©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

New Chestnut Hill publisher gives voice to the powerless
by JEROME O’NEILL

Steve Parks

Lorene Cary, the highly acclaimed Philadelphia author of Black Ice (1991), recently completed Free, a collection of works she describes as “deeply affecting human stories about hope and struggle.” Written for children, these tales illustrate this hope and struggle with uplifting success during the great escapes on the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia. The book is a wonderful chorus of voices revealing adventures based on truth from a past we rarely see. However, Chestnut Hill publishing firm, New City Community Press, is striving tirelessly to provide readers with more and more of these unique voices and the inspirations they bring.

“The whole experience has made me humble about what I really know, and that’s made me a better teacher and person,” said Steve Parks, 42, of Chestnut Hill, executive director of New City Community Press and Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University. “We work within the community and let the community members speak for themselves.”

Parks and his six fellow board members, three of whom also live in Chestnut Hill, share a passion for the art of writing and the community.

New City Community Press began as an idea 11 years ago while Steve Parks was teaching at Temple University. He saw an increase in corporate management styles at the college level. Universities began to make more business-like decisions on how to spend money.

“Today, school resources are no longer able to commit to their communities with programs and services,” said Parks. “Higher values should mark education, and when a university is the richest non-profit organization in the community, the community should be able to share in its resources.”

Parks began with community based writing projects which eventually evolved into the non-profit New City Community Press. Now, eight years and eight publications later, this Chestnut Hill-based enterprise is continuing to explore our community and its wealth of talent.

“Philadelphia is an amazing place,” stated Parks. “There’s an interesting mix of famous authors and regular people who just enjoy writing. I wouldn’t move from here.”

Unfortunately, there are still many voices that are rarely heard and entire groups within our community that go unnoticed and unexplored.

“There is a great myth out there today that everybody has a voice,” Parks argued. “A lot more individuals are speaking, but the broad voices of many groups like the immigrants and the working poor are never heard. The media and politicians will speak on their behalf, but we don’t get to hear from them.”

Along with Free, New City Community Press has published The Forgotten Bottom Remembered (2002), Chinatown Live(s) (2004), and Espejos Y Ventanas (Mirrors and Windows) (2004), allowing some of Philadelphia’s complex community of voices to be heard in vibrant, clear sound. These books can all be found online at www.newcitypress.org.

The Forgotten Bottom Remembered is a collection of interviews, photographs, essays and recipes revealing the enduring history of a peacefully integrated South Philadelphia neighborhood located between 34th Street and Gray’s Ferry Avenue known by residents as “the Forgotten Bottom.” Chinatown Live(s) takes readers on a real tour of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, the community and neighborhood beyond the shops and restaurants. And Espejos Y Ventanas provides extremely vivid accounts of immigrants crossing borders in a desperate search for better lives and finding hope in Philadelphia.

“Imagine participating in a public debate where you just listen,” said Parks. “New City’s Mark Lyons spent five years listening to Mexican immigrants in Kennett Square to produce ‘Espejos’ … A very talented young woman named Beth Lewis did a wonderful job with Free.” Cary chose fellow Philadelphian Lewis for the difficult task of updating 19th-century pen-and-ink drawings into new images. The results give the book polish and style.

Projects like Free and Espejos Y Ventanas are tremendous undertakings for the small, non-profit publisher. Money is their biggest challenge. Two weeks ago, New City Community Press and the Chestnut Hill Coffee Shop on Germantown Avenue hosted a successful fundraiser. Guest speaker Lorene Cary read selections from Free to local audience who showed positive support in return.

“We needed money to finish Free, and (State Sen.) Leanne Washington stepped in and found the money,” Parks said. “We had no money left for the Kennett Square book, and in the end someone came forward. We need donations. We are constantly running out of funding for these projects, but somehow someone more fortunate in our community steps up to help.”

Chestnut Hill residents Laura Sparks, Andrew Sparks and John O’Connell, along with Yemi Ayala, Eli Goldblatt and Nicole Meyenberg complete the board of New City Community Press. With the commitment of New City Community Press, perhaps all the unheard voices in our community will be able to say “Thank you.”