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Autumn Sandeen and your blogmistress will represent the Blend at Netroots Nation, held this year on August 13-16 at the David L. Lawrence convention center in Pittsburgh, PA. This is the fourth annual gathering of the progressive Netroots (the first two cons were known as YearlyKos). This year, Kate will join the fun as well.
It's a few days of blogger madness, attended by powerhouse full-time bloggers, part-time keyboard jockeys, readers, fans, politicians, authors, journalists and MSM types. This is a really large conference, with so many sessions, caucuses, screenings and parties it's hard to make decisions on which to attend.
I am on three panels this year and co-hosting the LGBT caucus.
Wednesday, August 12th
LGBT Blogger Summit
New Organizing Institute
Autumn will arrive a day early to participate in a pre-Netroots Nation LGBT blogger summit hosted by the New Organizing Institute and in partnership with Chris Bowers of Open Left and Mike Rogers of PageOne Q. This summit focuses on important upcoming legislative fights around the country. (I would have loved to attend this, alas, I didn't have enough paid time off available to add another day onto the trip. I try to look on the bright side — given the economy, at least I can say I have a job.)
Thursday, August 13th 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Panel, 311
From Prop 8 to Full Equality in All 50 States: Fighting for Marriage Equality and LGBT Rights Across America
Pam Spaulding, Monique Hoeflinger, Michael Wilson, Julia Rosen.
From the passage of Prop 8 to the election of Barack Obama to the White House, the 2008 election had a profound impact on the fight for full LGBT equality in all 50 states. This panel will tackle how we win and defend marriage equality state-by-state and how we build momentum for full LGBT equality across America. What are the lessons learned from the Prop 8 loss in California that Maine and other states can learn in their battle for marriage equality? How will we restore marriage equality to California? And how can the netroots help win these battles?
Thursday, August 13th 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
LGBT Caucus, 310
Michael Rogers, Pam Spaulding
Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.
Saturday, August 15th 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
Panel, 315/316
Women Bloggers Found: Has Feminist Blogging Gone Mainstream?
Jill Filipovic, Amanda Marcotte, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Lindsay Beyerstein, Pam Spaulding.
A few years ago, male bloggers 'round the liberal bloglandia were wondering out loud, “Where are the women bloggers?” Many of the women in the feminist and progressive blogospheres responded with frustration—we were there, and had been, the whole time. Today, the blogosphere looks awfully different, as feminist bloggers are increasingly mainstreamed and able to exert stronger influence on online discourse. But “blogging while feminist” isn't always easy, and feminist bloggers have faced harassment and threats that are uniquely gendered and sexualized. Feminists who have been most successful at running bigger blogs have also been mostly young, white, heterosexual and middle-class—so their issues have been presented to the mainstream progressive movement as the whole of feminism. This panel will look at what has changed, what hasn't and who remains on the edges of progressive blogging. It will also examine how female bloggers—and feminist bloggers in particular—are treated in mainstream spaces, and what we can do about it.
Saturday, August 15th 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Panel, 311
The Forgotten Agenda of Race in the Obama Administration: Profiling, Immigration Detention and Mass Incarceration
Vince Warren, Pam Spaulding
This panel will discuss police abuse, racial profiling in stop-and-frisks, the Rockefeller drug laws and mandatory sentencing, immigration sweeps and detention, and opportunities for organizing online and offline. What, if any, steps has the Obama administration taken to address these problems, and what legislative and economic actions should our government take? How do the issues intersect in their effect on people of color? What political, legislative and organizing opportunities are there to challenge these policies?
On Friday I'm definitely attending this:
Friday, August 14th 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Screening Series, 406
Screening: Outrage
Michael Rogers, Michelangelo Signorile
From Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) comes OUTRAGE, featuring journalist/blogger Michael Rogers and Sirus/XM radio host Michelangelo Signorile. The film is an indictment of closeted politicians who campaign against the LGBT community and reveals the hidden lives of some of the nation's most powerful policymakers. OUTRAGE looks at the harm they inflict and profiles those who seek to expose their hypocrisy. The film probes the psychology of these double lives, the ethics of outing, and the double standards that the media upholds in its coverage of the sex lives of gay public figures. A Q&A with Rogers and Signorile will follow the screening.
More below the fold.
So Pittsburgh peeps, what are the great restaurants to attend, the sites to see while in the city. We will get to the Warhol Museum (Kate's main reason for going) for a conference-related event. I have to admit to one of my guilty pleasure desires is to scope out some of the settings for Flashdance (1983), though there won't be much time to do that. From the 80s Movie Rewind site:
The restaurant scene where Alex is eating lobster was filmed inside the Grand Concourse restaurant in Station Square in Pittsburgh. It is near the South side.
…The incline she rides on in the first scene of the film is the Duquesne Incline (also near Station Square.) [Thanks to Susan]
I understand that the steel mill that Alex works in is located in an area of Pittsburgh called the strip district and the adress is 25th and Liberty. Also the factory is still there but it has been turned into loft apartments (what a coincidence) [Thanks to Jina]
…Wanna see the real life filming location used for The audition place in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at The Carnegie Institute.
8 Comments
PittsburghWhat kinds of food do you like? Are you staying Downtown? You can walk to Station Square to see the Mon Incline (across the Smithfield Street Bridge) but the Duquesne Incline is a bit more of a walk. The view from the top of Mt. Washington is spectacular either way.
Your wedding feet pictures made me thinkIt would be fun to video Maniac to them dancing up and down…LOL.
the Warhol Museum sounds very kewl.
ENJOY….and what happens in Pittsburg, gets blabbed all over the blog.
Pittsburgh,,,typo
The Grand Concourseis a re-purposed belle epoque train station. It’s accordingly wildly noisy. And the food and service, though they can be good, are wildly variable.
If you like Greek food, try Cristo’s on Sixth St. (just a few blocks from the convention center). The owner/chef was the chef on Aristotle Onassis’ yacht, and he does fantastic work. He makes a dessert called the “Jackie O dessert,” which he created for the former first lady, which is as rich and delicious as anything you’ll ever taste but which he insists contains nothing fattening.
Also a short walk form the convention center is the old Union Trust Building (now part of Mellon Center). The stained-glass atrium will take your breath away.
It’s killing me that I won’t be able to attend the conference, but my disability makes it an impossibility. But I could probably manage to make it downtown for a short while. If you and Autumn might like to meet for lunch, and if you think you could stand my grisly presence, do give a call.
perfect dessert for Jackie, “you can never be too rich or too thin”I discovered a couple Lebanese/Greek restaurants in Baton Rouge, when I began craving Greek food a few weeks ago. I look forward to trying them. I love dolmades,(stuffed grape leaves.)
Greek is my single favorite cuisine.I’m especially fond of saganaki, “flaming sheep cheese,” which must be the most divine appetizer known to humanity. The first time I tried it, the waiter explained what it is and I replied, “Just bring the cheese–I can do my own flaming!” He laughed so hard I got my meal for free.
Damn, the flaming cheese+150,000 points for that!
OOOM-PA!That’s what they’d yell in “IT’S GREEK TO ME” when they served the flaming cheese. That was my fav restaurant in Minneapolis, I hosted my 40th birthday party there for all my friends and family.