Vaya Con Dios, Pittgirl : The Burgh Blog Goes Off The Air

Pittgirl's The Burgh Blog goes off the air with a farewell note. PittGirl was the nom de plume of a Pittsburgh blogger. She wrote anonymously, was well-balanced and clever, and took funny but fair shots at legit targets (caricatures like the Boy Mayor, Steely McBeam, Ken Rice) and took hard shots at blackguards and miscreants. She really hates pigeons, and seems to like her family. A person could do far worse. Her blog became a new neighborhood, as much a part of the Burgh as all the dinky hamlets along the rivers.

Some say that an unhappy childhood or social maladjustment is the prerequisite for effective writing, but Pittgirl was is a great writer and apparently a normal person, with perhaps an unusual focus on "self-uniting marriage". She won the City Paper 2007 Best Pittsburgh Blog award. Even WQED recognized her as an essential part of Burgh Culture. I mean, QED: That's Church™.

Here's a homage from BurghReport and another from Pgh Is A City. I hope we'll see her work again, perhaps in another venue, perhaps with another name - and people will wonder, Could it be? Is it her? Maybe she'll be the Tom Joad of the Burghosphere.

The Post Gazette has some of the story. Pop City has an online interview with more details of why she shut down to maintain anonymity and not lose her job.

Some clever marketing company would create major viral buzz by hiring her to continue the blog, or to write a column under another name. Start the rumor: PittGirl's writing again. Maybe WYEP needs a new blogger. She could work in oblique references to Saucy.

Vaya Con Dios, PittGirl. You're all that.