PCS Presents Schoolhouse Rock Live!

PCS Presents Schoolhouse Rock Live!

Swarthmorean Staff

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

Wildlife Sightings This Week: July 26 - August 1, 2019

Robert Scott
Wildlife

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!

Music Teacher Joyce Perry Retires after 48 Years at SPNDS

Music Teacher Joyce Perry Retires after 48 Years at SPNDS

Reisa Mukamal
People of Swarthmore

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.

Special Olympics Athletes and Coaches Wanted

Special Olympics Athletes and Coaches Wanted

Trish Cofiell

Starting this month, hundreds of athletes with intellectual disabilities — and many abilities — will train in a variety of fall and year-round sports including volleyball, bowling, bocce, soccer, powerlifting, flag football and a Young Athletes program. All sports welcome athletes, coaches and volunteers.

Wildlife Sightings This Week: July 20-25, 2019

Wildlife Sightings This Week: July 20-25, 2019

Robert Scott
Wildlife

Thanks for the interest shown in the Swarthmorean’s new “Wildlife Sightings” report. This week, my own observations have consisted of a common garter snake and a crayfish, both in Little Crum Creek where it emerges from its underground conduit on our property at the corner of Lafayette and South Princeton Avenue.

Rutledge Borough Council Report

Rutledge Borough Council Report

Chris Reynolds
Borough Council

On a night when tornado-like winds struck Swarthmore, most of Rose Valley and much of Wallingford were darkened by power outages, Swarthmore Police Chief Ray Stuflett told the assembled members of Rutledge Borough Council, “You guys are lucky.” In fact there was at least one emergency call from Rutledge for a fire ignited by a lightning strike.

Just a State of Mind?

Just a State of Mind?

Louise Coffin
Summer Travels, People of Swarthmore

Swarthmorean Summer Travel Series
By Louise Coffin

State College is the name of the 4.5-square-mile town in Centre County, Pennsylvania. University Park is the main campus of Pennsylvania State University located in State College — and beyond. State College (remember, that’s the town) has a population of 42,000-plus. Penn State’s University Park enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students is about 46,000. Without the addition of Penn State students, the town’s population density is more than 9,000 people per square mile. With, … well, you can do the math. It is one crowded place, especially when out-of-towners visit during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, held for the past 54 years during four days in July.

Seeking Great Cheese, and How it’s Made

Seeking Great Cheese, and How it’s Made

Malcolm Reynolds
Summer Travels, People of Swarthmore

Swarthmorean Summer Travel Series
By Malcolm Reynolds

On Memorial Day, my good friend Alex Schaff and I set out from Swarthmore for the enchanting hills and meadows of New England, with the goal of visiting and talking with dairy farmers and cheesemakers. Alex, who suggested the trip, is a prospective veterinarian and a master’s student of dairy science at Colorado State University; I work as a cheesemonger at DiBruno’s in Philadelphia. So one could say the idea didn’t just come out of the blue!

Private Lives Now Showing at Hedgerow

Private Lives Now Showing at Hedgerow

Swarthmorean Staff

You think you have privacy concerns? They are as nothing compared to the tangled web woven by, with, and around the quartet that Noël Coward created in his comic masterpiece Private Lives, now in a breezy three week run at the Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley.

A Charming Cafe Comes to Wallingford

A Charming Cafe Comes to Wallingford

Pete Prown
Local Business

When you think about eating out, the leafy lanes of Wallingford don’t usually come to mind — until now. With the recent opening of La Cannelle Cafe on Providence Road (next to the Wallingford post office), the predominantly residential area now has a delightful breakfast, lunch, and coffee bistro within easy reach. The Swarthmorean sat down with owner Loubna Lemgard for coffee and the backstory on this welcome addition to the neighborhood. 

SRA Bocce Concludes its 30th Season; Group Begins to Use Analytics During Play

SRA Bocce Concludes its 30th Season; Group Begins to Use Analytics During Play

Joe Torregrossa
Sports

Swarthmore Recreation Association Bocce held its 30th season in June at our home bocce court on Wellesley Road. The season culminated with the traditional tournament and BBQ on June 25. Thirty players participated during the season, including two first time players. The bocce was, as usual, quite spirited and congenial though, as will be described later in this article, some disputes developed this year among the players regarding the use of analytics during play.

Wildlife Sightings: Yes, Please Share

Wildlife Sightings: Yes, Please Share

Robert Scott

I struggled with whether or not to report the recent beaver activity on Crum Creek to the Swarthmorean. There are two schools of thought on wildlife observations: some keep sightings secret so as not to risk disturbing the animals with excessive gawking. I have encountered observers in the Crum Woods who clearly prefer to hold their sightings close to the chest. I decided, however, that I belong to the other school: I want to publicize wildlife sightings to raise awareness of our natural surroundings.

Schoolhouse Center Booking Mockingbird Trip

Schoolhouse Center Booking Mockingbird Trip

Swarthmorean Staff

A great American novel is now a great American play, which will begin its second year on Broadway with a new star. You can be part of it by joining Schoolhouse Center in a one-day trip to see To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theater on Broadway on Saturday, November 16. 

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