Month: April 2009

Catherine Whalen’s day begins like many young, single mothers. Her alarm clock pierces the calm of the Fishtown morning at 6 a.m., leaving her just enough time to get her two children out of bed,

It’s 11:45 a.m. on a Friday in the Nicetown area of Philadelphia. Children and teenagers litter Germantown Avenue on an unusually cool April afternoon as they window shop and gather with friends on street corners.

One year after Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey targeted nine high-crime police districts, is the city safer? Three new districts have been added to the targeted list. Can one, Police District 23rd, improve? Mayor Nutter’s

Just above the book-lined shelves within the Free Library’s  Greater Olney branch, there is a classroom. Pictures dusted in glitter line the room, as chalk remnants–almost certainly from a previous day’s lesson– show on the

Imagine driving through an industrial complex. Instantly, your mind flashes to smoking pipelines that are beating our ozone layer into a bloody pulp. You imagine lonely, littered, and seemingly abandoned streets. You see lines of

View Slide Show There is no shortage of customers at Colosimo’s Gun Store on the 900 block of Spring Garden Street. A group of young men are buzzed into the store every few minutes, each

Whether it has been a late train or a less than pleasant smelling subway platform, we have all had our own issues with the city’s public transportation system. It is the easiest way to get

“Assalamu alaikum,” Jahed Chowdheury welcomes a pair of women who enter his shop with the traditional Muslim greeting meaning, “Peace be with you.” The two women are Muslim, like Chowdheury. They are black and dressed