When I was six years old, my mother took me to the library in Vineland, New Jersey. She pointed me to a stack of Hardy Boy books and said, “Pick five. ” That started my love affair with libraries. (Throughout my childhood, I have had a recurring fantasy of being accidentally locked in a library overnight. There’s something about being surrounded by bookshelves that really gets me going.)

More at www.phillygrrl.com.

The Inquirer published their report on Philadelphia Homicides this year. (Thanks J!) Some numbers to remember:

* 333 is the number of homicides in Philadelphia this year.

* 17 of those deaths were folks 17 or younger.

* 128 were between 18-25

* 259 of the people who died were African American.

* 277 of the homicides were caused by firearms.

I understand anger. I understand protests. Don’t always agree with the causes, but I respect the First Amendment right that allows Americans to gather peacefully and protest whatever they see fit - be it puppies or people. What I don’t understand is the video of yesterday’s footage of the pro-Palestinian protestors.

Read more at www.phillygrrl.com

As 2008 comes to an end, I can’t help but be haunted by three young men whose deaths have impacted my life this year. These three men died terrible deaths in 2008. One, a young immigrant boy, reminds me of my own immigrant family. The ever-present quest for the American dream. The other, a soon-to-be teacher brings to mind my post-undergrad years. The fears, hopes and doubts of that time in life. And the last, a boy struggling with severe depression, whose story seems so familiar, I look away every time I see his picture.

You must’ve have heard the news that five Philadelphia-area Muslim men were just convicted of conspiring to massacre soldiers at Fort Dix. AP reports “Convicted were: Shnewer, a Jordanian-born cab driver; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business. A sixth man arrested and charged only with gun offenses pleaded guilty earlier.”

According to folks defending the men, they were just playin.’ If the information from the trial is correct, however the men were indeed plotting something nefarious and the folks defending them are blind apologists.

Read more at www.phillygrrl.com

What exactly is the city of Philadephia doing when they talk about cutting the budget and closing libraries yet they host holiday shenanigans like the one I saw at Dilworth Plaza tonight?

Time: 7PM

Place: Dilworth Plaza

Temperature: 25 Degrees F and freezing!

Audience: Myself (on the way to the Broad Street subway) and like 10 homeless people

Setting: City Hall is apparently host to a so-called 'Christmas Village' which features stands, bands, etc. At this particular time, a group of (terrible) karaoke singers were belting out a tone-deaf version of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman." I swear, even the homeless were wincing. And it takes a lot to make a homeless man cry.

More at www.phillygrrl.wordpress.com