In the Shadow of the City

(But we’re gonna give it to you)

Emily Pratt came to town on Friday and we went to see I’m From Barcelona at First Unitarian. Despite the drunk/high high school crowd, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in Philly so far. We were right in front of the stage, with the 17 or so members of the band looming over us.

This video in no way captures how ridiculous the experience was.

At one point I was holding out my cupped hands to Marcus and I realized I was in a classic communion pose, but I was receiving confetti instead of the host.

I’m going home for the summer. For a while there I tried to hang on to Philadelphia but it just didn’t work. Maybe next summer. At this point, it seems like the best option for then. I’m not sure when (still waiting to hear about May Term) but I will be going back to work at the same internship I had last summer. I’ll be going back to a place where I depend on cars, where I’m subject to a curfew. In short, a place I no longer want to be. Neil and Beth will be at home, though, and I’m counting on them to keep me sane.

There’s only three weeks left in the semester. Every time I think about that it gets just a little hard to keep circulating air. I’m going to hold on to these next three weeks, store it all up and hope it will last me the few months I have to be gone from these people I love so much. And then, in the Fall, Jeremy will be back but Lindsay and Matt will be gone. They’ll return only for Emily to leave. I feel like Jo in Little Women. Will we never be all together again?

I uploaded this song by Gretel that I’ve been listening to nonstop since I got their CD. Give it a listen.

There was just nothing wrong with today.

Go see this movie:

Things that happened today:

- Crosswords in Rittenhouse.

-Capogiro deliciousness.

- A gym promoter inviting me in for the “Obama workout”.

- Getting sunburnt in weird patches.

- Being one of the 35,000+ to see Obama speak on Independence Mall.

- Kate Nash concert in the middle of the day.

- The Continental with Nadia and Mel.

- Ridiculous times following the Contintental.

The city’s dirt is under my fingernails. I’m tired but I’m happy. Tomorrow I’m going to see a movie about a senior citizens’ chorus singing rock songs. So much is good with my life right now.

My dear, beautiful friend from high school continues to go through some majorly rough times. Send a prayer up for her if you will. She deserves so much happiness.

These are things that happened:

-I met Ron Paul and he knew who I was. He actually said, “I’ve heard about you!” and it was one of the most surprising things ever and also the best. Look for more about this ridiculous event in the Broad Street Journal.

-Matt, Scott and I went to the battlefield and posed with a Ron Paul sign.

-On a lovely day, Devin and I went to the Breeches and read and did a crossword puzzle. Everything was (seemingly) perfection.

-MILF Island.

-CNN reported live from Eisenhower Circle as I ate my chicken cordon bleu in Lottie.

-That whole Compassion Forum thing. Oh yeah, I was five rows back.

-Ruby Tuesdays suddenly became classy.

-We had a picnic on the banks of the Breeches.

-It all made me miss my friends a whole lot. It just gets harder to leave them.

I’ve started writing letters again. Maybe you’ll get one.

Someone is gone from my life who I didn’t think would be, and it hurts a little bit, in that way that something can hurt just because it surprises you.

I’m having one of those weird patches. But maybe sorta kinda if I really had to say, something good is on its way and we’re gonna pull through.

We caught the train to Harrisburg last night and made it back for Owen, Charlie, and Andrew opening for Gretel at B-Sides. I’d forgotten how much I miss B-Sides. For the uninformed, every Wednesday at 10:00 there’s a free show in the Student Union. Last semester’s lineup was particularly fantastic- Rosie Thomas, Horse in the Sea, Earl Greyhound, Unwed Sailor, This Will Destroy You, Clint & Amy, Jennifer O’Connor, Illinois. Last night’s show was fantastic. One girl in Gretl moved around all night between different , unexpected instruments- a five gallon bucket, the singing saw, a typewriter. Yes, a typewriter. It was pretty great.

I sat there in the Union, and everywhere I looked were people I love. I allowed myself to admit that I’ve missed Grantham, missed these people a great deal. Somewhere between another late-night run to Baker’s and pillow talk with one of my future roommates, I knew that this is the place where I most belong. Yes, there’s not as much to do as there is in Philadelphia and the homogeneity can be stifling, but I’ve made a family here out of all these people I love. Right now I need a family I can count on.

Scott, Matt Dean and I are going to Gettysburg College to see Ron Paul tomorrow. Hillary and Barack will be here on Sunday. I’m going to try to convince everyone to go to Baker’s every night Devin and I are here, because I love to pull those tables together and eat beige food with these wonderful people.

I’m taking the Cross Cultural course here at MCPC and one of the requirements is participating in some sort of after school program. So on Mondays I go to Montgomery Townhouses with Drew and John. And on the days when the program is actually happening, I always enjoy it.

Today, over a game of Candy Land, I discovered that two of the kids, who are eight and seven, have MySpace pages where they are representing themselves as eighteen and twenty two, respectively. They told me that they have over five thousand friends and are “picking up girls” through the site. At one point the eight year old pulled out a magazine featuring fast cars and scantily clad women. How could I not love spending time with these kids?

It’s Immersion Weekend here in Philadelphia, which means there’s a whole lot of activities we’re doing as a community. We all went out to eat in different groups on Friday and then came back to talk about this semester’s common text. Yesterday morning we went over to Norris and Uber and worked on a garden in the neighborhood there. It was lovely. We took down a chain link fence, spread mulch and filled up planters with soil.

The planters were made out of old tires and there was a particular maneuver we had to do to flip the tire inside out. It involved four people, a weird twist of the knee, and a lot of close physical proximity to people we had just met. There were a few tires that just wouldn’t flip for whatever reason- they were too wide or too new or reinforced with steel. Kyle, Adrian and I wanted to keep on going. We even picked up Obama’s cry of “Yes we can” at one point. Skip, who’s in charge of the garden and is one of the greatest people you’ll ever meet, told us to give up on them. He said that there’s a difference between working hard and working smart and that there was more work to be done elsewhere. We just couldn’t give up on them and kept on trying to no avail. The tires never did get flipped no matter how hard we worked at them. Some things just don’t want to change.

At a different point we were playing around and I ended up standing in the middle of a stack of tires. I couldn’t step out of them and so Adrian just said, “Fall down. I’ll catch you.” I didn’t even think about it, I just let myself fall into the hands he offered. Later I realized that it wasn’t too far from one of those cheesy Trust Falls employed at company team building retreats. But I didn’t care.