Casual Magic

What a whirl wind of a month it has been for me.

In Pittsburgh we hosted the G-20 Summit, where in my back yard the protesting was the most focused. Literally I was visiting my local card shop and I walked out the door to see buses of riot gear clad police zooming up the street to meet a protest marching through my neighborhood. I stayed away from the actual march but they were shooting OC (pepper spray like gas) at the crowd who was breaking windows and disrupting traffic along the way. It was a rather eventful day to say the least.

During September leading up to the event I was involved in a number of community and government activities revolving around the summit. In my role at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh I was a liaison between City officials and my executive committee in planning and organization. What was crazy about this aspect is there was an unexpected precedent that protesters were going to descend upon the city and leave it in a shambles. This was the expectation because something similar happened in London and Seattle recently. Meeting with the Chief of Police and Allegheny Conference officials were part of the norm in September.

What actually happened was a very low danger march that did get a little out of hand, broke a few windows and got themselves arrested. Downtown, where I work, was probably the safest place on the planet during those two days. And I want to give my thanks and support for the law enforcement who made sure downtown Pittsburgh was indeed without incident. Their main goal was to ensure that there would be no acts of terrorism during the summit. I know most residents were on edge about what could happen. The weeks leading up were exciting but tenative. Going to work the week of the event lead me to pass giant fences and barriers that were in staging before diplomats arrive.

When the summit arrived the city was bracing itself for whatever. And here is the funny part (in retrospect of course) nothing happened. If you were going to downtown that day you got there in record time. “Protesters, well I guess they like to sleep in,” I heard on the radio. I am thankful for this.

The funny thing to me about the protesters is that they really failed to do anything constructive. Like get their message across. Yes there were some groups who protested peacefully and they got some attention, but what I’m talking about is the unlawful march that got the most attention. Since they were in my neighborhood I could tell they were all from out of town and they were all (for the most part) young Caucasian individuals. And what were they protesting about? Rumors leaked that they were targeting grocery stores, banks, pharmacy’s and the local Bloomfield-Garfield Development Corporation. Ya the you know the Bloomfield-Garfield group whose goal is to educate urban youth. So you have 20 something, out of town, spoiled suburban caucasian kids running around for no good reason targeting groups who seek to help African american neighborhoods. It was like a parade with more cops and we just got to laugh at how stupid they were.

So ya the G-20 in Pittsburgh took up most of my September. I did get to play a lot of magic and I’ve been playing Planechase and Zendikar. So I haven’t fallen off the map. Coming up next week is PodCamp Pittsburgh 4 which I have been helping to organize. And failing miserably at promoting though my own sites. But if you are interested register today, the event is free, and stop by and say hi if you are around.

PodCamp Planning Session

Another G-20 Event I Helped Organize