Point Park News Service

The Person Behind the Artist

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019 dance, Jordyn Hronec, Point Park University

By Jordyn Hronec, Point Park News Service Before class starts, there’s a specific energy buzzing in the air. When the teacher opens the door, dancers quickly file into the large, echoey studio with sunlight filtering through the tall windows that reveal the ghost of a once industrial city looming outside. The dance students are eager to get stretching. One student... Read More

Religion in Collegiate America

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Amplify Church, Bryan Partika, The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh

By Bryan Partika, Point Park News Service A small building sits near the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill where one can find a community of young people giving back to their community during a youth service to educate and promote the Islamic religion. The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh (ICP) and similar worship centers have become a home to the closing... Read More

Pittsburgh’s Pickle Craze: How the city’s relishing the past and future of pickles

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Lauren Clouser

By Lauren Clouser The owner of Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for pickle cotton candy. Wigle Whiskey created over 30 tests before finally getting the right combination for their pickle-flavored spirit. And, most famously, Pittsburgh is home to a three-day festival dedicated entirely to pickles. Since the time of H.J.... Read More

The Strange Science of the Center for PostNatural History

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Center for PostNatural History, Lauren Clouser

By Lauren Clouser Richard Pell has traveled to Utah to pick up a taxidermy goat, received mice embryos in the mail and currently has a great dane in his freezer waiting to be stuffed. These are just a part of over 60 exhibits that make up the Center for PostNatural History, a storefront museum in Garfield founded and operated by... Read More

When Two Become Yinz: The Pittsburgh Cookie Table Tradition

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Cookie Tables, Justin Bersuder, Lyndsay Bersuder, Mike Audey, Ryan Koch, Tyler Martin, Victoria Bails

By Victoria Bails Ryan Koch and Mike Audey decided to have a cookie table at their wedding because of the regional tradition. When Megan and Tyler Martin were planning out their wedding, Tyler wasn’t aware it was only a local practice, but they knew they wanted one at their wedding. Family tradition and, similarly, Pittsburgh tradition led Lyndsay and Justin... Read More

Young Business Owners Change Retail in Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Anika Ignozzi, Brandon Moon, Hippy at Heart, OOH Baby, planetHEMP, Samuel Graeb, Victoria Bails

By Victoria Bails Samuel Graeb was studying at the University of Montana when he bought his first article of hemp clothing: a pair of jeans. After taking one of her dad’s old denim shirts, distressed from his contracting jobs, Anika Ignozzi painted a monster on the pocket. Brandon Moon worked on another clothing line with someone else when he realized... Read More

Life Inside and Out of the Ring

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Daniel Hooven, International Wrestling Cartel of Pittsburgh, Max Petrunya, Sara Flanders, Steve Schneider

By Sara Flanders Lawyer by day, Max Petrunya has spent nights brawling under the Homestead Bridge. Having always dabbled in extreme sports, Steve Schneider’s most recent endeavor left him with a broken skull. A photography gig opened the door for Daniel Hooven to live out a life-long dream. These guys all have average lives by day, but spend their nights... Read More

A Woman Draped in Pelts Competes for the Belt

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Gina Menold, Sara Flanders

By Sara Flanders In 2015, Gina Menold had no idea that her task of helping her husband advertise the new season of his horror television show would lead to the start of a career in professional wrestling. After a fateful meeting with the owner of the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), Menold decided to make the jump and try-out and has... Read More

Banished Bangladesh Writer Finds New Home in Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 City of Asylum, Sara Flanders, Tuhin Das

By Sara Flanders Controversial writer Tuhin Das was forced to leave his home in Bangladesh after Al-Qaeda/ISIS included his name on a hit list of 17 secular writers and activists who slammed them. After receiving no help from local authorities, he became the latest writer to join Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum: a grassroots organization that provides aid and a two-year... Read More

Vinyl Stacks of Steel City: The historic record stores that make Pittsburgh a music worthy city

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Chris Grauzer, Fred Bohn Jr., Jerry's Records, The Attic

By Amanda Myers Chris Grauzer planned on opening his own record store when the opportunity to buy the legendary Jerry’s Records, where he had been working for around ten years, came up. Back in the 1990s when Fred Bohn Jr. went to work at The Attic, his father’s record store, he had no ambitions to keep with family tradition. Growing... Read More