Just don’t let the Belschnickel get you.
LaborPHL
I’m officially announcing my project focusing on labor in Philadelphia, LaborPHL. I’ve been working on aggregating news from around the region, as well as researching stats about labor, unions and the workforce, and exactly what the numbers mean for Philadelphia laborers. LaborPHL will cover anything and everything related to the workforce, unions and management/labor relations in Philadelphia.
Check it out each Sunday for Sunday Numbers, which highlights an interesting or unseen side of labor statistics. Follow it on Twitter, too, for up-to-the-minute updates and fun factoids.
The basics
www.laborphl.com
Twitter.com/laborphl
This is from a while ago, in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. All the hills make Pittsburgh seem rather majestic, especially in fall.
In order to consolidate my Web sites a little better, I’m moving a blog I maintained for a special project in the spring, Cecil B. to Lehigh, to stephenzook.com. The project involved working with a Hispanic family in North Philadelphia, and producing some kind of introspective journalistic work from my experience. The posts are below. Enjoy!
From Cecil B. to Lehigh, posted May 8.
On one of my visits to Michelle, I stopped at the gas station down the block from her house. I had only a dollar on me, but spent 50 cents on a Little Debbie snack.
As I was waiting in line, I noticed some people were buying scratch-off lottery tickets. A young woman at the counter asked for another ticket, and told a man next to her it was her last for the day.
I’ve never been much for the lottery. Winning millions of dollars is appealing, sure, but I’d usually rather buy a candy bar (I have a terrible sweet tooth) and know I will enjoy myself for five minutes than buy a one-in-millions chance that I might walk out a rich man.
That being said, I’ve always been fascinated by the lottery.
I had a friend in high school who was fond of saying that all you need in life is cigarettes and hope. read more…
From Cecil B. to Lehigh, posted April 20.
During one of my visits to see Michelle, she asked me where I was from. I told her Lancaster, a county about an hour’s drive west of Philadelphia.
Michelle said she had been there when she was younger. I asked her where in Lancaster she went, and she said it was an amusement park, with rides for children, but that she couldn’t remember the name.
There are only two real amusement parks in Lancaster. One is Hershey Park, and I thought she would know the name of that. The other is Dutch Wonderland, a child-friendly park in the middle of the tourist area of Lancaster. I asked if that was the one she had been to, and she recognized the name.
A little background: I have been to Dutch Wonderland several times, mostly as a child. For pre-teens and children, it’s quite a thrill. It’s lack of character and non-existent Lancaster connection make it grow old pretty fast, though (A common snarky observation in Lancaster is that Dutch Wonderland is neither Dutch nor a Wonderland). read more…
From Cecil B. to Lehigh, posted April 3.
In a previous post, I mentioned that Michelle is fond of saying “respect for respect.” I thought it was a refreshing take on authority. In my own experience, I’ve always chafed at people who demand respect be bestowed upon them. It’s like insisting someone tell you you’re a lady, in a way. You can make someone pay you lip service, but it doesn’t make you a lady, or respected.
The more I talk to Michelle, though, her mantra makes more sense. read more…
From Cecil B. to Lehigh, posted Mar. 19.
Meeting with Michelle has been a learning experience for me, and oddly enough, comforting. For a dozen reasons, it’s still hard not to venture into a more dangerous section of Philadelphia without some preconceived notions about what it will be like, and what the people there will be like.
When Felicia and I started going to see Michelle, we talked a lot about her and her children. We would sit in her living room, modestly furnished except for a big-screen TV in the corner. Her children came through every once in a while, seeming neither fazed nor annoyed by us.
The front door wasn’t sealed well, so a breeze usually blew an early-year chill through it. The house never seemed cold, though. A heater kicked on every once in a while.
Our conversations usually surrounded her children. She told us stories of going to her daughter’s school after hearing a rumor that some other girls wanted to fight her after school (it turned out not to be true: no girls showed). There were stories about giving her daughters cell phones, and not being afraid to take them away if their grades fell.
“My friend says I’m bribing them,” Michelle said. She feels differently, though. If it gets them to do their work, great.
“Respect for respect,” she is fond of saying.
Editor’s Note: Recession got you down? Final projects weighing on your sanity? Take a break with this (almost) completely fabricated story!
“Hey man, you want a couple Xanies?”
I did not, but I almost wanted to say yes to find out if he really had them. Turns out, this guy was out of jail less than 24 hours, and somehow he already had his hands on Xanax. If only the people putting criminals in jail worked as fast as the people who get them in trouble in the first place.
I was on Greyhound, having just visited my girlfriend in Pittsburgh. My companion, let’s call him Kitzenstrudel, apparently was on Xanies, and leaving his girlfriends at Albion State Prison after a stint of 5 to 10.
You wouldn’t have known looking at him that he was an ex-convict. Of course, if you walked around behind him, and saw the oversized “Department of Corrections” stamped on his shirt, that might give you a clue. read more…
I haven’t had the chance to post this yet, but check out The Temple News video on Geert Wilder’s visit. It was edited by Sartaj Phanda and Ian Rose, and reported by myself.
