More Steps

Here is a staircase. I *think* I took this in the South Side Slopes, but I can't remember *for sure*...

I mentioned a book about Pittsburgh steps before, and here are some quick facts from it:

Step by step
Some facts about Pittsburgh’s steps:

Number of staircases: 737

Total number of steps: 44,770

Total number of feet: 24,176, or about 4.5 miles

Number of staircases that are legal “paper” streets: 334

Number of staircases with more than 300 steps: 5

Number of staircases with fewer than 25 steps: 189

Number of wooden staircases: 80

Number of brick steps: 1

Neighborhoods with the most staircases: South Side, 70; Beechview, 39

Number of neighborhoods with no staircases: 24

Decades in which most staircases were built: 1940s, 204; 1950s, 137

Longest staircase no longer in existence: Indian Trail steps, more than 1,000 wooden steps up Mt. Washington from Carson Street to the intersection of Shaler Street and Grandview Avenue, Duquesne Heights

For more information about Pittsburgh’s steps, visit: www.saveoursteps.org

Source: Bob Regan, author of “The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City”

Book: Touch and Go Joe

This is a book written by an adolescent with OCD in Brittain. Although Joe had different phsyical manifestations of OCD, I can completely relate with the similar thought processes he goes through. Different compulsions, but the same logic (or lack of) behind them. I also related to the ideas he brings up about how people would perceive him when they started to notice his new behavior. The parts about his first times seeking help were also very approachable. It was a quick read and I was glad to see a book from the perspective of someone who actually has battled with OCD. Most of the OCD books I've seen have been written from a psychiatrist's/psychologist's/researcher's perspective. I hope to one day add my own book to the "patient" perspective category.

• Title: Touch and Go Joe: An Adolescent's Experience of OCD
• Author: Joe Wells
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Date 1st Published: May 2006
• Length: 128 pages