Haverford House

Not a good idea. I got a little too zealous after taking Max’s Bike Philly pledge. Yes, I will not bike on sidewalks and utilize public transportation over cars HOWEVER riding on Gray’s Ferry Bridge was frightening. I had to coerce myself not to stop halfway through as I saw a body of water out of the corner of my eye. I do love whoever decided to have a bike lane on that highway though, gosh bless you. Even though I hope one day that there are raised dividers to keep drivers out of biking lanes. I have a lot of respect for people who bike across the country ON HIGHWAYS (like “Just Cycle”, these ladies I met at BikePhilly who biked across. the. country).

That being said, it has been a good week. A few culinary mishaps in the kitchen but there is teamwork here so all is good (our smoke alarm works. I’ll leave it at that). Work is moving along, I enjoy being in a high school, even though I look like I am a student. I sometimes feel like an undercover agent, sitting quietly and watching the students interact. Today we had our first fire drill, it was weird not having to go to a class and stand in silence to be counted. Ah the freedom!

I’m meeting more and more students each day. Some feel more comfortable with me than others, as is to be expected. As more and more activities come up and I try to find students who might be interested, I’m finding myself leaning towards a group of students who have distinguished themselves as leaders. I’m trying to fight this trend because I remember what it was like to be that high schooler/college student who sometimes felt stretched too thin because of all the activities thrown her/his way. It’s important for me to remember this moving forward.

Today I had a discussion that made me feel like I was in an affinity group back at Haverford. One student was describing someone as an oreo and I pushed the student to unpack what that meant. I asked the student what being white meant, and conversely what not being white meant. I tried to get the student to explain how the description was being used, in a negative or positive way. The student wasn’t sure how to reply and seemed engaged in the question. If someone mentions “good hair” in the future, we will have another dialogue! It’s important for all of us to unpack our phrases and try to understand what we’re saying and the implications that go along with them. The way I see it, it’s all part of a socially just and peaceful world. And bam, isn’t that the theme of the school?

Next week I head out on a weeklong trip to the woods, canoeing time. Phew. All I hope is that my canoe does not flip over and no bears find their way into my tent. I’m a simple lady.

Until next time,
Sarah D

Today, I worked from a law office on 17th and Arch. The office was on the 38th floor, so the elevator was a combination of really cool (because it was so fast) and nausea-inducing (because it was so fast). I am currently doing research on different cities whose farmers markets are able, through a combination of private, state, and government funding, to double the value of SNAP, EBT, WIC, and Senior Vouchers at farmers markets. That is, when someone on Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), colloquially known as “food stamps,” or Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) or Woment, Infants, and Children (WIC) or disadvantaged seniors can not only spend their assistance money at farmer’s markets (really great!) but for every $1, $5, or $10 they spend (depending on the market) they get that doubled. Because low-income neighborhoods typically have so few grocery stores and even fewer places to buy fresh food – especially fruits and vegetables in enough variety – farmers markets are a great way to get into communities and provide healthier food than what would typically be on offer at a corner shop.

Many cities have programs like this – Atlanta, San Diego, Boston, New York, to name just a few – but Philadelphia does not. However, my organization is partnering with a few other interested folks to really try and get this to happen for Philadelphia. There is such a vibrant farmers market community in all different neighborhoods in Philly, and Reading Terminal Market is actually the largest point of redemption for food stamps in Pennsylvania! So, there is demand for something like this to happen for Philadelphia. My role, which I enjoy (thanks Haverford! and thesis!) is to research. How did other cities implement this? What were the challenges they faced? Where did they get funding? We don’t want to reinvent the wheel for this type of program in Philadelphia.

Anyways, the reason I was working from this law office was because my office – Fair Food’s, rather – just moved. The new space is GREAT! Except that the floor is not done, the phone lines are not in, and neither is the internet, and there are no desks. So it is not an environment conducive to research. Nora who is working with us on this Market Bucks project (the double value farmers market vouchers all have different names like Fresh Bucks and Market Bucks and Fresh Fund and Market Dollars and so on) offered me the office of one of her assistants.

It was great being on the 38th floor! It’s a sort of heady, ruler-of-the-capitalist world feeling, like you’re standing on top of corporate America or something. The view – all of South Philly, everyone on their little rooftop pools, it’s fun to look at and wonder about people’s lives. Also – and I texted my housemates about this – they had TWO coffee makers and a coffee bean grinder and two water filters and free diet coke and a giant box of Advil in the kitchen. Yes, I am easily impressed, but in ONE kitchen you can caffeinate, pain-relieve, and drink purified water, all for FREE.

I had gotten to work early so I went running in the middle of the day, on my lunch break. I chose a route I have never done before – I ran the length of the Benjiman Franklin Parkway, under all the flags, and made a point of going around all the fountains, just for fun. I ran past all the museums and the big signs about the Barnes which they are unfortunately moving into Philadelphia from it’s lovely location near City Line Ave. I ran past the Rocky statue and past all the tourists posing in front of the Rocky Statue, and up the steps of the Art Museum, past all the tourists posing on the steps of the Art Museum and/or trying to run up it like Rocky. I ran across the big top plaza and up the final set of stairs and then when I turned around I saw the whole skyline of Philadelphia stretching away across the Ben Franklin Parkway and it was another one of those heady, on-top-of-the-world feelings. It is so interesting how different Philadelphia is in different sections … from my view at the front doors of the PMA, nestled between the elephantine, stately rock-solid columns that rose into the piercingly-white late-summer sky until they met, barely visible, on the mosaic-ed ceiling … to the hipster enclaves of West and South Philly, to the grungy side alleys of Center City murky with car exhaust and blocked by dumpsters … to the ritzy parks filled with lovers and dogs and morose ex-Yuppies nursing their lattes during lunch break … to the less ritzy parks where people without homes try to find a comfortable spot on a bench … to the twinking lights and clatter of the old city bars at midnight, to the grey clammyness of the trolley in early dawn … all of this and more is ensconsced within my view of Philadelphia on a beautiful, cool late-summer’s day. The contradictions and hustle-bustle and diversity of cities always fascinates me and can be a sort of humbling feeling. Especially from the work that myself and my housemates are doing – the glorified, gleaming Philadelphia full of history and planning is not even half of the story. Every city of course has human joys and travails interwoven into its every second, but in Philadelphia I feel that this is true acutely. Perhaps because I do live within it at one of its most diverse (and I do not mean this term just as race, age, sex, etc, although this is part of it, but also I am talking about a diversity of human experiences) areas in our little corner of West Philly.

Anyways, so, from there I ran around the back of the museum and along the Schulykill trail (NO ONE can spell that word so I am not even going to try) past the boathouses (which made me miss rowing!) and down for a ways until I decided that lunch break was half over, so I ran back and did the PMA stairs a few more times, just for the view at the top.

When I was leaving work I saw the CUTEST little Chihuahua in a tutu (and I hate Chihuahuas because they are pathetic excuses for dogs, and don’t even get me STARTED on putting dogs in clothes and handbags) (except sometimes I almost really think it and they are kinda cute ..) She belonged to a homeless lady who immediately offered her to me for $15, because she was moving to Florida (the Chihuahua’s owner, not the Chihuahua). She kept saying “oh look, she likes you!” and “oh, she is worth so much more than $15″ … and I really, REALLY almost bought this damn dog. The woman followed me for a block callng out “look, she likes you, she’s following you!” and it was heart-wrenching because I LOVE dogs, and only $15 for that cute little thing? I wonder if the tutu would be thrown in for free. What stopped me was that Sarah D is currently in a state of re-education about her feelings for animals, and Mary says she’s deathly allergic. But then I thought, well, there is not that much fur on this dog because it’s too little to have a lot of fur, so Mary wouldn’t be allergic to her. And I thought maybe Sarah D would like THIS dog, because who wouldn’t like a dog in a tutu?!?! And she was SO FRIENDLY. And so tiny …

I really, really want a dog.

Here are some pictures that I forgot to put up earlier:

This is Sarah D on her first day of work? Bellisima, no?

Mary and the boys on everyone’s first day of work. Oh, I remember this day! It wasn’t MY first day of work, because my first day started that Tuesday instead of on Monday like everyone elses’ … and I was SO sad and SO disappointed because I was SO excited to start work. I do not have very much patience. Never did.

This is Joe with our homemade wormery!

We made this sushi ourselves! oh yes we did.