About 3 weeks ago Whoopi Goldberg spoke at Penn as part of the SPEC lecture series. As soon as she walked on stage the crowd of mostly college students gave a standing ovation. We were star-struck. Whoopi was standing about 30 feet away. She covered a million different topics throughout her talk, but she left us with one piece of advice. Take time. It is proof alone that it took me 3 weeks to find time to write this post, that we don't do it enough. In the fast paced - stay up late and study - society that we live in we don't have the opportunity to take time. What exactly is the point of all the hustle and bustle, all the drive and work ethic, if we don't have time to sit back and enjoy it? Exactly, there isn't one. This past week I have finally been able to take time. To enjoy my friends and give my brain a break. It does wonders for the mental health. The hardest course (I hope) of my nursing education (Medical/Surgical Nursing for the Young and Middle Aged Adult) is finished. I had multiple breakdowns throughout, as did the other students in the class, from all the pressure, information, and high expectations. They say what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger - but why should it even seem like a plausible outcome to die from the sheer amount of work and lack of free time? I have taken Whoopi's advice to heart. Now the challenge is putting it into practice.
Restaurant Week is one of the best inventions of Philadelphia. The best restaurants in Philadelphia offer a special price fixed 3 or 4 course menu for the bargain price of $30 (more with tax and tip). This gives the more financially challenged people like myself a chance to sample the concoctions of these talented chefs. I got the chance to sample two of the numerous restaurants. One with friends and one with my parents.
Tangerine: HUGE disappointment. This Steven Starr restaurant is over-hyped. The ambiance is beautiful and creates a romantic setting, however it is so loud you have to yell across the table. The food was mediocre.
Appetizer: Wild Mushroom Risotto - the highlight of the entire meal
Bread and Pitas served - looked like they came out of a
package, cut, and served
Entree: Bouillabaisse (a fish stew) - completely void of any flavor
Dessert: Panna Cotta with sorbet - also lacking any flavor
My friends and I sat at the table after finishing, completely unsatisfied and still hungry. It was painful to pay $38 dollars total for that meal.
Patou: A modern atmosphere serving French cuisine. Food was to die for. Absolutely DELICIOUS! I would highly recommend this restaurant. Their menu for restaurant week was much more extensive (most restaurants offer about 3 choices for each course). My parents and I each ordered a different option for each course and rotated. They were all good, but I liked my choices the best.
Appetizer: Fricasee (pan-roasted wild mushrooms)
Freshly baked warm rolls with a olive oil/pesto dip
Entree: Striped Bass (w/ carrot flan and green lentil ragout)
Dessert: Warmed Pear w/ Chocolate drizzle, whipped cream, and sorbet
Drink: Pear Sangria - I actually liked it, which is saying a lot
Lemon Grass: Admittedly not actually part of restaurant week, it is a cute little Thai restaurant just off of campus in West Philadelphia. More in my price-range than the restaurant week restaurants, and much better than Tangerine. The dishes had awesome names, which we each decided to take on as our own. I was the Vegetarian Lover. We also had the Evil Jungle Princess, the Tutti Fruity Duck, the Sensual Salmon, and the Young Girl on Fire. The flavors and spices were delicious, and it was a nice way to end the busy week catching up with friends and not thinking about work.
Those are two things you need to do if you live in a city such as Philadelphia.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, Philadelphia is full of culture. However, I can narrow that down even more, and say that the University of Pennsylvania is full of culture. To a large extent Penn consists of an upper middle class population. But everyone has a heritage and background. This past weekend I went to see a friend perform in Penn's South Asia Society Mini-Cultural Show. Eleven groups each performed one piece. Music, dance, even drama groups centered around the Indian culture, which I completely admire. Several of the groups are renowned on and off campus. Dhamaka is an all male Indian dance group. You can never overestimate the attractiveness of a man who can dance. Penn Masala is an all male a-cappella group. They go on tours doing their own renditions of well-known songs - with beautiful voices. Each cultural group has so much to offer. This free show provided a wonderful taste of South Asian culture.
Getting out of the city is a necessary part of living in it. All those stresses and fumes of city life can really get to your head. This past Sunday my dorm organized a trip to Linvilla Orchards for apple picking. Breathing fresh air and walking through the rows of apple trees was so relaxing. Taking a bite out of a freshly picked apple brought back simplicity. It is a great field-trip for your mental health. After apple-picking we wandered over to their pumpkin land. Pony rides, hay rides, mazes, farm animals, and of course a gift shop and country store were available for exploration. Fall has arrived, and it sure is beautiful (and deliciously fresh).
With the start of a new school year, working as a Move-In Coordinator, and living in a dorm, I have had my share of interaction with freshmen. When asked what a freshman that she met was like, my friend responded simply with "he's so....green." I look at them - bright smiles of excitement and exploration, curiosity and bewilderment - and I wonder when I became so jaded. I am jealous of their naivety and their fresh start. It's sad really. I feel old saying "if I knew then what I know now..." but it is true. I have recently been talking to new people outside my "circle of friends" and I've realized that I can get along with a whole range of people. The friends we make freshmen year seem to be by chance. I see freshmen cling to each other just so that they are not alone. Little do they know that they will all make very good friends anyway. I guess my advice for future freshman is not to freak out about making new friends, meet as many people as possible, and see who you click with most. Good friends take time.
On another green note - a friend and I attended the Philly Green Fest this past Sunday on South Street. I was glad to see how many people were out checking out the various information booths on living green. I felt somewhat helpless living in a dorm and not having control over the environmental sustainability of my living situation. However, I took some comfort in the fact that I use Philly Car Share, they even have a large number of hybrid vehicles in their fleet. I highly recommend these car share deals. Flexcar is another option, and is operational nationwide. Solar Panels are also in my future. My super tall friend had fun dropping an egg on a spread of recycled tires used for playgrounds instead of bark dust. And we correctly answered three questions about littering/recycling to win a prize! A litterbug was walking around the festival for photo opportunities. One thing that disturbed me was a man making a food sculpture. It looked awesome, but it was such a waste of quality vegetables - potatoes, squash, carrots, eggplants. I couldn't help but think of the numerous homeless people I pass each day that would benefit from that food. It did not belong at the green fest.
At the Green Fest I also picked up a flyer for the Divine Bike Church. Awesome idea. Open Tues, Thurs, and Sundays from 6:30-9pm and Wednesday for women and transvestites only. They are located in the basement of St. Mary's Church right on Penn's campus. They mostly provide the tools to fix up your bikes, but they also sell used bikes and parts. I picked myself up a beautiful old bike with a basket named Sunshine (it is scratched on the frame) and they walked me through changing the brake cable, setting the gears, and changing a tire. A functioning bike - all from recycled parts - and all for $36.
Green is a beautiful thing.
"Isn't this just great" my dad kept repeating. He was right. Somehow the family (the four of us) was all together again for the first time in a year. We were sitting outdoors of a restaurant right on the beach in Pacific City, OR. The Ocean looked like a lake, next to still. Haystack rock was standing alone in the water, watching over the inlet. The dunes that we had climbed prior to dinner were gleaming off to the side, framing the ocean view. We felt as if we were looking at a piece of art. Toast and enjoy the moment.
You'd never take a walk with me, would you?
The lyrics sung by Pink in her song "Dear Mr. President" are so beautifully put. Very different from her more popular songs, in which she tends to sound angry and loud, "Mr. President" sounds genuine and soft. After hearing this song for the first time and multiple times thereafter in Europe, I couldn't help but wonder: Why have I not heard this song, out since December 2006, in the country whose administration it refers to?
After polling a few of my friends, I got one "I think I heard it once during spring break," one "I might have heard the concept of the song," and one response by a devil's advocate saying "it's an old song, why would it be playing now?" (By the way - I've only been hearing old songs on the radio lately - where is the new music?). The rest had never heard of it. And believe me, if my liberal group of friends has not heard this song, the vast majority of America has not either.
As I was snuggled all warm in my bed, visions of censorship danced in my head. I had to investigate...was this our government preventing the American population from hearing this song? Afraid it would put ideas of dislike of our president in the remaining 25% of people who still approve of him? Or is it just the patriotic loyalty through thick and thin causing Americans to not want to even hear the song?
I decided to email the program director of one of the local Portland, OR radio stations (105.1 The Buzz) and ask. I was pleased with the promptness and kindness of the response:
Thanks for your note. That's a good question because that's a good
song. I'm not sure if the music label might have had a different
marketing strategy for that song overseas than here, given the
difference in politics. Yours is the first request we've had for it, so
maybe other people will catch on to it and it'll become popular as time
goes on.
You may not be aware of this, but it is remarkably hard for us to just
pick music off of CDs and play it, hoping that it will become popular.
We certainly don't play what the record labels tell us to, but unless
the music labels are hyping music with videos on VH1, billboards and bus
signs, clips on "Grey's Anatomy" and etc, we have a hard time making a
song a hit if we are the only media outlet playing it. It's possible,
but harder than it would seem.
Anyway, please keep us in mind when you hear good music that we should
consider. I'll make sure that our music director knows that you like
that song!
Jeff McHugh
Program Director
I'm not sure why the music label would have different marketing strategies for different countries - or no marketing strategy for this one at all - but that is one world I know absolutely nothing about. I can only guess what is going on with Pink's brave practice of free speech (we all remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks when the spoke out against the president), but I really hope that people stand up for the rights that they still have.
Conclusion: Europe does a lot of things a lot better.
