broke weed summer

“The end of an empire is messy at best. And this empire’s ended, like all the rest.” -Randy Newman

And the ever sounding crashing down of the economy permeates through the market’s fruit bins and meat stands to the country club with well groomed grass and eighteen hole golf. Us, friends, together in a new pioneer of poverty (barely, but broke nonetheless). Who lack funds to continue the dreams we have, but are sufficient enough for the broke weed summer; no ceasing of movement and moment. Are to withstand the wake of current affairs in our own oblivion.

Embark with us, dear pioneer, another front and future of the grand country we live in. The backdrop, the canvas, is that of failed and outsourced factories and industries. The methods of career and work are now riddles, and inefficient in their own structure. We are to build something different, something old, and something simple in procedure. Something, but as for now (the ever important now), friends, gather together with our little monies, and celebrate the crashing down with dancing, singing, laughter, and art.

Morale!

Fifty-two Friends

Josh Sullivan, a comic artist from St. Petersburg, Florida, is currently traveling the country, staying on a different person’s couch each week of the year. He is chronicalling his journey in a series of weekly comics/magazines, aptly called Fifty-Two Friends. Right now he’s in Week #9, having already made his way to San Dimas, CA.

It’s the sort of adventure that makes me say “That’s awesome” as soon as I read the first line of the news blurb telling me about it. While I imagine the motives and almost everything else are very different, Sullivan’s story reminds me of Into the Wild (I saw the movie, but you could also think of the book). There’s something really appealing to me in the idea of abandoning all of the norms of American society to live a life completely free of the constraints of cash, cars, and cell phones. I have many plans to take such trips some day, but for now I am left to dreaming as I go to bed in preparation of morning classes and an afternoon shift in the mailroom. No wonder I’m ready to escape. Spring break will still be too cold, and I need to spend this summer working, but somehow, someday, I will go backpacking. And if whatever this blog turns into is still running by then, I’m sure you will all be updated whenever possible.

Just around the Corner

I have long wished for a good hangout near my school. Living on campus at La Salle University offers very little to do beside watch movies and go to drinking parties, and I have little interest in spending all weekend doing either (although movies can be good once in a while).

Before coming to college, and whenever I’m at home in Reading, I’ve spent a good amount of time at coffeeshops, especially ones that aren’t Starbucks. But around here, in the ghettos of North Philly, I’d be lucky to find even one of those. Or so I’d thought.

Turns out sometimes all you need to do is go a few more blocks and you’ll find what you’re looking for. I’ve often made the 15 minute trip over to Mt. Airy to pick up some WaWa. It’s a little ritzier than my neighborhood of Germantown, but nothing to get too excited about. City Line Avenue, the section of route 1 just beyond the river, has some nice places, but chain restaurants and Target have been depressing me lately, and I wanted to find something a little more local. After all, I can buy plastic crap disguised as trendy commodities anywhere. But when I’m in Philly, I want to find something cool that is Philly, and I don’t want to find it in another upscale strip mall.

But it turns out if I had driven just a little bit past WaWa, I would have found my way into Chesnut Hill, a neighborhood that is exactly what I’ve been looking for. A friend took me there last Saturday, and I can definitely say I’ll be back. The place is filled with cafés and bakeries, and there’s a nice little record shop that has one of the best selections I’ve seen. They may not be as big as some others, but for their size, they certainly bring the goods. I picked up The Who’s Tommy, because the older sister in the movie Almost Famous says if you listen to it with a candle lit, you’ll see your future. I wonder what I’ll see?