John P. Pryor, director of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's (HUP) trauma program, describes in a fantastic Washington Post op-ed from Sunday how Philadelphia's violent crime rates in low-income areas are spiking. "The War in West Philadelphia" is the second national bit I've read this summer that likens Philadelphia's dangerous neighborhoods to Iraq:

In Iraq, ironically, I found myself drawing on my experience as a civilian trauma surgeon each time mascals [mass-casualty situations] would overrun the combat hospital. As nine or 10 patients from a firefight rolled in, I sometimes caught myself saying "just like another Friday night in West Philadelphia."

Penn is situated between West Philly and Center City in the neighborhood of University City, a district Penn helped found in 1997 to make itself sound and look yuppier. And if you measure yuppie success by Starbucks, I usually passed two on my way to class.

Mmm... gentrified Frappuccino with eminent domain sprinkles... University City makes me feel so warm and guilty inside.

But to the Penn '11s, you might consider hiding a collective Glock under those "New Student Orientation: Library Social 2007" t-shirts you'll soon get. University City is still only 6 or 7 blocks from the new Sadr City. Thank God I peaced out when I did. Boogity boogity boo!

If students have any defense it will be behind the Daily Pennsylvanian's hard-nosed crime awareness reporting, as exemplified recently by the paper's weekly summer outlet, the Summer Pennsylvanian. Think Ernie-Pyle-in-World-War-II quality. Then imagine the complete opposite, only fully realized in vibrant Adobe Creative Suite 2 mauves and ecrus.

After the break, "Why report on this 'crime epidemic' when Nintendo's making some 'Wii' dojiggly?"

As I've said before, I worked for the DP at Penn and was an SP editor in summer 2005. Working at the SP can be tough -- small staffs with limited editing experience and ho-hum training from the permanent DP editors. 

You'd expect, however, that if there's a crime wave being compared to Iraq in the national media, and one of it's major loci is right by the 7-Eleven down the street, there might be one full news item about it over the course of ten weeks. I went through the SP's news archives, the final issue being last Thursday's, and found the following (please correct me if I missed something):

• A May 24 story about Michael Nutter, the Democratic nominee and very likely winner in November's mayoral election, and his plans for the city. A few paragraphs about cracking down on violent crimes.
• That July 19 story about the mean children assaulting people on campus, then a July 26 story saying it's over. Nothing about the larger crime wave.
• A June 14 story called "Nintendo: New console isn't just for geeks" This has nothing to do with violent crime. It does, however, exist.

On the upside, two of the last issue's op-eds tackled the issue. One's a little vague ("Let's invest in our city, not necessarily with our endowment, but with our collective voice -- this violence must be stopped") but a good start nonetheless. The other argued that Colt 45 advertisements in public places are unrelated to violent crime or something. Whatever.

Lastly, I've attempted many jokes in a post about a homicide spike, but please tell me this offends you more. In the last issue of a tragic summer for Philly, the SP posts an article, top of the website, called "There's no place like Philadelphia." Here's a taste:

From the Constitution Center to cheesesteaks, Philadelphia has something to offer almost every resident and visitor. At least, that's the stance several publications are taking as they recognize the greater Philadelphia area as one of the country's best places to live.

If some rags recognized Philly positively, then it's story-worthy for more reasons than one. Yet the article makes no attempt to balance these accolades with the very real fear that the city is destroying itself. On the other hand, we learn that Penn junior Liz Wayne's favorite things about Philly are its parks, scenery and cultural events.

The article also propped John P. Pryor's HUP for placing 12th in U.S. News & World Report's American hospital rankings:

Hospital rankings were based on a particular center's ability to see the "toughest patients" with complex medical conditions as well as providing quality patient care and conducting bench-to-bedside research that leads to advances in practice and technology.

Certainly an honor, but is that ability a product of West Philly's glut of "tough patients?" Let's assume this doesn't mean Penn freshmen puking during orientation week.

--JIM NEWELL