so we've talked about Rhonda Santos, did you happen to watch President Biden State of the Union address, and then the response from Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Yeah, yeah. And so what was one of the major things that Sarah Huckabee Sanders talked about? She was very proud of the fact that after becoming governor, she made sure that critical race theory was banned in public schools, and so on. And so again, we see this continuation of not Recognizing that there have been some significant challenges and blocks thrown in the way of a lot of us by some of the people who should know better.   Rashidah McCoy  40:13 They definitely should know better and should do better,   Michael Hingson  40:16 and should do better. You're absolutely right. But it is one of the things that that we do face. Well, in your job, what kinds of discriminations or challenges have you faced, and how do you deal with them from a standpoint of inclusion or diversity and so on, or   Rashidah McCoy  40:38 out, a lot of times, I laugh because just thinking about it is, sometimes it hurt to remember some of the things that I went through, because it's, it has put me in a space where now as a young professional, I can look back and know that those challenges helped make me who I am as a professional. But I've been told that I've hit plateaus because I could not bring in additional black or brown media hits, or that I was in a space where I was, where it wasn't short, that I still belonged, because I could not provide them black insight. Or I then became the black voice or the female voice in the room as well, too. But also in the same sense, I've gotten a lot of discrimination for being young. I got a questions about like I said, I think I mentioned this earlier on, like, you know, how old are you? Should you be here by yourself? You know, is there someone else coming? That to me is not only disrespect, but what is negating to who I am and the work that I put forth. But when it comes to those moments I've learned over the years, and I will admit at first I was not the comments, Michael. It takes time, that I'm a little older now, I think when people walk into the room, and they do ask who else is coming? You know, is there is it just us or I had asked for my resume and asked for my qualifications before, or spit their accolades to me and asked me to, you know, recite mine back to them. And I have combated sometimes in that sense, where I'm like, Well, I'm a gate scholar, you know, I have a master's degree I've studied in South Sudan, you know, things of that nature. But I've learned to calm it down over the years, and ask them the same question back in a sense of pain. And that place of where you're asking me is a my belonging, let's ensure that you understand that I'm a young professional, and I put in the work. And yes, someone else will be joining us for this conversation. But I am the director in this room. And moving forward, I would like to understand that there's a level of respect that's given. And we returned to you. So I think boundaries are a big thing that I have put forth, as I've gotten older, as putting up boundaries. And also, having people understand that that's not how you interact with people. That's not how you communicate with individuals, as you walk into a room. And the first thing you see is that it's a black woman, or just a woman in general, and you should be condescending, I think taking the time to educate people, but also addressing them and their biases in the most professional and empathetic manner. Because some people just don't know, they should know. They should, yes, they should. But some people just don't know, Michael, and they have gone along so long in life where people have not addressed them or just said, Hey, listen, that was not right, that was not polite. And I prefer not to be addressed like that moving forward. And there's nothing wrong with standing up for yourself in those spaces, or standing up and the next individual in the room. And if you see it happen, address, it helps someone else who may not feel that they have a voice, or that they have been silenced, because I had been that individual who has worked in these spaces, and then had my work taken from me have my credit removed from an assignment or a test or plan or strategy that I've put together had someone else's name put on it, I think is taking the time to address it. And oftentimes asking for help, if you do have individuals who can support you in those moments, whether it's, you know, some friends at work, who've been through the same thing, or talking to HR about the policies that are put in place for these types of moments.   Michael Hingson  44:17 Yeah, tokenism is alive and well in the world and in people's attitudes isn't   Rashidah McCoy  44:24 very much so unfortunately, very much so.   Michael Hingson  44:28 And it is a it's a hard thing to break and hard thing to get people to recognize that we're all people. Because people don't view us all as people and they don't. We haven't taught people to truly recognize understand and accept   Rashidah McCoy  44:51 difference. Exactly. And it has to be taught, hatred is taught, but acceptance of indifference is also Who taught? You know? Have you asked me about my childhood, that was not an easy time being a girl had eczema, it sounds like something to some people very minut. But I had eczema. And I had very itchy, very dry skin, and it was very visible on my face, my neck, my hands, my feet, you know, children are cruel. So when you don't teach your child, how to address someone, or how to talk to someone who looks different from them, or sounds different from them, that child then continues on as an adult, and thinks that those actions are okay. I heard you mentioned in previous podcasts that a child came up to you and said, I'm sorry, you can't see. And I wouldn't respond the same way you can. I'm sorry, you can't see. You know, teach your children to respect people, to talk to people with love. Everything people should do should be left with love. When you open your mouth to communicate, or you write on a pen or paper or you're on social media, remember that the things you're saying to people affect them, there's a person behind that screen, you know, there's a person standing in front of you respect that individual wholeheartedly, and for the entire person that they are. I've leaned on that for a very long time.   Michael Hingson  46:19 And should actually, yeah, I and the issue with that that child. He wasn't he was being a person, I'm sure he will say demonstrating pity where it didn't belong. But he wasn't he certainly wasn't saying it out of hatred. Now his mother almost immediately pulled him away. Which is really the big problem, because having the opportunity to talk to that young man was a good thing. As long as it lasts. Yeah,   Rashidah McCoy  46:52 yeah. And I bet that moment was a teaching moment. You know, I'm sure Chuck said didn't mean it out of harm. But teach your child take that moment as a teaching moment. And you as someone who's calm and loving and willing to teach and has taught many people in spoke about your story, that then put that child in a space where they could learn not only to understand difference, but maybe accept it. You know, acceptance is also another thing when you put someone in a space of belonging.   Michael Hingson  47:23 Yeah, and it as you said, it is a teaching moment. And part of the problem for those of us, all of us who are different, which really is everyone, but part of the problem, for those of us who are viewed as being part of a minority is, and it does get to be hard. Sometimes, we have the opportunity to be teachers and deal with those teaching moments. But it's a tough thing to be patient enough always to do that, too, which is the other side of it.   Rashidah McCoy  47:55 It's easier said than done. It's very easy to say, oh, go ahead and teach, you know, bring our wants to the table, and we'll talk about it. But sometimes those conversations don't want to be had. It may be traumatic, someone may be reliving something, maybe a PTSD moment. And I think that then leaves space for the grace. It's a word that I've used heavily over the past three years, give people grace. Again, you don't know someone's going through, but you don't know how what you may say, may affect them. And they may not be ready to be an advocate in the front that you are, you know, give people time, help them find a different way to make change. It doesn't always have to be through your voice. You know, maybe you're writing a letter to your representative. Or maybe you're you know, you're taking time to have small conversations, or you're seeing something on social media. When you see something that's a great quote or a testimony from someone or a video. That's an education, that's educational. take that time to do that. But don't expect other people to advocate the same way you do. And give them again, Grace, time and space to be ready to have those tough conversations.   Michael Hingson  49:12 Sure, for you who or what kinds of situations have really made you stronger at dealing with this whole idea of diversity, inclusion and equity and social justice.   Rashidah McCoy  49:27 I think a lot of the moments that have put me in a space is being a first generation college student from Pittsburgh. I grew up in our city I didn't have anyone to know, got me through school. So when I did leave Pittsburgh at 18 and go to the go to Delaware State University. It was pertinent for me to go to an HBCU to understand that I'm built and bred off the backs of giants. And I wanted to know who I was before I stepped into a world who may not accept who I was, or may not warmly welcome me, which may not will not, you know as so reality. So that for me going to Delaware State helped me learn the importance of loving on myself as a black woman, and also encouraging the youth in the generations behind me. And putting forth that model as a mentor. For individuals who are going through it with me or after me, I think it still puts me in a space of understanding when I'm in marketing, how to see things through a dei lens and be empathetic to people. Because I do understand what it means to be from a state or a place in a family, where not many of us make it out. So I think that was like my first opening to that. And then it continued on is things heightened, of course, in college when I went to Western University, which is a predominantly white school, I walked to the school and I wasn't accepted automatically by some people. I had different experiences to individuals who were in my cohort. But what that did was that made me want to write about that, that made me want to tell stories about that in a positive fashion and educate people. But then it does sometimes infuriate me when I see the racial and justices that happen in our country, and I have gone to protests after the killing of George Floyd and Trayvon Martin. You know, those moments have made me proud. It made me cry, but it made me work even harder for change, for belonging. And for again, like I said, my daughter cannot hopefully face as much injustice that I had to.   Michael Hingson  51:45 How many siblings? Do you have? Too many? There you go.   Rashidah McCoy  51:50 drive me crazy. Michael. Um, I come from a blended family. My both my fiance and so my mom has my brother in law. And on my dad's side, I have four sisters.   Michael Hingson  52:00 So any or all of them gone to college as well?   Rashidah McCoy  52:04 Yes, my younger sister who's right under me has gone to college. Yes, she is the amazing grad from Kent State University. And she's also in the same sorority Delta Sigma Theta as me so reincorporate it. So we do a lot of work through delta as well. We have both gone to Capitol Hill when we're active when we were active on campus. And she was doing the same work as me as communications and marketing. And it made me proud. I couldn't be prouder of her and all of my siblings.   Michael Hingson  52:31 Well, that's cool. Well, yeah, so you, you now blaze the trail, but others are going to college as well, which is cool.   Rashidah McCoy  52:38 Most definitely. My future husband, his siblings are impeccable to breaking the mold, breaking the cycle. My little brother on his side is also in college, doing amazing work. And just to see them thrive and push through and, you know, call and ask for help about certain things, even a little thing, you know, you don't think college students will ask my like, Hey, I have a question. But can you edit my paper, you know, to me, that's a big moment that I feel good about that, that I have come so far, that not only through education, but experience, I can talk to my siblings and and mentees about the moments that I face and how they can overcome them. And here's some tips and tricks that may help you in this space or just be a listening ear. Sometimes you just gotta be quiet and listen to people.   Michael Hingson  53:26 And so do they call on Big Sister occasionally for advice or guidance?   Rashidah McCoy  53:31 Oh, they do. They do. And some of them have lived with me. So it's quite interesting to help mold them into these young adults and then see them like go into these spaces or call for like, hey, how long should I eat this tomato it? You know, it's been a frigerator. Can I still eat it like, though? But also advice or just how to navigate the office space? Or how to go to college? And how do I organize my time? You know, it feels good. I love that feeling. It's a proud Big Sister moment for me all   Michael Hingson  54:02 that that is great. Well, what kind of advice would you give to other people, young people, but people in general who are facing social injustice or challenges? What What? What would you suggest to them?   Rashidah McCoy  54:18 My suggestion would be to honestly, lead with love. When you face these moments, try your hardest not to give people back the same ignorance or disrespect that they give you. I don't know. It's so hard. So hard. But I think if we put ourselves in these moments where we are ready to make a difference. Sometimes leaving it with a little bit of force is good, but sometimes taking a moment to step back and realize who you want to be in this moment and how you can change that moving forward, I think makes a big difference and how we then move on We're as a country and as a people, as a culture, I think that moment where you have those mums in front of you where you're confronted with it, breathed first, breathe. And think about the next action and how it can affect not only you, but others around you, and how you can take that moment again, and be a change that you want to see. Again, I know it sounds cliche, but take that moment. And if you have the opportunity to do have moments like this and have conversations with individuals like you, Michael, who had different experiences, do it. Have those conversations, go and make change, go talk to representatives, go to Capitol Hill and protest, be a part of your HOA in your community, just little things like that. People think don't have an impact, but they do know.   Michael Hingson  55:52 And be patient.   Rashidah McCoy  55:54 Always, always be patient and give grace. Give grace, don't tell us to give a hug.   Michael Hingson  56:02 Even to somebody you don't like there's nothing wrong with doing that. If you don't start to show the friendship, then they're never going to get the message.   Rashidah McCoy  56:11 Exactly who will. Yeah, I know, my friends laugh at me sometimes. And like you're always trying to help somebody, we can't help everybody. But sometimes you can help one person, if you can help one person, I think it makes a difference. And for me, I have the opportunity to serve through communications and marketing every day, and do the best of the nonprofit sector to help as many people as I can come together to make that change. And for me, that's important. And it's very important that the message that we put out into this world, the messages that people see and read and receive are ones that can change, you know, once that can educate, once that can be of you know, sometimes give a laugh, you know, in these tough moments, but also highlight the difference. And also give people a chance to have a voice and a seat at the table. That is literally important to me and everything I do especially my work as a marketing and communications professional.   Michael Hingson  57:13 You mentioned earlier that you you write some things, have you published anything I have   Rashidah McCoy  57:18 I was low, younger, haven't published anything most recently, but I did have opportunity to publish an article with the Public Relations Society, about the importance of mentoring millennial minority youth. I also have published research from when I got my master's degree. I've also had an opportunity to do some speaking like you might go I'm trying to get on your level. I went back to WVU last year and gave a presentation on you know the balance between racial inequity and trust what that means. I also spoke to some young students and got to help them understand what that means as well. When you're doing marketing and communications. I'm including, again, seeing through talent, storytelling, good the island. So I continue to do some more published research, hopefully, and also some more speaking engagements because I feel like I have a story to tell. And also I want to help other people tell their story.   Michael Hingson  58:13 Well, if people want to reach out and maybe contact you explore your firm or learn from you, how do they do that?   Rashidah McCoy  58:20 Sure, sure. I am on Twitter at Hey_RashidahPR. I'm on LinkedIn as Rashidah McCoy. I also have my own marketing communications agency called Maven Marketing LLC. You can find us online at Maven Marketing four number you.   Michael Hingson  58:37 Once you spell that Maven Oh, sure.   Rashidah McCoy  58:40 No problem. M A V E N  marketing M A R K E T I N G  number four, Y O U@gmail.com. And also.com is the website. So yes, we are here to help. We are a woman led and owned organization. And we see of course, like I said to a dei lens, but we are with you every step of the way. As you decide to, you know, build your communications plan, build your editorial calendars, as you plan events. And we also do a lot of pairing and partnering of the clients that I have and move forward with to do work in the community with individuals who are have different disabilities and who are black brown individuals from the LGBTQ plus community. So we're looking to do more connection and partnership to again make change and enact different voices to be heard.   Michael Hingson  59:32 And by the way, Rashidah is spelled   Rashidah McCoy  59:35 R A S H I D A H  last name McCoy M C C O Y Phillips? Yes. Michael Yes.   Michael Hingson  59:47 Um, but you know, it's the way to get the word out.   Rashidah McCoy  59:50 It is it is definitely get the word out and I appreciate it. I appreciate you helping us spread the word and spread the joy.   Michael Hingson  59:57 Well, I appreciate you being here and spreading the joy and help Need to spread the love. And I hope that you as you're listening out there will follow what Rashidah says and help spread the joy and the love as well. We'd love to hear from you. And I'm sure Rashidah would as well. So please reach out. I'd love to hear your thoughts, please email me at Michaelhi M I C H A E L H I at accessiBe A C C E S S I B E.com. Or go to www dot Michael hingson H i n g s o n.com/podcast. And wherever you're listening today, please give us a five star rating. We love your reviews. We love your thoughts. We love your comments. And we really appreciate you adding value to this podcast and Rashidah for you and for anyone out there listening. If you have any thoughts of other people we ought to have as podcast guests here on unstoppable mindset, please let us know. Email me reach out. We'd love to explore all your friends and guests. And we will do our best to bring them on and continue these kinds of dialogues. So Rashidah one last time, thank you again for being with us today.   Rashidah McCoy  1:01:05 Thanks for having me.   Michael Hingson  1:01:13 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet ful

On the latest episode of Chesterfield Behind the Mic, we talk to Chris Winslow of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors to talk about a variety of topics including the major economic development projects in the pipeline, the way the county has worked with schools, the success of public safety, the continued focus on improving transportation, and what things are on the horizon for Chesterfield and the Clover Hill District.   Credits: Director: Martin Stith Executive Producer: Teresa Bonifas Producer/Writer/Host: Brad Franklin Director of Photography/Editor: Matt Boyce Producer/Camera Operator: Martin Stith and Matt Neese Graphics: Debbie Wrenn Promotions and Media: J. Elias O'Neal, Elizabeth Hart, and Jackie Wilkens   Music: Hip Hop This by Seven Pounds Inspiring Electronic Rock by Alex Grohl   Guest: Chris Winslow, Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors (Clover Hill District)   Recorded on location by Communications and Media   Chesterfield.gov/podcast     Follow us on social media! On Facebook, like our page: Chesterfield Behind the Mic. On Twitter, you can find us at @ChesterfieldVa and on Instagram it's @ChesterfieldVirginia. And you can also watch the podcast on WCCT TV Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. as well as on weekends at noon on Comcast Channel 98 and Verizon Channel 28.

On today's episode of The Confluence:Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services is reassessing who qualifies for Medicaid benefits, after a pandemic-era policy barred states from taking people off the program. Katie Meyer, government editor/reporter with Spotlight PA, reports advocates are concerned that staffing shortages for caseworkers at the county level may impact those who qualify for benefits. (0:00 - 6:27) The University of Pittsburgh's library is restoring the work of Charles Henry Pace, one of the first independent Black gospel music publishers who lived in the Hill District. Pace's daughter, Frances Pace Barnes, and Christopher Lynch, project coordinator at the Center for American Music in the University of Pittsburgh's library system, join us to discuss Pace's legacy. We'll also hear music from a concert honoring Charles and his wife Frankie Pace's work, performed Saturday, March 25 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. (6:34 - 18:41) A musician needs strong pipes to play the harmonica. That makes this pocket-size instrument a challenge for people with respiratory conditions, such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and perhaps eventually long COVID. As 90.5 WESA's Sarah Boden reports, for some patients, harmonica lessons are just what the doctor ordered. (18:41 - 22:30)

Tressa heads to the Allegheny County Medical Society's headquarters for a great talk with Sara Hussey, Grace Orsatti (American Bar Association) , and Dr. Todd Hertzberg about their upcoming Life Planning Event (and other good-to-know info) on March 31st. And NTN is on location in one of our favorite spots :) www.acms.org Life Planning Event Friday, March 31st, 10am - 2pm 1825 Centre Ave. Pittsburgh Have a story of GENEROSITY or KINDNESS to share with us? Please email us: yinzaregood@gmail.com To request a KINDNESS CRATE drop off at your business or school: yinzaregood@gmail.com Please visit our website and follow us on Instagram and Facebook: www.yinzaregood.com Instagram: @yinzaregood Facebook: @YinzAreGood

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Mant¿s, author of the poetry collection, The Rootwork Stretched. Mant¿s writes from the intersections of Black, femme, queer, and artist. They are Pittsburgh born, and Hill District raised. They have performed their poetry at universities, open mics, launch parties, book tours, and featured showcases throughout Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City. Mant¿s creates work that reflects their healing.In our conversation Mant¿s discusses how poetry is a form of holistic health care she gives to herself, the importance of voicing things out loud, and how poetry allows her to speak across time and give birth to new versions of herself. Support the showFollow the Show: IG: @blkandpublished Twitter: @BLKandPublished Follow Me:IG: @nikesha_elise Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise Get My Books

The C.O.W.S. (Context of White Supremacy) Radio Program welcomes Kevin Hazzard. A journalist, TV writer, and former paramedic, Hazzard worked as an EMT on mean streets and crack dens of Atlanta, Georgia. He wrote about this experience in his memoir, A Thousand Naked Strangers. We'll discuss his more recent offering, American Sirens: The Incredible Story Of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics. This book focuses on the mean streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - with a splash of Baltimore, Maryland. We hear about the genesis of the EMT and paramedic profession. Hazzard documents the upheaval of the 1960's which included painfully slow efforts to improve ambulance care. A collection of black males were recruited to Pittsburgh's Freedom House to begin intense training to drastically improve the quality of care patients receive during a medical emergency before they reach the hospital. These black males endured all of the typical humiliations, deprivations and White Supremacists abuse, but they were committed to healing the black residents of Pittsburgh's Hill District. After nearly a decade of devoted, nearly unparalleled medical care… they were kicked to the curb, replaced with mostly incompetent white staff, and forgotten. #LenBias #TheHillDistrict #TheCOWS13 INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#

In the 1960s, sick or injured people would get taken to the hospital in the backseat of a cop car or hearse — if they were picked up at all. It wasn't until a trailblazing group of Black men from the Hill District started saving lives in their own community that the country began to develop a system for emergency medicine. Known as the Freedom House Ambulance Service, this team of Pittsburghers became the nation's very first paramedics. Kevin Hazzard, author of “American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics,” joins us to talk about the group's lasting legacy in our city and beyond. Our newsletter is fresh daily at 6 a.m. Sign up here. We're also on Twitter @citycastpgh & Instagram @CityCastPgh! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 14 The Address: 2027 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA The Story: The year is 1969. You and your girlfriends are walking down the street in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. It's late. The house party is over. Your crew is laughing and darting through familiar streets to your sister's house. Someone drives by blasting Aretha Franklin, “Cause I ain't never, no, no never, loved a man the way that I, I love you!” You clap to the beat. It's summertime, and the heat is rising from the concrete streets long after the sun has set. Just as you turn the corner to your house, you notice a car driving too fast through a red light. It swerves to avoid a crash, hops the curb, and hits your best friend. The car speeds off. You have a choice. Call 911 for the police or run home and get your sister's car. You override your fear of the all-white police force. You call them for help. A crime has been committed and you must get your friend the fastest transportation to the hospital or she will die. You dial 911. The wait is agonizing, your girl is bleeding out, the streets are sweltering. Moments later, you hear the faint but familiar sound of the paddy wagon at the bottom of the hill. Then you hear a second siren. It's closer, stronger, and unfamiliar. Just as you look up to pray to the dizzying streetlights, a van you've never seen before comes careening around the corner. It wasn't the police! Like a dream, the doors open and tall, beautiful, strong Black men, wearing crisp white uniforms and perfectly picked afros, jump out. Like Marvel heroes, they sprint through the summer night. The one up front nods to you with so much confidence that you step aside. Gently, they stabilize your friend's neck. They stop the bleeding, then proceed with compressions to her chest. Her brother runs over to stop them, but two of the uniformed men hold him back. You hear the crackle of a police walkie-talkie saying the officers are close. The men on the scene don't hesitate. Your friend is breathing again. They insert an IV, strap her onto a strait board, and carry her swiftly to the van. They disappear into the night just as the white police officers pull up. “What's going on here?,” the cop says. “A medical miracle.” You reply Tune in today to hear the full story of Freedom House Ambulance Service, the first ever paramedics in the world - Black men from Pittsburgh. Emergency medicine has never been the same! They changed the game and saved lives worldwide. We'll tell you how...

Paramedics haven't always raced to the scene of an emergency. Before 1966, if you called for help to get to the hospital, you might get a police car, or even a hearse. That year, Pittsburgh's non-profit Freedom House set out to change that for the city's Hill District, which was predominately Black. Staffed by trained Black men and mentored by the inventor of CPR, the ambulance service served as a model for newly emerging paramedic services around the country.Guests:Kevin Hazzard, author of "American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics"John Moon, paramedic at Freedom House and former Assistant Chief, City of Pittsburgh EMSPhoto Credit: Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, MC531-PD-12-3

It's the Friday news roundup! The team is talking about how long standing college football rivals, Pitt and WVU, are facing off for the first time in more than a decade; what the grand opening celebration of the August Wilson House means for the Hill District; and how the big bird, Giant Eagle, is using (and sharing) our shopping data, and ways that it could be targeting those who are, want to become, or don't want to be pregnant. Check out some of the great local journalism that powered today's show: A local's guide to the Backyard Brawl next month: https://www.visitpittsburgh.com/blog/backyard-brawl/ City Paper's Jordana Rosenfeld on Giant Eagle collecting our shopping history: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/giant-eagle-consumer-info-could-be-used-to-target-pregnant-shoppers/Content?oid=22197884 A little more about criminal charges in that Nebraska abortion case: https://abc7chicago.com/nebraska-abortion-facebook-medication/12116031/ And Gizmodo's investigation into how pregnancy is targeted by data brokers: https://gizmodo.com/data-brokers-selling-pregnancy-roe-v-wade-abortion-1849148426 City Paper's article about Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company's production of Wilson's play, Jitney, in August Wilson's backyard: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-playwrights-commits-to-the-hill-district-with-jitney-and-new-project/Content?oid=22198633 Francesca's interview with Denise Turner in the newsletter: https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?u=47857f2c492a1dda05a4762b9&id=a26c24d5ce NOW HIRING: If you're looking for a full-time, temporary audio job, then we've got the project for you. Apply to work with the City Cast team here: https://citycast.fm/audio-producer-city-cast-pittsburgh-temporary/ VOTE FOR US: City Cast Pittsburgh is among the finalists for City Paper's annual “Best of Pittsburgh” contest. Scroll down to Best Podcast and smash that vote button here: https://bit.ly/voteforCCP And check us out on social. We're on Twitter @citycastpgh & Instagram @CityCastPgh! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christi sits down with the new District 51 Superintendent, Dr. Brian Hill.  Hear about Brian's philosophy on education, the role of leadership, the district's new strategic plan, and more in this month's Full Circle Podcast!If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page to watch this and all our Full Circle Podcasts! 

On this episode, Ramon Foster and Dejan Kovacevic discuss what the Steelers should do with Mason Rudolph going into training camp, why it's huge for them to extend Chris Boswell, and today's 'HEY 'MON!' is from one of our own listeners, Juwan in the shop by way of the Hill District. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, Ramon Foster and Dejan Kovacevic discuss what the Steelers should do with Mason Rudolph going into training camp, why it's huge for them to extend Chris Boswell, and today's 'HEY 'MON!' is from one of our own listeners, Juwan in the shop by way of the Hill District.

On this episode, Ramon Foster and Dejan Kovacevic discuss what the Steelers should do with Mason Rudolph going into training camp, why it's huge for them to extend Chris Boswell, and today's 'HEY 'MON!' is from one of our own listeners, Juwan in the shop by way of the Hill District. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few years before Johnny and Roy of EMERGENCY! fame, there was a group of groundbreaking EMS providers delivering ALS care to the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA. Their story has largely gone untold, but John Moon, retired EMS Assistant Chief from Pittsburgh EMS and Freedom House Paramedic is on a mission to get the stories of these first ALS providers shared. Doctors Nancy Caroline and Peter Safar, were all part of this history, but I never knew the rest of the story of how these EMS pioneers trained "unemployables" from a underserved community into the first Paramedics. Support this podcast at https://patreon.com/firehouselogbookpodcast Comments or suggestions? Contact us at: Email - FirehouseLogbook@gmail.com Twitter - @FDLogbook Instagram - @FDLogbookPodcast Facebook - www.facebook.com/FDLogbookPodcast Website - www.firehouselogbook.captivate.fm Music: "Tired traveler on the way to go home", Andrew Codeman via Freemusicarchive.com

The Kathe and Jim Patrinos Curator of the 58th Carnegie International, Sohrab Mohebbi, visited WQED-FM to speak with Jim Cunningham about the first round of commissions and partnerships including the Berlin based collective terra0 which has proposed an augmented tree that owns its land; Pittsburgh born artist James “YaYa” Hough will paint a mural for the Hill District; Cuban American artist Rafael Domenech will begin the summer season June 4th with a pavilion housed in the museum's sculpture courtyard; and artist Tony Cokes will create work for the Carnegie International on four digital billboards along Route 28. There will also be art seen for the first time in the US from the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende. Sohrab tells his story beginning in Iran and suggesting ideas to Carnegie Museum of Art Director Eric Crosby with observations on how museums stay relevant today and making certain that Pittsburghers own one of the oldest and most comprehensive exhibits of new art in the world.

| You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too (Michael Gray & Dr Packer Remix)  | 07:04  | Brenda Taylor | Pickin' Up Promises (Dr Packer Remix)  | 07:09  | Jocelyn Brown | Are You Ready For This (Nigel Lowis Mix)  | 05:00  | Jimmy Gallagher & Soul City Orchestra | You Live My LIfe  | 03:16  | Marco Bartolucci | You Are My Doll Baby  | 05:27  | Norfolk | One Step At A Time (The Clivilles and Cole 1989 Garage Mix)  | 06:50  | Naisha | Our Love (Paul Simpson Re-edit)  | 05:05  | The Dells | Complete Me (Extended Mix)  | 05:28  | Moon Rocket, Shyam P | I Won't Tell  | 05:28  | Byamm | Put A Lyric In It (The Revenge Mix)  | 05:59  | Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band | Emotions  | 04:31  | Starpoint | Holla If You See Me  | 03:47  | Reel People, Sebb Junior, Smith | Mind Blown (BC's Clean Edit)  | 03:47  | Bertie Anderson | Vybin' (The Funk Remix)  | 04:00  | The Realm  | In The Mood (Nigel Lowis Philly Mix)  | 04:37  | Dennis Taylor | You're The Kind Of Woman  | 03:44  | Leroy Allen | Walking In New Jerusalem (Bonus Track Version)  | 05:01  | Holy Sounds Of Surface | Hold Up  | 03:19  | Nadina | New Jim Crow (Gedi Edit)  | 03:21  | Loc'd | I Won't Hurt You (feat. James Champion)  | 03:54  | Norman Brown | With You (Gedi Edit)  | 04:19  | Somalia  | Your Love Keeps Me Groovin'  | 03:57  | The Soultrend Orchestra feat. Kenneth Bailey | Promise (Gedi Edit)  | 03:40  | Nakeyo & Lawrence Mace feat. Innanet James & Patchwork | You're Scared Of Falling In Love  | 03:32  | Hill District | Good Ol' Lovin'  | 03:55  | Just'n | Glowing (Gedi Clean Edit)  | 03:09  | Zenesoul | Somebody's Watching You  | 03:34  | The Jack Moves

| Love Me To My Soul  | 03:53  | Joe Leavy  | 2022 | You're Scared Of Falling In Love  | 03:32  | Hill District  | 2022 | Better Days  | 03:50  | Lisa Shaw  | 2009 | This Love Is Forever  | 04:41  | Rebbie Jackson  | 1988 | Baby  | 03:15  | Aimi  | 2022 | I'm So Glad I Met You  | 03:21  | Eddie Floyd  | 1975 | Black Pearl  | 04:05  | Parkes Stewart  | 2022 | Ups And Downs  | 03:32  | Richard Marks  | 2022 | Hidin' My Love  | 03:15  | Aesops Fables  | 1966 | To You With Love  | 03:10  | The Moments  | 1971 | Sad Honored Night  | 03:18  | Eddie Finley  | 2022 | Hurt (Paul Simpson Re-edit)  | 03:28  | The Manhattans  | 2022 | Missing You (7'' Single Mix)  | 04:16  | Diana Ross  | 1984 | She's Already Married  | 02:55  | Chuck Bernard  | 1966 | I Can't Get Over You  | 05:02  | Eddie Giles  | 1979 | Forgive And Forget  | 03:10  | The Vibrations  | 1966 | You  | 04:21  | The Jous Band  | 2022 | If It's Not Love Don't Waste My Time  | 03:10  | Dorthy Johnson  | 1974 | Fool  | 05:40  | Raechelle (Rae)  | 2022 | Ask The Lonely  | 03:33  | John Gary Williams  | 1973 | Let's Make Love  | 03:11  | J Craig  | 2022 | You'll Always Have Yesterday Standing By  | 03:32  | Richie Merrett  | 2022 | Why You Gotta Love Me Like That  | 03:30  | Miche'ail  | 2013 | Please Be Mine  | 04:28  | Regina Belle  | 1987 | Wrong Lane  | 05:27  | Meli'sa Morgan  | 1990 | Round & Round & Round  | 03:32  | Gary's Gang  | 1979 | Oh, Yes I Do  | 05:30  | Foreign Blue Renaisance  | 1974 | Love You Still  | 02:57  | JKabel  | 2022 | You Don't Want My Love  | 03:20  | Erroll Gaye And The Imaginations  | 1975 | Relaxn At Home Sippn On Patron  | 04:35  | David J & Lil' Dave feat. Curtis Kincaid  | 2022 | Say Hello  | 04:44  | Russell Thompkins, Jr.  | 2022

Episode 013 - Solo Travel - winning the lottery: where I discuss the latest rumor about my life. The first weekend in October 2021, saw me, my BFF (best friend forever), and a good portion of my high school classmates together for our 40+1 reunion in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful weekend and I won a prize (a neck pillow!) for traveling the furthest. I was surprised to learn that some of my classmates decided that I had won the lottery and that's how I was able to travel to all those exotic and faraway places. I thought it was a joke when I heard it the first time.  However, this month, it was re-iterated by a high school friend that my life was actually discussed/debated several times throughout the last few years. I don't know who took part in those debates – I didn't ask – but it certainly wasn't anyone who truly knew me. If they had known me, or had asked my close friends, or had asked classmates who actually knew my family; they would've known the truth. #1: hard work, #2: no children (the day-to-day costs are astronomical), and #3: some early investments that paid off in the long run. Simple as that.  Why do we have to be reductionists about our successful friends? Why couldn't I have just learned to do better financially, despite my upbringing? Nope. Either I found a rich man who set me up for life or money dropped out of the sky, or something else… anything else, except for the fact that I thought about the future as a 21 year-old young black woman and planned ahead. Seriously? My Mom, who would probably never leave “the Hill District” in Pittsburgh, but I definitely would've set her up in a nicer apartment, have her groceries delivered at least, and have her driven to the casino instead of her catching the bus in the snow and ice. Right? I guess not. I'm not mad at my classmates, not at all. They are a small part of the whole reason why I wanted to get away. But I am disappointed. A lot of my classmates are successful – thank God – but while their dreams differed from mine, some of them assumed that I could not have traveled the world by myself for myself at my own expense.Anyway… No lottery, no sugar daddies, or other ridiculous theories about my worth and worthiness should ever need to be discussed or spoken about again. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, or join my travel agency email list. You can also email me at info@selfishmetravel.com and/or check out my website The Slow Traveling Soul Sister podcast is sponsored and hosted by SelfishMe Travel. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, or join my travel agency email list. You can also email me at info@selfishmetravel.com and/or check out my website.

August Wilson grew up practically next door to the park that now bears his name. And from August Wilson Park, you can experience one of the most spectacular views in the entire city and see art from Alisha Wormsley and Teenie Harris. This is the first park project to be based on the Greenprint for the Hill District, by Walter Hood Design Studio. The Greenprint's aim is to reconnect Hill District residents to their unique landscape and the neighborhood to the city as a whole. Ultimately, it envisions the Hill as a ‘Village in the Woods' above the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. The idea was to make the landscape of the Hill work better for the people who live there, in the ways they already use it. And to communicate that the Hill is a good and decent place, with good and decent people.  Read the full Greenprint for the Hill District. Learn more about August Wilson Park. 

Episode 001 - Get to know me: the Hill District blues: Are you old enough to remember the hit television police drama series “Hill Street Blues”? I know most of the exteriors were shot in Chicago but Stephen Bochco attended Carnie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and as part of his thesis, he took a drive in a police car through my neighborhood, and years later wrote the riveting tv series. According to sources close to him “The run-down, shabby, drug-ridden impression of Pittsburgh's Hill District that Bochco acquired was apparently part of the inspiration for the show.” Yes, that was the backdrop of my life from birth to age 17 in a low-income neighborhood, lovingly called “da Hill District Projects”. I was raised by a hard-working, take no prisoners, party-until-you're-the-last-one-standing divorcee. And as a child of the 60s, what kept me company were tv shows like: Wild Animal Kingdom with Marlin Perkins, Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Wonderful World of Disney, Hawaii 5-0, plus Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and Benny Hill; these shows all fueled my imagination and wanderlust.  At age 14, I was an eye-witness to a murder, that took me through grand jury and criminal trial testimonies and resulted in a 20-year prison sentence for the shooter. I also either witnessed or was related to so many other abuses, criminal behavior, drama, tragedies, and trauma that could send almost anyone straight to a psychiatrist's couch or off a rooftop. I had so many low moments in my young life that suicide was a serious consideration.  God, however, puts people in your life for a reason or a season and thankfully, because of the friendships that I formed, high school was awesome and a saving grace. Even if you don't believe in a higher power, sometimes you just need to say a little prayer or speak it into existence and trust in the answers or the signs that appear before you. Plus I wasn't going to go out like that. Suicide was just something Black people didn't do back then and neither was visiting a psychiatrist. So self-preservation became my daily mantra and I couldn't wait to leave Pittsburgh to explore the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world.  Anyway, after short stints in the Army and college, I moved to Washington DC with my best friends and became Godmother to their 3 children. Even though I was trying to remain unaffected, my godchildren, slowly but surely, absolutely stole my heart without me realizing it and actually ruled some of my future choices. We'll discuss them in future episodes…  Anyway, I worked hard and played hard as I traveled the world while working full-time. But deep down inside, I was not happy, not content at all. Living in the USA as a black person, let alone a single black woman, has definitely not been easy and even though I succeeded in most of my career goals, I had too many awful instances that made me dream of living elsewhere. Since I did not have a college degree, my prospects of working in a foreign country were limited so my dreams shifted to The Slow Traveling Soul Sister podcast is sponsored and hosted by SelfishMe Travel. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, or join my travel agency email list. You can also email me at info@selfishmetravel.com and/or check out my website.

What would you do if you walked in on a man just murdered in front of his child? What does ministry look like when a whole community suffers from PTSD for generations? Fr. Paul Abernathy, pastor of St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project, joins Fr. Andrew to talk about his life and ministry. (Part 1 of 2)

What would you do if you walked in on a man just murdered in front of his child? What does ministry look like when a whole community suffers from PTSD for generations? Fr. Paul Abernathy, pastor of St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project, joins Fr. Andrew to talk about his life and ministry. (Part 1 of 2)

Today's guest, Born and raised out of the Hill District in Pittsburgh PA! West Virginia QB and Legend! Team Marshall Fitness, brother and Friend Rasheed Marshall! We discuss The transition from High School, to College, and the Pros. Rasheed talks about his fitness program, the mental grind of the NFL and more. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pittsnpush/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pittsnpush/support