Phil Gentry

Slightly cringey, but I’ve started a “professional” instagram to chronicle my current book project. You may follow along if you are inclined. instagram.com/philipmgentry

@JawadPullin Democrats in NJ and elsewhere are extremely lucky for national-level polarization when it comes to staying in office.

Actually, I did think Democrats would win NJ by <10 points this time around. Blue states/cities can be their own worst enemy when it comes to governance, and NJ’s seen quite a lot of it the last few decades.

Amazing that the Inquirer refuses to acknowledge @sixtysixwards even in this context. 🙄

Okay, but how is it that Iowa and New Hampshire seem to get so many material benefits from being early primary voting states, and yet all we get is harassed to death by earnest blue state canvassers every four years.

Just noticed the AT&T building next to the south street bridge has incoming-hurricane-style flood barriers up; do they know something we don’t? 😬

@kanders26 I understand showing Tim Walz’s Milwaukee speech, but was extremely weird to show her Pittsburgh speech lol

@drussellmrichie Poppea is gorgeous, definitely see/hear it if you never have! I had mixed feelings about it overall; cool concept but didn’t quite gel together for me.

@pmgentry What did you think of the performance? I found myself generally just wanting to hear more Poppea. 🫣

Excited for this Curtis Opera presentation of Poppea presented simultaneously with George Lewis’s The Comet, based on a short story by Du Bois. Apparently they do the two operas simultaneously on a stage that slowly rotates between two audiences.

@gcornish91 I second that and call the question.

Are we doing Trump/Rage Against the Machine discourse again? online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article-a…

As always, morning prayer at 9, daily mass at 12:10, and evening prayer at 5:30. Chances are you need all three tomorrow.

Speaking of churches and center city and the election, Saint Mark’s (16th and Locust) is keeping its space open for the public from 9 to 6 tomorrow; I am going to be one of the volunteers there for a chunk of the day. saintmarksphiladelphia.org

Mind you, I personally think non-citizens should be allowed to vote—they pay taxes too!—but, they very much can’t currently.

I understand that these omnipresent ads are supposed to make you think voting by non-citizens is an actual problem, but I really think it has the opposite effect—reminding Republicans that normal laws on the subject already exist.

@apark_s This book has its ups and downs, but just the general thesis really had 😲 amazon.com/Covert-Capital…

I say “depressing” because of course imagining “presidential elections” as the main space for political work in the 21st century is, well, depressing.

Voting for a presidential candidate is not the same thing as fighting for an issue. building solidarity across lines of race and gender as an organizer is different from a candidate trying to appeal to different demographics of people who mostly don’t care about politics.

It’s not an uncommon move, but one of the depressing things about this piece is its unacknowledged sense of what constitutes a “movement,” and thus ends up comparing the suffrage and Civil Rights movements with…presidential elections. nytimes.com/2024/11/02/mag…

I’d estimate the audience was 50% musicologists, 50% Fancy Classical Music Administrators and Donors

And then at the end they all come together to sing a quarter version of Pur ti miro. Very cute.