Welcome to Pittsburgh: Bike Trails!

This past Saturday, April 8th, was National Opening Day for Rail-Trails across the country. As I’ve shared in the past, I’m a huge fan of of the many bike trails in and around the city of Pittsburgh. In celebration of Opening Day, I’m going to share three easy-to-moderate bike rides that do not require much riding on the road.


Take Me Out To the Opera

“Take Me Out To the Opera” has been the theme for the 2016-2017 season of the Pittsburgh Opera in anticipation of their first world premiere in the company’s 78 year history, The Summer King, the story of Pittsburgh baseball legend Josh Gibson. Daniel Sonenberg, composer of the opera, began working on this opera almost 15 years ago, but his love of baseball and his interest in the history of the Negro leagues goes back to his childhood. Reading the blog on his website, you feel his joy at finally having a fully staged version of this piece come to life in the city where Josh Gibson made his mark.




Chimamanda Adichie’s Bite Sized Feminist Manifesto

I had a hard time trying to narrow down what to discuss from Chimamanda Adichie’s new book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. This was because there were so many profound and wonderful points that Adichie made about how society treats women and feminism. Adichie first rose to prominence via the feminist spectrum after a clip of her Ted Talk was sampled in Beyonce’s 2013 song “***Flawless”.