This week - where to begin? Surely Michele put together the most memorable and dramatic feature-packed run of runs, perfect to open our 20th anniversary RG year (well, it's more or less around now.) Starting right in front of the looming iconic and still-flaming Edgar Thomson Steel Mill, zigzagging up and down the Braddock streets to view the whole range of modest houses and venerable storefronts, (falling-down and boarded up, and also thriving and cared for), gorgeous Victorian edifices, quirky artists' dwellings, community gardens, new housing and business development, historic landmarks, murals galore - the whole place pulsing with proud history, economic devastation, creative reconstruction, and future hope. Also Joanne's grandmother's birthplace and the store run by Michele's grandfather. All this culminated with the most special warm welcome (coffee, bagels, etc. included) from Mayor John Fetterman and his wife Gisele and their adorable kids in their new extraordinary loft home, its giant windows facing onto the afore-mentioned Edgar Thomson Works, back to where we (and much of Braddock) began. And a 10-minute ride from Squirrel Hill. We learned about Gisele's inspiring and rapidly expanding brainstorm, the Freestore,
about Braddock's heroic road to recovery with the Mayor's help, and the documentary film being made about it this very moment. All power to it! (Whoever is reading this: all contributions of clothing, linens, diapers, etc. to the Freestore will be happily received.)(Thanks to Virginia for the photos and to Michele for the experience.)
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