patricia mclaughlin: Philadelphia Metropolis

The Case of the Crumbling Shoes

Best of VoxPop» On Christmas Eve day, as I was getting out of the car, I noticed an odd-looking thing on the ground: an oval plastic pillowy thing a little smaller than a credit card. It turned out to be the inner heel cushion from the Nike boots I was wearing. They looked fine when I put them on in the morning, but now the heel had separated into a top slice and a bottom, spitting out the air cushion that had been imprisoned inside. An hour or so later, the other heel started flapping and disgorged its cushion. Next, the front of one sole started flapping like a clown shoe. All day, everywhere I went, I left a Hansel-and-Gretel-like trail of black crumbles as the bottoms of my shoes continued to disintegrate. (Comments)

My Philadelphia: Spring Garden

We hadn't particularly meant to move to Spring Garden. In fact, we lived here for months--surrounded by drop cloths and buckets of joint compound and the implacable seepage into everything of the dust and grit produced when you demolish or repair walls made of plaster and horsehair, or so somebody said at the time--before we knew we had. (It's bounded by (Comments)

The Incredible Shrinking Toilet Paper Roll

By Patricia McLaughlin» I clawed my way into the new 20-pack of toilet paper, pulled out a roll, popped it into the vintage (pat. pending 1931) Scott Paper holder on the bathroom wall. Then an odd thing happened: The new roll wobbled and fell out. This Scott paper holder was firmly affixed to the wainscot in the second-floor bathroom when we moved in 25 or so years ago. Judging from its many layers of chipped paint, it had been there for some time, maybe even since 1931, when Scott Paper, a local Philadelphia company, was making such holders to popularize their newfangled rolls, so much handier than old-fashioned single sheets. For 80 years, more or less, it had been exactly the right size to hold a 1,000-sheet roll of Scott toilet paper. (Comments)

Memo to Ryan Howard: Pull Up Your Pants

By Patricia McLaughlin» Watching baseball players on TV, I'm just glad not to be any of their mothers. I'd always be stifling an impulse to tell them to pull up their pants, so their uncuffed hems aren't dragging in the dust of the... (Comments)

In Richness and in Wealth

By Patricia McLaughlin Long skirts seem like a good idea in the spring, when you still haven't gotten around to figuring out the whole fake-tan thing. So the other day, when I came across a long, strikingly pretty skirt... (Comments)