Tag Archives: philadelphia

Philly is getting some good reviews

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Ryan Briggs in Next American City reports that families are staying put in Philly and Baltimore downtowns:

While urban revitalization is often stereotyped as dominated by young
professionals and retirees, Census data found that the Greater Center
City area had an even balance of all age groups. Data from the year
2000 indicated an average household size of 1.7 people in the eight
ZIP codes. That figure had ticked up to 1.75 by 2010 — a trend CCD
– attributed to couples opting to raise children in the city.

And from Philly.com comes news that Philadelphia is listed in Lonely Planet’s Top 10 US Destinations for 2013:

Forget the cheesesteaks and tri-corner hat, Philadelphia is becoming
known as an art capital. In addition to the world renowned
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the formerly remote Barnes Foundation , a
once private collection of Matisse, Renoir and Cézanne, has a new
central location. And it’s not just the big museums – Philly’s gallery
scene is exploding with new venues like the Icebox garnering
international attention and turning the Northern Liberties and
Fishtown neighborhoods into the new hot arts hub. First Fridays , the
monthly gallery open house, long a tradition in Old City, has expanded
to the refurbished Loft District, where the party goes on in a host of
new bars, clubs and live music venues.

Community Computer Center Opens in Frankford

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The Frankford Gazette has a post on the new computer center that opened in one of my old neighborhoods, maybe I can stop by and help: “Community Computer Center Open in Frankford”:

The majority of the residents of Frankford do not have internet access. The Free Library Branch does offer some service which is very well utilized all day long by students and others but those facilities cannot come close to meeting the demand. The new computer center will help to close the gap.

Text in Philly to know nearest farmer’s market

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PhillySNAP was launched during the recent Philadelphia Random Hacks for Kindness event and proivdes a service people can use to find affordable, fresh foods around them.

“Hands that Feed Us” was fantastic and so were the custom motorcycles

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Friday night I made it down to Fishtown to check out Albert Yee’s show at Gravy, “Hands that Feed Us” a photo exploration and celebration of those working across the region in agriculture and produce. There are many ‘behind the scene’ looks at crisis and issues related to food production, it was uplifting to see organizations and people working towards the humane treatment of animals and sustainable agriculture.

The Metro, on the 30th, “Small-scale farms: The whole picture” had this to say:

Yee has been working for Fair Food Farmstand for more than three years, and along with his wife, Kate Donnelly, writes a popular Philly food blog, “Messy and Picky.”

His passions are set to collide this weekend, with the opening of his photography show, “Hands That Feed Us,” at Gravy Gallery in Fishtown.

The series of 13 prints represents Yee’s travels to alternative small-scale farms in the Philadelphia region. The show is intended to be a celebration of these producers, upholding them as a model for humane treatment of animals and sustainable agriculture.

“The exposé of huge corporate farms has been done many times over. And I think people are horrified, but they’re desensitized. They don’t need to see piles of dead carcasses,” says Yee. “This is the other side: It’s happy animals and happy farmers working the land. That’s a possibility that’s out there.”

I commented on how I could see a children’s book inspired by this. I’d definitely read it with my daughter because as the description of the essay put it, “Knowing the people who cultivate the raw ingredients you eat can and will make a difference in your life.”

Follow Albert on Twitter @dragonballyee

Subscribe to his blog: Albert Yee

His food blog with Kate Messy and Picky

The Gravy Studio has a blog for more information about it.

The show runs all month so if you didn’t make the opening, get on over there.

About the custom motorcycles I mentioned in the headline…

Gravy runs in a space provided by Adam Cramer’s garage in Fishtown. Adam Cramer restores vintage motorcycles and I had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes about his work. I’ve been thinking of getting a motorcycle and if I do, I think I’d be very happy to purchase one from him.

Etsy featured him in a fantastic short you can see on YouTube: “Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles”:

You can read more about his company on its home page: Liberty Vintage

You can read more about the Etsy piece on him on their blog

A place to be this First Friday – see Albert Yee’s “Hands That Feed Us”

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Albert Yee’s latest project, “Hands that Feed Us: A Peek Inside Our Foodshed” will be on display this First Friday, July 1st, 2011 from 6:30PM to 10PM at Gravy Studio.

Like Howard Hall, I’m a long time admirer of Albert’s work. He is, like Howard notes, an artist, and his photography has lit my imagination time and again over the years. Not only that, he’s one half of the great food blogger team “Messy and Picky”. Some of the more recent posts here on paradox1x.org have been influenced by Albert’s advice to me to share more of my own story, and his involvement at Philly Future way back when was crucial to it becoming the service it was at the time. I’m so thankful for connecting with him over this half a decade and am very excited to share this event. Get out to this and go folks.

Random Hacks of Kindness event in Philly today

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It’s going to be a great day of building, to help make things better, at today’s Random Hacks of Kindness event in Philly. If you are a programmer, a designer, a builder, you want to be there today.

Yesterday Android Alliance launched in Philly

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Yesterday folks interested in Android development got together at National Mechanics in CC Philly and had a few drinks with one another. The big takeaway for me from the first meeting is that there are many in the region involved in mobile development (including myself) and that a community here is ready to connect.

Kudos to Corey and Arpit for bringing this together. It was fun and I hope to learn much from everyone.

Join the Google Group and follow on on Twitter.

Additional links can be had from CIM Labs.

Must reading about Kensington at Philly.com

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The Inquirer recently wrapped up a series about the struggles faced in Kensington and Philadelphia’s First Congressional District – the 2nd hungriest in the nation: “Hunger in the First”:

Following this series, no doubt brought on by the horror of the Kensington strangler, was a greater spotlight cast by the papers on the neighborhood that included a great set of independent articles:

All are worth reading.

An article that introduces us to a new news effort coming *from* Kensington deserves a special shout out because it is efforts like this that point us towards the future or news and maybe the neighborhood itself: “Philadelphia duo bring Internet attention to Kensington’s woes”. That duo is Richie Antipuna and Heather Barton and their video series can be found on Blip.tv.

I just had to round up these articles and post them to one page since the subject matter was so related. Now if there was a place to discuss these stories collectively. Reddit’s Philadelphia sub-reddit perhaps? That feels wrong. The stories need an official home someplace where people from the neighborhood and outside the neighborhood can discuss them collectively. Why do I care about that? Because when people connect over subject matter that is when ideas can take shape and action can take place.

Philadelphia Lt. Raymond Evers: “It’s a high-risk area”

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Tonight comes news of another murder in Kensington. Philadelphia Inquirer: “Police find woman’s body in Kensington”.

While Center City Philadelphia is continuing a Renaissance that started in the 90s, for those living in many neighborhoods in Philly, life has not improved and in many respects, has gotten worst. Philadelphia’s challenge over the next decade is to keep growing the positive momentum that is taking place here and making sure it reaches all its neighborhoods, all its people. This is going to have to happen in a city whose state no longer has advocates in its assembly. It will be more difficult than people imagine.

newsworks.org: “Former prostitute talks about streets of Kensington”

Many who are politically motivated try and summarize the problems that neighborhoods like Kensington are soaked in to simple catch phrases and causes, but the problems are many fold. Just follow some of the terrible comments posted in this great, nuanced piece from the Inquirer “The Drugs Dilemma”.

There are some that doubt Philly has made all that much progress over the last 15 or so years. There is more than enough evidence it has (see the thoughts of Kristen Lee, and there was no way you could walk away from attending TEDXPhilly and know otherwise).

You could always describe Philly, accurately, as a city of neighborhoods. Each with its own character, accent, customs, and peoples. What we need to work to avoid is a far greater and in this case tragic divide. One of hope.

Related:

Lyrics: Kensington

“Alternative journalism documenting Fishtown and Kensington”

David Kessler: “Shadow World”

Daily Beast: “The Kensington Avenue Strangler”