Moving To Philadelphia

This week the themes are social justice and an investigation of empathy (does it require shared experience?). Both topics were spurred by Cynthia’s visit to the Church of the Advocate in Northeastern Philadelphia, host of multiple major events during the Civil Rights movement and the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s (the first women Episcopal priests were ordained here in 1974), and home to controversial murals painted by Walter Edmonds (former owner of the home now occupied by Cynthia & Jeff) and Richard Watson. The murals were commissioned by the church to better represent the black experience, reflect the black congregation and community, and draw parallels between slavery described in the Bible and slavery suffered by African Americans. The joke of the week, in keeping with these themes, involves racial discrimination, a religious debate without words, and social justice, while managing to have a funny punchline. Also discussed are Cynthia’s inadvertent discovery