R-E-L-I-E-F

How do you spell relief?  If you're old enough to remember the old commercial, you might think it's R-O-L-A-I-D-S.  Tonight I spelled it B-E-E-R and F-R-I-E-N-D-S. 

My day started as I pried myself out of bed.  I worked 11.5 hours yesterday, came home, relaxed for a few hours, and went to bed.  I was tired this morning at work and confided to a close colleague when asked how I was doing.  I responded, "On the verge of a nervous breakdown."  She said, "So what?  We all are!"  Ouch.  That made me feel worse...and like a whiner.

I had longstanding plans to meet some friends after work and, even though I felt guilty for leaving at 5 (9 hours after I started), I went anyway.  We originally planned to meet at a cool, new bar/restaurant serving over 60 beers.  Walking those few extra blocks in threatening rain seemed too much for them so we met closer to their work.  We landed...if you'll pardon the pun...at the Landmark at 34th and Market in Philadelphia.

The Landmark is a 3-restaurant chain, which I didn't know until about 5 minutes ago.  It's on the Drexel University Campus so is largely patronized by young people.  They have outdoor seating (on a very busy and loud corner) but the shaded seats were all taken.  Since it was pushing 90 degrees we decided to sit inside. 

There were 3 of us so we had three appetizers - wings, chicken fingers, and margherita flatbread.  Each was very good.  Both chicken varieties were moist and flavorful and the flatbread was crispy and fresh tasting.

I had two Magic Hat #9 beers.  I've seen Magic Hat (brewed in South Burlington, Vermont) around before but never tried it.  I really liked this "not quite pale ale," as the brewing company's website calls it.  (Warning:  The website - while funky and hip looking, is painfully clunky.)  It was light, crisp, and more golden than I expected - a nice, hot-day beer.

I feel much more relaxed tonight.  And, even though tomorrow is another challenging day on this project, at least tonight I can spell - and feel - R-E-L-I-E-F.

Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Relay

I read about the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Relay in my recent source of information - The Metro.  I knew from past visits many years ago that the Kensington section of Philadelphia was a rough neighborhood.  I wondered if it had changed. 

When we were looking for the Sculpture Relay and festival today, we drove through a section where people literally looked different.  I don't mean a few individuals; I mean large groups of people.  They looked skinny, tired, strung-out, drunk, and/or addicted.  Of course, this wasn't everyone, but it was shocking how many people in the shadow of the El (elevated train) did look like that.  When we stopped for directions a man told us to, "Be careful.  It can get rough around here."

We drove much farther than we had to as we wandered so we looped back and eventually found the intersection of Frankford and York Streets.  This is known as the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, which - I guess - must be part of East Kensington.  (I must have had a "slow" day as it took a few seconds for me to "get" this mural.  Ah!  Fishtown!!)  According to Wikipedia,

The name "Fishtown" is derived from the area's former role as the center of the shad fishing industry on the Delaware River. The name comes from the fact that a number of 18th and early 19th century German and German-American families bought up the fishing rights on both sides of the Delaware River from Trenton Falls down to Cape May, New Jersey. Also, in the early 18th century, an English colonist was fabled to have caught the largest shad in the world in the Delaware River.

It was interesting to see such community-spirit and energy in this rough and tumble area.  Such areas on the cusp of change in cities - areas with empty shells, as seen here in this cemented-up building with great character - share space with new or renovated buildings.  These new or renovated buildings in Fishtown seem to be filled - for now - with artsy types.  But we also saw old folks peering out their windows. Oh, the changes they must have seen over decades.

The Kinetic Sculpture Derby is for celebrating art and human-powered transit, and to showcase the neighborhood businesses.  We had a slice of pizza from a local vendor and had some beer from the Philadelphia Brewing Company. Established in 2001, the "brewery buildings were originally erected as part of the Weisbrod and Hess Oriental Brewing Company in 1885."  When the current brewing company began brewing, it was the first time the building produced beer since the 1930's.  

The Philadelphia Brewing Company produces several beers.  I tried the Walt Wit.  I like wheat beer (also known as white beers in some countries), which was one reason I wanted to try it.  I also love the name of the beer and the play on words.  Walt Whitman lived just across the river from Philadelphia in Camden, NJ.  A bridge connecting the two cities is named after him.  That makes the beer feel even more "hometown."

Once my partner grabbed the Kenzinger, a lager paying homage to the Kensington name, we walked around and checked out the kinetic sculptures entered into the derby.  Pictures of some are displayed below.  Remember, these were all powered by humans.  There were judges walking around but we didn't learn who won the derby prize for this year.

The Kenzinger Express

 

This one also used wind power, or at least tried to with that sail.

This one could keep an eye on the competition to the rear.

A bowling pin steering wheel might come in handy.

Notice the shoes sans legs.

As we prepared to leave the festival/derby, we had a view of Center City that I don't believe I've ever seen.  It seemed so far off in the distance - a world away.  We walked past a huge house (or apartment building?) with hip, tattooed folks having a good time surrounded by beautiful flowers and artwork on the grass.  (Yes, an actual yard!)  We then headed to the "No Libs" or Northern Liberties section of town for an early dinner at North 3rd.  It was a nice way to end a pleasant afternoon.            

We marched to the beat of a different drummer today and did something different. According to this sign below in someone's apartment, some people feel like they do that, or something more unique than that, every day.  They are the ones who will transform these "rough" places in our cities.  It's already started in parts of East Kensington, including Fishtown.

Addendum:  The day after the festival/derby, the Philadelphia Inquirer said this about it.

On Broadway...

Well, not that Broadway.  This Broadway is in Pitman, NJ and it is where I caught a true slice of small-town life last weekend. 

I am finishing up my last evening of dog-sitting.  (I wish I had my camera to take a picture of my favorite pup!)  I've spent several nights in Pitman and, during my stay last weekend, I took advantage of the craft fair that's depicted in the picture.  I even met the mayor!  Ha!

There were good and not-so-good crafts.  One guy, who looked like he could lead the Pagans or Hell's Angels Motorcycle gang, made beautifully artful bird houses that were integrated with pitch forks, pole-hole diggers, blocks and tackles, hooks, and other equipment.  I really wish I bought something; all his wares were so creative.  It was interesting to look at him and then see the obvious care he put in his art.  It seemed contradictory - a perfect "we mustn't judge a book by its cover" situation.

Pitman is a dry town so my partner and I walked a good distance - to the next town, which is Glassboro, and back - to get a bottle of wine for the BYOB in town.  Broadway in Pitman is experiencing a restaurant boom of sorts.  The pizza and sub shops are being replaced by "proper" restaurants.  I understand another new one is opening soon.  Because the Broadway theater is very active, it makes sense that people want the opportunity to dine before or after the show.  Some smart entrepreneurs are picking up on that.

We ate at Barcelona; it was an amazing deal.  The pre-fixe dinner was 4 courses for $14.95.  (Granted, you had to order before 6pm, but that was perfect for us as we were hungry.)  There were about a dozen entrees from which to choose.  I had a chicken dish that doesn't appear to be on the menu now and my partner had the sweet potato ravioli with sage sauce.  Both dishes were quite good.  On the way out I heard a woman raving about her short ribs.

I'll be sure to recommend Barcelona to my friend for whom I'm dog-sitting. She, too, should head up to Broadway...just not too far north over the state line.

Green with Envy

I'm ambivalent about the color green but I really don't like green-with-envy-green; it's not a flattering color on anyone, especially me.  A week and one day ago today I met a young woman and her collaborators who were taking their film to the Cannes Film Festival the following day.

The event was at Galdo's catering hall in South Philadelphia.  It was the Philadelphia screening, which followed the New York City screening, of a movie called A Proper Violence.  I learned of this through a friend, whose friend's daughter was involved with the movie.  For $20, we had some hors d'œuvres and got to see the movie.  Well, if you stayed long enough you got to see the movie.

South Philadelphia is a historically Italian neighborhood, although it's less Italian and more diverse than decades passed.  It also has a reputation of being where the mob still has a presence, even past its heyday.  In fact, I was warned that there would be some "connected" people at the event, some of whom didn't care for each other.  Alas, there were no horses' heads or threats to make someone "swim with the fishes."  Well, maybe I didn't stay long enough for that.

I met a lot of people whose last names ended in a vowel - Murano, Lagambi, Giandonato, etc.  They were there to support the local girl, Joan Roman (wonder what happened to the "o" on the end of that last name?!?), who was involved with the film.  She was well-supported and obviously thrilled to have that support. 

When I got to Galdo's at 6pm, Joan greeted me warmly even though I didn't know her.  She said the movie would start around 7pm.  At 8pm it still hadn't started.  I was so tired and it was so smoky (yes,smoky because of a loophole in Philly's smoking ban) that I left.  I know, I know.  I heard it from everyone.  "It's only 8 o'clock!"  I was drained and had to go.  I never saw the movie but heard it was pretty good.

So what is being green with envy all about?  Because the hometown girl received the love and adoration of her family, friends, and community?  No.  Because she got to take a film to Cannes?  No.  Because, at 20-something, she is following a dream and not taking the conventional, safe route?  Yes.  Because while in Cannes she is living with a local family and they are cooking together, getting to know each other, and educating each other on being citizens of different countries?  Yes, Yes, YES! 

If my life were a movie, would I want to see it?  Certainly not when I'm green.

Help Solve the Multi-State, Yellow-Man-in-Road Mystery

When I was living in Manhattan I noticed there were these "things" that someone had created in the road.  They are hooded figures...or maybe better described as Halloween-like ghouls.  Just what are they?  More interestingly...who is putting them in both NYC and Philadelphia?

These catch my attention when I'm walking for obvious reasons. When I saw this one in NYC, I thought "I've seen these in Philadelphia!!"  This particular one is on the West side of the  intersection of Park Ave (or 3rd?) and 24th (or 25th?) St.  If you walk North on the West side of Park Ave (or 3rd?), you will see others at the next few intersections.  (I really wish I had done this blog entry immediately after I took the picture because now I'm bummed I can't remember the exact location.)  I think I may have seen one in white instead of the typical yellow.  (I thought I took other pictures but apparently I didn't because this is the only one I found on my photo card.)

I couldn't wait to get back to Philadelphia and start my new job because I knew exactly where one of these "things" was - on Broad and Juniper Streets.  I use to pass it several times a week when I went out for lunch.  Shortly after I started my job I scurried to that intersection but was foiled.  The road looked (relatively) newly paved.  While I was certainly disappointed, I suspected that eventually I would stumble upon another "thing" somewhere in the city.

Last Thursday, I was crossing the very wide intersection of 15th and Market in Center City Philadelphia and there it was!  I risked life and limb taking this picture.  I was excited.  I finally found one!  Notice how this one looks slightly different - the "knees" are different than its NYC brother and its arms are straighter.

Next time I get back to NYC for a visit I will re-trace my Park Ave (or 3rd?) and 20-something Street steps to see exactly how many figures I find and take photos of them.  In the meantime, I am left wondering.  Who is doing this?  Is it one person, or more?  What does this mean?  Are they done late at night so no one sees or does the "perpetrator" not care if someone watches? 

I need help solving this mystery.  I hope someone can shed some light.  For the next blog entry, I'll show and describe another "something-embedded-in-the-road" mystery.  It's not as mysterious, however, because I've been able to track down more information on that one.

Lunchtime Work Escape

On Friday I needed to get out of the office.  I knew leaving for lunch would mean working later on a Friday night, but I had to do it. I had read about something called City Dances Parkway II.  It was an "interactive walking tour of public art sites led by Group Motion Dance Company."  I decided to break free from my cubicle and go watch this noon program.

It was a beautiful day on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.  The first performance was at Alexander Calder's Three Discs, One Lacking. 

The performers had belts around their waists from which iPods music was projected.  The dance was contemporary and there were about 2 dozen observers as well as gawking passers-by.  The performance got started about 12 minutes late.  This, combined with the fact that I had to leave the office 15 minutes before the performance to get there on time, meant I had already been out of the office about 35 minutes by the time the first performance was over.  I knew I couldn't hang out for the other 4 performances.  

I was too busy looking at my watch during the first performance.  I was restless and distracted and wasn't really enjoying the performance. I walked slowly back to work and more enjoyed just walking than watching the dancers.  All-in-all, I was gone a little over an hour. 

I decided to go online to look up the artwork I missed on the dancers' route.  I know much of the artwork around Center City Philadelphia by sight by not by name so I was curious to put names with them.  They were:

Henry Moore's Three Ways Piece Number 1: Points

Jacob Lipkin's The Prophet

Nathan Rapoport's Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs

Robert Indiana's Love
(There's also one of these in NYC in the East 50's.)

Goodbye Friends: A Book Love Story

I am one of those people who have "relationships" with books.  This is why I still have treasured childhood books in my possession.  They feel like friends that sustained me during difficult times.  They also bring back good memories - sitting in a tree in the woods across the street in a "tree-seat" I fashioned out of cloth my mother had and nails I took from my dad.  They allowed me to travel far and wide - not physically but emotionally and mentally.  I could never give these books away.

But, like some of my human friendships that changed over the years and I let go, I am preparing to do the same for some of my books.  I've been pulling books off shelves, holding them, staring at their covers, flipping through them, and weighing my relationship with them  Is it over?  Can I live with just the memory and not the actual book?  Some books were boxed then unboxed in indecision.  I've made progress, though.

I just want to simplify.  I look at my 4 bookshelves (4 being the result of a previous "downsizing") and have begun to ask, "Why?"  I don't want to hang on to "things" as much as I have in the past.  I've gotten better at getting my books from the library, too, even if I did bring some back from NYC and couldn't find shelf space for them.  OK, so that is my motivator, too...but there are more books going out than coming in.

At one point I was in the habit of writing the date of when and the location of where I read the book.  I also stuffed boarding tickets from flights, business cards from restaurants, bookmarkers from the stores from where I bought the book, etc. in them as reminders of time and place.  These have all been fun to rediscover.  I found a bookmarker from Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.  I found a boarding pass to Ft Myers, Florida from Nov 24 - Nov 30, 2005.  In addition, I found an inscription in No Greater Love by Mother Teresa that read, "Completed reading on July 21, 1997 while rebuilding the Spring Hill A.M.E. Church in Dillon, South Carolina." (This church was destroyed by arson during a time when many African-American churches were burning.  While I am not a Quaker, I did this through the Washington Quaker Workcamps.  This is a great organization offering very meaningful and fulfilling experiences.)  I remember thinking this Mother Teresa book was an appropriate choice for the week-long workcamp.

The majority of my books are going to my local library.  The library will sell them and raise money for new book purchases.  My plan seems like good karma for me.  I've also picked out a few books to give to some friends and co-workers.  A lady I work with got two today.  Tonight I'm going to try to figure out which book (or books?) I might use for a BookCrossing experiment. 

Haven't heard of BookCrossing?  It's a neat concept; their website refers to their idea as "Catch and Release books."  As I understand it, you register your book and get an ID number.  Then you either put a label in the book (or something similar) and

Leave (the book) on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

I heard about this several years ago but obviously have to read the website to get more details!  When I just checked the website as I prepare this blog, I was thrilled to see they have over 6 million books registered. 

This tracking reminds me of a book someone gave me 20 years ago.  About 6 people wrote their names and towns/states in it.  The book had made it up North from Alabama.  (This is one of those books I won't be giving away.)  Maybe my BookCrossing experiment will have similar results.  At the very least, I hope my book becomes someone's friend.

Glassboro, NJ Multi-Purpose Trail

My wandering was on two, non-motorized wheels this past Saturday.  I'm preparing for a duathlon so it was my first bike ride of the season - about 17 miles.  I was pleased with that for my first time out after a long, hard winter.

The trail was part of the Rails-to-Trails system.  In this system, old railroad beds are used to create trails for biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, etc.  Some trails are paved, others have gravel or sand or a number of other surfaces.  According to the Rails-to-Trails website, "there are 19,000 miles of rail-trail throughout the country, and more than 9,000 miles of potential rail-trails waiting to be built."

One of the advocacy programs undertaken by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is supporting the "federal railbanking statute in the U.S. Congress and the courts as an essential tool to preserve unused rail corridors."  This statute, which has opponents,

is a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and a trail agency to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until some railroad might need the corridor again for rail service. Because a railbanked corridor is not considered abandoned, it can be sold, leased or donated to a trail manager without reverting to adjacent landowners. The railbanking provisions of the National Trails System Act as adopted by Congress in 1983 have preserved 4,431 miles of rail corridors in 33 states that would otherwise have been abandoned.

The opponents of railbanking have actually challenged it in the Supreme Court, and lost.  I don't fully understand the issues around the opposition, but maybe the community and surrounding landowners want more say about their adjacent land and its use?

I rode my bike from a friend's house to the Monroe Township Bikepath, which the Rails-to-Trails site states is 6.36 miles.  (The township website says it's about 1 mile longer.)  This paved trail was mostly wooded and felt rural, with marshes and occasional houses scattered throughout it.   It's also adjacent to a large tomato canning plant.  All of those delicious Jersey tomatoes getting shipped out to the region - or maybe even the country!

If you want to wander on a Rails-to-Trails trail - whether or two legs or two wheels - search here to find a trail near you.