Sometime in the mid-1970s, Amira Abdul-Wakeel baked her first cake in her West Oak Lane childhood home. Her sister and a very close girlfriend all pitched in, and they beamed with pride at their pound cake. Then her mom came home, and exclaimed, “That’s the best corn bread I’ve ever had.” Slighted, but not defeated,
More
Anisa George sees a strong connection between theater and forest therapy: they both involve improvisation. “You enter the rehearsal space, invite the ensemble to try different things, to engage with the environment,” George says. George was drawn to the practice because of its focus on the body and the natural world. Her career as an
More
When it comes to horse-drawn carriages in the city, the idyllic clip-clop of hooves on black top may be what comes to mind for most. That, and watching tourists take in the sites in Old City as everyone else on the road tries to get past on our bikes or in our cars. What most
More
On a trip to the Meadows at FDR Park at the end of last summer, we got our feet wet. The Meadows is a repurposing of the recently closed golf course at the South Philadelphia park. What were once fairways are now green spaces for play, short-term art installations and homes for wildlife. We were
More
From oil painting to storytelling, native Philadelphian Joan He has dedicated herself to creating art in all forms since childhood. Currently living between Old City and Fishtown He is getting ready to release her second novel, The Ones We’re Meant to Find, on May 4. In this work, she introduces her readers to “cli-fi”— a
More
Earlier this year, as policy director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, I began meeting with City Council staff, businesses, registered community organizations and nonprofits to discuss the future of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The drive has become one of the most trafficked trails in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since it was
More
Music therapy can ease distress at life’s beginning, help us say needful words at life’s end and restore us in rough spots along the journey, according to Scott Horowitz. Horowitz, 38, a board-certified music therapist and assistant clinical professor of music therapy and counseling at Drexel University, offers an example: “Re-creating the soundscape of the
More
Homeless encampments have been popping up around Center City like a game of whack-a-mole. From the Pennsylvania Convention Center, to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, now to Reading Terminal Market and the SEPTA Locust Street underground. Philadelphia’s unhoused continue to band together in small communities rather than relying on city services. As summer approaches and the
More
After a year delay, Philadelphia is set to formally implement the long awaited plastic bag ban on July 1. By July 31, all businesses will be required to post signage informing their clients of the plastic bag ban, which will officially go into effect on Oct. 1. Although plastic bag bans are gaining momentum across
More
Dan Lavin returned from his friend Chuck’s wake feeling troubled. Lavin and his now-deceased husband had met Chuck and his wife in a support group for people with cancer. “Chuck was a really sharp-witted, spitfire kind of guy,” Lavin says. In the throes of his illness, Chuck bought a Corvette with a license plate that
More