January 4 Run/Walk: Meet at the Parisi Cafe 7107 Harrison Ave, Swissvale... but TOMORROW is New Year's Day Holiday run, 7:30 at 61C

Sunday we'll swing around Swissvale, but tomorrow (sorry, this is a bit late 😬) is the annual New Year's Day holiday run starting at 61C at the late hour of 7:30.

Last week we also had a twofer, on Christmas Day, touring the familiar grace of Chatham campus and surrounding mansions, redolent of the 1%, and then on Sunday, into the strange depths of Lower Bloomfield where apparently there are hobbits (photos below).

Much talk ensued of course, only some of which will appear here.

• Apparently there is a Feast of the Seven Pigs.
• Chatham campus is lit by gaslight at nightime (and some daytime these days).
• We reminisced about when Tom led us on a themed run:  Homes of the Bad Judges.  Tom claims that he has no recollection of this.
• Advice:  work on your core, and use less detergent.
• Watch documentaries:  Jayne Mansfield and Queen Victoria.  
• Watch Rob Reiner's movie The American President, if only for the last speech.
• Read Chris Armitage on Substack for some bracing political commentary.
• There is Senior Tax Relief available from Allegheny County. 
• New bagels in town on Liberty Avenue, judged "meh".

Resistance action of the week:  Try to repair your mental health by not reading any political news for an entire day.  

December 28 Run/Walk: Meet at Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield, 4525 Liberty Ave., and TOMORROW HOLIDAY RUN/WALK, 61C cafe, 7:30

This week there is a holiday run/walk TOMORROW, Christmas Day at 7:30 at the 61C.  And on Sunday, meet at Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield, 4525 Liberty Ave.

Last week we wandered among the ghostly elegant statues of Allegheny Cemetery and thereabouts, dodging the goose droppings and saluting several young bucks along the way (the deer kind.) At the Ineffable, the atmosphere/coffee was fine but the cookies could break your teeth.  If we return, maybe BYOBaked goods.  We were still able to voluminously chat, endorsing:

• The good Felician Sisters, who have two surprise RG connections.
• The special Holiday Tour at the Frick, especially one given by Linda.
• Driftwood Oven Pizza in Lawrenceville - sad they don't open until 11 - this pizza could make a great breakfast.
• Casa del Tequila restaurant in Squirrel Hill - evidently the name says it all because the food is meh but still 2 thumbs up.
• Istanbloom Mediterranean looks adorable - promises a New Year's Eve party.
• Read or watch Hamnet (book, movie).
• Massage guns, available at the JCC - look in the recovery room
• Avoid a bloody horror scene: Aimee shares the right way to peel a pomegranate.

Resistance action of the week:  Tell Rep. Summer Lee (here) and Sen. Fetterman (here) to make publicized oversight visits to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in central PA, the largest ICE detention center in the Northeast, with about 1600 inmates.  Conditions there are known to be abusive and dangerous, with 2 deaths reported. Rep. Lee tried and failed to enter in August but efforts should be repeated - unannounced prison oversight is a Congressional legal right, and our legislators should be drawing attention to this.

December 21 Run/Walk: Meet at the Ineffable Ca Phe, 3920 Penn Ave.

We'll meet at the original Ineffable Ca Phe (map) for coffee with a Vietnamese flavor, and have a romp through Allegheny Cemetery.  We will also head past the legendary haunted house that is part of the Allegheny County Health Department.  Questions? Ask Beth.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it is.  We are repeating last week's plan, since in almost unprecedented fashion, nobody showed up.  This may have been attributable to snowy streets, memories of the Treacherous Ice Storm of long ago, or advancing age - probably all three.  Hoping for a warmer rerun!

Resistance action of the week:  Attend the weekly interfaith anti-ICE vigil any Friday, from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. at ICE's Pittsburgh facility, 3000 Sidney Street on the South Side.  Organized by Casa San Jose, Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi, and the Sisters of St. Joseph to stand up against immigrant persecution.  

December 14 Run/Walk: Meet at the Ineffable Ca Phe, 3920 Penn Ave.

We'll meet at the original Ineffable Ca Phe (map), for coffee with a Vietnamese flavor, and have a romp through Allegheny Cemetery.  We will also be heading past the legendary haunted house that is part of the Allegheny County Health Department.  Questions? Ask Beth.

Last week was our decades-old annual Downtown Holiday Run: see photos below.  Ensconced in the old world glory of the Wm. Penn lobby, we endorsed some seasonal delights.

• Alicia Keyes Hell's Kitchen was amazing!  Too bad most of us missed it last month at the Benedum.  But lots of dates available in NYC.
• Dwayne Dolphin, internationally known, super funky jazz bassist and beloved Schenley graduate. Hopefully will appear in a jazz club near you.
• More jazz:  City of Asylum has free concerts on Thursday nights. And keep an ear out for RG fave Small Hours Trio appearances.
• Fleece overalls.  We saw someone wearing them and they looked, well, warm anyway.  Apparently if you try to buy them, only Amazon has them from its weirdly named stores. But we're boycotting Amazon so we're out of luck.
• Wendy's hair stylist - Feng at In Style.  It helps if you speak Chinese but you don't have to.
• Deer may be shifting from Regent Square to Squirrel Hill.  Maybe they like dumplings.
• Watch:  The Staircase.  (Also: worth re-connecting your DVD player - movies free from Carnegie Library).  
• Listen to:  Rachel Maddow's Burn Order

Resistance action of the week: Too many! It's time to bring back 5 Calls, which now has 32 vital issues and will make your contacts to legislators easy.  Or, scroll through the suggestions in Alison Huettner's Upcoming Protests and Events.  Even if you can't settle on anything now, it helps to see what's out there.

December 7 Run/Walk: Meet at the Omni William Penn, 530 Mellon Square, for the Annual Holiday Run!

Meet at the Omni William Penn, 530 Mellon Square (map), for the Annual Holiday Run! Supposedly there are life-size Mr. Rogers characters outside of Heinz Hall, and of course, the magnificent creche at US Steel.  Parking onstreet may be iffy so give yourself a little time - there's also Mellon Square Garage on 6th around the corner.) 

Last week we met on Frew Street outside Baker Hall, one of the original buildings, designed by Henry Hornbostel, that became Carnegie Tech.  It’s fact, not merely legend, that the halls slope to aid the movement of heavy equipment.  Andrew Carnegie, always practical, asked Hornbostel to implement this design, thinking that the building could be used as a factory if the school failed. 

 

Carnegie Tech welcomed its first class in 1900 and became Carnegie Mellon in 1967.  Two years later, the Creative Writing Program was launched by Gladys Schmitt.  In 1991 Jane B joined the program, followed a short time later by Jane M.  Now Jane M has taught her last class and is setting off on the next phase, and Jane B will join her in May.

To celebrate their departures, they arranged for the Big Book Giveaway, and RG members were invited to take whatever books they wanted. Fun! And since Jane B is staying on, she will again do a Big Book Giveaway, if invited to do so.

Resistance activity of the week: Call or write Senators McCormick and Fetterman to sign on to the bipartisan War Powers Resolution to“direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress.” Trump has recently said that he is planning land strikes on that country “very soon.”

Sen. McCormick – Pgh office (412) 803-7370; DC 202-224-6324; Email

Sen. Fetterman – Pgh office (412) 803-3501; DC 202-224-4254; Email

 

November 30 Run/Walk: Meet at the entrance to Baker Hall, 4825 Frew Street on CMU campus

On Sunday, we'll meet at the entrance to CMU's Baker Hall, 4825 Frew Street (map) as our Janes invite us post-run to their professorial lair for a Big Book Giveaway! There will be a post-run breakfast and free books (mainly literary fiction) selected over years to delight and enlighten their students, and now us. There should be parking on Frew Street, but if not, there's more in front of Phipps.

Last week we delved into deep Shadyside and did a reconnaissance of the spanking new Market District emporium in E. Liberty.  It looks pretty good, especially the beer.  Some highlights from our 2! coffee confabs this week follow.

But first, as this week's Resistance Activity, a reminder to be part of the "We Ain't Buying It" boycott of Amazon, Home Depot, and Target from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.  Explained here and organized by Indivisible, No Kings, 50501, etc.  Boycotts work.

Other stuff we like:

• Pearl Nail Salon continues its appeal with added benefit of Mormer ladies in the house.
• Nouveau Designer Consignment in Aspinwall for the special occasions.  But enter the shoe store next door at your financial peril.
• Save the date for the upcoming Bhangra in the Burgh which will be wild.
• We remembered the brilliant Sally Kalson, PG columnist and human being par excellence.  (See below for a classic piece unearthed by Wendy comparing the original Squirrel Hill Giant Eagle to a vagina.)
• Sharon, Aimee, and Wendy shared tips on finding money in the street (Wilkins & Wightman corner is good) and how to preserve karma on finding it.
• Watch movies:  Strictly Ballroom; Loving.
• If you're planning a trip to Canada soon, make sure you've figured out what you need to cross the border - passport card, real ID, Global Entry, ??
• Not endorsed:  "taking care of shit" fatigue.

November 23 Run/Walk: Meet at Tous Les Jours cafe, 6226 Penn Ave in East Liberty. ALSO Thanksgiving Holiday Run/Walk from 61C at 7:30 Thursday.

Sunday we returned to the lovely Ka-Fair Cakery on Chislett St. and sampled lots of their treats.  We agreed with Maryann that when it comes to our hair, leaving a stylist is like breaking up with a boyfriend. And if you’ve cheated on your stylist, what then? Will they take you back?

Endorsements:

• Supermarkets:  AARP likes Aldi. Roye votes for Trader Joe's because the ingredients are better. Many questions about the new Giant Eagle in East Liberty, with its weird checkout design and mysterious entrance.
• Amba! Wikipedia tells us it is a tangy condiment made with mango pickle, popularized by Iraqi Jewish merchants in (formerly known as) Bombay, who brought it back to Baghdad. Elaine introduced us to Ruhama’s Amba Chicken and Rice.  You can order Amba from Amazon or Walmart, or you can make a quick version -- different from the above description, but you never know…
• Read:  The Many Lives of Mama Love – a memoir of addiction, etc., by Lara Love Hardin
• Watch:  Death By Lightning – on Netflix, about assassinated US President James A. Garfield;  The Gilded Age – on HBO Max.
• Support:  the White Whale and other indie bookstores, particularly now that B&N has moved in. You can also support local bookshops by ordering books from Bookshop.org.
• RG-approved delicious Winter Retreat in Troncones Mexico with yoga maestra Linda Meacci.

Resistance activity of the week:  from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, be part of the "We Ain't Buying It" boycott of Amazon, Home Depot, and Target. Pause on shopping at these major corporations actively enabling the current administration - and buy local instead. Detailed info. here - organized by Indivisible, No Kings, 50501, etc. 

Two upcoming events of note:

• Save the date! The Janes are hosting a Big Book Giveaway for RG members on Sunday, November 30, post-walk/run. RG will meet at the entrance to Baker Hall on Frew Street. Post-run breakfast and free books selected by experts.
• A retirement happy hour, January date TBA to celebrate the last days at work of various happy RG members.

Composed by Jane Bernstein