Staff Blog
Edgar Allan Throwdown Tonight!
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Sleep, those little slices of death. |
| Free Library of Philadelphia |
The Great Poe Debate is mere hours away! It's an epic custody battle between CP's resident Poe-pimp Ed Pettit and Baltimore Poe Museum curator Jeff Jerome. It's a knock-down, drag-out, your-mama's-so-fat, I'mma-bury-you-alive war of wills. Winner gets the bones! Not really!
Pettit stumped for Philly's rights to the Poe legacy in this week's Naked City. It was a call to arms:
It's time for a change, time for a new figure to represent everything good and bad about our city. One in whom we can see both our dreams and nightmares. It's time for Philly to embrace its inner-Gothic self and celebrate Edgar Allan Poe.
The Great Poe Debate — tonight at the Free Library at 7:30 p.m. It's free.
See also: Your Poe Calendar and CP's Poedown page.
And of course, Pettit's original cask of whoopass, We're Taking Poe Back.
The Great Poe Debate was absolutely hysterical. Great job by Paul Lewis, Jeff Jerome and Ed Pettit.
It turned out to be the best non-ticket in Philly last night.
Bravo!
Aw, I missed it. Go Pettit! Get ‘em back for English majors everywhere!
IT WAS RIGGED! Paul Lewis and I never had a chance. The crowd was against us. Grover The Comedian was biased. He kept shortchanging the alloted time for Paul and myself. He gave Ed softball questions and lobbed loaded questions at the two of us. The audience was loaded with Ed Petit’s family and thug like friends.
I have to admit one thing. Paul Lewis is a funny guy. Despite not having a real argument for Boston he came up with some real zingers.
The only saving grace was looking at all the attractive women in the audience. It kept my mind off of the vicious and unfair attacks against me and the City of Baltimore.
This isn’t over by a long shot.
Jerome’s just mad because not only did he lose to Philly, but Boston came in second. A distant last place was the best Baltimore could muster? Edgar will be very happy in Philly.
Mistreated, exploited and unappreciated in every city he lived in as a professional writer, Poe spent his adult life looking for a comfortable position and a real home. No doubt this insecurity fueled his dark imagination, but one wonders what he could have achieved in a more supportive environment. Would he have lived longer, been even more productive? 200 years after his birth he has found his place not only as an American author but as a writer who continues to delight and terrify readers worldwide. Happy Birthday, Edgar!
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