This is a half-price (but still expensive) guided tour, but I'm pretty sure you can see all they're showing for free...just without the ride to everywhere.

Info on the open studios is at philaopenstudios.org/

The article about the development and expanse of coffee houses and cafes on the Mainline reminded me of a coffee house to which I went in New Orleans, where there was an open-mic event, followed by a singer-songwriter's concert.

I decided to look up open-mic events in Philly, but none take place during the day on Saturday.

I thought about slam poetry events as well, but, again, no luck in finding something for this Saturday.

So, I thought I could look up some interesting coffee houses. I found a couple, and I think I'd most like to check out One Shot Coffee, at 217 W George St.

I don't even like coffee. I'm a tea person, but regardless, I do like spending time in cafes reading and writing. Of course, it is a pretty typical place to sit and write poetry, but I sure would like - and desperately need - a poetic escape of some sort for part of a day. 

It's quite soothing of an atmosphere, having the hum of coffee making machines and the buzz of conversation around... it's a nice space for your mind to bounce around and latch onto a word you might happen to hear someone say, or an image in a photograph on the wall... Anything.

I'm also a fan of meeting new people, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity of striking up a conversation with a stranger, if it seems like a reasonable thing to do at the moment.

So, yes. I hope to go to the One Shot Coffee cafe when in Philadelphia this weekend.

Has anyone else ever seen this? I feel like I have seen it before. I wanted to post this not only because there is very interesting information about Bryn Mawr's racial discourse, but we are literally having this same conversation 10 years later surrounding Perry and other things.

Although some may think this history is not relevant today, it really still is. M Carey Thomas is one of the most celebrated President's of this college, but why do we glide over the fact of she had very strong convictions about racial hierarchy and eugenics? Many have told me that this isn't as relevant because it was the popular opinion of the time. Given that she actively challenged the societal norms and constructions by executing her vision of a highly-rigorous education for women, why is she allowed to get a pass on her prejudice?

/sci_cult/diversity/inclusion.html

Attempt 1:

Step 1: I tried to follow the article "Decades later, still standing against abuse"

Step 2: The article listed their website, www.womenagainstabuse.org. They have a lot of events, and there's actually a "Men-can" rally on the 5th, but it wasn't something I really wanted to do.

Step 3: I kept trying to wander around, but eventually decided to take on a different article.

Attempt 2:

Step 1: Read the article titled "'Gliders' allow look into Ocean's depths," which is posted here: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/science/20131001_Sweeping_project_allows_look_at_depths_of_ocean.html

Step 2: The article mentioned a website, http://www.ioos.noaa.gov, which redirected to an error message about the government shutdown.

Step 3: The other website mentioned in the Inquirer article is http://maracoos.org/blogs/main/ which has really cool pictures of the kinds of information that the gliders are collecting.

Step 4: Trying to connect this cool coastal article to something I could do in Philly, I googled "Philadelphia Delaware River area"

Step 5: Went to http://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com/ and clicked on the events. I found out that there are a lot of concerts, as well as yoga on thursdays, and a whole bunch of museums and activities.

I started by reading the editorial "Culture has a Cost" in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and was intrigued by the idea of the art and culture of Philadelphia.

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I noticed several mentions of Independence Mall, both in the article and throughout the paper, so I looked it up. (www.nps.gov/inde/‎)

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The official website of Independence Mall was offline due to the government shutdown, so I tried another one of the buildings mentioned in the article: the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (http://www.kimmelcenter.org/)

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I was not overly interested in what I saw on the Kimmel Center site, so I tried a google search on "culture in philadelphia", which lead to Philadelphia weekly, and upcoming events in the area. (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/events/?advEventSearchDate=10/05/2013&eventWeekDate=10-04-2013&calendarStartDate=10-01-2013&esCat=242179)

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Of those events, one that looked particularly interesting was Bonnie MacAllister: Multimedia Fiber Art & Film (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/events/223835316.htmlO

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I looked around for more information, and found the facebook page for the events. PHILADELPHIA OPEN STUDIO TOURS: Multimedia Art by Bonnie MacAllister (EAST OF BROAD) (https://www.facebook.com/events/170604153119404/?ref=22)

1. I read the article entitled ''Gliders' allow look into ocean's depths.' It didn't have much to do with Philly, but it looked very interesting. I'm interested in water and people's interactions with it, so I used that idea to connect the article to Philly.

2. I googled "research activities on the Delaware River," curious to see if there are any research projects going on around the Delaware. Apparently, there's some research on shortnosed sturgeons: http://www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/research/doc/CurrentSNSResearchActivities.pdf

Although this was interesting, it still wasn't quite connecting with the city. 

3. I found the website for the Delaware River waterfront to see if there was anything interesting surrounding the river. http://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com

4. I clicked "Events," then looked for events on saturday, because that's the day I have the most time this weekend.  

5. I clicked "Rivercity Festival" because, well, who doesn't love a festival? It sounded playful. http://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com/events/rivercity-festival

6. I clicked "More Info" to see the site of the Fishtown Rivercity Festival

http://www.rivercityfestival.org

It turns out that the festival is to celebrate the culture and community in the neighborhood of Fishtown, and the history and vibrancy of the neighborhood itself. Visiting it would be a chance to interact with some real Philadelphians in a really neat area.

When I was reading the Inquirer, I came across one article that grabbed my attention: "Too Bean Or Not Too Bean", about a man who has several coffee shops and about all of the coffee shops on the Main Line. Following this train of thought...

Stop 1: Article "Too Bean or Not Too Bean" - I love coffee, and I am tired, so I was intrigued.

Stop 2: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/04/04/philadelphia-coffee-shop-takes-1-spot-on-americas-best-coffee-list/ - It turns out that Philadelphia houses the best coffee shop in the US, so of course I had to click the link.

Stop 3: http://www.thedailymeal.com/americas-best-coffee-shops It is defined here as the best, but there was also indications of other best coffee shops that are also in Philly, so I chose to look at all of the rankings.

Stop 4: http://www.thedailymeal.com/americas-best-coffee-shops-slideshow Here Ultimo Coffee is listed as #1, however I was very excited to find that my favorite Coffee Shop in my hometown of Santa Cruz, Ca was listed as #22!

Stop 5: http://ultimocoffee.com The website of Ultimo Coffee in order to find the hours and transportation information.