Editor’s note: Are we a Thursday newsletter now?? No. No we are not. There were things I needed to have fall into place before I could post this, so I had to delay it a day. We are going to start this baby off with a short essay and then launch into the Burghy stuff below it, so bear with me …
Yesterday, Wednesday, was weirdly difficult.
For me. It certainly would have been a day of excitement for most, but for me? The person who intentionally chose anonymity all those years ago? The person in therapy partially to work on her deeply rooted fear of becoming something bigger, and her fear, for reasons I’ll never share, of becoming a proud person who lets accomplishments change her or turn her into something she hates?
That person spent yesterday paralyzed by anxiety. Full stop. I don’t suffer from anxiety disorder in the diagnosable sense of the word. I’m fortunate to be someone who doesn’t struggle with my mental health to any great extent (and my therapist is reading this maybe going, “Oh, we’re gonna have a TALK in two weeks, girl. You’re a legitimate basket case. I write medical journal articles about you.”).
But yesterday, knowing the announcement would be dropping about my book launch event (more on that below), and knowing the review copies were being sent out, that my own copies would be showing up at my door soon, that the order links are up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble but I’m too scared to share them (more on that below too), well, this thing I’ve been working toward since I was a teenager suddenly rammed into me like a vicious wave and pulled me under. That’s the only way I can describe it. I’m still not up for air completely, but my dog-paddle is killer.
How ridiculous is that? How insulting is that to people with real problems? I’m so aware of that, but I wanted to be honest about how I’ve been feeling.
I didn’t write a book for money. In fact, I do not know how many dollars I get per book. Why? I’ve never done the math and I can’t recall what my contract says and I probably won’t look it up (I trust my publisher that much). I wrote this book because I needed to see a damaged character go through something and come out the other side healed so that I could then do that in my own life. I basically wrote a book about what I hoped was possible for me—healing. But I wanted to write it full of humor. So I did.
And it felt nearly divine in nature. Supernatural. This book. The way it came together. The way I started it in the middle, wrote it out of order, wrote it in three alternating timelines, and yet somehow, it came together. Neatly. Perfectly. As if I were watching someone else put the puzzle together.
The end result was a book I love. I’ve had to read it countless times, but now that it’s done, I won’t ever read it again. I know this. I’m worried I won’t be able to bring myself to open the box to hold one in my hands. Don’t try to understand that; I don’t understand it myself.
There’s a thing I say when I speak to college students and I believe it with my whole heart—”You can reach the world through Pittsburgh.” This is because Pittsburgh people lift up other Pittsburgh people. Because Pittsburgh people, more than any other city, see themselves as a unit standing up against the world and wanting good things for each other and we like to see a person succeed and we say, “They’re from Pittsburgh,” even when they grew up in Butler or Westmoreland or even Somerset.
I broke the rules writing this book and I’ll continue to break the rules now that release day is near. I can’t become a salesperson. I can’t become a brand. An influencer. I can’t make Tik-Toks or Reels or post videos or pictures of myself. It is not me. I am an author, not a brand. A writer, not a performer. All I can do is put my book out there and let my words be my words and hope the people who love the book tell their friends about it, share it, gift it, encourage others to read it. All I can do is what I’ve told people is possible—try to reach the world through Pittsburgh.
So that is my marketing strategy … one word: Pittsburgh.
The Heinz History Center approached me about hosting a book launch event/conversation and I said yes because I refuse to turn down opportunities that other authors would love to have, no matter how much anxiety it gives me. You can find all the details here. The doors will open on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. for you to visit the Green Book exhibit (it is so great) prior to the event. Then I will have a conversation with Sally Wiggin about Pittsburgh, history, and this book. We will keep it brief, I promise. Then I will answer any questions you have and sign your book and hug you until you squirm.
June 20 is also release day, so if you wish to attend this event, do not purchase your book through the Amazon or B&N links. Instead, buy a copy via the event link when you reserve your ticket and the History Center will hand you your book when you arrive. If you can’t make the event, you can now pre-order the print version through Barnes & Noble here or the e-book or print version at Amazon here (on publishing day, you’ll be able to order both print and e-book versions at both sites). I’m so pleased that the first copies of the book sold will go to supporting the programs at my beloved Heinz History Center. I’d love to find a way to put more money in local bookshop hands over the big corporations, so I’m open to suggestions on that.
Long story much shorter: I am a basket case. My book is being released on June 20. On that evening, there’s an event at the Heinz History Center with me and Sally Wiggin. Please come. If you can’t attend, please buy the book, read it, and if you love it, share it. If you choose it for your bookclub, invite me to come. Just please don’t murder me.
Let’s talk!
1. It’s one diamond, Michael. What could it cost? 4 billion dollars?
KDKA ran a story this week in which the owners of four Smithfield Street businesses claimed the homeless who stay at the shelter in the Smithfield United Church are ruining their businesses. (The shelter will be closing in June because it is not meant for summer housing and the county is working to house these individuals before then.)
The story claims that 100 people exit the shelter each morning and “stay nearby,” ruining businesses. Now, I’ve yet to see anything close to 100 homeless people congregating on Smithfield or anywhere in the downtown shopping district the way this story insinuates. In fact, from the blurred-out video, they found maybe four or five. Another story shows around 10 individuals, all of them on or next to the steps of the actual church. And that story includes an interview with one of the shelter residents, who is lovely and simply seeking help.
The jewelry store owner claims his foot traffic has dropped 85%. Since when? Maybe since, I don’t know, the pandemic decimated downtown businesses in general and then never fully recovered because so many workers stayed remote?
"Every time the Pirates are playing someone, all those out-of-towners come to our store, they ask -- every single person that comes in our store -- says, 'What's going on with this city? Why is it like this?'" Means said.
Oh, my God. Every single person. Sure. Sure.
Then the fur shop owner said (wrap your head around that. They interviewed a DIAMOND STORE OWNER AND A FUR STORE OWNER):
Carl Herrmann just lost two employees who no longer felt safe. He's now picking up 80 to 85 percent of his customers' coats for summer storage versus just 55 percent last year.
"A lady, a couple, children -- I wouldn't have a family walking down this street if I could avoid it. I'll tell them to park across the street and walk across the street," said Herrmann, who owns Carl Hermann Furs.
Pittsburghers. Please. Go downtown. See for yourself. You will not find 100 homeless people blocking the entrances to these businesses, nor will you find them congregating in large scary throngs. You will not find a dystopian state full of crime and fear and unhoused Pittsburghers trying to rip furs and diamonds out of the hands of terrified wealthy people. For the most part, anecdotally, the unhoused population is not aggressive or violent toward pedestrians. This report paints a much different, scarier picture that is only going to further keep away those who would come downtown to spend money.
Pittsburgh has housing and drug problems, like every city. I eat downtown. Take my daughter downtown and walk and grab ice cream and go to sports events and it’s lovely and I do these things without fear. It is not what this report is making it out to be. Certainly business owners have a right to their customers having safe access to their establishments, but I fail to see how KDKA telling us that some customers are refusing to walk down Smithfield to pick up their furs and diamonds because they are fearful of homeless people is a true snapshot of the downtown area.
Go downtown this summer and see for yourself, and hell, maybe buy an unhoused Pittsburgher or two a sandwich instead of hoisting your furs and diamonds above your head and sprinting past them all, “I DON’T HAVE ANY FURS OR DIAMONDS PLEASE DON’T MURDER MEEEEeeeee!”
Be for real.
2. It’s a beautiful day to MAKE. THIS. HAPPEN.
So, yeah, I’m freaking out over this:
Let me just take a few deep calming breaths before I go all batsh—
Now I know how people used to feel when they screamed their faces off, fainting where they stood when they saw Elvis or the Beatles in concert. I get it now, my Boomers. I get it.
So, no, you can’t buy this. Not yet. For now it’s a member-built suggestion submitted to LEGO Ideas and you can register on the site to vote for it. If the build receives enough support via these votes of support, it has a shot of becoming an actual LEGO sold by the company.
When I looked a few days ago, it was at about 1,300 supporters. Now it is up past 3,000. If you love it too, hop on over and register to show your support. It’s free. Let’s hope the momentum continues and one day we can all build this beautiful Mister Rogers set complete with moving Trolley and those amazing blue kitchen cupboards I always loved.
Now I’m going to see if I can find someone who can knit me the tiniest red cardigan you ever did see so I can put it on my future Mister Rogers minifigure. It’s going to take some tiny hands.
Where are Cinderella’s mice these days?
3. At last, my love has come home
A thing happened:
Jaromir Jagr came home and my heart pooped its pants.
This man whom I adored and continue to adore and who once gave me his autograph when 17-year-old me saw him getting in his Trans Am next to the Civic Arena when he was 19 years old as I was walking past with my dad one morning on my way to my summer job downtown and he spoke barely no English but after I ran over to him and asked him for his autograph, my mullet blowing in the wind (in the back only), my girl-mustache glowing, he motioned for me to give him a pen and my dad luckily had a pen because I’m the stupid girl who was like, CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH I ASSUME YOU KEEP A SHARPIE ON YOUR PERSON AT ALL TIMES OR MAYBE YOU CAN JUST AUTOGRAPH MY HEART WITH YOUR SOUL DON’T YOU THINK VIRGINIA JAGR WOULD BE JUST THE BEST NAME EVER??
I had it bad, you guys, and we both had mullets, so, you know. Destiny.
Those making educated guesses are saying the Pens will be retiring his number and that’s why he was visiting and getting the royal treatment. All I want in this life is for Jaromir Jagr to sign a one-game contract with the Penguins this fall and then retire after scoring a goal at the age of 51 after which he makes finger-hearts at the camera so that I know he did it for me.
Jagr still owns a house here and hasn’t touched it since he left because he posted an Instagram video of himself walking through it, cracking up at how it looks like a early 90s movie set complete with a cassette player, cordless phone and some seriously retro kitchen appliances. I tried to zoom in on the calendars to see what year they are, but I need that CSI computer where you just say “zoom in, sharpen” and magic happens.
ZOOM IN. CLOSER. SHARPEN. It’s not working. But look at him. I love him. I wonder if there’s a mixtape he made for me inside the cassette player. I hope “All This Time” by Tiffany is on there.
Someone please tell him he loves me. Thank you.
Ginny and Jags forever. TLA.
4. Was there ever a saw mill on Saw Mill Run Boulevard?
A new development with my Pittsburgh Remains to be Seen map! While I’m currently working on creating biking and walking tours, I’ve added a new layer—the fun history behind some of Pittsburgh’s street names!
This started when a reader suggested I add Rope Way on the North Side to the map because it was where one of Pittsburgh’s first industrial businesses was located back in the late 1700s. The business was partially woman-owned and was a rope-walk, which is a long, narrow outdoor space where fibers were stretched and twined to make long ropes like would be used on ships.
Here’s a 1797 advertisement for the very business commemorated by the name Rope Way:
Here’s a map from 1835 showing the rope-walk, and a map from 1892 showing the street block with the old names of the streets:
I loved the story behind Rope Way, but because it wasn’t really a “remain,” I didn’t want to add it to the map. But then I figured, why not create a separate layer for street names that are of interest historically speaking? So I did! Here’s how to see it (use the little slide icon in the upper left corner to bring up this panel):
There are now two streets on the new layer, Rope Way and Saw Mill Run Boulevard, which got its start with a saw mill built near today’s West End Bridge back in 1754!
If you know interesting stories behind a Pittsburgh street name that would be a good addition to the map, particularly those that commemorate things no longer there, please let me know!
In addition, with each new feature I add to the map, I realize I need to make it a mobile app. I don’t know how to go about doing that, so this is where I seek help and partners to make it happen. Please reach out if you have ideas or know-how.
5. That’s all!
I have other things I wanted to share, but I’m out of space so I’ll save them for next week. Oh, wait. No. I’m off next week due to travel (I’ll have a house-sitter. Don’t try to rob me of my “diamonds” and “furs” (costume jewelry and Sam’s Club sweaters). I’ll see you back here in two weeks. In the meantime, buy tickets to the launch, pre-order the book, invite me to your bookclub, and be sure to come see my band The Civic Arena Trans Ams. Would you believe Donnie Iris said he’d front it?
Also, if I accidentally sign your book with “Virginia Jagr,” let me know and I’ll buy you a clean copy and sign it with my REAL name …
Virginia Anne Jagr.
