2005-01-13
PHILADELPHIA | NOTABLES
associated with the city |
I spent my high school days there, and am forever glad I was able to be there when I was | I was a bit of a loner, was pursuing the ancient craft of typesetting [just beginning to be referred to as "graphic arts"] at what was then Murell Dobbins Voc/Tech and after school touring about freely in the city to the temples of culture that one learned the free admission days [as with the Philadelphia Museum of Art] or [like the
Franklin Institute] for 
a kid might have cost a quarter to get into | So ~ even if not actually physically present or not ~ I considered Mr. Franklin to be one of my personal tutors | And, from what I saw, and observed and learned, then certainly in Spirit he was there | This is so, whether it was while walking through the 
archived technological marvels at the Institute or while wandering down one of the many row house blocks and alleyways throughout the city |
So it was with a bittersweet emotion that I read today of a walking tour set to take place this coming weekend in commemoration of Franklin's 300th
birthday | There are other, similar tours, but to me they wouldn't be the same as one specially looking at the city once traversed by the versatile and talented Mr. Franklin's | Ah, well | I suppose this means I'll have to factor in extra time when I'm next visiting that city to plan stopping by Orkney [off 5th Street] and, if I'm lucky, find Mr. Franklin meditating on some bench where I might join him [metaphorically speaking] and sit awhile | Maybe, just perhaps, some of his genius might rub off | Happy birthday Mr. Frankin [17th of January, coming up]
PIX CREDITS: ben-craftsman, deliveryman lori + al | city hall & Ben Franklin on bench from a upenn website, Philadelphia Museum of Art was found on a Temple University site | The Orkney Alley sketch is one of my own |
FOR MORE GREAT STREET SCENES OF PHILLY: Check out Lori + Al's About Town II photoblog, E. F. Tonkinson's Philadelphia Scene, Robert A. Baron's Museum pix and T Black's Vacation Photo reminiscences
¶ 18:39 FOR MORE GREAT STREET SCENES OF PHILLY: Check out Lori + Al's About Town II photoblog, E. F. Tonkinson's Philadelphia Scene, Robert A. Baron's Museum pix and T Black's Vacation Photo reminiscences
