On Point

Pittsburghers love anniversaries (ask the Pirates – they’re still “celebrating” their 1979 championship). There are anniversaries we collectively forget, just as we forget the signs decreeing we “maintain consistent speed” through the Squirrel Hill Tunnels.

Undeniably, 2018 was some year. Many times, friends assured me, “there are no words” to describe it.

Somehow, despite the trials and travails of a tumultuous year, we’ve made it again to the holiday season, a time of gratitude and good deeds.

As a uniquely Pittsburgh publication, we’re committed to sharing the attributes of the ‘Burgh. What better way to do that than with a holiday gift guide with hometown ideas and more?

The 1970s steel collapse made Pittsburgh a great place to grow up – and leave. More recently (no thanks to you, Amazon!), Pittsburgh’s become a great place for young people to grow a life and career.

The holidays are always the busiest season at the airport as generations of Pittsburghers come home to family and friends.

The senses are still too numb, the grief still too enormous to grasp the tragedy that killed 11 and wounded six at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday, Oct. 27.

We’re excited to invite you inside The Pittsburgh 100. Join us Wednesday, Nov. 7, at noon for a webinar exploring our content, our publishing team and how you can be part of the 100.

As we continue to enhance our Pittsburgh 100 content, we’re pleased to share our very first video story. And guess what? We’d love to feature your video story, too.

One of the most frequent questions we get about The Pittsburgh 100 is “How can I share this with my friends?”

So much of Pittsburgh’s energy comes from our great events. So we’re proud to debut The Pittsburgh 100 calendar, where you can share your great event.

As we enter September, most of us enjoy a day off on Labor Day, the holiday that celebrates workers. In Pittsburgh, we have a great tradition of workers who gave a lot (even their lives) to establish the 40-hour work week, overtime and, yes, paid holidays.

Since we launched The Pittsburgh 100 last year, we’ve been humbled by the strong and positive community response.

Depending on how you use your calendar, we’re about halfway through summer. Welcome to the only month without a widely recognized U.S. holiday (though here are some tantalizing suggestions).

There’s no place in Pittsburgh like Downtown. Spearheading the revitalization of the city as a whole, the city’s central hub has become home to art, food and culture. Where else can you leave work, eat at a nationally recognized restaurant and then visit a night market with free music?

In 2018, when bile and bitterness define us as Americans, yesterday was our most important national holiday to remind us what’s really important.

Pittsburgh tops a lot of fancy lists these days, from Amazon HQ2 finalist, to best places to live, visit, etc.

As you peruse this issue of The Pittsburgh 100, may I ask you to make one more click? When you do, you’ll be greeted by our new website. We’re very proud of it and we hope you like it too.

Memorial Day, as most schoolchildren know, is the “official” start of summer (can you say, “Kennywood is open?”).

Plant the garden. Water the flowers. Remember what the sun looks like. Yep, the Pittsburgh spring checklist gets rolling in May, especially when you add the Marathon and the Pens (short-lived) run for the Stanley Cup.

The winter of 2018 has already broken a few Pittsburgh records (though not for what you might think). Just be glad you don’t live in Erie.

As a proud dad, I enjoy confirming to friends that both of our daughters are “taxpaying citizens.” In other words, they are financially self-sufficient, independent of the First Bank of Dad.

Those adept with a calendar can no doubt tell that Easter, the holiday harbinger of spring, falls on April 1 this year, aka April Fools’ Day.

By now, Pittsburghers of Irish descent (plus many who aren’t) are thinking of libations and liberties.

It’s hard to think of March in Pittsburgh without thinking about the region’s Irish heritage.

Journalist Mark Whitaker’s exploration of his Pittsburgh roots in his new book “Smoketown” gives us a poignant opportunity to re-examine Black History Month from a ‘Burgh perspective.

So, there’s this sporting event on February 4 that many Pittsburghers were hoping to attend or watch. And the Patriots will be there, but the Steelers will not. How to soothe the pain (other than burning Tom Brady in effigy)?

When I moved to Pittsburgh in 1994, steel mills were still closing (there was no Waterfront, for example, or Southside Works) and Steelers fans were headed south for work. The most common question I got: “Why would you move here?”

If your house is like mine, the Christmas tree is “needling” you about its mortality. Soon, the lights and tree will come down, the elevator music will no longer warble about chestnuts and snowmen, and with our city’s slushy snow, it will merely be … winter.

Pittsburgh contributed in many ways to the eventual defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II, from industrial production to the thousands of men and women who served.