Amani Lee, a senior at The U School, hadn’t given gardening much thought until this year. As part of her school’s horticultural program, she’s now researching crops in Ukraine, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She is learning what the people in these countries grow and eat, and the stories behind their famous dishes. Under
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Gardening quickly grew from a hobby to a passion for Pamia Coleman and Latiaynna Tabb. The friends founded the organization Black Girls With Green Thumbs (BGWGT) in 2016 after they’d spent a few years sharing their daily victories and obstacles with urban gardening via a joint Instagram account. The community-based organization focuses on education and
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While the early days of COVID-19 changed our way of life overnight, those in at-risk communities instantly lost access to vital resources — a reality that prompted a handful of Stanford University students to create a Los Angeles- based organization called LA Helping Hands. Originally designed to match volunteers with seniors who needed grocery and
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Thank you, Matthew George and Bria Howard of I ♥ Thy Hood, for interrupting the news cycle that produces fear, anger, despair and disbelief. You know what I’m talking about. Is it really possible that a pandemic hit and we are unable to organize ourselves nationally to combat it? It seems likely that hundreds of
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Photography By Rachael Warriner Graveyard Shift By Constance Garcia-Barrio If tombs are the clothes of the dead, as one poet said, permanent residents of cradle graves at The Woodlands Cemetery wear vivid garments indeed. Marble headstones, footstones and low sides form these graves while pansies, bleeding hearts, and other flowers bloom atop them and brim
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A lot of americans have a vague idea of where their water comes from, says Kayla Callender, a former participant in the Independence Seaport Museum’s River Ambassador program. “We take water for granted,” she says. “We assume it’s never going to run out.” The River Ambassadors program is bridging the disconnect between citizens and their
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I was leaving for work on my creaky old bike, which now you can hear on our vacated streets. I spotted my neighbor holding a newborn, seated in a folding chair in a sliver of sunshine. “Congratulations,” I said, without rushing over. I would see her from no closer than 20 feet. She thanked me
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In 1970, the City of Philadelphia closed off the East Park Reservoir at the edge of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. A gate blocked the ramp up from Fairmount Park. “I grew up in Strawberry Mansion, and the reservoir was used by the community as a recreational space,” explains Tonnetta Graham, president of the Strawberry Mansion Community
MorePhoto by Carrie Hubbard Six Waterlogged Days by Lauren Johnson It’s August, and the race is on to beat the heat, so pack a picnic, grab a towel and get ready to get wet. Swimming, tubing, kayaking and more are all available as options if you want to leave those hot sidewalks behind, cool down,
MoreCome on in, the water’s fine! by Brittany Barbato As I stared out at the water wobbling in front of me, I hugged my yellow and purple towel tight around my body. Should I have shaved my legs? What if my bathing suit doesn’t, you know, keep everything in? Everyone else is wearing sunglasses; should
MoreUp Your DIY Game by Neighborhood Bike Works Staff To many people, bicycles represent personal freedom. As a means of transportation, biking means self-sufficiency (and in Center City Philadelphia, it usually means getting there faster than by car). Gaining the knowledge and experience to perform basic bike repairs oneself can take that self-sufficiency to the
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