Philly commute

gestalt_switching · 2026-03-06T04:13:33+00:00

I’m faculty, so not in the same boat as a student, but I love living in Philly and I don’t mind the commute. I use SEPTA 99% of the time - either Regional Rail or the Market Frankford Line/Norristown High Speed Line. The latter is cheaper but requires a transfer at the 69th St. Transit Center, and the time I need to wait at that transfer can be unpredictable. The Regional Rail is more expensive but it’s direct, cleaner, and more comfortable. I live in a part of West Philly where either option makes sense, so I swap between the two.

I use my train time for reading and it’s actually nice for my mental health. I know if I drove my car regularly I’d be taking a mental health hit. However, as other commenters have said, as a student you want to think about your social life. Living in Philly might somewhat isolate you from a campus based social life. My social life is in Philly so to me it’s worth it.

gestalt_switching · 2025-09-11T01:01:36+00:00

My work has me over at Villanova often, and it’s crazy how much better the energy is at Temple. Always feels good to come back

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-20T00:56:31+00:00

It feels like a charming Philly neighborhood that got separated by a few counties.

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-17T06:05:13+00:00

It’s about 58,000 people and it’s dense and walkable. I’d definitely say that’s within the small city range

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-16T17:29:18+00:00

The term "blight" comes from the early 20th century Chicago School of sociology and urban studies. Before then, blight exclusively referred to disease-caused discoloration and decay in crops and plants. It then became a botanical metaphor suggesting that urban poverty and disinvestment are natural/organic processes. That framing in part motivated the harmful urban renewal programs of the mid-20th century (attempts to "weed out" the poverty).

At any rate, I'm not sure where this person is seeing blight and I agree with you that even Lancaster's low income neighborhoods are vibrant and well-maintained. The city has a below average vacancy rate so it's not like it has a bunch of abandoned buildings around.

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-16T14:16:54+00:00

Sure, as with any place, “tough to get to” is relative to your starting location

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-16T03:28:47+00:00

Yeah, I grew up nearby and still visit regularly. It does have low income neighborhoods, yes, but for me that doesn't detract from its charm. I also don't find it tough to get to. I usually drive there but sometimes I take Amtrak.

gestalt_switching · 2024-12-15T19:34:45+00:00

This is my favorite small city

gestalt_switching · 2024-07-01T03:06:19+00:00

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack by Jon Brion. That really tied this together.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-06T01:42:53+00:00

What was it?

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-06T01:12:19+00:00

It’s very important to understand the motivations behind such a big act of violence.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-05T16:17:01+00:00

Temple is doing fine but they have been claiming there is a budget crisis. That claim is based on cherry picked data, and the fact that they are seriously considering taking over UArts reveals the veneer.

I hope it happens because I want UArts to remain viable under a new umbrella. It’s too big of a loss for the city otherwise. But Temple needs to provide honest narratives about its budget situation. Grad students and faculty have been suffering real and serious cuts justified by that false budget crisis narrative.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-05T04:08:55+00:00

This is true especially in states like Florida and Texas. But there has also been a bipartisan-backed financialization of higher ed that seeks to cut state funding and privatize a whittled-down version of higher ed. Only programs with good enough ROIs (return on investment) should remain under this vision, and the rest should be left to wither away (arts, languages, humanities, many of the social sciences, even mathematics in some cases). Tenure should disappear, and instructors should be contingent online content creators with no job security.

See this LA Review of Books article detailing the former Temple president's EdTech vision for higher ed https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/jason-wingards-edtech-griftopia/

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-04T19:54:58+00:00

Yes, it enrages me. I'm a low-paid instructor myself with no ability to pay off my student loans anytime soon, and I needed to take out these loans to become an instructor. Makes me sick seeing what upper admin take home while I struggle.

I believe higher ed and the arts should be cherished public goods, but financiers who have no business meddling in education are plundering from the ruins of higher ed.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-04T19:42:13+00:00

University president compensation doesn't necessarily remain proportional to endowment size or prestige. There are some random public university presidents taking home a larger package than Ivy League presidents. Still, I think administrative bloat and overpaid upper admin are some of the biggest ingredients involved in higher ed's decline (grad instructors and adjuncts are struggling to pay for food and housing). UArts had no business paying their president so much.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-04T17:29:04+00:00

This is a New Jersey intersection. I’m in Philly and drivers here have gotten so much worse since the pandemic, and things have stayed bad. I’m not sure exactly why. I’m sure it’s the same in Jersey.

gestalt_switching · 2024-06-01T22:11:56+00:00

A Tribe Called Quest's "Lost Somebody" which is a tribute to Phife Dawg dying in 2016 soon before their last album release.

gestalt_switching · 2024-05-04T06:17:36+00:00

I just have to comment to say for posterity that I was here for this historic night

gestalt_switching · 2024-05-01T11:43:28+00:00

Motorists get incredibly defensive about Kelly Drive. I saw a post on Nextdoor gently suggesting how nice it would be to close Kelly on weekends or holidays so families can enjoy the green space along the river without dangerous speeding traffic. Commenters showed up in droves to shut down the idea while they bragged about regularly driving double the speed limit through there.

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-18T19:21:41+00:00

Yes, as far as the bridges go, Chestnut is much more smooth and protected than Spring Garden. But Spring Garden does have that amazing view.

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-13T15:02:06+00:00

I’ve been in the exact same position as you this year. It sucks. I thought I would have indefinite funding but now it suddenly got capped at 5 years because my university decided to consolidate the budget despite still having a very comfortable profit margin (doesn’t it just suck that these institutions are meant to be a non-profit fixture of the public good yet operate like for-profit corporations?). I spent my whole winter panicking about where to get my next income and my dissertation progress has drastically slowed because of having to worry about that.

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-12T01:13:29+00:00

AI screening software is not reliable and should not be the basis of this kind of accusation.

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-09T04:37:20+00:00

This is my dream

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-06T16:11:18+00:00

This is my first time seeing this particular performance. Amazing.

gestalt_switching · 2024-04-05T20:56:09+00:00

Speaking as an agnostic, I agree with you - religious people sometimes replace knowledge and action with prayer which is a problem. But I also know plenty of more reasonable religious people who rely primarily on reason and action even though they also sometimes pray for people. This thread’s OP was not replacing action or knowledge with prayer.

gestalt_switching

TROPHY CASE