Featured Stories

By Lenny P. Aldrich

“It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done,” Nelson Mandela Said.

This quote is fully embraced by Rev. Darryl Kanadi, Pastor of the Baptist Church of Rodman Street, and his wife, Minister Talita Kanadi, regarding their attitude towards starting the LIFE Men’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy. Is what you have. A unique school in the Greater Pittsburgh area welcomed its first student this fall.

“Our mission is to prepare all male scholars for college success and career readiness, and as a catalyst to increase the presence of African-American men in the STEM pipeline. It works.” 

LIFE Male STEAM Academy, located in Wilkins Township’s 777 Penn Center Blvd, Suite 102, is a male academy focused on developing the “skills needed to succeed a male scholar” in the 21st century. Currently, the school offers 6th and 7th grades, but plans to add new grades each year. They plan to fully serve students from kindergarten to high school by grade 2030-2031.

“I did it because I didn’t know I couldn’t do it,” said Rev. Canadi about starting such a school to serve the entire Pittsburgh with an ambitious mission.

Upon entering school, the first thing you see on the walls of the vast reception area is the royal colors of gold, purple and white, the lion and the shield with a crown on the lion’s head. The intent is to show to everyone who enrolls, not just students, that those who attend this school are young kings and have crowns that they are expected to grow.

Four years after arriving in Pittsburgh and becoming Rodman’s chief pastor, Rev. Canadi had a divine vision that he and his wife were destined not only to change their lives, but to change their lives. I was guided. Hundreds, if not thousands, of young African-American boys in the Pittsburgh region.

He said, “I call it a” 911 call “because God came to me on Thursday, September 11, 2014 … After I took over the ministry, he said we were Rodman. I came in the background of the revival of the man who was hosting in. I saw the need for men to step up and become priests, donors and guardians of their families. So, every Monday in March, we started the “March Madness” Men’s Revival. He continued. “These services were attracting 300-400 men and starting to attract young men. We guided them, I baptized them and many joined the church. Unfortunately. , A few weeks later, I was shot many times. “

He said, God told him he had to provide a pipeline and start helping these young men see some other options. He should make it a conduit to change this paradigm, grab these young men and hopefully start early to save them from such a fate. It took 7 years to complete.

LIFE Male STEAM Academy is the name of the school given to Rev. Canadi that night, and he couldn’t sleep at all when God planned to provide the mascot and the concept.

Rev. Canady initially planned to focus the curriculum on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), but later decided to add an Arts component to make it STEAM. The essence of the title is LIFE (LIVING INTELLIGENTLY FULFILLING EXPECTATIONS). And everything in the school is designed so that students can see the acronym alive.

Co-founder Taleeta Canady is a former high school coaching counselor, middle school English arts and social studies teacher, and is currently Rodman’s Minister of Congregational Care. Rev. Canadi shared that when he came to her about what God had revealed to him, she declared that they had found their joint purpose and that they had advanced their vision.

In addition to God, it was Rev. Canadi’s own experience in high school that helped guide him on this mission. When he wasn’t on the road to college, he approached from an African-American coaching counselor who was poured into him and helped him understand that college education was available. .. Pastor Canadi said: This is what I am trying to bring to this school. Invite these boys to see what they can be. ”

Academy leader— School director Jim Chavis and Rev. Darryl Candy, founder of the LIFE Male STEAM Academy, are exhibiting to promote the “Wells of Life.” 

The STEAM curriculum is the focus of the school because Rev. Canadi and his wife recognize that it is a field of work and a field of the future in the 21st century. “Be represented by universities throughout Pittsburgh, such as Carnegie Mellon University, one of the world’s top artificial intelligence universities, and the University of Pittsburgh for engineering and medical advances,” he says. As a tech and medical runner, we believe we need to take advantage of what’s right in the backyard. He believes that young African-American scholars need to consider themselves doctors, engineers, and scientists.

Rev. Canadi shared that the location of the school was not a coincidence. “We’re not just a building, it’s a campus with engineering, construction and medical companies, so boys go to school every day to see what’s happening around them and they themselves. Further proves what the possibilities are. “The LIFE Male STEAM Academy sets it apart from other schools of this kind. In addition to its main concept, another factor that separates a school from other schools is its health and wellness center. The center consists of African-American care providers, including doctors, male RNs, and licensed clinical social workers on campus. Currently affiliated with the GINN Group and CVS Health, it is the first charter school in Japan to have this health and wellness center. For this reason, it is recognized as the flagship SMART MODEL school currently under development.

The school culture has four layers. All students are called “Mr.” And as young kings and scholars, when they come to school, they are in an environment where they can learn and have the idea of making it possible to learn. Students are also required to wear a blazer, shirt and tie every day except Friday. Rev. Canadi said that some scholars are obsessed with dressing and are dressed every day. In addition, there is a so-called “Wells of Success” promotion. It means that all successful scholars are “well-dressed,” “spoken,” “connected,” “candid,” “traveled,” and “well read.”

Finally, LIFE Male STEAM Academy is committed to nurturing all children, the whole family, and the entire community. If you help your child and not your family (such as the needs / trauma they experienced), you are not doing enough to win the battle. To meet that commitment, the school has a positive evaluation and care team. The team is working hard to identify and address risks and resolve issues in real time. They have the ability to address, mitigate, and ultimately eliminate barriers to learning. This often interferes with the student’s educational process.

Learn more about the school:  https://tntribune.com/life-male-steam-academy-changes-trajectory-of-african-american-males-pittsburgh-pennsylvania/

Mayor William Peduto, the Department of Mobility & Infrastructure (DOMI), and Health Ride today announced the Pittsburgh Bike Share Electrification and Mobility Hubs Project. This project prioritizes the addition of new electrified bikes to the existing fleet of traditional Healthy Ride pedal bikes in Pittsburgh. It also includes racks fitted with docking hardware for scooters and other motorized mobility devices. Mobility hubs will be deployed throughout the city at current Healthy Ride bikeshare stations that will better connect Pittsburgh to electrified micromobility. The United States Department of Transportation's Congestion Mitigation and Air Qual ity Program (CMAQ) has awarded $900,000 for the project. The City will be supporting the grant with an additional $225,000.

"Creating greater access to equitable mobility options has been a cornerstone of my Administration," said Mayor William Peduto. "Ensuring our residents have access to quality transportation creates greater opportunity for all citywide. I want to thank the Department of Mobility & Infrastructure and Health Ride for collaborating on this next great step." 

Healthy Ride will launch an entirely new bikeshare system in 2022 that features e-assist bicycles in addition to traditional pedal bikes. On-street charging stations create a network of infrastructure to support reliable, convenient e-assist bicycles throughout the Healthy Ride network. On December 15, Healthy Ride will begin uninstalling 50 Healthy Ride stations throughout the city in preparation for the electrification installation in 2022.  

"In 2021, Healthy Ride began plans to rebuild the bikeshare system holding Equity as the core value,” said David White, Executive Director, Bike Share Pittsburgh. “We established a Community Coalition of partners, customers, and stakeholders to help guide the process of building a better bikeshare program for Pittsburgh. Electrification and e-assist bicycles are essential to this shift.” 

Electric assist bikes have proven to be wildly popular with new customers to bikeshare. Cities like Madison WI, Charlotte NC and Chicago IL, have seen electric assist bicycles meaningfully increase bikeshare usage by more diverse riders. For more information on Healthy Ride, visit the system’s website www.healthyridepgh.com.  

About Pittsburgh Bike Share: 

The mission of Pittsburgh Bike Share is to provide Pittsburgh with a joyful, sustainable, and affordable mobility service for all residents and visitors.  

Pittsburgh Bike Share is a charitable organization founded in December 2012 and incubated by Bike Pittsburgh. The organization was created due to mounting interest in implementing a municipal bike share system in Pittsburgh from a collection of local leaders: planners at the City of Pittsburgh, business leaders at Walnut Capital, and bicycle/pedestrian advocates at Bike Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Bike Share owns and operates Pittsburgh’s public bike sharing system named Healthy Ride. Healthy Ride is designed to provide an active transportation option for residents, students and visitors of Pittsburgh. 

The Heinz Endowments, in collaboration with the POISE Foundation, today announced its selection of 16 cultural organizations that are the first grant recipients through the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program the Endowments launched this summer. The amount of the awards totals $5.4 million.

The organizations chosen were identified as leaders in producing work that centers and seeks to advance the people and culture of Black communities in southwestern Pennsylvania. They will receive unrestricted grants ranging from $150,000 to $1 million, and have been invited to participate in additional programming to further support and honor Black cultural institutions across the region.

“Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures is a wonderful opportunity not only to support and celebrate cultural organizations that offer so much to southwestern Pennsylvania, but also to encourage growth within those organizations and collaboration among them,” Heinz Endowments Grant Oliphant said. “We are grateful to be able to invest like this in the future of local Black cultural organizations and the amazing contributions they will continue making to our region.”

Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures is part of America’s Cultural Treasures, a national initiative by the Ford Foundation to increase support to arts groups and cultural organizations representing communities of color across the U.S. The Endowments was among 10 regional foundation partners in seven cities that Ford selected to join the initiative, also providing each region with $5 million in funds to develop a regional Cultural Treasures program.

The Endowments has matched those funds with an additional $5 million to create a $10 million program, which will run four years and will initially focus on Black-led cultural organizations, representing the largest community of color in the region. The Ford Foundation grant and the Endowments’ matching contribution are housed at the Pittsburgh-based POISE Foundation, America’s oldest Black community foundation, which also is a partner in designing and managing the program. The Endowments will explore ways to expand the work to other arts and cultural groups of color in the future. For now, the program is designed to elevate the contributions and accomplishments of Black-led organizations in the Pittsburgh region, to recognize their perseverance and to affirm their self-determined strategies for success.

The 16 groups receiving the first and largest grants through Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures were selected from among 165 Black-led organizations identified by local foundations and cultural leaders. A steering committee of representatives from local and national philanthropies and cultural organizations developed criteria for evaluating the list of organizations. After reviewing the identified groups, the committee presented recommendations to the Endowments, which made the final selections considering the committee’s recommendations along with the foundation’s philanthropic goals and grantmaking priorities.

“Black ingenuity, creativity and grit are the bedrocks of this country – from plantations to factory production lines and proscenium stages,” said Endowments Arts & Culture Program Officer Shaunda McDill. “Scarcity often creates a challenging environment within which to find joy and celebration.  However, Black people continue to do it. We hope we will all find both joy and an opportunity to celebrate with this announcement. There is more work to be done, more resources to be raised and more counties we need to connect with in order to truly celebrate and honor the artistic and cultural contributions from which we all benefit.”

Endowments Creativity Vice President Janet Sarbaugh said in making the final decision on the first group of grantees, Endowments staff looked for organizations that had undeniable legacies of stewarding and sustaining an arts or cultural tradition from the African Diaspora or as part of African American culture.

“These cultural treasures are diverse in their connections to Black culture, to artistic disciplines, in their longevity, and in many other ways,” Ms. Sarbaugh said. “What they have in common is a commitment to ensuring the presence of Black arts and culture in our city and region.  They represent organizations that have long been important to both The Heinz Endowments and to the community. We are proud to support them and to continue to develop the next phases of the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program.”

The organizations and the grant amounts they will receive are:

1Hood Media — $250,000

Afrika Yetu— 150,000

Afro American Music Institute — $500,000

August Wilson African American Cultural Center — $1 million

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble — $150,000

BOOM Concepts — $150,000

Hill Dance Academy Theatre — $500,000

Kelly Strayhorn Theater — $750,000

Kente Arts Alliance — $250,000

Legacy Arts Project — $250,000

Manchester Bidwell Corporation — $500,000

New Horizon Theater — $250,000

PearlArts Studios — $150,000

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company — $250,000

Ujamaa Collective— $150,000

Women of Visions — $150,000

More information about these organizations can be found on the Endowments website, www.heinz.org.

Beyond establishing a steering committee and selecting this first group of awardees, the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures initiative has included a public process for nominating community cultural treasures and round table conversations with local youth, Black media members, and leaders who traditionally support Black-led organizations.

CJAM Consulting, a New York-based, minority/women-owned firm helping the Endowments to structure and coordinate Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures, is working with community leaders to develop a digital asset map. The online reference tool will provide information about the many Black-led cultural organizations in the southwestern Pennsylvania and their contributions to local Black communities. Ideally, the community conversations and data gathered from the asset map will enhance connections between philanthropic organizations and these critical cultural groups as well as provide an additional platform that will honor the cultural organizations and their work both nationally and internationally. 

Looking ahead, a collection of stories, historical moments, community memories will be gathered and local artists will be commissioned to commemorate and celebrate the people, places and moments that have contributed to the wealth of Black cultural amenities that helped shape the region.

Other plans for the initiative include a major investment in the creation and implementation of a unique capacity-building program for Black arts and cultural organizations in the southwestern Pennsylvania region. Also, special grants will be provided to a variety of cultural organizations in 2023 to combat more systemic challenges within the arts and cultural sector as part of subsequent phases of the Cultural Treasures initiative.

 “While we are very excited about this first round of grant awards,” Ms. McDill said, “we also are looking ahead to what we hope will be a transformative impact of the entire Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program on Black cultural organizations across southwestern Pennsylvania and on region’s cultural landscape overall.”

Six artists recognized; one Established, one Emerging Artist each awarded $20,000

 DEC. 13, 2021- The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards honored six artists at tonight’s virtual ceremony, including choreographer and visual artist Staycee R. Pearl, named Established Artist, and multi-faceted musician Danielle “INEZ” Walker, named Emerging Artist. Chosen from a field of 170 public nominations, the Established and Emerging artists will each receive an unrestricted award of $20,000.

The Established Artist award recognizes an artist whose reputation in the field extends beyond the Pittsburgh region and who is respected and validated by a wide spectrum of peers. The Emerging Artist award honors an artist who is developing a body of work that is outstanding in both its current quality and potential for future growth.

Established Artists awardee Staycee R. Pearl (pictured) is the co-founder and co-artistic director of PearlArts Studio and STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos, where she creates artful experiences through dance-centered multimedia works in collaboration with her husband and artistic collaborator, Herman Pearl. She received her initial dance training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and was an artist with University of Pittsburgh’s PITT ARTS program from 2006 to 2009.

Ms. Pearl co-founded PearlArts Studio in 2007, and in 2009 became its founding artistic director, connecting with creatives and arts supporters through artist residencies, informal showings, and movement and art workshops. Currently the dance program coordinator at the Father Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, Ms. Pearl premiered the National Dance Project-supported “CIRCLES” at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in October.

Emerging Artist awardee Danielle “INEZ” Walker has gained wide-spread attention for her singing, music production, drumming, and songwriting, as well as her expertise in audio mixing, mastering and engineering. She studied at Berklee College of Music, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional studies in music production in 2013. 

Ms. Walker, who performs as INEZ, was named "Pittsburgh Music Artist of the Year" for 2020 by Pittsburgh's WYEP 91.3 FM radio station. She released her debut album “Voices and Conversations” in 2019 featuring the single “Clouds,” a collaboration with singer-songwriter Clara Kent. Ms. Walker is a teaching Artist with Trust Arts Education, a program of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and with YMCA Lighthouse Project.

In addition to monetary awards of $20,000 each, the Established and Emerging Artist awardees were presented with an award object co-designed by Studio Glass Company artist Daniel Buchanan and 2017 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards Emerging Artist recipient Sarika Goulatia.

Ms. Pearl and Ms. Walker were among a slate of six artists recognized for excellence and achievement in the arts at the event, including choreographer Theodore “Teddy” Alexander and visual artist and muralist Janel Young, who were both named Emerging Artist finalists, and multi-media artist and engineer Mikael Owunna, and poet and essayist Dawn Lundy Martin, who were both named Established Artist finalists. 

Those attending the virtual event were treated to a multi-media dance performance by Slowdanger, an a cappella song by musician Geña, and a slam-poetry recitation by writer and performer Erin Perry.

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards is a shared initiative of The Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Opportunity Fund and is one of very few such regional programs that provide direct philanthropic support to individual artists. The awards recognize the key role Ms. Brown, who was president of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust from 1986 to 2001, played in the revitalization of Pittsburgh’s downtown arts district.

The awards program is guided by a shared belief in artistic excellence, creative development and the need for continuous career advancement of Pittsburgh-based artists. To learn more about the awards, including a list of previous honorees, visit https://pittsburghfoundation.org/carolrbrown.

 November 11, 2021 

Much has changed since Matthew Johnson-Roberson last walked the halls of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

In the 15-plus years since Johnson-Roberson graduated, robots have proven they work. They can navigate city streets and sidewalks. They can fly autonomously to inspect bridges, buildings and tunnels. And they help in homes, hospitals and offces.

Johnson-Roberson, who earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from CMU's School of Computer Science in 2005, will have a chance to shape the next generation of robotics and roboticists when he returns to campus in January as the new director of the Robotics Institute.

"We're at a really important inflection point in the trajectory of robotics," Johnson-Roberson said. "It is a larger field. There are more students interested in robotics, and people are building systems that work. We have an opportunity to determine how we want to deploy robotics in the world and how can we use that technology to produce the most good."

Johnson-Roberson will be the Robotics Institute's sixth director. Professor Srinivasa Narasimhan has served as an interim director of RI since 2019, when Martial Hebert left his post as head of the institute to become dean of SCS.

"Matt's expansive background and expertise equip him well to lead the development of robotic systems across RI and SCS," Hebert said. "The Robotics Institute, the School of Computer Science and the entire Carnegie Mellon community are thrilled to welcome Matt back to campus and excited to work with him."

Johnson-Roberson is currently an associate professor of engineering in the University of Michigan's Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He co-directs the UM Ford Center for Autonomous Vehicles, and both founded and leads the Deep Robot Optical Perception (DROP) Lab. Johnson-Roberson also co-founded Refraction AI, a delivery robotics company focusing on last-mile logistics.

After graduating from CMU, Johnson-Roberson earned his Ph.D. at the University of Sydney. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology's Centre for Autonomous Systems in Stockholm and a research fellowship at the University of Sydney's Australian Centre for Field Robotics. Johnson-Roberson joined the faculty at Michigan in 2013 and taught courses related to underwater vehicle design and autonomy, computer vision, and self-driving cars.

Source: CMU

 The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is pleased to announce a grant of $41,378 from the African American Civil Rights Grant Program, through the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

The grant will enable PHLF to design an educational program around the National Negro Opera House, that will not only highlight the history and significance of the building in African American history, but also the importance of its restoration and preservation. The program will be titled, A Legacy in Stone: Homewood’s National Negro Opera House and the Confluence of Pittsburgh’s African American Culture.

“We are delighted to receive this grant, which will enable us to not only deepen our understanding of the significance of the National Negro Opera House and its place in American history, but also tells the greater story of the African American experience in Pittsburgh in the first half of the Twentieth Century,” said PHLF President Michael Sriprasert.

As part of this program, PHLF will prepare and submit a nomination of the National Negro Opera House for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This will include the creation of an educational component to explore the history of the building, bringing an understanding of the depth of Pittsburgh’s African American cultural legacy to a younger generation of students.

This grant is one of 53 projects in 20 states funded by a total of $15,035,000 from the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Grant Program.

“This grant makes it possible for us to work with educators in sharing the history of the National Negro Opera House with more students, helping even more people learn about and appreciate the significant African American history reflected in this landmark building in Homewood,” said PHLF Co-Director of Education, Sarah Greenwald.

Listed in 2020 as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Queen Anne-style house in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, was once a place of prominence for African American entertainers, musicians, and sports figures.

It served as a lodging house and a community space for prominent African Americans visiting Pittsburgh during the era of segregation when it was not easy for African Americans to gain lodging in white-owned establishments. It is currently undergoing efforts to renovate and restore it by a group of stakeholders led by its owner Jonnet Solomon.

Our organization has been working with Ms. Solomon to help implement a strategy of restoration and renovation of the building. This includes an initial stabilization study to assess the feasibility of restoration and an ongoing engineering assessment of the building to analyze stabilization of the hillside behind the house and restoration of a historic wall along the property. 

 The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) has closed on a $500,000 loan to 422 Foreland LLC, the owner of the former James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy at the corner of Foreland and James Streets in the East Allegheny neighborhood. They purchased the property in 2018 and are investing over $5 million total to revitalize the property and the loan from the URA’s Pittsburgh Business Fund will assist in funding gaps stemming from the pandemic.  

The 123 year-old, 18,700 square foot building formerly served as a neighborhood meeting place as well as drew music lovers from all over to enjoy the historic prohibition-era structure and live jazz and other music. The renovation will create a mixed-used commercial building including a restaurant, office space, apartment and the return of jazz.

“This is a historic property that transformed into a place where music lovers can come to hear good live music and build community,” said Mayor William Peduto. “When James Street closed its doors, the community was clear that they wanted music to come back and we promised we’d make that happen. I’d like to thank Jonathan Iams and his team and the URA for helping to fulfill that promise and bring jazz back to James and Foreland.” 

The renovations are currently underway and the owner, Jonathan Iams, anticipates occupancy in February 2022. They have worked closely with the Northside Leadership Conference and East Allegheny Community Council and the project intends to bring professional and hospitality jobs, restore the historic building to a vibrant community asset and bring community life back to the building.  

”The James Street Tavern has been the home of jazz in Pittsburgh for more than half a century,” said owner Jonathan Iams. “I am excited to see the building thrive again as a place for the community to enjoy great food, music and art in an architecturally significant building.” 

The URA also assisted the new owners in applying for Enterprise Zone (EZ) Tax Credits through the state, an incentive program that provides tax credits to businesses investing in real property improvements such as rehab, expansion or physical improvements to buildings or land resulting in jobs created in designated areas. 

Pittsburgh Opera is proud to announce its 2021-22 Resident Artists:

• Maire Therese Carmack, mezzo-soprano
• Madeline Ehlinger, soprano
• Véronique Filloux, soprano
• Yazid Gray, baritone
• Jeremy Harr, bass
• Kaley Karis Smith, Stage Director
• Rohan Smith, Artistic Administration Assistant
• Andrew Turner, tenor

Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist Program is one of the country's leading training programs for young singers. More than 500 applicants from around the world vie for just a handful of openings. After completing advanced education such as graduate degrees, Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artists further their careers under the guidance of the opera world's leaders and innovators, including master classes with opera legends. They study languages, diction, movement, and acting, while developing their vocal skills, expanding their repertoire, and performing on stage in Pittsburgh Opera productions.

New this season is the Resident Artist Artistic Administration Assistant position. The position is intended to be filled by an individual from a historically underrepresented group within the opera industry. “The Artistic Administration position is a natural next step for our Resident Artist program,” says Pittsburgh Opera General Director Christopher Hahn “For our industry to thrive, it needs a steady pipeline of not only singers and stage directors, but also artistic administrators. This new position will give talented individuals the skills and experience they need for a successful career in Artistic Administration.”

Pittsburgh Audiences will have multiple chances to see and hear the Resident Artists in person over the coming weeks. They will be performing at:

• The Market Square Farmer’s Market in downtown Pittsburgh, Sept. 23rd and 30th, between 11:30AM and 1:30PM
• The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Restart the ArtsMobile, Sept. 24th from 4:00-5:00PM at the Boys & Girls Club: Penn Hills, and Sept. 25th from 4:00-5:00PM at the Fox Chapel Community Day in McCahill Park
• Pittsburgh Opera’s Rising Stars Concert, Sunday, October 3rd from 6:00-7:30pm at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters
• Pittsburgh Opera’s October Brown Bag Concert, Saturday, October 16th at noon at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters

Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist Program has fostered the careers of many singers that now perform on the world stage. Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artists have gone on to headline at the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera. Notable alumni include:

• Marianne Cornetti
• Kevin Glavin
• Alexandra Loutsion
• Audrey Luna
• Sean Panikkar
• Craig Verm
• Rolando Villazón

Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist program is made possible by the generosity of numerous sponsors. The 2021-22 Resident Artists, and their coaches on the Pittsburgh Opera Music Staff, are sponsored by:

• Hans and Leslie Fleischner (Maire Therese Carmack)
• Steven Seibert (Madeline Ehlinger)
• Michele and Pat Atkins (Véronique Filloux)
• John and Virginia DiPucci, and Alice Victoria Gelormino (Yazid Gray)
• Robert J. and Sharon E. Sclabassi (Jeremy Harr)
• John Battaglia, Dr. Athan Georgiades and Dr. Lydia Contis (Kaley Karis Smith)
• John and Nancy Traina, and Gene Welsh and Marty Healey (Andrew Turner)
• Susan Candace Hunt (Rohan Smith)
• The Hollinshead Family in memory of Sylvia Hollinshead and the glorious Pittsburgh Opera Chorus (Assistant Coach/Pianist James Lesniak)
• Eileen and John Olmsted, and the Hollinshead Family in memory of Sylvia Hollinshead and the glorious Pittsburgh Opera Chorus (Director of Musical Studies and Chorus Master Mark Trawka)

Pittsburgh Opera is profoundly grateful for these sponsors, who are helping to develop the next generation of opera stars.

 The City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) has announced a pilot program with Kiwibot to work with local businesses like Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Wilson’s Pharmacy and Taquitos to provide free, equitable delivery of books, medicine and food to residents through personal delivery devices, commonly known as delivery robots. The pilot is funded by the Knight Foundation and will focus on bringing residents to the center of the conversation around this emerging technology.  

During the pilot, the City will explore how to increase affordable delivery options for local businesses, pharmacies and libraries for “last mile” deliveries, focusing the pilot in portions of the Bloomfield, Garfield and Lawrenceville neighborhoods. The City and local partners will focus on exploring opportunities to provide equitable access to food, education and medication while minimizing delivery cost for locally-owned businesses.

The pilot will also provide an opportunity for city officials to ensure that delivery robots, which were recently legalized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are deployed only in areas where they can operate safely among pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles.  

Preparations, planning and mapping for the pilot between DOMI and Kiwibot started in July and delivery robots are expected to be deployed later this week. Up to 10 delivery robots will be deployed, each remotely controlled by a human supervisor.  

The City will also be working with Assemble, a community space for arts and technology, to expand awareness about the personal delivery device technology and technology careers with local youth.  

Additional information can be found on the pilot’s EngagePGH website.  

Professor Alaina E. Roberts’ new book, “I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land,” explores Reconstruction, identity and race through narrative threads that follow her family’s and American history.

“I tell this story, a unification of Black, Native and white narratives, not only as a historian but also as a descendant of all four peoples: white settlers, Indian freedpeople, African Americans from the United States and Native members of tribal nations. On the one hand, it fills me with pride to think of the resilience of my Chickasaw and Choctaw forebears, who took a forced passage to a new land and turned it into an opportunity to create politically strategic and economically successful nations. And I feel honored to possess the rare legacy of historical Black landownership on the Roberts side of my family,” she writes in the book’s introduction.

As one might imagine, that land ownership was fraught. After their emancipation, her father’s family established Robertsville, a mixed-race community of Black and Native people in the southern Oklahoma region that would later become the city of Ardmore. The family had an informal agreement with their Native neighbors that they could travel freely in the area. There, they put down roots and built a church, but they could not escape racial violence.

“The turmoil in Ardmore, too small to be even a footnote in Oklahoma history, and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre which followed not long after, along with changes in the economic and political opportunities available to Black and Native peoples during this period, were signals that times in this corner of the West had changed drastically for the worse,” Roberts writes. 

Ahead of the centennial anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Pittwire offers this book excerpt, which depicts the lead up to and aftermath of that brutal event.

Although the KKK was active in the West and served as a living, breathing representation of the exportation of white southern racism to Indian Territory, Oklahoma escaped the Red Summer of 1919 (a year that saw lynchings and mass destructions of Black property by whites in places like Chicago, Atlanta, Omaha and Montgomery) without a large incident of racial violence.

But as the 20th century went on, Oklahoma became a hotbed of white racial resentment, primarily revolving around Black and Indian economic gains through natural resources found on their land allotments. In 1921, the overlapping claims made to Oklahoma land by whites, Indians and people of African descent were a powder keg that exploded in a brutal episode of mass racial terrorism in Tulsa. 

First an Osage hunting ground and then a Creek town, pre-Civil War Tulsa’s production of petroleum had been a source of annoyance for Native settlers, seeping into water holes and farmlands. But once the technology for the exploitation of the resource was created, Tulsa became a place where oil speculators bought large pieces of land from Creek citizens, and the population grew exponentially, from a town of less than 1,000 to a city of 35,000 after the First World War. Businesses owned by whites, people of African descent and Native Americans supplied oil workers with mining supplies, laborers and scientists. A portion of Tulsa defined by its all-Black-owned businesses, called the Greenwood District, became known colloquially as “Black Wall Street” because of the financial success of the rooming houses, movie theater, grocery stores, auto repair shop and dentists’ offices that lined its avenues. It was these very accomplishments that had long provoked the envy of whites in the community. These white settlers retaliated using the pretext of an African American man’s purported assault of a white woman—a common excuse for violence—to massacre over a hundred Black women and men. 

On May 30, 1921, an African American teenager named Dick Rowland had an interaction of some kind with a white teenage elevator operator, leading the operator to scream. Although it is doubtful that the elevator operator, Sarah Page, was sexually assaulted, this was the story that quickly spread across Tulsa, making its way into the next day’s afternoon newspaper. 

On May 31, whites reacted, rousing friends and family members to violence under the cover of avenging white femininity; Black Tulsans hurried to protect their property and the now-jailed Dick Rowland. This rush to the jail was seen as an “attack” by whites, and, really, as an unacceptable assertion by African Americans of their rights. In return, Tulsa whites razed a thousand different Black homes and businesses, all the while murdering women, men and children indiscriminately; they shot off their guns excitedly, whooping as if at a carnival or another venue of entertainment. 

As Black people ran about, fleeing fires, shootings and beatings by civilians, policemen and national guardsmen alike, they stumbled onto atrocious acts of violence. B.C. Franklin described observing a woman running down the street in a hail of bullets searching for her lost toddler; she survived to tell the tale. A group of three Black men were not so lucky; as they tried to cross the street, all three were cut down by over a dozen bullets. 

Said B.C. of the oldest victim, “He dropped [a trunk he was holding] and shrieked and fell sprawling upon the hard paved street. Blood gushed from every wound and ran down the street. I turned my head from the scene.” B.C. and other witnesses also saw buildings catching fire from the top, betraying the use of airplanes to rain down fiery ruin from above, showing the power and influence possessed by whites involved in this organized terrorism. B.C. barely escaped with his life. 

By June 1, the white mob had destroyed millions of dollars in property, the majority of which would never be fully recovered, and killed an estimated 100 to 300 African Americans. Many survivors were left homeless, and the city and various insurance companies denied their property claims, leaving them with no restitution.

In the aftermath, postcards depicting the carnage circulated in the white community, celebrating the desolation wrought by white supremacy and settler colonialism.

The word ‘riot,’ used to describe many historical incidents like that in Tulsa, suggests that Blacks and whites were equally involved in the destruction and belies the fact that this was a very deliberate targeting of black success.

Biased accounts of the violence emerged almost immediately. The June 5 edition of The New York Times featured an article about the African Blood Brotherhood, a Tulsa organization dedicated to Black empowerment and self-defense. Perhaps purposely choosing an organization known for their assertive stance in response to white violence, the Times asked why the group “did not encourage its members to resort to the courts to correct any grievances.” Executive head of the brotherhood Cyril V. Briggs responded, “The negro has long lost faith in the ‘justice of the white man toward the negro.’” 

The June 2 edition of [Arkansas’] Prescott Daily News reported that 85 were dead after a race riot in “the negro quarter.” While the article mentioned that “many negroes had been burned to death in their homes” and that “negro refugees [had] fled into the country surrounding Tulsa [after] being attacked by armed posses (sic) of whites,” the paper still blamed the “riot” on the “200 armed negroes [who] stormed the court house to release Dick Rowland”; the story’s subtitle read, “Troops Restore Quiet After Lurid Race Clashes—Black Agitators Are Blamed for Disastrous Riots.” The paper failed to clarify that it was, in fact, the entity blaming African Americans.

Ever resilient, Black Tulsa residents rebuilt, though the city attempted to stifle them by imposing new laws that required buildings to be taller and made of fireproof materials. After lawyers including B.C. Franklin succeeded in getting this law struck down, nearly 800 new structures were erected, and in 1925 the district’s rebirth was christened when it hosted the annual National Negro Business League conference. But the capital required to rebuild after incidences of property destruction and the emotional and social trauma passed down from incidences of racial terror are two major causes, often forgotten by the mainstream media, of the stunted economic development of so many Black communities. The money, lives and opportunities that were lost can never be regained, and this is one way in which the settler colonial state impairs nonwhite peoples, making them unable to compete with white settlers on an even playing field. 

This 1921 event became known as the Tulsa Race Riot. The word “riot,” used to describe many historical incidents like that in Tulsa, suggests that Blacks and whites were equally involved in the destruction and belies the fact that this was a very deliberate targeting of black success—thus, I follow recent historians and Tulsa residents in referring to it as a massacre rather than a riot. 

The Tulsa Race Massacre served as the destruction of not only (literal) Black wealth but also the Oklahoma Black memory of self-sufficiency, economic success and racial coalition. The massacre was not taught in Oklahoma schools, nor was the awe-inspiring reality of Black Wall Street. This was not the first nor the last act of racial violence by whites against Black women and men living in the former space of Indian Territory. But as the largest destruction of Black wealth in the region (and, according to economic historians, in the country) and the deadliest in American history, the Tulsa Race Massacre represents the end of the largest representation of what Blacks were able to build economically and socially within Native spaces and under tribal jurisdiction within their extended Reconstruction. Indian freedpeople’s allotments, hard won as a result of a lifetime of enslavement but also through participation in the settler colonial process, provided them with economic autonomy and, for some, incredible wealth through natural resources. Angry that landownership stymied some of the effects of Jim Crow, whites decimated the businesses, homes and dreams of Black people in the Greenwood District of Tulsa. 

Though it may be a cliché, it truly was through blood, sweat and tears that the Roberts family carved out a homestead for themselves after emancipation. This space was a rare piece of land owned by a Black family who would maintain possession of it over generations and to this day. It allowed a community to provide itself with food and an infrastructure for institutions, such as a church and a cemetery. It serves as a reminder of Black self-determination, as do the many Black towns sprinkled throughout Oklahoma. 

Source: University of Pittsburgh

The Richard King Mellon Foundation today announced that it has made a $500,000 gift to help save the former National Negro Opera Company House in Homewood – a once-proud national landmark that has been vacant 50 years and is dangerously close to collapse.

“This property once was the center of Black cultural life in Pittsburgh, and a national artistic destination,” said Foundation Director Sam Reiman. “The National Negro Opera Company – the first permanent African-American opera company in the nation – called it home. And it was a safe house for great musicians, such as Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and Duke Ellington, and for visiting athletes, such as heavyweight champion Joe Louis  and our own Roberto Clemente.

“But the property has been vacant for half a century, and now is dangerously close to becoming unsalvageable. The National Trust for Historic Preservation rightly has named it one of the most endangered historic places in the nation. Jonnet Solomon took the first and most important step, buying the property to save it from demolition. But now she needs help – and not just to save it, but to make it special once again, converting it into a self-guided museum, with powerful programming for disadvantaged young artists of today.

“The Foundation is hoping its initial gift will inspire other Pittsburgh community leaders – and leaders across the nation – to support Jonnet in this noble quest. Together, we can save a landmark before it’s too late. We can help young artists today to find a welcoming place again. And we can bolster Homewood’s ongoing efforts to return to its rightful place as a cultural and community hub.”

“This has been a 20-year, life-altering labor of love,” said Solomon, an accountant by profession who purchased the Queen Anne-style house, with the late Miriam White, in 2000. “And I’m more hopeful now than ever that we can preserve this historic house, and make it an artistic hub for the community once again. This gift is the catalyst that will inspire others to do the same.”

The house first rose to national significance in the 1940s, when opera singer Mary Cardwell Dawson rented space there for the National Negro Opera Company.  The company disbanded in the 1960s.

Solomon’s vision of saving the property and restoring it to new vital uses requires more than $2 million. Solomon has launched a website to tell the story of the home’s history and future vision, and to raise funds. The story has captivated national attention. But donations have been sparse.

So the Foundation stepped in to get things started.

Grammy and Emmy award winning mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, along with her team and a network of singers, also have been highly instrumental in the attention being given to the National Negro Opera House. “I feel a great obligation to this important monument of American history that has been so long neglected,” she wrote in a fundraising appeal to fellow artists. Graves founded The Denyce Graves Foundation to support projects like this. Raising funds and national awareness for the National Opera House is the foundation’s first philanthropic project. 

The Richard King Mellon Foundation’s $500,000 grant will go through Pittsburgh Opera, which is assisting Solomon with the effort and serving as fiscal sponsor for the Foundation’s grant.

“Pittsburgh Opera is working as a key collaborator in developing the artistic programming that will be based in the renovated facility to celebrate the rich operatic history of our region and to fulfill the dream of Mary Cardwell Dawson by providing opportunities for children in Pittsburgh most affected by racial inequalities in education and the arts,” said Christopher Hahn, Pittsburgh Opera’s General Director.

Before the 1960s, when the first Freedom House ambulances hit the streets of Pittsburgh, prehospital medical care was almost nonexistent. Police with no medical training might race a patient to the hospital with no special equipment or care, and many avoided Black neighborhoods altogether.

From 1968-1975, Freedom House provided emergency medical services (EMS) training to individuals in the city’s Hill District, a primarily Black and economically disadvantaged part of the city.

John Moon was a member of Pittsburgh’s Freedom House from 1972 to 1975. "We left a legacy. I want that legacy that Freedom House left to always be remembered." Though he retired in 2010, he’s still working to do just that.

“You get out of this career what you put into it,” Moon recently told the first cohort of Freedom House 2.0, the spiritual sequel to the original program. “You have to have a mind or heart of compassion and empathy for people you’re taking care of. Sometimes, they won’t be the most enjoyable patients, but it’s a very awesome, difference-making responsibility.

The program is just one piece of a long history of revolutionary approaches to prehospital care. See how Pitt people paved the way for modern emergency medicine.

Freedom House 2.0, like its predecessor, is leveraging expertise from the University of Pittsburgh to train first responders from economically disadvantaged communities, many of which have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. Participants receive mentorship and financial support, as well as state-approved emergency medical technician (EMT) certification and community paramedic/health care worker training.

Faculty members from Pitt’s Emergency Medicine program are teaching and providing instructional resources. The training focuses on traditional emergency medical services and on equipping first responders to help address critical, non-emergency psychosocial needs—such as poorly managed chronic medical and behavioral health conditions and a lack of access to resources to address them—that comprise a significant portion of 911 calls.

Successful graduates will be guaranteed an interview with UPMC and other job placement support. They can also use their experience to continue their studies.

“Just to be able to learn more about the body and how it works, to give me the opportunity to be better for my community, going above and saving lives, it’s very inspiring,” said Elijah Sellers, a student in the first cohort of Freedom House 2.0, in an interview conducted by KDKA-TV, a CBS affiliate.

Transforming prehospital care and communities—again

Program leaders said successful graduates will become the future of EMS.

“EMS response solely to 9-1-1 emergencies will soon become a thing of the past. These folks are being trained to become community paramedics, or rather community health practitioners,” said Thomas Platt, associate professor and director of Pitt’s Emergency Medicine program. “These are folks who can now go into homes and do an assessment rather than just take people to hospitals. This in turn can help reduce hospital admissions and readmissions.”

Program leader Kenneth Hickey said Freedom House 2.0 was started as a way to increase diversity and spur workforce development during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we noticed a great need for first responders and local community advocates,” said Hickey, who is also a program manager for community services at UPMC Health Plan. “So far, it’s been really promising. We couldn’t go without the University of Pittsburgh and its Center for Emergency Medicine for offering the training opportunity. We’re truly trying to build them a pipeline to whatever they (students) want to be in the future.”

Hickey also said program leaders compared social justice issues experienced in 2020 to those experienced by the original Freedom House participants.

“This is one way we can give back to correct social injustice,” he said.

Program leaders and students have also been learning from the past through the mentorships of Moon and Philip Hallen, co-founder of the original Freedom House.

“This program is critical to the people in it and their life path. To the people running the program, it’s a good step in the right direction,” said Hallen, namesake of the Philip Hallen Chair in Community Health and Social Justice. “My hope is that the sustainability and longevity of this program is in place. The people doing the training are committed, but they need the institutional support and funding. This program can be used as a model for other communities.”

Moon said the program carries on the legacy of the original Freedom House, whose emblems can be seen on EMS vehicles today.

“Any mention of Freedom House makes my heart proud, because of all the struggles and tribulations the original Freedom House had to overcome. I want that legacy to always be remembered,” said Moon. “Despite the fact that Freedom House itself was near and dear to my heart, just to see a program such as this makes the students near and dear to my heart also. Programs like this are a crucial step toward diversifying hospital care options. There’s a great need for this program. Without programs like these, underserved communities’ needs would not be met.”

Freedom House 2.0 is grant-funded by Partner4Work, the public workforce investment board for Allegheny County, and builds upon UPMC’s Pathways to Work program to offer low-income individuals meaningful job training and support.

Source: University of Pittsburgh

Avis Williams has always loved to cook and share her culinary talents with friends and family. Now, anyone can enjoy the delicious comfort food she prepares by visiting Hilda’s Soul Food Kitchen in Homestead. The restaurant specializes in Southern hospitality and cooking that will “bring back memories of your grandmother’s kitchen” and “bring the South to Pittsburgh.” Opening the restaurant in July fulfilled a 10-year dream for Williams, who named the restaurant in honor of her mother.

After working in accounting and banking for many years, Williams prayed about making the change, and then “God started opening doors.” Although she previously helped to run a catering business, she had no professional training, so she decided to go back to school to learn how to manage a restaurant. Williams is graduating from CCAC’s Hospitality Operations Management program this year. Through the program, she learned every aspect of restaurant management—from maintaining food in the right order in the refrigerator, to becoming ServSafe certified, which is the industry standard in food safety training and is administered by the U.S. National Restaurant Association.

 “CCAC was a tremendous help,” said Williams. “Every class that I took was so beneficial. The whole setup of the program is exactly what someone needs if they’re looking to manage a restaurant.”

Although she was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Williams acquired a love of Southern cooking through her husband and other family members who are from the South. Hilda’s is definitely “filling a niche” by offering daily specials, such as meatloaf and gravy with rice and Southern creamed peas, BBQ ribs with mac ’n cheese and greens, smothered pork chops with two sides, or blackened salmon or chicken tossed salads. Fridays are fish FRYdays with crabcakes, salmon cakes and shrimp étouffée, and every Saturday features a Southern breakfast buffet. Patrons can also sample Southern specialties such as boiled peanuts and pimento cheese.

Customers have responded enthusiastically to the new restaurant, which is currently open for takeout and delivery. The restaurant has limited seating, and Williams plans to offer indoor dining in the future when health concerns about COVID–19 have lessened.

Hilda’s Soul Food Kitchen, located at 514 E. 8th Ave., Homestead, is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a Saturday breakfast buffet from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information or to place an order, call 412.462.4220.

Source: CCAC

Visit ccac.edu to learn more.

Who could have prepared my football teammates and I at Shady Side Academy for the summer of 2020, for me, it is going down in history as one of the most unpredictable, frustrating, upside down you turn me seasons I have ever encountered. Of course, this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic scare which hit our team with such a great force like a lineman tackling a quarterback without much protection. 

Let me backup, it was Spring, March 2020 to be exact, and as an eighth grader, I was anxiously trying to get out of middle school, when COVID-19 reared its ugly head. Students were forced out of our daily school routines and rushed into an online learning experience to be located at home for about three months without much notice or preparation. The online experience was confusing and a little strange in the beginning, it did not feel normal to not be around my classmates, but once I got my ZOOM skills down, I persevered.  Needless to say, I missed connecting with my friends and my teachers in person, its hard to recreate the excitement and action that takes place in a classroom, for me it is an important part of the overall learning experience. During my online instruction in the spring, my mom was always looking over my shoulder while I sat at the kitchen table and my dogs were enjoying biting my toes during my endless ZOOMS, but still online learning could not take the place of being at Shady Side Academy for a regular school day with my classmates and teachers.     

Like many people surviving the pandemic here in the United States and around the world we believed by summer COVID-19 would be a thing of the past, this horrific historic disaster, would be brief and just like that life would soon be back to normal, at least by summer, right? Not.  Unfortunately, here we are in the middle of August and the virus still has deadly tentacles that continues to spread ferociously, touching everyone’s lives in unpredictable and sadly harmful ways even for us athletes who dream of playing football. I was excited about participating in summer football camp at SSA that kicked off in June. I envisioned my life as a football player taking off especially since this is the first time I would be practicing on a High School team. I was relieved when football practice for the summer was not cancelled, however while the powers that be sorted out our football destiny, we had a few moments of interruption and uncertainty. When we got the green light to continue practice through the summer most of my teammates and I were relieved and we understood we would have to practice differently under COVID-19, no doubt this would not be your regular football season.    

Your football game strategy and techniques needs to be on point especially with COVID-19 looming over the field,  social distancing with my passionate teammates who are eager to run a cool play and throw a football is a new challenge. You better keep your stride and forget about the fact that we had to wait four long weeks before we could even touch a football. On the long hot 90 degree days, you better make sure you have your own water jug, no sharing sips and stories around the big Gatorade cooler, remember to stand 6-feet apart (this is always on your mind.) Don’t forget your plays and get into formation, run the ball, COVID-19 rules, they exist, they are real and required.  

While COVID-19 has tried to take away everything good this summer, I’m thankful that our team, one of the few in the region is still able to practice and come together. While the politics continue over whether or not we will have a season, I still enjoy my football practice even with the extra safety precautions and the major changes required and necessary. As part of the precautions, every morning our temperature is taken and we are asked questions regarding our travel activities. My teammates diligently wear our masks for most of our practice and we place our items in a small hoop, making sure not to contaminate anything. Overall, everyone is working hard at following the social distancing rules because we understand the importance of why we have the guidelines in the first place is to help keep us safe and alive.   

My favorite part of every practice is when we go to lift weights, in smaller groups, with masks secured, my teammates and I turn up the music and focus on our goals of winning. Moments like this help me escape the harsh reality of COVID-19 and I am thankful that our football camp was not canceled. I appreciate the camaraderie of the players and how important it is for my mental and physical growth overall. I realize so many other players in other school districts have already canceled their football seasons and fall athletics, and I understand the difficult decisions that many people have to make because of COVID-19. These are tough decisions for families, school administrators, coaches, lawmakers, and the athletes but in the face of adversity we are all learning important lessons about life and how precious these moments are sometimes we have to run the most difficult plays to get to the end zone.         

My coach, Chuck DiNardo at Shady Side Academy emphasizes during practice to work hard at everything that you do, and when you show up for practice be ready to do your best. He also tells us to  thank our parents and others who are making sacrifices for us to be able to practice, and more importantly we should not take them for granted especially during this deadly pandemic.  

TO BE OR NOT TO BE, indeed, this is the question that sums up our football season-- whether or not we will have a season come fall is still up in the air and a heated political hot potato, I am not sure who really wins in the end. While the politics about the season continues to be sorted out, I can appreciate that everyone on my football team still comes to work hard every practice and we all have respect for each other, our coaches, and our equipment and stadium. More importantly, our team focuses on respect and trust the most. Coach DiNardo, aka “Coach D” says that he wants to be able to trust us to keep working hard even when we are tired. We are tired of this pandemic, but our spirits are not broken by the desire to continue to play a game that means so much to us young athletes.    

As our social distancing rules continues, for me football is still a great escape from this pandemic, sincere props go out to Coach DiNardo, Coach Charles Calabrese “Breezy,” Coach Dave Havern, Coach Josh Frechette, and Coach Alex Bellinotti for their dedication and leadership throughout the summer practice. Indeed, I am a better player because of their relentless commitment and support through this highly unusual, unpredictable but need I say, worthwhile summer of football. Whether we play football or not will continue to be debated, I hope those marking the decisions understand most of us athletes still care about what actions take place. What resonates with me during these turbulent times, is our SSA football chant after each practice where my teammates and I come together to shout loud and proud: “Family on 3.  1. 2. 3. Family.” Family is what matters the most and sometimes it comes in the form of a football team, and sometimes in a family we learn crucial life long lessons during difficult situations like this dreadful pandemic, these are the moments that you need to be strong, stay focused and keep grinding!    

Isaiah Beckham, PUM Contributor 

August 17, 2020