Douglas Heuck

Mar 20, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Douglas Heuck

Just before 6 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, I got in the car to drive down to Cincinnati, my hometown. I’ve done it 100 times at least since I moved to Pittsburgh 39 years ago. And I’ve done it for all manner of occasions. This time, it was to see my oldest brother. His heart had stopped the day before, and doctors had revived him. As I sped through the pre-dawn darkness, I considered his situation. As different as we were, we had the family heart disease gene in common.

Jan 24, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Evan Pattak |Jeff Sewald |Tracy Certo |Douglas Heuck

Maurice (pronounced Morris) Levy was a career-long math teacher in Pittsburgh schools. He was beloved for many reasons, including his sense of humor and his unusual way of addressing students. Rather than using their first names, he called each one “Mr.” or “Miss,” teaching his students lessons about respect they didn’t even know they were learning. He was a strong supporter of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and the union’s first-ever strike in 1968.

Jan 8, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Tracy Certo |Douglas Heuck |Ray Werner |Julia Fraser

written by tracy certoGrisell Espinoza was in limbo in 2014, wondering whether to stay in Pittsburgh or return to her native Venezuela where political turmoil was getting worse. Her only friend in town, a fellow Venezuelan, helped her get work at a restaurant until she could find a job in her profession as a civil engineer. But as supportive as her friend was, she still warned her: “This is a country that teaches you to cry.”Grisell, 32 at the time, was not one to cry — or so she thought.

Nov 22, 2023 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Ray Werner |Jeff Sewald |Douglas Heuck |Tracy Certo

It was December 9,1979. The White House was decorated for Christmas, with its majestic, towering Christmas Tree, all ready for the annual lighting that day. What a great welcoming sight. How could this be happening to us? We were there to film First Lady Rosalynn Carter. She had agreed to do some public service commercials for us and help raise awareness and funds for the Cambodian hunger crisis.  It was one of the worst hunger crises the world had ever witnessed.

Oct 30, 2023 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Douglas Heuck

(This story appeared in the Fall issue under the headline: The Broken Politics of Allegheny County.) I was on vacation in Michigan this summer, walking down a path to collect my daughter’s dog, when two old friends said hello from a cottage porch. One, from Cincinnati, gets the magazine and asked what the subject of my next column would be. I told him I was writing about the November election in Allegheny County and how important it would be.