Meet Our New Mayor!
[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.
Here's the deal: Philly's new mayor kicks the ass of any mayor of our former homes (NYC, Portland, Seattle).
The evidence:
1) His name is Michael Nutter. Mayor Nutter just rolls off the tongue.
2) He's "West Philadelphia born and raised," just like the Fresh Prince. (Don't worry, that won't be our only Fresh Prince reference on this blog.)
2) A devout watcher of perhaps the awesomest cop show ever, The Wire, Mayor Nutter called HBO and set up a special live screening of the series finale at City Hall and got a bunch of the series' stars to attend. While some may consider this a sideshow to the important issues of Philadelphia, I think it takes serious cajones for the mayor of a city with a sordid history of corruption to promote a show that takes on those same issues in a similar city (Baltimore) and consistently points to city government corruption as deeply interwoven with the crime that is depicted. Plus, The Wire rules and as thin as this argument is, it's nice to know the Mayor's got some taste.
3) We saw him buying vegetables at our local Whole Foods late on a Friday night. We were picking up ice cream and generally getting ready for an evening in and there he was debating the virtues of "organic" kale versus "conventional" kale with his security detail.
4) This campaign video featuring his daughter Olivia apparently won him the election:
5) On his inauguration night he did Hank's section of "Rapper's Delight" while the dude from The Roots was running the turntable. The DJ messes up the beat early on so if you want you can skip ahead to the 1:00 mark where the song actually starts. Check it out:
The evidence:
1) His name is Michael Nutter. Mayor Nutter just rolls off the tongue.
2) He's "West Philadelphia born and raised," just like the Fresh Prince. (Don't worry, that won't be our only Fresh Prince reference on this blog.)
2) A devout watcher of perhaps the awesomest cop show ever, The Wire, Mayor Nutter called HBO and set up a special live screening of the series finale at City Hall and got a bunch of the series' stars to attend. While some may consider this a sideshow to the important issues of Philadelphia, I think it takes serious cajones for the mayor of a city with a sordid history of corruption to promote a show that takes on those same issues in a similar city (Baltimore) and consistently points to city government corruption as deeply interwoven with the crime that is depicted. Plus, The Wire rules and as thin as this argument is, it's nice to know the Mayor's got some taste.
3) We saw him buying vegetables at our local Whole Foods late on a Friday night. We were picking up ice cream and generally getting ready for an evening in and there he was debating the virtues of "organic" kale versus "conventional" kale with his security detail.
4) This campaign video featuring his daughter Olivia apparently won him the election:
5) On his inauguration night he did Hank's section of "Rapper's Delight" while the dude from The Roots was running the turntable. The DJ messes up the beat early on so if you want you can skip ahead to the 1:00 mark where the song actually starts. Check it out:
Damn, I wish our politicians were that cool. Nutter Butter for VP....