The Scott Arboretum book club “Nature’s Narratives” resumes at Scott Arboretum in a session on Wednesday, September 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Garnet Basketball Signs New Head Coach
Candice Signor-Brown has been named head coach of the Swarthmore College women’s basketball program, replacing Renee DeVarney, who stepped down as coach after 14 seasons. Signor-Brown comes to Swarthmore after coaching at Vassar College for the past 10 seasons and amassing a 159-106 record there.
Pianist Dalton Ridenhour Strides into Town
Missouri native Dalton Ridenhour loves all forms of jazz, but especially ragtime and stride piano traditions. Ridenhour, the featured performer at Sunday’s Tri-State Jazz Society concert at Community Arts Center, is a New York-based pianist who plays with a bunch of different bands, including Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Goodbye Picasso, and Mona’s Hot Four. He is well known to aficionados of early jazz is a sensitive and gifted player.
The Roadshow Rolls through Winterthur
Swarthmorean Summer Travel Series
By Elizabeth Vogdes
“No photos,” said the signs posted everywhere at the Antiques Roadshow. As an avid photographer, I felt as if I had just sat down for a long-anticipated feast only to be told that eating was forbidden. But the atmosphere was so festive that I could almost forget my deprivation on this beautiful June day.
Wildlife Sightings This Week: August 2-8, 2019
I mentioned in last week’s column that we’ve passed the midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, and that there would soon be evidence of fall bird migration. And while I’ve read reports of warblers migrating through Cape May already, I haven’t seen any such evidence locally. Birds often migrate South by riding cold fronts down from Canada. With cooler weather predicted for next week, keep an eye peeled for greater bird variety.
Summer Travel, Measured in Footsteps
Over the summer months, some go to the shore; others go to the mountains. My husband Kevin Babcock went to the emergency room.
Swarthmore’s Hometown Advantages
“There’s a definite trend of people returning to Swarthmore … So many people come back,” said Swarthmore native and longtime area real estate professional Perri Evanson, an Associate Broker with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors in Media. Evanson transitioned to a successful career in real estate, serving Swarthmore and the surrounding area, which she has pursued for the last 25 years.
South Media Fire Company Is Short $50K; Treasurer Is Charged
On Tuesday, August 6, the volunteer treasurer of the South Media Fire Company was charged with theft of more than $50,000 from the organization over the past 18 months. Terrea Faith Stubbs, herself a South Media resident, faces seven felony charges including theft, forgery, and receiving stolen property.
Rotary Club of Swarthmore Grant Helps Start Fund
On July 30, the Rotary Club of Swarthmore made a grant of $1,000 to the Foundation for Delaware County, helping establish a fund known as “Growing with Families.” The fund will benefit participants in the Delaware County Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC), the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program and the Healthy Start project, now managed by the foundation.
NPT Adopts Resolution to End Gerrymandering
At its July 25 meeting, the Board of Commissioners of Nether Providence Township unanimously adopted a resolution seeking to end gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. Their resolution supports legislation calling for nonpartisan redistricting reform.
Dracula: the Bloody Truth at Hedgerow
Next week, Hedgerow Theatre opens its production of Dracula, the Bloody Truth, a comic reassessment of the vampire legend told by novelist Bram Stoker. What if Stoker‘s Dracula was not fiction at all, but fact, asks playwright John Nicholson? The play explores the possibilities in a month-long run, with several previews preceding opening night, Friday, August 16, and continuing through September 15.
Exploring International Connections in the Keystone State
Swarthmorean Summer Travel
For four weeks this June and July, I called the University of Pittsburgh home as I participated in the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Global and International Studies. At this free, residential summer program, I was among 50 students, all rising juniors and seniors from high schools across Pennsylvania.
I Wasn't Planning on Having a Beer — So I Had Two
Out of curiosity, I drove down Engle Street to take a peek at the brewery with the intent of driving by and polishing off a hoagie in the car at the waterfront when I saw a couple cars parked on the side of Larimer Beer Company, and the lights on inside. I tried the door and it opened.
The Stones Endure, and So Do We
As the Rolling Stones jumped into “Jumping Jack Flash” near the end of their Philadelphia show last Tuesday, I flashed to one thought: this is why I’m here. That riff is what hooked me on the Stones. Keith Richards’s 11 note riff made that song, I bought the single, I got the Stones. More than 50 years later, remembering wearing out the record on a mono record player, I basked in that guitar riff as it washed around me in the delirium of stadium rock, part group ecstasy, part mind-altering acoustical slapback from the concrete bowl.
Save the Date to Celebrate Media Fellowship House
Media Fellowship House celebrates its 75th anniversary with a gala event Friday, September 6, at the Springfield Country Club. The special guest and keynote speaker is Bill Whitaker, a proud Delaware County native and a reporter for CBS 60 Minutes.
PCS Presents Schoolhouse Rock Live!
Schoolhouse Rock, a pop culture phenomenon over the past four decades, comes to the area in its latest incarnation as an all ages musical, to be staged August 10-18 in the Players Club of Swarthmore’s Summer Children’s Series. Based on the Saturday morning cartoon series seen on ABC-TV from the 1970s through the 1990s, Schoolhouse Rock Live! teaches history, grammar, math, and more to a whole new generation through hit songs including “Conjunction Junction,” “Just a Bill,” “Interplanet Janet” or “Three is a Magic Number.”
Wildlife Sightings This Week: July 26 - August 1, 2019
My own outings this week have proved fruitless (and fauna-less), so I’m especially pleased to have received submissions out of Rutledge and Rose Valley. Now if only some Nether Providence residents would participate. There is great habitat in Nether Providence, with Crum Creek Reservoir, the Houston Tract/Urban Field and Leiper Park, among others. Surely there are some regular walkers/observers of these areas, so please come forward!
Mad Poets Convene for Reading August 7 at CAC
The Mad Poets Society presents Linda Fischer and Joseph Dorazio as the featured artists at its First Wednesday reading on August 7 at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford. After Fischer and Dorazio read, starting at 7 p.m., there will be an intermission with light refreshments, followed by an open mic session for anyone who wishes to share their work with the group.
Music Teacher Joyce Perry Retires after 48 Years at SPNDS
For the past 48 years, Joyce Perry has taught music to every class at Swarthmore Presbyterian Nursery Day School (SPNDS,) from the “young threes” to the kindergarteners. When not perched at her seat at the piano, she could be found attending to her other responsibilities, including overseeing the “Earlybirds” before the start of the school day and the “Stay and Players” after. In some families, Perry has taught three generations.