Looking Back Now, It Makes Me Laugh

If I'm going to talk about somewhere in Pittsburgh, I might as well start with what I know best: good ol' Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of the city about 15 minutes away from the heart of downtown. 
Lebo, as residents call it, has been my home for as long as I can remember. Seven elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. Even with that many schools- and that many students- the municipality still seems small to me, maybe because it's all I know... or maybe because when you live there, you don't really ever leave, hence how the school earned the nickname "The Bubble." 

For at least the last two years of high school, students spend everyday complaining about Lebo: "Man this place sucks, I can't wait to be out on my own." "Yeah college is gonna be crazy, dude, I'm totally getting out of here." We talk big game about how we're going to go to college in California or Arizona or even Florida. The truth of the matter is, most of us go to Penn State or Pitt. I can shamefully admit that I was one of those kids a year ago. 

Looking back, I realize:
1. how much I complained and
2. that if I was in my parents shoes, I probably would have hated me.
I mean, how ungrateful can a kid be? Mt. Lebanon provides a great education, is a safe, beautiful town and honestly has everything a high school student could want. I think something else Mt. Lebanon instills in people is a sense of entitlement, something that needs to stop. We think college will be the easiest transition ever and that we won't ever struggle. I guess Lebo protects you from a lot of the bad stuff a good amount of school districts face. I know I felt like that and college was a pretty big culture shock. Yes, I still live in a college town, but this isn't anything like the class of 500 and some affluent, white kids that I graduated with. 

Lebo made me who I am today. It gave me my best friends, my education, helped me realize my passion of acting, my home, the best and worst memories of high school really.  I remember that first time I went on a date at Sesame Inn (the BEST Chinese restaurant ever), or that time we spent all night at the galleria, a mall for old people, waiting for multiple Harry Potter releases drinking coffee and running around. So many of the memories I'll be telling my children and grandchildren about occurred in the town that I desperately wanted to leave.

I told you we push each other around.
Yes, this was about a month ago.

So what if our field had MRSA and our pipes were infected with asbestos and the school is falling to pieces? I still love every single piece of that broken town. There's a reason the surrounding school districts HATE Mt. Lebanon and to me it's quite obvious: we're the best.
Late nights on Washington Road eating at Aladdin's or drinking coffee from Aldo's, Homecoming, Prom, Snowball, boatride, running around bird park, way too much Starbucks coffee, spending hours in Market District or Trader Joe's pushing each other around in carts, the Greek Food Festival, Panera dates, stalking Emma Watson in the summer of 2011 and getting kicked off of school property because it's after ten (the cops literally have nothing better to do) define my four years of high school-- and I wouldn't take any of it back. 

Yes, I'm leaving out the bad parts, like the time the third floor lockers flooded, or the mouse that lives in the theatre department, or that time someone drop kicked the principal, but that's all in Lebo fashion: ignore the bad. We don't want anyone bursting our bubble after all.

Mama Said "Home is Where the Heart is," When I Left that Town

New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia. Say what you will, none of them are better than my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Yes, I understand that it’s not somewhere tourists go out of their way to see, but as a native Pittsburgher, I think it should be number one on everyone’s list. The city has everything: food, theatre, sports, music, college life, and probably anything else you could ever think of. To me, there’s nothing better than going downtown some random night to do something fun. Really, there’s nothing better than driving into the city. The skyline, well, it’s gorgeous-and pretty underrated. Although I go to Penn State, nothing gives me worse stomach butterflies than when I come home from school, drive through the Squirrel Hill Tunnels and am suddenly surrounded by the lights and buildings of my beautiful hometown. It honestly takes my breath away, and I just can’t help but smile when I see my city reflected off of the three rivers that make up the point. What could really be better?

So maybe none of the buildings are recognizable to those outside of the city, and maybe no one discusses how amazing the Pittsburgh skyline is. Thankfully I know that out there, there is an entire city that backs up these beliefs. I also know there are tons of people that probably think I’m crazy.  Well you know what? I don’t care. That’s what being a Pittsburgher has taught me. I’ve learned that it’s okay to cry when your beloved Steelers lose the Superbowl, that it’s perfectly acceptable to carry a Terrible Towel anywhere and everywhere you go during football season, to scream “IT’S A HOCKEY NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH,” to eat french fries and cole slaw on a sandwich and to have school canceled because the Steelers or Penguins won the Superbowl or the Stanley Cup (let’s face it, we’d all skip school anyway). We’re one crazy melting pot that can basically be brought together by anything—and Pittsburghers can be found anywhere. Wear a Steelers jersey in Florida? It’s likely someone will chant “here we go Steelers” at you. Travel to Arizona? You could probably find a bar revolving around Pittsburgh sports. Us Pittsburghers, we’re everywhere, and each one of us is just as passionate as the next. 

Yes, we may get a little out of hand when it comes to certain things, and yes, we have a crazy accent, with some seriously strange slang, and maybe we’re a “drinking town with a football problem,” but were also the City of Bridges, the Steel City, and most importantly, the City of Champions. So say what you want about my city, all I know is I’m proud to be a Pittsburgher. 

And I hope all of yinz are too.