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Thursday, November 6, 2008
   There’s a building in Philadelphia that haunts the minds of all who enter it.
Within those walls are gruesome tales of murder, eerie displays of the macabre and frightening surprises around every corner.

   But, this place is not the Eastern State Penitentiary, it’s much more real than that.
Located at 19 S. 22nd St., the College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum has educated medical students and the public on how to take greater responsibility of their health, while showing the heritage of medicine.

   Growing up in Center City, I found that most people go to the museum for a cheap thrill, hearing their friends tell tales of actual human hearts and two-headed conjoined twins that float on display in a jars of formaldehyde.
Whether they are prepared or not, each visitor to the museum gets more than what they bargain for during their trip.

   For example, when you first walk into the exhibit area, there’s an entire wall of human skulls greeting you with many “smiles.”

   I asked a guard if she ever got the creeps walking by that display or any others. She smiled and said that she didn’t, until she started reading about them.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
   When I was a teenager, one of the highlights of any weekend for me was staying up late to watch “Saturday Night Live.” (SNL) That was back in the days when I actually could stay awake through the entire show, unlike now, when I have a tendency to fall asleep even before those famous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” are bellowed in the opening segment.

   I came to be a fan in the mid to late 1970s, when the original SNL cast exploded onto the pop-culture radar of America. When the heretofore unheard of Not Ready for Prime Time Players, with the likes of comedians Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and Gilda Radner, to name a few, brought their rough-edged brand of sketch comedy into the mainstream consciousness of America, a brand of sketch comedy and satire rarely seen at the time beyond the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago.

   It’s been quite some time since I have made it a priority to stay up and watch this show, which has endured for an unprecedented 34 years. But, lately, I’ve made it a point to not just stay awake until 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night; I’ve made it a point to make sure I’m alert enough to enjoy it.

   With this election year being what it is, SNL, in a stroke of genius, has wooed back the brilliant Tina Fey to do her uncanny portrayal of Sarah Palin alongside her funny buddy Amy Poehler as a dead-on Hillary Clinton and a humorous Katie Couric.

   Though they no longer are regulars on SNL, Fey and Poehler, simply by teaming up on several show-opening Palin sketches, have made “Saturday Night Live” once again a show worth losing some shuteye over.
I think the multi-faceted Fey, who grew up in Upper Darby, is a rare comedian who seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to satire. Whatever project she is involved in turns to gold ... she’s like the Rumpelstiltskin
of comedy.

Posted by By Robyn McCloskey @ 6:17 PM  Permalink | File Under: Bucks County | | Burlington County | | Camden County | | Chester County | | Delaware County | | Gloucester County | | Main Line | | Montgomery County | | New Jersey | Post a comment
About The My Community Blog Team
Find out what's happening in the Greater Philadelphia suburbs from the staff of the MyCommunity Trend. Contributors include:


  • Melissa Treacy is the executive editor. She resides in Montgomery County with her husband, son and daughter.

  • Pete Kennedy is the managing editor of Trend.
  • Other contributors to the blog include editors: Megan Doherty, Jessica White, Gerry Dungan, Molly Albertson, Stephanie Prokop, Claude Nicolas, Stephanie Weaver and writers Mischa Arnosky, Amanda Rittenhouse and Jessica Ercolino.