Carrying a stack of newspapers and wearing the trademark lime neon-green vest, Brian Belcher, a vendor of One Step Away, makes his way to the corner of 18th and Market in Center City Philadelphia. Throughout the day there are hit-and-miss chances as Belcher attempts to sell the paper, which only costs a dollar and written…
Visiting a barber shop or a hair salon may seem like a luxury, but an artist who visits shelters for homeless Americans sees it as a matter of identity. “Hair care is kind of seen as a non-essential need for people that are homeless,” says Jody Wood, creator of mobile hair salon Beauty in Transition….
The closest that I ever came to becoming a professional tap dancers was watching television in the late 1990s. On the “The Jamie Foxx Show” or “Saturday Night Live,” I would occasionally catch a dancer performing something fantastic. I was captivated by their fluid movement, as if their art were just second nature to them….
I think I started working on “What Is The Impact Of Music” for JUMP Philly around 2012. I’ve been working on this story for a while now and I’m really happy that the link to the online version has been published. I talked to a lot of people around Philly about the sometime violent lifestyle…
Not far from a bustling street and directly across from a heavily populated neighborhood sits a community beautifully decorated with sculptures and murals by The Village of Arts and Humanities. Deep within their North Philadelphia community, students of the Spells Writing Lab prepare for a daily routine of writing, reading, and other engaging activities. “I…
Gavin DiRusso had a few challenges before opening Warehouse on Watts (WOW), “a grassroots events space” in North Philadelphia. Initially, he had purchased the space in late September of 2013 for its garage so that he could develop and work on his own projects. The purchase was made around the time that the city switched…
How exciting. Myself and a few others from the Community College Of Philadelphia are featured in an article by Philadelphia Public School Notebook Managing Editor, Wendy Harris. In the article I briefly discuss my journey toward getting into college. CCP was not my first choice, but I am glad that I attended. You can read…
Myra Gaskins’ life changed in 1989. Her son, LaFaye Gaskins, had been arrested for murder. Myra still insists her son is innocent, but a jury found him guilty in May 1990 of killing Albert Dodson, a drug dealer. LaFaye is currently serving a life sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy in Schuylkill County….
Josh Glenn and Aaron Kirkland say drug dealing often felt more promising than school