Pass the meaty marshmallows, please

Gourmet offerings from Pittsburgh Marshmallow Factory, not of the vegan variety. (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH – The conversation with the gourmet marshmallow saleswoman went like this:

"So what exactly is a vegan marshmallow?" I asked her at Pittsburgh Public Market, a great new place where local food producers sell their goods in the city's Strip District.

"It's made without any animal products," responds this cook at Pittsburgh Marshmallow Factory.

I visited this market curious about a Tweet from this start-up company that it had manufactured a marshmallow for vegetarians, while wondering which meat traditionally went into the making of this fluffy and gooey candy.

So I first called a friend, a scientist with a background in laboratory work for her opinion.

"Here's the story:" she said. Marshmallows are concocted with gelatin made from bones, tissues and sometimes intestines of domesticated farm animals, she thought. The vegetarian recipe calls for the gelatin to be replaced by agar-agar, a gelling agent made from sea weed on which lab workers grow bacteria, she adds. (Yuck on both accounts)

"Are vegetarians that particular when it comes to eating marshmallows?" I ask the woman selling them Saturday in Pittsburgh.

"Oh yes," she answers. "They have been asking for them ever since we opened."

"What flavor do they come in?" is the next question out of my mouth.

"Just vanilla," she said.

That was not appealing when before me were animal-based marshmallows in flavors including chocolate, mint and Orange Creamsicle.

Tiny samples on the table at this Smallman Street market proved this company knows how to make top shelf marshmallows, which are about the size of 2-inch squares and sell for a buck apiece.

There even is a marshmallow here made with hot peppers, and word has it, this company owned by Debbie Steinberg and Chris Momberger of Creighton have flavored others with bacon.

I decided to buy an assortment of non-vegan marshmallows before heading over the South Side for a cheeseburger at Birmingham Bridge Tavern.

Storied newspaper championed civil rights

 

A display of a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe from the 1940s near the entrance to an exhibit on the 100th anniversary of the Courier weekly newspaper. (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

The robed dummy dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan is alarming at the entrance to a Pittsburgh museum holding a special tribute to a celebrated black newspaper.

Worse yet, upon closer examination, the hooded costume supposedly worn by a Beaver County steelworker appears to be walking on copies of The Pittsburgh Courier, the weekly being honored on its 100th anniversary at the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center.

The display reveals there once were nine klaverns in Beaver County in 1920, and that the hooded robe behind the glass case likely had been worn by Earl Long of Hopewell, who worked at Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. in Aliquippa. It's here as a reminder that the newspaper had mounted an anti-Klan campaign as a crusader of America's Civil Rights Movement.

It’s unfathomable to fully comprehend the fear The Pittsburgh Courier’s reporters had to have faced in unraveling their stories when racism was rampant. The job, today, is challenging enough for a white reporter like myself, especially when it comes to dealing with uncooperative police and court officials or politicians who avoid answering questions and then attempt to intimidate you once they are cornered.

Founded by poet Edward Nathanial Harleston in 1910, the newspaper went on to be regarded at the most-widely circulated and best black weekly newspaper in the United States.

Among its more famous journalists were photographer Charles "One Shot Teenie" Harris, who covered President John F. Kennedy's 1962 tour of Pittsburgh, and reporter George Barbour, a winner of 6 Golden Quill Awards for exposing racist hiring practices in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Pittsburgh was "fertile ground for a newspaper" to report on the challenges of the black community in the early 1900s, when blacks in growing numbers relocated to Pittsburgh from the South for work and freedom, the exhibit states. The Great Migration saw the black population rise in the county from 34,217 to 83,326 by 1930.

Yet this newspaper didn't just report on racial problems in the city. It dispatched reporters to wherever there were major problems, and even exposed deep-seated racism in the South when nine young black teens nicknamed the Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused of gang raping two white girls on a train in 1931.

Meanwhile, I had the privilege of interviewing Barbour 14 years ago for a Black History Month feature story in the Observer-Reporter. The Bridgeville man was heralded by Variety as having been the "first full-time Negro broadcast journalist on a major Pittsburgh broadcasting station" after he was hired by KDKA to expose discrimination in the local housing market.

"I got thrown out of a tavern in East Liberty and denied buying a home in a number of areas," the then-71-year-old Barbour said.

Management told him he was doing a wonderful job.

"But when I looked around KDKA, I didn't see any black faces. I was waiting for them to say they wanted to hire me," he said.

He went on to say that young children need to know their history, regardless of their race.

"There isn't one person in this country whose ancestors haven't experienced racism, hatred. America has a long way to go to become mature."

Barbour could possibly have once sat behind the antiquated green steel desk and old manual typewriter in a display near the end of the exhibit, where visitors are reminded of the challenges newspapers have faced in recent years over declining circulation and competition from the Internet.

The display ends with hope because The New Pittsburgh Courier and its online reports, including those on Twitter and Facebook, give it a bigger voice in one day than "it did in a month at its height in the 1940s."

It will run through at least the end of the summer at the museum at 1212 Smallman St.

The colored waiting room in Union Terminal, Pittsburgh, early 1900s, shown at the entrance to the exhibit.

Black history toppled

The LeMoyne House, named a national landmark in Washington, Pa. for being among few surviving buildings that were stops on the Underground Railroad. (Stan Diamond/Observer-Reporter)

Editor's note: This feature story first appeared in February 2002 in the Observer-Reporter, timed for Black History Month

CENTERVILLE, Pa.  – Toppled tombstones rest beside fallen timber or under thick underbrush at an ancient cemetery near Centerville.

Other than a grave robber or vandals, few have climbed the steep hill for decades to the burial ground of some of Washington County's first free African Americans.

"It was very moving," said Kay Clendaniel, a former member of the Washington County Historical Society board, who was drawn to the cemetery in West Pike Run Township. "It makes me almost want to investigate more because you feel so bad about it."

The history of this cemetery and others like it in the area is almost as mysterious as the Underground Railroad used by slaves here in their escape to freedom 150 years ago.

Fewer than 10 known written accounts exist detailing where runaway slaves, en route to Canada, found cover in Washington County, one historian says. And some of what is told about the slave routes could be doubted because the stories amount to nothing more than folklore, said the historian, Terry Necciai of Pittsburgh.

Tales have been told at the landmark LeMoyne House in Washington, Pa., about how escaped slaves were hidden there under a bed or passed through a hole in an attic wall covered by a bookshelf. The real events are unknown, possibly kept secret because it was illegal to participate in the Underground Railroad.

"To the best of our knowledge, we don't know where they were sheltered here," said Leslie A. Yoder, education coordinator at the LeMoyne House, built in 1812 and one of only two buildings in Pennsylvania added to the National Registry of Landmarks in the 1990s as Underground Railroad sites. "It was hidden," added Chuck Edgar, who volunteers in the LeMoyne House library. "If you keep it quiet, you keep it quiet for a long time." The other National landmark tied to the railroad in the state is the stone Johnson House in Germantown, dating to 1765.

Racism also may have played a part in the lack of documentation, Necciai said.

"Unfortunately, the black story has been under-told because the white side was told," Necciai said.

Other Pittsburgh-area historians have gone as far to suggest that the runaway slaves were never welcomed in southwestern Pennsylvania because there were no Quaker communities near that city, Necciai said.

But his research indicates Quakers, some by the name of Talyor, did settle in the Brownsville area, including West Pike Run Township, a portion of which became Centerville Borough.

A house built in the mid-1800s in Monongahela also was a stop on the trail to freedom, according to an account written in 1908 by a man who was a conductor on the railroad stop at that house when he was a teen-ager.

Capt. Joseph T. Armstrong recalled, briefly, how he escorted slaves hidden under hay in a wagon to a skiff on the nearby Monongahela River in a book about the city's homecoming week.

He stated his "strong-minded" aunt, Mrs. J.B. Taylor, lived in the house on Main Street and threatened to kill him as a boy if he repeated her conversations with a black man about hiding fugitive slaves.

Armstrong stated that he wasn't sure his participation was "right or wrong" but that he understood he was in "possession of a great secret." He went on to state that he didn't think the "present generation" of blacks appreciated the "privileges they enjoy" before ending his story, noting that he had already said more than he should have.

Juan and Judy Rodriguez make their home today in the 11-room brick house decorated in Victorian gingerbread at 714 W. Main St.

"I just wish the walls could just talk so I could know what was going on," Juan Rodriguez said.

Necciai believes Mrs. Taylor had Quaker relatives in Centerville.

The nearly forgotten cemetery near that borough contains several members of the Smith family, the women buried in one line and men in another, Clendaniel said.

Two rusted, cast-iron posts provide the only hint that an ornate fence once framed a section of graves. A broken but newer granite tombstone marks the grave of Simeon R. Smith, who was born in 1845 and died in 1914, and was a descendant of Ralph Smith, California Area Historical Society records indicate. Ralph Smith, who died in 1858, became a free man at the age of 28 and took the name of his master and began the generation of Smiths in Centerville.

The historical society in 1991 attempted to identify as many graves as possible at the cemetery, which isn't far from the intersection of Route 40 and Toll 43. While investigating the grounds, society member Edgar Harris said he found a shovel sticking out of a hole being dug in a grave of a member of the Jeffries family.

Not far away, on a hill overlooking Daisytown, weeds obscure another cemetery where freed slaves owned by Dr. Wheeler were buried, Clendaniel said. One broken tombstone marks the Dec. 24, 1831, death of Sarah West. The Little Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, dating to 1844, once marked the site, LeMoyne House archives indicate.

At some point in history, Clendaniel suspects the freed slaves who were sheltered by Quakers in the Centerville area were made to feel unwelcome and moved elsewhere.

"It's a shame," she said.

Pittsburgh is papered in black and gold

Black and gold confetti spills onto Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's Strip District as Steelers fans engage in a Steelers merchandise shopping frenzy the day before the city would play in Super Bowl XLV. (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH – It rained black and gold today in Pittsburgh’s Strip District on the afternoon before the home football team would play in Super Bowl XLV.

The Steelers colors falling from the sky came from fans shooting confetti canons over the popular city’s ethnic market district.

Among its stores carrying such food as pierogies, biscotti and Vietnamese rice stick, are others stocked with cheap Steelers merchandise, including T-Shirts bearing any number of clever phrases.

“Long sleeve, hoodies, short sleeve,” yelled one guy selling clothes from a sidewalk table alongside Penn Avenue and near Prestogeorge, a purveyor of the finest coffee roasted in southwestern Pennsylvania.

One pile of yellow Pittsburgh T-Shirts were silkscreened with, “REV’N FOR SEVEN,” the number of Super Bowl trophies the Steelers would have if they win the upcoming game against the Green Bay Packers. Other shirts there showed the heavily-bearded face of Brett “The Diesel” Keisel, whose famous facial hair has its own Facebook page.

Across the street another salesman had shirts with that well-known Photoshopped image of a young boy giving the middle finger. The wording across the front and back of those shirts was too offensive to repeat here.

But, tacky comes easy to Pittsburgh Steelers fans.

“You say, ‘Y’all,’ we say ‘Yinz,’” a young woman was overheard saying to a Southern visitor, while explaining the local hillbilly dialect known as Pittsburghese.

Not too far away a man wearing a black-and-gold spiked wig sat counting handfuls of cash, his bootie from the day’s sales. Another merchant stood the door to his overflowing Steelers store to force customers to use the side door to keep the foot traffic flowing in the right direction.

“You need to make a U-turn,” he said to the crowd of people, some of whom needed to walk in traffic because the sidewalk was jammed tight with shoppers.

Another young female, with her cell phone to hear ear, was talking about some shirts she had eyed on the sidewalk.

“There’s a shirt here that says, ‘I’m an Italian Steelers fan,’” she said to the other person on the line.

Steelers fans will buy anything in the colors worn by their pigskin sports legends, ranging from Myron Pottios to Terry Bradshaw.

The confetti canons sold out quickly, leaving many shoppers disappointed in the rain-slicked streets where parked vehicles were papered in black and yellow. Another vendor couldn’t weave his ribbon wreaths in those high-holy colors fast enough to keep up with the demand for them.

“It’s unbelievable, really unbelievable,” he said while working this black and gold mine.

The terrarium trend

Terrarium, originally uploaded by I am Jacques Strappe.

By Christie Campbell

Combat drab winter weather and introduce some greenery into your home this time of year with a terrarium.

Terrariums were first popularized in Victorian England, and they make a comeback every so often. Remember those large, alien-looking plastic containers of the 1970s? Or the soda bottle varieties children make in grade school?

Perhaps owing to the growing confined spaces where people labor on computers, terrariums are becoming trendy again.

The ones in vogue today are planted in unusual recycled glass containers and involve some type of theme. Personally, I see real value to having plants around that don’t require much care to look fresh and green!

To make a terrarium, first find a unique container. Don’t limit yourself to what you will find in a garden store. Check out what’s available at thrift or secondhand stores or even peek inside a pet store where aquariums might include oversized brandy snifters.

You might have something at home right now that will be suitable: a large pickle jar, especially one that you’ve saved the lid to, a canning jar, angled cookie jar, cake stands and even old glass lamps. Wash the container well and use plenty of hot water to kill bacteria.

Once you know what your container will be, select a few appropriate plants. If you plan to put your container near a window, you will want something like jade, aloe, cacti, sedum, African violet or herbs. A container in a low-light area would be better with plants such as fern, baby’s tears, ivy or peperomia. If your container is large enough, you might want to have a couple of plants, mixing something with a slender stalk with a plant with rounded or variegated leaves.

Aim for something slow-growing.

Place about an inch of stones or sand in the bottom of the container for drainage. You can use pea gravel or aquarium gravel for a more attractive look. It’s not necessary to do so, but you can add a half-inch layer of activated charcoal or mix it directly into the soil to help filter the air and, on top of that, a layer of Spanish moss to prevent the soil from filtering down into the stones.

Add several inches of potting soil and into this soil, plant your plants. Some artists just use a layer of moss and smooth stones in their terrariums to resemble a lawn or grassy yard.

Add miniature figurines of people or animals to create the theme you want.

I had never thought of this, but terrariums can include a small pet: crickets, toads, hermit crabs, salamanders or gecko. If you create a wet terrarium, you can add toads, frogs, tadpoles or crayfish.

Just remember that you won’t be able to put fertilizer into any terrarium with a live creature, and you’ll want a cover for the top of the container.

Spray the terrarium’s interior with water and slide a cover in place. Check it for the next few days to see how moist it stays. If the soil is soggy, you will want to take the top off for a while and let some of the moisture evaporate. Too much moisture and fungi or mold can form on the plants. However, I wouldn’t put it in direct sun as that is likely to burn the plants.

It’s a bit of a trial basis to determine what works best. But overall the care is very minimal, and you will have a nice miniature garden to enjoy.

(This article first appeared in the November/December issue of Living Washington County magazine, a publication of the  Observer-Reporter newspaper.)

 

 

Reintroducing the Queen of Rock 'n Roll

Give 73-year-old Wanda Jackson some horns and especially the magic of Jack White and she reminds her audience "The Party Ain't Over," her new release that is sure to become a Grammy winner. Or at least in the nominations.