When Hurricane Irma struck Puerto Rico in October 2017, Raquel Salas Rivera, Philadelphia’s poet laureate for 2018-19, wanted to help. “I’m very close to the trans community in Puerto Rico,” Salas Rivera said. “Many went [continue reading…]
Dorian Vasquez and Setoiyo Ekpo are both Philadelphia-based comedians by way of Columbus, Ohio. Each giving back to North Philadelphia residents in their own way, they just happen — by coincidence — to be helping [continue reading…]
Out of the 339 schools within the Philadelphia School District, only eight have full-time paid certified librarians. Louis Lozzi, a Philadelphia native and teacher said that the lack of library funding in the school system [continue reading…]
Meghan Talarowski thinks play can bring anyone together. “There’s no race, there’s no economic status related to play,” Talarowski said. “Everybody plays. That’s what we do. It’s like a basic human nature.” Talarowski, a landscape [continue reading…]
Every Tuesday and Saturday, Kinji Ridley parks his car and unloads boxes of groceries from the trunk, handing them over to volunteers who set them up on benches and picnic tables. A line of dozens of [continue reading…]
Several years ago, April Robinson needed groceries— so she turned to the St. Cyprian Church for a meal. “A bag of chicken, some canned goods and some noodles, and juice,” Robinson said. She still remembers [continue reading…]
Eight years ago, Darrow Lyons’ wife encouraged him to join Never 2 Late, an adult literacy program offered through the Center for Literacy, an organization that provides programs to adult learners. The 63-year-old South Philly [continue reading…]
When she was 14 years old, Jennell Moody (above) started braiding her neighbors’ hair on the front steps of her mother’s North Philadelphia home. Word of her skills spread through word of mouth, and Moody [continue reading…]
Poems about New York and chapters from a romance novel echoed through the Kingsessing Library’s sunlit basement. On Sept. 28, the library hosted an open mic poetry night for older adults— the first of many, [continue reading…]
Carlos Pérez Sámano wasn’t sure why his phone kept losing service on Sept. 19, but when he returned home from Center City and connected to the wifi, he was bombarded with text messages. “Everyone was [continue reading…]
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