Community Organizing: Practical Resources for the Post-Election Times

(If you know who created this image,
please let us know!)

Here is an attempt to organize a post compiling local and national information on different actions and such. It necessarily won't be complete, but if I could manage compiling papal visit logistics last year, this ought to be possible...

So. This is an enormous amount of information. Please take what you need, and if you feel overwhelmed by the enormity of wanting (or feeling expected) to do it all, know that any one thing you do will add to the whole. "You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." - Talmud, Pirkei Avot

Note: Taking that quote for myself, I'm going to post what I have at this point, with further refinements in updates going forward. I think getting the information centralized and out there quickly is more important than what it looks like, and whether I have things complete or in the right order.

So please bear with me, and do check back.
Thank you.

compiled by Jennifer Sheffield, Web Manager
most recent update: 12/8/16
-----------

Contents:

Note: Top level links should work now.

• General
• At the Store and Nearby
  
  • In the City
  • Big Blue Marble
  • Northwest Philly Sanctuary Project
• Appointments So Far
• Some Quick Actions
• Details on Some Issues
  
  • Contacting the Electoral College Before 12/19 Vote
  • Voter Suppression, Gerrymandering, and Possible Election Fraud
  • Donald Trump's Finances and the House Oversight Committee
  • Standing Rock
  • The Affordable Care Act
  • Climate Change
  • Info for quiltbag/LBGTQ Americans
  • HR 2802, the so-called First Amendment Defense Act
  • Islamophobia/Religious Discrimination
  • Truth, Fact-Checking, and Fake News
• Calling Our Representatives
  
  • Some links about the process of calling:
  • Known Issues for Calling
  • Pennsylvania Representation
  • Transition Team
• Other Kinds of Actions
  
  • Petitions
  • Signatory Letters
  • Demonstrations and Marches
  • Local and National Organizations for Volunteering or Donations

General

Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century
by Timothy Snyder, Housum Professor of History
Yale University

Similar clearinghouses of information:

Makeitrightphl.com is a local website offering all sorts of concrete ideas and actions to take post-election, in an interactive flow chart format. Significantly, it has sections for both "take action" and "take care".

"We're His Problem Now" Calling Sheet. This spreadsheet highlights certain specific issues, offers scripts for those and many others, and provides phone numbers -- including district phone numbers, which are more likely to be effective than DC numbers -- for Congress members.

Weekly Actions to Resist Trump: This website similarly offers highlighted actions, plus more actions if you want to keep going, in an interactive format instead of a spreadsheet. It includes phone numbers and scripts, plus a place to click that you've made each call, and they're tallying those numbers.

What to Do This Week -- Actions for Democrats, Independents, and Republicans of Conscience. Here's another spreadsheet of actions, many with additional sources for fact-checking.

At the Store and Nearby

In the City

City of Philadelphia: Resources For Supporting Diversity And Inclusion - from Mayor Jim Kenney, 11/18/16

Big Blue Marble

We at the store, alongside our community, are reeling from the results of the election. We also know we have important resources here: books, writers, activists, and space. Workshops and conversations and organizing events are on their way -- check the events page of our website and our newsletters (go here to sign up) for forthcoming announcements.

If your group wants a space to meet and plan, or wants to provide training, organizing, or skill-sharing, please contact us! We have the third floor community room, which is open all day, and the performance space on the second floor available after hours.

On Fridays, We Fight Back:
Last Friday we began On Fridays, We Fight Back, a series of communal actions. More than 25 people joined us through the afternoon to make phone calls to protest the appointment of white supremacist Steve Bannon as White House advisor.
Friday actions will be ongoing. If you have ideas for actions, or workshops you'd like to offer, or ideas for authors or speakers, please contact us. We believe in the strength of our diversity and the possibilities of our voices.

Friday, November 18: Stop Bannon.
We called PA reps to thank them for statements or urge them to repudiate DT's appt of Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist
If you're on Facebook, check out the discussion in the 11/18 Facebook Event for various scripts that Elliott printed out for us to use.

Friday, November 25: Write to electors.
We'll write to members of the electoral college to encourage them to vote their consciences.
And we'll call to Get Out the Vote in Louisiana, where one senate seat still hangs in the balance.

Friday, December 2: Electors, HOC, and Standing Rock. (Also Sanctuary Cities, and the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act)
This week, we'll be focusing on the Electoral College, on pressuring the House Oversight Committee, and supporting the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.
If you're on Facebook, check out the discussion in the 12/2 Facebook Event for issues and various scripts that Elliott printed out for us to use.

Friday, December 9: Contacting the Electoral College, and Getting Out the Vote in LA.
This week, we'll write to members of the electoral college to encourage them to vote their consciences.
And we'll call to Get Out the Vote in Louisiana, where one senate seat still hangs in the balance.

Northwest Philly Sanctuary Project

"A call for artists, musicians, storytellers, community members, poets and anyone interested in community building to come and join Mt. Airy Art Garage (MAAG) in partnership with Mt. Airy USA, Sarah Napolitan and Community Circle to collaborate on ideas for the NW Philadelphia Sanctuary Project, a project designed to bring the community together through artistic expression of positive messages to people in our community in a tumultuous time.

"The NWPSP is in the beginning stages of planning and devlopment, and is a project that will involve the fostering and cultivation of support, acceptance, and love for our community and its members through positive messages that the community makes through art, written expression, storytelling and poetry. The event will take place on December 11th from 1-5 p.m. in the brand new amazing space of the Philadelphia Immigrant Innovation Hub. The entrance is on the side on Westview Ave., in the basement of High Point Bulk Coffee Center."

Here is a link to a Facebook event for the first planning meeting, which already happened (11/21), but check it out for a detailed description of the project.

Appointments So Far

• Chief Strategist and Counselor: Steve Bannon
• Chief of Staff: Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus
• Attorney General: Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions
• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo
• White House National Security Adviser: Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn

Brief summaries of their experience, 11/18/16. (Caution: huge photographs.)

• U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
• Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
• Health and Human Services Secretary: Georgia Rep. Tom Price
• Transportation Secretary: former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
• Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin
• Commerce Secretary: Wilbur Ross
• Defense Secretary: Retired Gen. James Mattis
• EPA Administrator: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt
• Housing and Urban Development Secretary: Ben Carson
• Homeland Security Secretary: Retired Gen. John Kelly
• Labor Secretary: Andy Puzder

More brief experience listings, 11/30/16 (updated 12/8)

Steve Bannon

Facebook Initiative: Postcard Avalanche to Denounce Bannon (Saturday, Nov. 26, through Monday, Nov. 28)

6 Things You Can Do To Keep Steve Bannon Out Of The White House

Some Quick Actions

US Representative Lamar Smith, Chair of House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology - and climate change denier - has a one question survey on his website about congressional priorities for the year. Please select Other and write in "Mitigate climate change". His website is: lamarsmith.house.gov.

More to come.

Details on Some Issues

Contacting the Electoral College Before 12/19 Vote

There are several campaigns to ask electors from Trump-winning states to become "faithless" and to vote against Donald Trump.
- How to write to the Electoral College. This contains mail-merge letters to personalize (and edit, if preferred) and address labels to print. (Total cost for postage: $122, if you write to ALL of them. Also broken down by state.)
- And here are the (modified) PA address list and argument suggestions from last week's On Fridays, We Fight Back!

Huffington Post: 32 Nonpartisan, Non-Ideological Reasons The Electoral College Must Reject Trump
National Archives and Records: About the Electoral College
Atlantic column: The Electoral College Was Meant to Stop Men Like Trump From Being President

Voter Suppression, Gerrymandering, and Election Integrity

Update, 11/27: Wisconsin to Recount Ballots After Claims of Irregularities

Update, 11/25: Jill Stein's campaign for donations to request vote recounts has reached enough of their goal to request a recount in two (WI, PA) of three states (MI pending). If you live in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or Michigan, you can also volunteer to monitor a recount, should they occur. For Pennsylvania, they're also requesting three people from each election district to submit the requests.

Update: Here are two articles suggesting that vote audit is possible (but only at the instigation of the candidates), two urging that vote audits become normal practice, and one saying that calling the DOJ will not change anything unless you have evidence of specific wrongdoing. (Hm. Do Voter ID laws count?)

• Jill Stein hopes to request election recounts in battleground states.
  She's looking for donations because it's a costly process.
• Experts Urge Clinton Campaign to Challenge Election Results in 3 Swing States
• Want to Know if the Election was Hacked? Look at the Ballots (This one also clarifies items in the previous article.)
• The election probably wasn't hacked. But Clinton should request recounts just in case.
• The Department of Justice is not going to conduct a vote audit based on your phoned-in outrage

Meanwhile: Federal Court: Wisconsin’s Republican-Drawn Redistricting Maps Are Unconstitutional

Donald Trump's Finances and the House Oversight Committee

"Please call the House Oversight Committee (202-225-5074) to support the call for a bipartisan review of Trump's financials and apparent conflicts of interest. They are absolutely tallying calls - the more they get, the more likely the Committee is to demand ALL of Trump’s financial information.
There’s not much time left, as they are out of the office soon for Thanksgiving. And after that, they’re going to make a decision.
NOW is your chance to make a difference. Please, do this ASAP. If you get a "mailbox is full" message, call back in a minute or so - that seems to be the default when lines are busy. If the voicemail is accepting messages, leave a message!"

Note that the decision is to be made asap the week after Thanksgiving. I've heard recommendations to call first thing on Monday morning, 11/28 (Unless it's Tuesday they come back; not sure).

Followup - calling members of the committee directly, when the main number's mailbox is full.

Standing Rock

Update 11/6: The Army Corps of Engineers has refused to grant the easement for the pipeline, which means they have blocked it (at least temporarily) from its proposed path through Standing Rock. Yay! Links to come.

A #NoDAPL Map by cartographer Carl Sack (11/2/16-11/4/16)

Two links about banks that are funding the pipeline:
Who's Banking Against the Sioux infographic from Food & Water Watch
How to Contact the 17 Banks Funding the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/29/16)

from truth-out: Don't Be Passive Observers of Last Night's Terrorization in Standing Rock: Here's What You Can Do. This article lists numbers to call and also an address to send supplies. (11/21/16) See also script and action below.

How to Contact the People Sending Militarized Police to Standing Rock (10/31/16)

How To Talk About #NoDAPL: A Native Perspective (10/27/16)

from the "We're His Problem Now Calling Sheet (above):
**Breaking Issue*** Dakota Access Pipeline Protestors Injured
I’m --- ---- calling about the 167 water protectors injured by law enforcement at Standing Rock today. Attacking the water protectors with hoses in sub-freezing temps is inhumane, cruel, and unacceptable. I want to :
*Allow water protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly/protest.
*Immediately stop attacking water protectors with tear gas, water cannons, hoses, or other violent means.
*Refrain from arresting/interfering with peaceful demonstrators.
Morton County Sheriff → Morton County Sheriff's Dept: 701-667-3330
Morton County Sheriff's Office (if the first one is continuously busy): 701-328-8118
Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier of Morton County: 701.667.3330
ND Governor Jack Dalrymple → 701.328.2200 or 701-328-2200
White House → (202) 456-1111, 202-456-1414 or White House Situation Room: 202 456 9431
Army → Army Corps of Engineers: 202-761-8700; National Guard ND: 701-333-2000

The Affordable Care Act

Note: This doesn't involve talking to anyone if you don't want to.

Circulating:
"Paul Ryan is conducting a phone poll on the ACA (Obamacare), hoping to hear overwhelming popular opposition to it. If you would like to express your support for the Affordable Care Act, the numbers to call are (202) 225-3031 OR try 202-225-0600. Press 2 to weigh in on the issue. You'll hear a brief recording about HR-3762* (grit your teeth and wait it out to get to where you have to register your stance!), Paul Ryan's proposal to gut the ACA, and President Obama's use of his veto power to stop it. Then, you will have a chance to indicate your opinion with the press of a button.
Press 1 if you support the ACA, 2 if you oppose it.
Then you hear a pre-recorded spiel from Ryan about how he cares about what we think about issues, etc., etc., and you have a chance to leave a message."

*which they don't mention includes a freeze on federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Confirmation from Snopes:
Connecting to the Speaker. You can give the House Speaker your opinion on the Affordable Care Act — if you're patient.

Climate Change

Trump’s Plan to Eliminate NASA Climate Research Is Ill-Informed and Dangerous

Info for LBGTQ/quiltbag Americans

Some articles from Jerner & Palmer, the attorneys who worked with us on our second-parent adoption:

• After the Election: Things LGBTQ Families Should Know Now
• After the Election: Things Trans People Should Know Now
• Jerner & Palmer, P.C. offers pro bono and reduced fee services for gender marker changes to U.S. Passports

Trans Relief Project


HR 2802, the so-called First Amendment Defense Act

I want to highlight that we have to reframe this bill. Do not let it get away with being called a defense of the 1st amendment. Add "so-called" when you can. Call it HR 2802. Call it a travesty. I don't know. I do know that that when the "Defense of Marriage Act" and the "welfare reform bill" were both passed in 1996, I was raging that the latter would never have happened if it had been called the "Be Mean to Children" act. And I immediately began calling the former the "Discrimination of Marriage Act".

The GOP’s Anti-LGBT, Anti-Women ‘Religious Freedom’ Law on Steroids
The First Amendment Defense Act would allow hospitals, governments, universities, and businesses to ignore same-sex marriage, deny women health care, and fire gay people.

Note that the bill was introduced in 2015. Here's the full text.

To come: Find information about Public accommodation.

Islamophobia/Religious Discrimination

CAIR: Council on American-Islamic Relations

NAACP Statement on Proposed “Muslim Registry”

No Religious Registry Act (H.R. 6382)

DelBene Introduces Bill to Prohibit Religious Registry

Calling Senators to oppose Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor. Here's a sample script from a friend:
"President-elect Donald Trump has appointed General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. General Flynn has called Islam 'a cancer' and has said 'fear of Muslims is rational.' Our country was founded on freedom of religion. PA has more than 80,000 Muslims. I ask the Senator to call out General Flynn on these statements and to oppose his appointment. While I realize that Congress does not have to approve the National Security Adviser, it is still possible for the Senator to issue a strong statement opposing General Flynn and his radical statements about a peaceful religion practiced by millions of Americans."

Truth, Fact-Checking, and Fake News

Snopes.com: a place to check the truth/rumor status of circulating stories.

This Is How You Can Stop Fake News From Spreading On Facebook. Not clear is how the fake news status is verified within Facebook.

From The Philadelpha Inquirer: Fake news? Bias? How colleges teach students not to be duped

From NPR, All Tech Considered: Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts

Calling Our Representatives

Some links about the process of calling:

• Emily Ellsworth's experiences as a staffer: Calling is more effective than email. Personal letters to the district office (rather than DC) seem to be in between.
• Shy Person’s Guide to Calling Representatives
• How to Call Your Reps When You Have Social Anxiety
• If you're on Facebook, check out the discussion in the bookstore's Stop Bannon Facebook Event for various scripts that Elliott printed out for us to use.

Known Issues for Calling

• Call on our senators to issue a statement opposing Michael Flynn's appointment as National Security Advisor, based on his anti-Muslim statements.
• Call those responsible for the 11/20 violence toward peaceful protestors at Standing Rock, ND
• Call the House Oversight Committee to demand DT release his financial information (by 11/28 or 29).
• Urge our representatives (or anyone) to reject and speak out against Donald Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon as chief strategist. (Or Jeff Sessions. Or Mike Pompeo. Or...)
• Urge the Senate to do their jobs and confirm Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
• Let them know your personal fears about this administration.
• Call the automated survey that Paul Ryan has set up for your feelings (+/-) on the Affordable Care Act

Pennsylvania Representation

Phone numbers for some of our representatives in Congress. Always better to call local or regional offices than DC office.

Senator Bob Casey released a statement condemning Bannon. Call his office and thank him:
Senator Casey (202) 224-6324, (215) 405-9660, (814) 357-0314, (610) 782-9470

Representative Dwight Evans Phone: (215) 549-0220
He has signed a letter from 169 Representatives to Donald Trump, so please call to thank him.

Senator Toomey (215) 241-1090, (717) 782-3951, (610) 434-1444, (202) 224-4254
He can use more persuasion. When I called on 11/18 I was told he "has not yet made a statement".

If you're on Facebook, check out the discussion in the bookstore's Stop Bannon Facebook Event for various scripts that Elliott printed out for us to use. If not, try some of the other links listed above.

Transition Team

(As of 11/16, from Elliott's calling plan)
Calling President Popular Vote Loser's transition team members. These are hard-core supporters, but you'll be talking to their staff members, so be nice. 2 are from PA, so we have a special role in calling them.
These are the numbers for the transition team members who currently hold office:
PA Representative Tom Marino 202-225-3731
PA Representative Lou Barletta 717-525-7002
TN Representative Marsha Blackburn 202-225-2811
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi 850-414-3300
NY Representative Chris Collins 202-225-5265
Rep. Devin Nunes 202-225-2523
Reince Priebus 202-863-8500, Option number 1"

If you're on Facebook, check out the discussion in the bookstore's Stop Bannon Facebook Event for various scripts that Elliott printed out for us to use. If not, try some of the other links listed above.

Other Kinds of Actions

Petitions

Here are some petitions I have seen circulating.

from change.org: Demand An Audit Of The 2016 Presidential Election

from We the People: Investigate Allegations of Election Tampering

from We the People: We the People ask President Obama to immediately appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court (Here's a Washington Post opinion piece from April explaining why this might be possible. I think President Obama would have to give them a deadline first, though.)
Update: This one has reached enough signatures to be considered by the White House. It still keeps counting beyond that, however, so you can still add your name!

from Southern Poverty Law Center: Bannon Must Go.

from actionsprout: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline

Multiple issues from the Anti-Defamation League's advocacy center: RAISE YOUR VOICE HERE: Tell your Members of Congress where you stand on the following ADL issues.

Signatory Letters

Info to come.

Demonstrations and Marches

Info to come.

Local and National Organizations for Volunteering or Donations

poster credit Robin Markle

Philly Groups Organizing Campaigns for Economic and Racial Justice by Robin Markle

City of Philadelphia: Resources For Supporting Diversity And Inclusion - from Mayor Jim Kenney, 11/18/16

Anti-Defamation League: #NeverIsNow.

Planned Parenthood

Trans Relief Project

Southern Poverty Law Center

CAIR: Council on American-Islamic Relations

Elliott's Five Favorite Books from 2016 Author Events

The Great American Songbook: Stories by Sam Allingham (Philadelphia)
I started reading these stories while waiting for Sam's event to begin, and could barely stop in order to sell the book to everyone else. Remarkable, haunting, funny, smart.

This Is Not a Confession: Essays by David Olimpio (New Jersey)
Essays that take on the lingering effects of sexual abuse, divorce, and grief and still manage humor and playfulness. This book moved me deeply, and I fell in love with David's online pictures of his dogs, too.

Green Shoots of Democracy within the Philadelphia Democratic Party by Karen Bojar (Philadelphia).
Interested in changing the nature of the national Democratic Party? That change starts locally - only 2 of Philadelphia's Democratic wards are actually run through a democratic process. Karen Bojar explores how we got here, and shows us successful ways to organize for change.

god's breath hovering across the waters by Henry Israeli (Ardmore).
This new collection of poems by Saturnalia Books editor Henry Israeli was written and published before this election, but are eerily timely. Written in the wake of the death of his mother, who barely escaped from Nazi Germany as a young child, The ugly power of nationalism and fascism haunt these poems: "Germany created a Hitler, / and, in turn, Hitler created / a Germany he could embrace / without flinching."

Flat Head Zed by Ellen Marcus (Philadelphia).
This imaginative picture book tells the story of a girl who does NOT want to make the same kind of snowman as other children. Instead, she creates a fun-loving block monster she names Flat Head Zed. What will happen when the other kids see her unique creation??

Events Coordinator Elliott bat Tzedek, November 2016

Nasty Women Getting Out the Vote! ...With Cake!

Come to the store on Election Day with your "I voted!" sticker, and we will have Election Cake for you!

Author Interview: Lorrie Kim

by Jennifer Sheffield

Hi, Lorrie! Congratulations on the release of Snape: A Definitive Reading -- Looking forward to seeing you at the release party tonight (more details below)! Here is my synopsis:

The first line of Snape: a Definitive Reading tells us, “The Harry Potter series may be named after the Boy Who Lived, but if you want to know the story, keep your eyes fixed on Snape.” As readers already know by the end of Deathly Hallows, Severus Snape, with his hidden stories and intense emotions and ever-ambiguous actions, holds the keys to Harry’s hidden stories, and to many of the events of the series, from beginning to end, and beyond. What may not have occurred to us is how the series looks, from beginning to end, when seen through Snape’s eyes. Lorrie Kim has woven together a picture of Snape’s motives and internal processes that both rounds out the story and gives new, even comforting, perspectives to what are, for me, some of the hardest moments of Rowling’s series. It’s a beautifully consistent and thorough picture of a powerful and complex person.

How did this book come about? I know you’ve presented papers at academic Harry Potter conventions. Did you draw on that work in putting together your definitive reading?

Story Spring Publishing approached me about a nonfiction book on Snape. The original plan was to draw on my conference presentations and adapt them into a book. But I found that those shorter papers tended to be topical and to skip around the timeline of the series in making focused arguments, whereas for a sustained book, it made more sense to go chronologically through the series and look at how Rowling developed characters and revelations. I also found that many of my readings had changed. I ended up including many of the ideas from those papers, but not much of the wording.

What kinds of insights have you gained about the series from other people’s presentations?

I have such clear memories of moments when other people’s arguments inspired me. I mention a couple of them in the book. For example, in 2009, I heard psychologist Mara Tesler Stein explain that a Patronus is a mirror of one’s most loving self, and that when Harry first attempts to cast one, he can’t because he’s using the wrong kind of memories. When he uses memories of loving connection between people, the spell works. That stunned me – there are right and wrong kinds of memories for happiness spells? It opened my eyes to the way Rowling uses magical imagery to express psychological truths. It made so many readings possible to me. It helped me understand that when Rowling shows people emanating silvery magical light, it has to do with their individual selves – she might say “souls” – but when she shows golden light, it’s about the glow that comes of love between people. Which helped me understand why the dome of light between Voldemort and Harry is golden, and how that threatens Voldemort. Which made me think about wand cores connected through golden light, and how Harry and Voldemort are similar at the core. Which made me think about Hufflepuff colors of yellow and black, which gave me the notion that one trait of Hufflepuffs is that they believe we are all the same at the core.

This cascading effect of mental connections happens to me so frequently when I listen to other people’s presentations based on a text we have in common. I know I’ve had similar reactions listening to Hilary K. Justice or Mark Oshiro. It doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with that person’s readings, just that their way of seeing illuminates something for me and brings more and more understanding.

Does JKR pay attention to analyses of this sort? Have you ever interacted with her yourself?

My understanding is that Rowling knows better than to delve into the ever-growing pile of words that people write about her glorious fiction. She’s been so influential that there’s too much of it for a single author to process, anyway. I cannot begin to envision how much feedback is directed toward her, how many entreaties, whether from literary critics, politicians, non-government organizations that crave her support, teachers, the publishing industry, or individual readers. I approve fiercely of anything she does to safeguard her creative energy and sanity. It floors me that she was even able to publish the seventh Harry Potter book, considering the pressure surrounding her, the multiple international businesses that were financially dependent upon her delivering a finished manuscript, the din of the fans and detractors debating what they thought she ought to achieve with that final installment. That she has gone on to create more fiction to please herself is something that both uplifts me and gives me a growling laugh of pleasure. I have never met her and don’t expect to. She gives so much, through continued publishing in revolutionary formats, through Twitter, and through her fascinating charity work. I appreciate that abundance.

I find that a reference quote from a book I’ve read can bring the original scene powerfully to mind. In this way, reading your book has left me feeling as though I’ve just crammed the entire Harry Potter series into my head in a few days, on fast-forward! Have you had times during the process where you feel you’re living the series?

Not the series, no. But the psychological realities depicted in the stories, yes. For example, a few years ago, I had a terrible argument with someone in which I was greatly at fault, and I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t stand the sight of this person. I was also conscious of the things this person had done to create the fight and contribute to it. Eventually, I approached them to give a full apology, mentioning only my own part in it and my regret, but it was never easy to see that person’s face again after that. I was surprised when they apologized for their own part – I didn’t expect or require that – but it was gratifying to take that as evidence that they believed I was sincere. That whole episode helped me understand Slughorn, in his shame, altering his memory and running away from Harry. It was the only thing that helped me understand how Snape could possibly convince himself of such whole-cloth lies as Harry enjoying his fame – I couldn’t forget how ashamed and guilty I felt when I behaved badly toward someone, and how hard it was to stop thinking angry thoughts about them. I never enjoyed glimpsing this person again, even after the mutual apology. This made me understand why Rowling shows that Harry and Draco never become friends, why Rowling has said in interview that Harry gets Snape a portrait in the headmaster’s office but never feels the urge to go visit it. Not every conflict has to end in forgiveness and friendship. And if I want stories of enmity that turns into closeness, I feel as though I can find those stories more easily. I appreciate that the series gives stories of resolution without friendship.

After a discussion about Gryffindors and Slytherins generalizing and demonizing each other’s entire House, you say of Chamber of Secrets that “This entire volume is about the danger of dormant resentments that can be awakened in an atmosphere of suspicion.” Later on, you mention that “The Inquisitorial Squad may be hand-picked by Umbridge, but as individuals, they are just as expendable to her as the other students. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix provides young readers with extraordinarily precise insight into the thinking of tyrants.” Do you feel these issues have particular relevance with current events?

I’ve thought about these elements of Harry Potter so often during the ghastly news of shootings, bombings, and other large-scale crimes of hate. Rowling repeatedly poses the question in her series: What kind of monster would kill a baby? This is a war crime. How does a person become that? How do we allow it to happen? It resonates with me particularly when we hear that a mass murderer has very recently declared allegiance to a larger terrorist group. This is how Voldemort attained followers. Rowling showed, through that character, a tyrant who had his own agenda, internally inconsistent and mad, which he shared with no one. He identified the agendas and weaknesses of others and appealed to them, giving people whatever would feed their own unhealthy appetites, which would distract them from looking at him too clearly. Teen Snape fell for this, like many others who became Death Eaters while young. He was an unstable, vengeful person who was hungry for the grandiosity promised by Voldemort. Voldemort’s actual aims weren’t even compatible with Snape’s desires, but it didn’t matter. We see this in the news when we investigate claims of ties to terrorist groups. Those ties don’t always go deep.

As for current events such as the xenophobia driving Brexit or the chilling spectacle of this year’s U.S. presidential campaign…yes. When I read quotes from British citizens about what they thought it would accomplish to leave the European Union, I could only picture Uncle Vernon. When I see politicians egging on angry, resentful voters to commit acts of violence and other crimes, it’s agonizing to see how the voters are being duped – as though these politicians have any empathy at all for these people whose votes they want, as though they won’t betray these voters in an instant for their own convenience. I think the Potter series is brilliant in showing us the feelings behind such conflicts. The difference between someone using people without caring, like Umbridge using Draco but distrusting him, and someone willing to give actual help, like Dumbledore offering to put Draco’s entire family into hiding. Those things feel different. Stories reach us and help us know that.

The gift of the Harry Potter series, to me, is that it’s so widely read, such a shared text, that episodes from the series can be used to communicate about complex issues. If you sense that a politician is an Umbridge, know that nothing good can come of allying with her. If you read demonstrably false negative press about a public figure, know that it might reflect an agenda that has nothing to do with that person – that Stan Shunpike might not be a Death Eater, that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets and Fudge sent him to Azkaban anyway, for his own political gain.

In this book, you get inside more characters’ heads than just Snape. One of the things that most surprised me in reading it was your insight into Hermione, including both her thoughts about and her connections to her potions professor, throughout the series. Were you noticing this in your original reads of the books, or did it come out through working on the analysis?

The dynamic between Hermione and Snape always drew my notice. It puzzled me. I found her disavowal of “books and cleverness” at the end of the first book to be problematic; I sensed something unresolved in the author because I don’t feel satisfied that we are shown why Hermione would believe this enough to blurt it out at such a pressured moment. I found her patience with Snape, while he alternately ignored and insulted her, to be curious. I had to remind myself, a few times, to write less about their dynamic for this book. The dynamic between Snape and Harry should be the central one for writing about Snape’s story, whether or not I personally find Hermione to be a more intriguingly written character than the titular hero.

I was pleased to see the attention you gave to bullying and discrimination, and to the importance of protection and de-escalation. It’s important to recognize the ways that some teachers, even the nice ones, can be complicit in encouraging these kinds of harmful behaviors, and that some teachers, even the bullying ones, can work to limit the damage such behaviors cause.

Chapter 3, “Severus Snape and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” was by far the hardest for me to write. I thought I knew the series pretty well, but on my re-read for writing this book, I kept finding surprise after surprise when I started to delve into what Lupin and Snape were really thinking throughout that year. I think many readers resist seeing that Lupin, as well as Snape, inflicted damage in his teaching, because Snape’s harmful classroom behavior is so outrageous. It can feel as though acknowledging Lupin’s wrongdoings might mean letting go of the reader’s enjoyment of his retorts to Snape. I may be proudest of that chapter because I think perhaps, when you read it, you can sense the energy I felt from making new connections rather than writing about things I’d been considering for some time.

This continual experience of new connections, more than anything, captures why I love the Harry Potter series so much. I’m well above the target age group for the writing and I’ve written about the series for years, but every single time I re-read the books, I find new things. Rowling has created something extraordinarily complex. When the series was not yet finished and some critics argued that it was not, and would never be, good enough to become a classic, I remember the scholar Hilary K. Justice saying at a conference, “Does it reward re-reading?” For me, at least, it’s a resounding yes.

What was the writing process like for you? Did you have everything pieced out and then stitch it together like a quilt? Did you find that new connections came to you while you were writing? Did anything surprise you in creating this book?

The writing process involved thanking my husband and children repeatedly for managing without me while I wrote frantically. I created a painstaking outline that hit all the themes I wanted to cover and then ended up ditching the whole thing and just going chronologically through the series, as is, I think, appropriate for analyzing the writing of a mystery story. New connections came to me as I re-read in preparation for writing, and then I had to be disciplined about writing only what I had in my notes and not rambling further.

Probably the thing that surprised me the most this time was the realization that Snape truly believed, based on evidence, that Lupin was deliberately grooming Harry to trust him because he was planning to bite Harry while in werewolf form. I never understood that before and it’s shockingly dark. Rowling is so good at resisting the temptation to spell things out; she keeps some things subtextual or completely unspoken, granting so much respect to her young readers and their ability to read deeply. Turns out that her subtlety is often wasted on some of us middle-aged readers, too. Every re-read leaves me wondering what else I’ll find the next time I go back.

Do you have other projects that you’d like to tell us about?

I’ve been thinking about the reading of Harry Potter from the point of view of parents, transmitting this story to the next generation, reading it together as a family, participating in the transformation of the series from a publishing phenomenon into a children’s classic, embedding it into the popular culture. So my next project will be to put together a proposal and find an agent for that!

Excellent. We'll look forward to reading it!

And now for our "3 for 3" book questions:

1. What were 3 of your favorite books from childhood/teen years?

I just had fun answering this in my interview with Book Jawn Podcast!
For them, I said Jane Eyre, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Let me think of different answers for you…

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
I was obsessed with this book when I was 6 and 7.

A Bargain for Frances, Russell Hoban
One of the most brilliant books I think I’ve read for any age group. So complex, and rewards dozens – hundreds – of re-reads, just as the Harry Potter series does.

The Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
I nearly had it memorized. To this day, deep down, I probably still believe (incorrectly) that I know how to make cheese or plane a shingle because of those books. Their romantic depictions of cooking, sewing, knitting, and quilting definitely inspired me to learn those skills.

2. What are 3 books that you've read recently that surprised you?

I have read almost no books this year, since I was busy writing this one!

One of them, though, has been Immanence, a short story collection edited by J.L. Aldis. Full disclosure: some of the stories were written by people I’ve come to know because I’ve read and admired their fiction online, for free. What surprised me is that these profoundly well-edited short stories are even higher in quality than the stories that made me want to seek out these authors and leave them glowing reviews. That kind of stunned me, actually. And made me appreciate anew that no matter how much we enjoy the explosion of different platforms for writing these days, the fact of knowing that something will be published between physical book covers can elevate even the best writers to achieve more.

I’ve read the Hamiltome, of course. Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. I bought it from Big Blue Marble, in fact. It was another experience of being surprised at what we can give ourselves permission to achieve, how much ambition we’re allowed to indulge. The wit of the Revolutionary-era typefaces and phrasing kept delighting me. The matching of different songs to different behind-the-scenes stories about the musical or the cast felt so deep, so satisfying. Such a good matching game.

And honestly, those are the only two books I’ve read recently that surprised me. So many of my friends are writers who work in different media, such as serialized web fiction or online cultural critique, that I read almost no actual books while I was writing Snape. I did enjoy a web comic called Check, Please (omgcheckplease.tumblr.com) that surprised me with a whole new world of collegiate slang that was fun to learn. The characters play hockey, about which I know less than nothing, but I was lured into reading it because it also contains figure skating, pastry, gay love stories, and feminist food studies, all of which are very much my areas.

3. What are 3 books that influence/d your work?

I have never thought of this question in reference to my own nonfiction writing! It’s a question I associate more with novelists. Hmm.

I mentioned this to Book Jawn Podcast, too. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Annette Gordon-Reed taught me so much about how to construct arguments using common sense. This book was published before DNA evidence vindicated those who maintained, despite racist denial, that Jefferson did have a slave wife and children. The author’s meticulous scholarship won my respect and awe, but it was her extremely dry humor that won my heart.

The Power of Beauty by Nancy Friday. I think that book had a very mixed critical reception, and I don’t love all of it. I do, however, love the risks she takes with her leaps of intuition, delving into powerful emotions and using those as her starting points. That strategy means she will sometimes miss the mark, but when she hits, she hits deep. As a reader, those hits make her book worth it to me, and I probably learned something from her about including intuition when writing critical nonfiction.

The Bones of the Others by Hilary K. Justice. I encountered this writer through her Harry Potter work, and that led me to her work on Hemingway. I experienced so much meditative bliss when reading along with some of her analyses. Like the Hamiltome, I felt that her work gave permission to indulge in ambition, not to hold back. This writer likes to analyze word by word, and then to analyze the spaces between the words, some of which are silences and some not. I think Snape would appreciate the beauty in this approach.

Thank you so much for joining us, Lorrie!

Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Lorrie Kim lives in Philadelphia, PA with her clever, grumpy, magical spouse and their Harry Potter-reading offspring, one born between Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince and one in gestation during the publication of Deathly Hallows.

Thanks for reading!!! If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order a copy of Snape: A Definitive Reading. You can also come to Lorrie's Book Launch Party, TONIGHT, Saturday, July 30, 8:30pm, In the midst of our Harry Potter and the Cursed Child series of events! If you can't make the party, you can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Weekly Events Counting Down to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Midnight Release!

Happy birthday to (or perhaps from) Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling! The newest work in the Harry Potter world, the script for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, will be released at midnight between Saturday, July 30, and Sunday, July 31. This play, opening in London July 30 (with previews beginning June 7), takes place 19 years after Harry, Ron, and Hermione defeat Voldemort, and is a study of how family stories echo through generations.

Any new Harry Potter release is a good enough reason for book lovers to party, but this summer we have EVEN MORE: local author Lorrie Kim, who is by her own description obsessed with Severus Snape, will also be releasing her character study of the Half-Blood Prince that same night. Called Snape: A Definitive Reading, the book is the perfect present for anyone who has ever melted at the single word "Always."

Beginning Saturday, June 18th, we're launching seven weekends of Harry Potter events! We’ll be showing all eight movies, with different crafts and associated games each week. All events are free and appropriate for Harry Potter fans of all ages. Popcorn, snacks, trivia, and fun!

You can pre-order either book (or both) from us starting NOW by emailing orders@bigbluemarblebooks.com. See the calendar below, and check back for updates.

Countdown Schedule:        

Saturday, June 18 - Countdown week 1

• 6 pm - Harry Potter Warm Up – Make a wand of your own, and decorate your own Harry-Potter-style glasses!
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Sorcerer’s Stone

Saturday, June 25 - Countdown week 2

• 6 pm - Dobby Sock Contest – Wear your most outrageous mismatched socks! Take your picture in our Harry Potter Photo Booth!
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

photo by Jennifer Sheffield

Saturday, July 2 - Countdown week 3

• 6 pm - Animagus/Patronus Costume Contest – What animal will you be? Make your own Azkaban Wanted Poster!
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Saturday, July 9 - Countdown week 4

• 6 pm - Contest – Can you get your name into the Goblet of Fire?
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Saturday, July 16 - Countdown week 5

• 6 pm - Activities – Create your own prophecy and orb! AND Create your own Educational Decrees!
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Saturday, July 23 - Countdown week 6

• 6 pm - Activities – POTION MAKING! Mix your own magic - but you'll have to taste test it! AND Invent your own magic spells
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

image by ShockingBlankets, via Lorrie Kim

Friday, July 29 - Countdown week 7

• 6 pm - Harry Potter Character Guessing Game – In Book 7, our heroes keep changing identities - are you fan enough to keep track?
• 6:45 pm - Reading of "The Tale of the Three Brothers".
• 7 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Saturday, July 30 - Release party! Costumes encouraged for all!

• 6 pm - Screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
• 8:30 pm - Starring Severus Snape! Celebration of Snape: A Definitive Reading, Lorrie Kim’s hot-off-the-press definitive study of the potions master. Readings, trivia, and passionate discussion.
  Reserve your copy of Snape by emailing: orders@bigbluemarblebooks.com
  Check out the new interview with Lorrie Kim, just posted on the blog!
• 11 pm – Screening of Tom Felton Meets the Superfans, a special documentary on the world of Harry Potter
• 12:01 am – Get your copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!
  Reserve your copy by emailing: orders@bigbluemarblebooks.com.
  The first 40 people to buy the book will receive a special certificate sealed with a Hogwarts Crest!

Best of All Possible and Impossible Worlds

If you didn't make it here for our YA author event on Oct. 9, I recommend you hop on over and check out the books (and the follow-up book club discussion this Thursday*). We had a wonderful and inspiring conversation, with a great group of authors, and enthusiastic readers to hear them read! Kate Scelsa and Lyn Miller-Lachmann both travelled from New York City to be here, while Randy Ribay and Ilene (I.W.) Gregorio are both local to the Philly area -- though Ilene, "practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night," was coming from a full day in surgery and was actually still on call.

The readings were well-delivered and powerful. None of the authors chose to read from the beginning of their book; instead, each read a scene of transformation from partway through.

In Surviving Santiago, Wisconsin teenager Tina reluctantly returns to her homeland of Chile to visit her father, in the tense political climate of 1989. Lyn offered us the scene where Tina has arrived in Chile and meets her papá for the first time in years, thinking about what he was like in her childhood and how he was changed when he came to the US after his political imprisonment...and wondering what he'll be like now.

In her scene from None of the Above, Ilene gave us the moment when Kristin, who has recently been blindsided by the news that she's intersex, finally decides to take her father's advice and look at information about support groups for people with her condition -- which takes her out of complete despair and offers a measure of hope.

Kate's book, Fans of the Impossible Life, is about three teens trying to move forward from difficult parts of their lives, and in the scene she read, they have put together a ritual, full of silliness and power, to get rid of their demons and invite into their lives what they most want.

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes is also about a group of teens dealing with issues in their own lives, but they don't talk to each other about them: at this point they know their D&D characters better than they know each other, and their experiences of the world are separate, and barely overlapping, even when they're in the same room. Randy gave us a scene in which Mari, who runs the D&D game for the group, takes her own recent set of news and writes the destruction of a world.

The discussion that followed the readings was friendly, open, and insightful.

"What was the nicest thing someone has said about your book?" asked an audience member.
Without exception the responses were about reflected experience -- from the teens who tell Randy that the amount of diversity in his writing is realistic, rather than overdone, to the 13-year-old who told Ilene that None of the Above gave her the courage to reach out to a support group, to the adult reader who told Lyn that, from his own experience, he both questioned and understood why Tina's father would want to return home after exile. Kate summed up this general feeling in her own answer: "When you write about something you haven't experienced and have people say you got it right!"

The authors talked about problems with both good reviews and bad reviews, and the frustration with people who use review space to trash books that they don't like and wouldn't normally read -- as though that sort of book shouldn't exist at all. We suggested that there needed to be a website for people to discuss books with the guideline to use only "I" language. Relatedly, we also talked at length about trigger warnings, and how the use of both the warnings and the label itself has changed. Originally conceived as a way to warn people of content that might trigger actual PTSD flashbacks in the readers, it has devolved in many settings into a way to warn readers that they might be uncomfortable with what they read, or might learn something they don't like. Which both discourages reading/learning and dilutes the importance of the trigger warning for those who need it. Kate pointed out that the overuse comes from both ends of the political spectrum.

Further topics included audio books -- Lyn talked about recording one on her own for a friend who's blind -- and the store's QUILTBAG YA shelf: how to present books that explore gender and sexuality in a way that highlights them and yet doesn't compartmentalize them. After the general discussion, the gathering moved into book signings and smaller, equally vibrant conversations...and Ilene got her first page (medical, not literary) of the evening. I got the sense that everyone went home inspired and energized, and it was fun to hear the authors getting excited about each other's writing. Thanks to everyone who came, and whether you were there or not, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these books!

*Big Blue YA Book Discussion on any/all books by these authors: this Thursday, October 22, at 7:00pm. See our website or the Facebook event for more information!

Also: we were privileged to have Randy Ribay in the store a week before his book's official release date, and two weeks before his official release party!
Randy's release party: Friday, October 23
Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School
5501 Cedar Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19143

Preparing for September's Papal Traffic and Transit Disruptions

(Pterodactyl Map by Bradley Wrenn; source: PlanPhilly on Facebook)

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Exactly a month from now, the city of Philadelphia will be hosting the World Meeting of Families, starting Tuesday, Sept. 22, and concluding over the weekend with a two-day visit by Pope Francis and a Catholic Mass on the Parkway. Security measures are being put in place to regulate the roads and the ridership of SEPTA, particularly throughout the long weekend. We are expecting a lot of disruption at this time, both with people who want to leave Center City and people who will not be able to enter (or re-enter) it.

So, we up here in the Northwest would like to help. The Big Blue Marble is offering our second and third floors as a haven for those who are unable to get to work on Friday, September 25, due the added security. Come to the bookstore for refreshments, WiFi, a pleasant place to hang out during the day, and possibly a sympathetic ear.

We also recommend that people who are planning to come from beyond the neighborhood to our YA book club/Terry Pratchett Tribute on Thursday, 9/24, or Poetry Aloud & Alive on Friday, 9/25, check their routes before proceeding!

And now, here is a clearinghouse of sorts, with links to the current information the City has provided about the traffic and transit security. Will try to update, as much as possible.

latest update: 9/22/15 - City Ave. more closed than we thought (but not continually?), Schools closing Monday too, Museum and Zoo schedules and exchanges, more timelines, bicycles, and info for Northwest Philly.

Contents:

• "One Map to Rule Them All," Plus Three Websites of the Elves (updated)
• In Northwest Philly (new)
• Security Perimeter Maps, by Date and Time
• Parking and Towing Within Perimeter
• State Road Closures (updated)
• SEPTA Transit Changes
• PATCO, South Jersey, and the Ben Franklin Bridge
• City Government Website
• The Papal Visit Playbook
• Schools (updated)
• Farmers' Markets
• Bicycles (new)
• Museums and Zoos (new)

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compiled by Jennifer Sheffield

1) "One Map to Rule Them All," Plus Three Websites of the Elves, or maybe it's Six of the Websites of the Dwarves?

A local data scientist named Lauren Ancona has put together an interactive mega-map, where you can scroll around the area, zoom in and out, and toggle on and off the features you want to see. The transit section isn't complete, but there are state roads, "festival grounds" entrances, hospitals, the "pope ride bike routes" (?), parking/towing zones, locations of the jumbotrons, and more! Here's the direct link to the map.

Update 9/19: Three websites to know:
A) From philly.com, a compendium of interactive maps. Note the little tabs above the first map, toggling through different modes of transport. The second map toggles through the security countdown, starting 9/20.
B) From PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, papal511.com. There's even a "Current Conditions" traffic section! (Though it claims the Parkway is open and slow, when I thought it closed this morning.)
C) From a private bus service business, PopeBus.com. Shuttle buses from locations in PA, NJ, DE, and MD, to the nearest open SEPTA stations, on the weekend of the Pope's visit.

Update 9/22:
D) Security Timeline as brief bar graph.
E) Security Timeline as detailed list (as of Monday, 9/21).
F) The List of Prohibited Items. In case anyone missed it before, because it's way down this page, ONLY PLANTS AND MINERALS (AND SEEING-EYE DOGS) MAY SEE THE POPE! Among the "Prohibited Items" are "Animals, except for service animals". Proceed with care.

2) In Northwest Philly

Information that may be useful for those of us staying in or traveling through the Northwest. Much of this (but not all) appears elsewhere on this page.

A) The Place for Displaced Workers Lounge! Reiterating the bookstore's Friday (9/25) plan above to welcome displaced workers with WiFi and snacks.
B) Chestnut Hill West Regional Rail Station. Here is what access to the station will look like on Saturday and Sunday. See the SEPTA section below for more info on Regional Rail, etc.
C) The Chestnut Hill Growers' Market at Germantown Avenue and Mermaid Lane is planning to be open on Saturday, September 26. There will be fewer vendors, and they cannot guarantee prompt arrival, but they do intend to be there!
D) Papal Mass. For those wishing to see it from within the neighborhood and with your neighbors, the Unitarian Society of Germantown will be live-streaming the Papal Mass in the Sanctuary at 4pm Sunday (preceded by a 3:30 primer).
E) Trash Collection. This is actually city-wide: according to the Streets Department, collection will be cancelled Friday and Monday, with trash being held for one week, rather than shifting to later in the same week. So mid-week collection days will be unaffected.

3) Security Perimeter Maps, by Date and Time

This is a series of eight maps, from Thursday at 10pm to Sunday at 6am, showing exactly where the different perimeter lines will be when and what they mean. Color coded and nicely detailed. Answers questions like "Exactly when does West Philly get involved, and to what extent?"

NOTE: As of this writing, these maps still say "Traffic Box" on them. Be cautioned that the term "traffic box" has now been banned, according to this article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer (8/27), in favor of the more welcoming term "Francis Festival Grounds".

Here also is a summary of information from a security briefing on 9/10, including parking, bikeshare, and trash collection.

4) Parking and Towing Within Perimeter

There is now a schedule of parking restrictions/towing plans in the most vehicle-secure areas, starting the weekend *before* the Meeting, on 9/20. The article includes some alternative parking options for residents, some of which allow cars to stay in place until 9/24.

Updates 9/19:
A) Easing of parking restrictions: Certain resident parking permits will be honored on "any permit-parking block in the city" while the no-parking rules are in effect. (Caution: Does this mean any block outside the restricted zone, or any block at all? Not clear from the way it's stated.)
B) Towing plans finalized.
C) Parking Authority's web page on Where and How to Park During the Papal Visit. Includes links to the parking garages with open spaces for sale (fee waived for those with valid resident permits.

5) State (and some local) Road Closures

A map of state road closures during the papal visit.
According to the Playbook (see below), these roads will close at 10:00pm on Friday, Sept. 25.

Update 9/22: City Avenue (Rt. 1) will be more closed than what's posted on the road closures map! According to this Inquirer article (9/22), the stretch between 76 (which I take to include the City Avenue Bridge) and Belmont Ave. will be open only at "certain unspecified times," and only going southwest. Other than that, the road is closed off. By the way, traffic will be allowed to cross City Ave. at Belmont, Conshohocken State Road, and Lancaster (Rt 30).

Further Update 9/22: Slightly different information about City Ave from Channel 6 ABC. (You'll need to scroll or search to find it.) Not sure whether they actually conflict. Very detailed article, though, with maps, and also includes a list of streets and sections of streets in Center City to be closed, and a current traffic map.

Okay, while we're at it, here's what's going on with the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and River Drives. Note that this article is from 9/19, so when they say "Friday" and "Saturday" they mean this past weekend.

6) SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) Transit Changes

Lots of detail on the SEPTA website's special papal visit page. Buses, trains, trolleys, regional rail, station details, ADA accessibility, etc.

Specific information on the Airport Line from today's Inquirer (8/27).

Map of walking distances from various SEPTA stations (pictured here).

Update 9/10: SEPTA will be expanding service for the Market-Frankford El and the Broad St. line. Here's a map of the revised station options and an accompanying article (9/9) describing the changes in stations, timing, and fares in more detail.

Update 9/11: New, more comprehensive interactive station map, on which all the active Regional Rail stations are linked to individual station maps (here's Chestnut Hill West) showing parking, road closures, and station access.

7) PATCO (Port Authority Transit Co.), South Jersey, and the Ben Franklin Bridge

Map, operating stations, fares, and parking information on the PATCO website. There's also information on the Ben Franklin Bridge closure. Spoiler: pedestrians only. (Editor's note: I saw an article that said "If you're planning to walk across the bridge, get an early start," to which my sweetie replied, "Like about three weeks.")

Here's a philly.com article (8/27) on road closures in South Jersey.
Find information on New Jersey buses and rail lines at the NJ Transit website.
You can also get to (and from) Center City that weekend by Riverlink ferry from Camden.

Update 9/19: Waterfront parking in Camden is now available. Article includes a link to purchase parking permits for 9/26 and 9/27 (daytime only).

8) City Government Website

Phila.gov has a special papal visit page. Even more maps! Includes some of the maps listed here, along with maps of details like walking distances to the perimeter, locations of grocery stores and hospitals, etc.

Helpful Inquirer article from back in August (8/20): "City to residents: We will help you with pope security restrictions". There's some good general information in the article, with details about the 311 hotline and the "Papal Visit Playbook" mentioned below, and other useful facts: "Residents can drive within the box, though Nutter cautioned that streets could be filled with people." Hmm.

9) The Papal Visit Playbook

The Papal Visit Playbook contains lots of useful information, such as the following, from the How to Prepare page:

You may want to think of the Papal Visit weekend as a snow weekend, where moving around the city will be difficult. Expect busy hotels and restaurants. Food delivery may also be limited due to the vehicular traffic restrictions from Friday, September 25 – Monday, September 28.

To avoid walking through large crowds to get to grocery stores or local eateries, be sure to stock up on food essentials prior to the weekend. Daily life should only be impacted for a few days, but it never hurts to be prepared and avoid any unnecessary hassles. You may want to consider stocking up on basic household essentials in addition to your regular grocery list – pantry staples, specialty food for infants and elderly, medications, and hygienic supplies. Also, make sure you don’t forget your pets – keep an extra stock of supplies and pet food for your loving four-legged family members!

Topics on the How to Prepare page include bicycles (okay in the traffic box Francis Festival Grounds but not the secure area...and you can take bikes across the BF bridge if you walk them) and Amtrak (which is requiring reservations for that weekend).

Update 9/15:
A) Hard copies of the Papal Visit Playbook were distributed this past weekend in Sunday's Inquirer and Daily News (9/13). So if you have a copy of the newspaper, or know someone who does, you can extract the nicely laid-out insert to read (and carry with you) on actual newsprint.
B) According to the paper version, there is a Go Philadelphia! mobile app. searchable on Google Play and iTunes. This seems different from the AlertPA/GoPhila app. mentioned in the online version, which is for emergency alerts.
C) ONLY PLANTS AND MINERALS (AND SEEING-EYE DOGS) MAY SEE THE POPE! Among "Prohibited Items" listed in the playbook are "Animals, except for service animals". Proceed with care. Also "Structures". Structures?

10) Schools

The School District of Philadelphia will be closed from Wednesday, September 23 (Yom Kippur) through Monday, September 28. (Monday recently announced.)

For information on other districts/schools, check their individual calendars.

11) Farmers' Markets

The Chestnut Hill Growers' Market at Germantown Avenue and Mermaid Lane is planning to be open on Saturday, September 26. There will be fewer vendors, and they cannot guarantee prompt arrival, but they do intend to be there! Check the Farm to City website for closure plans for Farm to City markets. I don't see any indication yet one way or another on the Food Trust market site.

12) Bicycles

Here is The big list of where you can and can’t ride your bike in Philly during the Pope’s visit. Includes bike racks, bike share, perimeters, SEPTA, and a brief mention of the Schuylkill River Trail. Also links to the organized Pope Bike Ride and information from the Bicycle Coalition.

13) Museums and Zoos

There are lots of Vatican-related exhibits at the local museums in honor of the papal visit. The Franklin Institute Science Museum opened its Vatican Splendors exhibit on Saturday, and in the main atrium they have, perhaps coincidentally, connected this exhibit to the Art of the Brick exhibit with a Lego Vatican (see photo below)!

However, the FI and other museums will not necessarily be open during the weekend Here's a schedule of museum and library closures.

The Philadelphia Zoo will also be closed to the public on Saturday and Sunday (plans still unclear for Monday). Meanwhile, the nearby Elmwood Park Zoo has announced (in the same City Ave. article mentioned above, though I haven't found it on their website yet) that they are offering free admission to Phila. zoo members during the weekend.


Left: Cardinal in my front yard.
Right: Lego Vatican at Franklin Institute.
Photos ©2015 by Jennifer Sheffield.