Local Life

Smokers are people ... who should be segregated
by LEN LEAR

Local Life editor, Len Lear, clearly gets no respect as co-workers expel their chemical poisons into his face. What ever happened to the good old days when attempts were rarely made to snuff out the lives of editors? (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr. — a non-smoker)

Chestnut Hill resident D.G. Hart can obviously write well (“Smokers are people, too” in the May 4 Local), so I assume he was being deliberately disingenuous — rather than just ignorant — when he argued that it is just as unfair to discriminate against smokers like him as it would be to discriminate against people who eat hamburgers, pizza, bacon, etc., in restaurants. (The Tobacco Institute, a trade association that represents the lethal tobacco industry, has often made the same silly argument in its literature.)

 

World premiere about hermit for Hill filmmaker next week
by LEN LEAR

Ray Phillips, whose life story is captured in a documentary by former Chestnut Hill resident Elisabeth Harris, is seen in his lonely but picturesque island.

Unlike so many high school and college students whose career plans change as often as their clothing, Chestnut Hill native Elisabeth Harris never wavered in her dream of becoming a filmmaker. From her days at Germantown Academy (Class of 1996) and the University of the Arts to her undergraduate studies at Vassar College and Master’s Degree courses at City College of New York, Harris never planned to be anything but a filmmaker. “I just thought the whole process was magical,” she said.

 

Mt. Airy therapist has a special way with children
by PAULA M. RILEY

Mary Ann Baron, a licensed professional counselor and child psychotherapist with new offices in Mt. Airy, works with kids and their families to create a productive environment at home and open the communication process. (Photo by Paula M. Riley)

The idea of psychotherapy can be intimidating for some, but Mary Ann Baron, a licensed professional counselor and child psychotherapist with new offices in Mt. Airy, explains it quite simply, “Psychotherapy for children enables kids and adolescents to bring forth, understand and let go of feelings that have not been expressed but are inside troubling them.”

As a child psychotherapist, Baron views herself as the facilitator who provides a supportive, fun, non-threatening environment where kids can talk and freely express themselves. Her task is to work with these kids and their families to learn how to create this environment at home and open the communication process.

 

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No sound, lots of fury for Mount’s golden V-8
by TOM UTESCHER

Members of the Mount's varsity eight pose with their gold medals and the Robert Engman Trophy. Front row (left to right): mary Grace Maggiano, Francesca Crozier-fitxgerald, Meredith Walsh and head coach Megan Kennedy. Back row (left to right): Megan McCusker, Steph Farris, Emily Walker, Meg Kehan, Hilary O'Shea, Jane Mieczkowski and varsity coach Mike McKenna.

It began right on the starting line in Saturday’s championship race at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. In Mount St. Joseph Academy’s varsity eight, the cox-box – a sort of compact public address system used by coxswains to communicate along the length of these long vessels – began to malfunction.

 

Pittman, Rhoda medal for CHA, Springside crew
by TOM UTESCHER

Wallis Furman (left) and Katherine Roberts, who formed Springside School's junior double, pull through the river at Stotesbury. (Photo by Lene White)

The Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School crews toted home a sack full of medals from the Philadelphia City Championships at the beginning of May, but the plunder was not nearly as plentiful for the Blue Devils and Lions at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta last weekend.

History comes alive for winning Mount crews at Stotesbury
by TOM UTESCHER

Members of Mount St. Joe's freshman 8 show off their bronze medals alongside the river. The freshman 8 were just one success story Mount fans took home with them after the Stotesbury Regatta. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

The sixth seat in Mount St. Joseph Academy’s junior varsity eight is occupied by sophomore Lawren Kieffer, whose father, uncle, grandfather, and great-uncle all rowed in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. The Magic’s O’Neill sisters, senior Kelly and sophomore Jenna, fill the fourth and third seats, respectively, in the MSJ lightweight eight, and they

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