Little announcement to share: we’re moving to Pittsburgh!
About two weeks ago, we signed a lease on an apartment within a multi-family house in East Liberty, and since then we’ve been moving mountains to pack & take care of logistics. This morning I’m writing you all from Fayetteville, West Virginia (very cute spot to land, go visit). By this afternoon I’ll make it to Pittsburgh in my yellow Penske truck. Thursday will be moving day. Friday, I’ll fly back to collect Stevie, Billie Goat, Buckley, and Grizzo for the long journey back to the ‘burgh. Sunday, we’ll finally all be home.
Moving to a place I’ve never even visited is a little daunting. However, I’m a big subscriber of John Darnielle’s perspective on places — a little context:
“In my music, there's a whole series of songs, ‘going to blank,’ all these song titles, Going to California, Going to Morocco, wherever. These songs just started as a way of making fun of all my peers from high school, 'cause in Southern California, and probably everywhere but when you're younger, any problem that's local seems specific to where you're from instead of general to the human condition and all these people I grew up with, especially if they'd been to Europe or New York, would come back to Claremont and go, oh, I hate it here, I can't wait to go back to New York. And I would go, you know, you're going to bring your problems with you to New York, it's not like New York is full of perfect people. And so I started writing these songs to make fun of that urge to flee where you're from and romanticize the place that you're going to.”
In 2021, our first “post-pandemic” [insert despair] live music show was The Mountain Goats. At that show, before playing Going to Alaska, John doubled down — saying something like, ‘any place is cool if you dig in.’ I tend to agree. You get what you give. And certainly: no amount of going to fixes the mess inside.
Stevie and I chose Pittsburgh because it checked most of our boxes. Near enough to mountains, northern, bikeable, nestled in universities, a little spark of organizing work, gritty. But I imagine we could dig in and make a happy home anywhere, so long as it is relatively walkable (keeping it real: needing to drive places significantly impacts my capacity for joy).
I look forward to sharing more about our new home (and how we dig into it) in the coming months! & if you’re ever in the area, come visit us in the Paris of Appalachia.
Good Luck! From Pittsburgh Originally Myself. Definitely take a ride on the Dukuesne Incline & take a river clipper boat tour.
Love it! I've always wanted to travel to Pittsburgh! Sending you and Stevie and all the babies safe travel wishes and lots of love from your community in SC! :)