technology: Philadelphia Metropolis

Whose Willie Was It?

My favorite story of Christmas week was about the Philadelphia Traffic Court judge escorted off the premises because he allegedly showed photos of his genitals to a female court employee. The appropriately named Willie Singletary was relieved of his judicial... (Comments)

My Life as a Telemarketer

Best of VoxPop» It's your average grey January day in your average Philadelphia area neighborhood. Going about your daily business, you are interrupted by the phone ringing off the hook. Stumbling to answer it, your eye notices the I.D. displaying Philadelphia Direct. There is no holding back the bad feeling as you answer the call, "Hello?" "Yes, good evening Mrs. Smith. This is John calling from the Inquirer how are you?" answers the Telemarketer. You shout: "I've told you before, STOP Calling!" And you hang up. What is this company that seems to call a dozen times a day? It is Philadelphia Direct Call Solutions, a service of the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. The purpose of the call, no matter how they disguise it, is to sell you a subscription to the paper. (Comments)

Vincent's Lament

It's hard to keep a megalomaniac down, or at least quiet. Witness the emails that emanated from former state Sen. Vince Fumo from his prison in Kentucky, railing against the feds, the media, his former loyalists, comparing himself to "Caesar... (Comments)

Race Hatred 2.0

By Nita Jalivay.» Like many teachers, I enjoy using technology as a tool to boost my students' level of understanding and engagement in class. I admit I am not the most computer savvy instructor, but I navigate just fine through the myriad websites that offer teachers portals to other worlds, ones through which we voyage with our students. The internet has enabled my kids - many of whom have rarely had the opportunity to leave Philadelphia - to trek with me through the jungles of the Amazon; to hike the Australian outback; and to climb Table Mountain in South Africa. We have a beautiful time learning and exploring together, with YouTube documentaries serving as our global passports. The images beaming back at us from faraway, exotic locales reinforce the connectedness of our humanity to that of our fellow world citizens. Sometimes, though, I am loath to search my favorite sites for certain types of content-specific material. For instance, when I recently showed my summer school class some YouTube footage on American slavery (the film having been written, directed and produced by a black artist), at the bottom of this very intelligent story were the sickest, most racist comments that one could conjure up. Line after line, my students - all of (Comments)

Where Did the Outside Go?

By Lynda C. Wharton» I came home a couple of days ago to find my 13-year-old daughter and my 11-year -old son just lying around in our family room. I asked them was something wrong? Everybody looked so melancholy. As any parent has heard a million times they gave a two-word response: "I'm bored." I joked with them about how I was sure they could keep themselves busy if they cleaned their rooms. Cleaning up could possibly take all day. My daughter cringed and looked away (you don't want to see her room), but, my son said: "Awww, mom. My room is good." Well, I said, its 75 degrees outside. The sun is high, the humidity is low, and it's a beautiful day. He still looked bummed. Apparently, he couldn't figure out if he had left some attachment to one of their game systems at their grandmother's house or lost it at ours. (Comments)