INSIDE: STANDING UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF BLACK WORKERS VOL. 3 ISSUE 23
July 21, 2020 - July 27, 2020
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WOULD YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? IN THE WORLD OF MISTER ROGERS, WE TOOK CARE OF EACH OTHER REGARDLESS OF RACE. SADLY FOR SOME, THAT WORLD IS A NEIGHBORHOOD OF MAKE-BELIEVE
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Publisher, Pittsburgh Current charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 3
STAFF Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com Associate Publisher: Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com Advisory Board Chairman: Robert Malkin Robert@pittsburghcurrent.com
contents
Vol. III Iss. XXIII July 21, 2020
NEWS 6 | Un-Neighborly Behavior 12 | Black Workers Matter 13 | Paid sick leave
EDITORIAL
Art Director: Larissa Mallon Larissa@pittsburghcurrent.com
OPINION 14 | Weak Defense 16 | Larry Schweiger 18 | Rob Rogerw
Music Editor: Margaret Welsh Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com
ARTs & ENTERTAINMENT 19 | The Can't Miss 20 | Well-Versed
Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Jake@pittsburghcurrent.com
EXTRA 22 | Savage Love 23 | Montana Too 24 | Parting Shot
Social Justice Columnist: Jessica Semler jessica@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Justin Vellucci, Atiya Irvin Mitchell, Dan Savage, Larry Schweiger, Brittany Hailer, Brian Conway, Matt Wallenstein, Emerson Andrews, Eric Boyd info@pittsburghcurrent.com
COVER CREDITS: PHOTO: JAKE MYSLIWCZYK
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Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com 4 | JULY 21, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
The Fine Print The contents of the Pittsburgh Current are © 2020 by Pittsburgh Current, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this publication shall be duplicated or reprinted without the express-written consent of Pittsburgh Current LLC. One copy per person. The Pittsburgh Current is published twice monthly beginning August 2018. 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. Email us or don’t: info@pittsburghcurrent.com.
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.
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NEWS
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STRAINED RELATIONSHIPS
NEWS
PITTSBURGH'S FRED ROGERS PRACTICALLY INVENTED NEIGHBORLY BEHAVIOR. BUT RACIST ACTIONS IN NEIGHBORHOODS ACROSS THE CITY MAKE THAT WORLD SEEM LIKE A LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE BY BRITTANY HAILER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
“It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?"
F
red Rogers’ statue leans forward in unconditional positive regard, gazing at his city from the North Shore. He was a white man who invited a Black police officer, François Clemmons, to soak his feet in a paddling pool on national television in 1969. Mr. Rogers dried off Clemmons' feet and then his own with a towel, an act of intimacy and sharing that reverberated across American living rooms. Martin Luther King had just been assassinated. Five years prior, Black protesters had jumped into the whites-only pool at Monson Motor Lodge and the owner of the hotel poured acid into the water. Mr. Rogers’ act of brotherhood and friendship wasn’t just political, but radical for it's time. WQED aired Mr. Rogers’ warm and gentle voice for 33 years. He was a man who believed in friendship, a man who asked Pittsburghers and the world, “Won’t you be my
Opposite page: Thomas Drake in his front yard and (above) with his grandaughter, Lovey (Current Photos by Jake Mysliwczyk)
neighbor?” Mr. Rogers’ real neighborhood is the Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hil neighborhood, where in 2018 a white supremacist murdered 11 Jewish worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagoguge. After the Tree of Life massacre, neighbors came together. Signs popped up in yards across the city with the words
“Stronger Than Hate” and one of the stars of the U.S. Steel Symbol replaced by the Star of David. The country mourned with Pittsburgh. The country evoked the man who tried to make the world a better place through neighborly love and understanding. It was not lost on the world that a hate crime had taken place in the quiet, tree-lined streets
of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood, A neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?... Liana Maneese, a clinical therapist and interracial relationship specialist grew up a
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NEWS
C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 7
Ptransracial A G E 7 adoptee. Born in Brazil and raised in Pittsburgh by white parents, Maneese watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. “What I learned on the television from Fred was reinforced in my home. I knew I mattered and I knew I was worthy of love just the way I was. At least until I left my house.” It was outside of her home, away from her parents and Mr. Rogers, that Maneese learned the harsh reality of navigating Pittsburgh while Black. “I was met, in 1st grade, with racial slurs and a violent episode that ended with a brick thrown at my head. Traumatizing to say the absolute minimum. By the time I went to high school, I had experienced so much racialized and sexual violence that even now as a practicing therapist, I still struggle to process my own early life experience,” she wrote. The 'Stronger than Hate' signs, Maneese said, are a mirage. She said hate is not the issue in Pittsburgh, but rather self-interest and denial. “In other words, we put our personal needs in front of the needs of the greater good, which benefits those from a culture of whiteness, which is by definition, white supremacy … for white people to sit with this truth, that maybe, just maybe, there are in fact pieces of themselves that lack humanity. This is scary be-
cause they have been told that whiteness is everything. It’s confusing.” Maneese loved Mr. Rogers as a child -- she still does and says it borders on obsession -- but she wants Pittsburghers to realize that his teachings aren’t a crutch, especially when it comes to racism. “We all have work to do and we can no longer hide behind the good deeds of one man. We must face the scariest depths of ourselves, of our past, and we must consider what we are willing to sacrifice for a healthy community, for all of our neighbors.” Won't You Be My Neighbor: Churchill I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
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wo years after the Tree of Life shooting, George Floyd’s murder echoed throughout the nation. For Pittsburgh, it resurrected the pain and mourning of Antwon Rose, a 17-year-old who was shot in the back in East Pittsburgh by police officer Michael Rosfeld. Signs cropped up across the city again as Pittsburghers of every race, age, and gender took to the streets. This time, the signs and placards read “Black Lives Matter.” This time, neighbors wrote letters condemning the
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signs. This time, neighbors called Black protestors racial slurs. This time, neighbors called the police on the Black man next door. Thomas Drake, a retired Marine who fought for his country during the Vietnam war, returned home to Pittsburgh where he raised his children and grandchildren. Today, he’s 69 and lives with the complications of herbicide, or Agent Orange poisoning, which includes and is not limited to arthritis, high blood pressure, and congestive heart failure. Drake’s white neighbor told him, “I wish you would die.” They live directly across the street from one another in a quiet and lush deadend street in Churchill. The neighbor moved in three years ago and Drake says he’s had the police called on him more than 100 times in that duration. The reasons for the calls vary, he says. Sometimes it is because Drake has a boat in his yard. Sometimes it is because his dog wandered into the neighbor’s yard. Sometimes it is because he’s playing music too loud while he and his grandchildren plant tomatoes. When Drake first called the Pittsburgh Current to tell his story he cried. “I am overwhelmed. I am an old man. I don’t want to bother anybody. I just want to live in peace,” he said. “Ain’t that a shame? I got a right to live. I fought for this country.
Why won’t he let me be?” Drake’s 12-year-old granddaughter, Lovey, asked her grandfather permission to repeat the words she heard their neighbor call her while she was playing basketball. She looked at her feet and mumbled, “You ignorant black assholes. You n----s need to learn your place.” Drake said that he has a lot of family members who are police officers. In the years prior, he felt the weight of centuries of suspicion when the Churchill Police showed up everytime his neighbor called. Recently, however, a new, younger officer has treated Drake with respect and has worked to de-escalate the situation. “The other day he came down here and I thought he’d [the neighbor] called again, but the young man said to me, ‘I just wanted to come down and check on you,’” Drake said. Drake is the only Black man in his neighborhood. His ample yard includes a swingset and playhouse that all the neighborhood kids use. He’s friends with everybody. “Everybody speaks to me. Everybody is nice to me,” he says. At the same time, no one has spoken up or come to his defense when the cops are called. Drake complained directly to the Churchill Borough about the harassment. He left
NEWS voicemails and even drove to the office, but everything was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Churchill Borough and its police department were not immediately available for comment. “This house, this garden, this family is a blessing from God,” Drake said. “Every day is a good day when I wake up. I am so proud of my tomatoes, come look.” Won't You Be My Neighbor: Mt. Washington
So, let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since we're together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?
O
n June 7, Pittsburgh Current editor-in-chief Charlie Deitch reported, “a white man who identified himself as a 'police officer' used racial epithets against a Black woman as she left Sunday’s Peaceful Protest For Racial Justice on Mount Washington.” Another woman, named Rachel, who witnessed the confrontation told the Current: “My husband and I were heading to our car when we saw this woman visibly upset, saying that this man walking by just called her a racist slur. She was just standing there near the overlooks, like anyone else was. A few others came over to see
Michelle McCord(Photo Courtesy of Michele McCord)
what was going on as well.” J -- who requested to remain anonymous for her own safety -- contacted the Pittsburgh Current with a similar story. J is a new mother -- her daughter is just eight months old. She’s spent a lot of time in quarantine talking with her best friend who lives out of state. Her friend is expecting and, after months of isolation,
J convinced her to come visit. The two had been completely alone for their respective stay at home orders and couldn't wait to see each other. J had a plan: convince her friend to move to Pittsburgh. Two weeks ago, J did what every seasoned Pittsburgher does. She drove her friend through all the boroughs and neighborhoods, saving
the best view for last: Mt. Washington. The two women took pictures at the overlook, laughing, posing and carrying on. “Black mother joy,” she said. As J’s baby waddled with her back to the car, a large black pickup truck screeched by. The driver screamed, “F--ck you, N--ers!” The women ran to their car
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NEWS and pulled out. The truck had seemingly disappeared. Three minutes later, as they were driving down the hill, the black truck appeared again behind them. The driver tailgated them, J.’s heart beat in her best. “We’re two girls. One is pregnant. I have an infant. We were just minding our own business,” J said. When J arrived home, her friend said she cannot move to Pittsburgh. It isn’t safe for Black mothers and children. And as for Pittsburgh’s most scenic view? The crown jewel of the tour? “This person claimed that space and now I don’t ever want to go there. It would put my life and my daughter’s life at risk.” Won't You Be My Neighbor: Edgewood/ Swissvale Won't you please, Won't you please? Please won't you be my neighbor?
T
he Boroughs of Edgewood and Swissvale are mixed communities that border Regent Square and Wilkinsburg. On the neighborhood's NextDoor forum, residents have raised concerns about some of their white neighbors. NextDoor, a social media app for neighborhoods, is unique in that one cannot
Excerpts from letters sent to neighbors with Black Lives Matter Signs in their yards in Edgewood/Swissvale. Read the complete let
really build an echo chamber. Members are lumped together solely based on where they live. To join NextDoor, a user must prove their address. The social feed in the app is part yard sale, part bulletin board and part townhall. In June, a man in the “Edgewood-Swissvale Slopes” forum posted to NextDoor that he had received an anon-
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ymous letter condemning his Black Lives Matter sign. Several other nearby residents posted that they, too, had received the same anonymous letter. Within 24-hours, NextDoor removed the post. The letter and the man’s testimony were erased from the feed. Postings ensued. Residents wondered why the original
post was removed. Some questioned the veracity of the post while others maintained that they had received white unaddressed envelopes in their mailboxes, as well. The letter scared them. It was a matter of public safety. Who did this? Why? And why would NextDoor take down the original post? One NextDoor user wrote, “Is anyone
NEWS
tters online at pittsburghcurrent.com
else tired of being reprimanded and censored because their opinions apparently don't concur with those of the monitors of this website?” Emily Mercurio is one of two ‘leads,' or moderators, of the neighborhood’s NextDoor group said that she did not vote to have the post removed. She is not sure why or how the post was taken down. The second lead in the
group did not respond to request for comment. NextDoor also did not return a request for comment. “If a post from Edgewood-Swissvale Slopes was removed, it could be due to one of 3 actions: 1) The person who created the original post took it down on their own, 2) An Edgewood-Swissvale Slopes lead reported it (and it was blocked in that neighborhood only), or; 3) A non-lead reported it, and the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhood leads voted on it. After voting, if Nextdoor deemed that it violated the Guidelines, then it will be removed by Nextdoor (not by a lead)” Mercurio wrote. Pittsburgh Current obtained a copy of the anonymous letter that has been circulating Swissvale. It reads in part: “The aim of BLM is not about black lives. If it were, they would be protesting the carnage committed against themselves by their own people and the 20 million black abortions since 1973 ... The real issue facing the black community is fatherlessness, caused by the welfare state… They are a crazed Marxist mob...They hate our country and they are intimidating us to hate it too and kneel in submission...When you have a BLM sign in your yard, you are saying you support mob rule, not the rule of law.” On July 1, NextDoor CEO
Sarah Friar told NPR that it “was really our fault” that NextDoor moderators across the country were taking down and censoring posts regarding Black Lives Matter. The company has since changed their regulations to state that conversations about racial inequality and Black Lives Matter are allowed. Michelle McCord, originally from North Braddock, now calls Swissvale home. McCord posted a Black Lives Matter sign in her front yard. She’s the only person on her block with one. McCord pointed out that not only is putting a letter in someone’s mailbox is illegal but, “using the postal service to deliver hate mail that is threatening and intimidating is illegal.” The letters deeply troubled McCord, “I was offended that someone would go out and do that. I understand that there’s free speech, but you don’t demoralize or put people down.” She believes the public has a right to know if such letters are being sent directly to houses, and it is dangerous to silence that kind of information. Now, when she’s navigating the streets of Swissvale, “I am more cautious. I am more aware.I pray every day my son has no interaction with law enforcement for any reason.” McCord requested that NextDoor add a Black History category to the neighborhood and has yet to receive a response. She and other residents were never given an explanation for why the
post about the letters were removed. Tonya Slaughter, a Swissvale resident and mother of five, echoed McCord’s concerns for her sons. Her fears and prayers have been awakened since the discussions she witnessed on the NextDoor forum. This summer, her son’s best friend’s family went out of town for a weekend. The family is white and treats Slaughter’s son as one of their own. They told her son that he could use their pool while they were away on vacation and instructed him how to find a key and get into the front door of the house. Her son declined. He said, “In this climate, I can’t do that. Someone will think I am breaking in.” “It made my cry, but it made me proud,” Slaughter said, “I was able to teach him how to be safe.” When Slaughter purchased her home in Swissvale as a single mother, she was told to go back where she came from. Around that time, a white neighbor referred to Black people as “pimps and prostitutes.” Today, though, her neighbors are “great” and Slaughter feels hopeful for the future. She senses the tides are turning, partly because younger generations are more liberal and open to social change. “I am grateful that a light is being shined -- it has been a long time coming,” she said.
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NEWS
THE FIGHT FOR W
MARCH CALLS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS FOR BLACK WORKERS BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
As another work week began in Oakland, a crowd of approximately 100 gathered on Forbes Avenue to protest for the rights of black workers. Attendees included labor leaders, union members, children, and elected officials. The march, dubbed “Black Workers Matter,” was organized by local unions and worker’s organizations, including SEIU 32BJ, Pittsburgh United, and Hospital Workers Rising. “Black Workers Matter” came about as part of “Strike for Black Workers,” a national campaign organized by 44 worker’s rights groups. Strikes and protests are being held across the country today, July 20, including major events in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Detroit, among others. The demands of the protesters include increased access to PPE, living wages, the right to unionize without intimidation or harassment, and paid sick leave and hazard pay beyond the pandemic. The march began around 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of McKee Place and Forbes Avenue, before proceeding on Forbes toward the University of Pittsburgh. The rally marched to the intersection of Forbes and Bigelow, right in front of the Cathedral of Learning. Once there, Steve Kelley, an executive
board member of SEIU 32BJ, instructed the crowd to sit in the intersection, and articulated why they protest. “We were the first ones impacted when COVID-19 hit. Many of us were laid off or forced to work in environments we did not know were safe,” said Kelley. “We are on the front lines, with the nurses and doctors...risking our lives and risking our families. The obligatory pat on the back is no longer enough.” After his speech, Kelley introduced a number of speakers to say their piece. Amanda Green-Hawkins, a union lawyer and former candidate for PA Superior Court, attended the protest with her young daughter, and spoke of why imparting this message was important to her. “We’re talking about people’s jobs and people’s lives, and that’s why we’re taking up the street today,” said Green-Hawkins. “It’s the reason I brought my baby with me today: so she understands that her life matters, because she’s going to have to demand that her life matter.” Alexandria Cutler, a food service worker at UPMC Presbyterian, also addressed the crowd, speaking of her fear that she could bring COVID-19 to her family from work. “I have people that I have to go home to, young people,
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Marchers took to the streets in Oakland to show "Black Workers" matter. (Current Photo
old people, people I have to take care of,” said Cutler. “I’m constantly scared that I’m going to bring something back to my family, and not know I have it.” Cutler also discussed incidents that she experienced at her job that make her question UPMC’s commitment to its black workers. “The only white coworker in my department...said the n-word while talking to me, and he was
not punished to the same severity I would be,” said Cutler. “If it was me or any other black worker, we would be gone.” PA House Representative Summer Lee was the final speaker of the morning, giving an impassioned speech stating her commitment to the fight for workers rights, including a living wage, paid sick leave and paid vacation. She also stressed the importance workers rights
NEWS
WORKERS' RIGHTS
PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON PROPOSED ALLEGHENY COUNTY PAD SICK LEAVE BILL BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
o by Jake Mysliwczyk)
have in the advancement of the black community. “Even as we fight for black lives against police violence, we have to recognize that black folks are still dying at their jobs,” said Lee. “That black folks are still dying from hunger because their jobs don’t pay, that black families are still dying from illnesses because their children and elderly are not covered.”
Concerned community members came together virtually July 20, to give testimony in support of legislation that would provide paid sick leave to most workers in Allegheny County. The Zoom meeting included workers from across the service industry, both with and without sick leave of their own, giving their thoughts on why paid sick leave is important. Allegheny County Council is currently considering legislation that would provide three to five paid sick days for full time employees working in the county. One of the sponsors of that bill, county councilor Bethany Hallam, attended the Zoom meeting and personally responded to each person’s testimony. Hallam argues that the county bill, based very closely off sick leave legislation passed by the city of Pittsburgh, does not go far enough, and is recommending amendments to the bill to address these concerns. “The problem is the city’s paid sick leave legislation isn’t great. It’s better than the nothing we had before, but it’s not the ideal situation,” said Hallam. The amendments Hallam proposed to the legislation include paid safe days, allowing victims of abuse time off to find safety for themselves and their loved ones, as well as front-loading two weeks of paid sick leave to provide relief for those impacted by COVID-19. Following Hallam’s remarks, people came forward to give testimony as to why they support the paid sick leave bill. A UPMC nurse named Latoi, who also helped lead the meeting, said she supports the bill because, as a Black woman, she knows how COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted her community. She specifically mentions that black people are more likely to be essential workers, and thus more likely to be exposed to the virus. “26 percent of food delivery drivers are
black, 70 percent of postal workers are black, 31 percent of home care staff are black, yet 12 percent of the workforce is black,” said Latoi. “They make the choice to stay at home and not get paid, or go to work and be exposed.” More testimony came from Stephanie, a worker at Giant Eagle, who wants to ensure food service workers like her can stay home if they feel unwell, to avoid sickening customers. “I work in the prepared foods department, frying chicken,” she said. “I don’t think the public wants us to be sick while preparing your food.” Some of the most powerful testimony came in support of paid safe days from a woman named Jamaica. She moved from New York City to Pittsburgh to be closer to her then-boyfriend, taking a job in the area as a financial planner. Soon after moving in together, she realized the relationship was becoming abusive, and asked her job for a day off in order to escape to a safe living situation. “The morning I returned to work, I was immediately fired,” she said. “I knew just as quickly I wouldn’t be able to leave. I didn’t have an income, I wasn’t eligible for unemployment, and I hadn’t been in control of my finances for longer than I’d been aware. I couldn’t afford anywhere to go.” Because she could not take time off work, Jamaica was trapped in an abusive relationship. Though she eventually escaped, she continues to deal with the repercussions on her career and mental health. This hearing comes as protests occur nationwide as part of the “Strike For Black Workers.” Earlier that day, workers marched through Oakland demanding workplace reforms, including paid sick leave. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 13
OPINION GUEST OPINION: MOUNT LEBANON POLICE CHIEF'S 'DEFENSE' OF HIS DEPARTMENT ACTUALLY HIGHLIGHTS ITS ISSUES
I
n the wake of a series of highly-publicized incidents of police officers killing Black people, most recently George Floyd, many residents of Allegheny County have wondered how to prevent horrific, tragic outcomes. Some are realizing that we know very little about how our police work. Not until Michael Rosfeld, a police officer working for the tiny Borough of East Pittsburgh, killed Antwon Rose, a Black student at Woodland High School, who was unarmed, on June 19, 2018, did many of us consider the fact that Allegheny County is policed by around 130 different departments, of a varying degree of quality. We drive through multiple jurisdictions, often without even realizing it. Recent calls for a county-wide Citizen’s Review Board for accountability have met resistance. Mount Lebanon’s police department is one of the larger and better funded of these municipal departments and it serves a left-leaning community. It is worth considering how carefully and effectively the municipality is ensuring the safety and equity of its policing in light of the Black Lives Matter movement. Could it become an example of how small municipal departments might modernize themselves? Unfortunately, so far the news is not good. Police Chief Aaron Lauth on June 26 issued a defense of
BY ELAINE FRANTZ - SPECIAL TO THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT
INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
Scenes from a protest on West Liberty Avenue on June 5. (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)
the Mt. Lebanon Police in the form of a Q & A. The document expresses disapproval of racial inequity and racist violence and announces the creation of a citizen committee to advise the police on racial matters; it also
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shows a defensiveness and lack of transparency that will continue to be obstacles to progress. The part of the document we are all here for is "What are the statistics for police contacts and arrests as they relate to race."
The Q & A states that Mt. Lebanon police keep data on contacts (excluding traffic stops) which prove the absence of racial profiling: 13 percent of contacts are Black (about equivalent to the racial composition of Allegheny
OPINION County.) Did Chief Lauth suggest that the municipality reflects the racial composition of Allegheny County? Lebo's population is only 1.1 percent Black. Of 33,109 residents, just around 364 Black people call Mt. Lebanon home. While Black people may come here to work or visit or pass through, surely it is not the case that on average at any given time an additional 4,000-ish non-resident Black people just happen to be in the municipality (and also assuming no additional non-resident white people or people of other races are doing the same.) We can only imagine what the stats would look like if the police contact numbers included traffic stops. One fears that they would be even worse. No reasonable person thinks that one out of every eight people in Mt. Lebanon is Black, but that is the claim on which the Q & A rests the assertion that the municipality does not engage in racial profiling. In fact, the contact numbers the department provides are a big problem, and apper to establish textbook racial profiling. The unstated racist assumption behind some people’s acceptance of these numbers is that Black people are ducking into Lebo to commit crimes, so the police are only doing their job by disproportionately approaching Black people. We could dispel that claim with more in-depth data, but the police do not make public any further breakdown of racial statistics. Another relevant section is entitled 'What is your Use of Force
Policy? Can I have a copy?” The short answer to this question is “no." Many police forces, like Pittsburgh, publish their use of force policy. Mt. Lebanon, however, will only summarize its policy for the public. Any lawyer knows that wording is where the action is. Is there anything problematic in that policy? We aren't allowed to know. "Do you use military-style equipment?" explains that the municipality has an armored truck, but shares it with other nearby departments who collaborate with them on a SWAT-style team; together, they use it about once a month in cases of “active shooters, barricaded gunman, high-risk warrant services and other dangerous situations usually involving persons with firearms.” No one wants police officers forced into dangerous situations when the military has given us an armored truck to protect them. But studies of police militarization highlight the danger and ineffectiveness of increasing use of SWAT-style teams to more aggressively do tasks like serving warrants. There is a lack of evidence that these tactics keep police officers safer. Community members should know more about what those incidents actually look like. What sort of data indicates that this is the safest and most effective approach? How often is the use of a military vehicle really required or necessary in Mt. Lebanon? What are the racial statistics of people who have watched that armored truck roll up for them? The short answer to "What type of person is chosen to
become a Mount Lebanon Police Officer" is "White." There are no non-white officers. Despite the department's stated commitment to diverse hiring and the very real high pay that officers earn to police an area with a low crime rate, we are asked to believe that Black officers simply won't take the job. Maybe we don't need to know about these things. Maybe someone outside of the police is monitoring them on our behalf? Much of the section titled "Who is in charge of overseeing the officers" describes internal police hierarchy. It further states that the chief reports to the Municipal Manager, who reports to elected Commissioners. Has the Manager been meaningfully exercising his powers of supervision? How much authority and access does he have? What are his priorities? From recent conversations I've had with them, I know that until this month, the Commissioners had not spent much time at all on police oversight. Basically, they trusted the Police Chief to captain the ship. Since they had not noticed big problems, they had not asked big questions. There is every reason to assume that Mt. Lebanon Police are better than most of the small municipal police forces: their salaries are high, they are carefully hired, highly educated, welltrained and well-resourced, and the Police Chief who supervises them is highly respected for his skill and professionalism. Policing is an inherently stressful, often depressing and unpleasant job, but policing Mt. Lebanon is likely less so than policing areas with more crime and poverty.
I had the chance to attend the Citizens’ Police Academy last year and found the officers to be very friendly. A lot of people have been really relieved when law enforcement pulled up. One day that might be me. But as community members we have a responsibility to make sure that our institutions are running fairly, safely, and responsibly. Our police have some real issues to grapple with relating to racial justice, militarization, and lack of transparency. They aren't going to solve those problems themselves, particularly since they are still trying to explain them away. Several groups have sprung up recently to push for increased oversight and accountability, and Commissioners and other officials are beginning to take a real interest in making sure that we are keeping our community safe for all. The only real solution, however, is for Mt. Lebanon’s citizens to take the time to seriously think about what we want from our police and to demand access to the information we need to be sure that we are getting that -- not because we disrespect or dislike the people who police us, but because in a democracy, that is how things are supposed to function. We need to push back on defensive justifications, even when it is unpleasant to do so. When we are told not to worry about evidence of racial profiling, because four thousand black people are always hanging around Mt. Lebanon unseen, we need to be brave and honest enough to demand answers.
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 15
OPINION MORE FRACK-GAS PLANTS: A LEGACY OF MONEYED INFLUENCE IN HARRISBURG BY LARRY J. SCHWEIGER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST
INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
G
overnor Wolf will soon be signing a House Bill 732 and thereby pumping nearly $700 million in additional tax credits to the fracking industry. Wolf claims to be concerned with climate change but is willing to subsidize more carbon dioxide and methane pollution during a record-breaking heatwave sweeping the Nation. As just one indicator of the growing threat from the climate crisis, this week, nearly 90% of the U.S. population will be experiencing extreme heat of more than 90 degrees F. This is just the beginning of our troubles. At the current pace, the U.S. will be experiencing more floods, crop, and fire losses exceeding a trillion dollars in a single year. The world’s top climate scientists organized through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that we are running out of time to bend the curve on emissions to prevent dangerous levels that trigger the worst impacts of the climate crisis when the world exceeds the 1.5° Celsius threshold. The October 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report states that “limiting global warming requires limiting the total cumulative global anthropogenic emissions of CO2 since the pre-industrial period, that is, staying within a total carbon budget.” The report further states that “pathways limiting global warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot would require rapid, and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, ur-
ban, and infrastructure (including transport, and buildings), and industrial systems. These systems transitions are unprecedented in terms of scale, but not necessarily in terms of speed, and imply deep emissions reductions in all sectors, a wide portfolio of mitigation options, and a significant upscaling of investments in those options.”
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Despite being financially-strapped in the middle of a pandemic and unable to meet the increasingly unmet basic needs of so many struggling Pennsylvanians, the legislature is giving almost $670 million in tax credits to the fracking industry. This corporate welfare received 163 “Yes” votes in the House versus only thirty-eight lawmakers who voted “No.”
You can see how your House member voted here. Most opponents were southeastern Pennsylvania Democrats. The Senate voted 40 to 9 with Senator Costa and Senator Williams as the only two western Pennsylvania Senators to vote against this massive giveaway. The Senate vote is here. Entrenched crony capital-
OPINION ism in Harrisburg ignores the dire environmental threats by investing in a sector that cannot persist in the face of a climate crisis. Crony capitalism is choking free enterprise, unduly burdening taxpayers, and thwarting the insurgent clean energy industry while threatening our climate system with permanent damage. The legislation was sent to the Governor on July 15th. He has made it clear that he will sign this bipartisan bill so long as the receiving corporations pay prevailing wages. The Governor listened to the construction trade unions who were demanding that these gas-powered projects pay union-scale wages for construction but completely ignored the concerns of environmental organizations warning about increased climate risks, declining air quality, and increased water pollution that threatens families living near fracking wells and infrastructure. This massive tax giveaway will be granted to four proposed but undisclosed fracking facilities. Unlike the previous massive giveaway to Shell, the four recipients of this tax break have not been disclosed to the public, perhaps because they have tarnished records. We should understand that the politicians know who is lobbying for this tax-giveaway and where the money will go. The secret recipients have no additional requirements for preventing methane and carbon dioxide pollution but must meet a minimum capital investment of $400 million and create 800 temporary construction jobs with no further requirement for permanent jobs at the facilities.
Pennsylvania will now on the hook for nearly $2.3 billion in fracking subsidies. This new subsidy is on top of the $1.6 billion Shell deal. In 2012, Governor Corbett and Republican legislators gave Shell a $2.10 tax credit for every barrel of ethane it buys from Pennsylvania's fracking operators, 15 years of tax breaks, and other exemptions because the site is an expanded Keystone Opportunity Zone. Tax subsidies have real consequences in terms of revenue forgone, depleting the Commonwealth’s capacity to pay for education, environmental protection, and a myriad of other vital state services. Instead of paying taxes like the rest of us, the fracking industry is freeloading. When they go bankrupt as several already have, they will leave pollution and mess for us to clean up. Don’t be misled about the industry’s claims of paying impact fees. These fees are inleu of the high cost of bonding bridges and roads that are often ruined by heavy truck traffic. At the same time, the fracking industry, the Chamber of Commerce, and Republican lawmakers have been blocking a severance tax even though eighty percent of the frack gas flows out of state, and much more will flow to international markets when the several pipelines are completed to export hubs. Such generosity by lawmakers and the Governor has a root cause and it is not a good one. We must confront laissez-faire and crony capitalism. Big oil and gas giants like Shell have a belligerent sense of entitlement wherever they operate. Fossil fuel interests are rigging Penn-
sylvania’s economy by implicitly threatening lawmakers with vast amounts of campaign money. Unchecked, corporate fascism is the culmination, and consequence of a failing, and rigged system. It is currently legal for special interest groups to bribe elected officials since there are lax limitations on the type, and amounts of gifts special interests can lavish on elected officials. Representative Tina Davis (D-Bucks County) introduced legislation in an attempt to address the widespread bribing of public officials. The bill sought to ensure that such bribery has no place Harrisburg. Unsurprisingly, the Davis bill was dead on arrival. Pennsylvania’s Constitution has a uniformity clause that has stood the test of time and needs to be considered in light of massive tax giveaways. Article VIII, Section 1 of our state constitution states “all taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be collected under general laws.” This vital “uniformity” provision is designed to restrain the political temptation to give special advantage to lobbyists from one entity over another. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “uniformity” in taxation as “equality in the burden of taxation … in the mode of assessment, as well as in the rate of taxation.” The Pennsylvania Constitution establishes a high standard for tax “uniformity” and fairness that is currently being ignored by the General Assembly and the Governor when it comes to taxing the fracking industry. In the case of Commonwealth v. Jamestown & Franklin Railroad Company, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in 1900 that uniformity “not only applies to taxing statutes but also to the methods by which they are administered.” The massive tax benefits given to the fracking industry producing energy in competition with clean energy corporations appears to violate these standards. The standard applied in the Jamestown & Franklin Railroad case, the court ruled that all railroad companies be taxed the same. With that standard, all energy companies are of the same class and must therefore must be taxed the same. However, industry lawyers will argue that the determination of the “same class” is subject to interpretation. Instead of investing tax subsidies to a polluting industry, the Commonwealth must advance clean energy opportunities and options. Top scientists have long been warning us that we must end fossil fuel burning to stay below 1.5-degrees C. warming to avoid dangerous and uncontrollable levels of climate change. As we are dangerously close to that tipping point, we must act with a warlike footing not seen since WWII to avoid deadly droughts, mass starvation, dread diseases, fierce storms, and widespread floods, forest fire destruction, forced migrations, and border wars. The voters of Pennsylvania must hold lawmakers accountable for their bad choices favoring a polluting industry when they should be helping those facing hard economic times with a raging pandemic.
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 17
OPINION
ADVERTISE WITH US TODAY! WWW.PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM 18 | JULY 21, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
A&E THE CAN'T MISS
SELECTED EVENTS AROUND THE PITTSBURGH REGION BY EMERSON ANDREWS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MUSIC EDITOR MARGARET@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
July 21
sanitizer will be provided. 7 p.m. 3533 Butler St. Free. facebook.com/ events/2335453556748331
Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania hosts another Virtual Patch Program on making Friendship Bracelets. Participants do not have to be Girl Scouts but should view the list of needed materials before the program. To get the corresponding patch, parents submit an order form and a $1.25 fee. 1 p.m. Free to participate. facebook.com/ events/311333083585721 Honeycomb Credit begins a virtual webinar series of interviews called Pandemic Pivots, focusing on small businesses and how they have adjusted during the pandemic. The pilot episode features Travis Paul, owner of Paul Family Farms. The webinar is free with reservation. 5 p.m. Free. facebook.com/ events/206547114051455
July 22 Prototype PGH hosts a virtual workshop on Three Financial Planning Strategies for Women. The workshop is free, though donations will be accepted. Reservation is required. 12 p.m. Free. facebook.com/ events/983744215411640 The StarLite Lounge hosts another virtual open mic night. Participants can share up to three separate videos for the event. Comments are encouraged to create a sense of community even while apart. 8 p.m. Free. facebook.com/
July 26 Enjoy some local food and beverages with the Taste of Lawrenceville: To Go, a monthly event. Participants register for an hour time slot during which to show up and make their purchases. Masks are required and other CDC guidelines will be followed. 12 p.m. 4107 Willow St. Free admission. facebook.com/ events/323553645348466
July 27 events/2989576811111596
July 23 Impactful Improv holds a virtual edition of their Networking Improv(ed) event. Participants will engage in icebreakers and improv games to improve networking skills for their professional careers. The event is free with reservation. 9 a.m. Free. facebook.com/ events/279381473262117
July 24 Arcade Comedy Theater livestreams a free comedy show, Dial-Up™: Improvised Zoom Calls with the Frances Bros. While the show is free to watch, donations can be made to support the non-profit
comedy theater while its doors remain closed. 9 p.m. Free. arcadecomedytheater.com/live
July 25 Cosplayers who are missing Tekkoshocon this year can attend a Meetup Picnic at Point State Park. Attendees should bring their own food and beverages while enjoying music and showing off their cosplays. 12 p.m. 601 Commonwealth Pl. Free. facebook.com/ events/2754205741345339 Sanctuary Pittsburgh holds their first group gallery featuring art made during the pandemic. The gallery will have a limit of 25 occupants at any time, masks are required and
Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Western PA / WV Chapter hosts a Disney Trivia Night online. Participants make a donation for each trivia night they wish to attend. 7 p.m. $10 donation. facebook.com/ events/279381473262117
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Education holds a virtual Theater Production Camp from Jul. 27 to Jul. 31 for kids entering grades 7 through 9. Students will work together to create and produce a talk show complete with guest stars and commercial breaks. Participants can choose between two course options based on financial needs. 9 a.m. $30 or $60. facebook.com/ events/268884007639889
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 19
A&E
WELL-VERSED
CITY OF ASYLUM NAMES FOUR POETS LAUREATE FOR ALLEGHENY COUNTY BY JODY DIPERNA - PITTSBURGH CURRENT LIT WRITER JODY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
As part of City of Asylum's All Pittsburghers Are Poets initiative, Allegheny County now has a Poet Laureate. Actually, we have four. "It is pretty non-traditional," said Erin Roussel, the Special Projects Manager at City of Asylum. "All Pittsburghers Are Poets is really trying to recognize that this is a city that has long been a home for poetry -- there are a lot of poets who live and work in Pittsburgh. Instead of just selecting one poet, we decided to select four different poets who are at different places in their careers and who are also engaged with different communities." Because of this structure, each poet was selected by a unique panel of judges, each chosen for their expertise in specific areas. And because of this inclusion, the Allegheny County poets laureate blow the doors off of the fusty old ideas of poetry as something reserved for your dog-eared Norton's Anthology. Poet Laureate Celeste Gainey, though not a native Pittsburgher, has called this city her home for the last nine years. Appropriately enough, she was called here by poetry. "What brought me here was poetry. I am very grateful to the poetry community and the people who have really championed my writing and have been my cohort in workshops," she said. For Gainey, the appeal of the laureate-
MJ Shahen
ship was an opportunity to serve the literary community and also the larger city and county. "[I]t seems to me there is a call, there is a call for artists to raise our game, in a sense," Gainey said of creating art in this unparalleled age. "I had this idea in mind about the idea of living in the Anthropocene age. And now, we can add to that, this inequality -- the racial disparity that has been with us always but is so magnified at this moment. And then the pandemic.
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So what does our writing look like now?" Like Gainey, who is influenced by her years of lighting television and film productions and whose 2015 collection is titled, appropriately enough, 'the GAFFER,' Emerging Poet Laureate, Paloma Sierra, brings her expertise and love of the theatre to her work. She is earning her masters in Theatre at Carnegie Mellon and her work was selected for New York Theatre's Soundbites, a festival for
the best 10-minute musicals. Sierra's work also combines elements of Latin culture, troubadour traditions, spoken word poetry, musical theatre and opera. It is at the intersection of poetry and the magic of the stage is where her work really breathes. "The project I hope to do as a laureate is still in the works," Sierra told the Current. "I'm hoping to bring a little bit more light to poetry as applied to theatre. Talking to playwrights who write poetry for
A&E the stage -- plays or choreopoems or poetic plays or verse dramas -every type of theatre that involves poetry." Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Sierra first wrote poetry in Spanish. Now, she writes in Spanish, and English, and sometimes she blends the two, embracing both. The work accepted by the Soundbites festival is, in fact, bilingual. With the inclusion of Sierra and ASL Poet Laureate, Mj Shahen, these poets are writing in languages other than English. Mj Shahen is deaf and writes her poetry in American Sign Language. Shahen said she first started her journey as a poet when she went to deaf camp as a teen, and where, for the first time, she was around deaf artists, musicians and storytellers. It is where she fell in love with the medium and craft of ABC ASL poetry. Specifically, an ABC story is a format within ASL. It is poetry and story-telling and performance art all at once. The structure uses the handshapes of the ASL finger-spelled alphabet in sequence. You can see Shahen's ABC poem, 'Deaf Child of Hearing Parents' here. This poem takes the listener through Shahen's own infancy and childhood in Aliquippa. Shahen went to an oral school, which meant that the kids were forbidden to sign; they were forced to wear hearing aids and forced to speak. She pointed out that this was back in the 1960's and things were different. Doctors pushed this type of education and there were few options for her parents. Most hearing parents didn't know any better. It all left her feeling oppressed
is as well, because he talks about these things -- strength, discipline," Folkes said. His poem, 'The People' drives the reader through each line, Folkes tempo and cadence coming every syllable:
Vincent Folkes
Paloma Sierra
and dispossessed until her family moved and there was a deaf neighbor on their street. Shahen would go hang out with him, and she was free -- her hands would fly in conversation. Explaining this portion of the poem through a translator, she explained, "The P -- that's the handshape -- I'm using it for seeing people. I see people walking and they're deaf. That's the deaf community. Then Q is guilt. I'm signing guilt. Guilt because hearing people, they take the advice of doctors and they force their child to wear the hearing aids, they force them to speak. It's not really successful. It's not. It leads to language deprivation -- the child
Celeste Gainey
is language deprived." For those of us in the hearing world, Shahen's work shines a light on an art form previously unseen. The poet laureateship gives her an opportunity to be this sort of bridge between the hearing and the deaf and she hopes to get involved in high schools where hearing students are learning ASL. More importantly, though, she'd like to be able to share her art with deaf students. "I'd like to show the oral deaf children that they have their own language. They have it inside them. They do. Deaf kids have their own language inside them," she said. You don't have to be a master of iambic pentameter to enjoy the poetry of these gifted story-tellers. The Youth Poet Laureate, Vincent Folkes, like many young poets, found his way to poetry by first writing lyrics. The work of the 19year old from Mount Washington thrums with shapes of some of the best, most exceptional rap artists. "Russ is a big influence on me because he speaks about self-sufficiency, ownership and passion for whatever life path a person chooses to take. Nipsey Hussle
"So what they do / They kill our spirits / And divide us up / Cis, het, black, white / Dead men, telling everybody how to live their lives / That ain't right / But still we rise" None of this would be happening without the financial backing from an Allegheny Regional Asset District Radical Impact Grant. "All of these poets received a prize for being named and thanks to this RAD grant, we have money to continue to support their work as they do this programming. So when they read, they will be compensated for their work and they will work with us to create programming. There is a service element and also we want to continue to support them as artists in continuing to develop their poetry," Roussel explained. What that work will look like moving forward? It's hard to know, but Gainey has a few thoughts of what all four artists working together might be able to do. "We're diverse. Some of us are people of color. Some of us are queer. Some of us are old. I like that because I think that nothing is cast in stone at this point," she said. "I see us working together and creating what I like to call a freeway effect -- so we're all headed in the same direction, but we all have different lanes that may have different emphasis."
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 21
EXTRA
Savage Love Love | sex | relationships BY DAN SAVAGE MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET
Is it terrible to believe you can still have a truly monogamous and loving relationship with one partner after twenty years? Or can we walk into a relationship knowing that within those decades of being together that situations like infidelity or being attracted to another is completely unavoidable? And if we acknowledge that in some cases it’s truly unavoidable, should we mentally prepare ourselves for this possibility during our “monogamous” stage? Early on in dating? Hopelessly Optimistic Person Enquires Be prepared. Knowing what we do about infidelity and how common it is over the course of long-term relationships, HOPE, it’s a good idea to have a conversation early in a relationship about what you will do if and/or when one and/or the other and/or both of you should cheat years or decades later. It’s best for this convo to happen at the tail end of the infatuation stage but before you’ve made any sort of formal commitment—you know, after you’ve had your first fight but still at that stage when the thought of ever wanting to fuck someone else seems ridiculous. Committing at that point to at least trying to work through an infidelity doesn’t guarantee the relationship will survive and it doesn’t obligate you to remain in the relationship. But it ups the chances the relationship will survive an infidelity that it could and perhaps should survive. Because remember… when it comes to cheating… some types are worse than others. There are differences in degree. If you found out your husband fucked your sister on your wedding night, well, that’s probably not something you’ll be able to forgive.
But an instantly regretted one-off on a business trip (remember those?) or prolonged affair after twenty years and two kids and both partners long ago started taking their sexual connection for granted and both allowed it to wither? That’s something you can work past and are likelier to work past if you agreed to at least try to work past it before the kids and the taking for granted and the business trips. Zooming out for a moment… The culture encourages us to see cheating as a relationship-extinction-level event—an unforgivable betrayal, something no relationship can survive. Which seems nuts when you pause to consider just how common cheating is. Defining cheating as always unforgivable sets up for failure otherwise good and loving relationships that might be able to survive an infidelity. If instead of telling us that no relationship could ever survive an infidelity the culture told us that cheating in monogamous or non-monogamous is always serious betrayal—it’s not at all trivial—but it’s something a relationship can survive, HOPE, then more relationships that should survive infidelities would… I hope you're sitting down… actually wind up surviving infidelities. The truth is, many relationships don’t just survive infidelities but actually wind up thriving in the wake of the disclosure or exposure of an affair because the healing process brings the couple closer together. (This is not a good reason to have an affair, of course, nor is it the reason why anyone has ever had an affair.) Reinforcing the idea that affairs always destroy relationships: Couples who remain together after after an affair usually don’t talk openly about the cheating while couples
22 | JULY 21, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
who separate or divorce after an affair can hardly bring themselves to talk about anything else. Now to quickly answer your first questions… Yes, it is possible for two people to remain monogamous for twenty years. It can be done—of course it can—but there are lots of people out there who think they’ve done it but are mistaken. Some people think they’ve been in successfully monogamous relationships for twenty years have been cheated on—or they themselves have done something their partners might regard as cheating—and the one-off infidelity or the ongoing affair or the happy endings were never exposed or disclosed. And your partner is going to find other people attractive—and not in twenty years. Today, right now, your partner is going to lay eyes on someone else they find attractive, HOPE, just as you will probably lay eyes—but only eyes—on someone else you find attractive. Making a monogamous commitment doesn’t mean you don’t wanna fuck other people, it means you will refrain from fucking other people. If the lie we’re told about love and attraction were true—if being in love with someone left you incapable of finding someone else attractive—we wouldn’t need to make monogamous commitments. We wouldn’t need to promise to not fuck anyone or extract that promise from someone else if being in left rendered us incapable of even noticing how hot your barista is. What is the etiquette for breaking up with an escort you've been seeing regularly? A little background: I'm married and have been seeing an escort for the past three years about twice a month. The sex is amazing. We've developed a friendship and get along very well. The issue is that I've gotten emotionally attached. I constantly think of her and she's always on my mind. It's negatively affected my marriage and I need to break it off. I don't want to hurt her as I have genuine affection but I need to stop seeing her. Do I send a note with an explanation? Or do I ghost and stop sending
her text messages? I'm the one who initiates contact. She never reaches out to me first. Thanks for your advice. It’s Me Not You Don’t thank me, IMNY, thank all the nice sex workers and sex workers’ rights advocates who were kind enough to share their thoughts after I tweeted out your question and asked #SexWorkTwitter to weigh in. The general consensus was for you to send a brief note letting this woman know you won’t be booking her again. A short selection from the responses… Kalee D. (@GoddessKaleeLA): “I’ve had this happen a few times before and the couple that wrote me a note with honesty were so deeply appreciated. The others, I always wondered what I did wrong or if they died in some freak accident.” Maya Midnight (@MsMayaMidnight): “I’d be worried if a longtime regular disappeared during a pandemic! Send a quick text or email saying you’re taking a break but you’ve enjoyed your time together. No need for more detail about why. A parting gift would be a nice gesture.” SoftSandalwood (@SoftSandalwood): “Pro Domme here. Definitely let her know what’s going on, so she doesn’t wonder if you’re OK, if she did something wrong, etc. It’s the job of a pro to understand and respect boundaries. Thanks for a thoughtful question.” Daddy Lance (@LanceNavarro): “Agreed 100%. The majority of us are deeply empathetic and prefer closure over mystery.” A final thought from me: sex workers value trustworthy regular clients and FOSTA/SESTA and the coronavirus pandemic have made it incredibly difficult for sex workers to find new regular clients. Sending this woman a generous final tip—perhaps the price of a session, if you can swing it—would soften the blow of losing you as a regular client and would tide her over until she can replace you.
ESSAY MONTANA TOO BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
It was the start of morning and the sun was bright in my eyes. When I held my head at certain angles I just saw yellow. Chris, Ben and I had dried off from the swim and put our clothes back on. We were standing by the water. On either side of it there were tall cliffs, they were chalky red. We were in Montana. Our band was making its way around the US. We had been sleeping in the van and on floors for a couple months but it felt good. “Let's go over there,” I said, pointing at the railroad bridge. When we got there I started climbing its supports, which made Ben climb a little higher than me, which of course made me climb a little higher than him. Pretty soon the three of us were pulling ourselves up to where the tracks were. "Shit," I said. It was tall before but it seemed to to grow quite a bit now that we were on top of it, as things tend to do. I looked around, felt the wind, felt the morning. We were hundreds of feet up. Chris started walking toward the cliff on the other side of the ravine. Ben followed. I followed, shuffling along a few steps behind. The handrail was this crippled thing that teetered and creaked when I touched it. Whole sections of it were missing. I knew it would give way if I kept holding it so I didn't. I had to look down as I walked because many of the ties were rotten or broken or missing. I did my best to keep myself right above the I-beam, just like we used to do on the Canterbury bridge trestle back home. The idea was you could catch yourself if the tie you were on broke. Now and then there would
be a snap and a chunk of wood would fall. But on we went across these boards blackened by sun and age as they splintered and we pretended it did not scare us. "Oh man, this is beautiful," I said. "I gotta' shit," Chris said. "Yeah it is pretty good," Ben said. "I really gotta' shit," Chris said. "Prove it.” "Should I?” "Do it, tough guy.” "Hold this.” Chris handed his camera over to Ben who was closest to him. “I don't want to drop it," Chris said. He was talking about the camera. He unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants to his ankles. He lowered himself so his legs were straight out in front of him and his arms behind him, pressing his palms into the wood for support, like he was doing some kind of pilates move. He spread his legs as much as the pants around his ankles would let him and made a strained face. And it fell, the shit, doing a slow summersault that must have taken five seconds, and finally hit the water. I looked at Ben. He was lowering the camera from his face. He turned to me. “Got it,” he said. We walked back to the other end and climbed down. As we got closer to the to the van Chris (the other Chris, the bass player) was moving the spare tire out of his way and climbing out the side door "Hey there's a bridge over there. That’s pretty cool,” he said. "Yeah, get back in the van.”
"Did you guys climb it?” "Nah," I said,”Let’s go." ***** A few months later we were back in New York, where we lived. Ben, Chris and I were walking to the subway. "Did you do those other rolls?" Ben asked. “Yeah, I developed them." Chris was a respected alumnus of the NYU photography program and had free access to the dark rooms. He had taken many pictures over the course of the tour and Ben was always on him about developing the last of them. “So, funny thing happened,” He said. "I was developing them and hung the prints to dry-“ "Yeah?" I said. “Yeah, and I left to go get a
bagel and when I got back the head of the photo department was there.” "Yeah?" I said. "Wait, did you go to that shitty bagel place?" said Ben. "Let him finish his story.” "He saw the picture Ben took of me shitting off the bridge.” Ben and I burst out laughing. "And he showed some of the other professors in the photo department too. So here's all these people I respect and studied under and-“ "They saw you shit off a bridge.” "So what did he say?” "He was like, ‘Nice Chris, real nice.’” "Man, you can't get away with anything."
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 23
PA R T I N G S H OT
PITTSBURGH CURRENT PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JULY 21, 2020 | 24