philly pride: i’m ready to swallow mine, how about you?
ive been thinking about something that was mentioned at this past weekend’s CreativeCamp. One of the attendants was telling me about how he recently returned to Philly and noticed an attitude issue. He said something to the effect of, “I thought New York was stuck up, and really Philly is just bad, maybe even worse. And really, he’s right. Its not so much of the NYC/”We’re better than you” attitude, its the Philadelphia/”We’re Philly and we don’t need or want your help”.
So that, to me, screams pride. Surely, Philadelphians are some of the most proud people in the country. I mean, look at our sports fans. Notoriously some of the most violent, verbal, and aggressive sports fans in the country…and not like they’ve earned it, right? Whens the last time one of this fine city’s sports teams won a sports championship? I digress, and refuse to speak about something that I admittedly know absolutely nothing about (sports).
So this pride that we have, is it what’s hurting us? Philadelphia is the home to many, many incredibley smart and talented people from every industry on the planet. But so few of those people reached their success alone. Most of them, like so many other successful individuals, leaned on the shoulders of peers and mentors. They overcame their pride, and did the hardest thing in the world for a proud person: they asked for help.
This is where I see an opportunity for coworking to break down a huge barrior in our local industry. We shouldnt have to worry about being “not New York”. A venue like coworking not only enables, but encourages collaboration. Working as a team to produce that which couldnt exist as individuals. I don’t know about you, but that’s something that I can’t wait to be a part of.
swallow your pride, philly independents. dare to be great, with us. the founders of this country did it, thats enough inspiration for me.
10. October 2006 at 16:16
[...] i wrote about philly pride almost a month ago, and apparently I’m not the only one experiencing it. this recent wired article talks about the power and success behind barcamp and the collaborative format. They talk about BarCampNYC2, held just a couple of weekends ago. Making a cameo in the article were philly locals Jason Coleman and his fiancé Kim Wallmeier, young entrepreneurs from my hood and masterminds behind WineLog.net! As you might imagine, I have every intention of contacting them about their experiences at BarcampNYC2, and to talk about a full scale BarCampPhilly. [...]
17. July 2007 at 07:48
There is a culture in Philly - the underdog culture - which is why Rocky resonates so much. America was born here, this was the capital of the country for a short-period, we were the hub for all things textiles. We were the home to major corporations, all of which are gone, at least locally.
Philly was ‘left behind’ after WW2 - textiles and manufacturing left, creatives left, and all you were left with was people who couldn’t or chose not to leave. Now what we’re left with is being a daytrip destination between NYC and DC.
I’ve been thinking along the same lines as you - there are a lot of creatives, both in the traditional Big-C artistics and the small-c innovators and entrepreneurs. We just don’t talk to each other enough.
17. July 2007 at 07:51
@Ron “Now what we’re left with is being a daytrip destination between NYC and DC.” THAT is what has to go. we’re so much more than that!
Building those channels to talk, and giving people a reason to, is the challenge. So far, so good, but we’re a long way from done.