What’s in your attic? Or your jewelry box — perhaps that gold bracelet you no longer wear? How about the bottom kitchen drawer — a sterling silver bon-bon dish? Maybe there’s an oil painting stashed away in a closet, or an old car, perfect for a teenager, in your garage, or a musical instrument no one ever plays. The Swarthmore Public Library may be interested, according to Betty Dowling, president of Friends of the Swarthmore Public Library (FOSwPL).
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.
At 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18, the Swarthmore post office was empty. After a few minutes, clerk Nicole Scott emerged. Scott’s shift had been over for an hour, but she stayed on — without pay and against her postmaster’s advice — so the office wouldn’t have to close early. The Swarthmore facility had no one to cover the remaining hours, a problem the branch has been facing with increased frequency since overtime was eliminated over the summer. Lately, customers often find only one clerk behind the counter — if there’s anyone at all. What is happening in Swarthmore is happening in post offices across the country.
Young trees are now available from the Swarthmore Borough’s Street Tree Committee for residents who wish to plant a new street tree this fall, or replace one that has been lost. The ordering deadline is Monday, September 28. A limited number of trees are available.
Almost 3,000 people died on 9/11, and the cry has been to “never forget.” On each anniversary, solemn ceremonies recall that tragedy. Bells ring and someone reads out the names of the dead. Fast forward to 2020. So far this year, we have had the equivalent of 10 9/11s each in March, April, May, June, July, and August. That makes 180,000 dead courtesy of COVID-19.
Many of the most ornamental annuals and perennials are part of the genus Salvia. This includes culinary sage, Salvia officinalis. I use several culinary sages for their ornamental foliage, like Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurea’ with its smoky purple leaves and ‘Berggarten’ with its broad oval ones. ‘Icterina’ is dark green with a soft yellow edge, and ‘Tricolor’ combines green, pink, and white. Like many sages, these are fairly deer resistant due to the aromatic leaves. If the culinary sages are given good drainage, they will be perennials.
I could write a whole editorial about the decline of newspapers as a kind of found poem: a series of dire headlines. Even before the pandemic — even before accelerated attacks on the press by the occupant of the White House and police targeting of journalists during protests across the country — things were looking grim for newspapers.
Being home every day during this COVID-19 summer brought me a special opportunity: I started fostering monarch butterflies. First, one friend, Colin Purrington, inspired me to plant milkweed. Then another, Emily Hauze, urged me to bring these miracles of nature fully into my life. I now have three nursery boxes on our screened porch.
Last winter, the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association (SSCA) was gearing up for what they expected to be their best-ever Wellness Fair. That was in January, before the pandemic. Now, the Wellness Fair has been reimagined for the virtual world of COVID-19 precautions. It’s scheduled for Saturday, November 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and it will be held on Zoom.
With the shift to virtual learning in district schools, many families are concerned about how much time their kids are spending in front of screens. Parents are worried, too, about their ability to support and help teach their kids. Swarthmore Public Library has put together educational “book bundles” on a range of topics to help. Each bundle contains four books from the juvenile or young adult nonfiction collection. They focus particularly on STEM themes, and on topics relevant to the election.
The Delaware County League of Women Voters has scheduled nonpartisan online candidates’ forums on YouTube in anticipation of the upcoming election.
The new principal of Strath Haven High School has been a teacher, a basketball coach, and an assistant principal, as well as a school counselor. But the counseling feels central to his 20-plus years as an educator. “As a leader, you need to understand people,” Hilden says. “People need to be heard.”
A COVID-19 summer feels a lot like floating. Every day is basically the same as any other day. Little things, like weekends not feeling particularly special anymore, and big things, like the all-too-familiar fight for Black lives in the face of injustice, are so consistent that 2020 is starting to feel like one long-ass day. We are reminded daily that a global pandemic isn’t enough to stop or even pause systemic racism. But COVID is also not enough to stop activism.
Recent changes to Pennsylvania’s election law have left many voters confused about how to obtain mail-in and absentee ballots, whether or not to mail them back, or where to go to vote in person. The League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County (LWV-CDC) will host a virtual discussion, “Election Law, Process and Security,” on Friday, September 11, at noon.
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.”
Mary and I have lived in our house the same length of time we’ve been married – 35 years. Marriage and home ownership – pretty darn big contracts! A lot happens to a house and to a marriage over 35 years. Stuff you didn’t know you signed on for.
As Swarthmore College readies itself to begin its fall semester on Monday, President Val Smith has announced that the campus is now closed to visitors. In an open letter to community residents, Smith explained that the college is inviting approximately 700 students — mostly first-years and sophomores — back to campus for a shortened fall semester. “Although outdoor spaces are generally considered safe,” Smith wrote, “with nearly 700 students, as well as a significant number of faculty and staff, on campus, maintaining social distancing will be much harder than it has been over the past five months.”
This is not the year they were imagining. This is not the year any of us was imagining. And as our community confronts the gap between what we had hoped for this school year and what it has turned out to be, a question keeps coming up. When will we get back to normal?
The Swarthmore Planning Commission unanimously voted to disapprove the sale of the Delaware County Regional Water Authority (DELCORA) to Aqua Pennsylvania at their meeting on August 26. DELCORA, a public wastewater management utility, has proposed to sell its assets and responsibilities to the private, publicly traded corporation. Aqua PA has offered $276 million in a no-bid deal. Commission members voiced a range of concerns about the sale.
Swarthmore’s Planning Commission approved plans to subdivide the property at 686 N. Chester Road into two parcels at a nearly three-hour meeting on August 19. The vote was 10 to 1, with commissioner James Levine voting no.
