shel

The Transsexual Chofetz Chaim

Mutant, librarian, poet, union rabble rouser, dog, Ashkenazi Jewish. Neuroweird, bodyweird, mostly sleepy.


I write about transformative justice, community, love, Judaism, Neurodivergence, mental health, Disability, geography, rivers, labor, and libraries; through poetry, opinionated essays, and short fiction.


I review Schoolhouse Rock! songs at @PropagandaRock


Website (RSS + Newsletter)
shelraphen.com/

shel
@shel

Are you new to Philly? You should know about hoagies. You can make them from different ingredients like bread, lettuce, mayonnaise, bugs, monster tails, and scarabs. Different ingredients have different effects, like making you feel bloated or tired. I can't believe you've gotten this far in Philly without knowing about hoagies! Here, take this...


shel
@shel

On further reflection this is basically how I talk when I explain the Philadelphia street grid system to someone without them asking.


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in reply to @shel's post:

in reply to @shel's post:

Now yes, like many cities, there are numbered streets. Front Street is at the Delaware River and from there going west every vertical/north-south street goes up. 2nd street, 3rd street, 4th street, 5th street, etc. etc.

However the east-west streets are all (unless later renamed or added after the original grid) named after trees! And they're ordered by the density of their wood. The hardest woods on the northern end of the grid and the softest woods are at the southernmost end of the grid.

The middlest east-west street is Market Street. Numbered streets north of Market are NORTH 15th street, NORTH 22nd street, etc. and south of Market it's thus SOUTH 15th, SOUTH 22nd etc. and the street numbers run relative to Market. 500 North 5th Street is 10 blocks north of 500 South 5th Street so you better not mix up your north and south or you'll be on the other side of the city from where you're going!!

Honestly there are some similarities here with how Vancouver & the metro Vancouver area is organised as well. We also have tree named streets and numbered streets that change arbitrarily (though ours change when you go between one of the 7(?) different municipalities that make up this area.

We don't organise the tree streets by hardness though that's madness wtf are y'all doing?