🌀 Mesmerized by the portal | Morning Newsletter

Morning, Philly. It’s mostly sunny out with a breezy high near 67.

This Saturday edition highlights five hours in the life of the new Philly portal. Plus, we’re following more presidential campaign visits across the Keystone State, upgrades are on the way for Philadelphia International Airport, and a Delco restaurant is reinventing itself.

P.S. The link to this story was broken in yesterday’s newsletter, so here it is now: Want to experience a zep on a classic Conshy roll one last time? Better hurry: the historic Conshohocken Italian Bakery closes this weekend. Food reporter Mike Klein has the story on the zep’s next step.

— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Every Saturday, I’ll share a Philly story here that’s stuck in my mind. This week, I’m digging the new Portal art installation at LOVE Park.

My colleague Stephanie Farr spent several hours at the portal. In return, we got a dispatch full of quintessential Philly moments that captured why our city was the perfect place for a window to other worlds.

It transmits real-time video to and from Dublin, Ireland; Lublin, Poland; and Vilnius, Lithuania. It’s a sort of social experiment. There’s no sound, so people do their best to communicate in silence across the sometimes blurry and grainy feed. And they succeeded: dancing, waving, blowing kisses, even smoking simultaneously.

Farr saw Philadelphians teach our friends across the globe a few things. We showed them the Mummers strut. We introduced them to Wedding Wednesdays at LOVE Park. We probably got at least one person to Google what “Grease them poles” means. And they got to “meet” Philly sports superfan Monty G. The strangers across the screen are also hip to our culture. People here went wild when a man in Ireland showed off a Phillies shirt, and a couple there flashed the Eagles and Wawa logos on their phones.

For all the mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety that brewed after we found out we were chosen for this sculpture, it’s going pretty well, and feels like a cool way to reach out to other humans in a unique way. Some are afraid the portal will literally suck them up and teleport them somewhere else. Farr overhead some in the crowd, including one person encouraging hesitant passersby to get closer: “You won’t fall in!” But wouldn’t it be fun to pop over to Ireland without having to fly across the ocean? That would play right into the inevitable love stories born from portal meet-cutes.

Mental illness impacts one in five people in the U.S. every year, and trends show poor mental health has risen in the last decade among young adults.

In a guest column for The Inquirer, Molly H. Wilson of Blue Bell says voters should consider this key issue before casting their ballots.

“As we barrel toward another election, we must get educated on the mental health policy positions for each candidate — from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to candidates at state and local levels — and vote accordingly,” Wilson writes.

Keep reading for Wilson’s perspective on candidates’ roles in addressing the nation’s mental health crisis.

Emmy-winning actor and West Philly native Colman Domingo will make his directorial debut with Scandalous, a film about the secret love affair between Kim Novak and which performer?

A) Nat King Cole

B) Sammy Davis Jr.

C) Ike Turner

D) Ray Charles

Think you know? Check your answer.

Hint: Health insurer based in Philadelphia

BERNESE COUNCIL DEPENDS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Michele Harbison who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Goldfish. The popular snack from Camden-based Campbell Soup Co. is temporarily renamed Chilean Sea Bass to appeal to “sophisticated” adult consumers.

On Thursday, Councilmember Mark Squilla introduced legislation in City Council that would authorize the construction of the Sixers arena in Center City. Squilla also included a bill to create special zoning rules for neighboring Chinatown.

Opponents and supporters of the arena were present at the meeting, some demonstrating outside of City Hall after walking out of the chamber in protest. Reporter Anna Orso captured the tense moments after anti-arena activist Debbie Wei, pictured above by Tom Gralish, was escorted out of the chamber while chanting against the legislation. See our full gallery here.

What’s the most Philly photo you have in your camera roll? That was the question posed by the Facebook group Meanwhile in Philly.

Among the best captures: a gorgeous view of the Green Lane Bridge, a bird hitching a ride on a SEPTA train, and a person walking with an iguana — yes, an iguana — on their shoulder through the Mount Moriah Cemetery. Reminds me of the time my colleague Abraham Gutman spotted a leashed ferret crossing a West Philly street. These things make sense here.

Over on Instagram, Kate Levy’s latest pictures of her cozy West Mount Airy home spark inspiration to try more renter-friendly renovations — and to get out and enjoy the fall while it lasts.

And in another corner of the web, one Redditor shared their horror after tasting the “abomination” that is Wawa pizza. Their review speaks for itself. I hate to say it, but Mike Klein and five teenagers told you so.

👋🏽 See you again tomorrow with the latest news.

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