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Live Comments by Douglas Witmer at Green Line Cafe


[Roberta sees a new kind of display at a cafe in West Philadelphia and grabs a live comment from cafe owner and artist, Douglas Witmer.]

Green Line Cafe, like many local coffee houses, has a robust art program. On its walls you are likely to see paintings, prints, drawings, small sculpture by local artists, and now, for the first time, a graphic display of a study by University of Pennsylvania graduate students Jessica Hurley and Laura Finch, documenting their research into racial implications of the Cold War nuclear bomb crisis, 1945-89, and capitalist (bankers, developers) implications of urban redevelopment in Lower Manhattan, 1928-2014.

display on wall in cafe
From the Bomb to the Crash at Green Line Cafe. Jessica Hurley and Laura Finch–New York redevelopment
text on wall
From the Bomb to the Crash at Green Line Cafe. Jessica Hurley and Laura Finch – quote by Manning Marable about impact on African Americans of nuclear bomb

If that sounds dry, think again. This is a socio-political project that asks for your participation. How would you like to see your city developed? There are photocopies of a map of Philadelphia, which you are encouraged to take, re-draw with your own ideas about development (more bike lanes? more parks and green space? how about burying the Schuylkill expressway underground? more mass transit–fewer traffic lanes?) and submit to the authors who will be presenting the community ideas as part of their research.

map of Philadelphia
From the Bomb to the Crash at Green Line Cafe. Jessica Hurley and Laura Finch – map of Philadelphia

From the Bomb to the Crash: Geographies of Disaster in the American Century, at Green Line Cafe, 4239 Baltimore Ave. Coming down soon, so check it out! And by the way, just in case you were wondering, this research is by an English PhD student (Hurley) and a Comparative Literature PhD student (Finch).  Interesting how academic disciplines are changing in the 21st Century.

Download a copy of the map here so you can re-draw Philly to your liking.  Then submit it to them to fromthebombtothecrash@gmail.com.

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