Julius_Van_Der_Beak
Fallen
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 21,038
- MBTI Type
- INTP
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
I have created a ranking of cities I've visited in America, from best to worst. Everyone is free to add their own rankings, and use their own rules, or lack there of. As for me, I will not be address inequality, homelessness, or gentrification, as these are problems in every city in America, as far as I know. I also will not be addressing crime; if you want to read about this you can read the comments section of any article or story concerning a major city. I don't find worn-out Republican talking points interesting, and I don't respect their thinking on it (which involves electing Republicans), so I will not be talking about it. I will be starting from the lowest:
11.
Las Vegas: This place was creepy. It seemed to me that it was a city built on consuming people. While you might be distracted be some of the whimsy or kitsch, it's hard to escape your gut awareness of this fact for long. I was on edge nearly the whole time, trying to avoid getting suckered into some kind of trap. For this reason, I put nothing into any of the machines. I felt threats everywhere, in a way I don't feel in Chicago. It was as though someone was trying to ensnare me everywhere I went.
I am referring to the Strip above. Outside of it, I don't have much experience, but they were more positive. I visited a store where I could buy a straw cowboy hat, and that made me pretty happy, as did the breakfast burrito I had. This city might receive higher rankings if I'd wandered off the strip more. Otherwise, this place did an excellent job of feeding into my paranoia.
10.
Wilmington: This one ranks low because there's not much of interest. There is no unique atmosphere, and little sites worth seeing. It's neat to explore the banks of the Christina River and discover old mills, some of which are being refurbished into apartments. I remember once it flooded over and went past the cherry trees in bloom. That was memorable, but mostly this place is credit card companies.
I am tempted to include the Andrew Wyeth Museum, which has some unbelievable paintings of winter and autumn landscapes. I loved the way he showed the beauty in what some may think of as barren landscapes; this resonated with me. I thought it was cool that he choose to focus on those seasons, rather than on summer and spring like most artists. The Wyeth Museum, however, is actually in Pennsylvania, which I've decided means that it doesn't count.
TWO INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT WILMINGTON
#1: The actress Aubrey Plaza is from here.
#2: Fight Club is set here. Edward Norton makes a sarcastic crack about "A Place to be Somebody" at the beginning of the film, and this is the motto of Wilmington. And remember how they destroyed all credit card company buildings at the end of the movie? Finance (credit cards especially) is an extremely important industry in Wilmington; many financial companies have headquarters there.
9.
Philadelphia: I spent the first 30 years of my life here. I suppose I should mention that technically I'm from Delco, but my major problem with this city seemed to apply regardless of where I was at the time. My major problem with this city is one of culture.
There are two sides to this:
First, there are too many rude assholes. This is not an easy place to be an eccentric single weirdo loner. People harass you if you just *look* like you might smoke marijuana, which can just mean wearing plaid and being heavily bearded. That's far from the only thing. I was riding on the trolley once and the guy sitting next to me harassed me about the book I was reading. The book in question was a tree identification guide; I was hoping I might learn some interesting information on my commute. I couldn't imagine that anyone else would mind. But apparently, someone had a problem with this. What I'm reading is nobody else's business. If I'm not bothering them, they should leave me alone, and not offer sarcastic comments about how boring it looks to them. I've been in Chicago for 8 years and this has never happened to me.
Second, there is not much pride in the city, which I think has to do with why Philadelphia sports fans go so crazy when a team is doing well. So many other large cities have pride: New York, Pittsburgh, Portland (Oregon), Chicago, and others I'm neglecting to mention because I haven't met enough people from there. This is a shame because I think there are many things to be proud of. There is something important about having pride in where you live, I think. It probably results in less rude assholes.
It is also an obnoxious experience to purchase beer and liquor there, because these are not allowed to be sold in grocery stores (thanks, Gifford Pinochot). Marijuana legalization also lags behind in Pennsylvania. (Unlike my sister, I'm not shocked Pennsylvania voted for Trump the first time around; even though it's considered Northern state it's actually somewhat conservative. The last year I lived there was 2016, and I only heard someone say something positive about Hillary once; I never heard anyone say anything negative about Trump.)
I want to be clear, there are awesome people in Philadelphia; I've made some cool friends here. I do have fond memories of this place. But growing up here gave me a massive chip on my shoulder that took a lot of work to remove; it didn't make me tougher.
I will go into detail on the positive things. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway and everything on it is worth your time. Once my aunt and uncle were in town for lunch. We met up, and I wanted to go to the Free Library afterward. Because of this, I made my way over to the Parkway, where it is located. It was snowing that day, and bagpipes were playing in the Basilica. It was like being transported back in time.
I also have to mention the Penn Museum. The art museum gets all the attention because of Rocky, but this is just as worth seeing. This museum is about archaeology. Many prestigious universities have museums like this, but this is the biggest I've seen. Turn down a corner and find yourself face to face with something from your high school world history textbook. Visiting here gives you an entirely different conception of time and your place in it. You see pieces of jewelry on display that are thousands of years old, and you're reminded it belonged to someone. You start to realize that people who were alive then weren't actually that different from the people who are alive today, which has all sorts of implications. What will people say about our time a thousand years from now? What will they know? It's also great for coming up with your own crackpot theories about things.
Finally, I'm obligated to address all the historical sites, like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc. I was dragged here so often for class trips (I can't count how many class trips to these places I've been on) and whenever an out-of-town relative visited. I grew to hate this and was convinced I hated history as a subject for a long time. At the time, I think the exhibits in those places were relatively sanitized. My memories give me the impression that things haven't updated since the Bicentennial. I would imagine that since I was a kid it's been overhauled significantly. I'm referring to the fact that many of these people were slave owners, but also facts like Benjamin Franklin fathering bastards over France. The heroic myths are much less interesting than the truth. The history is much more interesting to me if they are people rather than demigods. History is much weirder than we think; we have often been taught a flattened version of it to better fit into our national mythology.
11.
Las Vegas: This place was creepy. It seemed to me that it was a city built on consuming people. While you might be distracted be some of the whimsy or kitsch, it's hard to escape your gut awareness of this fact for long. I was on edge nearly the whole time, trying to avoid getting suckered into some kind of trap. For this reason, I put nothing into any of the machines. I felt threats everywhere, in a way I don't feel in Chicago. It was as though someone was trying to ensnare me everywhere I went.
I am referring to the Strip above. Outside of it, I don't have much experience, but they were more positive. I visited a store where I could buy a straw cowboy hat, and that made me pretty happy, as did the breakfast burrito I had. This city might receive higher rankings if I'd wandered off the strip more. Otherwise, this place did an excellent job of feeding into my paranoia.
10.
Wilmington: This one ranks low because there's not much of interest. There is no unique atmosphere, and little sites worth seeing. It's neat to explore the banks of the Christina River and discover old mills, some of which are being refurbished into apartments. I remember once it flooded over and went past the cherry trees in bloom. That was memorable, but mostly this place is credit card companies.
I am tempted to include the Andrew Wyeth Museum, which has some unbelievable paintings of winter and autumn landscapes. I loved the way he showed the beauty in what some may think of as barren landscapes; this resonated with me. I thought it was cool that he choose to focus on those seasons, rather than on summer and spring like most artists. The Wyeth Museum, however, is actually in Pennsylvania, which I've decided means that it doesn't count.
TWO INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT WILMINGTON
#1: The actress Aubrey Plaza is from here.
#2: Fight Club is set here. Edward Norton makes a sarcastic crack about "A Place to be Somebody" at the beginning of the film, and this is the motto of Wilmington. And remember how they destroyed all credit card company buildings at the end of the movie? Finance (credit cards especially) is an extremely important industry in Wilmington; many financial companies have headquarters there.
9.
Philadelphia: I spent the first 30 years of my life here. I suppose I should mention that technically I'm from Delco, but my major problem with this city seemed to apply regardless of where I was at the time. My major problem with this city is one of culture.
There are two sides to this:
First, there are too many rude assholes. This is not an easy place to be an eccentric single weirdo loner. People harass you if you just *look* like you might smoke marijuana, which can just mean wearing plaid and being heavily bearded. That's far from the only thing. I was riding on the trolley once and the guy sitting next to me harassed me about the book I was reading. The book in question was a tree identification guide; I was hoping I might learn some interesting information on my commute. I couldn't imagine that anyone else would mind. But apparently, someone had a problem with this. What I'm reading is nobody else's business. If I'm not bothering them, they should leave me alone, and not offer sarcastic comments about how boring it looks to them. I've been in Chicago for 8 years and this has never happened to me.
Second, there is not much pride in the city, which I think has to do with why Philadelphia sports fans go so crazy when a team is doing well. So many other large cities have pride: New York, Pittsburgh, Portland (Oregon), Chicago, and others I'm neglecting to mention because I haven't met enough people from there. This is a shame because I think there are many things to be proud of. There is something important about having pride in where you live, I think. It probably results in less rude assholes.
It is also an obnoxious experience to purchase beer and liquor there, because these are not allowed to be sold in grocery stores (thanks, Gifford Pinochot). Marijuana legalization also lags behind in Pennsylvania. (Unlike my sister, I'm not shocked Pennsylvania voted for Trump the first time around; even though it's considered Northern state it's actually somewhat conservative. The last year I lived there was 2016, and I only heard someone say something positive about Hillary once; I never heard anyone say anything negative about Trump.)
I want to be clear, there are awesome people in Philadelphia; I've made some cool friends here. I do have fond memories of this place. But growing up here gave me a massive chip on my shoulder that took a lot of work to remove; it didn't make me tougher.
I will go into detail on the positive things. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway and everything on it is worth your time. Once my aunt and uncle were in town for lunch. We met up, and I wanted to go to the Free Library afterward. Because of this, I made my way over to the Parkway, where it is located. It was snowing that day, and bagpipes were playing in the Basilica. It was like being transported back in time.
I also have to mention the Penn Museum. The art museum gets all the attention because of Rocky, but this is just as worth seeing. This museum is about archaeology. Many prestigious universities have museums like this, but this is the biggest I've seen. Turn down a corner and find yourself face to face with something from your high school world history textbook. Visiting here gives you an entirely different conception of time and your place in it. You see pieces of jewelry on display that are thousands of years old, and you're reminded it belonged to someone. You start to realize that people who were alive then weren't actually that different from the people who are alive today, which has all sorts of implications. What will people say about our time a thousand years from now? What will they know? It's also great for coming up with your own crackpot theories about things.
Finally, I'm obligated to address all the historical sites, like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc. I was dragged here so often for class trips (I can't count how many class trips to these places I've been on) and whenever an out-of-town relative visited. I grew to hate this and was convinced I hated history as a subject for a long time. At the time, I think the exhibits in those places were relatively sanitized. My memories give me the impression that things haven't updated since the Bicentennial. I would imagine that since I was a kid it's been overhauled significantly. I'm referring to the fact that many of these people were slave owners, but also facts like Benjamin Franklin fathering bastards over France. The heroic myths are much less interesting than the truth. The history is much more interesting to me if they are people rather than demigods. History is much weirder than we think; we have often been taught a flattened version of it to better fit into our national mythology.
