![]() ![]() On Wednesday, October 28th, Squirrel Hill's Wightman park re-opened after years of planning and significant renovations. I wish that for all of you as we round out 2020. He advised us take this moment for what it is: an opportunity to become a sculptor of our own lives, to allow this disruptive time as an opportunity to chip away an all that is extraneous, unhelpful, and burdensome, and train our attention what is left, all that is truly important and precious. I’ll leave you with the analogy one jewelry designer and sculptor so beautifully made. Last Friday I spent the afternoon interviewing business owners on Ellsworth Avenue for the latest edition of our videos featuring small businesses (you can find this and others at our YouTube channel at Erika Strassburger PGHDistrict8). Collectively, you inspire me and so many others. To all the frontline workers in service to others. To the artists and musicians who creatively shape-shift in order to find a way to fill our cups with culture and beauty. To the neighborhood organizations who continue to find ways to spark joy in our neighborhood business districts and move community projects ahead. To the small business owners who open your doors day after day, or to those who bravely make the decision to move on to the next chapter. To the teachers who continue to balance the weight of so many new responsibilities on your shoulders. I’ve found answers to that question in the work you are all doing and actions you are taking every day. How do we find comfort, gain stability, and even move forward amidst so much disruption and discord? How do we grapple with the uncertainty of the future? ![]() So much has changed for us since that time, and yet the memories of that terrible day are all too fresh. On Tuesday we marked another somber day: two years since eleven of our neighbors and friends were taken from us by an anti-Semitic gunman while they sought peace and prayer in their Squirrel Hill synagogue, an event that still seems unfathomable. That time will come before we know it, and yet days and weeks will occasionally creep along as well. After that, it’s only three more months until we mark a year since the COVID-19 upended our lives and caused so much inconceivable disruption worldwide. Somehow we find ourselves in October soon the end of the year will be upon us. I believe truer words have not been spoken about the way we experience time in this moment. “Time is an accordion,” one of our District 8 neighbors remarked to me the other week. Questions, comments, concerns? Reach out to our office at 41 or Neighbors, Oakland, Point Breeze, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill Your bi-monthly update for the neighborhoods of City Council District 8: ![]()
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