November 14-18: Slow Food tasting, community garden class, Reading Viaduct talk, Cities Under Siege, Charlie Chan in Egypt

Snail of Approval Tastings

Monday, November 14, 7-9pm. Reading Terminal Market, 12th and Filbert streets. Slow Food Philly celebrates its first set of snail-approved restaurants, markets, and food producers with a tasting from 24 local purveyors whose focus is sustainable, local food. Proceeds from the event will benefit locally CATA, The Farmworker Support Committee and The Urban Tree Connection, as well as Slow Food’s A Thousand Gardens in Africa.  $30 in advance online, $35 at the door. Must be 21+.

How to Start Community Garden

Tuesday, November 15, 5:30pm-8:30pm. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 100 North 20th, 5th Floor. PHS offers a crash-course for Garden Tenders interested in getting a community garden off the ground. Find out how to identify appropriate parcels, obtain permission to use the land, community outreach, what supplies you’ll need, and what to plant when. Tickets are $10 per person, purchase online.

Philadelphia’s Reading Viaduct: An Elevated Park Connecting Neighborhoods

Tuesday, November 15, 6:30pm-8:30pm. Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Center for Environmental Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences is hosting an event to explore the possibilities presented by re-imagining the Reading Viaduct as a linear park.  Members of the Reading Viaduct Project, a citizen advocacy group, will join Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, and Center City District CEO Paul Levy in a discussion about the Reading Viaduct park project, moderated by Spencer Finch from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. Free. Register online.

Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism

Wednesday, November 16, 4-6pm. Penn Hillel House, Dubin Auditorium, 215 South 39th Street. Penn’s Urban Studies program hosts Stephen Graham to discuss new book, Cities Under Siege, which traces how cities are becoming increasingly militarized through new infrastructure and surveillance in the name of counter-terrorism.

Secret Cinema at The Penn Museum: Charlie Chan in Egypt

Wednesday November 16, 6pm. Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South Street. As part of their 2011-2012 series at the Penn Museum, Secret Cinema shows Charlie Chan in Egypt, in which a detective investigates the case of a murdered archaeologist and missing artifacts in Cairo. This series is screening vintage films that relate to the Penn Museum’s geographical focus and archaeological themes. All films are shown from 16mm prints, in surprising areas of the museum. $10 general admission, $7 for seniors, $6 for children 6-17, free for kids 5 and under, free with a Penn card.