The Blurgh

Another interesting History of Pittsburgh class–Dr. Lemley’s teaching style is very different than any other professor I’ve had, especially in history classes. Instead of teaching in a time line fashion, he’s always jumping back and forth between early Pittsburgh, steel-era Pittsburgh, back to Pittsburgh around World War 1, and then to Pittsburgh in the late 20th/early 21st century. In some ways it’s confusing because you never know where you’re going to go next, but it also is a really good way to draw connections between the past and the present, which I think is what history is really all about.

We just had a class on community development, and it was fascinating. For a long time in Pittsburgh, going back to when the original Civic Arena was built and most of the lower hill was destroyed, I mean “developed,” large-scale projects took a top-down approach. The mayor or influential council members would work out big deals to do big things, and almost always completely ignore the people on the ground who said it was a bad idea. There were actual protests organized when the Arena was originally being built in the late 1950s, the people voted against the stadiums being built and they were built anyway in the late 1990s, and the whole Fifth-Forbes corridor development has been a fiasco ever since it was first conceived decades ago. It’s an interesting trend, and one that didn’t stop until the early 20-teens.

So that was the lesson, and then we had a discussion/debate in class. The question was: “What happened in the early 20-teens to change this historical trend?” People went back and forth, pulling out little bits of information and trying to make big conclusions out of them. By the end of class, however, what we realized is that there wasn’t one “thing” that happened to change the trend. It just changed. It’s almost as if the collective consciousness of Pittsburgh finally woke up and said, “Enough of this bullshit–the politicians have no idea what’s going on, so why do we depend on them?” People started doing their own community development–there was an explosion of small local businesses, neighborhood groups became very active and influential, and Students for a Sustainable Pittsburgh gained traction and made these issues big, visible, and most importantly, seem solvable. After a while, new blood started coming into local politics, and the old ways just vanished.

Change happened right before everyone’s eyes, and no one really knew it was happening. It seems like the lesson here is that real change doesn’t begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, it starts with people doing little things, and then letting those little things build on other little things until all you can do is look back and say, “Wow.”

Yesterday in History of Pittsburgh, the three main points of discussion were:

1. How ridiculous the city was after the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005.
2. How crazy people got when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009
3. How BATSHIT INSANE the city got when the Steelers did a three-peat from 2014-2016.

There was a bit of a slump after that, but this year’s been looking pretty good so far. We have a new coach, so that always brings some uncertainty to the season, but I have faith. And in keeping with the progressive Rooney tradition, the new coach is a very awesome guy–he hired the first TWO female coaches in the NFL. One’s the special teams coach and the other is the defensive backs coach.

Their backgrounds are very interesting, and somewhat similar. Through Title IX, they both got the chance to become star athletes in college, and after they graduated, they got into coaching in college football. They’ve been working their way up since then, and the Steelers decided gave them a shot.

It’s nice to live in a city where even the football team is socially innovative!

Now that Gretchen’s on board, we’re going to kick the posting up a notch, so make sure to check back regularly!

Classes are going well, and I made it through the first round of tests pretty much unscathed, so I can’t complain. My History of Pittsburgh class has definitely been the best so far. Dr. Lemley is a really fascinating person–he pretty much lived through every phase that this city has gone through during the past 40 years. He was born in the early seventies and remembers all the Superbowls and the closing of the mills. He went to college in the early nineties when the city was trying to find a new identity and kept spinning its wheels, which is around the time my parent’s left town for greener pastures. He stayed, though, and was on the ground floor when things really started picking up in the late 2000’s.

We’ve been going over the early history so far, which is fascinating. I didn’t realize how almost every street in the late 1800’s had a streetcar line down it– I thought the extensive train system was a new thing.

It’s crazy how things come full circle sometimes.

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.

Nothing says “school has officially started” like going to the activities fair…

Even though I’m a senior, I’ve never really gotten involved in any student groups. That’s never stopped me from going to the activities fair, though—where else can you get a bottle opener, a frisbee, candy, and listen to live music all in one place?

As always, I began the day with a stop by the Pitt African Drumming Ensemble table, since they always have the best jams. Maybe I’ll actually try going to a few meetings this weekend…but probably not. My dad has the musical talent, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to inherit any of it. After that I went to the Campus Women’s Organization, which always has good info available, and then I stopped by a table I’ve never been to before: Student for a Sustainable Pittsburgh.

I’ve definitely heard of them before (who at Pitt hasn’t?), but, as they told me when I talked to them, they usually only advertise to graduate students, so they’ve skipped the fair for the past few years. I signed up for their list, took some info, and I’m thinking I might actually get involved for once. Well, I’ll at least go to the first meeting…

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!