The End of the Road for the Cat Car

Honda CRV Pittsburgh

Remember the Cat Car? It was painted to promote the AMPLIFY project, but quickly dubbed ‘The Cat Car’ – the original artists were Kai Devenitch, Sam Thorpe, and Jason Sauer. The following year, Kai and Jason updated the paint job. This 2000 Honda CRV was a beauty – a cassette deck, for example. I bought […]

Sprout Fund Awards Us With $1,000 Legacy Grant

The Sprout Fund has been investing in this region for 17 years. They are sunsetting now and have used a nomination process to award $1,000 sunset grants to 50 individuals in the region to carry on their values. I am one of the awardees. My Sprout value is “Challengers of the status quo and unrelenting […]

Pgh Art Car Founder & Artist Jason Sauer Talks About Anthony Bourdain & Pittsburgh Culture

Anthony Bourdain Pittsburgh Demolition Derby

There’s a bit of kerfuffle from some Pittsburghers about the Pittsburgh-centric episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Show ‘Parts Unknown.’  What particularly struck me about the backlash was the dismissal of the demolition derby and wrestling segments – these activities were deemed to be not representative of Pittsburgh due to their location outside of the City, the […]

#CatCar Repainted at #PghPride by the Most Wanted Fine Art Crew

It has been a busy Pride season for us. In less than two weeks time, we: recorded a segment for ‘Burgh Vivant recorded a segment for Into Pittsburgh co-facilitated the first local workshop on LGBTQ media issues raised more than $1,000 to support the Peoples Pride March 2K17 spoke with reporters at The Daily Dot, […]

Exciting News for AMPLIFY as We Team Up With Persad

We are thrilled to announce a new direction for the #AMPLIFY project – beginning in January 2017, Persad Center will be our new fiscal sponsor. Persad is the longest running LGBTQ organization in Western PA serving all of the region since 1972. They have a myriad of programs and services, many of which can offer […]

Panel Discussion on History of Political Blogging in #Burghosphere

2016 is the tenth anniversary of the phrase ‘Burghosphere’ which was coined to capture the unique vibe of Pittsburgh’s blogging network. To honor this important moment, we are bringing back the band by inviting some of the political bloggers from that era to have a conversation about the history (& future) of blogging. We also […]

Creating the #CatCar: Pgh’s Latest Art Car Hits the Road #AMPLIFY

Pittsburgh Art Car

Converting my 2000 Honda CRV into an art car seemed like a solid idea. It only has 130,000 miles and is in pretty good shape mechanically speaking. It was technically our second car that I used for my day-to-day errands and the occasional big or ‘messy’ transport. Since I work from home, my day-to-day errands […]

Why The Success of #AMPLIFY Has Left Me Discouraged

AMPLIFY Pittsburgh

I waited all day yesterday to learn if we were going to receive a $1000 grant for the AMPLIFY project, funds that would be used to turn my 2000 CRV into an art car to promote the project. Unfortunately, we did not secure the grant. We lost – just one of 84 applicants rejected for […]

Kathi Wants To Be More Connected to LGBTQ Elders in Rural Communities #AMPLIFY

Kathi Boyle Pittsburgh

Name:  Kathi Boyle Age: 69 County of Residence: Allegheny. I was born in Carbon County so lived there for the first 6 weeks of my life. My family then moved to Tennessee. Preferred Pronouns: She, her, hers How do you describe your identity? White lesbian. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you […]

Roman Knows to the Depths of His Soul That He Is a Man #AMPLIFY

Pennsylvania Transgender

  Name: Roman Barker Age: 35 County of Residence: Allegheny, formerly Westmoreland Preferred Pronouns:  He/Him/Sir How do you describe your identity? I am a Caucasian male Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I started out telling my mom I was “bi” – first you have to understand that my mom […]