pittsburgh
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Anthony Bourdain Was Remarkable Because He Possessed Qualities That Shouldn’t Be
There is no shortage of affecting, poignant, gleaming and evocative tributes to Anthony Bourdain today, as those changed by his life and overwhelmed by his death are finding the words to articulate who he was (to them) and what he meant (to them). He was, from all reliable accounts, deserving of this level of veneration.…
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Things I Learned Yesterday After Being Stuck in an Airport for 10 Hours Because of a Flight Delay
I’m writing this from a hotel room in Washington, D.C. I’m here for a Q&A and book signing with Franchesca Ramsey Wednesday evening, and I’ll also be on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream Wednesday afternoon. Because my day is so busy, I wanted to get here early just so I’d be settled and ready, and my flight…
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Do White People Go to Chuck E. Cheese’s?
As the father of a baby person—and also the uncle of some baby people—I’ve spent a disproportionate amount of time (for an adult) at Chuck E. Cheese’s in the past three years. Birthday parties, potty-train parties, random Saturdays when you’re babysitting your nephew and don’t have shit else to do—I’ve been there enough to consider…
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I Took a Knee for the Anthem Before an Alumni Basketball Game … but I Just Felt Silly
I am currently still recovering from the alumni basketball game I played in last weekend, a process that, considering how my back and knee(s) and throat and chest and spleen feel right now, will likely last until June (of 2019). I am hydrating frequently; I am taking longer-than-usual showers; I’ve developed an intimate relationship with…
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What We Mean When We Call White People ‘Colonizers’
I’ve included references to East Liberty—a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s East End—in pieces I’ve written for VSB, Ebony, Slate and GQ, and it’s peppered throughout my book. There’s an entire chapter, for instance, devoted to the changes it’s undergone in the past 20 years. I do this because it’s where I spent many of my formative…
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Pittsburgh to Replace America’s Most Racist Statue With Statue of a Black Woman
Remember this? Please, people of Pittsburgh, I implore you. Do not topple this statue. At least, not until I drive by it again so I can hug it, take a selfie with it and maybe take it on a date, too. I just hope magical Negroes love chorizo. No, you don’t remember that at all?…
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Beyoncé and Jay-Z Are Going to Every Damn Mid-Atlantic and Rust Belt City Except Pittsburgh, and My Feelings Aren’t Hurt at All!
The (almost) billionaire parents of Blue Ivy will be on tour again this summer. Which I guess is good news for the people who live in the cities that this tour will stop in. Good for you for living in those cities, people who live in those cities! I am happy for you, and the…
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10 Lies and Misconceptions About the Hood That We Need to Stop Spreading and Believing
Today, East Liberty—a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s East End—is a hypergentrified concentration of boutique hotels, upscale retail, luxury lofts and “’90s-style hip-hop fried chicken” restaurants. The redevelopment has been so dramatic, the name of the neighborhood has changed. Some now call it Eastside—a colonizing portmanteau of East Liberty and the neighboring (and predominantly white) Shadyside. This…
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Pittsburgh Cop Shoots 3 Black People in Less Than a Year, Kills 1
On Feb. 11, 39-year-old Mark Daniels was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police officers after he allegedly shot at and ran from them when they attempted to approach him. The details, reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, are somewhat fishy. The police were called to the scene after being “alerted to an actor with a gun.”…