April 2008 Archives
[Preface to this post: we actually wrote this a couple months back when the political landscape was just a wee bit more lighthearted than it is right now, and the writing reflects that. We thought about holding it back given that the subject of the post weighed in on the primary process here in Pennsylvania pretty heavily. But we decided that instead of writing a ponderous political tract we'd play up the human element which seems to be missing from the campaigns and stick to the focus of this blog, which is all things Philly. Plus, while Gigi and I both know where we stand with regard to the candidates, we're all gonna have to make nice come November and what better way to get that dialogue started than with a Mayor who raps...]
One of the inevitable things that happens when you move is that you compare the new against the old, the unknown against the known. We were here twice before we actually moved and both of those times we were way too caught up in the issues involved with moving across country to make any kind of assessments about the city itself. But once we had officially moved to Philly the comparisons began to run amok at an almost breakneck pace. "Where the hell is all the coffee?" "Ohmigod, look, it's an actual transit system!" "I wonder if the Schuykill river is cleaner or dirtier than the Tualatin? Will I be able to smell it from a good distance on a hot summer night like the legendary river of my youth?" And while there is the distinct possibility that unnecessary or unfair comparisons could be made as we evaluate our new home, I do think that the process is both unavoidable and highly important. Let's face it, where we were framed so much of what we thought we knew and now that whole framework has changed. The key is to make sure that this learning process is a non-judgmental exercise that accepts all the distinctions between the old and new homes equally. And as Gigi and I write about our new home and what sort of trouble we're getting into here I hope that we'll always adhere to that notion. Except for this post.
One of the inevitable things that happens when you move is that you compare the new against the old, the unknown against the known. We were here twice before we actually moved and both of those times we were way too caught up in the issues involved with moving across country to make any kind of assessments about the city itself. But once we had officially moved to Philly the comparisons began to run amok at an almost breakneck pace. "Where the hell is all the coffee?" "Ohmigod, look, it's an actual transit system!" "I wonder if the Schuykill river is cleaner or dirtier than the Tualatin? Will I be able to smell it from a good distance on a hot summer night like the legendary river of my youth?" And while there is the distinct possibility that unnecessary or unfair comparisons could be made as we evaluate our new home, I do think that the process is both unavoidable and highly important. Let's face it, where we were framed so much of what we thought we knew and now that whole framework has changed. The key is to make sure that this learning process is a non-judgmental exercise that accepts all the distinctions between the old and new homes equally. And as Gigi and I write about our new home and what sort of trouble we're getting into here I hope that we'll always adhere to that notion. Except for this post.
Continue reading Meet Our New Mayor!...
(Our obligatory first post, wherein we also explain the blog's Red, White and Blue theme)A little over eight months ago we set out across the country in our beat up white Subaru station wagon to move from Seattle to Philadelphia. The journey itself was awesome, and we'll probably do a post or two on some of its more interesting aspects, but the really crazy part was the destination, and we recognized this long before we got there. During those long hours in the car we would enter into a rhythm that involved long periods of silence. It wasn't a problem; it was more a by-product of two people who already knew each other really well settling in and enjoying a journey. The silence was not complete, however. Every couple hours one of us would invariably feel the need to shout out, "Philadelphia? Really?". Or, in our more lucid moments one of us might make a more nuanced statement: "I can't believe we're fucking moving to Philadelphia!"
Continue reading Philadelphia Freedom...
