by Len Lear A young Mt. Airy woman is about to go on a voyage of discovery to the country of her birth, Vietnam, with very conflicted feelings. Maya Lynn Brown, 22, was born in Vietnam to an impoverished rice farmer who already had a 10-year-old daughter and could not afford to feed a third […]
Read More >by Len Lear Pit bulls arouse strong passions. To some, they are canine killers that should be banned. According to banpitbulls.org, at least 937 towns and cities in the U.S. have laws on the books banning pit bulls. We recently saw the movie, “A Dog’s Way Home,” a thrilling adventure story about a wonderful, lovable […]
Read More >by Len Lear When I read in Sunday’s Inquirer that Art Matthews had died on Feb. 27 of a heart ailment at the age of 89, I was immediately reminded of my contacts with this African American pioneer and author with the Philadelphia Police Department. If I remember correctly (I could not find anything about […]
Read More >by Elizabeth Coady There’s something about Ana Thorne’s life and art that click. There’s her retro ‘oldie’ bags, with metal clasps at the top, that look like your grandmother’s dainty change purse. The bag is just one of several products, including baby jumpers and Philly-centric gifts, that she makes in whimsical patterns and sells at […]
Read More >by Linda Rauscher De-cluttering is all the rage. Think Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” or “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter,” by Margareta Magnusson. Decisions, decisions. Typically, decluttering is a “mindful” process of evaluating each item’ s utility or […]
Read More >by Len Lear Mt. Airy resident Joshua Black, 51, aka “Urban Black Vegan,” became a vegetarian about 25 years ago, but by his own admission, he was “an unhealthy junk food vegetarian. A lot of fried everything, pizza and processed foods. This led to diabetes, weight gain and the associated complications. At that point I […]
Read More >by Leslie Feldman For local artists Paula Mandel and Joan Myerson Shrager, the Stained Glass Project is not just about creating works of art. As they say, “The project is about windows that open doors.” Now in its 14th year, The Stained Glass Project (SGP) is a volunteer-run program involving the technically demanding artistic discipline […]
Read More >by Rich McIlhenny Driving home from showing a property in Erdenheim this past Friday night, I turned onto Bethlehem Pike from Stenton Avenue and came upon a car with its hazard lights on and a young woman sitting on the curb next to an injured deer. I pulled my car over in front of hers, […]
Read More >by Elizabeth Coady To hear Paul Marrone’s story is to make you hungry even before ordering off the menu at his new Italian restaurant, A Tutti, located at 5154 Ridge Ave. in Roxborough. Marrone, 51, grew up learning how to cook in the kitchen of his grandfather’s restaurant, Marrone’s Cafe in Ardmore, founded in 1946 […]
Read More >by Len Lear Bart Banks calls himself “a dabbler,” an outdated expression that today would be the equivalent of a multitasker. In fact, it’d hard to believe that just one person accomplished all of the things Banks has done in his 87 years. To mention just a few (since we are limited in space), he […]
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