Pittsburgh Current, Volume 3, Issue XVI, June 2, 2020

INSIDE:

PREPARING FOR THE FIRST-EVER ONLINE THREE RIVERS ARTS FEST VOL. 3 ISSUE 16

June 2, 2020 - June 8, 2020

PGHCURRENT

PGHCURRENT

PGHCURRENT

A H I S TO RY O F V I O L E N C E GIVEN THE PITTSBURGH REGION'S PAST USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE BY POLICE ON PEOPLE OF COLOR, PLACING BLAME FOR RECENT VIOLENCE ISN'T AS EASY AS ELECTED OFFICALS WOULD LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE

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.

PA I D A DV E R T I S E M E N T

2 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

SUPPORT THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT AND THE FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

We are an influence-free, Independent alternative print and online news company in Pittsburgh Pa. As we’ve been reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen firsthand the dramatic effect it’s having on businesses around southwestern Pennsylvania. This is especially true for small businesses like ours. While we remain steadfastly committed to reporting on the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak through the latest information and features, we need your help. Support independent journalism through a sustaining or one-time donation to the Pittsburgh Current. 80% of all donations go toward paying our staff and content creators, 20% will help keep the lights on. And 100 percent of it will ensure this city continues to have an alternative, independent voice.

Even before canceling events and staying at home became the new normal, media companies like ours were struggling to keep things going. But we, like others, have found a way because people depend on our product, they like what they do and we feel that appreciation every day. We announced last week that we were temporarily halting our twice-monthly print publication and focusing on our online digital edition because people aren’t going outside, and the businesses where we distribute are all closed. The good news in all of this is that our digital edition will now be coming out weekly instead of bi-monthly. So beginning March 24, you’ll be able to get the Current every Tuesday (to make sure you get it delivered to your inbox, fill out our email signup on our homepage). We are a small team with a big mission and we’re stubborn enough to know that with your help we will get through this.

The Current, like many small businesses, is at a crossroads. We plan on doing our part to get you the information you need to make it through this crisis, but we need your support to make sure we’re also able to report on the next one. You can donate by clicking the popup on our homepage or clicking donate below.

Donate to the Pittsburgh Current and the future of Independent Journalism Thank You,

Charlie Deitch

Publisher, Pittsburgh Current charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 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. XVI June 2, 2020

NEWS 6 | History of Violence 12 | Contact Tracing App 13 | Erie Police Violence

EDITORIAL

Art Director: Larissa Mallon Larissa@pittsburghcurrent.com

OPINION 14 | Chris Roland is a liar 15 | Rob Rogers 16 | Larry Schweiger

Music Editor: Margaret Welsh Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com

ARTs & ENTERTAINMENT 18 | Virtual Arts Fest

Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Jake@pittsburghcurrent.com Social Justice Columnist: Jessica Semler jessica@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Justin Vellucci, Atiya Irvin Mitchell, Dan Savage, Larry Schweiger, Brittany Hailer, Meg Fair, Matt Wallenstein, Emerson Andrews, Matt Petras info@pittsburghcurrent.com Logo Design: Mark Addison

EXTRA 20 | Savage Love 21 | Phone Books 22 | Parting Shot

COVER CREDITS:

LEON FORD PHOTO BY EMMAI ALAQUIVA. POLICE OFFICER PHOTO BY MARK ALBERTI JORDAN MILES PHOTO: ARCHIVE PHOTO ALL OTHER PHOTOS BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

FOR ADVERTISING RATES :

Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com 4 | JUNE 2, 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.

All

Space

Your ad dollars go even further with our Space For All campaign. For every ad you purchase a struggling small business or non-profit will be able to place an ad of equal value. This applies to businesses that are currently closed during the COVID-19 outbreak, and can be applied once they reopen.

All

for

You are free to choose a business or non-profit, or we can help you find one. Let's all work together to help out our neighbors and get the word out when they can reopen their doors!

Leaderboard Medium Rectangle Skyscraper Interstitial (Pop-Up) 728 x ad 90dollars go even 300further x 250with our Space 120 For x 600 x 500 Your All campaign.600 For every ad you purchase a struggling small business or non-profit will be able to $150 $100This applies to businesses $100 $125 place an ad of equal value. that are currently per week during the COVID-19 per weekoutbreak, and canperbe week day closed applied once they per reopen.

You Front are free to choose aFull business orHalf non-profit, Quarter or we can help you find Strip Email one. Let's all work together to help out our neighbors and get the word out when they can reopen their doors! $250 $600 $400 $175 $200

Leaderboard 728 x 90 $150 per week

Medium Rectangle 300 x 250 $100 per week

Front Strip Full pittsburghcurrent.com $600 $400

Skyscraper 120 x 600 $100

Half $250

per week

Interstitial (Pop-Up) 600 x 500 $125

Quarter $175

per day

Email $200

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 5

NEWS

Above: A large group of protesters gather on Liberty Avenue Downtown. (Pittsburgh Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk). Opposite Page: Officers with tear gas and "non-lethal" projectiles line up across from protesters on Saturday, May 30. (Pittsburgh Current Photo by Mark Alberti)

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

IT'S EASY TO BLAME ANARCHISTS AND ROGUE PROTESTERS FOR VIOLENCE AT A MAY 30 PROTEST FOR GEORGE FLOYD, BUT PITTSBURGH'S CHECKERED PAST WITH EXCESSIVE FORCE MAY BE MORE TO BLAME

BY BRITTANY HAILER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Two days after the May 30 “Justice for George Floyd” rally, Pittsburgh clergy of every cloth gathered and prayed at historic Freedom Corner in the Hill District. They later marched to the City-County building with a police escort.

Roughly 48 hours earlier, a peaceful protest was rocked by violence.

Police officers used tear gas and “non-lethal” ammunition rounds on protesters. As the event continued to devolve into chaos, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Police Chief Scott

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Schubert and other officials classified the protest as once peaceful until it was “hijacked” by individuals described as “white, male anarchists.”

But during the June 1 march, at Freedom Corner, Pastor Brian Edmonds of the Macedonia Church of Pittsburgh addressed that notion clearly and succinctly.

“Some are seeking to hijack the narrative. I came here today to declare that the narrative will not be hijacked!” Edmonds said, “Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, said that

6 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

the protests now--the rioting and the looting--are in no way connected to the death of George Floyd...That’s like telling someone who comes back from war, ‘Your PTSD is in no way connected to what you saw in the foxholes.’”

Edmonds explicitly called out Mayor Bill Peduto and Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert. He criticized their response to the protests.

At that May 30 press conference, Schubert said: “It’s a damn shame they took advantage of the death of

George Floyd. This was a peaceful protest, hijacked by a small group who brought youths into the group.

White males dressed in anarchist attire.”

Edmonds strongly disagreed: “It creates a red herring argument that now allows us to chase the anarchists and says that once we get the anarchists then we’re good. But it causes many to forget that was not the cause of the problem in the first place. Don’t you dare chase down Continued on Page 8

NEWS

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 7

NEWS

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 7

theAred herring...without looking at P GE 7

the deeper pains that are on the inside that have reached a boiling point...We are standing up and saying, We can’t breathe!.”

So, what is the narrative of the most recent Pittsburgh protests?

To answer that question, you need to venture back much further than Saturday afternoon to even begin to find the answer.

The 1990s saw a train of tragic deaths of young black men at the hands of local police: Jonny Gamage, Jerry Jackson, Deron Grimmit all lost their lives. Those cases and others led to the voter-formed Citizens Police Review Board, a civil lawsuit and eventual consent decree against the city by the U.S. Department of Justice.

But by 2010, the use of excessive deadly force by police in Pittsburgh seemed to experience a renaissance.

Police actions of the past 10 years have reignited the distrust between police officers and many in the community.

If you want to know why the senseless death of George Floyd has hit Pittsburghers so hard, recent history is a good place to start.

Brenda Tate, a life-long Hill District resident, protected her community as a police officer for 40 years.

George Floyd’s murder sickens her, a fear that ruptures from deep down.

A fear she recognizes as a mother of two black men. A fear she recognizes as a police officer who has stopped other incidents from turning violent.

“You might ask why is diversity important at a time like this? It's important because, if just one BLACK officer was present, he/she would have viewed Mr. Floyd as a Human Being, a brother, uncle, cousin, or father and STOPPED IT. I know this to be true because my mere presence

on many scenes has allowed me to change the outcome of many similar unstable situations,” Tate wrote to the Pittsburgh Current.

At the “Justice for George Floyd” rally on May 30 thousands of protestors chanted: “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Tate admitted that it was extremely difficult for her to express her thoughts on what George Floyd’s death means for Pittsburgh. His murder echoes memories and traumas that the black community in Pittsburgh has had to survice, overcome

8 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

and process, time and time again.

Tate said the video depicting George Floyd’s death was brutal: “In my entire 40-year career in law enforcement, I have NEVER witnessed anything this brutal that resulted in the death of a citizen at the hands of a police officer. The closest I can get is Jordan Miles.”

Jordan Miles. In 2010 he was an 18-year-old in Homewood taking a walk to his grandmother’s house, where he often slept. Three plainclothes officers stopped him, claimed a bulge in his pocket was a gun, and insisted he hand over “drugs, guns and cash.” Miles was beaten bloody.

Punched more than 20 times before being handcuffed face-down in the snow. Then, the beatings continued. Miles believed he was being mugged. His photo after the incident shows a face ballooned and swollen beyond recognition.

The three plain-clothes officers never identified themselves as cops.

Not until after he was in the police van did he realize he was being arrested.

The crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Leon Ford. In 2012 he was 19

NEWS

Opposite Page: A protester who officials claim instigated the violence on Downtown Pittsburgh Streets on May 30. (Current Photo) Above: A Pittsburgh Police vehicle was set on fire near PPG Arena on Saturday May 30. (Pittsburgh Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk). Right: A protester uses a slingshot to shoot rocks into the crowd at the May 30 protest in Downtown Pittsburgh. (Photo by T.J. Windermere)

when Pittsburgh police pulled him over for running a stop sign. Despite Ford producing all of the proper ID, Officers continued to insist he was a black suspect with a similar last name. During the traffic stop, a police officer shot Ford in the spine, paralyzing him for life.

On March 30, the day of the “Justice for George Floyd” rally, Ford tweeted: “I remember Jordan Miles was beaten by officers in my city, I wasn’t [a] mover. A few years later I was shot by officers from the same department. What I’m trying to say is don’t wait until it happens to you or one of your loved ones before you get involved.”

The crowd chanted, “They don’t

lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Antwon Rose II. Pittsburgh saw police violence again in June 2018 when Antwon Rose II was shot three times in the back in East Pittsburgh

by Police Officer Michael Rosfeld.

The 17-year-old Rose was unarmed and fleeing the area when he was shot.

Following the shooting, Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide.

After a 4-day trial, the former officer was acquitted on all counts.

Terrell Thomas of ACLU Pennsylvania contextualized Rose’s murder for black Pittsburghers: “They want us to live in a place where the cops can shoot our kids in the back 3 times and justify that?

The people have said enough is enough. They want us to live in a place where this oppressive police army descends into our community, harasses our people, takes them off to jail for little to no reason?”

On May 30, the crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street” until white protestors vandalized and lit a police vehicle on fire. Pittsburgh media and the Mayor’s administration were quick to condemn the violence perpetrated by the white activists. Yes, black demonstrators pleaded for the white group to stop, but, many, including Thomas, believe that vandalizing and demonstrating is an act of resistance.

Thomas wrote to Pittsburgh

Current: “In the protests on Saturday, May 30th in response to the death of George Floyd, our Mayor, though having made statements in support of “peaceful” protests, decried the riots and looting that took place downtown, which he admitted was initiated by white individuals. The Pittsburgh Police department under his watch shot rubber bullets, flash bombs, pepper spray, and tear gas at protestors that included black and white individuals. He then ordered a curfew for two nights.”

In his Letter From a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr, wrote “the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not Continued on Page 10

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 9

NEWS CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 9 PAG E

the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods.”

Terrel goes on to write, “All of the actions taken by the Mayor or under his leadership are counter to improved community-police relations and police accountability reform. It is hard to watch such actions being taken, when across the country, the Mayor of Minneapolis was able to acknowledge that riots were “not only understandable, but right.”

Where is that sentiment from our Mayor?”

The crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Day Bracey, who is a standup comedian and Craft Beer Columnist for the Pittsburgh Current, witnessed violence by the Pittsburgh Police on March 30. Twice, Bracey tried to report a white man in a Ford Mustang who was driving into protestors in attempts to run them over. The police did nothing with his reports.

He continued to film the protests after the police car was set on fire in the Lower Hill.

Once Downtown, he found a group of mostly black demonstrators who were cornered by police. Tear gas, flash-bangs and brute force rained down on the small group.

Bracey began filming and told the protestors to put their hands up.

“Tell them not to shoot!” he screamed, hoping to demonstrate to the officers that the crowd was

Above: Protesters confront Pittsburgh Mounted Police Units. Opposite Left: Crowds continued to grow on Liberty Ave. Downtown. (Pittsburgh Current Photos by Jake Mysliwczyk). Opposite Right: Protest scenes from Downtown Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Current Photos by Mark Alberti)

peaceful.

Police tear gassed Bracey and the crowd. He’d run out of milk used to counteract the effects of the gas, because he’d been handing it out to others who needed it. That’s when Brittney Chantele, a local hip-hop artist and activist appeared to shower Bracey in water.

“It was like an angel appeared,” he said.

But what Bracey observed was this: the peaceful demonstrators met violence and brutalization, while the white looters down the street expe-

10 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

rienced no repercussions. Bracey maintains that Market Square had virtually no police surveillance.

“If these protests proved anything, it’s how much shit white people can get away with. The government has no problem bringing in violence to maintain the status quo” he said.

The crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Chantele, who came to Bracey’s rescue led demonstrations across the city after the death of Antwon Rose

II. She told Pittsburgh Current on May 30, “I want it to be very clear, though, that I was only down there briefly to give aid for protestors tear gassed.”

Chantele fears the day she gets the phone call that her brother or father has been killed by police.

“I have privilege with my skin being white as a biracial person. I don't fear for my life because of my skin.

I fear for my family and friend's life.

For me, it feels like it is no longer an "if" - it is a "when" I will receive a phone call saying my dad, brother, uncle, aunt, cousin, or friend was

NEWS

murdered by police,” she wrote.

Chantele wrote about the exhaustion of black Americans and how that is something white Americans can never fully understand.

“George Floyd's murder has sparked marches and riots across the world - rightfully so. Black people are TIRED. If you are white, really let that sink in. What does it mean to be tired of seeing your people unjustly murdered by police? What does it FEEL like? The truth is, white people really can't fully know or understand” The crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

The grief and pain black America endures every day, week and year compounds into a collective decry of the police brutality and racial injustice. Social media ripples and

swells with voices acknowledging a system that is not, in fact, broken, but created exactly in a way to oppress, and kill, people of color.

Bret Grote, co-founder and legal director of the Abolitionist Law Center, a Pittsburgh-based public interest law firm, doesn’t believe the current police force system is capable of reform. According to Grote, prosecuting the police officers who kill is a start, but more must be done.

“They are predators, a threat to public health, agents of racial terror,” Grote wrote, “Prosecuting the perpetrators matters but it does not begin to scratch the surface of how apartheid must be fought. Shrinking the budgets of all police, reducing their numbers, eliminating them en mass, and building up alternative working-class institutions of transformative justice is the only way forward if we are serious about racial

justice. That requires mass disruption and strategic organizing. Any politician who stands in the way, which is virtually all of them, has to go.”

The crowd chanted, “They don’t lynch us in the trees, they kill our babies in the street.”

Daeja Baker is a poet who grew up on the north side of Pittsburgh and is still active in the grassroots community via her organization and as the founder of Pittsburgh Feminists for Intersectionality.

She wrote,”I do my best to listen to my heart and those around me.

I do my best to take my anger and make it count. I try my best to act with love, every time someone is slain in the name of racism. I am proud of the work that we do in Pittsburgh. I am proud of our youth, proud of our grassroots leaders, and proud of those that step up and stand behind us.”

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 11

NEWS CONTACT TRACING: THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

BY JODY DIPERNA - PITTSBURGH CURRENT LIT WRITER

B

ecause of the coronavirus pandemic, 'contact tracing' is a term that has moved out of the hidden halls of public health and medical research and into the common lexicon. One of the most essential tools health workers have to track and contain infectious diseases, contact tracing has been used to fight diseases like polio, measles and HIV. Dr. Catherine Haggerty, Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health explained it in clear terms.

"Through an initial case investigation, public health workers interview a patient to help them recall all of their close contacts during the timeframe that they have been infectious.

As a next step, each of these close contacts are notified of their potential exposure and given instructions ‌" she told the Current via email.

The idea of an infection network has been around for a long time, but new technology may be able to lend a hand as the nation opens up, ready or not. While behemoth companies like Google and Apple work on their own apps, a group at Carnegie Mellon has designed and launched NOVID, a contact tracing app they think is more effective and nuanced, and is also private.

If two people have NOVID loaded on their phones and are in contact with one another for a significant period of time (15 minutes or longer), the technology records and stores that information. If one of those people then tests positive for coronavirus, they would self-report

JODY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

it and the app would notify the other person that they had contact with a positive case of COVID-19 and may be contagious themselves.

Po-Shen Lo, a math professor at CMU, who also coaches the USA International Mathematical Olympiad Team, leads the NOVID team. Right around the time Pennsylvania was shutting down in mid-March, Lo says he desperately wanted to help, but felt like 'a useless mathematician.'

Then he started to imagine the virus as a network theory problem -- a light went on.

"I thought, if we shut down totally for a year, we all starve. We need to have some way of helping to control the spread of COVID-19, where every single person plays a part, instead of us waiting for Big Brother or Mother Government," Lo told the Current via telephone.

"With an anonymous network, you could actually curtail the spread of COVID-19. If you saw a hotspot in the network, you could send a message saying, be careful, something's coming. You might be able to help save lives."

Lo quickly assembled a team of some of the very best tech designers, architects and engineers and they hit the gas hard. NOVID doesn't require any user information, like name or email or phone number. That anonymity was vital to the team.

"We don't know who they are, we don't know where they are, we don't know anything about this person.

We see User 82 and we can see that they have connections to User 103 or User 56," explained Macy Hyland,

12 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

part of the outreach team for NOVID. Continuing that example, if User 82 tested positive, they would self-report.

Then NOVID would alert Users 103 and 56 with a notification along the lines of, 'Someone just self-reported a positive test. During the time that they were potentially contagious, you were with them and may have been infected.'

NOVID user phones talk to each other through bluetooth, rather than GPS information. When you flick on bluetooth to use headphones or a speaker, your phone scans for devices that are nearby. NOVID works just like that -- if two NOVID users are together, the devices will clock one another and make note of it.

But false positives can happen because bluetooth often picks up devices that are in another room or on a different floor. So the NOVID crew added an ultrasound component.

One phone asks the other, make a noise for me. It's a sound that humans can't hear, but the tech can. This sound won't be detected through walls and floors, thus NOVID avoids false positives that could occur, especially in apartment buildings and dorms.

"We put it together as self-reporting, so that people could start to

be alerted," Lo said. Self-reporting is kind of a high tech honor code, which works if users honestly report positive tests and self-quarantine as appropriate.

The tech can only do so much. At the end of the day, humans are going to human.

According to Dr. Haggerty, the

NEWS value of old-school contact tracers is that they are a two way street of information, both gathering data and also providing valuable instruction and intelligence in the community.

"A key strength of active case investigation and contact tracing is that instructions on isolation and care of cases and quarantine of close contacts can be immediately shared and explained. Additionally, active identification and continued monitoring of close contacts provides public health officials an ability to quickly identify if symptoms develop among close contacts so that testing and isolation can be rapidly implemented if needed," Haggerty said.

One of the challenges unique to coronavirus is that scientists estimate that almost half of the transmissions happen before you have any symptoms at all. If you have the common flu, most of the transmission happens after you start to feel bad. A responsible person will avoid elderly or immunocompromised friends and relatives; they might stay home from work. COVID-19 doesn't allow for individuals to make those conscientious decisions because you can be contagious for two weeks without knowing it.

Simply put, NOVID is trying to give you that sensory information before you feel sick.

Lo says that with every new user, NOVID works better, creating a safer environment, but he noted that this is just the first step and they are hoping to partner with health care providers and public health authorities.

"It's very rare that you can say that the problem we're working on is one of the most important problems in the entire world at the moment. We started this because I wanted to stop the spread of COVID-19."

VIDEO OF ERIE COP KICKING DEFENSELESS PROTESTER GOES VIRAL LT. GOV. FETTERMAN SAYS OFFICER MUST BE 'IDENTIFIED AND HELD ACCOUNTABLE

BY HANNAH MCDONALD - FOR THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

A video taken in downtown Erie during a riot on Saturday night has gone viral, helping to fuel the growing nationwide debate of the excessive force used by law enforcement during protests over the death of George Floyd.

The two-second clip, taken between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on Saturday, shows 21-year-old Hannah Silbaugh, of Erie, apparently being kicked by an Erie police officer as she sat on the ground.

The video has been widely re-shared on Twitter, where it was viewed more than 6 million times, and other social media channels. The story has been picked up by such nationwide news outlets as Rolling Stone.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, an enraged Lt. Gov. John Fetterman wrote that “this level of unnecessary use of force, along with all other instances of it across Pennsylvania … is unacceptable and diminishes us all.

“This officer needs to be identified, and held accountable,” Fetterman wrote.

It was not immediately clear Monday when — or if — that might happen.

On Sunday, Erie Mayor Joseph Schember told GoErie that he had seen the video “but I don’t have any comment on that,” he said in response. “It was only two to three seconds long, and there was a lot that happened around that,” he said.

Schember further told YourErie that, “It looked like the video might have been doctored. We are trying to figure out the answer to that for sure, but this is an instance that we will evaluate.”

Schember said there are “hundred of hours” of video to go through from cameras around downtown municipal buildings and businesses

that captured the events Saturday.

On Twitter, Silbaugh reposted another 20-second video that has surfaced — different than the one she first referred to — of Silbaugh being assaulted by officers, taken from a different angle by a bystander.

On Sunday, the Erie Police Department released a statement that failed to mention either clip directly.

City police did say, however, that “in terms of the videos circulating online and the cameras all around downtown, we have several hundreds of hours of videos to watch.

We will review all footage in the coming weeks. We are not aware of any civilian injuries.”

In a Monday briefing, Erie Police Chief Daniel P. Spizarny Sr. said that the officer shown in the video kicking Silbaugh had identified himself on Sunday morning after learning about the video. The department is not releasing any identifying details about the officer at this time. An internal investigation is being done to determine how to handle the situa-

tion, Spizarny said.

The video provoked immediate condemnation on social media.

“That is an assault under color of authority,” Twitter user Lisa Boeving-Learned, a self-identified “soldier, police officer, writer, activist,” wrote. “This officer must be identified fired and charged.”

After getting off to a peaceful start, protests turned violent on Saturday night, resulting in seven arrests.

Eleven businesses were damaged, and 12 police officers were injured, Schember told reporter Chelsey Withers for Jet24-Erie.

When demonstrators began vandalizing municipal buildings, city police declared that the protest had become an unlawful assembly. On the third warning to disperse, “the SWAT Team, which was on standby in the basement, came out,” EPD said in a written statement. “ Hannah McDonald is a Correspondent for the Pa. Capital-Star, where this story first appeared.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 13

OPINION CHRIS ROLAND IS A LIAR AND THAT'S THE TRUTH

BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR

CHARLIE@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Chris Roland, a challenger in today’s Democratic Primary against incumbent Summer Lee is a liar and does not deserve your vote.

I don’t want to mince words or bury the lead, but allow me to explain.

On May 19, the Pittsburgh Current published a story regarding a negative mailer sent by the Roland campaign, making the outlandish accusation that Summer Lee voted to make it easier for sex offenders to work in schools. In the article, I broke down the claims and by any interpretation of Lee’s votes, Roland’s mailer was untrue. In response, Roland made more unfounded claims. Yet, when given the opportunity, he refused to speak to the Pitttsburgh Current directly and explain his decision.

In the story I wrote: “Roland sent the mailer last week and based the claim on Lee’s negative vote on House Bill 235, an adoption bill that would allow corrections officers to be witnesses to an incarcerated person surrendering their parental rights. Lee, along with many other Democrats voted no on the measure. The allegation in Roland’s mailer comes from an amendment added later to the bill that with specific language regarding hiring practices and background checks preventing sex offenders from working in a school or childcare center.�

In his latest mailer, Roland again attacked Summer Lee and used our story, specifically the above paragraph, to justify doing so. At the top of the mailer, above the headline, falsely referencing Lee’s “record against our families,� was the Pittsburgh Current logo, used without authorization.

Here is how the mailer depicted the “quote� he used: “Lee’s nega-

tive vote on House Bill 235 ‌ to prevent sex offenders from from working in a school or childcare center.�

Here is the actual quote from the story. “Roland sent the mailer last week and based the claim on Lee’s negative vote on House Bill 235, an adoption bill that would allow corrections officers to be witnesses to an incarcerated person surrendering their parental rights of their child. Lee, along with many other Democrats voted no on the measure. The allegation in Roland’s mailer comes from an amendment added later to the bill that adds specific language to state law regarding hiring practices and background checks to prevent sex offenders from working in a school or childcare center.�

In a 90-word paragraph, Roland cut 68 words. He omitted 55 words between “235� and “to prevent� and he used an ellipse to signify that text was redacted.

As a writer, I’ve used this tool to remove superfluous text from a quote. But the words that Roland hacked out of our story weren’t extra adjectives, they were facts.

By removing these facts, he intentionally created a dishonest mailer.

His actions, his refusal to accept responsibility for them and his inability to provide even the slightest defense for them, prove he’s a dishonest charlatan and a political shill for Democratic Party hacks.

Chris Roland has the full support of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO and Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald didn’t bat an eye when Roland sent his first round of mailers and probably doesn’t care now. And this weekend, as our city rose up in justifiable outrage

14 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

at yet another instance of systemic racism, the Allegheny County Democratic Committee promoted Roland's candidacy, as well as that of Trump supporter, Heather Kass.

I sent an email to Roland, cc’d to the Current’s legal counsel, informing him that his edits of my story were dishonest and demanded a retraction. I’ve heard nothing.

I also told him he reprinted our copyrighted logo without permission. I’ve heard nothing.

As a voter, you should demand that Roland answer for the negative and dishonest campaign that he has run against Summer Lee. Roland’s actions show how little he thinks of the average voter. He truly thought they would believe this preposterous lie, that falsely impugned the character of not only Summer Lee but other progressive legislators.

As I said. Chris Roland is a liar.

He’s even lying to himself that he is worthy of this seat in the Pa. House.

 Â?Â? Â? Â? Â? Â? Â?­   €Â

­

‚ € ƒ „ …… € † ‡ …„

€ ˆ ƒ ‡ € ˆ

 ����

�� � �­­ €€��‚ �€ ƒ „   … †� ‡ ‡ˆ�� ‰… … �ˆ�� … … Š

‹  Â

Â…

‹ …

OPINION

ADVERTISE WITH US TODAY! WWW.PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 15

OPINION

DISRUPTING CIVIL SOCIETY FOR A MORE JUST FUTURE

BY LARRY J. SCHWEIGER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

G

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

eorge Floyd's murder was a modern-day lynching and a profound symbol for all to see what is wrong in America. Witnessing mass protests in all 50 states, widespread looting, and arson, I am not surprised that things seem to be unraveling in cities across America, including outbreaks in Pittsburgh unrelated to, but under cover of the march.

The murder of George Floyd should have been expeditiously addressed. It wasn’t.

When bystanders begged officer Derek Chauvin to stop chocking Floyd with his knee, he continued for two minutes after Floyd stopped breathing.

None of the officers involved did anything to stop Chauvin.

All officers involved should be arrested and charged in the murder. Instead, the county prosecutor announced lesser charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against Chauvin alone.

The county prosecutor's failure to accurately charge all officers involved was the final straw in an accumulation of injustices that must be addressed at all levels. As Minnesota's attorney general Keith Allison takes over the case, the original complaint should be amended and upgraded to murder two and charges should also include all officers involved.

The COVID-19 virus is not the only widespread infection in America. Far too many police departments and local prosecutor's offices are infected with systemic racism, which must

be confronted and reformed. It was not a question of “if” but “when” injustice and underlying tensions would boil over. With the advent of cellphone videos, white Americans are now witnessing police abuses and blatant racism that has killed countless others for decades. Black Americans are 24 percent of the victims killed by police despite being only thirteen percent of the population. Minorities are two-and-a-half times as likely as white Americans to be killed according to data compiled by Mapping Police Violence, a research and advocacy group.

Police Departments where abuses have occurred must reform their recruitment and retention processes to better screen against racism and other toxic behaviors. Every department must establish strong standards and better train officers on safe arrest procedures. For example, Minneapolis police have used deadly neck restraints 237 times since 2015, with black being 3/5 of the victims.

Records show forty-four choking victims were rendered unconscious. Police should not be above the law and must first be held accountable by their fellow officers, department heads, and by the criminal justice system.

Congress must reform the legal standard of “qualified immunity” to address abuses by racist police officers. The legal construct of “qualified immunity” was an attempt in a landmark decision in Pearson v. Callahan by the Supreme Court. The court attempted to balance two

16 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

A protester paints George Floyd's name on the wall of a highway overpass. (Pitttsburgh C

important interests—"the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.” The standard is flawed and needs to be reformed in light of the abuses.

Just as bad cops and endemic racism in some police departments should not condemn the country’s entire police force, so too, looters, arsonists, and vandals should not condemn or undermine the message of the thousands of peaceful marchers.

The latter are rightfully seeking justice for George Floyd and a better America. They are creating a clarion call for economic and political justice for all.

Martin Luther King, Jr once warned, "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Distractive narratives focused on the criminal acts of looters must be avoided.

We must not rush to judgment by condemning the law-abiding

OPINION

Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

protestors by the actions of violence-seeking provocateurs who were hiding behind legitimate protesters.

One in seven of the protesters were from elsewhere. Some were well-trained professional agitators wearing backpacks full of the tools of violence in cities where violence exploded. As of this moment, the evil-doers who blended into the protests to loot and burn and initiate violent acts have not been identified. While we know that anarchists, including both right and left extremists, and other outside provocateurs have triggered violence,

we also know Russians have been very busy fostering divisions in the United States and in other democracies. For many years, far-right extremists have been arming themselves intending to spark a race war.

Our nation is in a high-stress environment. The pandemic has killed more than 100,000 Americans, permanently damaged the health of innumerable others, and put 40 million in unemployment lines. Children are going hungry, and more-and-more Americans are desperate for help that has not arrived. While the stock market has largely re-

bounded, and the wealthy have gained more wealth with a flood of support from the Fed, aid to the poor has been far too slow.

Before the pandemic, income for black people in Minnesota was half of the average white people's salaries and conditions are far worse today.

America has been going backward in so many wrong ways in recent years. Massive tax cuts for the wealthy, speedy bailout of the largest corporations during the pandemic concurrent with the failure to move quickly for the unemployed as examples. In the face of growing unemployment, hunger and suffering, Trump and McConnell said that the House-passed bill to help the needy is dead on arrival in the Senate. African Americans and other minorities are often under-protected, low-income “essential workers” who deserve our attention and support to address the many injustices. We must also address environmental racism that exposes the poorest to food deserts and the worst air and water pollution that makes them more vulnerable to the COVID virus.

In his inaugural speech, Trump claimed “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now” and added, “The Bible tells us, ‘how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’” After protest broke out, Trump condemned Minneapolis demonstrators as “THUGS” in a tweet and threatened military intervention.

Trump, paraphrasing a deepsouth-racist sheriff, warned looting leads to “shooting.” Trump’s inflammatory tweet prompted the social-media company to take the unprecedented step of limiting the public’s ability to view and share Trump’s tweet.

Since elected, Trump has been acting as the Divider-In Chief, so it is no surprise that he has been largely silent about police murdering and mistreating

minorities throughout his Presidency.

Let's not forget that the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis representing over 800 rank-and-file police officers has been led by Lt. Bob Kroll with a reputation for inflammatory remarks. Last fall, Kroll sold “Cops for Trump” T-shirts and stood behind Trump at a recent Minneapolis campaign rally.

Onstage with Trump, Kroll praised the “wonderful president” for “everything he’s done for law enforcement.” Kroll, and the officers in question, know Trump has their backs. In a much earlier event at the White House, Trump told cops: “Please don’t be too nice. When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, ‘Don’t hit their head’ & they just killed somebody, ‘Don’t hit their head.’ I said, 'You can take the hand away, ok?'" Words matter and words from the President matter much more.

Protestors are demanding changes to a police department that has long plagued by racism and repeated misconduct.

Watching the Trump administration's pardons, dropped charges, and failure to prosecute criminals aligned with Trump, we must end the divergent standards of justice.

Along with racist officers, we must hold Trump accountable for his mean-spirited words and corrosive actions.

While many underlying factors have led to the calamity, racism and economic injustice must be on the ballot in November. Voters must demand minimum living wages for all workers, restore a just tax code, and end voter suppression in all forms. We must seek equal justice under the law.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 17

A&E VIRTUALLY LIVE THREE RIVERS ARTS FESTIVAL BEGINS JUNE 5 IN AN ENTIRELY NEW ITERATION

BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Green leaves and warm, sunny days can only mean its festival season in Pittsburgh. The spring and early summer play host to favorite annual gatherings, including Art All Night and the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.

Following the example of those gatherings, the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival will, for the first time, be held completely online. While the festival was initially cancelled in the wake of the national shutdown meant to curb the spread of COVID-19, the decision was made to instead transition the festival to a completely digital affair.

The Three Rivers Arts Festival is a storied Pittsburgh tradition, first begun in 1960 by the Women’s Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art. “The goal was to bring the arts out of the museum and to the people,” said Sarah Aziz, director of Three Rivers Art Festival. “That was sixty years ago and that remains our mission: to be an inclusive place where people can experience diverse art by diverse artists.”

The inaugural festival hosted approximately 20,000 spectators, and it became more popular as years went by. Last year’s gathering saw over 500,000 attendees over ten days.

Over the years, Three Rivers has hosted legends in art and music, including Ella Fitzgerald, Keith Haring, and Allen Ginsburg. The festival is usually held in downtown Pittsburgh, with stages and displays throughout Point State Park, Gateway Center and the lower Cultural District.

Shifting such a large-scale physical event into a complete digital format was a daunting task, to be sure. The web design team at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust took the online map used for previous festivals as a base, building it up to support the much higher degree of web traffic.

“It was really built as an on-site tool. It had schedules, listing of the artists, but it wasn’t particularly robust,” said Aziz.

The digital map was also fully reconfigured to be both visually enticing, but user-friendly. It will display a virtual layout of the arts festival, with sections for the artist’s market, digital stages, creative activities and much more.

“Our design team created this fun, whimsical, urban-looking map of different artistic neighborhoods,” said Aziz. “As you scroll through, you’ll see the photography neighborhood, the painting neighborhood, the graphic arts neighborhood.”

Over 350 artists will be on display through the fes-

18 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

tival’s ten day span. Many of the artists rely on events like Three Rivers to support themselves, a key factor in the decision to move online.

“The artists in the artist’s market make the majority of their living doing the circuit every summer,” said Aziz. “That was a big driving force to move the festival to a digital platform, instead of saying ‘See you in 2021!’”

The digital artist’s market will direct visitors to the artist’s personal online shop, where they can purchase directly from the artist. Visitors

will also be able to vote on their favorite pieces at the festival. Whoever receives the most votes wins the “People’s Choice Award” and a $500 cash prize.

Spectators will also have front row seats at the Dollar Bank Digital Stage, which will feature a half-hour live performance every night, with Pittsburgh favorites including Brittney Chantele, Byron Nash and slowdanger. The main stage will be supplemented by a 24/7 stage, which will play pre-recorded material

from local artists.

One of the mainstage performers is Thomas Wendt, a jazz percussionist who will be playing with his eponymous quintet on June 9.

Wendt has previously performed at Three Rivers in the late 1990s and 2000s, but hasn’t been back as the festival placed less emphasis on jazz in more recent years.

“They used to have noon-time jazz concerts, I remember doing a bunch of those, and I did an evening concert in Point State Park, as well,” said Wendt.

Wendt is excited and honored to be returning to the Three Rivers stage, but acknowledged that this time around will feel very unusual, especially with the often intimate nature of jazz performances.

“With all music, but especially jazz music, there’s a very neat relationship between the musicians and the audience, so...it will certainly be different,” said Wendt.

Also on display will be specially curated exhibitions and interactive experiences. This includes “Transverse: The Juried Visual Art Exhibition,” a collection of 51 works by 40 artists selected by a panel of jurors. The works deal with themes of utopia and alternate realities.

“The Anthropology of Motherhood: Culture of Care” is another exhibition, featuring the works of ten artists grappling with themes of motherhood, caregiving and parenting.

Some exhibitions also have interactive elements, like “Compass Roses: Maps by Artists.” On display will be interactive maps created by 20 different artists working in a wide range of media.

For the young and young at heart, the Giant Eagle Creativity Zone will be online, with handson activities and educational artist demonstrations.

In some ways, having no choice but to create an online experience may ultimately enhance future events like Three Rivers Arts Festival.

“I think we’ll keep a lot of this infrastructure and hopefully be able to blend some of this with a real live festival in 2021,” said Aziz.

Visual art as well as live performances will mark this year's inline Pittsburgh Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Being online, the festival is also more accessible than ever to those outside the city. Engagement on social media indicates that this year will see people from outside Pittsburgh attend in much larger numbers than usual.

“It’s much broader this year, which is pretty exciting that lots of people might be tuning in to see this show from Pittsburgh,” said Aziz.

Hopefully, in this time of turmoil, people across the country and the world can experience the amazing artistic energy that lives in Pittsburgh, and help to support the creatives that make Pittsburgh such an interesting place to be, and to bring us closer as human beings.

“The whole purpose of art...is to help people feel more connected to one another, so even though we’re not together physically, hopefully the festival and the music we make will help people feel more connected,” said Wendt.

The 2020 Three Rivers Arts Festival will be held June 5-14 at traf. trustarts.org.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 19

EXTRA

Savage Love Love | sex | relationships

H

BY DAN SAVAGE MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

ere goes: I’m a 32-year-old gay male and I have trouble staying out of my head during sex. I feel like there may be many issues.

The one non-issue is everything works fine on my own.

When I’m single or “available,” I am OK. Let’s be honest: I'm a slut and I enjoy it.

But when I invest in someone, when I’m trying to have an actual relationship, the sex suffers.

With a partner I care about I feel nervous. I feel small both mentally and physically. And I worry my dick is small.

I’ve measured and photographed it, so I know better, but something in me is always asking... are you really enough?

I'm currently in an open relationship with a guy I’ve known for a decade.

He’s amazing. Often I’m hard AF just sitting there relaxing with him. But the closer we get to actually having sex, the more nervous I become. I even stop breathing consistently. It's almost like I feel ashamed to want someone so much.

Or something? It's frustrating because I would love nothing more than to fuck like rabbits until we were both exhausted. I love him and I want to be able to please him sexually! Our intimacy, our conversation, our connection—everything else is so strong. But I feel like my problem will kill any future I might have with him. He hasn't really expressed a concern but I worry. I have considered the idea of therapy but the idea of talking to some stranger about my sex life face to face is just daunting. So what do I do? My other thought is to just blindfold him and say bottoms up.

Dazed In Love So you don’t wanna talk with a therapist about your issues—which touch on more than just sex—but you’re willing to talk to me and all of my readers about them. I realize it’s a little differ-

ent, DIL, as you don’t have to look me in the eye while we discuss your dick.

But there are therapists who specialize in helping people work through their issues around sex and they’re usually pretty good at setting nervous new clients at ease. They have to be. So I would encourage you to have a few sessions with a sex-positive queer shrink.

Talking about your dick with a stranger will be awkward at first, of course, but just like eating ass, DIL, the more you do it, the less awkward it gets—and after a few sessions, your therapist won’t be a stranger anymore. (To find a sex-positive/poly-positive sex therapist, head over to the website of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists: aasect.org.)

In the meantime, DIL, go ahead and blindfold your boyfriend—if he’s game, of course, and I can’t imagine he wouldn't be. You seem to have an irrational fear of being seen. If your boyfriend were to get a good look at you naked, DIL, especially if he got a good look at your dick, you’re convinced he would suddenly conclude—even though he’s known you for a decade and is obviously into you—that you’re not “enough” for him. So don’t let him get a good look. Blindfold that boy.

Don’t lie to him about why you want to blindfold him—tell him you feel a little insecure—but bringing in a blindfold makes working through your insecurities into a sexy game. Being able to have sex with the boyfriend without having to worry about him sizing up your cock will free you to enjoy sex and who knows? After a few hot sex sessions with your sensory-deprived boyfriend (or a few dozen hot sessions), your confidence may get the boost it needs and you won’t feel so insecure about your cock or anything else.

And even if your dick was small— which it isn’t, DIL, and you’ve got the measurements and photos to prove it— you could still have great sex with your boyfriend. Guys with dicks of all sizes, even guys without dicks, can have great

20 | JUNE 2, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

sex. And if you’re still nervous after blindfolding the boyfriend and worried you’ll go soft, DIL, you can take the pressure off by enjoying sex acts and play that don’t require you to be hard.

You can bottom for him, you can blow him, you can use toys on his ass, you can sit on his face while he jacks off, etc. There’s a lot you can do without your dick.

Zooming out, DIL, intimacy and hot sex are often negatively correlated— meaning, the more intimate a relationship becomes, the less hot the sex gets.

Anyone who’s watched more than one American sitcom has heard a million jokes about this sad fact. People in sexually exclusive relationships who still want hot sex to be a part of their lives have to work at solving this problem with their partners. But if you’re in an open relationship and can get sex elsewhere, well, then you can have love and intimacy and pretty good sex with your partner and adventures and novelty and crazy hot sex with other people.

Ideally, of course, a person in an open relationship wants—and it is possible for a person in an open relationship to have—hot sex with their committed partner as well as their other partners. But some people can’t make it work, DIL. However hard they try, some people can’t have uninhibited or unselfconscious sex with a longterm partner. The more invested they are in someone, the higher the stakes are, the longer they’re together, etc., the less arousing sex is for them. Most of the people with this problem—people who aren’t capable of having great sex with a long-long-long-term partner— are in monogamous relationships and, judging from the jokes on sitcoms, they’re utterly (but hilariously) miserable. You’re not in a monogamous relationship, DIL, so if it turns out you’re incapable of having great sex with a committed partner—if you can’t manage to integrate those things—you don’t have to go without great sex. You can have intimacy at home and great sex elsewhere.

But it’s a double-edged sword, DIL, because if you can get hot sex elsewhere, you may not be motivated to do the work required—to talk to that shrink, to get that blindfold, to work through those issues—that would make it possible for you to have great sex with your partner and others.

I've been with my boyfriend for three years. I'm a 27-year-old woman

and this was my first "real" relationship.

Before I met my boyfriend, I would have considered myself a steady dick-jumper.

I went flitting from guy to guy. On paper, our relationship seemed great. He tries to make sure I have what I need, whether it’s a meal, a TV show, a record to play.

He is stable and affectionate; most of all, he wanted to be with me. But he's boring. When I talk to him, I want to be somewhere, anywhere else. The more I tried to engage with him, the more obvious our lack of any deep connection seemed. He is stoic and un-emotional whereas I cry during car commercials.

I’m desperately seeking an emotional equal. Every day I go back and forth between loving where we are and wanting to run the fuck away. I have a tendency to do the latter—with guys, friends, jobs—so I don't know what I REALLY want. But I feel so incredibly unfulfilled.

We have a lackluster sex life and I feel more like his roommate the past year than his girlfriend. I want to be inspired by my partner. My question is... actually, I'm not really sure I have a question.

First Relationship Fizzle Since you didn’t ask a question, FRF, I guess you don’t require an answer. So I’ll make an observation instead: you repeatedly refer to this relationship in the past tense. (“…this was my first ‘real’ relationship,” “…our relationship seemed great,” “…the more I tried.”)

So you obviously know what you need to do. Your soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend sounds like a good guy, FRF, and you don’t want to hurt him, which makes dumping him harder. But if he’s not the right guy for you, FRF, you’re not the right woman for him. Go back to flitting—and who knows? Maybe one day you’ll jump on a dick that’s attached to a guy you who inspires you. Or maybe you don’t want one guy—forever or for long. Some people are happier flitting than settling.

Join me for my first-ever Savage Lovecast Livestream! June 4 at 7:00 PST. I'll answer as many of your questions as I can, all from the comfort of your computer. Tickets are at savagelovecast.com/events. mail@savagelove.net

Follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage www.savagelovecast.com

ESSAY PHONE BOOKS

T

omas has been tattooing for over 20 years. He is well established in the industry and a master of his craft. But the pandemic was keeping him from tattooing. Two weeks ago he called me and said he was considering applying to the post office as a way to make money in the interim.

I asked him the last time he had a straight job. He said 1996. I asked him when he last had a job that wasn’t related to art. He told me 1991 when he was delivering phone books in Spain, where he is from.

“You know,” he said, “this would be a good story for that column you write.”

Back then Tomas was working as a graphic designer, doing everything by hand. At the time, using computers for graphic design was a new concept for a lot of people.

He learned that he could study it in Milan and for around $6,000 he could purchase an Apple computer to help him execute the process.

He needed a job. He was told that Yellow Pages was hiring people to deliver phone books, so Tomas applied and was hired.

In the warehouse he noticed a group of employees who were treated differently, treated with more respect by the others and seemed to do things according to their own set of rules. They were known as Los Manguis, which roughly translates to hoods or thieves. They had a reputation for getting results that other workers couldn’t. Tomas thought working with them would be less boring and a chance to make more money.

The guy in charge of Los Manguis came from the same poor, largely gypsy neighborhood where Tomas’ parents had owned a laundromat, and that was his initial way in. Los Manguis was mostly made up of junkies from the north of Spain who smoked heroin, but they were tough, they were strong. Their chief liked Tomas. Tomas was an artist, he had more to talk about than just soccer and women.

BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

He made it into the crew and started working with them, traveling all over Spain dropping off new phone books and collecting old ones. The days were long, 14 hours. Work started early in the morning. They were supposed to unload all the books, deliver them to each individual apartment in every building, and trade them for the occupant’s phonebook from the year before. They were also to collect signatures from each person who received a book. Their pay was determined by the weight of the old phone books they brought back with them at the end of the day.

Los Manguis had tactics that would yield more money with much less effort than the other straight employees. One was to soak the old phone books in water to make them weigh more. Another was a bit more involved. The chief of the group had old phone books stashed all over the country, some in storage lockers, some in chicken coops, an abandoned tractor trailer on the highway. Some he even had stacked in closets in City Hall. With the uniform no one ever questioned him.

With all of these old phone books they could save themselves a lot of time. Instead of actually trading new ones for old ones, Los Manguis could just pick some up from one of these sites and deliver them to be weighed at the end of the day. Tomas would sometimes have his family members forge the signatures on the confirmation of delivery forms, or he’d bring the forms to the bench in Barcelona where the graffiti writers would congregate, and have them do it.

A regular employee unaffiliated with Los Manguis would deliver an average of 150 books a day, on Tomas’ best day he brought 900 old books to be weighed. The chief of Los Manguis had someone let him know when the inspection officers were going to come by for their “random” inspections. On those days everything was done accord-

ing to the rules.

After work Los Manguis liked to drink, liked to fight. There was one they called Tyson after Mike Tyson. He could fight, he could take five guys at the same time and win, Tomas had seen it. One night he picked a fight with seven or eight frat-boy types and was doing alright until he was stabbed to death.

Then there was the gypsy from Granada. He was 20 or 21, not handsome exactly but decent looking. He would tell stories about sleeping with the bored housewives. There was one, he said, who wanted him to keep his uniform on while they had sex. According to him she had a thing for Yellow Pages employees and kept telling him she wanted to be hit over the head with a phonebook during the act. He obliged. He slept with as many women as he could but what he really wanted was to get them pregnant. He wanted babies all over the country, all over the world if possible. He claimed AIDS wasn’t real because he had never seen it.

Once, following an argument with his boss, Tomas was put on the worst delivery route either of them could imagine. It was a shanty town on the top of a hill.

The houses were mostly built from found thrash. The hill was so steep that when he opened the back of the truck to unload the books they all just toppled out. His boss left him for the day with the pile and a dolly. Tomas was tired before he began, sweat drenching his clothes, the sun beating on him while he lugged the books.

When he reached the center of town he saw some young local kids standing in the street. He approached them and offered them a deal. They knew who had phones and who would want books. Tomas told them that he would push the dolly and they could run up to the houses and drop off the books. He said he would split the tips with

them. They agreed and set off.

While Tomas was walking around he saw a couple of tourists who were no doubt very lost. There was no reason anyone would visit this place on purpose. Shortly after spotting them, he saw what he thought of as an old-school junkie. He was dressed in a tracksuit, brightly colored and thin as paper.

The junkie robbed the tourists at knife point right in front of Tomas.

After doing this he began walking in Tomas’ direction. Tomas held the dolly with both hands ready to swing it if the junkie tried to stab him. He was only a few feet away.

Tomas was tired but he had a firm grip on the dolly, ready.

“Hey,” said the Junkie. “I saw you help those kids, you gave them work.”

“Yeah,” said Tomas.

“Here, buy yourself a coke and a sandwich, buy them the same.”

The junkie handed Tomas the money he had just taken from the tourists. When his boss returned he found Tomas sitting with the local kids, all of them relaxing and laughing, eating, drinking Cokes, all the phonebooks delivered.

Tomas quit after he had saved enough to reach his goals relating to graphic design. Yellow Pages started cracking down and all the employees had to start following the rules. Many of the people Tomas used to work with had habits and were used to making enough money to pay for them. This was more money than they could get if they had to do things by the book.

A few of them decided to rob a pharmacy. They were not difficult to catch as they robbed it wearing their Yellow Pages uniforms and using a Yellow Pages van as their getaway vehicle.

Now that Allegheny County has decided to open things up again, Tomas can get back to tattooing.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 21

PA R T I N G S H OT

PITTSBURGH CURRENT PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 2, 2020 | 22