Opposite day

I woke up in a bad mood today.
I'd spent the evening slogging through an impossibly humid Phillies game that saw Brett Myers tease me by taking a no-no into the seventh, only to have them lose 2-0. They spoiled a great pitching outing by being totally unable to comprehend the movement on Edison Volquez's pitches (seriously - dude's stuff is sick).

ANYWAY, I just read a story that turned my mood around. In a city that gets urban planning wrong 99.997% of the time, it's rare to read something like this. Now, Shop Rite sucks ass (new slogan: "Hey, at least we're not Pathmark!"), and Lowe's is just another soulless big box blah blah blah mom and pop store blah blah walmart blahrg. Bottom line is this community needed a grocery store, needed affordable home repair supplies, needed JOBS. And that's what this will give them. You ever notice that the only people who really complain about the death of mom and pop stores in favor of walmarts and Lowe's et al are well to do, college educated people? Meanwhile, low-income people are forced to rely on the wildly unhealthy food options dished up by mom and pop. That's right. Mom and pop are stuff white people like.

Lowe's and Shop Rite are stuff everyone in this community needs.

Fuck you, mom and pop.

Best of Philly: People Edition

If you haven't read the City Paper's cover story yet today, shame on you. It highlights some of the best humans we share space with, and it's a great read.

The piece on Andy Dyson is particularly good - I consider it a priviledge to know him, and I'm continually amazed at how much he gets it. Even though I prefer to walk.

And I'd be remiss not to weigh in on the Bob Koch piece. Best deli ever. The #1 thing I miss about West Philadelphia. Yes, I moved to the Italian Market, which offers great options like Sarcone's and DiBruno, but no one will ever live up to the perfection of Koch's. Not in New York, not in Philly. I wasn't a fan of the writing in this piece, but the assessment was spot on - it's still the best.