THE PHILADELPHIA JUNTO.: Security Notes

Monday, 6 February 2006

Security Notes

Free Passage
By Richard Carreño
Before 9/11 my gateway of choice, Philadelphia International Airport, was as porous as the US-Mexican border is now. Conversely, I had always been impressed with security at London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Dublin, the three airports I most often use when traveling abroad.

In fact, these airports had always been and remain, in reality, two airports in one. Following the European model, check-in areas are as 'malled' with fancy shops as departure-gate areas, except for the duty-free stores, of course. The result is that ticket-holders enter a cordon sanitaire when they move to the departure lounge.

Secure? Surely, yes. At least, for departing.

But how tight is security on arrival? I always thought that was tightly monitored, as well. The British and Irish aren't as squeamish about ethnic profiling as we Americans, and, as long as you stay out of lines with persons who you might trigger extended questioning, it's pretty much a safe bet that an entry for an American from Philly is swift and hassle free. 'What's the purpose of your trip?' 'How long will you be staying?' Bang! Your passport gets stamped.

So you can imagine my surprise, then, when I actually discovered some new truths about security during some recent trips to the UK and Ireland. I sometimes fly to Dublin first, en route to London, and this was the case two summers ago. Security? How about this? I entered Ireland without passing through immigration and baggage inspection.

As it happened, on that particular trip, I was traveling business class, and, as a result, I was among the first to alight. I just followed along -- OK, quite sheep-like -- my fellow-travelers. We turned there. We turned here. Before I knew it, I was in the airport's check-in area. Oops! Some of my companions just nonchalantly moved on -- into Ireland! I thought better of that. I retraced my steps, and managed to find the proper clearance officials.

I don't suppose this cock-up happens often. But, as my experience shows, it happens.

A few days later, I moved on to Britain. My flight took me to Gatwick. Because I was arriving from Ireland, there was no need, according to standard practice, for any passport control. I suppose the Brits think their security is covered by the Irish. But hold on! I could have been the same guy who had slipped into Ireland by error.

BROADSTREETREVIEW.COM INDEX

Articles by Richard Carreño
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Dissecting West’s ‘Death of General Wolfe’ August 06 2013 Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe was once a hallowed symbol of British imperialism. Now it’s been hijacked by Canadians, whose supply of national icons is otherwise limited. National Gallery of Canada. 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. www.gallery.ca/en.

Pittsburgh’s culture quest July 24 2012 The Mellons and the steel mills are gone, but Pittsburgh today boasts first-class museums, music, theaters and universities. The trouble is, they’re all in the wrong part of town.

Discovered: La Salle’s unsung art museum November 14 2011 An obscure museum in a North Philadelphia basement houses world-class treasures by masters like Tintoretto, Edouard Vuillard, Rembrandt Peale, Georges Rouault and Joseph Epstein. Most remarkable of all, admission is free. La Salle University Art Museum. Olney Hall, 1900 W. Olney Ave., lower level. (215) 951-1000 or www.lasalle.edu/museum.

Matisse and Barnes: A tale of two museums October 04 2011 Henri Matisse was one of the three great revolutionary artists (with Picaso and Duchamp) of the early 20th Century; Albert Barnes was a brilliant collector of revolutionary art. They made a great team until Barnes’s insufferable personality drove Matisse away, with consequences that still reverberate today.

‘Picasso and the Paris Avant-Garde’ at the Art Museum February 23 2010 Curator Michael Taylor has unveiled, for the first time in recent memory, the astonishing range, depth, and quality of the Art Museum’s Picasso holdings. But his show falls a few bricks short of an Anne d'Harnoncourt blockbuster. “Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris.” Through May 2, 2010 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or http://www.philamuseum.org/.

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‘American Stories' at the Met in New York October 18 2009 “American Stories,” currently at the Met in New York, reveals an indebtedness to Philadelphia's artistic patrimony. Almost the whole show could have been assembled from Philadelphia holdings or works by Philadelphia artists. So why is the Art Museum so modest about its contributions? “American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915.” Through January 24, 2009 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and 82nd St., New York. 212-535-7710 or http://www.metmuseum.org/. Art

Museum’s admission hike June 29 2009 The Art Museum recently raised its admission fees, a fund-raising model that is strictly 20th-Century. Then it hired as its new director Timothy Rub, a successful advocate of the 21st-Century model: free admission. Does the Art Museum’s left hand know what its right hand is doing?

Venice: Nice place to visit, but…. March 31 2009 There’s no place like Venice to jump-start your romantic gene. But before you move there, remember: The plumbing stinks. And try schlepping groceries, or hauling a suitcase, or finding a doctor or a decent restaurant or a neighbor who’s under 50.

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Sarah Palin and the ‘C’ word September 13 2008 Thanks to Sarah Palin, the 800-pound gorilla is out of the cage. The 'C' word— class— is the one word in the American lexicon that's even better hidden in polite public discourse than race. And it has little to do with money.

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The horror of globalization February 16 2008 What is a German discount food chain doing in Philadelphia, pampering its customers and employees alike and otherwise violating cherished local customs? Don’t these foreigners know what we Americans did to the Hessians the last time we got really angry?

George Stubbs paintings at Penn April 17 2007 The English painter George Stubbs is largely forgotten outside racing stables, geezer men’s clubs and faux clubby steakhouses. But he transformed the way artists depicted horses and sporting scenes. Equus Unbound: Fairman Rogers and the Age of the Horse. Through June 15, 2007, at Kamen Gallery, U. of Pennsylvania’s Van-Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 3420 Walnut St., first floor. Free and open to the public; photo ID required. (800) 390-1829.

Christie’s and ‘The Gross Clinic’ January 03 2007 As a leading art auction house, Christie’s well understands the role of a dummy bidder in jacking up the price of a work. In Jefferson University's recent sale of The Gross Clinic, Christie’s consultants apparently found an unwitting dummy in the Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. Has Philadelphia’s art community learned anything from this $68 million lesson?

What price admission to the Barnes? August 12 2006 Hefty admisssion increases are the new order of the day at New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum. Derek Gillman, new chief of the Barnes Foundation, may be tempted to follow suit. Here's one hard-nosed reason why he shouldn't.

Celebrating ....

Monday, 6 February 2006

Security Notes