Why do so many people seem embarrassed when they tell me what books they love and what books they’ve never read? And why do so many people tell me they know I’ll love a certain book when they have no idea what kind of books I love?
All in Editorial
Juneteenth, Then and Now
June 19 is Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas finally learned that, two and a half years earlier, the Emancipation Proclamation had legally set them free. If regular Juneteenth commemorations have been held in Swarthmore, they have not been announced in the pages of this newspaper, which record observances and public celebrations of Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. I would like to change that.
Spiderweb
There’s a spider living in the holly bushes outside my house. Every night, it spins a web across my front path. When I go out to walk the dog before sunrise, I run straight into the sticky, invisible threads. This time of year, though, the sun rises early, and I can see the web. That’s how I’ve been thinking about the short racist video that’s been circulating through our community this week and about the many videos over the last months and years showing black people dying at the hands of white people, often police.
Class of 2020: Facing the Future
On Sunday, over 400 Swarthmore students from all over the country and the world came together virtually, watching on their laptop screens, or maybe on their phones, the landscape that should have surrounded them. High school commencements are up next. Strath Haven High School students will graduate on Friday, June 5. A choreographed plan of staggered appointments will permit each graduate to receive their diploma, accompanied by two guests, and have their photograph taken to document the moment.
Masks and Poetry
On Saturday, when I went to pick up groceries curbside, I wore a mask for the first time. And did I forget to mention that it’s National Poetry Month? April. It’s hard to keep track of these things lately. But the timing is good! Poetry may be just what we need right now.
1918 and Now
On November 1, 1918, Swarthmorean readers learned that there had been only two influenza deaths in the borough, “a fact which speaks well for the place and its fine force of doctors.” As of this writing (Tuesday morning, March 31, 2020), there are seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Swarthmore and no deaths. The Swarthmorean survived the 1918 pandemic, and we plan to survive this one too, with your help.
Summer Camp Issue: Waiting
It feels wrong — discordant — that the issue of the Swarthmorean published during the first full week of our COVID-19 anxiety is the summer camp issue. Of course, special issues are planned a long time in advance. Still, maybe it’s not so bad.
Clean Hands, Open Hearts
It’s noon on Tuesday, and I’m sitting at my desk at home, still in my pajamas. I got up extra early this morning to finish the article (in this issue) about last night’s quite emotional and unusually interesting Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board meeting. Now I want to write something about the new coronavirus. No one in Swarthmore — no one in the school district — has tested positive. But not writing about it seems like ignoring the elephant in the room.
Borough Council Musings
I walked home from the Swarthmore Borough Council work session this warm winter evening, wondering whether I should write up the meeting for the paper. There were some interesting tidbits and new conversations. New to me, anyway. And if this newspaper doesn’t write about them, how will anyone know? Editorial
The Poetry of Local Government
On Monday, Swarthmore Borough Council met in its first work session of the year, which was also its yearly organizational meeting. Thus, the main business of the evening was swearing people in and appointing folks to various positions and committees. Not much happened that I would call news, but I felt as though I made some progress in my ongoing quest to understand how our borough government works.
Here are some things I learned.