June 17, 2020 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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JUNE 17-24, 2020 VOLUME 29 + ISSUE 25 Editor-In-Chief LISA CUNNINGHAM Director of Advertising JASMINE HUGHES Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Managing Editor ALEX GORDON News Editor RYAN DETO Senior Writer AMANDA WALTZ Staff Writers HANNAH LYNN, JORDAN SNOWDEN Photographer/Videographer JARED WICKERHAM Digital Media Manager JOSH OSWALD Editorial Designer ABBIE ADAMS Graphic Designers JOSIE NORTON, JEFF SCHRECKENGOST Events and Sponsorship Manager BLAKE LEWIS Senior Account Executive KAITLIN OLIVER Sales Representative ZACK DURKIN Operations Coordinator MAGGIE WEAVER Events and Marketing Coordinator BRYER BLUMENSCHEIN Business Manager JUSTIN MATASE Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Featured Contributors REGE BEHE, LYNN CULLEN, TERENEH IDIA, CHARLES ROSENBLUM, JESSIE SAGE Intern JULIA MARUCA National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher EAGLE MEDIA CORP.

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Skateboarders, cyclists, and rollerbladers took to the streets for the Roll For Floyd protest on Thu., June 11.

COVER PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM READ THE STORY ON PAGE 4

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

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THE BIG STORY

EXIT INTERVIEW Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Michael Santiago on why he is leaving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

M

BY RYAN DETO // RYANDETO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

ICHAEL SANTIAGO IS THE PERFECT example of who Pittsburgh is trying to attract and retain in the region. Santiago, a photographer who announced he’s leaving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is talented (he won a Pulitzer Prize), driven, and passionate.

He is also a Black immigrant who was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in New York.

In a region that is overwhelmingly white and has one of the oldest populations in America, Santiago is the type of person that regional leaders are giddy about seeing move and lay down roots in Pittsburgh. Immigrants have been slowing the region’s population decline for years.

In a city with some of the worst racial equality in America, talented and driven Black residents provide some hope Pittsburgh can combat this depressing distinction.

But Santiago is likely leaving the Steel City. On June 10, Santiago accepted a buyout from the Post-Gazette. This comes on the heels of the paper barring him and fellow Black journalist Alexis Johnson from protest coverage. P-G management claimed that Santiago and Johnson showcased bias because of some social media posts, even though scores of supporters said that reasoning was specious.

Santiago, who graces the cover of Pittsburgh City Paper this week, sat down with CP for an interview to explain why he left and detail a reckoning the entire news media must go through so that the voices of Black journalists can truly shine.

CONTINUES ON PG. 6

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Michael Santiago

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

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EXIT INTERVIEW, CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

A George Floyd protest in East Liberty on Mon., June 1

“I can’t work for a paper that treats their employees like this,” said Santiago of his decision to take a buyout and leave.

“I don’t see any way to mend the fences.”

The last two weeks have been chaotic at P-G. First, Johnson was told not to be a part of Black Lives Matter protest coverage after she sent a viral tweet that compared trash left after Kenny Chesney concerts to damage done by looters.

Then union journalists protested that decision by tweeting in solidarity the hashtag #IStandWithAlexis. Santiago joined that movement and shared his own stories on social media.

Management defended its decision in an open letter written by P-G executive editor Keith Burris. That led to more criticism, and even led the international Newsguild-CWA to call for Burris and managing editor Karen Kane to resign.

These actions come after years of ongoing conflicts between union and management, and what the union alleges is an intentional effort by management to get people to quit the paper in hopes of shrinking the union.

Santiago says his decision wasn’t just about being barred from covering protests. He says that about six months

ago he was out with a co-worker who told him that the dysfunction at P-G and the actions of management was making him fall out of love with journalism.

“I felt the same way,” said Santiago, who spoke with CP next to a new Black Lives Matter mural painted next to the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh. “And I love journalism, but I feel like me and my colleagues are not allowed to do the journalism that we want to be doing.”

Santiago earned degrees from the San Francisco Arts Institute and then a masters from Syracuse University in 2017. He said that over the last few years, he has dedicated himself to photography, including taking money out of his own pocket for projects.

He said he really enjoyed photographing for investigative reporting and lauded the work he was able to do with reporter Rich Lord when he was at P-G. (Lord, like Santiago, also left P-G and now works for PublicSource.)

After initially backing the investigative work journalists like Santiago and Lord were working on, Burris eventually disbanded that team. After that, many

reporters were reassigned to different beats. This is when Santiago started to question his place at P-G. “At that point, what I really wanted to do wasn’t really going on,” said Santiago.

He adds that many times his images or his stories were not approved by management. He said that overall, he enjoyed his time at the Post-Gazette and relished any opportunity he had to “bring different stories to the paper.”

He said that it’s not just P-G that has problems with the lack of diversity in newsrooms. He believes that more people of color need to be hired at management positions to really bring change, and that if P-G had more people of color in management then the situation with Johnson and him likely wouldn’t have happened.

Despite his own situation being barred from protest coverage, he is actually hopeful that change might come to the country, in terms of race relations. He sees the swift decisions to take down Confederate flags and monuments as a sign that larger change might be on the horizon.

“I never really thought that things would change in this country, at least

Follow senior writer Ryan Deto on Twitter @RyanDeto

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in my lifetime,” said Santiago. “In a country filled with Confederate flags and monuments, it wouldn’t change.

But it is slowly starting to happen.

In a way, this country is starting to reconcile with its past and people are starting to listen.”

But he isn’t sure that is happening in Pittsburgh. Santiago acknowledges his place in Pittsburgh and says it’s a hard place to be for Black people and immigrants.

“It is disheartening, knowing what Pittsburgh is like, and wanting to see some of that change,” said Santiago, referencing the racism and xenophobia of many parts of the region. “It is almost like the city wants to keep that status quo.”

Ultimately though, he said that Burris and the Block family, who own the P-G, truly don’t understand the decisions they are making and how they make Pittsburgh an even worse place for people of color.

“I think a lot of people project their life experience on other people,” said Santiago, referring to P-G’s owner and former editor-in-chief. “[John Block] refers to the employees as ‘the help,’ that pretty much says it all.”

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.OP-ED.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE THREATENED BY DIVERSITY

BY BRENTIN MOCK // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

W

HAT’S HAPPENING AT THE

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — the uprising caused by a decision to ban two Black journalists on staff, Alexis Johnson and Michael Santiago, from covering Black Lives Matter protests — is in alignment with the uprising of Black journalists in newsrooms across America right now. In Philadelphia, Black journalists banded together to call out racist practices at the Inquirer, writing in an open letter that “it is more important for us to stand alongside those who have risen up against systemic racism and inequities and call on the Inquirer to do better.” At The New York Times, Black journalists and their allies all lambasted the decision to run an op-ed encouraging siccing the military on protesters endangered both their personal and professional lives.

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What we’re seeing here is the messy but necessary outcome of diversity doing what it’s supposed to do in newsrooms: Challenge norms, “values,” and traditions established and protected at all costs by white journalists. Most of those norms were set at a time when people of color had no voice, no power, and no representation on the mastheads. And these kinds of challenges are the undesired outcome that white media standardbearers have historically dreaded of diversity. Which perhaps is why diversity has been so effectively held at bay: White standard-bearers who have been building up the media industry in their own image have been historically uninterested in allowing people of color to infuse their own values, experiences, and beliefs — or at least, they have been unwilling to wrangle with

them face-to-face.

That unwillingness to engage with diversity has not served journalism well — especially local journalism, where no newsroom in America reflects the racial demographics of the cities they cover.

It certainly hasn’t in Pittsburgh, not at the Post-Gazette where layoffs and buyouts have become quotidian. Just this weekend, Santiago, one of the few Black people on the Post-Gazette’s staff — a photojournalist who was teargassed and almost arrested while shooting early protests — decided to take the buyout and leave the paper rather than struggle with how it has mistreated him. Diversity can and should be remedial in this regard, but the Post-Gazette’s management has been doing it all wrong, and to its own detriment.

Santiago and Johnson were banned

from protest coverage after Johnson sent a tweet on May 31 suggesting that the way Black Lives Matter protests are viewed is punitively different than how Kenny Chesney concerts are viewed.

Post-Gazette executive editor Keith Burris said that the decision to bench Johnson and Santiago had nothing to do with race, but was instead done “purely for journalistic reasons” and for “upholding professional standards in journalism.” However, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has already deflated Burris’ “standards” defense.

“BURRIS DEFENDS THE newspaper and his response by claiming he is upholding the highest standards and ethics of our industry,” reads a statement from the local SPJ chapter. “We disagree. The

newspaper’s actions do not meet the ethical standards we hold dear. … The newspaper’s actions — not those of Johnson or Santiago or the other staff members supporting them — endanger the public’s trust.”

But the real question is who gets to decide the interpretation of the standards to begin with, when they should apply, and when they can be skipped. Burris and a handful of Post-Gazette editors read Johnson’s tweet one way, and decided it ran afoul of the standards. Over 80 Post-Gazette reporters — along with the local and national Newspaper Guild, the Pittsburgh chapter of the SPJ, and scores of other journalists nationally — read the tweet differently.

RACE MATTERS IN THIS DECISION BECAUSE KEITH BURRIS’ LENS ON JOHNSON’S TWEET CAME THROUGH AN APERTURE OF POWER OF PRIVILEGE. The Post-Gazette editors decided that their tiny minority opinion alone was right, and still stand by this decision.

To decide that Johnson’s, and everyone else’s, interpretation of these events are invalid, and then argue that decision had nothing to do with racism is an argument in bad faith. The decision about what she, a Black journalist, meant by her tweet was decided for her by white editors. The grievance filed by the Newspaper Guild on her behalf states that she and Santiago were given no due process.

A white reporter who also tweeted about the protests was not immediately taken off of protest coverage.

Race matters in this decision because Burris’ lens on Johnson’s tweet came through an aperture of power of privilege. By silencing Johnson and Santiago, he narrowed the framing of the events to that of his own while limiting the kind of light that could bring further illumination to the topic. This is antithetical to the principles of diversity.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s viewpoint — as an African-American woman with

a master’s degree in journalism, and as the daughter of a retired state trooper and a retired probation officer — should have been trusted. That’s what diversity means: to value and trust the viewpoint of someone who is different than you.

It is not controversial nor new to recognize that race plays a role in what newspapers cover and how, and that’s exactly what Johnson’s tweet illustrated.

The aftermath of Chesney’s concerts has led to millions of dollars in damages, people getting arrested, injured, and hospitalized. Those concerts are almost exclusively white venues, and they happen regularly. When he’s on tour, his riots are weekly. But it’s only the riots that happen amidst protests against police violence that are scolded as affronts to American principles. Let the record show that the Post-Gazette’s June 2 editorial had exponentially more words devoted to chastising the way protesters responded than it did words on the brutal act of police violence against George Floyd that they were protesting. These happen to be protests that overwhelmingly involve Black people and the message that Black Lives Matter.

Violence at these protests are far more seldom than at Chesney concerts in an off year — though every day the police give Black people reasons to riot more.

Anyone processing this moment through a critical lens could see that this is what Johnson’s tweet was projecting.

She was telling a truth about how media covers race. Burris claims that her telling that truth was a deal-breaker for reporting on protests objectively. But Johnson’s tweet was an ipso facto exhibit of how white riots get covered un-objectively, though as the standard from which we can’t deviate. That’s the race-based standard that is being applied here.

One of diversity’s most critical missions, especially for Black people, has to be to reconstruct standards that punish those who dare to challenge the wisdom of white men in power. Without that function, any company that hires people who are not white in the name of diversity is only performing a feckless, staged diversity — a parody of diversity.

AS MORE AFRICAN AMERICANS and peo-

ple of color join newsrooms, the power of diversity has proven productive and contagious: Over 80 employees at the Post-Gazette put their livelihoods and journalistic reputations on the line to support Alexis Johnson and Michael Santiago, most of them white.

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CP PHOTO: JULIA MARUCA

Michael Santiago and Alexis Johnson at a Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh press conference on Mon., June 8

of solidarity, as allies, recognizing a racial injustice and speaking out about it. Perhaps they’ve seen — as I have living here roughly 10 years cumulatively as a Black journalist — one too many Black journalists shuffled in and out of their newsrooms, always leaving under duress from an unpleasant relationship with their outlet or an unwelcoming environment in the city, or both. The white reporters who stand with Johnson want to change the landscape so that this is no longer the rule.

Others’ motivations might be more selfish: They believe that if management can silence other reporters over a tweet today, then the same could happen to them tomorrow. The Post-Gazette editors’ response after Johnson’s co-workers tweeted in her support — to ban all of them from protest coverage — would have proved their hunches correct.

Either motivation is OK, but if the latter, then it is only another testament to how diversity can be a benefit even to those who aren’t necessarily driven to defend it. What’s left unresolved is the chilling effect left not just on Johnson and Santiago, but across the entire local media landscape. Many journalists in Pittsburgh are concerned if not troubled about what might happen to their jobs if they express themselves during times of extreme racial injustice. For some white journalists, that may be an uncomfortable, but mostly doable thing they can

pull off without real consequence. For journalists who are not white, it is not an exaggeration that it can feel like your soul is suffering a stroke. Santiago told me that he has been struggling with depression over this.

In the 1990s, newspapers were threatened by the World Wide Web, the unleashing of which meant that newspapers would no longer be the sole nonacademic arbiters of what information and version of events would be available to the public. The advent of social media in the 2000s further threatened newspapers for the same reason. Both the internet and social media have amplified diverse voices in ways that now are also rightfully threatening majoritywhite media establishments.

Meanwhile, newspapers like the Post-Gazette have been buying out and laying off journalists left and right, while too frequently dying off in the process. It is possible some of that bleeding would have been staunched had they been earlier adopters and better harnessers of the energy of the internet and social media. Burris confessed in his open letter that he “underestimated the power of social media” — in 2020. Meanwhile, they also are underestimating the power of diversity.

And, how it could help save their newspaper, if not the industry. Perhaps, that would change if we had some different people at the deciding table.

Brentin Mock is a Pittsburgh-based editor and writer for CityLab.com and a Pittsburgh City Paper alum.

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IS PHOTO: SHANTALE DAV

.VOICES.

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALEXIS JOHNSON

BY TERENEH IDIA // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

D

EAR ALEXIS,

We are sisters, although until a couple of weeks ago, we’d exchanged no more than a hello, a social media like, or retweet.

We are not sisters because we are both Black women journalists in an overwhelmingly white media space.

We are not sisters because we both like long braids and long eyelashes.

We are sisters because we are Black women. We are sisters because we are Black women from, of, and in the City of Pittsburgh. So my dear sister Alexis, I wanted to write you a letter (I am making it very public and I hope that’s alright with you).

Like many Black women, we have walked into these toxic violent work space offices alone — one of one, or of a few — sometimes imperceptibly enraged. We have had to walk out of many of these offices, sometimes with

the threat of “one day I will sue you.”

Or we just walk away in silence, since there is no one to help with our fight and we cannot do it alone.

... YOU STILL SHINE WITH GRACE AND GRIT, KNOWING THAT IT SHOULDN’T EVEN BE THIS WAY. I have been bullied by white women co-workers who didn’t understand how I could be in the same room with them. I have been bullied by white male co-workers who didn’t think I should be in the same building with them unless I was coming in to clean it at night. In meetings, I have offered suggestions that went ignored, then were repeated

verbatim by white men moments later to a warm reception. And in all of this, still doing all the work. In all of this, still performing the job. Excelling at the job.

What I know is that as we are tweeting and talking and texting about all of this, you still have to walk into work on North Shore Drive. You walk in that space, through that door, alone. You still have to walk down the hall, grab coffee or your lunch from the fridge. Maybe it seems from this vantage point that everyone except a couple bad guys are on your side. But we know that’s not true, we know you have multiple battle lines, enemies, people with questions: Why now? Why here? And you have to be graceful and calm, even when you are surrounded by those who are showing their slips, gnashing their teeth, and displaying their fragile egos, biases, privilege, and racism.

And you still shine with grace and

grit, knowing that it shouldn’t even be this way. We in the public are out here trying to apply some logic to all of this, a drama being played out in real-time.

What’s next? Who is next? But, of course, there is no logic. How can white men who care more about flying on a plane with a racist president care about serving the multicultural reality of Pittsburgh?

How can a white woman committed to serving this idea be a helpful manager?

Every day there is joy at the number of letters signed, emails sent, tweets retweeted, and media appearances in support of you. But I still think about you walking through the office door alone. I want you to be OK, I want you to be protected, celebrated, happy, and thriving. More than imagining the community with you walking through that door, I want to hug you, hold you as you go — not because you need it, but because I am your sister.

•

Follow contributing writer Tereneh Idia on Twitter @Tereneh152XX PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

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.NEWS.

JUSTICE FOR AALIYAH JOHNSON

BY AMANDA WALTZ AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

O

N FRI., JUNE 12, a few hundred

protesters gathered in McKeesport, calling for a thorough investigation into the suspicious death of Aaliyah Denise Johnson, a 32-yearold Black trans woman and activist. This comes after Johnson’s body was found on the morning of May 27 on the 500 block of Sinclair Street outside of the Midtown Towers apartments, where she lived in McKeesport.

The rally and candlelight vigil were organized by the Pittsburgh arts and activist collective 1Hood Media Representatives from a number of local LGBTQ groups were also in attendance, including Terrance McGeorge of Project Matters and Dena Stanley of Trans YOUniting, who were both friends of Johnson. Also at the rally was Johnson’s mother, Tonya Reed, who cried out for answers about her daughter’s death.

McGeorge and others led chants of “Black trans lives matter” and “Say her name” as the rally marched from Jerome Street Bridge and looped around downtown McKeesport, stopping briefly in front of Midtown Towers to speak.

Marchers cried and hugged as volunteers handed out candles, many of which remained unlit because it was still daylight.

Taking the megaphone, McGeorge pointed out the absurdity of Johnson dying just a short distance from the McKeesport City Hall municipal building, located right across the street from Midtown.

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Rally for Aaliyah Johnson in McKeesport on Fri., June 12

“We need to be standing up and letting people know that they are safe,” said McGeorge, adding the Allegheny County police, local representatives, and Midtown management should all be held accountable for their roles in not keeping Johnson safe.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner determined that Johnson died on May 26 from blunt impact to the head and neck, and her death was ruled a suicide, with reports saying she either jumped or had fallen from her apartment window.

On Mon., June 15, the Medical Examiner sent further details in the hope that “this definitive determination along with additional investigative details will provide some answers to the family and loved ones of Aaliyah Johnson,” noting that their investigation included a review of building security video which showed Johnson entered her apartment alone, that no one else entered or exited

Follow senior writer Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP

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her apartment during the night, and that she was alone at the time she exited her apartment window.

However, on Friday, many remained unconvinced that Johnson had taken her own life. A statement released prior to the rally detailed how Johnson’s family had received “little information in regards to the investigation,” and that she had been the subject of transphobic discrimination, including “being brutally attacked in her own home on multiple occasions at [Midtown Towers], having her partners outed on social media, and facing threats due to her gender identity.” Overall, they say she had been in fear for her life.

The organizers see Johnson’s death as part of a wider problem with Black people being victimized by police and government officials, given the dozens of other nationwide protests spurred by the lack of prosecutions in the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna

Taylor, and many others.

“At a time where there is a groundswell of support against police brutality and violence, the community is concerned that the disregard for Aaliyah’s Black life means her family will never find answers as to why her body was found lying in the street and why evidence has yet to be collected,” says the statement.

Johnson also adds to a disturbing trend of Black trans women being killed nationwide over the last few years. The LGBTQ civil rights organization, Human Rights Campaign, determined that, in 2018, 27 transgender or gendernonconforming people were the victims of “fatal violence,” the majority of which were Black trans women. This month alone, two Black trans women were killed, Riah Milton in Liberty Township, Ohio, and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells in Philadelphia, Pa. The rally demanded that Allegheny County police conduct a more thorough investigation into Johnson’s cause of death, highlighted by repeated chants of “Do your jobs.”

The event also called for more protections and services for trans people in McKeesport and the surrounding area. Allegheny County does offer nondiscrimination protections for trans people as part of its civil rights laws, but rally-goers want more services available to show trans people are welcome and are kept safe throughout the county.

As the rally concluded at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Walnut Street, where attendees formed a circle before dispersing, McGeorge emphasized once again the need for the public to speak up and demand justice for Johnson.

“We demand a fair investigation, we demand to know the facts,” said McGeorge. “We want a fair and swift investigation. … We demand that Black, queer, and trans lives are celebrated in this community.”

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A protest, led by the Black Student Union, was held outside of Taylor Allderdice High School on Thu., June 11.

.NEWS.

STUDENTS OF HISTORY

CONTACT

BY HANNAH LYNN // HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

O

N THU., JUNE 11, around 200

people gathered outside Taylor Allderdice High School for a sit-in led by the school’s Black Student Union.

The students shared their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement, read biographies of victims of police brutality, and sang songs. Guest speakers included Rep. Summer Lee (D-Swissvale) and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life synagogue.

After opening the event with members of the school band performing “We Shall Overcome,” the students began reading about the life and death of victims of police violence, often using first person as if it were the victims themselves talking. They continued this throughout the program, covering the lives of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Philando Castile, Kalief Browder, Ahmaud Arbery, Jonny Gammage, and Alton Sterling.

This event is one of several youthled protests that have popped up in the last three weeks as part of the national surge in protests against police brutality.

Activist collective Black, Young, and Educated, which is made up of current high school students and recent graduates, drew close to a thousand protesters for a Bakery Square sit-in on June 6.

The student organizers spoke about how police feeling fear on the job doesn’t compare to the fear Black people have around the police, with one student saying, “If you fear your job that much, you can quit. I cannot quit being Black.”

“I CANNOT QUIT BEING BLACK.” Dakota Castro-Jarrett, a rising senior at Allderdice and one of the organizers of the sit-in, gave an abbreviated lesson on the history of police in America, and their origins as slave patrols that aided the wealthy white population. He said there are “fundamental flaws with the nature of policing in America.”

The protest was originally going to be held outside the Sixth Presbyterian Church because that was the location of the Tree of Life vigil in 2018, but after discussing it with some other students, the organizers felt it would have more meaning to have it on the lawn of their school.

Castro-Jarrett says the school is segregated with Black students mostly in “mainstream classes” and white students in honors or AP classes.

“It’s this huge disparity in our community,” he said. “We felt that it was important to do it here to represent that, despite these disparities, our community is able to come together and discuss issues like this.”

Rabbi Myers spoke about how he was grateful to the police for saving his life during the Tree of Life massacre, and expressed his desire for love and hope instead of hate, going as far as saying he was “taking a pledge” against “saying the ‘H-word.’”

Toward the end of the event, Lee gave a rousing speech to the crowd where she encouraged people to keep the momentum going, and “live Black Lives Matter, instead of just saying it.”

In a reference to the protests on Sat., May 30, Lee warned that reports of outside agitators, which both the police and Mayor Bill Peduto say caused the property damage that day, were exaggerated and threatened to divide people.

“Oppressive institutions don’t get to tell the oppressed how they’re gonna fight for their freedom,” said Lee.

Follow staff writer Hannah Lynn on Twitter @hanfranny

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.CORONAVIRUS.

A COMICS JOURNALISM STORY ON COVID-19

This project has been funded by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project in collaboration with Unabridged Press’ All Abilities Media project and the Point Park University Center for Media Innovation.

WRITTEN BY KATE BLAKER AND ILLUSTRATED BY STACY INNERST INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

About the project: I have had a career of being a strong advocate for other persons with disabilities, and I tell people that I will die in the streets protesting. (Sorely, I miss doing this for the present.) It was empowering to work on this issue of the nursing facility’s treatment of people who require that care — whether it be a short-term stay or a more involved term — where many people become not a person, but someone that the facility staff tends to recognize as no longer a contributor. It was easy for them (NFs) to hide what was going on for the last two months. The cost of living in the community is a third of a nursing facility cost; 70% of Pennsylvania’s population that passed away from the virus were in nursing facilities. Shame on the Governor and the Secretary of Health for not doing more to protect them.

— Kate Blaker

I was honored to be asked to illustrate Kate Blaker’s story about her experiences in a nursing facility during the Coronavirus pandemic. Hers is one of the many voices that should be heard as society comes to terms with how we treat our most vulnerable members, especially in times of crisis.

— Stacy Innerst PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

15

LOOKING FOR OUTDOOR DINING? HERE ARE FIVE OF OUR FAVORITES

BY MAGGIE WEAVER MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

THE COMMONER 620 WILLIAM PENN PLACE, DOWNTOWN

Get views of the city and good food at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco Downtown. The Commoner, the hotel’s ground-floor restaurant, takes its top-notch drinks and food menu to new heights at the rooftop biergarten.

NICKY’S THAI KITCHEN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS All three of the Nicky’s Thai Kitchens have gorgeous outdoor spaces. Grab some of Pittsburgh’s best Thai dishes and head out to dine at one of their patio oases, decked out with towering plants and artwork.

1700 PENN 1700 PENN AVE., STRIP DISTRICT Pennsylvania Libations’ coming-soon expansion has turned into a beer garden for the summer. They’re partnering with Shadyside jazz bar Con Alma to provide live music and food on the weekends while serving beer from Helltown Brewing, Pennsylvania wine, state-made cider, and cocktails from local distillery Boyd & Blair.

WALTER’S SOUTHERN KITCHEN 4501 BUTLER ST., LAWRENCEVILLE Eat and play in the massive outdoor space at Walter’s Southern Kitchen.

The popular barbeque joint carries the classics like smoked meats, sides, and more, along with a full bar. Challenge your friends to a game of cornhole or two while you’re there.

FEDERAL GALLEY 200 CHILDREN’S WAY, NORTH SIDE Federal Galley’s beer garden is the perfect place to spread out and enjoy some sun.

Order from one of the four restaurant concepts on your phone while lounging outside at one of the two patio areas.

PHOTO: HITCHHIKER BREWING CO.

Outdoor seating at Hitchhiker Brewing Co.

.FOOD.

GREEN PARTIES

BY MAGGIE WEAVER // MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

O

N JUNE 5, Allegheny County entered the green phase. For restaurants, that meant the first time since early March that they could reopen dining rooms.

In the green phase, restaurants can operate both indoor and outdoor dining, with restrictions. Regulations include a 50% capacity limit with spaced-out tables, smaller parties, constant cleaning, and mask-wearing.

For many, there was a learning curve in adapting to these new restrictions.

Staff had to be re-trained to meet strict sanitation guidelines and often, were required to learn an entirely new floor plan. Menus became single-use or were converted to be electronic. But what stood out to many restaurant owners were the wait times. After spending months cooped up in their houses, Pittsburghers were ready to dine out.

Tracy Molyneaux, a part of the management team at Coughlin’s Law Kitchen and Ale House, said there was a line forming 30 minutes before they opened on June 5. Kevin Costa, executive chef at TRYP Hotel, says they were turning customers away in order to manage their wait list. Andy Kwiatkowski,

director of brewing operations for Hitchhiker Brewing Co., noted that both of the brewery’s tap rooms filled up and had a steady stream all weekend. In Lawrenceville, Senti Restaurant & Wine Bar started giving guests the opportunity to order ahead online for dine-in service to help control reservations.

HITCHHIKER BREWING CO. 190 Castle Shannon Blvd., Mt. Lebanon; 1500 S. Canal St., Sharpsburg. hitchhiker.beer

COUGHLIN’S LAW KITCHEN AND ALE HOUSE 10 Virginia Ave., Mount Washington. eatatcoughlinslaw.com

OVER EDEN 177 40th St., Lawrenceville. overeden.com

SENTI RESTAURANT & WINE BAR 3473 Butler St., Lawrenceville. sentirestaurant.com

But if you’re like me, dining indoors still seems too good to be true. I’m a bit

wary — even with confidence in sanitation practices — of being in an enclosed space, and thus, have been on the hunt for restaurants with patios.

Many of the locations that re-opened early in the green phase had the advantage of an outdoor space or, if they didn’t have patio options before these restrictions, have expanded their offerings to cater to diners like me.

(Soju in Garfield, with the blessing of its neighbors, added a few more sidewalk tables to accommodate these needs.)

Costa notes the advantages of his rooftop eatery Over Eden, which has three wall-sized garage doors to ventilate the top-floor spot along with its vast deck, while Molyneaux explains its sister restaurant, Carson City Saloon, has remained closed for lack of outdoor seating and space.

But, inside or outside, it’s clear that the food industry is ready to get back to “normal.” Costa and Molyneaux are just relieved to have guests in their dining rooms again.

Kwiatkowski has a similar feeling, noting that “there have been times over the past few months where it didn’t seem like this would be possible.”

Follow staff writer Maggie Weaver on Twitter @magweav

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

•

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING LOCAL JOURNALISM Thank you to the following readers who have signed up for Pittsburgh City Paper’s new membership campaign Aaron Aupperlee Aaron Jentzen Abby Cook Abigail Gardner Adam Hart Adam Knoerzer Adam Schweigert Adam Shuck Al Hoff Alaina Cauchie Alan Cox Alan Sisco Albert Presto Alec Magnani Alex Blackman Alex McCann Alex Walsh Alexandra Hiniker Alison Marchioni Allen Ellis Allison Rowland Amanda Komar Amy Bilkey Amy Klodowski Amy Loveridge Amy Montgomery Amy Scanlon AmyJo Sanders Andrea Laurion Andrea Lynn Andrew Bloomgarden Andrew Brown Andrew Conte Andrew Mulkerin Andrew Seymour Andy Collins Angelos Tzelepis Anna Reilly Anni Sweetser Anthony Roscoe April Gilmore April McCann Arielle Eyers Arlan Hess Arvind Suresh Ashleigh Bartges Ashley Kenawell Ashley Olinger Barbara Valaw Barbara Weaver Ben Panko Ben Soltesz Benjamin Weaver Bennett Aikin Beth Boroumand Beth Newman Beth Wickerham Bethany Hallam Bill Lazur Brandy Hadden Breanna Jay Brentin Mock

Brett Yasko Brian Kell Brian Kelly Brian Lysell Brittany Fagan Caitlin O’Connor Campbell Robertson Cara and Bill Blumenschein Carlin Christy Carol Pickerine Carolyn Regan Carrie Blazina Carrie Roy Cassia Priebe Cathy Elliott Chad Efaw Charles Anthony Chris Belasco Chris Flyer Chris Gillotti Chris Mueller Chris Potter Chris Sichi Chris Watts Christian Resch Christina Barry Christopher Briem Christopher Perez Chuck Pascal Cindy Hudson Clare & Dennis Pawloski Cody Schalk Cole Gleason Coleman Lamb Cortney Bouse Curt Conrad Dana Bell Dana Estep Daniel Burke Daniel Jacobowitz Daniel Tasse Danielle Walker Danika Lagorio Dara Pruszenski David & Catherine Bomstein David Eichelberger David Hartman David Kutrufis David Newman David Oakley Debbie Breckenridge Deno De Ciantis Diane Walter Divyansh Kaushik Don Pellegrino Ed Ehrlich Ed Wrenn Edward Venator Eileen French Elisabeth McCoy Elise Lu Elizabeth Archibald

Elizabeth Butler Elizabeth Engelhardt Elizabeth Silver Ellen Philips Emilie Yonan Emma Diehl Emma Neely Erica Warnitsky Erin Kelly Evelyn Meinert Finnian Carstens G Ronald Ripper G. Gerben Geo Maroon Georgann Jenkins George Kanakis Georgia Crowther Geral Schatten Gillian Kratzer Gina Vensel Gordon Core Greg Seaman Gregory Scott Griffin Conley Hal B Klein Hank McAnallen Harley Nester Harold Smoliar Heidi Bartholomew Helen Gerhardt Hobart Webster Ian Riggins J. Dale Shoemaker Jacob Bacharach Jade Artherhults James Conley James Heinrich James Saal James Santelli Jason Meer Jay Aronson Jay Walker Jean McClung Jeanne Cobetto Jeff Betten Jeffrey Benzing Jeffrey Zahren Jennie Sweet-Cushman Jennifer Shumar Jenny Ladd Jeremy Kimmel Jess Williams Jessica Manack Jessica Prom Jessica Prucnal JJ Abbott JoAnn Tuite JoAnn Zindren Joanne Gilligan Jocelyn Codner Joe D’Alessandro Joe Pasqualetti

Joey Gannon John Berry John Meyer John Wise John Yackovich Jordan Bender Joseph Corrigan Joseph Morrison Joshua Axelrod Joshua Kiley Joshua Pinter Joshua Pirl Joshua Smith Julian Routh Justin Krane Justin Matase Justin Nodes Justin Romano Justin Rossini Kara Holsopple Karen Van Dusen Kate Roberts Kate Rosenzweig Katharine Kelleman Katherine Oltmanns Kathleen Heuer Kathy Dax Katie Damico Katie Hudson Katie Markowski Katie Urich Kayla Cline Keegan Gibson Keith Bare Keith Recker Kendra Ross Kenneth Mostern Kevin Jameson Kevin Vickey Kim Lyons Kimberly Ressler Kimberly Taylor Kristina Marusic Kyle Cunningham Kyle Gracey Lady MacBonald Lara Putnam Larry Lynn Laura Drogowski Laura Everhart Lauren Lief Lena DeLucia Lesley Carlin Leslie Cooley Liam Lowe Lindsay Hagerty Lisa Saks Lisa Steinfeld Lois Apple Loretta Deto Lori Delale-O’Connor Lorie Milich

Luke Rifugiato Lynn Cullen Lynne Cherepko Lynne Frank Lynne Hughes Madelyn Glymour Magda Gangwar Margaret Krauss Marilyn McCarty Marina Fang Mark Goodman Mark Solomon Mark Westbrook Mark Winer Mary Briles Mary Guzzetta Mary Russell Matt Adams Matt Moret Matthew Buchholz Matthew Cartier Matthew Hynes Matthew Kroen Matthew Lamberti Megan Brady Melissa Kohr Micaela Corn Michael Colaresi Michael Damico Michael DiGuglielmo Michael Shuker Michael Wasson Mike Beattie Mike Weis MJ Holmes Molly Toth Morgan Jenkins Myles Gordon Nancy Latimer Nate Jay Nathaniel Feuerstein Neil Bhaerman Neil Owen Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Nick Goodfellow Nick Honkaal Nick Malawskey Nikki Walton Noah Theriault Nora Smith Norma Bronder Office of Public Art Olie Bennett Guarino Olivia Enders Olivia Zane Ollie Gratzinger Paolo Pedercini Patricia Oliver Patrick Kelley Patty Delaney Paul McGowan Peter McKay

Rachel Belloma Bonnet Rachel Ward Rachelle Haynik Randall Baumann Randy Sargent Raymond Leech Raymond Martin Rebecca Boyer Rebecca Seibel Rich Lord Richard Alexander Richelle Meer Rick D’Loss Rob Rossi Robert & Erin Blussick Robert Baird Robert Jauquet Robert Lang Robert Raczka Ron Vodenichar Ruth Craig Ryan Warsing Samuel Gordon Sara Zullo Sarah Hamm Sarah Paul Sarah Pearman Sarah Wiggin Scott Bricker Sean Collier Shannon Kelly Shawn Cooke Sherri Suppa Shirlie Mae Choe Smitha Prasadh Stacey Campbell Stephanie Sedor Stephen Wagner Steve Holz Stuart Strickland Sue Kerr Susan Jackson Tammy Schuey Tara Spence Tasha Eakin Ted Schroeder Tereneh Idia Terry Bicehouse Terry Peters Tobin Seastedt Todd Derr Tom Samuel Toni Haraldsen Tyler Bickford Vicki Cunningham Victoria Donahoe Virginia Alvino Young Will Bernstein Will Simmons William J Schoy IV William Maruca William O’Driscoll

NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS If you value City Paper’s news reporting and arts and entertainment coverage, please consider becoming a member. More info — including perks! — can be found at pghcitypaper.com PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

17

.MUSIC.

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

D

EJAH MONEA GOT THE short end

of the stick this year. Along with guitarist Elias Khouri, Monea was chosen as a Pioneer Records Star for the 2019-20 season — an opportunity at Point Park University usually reserved for one person, meaning all the perks were split in half. And then the pandemic hit, shuttering college campuses around the country. Yet even with the odds stacked against her, Monea still managed to release her debut album, Flowers and Dopamine, albeit at a later date, all the while remaining positive and learning to adapt.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Monea attended Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School (CAPA) from 6-12 grade. She was a vocal major but wasn’t proactive when it came to creating music.

LISTEN TO FLOWERS AND DOPAMINE ON SPOTIFY “I was working on the skill of singing,” she says. “But not songwriting and recording and stuff like that.”

Monea then went to The University of the Arts (UARTS) in Philadelphia for her freshman year of college before transferring to Point Park University where she majors in Sports, Art, Entertainment, and Music management. It was during her short time at UARTS that she began to dabble in songwriting and release her first singles.

“Being around artists 24/7 propelled me,” says Monea. She was also minoring in music business technology, which allowed her to record music and take songwriting classes. “Learning more about it allowed me to get into a creative space. Plus, all my friends [sang].”

Thus, the pulsating track “Fiji Water” and the velvety “Fix It” were born.

“I didn’t even know I wanted to do an album at first,” says Monea. But when the idea came about, she made sure those initial tracks were a part of Flowers and Dopamine.

“Songwriting for me is healing,” she says. “There was no force creating this

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Dejah Monea

album. I wanted it to be very much me and very genuine to my personality. I hope people hear the effort whenever they listen.”

Monea describes her personality as light. She prefers a field of flowers to drama, and upholds a “go with the flow” attitude. An example of this is the final track on Flowers and Dopamine, “It Is What It Is.” When Monea went into the studio to create and record a song as part of her Pioneer Records Star contract and was asked what she wanted the song to be about, she simply said, “It is what it is.”

As a Pioneer Star, Monea and Khouri had the opportunity to record a song with Jesse Naus, owner and engineer at Red Caiman Studios. But because there were two of them, studio time was cut in half to accommodate both.

With coronavirus closures, Monea felt

she had to rush somewhat to get “It Is What It Is” finished. “In other situations, I probably would have rewritten some parts, but I think it turned out well.”

Other aspects were split as well: Monea got to work with the SAEM Music Video Workshop class and the University’s cinema arts department to film a music video to promote the track (it has yet to be released), while Khouri was to be the main headliner for the Pioneer Records Present show at Stage AE (the show was postponed). But while Monea did not get the full Pioneer Records experience, it was her acceptance into the program that drew her to pursue a music career seriously.

Shortly after learning she would be a Pioneer Star, Monea applied for a grant from Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, a joint program of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz

Follow staff writer Jordan Snowden on Twitter @snowden_jordan

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Endowments. She knew to get the production quality that she wanted for an album she would need money to do so, and in Dec. 2019, Monea was awarded $15,000 to support the creation and promotion of her debut album.

“That’s when I decided to write more actively,” says Monea. “As I was experiencing life, the songs just kind of came to me.”

Monea wishes to connect with anyone who relates to her music, as songs cover relatable topics like in tracks “One of Those Days,” “Love Yourself,” and “Fuck You Very Much.”

“There’s always someone who feels the same way you do,” says Monea. “All I know is that when a person realizes that they aren’t alone, it makes a world of difference. This is why I stuff my songs with emotion and make sure the sound is always a vibe.”

•

.FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 18

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “A finished person is a boring person,” writes author Anna Quindlan. I agree! Luckily, you are quite unfinished, and thus not at all boring — especially these days. More than ever before, you seem willing to treat yourself as an art project that’s worthy of your creative ingenuity — as a work-in-progress that’s open to new influences and fresh teachings. That’s why I say your unfinishedness is a sign of good health and vitality. It’s delightful and inspiring. You’re willing to acknowledge that you’ve got a lot to learn and more to grow. In fact, you celebrate that fact; you exult in it; you regard it as a key part of your ever-evolving identity.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “To hell with pleasure that’s haunted by fear,” wrote Cancerian author Jean de La Fontaine. I’ll make that one of my prayers for you in the coming weeks. It’s a realistic goal you can achieve and install as a permanent improvement in your life.

While you’re at it, work on the following prayers, as well: 1. To hell with bliss that’s haunted by guilt. 2. To hell with joy that’s haunted by worry. 3. To hell with breakthroughs that are haunted by debts to the past. 4. To hell with uplifts that are haunted by other people’s pessimism.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Experiment No. 1: As you take a walk in nature, sing your five favorite songs from beginning to end, allowing yourself to fully feel all the emotions those tunes arouse in you. Experiment No. 2: Before you go to sleep on each of the next eleven nights, ask your dreams to bring you stories like those told by the legendary Scheherazade, whose tales were so beautiful and engaging that they healed and improved the lives of all those who heard them. Experiment No. 3: Gaze into the mirror and make three promises about the gratifying future you will create for yourself during the next 12 months.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night is one of the world’s most treasured paintings. It has had a prominent place in New York’s Museum of Modern Art since 1941. If it ever came up for sale, it would probably fetch over $100 million. But soon after he created this great masterpiece, van Gogh himself called it a “failure.” He felt the stars he’d made were too big and abstract. I wonder if you’re engaging in a comparable underestimation of your own. Are there elements of your life that are actually pretty good, but you’re not giving them the credit and appreciation they deserve? Now’s a good time to reconsider and re-evaluate.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Now is a favorable time to make adjustments in how you allocate your attention — to re-evaluate what you choose to focus on. Why? Because some people, issues, situations, and experiences may not be worthy of your intense care and involvement, and you will benefit substantially from redirecting your fine intelligence in more rewarding directions. To empower your efforts, study these inspirational quotes: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” - philosopher Simone Weil. “Attention is the natural prayer of the soul.”

- philosopher Nicolas Malebranche.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Marianne Moore’s poem “O To Be a Dragon,” begins with the fantasy, “If I, like Solomon, could have my wish ...” What comes next? Does Moore declare her desire to be the best poet ever? To be friends with smart, interesting, creative people? To be admired and gossiped about for wearing a tricorn hat and black cape as she walked around Greenwich Village near her home? Nope. None of the above.

Her wish: “O to be a dragon, a symbol of the power of Heaven — of silk-worm size or immense; at times invisible. Felicitous phenomenon!” In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to be inspired by Moore in the coming weeks. Make extravagant wishes for lavish and amusing powers, blessings, and fantastic possibilities.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Poems, like dreams, are a sort of royal road to the unconscious,” writes author Erica Jong. “They tell you what your secret self cannot express.” I invite you to expand that formula so it’s exactly suitable for you in the coming weeks.

My sense is that you are being called to travel the royal road to your unconscious mind so as to discover what your secret self has been unable or unwilling to express. Poems and dreams might do the trick for you, but so might other activities. For example: sexual encounters between you and a person you respect and love; or an intense night of listening to music that cracks open the portal to the royal road. Any others? What will work best for you?

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.”

Capricorn hero Martin Luther King, Jr. said that, and now I’m conveying it to you. In my astrological opinion, his formula is a strategy that will lead you to success in the coming weeks. It’ll empower you to remain fully open and receptive to the fresh opportunities flowing your way, while at the same time you’ll remain properly skeptical about certain flimflams and delusions that may superficially resemble those fresh opportunities.

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “If it makes you nervous — you’re doing it right,” says the daring musician and actor Donald Glover. Personally, I don’t think that’s true in all situations. I’ve found that on some occasions, my nervousness stems from not being fully authentic or being less than completely honest. But I do think Glover’s formula fully applies to your efforts in the coming weeks, Aquarius. I hope you will try new things that will be important to your future, and/or work to master crucial skills you have not yet mastered. And if you’re nervous as you carry out those heroic feats, I believe it means you’re doing them right.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean author Patricia Hampl understands a lot about the epic tasks of trying to know oneself and be oneself. She has written two memoirs, and some of her other writing draws from her personal experiences, as well. And yet she confesses, “Maybe being oneself is always an acquired taste.” She suggest that it’s often easier to be someone you’re not; to adopt the ways of other people as your own; to imitate what you admire rather than doing the hard work of finding out the truth about yourself.

That’s the bad news, Pisces. The good news is that this year has been and will continue to be a very favorable time to ripen into the acquired taste of being yourself. Take advantage of this ripening opportunity in the coming weeks!

ARIES (March 21-April 19): My Aries friend Lavinia told me, “The fight I’m enjoying most lately is my fight to resist the compulsion to fight.” I invite you to consider adopting that attitude for the foreseeable future.

Now and then, you Rams do seem to thrive on conflict, or at least use it to achieve worthy deeds — but the coming weeks will not be one of those times. I think you’re due for a phase of sweet harmony. The more you cultivate unity and peace and consensus, the healthier you’ll be. Do you dare act like a truce-maker, an agreement-broker, and a connoisseur of rapport?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The answers you get depend upon the questions you ask,” wrote physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn. That’s always true, of course, but it’s especially true for you right now. I recommend that you devote substantial amounts of your earthy intelligence to the task of formulating the three most important questions for you to hold at the forefront of your awareness during the rest of 2020. If you do, I suspect you will ultimately receive answers that are useful, interesting, and transformative.

Go to realastrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

19

.VISUAL ART.

DRAWING INTEREST

BY LISA CUNNINGHAM // LCUNNING@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

E

VERY TIME Pittsburgh artist Trenita

Finney puts her pen to the page, she elicits joy.

Her artwork has been popping up all over the city, from super cute icons designed for Operation Face Mask Pittsburgh, featuring a Black girl glowing from behind a mask, to a radiant Black woman painted in front of a sea of sunflowers on a skateboard for an art auction with BOOM Concepts and Redfishbowl.

She says it’s intentional that the theme of her work is joyful. “It’s important to me to create contemporary art that shows Black people in warm, calming, or joyful places because I didn’t see enough of it growing up,” says Finney.

“I love adding softness to my art, and it

makes me happy when someone can see themselves in my art.”

Finney is one of 35 artists who created a black-and-white illustration for Pittsburgh City Paper’s Over-the-top

illustrated by Xiola Jensen, and an homage to beloved music venues of the past, drawn by Wayno; legends, including Bruno Sammartino, “The Strongest Man in the World,” illustrated by Brian

OVER-THE-TOP COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS YINZERRIFIC COLORING BOOK A benefit for Pittsburgh City Paper and the 35 artists inside.

Digital copy: $20; Printed copy: $25. pghcitypaperstore.com

Completely Ridiculous Yinzerrific Coloring Book, a benefit for both CP and the artists involved as a response to revenue lost to the coronavirus pandemic.

The artwork includes local landmarks, like the famous Kaufmann’s Clock,

Gonnella, and poet Rachel Bovier, drawn

by Emily Traynor; plus plenty of artwork depicting Pittsburghese, in a wide variety of artistic styles.

Finney’s piece for the Yinzerrific Coloring Book is a beautiful illustration

of an overflowing Pittsburgh cookie table. CP talked to Finney and two other artists from the book — Natiq Jalil, who illustrated an incredible portrait of August Wilson with the August Wilson African American Cultural Center; and Berry Meat, a Pittsburgh furry artist who illustrated a cartoon superhero furry — about their artwork and what it was like to work on a coloring book that came out during both a pandemic and a time of ongoing mass protests across the country.

An excerpt from their interviews follows, and you can read their full interviews — with more to come in the upcoming weeks — online at pghcitypaper.com.

TRENITA FINNEY Pittsburgh Cookie Table

This coloring book is coming out during one of the most important civil rights movements in modern times, following a report that came out last year that sadly proved that Pittsburgh is one of the least safe cities in the country for Black women to live. Do you think that artwork has the power to heal some of the pain people are feeling during troubling times?

Oftentimes, I think about how I can help the world. Or the people around me, my friends. My family. And I believe that everyone has that one thing that no one else can do. My one thing is creating art. All I can do is create art of people I know, or wish I knew, and put as much care, vibrancy, and love into it as possible.

PHOTO: DEB THOMAS One example of this is a painting I made after Election Day titled “girlfriends.” It’s four Black women in a variety of skin tones taking a picture together. I made it because the people around me were so sad that day. Creating artwork about friendship was my solution and it worked! A few years later, I was vending at an art show and four Black women came to my booth, and they looked just like the women I painted. Down to the hairstyles! Even better, a few of them really liked anime, which a lot of my work has influences from.

“They look like us!!” That’s all I needed to hear, that someone could find themselves represented in my art. If I can make other Black women and femmes feel acknowledged, supported, and celebrated in my art, then I’m doing my job right.

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NATIQ JALIL Pittsburgh Playwright August Wilson

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PHOTO: REDFISHBOWL

Can you tell me about the process that went into illustrating your Coloring Book artwork of August Wilson?

So, I have a hard time turning off my perfectionist instincts when it comes to perspective and architectural drawing, so I spent about 95% of the time working on the August Wilson Center part of the drawing. I kept finding myself trying to capture every single detail in my reference material and had to go back to erase random things multiple times before I found the right balance. I had to strive to keep only what was needed. On the flipside, I drew August Wilson in about an hour and didn’t have to erase at all. I actually became emotional when I stepped back and looked at the final piece and felt like I didn’t overwork it.

This isn’t the first time you’ve done artwork of August Wilson. Do you have any personal connection to the playwright?

I don’t have a personal connection with him except through his work. His work reminds me of my family in a lot of ways. His characters are flawed and never idealized. They have attributes that make you love them and make you hate them. I feel like he watched people for his plays in the same way that I watch people for my paintings. His work feels like home, and maybe that is the connection.

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BERRY MEAT

Anthrocon Superhero Furry You’re a furry yourself.

How bummed were you to hear that the Anthrocon convention was canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic?

I am happy that it was canceled, because I don’t want people to get sick.

It is a shame for sure (especially since my PHOTO: BUB wedding was originally going to be two weeks after and I was gonna have a party at the con, but that was postponed as well), but it is for the best. Many artists and other people who rely on cons for income (me included) are going to have a rough year, but the community is doing their best to share websites and commission openings for the artists who need it.

Your furry persona, and your entire portfolio, is so colorful and whimsical. How do you want people to feel when they see your artwork?

Mostly, I just want to make people happy! And sometimes make them uncomfortable with odd imagery. But there is no right or wrong way to feel about my art. I just like to create! • PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

21

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FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISEMENT, CALL 412-685-9009 ext. 701 HELP WANTED

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Must be able & willing to travel domestically to various unanticipated employer, client, & other locations up to 70%. During commissioning time, must be available to be on-call after office wrkng hrs & during weekends. Send CV & cvr ltr w/salary req’ts to: hr@ant-automation.com.

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Call 412.685.9009 to advertise in City Paper.

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ACROSS 1. State with the world’s largest wooden nickel 5. Keel over 10. Key with two sharps: Abbr.

14. British buck 15. Shiny 16. Actress Chaplin 17. Ctrl-Z command 18. Old-timey ski lift for mountain lions?

20. Cubes in a cooler 21. France’s bullet train 22. Sainte-___, Quebec City 23. Recent law school grad who’s determined?

28. Maps feature, for short 31. NYSE listings 32. Steps to the barre 33. Like inclement weather 34. One-up 37. “Couldn’t have said it better myself” 39. Alex and ___ (jewelry brand) 40. Demolishes some computer graphics?

44. Cricket need 45. Maker of Healthy Kitten food 46. Fills up the tank 47. “You gotta be kidding me” 48. With 8-Down, Christmastime treat

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49. Bummed 50. No-win situation?

51. First lesson in canoeing school?

57. “She’s the one” 59. All-purpose truck 60. It’s hard to define (sorry this clue’s so vague) 61. A pair of preppie stores in the flesh?

65. University founder Cornell 66. Silk Road explorer 67. Real dickhead 68. Pointer’s word 69. “Hello ___” (cellphone ad catchphrase) 70. Tech-based Condé Nast title 71. Word said by those getting their Masters?

DOWN 1. “The hell with this job” 2. Dispensary amount 3. Add an additional lane 4. Big whoop at the Globe 5. “Actually ...”

6. Whiskey ___ (Hollywood nightclub) 7. <3 8. See 48-Across 9. BOAC competitor, once 10. Where you might get your kicks 11. Skip Spence’s psychedelic band from the ‘60s

12. Actress ___ de Armas 13. Hit hard 19. Backwoods mail rtes.

24. Band with a bolt of lightning in its logo 25. Kitchen help 26. Erupts 27. Rolling Stone founder Wenner 29. Guests on “Wait Wait...

Don’t Tell Me!” 30. Big drinks 34. “Yes, however ...”

35. Eel served in maki 36. All-out 37. “Knowledge equals power,” e.g.

38. Delivery person?

41. “Not this shit again”

42. Way off in the distance 43. Throwing skill 48. French 101, day 1 lesson 49. Blizzasted 52. Case worker?

53. Carved grave marker 54. Humming amplifier 55. What a [sic] follows 56. Tent holder 58. Cooking acronym coined

by Rachael Ray 61. Time to be back from lunch, maybe 62. Place where every goes in London 63. Uppercut’s target 64. X, in old Athens 65. Legendary imp

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GET THE CURE. • ALL INSURANCES ACCEPTED • WALK INS WELCOME • tRANSPORATION PROGRAM • NO INSURANCE? WE CAN HELP North Shore - 127 Anderson Street - Suite 101 Timber Court Building, PIttsburgh, PA 15212 Phone: (412) 322-4151 washington, pa - 95 Leonard Avenue Suite 203, Washington PA 15301 Phone: (724) 249-2517 beaver county - 2360 hospital drive Suite 1, aliquippa, pa 15001 Phone: (724)707-1155

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 17-24, 2020

23

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Dr. Stacy Lane, D.O. • 412-515-0000

Emergency HIV Medication and prep available to ALL. House calls available as needed

ALL INSURANCES ACCEPTED • WALK INS WELCOME tRANSPORATION PROGRAM • NO INSURANCE? WE CAN HELP NORTH SHORE LOCATION

WASHINGTON, PA LOCATION

beaver county LOCATION

127 Anderson Street - Suite 101 Timber Court Building, PIttsburgh, PA 15212 Phone: (412) 322-4151

95 Leonard Avenue - Suite 203 Washington, PA 15301 Phone: (724) 249-2517

2360 hospital drive - Suite 1 aliqippa, PA 15001 Phone: (724) 707-1155