"Welcome, where are you from?" ... "Indonesia" ..."So that was Indochina you were from?" Pittsburgh - meet the world.

This is the second (and last) installment from my front door view of the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.  Yesterday's blog was about waking up to living in the middle of it.  Today however - seemed to be more about similarities between the moving parts.

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Uniformity -

While there certainly were a myriad of uniforms yesterday.  Today it seemed that the whole world was defining itself by the uniformity of the sub culture they find themselves in.

Take for instance the one I call "The Anarchist Queen - her entourage - and her bottled water"  I loved the color and the way she swept the two young men dressed in similar "uniforms" behind her seemingly by power of her personality alone.

The interesting thing for me was the bottled water she carried in her hand.  A virtual uniform in and of itself for a generation devoted to being hydrated properly. An interesting bit of uniformity.  Can anyone say, "oxymoron"?

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... and don't forget her court jester here... with his Pepsi in hand.  Does this mean that Pepsi needs to come back out with its "Pepsi Generation" ads again?  It seems the perfect mix of satire and  irony, salted by skepticism, that just might work for the Millennial (read New Pepsi) Generation.

I couldn't resist seeing the uniformity of how the various people inside The Red Zone  were grouping themselves as they either waited for passengers or protesters... whichever would come first. 

It was as if the riot police, the limousine drivers and the motorcycles had all read the same memo. 

Even the procession out of the Red Zone by the British and Indian delegations had that certain air of uniformity that only  a well managed traffic jam can have.

I did get to see President Obama's motorcade leave the Red Zone this afternoon.  The most interesting thing about it was waiting for it to appear. All the uniforms started to scurry about and were stopping pedestrians (who were just on the exterior perimeter of the red zone) from crossing the street.

As this was happening -  one of the uniformed officers turns to the crowd and says, "It's best you wait here...  They don't like to slow down."

Unity - Pittsburgh(ers) Welcome the World

The last bit of uniformity came today while standing out in front of the Westin Hotel and the main gate to the conference center. Which in turn lead to some unity . 

It seemed that everyone from the Japanese delegation to the Somolian diplomats were lining up to take pictures of one another standing in front of the hotel... standing in front of the conference center... standing in front of a Budget Truck (nope I'm not kidding about that one)

As I watched what was happening I noticed two Pittsburghers who had made their way through all the fenced corridors (that are usually called sidewalks) to the only place were an average person could peer through the HEAVY metal fencing to see the second and third level diplomats as they made their way in and out of the main gate.

I had been wanting to get a portrait of someone behind the fencing, and so I worked my way across the street and with a long lens started to shoot a couple shots and began a conversation with my subjects. Each were wearing T-shirts, carrying a can of beer and bejewled by heavy gold watches and one had bright blue mirrored sun glasses.  The other - a  Steelers tattoo.  You know REAL Pittsburghers.

As I'm standing there talking with them I feel a tap on the shoulder.  In broken English I hear, "Will you take a picture of me?"  

"Of course", I say and turn around to take a young Asian ladies camera from her and begin to point it at the hotel. 

She says, "Oh no.  This way please" and I turn to see that she has backed up to the fencing where the two Pittsburghers are standing on the opposite side of the fence.  She wants a picture "with the locals" so to speak! The irony of her only exposure to real Pittsburghers being from behind a cage like fence was not lost on me.

To their credit - the two locals think this is a great opportunity to welcome a visitor.  They stand closer to the fence and begin a conversation that I will repeat here word for word.

Pittsburgher #1: "Hi! Welcome.  Where are you from?"

Asian Lady: "Indonesia"

Pittburgher #2:  "Oh wow.  Is that near Japan?"

Asian Lady: "Aaaahhh no"

Pittsburgher #1: "Is that Indochina you said you are from?"

Asian Lady: "Aaaahhh no"

Pittsburghers' #1 and #2: "Well anyways... yunz have a good time here, and thank you for coming."

Me: "Smile now!"

World - Meet Pittsburgh(ers). ;)

PJS