G20, The End

I see a helicopter hovering, one last vestige of the day’s G20 protests. The students are apparently still awake in Oakland. This afternoon 3,000 people crowded the streets of the steel city; my PhD mentor Michelle was among them. They marched for miles and proclaimed their messages loudly--all of this they accomplished peacefully. Michelle is a quiet cheerful person; she’s been trying to convince people for weeks that protesters are not all, or are not even mostly, members of the darkly shrouded ill-intentioned mob. 150 ambulance crews, 65 police forces, and zero injuries later, Pittsburgh is taking down the plywood and wire fencing, returning to its “most live-able” state. I’m glad. I miss the view as I round the curve on 376 and see downtown open up before me, its lights twinkling. It’s only been three days, but the high-security preparations, the rumors of wars to come in the streets have made it seem much longer. I want my downtown back, not the one with the militia but the one that feels like home. You know that old story about country mouse and city mouse? I think I might have become a city mouse in just six short weeks. Welcome back Pittsburgh. Let’s return to our usual reason to flood the streets at night: Let’s go Steelers. Let’s go Pens.