Mid-summer day's reality.

Well, so much for keeping up on the regular posting. I realized though, that if I'm going to have links to this jawn out in the webosphere, then there ought to be something to read on it. Today I think I'm just going to go with some updates....interesting things I've found/seen/heard/done recently.

1. Aside from finishing my thesis....

 ...I've been trying to keep up with writing projects. As such, be sure to catch the August edition of Pork and Mead Magazine for a) the cover story (by yours truly) on artist Matt Gordon b) a few other arts features and c) interviews with Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers and Joe Michelini of River City Extension, as well as reviews of their latest albums.

2. Philadelphia is really an awesome town. Just when you think you know all there is to know about it, you remember how ridiculous you were to think that. Like today, for example, when I stumbled upon Nic Esposito and his projects, including The Head and the Hand Press. Which brings me to...

3. Urban Agriculture/Urban Farming/Urban Gardening. Call it what you want, but I've long been a proponent of the concept. Bouncing between the East Coast major metropolitan areas, I find more and more that there is so much usable space in cities if only you look around. Get creative. This summer's drought is yet another reminder of why we need to reexamine the way that we interact with food and our environment (NEWSFLASH: it's only gonna get worse, folks). Take a look at Rebecca Solnit's latest article in Orion. While it may not go terribly deep into the movement, it offers up an important (dare I say, integral) point that I think sometimes goes unnoticed amid all of the "trendy" aspects of urban ag, which is, whether you're feeding a family or a community or just yourself, having tangible, reciprocal relationships with the land and space that you occupy (anywhere, but here, particularly in the city) triggers social transformation. "When they’re at their best, urban farms and gardens are a way to change the world. Even if they only produced food—it’s food. And even keeping the model and knowledge of agriculture alive may become crucial to our survival at some later point."

4. Same topic. Sorry. Not sorry. Fritz Haeg and "Edible Estates".

5. Different topic, and I'll leave you with this:

I remember this city

as I remember the feel

of your flesh like a peach

in summer; there is no better thing. 

But you and the city have changed

without me

here to traipse along 

the wide avenues,

through the covered market,

down by the canal where I dreamt

that I caught a fish too big 

to reel, too real. The ghetto and you

coughed into new skin, familiar

but not recognizable, or is it

the other way around?

I could say I don't know

which of you I missed more,

but that would be an easy lie

to detect.