Two weeks ago, Colin Jost made a joke about Philadelphia on SNL.
In case you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the transcript:
“Bryce Harper has signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, finally, answering the question, ‘How much would someone have to pay you to live in Philadelphia?’”
I thought briefly about removing him from my mental list of celebrity crushes but decided against it since he’s made approximately 400 other jokes I thought were funny (and I mean, come on).
That said, my first instinct was to be mildly offended.
“Rude,” I said aloud to N.
He boldly responded, “I like when stuff like this happens. If everyone thinks it’s crappy here then it’ll keep being affordable to live here and we’ll be able to buy a house.” Ah, good logic. As you were, Colin. Keep bashing Philly.
Then we were watching John Oliver last week and again with the Philly shade. We get it. We’re easy to hate.
The thing about Philly is this: For me, and for many people who live here, it feels like we’re in on a secret. Like we know how great it is but most of the country doesn’t. So we get to live in this little bubble where we know that we have so many of the amenities and awesomeness of living in a city but without much of the price tag.
The national news likes to bash us (apparently so does SNL) and share every bit of bad news. Philadelphia has some major problems, undoubtably.
But we also have some of the best restaurants, art, culture, sports teams, public parks, and more. We’re dog friendly, with decent public transit and incredible walkability. We’ve got four distinct seasons and tons of important history. We’re family friendly. Our neighborhood is bursting with babies and kids. Plus, so much row home cuteness!
We’re not without our problems. But as the yearly parking authority stickers begin to fill up the full right side of our car rear window, I realize that I feel more and more like a Philadelphian. It’s hard to remember what life was like before we lived here and truly, I’ve never felt more at home anywhere else.
I love living here. But if you’ve never been here and you think it’s probably gross and terrible, that’s totally fine. We’ll keep living in our secret.
