Class Website: A Guidebook to the Secrets of Pittsburgh

Creator(s): 
Students of Secret Pittsburgh
Class: 
Secret Pittsburgh
Instructor: 
Jess Fitzpatrick
Semester: 
Fall
Year: 
2018

The "Secret Pittsburgh" Literature class invites students to explore unusual or hidden spaces of the city, including "secret" spaces within well-known landmarks. Coursework requires them to explore connections among politics, environment, history, community, and written texts. Students learn how to engage with a diverse range of texts and re-consider the cultural work "literature" can do in the world. The conclusion to a semester of reading, writing and on-the-ground investigation is the final project, where students construct entries for this online guidebook. They write and design each entry, using photographs taken during site visits or found in online archives. This still-incomplete guide will continue to be updated with firsthand perspectives on Pittsburgh’s secret (and some not-so-secret) places.