Oh my God that is one of the most underrated barbeque spots around!

I know my sinus headaches were in rare (maybe not so rare now that spring has started early) form last night. So, yes, allergies and the drastic changes of weather can affect people in more ways than they think they would.

Even if you do get paid as a Ph.D. student and/or a postdoc, more often than not the stipend that they get is still a small amount of money to live on. Lots of folks still have to eat/provide for their families, and that money has to come from somewhere, whether it's family or other sources.

College athletes get tuition remission, too, but there were cases of students going hungry and not being able to take care of themselves - that's why the NCAA allowing students athletes to make money from their likenesses is a BFD. I suspect grad students fall into this category, too. Tuition remission means jack shit when you can't afford to live.

People just don't go on strike for funsies.

For most graduate programs in the US? It's the latter. Anything outside of very few elite universities and very specific programs (civil engineering is one of the few exceptions to this truism), you'd still have to pay some tuition, if not all of it.

I suspect that at best, it hasn't gotten any worse (in terms of dramatic changes in quality of education) from 10 years ago for graduate students. And that's exactly the problem - it hasn't gotten any easier for them, either.

Thinking of the gutting of funding in US universities, along with bloating the admin budgets that we've seen in the past few decades, it has only gotten worse for grad student funding in the US. In my grad school experience, I know a handful of folks who took their chances at being an international grad student at a university overseas and having to pay full tuition as international students (le gasp!), which still worked out than less than however much they would have owed here, in the States. And their degrees are still just as good, if not better, than some of the US universities.

I wasn't saying that he was aggressive, because I watched the videos, too. I appreciate anyone who can cut through the bullshit and ask the tough questions. I think you and I are in agreement, for this much.

But if I were someone who was reading The Inquirer alone? I would have thought that Mayor Nutter was personally waterboarding Gym, live on stage. "it was tense", "he kept asking her questions, shown by the repetition in paragraphs". I mean, shit, I get that newspaper articles are supposed to be simple to read, but a responsibility of a journalist is painting a picture. And the journalist was painting *a picture* that some folks who are historically in the majority will get, and a wholly different picture for people not historically in the majority will get.

Could he be less confrontational about his questions to Helen Gym? Sure. Why not? The fault is still on her for running a ✨vibes✨-based campaign.

I mean, it's REALLY good money...

...if you were an employee in 1884 (The year that Temple U was founded). smh nobody wants to work anymore.

Oh, I know about the deeded land. The thing that is most frustrating still, is the problems that Temple still has to deal with, when it comes to their neighbors (landlords taking advantage of the real estate, trash, etc) in order to be "good neighbors" outside of the lip service that they do once a year for MLK Day of Service or whatever.

Nobody wants to work on long-term solutions to these problems, though. That's why gentrification (and what we saw on Super Bowl Sunday, with car-flipping) is still happening without the new stadium. And a new stadium is still not a good idea.

Ooooh, the football stadium thing still makes me so mad.

Oh, you don't want to pay rent to the Eagles to use a really nice field that already exists? Well, hire better people who can negotiate your deals better, then! That would be a cost-saving measure over building a whole new stadium that will already displace the people who live in North Philly, setting the latest shitty thing in the tenuous relationship that the university has with its local residents (among so many valid reasons).

Oh, what's that? It's not about the money, but "Temple Pride" or whatever? Oh, okay 😒.

The whole "groveling as a form of hazing, and we hate you until you're utterly broken, and then *MAYBE, JUST MAYBE* we'll love you" straight up killed me.

I came up from one of the worst school districts in the area, and you want me to do WHAT? FOR WHY???????? Oh, bitch, you wouldn't last a second in a middle school fight, you can't be talking to me like that.

Yes, I know. There's one or two people from working-class background who make it. You know as good and well as I do that Academia (in its current form) doesn't seem to want more of them though.

Which, again, brings me back to my point: Pay these grad students properly, so they can live the dream that I had. Because things should be better now than when I found them. And the fact that we're still talking about the same shit that I had to deal with when I was in grad school is infuriating.

Yup. This bullshit is why I left grad school halfway through - it was when I realized that people who go to grad school have supportive parents and/or money/generational wealth. I didn't, and the TA/research job that I had paid me about that much $10-15/hour (but I only worked 20 hours per week, and still had to work a second job to make ends meet). But somehow, I'm still supposed to produce some fucking spectacular work that only 4 professors will read and can have an impact on my career as an academic? FUCK THAT NOISE. It was one of the hardest decisions that I've had to make in my 20s, because *this is what I wanted to do*, and *what I wanted to do* is what everyone wants for themselves, right?! We have all these trite clichés that cover how we're all supposed to love our dream job or whatever, right????

Like, I enjoy learning things and I love the feeling of teaching others about the things that I was excited about - but I shouldn't be taking a vow of poverty to do it (I mean, I could go and be a nun, but at least I consented to doing that). I now work in the private sector as an admin-bot (and have been for about 10 years), but at least I get health benefits and I can afford rent, and I don't feel like a piece of shit every day from out-of-touch professors telling me how I'm supposed to "suck it up" because they did too (while their parents gave them a monthly salary, with the questionable wealth).

It's a thought that's crossed my mind more than once, as of late. Sigh.

Right?! You want to be the face of a city?! Step up and be accountable to your actions and answer to your constituents.

Anyone who runs for office for the 'gram should be summarily casted out of the race.

Good for them. Increasing grad students' salaries from $19.5K to $21K is a joke, considering the work that they do for the Temple U. Some of the best teachers I had there were grad students, while their professors are fucking off doing whatever. Hell, even if grad students don't teach, they should be able to fucking live.

Just pay people properly, so they can afford things. It's not that deep!

Yup, Helen Gym winning due to primary laws is very much a possibility, too. In that case, it would be more disappointing, since the person who is running on 100% pure ✨vibes✨is rewarded (There's more than 1 candidate running on fumes, but Helen Gym is Queen of ✨vibes✨ for me at this point).

PS - Despite my feelings - I'm in full agreement with you on who Helen Gym is, as a mayoral candidate.

I've followed Helen Gym's trajectory ever since she worked at Asian Americans United (when there was talk about casinos being built in Chinatown), and when the Asian students at South Philly High took their case to the DoJ. I'm disappointed and sad at what's she's become (maybe it's always been like that, without the gift of hindsight), but not surprised at all. The fact that some of those kids who took their case to the DoJ are now adults who work in public service/community organizing/nonprofit/advocacy and who are giving back to their communities is no coincidence to her impact.

We could have had it all...🎶

EDITED TO ADD: A few words.

I have very mixed feelings about this article.

On one hand, I love Philly, I do. And anybody who takes the Mayor's seat needs to be confronted with tough questions, instead of running on ✨vibes✨. And who better to do it than Former Mayor Nutter? He's done the job a couple of times and knows what it's like. I'm not his best friend or anything like that, but I am glad that he is there to ask the questions. Still not crazy about him asking Rhynhart softball questions, but whatever, politics schmolitics.

What I'm not crazy about is how The Inquirer (I'm only subscribing to them because I want more accountability as an org; for every one or two good journalists there - you get clowns that write articles like this) okay'd an article that basically paints a Black man as "scary" for "being aggressive" in asking questions or whatever. As someone who's very visibly marginalized person, I'm especially attuned to things like this, because it's an everyday occurrence for me (it just happens in a form of death by a thousand papercuts and not written down by a journalist who clearly doesn't have as good of grasp of power dynamics that they might have thought). And how journalists and editors okay'd this is...just fucked up.

ARC Printing, between 7-8th and Callowhill. Large format is their bread and butter. And very reasonably priced!

Source: Used to work in real estate, so I know the feeling of needing large format prints for people with very specific needs (coughcougharchitectscough)

Adrian! I only met her a few times, she's so sweet. I hope the new owners keep her.

Highland Orchards CSA - NOT the farmer's market. Their farmer's market (what you found), and the CSA are based out of two different locations. It's run by the same family.

Pick-up locations.

Highland Orchards. Best bang for your buck. I've been with them for close to 10 years, and others do not even come close in terms of price and quality.

Unlike other cities, there is no such thing as a "bad" neighborhood in Philly; rather, it's more on a block-by-block basis. Like other commenters said, you'll need to give more concrete information like job, budget, introvert/extrovert, etc?

It's an old man dive bar - so if you're not used to the dive atmosphere, it might be a bit of a culture shock for you.

But like the other commenter said, the folks in there are friendly and hey! You'd be among friends.

Gerber Tax and Accounting Service, a few doors down from Philly AIDS Thrift.

https://gerbertax.com/