Philadelphia Dreamin'

Highlights from our Book Quarterly and our brand-new columnist

by Brian Howard

Why is Philadelphia so great? Because it's so easy to change. It's a notion that might sound ludicrous to anyone who's ever tried to fix anything around here, but that's the thinking of Nathaniel Popkin, City Paper contributor/phillyskyline.com columnist and the author of the new book The Possible City: Exercises in Dreaming Philadelphia (Camino), which we excerpt as part of our Book Quarterly this week.

Popkin has been writing about cities for 20 years. He sees Philly — its mix of history and post-industrial struggle — as a fecundating matrix for people who can't walk down the street without wondering "what if?"

"It's not just because things aren't right, or falling apart," says Popkin of the draw. "It's about memory, too — the reminders of a great city, of an important city, that trigger a sense of what this place can be."

The key with Philly, says Popkin, is scale.

"The rowhouse scale gives us a sense of control. I can fix things; my involvement matters; and at the end of the day, that's what makes Philadelphia so endearing. 'I can change it,' so I keep dreaming."

Other cities — New York, Paris for instance — "don't so easily relent. They've already been dreamed up."

So even at a time when the percentage of Americans living in dense urban environments is at its lowest, says Popkin, since 1830, many cities are on the upswing.

"There are Cincinnatis and Richmonds and Albanys and Milwaukees [that], like Philadelphia, are rediscovering joy in the urban. ... Take Cincinnati, for example, a small city with a storied history and scale that reflects ambition and purpose. Well, what are they doing there? Writing 'green plans,' inventing transit lines, remaking public spaces, setting up farmers markets, riding Vespas."

It's a concept you can hear more about at the book launch salon Sun., Sept. 21, at Johnny Brenda's featuring a panel discussion between Popkin and his phillyskyline.com collaborator, Brad Maule (and, I've just been informed, moderated by yours truly).

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It's a gripping story of an everyman type, Pat Peoples, who is released from the mental-health facility where he's spent the last several years. Believing he's been in for only a few months, he sets about reclaiming his life. A devout Eagles fan, he links his hopes to those of an over-achieving, undrafted wide receiver named Hank Baskett.

Peoples' story mirrors Baskett's. So does Quick's. He mailed his novel out blindly and it was, against great odds, chosen for publication by one of America's most esteemed publishing houses. "I wrote the book with Philadelphians in mind," says Quick, "although it was picked out of the submissions slush pile by a Giants fan."

While it's not a football book per se, Eagles football and tailgating culture — good, bad and ugly — is at its heart.

"I'd say that things can get unhealthy," says Quick. "But the ugly side stems from the passion."

We're thrilled to introduce you to Amy Z. Quinn, aka the blogger Citizen Mom. She'll bring her mix of "democracy and domesticity" to our pages starting ... now. Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, her column for us will be a compliment to her popular blog (quinnchannel.typepad.com), not a compendium of it. Don't believe me? Check her debut column. Why does she live in the suburbs? Better schools. Is she ashamed? No way.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)