Greetings all! Welcome to the Rewind Memories memory-project. Our mission: to document the memories, quotes, advice, etc. from our surrounding neighborhood businesses and business owners. Call it an homage or tribute or whatever, but we are here to recognize and celebrate the various businesses that have shaped the neighborhoods into what they are today. Each business is unique, but sometimes we forget about the people who made them that unique. So here we are, collecting and sharing the memories of various innovators and entrepreneurs. Everyone has a memory and we’re proud to share it right here.
In the coming weeks, we will begin our journey interviewing business owners and posting the aftermath here—starting out in our native Squirrel Hill and then working our way into some of the Burgh’s other unique places and spaces. Our first post, however, will be about ourselves, the writers. We, Katy and Sarah, compiled a list of questions for each other, and from that list we selected one question each that we think we can answer best. Answering all the questions would just be long and tedious and boring, and we wouldn’t want to bore you, would we?
Q: What is your favorite quote, and what does it mean to you?
Sarah: Let’s see… One of my favorite quotes is, “True knowledge is to know the extent of one’s own ignorance.” I feel like it’s the opposite of bigotry—a humble open-mindedness. Not the absence of conviction, but recognizing our limited capacity to understand what we haven’t experienced. I mean, everyone perceives the world uniquely. Knowing that others have different worldviews and that yours are no more valid than anyone else’s is the only way that we can learn from one another. Going along with that… another quote that I really appreciate is “Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.” They really go hand-in-hand. Even well-intended fixedness is so limiting. It’s humbling and also liberating recognizing that we have such miniscule knowledge of the universe. It’s hopeful of there being something greater than we’re capable of conceiving.
That’s part of why I love Pittsburgh so much—there’s this vibe of diversity combined with a sense of camaraderie. I think it’s a beautiful thing for people to bond over their differences along with their commonalities. Go, Pittsburgh.
Q: What can you tell me about yourself that most people don’t know about you?
Katy: To be honest, I really don’t want to tell you about myself. Not because I want to remain mysterious, but because I want people to really know me. Does that make sense? That doesn’t make sense. Okay, so for example, when an interviewer is asking you questions about who you are, you’re obviously crafting the answer so that he only knows the good qualities about you. Essentially, you’re just controlling your image instead of letting the other person see you for who you truly are. I do this all the time. It’s not lying, but it’s a very two dimensional picture and that gets boring real quick. It’s also artificial and, in my opinion, a counter-productive way of “getting to know someone.” I am more than just a compilation of my favorite movies, books, my major, my minor, my travels, and all the other “standard” questions you ask a stranger. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have all those answers—like, my favorite book is “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but what does that really tell you about me, I wonder. You don’t know why I like it, so it really doesn’t tell you too much about me except of what you think you know about people who like that book. Basically, what I’m really trying to say is: I cannot give you a short “about me” answer. If you want a more holistic “about me,” then this blog will probably do more than what I’m trying to say. Because here will be published questions and answers that I ask others, and through these questions you can figure what type of person I am. Wow, this was way longer than I intended, but hey!—that’s also saying about who I am. So, I guess, stay tuned!
