Checkpoint Cheesesteak? But, doesn’t the State Department know that we’re “el Sexto Barrio”???

In a queer bit of totalitarianism, a Cuban sex educator has been barred from travelling outside a 25 mile perimeter of New York City.  Scholar, writer, educator, and gay rights activist, Mariela Castro will not be able to visit Philly to accept an award at Equality Forum.  Isn’t it nice that America believes in freedom!  And comforting that it also believes in curtailing the activities of crazy communists who are a threat just off our shores!   Yes, the current Cuban regime is no saint and arbitrarily arrests and imprisons people, but that’s what dictatorships do and something the US would NEVER do!  We do not detain or imprison foreign nationals unless they are fairly tried and convicted of a crime…right?

Gender Bend it Like Kenney!

Kudos to Jim Kenney for recognizing certain realities of the 21st century.  Gender has become fluid, and a younger generation just takes it in stride.  It’s time our architecture was truly modern as well so he’s introducing his “bathroom bill.”

I guess not everyone is comfortable with this concept.  Those crazy Arizonians think it should be criminal!  Do these people have separate bathrooms in their homes for wive/husbands or sisters/brothers?  Or do they just fear the possibility of being in a public restroom with a tranny and experiencing a panic attack?  If you’ve been to any hipster bar (and many restaurants) in the city then you’ve used genderless bathrooms.  It’s time to calm down about this.  But, at the same time we have to recognize the importance of a certain sensitivity and etiquette going forward…

Phragments from the 6th Borough

The New York Times Sunday Magazine had an interesting article about a privy excavation in the author’s back garden in Greenwich Village.  Greenwich Village is not unlike our own Queen Village — colonial neighborhoods of brick row houses, New Netherland to our New Sweden.  Both neighborhoods hold the subterranean remnants of generations of new Americans.  Privies are well known as repositories of historic rubbish (aka artifacts) and can reveal a good deal about our citizen ancestors.

Phound in Philly: bottle, marble, redware, blue & white ceramics, and oyster shells

There is one “artifact” that is ubiquitous in Queen Village — oyster shells.   They were a very popular street food back in the day, and any modern-day Philly gardener can confirm that.  They were sold as street food in Colonial times — sort of proto food trucks.

African Americans were often street vendors in Philly. This wheelbarrow full of oysters was one of the first food “trucks.” (I guess the shells were proto litter…)

 

“Passenger tries to pay cab fare with marijuana”

I can’t believe this guy got arrested…It’s clearly a misunderstanding as he made a good faith effort to pay his taxi fare.  But, even in the greenest city in America, the merchant did not recognize bartering.  Yes, barter has made a comeback as a recognized and sustainable form of commerce.  This passenger is clearly on the cutting edge, and his means of barter is not even considered an illegal substance by most Americans!  I think the mayor’s office of sustainability should issue an apology to this citizen who is clearly trying to be an integral part of the city’s green economy.  Even his eyes are green!

Hey, man, I thought this was a Freedom taxi…

WHEN, not IF, a Tree Falls in the State Forest in Pennsylvania…

If an official is fired because he’s opposed to timbering in state parks and almost nobody hears about it, should we care?  With the exodus of a number of high-ranking officials from the Corbett administration (like rats from a sinking ship) why worry about a single firing?

Well, maybe because this particular state employee seemed to do his job extremely well in the face of industry pressure.  John Norbeck increased park attendance as well as the accompanying revenue, and even his performance reviews were top notch.  The one thing he didn’t do was knuckle under to the logging and mining interests in the state – some of whom are big Corbett contributors.

Michael Krancer, on the other hand, has been praised by those mining interests.  Though it’s not clear whether these two men ever tangled, you wonder if firing a highly respected public servant who worked diligently to protect our environment, might be even a little dismaying to the head of the DEP…?

Krancer has served Corbett well, but he appears to be a smart guy – not the type to actually deny the reality of climate change.  One wonders if he just got tired of defending such an anti-environmental administration as the leader of the state’s Department of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION?

Krancer may not be a great loss for Corbett, as he has attracted controversy, and the fewer guys like Norbeck you have, the less you have to worry about annoying things like scientific evidence…So it looks like the administration is lean and mean and in tip top shape for reelection!

Smarter than your av-er-age boors?

PA Ranks 26th in Health Nationwide — Maybe Corbett can Change That…Say, to 50th?

If you had an inkling that Governor Corbett cares little for the health of the Keystone State, you could find plenty of evidence to support that view.  He’s lost three cabinet members within a few months.  They are the Commonwealth’s secretary of health,  the public welfare secretary, and now the head of the DEP.  To have so many public health-related resignations in the middle of a term makes you wonder if anyone’s in charge in that arena.  Granted, the ex-officials weren’t exactly Mother Teresas…Health’s Eli Avila left with egg on his face;

public welfare’s Gary Alexander was a little Scrooge-like with public assistance;

and DEP’s Krancer had his own questionable environmental issues.

Some temporary replacements may be better, but some are definitely worse – like a professional politician who was a shill for Pfizer.

So a drug marketer is in charge of our health and a drug enforcer is in charge of our environment.  At least there are no scientists messing up the good “energy” between the governor and his contributors.

Christie vs Oliver: Boors 1 Civility 0

Why can’t most politicians act like normal grown-ups?  Didn’t their mothers ever tell them to just ignore the person calling them names?

Being White at Philly Magazine and Desperate for Readership

This article was so lame it just screams to be made fun of.  It was so bad that it doesn’t even warrant a bad journalism award.  Unfortunately the piece seems to be getting taken seriously and pissing people off.  Is Robert Huber actually serious?  Where did he come from?  Geez, even the Amish in Reading Terminal Market treat their Black customers just like…well, CUSTOMERS.  And you couldn’t have more disparate existences than that of North Philly and a farm in Lancaster county…