They came dancing, swaying and stomping — humans or ants, waterfowl, purple mushrooms, giant alligators and random salamanders? No matter. They reveled to a rhythmic beat against a backdrop of blue skies and green meadows. But when the vultures with money dripping from inside of their wings swooped in, the earthmovers followed, and the backdrop
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Rebranding is the first step. Instead of having a “cleaning day,” which sounds a bit like a list of chores, I have what I call a “home day” — a day where I set aside time to take care of the house’s needs. There is no prescription for what order to do things in, or
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Over the last decade I have searched abandoned riverfront properties for skinks and black rat snakes, spooking deer and watching warblers, as I climbed over riprap shorelines and picked my way across the rotting timbers of overgrown piers. A city in decay offers the naturalist unlimited opportunities, while a city on the rise takes them
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Before restoring anything, it’s important to examine what can stay as-is and what needs to be repaired, replaced or given a good scrubbing. It’s also important to have a strong end-vision. It takes belief to bring something back to life. To build it up, to improve and strengthen it. If you can’t envision it, how
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1. ALLschoolers Recycling and Making Paper by Wissahickon Environmental Center (Tree House) When: Tuesaday, April 19th @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Where: Wissahickon Environmental Center, 300 West Northwestern Ave. In preparation of Earth Day celebrations, learn about recycling and how to turn your waste paper into art. Ages 6 & up of all abilities
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There are times that I struggle being a feminist in the work that I do. It doesn’t always feel like I am making a difference and men don’t actually want to learn how to clean, cook and give women domestic equality. Many times I feel like a misandrist toward men who aren’t fourth-wave feminists, a
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Successful businesses always start by filling a need or relieving a “pain point” for a target market. In Grid’s launch year 2008, when sustainability and “going green” were working their way into the common lexicon and Michael Nutter was elected Philadelphia’s mayor on a sustainability platform, the pain point was really located in the consumer’s
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It’s a wet, snowy, bitterly cold Friday in January in Fishtown, as Roya Williams steps into a bright room, lined with colorful artwork. Her dog, Jack, immediately starts to bark and play with a French bulldog named Chuey, the cute, welcoming “guard dog” at Stash Spot. Williams is greeted by founder Debbie Anday, who gives
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When Laverne Evans needed a red purse for her birthday outfit this past November, she knew exactly where to go. Evans, 28, made her way to I Spy, You Buy, a curated thrift store in Mount Airy, to see if owner Dolly Park had something in stock. “She told me to come back tomorrow,” Evans
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Feast jewelry’s Adrienne Manno doesn’t upcycle because it’s trendy or because she’s on some sustainability soapbox. Manno describes the reclaim-and-repurpose aspect of her jewelry making as an organic outgrowth of incorrigible collecting. On her once-frequent travels, Manno would spot and acquire a piece here, an element there, a 1980s faux horn belt at a London
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In colonial Jamaica a group of enslaved women were bathing in the nude, washing clothes and likely gossiping on a riverbank when some traveling Englishmen spied them, according to Kevin Dawson, associate professor of history at the University of California, Merced, in his book “Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora.” Thrilled with
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