Lori Jakiela

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Articles

Airport Rejects

1 month ago | mrbellersneighborhood.com | Lily Lopate |Lori Jakiela |Kevin Nolan |Sabine Heinlein

6:50 am Standing in a help-desk line at JFK airport seems as good a moment as any to analyze the catastrophe of my life. Everyone in this line is embarrassed to be here, and I’m no exception. We’re misfits, absent-minded millennials and oldsters who can’t get technology to work, and we have formed an instant community as airport rejects. Before joining this exclusive club, I had to share my reason for being here. “What do you need help with?” the guard asked.
Hands that Carry Their Own Maps of the World

Sep 30, 2024 | beltmag.com | Lori Jakiela

By Lori Jakiela Jimmy Carter boarded the plane with the other passengers. This was 1999, the end times according to Prince, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other end-times prognosticators. I was a flight attendant who wanted to be a writer. I was a writer who wanted to spend her life as a flight attendant—rootless, only loosely connected to a world that might be ending soon. Jimmy Carter stored his small bag in the overhead, then made his way through the cabin. He stopped at every row to shake hands.
Remaking Downtown Pittsburgh

Jun 25, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Jeff Sewald |Mark Schwartz |Lori Jakiela |Louise Gray

Editor’s note: We invited 13 regional leaders to give their thoughts on how to revitalize and reinvigorate Downtown Pittsburgh. Despite numerous emails back and forth with the communications staff of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey from March 15 to April 20, the Mayor did not offer his thoughts on Downtown Pittsburgh. The responses of 12 other leaders follow. DAVID L. HOLMBERG, PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHMARK HEALTHI view Downtown Pittsburgh from multiple perspectives.
An Awkward Introduction to Cyril Wecht

Jun 11, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Mark Davis |Jeff Sewald |Doug Heuck |Lori Jakiela

Home › Article › An Awkward Introduction to Cyril Wecht Cyril Wecht’s recent death took me back decades to summer of 1978 and Carnegie Mellon University’s tennis courts. Two white guys dressed in tennis whites had finished playing and sat on the grass. In my early twenties and in law school, I was one of them.
To Keep Your Balance, You Must Keep Moving

Jun 4, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Lori Jakiela |Kate Benz |Louise Gray |Scott Holleran

My daughter Phelan was born in 2004. She knows Winona Ryder from the series Stranger Things. She thinks Johnny Depp’s Wino tattoo is because he has a drinking problem; who knows, not judging. Stranger Things is set in the 1980s. The kids in the show ride bikes with banana seats and handlebar tassels, just like the bikes I knew growing up.
God Damn It Be Kind

Oct 13, 2023 | beltmag.com | Lori Jakiela

By Lori Jakiela The following is an excerpt from Lori Jakiela’s They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice: On Cancer, Love, and Living So to be released by Atticus Books. My daughter Phelan likes to dress up as a character she created herself, a professional wrestler named Violent Violet Jones.
Let Yourself Go: In Here, Life is Beautiful

Oct 12, 2023 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Lori Jakiela

Lori Jakiela writes of “Cabaret,” Jung, mail-order butterfly kits, SpongeBob, Liza and the fine parental art of letting go. The butterfly kit I’d ordered came with six caterpillars. They arrived in what looked like Tupperware. I couldn’t believe they survived the trip. “Are they OK?” My daughter, Phelan, tried not to sound concerned as she jiggled the container. The caterpillars were spindly, barely moving.
Let Yourself Go: Brains for Robots

Jul 24, 2023 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Lori Jakiela

Lori Jakiela reflects on “The Jetsons,” John Irving, spilled milk and the human act of writing. I was in my 20s, on scholarship at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont — where John Irving was on the faculty. I loved John Irving’s books. Lots of people did. By scholarship, I mean I worked as a waitress to cover tuition.
Let Yourself Go: Spring Cleaning

Apr 18, 2023 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Lori Jakiela

Lori Jakiela explains when your memories take up too much space in the house, it’s freeing to let them go. The mildewed boxes in our basement nagged my husband, Newman, for decades. Newman is the organized type — think Marie Kondo if Marie Kondo looked like an extra on “Sons of Anarchy” and didn’t give a @&#$%! about what did or did not spark @&#$%!-ing joy. My husband is gentle and sweet, despite appearances, except when it comes to clutter.