Philly Brings Out My Inner Neo-Con

Philadelphia is a majority minority city--just barely. The white population is 45% and the African-American population with about 5% Asians. But being "white" isn't quite the same in Philly as it is in Eastern Kentucky where there isn't much ethnic differentiation among the largely Scots-Irish white population. In Philadelphia, there are substantial Italian-American, Jewish, gay, and other white sub-populations.

The Clinton Street part of Center City is more white than other areas I've lived in, but there is a playground two blocks away with a basketball court and a lot of tall African-American guys hooping it up. They're good too--strong D, good form on their jumpers, and able to make shots at tough angles. They're certainly a lot better than the guys playing on that same court in the mid-80's. Another block over is South Street and a whole foods store with a lot of thin, tanned, and prosperous looking white people hanging around there. And then there's the largely white dog walkers always out in force. The only thing really missing is little kids. The dog to child ratio is tilted heavily in favor of the canines.

Maybe people think dogs are easier to raise, but walking a dog three times a day in the city isn't the world's greatest experience either.

Anyway, I'm following the advice of Bill Bennett today and being relatively color blind because the thing I notice above everything else is the presence of so many short guys. There's always a substantial number of short women around because women are shorter than guys on average. But my areas of Philadelphia has more tiny guys than any other place I've been. Short white guys, short black guys, short Italian-American looking guys, short young guys, short old guys--just a lot of short guys around 5' 2' and 5' 3". I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm 5' 10 which is the average height for American males. On my college campus in Eastern Kentucky, I'm on the short side. But here in Philly, I'm looking far down at a lot of the guys I see on the street.

The neo-conservative in me likes that feeling of imaginary domination.

Maybe I can talk the 5' 2" Mrs. RSI into moving here. She'd feel right at home too.