Morning Almanac · Philadelphia

Saturday, August 8, 2026
POEM OF THE DAY

The Old Pond

Matsuo Bashō

The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop! Sound of water.


A THING TO SEE

In This Community

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)

August 6 – October 12, 2026


A THING TO READ

Beginning Middle End

Valeria Luiselli

A new novel from one of our most formally inventive storytellers — Luiselli returns with a layered meditation on narrative structure, time, and the stories we tell ourselves.


LONGREADS

from 'A Tomb for Anatole' Stéphane Mallarmé, The Paris Review (trans. Paul Auster)

Mallarmé's fractured elegy for his son — fragments of grief that break language itself into light.

Education Is a Weapon — 40% Off Radical Learning Resources PM Press

A small indie publisher's sharp, necessary catalog on teaching resistance, radical parenting, and learning outside the state — now discounted for the back-to-school season.

Volta Max Lite — World's First Dual Magnetic Charging Cable PledgeBox

A gadget newsletter's breathless pitch for a cable that snaps magnetically into every device you own — the kind of thing you didn't know you wanted until you read about it at 6 a.m.


ON SCREEN

FILM Project Hail Mary

Streaming (various platforms)

Andy Weir's solo-space-survival novel gets the blockbuster treatment — a lonely, witty, scientifically obsessive film that earns its sentiment.

TV Silo (Season 2)

Apple TV+

The subterranean dystopia deepens — Season 2 peels back the silo's lies with a slow, paranoid burn that rewards patience.


A PLACE TO EAT

Emilia

East Kensington

Chef Greg Vernick's newest project in the buzzing Kensington-Fishtown corridor — a restaurant that's become one of the most talked-about openings of the year.


WHAT'S ON

The Oval Minifest 2026

Free, family-friendly pop-up events and activities at Eakins Oval on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — today, Saturday August 8.

Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival

All-new lantern displays light up historic Franklin Square in Old City — running through August 16.

Freedom Dreams at the Barnes Foundation

Immersive art, film, and video installations exploring how Americans of color have shaped national identity over 250 years — final weekend, closing August 9.


A LINE TO CARRY
Beauty has no other origin than a wound, unique, different for each person, hidden or visible, that everyone keeps in himself, that he guards, and into which he withdraws when he wants to leave the world for a temporary but profound solitude.— Jean Genet