#Philadelphia Country Club

[cure-smiths-headrest]

i just love cowboys

All paintings by Glen Dean | Salad Days - Mac Demarco | Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys - Willie Nelson | El Paso - Marty Robbins | Ask - The Smiths | Country House - Blur | Loser Monologue - Sign Crushes Motorist | Jeane - The Smiths | Philadelphia II - Cyberbully Mom Club | The Ballad of Costa Concordia - Car Seat Headrest

[mariacallous]

lol philadelphia inquirer bodying nyt

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/first-presidential-debate-joe-biden-donald-trump-withdraw-20240629.html

President Joe Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. His disjointed responses and dazed look sparked calls for him to drop out of the presidential race.

But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.

In fact, the debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.

Trump, 78, has been on the political stage for eight years marked by chaos, corruption, and incivility. Why go back to that?

To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just mourning in America.

Throughout the debate, Trump repeatedly said we are a “failing” country. He called the United States a “third world nation.” He said, “we’re living in hell” and “very close to World War III.”

“People are dying all over the place,” Trump said, later adding “we’re literally an uncivilized country now.”

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths told during his four years as president. He dodged the CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection he fueled was farcical. He said a “relatively small number of people” went to the Capitol and many were “ushered in by the police.”

After scheming to overturn the 2020 election, Trump refused to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Unless, of course, he wins.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.

Trump spent chunks of time watching TV, tweeting, and hanging out at his country clubs. Over his four-year term, Trump played roughly 261 rounds of golf.

As president, Trump didn’t read the daily intelligence briefs. He continued to use his personal cell phone, allowing Chinese spies to listen to his calls. During one Oval Office meeting, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

Trump’s term did plenty of damage and had few accomplishments. The much-hyped wall didn’t get built. Infrastructure week was a recurring joke. Giant tax cuts made the rich richer, while fueling massive deficits for others to pay for years. His support for coal, oil drilling and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement worsened the growing impact of climate change.

Trump stacked the judiciary with extreme judges consisting mainly of white males, including a number who the American Bar Association rated as not qualified. A record number of cabinet officials were fired or left the office. The West Wing was in constant chaos and infighting.

Many Trump appointees exited under a cloud of corruption, grifting and ethical scandals. Trump’s children made millions off the White House. His dilettante son-in-law got $2 billion from the Saudi government for his fledgling investment firm even though he never managed money before.

Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths. He boasts about stacking the Supreme Court with extreme right-wingers who are stripping away individual rights, upending legal precedents, and making the country less safe. If elected, Trump may add to the court’s conservative majority.

Of course, there were the unprecedented two impeachments. Now, Trump is a convicted felon who is staring at three more criminal indictments. He is running for president to stay out of prison.

If anything, Trump doesn’t deserve to be on the presidential debate stage. Why even give him a platform?

Trump allegedly stole classified information and tried to overturn an election. His plans for a second term are worse than the last one. We cannot be serious about letting such a crooked clown back in the White House.

Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He’s 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden on his worst day remains lightyears better than Trump on his best.

Biden must show that he is up to the job. This much is clear: He has a substantive record of real accomplishments, fighting the pandemic, combating climate change, investing in infrastructure, and supporting working families and the most vulnerable.

Biden has surrounded himself with experienced people who take public service seriously. He has passed major bipartisan legislation despite a dysfunctional Republican House majority.

Biden believes in the best of America. He has rebuilt relationships with allies around the world and stood up to foes like Russia and China.

There was only one person at the debate who does not deserve to be running for president. The sooner Trump exits the stage, the better off the country will be.

[the-gone-ton]

The dead malls of York

Continuing on the theme from my last post about York Galleria, I'm going to talk more about the four now-closed malls in York that came before the Galleria.

The York Mall

The York Mall opened in 1968, developed by the famous Kravco Company of Philadelphia. It was a fairly large mall for its era (about 700,000 Square feet of retail space, I believe). It was primarily a single-level mall, though in this rare interior photo you can see stairs leading up to a small 2nd level that included a community room and some offices. The opening anchors were JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, and Maryland-based Hochschild-Kohn (seen in the above picture). The mall also featured a Trans-Lux Theater and a flagship location of McCrory's variety store. In fact, the McCrory's distribution center was located directly next door to the York Mall, and a concrete ramp led straight from the distribution center's parking lot right up to the back of McCrory's store around the rear side of the mall. The ramp still exists today as a relic of this bit of McCrory's history. The layout of the mall had Penney's at one end and Wards at the other, with Hochschild-Kohn right in the middle. You'd have to walk through the Kohn's department store to get from one end of the mall to the other.

Hochschild-Kohn's declined in the 70s, closing their York Mall store in 1975. York's own local department store, The Bon-Ton, opened in this spot that same year. The York Mall remained the largest mall in town for 21 years until George Zamias built the 2-story York Galleria practically next door in 1989. Both The Bon-Ton and JCPenney left the York Mall for the York Galleria when it opened, but it wasn't a total loss because The Bon-Ton kept their store open as a new discount concept called "Bon-Ton Express" on the ground floor and put their corporate offices on what had been the 2nd floor of the department store. Still, the new competition from the Galleria badly hurt the York Mall and forced it to go more downscale. Looking to replace JCPenney, the York Mall signed a lease with Arkansas-based discount store Walmart in 1990 - it was the first Walmart in the state of Pennsylvania and was then the largest in the country at 130,000 square feet. Walmart also built a new Sam's Club right next to Montgomery Ward. At the time, the destructive tendencies of Walmart were not as widely-known.

The York Mall still did alright for a few more years with its new configuration. But stores in the mall noticed a drop in business after The Bon-Ton Express closed in May of 1992. Bon-Ton executives attributed the closure to Walmart, whose cash registers only faced their parking lot entrance (in other words, you could enter Walmart from the mall, but you have to leave out towards your car). Burlington replaced Bon-Ton Express in 1993, but it didn't do much to help sales at the small shops. Around the turn of the century, the demise of Montgomery Ward and McCrory's left gaping vacancies in the north end of the mall while an expansion of Walmart into a 240,000 square foot supercenter swallowed up the entire south end of the mall. It didn't take long after that for the remainder of the mall to be demolished.

North Mall

The North Mall - "the first completely carpeted, enclosed shopping center in the East!" - opened in 1969, as the 2nd enclosed shopping mall in York, PA. It was a smaller mall that was sort of split level; the upper level was fully enclosed and anchored by The Bon-Ton and a G.C. Murphy's variety store. At the end opposite of Bon-Ton, an artistic ramp took you down to a lower level that turned into an open air strip mall. This section was anchored by a J.M. Fields discount store, which included a Pantry Pride discount grocery store inside. The whole mall was owned by Food Fair Properties, which shared the same parent company (Food Fair) as Pantry Pride and J.M. Fields.

Food Fair became a pretty large company in the 60s and early 70s, having expanded its subsidiaries Pantry Pride and J.M. Fields nationally. But the business then began to suffer, leading to bankruptcy and the closure of all J.M. Fields stores in 1978. The Pantry Pride at North Mall closed as well. The anchor building that had housed Fields and Pantry Pride was large and difficult to find a replacement tenant for. It housed women's apparel store Marianne's for a few years in the late 70s/early 80s.

1981 brought the opening of West Manchester Mall, a project of famous developer Crown American Corporation. Compared to the nearby North Mall, West Manchester was much newer and larger. The North Mall had never updated, and was still very much a fully-carpeted, flower-patterned product of 1969. The Bon-Ton closed at North Mall to open a new store at West Manchester when it opened. The Bon-Ton was quickly replaced by the 4th location of discount department store Mailman's. Ironically, Mailman's had a collaboration with The Bon-Ton wherein Bon-Ton would supply their own apparel merchandise at Mailman's stores, so Bon-Ton never totally left the North Mall after all. At that point, the North Mall felt pressured to go downscale, so the mall became known as the "North Mall Factory Outlet Center". Burlington opened in the former J.M. Fields location in 1983, and the mall kept afloat for a while. In 1984, G.C. Murphy's closed their store, apparently in violation of a 20 year lease they had signed which did not expire until 1989 (this prompted a lawsuit from the mall). In 1988, the collaboration between Mailman's and Bon-Ton ended, so the North Mall Mailman's lost its whole apparel department. By the end of that same year, Mailman's closed after failing to reach a lease deal with North Mall management. This was the last staw for North Mall, which by 1990 was slated for redevelopment into "Manchester Crossroads," a strip mall. It was the first mall in York to be de-malled.

Delco Plaza Mall

The Delco Plaza Mall was a small, discount-oriented mall opened in 1974 in west York, not far from the North Mall. It featured Hills and Grant City (both discount department stores) as anchors as well as a United Artists movie theater in the mall and a Pathmark grocery store in the parking lot. The UA theater was the first 3-screen cinema in York and drove a lot of traffic into the mall. The name of this mall has always confused me because "Delco" is common shorthand for Delaware County, PA, a county which York is very much not located in. The first issue for Delco Plaza was the bankruptcy of W.T. Grant Co., the parent company of Grant City. This resulted in what was then the largest retail bankruptcy liquidation in American history when all of the Grant's stores closed in 1976. Many former Grant Cities, including the one at Delco Plaza, were snatched up by Kmart for new stores.

In 1981, the West Manchester Mall opened, hurting smaller, older malls like Delco Plaza. At some indeterminate time after this, the UA cinema in the mall was downgraded to a cheaper, second-run theater, which had an adverse effect on mall traffic. The Pathmark also closed, and slowly the stores inside the mall began to go under as well. Though the addition of some new tenants like a post office branch and liquor store helped keep the mall open, it was not enough to save it. Hills, struggling in face of competition from Walmart in particular, was bought out by Ames discount department stores in 1999. Ames, in turn, went out of business in 2002. Kmart closed shortly thereafter. The mostly vacant mall faced demolition in 2005.

West Manchester Mall

The West Manchester Mall was developed by Crown American, one of the nation's largest privately-owned real estate developers, in 1981. It was located in west York, nearby the much smaller North Mall and Delco Plaza Mall. It was a modern, single-level mall, about the same size as the York Mall on the other side of town. It featured The Bon-Ton, Hess's department store of Allentown (which at the time was a subsidiary of Crown American itself), and Gee Bee discount store of Johnstown as its anchors. West Manchester had little drama in its early years as it enjoyed dominance in west York while being far enough from the York Mall on the east side of town to maintain a delicate balance. That balance was only really upset in 1989 by the opening of George Zamias' York Galleria. The Galleria was much larger than any other mall in York, and drew a lot of business away from the York Mall in particular.

In 1992, Gee Bee, which had just survived a bankruptcy filing, was bought by rival discount store Value City. Then, in 1993, Hess's department store was circling the drain after recklessly opening too many locations too far from its home base. It closed at West Manchester, and Crown American signed a lease with Walmart to fill the space. Crown also expanded the mall in 1995, adding a new wing leading to a new Hecht's department store of Maryland. A few years later, they renovated the mall again and added a 13 screen Regal Cinemas to occipy vacant store space and keep the West Manchester Mall competitive. But the decision to bring in Walmart turned out to be a long-term curse for the mall itself, as Walmart chose to expand into a supercenter in the early 2000s. Just as it did at the York Mall, the West Manchester Walmart took over what used to be a whole wing of the mall when it expanded. Hecht's became Macy's in 2005, and Value City went out of business in 2008, to be replaced by Kohl's. A big nail in the coffin came when in 2011 The Bon-Ton announced that their store at West Manchester was "not performing as well as it should" and would close at the end of their lease the following January. At this point, Regal was mostly the only thing keeping people coming into the mall. The mall was sold in 2012 to new owners who pledged a nearly $50 million renovation to transform it into the West Manchester Town Center, an open-air retail center. With this closure, the York Galleria became the only surviving mall out of five in York, PA.

[graceandfamily]

Prince Rainier III of Monaco, one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, and motion picture queen Grace Kelly smile as they drive from the Philadelphia Country Club after their engagement was formally announced by Miss Kelly’s parents on Jan. 5, 1956.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Finally a sensible, logical, reasonable, unhysterical commentary from a prominent newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.

[Take THAT New York Times.....]

+

President Joe Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. His disjointed responses and dazed look sparked calls for him to drop out of the presidential race.

But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.

In fact, the debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.

Trump, 78, has been on the political stage for eight years marked by chaos, corruption, and incivility. Why go back to that?

To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just mourning in America.

Throughout the debate, Trump repeatedly said we are a “failing” country. He called the United States a “third world nation.” He said, “we’re living in hell” and “very close to World War III.”

“People are dying all over the place,” Trump said, later adding “we’re literally an uncivilized country now.”

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths told during his four years as president. He dodged the CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection he fueled was farcical. He said a “relatively small number of people” went to the Capitol and many were “ushered in by the police.”

After scheming to overturn the 2020 election, Trump refused to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Unless, of course, he wins.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.

Trump spent chunks of time watching TV, tweeting, and hanging out at his country clubs. Over his four-year term, Trump played roughly 261 rounds of golf.

As president, Trump didn’t read the daily intelligence briefs. He continued to use his personal cell phone, allowing Chinese spies to listen to his calls. During one Oval Office meeting, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

Trump’s term did plenty of damage and had few accomplishments. The much-hyped wall didn’t get built. Infrastructure week was a recurring joke. Giant tax cuts made the rich richer, while fueling massive deficits for others to pay for years. His support for coal, oil drilling and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement worsened the growing impact of climate change.

Trump stacked the judiciary with extreme judges consisting mainly of white males, including a number who the American Bar Association rated as not qualified. A record number of cabinet officials were fired or left the office. The West Wing was in constant chaos and infighting.

Many Trump appointees exited under a cloud of corruption, grifting and ethical scandals. Trump’s children made millions off the White House. His dilettante son-in-law got $2 billion from the Saudi government for his fledgling investment firm even though he never managed money before.

Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths. He boasts about stacking the Supreme Court with extreme right-wingers who are stripping away individual rights, upending legal precedents, and making the country less safe. If elected, Trump may add to the court’s conservative majority.

Of course, there were the unprecedented two impeachments. Now, Trump is a convicted felon who is staring at three more criminal indictments. He is running for president to stay out of prison.

If anything, Trump doesn’t deserve to be on the presidential debate stage. Why even give him a platform?

Trump allegedly stole classified information and tried to overturn an election. His plans for a second term are worse than the last one. We cannot be serious about letting such a crooked clown back in the White House.

If anything, Trump doesn’t deserve to be on the presidential debate stage. Why even give him a platform?

Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He’s 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden on his worst day remains lightyears better than Trump on his best.

Biden must show that he is up to the job. This much is clear: He has a substantive record of real accomplishments, fighting the pandemic, combating climate change, investing in infrastructure, and supporting working families and the most vulnerable.

Biden has surrounded himself with experienced people who take public service seriously. He has passed major bipartisan legislation despite a dysfunctional Republican House majority.

Biden believes in the best of America. He has rebuilt relationships with allies around the world and stood up to foes like Russia and China.

There was only one person at the debate who does not deserve to be running for president. The sooner Trump exits the stage, the better off the country will be.

[scotianostra]

William “Willie” Macfarlane was born on 29th June 1889, in Aberdeen.

Willie went to the United States to become a professional at the Oak Ridge Golf Club in Tuckahoe, New York.

He participated and won in the Philadelphia Open Championships in 1921 and in the Westchester Open in 1924. His career high was when he won the U.S. Open in 1925, which was held in Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. Initially, he tied with Bobby Jones over 72 holes but eventually topped Jones by one stroke. MacFarlane went on to win the tournament and set a new U.S. Open single round low-score.

He continued to compete in the U.S. Open but was not able to repeat his success in 1925. In total, MacFarlane had 22 wins throughout his entire career. In 1930, he won the Metropolitan Open in the United States, as well as the Westchester Open title.

MacFarlane competed in 1931 for championship title in the Miami International Four-Ball in Florida and won. He participated again in the 1933 Metropolitan Open and also won the competition. Although he played in the U.S. Open 16 times, MacFarlane only had one more top-ten spot.

On the PGA Tour, he won a total of 21 times and won almost 60% of his matches. He topped two other golf greats, Paul Runyan and Johnny Farrell. MacFarlane also played alongside the likes of Willie Ormond, Gordon Smith, and Lawrie Reilly.

In 1967, MacFarlane died in Miami, Florida at the age of 71, he is one of Scotland’s most successful golfers and arguably the best to ply his trade in the US.

[sapphicbookclub]

Author Spotlight: Diane Billas

We at the Sapphic Book Club are excited to bring you a new essay from author Diane Billas, titled Feeling Like I Belong. Billas is the author of the current club read Does Love Always Win?, her debut novel.

I never thought I belonged in the LGBTQ+ community. I’m pansexual and married to a man, so honestly, I very rarely told people my sexual orientation because I was afraid to be judged and wasn’t sure if I was queer enough. I was scared of the inevitable bi/pan erasure to happen. 

But I started to find that this wasn’t healthy for my own mental health. Plus, I was denying people a chance to know who I am as an individual—the real me—and I made assumptions about what people might say that might not actually be true. 

Through the help of my therapist, I joined an LGBTQ+ support group to dip my toes into feeling like I belong somewhere. I first wanted to attend a bi/pan group but I couldn’t find one, so I decided to join an LGBTQ+ support group near where I live and I’m so happy I did. They are the nicest and most accepting group of people I have ever met. My first time attending the group I think I only said a few words but I could tell that I was going to feel comfortable confiding in them. They made me feel like there was actually a spot for me in the LGBTQ+ community, and for that, I am so thankful. 

By the time my sapphic young adult novel, Does Love Always Win?, was picked up by a publisher, I was finally feeling more sure about myself, thanks to my support group and therapist. I decided to take the leap and tell my family about myself. I wanted to be able to talk about my book authentically and why I wrote it, and in order to do that I needed to be out. 

The press release about my book was getting ready to be released, so I drove two hours to my parents’ house to tell them about myself. I was so scared and thought I was going to throw up but the discussion went better than I expected and my mom even said she wishes I told her sooner. 

Some days I still have doubts about myself and if I really do belong in the LGBTQ+ community, but then I remember how accepting most people have been, and realize that yes, there is a place for all that identify there, no matter what. 

Diane Billas is the author of the young adult sapphic contemporary romance novel Does Love Always Win? and the young adult superhero LGBTQ+ novel Superficial releasing September 2024, both published with Creative James Media.

Diane Billas lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband and son. When she’s not writing she can be found reading multiple books at once, performing the French horn and piano, or dreaming of the next country she’s going to visit. Diane can be found at dianebillas.com, on Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook @dianebillas, and on Instagram @dianebillaswrites.

[anniekoh]

Books to read, courtesy of S. Bear Bergman's delightful column Queer Culture Catch-Up

https://xtramagazine.com/series/queer-culture-catch-up

The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After

by Lucas Hilderbrand (2023) - https://www.lucashilderbrand.com/

Gay bars have operated as the most visible institutions of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States for the better part of a century, from before gay liberation until after their assumed obsolescence. In The Bars Are Ours Lucas Hilderbrand offers a panoramic history of gay bars, showing how they served as the medium for queer communities, politics, and cultures. Hilderbrand cruises from leather in Chicago and drag in Kansas City to activism against gentrification in Boston and racial discrimination in Atlanta; from New York City’s bathhouses, sex clubs, and discos and Houston’s legendary bar Mary’s to the alternative scenes that reimagined queer nightlife in San Francisco and Latinx venues in Los Angeles. The Bars Are Ours explores these local sites (with additional stops in Denver, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Orlando as well as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Texas) to demonstrate the intoxicating---even world-making---roles that bars have played in queer public life across the country.

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, an oral history

https://uncpress.org/book/9780807872260/sweet-tea/

by E. Patrick Johnson (2011)

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, Sweet Tea collects more than sixty life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive" and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners--often in spaces and activities that appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

[whatifiexploded]

hey guys

just thought i would make a bit of a introduction post cuz why not

my interests include but are not limited to: saltburn, scott pilgrim, top gun, it's always sunny in philadelphia, fight club, the wild west, the sims, arrested development, weird gay movies, commentary youtubers, garfield, pictures of monkeys doing silly things, fanfiction, 2010's pop music, and finding homoerotic subtext in literally everything i watch

my favorite movies are: scott pilgrim vs the world, ferris buellers day off, brokeback mountain, top gun (both of them), back to the future, velvet goldmine, the living end, donnie darko, alien, little shop of horrors, bill and teds excellent adventure, my cousin vinny, scream, 10 things i hate about you, asteroid city, rocketman, and the original alice in wonderland

my favorite musicians are: black country new road, wham, XTC, jeffery lewis, mom jeans, jpegmafia, soft cell, new order, the microphones, lil uzi vert, alex g, beastie boys, bjork, CZARFACE, david bowie, duran duran, ecco2k, fiona apple, marty robbins, nicki minaj, plumtree, sublime, the front bottoms, the smiths, the cure, and ween (if you can't already tell, i love music)

my pinterest is @jakegyllenhaalfanboy42 (don't make fun of my username i think it's very funny), my letterboxd is under the name greebleneeble, and heres the link to my spotify

[wilderhockey]

nhl teams as school clubs/student orgs

the result of a 15-minute conversation with lil @wymgreenteam this afternoon. based specifically on our experience in hs (also note that I’ve been out of hs for four years now so some of this might be misremembered but whatever it’s about the vibes).

this is not necessarily kind to all (or really any) teams but it is light-hearted and in good fun.

I put it under a readmore because 32 teams is a lot of teams

~

anaheim ducks: theater (actors specifically) - dramatic as fuck. loud as fuck. endearing in spite of it [see sharks/kings]

arizona coyotes: not a club. they’re the guys who show up to school in their tractors from october to march because the weather is fucking terrible and they’ve gotta get there somehow (thanks mn)

boston bruins: key club - self-important for no particular reason. also this is a club where you pay to do community service, which is just fundamentally wrong in the same way I feel when I see the bruins’ meth bear

buffalo sabres: swim team - wet. no I will not elaborate.

calgary flames: garden club - I didn’t even know we had a garden club until lil suggested this

carolina hurricanes: model UN - super well-run, they’ve got some nice kids involved, but I dislike them on principle

chicago I’m not writing out their team name: lacrosse - universally hated except by themselves and often take insults as compliments. also the worst punishment I can think of for a hockey team is telling them they remind me of lax bros

colorado avalanche: empowering women’s club - mostly performative but sometimes (when they can get the whole group together) they do fun things

columbus blue jackets: student section - they’re all college kids sorry it just fits

dallas stars: gender and sexuality alliance - listen. I don’t know what’s going on down there, but I can tell you it’s definitely gay

detroit red wings: cross-country - sometimes the rookies are good but everything else about them is forgettable

edmonton oilers: knowledge bowl - connor mcdavid reminds me of kb kids. leon draisaitl would be that guy who knows fuck-all answer-wise but can hit the buzzer super early and always knows what the question is asking. they just have neatly partitioned tasks for everyone and it sometimes works. yes I did kb for 7 years can you tell

florida panthers: FCA (fellowship of christian athletes) - the combination of donuts and christian rock at every meeting leveled out to a net zero

la kings: theater (tech crew specifically) - black and white outfits and idk sneaky vibes? they feel like a variety show in the same way tech does [see ducks/sharks]

minnesota wild: marching band - they’re dumb. they love each other. pranks are inevitable. some gay shit is happening. the director has very little control

montreal canadiens: magic the gathering club - just some kids hanging out. j chillin. one-sided feud with costco. vaguely hostile but in a blatantly self-defensive way

nashville predators: baseball - they were good for a while one time but now they’re just sad and middling

new jersey devils: speech - it’s fun when you’re not worried about winning, it’s a great group, but the moment you start paying attention to numbers you will cry

new york islanders: volleyball - bitchy vibes. and mat barzal’s tiny shorts

new york rangers: quiz bowl - to quote lil, they “aren’t smart enough for [knowledge bowl]” but also zero teamwork despite individual prowess

ottawa senators: robotics (FRC specifically) - they’re constantly falling apart but when it works it Works. also lots of freaks of many varieties (affectionate)

philadelphia flyers: that one political club a couple of my friends started junior year. pac or something? - it was going fine and then it changed management and now. hm.

pittsburgh penguins: student council - overachievers (affectionate). somewhat ineffective but they’re putting the effort in

san jose sharks: theater (pit specifically) - oft forgotten, but generally chill [see ducks/kings]

seattle kraken: chess club - to quote lil, “good vibes. don’t do anything, just here for fun.” I agree

st. louis blues: choir - rancid vibes. (I was a choir kid I’m allowed to say the vibes were rancid bc they were)

tampa bay lightning: honor society - overachievers (derogatory)

toronto maple leafs: lettuce club - for anyone unfamiliar, this is a club where every year, everyone interested sits at a table and simultaneously consumes an entire head of lettuce. whoever does it fastest is the Head of Lettuce for the next year. I have no fucking clue what they did at the rest of their meetings. leafs vibes

vancouver canucks: anime club - what the fuck is going on over there don’t look pretend you don’t see them and it’ll be fine (affectionate)

vegas golden knights: debate - this is for nolpats specifically I know he’s in LTIR hell but this is for him

washington capitals: that’s just the teacher’s union

winnipeg jets: football - they were never good but people go for the social aspect not the score

[gracie-bird]

Mrs. Frederic S. Claghorn (left) and Mrs. George J. Hauptfuhrer Jr. meet at the Chestnut Hill home of Mrs. Joseph S. Rambo (right) to complete plans for Oct. 30 gala being sponsored by women's division of Eastern Pennsylvania Multiple Sclerosis Society at Academy of Music.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Sunday, October 12, 1969).

DANCE HONORS PRINCESS GRACE

Dance honors Princess Brace Princess Grace of Monaco will be guest of honor at a "champagne dance" on Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Academy of Music Ballroom. Mrs. Joseph S. Rambo, of Chestnut Hill, is honorary chairman of the gala being sponsored by the Eastern Pennsylvania Multiple Sclerosis Society to raise funds to support research in finding the cause and control of this disease.

Festivities will begin with cocktails at 5 P. M. followed by dancing to the music of Romig, Lewis and Carney orchestras.

CHAIRMEN LISTED

Mrs. William E. Milhollen, Mrs. William A. Roth and Mrs. A. Ardley Henkels, are cochairmen.

Assisting the chairmen in arrangements for the Oct. 30 dance will be Mrs. Lloyd M. Coates, Mrs. George Morris Dorrance, Mrs. Frank B. Axelrod, Mrs. Frank Garofolo, Mrs. Morris R. Shaffer, Mrs. Alan D. Ameche, Mrs. Kershaw Burbank, Mrs. Murray Firestone, Mrs. F. Howard Goodwin Jr., Miss Ann Jane Callan, Mrs. Margaret K. Con-Ian, Mrs. Sydney Daroff, Mrs. Michael Daroff and Mrs. Edward Dudlik. Also, Mrs. Frederick H. Le vis Jr., Miss Marian Hayes, Mrs. W.Thacher Longstreth, Mrs. George J. Hauptfuhrer Jr., Mrs. Paul R. Kaiser, Mrs.Frederic S. Claghorn, Mrs. Russell Levin, Mrs. William Levinson, Mrs. Donald LeVine. Others are Henry S. McNeil, Mrs. Walter J. Maiden, Miss Patricia Lockhart, Mrs. Charles Nicholson, Mrs. Elizabeth Orr, Mrs. B. Arthur Pinney, Mrs. William Putnam, Miss Mildred Rinker, Mrs. Henriette Wallace, Mrs. Stanley A. Welsh Jr., Mrs. Michael A. Walsh, Mrs. Thomas A. Wood Jr., Mrs. Douglas H. Worrall Jr., Mrs. Vernon D. Wright, Mrs. Charles Wilson, Mrs. Robert G. Wilder.

"OPENING NIGHT" IS THEM OF BALL

"Opening Night" is the theme of the sixth annual West Park Hospital Ball to be held Saturday evening at Radnor Valley Country Club.

The ball is sponsored by the Women's Auxiliary of the Hospital and is cochairmened by Mr. and Mrs. Aaron N. Cohen. Proceeds will benefit the hospital building fund campaign and a new cardiac unit.

LANEiBRiANT for Fine carpet. we design them. From you like investment in dedicated Wall-to-Wall Hardwick's Colors: Green, sq. yd..

[mariacallous]

Whether you're a student, a journalist, or a business professional, knowing how to do high-quality research and writing using trustworthy data and sources, without giving in to the temptation of AI or ChatGPT, is a skill worth developing.

As I detail in my book Writing That Gets Noticed, locating credible databases and sources and accurately vetting information can be the difference between turning a story around quickly or getting stuck with outdated information.

For example, several years ago the editor of Parents.com asked for a hot-take reaction to country singer Carrie Underwood saying that, because she was 35, she had missed her chance at having another baby. Since I had written about getting pregnant in my forties, I knew that as long as I updated my facts and figures, and included supportive and relevant peer-reviewed research, I could pull off this story. And I did.

The story ran later that day, and it led to other assignments. Here are some tips I’ve learned that you should consider mastering before you turn to automated tools like generative AI to handle your writing work for you.

Find Statistics From Primary Sources

Identify experts, peer-reviewed research study authors, and sources who can speak with authority—and ideally, offer easily understood sound bites or statistics on the topic of your work. Great sources include professors at major universities and media spokespeople at associations and organizations.

For example, writer and author William Dameron pinned his recent essay in HuffPost Personal around a statistic from the American Heart Association on how LGBTQ people experience higher rates of heart disease based on discrimination. Although he first found the link in a secondary source (an article in The New York Times), he made sure that he checked the primary source: the original study that the American Heart Association gleaned the statistic from. He verified the information, as should any writer, because anytime a statistic is cited in a secondary source, errors can be introduced.

Dive Into Databases

Jen Malia, author of The Infinity Rainbow Club series of children’s books (whom I recently interviewed on my podcast), recently wrote a piece about dinosaur-bone hunting for Business Insider, which she covers in her book Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit.

After a visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Malia, whose books are set in Philadelphia, found multiple resources online and on the museum site that gave her the history of the Bone Wars, information on the exhibits she saw, and the scientific names of the dinosaurs she was inspired by. She also used the Library of Congress’ website, which offers digital collections and links to the Library of Congress Newspaper Collection.

Malia is a fan of searching for additional resources and citable documents with Google Scholar. “If I find that a secondary source mentions a newspaper article, I’m going to go to the original newspaper article, instead of just stopping there and quoting,” she says.

Your local public library is a great source of free information, journals, and databases (even ones that generally require a subscription and include embargoed research). For example, your search should include everything from health databases (Sage Journals, Scopus, PubMed) to databases for academic sources and journalism (American Periodical Series Online, Statista, Academic Search Premier) and databases for news, trends, market research, and polls (the Harris Poll, Pew Research Center, Newsbank, ProPublica).

Even if you find a study or paper that you can’t access in one of those databases, consider reaching out to the study’s lead author or researcher. In many cases, they’re happy to discuss their work and may even share the study with you directly and offer to talk about their research.

Get a Good Filtering System

For journalist Paulette Perhach’s article on ADHD in The New York Times, she used Epic Research to see “dual team studies.” That's when two independent teams address the same topic or question, and ideally come to the same conclusions. She recommends locating research and experts via key associations for your topic. She also likes searching via Google Scholar but advises filtering it for studies and research in recent years to avoid using old data. She suggests keeping your links and research organized. “Always be ready to be peer-reviewed yourself,” Perhach says.

When you are looking for information for a story or project, you might be inclined to start with a regular Google search. But keep in mind that the internet is full of false information, and websites that look trustworthy can sometimes turn out to be businesses or companies with a vested interest in you taking their word as objective fact without additional scrutiny. Regardless of your writing project, unreliable or biased sources are a great way to torpedo your work—and any hope of future work.

For Accuracy, Go to the Government

Author Bobbi Rebell researched her book Launching Financial Grownups using the IRS’ website. “I might say that you can contribute a certain amount to a 401K, but it might be outdated because those numbers are always changing, and it’s important to be accurate,” she says. “AI and ChatGPT can be great for idea generation,” says Rebell, “but you have to be careful. If you are using an article someone was quoted in, you don’t know if they were misquoted or quoted out of context.”

If you use AI and ChatGPT for sourcing, you not only risk introducing errors, you risk introducing plagiarism—there is a reason OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is being sued for downloading information from all those books.

Historically, the Loudest Isn’t the Best

Audrey Clare Farley, who writes historical nonfiction, has used a plethora of sites for historical research, including Women Also Know History, which allows searches by expertise or area of study, and JSTOR, a digital library database that offers a number of free downloads a month. She also uses Chronicling America, a project from the Library of Congress which gathers old newspapers to show how a historical event was reported, and Newspapers.com (which you can access via free trial but requires a subscription after seven days).

When it comes to finding experts, Farley cautions against choosing the loudest voices on social media platforms. “They might not necessarily be the most authoritative. I vet them by checking if they have a history of publication on the topic, and/or educational credentials.”

When vetting an expert, look for these red flags:

You can’t find their work published or cited anywhere.

They were published in an obscure journal.

Their research is funded by a company, not a university, or they are the spokesperson for the company they are doing research for. (This makes them a public relations vehicle and not an appropriate source for journalism.)

And finally, the best endings for virtually any writing, whether it’s an essay, a research paper, an academic report, or a piece of investigative journalism, circle back to the beginning of the piece, and show your reader the transformation or the journey the piece has presented in perspective.

As always, your goal should be strong writing supported by research that makes an impact without cutting corners. Only then can you explore tools that might make the job a little easier, for instance by generating subheads or discovering a concept you might be missing—because then you'll have the experience and skills to see whether it's harming or helping your work.

[graceandfamily]

Grace Kelly, queen of the movies, whose engagement to Prince Rainier III of Monaco, was announced, smiles as she leaves the Philadelphia Country Club on Jan. 5, 1956, after the engagement announcement luncheon, closely followed in the doorway by the 32-year-old prince.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Flag Day

Whether it's waving in the wind or printed on your favorite t-shirt, this symbol represents a nation founded on freedom and hope.

It’s time to rally round… Whether it’s a huge Stars and Stripes flapping on the porch, or just a lapel pin, find a way to mark a unique day in a unique nation. Pay some respect to this notable national flag of the United States of America on National Flag Day!

History of National Flag Day

This important day can trace its roots back more than 100 years when United States President Woodrow Wilson, on May 30, 1916, issued a presidential proclamation declaring June 14 to be National Flag Day. Honoring the flag that now bears fifty stars and thirteen stripes, this day commemorates the day in 1777 when the approval for the first national flag was made. Though National Flag Day is not an official federal or government holiday, it is still an important time to celebrate.

Of course, the flag has gone through a few different iterations over the years. Originally containing thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, as the country grew, the flag changed. The most recent change was on July 4, 1960, when two more stars were added to celebrate the addition of two new states to the union: Alaska and Hawaii.

While the Fourth of July has become an all-around celebration of the birthday of America, National Flag Day has kept more of a local character, with traditions rooted in the township or the county, the city or the state capital. And much more than for family festivals, it feels right to be celebrating it with your team, club or class.

Every year, people are invited to discover their inner Betsy Ross and make their own versions of Old Glory, in everything from stained glass to potato prints to rows of flowers. The men who adopted the first flag, way back in 1777, could hardly have imagined it. Three cheers for all things red, white and blue with stars and stripes on National Flag Day!

How to Celebrate National Flag Day

Show some support for the meaning of the US Flag by celebrating National Flag Day with a variety of activities, including some of these:

Display an American Flag

One of the most important things to do on National Flag Day is to show a bit of American pride by flying a flag. Hang it on a pole on the outside of the house, raise one up a flag pole or place one on the desk at the office.

This is a great time to show a bit of patriotism and loyalty to the fifty white stars and thirteen red and white stripes. But remember, to adhere to the US Flag Code, if a flag is flown outside, it should be raised in the morning and taken down at sunset each day.

Visit the Betsy Ross House

The story goes that a woman named Elizabeth Griscom Ross, who was a seamstress for George Washington, was the person who made the first flag, commissioned by the president and two of his colleagues. The legend has been passed down through the Ross family for more than two centuries. Tourists can head over to the Betsy Ross House, located in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, to take a tour of the place and learn more about the history of Old Glory.

Try Making Some American Flags

One interesting activity to enjoy in celebration of National Flag Day might be to get creative with some stars and stripes of your own. A variety of mediums could be employed, from watercolor or acrylic paints to crochet or knitting with yarn, it’s fun to see what ways a flag can take shape.

Parents and teachers can help school aged children or preschoolers using popsicle sticks, perler beads, paper plates or other crafting materials. Or just keep it simple with some white paper and some crayons or colored pencils. National Flag Day has never been so much fun!

Source

[zet-sway]

re: songs that make you go \(￣︶￣*\))

It was 2019 and one of the best years of my life. I planned a day of events for our four year wedding anniversary. First, we went sunflower picking, followed by a nice nap after the heat, and dinner at a tapas restaurant. We ordered one of the most expensive things on the menu and ate until we were ready to burst. And then we went to a synthpop concert.

The band we saw was called Iris. A lot of people probably have never heard of this band before. Synthpop doesn't have the footing in the US the way it does in Europe, so Iris played one (1) show in my country that year, right in Philadelphia. They played the entirety of their debut album - the one with the club hit that put them on the map - but they also played a few lesser-known songs, stuff they'd never performed live before, and songs that never made it on a record in the first place. They performed at Underground Arts on the small stage for no more than what I would estimate was 200 people.

The vocalist was nervous, so someone bought him a shot. He stood up there telling us his memories of recording the album they came to play for us. And then he said "I don't know if I still have the voice for this," and began to play a song called Everybody is Life.

I stood there, surrounded by strangers, as they played. It was a quiet song. I closed my eyes and leaned into my husband and just listened. And then came the drop. Not a loud, crazy dubstep thing, not even a drop that made people hype. It was this quiet escalation that made my bones vibrate and yanked every sense to the present moment. I can't describe it. It felt so right to be held by the man I loved while this song played.

I don't know if that song would have hit me the way it did if I had heard it in any other context. Something about the intimacy of such a small crowd, such raw honesty from the vocalist, and the occasion itself just crawled right under my skin and refused to leave. I came to that show excited to hear a few favorite tracks from a band I liked, and I left with a memory that cocooned me in warmth for a solid week. I've been to a lot of incredible concerts, but this one might be my number one for this memory alone.

Anyway, this is a mass effect blog, so you may be asking "what does this have to do with anything?" Honestly, not much, save for the fact that I love to put this song on when I'm writing sappy shrios fics. I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning eating some soup and salad at Panera - I come here to get a little writing done when I can - and I'm thinking about this memory. Tumblr felt like the right place to share it. Hope you're all having a good day c:

Iris - Everybody is Life (Sea of Life Remix)

Near as I can tell, Iris does not have an official youtube channel, and a lot of their discography is not available on Spotify. I can't tell you if the remix is a real thing or who remixed it or anything - all I know is this is what I remember of the song they played at the above mentioned show. The group formed in 1993 and disbanded sometime around 2021. They came to play one show in Philadelphia after many fans from a local club called Nocturne asked nicely to host an anniversary event for their album, Disconnect.

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

From Penn  Yan, with love

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Depending on how you look at it, it was either the height of the Cold War or the early days of this standoff between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Fourteen years after World War II ended, the Iron Curtain had indeed descended as Russia wrestled Eastern European countries into its orbit, and the Space Race was on after Sputnik and Sputnik II were launched. Still, the Cuban Missile Crisis had not yet unfolded, the Vietnam War had not yet erupted, and there were still more than 30 years before the USSR fell along with the Berlin Wall.

Amid this period of tension – sometimes with sharp words, other times with nuclear threats – as the world’s two superpowers stared each other down, a dozen Soviet graduate students – with an average age of 27 – spent a week in Penn Yan in November 1959, during a monthlong tour of the United States. They visited various businesses and industries and other establishments, and they learned about what life is like in a democratic, capitalist society during what was billed as an activity to build better international cooperation and understanding.

The group, which also included three American guides, arrived in Penn Yan on Wednesday, November 4 from the Boston, Massachusetts area – having visited Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, WGBH Educational Television, and the like – and then departed Penn Yan one week later for a two-day visit to Washington, D.C. and a weeklong stay in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of these things is not like the others, as the old Muppets song goes, but it seems Penn Yan got the nod for a tour stop because of its prior connections to the Experiment in International Living, one of the entities that organized the experience.

But unlike the group’s other stops, Yates County could offer a look into life in a rural, agrarian community. While six local families each housed two of the Soviet group members during their weeklong stay, the activities during the day kept the Soviet students learning about the agricultural and industrial components of the area and enjoying the recreation offered by the Finger Lakes region. Following a reception at the Oliver House on Thursday, November 5, the group took a walking tour of downtown Penn Yan and later visited three local farms – the Loomis poultry farm, the Miller dairy farm, and the Emerson poultry processing plant. The next day took them to Cornell University to tour the campus as a whole and then visit the animal husbandry, agricultural engineering, and home economics schools.

Other notable activities included attending classes and an assembly at Penn Yan Academy, touring Penn Yan Boat Company and Urbana Wine Cellar, and being feted at a dinner held by the Penn Yan Central School District Adult Education Advisory Council on the final night in the village. There was plenty of time in the itinerary for fun, however – group rides on Keuka Lake and even group flights over the lake as well as the senior play, a high school football game, a bowling outing, free time with their host families, and more. Civic organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to the Rotary Club to the American Legion and other groups hosted the visitors at different points in time.

The group included a medical student, a correspondent for a youth newspaper, a post-graduate agricultural student, a pianist, and even an actress, who was the only member of the group to be singled out in a newspaper headline. None of them had visited the United States before, but all of them seemed to leave with a good impression, especially of the Penn Yan and Yates County community. The goodwill extended to their hosts as well, as the families who hosted the Soviet students wrote letters – now contained within the subject files of the Yates County History Center – commenting on their positive interactions and experiences with their foreign guests. The local American Legion, seemingly contrary to its tenets, even allowed the students to use its facilities to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the Russian Revolution – an event compared to the Fourth of July in an editorial in The Chronicle-Express.

Generally, the Penn Yan families who hosted the Soviet students had good things to say about their guests and the visit, noting the students were well mannered and well educated and the families and their visitors enjoyed discussing their respective lifestyles without getting into politics. Two main criticisms of the weeklong tour were the television coverage that distracted the Soviet students from the task at hand and the lack of free time in the schedule with which the students could have spent more time with their host families. Overall, it seems as if everyone – the Soviet students and their American hosts alike – believed the experience was a pleasant and worthwhile undertaking.

The words of one of the Soviet students, Vadim Loginov, as quoted in a newspaper article, might sum up the feelings of goodwill on both sides of this moment of U.S.-Soviet cooperation: “We know we have a different approach to things, and a different philosophy of life, but we did not come here to look for the differences, but rather want to see the many things we share alike.”