Still Working

Life is busy, and it can be hard to keep up with the news. That’s why 90.5 WESA is launching a new podcast called Pittsburgh Explainer. Every Friday morning, we’ll bring you the biggest news stories of the week in 20 minutes. Hosted by WESA editor Liz Reid, you’ll hear from the reporters who cover politics, education, tech, health, arts and more, and get the real stories behind the headlines.

Life is busy, and it can be hard to keep up with the news. That’s why 90.5 WESA is launching a new podcast called Pittsburgh Explainer. Every Friday morning, we’ll bring you the biggest news stories of the week in 20 minutes. Hosted by WESA editor Liz Reid, you’ll hear from the reporters who cover politics, education, tech, health, arts and more, and get the real stories behind the headlines. It’s the news you need, in the time you have. Pittsburgh Explainer launches Feb. 7.

It is said that practice makes perfect. In the case of retired physician Demetrius Ellis, it also produces some divots in the backyard. After a neighbor introduced him to golf, Ellis spent hours practicing at home before he dared showing his face at a real golf course. In his retirement, Ellis has worked to find ways to stay in shape, both physically and mentally. Golf requires a lot of decisions — related to club choice, weather, terrain — to get the ball to the pin. “All those decisions … keep

Retired pediatric nephrologist Dr. Demetrius Ellis has played sports his entire life: soccer, racquetball, tennis. But a sudden onset of tennis elbow in his 60s prompted his neighbor to introduce Ellis to golf. “I thought it was an extremely expensive sport for rich people who were very compulsive,” Greece-born Ellis laughs. Ellis plays nearly every day at the public course, the Bob O’Connor Golf Course, in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park.

Shikha Goodwin moved to Pittsburgh last year with her husband, two small children, two cats, and all of her hopes and dreams to start a new job. The city has dealt her some tough blows and she is now looking for work. Even in the midst of her uncertainty and doubt, however, Goodwin says Pittsburgh has grown on her, thanks to moments like driving through the Fort Pitt Tunnel early in the morning.

Mary Sprajcar has volunteered at the Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Center for nearly 10 years. In that time, she’s seen her share of escape attempts. Volunteers spend a lot of time cleaning the temporary habitats of their patients, and doing so requires extra vigilance, as Sprajcar experienced two summers ago.

Mario Ulizzi started training as a shoemaker in 1991. His then-girlfriend, now wife, Carla, came from a family of shoemakers, and her father suggested he try it. “It just became a part-time job and then a passion and a career,” he says. But sometimes he worries about what the constant exposure to glue, shoe polish, and dust means for his health.

Working for a wage is a big part of life for most adults in the United States. Since last August, Still Working explored what those jobs mean, or don't mean, to people, and how work affects how they view the world. The final episode of the series, however, looks past paid labor. Shihka Goodwin describes the difficulty of searching for a job. Mary Sprajcar discusses her volunteer labor at the Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Center in Verona, Pa. And Dr. Demetrius Ellis reflects on his retirement and the newfound time for family, friends, and golf.

Sadly, fitness does not work by the property of osmosis. Sitting next to an Adonis on the bus does not turn us all into museum-worthy Greek statues. It is a tough reality that means there is plenty of work out there for personal trainers. Still, the osmosis theory dies hard: personal trainers often face “pressure to look as fit as … clients hope to be,” says Nkem Chikwendu, a trainer at the JCC in Squirrel Hill.

Mobility researcher Brandon Daveler has spent years learning how to design and build better powered wheelchairs. But starting a company to sell the first model that can be fully submerged in water required a whole new education. “Business owners are the only people that will work an 80-hour week to avoid working 40 hours a week for somebody else,” he laughs.