Fabulously ignorant Penn student article
… in The Daily Pennsylvanian’s 34th St. weekend section, about Bob & Barbara’s, one of my favorite watering holes. If you’ve ever been there before, you just have to read this to believe it. Ms. Julia Ludwig must need some sort of device to keep her from choking in her own ignorance. I say this as a "fat, balding and socially awkward middle-aged man" of but 34 years, a year shy of my right "to party."
Not that I mind the crappy review the least little bit. The more Penn brats she keeps from my establishments of choice, the better. By all means, let her write about every one of my food and drink locales of preference! Heck, let her review Philadelphia as a city and let’s hope all the undergrads transfer to Princeton… fuck you, Julia! The man in the fedora was living, damn it. He’s old and he still plays in a jazz band in a bar, in a neighborhood you could never appreciate. You, my little Quakerette, with your fake-ass world-weary pose, are the one waiting to die. Go do it.
May 25th, 2005 at 8:39 am
OK, so at first I thought you were being a little harsh on the little lady. Then I read the review. Wow. That’s one of the most offensive things I’ve ever read. Seriously. She somehow manages to reveal almost everything that’s wrong with suburban America and does it improbably in the name of diversity. Not to mention, being closer to 35 than 21 myself, I think she really failed to nail the demographic. If anything, I’d say the bulk of the folks are too young and lack an appreciation for the cultural phenomenon they’re experiencing. This poor girl didn’t even notice there was a band! Seriously, how many fat, balding, middle age guys do you really see at the place? Makes me think she really was talking about you, Chris.
(I mean, I am so not fat.) Still, buddy, it’s a bit unfair to attack Penn students in general. I think her co-Ivy Leaguers have aquitted themselves admirably in the comments section of the article. Pluse, having been birthed by, played board games with, dated, and traveled to cambodia with Penn students/grads myself, I have to say there’s a handful that I’m awfully partial to.
May 25th, 2005 at 12:34 pm
Having spent 4 years at the place, as a commuter (President, in fact, of the near-functionless Penn Commuter organization), I have to defend my general anti-Penn student stance. The days when the student body was actually diverse and interacted with the city in a meaningful sense were long gone even before I was there over a decade ago.
We largely see in the Penn undergrad popualtion a tiny sliver of the whelps of the overpriveledged who couldn’t get into Columbia or Harvard, and spend the next four years taking their rage out on Philadelphia for not being Manhattan. One exception to this would be Whaton students, who did choose Wharton first. The less said about them the better…
June 8th, 2005 at 5:40 am
I can sort of understand how a Penn student who’s “slumming it” at B & Bs could see it as a sad place (many bars can be seen that way, especially those we frequent), but what REALLY gets me is her assertion that “One usually associates Penn’s campus with cheap beer and drag shows” what? who?
June 11th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
The drag shows would be “Mask and Wig,” which actually takes place in Center City, not far from Frank’s. That much I understand.