Members of the Swarthmorean community share their love stories for our annual Valentine's Day issue.
All in People of Swarthmore
Lee Awbrey’s Winding Road to Delco PD’s Office
Lee Awbrey of Rutledge became second in command in the Delaware County public defender’s office last fall. This article takes a look at the circuitous path that led her there, and what she’s hoping to accomplish.
Public Gardens and Private Life: New Book on how Gardens Improve Cities
Swarthmore resident Sharon Lee discusses her life and her new book, “Public Gardens and Livable Cities,” which focuses on the essential role public gardens can play in improving urban life.
New President for Senior Association
Nancy Daniel is the new president of the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association. She takes over from Linton Stables, who served for three years. Stables will continue as a board member.
2020 in Review: Before and (Mostly) After
Rereading articles from this past January and February is like peering through the wrong end of a telescope into a lost world. Here’s a review of what we were doing and thinking about in 2020, as it showed up in the pages (and website) of this newspaper — both BC (Before COVID) and AD (After Distancing).
Humans of Swarthmore: Isys Nelms
Isys Nelms is in ninth grade at Strath Haven High School, and is the eldest child of Swarthmorean associate editor Satya Nelms.
Linton Stables Raises Spirits and Funds
Linton Stables, President of the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association, was awarded the 2020 Swarthmore Lions Club Citizen of the Year Award. He got involved in community work when he was living in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in the 1990s, but his is involvement in Swarthmore came about more accidentally. This is a story of how his community contributions evolved, and his affinity for fundraising, which he calls “telling a story that shows you what the opportunities are for you to be generous.”
Humans of Swarthmore: Merrie Lou Cohen
I am an ancient Swarthmorean. I have lived here, I don’t know, sixty years. I lived on Amherst Avenue for years and years, and then, when my husband died, the children suggested that I look at my current house, right next to theirs. I think they might regret it, but most of the time we get along fine.
When I Met Joe Biden
When I met Joe Biden, I was still struggling, every single moment of every day, with the loss of our son. That morning, it had taken all of my energy just to put on a dress for the event. When Joe Biden poured into that room, calling for me and smiling, I saw resilience. I saw a way to wade through my swamp of intense sadness.
Osayande Wins Peace Grant
Jeannine Osayande, a fifth-generation resident of the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, has won a grant from the Anne Bernstein Richan Peace Action Fund to support a collective oral history project, “Making a Homeplace.” The project aims to collect neighborhood stories in order to preserve the culture, history, and practices of a rapidly changing community.
Movie by SHHS Grad in Philly Fest
“Islander” was written and directed by Derek Pastuszek, who grew up in Swarthmore. His first short film, “Solitary,” finished a two-year festival run with a special screening at the White House in July 2016. Shortly after Hurricane Sandy, Pastuszek shot “Islander” on Long Beach Island in New Jersey, where his family once owned a home. Pastuszek credits the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District with nurturing his creativity.
Manifesting Beauty: Jeannine Osayande Seeks Joy and Change Through Dance and Stories
Jeannine Osayande was born in Swarthmore in 1960 to Betty Ann (née Coleman) and Donald Lee. Her mother taught at Nether Providence Elementary School, and her father was Swarthmore’s first Black policeman. In time, he would become the town’s chief of police. Little Jeannine and her two older sisters, Annette and Donna, lived with their parents in the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, in the same house Osayande lives in now. Growing up, she was surrounded by family, and by neighbors who were family, too. Osayande likes to tell the story of how African dance found her on a street corner in Harvard Square. “The drums were playing, and a dancer suddenly pushed me into the circle,” she recalls. “And I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
Formica in Virtual Dance at the Fringe
Dancer Bethany Formica of Swarthmore is performing virtually in David Gordon’s new work “The Philadelphia Matter 1972/2020” at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Gordon, a celebrated choreographer who is now 84, invited 30-plus Philadelphia artists working remotely to record video material on everything from iPhones to professional cameras. He then dissected, assembled, and collaged this material together with archival work in collaboration with video artist Jorge Cousineau.
Girls, Food, and Body Image: A New Book and an Old Problem
Issues around eating and body image are complicated. But the evidence is clear. Charlotte Markey, a psychology professor at Rutgers University-Camden who lives in Swarthmore says, that people with a poor body image are particularly vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders — including anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. Markey had recently received advance copies of her book “The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless” when she visited my porch one afternoon last month for a conversation with another visitor, Emma Borgstrom, a 21-year-old Temple University student and Strath Haven High School graduate, who struggled with an eating disorder for years.
Florida by Bike
In the summer of 2018, when my brother Charlie and his friend, Walter Clauss, were 15 years old, they rode their bikes to the Jersey Shore. It was a quick day trip, but it felt like an adventure — especially to their parents. As soon as they got back, these adrenaline-chasing teenagers were ready for their next big thing. “We should bike to Florida!” they told each other. “We should” quickly became “We are going to,” much to the amusement and disbelief of friends and family. The boys’ trip now had a name: “Ride for the A’s.”
Night Moves by Public Works
At the intersection of Cornell and Harvard, I found Swarthmore Public Works employee Rob Walters and foreman Cuzzy Rowles. In baggy sports shorts, their short-sleeved shirts covered with yellow safety vests, they were banging with a sledgehammer to open a manhole sealed over when the street was last paved. The sewer line was clogged, and they had gotten a call to fix it.
COVID-19 at 86
I’ve been writing these postcards to give those who have little experience of senior living an idea of what it is like to actually live in a place like Plush Mills. We have our rhythms and our rituals. Little did we know that — suddenly last spring — our lives would be turned upside down.
Remembering Gus Kaffes (1929-2020) and the Village Restaurant (1962-2007)
Most people of a certain age knew Gus Kaffes of Swarthmore as the gregarious proprietor of the family-owned Village Restaurant, where he was also the cook. The restaurant was located in the space where Aria now stands and the old Co-op building stood. What they probably didn’t know about Gus, who died August 8 of natural causes at 90: he was voted best dancer by his Eddystone high school class, served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force (where he earned two medals), and his real first name was Constantine.
A Couple of Psychologists Preach What They Practice
“One day, about seven years ago, we found ourselves looking at each other in frustration in our too-quiet house.” That’s how Swarthmoreans Julie Mayer and Barry Jacobs, both clinical psychologists, begin their new book, “Love and Meaning After 50: The 10 Challenges to Great Relationships — and How to Overcome Them.” After their children left for college, Mayer and Jacobs found themselves “feeling older and unsure about what should come next.” They began to reassess their marriage and find new ways to connect. This book, they say, is their attempt to help others do the same.
Rallying for Black Lives in Swarthmore
Neighbors from Swarthmore and surrounding areas made their way to Umoja Park for a rally and march in support of Black lives. The rally was held on July 19 in part to commemorate the July 16 birthday of Ida B. Wells and her life-long commitment to activism, abolition, and education. Amy Beth Sisson, writer and former attorney, spoke about Swarthmore’s intimate history with racism, from segregated schools to discriminatory policies at the swim club. She left the crowd with these words: “We need to own our considerable history of racism, so that we can do better.”