The Blurgh

This afternoon was one of the best times I’ve had in my life. Normally, at the Pittsburgh Women’s Foundation, I work with girls who enjoy creative writing, but occasionally I’ll pitch in with the girls on sports teams as well. (I was pretty good at volleyball and soccer back in my day, though the girls who come to PWF for sports could have wiped the floor with my fifth grade self.) Anyway, this afternoon I, along with two of my colleagues, got to take 10 of the PWF girls to the North Side to meet the two new female coaches for the Steelers.

We all rode the blue line together to the North Side. Once we got off the subway, we walked the few blocks to Heinz Field. It was kind of slow going, because Samara’s still on crutches, but we arrived just in time to be greeted by some very chipper Steelers representatives, who escorted us up to one of the luxury boxes. The girls were enthralled with the box and took turns sitting on every piece of furniture in it. Then they started pretending that half of them were hot shot sports agents and the other half were star athletes being courted by the Steelers, so there was a lot of silly exchanges about trillion dollar offers and all the Faygo pop endorsements you could dream of.

A few minutes later, the two coaches entered the box and a hush fell over the girls. The special teams coach, Maddie Byers, spoke first about her experiences playing high school football in rural Texas and the prejudice she encountered in the community as a black girl who wanted to play football with the guys. She ended up breaking her school’s record for longest punt return during her sophomore year, and everyone in her town stopped complaining about her and started celebrating her. In college, she excelled once again on her school’s football team, but during her senior year she decided that what she really wanted to do was coach, so she started out as a coach for her own college’s team and worked her way up from there to her present position with the Steelers.

Next we heard from Elizabeth McGraw, the defensive backs coach. She is one tough woman. Like Maddie, she was a star athlete during her high school years, although Elizabeth was a kicker who comes from northern Ohio. She received an athletic scholarship to college and played on her school’s team until halfway through her junior year, when she was injured. She didn’t want to lose her scholarship, so her school offered her the opportunity to begin working with the team as a coach. She learned more about the defensive side of things in football and became really interested in it. After college, she coached a women’s football team in Ohio and then came to Pennsylvania to coach for the Pittsburgh Passion. A few years later, the Rooneys approached her about the defensive backs coaching position and she accepted it.

After the women spoke, lunch was served and the girls peppered the coaches with tons of questions. They were so excited to be sitting with women who were living out their dreams of one day making a living in the world of professional sports. The coaches were very gracious and patient with the girls. After lunch, we all trooped down to the field, where the coaches helped the girls with their techniques. We left to go back to the PWF around 4 and made our way to the subway, the girls chattering the whole way about what teams they want to coach for when they grow up.

One of the things that Gretchen’s fam asked us about when they were in town last weekend was what it’s like living downtown. When they lived in the area, the only people who lived downtown were uber-rich, and even for them it wasn’t all that livable. It was deserted after 5, there weren’t any grocery stores, and the activity-options weren’t so hot.

When they first asked us about it, though, we just looked at them like they were crazy. Although we don’t remember it ourselves, whoever planned the downtown living areas did a really good job. There’s lots of mixed income places, there’s no need for a car because there’s a couple nice grocery stores around the area, and if there was more to do at night we’d probably move out because it would be way too hip for us. It’s awesome to be right by Uptown, which is where most of the cool (and inexpensive) places are, and being that all of the train lines pass within a couple blocks from us we can get almost anywhere in the city. One of the best days we had last summer was when we took the red line out to Kennywood with a bunch of people and on the way back transferred to the blue and saw a movie at the Waterworks.

It also doesn’t hurt to be within easy walking distance of the stadiums, the arena, and the strip. We are saving up to buy a house though, so we won’t be living the dream forever, but for young people, it’s a pretty sweet option.

Last night was nuts. The long-awaited showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show finally happened at the Castle, and it went off better than I could have imagined. It started at 9, but by 8 o’clock there was already a line that looped around to Oakland Ave and went almost all the way up the Fifth. My boss was about to crap himself (his words), so I think he was pleased as well.

And, as planned, people were in full costume, and it was downright impressive. For a movie that came out 50 years ago, it has really maintained an amazing fanbase. Since I was working, I didn’t get to see much of the actual show, but I really can’t complain because tips have never been better!

In my opinion, though, the people-watching was definitely the best part. I was amazed at how everyone showed up. There were high school kids, college students, parents, grandparents, people who were 4th and 5th generation Pittsburghers of all races and ethnicities, new immigrants from all over the world…and people were just smiling and having a good time. It was a really great example of how inclusive and welcoming Pittsburgh has become–I was just happy to be a part of it.

Oh, and if you missed it, there’ll be another showing tonight @ 9.

Over the weekend, Gretchen and I went to a Halloween costume party that some of her friends from work were throwing over in Squirrel Hill. I went as my usual “Werewolf in a business suit,” and Gretchen went as her usual “non-participating party-goer.” Fun was had by all.

My favorite part of the evening, though, was riding on the yellow line down there. Everyone was in costume, and since this is Pittsburgh, people had no problem striking up random conversations with total strangers. The driver de-activated the automated announcement system and proceeded to announce each stop using her best dracula impression, and each car had lights strung up on the inside and Halloween decorations throughout. They should have just stopped the trains, because every car was having a party of its own the whole way down. Nice touch, Port Authority!

The Forbes-Murray stop was also, for a lack of a better word, ridiculous. People were everywhere, even when we left to go home around 2:00 am, and there were performers, random people selling stuff…it felt a lot like the Strip. There’s so much new construction going up around there, too–it’s going to look totally different in a couple years.

Oh yeah…and the party was fun, too

The North Street corridor is a very happening spot if you’ve never checked it out. Yesterday there was a local film festival held at a place which just reopened called “The Garden.” My dad told me that back in the day it was a porno theatre, which struck me as hilarious, because now it’s a high-brow artsy theatre/gallery type of place. The inside was spectacular, and the films were awesome. Being that I’m a history dork, my favorite one was on all the craziness that was going on after the turn of the millennium, from the Y2K bug to 9/11 to Iraq to global warming finally getting the attention it deserved. That was one crazy-ass decade, and I have to say that I’m not too disappointed that I can’t remember any of it!

After that we went into the park across the street to see the street performers. There was one of those people who paints themselves in metallic paint and acted like a statue, there was a juggler, and there was a really impressive dance group from whereabouts unknown. We could have stayed longer and went to one of the clubs to catch a band, but we decided to skip out early and head home.

On another note, stuff at the Castle has been pretty good, and I finally convinced my manager to put on a Rocky Horror showing on Halloween. I totally promised him that there would be people dressed up and wild for it, which may be a hollow promise because I know absolutely no one at this point who would actually do it. If you have any suggestions, drop me an email!

Like the first week really counts, anyway. Everything’s looking pretty good, except I totally had an “oh my god I’m old” moment during my first neuroscience class. It’s a class of about 80, so, of course, I went and sat in the back. The professor came out and said, “Alright, how many of you are freshmen?” 90% of the class raised their hand. I guess that’s what I get for saving my required courses for last. Holy crap.

Yesterday, Gretchen and I took the blue line up to the Arts Fair in Lawrenceville, which was wayyyy better than last year’s, and then we caught the red line to the South Side for a party at Paula’s house that night. Working at the Castle’s been going well, but I didn’t get the best shifts—Tuesday night, Thursday night, and Sunday afternoons (thank god for the Steelers). I’m pretty psyched that I’ll get to see the games and make some good money at the same time.

Last night I decided I needed to kick the last weekend before classes off right, so I hopped on the Yellow train and headed to Cheeks in Uptown. If you’ve never been, Cheeks is pretty sweet—it still has that dive kind of feel, but it has a small stage, a decent size dance floor, and features a lot of local bands. They also only serve beers brewed in Western Pennsylvania, which kinda rocks my world. My family happens to be good friends with the owner, which is a good and a bad thing…and both come in a glass.

Being a bartender myself, you’d think I’d know better than to go all out on a Friday, but whatev. Gretchen couldn’t make it, but I met up with some folks who were already there. The band playing that night was kickin, they were a funky, jazzy, crazy fusion type of deal. The Bonobos I’m pretty sure they were called. Good Stuff. Highly recommended.

Well, I guess this is it. The blog has begun.

So, some new stuff about me…I just got a job bartending at the Castle (which looks awesome since they remodeled it, btw). I won’t really start until later on this month, but I’m pretty sure it’ll work out. My mom was telling me that back when it was called King’s Court they used to have showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and people would dress up in costume and basically go nuts. I think I’ll try to bug the boss about doing something like that again this year when Halloween rolls around.

I’m also, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, actually looking forward to classes starting this Fall. I’m especially looking forward to the History of Pittsburgh class I signed up for at the last minute, and not only because I heard it was easy.

Anyway, check out the About Us page for more info on Gretchen and I and the About the Blurgh page for more info on the point of this blog. And wish me luck with keeping this thing going!