After my whirlwind Thanksgiving trip to Maine I spent a few days detoxing in Philly. I love being in cities during the holiday season, especially such walkable and neighborhoody ones like Philly. The four weeks before winter break were a mad dash of writing and researching so it was nice to get a little bit of downtime beforehand.
Penn’s Landing at night
You know someone's a big deal when she has her own Tumblr meme
My first year at Bryn Mawr I had the pleasure of attending a paneled discussion at Penn’s Kelly Writers Huse featuring Kathleen Hanna, Sara Marcus, Katty Otto, and Beth Warshaw-Duncan. While fawning over Hanna, my middle school idol, I was also introduced to Katy Otto, a pillar of Philadelphia’s independent music scene and my newest shero (that’s a female hero, fyi).
A recent assignment for my journalism class served as the perfect opportunity for me to pick Otto’s brain a little. We met up at West Philly’s Satellite Café where we discussed trans-inclusive spaces, listening to Tori Amos in our teenage bedrooms, and what it means to be 35 and still in a “girl band.”
The article was published on our class blog, the English House Gazette. Read on.
Autumnal charms aside, this October also finished with a vengeance.
First and foremost, the month culminated in my dorm’s annual fête, the legendary Radnor Halloween. This year was a great success with plenty of students from the Tri-Co and beyond (Drexel, Temple, etc). I also got to sport my costume at some events in Philadelphia to much acclaim (I went as Maeby Fünke from Arrested Development).
However this October did go a bit rogue. After Hurricane Irene’s underwhelming appearance on campus last fall, I wasn’t terribly worried about Sandy. While it seems devastation struck everywhere else, Bryn Mawr fared quite well with only a few downed trees and about 19 hours of lost power. The silver lining? A two-day hurrication. Continue reading