Now that the holiday season is well and truly over, the Swarthmorean is remembering Dave Augustine’s holiday courtyard garden and the light it brought during dark December nights. We asked Dave what got him started and what keeps him going, and this is what he told us.
Marc Williamson submitted a photograph of a previously unreported species: a group of black vultures, not the usual garden-variety turkey vultures, dining on a road-killed squirrel.
One thing is clear: the patrons and volunteers of the Helen Kate Furness Library will miss their outgoing director. Jen Stock, who led the Wallingford library since 2013, left in late December for a new job overseeing the Upper Darby Township and Sellers Memorial Free Public Library. The despondency in the building on Providence Road shortly before her departure was palpable.
Junior Achievement of Southeastern Pennsylvania is seeking individuals to inspire and prepare young people at Chester High School for long-term success. This program helps kids explore careers and learn the skills required to get and keep good jobs. No teaching experience is necessary, just a commitment of 45 minutes per week for six weeks.
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.
How to inventory a whole year? What to remind you of, and what to skip? What would you rather forget, but maybe shouldn’t? What have you already forgotten that might interest you to recall? Collecting (recollecting) these happenings and lives and milestones is a way to consider what we have accomplished and aspired to and worried about as a community, as we take the first steps into 2020. To think about where we have succeeded, where we have more work to do, and where we might want to start all over again.
Delaware County Transition is a recently constituted not-for-profit aiming to help the newly elected Delaware County Council set priorities for the upcoming term and recommend approaches to making change. The council, which will be installed on January 6, is the first ever to include a majority of Democrats.
Politics encourages party allegiances. Like most people, I’m registered to a particular party. But I’m far from partisan. As an individual, I can’t be bipartisan. So I’m adopting the term “dual-partisan” to describe my willingness to take the best of either major party and throw my support behind it.
The Swarthmorean has finished its first full year under new leadership. Todd Strine, Rob Borgstrom, and Greg Hoy have done a remarkable job renewing a much-loved institution. Subscriptions are up, finances are healthy, and a new beautiful website has been launched. We want to thank everyone who contributed this year to the idiosyncratic but buoyant ship that is the Swarthmorean.
Stefan Roots has joined the Swarthmorean team as a regular contributor. We found him writing a community paper and blog in Chester and invited him to share his talents with us.
