OPINION . Editor's Letter

Habits, Kicked


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Published: Dec 9, 2009

It's kind of amazing — given that big-city bureaucracy can be like a sticky, endlessly layered onion — what you can sometimes get away with in this town. For instance, you can, if you so desire and are adequately capitalized, go buy a cheap house and ... start an addiction recovery revolution. No license required. Just junkies, which the city seems to have plenty of. And cheap houses in rundown neighborhoods, which, ditto. And the selfless will to make a change, which, OK, is not so much in surplus. I bring this up not to suggest that drug recovery ought to be more regulated (although not surprisingly there are abusers in a system set up to help abusers), but rather to marvel at how, despite all the science and space-age health care out there, a better way to treat the massive urban scourge of addiction seems to be blossoming right in the middle of the hardest-hit drug neighborhoods thanks to a headstrong nun with grandma sweaters and a big laugh. As Isaiah Thompson details in this week's cover story (p. 16) about Sister Margaret McKenna — a woman who's done jail time for pouring blood on a warship and beating it with hammers — and her New Jerusalem Now recovery house in North Philly, there are incredible things happening all the time. You just have to know how to look for them.

Speaking of incredible and recovery,
there's another rehab revolution going on here in Philly. We'll call it the rehabilitated former superstar. Between Allen Iverson's homecoming party in South Philly and Michael Vick's homecoming-out party in Atlanta, Philadelphia might just be on its way to being known as the city of second, third and fourth chances — if only Philly's newly rehabilitated slogo, "Life, Liberty, and You," were as inspiring. Kosal Sen's deconstruction of the city's new logo and motto at underconsideration.com/brandnew is worth a read if you're curious to know why the city's new free logo looks it.

And speaking of things that are free,
it was said by English poet Robert Graves, "There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either," which may be true, but not right now. After years of estrangement, we've brought poetry back for City Paper's 24th annual writing contest. Why? Poetry's economy of expression just feels poignant right now (and in strudying the local media, using the word "economy" a lot seems dernier cri). It was said by Paul Valéry, "A poem is never finished, only abandoned," which is to say: Abandon that poem or short story you've been working on and send it to the City Paper writing contest (gimmefiction@citypaper.net or 123 Chestnut St., Third Floor, 19106) by end of day Friday, Dec. 11, for your chance to win $350 (fiction) and $250 (poetry) and be published in our Dec. 31 issue. The entry fee is $5, the judges are Thomas Devaney and Elise Juska, and you can find all the other info you need at citypaper.net/writingcontest.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)