I met Janera Solomon several times in University of Pittsburgh’s Philanthropy forum and was amazed by her energy and great passion for her career as an Executive Director of Kelly Strayhorn Theater. While looking for employment this passing summer, we met in a coffee shop and had a chat. She reminded me of always following my own idea of what I want to do. Whenever I felt stressed and wanted to do less, for some reason, she would be the person popping out in my mind reminding me there is more to be done. Meeting Janera in a coffee shop brought a completely new experience to me and I noticed from then on that having a cup of coffee with a friend is such a great experience not every city would have. Aviva Diamond who lived in New York City for many years and eventually came back to Pittsburgh said to me once “I like it here in Pittsburgh, you would easily development a circle of friends with whom you can have coffee with. That’s not necessarily the case in New York.”
Stacy Pethia, Dr. Stacy Pethia and I met during Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG) summit in 2012. I was amazed by her passion in community engagement and her interesting PHD journey in England. At the time, she was working at Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, an organization mainly helping middle and low-income people maintain their homes. Because of her dedication to her work, I got a chance to volunteer with her on a house painting project in Wilkinsburg. While all the volunteers were painting, the home owner family were sitting in the living room watching TV. It kinda gave me an unpleasant feeling, whether helping other people can actually be harmful in the long run? Stacy and I met once in a coffee shop in Oakland working on a proposal that was eventually not accepted by Heinz College, nevertheless we are still in touch and she is about to become an Executive Director of an organization she has helped put together.
Charles Zehnder, a retired Insurance agency president and partner, now an escort diver at CMU. Chuck and I became friends over the past two years by chatting on the bus almost every evening when I left Hamburg Hall at about midnight. His being there simply supported me mentally. Sometime he tells stories, we share points of views, sometime I seek advice, or I just vent. A 10-minute ride hasn’t ever been that homey. He lent me all those videos about Pittsburgh, from which I learned tremendously. He also took me to an American diner close to CMU to have a meal once in a while, where I found a diner can have good and economic food, especially good French Fries and lovely mid-aged waitresses.
Elaina Minkel. A dear friend since IUP year. Her ultrasim to other people is most admirable. She made me realize that unlike what the rest of the world had stereotyped, the concept of family actually means so much in America as well. Families care for each other and can be close too. She got married with her love of life this passing summer and now is starting a new life with whole bunch of energy and hope. She is a bundle of energy and always has open arms for people. She was also my teacher for driver’s license test. Being able to drive and owning a car means so much to my sense of independency and she is the person to thank for getting me started in this experience, which might be taken granted for folks here who started to drive when they were 16?.
Professor Leela. We often bumped into each other in the Gym at CMU and I admire her sense of discipline to follow a rigid and regular workout schedule. Overtime, we started with smiling to each other, made each other's acquaintance, and then she took me to an Indian Temple in Monroeville, where I was first time experiencing Indian religious culture in such a close environment. I also learned that many excellent Indian people are very active here in Greater Pittsburgh region, yet they still stick to each other and keep their Indian traditions. They never left their homeland, they create one wherever they go.
Teacher Ke Li. We often met on the bus during the summer I was interning at the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. One day we bumped into each other again in Oakland on the sidewalk in front of the PITT student union building. Then we stopped to chat with each other for two hours, as if we had been friends for a long time. She went back to Xinjiang in June 2012 with her husband, who was then doing research at PITT as a visiting scholar. She told me that she liked Pittsburgh a lot although language could be a barrier from time to time. She liked the kindness from strangers, she especially liked the fact that her little girl absolutely enjoyed going to school here, and the American teacher at the school even brought gift to them before they were preparing to leave for China.
Brett Wiewiora and Christina Cann, a nice couple, both are Heinz Alumni. I actually met them at the very beginning of my CMU journey. They were introducing their social adventure Onlyinpgh, which is a social calendar to showcase what’s going on in the city at real time so that people can always find fun things to do in our communities. At that time I didn’t realize how profound such an encounter would be. But later on, as Brett keep evolving his social adventure, from a social calendar (Onlyinpgh), to social media infrastructure building, to online placemaking for community (Sceneable), I constantly got inspired by this entrepreneur’s drive to get better and explore new possibilities. Now these two have become parents and they have a extraordinarily cute baby.
Sandeep Reddy M and Ketaki Desai are two friends as well as peer mentors. The experience they brought to me was delicious Indian Cuisine, great thought-provoking conversations, and always look up to excellence that is not only focusing on our own immediate life but others in a broader way. Sandeep stays in Pittsburgh today working in a promising healthcare consulting firm, and Ketaki sailed for New York working as an engagement manager in a consulting firm as well and now she has become a partner of a start-up consulting firm focusing on technology and machine learning. May our life continue to blossom and we shall convene one day to celebrate.
Uncle John Pennello. He is a music and language genius, a good person and a close friend like a family member. Although we didn’t meet in Pittsburgh about four years ago, he doesn’t live in Pittsburgh, or to my knowledge has much to do with Pittsburgh either, yet he is part of my experience too. Why? That’s because he came to visit once in a while, he sent gifts from all over the World, and he made Pittsburgh destination to many of my good memories, as if this city is my home and I am ready to welcome any friends to come.
The last gentleman, I don’t know his name. He can be anybody and he is everybody. Take a close look at the fan in front of his vehicle. Isn’t that creative? I met him on CMU campus one day and was intrigued by this small element of humor in our daily life. He was very amiable and willing to talk about the fan and its usage as a cooler for the engine. It was just so cute that I didn’t let it pass without being given any attention. So now this picture has always been reminding me to be perceptive, and appreciate small things that may not matter that much in the mundane world of craziness.
All these people are carried within me, and they may carry part of my existence in the City as well. We may not talk regularly or at all. But it’s them, it’s people I will keep encountering like them, who made it a little bit different and special each and everyday. As Matt once intelligently said “Life is a process of accumulating…..”. They are part of my collections for the life experience, right now, and right here.
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