Thoughtless for the Day

[Email sent to the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation]

To whom it may concern;

Please allow me a few minutes of your time to present to you what I feel is a wonderful opportunity for Philadelphia:

February 12, 2009 will mark the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin (as well the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species.). Sadly, many less enlightened municipalities will be forgoing a celebration of the great naturalist's life out of the fear of a possible confrontation with the sort of people who would feel at home on the set of the movie Deliverance: the sort of people we neither want nor need to be attracting to our fine city.

Let those other cities' cowardice become Philadelphia's opportunity. For years Philadelphia has been promoting events like Bloomsday and the Fringe Festival in an attempt to draw in (and keep within her city limits) a more educated segment of the population. What better lure than Darwin Days 2009?

Darwin Days 2009 would feature special events at the Franklin Institute, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and the University of PA Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. As February can be a rather rough month, weather-wise, in which to hold a celebration, I suggest that we declare 100 Days of Darwin: this would stretch the festivities into early June. Tie in a catching slogan like "Philadelphia: We're Constantly Evolving" and you've got an event that just might return Philly to its old standing as "the Athens of America".

As I'm not going to take no for an answer (I'll keep pitching this idea until somebody says "yes") and we only have a little over two years to put this thing together, we need to get started right away.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you,

rodney@rodneyanonymous.com