Hi, my name is Kimberly Blessing. I'm a computer scientist, Web developer, standards evangelist, feminist, and geek. This is where I write about life, the Web, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
I’m The Philadelphian
From The Philadelphian by Richard Powell, 1956:
They even took one weekend trip to Washington, D.C., which was where they had moved the national government after Philadelphia had started it going properly between 1790 and 1800. A lot of people from all over the country were taking history trips that summer. Some of them certainly didn’t know much about Philadelphia.
Like the woman who came up to them outside the Capitol in Washington and said, “Hello, folks. I’m from Ohio. I see by your license that you folks are from Pennsylvania.”
Anthothy said quickly, before his grandmother or mother could reply, “Oh no, we’re from Philadelphia.”
The woman looked puzzled and said, “They haven’t moved it from Pennsylvania, have they?”
His mother and grandmother laughed politely, so the woman wouldn’t feel badly about being ignorant, because of course Philadelphia was in Pennsylvania, but you weren’t from Pennsylvania, you were from Philadelphia. He guessed maybe out in Ohio there were no important places to be from, so you have to be from Ohio.
The book dedication reads: For Marian, who didn’t understand Philadelphia.
