Haverford House

What is the absolute, hands-down, worst part about living in Philadelphia?  You may expect a California girl such as myself to answer one of the following: the lack of beach, weather that is anything but temperate, the price of avocados, or the driving skills of Philadelphia drivers.  While these aspects of living in Philadelphia certainly get on my nerves from time to time, none of these hold the title of the single worst thing about Philadelphia.

The answer?  BEDBUGS!  Bedbugs are not a Philadelphia-only phenomenon.  They are hiding in bed frames and mattresses, under dressers and in vents all over the country.  But Philadelphia boasts the second largest population of bed bugs in the country (second only to New York), a fact that has been painfully clear to me for the past 15 hours since, you guessed it, I discovered my own little group of bed bugs scuttling across my bed covers.

Don’t worry!  They haven’t gotten their grubby hold on the rest of the house (a fact which we are all hoping the exterminator will confirm).  For tonight, I am going to do my best to sleep tight and hope that those little bed bugs don’t bite.

Don’t have plans for Fall Break? For the second consecutive year, Haverford House is hosting an Alternative Fall Break for Haverford students. We will be visiting Philadelphia neighborhoods, learning how to make Philly food favorites, hearing from artists plying their craft in the city, and finding some time to relax. Bottom line is you’ll get to spend a week with six young alums who are excited to show you around and you will not have to worry about cost as we will arrange to cover most of your expenses while you stay with us.

Email us for more information: havhouse@haverford.edu

The deadline for our short and easy application is September 17 at midnight.

Copy the application after the jump:

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I mean it.

If you have a passion for danger, bike across the Passyunk Avenue Bridge.

It is three lanes each direction with no shoulder and buzzing traffic. At the top of the bridge, if you are not terrified, you can look down through the grate below you into the Schuylkill River, to the right at massive oil refineries and the sports complex, or to the left at the center city skyline as you speed across.

I had my chance to experience this and other hard-to-avoid-in-the-car but rarely-traversed-by-bike sites in Philadelphia on a sweltering August Monday as part of the first ever Committee of Seventy ‘Political’ bike tour.

To get me oriented to the geography and demography of Philadelphia in anticipation of dispatching hundreds of volunteers around the city on Election Day, my supervisor and I set out from our quiet Cedar Park neighborhood in West Philly just after dawn with the goal of visiting as many Wards, City Council Districts, and neighborhoods as possible before the end of the day.

In all, we visited 9 of 10 city council districts, the offices of 5 out of 8 State Senators representing Philadelphia, and 4 State Rep offices. We also found time to stop at the famous Melrose Diner on South Broad, fix two flat tires, get lost in the Northeast, eat yummy pierogies at a Polish restaurant in Port Richmond, and check out several of America’s most gerrymandered political districts along Roosevelt Boulevard in Frankford. This is the way the city, including its Oak lined parks and empty lots, old stone mansions and public housing projects, and yes- its cars only bridges- should be seen by everyone who really wants to know what this place is about.

Photos of me collecting pamphlets and a little more about our route if you are interested after the jump:

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As my housemate Cara’s smashed rear window can attest, being a car is rough. But as Cara’s bank account can attest, being a car-owner is infinitely worse.

After a recent fenderbendernearmiss that yielded–besides a visit to the local police station and the perfunctory phone call to Dad–nothing, I thought my car troubles were behind me. But as I discovered when my car wouldn’t start this Sunday afternoon, neither man nor Swede can create a perfect machine.

A quick game of car-ownership two truths and a lie (or is it two lies and a truth?):

1. Car ownership is the leading cause of ramen-only diets among young people.

2. The best thing we can hope for in life is a friend with a car, ie: a friend who bankrolls our grocery store runs and rides to the airport.

3. Like the color printer I once abandonded in the basement of a North Dorm because it was out of ink, I will leave my car on the street in front of my house until I forget it’s mine and someone comes and tows it away. Goodbye cruel world!