Rappoport's Rules of Disorder

Empty Fortune?

2011-12-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

If this sealed, but empty packet truly reflects my fortune for the coming year, I'm in big trouble. If it represents more than my personal fortune, we may all be in deep...

Season's Priorities

2011-12-23T10:58:00.001-08:00

Yard decorations seem exceptional this year. Here's one on Susquehanna Road in Abington. Wishing readers a happy, healthy and meaningful New Year!

Stop Sign Saga

2011-08-02T06:59:00.001-07:00

Simon says STOP. Don’t stop. Stop!

Take your life into your own hands. Simon says good luck.

If you’ve been driving down Glenside Avenue in Wyncote this summer, you will have noticed changes in the octagonal red signage. The 4-way stop that had been on Glenside Avenue at Waverly Road has been removed. Only traffic on Waverly has to stop. At the same time, a 3-way stop has sprung up at North Avenue.

The changes came in response to some vocal residents, upset by the use of Waverly Road as a vehicular cut-through. They attribute excessive traffic on the narrow residential street to the 4-way stop. Presumably the 4-way stop signs made it easier for drivers to turn onto Waverly and use it as a short cut.

Instead, traffic should be encouraged to stay on the main roads and turn only at streets with traffic lights, noted one of the organizers to remove the 4-way stop. He believes the 4-way stop feature actually facilitated excess cut-throughs. He and his allies want to fund an outside study of the situation by a traffic engineer.

Installed in 2004, the 4-way stop was meant to improve safety compromised by the speed, volume and visibility of traffic at that intersection, according to Cheltenham Township records.

What is crystal unclear to many Wyncote residents is how those problems of traffic speed, volume and visibility have been improved by the removal of the 4-way stop. Safety appears to again be in great peril.

Observe pedestrians trying to cross Glenside Avenue at Waverly, Hewett or Glenview. It’s downright scary. Mad dashes, false starts, fits and spurts. And traffic is lightest in July and August. Autumn's back to school crunch and masses of umbrella-toting SEPTA commuters will exacerbate such problems.

So other residents are mobilizing a counter petition to restore the 4-way stop.

They don’t want an accident toll to mount in order to provide evidence for their position. Count this writer in that camp.

And almost like the placement of warriors’ flags during a battle skirmish, the comings and goings of these stop signs are being watched by the dawn’s early light.

Actually, nobody’s especially fond of excess traffic speeding by. On that point all sides are in concert. It’s on how best to reduce it that’s in dispute. And on what tradeoffs and sacrifices residents are willing to make.

And on alternatives. Some residents are even receptive to the idea of speed bumps. What’s your experience with those, Jenkintown?

Meanwhile, drivers, please be on the lookout for changing signage on our streets. Drive mindfully, not out of habit. And watch out for other drivers and pedestrians who are caught off guard. We may be in for several months of temporary experiments and signs that creep from one intersection to the next. Stay alert, and slow down.

National Milk Chocolate Day

2011-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day.

Most of us probably missed National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day earlier this month.

Sure beats thinking about the debt ceiling circus.

Enjoy, before it melts!

More to come on this.

Heat Prompts Unusual Behavior

2011-07-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

We're all feeling this heat wave. Even nature is rebelling.

It's one thing for grass to turn brown and flowers to wilt. But pachysandra and hydrangea?

Today in both Cheltenham and in Upper Dublin, I witnessed deer out and about - atypically during mid-day hours. One was crossing a lot of lanes of Susquehanna just beyond the intersection at Virginia Drive. A doe and her youngster were foraging in residential areas of Wyncote.

You might also notice that your lawn sprinklers are serving double duty. Not only are they watering your flora, but they become a draw for the birds, who enjoy the spray and puddles. A hummingbird recently visited up close and personal when I was using my garden hose.

The heat seems to be getting to all creatures, prompting unpredictable behaviors.

Keep your eyes open and keep cool.

Independence Day: Baby Robins Depart the Nest

2011-07-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

After a month’s vigil, I find it altogether fitting and proper that the baby robins outside my home window chose Independence Day to depart their nest. The event was riveting and emotional, and not just for the human observers.

The two surviving hatchlings had been developing at a rate fast enough to intrigue even the most impatient technospeedster. By day 12, it was readily apparent that the nest was too small to accommodate the baby birds, who had reached the stage of fledglings. Pin feathers had been picked and the coloring of the juveniles was beginning to resemble their parents in most places. When the youngsters stretched their wings, it was obvious that the larger world awaited them.

One perched on the edge of the nest. He did this with such intent, that there was no doubt his launch would be July 4. He hopped onto a nearby branch and surveyed the situation. Then he hopped back into the nest. It reminded me of some generations ago when one of my own babies had realized she was ready to turn over, stopped in mid-turn, and howled instead. Both little ones knew instinctively they had reached their next step, yet both hesitated, wanting to prolong the comfort and security of the known.

The bird then left and his sibling perched on the side of the nest looking after him. We located the pioneer, hopping amid the ground cover, not far from the shrub that housed the nest. The remaining sibling returned to the nest and opened his mouth. The father bird brought him some large creature I dare not try to name, and stuffed it down his throat. No longer was the kid eating regurgitated baby food – this was a solid sample of the delicacies he too could hunt. I interpreted this act as the farewell supper.

Next thing I knew, the second fledgling was on my window sill, and then, he was also gone.

Without fully developed tails, and still quite young, these fledglings would be sticking around for a little while. I later located one hanging onto a window shutter.

In the July heat, however, I sensed they might need a water supply. Whether or not it was silly and unnecessary, I placed a shallow dish of water on the ground not far from the nest. Guess empty nests make me sentimental.

Nest Thriving

2011-06-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Five in a bush now. The Robin couple has three little mouths to feed.
Make that three clamorous chasms to stuff...

Eggs in the Bush

2011-06-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Robins have located their nest just outside our window in some bushes. Perhaps they recognize a friend: just two years ago, I broke my ankle rescuing a dehydrated fledgling.

The eggs should be hatching soon. Unless they fried in our previous heat wave. Stay tuned.

Link of Interest

2011-05-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

For a thoughtful approach to local environmental issues, you'll want to periodically drop by:
http://beverlymm.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/you-based-your-decision-on-what/

Beverly's experience and critical analyses raise valuable questions to ponder, even if you come away with a different viewpoint.

Pondering Reconfiguration

2011-04-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

Currently in the midst of school construction projects on buildings that would not have been cost-effective to renovate, the School District of Cheltenham Township is considering possible grade reconfiguration and decommissioning of particular facilities.

Rumors had been circulating as the district has been struggling with its budget. A presentation was made by Superintendent Darlene Davis to the school board’s facilities committee on April 5 and some of the notes from that meeting appear on the district website: http://www.cheltenham.org/files/264121/possible%20reconfiguration%20of%20grades-buildings.pdf

Two possible options are presented there at the time of this writing. Both have in common several elements:

• Moving toward a K-5 elementary configuration from the current K-4. This also changes the current grades 5-6 at Elkins Park Middle School and the 7-8 configuration at Cedarbrook.
• Moving toward a 6th grade center at Cedarbrook Middle School, separate from the 7th and 8th grades there. New construction of a 6th grade center would be part of a Cedarbrook addition.
• Moving the central administration offices out of the current administrative building into the current Elkins Park Middle School. This would open the administration building for sale or lease.
• Moving all Wyncote Elementary students, as well as its 5th grade, out of Wyncote and into the current Elkins Park Middle School. The reasons given for this is plan include that (1) Wyncote is too small to accommodate its 5th graders and (2) it would close an extra building, for financial savings.

Two different timelines are presented for the two options, which are contemplated to start phasing in as early as the 2012-2013 school year.

Public discussion is already underway, and school board president Tina Viletto emphasizes that there’s no fait accompli and that the process will be transparent.

No doubt, cost efficiencies and considerations of best pedagogical practices for middle school have already gone into the preliminary proposals by Dr. Davis.

This commentary poses some questions and calls for clarification to help improve the information gathering and assessment for judicious decision making.

Q: What are the population trends for school district enrollments? What are the current numbers for each of the four elementary schools? What are the expected numbers for each school’s 5th grade, for the next 5 years?

Pertinent Considerations: Once upon a time, Wyncote Elementary – and the other three schools – did house K-5. Granted, for most of that time, K was half-day, which freed up some space that isn’t available now. However, if the other three elementary schools can house their 5th graders, why can’t Wyncote? Is it so much smaller than the other schools? (How many classrooms, each? How many sections of each grade, each? Are cafeteria and gym spaces limiting factors?)

Q: Is it possible to put a map showing the current elementary schools and their catchment areas on the district website?

Pertinent Considerations: If Wyncote Elementary’s students attend Elkins Park School instead, there will be three of the four elementary schools southeast of High School Road below Church Road. Is that proportionate and balanced to the district population? Wouldn’t that require additional busing and family travel from the other sides of Old York Road and Washington Lane?

Q: What are the pros and cons of redistricting, with the elementary schools staying where they are and serving as many “walkers” as possible in these current locations?

Pertinent Considerations: With energy costs expected to take an increasing slice of the district’s budget and increasing environmental concerns, could redistricting maximize benefits of “neighborhood” accessible schools.

Q: How does the Cedarbrook Middle School facility actually compare with the Elkins Park facility and campus for both 7th and 8th grades and for construction of a new 6th grade center? What conditions still need significant renovation (and/or remedial maintenance) at both schools?

Pertinent Considerations: Once upon a time, Elkins Park and Cedarbrook housed 7th and 8th grades. If the district is looking to unload a second property, in addition to the administration building, which property (a) is more expensive to maintain and (b) would have greater market value – Wyncote Elementary, Elkins Park or Cedarbrook? Cedarbrook backs onto commercial and highway land, whereas the other schools are surrounded by residences.

Q: Exactly how separate is the new 6th grade center expected to be from the 7th - 8th grade school?

Pertinent Considerations: Will there be overlap in terms of educational program, staffing, the arts, lunchroom, gym, and extracurricular activities? This would seem to need significant detailing in order to properly design new construction and determine cost efficiencies.

Q: Are larger schools in the students’ best interests?

Pertinent Considerations: New construction at three of the four elementary schools and relocation of Wyncote to Elkins Park may also raise issues of equity for Wyncote families and staff. Since Wyncote students would not benefit from new construction, perhaps maintaining a smaller school population at Wyncote (assigning more students to the other new schools, while still adding 5th grade) would help compensate for what could be perceived as orphaned treatment?

Q: If part of the idea in reducing school buildings is to eliminate/reduce one extra administrative layer, does increasing the number of students at each school appropriately accomplish that?

Pertinent Considerations: Will increasing the size of each school’s population increase the need for greater supervision, administrative work and guidance in those schools?

Change is a constant in all school districts, and restructuring typically occurs within each generation. Of course, useful questions and responses will arise during the public’s consideration of the current proposals.

Flush with Bathroom Stories

2011-04-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

My op-ed yesterday in a major urban newspaper about a recent entry on my list of memorable bathrooms drew some fun responses.

No doubt, each of us could tell some great stories. I invite yours.

Meanwhile, here's hoping the Hiway finds a real, enduring fix in their Ladies'.

Post your stories here, or send them to rapporules@gmail.com.

[Photo from my collection: On the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, in San Diego]

Toady Went A-Courtin' and He Did ... splat, uh oh!

2011-03-24T13:17:00.001-07:00

[Photo credit: Janet Lippincott]

I attended the press conference called by the rugged specimen of bufo americanus this past week.

At four years old, he still expects another 5-6 years in his lifespan. Yet he’d barely survived the first leg of a tortuous journey to the old Roxborough Reservoir and was concerned for both his return trip and the journey ahead that faced his offspring.

Toad began the press conference by thanking the Toad Detour committee – particularly the 5^th District of the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia Streets Department, Toad Detour founder Lisa Levinson, and Parks & Recreation environmental education director Debbie Carr, among others – for recognizing that spring migration in the amphibian world is less flexible, by nature, than automobile traffic.

He offered some grim statistics, while the monitor panned over one hundred dead fellow creatures, squashed on Port Royal Avenue, around Hagys Mill Road and Eva Street. That was the body count on just one evening, March 6, when Toad Detour volunteer Judy Stepenaskie thought to go out for reconnaissance.

Thousands of Toad’s colleagues and relatives have been thoughtlessly mowed down annually, the potential mass slaughter fortunately reduced by the efforts of Lisa Levinson and the Toad Detour team she has assembled over the past three years, he said.

The monitor zoomed in on Levinson as Toad relayed her story.

Levinson was leaving work in the evening hours of April in 2007, and thought it peculiar to see so many leaves blowing across the street. “It isn’t fall,” she thought to herself.

When she realized she was observing a mass movement of toads, she said something to a law enforcement person who happened to be nearby.

On a second occasion, when Levinson saw cars racing over the neighborhood streets from Ridge Avenue crushing the animals, she rolled up her sleeves. She gestured to slow down oncoming cars while trying to help some of the toads make it across the street. Somebody called the police about a crazy lady in the middle of the road.

Meanwhile, enter Carr, from the former Fairmount Park system and Doug Wechsler, a researcher and photographer with the Academy of Natural Sciences. The Schuylkill Center, where many of the toads reside, Mobilization for Animals, Public Eye, Applied Ecological Services, several civic associations and concerned residents from Montgomery County and as far away as Phoenixville, also became involved.

On the third occasion, Levinson called the police herself. When the officer came, Levinson was administering to a dying toad in her hand. That officer grasped the larger issue.

When the ground thaws and winter snows give way to spring rains, toads awaken and climb out from their hibernation zones, a foot deep into the soil. Spring migration to the spawning pond commences.

“Mating migration is not restricted to the Roxborough area,” noted Toad.

“The dates aren’t set in advance,” explained Toad, deviating from his prepared remarks. “It varies from year to year, depending on the weather conditions. This year, we’re considerably earlier than recent years.”

As Toad continued, it became clear that he and his cohorts do not operate as toadily free agents, but in accordance with natural bio-rhythms they have little ability to control, much less fully understand. They respond to their essential role in the ecosystem, in which their diet keeps the insect population under control and their occasional life sacrifices naturally serve the population of owls and other wildlife.

“We’re allies for your gardens and farms,” declared Toad, as the press conference crrroaked on. “We’re vital pieces in the energy cycle of life.”

Since 2009, officially-sanctioned road blocks and vests are provided annually to Toad Detour volunteers at this time of year so they can detour traffic from the most heavily traversed migration paths.

Volunteers set up the Toad Detour from about 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. in the evenings.

“We’re nocturnal,” explained Toad. “And rainy nights are especially compelling for our challenging migration.”

Straying from his prepared remarks again, Toad added, “You should come over to see the terrain we navigate. You’d be toadily blown away by the walls we have to scale and the steep descent into the Reservoir area. We do awfully well with natural challenges, but these cars are just murder.”

Toad emphasized that the volunteers do their best, and do rescue thousands of animals. But such temporary and limited help still leaves many hours of mass crossings unprotected from automobiles.

“This is a round trip for the adult toads. But then, our eggs that turned into tadpoles in the Reservoir… They turn into toadlets. Two months from now, those little toadlets – the size of a fingernail – must cross over the road to get into wooded areas where they either mature or martyr themselves to nature’s food cycle.”

He concluded, “Toad Detour is working with policy makers to improve migration safety and educate the public. And Parks & Recreation is holding Toad Walks for fun and information. Contact www.toaddetour.com, 215-683-0218 or 215-685-9285.”

Party With Purpose

2011-03-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Do you really have a more important commitment scheduled for 4:00-8:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 13?

A party has been planned for you, your family and friends by a collection of your thoughtful, dedicated and conscientious neighbors.

Imagine if partying could have saved the Titanic from sinking or if partying could cure cancer. Now imagine if partying could revive the economy, rebuild community, reduce environmental damage and reverse destructive energy policies.

Attending this party could help give you some tools to transform some of today’s depressing headlines into tomorrow’s hope and security.

At least that’s among the aspirations of the worldwide Transition Movement of which Transition Cheltenham is a part. March 13 celebrates the grand launch of the local collaboration, which in recent weeks came of age as one of 80 official Transition Initiatives in the U.S. and 352 internationally. Another 360 or so communities are in pre-official stages. Transition efforts are happening in 31 countries.

Transition Cheltenham joins Denver, Los Angeles, Portland (Maine), Ann Arbor, Montpelier (Vermont), Tucson, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Palo Alto, NE Seattle, and Houston among prominent Transition communities that had already been mobilizing local sustainability efforts.

“The idea is to gather community, reach out, raise awareness, connect with groups already on the right path,” explained Beverly Maisey, an energy engineering consultant based in Wyncote and member of Transition Cheltenham’s initiating team.

Maisey recapped the one-and-one-half year process leading up to the March 13 launch party. Events included an “un-car picnic,” a “locavore banquet,” and a series of environmental workshops – for example on permaculture and on energy efficient (and even energy-producing) buildings and passive home design. “Gathering the Genius” events and “Sustainability Salons” also welcomed the ideas of all participants. Maisey estimated that 500-600 people have attended these events so far.

Kathy Hampton is Commissioner of Cheltenham’s Ward 4. She said she appreciates Transition Cheltenham’s perspective on how to change environmental habits to reduce the carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels. She said she hopes they can effectively educate the broader community in both environmental science and in how to make a difference at the household and policy level.

The Transition Cheltenham website – www.transitioncheltenham.org – has an impressive listing of resources, including films, to provide background information on carbon, climate, fuel, food and water, etc. The website also describes the various ongoing action committees open to all interested members of the public.

Free of charge, taking place at the cafeteria at Cheltenham High School, the March 13 party includes music, a special scavenger hunt, and of course, a cake. Guests will learn some Tai Chi and have a chance to express their creativity in the arts. They’ll feast on a potluck banquet – you’re asked to bring a dish and beverage to share, as well as your own “bowl, eatin’ irons and a cup.” The latter contributes to Transitioners’ goal of moving toward zero unnecessary waste.

Maisey emphasized that Transition Cheltenham is “all about the good of the community.”

Long-time environmental educator Judith Gratz echoed that sentiment with a metaphor about an old-fashioned bucket brigade to tame a fire. The future of a community depends on “an increasing number of people joining in and offering their ideas, skills, experience and wisdom,” she said.

“I’m eager to facilitate innovative projects such as roving work parties,” Gratz said. For example, she envisions “Cooperative gardening, in which small groups come together for a few hours to help each person with his/her garden from time to time as needed, or neighbors teaching each other simple skills – building a compost bin, and so on.” Gratz also hopes to facilitate meetings with experts on “best management practices to hold rainwater on our properties to reduce creek flooding, and then get funding to implement our plans.”

Commissioner Hampton emphasized the importance of putting theory into practice. She noted that Transition Cheltenham has some great ideas that “hopefully won’t just sit on a shelf collecting dust.”

These folks passionately believe in protecting our environment and in the power and value of community. Do you? They’re inviting you to a party. See you there.

Sunday, March 13, 4:00-8:00 p.m.

Cheltenham High School Cafeteria

(500 Rices Mill Road, Wyncote, PA 19095)

www.transitioncheltenham.org

The Party's Moving: SGS Paper Still Thrives

2011-01-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

For real pinwheels on your toothpicks and the perfect-sized Chinese take-out box for your craft sale, or other goodies you never knew you needed, your store of choice is celebrating its new move.

Thirty-one years after the very weekend he opened his paper, invitation and party goods store in Wyncote, Barry Schwartz intends a new grand opening around February 16. SGS Paper Company has been perched since 1980 in a warehouse along the railroad track crossing where Rices Mill Road blends into Highland Avenue. Its new home is Glenside, only 1-1/2 miles northwest on Mt. Carmel Avenue, just before it hits Limekiln Pike.

Listening to Schwartz carry on about the festivities for the upcoming kickoff, you’d think he was planning a party for his beloved grandkids. Which may be the case as well. Afterall, the letters S.G.S. represent their mother’s name. Stephanie Gwen Schwartz, daughter of Barry and his wife, Monna, was very little when her eponymous store was born. (There is also a son, who became a graphic designer.) SGS remains a mom and pop place, a family enterprise, at which Stephanie now also works. Monna is the bookkeeper, who is joined in the office at least once a week by Schwartz’s 92 –year-old mother. “Her mind’s great, she looks fantastic and she still drives,” he said.

Other employees he considers family as well. “Dedicated, wonderful. No attitudes, no ego problems. We weeded all those out,” Schwartz laughed.

“It’s going to be a huge grand opening,” exuded Schwartz. “Free food, entertainment for the kids – a caricaturist, animal balloon specialist, face painters, maybe even a dunk tank! Remember those old booths you could go into, make a face and get a bunch of photos fast? We’ll have one of those,” he continued, on.

Then, he said, after they’ve re-opened, they’ll try to have these celebrations once a month. “We’re more than just a party store. We’re a fun place for children.”

Sometimes Schwartz teases that SGS means “specializing in great service.” Which is also true. Service seems to account in great part for the success of this retailer, when so few others remain standing past the first few laps.

“We try to listen to the needs of the customers. If they ask for a different line, or a particular theme, we’re happy to bring it in,” said Schwartz. “I like to think it’s the customers’ store.”

Over the years, for instance, SGS was increasingly stocking a wider selection than their competitors, and adding accessories and novel items to coordinate with an expanding array of party themes.

“You want Tikki Bar, we’ll get you your lighted palm trees,” Schwartz nailed his point.

SGS Paper typically fills 1000 helium balloons a week, he said. They do a lot of wedding invitations. They sell every imaginable size cooking tin made. Piñatas dangle from the ceiling to remind you how easy it is to party.

“We can’t make it on price alone, when there are mass merchandisers like Target, Costco and Sam’s Club,” he started outlining his apparently successful business strategy. “We need to be able to provide people with every possible color napkin, table covering, utensils, florals. Every kind and size of plastic wine glass – bowl, fluted, stems … If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

Another facet of his strategy is volume. Schwartz acknowledges the impact of the recession, which has cascaded from corporate downsizing and streamlined habits down the chain to caterers, restaurants and households. He says his own costs are “out of control,” with suppliers suddenly charging 15 percent more than six months ago for paper bags and some utility expenses jumping from $1600 to $2400 a month.

So he’s trading in what he calls the “air space” of the warehouse for a brighter, more accessible venue for merchandising. Most important, he’s abandoning a parking nightmare that accommodates five cars in exchange for a well-designed parking lot that holds closer to 50.

Schwartz started out working for Sweetheart paper manufacturer in Philadelphia. He eventually decided he wanted to do his own thing and started SGS Paper, aiming at both commercial and retail paper goods. Over the years, he said, he recognized an under-tapped market for retail party goods. Although he still delivers paper and cleaning supplies to commercial accounts and serves a substantial number of commercial caterers and restaurants, now 80 percent of his business is cash and carry.

This 64-year-old businessman has no plans to retire. “I love the interaction. Every day is different. It’s exciting to go to work every day.” He expects to play a larger role in the local chambers of commerce groups. And Schwartz concedes that he’s a pushover when schools organizations and scouts approach him for advertisements and donations.

“They help us make a living. We try to give back to the community,” he said.

It takes Schwartz little time to learn his customers by name, and he rarely forgets. “We are so grateful for the loyalty of our customers. I’m sure you remember your friends’ names,” he noted. “My customers are my friends.”

Community Mourns Dear Friend - Frank Sessa: 1947-2010

2010-12-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

“You know, you do way too much of that,” Frank Sessa rebuked me, while we were chatting one day after he entered Hospice.

“Huh?” I asked, suddenly worried about what I might have done to provoke such a remark from my friend.

“Worry! You said you were worried. How does that help? Now cut that out!” he said in his crisp, authoritative way.

Sure enough, I’d been rattling on about some assignment I was working on and had mentioned a detail I’d been worrying about.

This friend never minced words. His comments were typically bold and incisive. So that particular piece of advice is among the most comforting memories I’ll always cherish.

Frank Sessa, 63, of Wyncote, chemist with multiple patents, tutor, guitarist, and 4^th Dan karate instructor, passed away on Saturday, December 18, at Keystone House Hospice after a gritty fight with carcinoid tumor disease of the liver.

“A technicality,” he might have said, while acknowledging that it was a pretty significant one. The scientist with a wry sense of humor, Sessa was employed as an applications specialist with FMC Corporation in Center City at the time of his death.

Frank Sessa was no shrinking violet. His principles were crucial to him, and if pressed, diplomacy less so.

Once in the 1980s, when walking with his wife through London’s Piccadilly Circus, Sessa noticed a gang of kids surrounding a few teen tourists from Germany. Things weren’t right, he sensed, and then realized he was observing a robbery. Recounting the episode, he told me he took off running after the thugs, “thinking ‘I hope someone else gets there first ‘cause that guy has a knife.’” Sessa did get there first, interrupting – but too late to prevent - the crime and calling attention to the need for help. “I was pissed off,” he said later about his split-second response to help strangers in need in a foreign land.

Born August 3, 1947 in Stamford, Connecticut, Sessa grew up in Bridgeport with his twin brother, Lewis, and older sisters Cathy (Hunyadi) and Cynthia (Pound). The non-shrinking violet began to bloom during his years at Trumbull High School, while working part-time at Terrace Pharmacy.

The teen loved sports, playing on whatever teams he could. Although he’d landed a spot on the school football team when he was a freshman, he was cut the next year. Devastated but determined, he tried out again his junior year, and was again disappointed.

“Perseverance,” Sessa later taught his chemistry tutees and students at Glenside Shotokan Karate Club. He tried again senior year and made the team. “After two games, I was the starter. I was both offense and defense. I was not going to be denied. I was like a crazy man,” he said.

By the time he reached Southern Connecticut State University, he was focused. Because he got A’s in his classes, he was offered jobs as biology and chemistry lab assistant. He received his B.S., graduating with department honors in chemistry, after completing the honors program in 1970. His Masters of Science in materials science (1973) followed from a fellowship program from the University of Connecticut.

He met Mary Lou at a dance when she was a freshman in college. They clicked, and after dating for four years, married in the same Connecticut church – Assumption Church Fairfield - which he later selected for his funeral Mass.

In sentimental moments, he called her a “jewel” and said, “I’d never want anyone else.”

He said that watching his daughter, Stephanie, grow into a young lady “has been a delight.” It was when Steph was a young girl that she rekindled her father’s love of music. He’d taken classical guitar lessons in college, and eventually linked up with fathers of her friends.

Mary Lou, a vocalist in bands during her own youth, joined the mature group, Mid-Life Crisis, which performed pro bono for neighborhood gatherings and nonprofit organizations in the region.

Sessa credited his brother for introducing him to karate. He was instrumental in bringing to scale the fledgling karate club at the University of Connecticut. Perhaps his favorite aspects of karate were the tenets it teaches about life. He liked the adage about getting knocked down seven times and getting up eight times. “Karate is about you. You conquering you,” he said.

Those were pieces of the philosophy that also guided his coaching of girls’ softball for six years – along with friends and neighbors Mary Ann Goss and Peg O’Rourke - for the Glenside Athletic Association.

Sessa came to Philadelphia in 1977 as a research scientist with Betz Laboratories, which is where he was involved with the work that earned the patents in corrosion and deposit control. He also worked for a number of years at Stonhard, Inc. prior to arriving at FMC.

Friends remember the many times Sessa would come to their aid – whether on house projects or in times of personal grief.

Our family recalls some years ago when he traveled down to Virginia for a weekend to guide my husband through re-flooring a room in our daughter’s home. There were countless additional examples.

With other friends, he shared their heartaches as his own.

Frank Sessa was very there for his family and friends. Fortunately, his healthy voice will remain strong in our ears and his life will remain vibrant in our hearts and memories.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Fox Chase Cancer Center (333 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111) or to Friends of Frank & Family (c/o 114 E. Waverly Rd., Wyncote, PA 19095).

More Fitness Locally

2010-12-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

The hope apparently is that some 9000 folks in and around Abington, Jenkintown and Cheltenham will be drawn to greater fitness. Or maybe away from other gyms?

Without fanfare, the signs were up by December 6 announcing the opening of the new L.A. Fitness at the corner where Wharton Road meets the transition from Rices Mill to Highland, a blink away from Jenkintown Road’s intersection with Baeder Road. This is the ground of the old Williard building, and where residents later opposed development proposals for a supermarket.

An official grand opening is expected to take place sometime around December 15-18, according to Manager Jay Palermo, who comes to the Abington site from the corporation’s Allentown operations.

In the meantime, the gym is open on a modified schedule for preview. On the weekday morning of my visit, the class schedule and phone links to the Healthy Lifestyles program weren’t yet up or running. However, the pool hosted a couple of lap swimmers and the fresh equipment was getting a workout by a steady stream of about 35 bodies. A tiny sampling of those suggested the gym was drawing local L.A. Fitness members who’d been trekking out to the Fort Washington and were delighted to have a facility closer to their residences.

Rasheed Jenkins is Assistant Manager of the Training Department. Among other duties, he helps coordinate assessments to link members with personal trainers. He said he especially enjoys training because of “the response I get when people see themselves getting healthier. It’s great when they see themselves reaching their goals.”

Award-Winning Literary Novelty

2010-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

“Adorable” isn’t quite the description most people would give to a 38-year-old man and prize-winning author of three books. But that appeared to be the consensus of an audience of about fifty listening to Peter Manseau discussing his novel, Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter, recently at Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park.

“I’m a bit of a novelty act on the Jewish book circuit,” said the son of a nun and a Catholic priest. Which would actually make him a novelty act on any sort of circuit. He says his stock also includes French Canadian and Irish ingredients. He’s personable and grins even more impishly in three dimensions than the photo on his book jackets would suggest.

His novel – the previous books were non-fiction – is many things, though essentially a love story. It’s also a tale of immigration - out of pre-1917 Russian pogroms and into early 20^th century sweatshops and automats of New York City. Perhaps the loudest theme is the role of Yiddish – or perhaps any at-risk language – in identity and community.

The tale is spun by two narrators, a Catholic youth and a Yiddish poet. The authentic voice of the former sometimes fools the reader into needing periodic reality checks, while the historical fantasy of the latter expertly marinates the main dish.

Manseau was invited to Elkins Park by Ellen Sklaroff, retired instructor at Arcadia and educator in Cheltenham School District. The avid reader had been scouting for books to recommend to her book group, and was funneled to him by Amazon, based on her previous affinity for Junot Diaz and Nathan Englander. Intrigued, she shot him an email. He replied.

Sklaroff’s book group promptly received an early save-the-date and get-the-book notice, along with a dinner invitation to greet the author at her home.

A relatively new member of the Board at Keneseth Israel who serves on their Adult Education and Library Committees, Sklaroff arranged Manseau’s speaking engagement there.

The author subsequently accepted a speaking session with graduate students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for earlier in the day. He resides in D.C. with his wife – an international trade attorney – and two young daughters. Manseau occasionally teaches journalism at Georgetown and occasionally takes time from his preferred commercial book life to work on his Ph.D. dissertation in religious studies.

“The novel stirred something in me,” said Sklaroff, who has also read Vows, Manseau’s biography of his parents. “We’re used to thinking of Jews as the outsiders. It’s remarkable to have such a knowledgeable outsider provide such learned perspective.”

Manseau spent a number of years working at the National Yiddish Book Center in Massachusetts, where he thinks he was hired not because he’d graduated U Mass as a religion major, but rather because he could drive a diesel truck. “It was never a simple affair collecting Yiddish books from homes,” he explained. “A face would suddenly appear saying, ‘You look hungry. Sit, have some tea and kugel. My granddaughter will be here soon.’ ”

Manseau has studied Hebrew, Yiddish, Latin and Greek. He has read more Yiddish literature than most members of his audiences. When he speaks about tradition and transgression, he observes that the most effective transgressors are those whose actions are derived from and laden with tradition.

He also speaks about the transformative power of translation and the meaning and implications of the concept of bashert (destiny, fate).

Sklaroff was delighted, if a little surprised, that Manseau turned out to be so engaging and entertaining. “We’re lucky to have gotten him at this stage in his career. He has the capacity to become a very important person.”

No Need to Guess

2010-11-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Were you one of hundreds of voters November 2^nd who had no idea what in precinct they belonged?

Knowing this little detail could have saved you annoyance, embarrassment and time.

Here’s how.

You know when you show up at the polls, you sign in. Your name appears in the books of the precinct that includes the residence for which you’re registered.

The complication is that dozens of polling places host more than one precinct. You may walk into a large gymnasium, and wonder which set of tables and voting machines are yours (and why). What distinguishes them?

If you go to the wrong set of tables and books, they won’t have your name, and they may send you across the room to the other precinct.

Granted, not all voting tables have great signage announcing their precinct number. This should be improved. Sometimes they have nice maps to help you identify your residence, and this helps direct you to the correct tables and voting machines. Other times, you just try to remember which set of tables you went to at the last election, and return there.

Here’s how to avoid the guessing game. Your voter registration card has your voting precinct number on it. It’s generally part of two numbers, for example: 4-3, or something like that. The first number indicates your ward in your municipality; the second is your precinct.

If you’ve lost your card, you can get those numbers again by calling your county election board voter registration office (in Montgomery County: 610-278-3280) and asking.

Bottom line: You shouldn’t have to guess which set of tables contains the books with your name. Expect proper signage and know your precinct number.

Nothing Is Awesome!

2010-10-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

A college class where students learn about NOTHING? Zero. Zip. Absence. And now they’re holding an exhibition, “A Lot of Nothing.”

Although that seems at first blush to be precisely the sort of fodder upon which certain politicians feast, Arcadia University Professor Peter Appelbaum patiently explains what it's all about. In the process, that seasoned educator makes this seasoned academician want to sign up for the course!

In addition to teaching, Professor Appelbaum also coordinates math education at Arcadia, coordinates the curriculum studies graduate program, and serves as director at large for the undergraduate curriculum steering committee.

Arcadia University has a relatively new set of undergraduate curriculum requirements, in which, among other things, students take two University Seminars (US) before graduating. These seminars are interdisciplinary and some expect students to integrate on- and off-campus learning. Small learning groups are taught and practice intellectual skills and processes through a variety of different subject contents.

For example, there’s a Spanish course that qualifies as a University Seminar in quantitative reasoning. How? Students read Latin American newspapers – in Spanish, of course – and analyze and discuss – also in Spanish - the statistics and implications associated with health, social policy and political news.

Appelbaum’s seminar qualifies as a US in visual literacy, in that students study visual communications. Students learn to analyze the concepts they’re studying and how these ideas are connected with visual representations.

Here’s where nothing comes in.

And this void is filled with new vocabulary and scholarly inspiration.

The formal name of the course is US 222 – Everything and Nothing: Visualizing Mathematics, Philosophy and Culture.

The subject of zero has a long and dignified history. A vacuum is a powerful concept in physics. And consider creation stories, says Appelbaum. Creating something from nothing? (Or at least creating something originally, before anything like it ever existed.)

Questions about creation, forever and infinity have been among the greatest in human history, Dr. Appelbaum notes. Creation stories are fundamental across cultures. The concept is truly awesome.

Then come questions about representing ideas and concepts visually – in written language, in art, in objects.

This takes us into worlds this blog can’t: into semiotics; of famed linguist Ferdinand de Saussure; of mathematician/philosopher Brian Rotman; of Zeno and zeno; of paradoxes and opposites as wholes.

But you can enter into this intellectual discussion without having to register for the course. At the entrance to the Landman Library at Arcadia this week, Appelbaum’s students have installed the first of three projects they’ll be working on this semester.

Go this week to see “interactive provocations” that students created to communicate their explorations of Nothing.

They’re accompanied by a looseleaf notebook of statements about their work. A statement by Professor Appelbaum also appears there, describing a presentation he will have this year at a professional conference. Some exhibits operate only at specified times because of the vulnerability of the technology. All are meant to be stimulating in an intellectual way.

There’s one that invites viewers to take a card from the bowl and add it to the installation on the table titled, “Creation.” There are already cards on the table surrounding the words, “Nothing Is.”

Another installation is called “Fingerprint Galaxy.” See what you think, and then read the student’s statement.

During my visit, I heard one viewer exclaim, “Geez, I wish I were taking this course!”

As did last year’s class, these students will use the commentary you write in the guestbook as part of their learning and discussions.

Don’t blow this off as ivory tower nonsense by an effete elite detached from the real world. Contemplate the questions posed by the students: Isn’t nothing something? Who says nothing is impossible? Is silence nothing, or something? Does our life start with nothing? End with nothing? What is infinity?

While you’re at it, ponder the symbolism of installing these exhibits the entryway to a library. And, as one student’s video urges, “Use your eyes to open your mind.”

[Contact Arcadia University: 215-572-2900; www.arcadia.edu]

Old Charm: Going, Going, Almost Gone

2010-09-14T16:19:00.001-07:00

If you admire antiques and collectibles, this may be a good time to indulge. Recent reports document the decline of businesses in Center City’s Antiques Row on Pine Street, and dealers in Montgomery County must respond to similar market changes in the suburbs.

“Business is off. Tastes change,” says Charles Steinberg, owner of Abington Antique Shop. Steinberg is a purist about antiques, taking pride in the family business established by his grandfather in 1892, and defining antiques as items no less than one hundred years old. “There’s no shortage of money,” Steinberg notes, but buyers seem to be tired of spending it on serious heirlooms. Yet the expert says that for the quality, nobody today can make the equivalent, even for twice as much money.

“Everything is in limbo,” says John Mason, owner of Jenkintown Antique Guild for 38 years. “Business is at the verge and nobody knows where it’s headed.”

David Kirkland is owner of Kirkland and Kirkland in Glenside’s Keswick Village. The retired corporate executive began the business with his wife about 15 years ago. “Flexibility” is their key for buying, selling and serving customers. So instead of downsizing as the market swings, Kirkland expanded into relocation services.

Kirklands offer a menu of activities they perform for adults moving into smaller quarters – from staging a home for sale to finding the best destination for items being discarded. Kirkland says they sell some things over the Internet, direct some items to public auction and purchase others outright for sale in their shop.

Kirkland says he sells to a lot of designers. He also sees furniture being converted for alternative purposes. Small chests and drawers become cabinets for bathroom sinks and old sewing machine consoles become cabinets and tables. A woodworking professional on Kirkland’s staff has helped cut back some old church pews, turning them into facing couches in front of a fireplace and as benches for kitchen corners.

Housed in a remarkable piece of architecture Mason attributes to Trumbauer, Jenkintown Antique Guild offers unusually unusual items. For example, you’ll find a (shortened) propeller from a blimp; a wall of incredible oak and steel cubby drawers from a local hardware store; and vintage equipment from dairy farms and businesses. As cool as the items themselves, are the uses to which Mason suggests they can be put. He envisions the enormous milk and butter vats serving as ice chests for beer parties. The business records case could house an extensive baseball card collection. The hardware case would be a treasure for a craftsperson or a very large jewelry box. Mason believes that for every lid there’s a pot.

But don’t bother asking what items are hot or what makes a good investment. “It doesn’t work that way,” explains Kirkland. “People come in looking for something we don’t have, but they see something else they love and buy it. You never know what somebody will want.”

Steinberg doesn’t recommend buying antiques for investment purposes because the market is too uncertain. Buy items for their charm and to enjoy, the dealers advise.

And right now, many old finds are priced for your pleasure.

Sequel: Prequel to the Air Mail House

2010-08-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

What is it with this community? Within a couple of days after publication about the Air Mail house in North Hills, we heard from the owner of the other Air Mail house – the one that had apparently inspired it.

As you may recall from that previous post, the Coates family didn’t remember the exact location or know whose home it was that sparked their decision to hang their own flying mailbox landmark some 17 years ago. But now we know.

The home from which the Coates family borrowed the idea is on New Second Street in Elkins Park. Stephanie Phillips explains that about 20 years ago, “We were driving down a peninsula in Down East Maine, admiring the purple lupines.” She says when she saw a mailbox dangling from a high tree marked “Air Mail,” she giggled. “I thought, ‘What a nice thing to have.’ There are so many things not to smile about – here’s a happy thing.”

Phillips and her husband, tree surgeon Lewis Ruberg of Lewis Tree Care, are on their second airborne mailbox already. “It’s a recognition thing,” she says. Like Coates, they appreciate its value as a landmark on a busy street and enjoy the instant identification it provides to strangers and visitors.

And like the Coates family, they’ve been asked if their letter carrier really puts mail in it.

Those aren’t the only coincidences shared by the owners of these matching aerial adornments.

Like Drew Coates, Phillips is a professional. With her background in art history, Phillips has long consulted to a number of the area’s prominent nonprofits. Specializing in cultural travel and customized trip design, Phillips owns Globe Travel, which she says is the oldest travel agency in the Philadelphia area. “Actually, it owns me,” she quips. She marvels at the pleasant irony that in 1961, the agency that booked the trip Phillips took to Europe with her grandparents had been this very one.

Also like Coates, Phillips is drawn inexplicably to the unusual. A compulsive multi-tasker, Phillips’ favorite freelance job was the restoration and decorative repainting she gave Isabella, a lifesize cow that had been auctioned as a fundraiser for the Waco (Texas) Art Museum some years ago. Apparently Isabella had faded in the sun and salt air of Florida, where her owner had moved her. Phillips came to the rescue.

She says the scariest job she ever performed was a treatment she conducted on a fine English sofa that its owner had upholstered – unhappily, it turned out - in expensive, bright yellow silk damask. The owner was in her 80s, and, recalling a procedure once executed by her mother, recruited Phillips to apply this strategy to tone down the glaring color. So, at the owner’s insistence, Phillips reluctantly sprayed the sofa with iced tea. It worked.

Phillips is a serious cat lady. She’s the originator, some thirty years ago, and owner of Plants for Cats (sold locally at places like Primex and the Philadelphia Flower Show), the little packages of seeds you can plant to detour your felines away from other houseplants. Her household is ruled by a rescued mother-daughter cat team, and Phillips also collects all sorts of antique cat treasures.

Gardening is another of Phillips’ obsessions. She adores what she calls the “hodgepodge” of English gardens, and cultivates “the world’s most expensive salad bar” for the unintended benefit of the neighborhood wildlife. In order to counter her involuntary generosity, Phillips is desperately devising strategies – from Irish Spring soap mobiles to fences made from sparkly tinsel sticks scavenged from her son’s Bar Mitzvah centerpieces. Her latest effort, derived from the concept of a scarecrow, is a “scare deer.”

Guess it’s open season for talented homeowners who take pride in distinction and creativity. Anybody else?

Crape Myrtle Envy

2010-08-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Air Mail House

2010-07-13T19:55:00.001-07:00

It’s known as the Air Mail House.

Which is part of the point.

Owner Drew Coates explains why his North Hills home has a mailbox hanging some 25 feet above the ground from the branch of a venerable maple tree. On one side is painted Air Mail. The family’s name is on the other side. “It’s an easy way to identify the house,” says the partially-retired attorney.

Both Coates and his wife, Anne, also an attorney in the couple’s private practice, mention the flying mailbox when they’re giving directions to visitors and for deliveries. If you’re looking for an address on a street as busy as Limekiln Pike, it’s a helpful landmark to use. And it’s striking how many people do.

Coates gets a kick out of people’s reactions. When his chiropractor retired, Coates’ new chiropractor was making small talk and asked him where he lived. When he learned it was on Limekiln Pike, he asked if it was anywhere near the Air Mail House. Coates responded, “It is the Air Mail House.” The chiropractor immediately called his wife and said, “Guess who I have on my table!”

Coates admits that the idea didn’t originate with him. He’d seen something like it many decades ago – possibly on Second Street Pike, he thinks - and promised himself that when he bought a fitting house, he’d do the same.

It’s been hanging there for 17 years, “protected by the tree,” he says. The family has a regular mailbox on the front porch, so it raises no issue for the post office and Coates calls their letter carrier “a great guy.” In fact, Coates loves the area and thinks his neighbors are terrific.

He suspects that their five kids aren’t quite as thrilled by the Air Mail notoriety as he is. “They tend to think I’m a little wacky,” Coates acknowledges. Are there other things he does to deserve a “wacky” reputation?

“I can’t say anything. I’m an attorney. I have to maintain my image in the legal community,” he coyly replies. Then he reminisces about the days when he was president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Friendly Raccoons. If you don’t remember the Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, that’s okay.

Just smile when you drive by. Coates says that smile makes it worthwhile.

Transition's Coming: Take Part in the Planning

2010-06-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

“At least I won’t be around to see it,” is one approach. Or non-approach, as the case may be.

“Technology and free enterprise will take care of it,” is another.

The folks committed to Transition Town in Cheltenham and Abington aren’t willing to take that risk.

The risky “it” looming ominously on the ever-closer horizon is the “ecological debt” – in the words of David Orr, distinguished author and professor at Oberlin College - that has been resulting from over-consumption of fossil fuels in the past 200 years. Orr explains that we’ve been “drawing down Nature’s capital – living beyond our [environmental] means.”

Ecological damage requires “a new energy paradigm,” according the CEO of Lloyd’s. Even one of the world’s pre-eminent insurance market specialists urges “governments to identify a clear path towards sustainable energy which businesses can follow.”

In its 2010 White Paper Sustainable Energy Security, Lloyd’s warns that the “old model” of reliance on fossil fuels is “outdated.” The study concludes that “energy security is now inseparable from the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

Transition Town is about planning for “descent” in energy use, putting conservation ahead of growth in consumption and using innovative strategies to reduce waste and nurture vibrant local economies. Transition Town projects are taking place all over the globe. [www.totnes.transitionnetwork.org and www.transitionus.org or, in progress: www.transitionnetwork.org; also www.CheltenhamTransition.org ]

“We want to make Cheltenham a sustainable community,” explains Wyncote resident Judith Gratz. Gratz has retired from her work at the Academy of Natural Sciences and Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association, but remains an environmental educator and consultant. No naive flower child, Gratz nevertheless emphasizes the importance of “living closely with basic environmental principles.”

Over 70 people attended a Transition Town working session at Curtis Hall on May 27. They came from Cheltenham, Abington, Jenkintown – from Philadelphia and New Jersey and beyond. Most of them believe in their power to make a difference at the local level. They met in interest groups to brainstorm ideas for transitioning to greater harmony with the environment. Energy, food, education, governance, health, transportation and livelihoods were among the organizing directions to which participants contributed their thoughts.

Transition Town doesn’t impose a plan on any community; instead, it’s a broad, inclusive framework through which interested citizens can come together and collaborate to reduce dependence on carbon-based energy. Outreach to and engagement of diverse organizations already operating in the community help propel meaningful, viable action plans.

Bill Mettler of Wyncote spoke of his vision for Cheltenham in the year 2020. It included the sweet aroma of freshly picked strawberries from neighborhood gardens and new yogurt produced by Ashbourne Farm, the former country club property. In his vision, green streets host more bicycles than cars, and rail stations now serve as cargo depots, as well as lively passenger sites. Walkable commercial streets are bustling with coffee houses, repair and recycling shops, and artisan studios. Children enjoy playing along clean creeks and parks. Fishing is attractive and Curtis Arboretum is stocked with nut trees for the public.

This isn’t just futuristic daydreaming, urges Judith Gratz. Choices belong to each of us each day. We don’t need to use plastic bags at all. We can eat more locally-grown vegetables and reduce our intake of the meats that require high-intensity, big-agriculture with its petroleum-based fertilizers, growth hormones and long distance transport. Gratz notes that the use of petroleum-based fertilizers for growing food accounts for about 35 percent of carbon emissions.

We can pass regulations to stop buses and trucks from idling their engines for an hour or two, fouling our air and our ears. Even the EPA ranks diesel exhaust as a major public health problem and urges schools (and other organizations) provide drivers with indoor space in which they can wait instead of idling. “There should be sidewalks throughout the Township, and bike routes where possible,” Gratz adds.

New developments can be required to set aside land for community gardens or trees for all to harvest; new construction could be expected to include adequate solar panels to generate a minimum amount of electricity or hot water.

The can do list is endless. And essential, in order to avert more catastrophes like the oil leak in the Gulf or the most recent Marcellus Shale explosion in western Pennsylvania.

At our house these days, we’ve been using a muscle-powered push reel lawn mower. It’s our green compromise with the toxic culture that still believes in golf course-style lawns. Meanwhile, we’re gradually moving toward more appropriate and resilient native flora.

What are you doing?

Transition Town’s Next Event: Alternative Modes of Travel Made Easy

Sunday, June 27: 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Robinson Park and Calvary Presbyterian Church

More Info: 215-896-7804 or www.TransitionCheltenham.org

Elixir: Zumba!

2010-05-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

What elixir can perform all the following charms?

• Create absolute joy;
• Burn 500 calories or more within an hour;
• Leave you wanting more;
• Appeal to all ages, ethnic groups, sexes;
• Challenge body and mind;
• Help you focus, and forget your baggage;
• Invigorate you.

“Zumba is out of the world crazy fun,” says Vaughnda Hilton, director of the Native Nations Dance Theater who also teaches Zumba at fitness centers across the region. “Zumba is exercise in disguise.”

Zumba is an enticing, almost addictive elixir, hooking onlookers by its catchy music, exciting choreography and the enthusiasm of its participants. I’m hooked. And from the hundreds of classes filled and growing across Montgomery County and the country, I’m just a small ripple in a tidal wave dance phenomenon.

Oreland resident Joe Konrad was a flight instructor and commercial pilot with a passion for Salsa. In 2003, he was on assignment in Florida when he glimpsed an infomercial for a Zumba DVD. His followers now pack the gyms for this certified Zumba instructor.

If you go to www.zumba.com, you’ll be struck by the slogan, “Ditch the workout, Join the Party!” It’s a catchy marketing slogan, but it also captures the magic that is Zumba.

So what distinguishes Zumba from old-fashioned aerobics?

Vaughnda Hilton connects the use of drums to “the heartbeat of people.” She calls dance a universal language that unites spirit, emotion and body. Participants occasionally punctuate pieces with clapping and hooting. “It’s pure fun.”

Konrad loves the Latin music. He emphasizes the “world rhythms” that get incorporated into the repertoire, including belly dance and Bollywood. “Official” Zumba music has edited out and cleaned up some of the disturbing language that sometimes burdens the energetic tunes and beats. That way, Konrad says, nobody is offended by Zumba classes at the Ys and at religious institutions.

The photos show Konrad with a few of his students at Blue Bell Academy of Dance & Music/ BBAD Studio on DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell. That Academy is in its 7th year, and is directed by Rich Rogers: www.danceclassesandmusiclessons.com.

Zumba is versatile: it simultaneously offers simplicity and “safety” to newbies and sophistication and complexity for serious dancers. When first-timers enter a class, they position themselves near the back in a corner, Konrad observes. But within a few weeks, their confidence builds as they become more familiar with the music and the moves, and they creep forward, he says. “It’s not about being seen.”

All of a sudden, previously non-dancers realize that they’re performing merengue, cumbia, samba and other classics. And gradually, they become pleasantly acquainted with muscles and movements they didn’t know they had.

Arthritis and other conditions don’t prevent most folks from partaking in Zumba. Within any class, participants modify the moves to their own needs. Vaughnda Hilton explains that there are also specialty classes in Aqua Zumba, Zumba Gold (which includes Zumba from a chair), and Zumba Toning, with weights and maracas.

Hilton, who’ll be touring China with her Native Nations Dance Theater for the U.S. Dept of State this Fall, doesn’t believe Zumba will be a passing fad. If anything, she thinks it will serve as a springboard for related forms.

I agree. And I still have a couple of guest passes to my gym for my friends to try it out.

Music of Charged Air

2010-05-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Aerial fingering and strings never sounded so awesome! Every lifetime should include a theremin concert of this caliber.

You get another chance in July at the Tesla Convention in Center City. For more information, see www.divinehand.net.

Music from Thin Air: A Theremin Concert

2010-05-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Webb, Photographer

You won’t find more electrifying music. Literally. A theremin performed the most memorable parts in the soundtracks of Spellbound, Ghostbusters and even the Ten Commandments. It’s the Good Vibrations of the Beach Boys.

You can hear this century-old invention display its tremendous versatility at the Divine Hand Ensemble concert Wednesday evening, May 12 at the famed Elkins Estate on Ashbourne Road in Elkins Park.

If you’ve never seen a theremin, you’re also in for a treat. It’s not stroked, plucked, strummed, blown or struck. It’s not touched. “It’s a free space instrument,” says Mano Divina, concert thereminist and principal of the Divine Hand Ensemble. “You’re pulling notes out of the air.”

Created in 1920 by Russian engineer (Lev Termen/Leon Theremin), the theremin “etherphone” uses two special antennae to produce an electromagnetic field. The musician “juggles the electricity” in the air to render pitch and dynamics. Yes, a fly darting through the field can alter what you hear.

“Consistency is a struggle. You can practice something one hundred times and each time it could be different,” explains Mano. In testament to the instability and challenge of playing theremin, Mano says that Wendy Carlos - mother of modern electronic music and composer of Clockwork Orange, 2001, The Shining and Switched-On Bach, among other modern classics – abandoned theremin after a year or so.

Got questions? Mano Divina is your man. He holds an inviting, informative Q & A. Born into a musical family, many of whom played for Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra, Mano ran a recording studio and held a career as session musician proficient in about ten instruments until he came across a world-renowned concert thereminist. After initially rejecting the theremin as a hoax, he fell deeply in love with it, abandoning other work in pursuit of its mesmerizing song.

The Divine Hand Ensemble comprises a unique double quartet – often in dialogue - that includes two harps, a glockenspiel, guitar on one side and a cello, viola and two violins on the other. Mano’s field is front and center, “floating and stitching them together.”

Repertoire ranges from classical to punk rock. Mano appreciates Miles Davis, the Rolling Stones and Springsteen. But operatic arias and sacred music move him with “spiritual impact and strong resonance.” The group is based in the Montgomeryville area, and performs locally as well as internationally. They’re available for weddings, stage, theater, benefits, and even funerals. “Funerary music is a lost art from the 1500s. In those times, it was performed at graveside, aimed for the deceased, to help cleanse the soul and guide it up to heaven,” explains Mano, assuming his hat as music historian.

Mano studies with a voice coach, even though he never sings at his concerts. Instead, he uses this training to help him translate arias with his hands in order to better harness the electricity “to sing like a human voice.”

Mano and another ensemble member arrange and customize music for their unique presentations. Mano also composes music, which he has yet to perform in public. He’d rather build the confidence and comfort of audiences with something more familiar. Among his goals is to help listeners recognize and understand this temperamental, delicate and complex instrument.

IF YOU GO: Divine Hand Ensemble will perform for Animus Music Wednesday Concert Series at Elkins Estate, 1750 Ashbourne Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, Wednesday evening, May 12, 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:00, open seating. Tickets: $10-15. Info: 215-393-1649 or www.divinehand.net

Sexting? 1,2,3 Parenting?

2010-04-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

The topic of teens “sexting” was one of the issues discussed by New York Times best-selling author Rosalind Wiseman at an April 14 presentation in Elkins Park sponsored by the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education. The parent motivator, best known for Queen Bees and Wannabes, basis for the movie Mean Girls, captivated an audience of over 350 educators, counselors and parents from across the region.

Wiseman’s talk was titled “Connected 24/7: Safe and Ethical Social Networking in the Digital Age.” She said her goal was to help teach kids “social competence,” ethical behavior and dignity in an age when kids seem to know more about technology than most of their parents and educators.

The speaker cited the magnitude of adolescent connection with and through social network gadgetry, using data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project (www.pewinternet.org). Readers can find that report online and discover some interesting trends.

Pew researchers found that 73 percent of 13-year-olds had cell phones of their own in 2009. Over one quarter of teens use such devices to go onto the Internet (bypassing, perhaps, home or school computers). In addition, the report noted that half of teens send more than 50 text messages daily, and one third send over 100 texts daily. Girls age 14-17 average over 100 text messages every day.

Wiseman gave significantly higher figures for sexting (20-30 percent) than the Pew report. Pew researchers found that among teens (age 12-17)owning cell phones, 4 percent say they have sent sexually suggestive or nude images by text messaging and 15 percent say they have received such images.

“Parents matter,” was Wiseman’s shout-out. They have a responsibility to set the rules prior to granting teens the privilege (not their “right”) to have access. And she said parents should monitor their use of this privilege in ways that support safety and the family’s values. She likened teen use of technology to the use of a car: you don’t wait until the child has had an accident DUI to discuss the rules.

The Center for Parenting Education, based in Abington, was a regional resource years before Wiseman ever came on the scene. [www.centerforparentingeducation.org] Founded in the 1990s with the support of Abington Hospital and other partners, the Center’s professional and/or certified parent educators provide programs, information and skills to help raise emotionally healthy children. According to Assistant Director Deb Cohen, these programs have served more than 18,000 enrollments since they began recording, and in 2009, the Center’s new website attracted 16,500 page requests. Participants come from Lansdale, Norristown, Lower Bucks and even New York, says Cohen.

Cohen calls the evolving technology world of teens the “wild west” and says it requires parents to be vigilant and diligent to “keep their kids safe in cyberspace.”

She acknowledges the “mixed blessing” of contemporary information and communications tools. On one hand, “Kids need these tools for homework and to collaborate on projects. For the shy teen, technology can be a social outlet.”

On the other hand, she notes the “addictive part,” when you can’t get the kids off the Internet and when kids take the phones to bed with them, but then don’t sleep. Cohen says she’s heard employers complain that younger applicants and employees lack interpersonal skills. “They don’t have eye contact, and don’t know how to address people professionally.” And an embarrassing moment becomes forever – “the humiliation factor, and the stakes, so much higher” – with today’s technology.

Cohen urges parents not to succumb to pressure to “friend” or try to be peers with their children. Pay attention and use active listening, without applying too much pressure or turning the spotlight on them. Pre-think and revisit their engagement with technology. Monitor your children’s moods – as well as their boundaries. Consequences for breaking the rules – breaking trust - need to be serious and meaningful so that the teen can learn from the mistake: sort it all out, talk about what went wrong and ensure how it won’t happen again in the future.

Adolescent privacy – as Wiseman says – is not an absolute.

The Center for Parenting Education incorporates advice about technology within many programs. You’ll find it woven into different workshops on bullying, on discipline, on adolescent behavior and on success in school/homework, because technology intersects all aspects of life.

If you can’t attend their programs in person, you can nevertheless find dozens of valuable workshops, presentations and articles available on their website.

Great Glenside Gastronomy #1

2010-04-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Some combinations are irresistible: soup and salad; three sisters; peas in a pod. In fact that perfect trifecta exists on the corner of Keswick and Glenside Avenues in Glenside embodied in a mini-market aptly named Peas in a Pod Produce.

Lemon chicken soup is their best seller at 20 gallons a-Mondays, according to co-owner Susan Bailey, with crab bisque Fridays a close runner up. Vegetarian soup is available on Tuesdays. At this time, there are 21 different homemade varieties in rotation.

Pair this soup with the freshest garden salad and balsamic vinaigrette you’ll ever find, and you’ve got a wholesome take-out luncheon for every purpose.

Not long after Joe and Barbara Plewinski passed away, their three daughters invested their inheritance to set up this shop in their memory. “Throwing caution to the wind,” Bailey says she and sibs Karen Dooley and Kristan Coyle have shared all the work and the fun since the store opened in 2007. Their eight kids, ranging in age from 15 to 24, sometimes help out. The sisters envisioned a community venue emphasizing locally grown and/or organic produce. The soups and prepared salads followed, and more specialties are in the works. Fruit smoothies and cheeses may debut in the coming months.

They’re pretty picky about their products, Bailey says, and their suppliers respect that. Guess they know better than to mess with two nurses and an educator. Shelves are stocked with farm goodies from Bucks County, Lancaster, New Jersey and even Weavers Way Farm in Germantown’s Awbury Arboretum.

Okay … and there’s also the occasional smart aleck who asks what local farm grows the grapefruit.

Asked if they feel threatened by Glenside’s summertime farmers’ market or the coming of Creekside Co-op, Bailey responds graciously. “This is a nice community – local businesses all support each other and send us people.”

Indeed, new first-time customers continue to drop in. When they do, they often see regulars from the neighborhood chatting around the counter. One friendly warning: if by some chance you came into possession of a Mets cap, leave that at home.

Other than the good stuff they sell, the most remarkable thing about Peas in a Pod, in the words of one of the sisters, may be that “After three years of intense daily contact, we still get along and are still speaking!”

Hours: Monday – Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Phone: 215-887-2719

Free Coffee: Railroading the Region

2010-04-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

The Free Coffee Program story goes something like this: A favorite public authority is providing free Starbucks coffee each morning at one of its buildings to attract participation to its services. Each cup of coffee loses money for the agency, but hey, taxpayers are subsidizing it, so it doesn’t need to make sense.

No big duh, our favorite public agency runs short on coffee many weekday mornings during the winter months. Eureka! The agency concludes that there’s so much demand for its services at that building, it needs to serve more coffee there. Equating the desire for free coffee with public demand for its services, the agency seeks $27 million to expand its “successful” Free Coffee Program. Now the authority loses $29 per cup.

You suspect a flaw in the reasoning here?

Yep, here’s the thing: the folks coming to get the coffee are already Starbucks drinkers, coming to save money and get their kicks from a “free” good. They’re not new to the agency services. They’re just driving to the new location because that’s where there’s convenient coffee on tap. There’s nothing inherent to the “free coffee program” that improves the overall utilization of the agency’s services, only where the users show up in order to get coffee.

That was part of the analogy provided by Microsoft computer scientist Ernie Cohen Wednesday evening April 7 in a public meeting at Calvary Presbyterian Church of Wyncote explaining the absurdity of SEPTA’s plan for a 4 or 5-story garage at the historic Jenkintown-Wyncote train station. SEPTA’s plan to add parking doesn’t woo new riders but rather gives current riders additional incentive to drive extra distances beyond their local stations, according to a number of speakers.

Ernie Cohen offers $300 bounty to the person who can find a professional economist willing to stand up to the public and explain for the record how the proposed parking garage makes economic sense.

In the interest of full disclosure, I also oppose the garage. There are lots of solid reasons. These reasons are rooted in what’s good for regional transit and what’s good for the region’s environment.

Evidence demonstrates that over 50 percent of the current parkers at Jenkintown-Wyncote station have leapfrogged SEPTA rail stations closer to their homes to drive to JW. How does that contribute to walkable, sustainable communities? How does that reduce carbon fuel emissions, auto time and traffic? How does that promote new riders on public transit?

Why do hundreds of SEPTA riders skip over their local stations and drive to Jenkintown-Wyncote station?

SEPTA data reveal that those drivers skipping over their local stations to drive to Jenkintown-Wyncote overwhelmingly would prefer more frequent rail service and more parking at stations closer to their homes. Montgomery County Commissioner and candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Joe Hoeffel, was the featured guest at this meeting and he admitted to being one of the hundreds of more distant drivers to JW for those very reasons. So why then does SEPTA prefer to frame this as a parking problem for Jenkintown-Wyncote, rather than as a service and parking problem at the relevant other stations? Why survey the public only to ignore their very clear messages?

A number of residents at the April 7 meeting expressed concerns about SEPTA’s use of 20^th century thinking to try to solve 21^st century problems.

· Why accept as “given” or permanent a rail line infrastructure that dates back over 100 years, even though the demographics have changed so dramatically in that time? If the trunk lines are inadequate to meet the needs of riders, build where the riders are and where they need to go. Create spurs, reinstitute the R8 to Newtown, utilize dormant rails where they are and add rails where the beds are wide enough, use right of way, etc. SEPTA is supposed to have expertise at this, not the taxpayers who fund this massive organization.

· Why not revise rail – as we have done with roads – to follow the people and jobs? If SEPTA has bottlenecks, fix them. Don’t throw money at false fixes and pretend those are substitutes. As the taxpayers said, “This is a service problem, not a parking problem.”

· Why spend precious transit dollars on projects that diametrically counter environmental principles and responsibility? Even the EPA’s Smart Growth principles include “walkable neighborhoods” and “transportation choices.” But SEPTA prohibits meaningful public transit choice when its inadequate service requires riders to drive to stations beyond those closer to their homes and work.

Taxpayers have researched and suggested to their political representatives and to SEPTA numerous measures to improve transit service, reduce auto emissions, contribute to stronger, sustainable communities and relieve the parking dilemmas that concern some drivers during peak winter morning commuting hours. Alternatives to the proposed garage would bring vitality to the region’s neighborhoods, improve the environment, contribute to long-term fiscal responsibility and support public transit.

Doesn’t that beat continually paying $29 per cup for “free” coffee?

Study the issue yourself:

http://www.septa.org/construction/jenk-park.html

http://www.septa.org/construction/pdf/jenk-park-needs-2009-12-11.pdf

http://www.cheltenhamchamberofcitizens.org

http://www.r8newtown.com/

Civic Challenge!

2010-04-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

The term “student voice” has gained traction since college kids in the 1960s fought parietal rules about entertaining friends of the opposite sex in their dormitories and decried being drafted into a war they strongly opposed.

More recently, some poignant student voices were raised at Cheltenham High School’s Student Leadership Conference. About 63 students - nominated by their coaches, activities sponsors and staff – participated in this 3^rd annual event during school hours in March. Seven school issues of concern to the students were placed on the table for research and problem solving.

At the end of the day, seven study groups presented their work and recommendations to a mock “school board”, comprised of ten adult leaders in the community and two elected student leaders.

“We hope to take the skills we learn forward, to continue research and talk with adults about how to solve these problems,” explained senior class president Delisa Roman. “This is a doorway.”

Roman and Kyle Hellendall, president of the student body, had been preparing for this day for some time. Under the mentorship of district staff Anne Spector and Scott Weinstein, they solicited and refined the topics of concern from homeroom representatives, secured speakers and the mock school board members, and ordered lunch for the conferees. They also conducted preliminary background research on the topics to provide materials so that study teams wouldn’t be starting from scratch.

Both student leaders felt they learned a lot about leadership. “There are different types of leaders, with different perspectives and angles. They’re not always the ones standing at the front talking,” noted Hellendall, who hopes for a career as a Marine officer. “A leader can be quiet and watch,” said Roman, who heads to Hartford University next year for clinical lab study and forensics. Roman expects to stay involved with her community school board.

Learning was taking place on all fronts that day. Study teams presented their findings on the (1) school cafeteria; (2) technology in the school; (3) the tension between PSSA preparation and elective course offerings; (4) alternative discipline; (5) leadership and student voice; (6) facilities; and (7) school cleanliness.

The audience learned, among other tidbits, that CHS students devour 150 pounds of French fries daily. The good news is that it’s the only fried food available and the oil is 100% canola, noted the students, as they pressed for nutritious choices. They were invited by the panelists to participate in the next district Wellness Committee meeting, and to send representatives to meet with the food service director on a monthly basis.

Student proposals on methods to unblock important research sites without permitting students unfettered access to inappropriate Internet use were acknowledged to parallel strategies at area colleges and reflect emerging standards.

Student voices urged that more explicit connections be made between what students are learning for 180 days a year and why. They diplomatically called on educators to address such questions seriously rather than becoming defensive or perceiving them as rude.

“We don’t have a discipline system,” remarked a student summarizing the study on Alternative Discipline, “We have a punishment system.” When students recommended the value of a positive program called Restorative Practices, they learned that the district had recently begun inservice to implement that approach.

Students requested a seat on the school board. In many districts across the country, students have designated seats, serving in advisory capacity, sometimes with separate advisory voting.

The day was constructive in every way. Students took responsibility for many aspects of their school environment and devised strategies to use their voices to catalyze the changes they advocated. Communication with administrators was strengthened.

My particular interest in this Student Leadership Conference stems from my own background and expertise in civic education. I applaud everything I heard and saw, and congratulate all participants.

I offer to readers a few additional challenges and know from my own work statewide and nationally in this field that our mutual educational goals and the public will be well-served as schools across the region rise to meet them.

(1) How will you make the exemplary growth experiences of the students hand-picked for the student Leadership Conference available to the rest of your student bodies? These other students are also citizens in this republic who need apprenticeship with public policy problem solving. All students need experience researching relevant issues; all students benefit from relevant engagement in such issues. All students need to practice formulating thoughtful recommendations for improving their world, presenting these ideas to power, and receiving deliberate responses.

(2) How will you integrate into your standards-based curriculum greater time to research authentic public policy issues, analyze the findings and practice deliberative discussion on the merits of diverse arguments? One day’s research does not build a solid, credible skill base for most citizens.

(3) Where/when will schools and families provide authentic trips to actual school board and municipal meetings so that young citizens can engage in their local governance in action (rather than simulation) and translate what they’re learning in school into powerfully informed civic participation?

Congratulations on a good start. Keep building.

A Treasure in Life's Collection

2010-03-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have a note written by Shirley Sue Swaab, ASA dated 7.4.04. That summer I interviewed the vivacious and nationally renowned antiques expert, collector and appraiser for an article I was preparing about funeral practices and the art of writing obituaries.

A resident of Cheltenham Township, Swaab was on the program for an upcoming lecture at the historic Montgomery Cemetery in Norristown, speaking on the general topic, “To Die For: Funeral Customs of the Victorian Age.”

She was 82 at that time. Swaab was keeping a file of obituaries – She called it “People I Wish I’d Known.” Her note to me accompanied some materials she was graciously sharing. Her note read in part, “I can’t send you my own obit, as it’s not time yet to release it!”

With a grieving heart, I report that mournful time has now arrived.

On March 21, 2010, Shirley Sue Swaab passed away. I learned of this profound loss through the Cheltenham Township Adult School, on whose Board the dynamo served for over 49 years until her sudden death. Along with her family, her colleagues in the American Society of Appraisers and everywhere else she made her mark, her friends throughout CTAS were devastated and stunned.

You wouldn’t generally use the term “stunned” when a person of that age dies, but that’s part of the magic that was Shirley. As one friend commented, “She didn’t seem mortal.”

The day prior to her heart attack, Shirley delivered the feature lecture for the Victorian Society in America’s Philadelphia Chapter on “Dignity and Decadence” in the Victorian Period. The day she collapsed, she had just taken part in a ceramics study group. And she’d already arranged for two Adult School trips for the autumn of 2010. Shirley had just completed writing a book that had begun with her handout for a seminar, How to Be a Silver Detective.

Though Shirley never did give me her “advance” obituary, it’s cathartic to share some of her essence. In doing so, I rely partly on the public record, and partly on background from a second formal interview she gave me for an article on “collecting,” as well as on our relationship through the Adult School. Marsha Fischer, past president and continuing officer of Cheltenham Township Adult School, also contributed information and the Swaab family corrected what we got wrong.

Shirley’s reputation transcended local. Her lectures were often sponsored by such prominent institutions as the Smithsonian and the Rhode Island School of Design. Recipient of ASA’s George Sinclair Professionalism Award in 2007, Shirley always punctuated her seminars with wit and humor and she was known for demonstrating her talks with hands-on artifacts from her personal collections, instead of using slides. She created and ran for 60 semesters the very popular Antiques Seminar for Cheltenham Township Adult School, bringing in other experts each week. There was nothing else comparable. Her energy was enviable.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Shirley Sue Maring’s first college degree was in metallurgical chemistry. For some time, she worked in the corrosion department of Monsanto. She married in 1946. Her plans to complete a doctorate in the sciences were thwarted by a turf battle over transfer of credits. A second career was Christmas tree decorating, which she said proved too seasonal. She later turned to appraising. Textile restoration is what she planned for her 4th career "When [she] was too old to walk or talk,” she told her family. Shirley said she adored lecturing, because she loved sharing.

Meanwhile she remained happily married to Don for 64 years, raised four children, and became a significant party in the lives of her grandchildren. Six months before her death, Shirley asked math professor Marsha Fischer to recommend a good book on linear algebra so she could keep up with her grandson. Perhaps playing – and teaching - tennis also helped keep her young.
Shirley Sue was always dressed and groomed impeccably, bejeweled and made up to match what remained of her captivating Southern drawl.

Swaab’s collections ranged from the fine and serious (silver, porcelain, ivory, etc.) to the whimsical and “offbeat.” She was proud of her Victorian mourning jewelry, large black bloomers (like those worn by Queen Victoria) and “paper ephemera” – including funeral invitations. She also enjoyed collecting air sickness bags from the days when airline travel was luxurious and competitive and these items were artful or interesting. She even had a special cabinet made for the airline bags.

Research was one of the most compelling aspects of collecting for Shirley. “It’s part of my training in the scientific field. I like to go to the bottom of things, to know why, where they came from,” she told me. “What makes the articles tick?” Shirley called research and collecting “Joyful.”

Shirley was mentor and muse to all who knew her. She took a personal interest in promoting others, treating folks to homemade goodies and sending supportive letters and helpful clippings.

For example, there was the custodian who had a toothache. When Swaab realized that he would not be able to obtain dental care, she made an appointment for him with her own dentist.
Some years ago, I would have missed one of my favorite all-time writing gigs had she not told me about a particular job posting.

Everyone has stories to tell.

If you, like Shirley, are also keeping a file of People You Wish You’d Known, Shirley Sue Swaab would have to rank awfully high on your list.

Info x 90

2010-03-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ninety years can be a long or a short time, depending on the context. This year marks the 90th birthday of the Constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. It’s also the 90th birthday of the League of Women Voters, founded to help newly enfranchised women inform their own political choices.

Vivienne Spector (no relation to Arlen Specter) is the president of the League of Women Voters of Abington-Cheltenham-Jenkintown (LWV-ACJ). She’s NOT ninety! Spector says she was attracted to the League when her kids were young by “the wonderful, intelligent, vibrant women” performing such important roles in educating the public. For many decades now, the League has also embraced male members and officers as well. “The League gives non-partisan information about candidates’ positions and brings issues to the forefront,” says Spector.

For example, the League’s 2010 Government Directory is hot off the (courtesy of Abington Township) press. This annual publication is a handy little 8-1/2 x 14 fold-over, containing the current election calendar, absentee ballot information, contact information for local, county, state and national representatives, and local meeting information. Copies can be picked up free of charge at libraries across these municipalities, or by calling 215-887-6444.

The Government Directory is only one of many invaluable resources, long provided to our communities by LWV-ACJ. In addition:
• Twice a year, the League prints a Voter’s Guide with vital background about the candidates, ballot questions and polling information.
• The League conducts voter registration drives at Willow Grove Mall, Arcadia, grocery stores and street fairs. (Voters who move need to re-register in order to be eligible to vote in their new residences.)
• Every January, ACJ sponsors its “Legislative Interview” at which the broader area’s state representatives and senators answer questions posed by the League, and then the public, about legislative activity in Harrisburg.
• The League organizes numerous Meet the Candidates forums for school boards and other elected offices.
• Local league members organize studies on major issues in order to determine appropriate public positions. For example, over the past months, ACJ members have been researching natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale deposits across the state. They’ve discussed the research and sent their consensus viewpoints to LWV of Pennsylvania to be factored into the state League’s policy.

Spector’s background is in real estate. If your settlement package ever includes voter registration information and a Government Directory, you can thank her for that initiative. Meanwhile, she remains as impressed with the League today as she was when she originally joined. “Members are involved, and they’re always intent on learning more!”

It’s a rare organization that has the staying power of the League. You don’t have to be ninety to appreciate good information.

Expand Your Borders, Too

2010-03-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Expand your borders.

Hear a physician from Doctors Without Borders discuss her experiences abroad at the next Cheltenham Forum, Tuesday evening, March 23, Cheltenham High School Auditorium, 8:00 p.m. The public will have time to pose questions in writing and from the microphone.

Dr. Anje van Berckelaer focuses on fighting malnutrition, especially in children, around the globe. Her presentation and the Q & A is part of Cheltenham Township Adult School’s Forum Series and is sponsored by MossRehab, Elkins Park.

General Admission $20, students $10. For more information, contact CTAS: 215-887-1720 or www.cheltenhamadultschool.org.

Fashionable fundraising

2010-03-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Abington High School seniors Samantha Rubin (right in photo) and Melanie Highbloom are performing valuable community service in high style. They’ve organized a powerful fashion statement for breast cancer research, and the public is invited to join their exciting fundraising effort.

You can support the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund at Fox Chase Cancer Center on Thursday evening, March 18, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. by attending (or just purchasing tickets for) the Pretty in Pink Fashion Show at Old York Road Temple – Beth Am (971 Old York Road, Abington, 19001).

Chic apparel comes from Linda’s Loft, an established Jenkintown boutique in Noble Square just south of the Fairway (817 Old York Road, 19046). Barbizon will supply the models, hair and makeup by Studio Artur. Raffle prizes are donated by area merchants. You’ll hear music from A# Sharp Production and feel torn between ironically tempting dessert tables and fashion aspirations.

A quick conversation with the well-spoken Samantha dispels notions that the student may be free-riding because her mom just happens to be Linda’s Loft’s owner, Linda Rubin. Samantha describes the work of organizing such a large event as “Hard, stressful, but a lot of fun.” The challenges she and her classmate Melanie have faced, notes the eighteen-year-old, include the difficulty in coordinating all the players “on the same page” and in securing donations for the event to maximize the money that goes to cancer research. It’s hard for the teen to disguise her disappointment with (don’t worry: un-named) prospective vendors who haven’t been able to rise to the occasion.

Samantha devised this particular senior project because it seemed more dramatic or extravagant than more typical high school fundraisers. She’d been inspired by charitable shows her mother had run, and wanted to plan one herself.

Samantha Rubin is a strong student, favoring math. She contemplates a future career in counseling or teaching. “I love kids. I work summers in a day camp,” she says. Another of her passions is dance, particularly hip-hop and jazz. She earns considerably more than certain bloggers I know dancing professionally for a DJ on the local party circuit.

Tickets to the fundraising fashion gala are $15 for adults and $10 for students when purchased in advance. Add $5 to each category when purchasing at the door. For more information about the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund, contact: 215-947-6183; www.esjffund.org or Fox Chase Cancer Center: 215-728-2745; http://www.fccc.edu/helpingFoxChase/makeAGift/SpecialFunds/jacoby.html

President Obama arrives and departs: Getting past the garbage and the exhaust

2010-03-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Perhaps this photo of the garbage being removed from Air Force One after President Obama arrived Monday morning at Willow Grove Naval Air Station can inspire us to a meaningful cleansing of our country’s health care nonsense.

First, the setting. There were a number of things missing at the president’s arrival: There was no red carpet. No band. No military fanfare. (Well, one of the security guards trained a rifle toward the media platform, but not for more than about 15 minutes.) No P.A. announcement that Air Force One would soon be arriving at gate, uh … building number 780.

The setting — continued: Our stage is currently dominated by an oligopoly of privatized health care insurance. We have quite an unsocialized, even uncivilized, concentration of the nation’s health care insurance market by large and uncompetitive private insurance giants. Hardly socialism! Not even decent capitalism.

This afternoon, after Obama spoke at Arcadia, I took part in a conference call with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She detailed the destruction of free market choice by today’s private health care manipulations. She described quite intentional and substantial hikes to health care insurance premiums that far exceed the hikes in actual medical costs. She described insurance goliaths’ “slicing and dicing” of market segments. She criticized premiums calculated to be high enough to push weak payers, vulnerable patients and small group players out of the market entirely, while still being able to capture plenty of revenues and profits from those who can pay the artificially bloated rates. She described the damage this oligopolistic control wrecks on the economy, the public, and on individual patients.

Sebelius calls for better transparency and defends the administration’s health care reforms.

That wouldn’t be a bad start.

In today’s world, a government-sponsored insurance option should certainly be no more of a “socialist” threat than the free market-driven public charter school movement. Aren’t we all supposed to be dedicated to competition?

There are a lot of additional problems with health care these days.

When we think about health care costs, think about the advertising assault we’re subjected to every day from insurers and big pharma. Those budgets may help camouflage some profit lines. Think about the entire industries that have grown up in the past decades for medical coding, claims, billing and pricing strategies. (Yes, job growth, BUT…) A far cry from the medical offices I remember from the 1950s, when the doctors knew the patients well and didn’t charge at all unless they could pay; when sliding scales were considered progressive and when the only insurance needed was catastrophic care. How much of today’s health care dollar translates into actual patient care?

When we think about problems with health care, think about the daily struggle with MRSA and individual responsibility. Read everyday horror stories of medical errors. Who needs science fiction? With budget-strapped health providers all-too-frequently stretching their personnel too thin to meet highest standards of care, we all know the mantra that today’s patients had better be their own advocates.

Easy, ideological slogans and quick cute rhetoric too often hide more complex thinking and difficult policy making.

As Air Force One turned its nose away from the media platform and blew breathtakingly incredible exhaust, fumes, sand and heat directly in our faces, it was logical to think of ourselves as the butt of a nasty cosmic fart.

It’s not just up to Congress and the president. Citizens must become better informed and, as the president reminded us: “Seize reform.”

Connect or disconnect ? Legacy of a certain school superintendent

2010-03-03T08:17:00.001-08:00

Being employed may be a pinch overrated.

Exhibit # 1: the position of superintendent of schools - particularly that
post in the district of Lower Merion. Poor Chris McGinley Ed.D., is in a hot
seat there after school administrators allegedly abused the Web camera
capability of district-distributed laptop computers to photograph an
unsuspecting student in his home and then question his behavior.
Some readers may recall that prior to his hire by the Delaware County
Intermediate Unit and then by the Lower Merion school community, Dr.
McGinley had served as superintendent of Cheltenham schools.
McGinley was assistant superintendent in Cheltenham from July 1999 to June
2002. He then served as acting superintendent until March 2003, when he
became superintendent through December 2005. Stats-minded sports fans who
might see superintendents as analogous to team coaches or managers can play
with these numbers. Including all those years as sous-superintendent,
McGinley's length of stay in Cheltenham ranks on par with the national
average (roughly five to six years, depending on which research you credit;
less for large urban districts). But if you only crunch the years as full
superintendent, his turnover in that spot is considerably swifter than the
national average.
In case McGinley's legacy in Cheltenham could provide insight or descriptive
background into the situation on the Main Line side of our county, I've been
busy this past week listening carefully. Some Cheltenham folks figure the
gag order on the court parties applies to them, probably a reasonable
precaution. But others are more than thrilled to share their experiences and
offer thoughtful commentary on the impact of McGinley's Cheltenham
superintendency.
Like all superintendents - and coaches - McGinley has his cheering squad and
his detractors.
He still has very close friends in the community and within the district.
They respect him as a leader who's "not merely an administrator, but also an
educator." McGinley's known for having championed students with special
needs. On any scale of uncertainty, his benefit of doubt tipped in favor of
inclusion.
His supporters maintain that McGinley instituted significant programs - such
as the Delaware Valley Minority Student Achievement Consortium - to overcome
the notorious achievement gap. McGinley fought against the nationwide
reality in which student performance and outcomes correlate with ethnic and
economic backgrounds. This consortium, in collaboration with the University
of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, focuses on
ways to improve student engagement and accomplishment. "In terms of student
success, for Chris, all means all," said one of his devotees.
The needs of students were paramount, according to many district insiders.
Some say that toward that goal, he was very professional to school
employees.
But others fault him for undermining teacher morale. McGinley is blamed by a
number of teachers for bringing in employees who didn't understand or
appreciate Cheltenham's approach, and administrators who didn't support
teachers or "cover their backs." A collection of negative anecdotes led
multiple former colleagues to say - not nicely - that the woes in Lower
Merion "couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
Conversations on McGinley's legacy raise important concerns about the future
of technology used by schools. So many systems installed for security and
improved instruction can be abused or sabotaged. Begin with surveillance
cameras on school buses and around the school buildings. Then consider
telephone, intercom and computer connections in the classrooms. What about
the data collection that is required by NCLB or in order to be eligible for
Race to the Top funding?
When a single, integrated platform can do it all, it may be easier to hack
and hijack. When an operation - like public education - is supported by
taxes, are there legitimate expectations of privacy? How do you balance
security and privacy? In how many calls each day do you hear a message
saying that your phone call may be recorded to improve customer service? Are
school calls recorded? Dateline: USA 1984?
At this time, 12 school districts in Pennsylvania are actively advertising
for superintendents in the personnel pages of School Leader News, a weekly
pub from the Pennsylvania School Boards Associations; more searches are just
beginning. Thin-skinned folks need not apply.