So long to a Philadelphia institution
September 09, 2004
A couple months ago I was chatting with BK, talking about Mr. Inkwell�s upcoming birthday celebrations, when he made a casual remark about the last Thursday Club coming up.
It made me stop dead in my [typing] tracks. My insides sort of leapt from my throat to my toes, and then tears started welling up in my eyes. The reaction was that quick, and that intense.
The thing is I�m not all that sad about the end of an institution that brought together lushes and losers (kidding!) alike, every Thursday, to try out different bars,
drink, and be merry. I enjoyed Thursday Club � it gave us some goods times, and if nothing else a guaranteed place to be every Thursday night�and I�ve certainly missed it since I�ve been here. But it�s not the end of Thursday Club that�s
breaking my heart. No, I�m talking about an entirely different Philadelphia institution. One that I�m sure will be sorely missed by all. I�m talking about the man behind Thursday Club�Mr. Inkwell.
Mr. Inkwell was one of my first friends in Philadelphia, and he�s remained one of my closest. And now he�s leaving the city I have grown to love over theyears more than any other. He is such a HUGE part of what Philly means to me, and definitely one of the reasons that I grew to love it so much.
My first yearthere, he showed me the ropes, told me how the streets worked, told me about the city, told me where to go and what to do. He danced with me on the sidewalks and fountains of Olde City; walked with me in the cold from Riverview all the way back to Hill house; helped me understand the ways of SEPTA Inepta; took me for dinner at his parents house in the northeast. In short, he showed me the beauty of his beautiful city. Now, all my memories of that city are so irrevocably tied to him. He is as much Philly to me as the Liberty Bell, and I think a lot of people feel the same. And now he is leaving it for�well, for who knows how long.
I know it�s not all about me�there are *tons* of people who will miss Mr. Inkwell a great deal. And I know it doesn�t seem like it should matter to me all that much. After all, I�ve been here in Cairo for the past seven months, and he�s been thousands of miles away anyway so what does it matter if he�s in Philly or Chicago or Fiji for that matter. But I suddenly feel like [get ready for a shameful pop reference] Kali in the movie Dangerous Minds when Ms. Johnson shows up to what is supposed to be her last day of class at her inner city school, and finds the brilliant-but-pregnant-so-she-had-to-drop-out Kali in attendance. When the surprised Ms. Johnson asks Kali what she�s doing back in class, Kali replies, �I thought you�d always be here�whenevah I decided to come back.�
And that�s what struck me when BK mentioned the last Thursday Club. Even though I�ve known for a while now that Mr. Inkwell will be leaving for Chicago, I don�t think I ever fully realized exactly what that meant. In that moment it struck me�I�d taken for granted that he�d always be there,in Philly,whenever I decided to come back.
So, tonight marks the last regular Thursday Club, at least for a while. It�s also the somewhat early three-year anniversary. I hope that all of you in Philly will head down to Ludwig�s Garten, the place where it all began, order me a glass of their yummy framboise, and raise a farewell toast to two Philadelphia institutions that have brought much joy to so many of us over the years.