Pittsburgh Pirates honor Homestead Grays

Gray might be the Pittsburgh Pirates' lucky color.

The team is paying homage to the Homestead Grays for the Pirates' Heritage Weekend by wearing the Grays' uniforms in the series against the Kansas City Royals.


With two wins and four home runs so far, the Pirates are doing a sensational job honoring the Grays, who won more Negro League World Series titles than any other team.

The Grays won three championships, including the last one before the league disbanded in 1948.

The previous year, Jackie Robinson played his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger, making him the first African-American to play in the white-only major leagues.

At Friday night's game, fans received free commemorative Grays baseball caps. Some tried to answer a trivia question about the Negro League.

Like many of the other attendees sporting those "G" caps, my knowledge of the Pittsburgh's black baseball teams was minimal.


Unknowing of the Grays' success, I wondered why they were being honored since Pittsburgh had its own team in the Negro National League, the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Their successes weren't comparable. Even though the team showcased five Hall-of-Famers during its run, the Crawfords never saw a championship game.

The navy blue hat with an embroidered "G" gave me more than just something to fiddle with during the game's slow times. It gave me something to think about.

There isn't much of a lesson in this blog except to remember those who struggled for acceptance.

And if the Pirates have seen a little further, it's by standing on the shoulders of Grays.

This might have helped the Pirates too.



Let's go Buccos!

Penguins on parade

Enough of this "march of the penguins" talk. I was happy to see the Penguins ride today.

The victorious Pittsburgh Penguins waved at their fans from the back of pickup trucks at the team's parade Downtown.

The parade began on Grant Street at noon and proceeded down the Boulevard of the Allies and onto Stanwix Street, where the team showed off the Stanley Cup and thanked their supporters.

For those of you who were trapped at work, out of town or want to relive the excitement, I made a slideshow from the parade. Some highlights of the parade were seeing game-seven-hero Maxime Talbot clean shaven and joking around, a few local high school bands with black and gold colors, Marc-Andre Fleury next to Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup and, of course, Vladimir and Natalia Malkin. Unfortunately, I wasn't close enough to see Evgeni Malkin holding the Conn Smythe Trophy dressed up in a penguin (not Penguins) hat.

And here's a video of the MVP himself, Malkin. The crowd chants his nickname, Geno, as rides with the Conn Smythe Trophy.



Hopefully, we'll get to see the Penguins ride again soon.

Review of the mayoral candidates' Web sites

While researching for a story about Pittsburgh's mayoral candidates, I started to think about something that was pivotal to President Barack Obama's election: His Web site. The three Democratic candidates - Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Councilman Patrick Dowd and attorney Carmen Robinson - have unique Web sites that epitomize the images they're trying to convey.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
www.lukeformayor.com

The mayor is trying to show his Pittsburgh pride on his Web site, playing up his "Steelerstahl" spirit. His Web site's color scheme is black and gold and features a straightforward headshot with a smile that says, "I'm the mayor of the city of champions." Ravenstahl's new signs that say "Taking care of business" and "Getting it done" also exhibit big, bold graphics that scream "football."

Ravenstahl also beckons his supporters to "take action," rather than "volunteer." This goes with his young, virile persona.

Blog? Yes.
Link to Twitter? Check. Active? eh.
Link to Facebook? Check.
Link to Myspace? No. Myspace? eh.
Videos? No.

Councilman Patrick Dowd
www.dowdformayor.com


Dowd seems to the candidate for change because his Web site is reminiscent of Obama's campaign Web site, which is still up (Sen. John McCain took down his periwinkle Web site that also shared cosmetic similarities to Obama's). Before entering dowdformayor.com, there's a splash page prompting the viewer to donate. The blue and white color scheme is Obama-esque, though it doesn't play up the blue gradients as much on the homepage. Though the blue gradient is very similar to Obama's Web site, it's the portrait on that donation page that interests me. The photographer shot Dowd at a low angle that makes the upward looking Dowd seem optimistic, but not in the same way as the famous, sincere-looking Obama shot.

Continuing with his image, Dowd has adopted a little logo - like our president who decided to keep his campaign rising sun logo - in the browser tab, a "D." It seems more like George W. Bush's "W" logo or Oprah 's "O" than Obama.

Dowd also likes to talk to supporters using videos in the same way Obama used videos in his campaign. His Web site is highly interactive, with opportunities for supporters to upload photos and write why they're voting for Dowd.

Dowd also knows how to treat the media. On his "press kit" page, he aggregated his press releases and news articles as well as a black and white and color press photo (used above).

Blog? Yes.
Link to Twitter? Check. Active? Almost as much as mine at 2 a.m.
Link to Facebook? Check.
Link to Myspace? No. Myspace? No.
Video? Oooo. Yes.

Carmen Robinson
www.carmenformayor.com/


Robinson's Web site is a traditional, patriotic red, white and blue with gold accents. The Pittsburgh native's page features a faded picture of Pittsburgh's skyline. She gets extra points for that. The featured portrait of Robinson shows the candidate with arms crossed in a stern pose that's expected of an attorney.

Robinson's Web site is viewed best in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Alright... I tried it, and I didn't notice any difference.

Moving on. Graphics on the Web site are playful and don't have an obvious theme. There are various eye-catching fonts and pictures. She's the only candidate who posted pictures of her family and one of her standing near Pope John Paul II. Robinson does a good job portraying herself as a member of the community as well as a tough attorney with unwavering principles.

Rather than copying Obama's Web site aesthetics, Robinson uses Obama's catch phrases. Her Twitter says "Vote for Change!" and "Yes we can!"

Blog? No.
Link to Twitter? Check. Active? Yes.
Link to Facebook? No. Facebook? Not one for her campaign.
Link to Myspace? Check.
Video? None of herself but one of Obama on the stump recognizing Ravenstahl who was M.I.A. when he called his name - I was actually at this round table discussion at CMU last summer.

The Democratic primary tends to be more competitive than the main election in November because Pittsburgh is a historically Democratic city, having elected its last Republican mayor, John Herron, in 1933.



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Swing City!

I must be asleep.

Because I feel most awake, most alive when I'm dancing. Trying a new type of dance is like tasting a new dessert, and last night, I had the triple chocolate cake.

Walking onto the dance floor at Swing City in Squirrel Hill, I could not stop smiling. The music, people and dance moves seemed so familiar. I wished I had a polka dot dress, red lipstick and pearls. But I didn't feel awkward in my black skinny jeans and charcoal top - at least I was wearing my dancing shoes. The atmosphere was very casual. Some people dressed in vintage dresses and collared shirts while others wore Penguins shirts and poncho pants.

I went with the intention of observing for the first hour or so. This was not only because I plan on writing a story about Swing City for my newspaper 2 class but also because I had no idea how to swing dance.

After about 15 minutes of coaxing from friendly men who didn't want to see a girl sitting down, my favorite dancing buddy, Molly, and I took to the dance floor. I cursed myself for not showing up to the free lesson beforehand. But all of our dance partners were so helpful, counting to eight and reminding us of the slow-slow-quick-quick pattern. The way people crossed the room for each other reminded me of how Maria and Tony connected during the crowded dance in West Side Story. The kicking girls and twisting guys snapping their fingers helped too.

Dr. Zoot played the bouncing themes I expected as well as some polka and waltz. When they needed a break, the dance gods put on The Foundation's "Build Me Up Buttercup." The long trumpet skirts twirled and men got down on one knee with arms out, letting their girls parade around them. Amidst all of the swinging hips and dipping girls, there was an older couple in the middle of the room holding each other tight and spinning slowly.

The diverse crowd ranged from mid-teens to senior citizens, and everyone was having fun. Swing dancing is a lifelong activity, like tennis or golf, but I don't see love in peoples' eyes when they're golfing. Though tennis and golf clothes are pretty snazzy, there's just something about fedoras and chiffon scarves that's oh so fly.

You can bet that poodle skirt that I'll be back next Saturday and for many Saturdays after.

Swing City's Web site: http://www.swingpgh.com/index.html

Welcome to Brave New Word

"O brave new world,
That has such people in it!"
-William Shakespeare

Salutations! Thank you for viewing Brave New Word, a new culture blog by Estelle Tran. My readership on Transforumer, my old blog and professional Web site, was minimal, so I finally decided to make the jump on to Blogger. I'm reluctant to restrict this blog to one niche since I love to make connections and compare subjects. So you can expect to see blog entries commenting about national news as well as Pittsburgh news. But I'll also be busy blogging about trends in television, music, fashion and green issues.
Please check back soon. :)

All the best,
Estelle