Warhol City

If you feel you've exhausted the Andy Warhol Museum here, you can always go to the other one. Be sure to leave adequate travel time. It's located in the small Slovakian town of Medzilaborce, which is a mouthful but could be changed to Warhol City in the near future. Why Medzilaborce? Andy's parents were born there, emigrating in 1913 when the town of 6,000 was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It actually opened before ours -- in 1991 -- and every year, 17,000 people manage to find their way there despite its remote location in the Carpathian mountains near Ukraine, seven hours from Slovakia's capital, Bratislava. The exhibition includes a family photo and memorabilia gallery and works by Andy's nephew, James Warhola, Warhol's brother, Paul Warhola and sketches by his mother, Julia. Also, a few actual works by Andy himself. Now the town is investing $1.3 million to create "Warhol City," replete with Campbell Soup bus stops, a bronze statue of Warhol, a hotel called Pension Andy and a general Warholian sprucing up, Bloomberg News reports. One improvement that got nixed: a plan to put Warhol's face on public free-standing urinals, perhaps a scholarly reference to the man's use of urine in several of his works.

More art news

From the AP
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In Rio de Janeiro, the revelry leading up to Lent is known as Carnaval, five days of letting it all hang out. But four thieves were determined to not let works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Dali all hang in the Chacara do Ceu museum. As a samba band played outside, the four burst in and walked off with the pieces said to be worth at least $20 million, Agence France-Presse reports. The thieves reportedly used grenades to threaten security guards and people inside the museum, which was open at the time. Four tourists were among those held, Reuters reported. The gunmen fled unnoticed in the huge crowd following the Carnaval band. The least they can do is give up art thievery for Lent.

Another Mardi Gras theft

Craig Giesecke, a New Orleans blogger, came home from Mardi Gras festivities one recent night and noticed an envelope on his door. He also noticed his City of New Orleans flag was gone. When he opened the note, $60 fell out. It read:

"Last night I did something that I deeply regret now. I had been drinking and (without going into the details, let's just say alcohol and a woman were involved) made a serious lapse in judgment -- I stole your flag. As I said, I am very sorry about this and, while I cannot get your flag back, I hope this is enough for a new one. This is an action completely uncharacteristic of me, one I have never done before and I will not do again. In no way was this meant as disrespect for you, your property or the city. Although I later realized that is exactly what it was. I hope you can forgive me. Anonymous"

Giesecke's response: "Dude -- lemme tell you something: I forgive you. Had it not been for altitude and lack of way to get up that high, I'd have stolen two French flags from the outside of a French government facility on Bastille Day 1972 -- because of alcohol and because I needed to impress a woman. I been there. The $60 won't quite cover it. But it's OK. Another $30 of my own cash and we're even. I got a story to tell. This letter will be framed and posted in my house. You're a sneaky, impulsive little **** -- and I need to be reminded I can be the same way."

PG: a mulch better paper

Bill Minkler of Bethel Park: "The PG's garden columnist Sandy Feather says newspapers make good mulch. She's correct if it's the right paper. I treasure each day's Post-Gazette, especially your fine columnists and cartoonists. They pile up in my living room as I savor and re-read them. But I can't keep them forever. They eventually become mulch. My Post-Gazette-fertilized garden grows magnificently. Luscious lima beans, succulent strawberries, beautiful begonias. My cousin mulches with a competing paper. His garden is a disaster. His wisteria is all weeds. His squash is scrawny. His corn comes up crab grass. There's a lesson here: It takes a great newspaper to make a great garden."

Seattle denial, Day 22

It goes on. A fan yesterday on The Seattle Times Seahawks forum, describing how he has lost all respect for the Steelers for, uh, winning the Super Bowl: "Not one of those guys has ever acknowledged their gift from [NFL Commissioner Paul] Tagliabue and company. That is where I lost ALL respect. At least realize you were given a gift. I now have a team to loathe for the rest of my life."

The ongoing Seattle whining prompted this missive from a legend of Pittsburgh journalism, Phil Musick, who covered Steelers Super Bowls in the '70s: "I was reminded that there is nothing new under the sun. The day the Steelers got their Super Bowl rings following Super Bowl X -- after some lengthy bitching by Dallas Coach Tom Landry concerning the officiating and bad breaks hurting the Cowboys -- Chuck Noll showed me his ring. He said, "There's this little button on the side. When you press it, the top flips up and inside there is a tiny tape recorder. Press the little button again and it plays a record of Landry crying."

Random Acts of Kindness

Carolyn Ban, GSPIA Dean, University of Pittsburgh

The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs welcomes many international visitors. One introduced himself to me last week and shared a wonderful story. He had arrived the previous week from Korea, landing at 11 p.m. with his wife and two small children. They picked up a rental car, and he tried to drive to the hotel where he had a reservation. We all know that navigating in Pittsburgh isn't easy under much better conditions than he faced, and he got thoroughly lost and drove around for about an hour. Finally, he found a gas station that was open and stopped to ask for directions. But, as he put it, "My bad English made it hard for me to understand." So the man he was talking to said, "Follow me, and I will lead you there." He jumped into his car and led our guest for more than 10 miles right to his hotel, then took off before he could be thanked. My visitor said to me, "I don't even know his name, but I will never forget him." So thanks for showing this newly arrived visitor the true spirit of Pittsburgh.

Don Stanich, Forward Township

Last September my friend John and I were hauling hay purchased from a guy named Steve in Mount Pleasant. All three of us had made several trips in our pickup trucks without incident. On our final trip the difficulties began. Steve had too many bales on his truck, and the rope broke, spilling hay across the side of the road. We were tired by now but reloaded and continued. Not a mile down the road the load spilled again -- in the driveway of an older gentleman. A fellow pulled up, opened his trunk and gave us a new sturdy rope to help retie the load. Wasn't that nice! Some hay went into the old-timer's driveway, and he came out muttering and grumbling. I stayed behind to sweep his driveway while the other two trucks went ahead.

I was on my way again when I came upon the other two trucks, and, yes, Steve had spilled it again. By now we were thoroughly hot, tired, thirsty and disgusted. The next thing you know, a fellow named Dan from a sawmill across the road on Route 31 pulled a flatbed truck in behind us. He offered to take half the load home for us, and we quickly agreed. Not only that, he brought a cold six-pack of soft drinks out for us. After we successfully unloaded, I tried to pay Dan for his trouble. I tried to put gas in his truck. He refused any payment and said, "I've been there before, and I know how it is." So in one afternoon I saw the good in people as well as the unsympathetic. My hat's off to Dan and the fellow with the rope.