Pittsburgh Current. Volume 4, Issue 3. Jam. 27, 2020

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INSIDE:

'A CONTEMPORARY SURVEY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HAIR CULTURE' VOL. 4 ISSUE 3

Jan. 27, 2021 - Feb. 2, 2021

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TRAUMAINFORMED JUSTICE Common Pleas Court Judge Candidate Mik Pappas Opens up About How Childhood Trauma Shapes the Way he'll Rule From the Bench

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Climate Crisis and Corrupt Politics By: Larry J. Schweiger Free Shipping Paperback $29.95 or purchase an eBook for $19.00 (Read the first 25 pages for free)

There is only one earth and our world is undergoing dramatic changes brought on by the climate crisis and other human-induced ecological disruptions. The world's top scientists studying these threats and the forces behind them have been warning us for decades to end the use of fossil fuels or face catastrophic consequences. Their long-ignored warnings have become more dire.

Larry Schweiger has long been on the front line of efforts to enact rational clean energy and climate policies and has witnessed efforts to undermine our democratic system that has been rigged leaving America hoodwinked and held hostage to dirty fuels.

Climate Crisis and Corrupt Politics pulls back the curtain on the central role of big oil, coal, and gas interests in American politics through the flow of money to fabricated entities for independent SuperPAC expenditures for mass deception through distorted advertising. Larry wrote this urgent message aimed at parents, grandparents and young adults who care about their children forced to live on the ragged edge of an unprecedented climate crisis. This book is especially for leaders who understand that we must act now with a "Green New Deal" scale response. Together, we must confront and overcome the many toxic money influences, reverse a failing democracy and retake the reins of government to enact policies that secure our shared future and the future of life on earth.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 3

STAFF Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com Advisory Board Chairman: Robert Malkin Robert@pittsburghcurrent.com

contents

Vol. IV Iss. 3 Jan. 27, 2020

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor At Large: Brittany Hailer Brittany@pittsburghcurrent.com Music Editor: Margaret Welsh Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Jake@pittsburghcurrent.com Sr. Contributing Writer: Jody DiPerna Jody@pittsburghcurrent.com Education Writer: Mary Niederberger Mary@pittsburghcurrent.com Social Justice Columnist: Jessica Semler jessica@pittsburghcurrent.com

NEWS 6 | Mik Pappas OPINION 10 | Larry Schweiger 12 | James Lanigan Arts 14 | Quantum Theatre 16 | Braided Narrative EXTRA 18 | Matthew Walllenstein 20 | Savage Love 12 | Parting Shot

Environmental Columnist: Larry Schweiger info@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Atiya Irvin Mitchell, Dan Savage, Larry Schweiger, Brittany Hailer, Matthew Wallenstein, Caitlyn Junter, Aryanna Hunter, Nick Eustis, Jessie Sage, Mary Niederberger info@pittsburghcurrent.com Logo Design: Mark Addison

PITTSBURGH CURRENT COVER PHOTO: EMMAI ALAQUIVA

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Senior Account Executive: Andrea James andrea@pittsburghcurrent.com Charlie Deitch charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com

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The opinions contained in columns and letters to the editors represent the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Pittsburgh Current ownership, management and staff. The Pittsburgh Current is an independently owned and operated print and online media company produced in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, 1665 Broadway Ave., Pittsburgh, PA., 15216. 412-204-7248.

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CORO N AV I R U S C ASES A R E AT AN ALL-TIM E H I G H S O R EMEM BE R . . . . .

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 5

NEWS

District Magistrate Mik Pappas (Pittsburgh Current Photo by Emmai Alaquiva)

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HISTORICAL JUSTICE

NEWS

IN HIS RUN FOR COMMON PLEAS COURT JUDGE, MAGISTRATE MIK PAPPAS IS TALKING ABOUT HOW HIS PAST TRAUMA WOULD AFFECT A FUTURE SEAT ON THE BENCH

BY BRITTANY HAILER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MANAGING EDITOR

A

llegheny County Magisterial District Judge Mikhail Pappas who serves neighborhoods in the East End, described himself as an “at-risk kid” growing up in East Liberty. He dodged the phantoms of opioid addiction, but like many millennials, the generation most affected by the nation’s opioid epidemic, Pappas has lost swaths of friends and family to overdose.

“They became casualties to the war on drugs, the failed, racist, war on drugs” he said.

Pappas also carries with him the memory of violence in his own home, where he fled with his mother to safety. The shelters where they slept afterwards have been blotted out by time or trauma. But, when he asked his mother’s permission to share this part of their past, she reminded him that there was a period when they had nowhere else to go.

Navigating the nuances of a person’s circumstances and needs is key and it’s how he came to understand the justice system. It is

BRITTANY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

“I have experienced the victim side of domestic violence recovery. ... I understand the transformative power, and the healing power of patience." through this lens which he presides. This lived experience, he said, makes him the judge he is. He wants to focus on rehabilitation.

And he hopes to do it at a higher level. Pappas is running in the May Primary for a seat on Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Today marks his official announcement.

When he ran for district judge in 2017, openly calling for an end to cash bail, Pappas kept his past separate from his campaign, which he won by unseating a 24-year incumbent. But for this campaign, telling his life story and being transparent are front and center.

Pappas described his father as someone “who was a charming, educated person. Who himself was a victim of domestic abuse, and had an addiction to alcohol and suffered from depression.” His father served time in a Maryland

state prison for the majority of Pappas’ childhood.

His father’s addiction, pain and anger didn’t erupt in a vacuum, but Pappas and his mother were in real danger and needed to be protected.

“I have experienced the victim side of domestic violence recovery, as a very young person. In my early childhood, I was lucky enough to get away from it safely because of the courage of my own mother. And so, that was a long term recovery process. I understand the transformative power, and the healing power of patience,” he said.

“I think that it’s important that people know what’s in someone’s heart.

And how do you determine that? Through campaigns, slogans. How do you determine that through recitations of cases and achievements? You determine it by knowing someone’s history–where they come from.

What drives them and motivates them? I do think it’s important, in terms of transparency, to talk about my background,” said Pappas.

Pappas, a long-time progressive, has been in private practice for the past six years. He also spent six years working as a policy adviser for former state representative and longtime progressive Jim Ferlo.

Pappas says he will continue to push for alternatives to cash-bail, including community-sponsored release options, which includes finding housing, employment, and transportation for defendants. Pappas wants to work with the medical and research community, and with nonprofits that are foundation-funded to develop alternatives.

He also wants to ”stop throwing this blunt instrument of incarceration and arrest at every single social problem,” said Pappas.

“It gives me inspiration to develop trauma-informed procedural justice practices, to make sure that people feel safe when they come to court through paContinued on Page 8

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 7

NEWS Continued From Page 7 tience and understanding,” he said, With that model in mind, Pappas has been making changes at the district court level through expanding access to affordable housing, pushing back against mass incarceration and seeking alternatives to cash bail and summary warrants for non-payments for small amounts.

“All of those things have been implemented successfully,” he said, “Now, at the Common Pleas level, what it creates is an opportunity to implement that vision of justice successfully, on a much larger scale.

Going from 30,000 people affected, to 1.2 million county-wide.”

‘Reliance on alternatives to cash bail improves public safety, improves the likelihood that someone is going to come to court’ Pappas progressive approach to the courts also generated pushback from law enforcement and judicial administrators in early 2018. Headlines peppered local media platforms framing Pappas’ decisions as a threat to public safety.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that a Chinese immigrant named Yan Mo left the country after Pappas granted a non-monetary bond. At the time, Pappas told the P-G that

the case “slipped through the cracks.” When asked about the case recently, Pappas declined to discuss individual cases.

Stories like these eventually disappeared from the headlines and were replaced with stories highlighting the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania calling the use of cash bail in Allegheny County “disturbing.” All the while, Pappas continued to work to eliminate cash bail in his district.

“Access to justice should be fair across the board, not dependent upon how much money you have in the bank,” Pappas said, “I think people realize that alternatives to cash bail are more effective to ensure that someone comes to court and the community is safe upon their release.”

Of Pappas’ 2018 caseload, pre-trial recidivism rate in cases with non-monetary conditions was nine percent. Seven percent of his cases failed to appear. According to Pappas, 10 out of the 13 folks who did re-offend in cases, their violations were drug or alcohol related.

“When I look at this data…number one, reliance on alternatives to cash bail improves public safety, improves the likelihood that someone is going to come to court. Number two, one

8 | JANUARY 27, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

way we could further improve that is developing alternatives to cash bail that specifically for people who are suffering from mental health or drug and alcohol related issues,” said Pappas.

And while the results from the alternatives to cash bail aren’t perfect, cash bail, alternatively, doesn’t stop defendants from reoffending, either.

And sometimes those cases can be violent.

In 2017, William Hoston, was out on bond in two separate cases when he was charged with homicide. According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Hoston was first charged with burglary when a district judge set his bond at $5,000. Mr. Hoston posted bond the next day and missed his next hearing.

At his Dec. 2 arraignment, Hoston had his bail increased to $10,000 and then doubled for failing to appear. Hoston again posted bond and while free was arrested on homicide charges. He later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is serving a five-year sentence.

Balancing public safety concerns with understanding of other factors that may bring somebody into the criminal courts system –like addiction,

poverty, lack of mental health resources–is something Pappas considers on a case by case basis.

“There are some instances where detaining someone might be warranted if they pose such a threat. If folks just aren’t safe around them and they aren’t safe around others,” Pappas said, ”But if the government is going to take away somebody’s liberty, then it must also take responsibility for them regaining it. Or regaining it to the greatest extent possible.

This is not something we have done very well by under-emphasizing rehabilitation and over-emphasizing incapacitation.”

Trauma-informed care Pappas credits President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark of the Family Division of the 5th Judicial District of Pennsylvania with advocating for trauma-informed practices in the courtroom and says his model is similar.

It starts out with treating everyone who stands in front of him with dignity and respect. It also means ensuring that he is using proper pronouns for every person and get-

NEWS ting names exactly right.

It means acknowledging official statuses: Doctor, Sergeant, Detective, etc.

“These are the things that judges have to do to make sure that their decision-making is transparent. That they’re acknowledging the dignity and humanity of everybody that comes into their court. That they’re showing everybody in the courtroom–even the folks whose cases aren’t being heard that time–that’s what they should be able to expect whenever they have their turn in front of the judge,” he said.

Pappas said he is a big proponent of making sure to take time on every case–not rush through a hearing. It is also a way to work towards harm-reduction and equity.

When he first took office in 2018, local media stories reported that Pappas’ took too long to get through his cases during the work day. Less than a month into his term, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, “…District Judge Pappas’ court session began at 12:30 p.m. that day and there were 70 to 75 cases scheduled.

Although that number of cases might run “a little over” the expected 4:30 p.m. finish time, Ms. Stock said, she got calls

from staff that the court session was still going at 6:30 p.m..”

In the beginning, Pappas was assigned a schedule of 70 to 75 cases in one day. Some scheduled concurrently.

It is a process referred to as “case stacking,” and is common in magisterial courts. It often forces long wait-times for everyone involved: law enforcement, attorneys and those appearing before the court. Folks who have taken off work, who have obstacles when it comes to transportation or child care, who perhaps, are using a sick day or a paid time off to appear in court, can sit and wait for hours before their case is heard.

When a judge is juggling multiple cases in a packed schedule, the process can feel rushed when it is finally your turn. A year long investigation published by PennLive and Spotlight PA discovered that in 2019, “…many of the state’s roughly 500 district judges only had courtroom appearances scheduled a few days a week.”

Pappas said he wanted to take his time and so he staggered his schedule. Case stacking, he says, is not conducive to trauma-informed care

and it does not uphold procedural justice. Folks deserve to be heard and allowed the time to explain themselves. And, if they are taking the time to be punctual for their hearing, so should he.

So, Pappas stopped scheduling 75 cases in a single day. He schedules hearings throughout the week and limits how many he hears a day.

Pittsburgh municipal court adopted a staggered scheduling approach during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the spread of the virus. When hearings transitioned to online, the staggered schedule remained. Pappas hopes the practice continues into the future.

Diversity and bias Something that Pappas loves to talk about is bias. He says he wants to work to address systemic bias in the justice system and the best way to do that is advocating for leaders who are diverse in lived experience, identity, and education.

“At the economic level, at the cultural, racial, ethnic, religious level, whether it has to do with LGBTQ, our justice system has an established history of treating mi-

norities in a way that’s more harsh, and it’s less fair. And this transition, this judicial cycle, this year, it’s time to really step up and address that.

We at this time need a new generation of leaders,” Pappas said.

Everyone is human, says Pappas, even judges and journalists. But, when that bias goes unchecked, it is no longer unconscious, but institutional and systemic. Pappas said that implicit bias happens at the community level, at the time of arrest, in the courtroom, and in the headlines.

“And if it happens just once, it can affect every aspect of the case,” said Pappas, “And so that’s why it’s so important for each and every system actor, whether it be staff, whether it be officers on the street, or judges in the courtroom, public defenders or district attorneys at the council tables, it needs to be something that everybody is acknowledging and dealing with in a very direct way. And I see that happening more and more, even in just the last three years since I’ve taken office, but it’s not time to let up on it. Now it’s time to even double down.”

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 9

OPINION

THE CLIMATE CRISIS: 'AN UNCIVIL WA

THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS NOW DESTABILIZING THE CLIMATIC

BY LARRY J. SCHWEIGER - PITTS

INFO@PITTSBURG

I

n addition to criminal acts of defiance and attempts to overthrow a free and fair election, in an act of defiance while ignoring the risks to Americans, Trump lifted travel bans from countries where the virus variants were spreading to allow more dangerous viruses to enter the U.S. on Biden's watch.

Trump also failed to show even the simple, courteous, and respectful transition steps. He never met with President-elect Joe Biden and did whatever he could administratively to slow the orderly transfer of power. True to form, Melania also ignored protocol by declining to give the customary White House tour to her successor, Dr. Jill Biden.

Watching the otherwise inspiring inauguration, you may have noticed a significant protocol breach for the President to stand before a closed White House door. When President Biden and the First Lady approached the White House, their entry was awkwardly delayed as they were not greeted as a tradition by a butler. In an act of pettiness, Trump fired his lead butler and sent the entire usher staff home for the day to thwart the Biden’s arrival.

The way the Trumps treated the Bidens is emblematic of what the Republicans will be doing to America for years ahead.

Profound Republican resistance started in earnest when Obama, a newly elected black president,

Joe Biden

faced the Great Recession created by the Bush administration’s reckless deregulation of the banking industry. Obama and the Democrats had to authorize the $800 billion bailout for the corrupted banking industry to avoid an economic collapse. Not a single Republican voted for the bailout plan despite their party’s culpability. Instead, most Republicans, with the remarkable exception of Senator John McCain and few others, repeatedly attacked President Obama. Not just as a partisan, they played off Trump’s lie about his birth certificate and painted him as a Muslim and an extreme threat to the American

10 | JANUARY 27, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

way of life.

Obama’s efforts to pass climate legislation was thwarted by Senate filibuster rules while the Democrats held both the House and Senate. Mitch McConnell vowed to make Barrack Obama a one-term President in an interview with the National Journal in October 2010. Republicans did everything possible to defeat Obama after one term, and they obstructed Obama throughout his two terms in office, forcing him to resort to ephemeral executive orders including the Clean Power Rules. McConnell refused even to hold a hearing on Obama’s

Supreme Court nominee in an ultimate act of obstruction. By stopping Obama's efforts to control climate change, Republicans have profoundly harmed America and the world.

Republicans, with their false narrative, took back the House in 2010, the Senate in 2014, and then the Electoral College elected Trump in 2016. House Republicans have since branded themselves as the "Party of No," and Mitch McConnell declared himself the "Grim Reaper," stopping important legislation passed by house Democrats. Other than giving a massive tax cut for the

AR' BETWEEN DOERS AND STOPPERS

OPINION

C, OCEANIC, AND ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR ALL LIFE

SBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

GHCURRENT.COM

wealthy and packing the court system with Federalist Society judges, McConnell and the Republicans blocked hundreds of essential bills passed by House democratic lawmakers.

A do-nothing Congress that started during Obama's first term has extended to this day with President Biden forced to issue ephemeral executive orders rather than seeking legislation.

The Republican stoppers will do everything possible to stop progress in the days ahead, particularly on legislation to address the climate crisis. While Democrats now have a 51-50 majority with Vice President Harris voting, but due to obstruction by Mitch McConnell demanding that Senate Democrats preemptively surrender any reform of the filibuster for the duration of the 117th Congress, nothing legislatively is happening. To date, the Senate still has not passed an organizing resolution to establish the rules and procedures to address the multiple urgent crises we face.

With a split U.S. Senate, McConnell, who an Atlantic magazine column called “the strict obstructionist," continues as the minority leader to stop Senate action. At the same time, facing growing Republican opposition, Biden urges Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief package.

Once again, McConnell and the Republicans, while harming every American, will not attend to the

multiple crises we face. They do not care that 2020 brought not only a deadly pandemic but left unchecked the ravaging Western fires, collapsing glaciers, devastating hurricanes, and the second hottest year on record. Instead of uniting to fight a raging virus, inadequate vaccines, unemployment, food shortages, or a climate crisis, the Republicans are now opposing a second impeachment trial leaving the possibility for Trump to return as a dangerous threat to American democracy.

The repeated failure to tackle climate pollution now will lead to more fires, floods, famines, droughts, border wars, and civil unrest as the climate crisis is now destabilizing the climatic, oceanic, and ecological conditions for all life everywhere on earth. McConnell and the Republicans will use the filibuster to thwart the movement to clean energy in the 21st century with a planet that demands a speedy path to a “carbon-negative” future.

The doers in the Biden administration will face the climate crisis by focusing on possibilities, not letting stoppers continue to deter progress to the extent possible.

President Biden has appointed many outstanding doers who are collectively committed to tackling climate change with their agencies' limited tools. The U.S. Government spends $600 billion each year, and Biden’s new executive order calls for the "Buy American"

portion of his Build Back Better promise. While limited by a lack of overarching climate legislation, the federal agencies have some powerful policy levers to change our energy path. They should also require clean energy in the production of products made for the U.S. government.

Doers listen to health and climate science and act responsibly.

Stoppers do not and resist appropriate actions to protect people and the climate system. Doers listen to sound economists while stoppers listen to Faux News pontificators and block an increase in the minimum wage, tax reform and oppose additional relief funding.

As one example of a doer, Pete Buttigieg is ready to lead. Since transportation is our number one emitter of carbon pollution accounting for one-third of the nation’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Biden’s choice for Transportation Secretary is a critically important position. Buttigieg wants to bend the curve on carbon pollution from all forms of transportation. America lags the rest of the world in providing high-speed rail operated on clean power.

The Transportation Department should require state governments to improve their transportation policies to make way for EVs with charging stations and by requiring better clean mass transit systems like electric buses. EPA and the Transportation Departments can use fuel-efficiency standards for

all new cars and trucks to promote electric vehicles. We must end a pattern of big automakers spewing out gas guzzlers when EVs are now more reliable, efficient, and the way forward. New jobs are possible for displaced pipeline workers as they can weld mass-transit rails instead of welding pipe.

We need progressive-minded lawmakers in both parties to work in a bipartisan way to end the stalemate and work for America’s future. With Trumpsters holding onto Republicans through a threat of primaries, that does not look promising. The first step to healing our land is to convict Trump and end his toxic political career, but finding seventeen Republicans to say “yes” to conviction is looking unlikely.

Journalism matters too. Doers defend the truth and defeat the lies by seeking and supporting accurate information outlets while rejecting the innuendo and rumors that emanate from Fox and other irresponsible media outlets and social networks. Stoppers applaud the lies. America has a profoundly split government, and the toxic media environment we witness feeds an intense struggle between the doers and stoppers that is not sustainable.

Larry Schweiger is an award-winning author who served as President of National Wildlife Federation, PennFuture and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Purchase his compelling and timely book with free shipping by clicking on the book-link.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 11

OPINION

GETTING CLEAN IN QUARANTINE: 'A

BY JAMES LANIGAN - SPECIAL

INFO@PITTSBURG

A

little after 7 a.m. on a cold Monday morning last December, a therapist friend of mine called asking if I could do him a favor.

A patient of his was trying to get off drugs and he wanted to know if I would be willing to talk to him. I agreed and reached out to him- right away. He was already a few days into his detox and still withdrawing when we spoke. We talked about the business of detoxing, especially the insomnia and the headaches that he was still going through. I assured him they would not last and that he was doing great. Then he mentioned that he had a fever, which struck me as a bit unusual for a typical withdrawal. He told me that he couldn’t taste or smell anything, either. A test result confirmed it a few days later – the poor guy was battling not only withdrawal symptoms but Covid-19 as well.

I am used to phone calls from people in recovery or from friends or acquaintances who know someone who wants to stop using. My only qualification is that I have been clean from heroin since 2014. I know firsthand that relationships and connections formed with other

Joe Biden

people in recovery play an important part in someone’s early recovery process, and so I try to never shy away from any such calls when they come. But what I am not used to is being unable to meet someone who is struggling for a cup of coffee, or to get together and introduce them to other people, or direct them to a church basement for a 12-step meeting, or to even know how best to guide them through the process of entering an inpatient or outpatient treatment program.

Recovery, as it had been

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before the pandemic, does not exist right now. The coronavirus has made it very difficult for those with substance use problems to find one of the most crucial things that they need: fellowship and support. My early morning phone call is an example of how much the process of helping someone has become disrupted. The help, typically and vitally done up close, is relegated virtually and from a distance. When it’s not out of reach all together.

This fact is especially alarming considering re-

cent data from the CDC, which shows an increase in overdose deaths since the pandemic began. After a decrease in deaths from 2017-18 seemed to signal a curtailing of the devastation that the epidemic had been causing, the CDC data from last month shows a sharp increase in overdose deaths between March 2020 and May 2020. In a 12-month period ending in May 2020 the United States saw the highest total of overdose deaths so far recorded.

Meanwhile, people trying

OPINION

ADDICTION THRIVES IN ISOLATION' TO THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT

GHCURRENT.COM

-- needing -- to find a place in a recovery community face unprecedented difficulty. With Covid-19 numbers dominating headlines, the troubling truth of the CDC overdose numbers is that those who are struggling with substance use are going unnoticed – not only statistically but physically within the community, as well. For addicts, remaining shut-in and isolated can be disastrous. It reminds me of a time in my own addiction, during the so-called “Snowmaggedon” storm of 2010, when I was similarly

stuck at home. With no place to go, nowhere to be, and little to do, my use of heroin, pills, and fentanyl soared to dangerous heights. I shudder to think what it would be like for something like that to last an entire year.

Addiction thrives in isolation. In my own early recovery, the negative habits, thoughts, and routines of addiction were broken by actively partaking in life and society. In my first few months clean, I found a lot of solace in getting out and keeping busy. I attended an outpatient group every day in Squirrel Hill, taking two buses to get there each morning from the recovery house that I was living in in Garfield. I met others in recovery there, and we would sometimes get lunch together or hang out after.

Once I completed that program, I would still take those same two buses every Wednesday night for an outpatient alumni meeting in Squirrel Hill. The meeting technically only lasted an hour, but I remember how it took up my whole night. I looked forward to getting out of my recovery house and reading on the bus or listening to music at the bus stops.

After the meeting, we would sometimes go out to eat at

the restaurants in Squirrel Hill, cramming into booths at Eat’n Park or Aladdin’s. People would sometimes give me a ride home after to save me from the long wait for the next bus.

The hour meeting was one thing, but the time before and the time after was just as important. Doing something, anything, can be a reprieve from those negative habits, thoughts and routines.

Addiction happens alone at home, in secrecy. Healing happens when someone is out and about, feeling a part of and not apart from.

Now housing programs like the one I was in are susceptible to outbreaks.

Outpatient groups are facilitated online via Zoom where each patient is still physically alone wherever they live — and that’s assuming that someone has the space and equipment to participate. The occasions of taking bus rides or going out to eat or getting a ride home or even smoking a cigarette with others has been taken away. Leaving little more than phone calls which have become lifelines in the battle against addiction and relapse.

Today, those habits that felt marginal to my recovery have become paramount.

Yes, the phone is always a lifeline, but today that’s truer than ever. I have found myself earmarking the occasions of long car rides that I have to make for work as opportunities to return or make calls to friends. Some are fighting to maintain their recovery. Some admit they are losing touch with it. And still others are struggling to find it in the first place.

Last summer, someone who played an instrumental part in my early recovery overdosed and died.

After that, I sat down and made a list of people to check in on so that I wouldn’t forget.

Once the young man from my phone call tested positive for Covid-19, I continued to reach out and text him, but he stopped getting back to me. After a while, I simply left him a message wishing him well and letting him know that if he needs anything, I am available. I feel badly. It’s a delicate moment when someone decides that they want help. When they want to finally break the secrecy and the loneliness of using and reach out. I can’t help but feel that Covid-19 robbed him of that moment. I guess the best thing I can do now is just keep my phone on. And hope he calls.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 13

ARTS

QUANTUM THEATRE'S VIRTUAL PERFORM OF 'FAR AWAY'

BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

T

he continued pandemic has continued to damper live theater, and theater companies have had to find new ways to keep audiences engaged while it is still unsafe for crowds to gather. For some theaters in Pittsburgh, film has stepped in to help out.

East Liberty-based Quantum Theatre will be debuting a film production of ‘Far Away,’ directed by Karla Boos and Joe Seamans.

Debuted in London in 2000, ‘Far Away’ is the work of renowned British playwright Caryl Churchill.

Boos and Seamans were able to view the play the year it opened, and it left an indelible impression on them.

“I experienced the play as an audience member, and it was amazing and shocking to me,” said Boos. “We’d never seen anything like this.”

A short story at just 45 minutes in length, the play is broken into three sections, each focused on scenes in the life of a central character.

“Somehow, a world is built that you piece together over the course of the 45 minutes,

and it leaves you with your mouth hanging open,” said Boos.

A trademark characteristic of ‘Far Away’ and much of Churchill’s work is a melding of surrealism with commentary on power structures within society--a quality that lends this 20 year old play a feeling of prescience.

“This play, that was written back then, feels like it was written today in Ameri-

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ca, because it’s about tribalism,” said Boos.

Churchill’s dreamlike, sometimes absurd writing style also imparts a timelessness to the work that makes it equally relevant to audiences in 2000 and 2021.

“It feels futuristic in some ways, how ‘The Hunger Games’ feels futuristic,” said Boos. “The title, ‘Far Away,’ and the design that it prompts, wants you to sepa-

rate it from our present, but when you watch it...you feel like we’re on a knife edge from being in this world.”

Boos and Seamans decided that, while ‘Far Away’ is a perfect piece to produce in this time and place, they didn’t want to just film a stage production. They decided to merge Seamans’ background in documentary film with stage theater to create a short film version of

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the play.

This meant having to deal with both the requirements of the work itself, as well as how to film safely and artistically. One required aspect of the show is to assemble a plethora of resplendent hats, a challenge for any theater company even pre-pandemic.

“It’s a really difficult requirement for any production. Anybody who attempts ‘Far Away’ has to be able

to make these hats,” said Boos. “In the time of COVID, we pulled that off with designers from all over the country sending amazing hats.”

Beyond assembling the many hats, putting the production together for filming in a pandemic-safe fashion was an undertaking in itself. Two of the three actors in the production, Lisa Velten Smith and Andrew William Smith, are a real-life couple, which helped ease the distancing requirements in the filming process, as the two are in the same pod. The actors were also tested every other day, and followed a number of other Screen Actors Guild rules to maintain maximum COVID safety.

Despite all these challenges, Boos and Seamans are excited to present ‘Far Away’ to audiences far and wide, and hope they leave thinking just a little different than before.

“The experience of the play isn’t a downer. It’s more like an explosion of your head in a way that’s tolerable, interesting and even kind of fun,” said Boos.

‘Far Away’ will be available for streaming online February 19 through March 7. For tickets and more information, visit quantumtheatre.com.

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SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on February 2, 2021, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for: Service & Maintenance Contracts at Various Schools, Facilities, & Properties: Vertical Transportation Systems Preventative Maintainence and Service (REBID) Pgh. Colfax K-8 Flooring Replacement (Old Building) General Prime Various Schools: Pgh. Morrow PreK-4 and Pgh. King PreK-8 Replace PA Sound Systems Electrical Prime Pgh. Oliver Citywide Academy Oliver Bleacher Repair Project General Prime Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on Monday, January 11, 2021 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district

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Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on February 2, 2021, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for: Various Schools and Buildings Water Cooler Replacement Phase 4 General and Electrical Primes Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on Monday, January 11, 2021 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable.

Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 15

ARTS

A BRAIDED N

'A CONTEMPORARY SURVEY OF AF

BY AKONA WILLIAMS - PITTSBURGH

INFO@PITTSBURG

R

oots Run Deep: A Contemporary Survey of African American Hair Culture” located at the Brewhouse Association on the Southside; is an exhibit that displays the range of beauty, creativity, and cultural impact that Black hair cultivates.

Steve Monitar’s, “Hopscotch, Kriss Kross, Double Dutch The Gunshots”--a jumbo sized children’s hair accessory made out of playground balls and double Dutch ropes--and Quinn Alexandria Hunter’s “32 hours of negotiation between the world and me” are crafted with artificial hair and cotton. To the beautiful photography of Black hair, hair care products and Black hair care spaces that exemplify the dynamism of Black hair by Dom Mcduffle, Mathias Rushen, Kenyatta Crisp, Nakeya Brown, Brianna Sims, Nick Drain, Mia Marshall, and Jordan Coyne. Not only can Black hair be used as physical art itself, but the image of it, and the styles worn to celebrate it, are worthy of creative and anthropological representation.

The curator, Tara Fay Coleman, wrote an essay for the program that touches on the anthropological implications of Black hair.

She writes,“Through photography ,sculpture and mixed media works, these artists demonstrate how hair is used as a medium to articulate creativity across the diaspora by highlighting the natural hair movement, ritual and intimacy, sacred spaces, intergenerational connectedness, Afrofuturism, and history.”

"Hopscotch, Kriss Kross, Double Dutch The Gunshots” Artist: Steve Monitar. Below: "Pressure" Artist: Brianna Sims

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This exhibit is a museum that captures the expansions of Black hair and culture. The intimate spaces that are depicted are not only in Black hair care spaces but also within the body itself.

Jordan Coyne’s black and white photos “Untitled (Javier in profile)”, is an intimate and personal look at hair in relation to Black people on a more individualist level. Kenyatta Crisp’s “Tradition: Into Womanhood” is another intimate look at the individual relationships that Black people have with their hair; it also dives into tradition, community and intergenerational relationships by showing the progression of the individual relationship one has with their hair.

A great highlight of this exhibit is the homage to the actual hair care leaders in our communities.

Tamiah Bridgett, Pittsburgh native and founder of “It’s a Natural Thang” has been a leader and innovator in the local Pittsburgh natural hair community for over 10 years now. The photo reel of her community work is an excellent reminder of the present and moving pieces that are working to educate, expand, and preserve the authenticity of Black hair spaces. Bridgett’s work set us in the present, and Evangeline Mensah-Agyekum’s “Extension of Us” takes a more futuristic approach to the concept that our hair is an extension of our individual and collective creative expression. The piece is made up of braiding hair, sensor and sound detection, a circuit board,

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Above: Transition into Womanhod 1; Below: Transition into Womanhood 2 Artist: Kenyatta Crisp

"I Can Do All Things" Artist: Sharrell Rushin

and other miscellaneous tools that create an input and output type of communication when guests interact with the hair. The braids can be used to communicate between 2 people which takes the expression of Black hair into the lane of technology and afrofuturism.

The sketched and painted visual art, much like the photography, are very intimate and subtle but have so many cultural implications based around them. Like Ayanna Nayo’s painting of a blue barrette titled “Secure” or Sharell Rushin’s painting of a woman doing a twistout titled, “I can do all things via YouTube Tutorial.”Nayo’s piece captures the past and depicts the innocence of childhood, while Rushin’s piece brings us back

to the present and makes a note on how technology, media, and Black hair are connected even now.

All of the art in this show told it's own story individually, but Coleman’s curation pieced together a larger narrative based in tradition, culture, relationships, and technology that every piece contributes to. Exhibits like this are important because it is important for Black people to have space to look at Black culture from not only a celebratory lens, but an anthropological lens as well. “Roots Run Deep: A Contemporary Survey of African American Hair Culture” is up until March 6th and is definitely worth the visit, all masked-up of course.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 17

ESSAY

THE ART SHOW

BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

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S

tiff fingers, wet socks in my boots.

I was cold. I blew into my hands. All the lights were yellow and so the snow around the water was the same. There were not many footprints in it. It felt good to be there. I liked the empty benches at the bus stop, I liked that yellow light filling the footprints.

I was walking around an area that was either a park or the lawn of the nearby office building. I was killing time waiting for the text telling me it was my turn to go into the art show. It featured work by Emily Roth and Faybriel Barrette (who creates work under the name Mute Hysteria).

Covid complicated everything. I had signed up online to get a text to let me know that my 30 minutes of viewing time had arrived. The text never came so I walked over.

It was 15 or 20 minutes after I was supposed to go in. The address I had brought me to a large house in a residential neighborhood.

When I opened the door a man—the owner of the house—was stand-

ing in the mudroom. I explained the texting situation. He apologized, said I could go check it out anyway. He took my temperature, handed me nitrile gloves, handed me a flashlight, handed me a mask. It was thorough, I can’t say I could have put something like that together. The mask was sort of like a ski mask and I wasn’t sure if it was for effect or meant

18 | JANUARY 27, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

to be an extra precaution.

I put everything on and headed up the stairs.

The room was dark and noise played through a speaker somewhere.

Shining the flashlight on the walls I was able to see polaroid pictures.

I always liked polaroids. I was never good at taking them. Their hazy quality always left me with a feeling of sleeze the way old porn

does. The quality of the film makes it seem raunchier somehow. The idea of there being only one copy builds on that too.

There was someone taking pictures of me as I looked at the pictures. It added a layer to the voyeurism.

The photos were sexual, some suggestive, some blatantly so. Oral sex, tits, lingerie, someone tied to a radiator, na-

ked men, naked women, naked people, much spit, chains, gags.

For as long as art and sex have existed people have enjoyed blurring the line between them, here there was no line, it was both. If there is such a thing as classy sleaze, they’d made it.

After the show I was invited to D’s house. I followed T and S there.

The snow was really piling up. They parked in front of the house. I parked, got out, walked over.

D liked to paint Warhammer figurines. There were many of them in various states of completion on the dining room table and around the room.

Everyone went to the living room and sat down. There was a wheelchair. I sat in it and did wheelies around the room. I told them about the ones we had at my old house, how my old roommate and I would ride them down the stairs, crash into each other, do wheelies while we watched The X-Files.

We sat for a while and swapped stories.

S said, “One night -this was at my old apartment -- I came home and this girl was sitting there. Outside on the

step. There was blood all over her. I asked if she needed help or anything.

She said ‘Can I use your phone?’ It turned out she cut her wrists because she had fought with her boyfriend and thought if she did that he would let her back in. She bled all over my apartment. They were always doing things like that. I have a lot of stories about that couple.”

Then D started, “My sister and her boyfriend have a kid together, they live together. One night she was there alone.

There was a lot of noise coming from an upstairs apartment. This couple was fighting. It spilled out into the hall. They kept yelling. The guy throws his pregnant girl-

friend down the stairs.

And he comes down after her. She is laying down in front of this apartment where this nice old Hispanic couple lives.

The door opens and the old man tries to help her up. He is trying to ask her if she is alright.

The boyfriend punches him in the face. The old man, he must be in his 70s. He stumbles into the apartment. But then he is back with a machete.

The old man cuts him twice with the machete.

The boyfriend and the girlfriend keep fighting.

They fall into my sister’s apartment. He is hitting her and bleeding all over the place. Bleeding from the machete cuts. There is blood everywhere: walls, floor, everywhere.

The Hispanic man keeps yelling from downstairs.

The cops show up, the guy ran away. My sister made baby formula for their kid.”

“They had another kid,” I said.

“Yeah, just a little baby.

My sister kept the kid in her apartment while the cops did their thing.”

We sat there talking for a while longer about various things. I excused myself and went to the bathroom. When I came back down, I thanked them for hanging out and said that I should go.

I went out to my car, got in, started driving.

The roads were not plowed. There were tire marks in the snow. I made it back to my hotel and pulled into a parking space.

I took off my clothes and got into the shower.

It felt good. Hotel showers are always good. The two greatest things about hotels are the bathroom and the lighting in front of the mirrors.

After the shower I was sitting on the corner of the bed. That lighting really was good. So I took some pictures of myself sitting there naked in the mirror. I was not an artist, they were not for an art show. I don’t have the ability to take a picture that isn’t lopsided.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 19

SAVAGE LOVE Savage Love Love | sex | relationships

S

BY DAN SAVAGE MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

ex-positive bi woman here. I have recommended your column to many people over the years to help them feel normal and human in their kinks, fantasies, sexuality, etc. But I’m having a more difficult time extending similar acceptance to myself. I was in a three-year relationship with a cis straight man.

I recently moved across the country for graduate school and this was the catalyst for me to put my foot down about opening the relationship in order to get my sexual needs met. He agreed and we tried being open but he found it too emotionally challenging, so now we are on a “break.”

When we were together he showed me love in many ways, Dan, but he would not eat my pussy or finger me or use a vibrator or any other sex toys on me.

He quit his own therapy for depressive symptoms and anxiety after just three sessions; he won’t do couple’s therapy; he won’t even have a conversation with me about why, exact-

ly, my pussy and sexual pleasure are aversive to him. Even hearing me moan in pleasure or arousal seemed to make him recoil. All he wanted was blow jobs and occasional sessions of intercourse. He had some ED issues that he felt bad about but I told him multiple times that erections are not a big deal for me—what I like about sex is the intimacy, the play, and mutual pleasure. He is not a bastard, but the sex remained phallocentric. Writing this, I know that I made a reasonable decision for myself. Yet I continue to be wracked with guilt over pursuing (pandemic-safe) sex when I know this guy,

20 | JANUARY 27, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

who I love very much and care about very deeply, still has feelings for me and still wants to us be together, exclusively.

Two questions: Do you have any idea of what gives, based on your experience? I’ve been trying to understand and open the lines of communication for years. And, how do I stop beating myself up for hurting his feelings when my friends keep telling me I gave the relationship my all and I know that my soul couldn’t stand any more one-sided sex?

Feminist Under Compulsive, Kink-Induced Nauseous Guilt You’re not responsible for the hurt feelings your ex-boyfriend—please make that break permanent—more than earned.

You gave him three years and God alone knows how many blowjobs and he either didn’t love you enough to work on himself or he’s so damaged he’s incapable of doing the work.

Either way, FUCKING, your ex-boyfriend is not in good working order, sexually or emotionally, and that’s not gonna change. He won’t talk to a shrink about his own shit, he won’t see a couples’ counselor about your shared shit, he won’t touch your pussy

and he doesn’t want anyone else to touch your pussy—oh, and if you make even the slightest sound during sex, if a moan or, God forbid, a request for should escape your lips, he recoils. Charitable reading: your ex-boyfriend is a closeted necrophiliac and any sign of life from you turns him off.

Slightly less charitable read: your ex-boyfriend was raised to believe that sex is something a woman endures, not something a woman enjoys, and any sign that you might actually enjoy sex turns him off.

I don’t know what his issues are, FUCKING, and neither do you. All we know for sure is that he has issues and, whatever else they might be, they are disqualifying.

You asked for the only accommodation that might make it possible for you to stay in this relationship and stay sane—opening it up so you could seek sexual satisfaction elsewhere— and he couldn’t handle it.

My girlfriend of six months got drunk one week into a work-related physical separation, ghosted on me, went to a hotel, and had sex for two days straight with another man. She then called and confessed everything. She’s re-

SAVAGE LOVE morseful and says it was alcohol-related and that she doesn’t remember the details. My take is that if she was too drunk to remember the details, she was too drunk to consent, which equals rape, right? I encouraged her to file a police report and get this rapist off the streets. She says she doesn’t know his name or number and doesn’t want to pursue legal action. She does remember the sex was unprotected and took Plan B today and is getting a full STI screening.

She’s exhibiting signs of trauma—I’ve been down this road with an ex— and I’m trying to be supportive but I don’t think I can continue. Would I be the biggest asshole in the world to end this?

Other details: she was married to a woman for the past five years and I was the first man she was ever with until this rape happened. I’m 50 years old, she’s 28 years old. What the fuck do I do? She’s fragile and I have been supporting her financially for the last six months, which is weird since her job pays twice what mine does.

Just Seeking Guidance It’s entirely possible your girlfriend was black-out drunk that whole weekend and incapable of offering meaningful consent

and the person she was with knew she was too fucked up to consent to sex—and wasn’t too fucked up to consent to sex himself—and she was raped. It’s also possible your girlfriend was drunk but not so drunk she couldn’t consent, JSG, and is overstating how drunk she was because she doesn’t want to share the details with you—details you aren’t entitled to. It’s also possible she was raped and is reluctant to go to the police because she knows telling her story—which could be entirely true—won’t result in an arrest, much less a prosecution, and so going to the police wouldn’t get this rapist—if the guy is a rapist—off the streets and could cause her further trauma.

Zooming out for a second… you assume a man forced your girlfriend to do something she didn’t want to do (fuck him all weekend) and your response is to force your girlfriend to do something she doesn’t want to do (file a police report).

You need to stop that.

If you think she’s showing signs of trauma, you should urge her to seek help from a rape counselor or trauma specialist, i.e. someone in a better position to assess the situation than you

are, JSG, someone who doesn’t have cause to feel conflicted or resentful or angry about what did or did not happen that weekend.

And if you want to end the relationship, you should, JSG, and you can break up with someone without being an asshole or abandoning them. Offer her your support—offer your emotional support, withdraw your financial support—and give her the names of some local rape crisis centers in your area.

I'm a 59-year-old gay man with a problem I've struggled with for all of my active sex life. I rarely orgasm during sex. I’m now involved with a couple that has welcomed me to be part of a loving relationship and they want me to be as satisfied as they are.

I enjoy pleasing both of them, but they also want me to be pleased. I appreciate this but I feel pressured to come and I just can't. Any time I feel pressured to do anything I start to feel defensive and shut down. I enjoy being with these men very much and I want so much to share myself with them. How can I overcome this? I feel like I'm letting them down, and to be honest, I feel

like there's something wrong with me because I can’t orgasm during sex. Any help you can suggest is greatly appreciated.

Can’t Orgasm Mostly Ever This couple sees orgasm as a sign of sexual satisfaction, COME, and it’s usually a pretty good sign. And while it’s always better to err on the side of satisfying a sex partner—you don’t wanna be like FUCKING’s ex-boyfriend—there are people who can’t come during partnered sex or at all. We should do whatever it takes within reason to get our partners’ off, but if a partner tells us they don’t need to come or can’t come but still enjoy sex? We need to take their word for it. So, COME, explain to your boyfriends that you love sex and you love getting them off but you rarely come during sex yourself and feeling pressured to come makes those rare events rarer still. Promise them that you’ll say something when you feel like coming and be clear about what they can do for you when that time comes. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage www.savagelovecast. com

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 27, 2020 | 21

PA R T I N G S H OT

PITTSBURGH CURRENT PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

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