I just read Saïd Sayrafiezadeh's memoir about growing up as the son of an Iranian father and Jewish mother who were members of the Socialist Worker's Party. Most of the reviews stressed the voluntary poverty of his mother when she was raising him alone in Pittsburgh and following her Trotskyite party, but in my view the book is equally about growing up as a minority, an Iranian, in an America obsessed with bombing Iran during the hostage crisis.
The story includes his father's egotistical neglect, his mother's puritanical adherence to radical dogma, and his own attempts to blend in to American life. I'd been thinking about Frank McCourt again following his passing, and Sayrafiezadeh's "When Skateboards Will Be Free" is a hard portrait like McCourt's "Angela's Ashes".
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The G20 is coming to Pittsburgh in September!
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette this morning is full of news about what the G20 delegates will see while in Pittsburgh for their end of September meeting. So far the emphasis seems to be on the Arts, and I'd like to see more on the Science and Industry, particularly the robotics research taking place here. It seems a great opportunity to show off Pittsburgh's economic turnaround.
It will be neat to have all these foreign representatives here. I'm unfortunately going to miss the actual meetings though, because I'll be off to a world music festival, the Lotus Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.
At least that's another window on the world. The Lotus lineup has a little more emphasis on developing countries than the G20. It would be great if we could merge the international spirit of the two meetings, and somehow blend the good fellowship and cultural appreciation of the Lotus Festival with the economic power of the top 20 economic powers.
It will be neat to have all these foreign representatives here. I'm unfortunately going to miss the actual meetings though, because I'll be off to a world music festival, the Lotus Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.
At least that's another window on the world. The Lotus lineup has a little more emphasis on developing countries than the G20. It would be great if we could merge the international spirit of the two meetings, and somehow blend the good fellowship and cultural appreciation of the Lotus Festival with the economic power of the top 20 economic powers.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Finding my way in Western PA
My earliest adventures in Western Pennsylvania involve driving. For those not familiar with Pittsburgh and neighboring towns, the circuitous routes followed by the roads up around and through hills let you drive yourself to distraction.
I can remember on an early trip starting off from Squirrel Hill to a dance practice in Oakland. This would be easy: I'm heading East, so turn right and head NW to Oakland. As I got nearer the road ended so I moved a little to the right to correct my bearings, and next found the road stopped by a large wall created by a railroad bridge. Fortunately I soon recognized the wall as being near a folk dance club used for dances, and realized I'd gone SE instead of NW, and that in fact I'd been traveling exactly opposite to the direction I thought I was going.
This has happened a couple of other times. Just this past Saturday I drove out after hearing the lecture by Frances Moore Lappe at Duquesne, and confidently turned right to get to downtown and thence to 276 Westward. After a while it seemed like I was not going downtown, but instead over a bridge. Was I to wander the Southside again, searching for a bridge to north side? No, I soon recognized parts of Oakland. It seems I was going East rather than West. I thought the confusion started Duquesne's campus map puts North at the bottom of the map. But it doesn't. I'd entered the campus at the North end of the map, gone South to the lecture hall and then exited north. I'd made the mental reversal somehow in my head.
I have gotten lost enough so that I'm beginning to think a GPS might be valuable. I did go so far as to put an old compass in the car, but now that I'm actually using one I don't see how you distinguish North from South using only a compass: all it seems to do is let you tell North and South from East and West, since you can rotate it so the N and S align either way with the needle.
I decided to read about it just to be sure, and found I was wrong by looking at the neat and "Illustrated Guide to How to Use a Compass" by Kjetil Kjernsmo. Here I learned that the red end of the needle points to the magnetic North, which will make the compass even more useful, though from the other parts of his orienteering instruction it looks like I'll have to add use of the compass together with map reading to complete his course. Perhaps that would keep me from misreading maps.
My one experience following a GPS while driving a friend's car wasn't too encouraging. It produced a nice map and good instructions. The only defect was that it couldn't tell if you'd missed a turn, were getting off for gas, or were making a deliberate change in your route. All I would hear was a sudden "recalibrating", which was a sign you were no longer on the original route. Sometimes the recalibration was so swift it would have a total new route planned before you could tell it you'd just missed the turn.
I can remember on an early trip starting off from Squirrel Hill to a dance practice in Oakland. This would be easy: I'm heading East, so turn right and head NW to Oakland. As I got nearer the road ended so I moved a little to the right to correct my bearings, and next found the road stopped by a large wall created by a railroad bridge. Fortunately I soon recognized the wall as being near a folk dance club used for dances, and realized I'd gone SE instead of NW, and that in fact I'd been traveling exactly opposite to the direction I thought I was going.
This has happened a couple of other times. Just this past Saturday I drove out after hearing the lecture by Frances Moore Lappe at Duquesne, and confidently turned right to get to downtown and thence to 276 Westward. After a while it seemed like I was not going downtown, but instead over a bridge. Was I to wander the Southside again, searching for a bridge to north side? No, I soon recognized parts of Oakland. It seems I was going East rather than West. I thought the confusion started Duquesne's campus map puts North at the bottom of the map. But it doesn't. I'd entered the campus at the North end of the map, gone South to the lecture hall and then exited north. I'd made the mental reversal somehow in my head.
I have gotten lost enough so that I'm beginning to think a GPS might be valuable. I did go so far as to put an old compass in the car, but now that I'm actually using one I don't see how you distinguish North from South using only a compass: all it seems to do is let you tell North and South from East and West, since you can rotate it so the N and S align either way with the needle.
I decided to read about it just to be sure, and found I was wrong by looking at the neat and "Illustrated Guide to How to Use a Compass" by Kjetil Kjernsmo. Here I learned that the red end of the needle points to the magnetic North, which will make the compass even more useful, though from the other parts of his orienteering instruction it looks like I'll have to add use of the compass together with map reading to complete his course. Perhaps that would keep me from misreading maps.
My one experience following a GPS while driving a friend's car wasn't too encouraging. It produced a nice map and good instructions. The only defect was that it couldn't tell if you'd missed a turn, were getting off for gas, or were making a deliberate change in your route. All I would hear was a sudden "recalibrating", which was a sign you were no longer on the original route. Sometimes the recalibration was so swift it would have a total new route planned before you could tell it you'd just missed the turn.
Secluded Hills
This morning I found one of Pittsburgh's hidden walkways in the hills of West View. I'd dropped off my car for its first PA inspection, and was walking down for coffee and a paper when I spotted it. The road here zigzags up the hill with 320 degree switchbacks, and the city has built little short cut stairways for those on foot.
Unlike the road it was completely deserted, and dates from a day when people traveled on foot. I climbed up and found a secluded neighborhood with tiny houses.
Walking from there down the switchback I found scenic views overlooking more quiet neighborhoods. The whole area reminded me of walking around a Japanese town as a visitor with nothing much to do while everyone was at work. It's one of those beautiful days today, where things are clean, fresh and clear after the rain, so even the most worn out city looks interesting.
Unlike the road it was completely deserted, and dates from a day when people traveled on foot. I climbed up and found a secluded neighborhood with tiny houses.
Walking from there down the switchback I found scenic views overlooking more quiet neighborhoods. The whole area reminded me of walking around a Japanese town as a visitor with nothing much to do while everyone was at work. It's one of those beautiful days today, where things are clean, fresh and clear after the rain, so even the most worn out city looks interesting.
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