Ryan Foley, one of the new artists discovered by the curators for the show, will exhibit this piece, “Happy Houlihan,” a 2013 acrylic and mixed media work.

by Sally Cohen and Len Lear

Long known for showcasing work by artists living within 50 miles of its Chestnut Hill address, Woodmere Art Museum’s annual juried exhibition takes a dramatic turn in 2013. “In Front of Strangers, I Sing: The 72nd Annual Juried Exhibition,” which opens this Saturday, May 25, and runs through Sept. 1, features a wide array of work by a talented group of 52 (mostly) young artists chosen by jurors Dona Nelson and Rubens Ghenov. Fifty of the 52 live in the Philadelphia area.

According to Nelson, who has taught at Temple’s Tyler School of Art for 23 years, the unusual exhibition includes “very little traditional portraiture, very little traditional landscape and very little traditional abstraction.”

Nelson and Ghenov, both acclaimed Philadelphia artists, curated a cohesive survey of contemporary themes and ideas being explored in Philadelphia today; selected artists include Frank Bramblett, Stephanie Bursese, Anthony Campuzano, Virginia Fleming, Ryan Foley, Jennifer Packer, Dani Frid Rossi, Camille Schefter, Matthew Sepielli, Leslie Stahl and more.

“Some of the most interesting work in Philadelphia is being made in the artist collectives of places like Fishtown, and Dona and Rubens have captured that exciting, new energy,” said William R. Valerio, the Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO of Woodmere. “This is totally different from anything Woodmere has shown before.”

In conjunction with the juried exhibition, some of Nelson’s and Ghenov’s own work will be on view, and the artists will select thematically related objects from Woodmere’s extensive collection for public display.

Juror Dona Nelson, who makes big paintings that echo the physicality of Abstract Expressionism, has created paintings that are included in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the M.I.T. Collection, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Woodmere Art Museum.

In an interview with the Local, Nelson said, “This show does look different than it has in the past because the art works are not necessarily grounded in representational drawing and painting, although we do have a strong example of plein-air painting, a big oil painting of a cemetery here in Philadelphia, painted by Nate Zeidman, who grew up in Philadelphia and went to school at Tyler as an undergraduate and is going to UCLA for graduate school. He is 22 or 23 years old and is already a fine painter…

“To sum up, I would just say that our selections address some of the conceptual complexity of image-making in 2013, but our main desire as jurors was to make an exciting exhibition that is enjoyable to see and to think about…

“I invited everyone I could think of to apply for the show, and we had nearly 600 applications. Some intended to apply, but forgot about it or something, and missed the deadline … There are many young people in the show because it was open to graduate students, and sometimes more established artists don’t want to apply for juried shows. They have their regular galleries and other means of getting work out.”

The exhibition’s other curator, Rubens Ghenov, is also an artist and professor. He currently teaches at Tyler School of Art but has also taught at University of the Arts, and next year he’ll teach at both Tyler and La Salle University. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Ghenov immigrated to the U.S. in 1989.

Co-curator Dona Nelson will have this piece of hers in the show, “House and Travel,” 2012, 90”x60”, acrylic and cloth on canvas, (two sided painting). The other curator, Rubens Ghenov, will also have several paintings in the show.

He received a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, both in painting. In his own work, Ghenov employs various media including paint, found objects and sound. He has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions locally and nationally.

In an interview with the Local last week, Ghenov insisted that the new Woodmere exhibition “has a type of spirit, a system of voices that narrate this vertebrae we together concocted through our selection. It has not been a dry selection of the best of the best, necessarily…

“Secondly I find that the influx of artists in Philadelphia is constantly changing for a myriad of reasons. People come to study here and end up staying; others migrate to Philly from other regions for bigger and cheaper studios; some come seeking a different type of community, others to stay closer to New York but not live in it. Some fall in love with the experimental lure of making and showing art here … The list goes on and on. Philadelphia has a vast potential that still largely remains, I think, untapped, but some notice it and lunge for it. This influx coupled with our two distinct perspectives made for a pretty diversified grouping…”

When asked if he and Nelson deliberately sought out the work of young artists, Ghenov replied, “Not at all. We responded to the work through the jurying process. Though there were a number of strong artists and works that came up, we stuck to the things that interested and intrigued us which simultaneously were developing the thematic voice(s). I think there was an ampler pool of younger candidates making the selection accrue in this manner. Of that, though, I’m not sure. But when there’s a mixture of older and younger artists, it made for a more compelling exhibit.”

Woodmere Art Museum is housed in a 19th-century stone Victorian mansion on six acres at 9201 Germantown Ave. Woodmere opened its doors to the public in 1940. The property and nucleus of the permanent collection are the benefactions of Charles Knox Smith (1845-1916), who wished “to awaken the spirit of, the appreciation of, and the knowledge of art … in the City of Philadelphia and surrounding territory.” Today, the permanent collection consists of more than 3,000 works of art, celebrating the art and artists of Philadelphia.

For more information, visit woodmereartmuseum.org or call 215-247-0476.

Executive chef Justin Swain, 25, who grew up in Mayfair, was valedictorian for his graduating class at the Philadelphia Restaurant School at Walnut Hill.

by Len Lear

It is not unusual, of course, for a professional athlete to have to take time off because of an injury, and every so often a replacement player is so effective that the injured player loses his starting job permanently. The most famous example of this was Wally Pipp, the starting first baseman for the New York Yankees who asked manager Miller Huggins to take him out of the lineup on June 2, 1925, allegedly because of a pounding headache. (Years later Pipp claimed he had a concussion from a batting practice pitch.)

Huggins allegedly said to him, “Wally, take the day off. We’ll try that kid Gehrig (who was 22 at the time) at first today and get you back in there tomorrow.” Pipp was not exactly a turkey. In 16 big-league seasons the tall (6-foot-2), handsome Pipp, who started for the Yankees for 10 straight years until the headache incident, collected 1,941 hits, 997 RBIs and a lifetime batting average of .281, but as die-hard baseball fans know, Pipp never played another game with the Yankees. (He was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 1926.)

That’s because his replacement (supposedly for one day) was Lou Gehrig, who went on to set a Major League record by playing in 2130 consecutive games over 14 years and becoming one of the best players in baseball history, with an astonishing lifetime BA of .340, 493 home runs and 1992 RBIs until he was cut down by the then-unknown disease that now bears his name.

I was reminded of the legendary Pipp/Gehrig story last December after learning that Rex 1516, Philadelphia’s newest Southern-inspired restaurant west of Broad Street which had been getting rave reviews from both critics and bloggers, was losing its executive chef, Regis Jansen. A spokesman for the restaurant that opened in March, 2011, said the very heavily tattooed native of Mobile, Alabama, “has been in an ongoing battle with cystic fibrosis and is leaving his post to focus solely on getting well.”

Jansen’s replacement, Justin Swain, 25, who grew up in Mayfair and attended the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, was also valedictorian for his graduating class at the Philadelphia Restaurant School at Walnut Hill. He was a line cook for Jansen at another restaurant prior to Rex 1516. (The “Rex” was a tribute to Regis Jansen, and the 1516 comes from their address, 1516 South St.) “My grandfather would always take me out to restaurants,” said Justin, “and I just fell in love with the business.”

Swain just may wind up being the culinary equivalent of Lou Gehrig. He is as organized as the rungs of a ladder. He has the kind of skill you would like to pull out of your pocket like a key that opens all locks, a balm to soothe anxiety.

Chef Swain’s shrimp and grits is probably the most popular dish at brunch on Saturday and Sunday’s, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Photo by Doug Keith)

An escargots appetizer with whiskey butter, for example, gave a hearty nod to rustic comfort ($10). A Cobb salad will not send you into raptures, but the fine-tuned, well balanced mix of fresh arugula, tasso ham, hard-boiled duck egg and more, cloaked with a sensuous house-made blue cheese dressing, demonstrated the kitchen’s meticulous attention to detail ($10).

Smoked short ribs with a house-made barbecue sauce were so tender they practically carved themselves. The essence of slow-cooked soul, they were accompanied by potato gratin and marinated cucumber and onion ($22). And the needlepoint-precise preparation of a pan-fried grouper with a judicious blackened red pepper sauce elicited a low moan of pleasure ($22).

For dessert, a chocolate pecan tart with bourbon caramel makes for a combination that is pure sunshine ($7). And with any dessert, ask — or beg, if necessary — for a candied mint to accompany it. It is otherworldly. (Swain also makes all the desserts.) And our server, David Begler, was delightful.

Getting great reviews is Rex 1516’s corn meal waffle with orange-infused maple syrup, orange zest, fresh fruit and fruit compote. (Photo by Doug Keith)

Rex 1516 is a small, intimate converted rowhouse with exposed brick on one wall, antique mirrors, attractive framed prints on the opposite wall, a ceiling with paper that looks like tin, distressed woodwork and three huge chandeliers that look like wrought iron but are actually bent wood. There is also a charming bar with a custom marble top that was previously at a church on the Penn campus and wood panels reclaimed from the Rittenhouse Club. Over the bar TV, old movies are always playing with the sound down. The one we saw starred Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum.

“If I was a single man or a gay woman, I’d definitely be here,” said Kylie Flett, a native of Australia who is now a publicity rep for Rex 1516. “They always have mostly women here and at the bar. It is skewed towards a female demographic.”

Interestingly, co-owner Jill Weber is an archaeologist with special expertise in Syria (there may be nothing left to explore there now except for rubble), and her husband, co-owner Evan Malone, is an inventor. The couple also own a wine bar called Jet across the street from the restaurant.

Rex 1516 recently introduced a bar menu that’s dished up daily during happy hour, 5-7 p.m., to complement their beer line up. The bar menu includes several Southern dishes at $5 each such as ham and cheddar croquettes with charred tomato sauce; fried oyster sliders with corn meal, fried oysters, bacon, pickles and creole mustard; fried okra with bacon aioli, et al. The wines we tried by the glass were pedestrian.

We thought parking would be a hassle, but there were actually a few open spaces on the 1600 block of South Street, one block from the restaurant. More information at 267-319-1366 or rex1516.com.

Mr. and Mrs. Mariello in the ’40s.

In honor of Memorial Day next week, all of us need to honor those veterans who put their own lives in jeopardy for all the rest of us. Such a man is Peter L. Mariello, of Erdenheim, who was an Army Supply Sergeant in World War II. According to a niece and nephew, Philip and Gina Iannuzzi, Peter is also “one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He is kind and generous and visits his wife, who resides in a nursing home for health reasons, every day.”

Peter wrote a poem in honor of his fellow soldiers that we would like to share with readers on behalf of those who sacrificed so much — those to whom we owe a debt so great that it can never be fully repaid:

“Have you seen the many names on the

wall …

Of all our troops who stood so tall?

They gave their lives so we could be free,

And they fought for us so gallantly.

“They left their families and next of kin,

And fought in a land they had never been

in.

Our country now will never fall,

Thanks to the many names on the wall.

“So let’s be proud of our soldiers so

brave.

We appreciate how much they gave.

We thank the troops who stood so tall.

God bless the many names on the wall.”

I’ve always had a lousy sense of direction. Even as a child, I remember getting lost on a three- block walk to a friend’s house. Whenever anyone asked me where my school was, for example, I drew a complete blank. Perhaps the other kids were paying heed as our intrepid driver careened through the neighborhoods in Bus 22 towards Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Not me; the bus could have sprung paddles and propelled us across the water to London every day for all I noticed or cared.

It didn’t help that we moved around a lot. New York City and suburbs, Duxbury MA, Atlanta GA…it was all a blur of expressways, residential streets and winding country roads. Dad was the family chauffeur, and I was constantly amazed when we pulled up to the library or grocery store. How the heck did we end up here? I’d think. Every single time.

When I reached age 16 and got my license, I thought I might magically master the twists and turns that would lead me to my destinations. Alas, no. The map (remember the roadmap?) was my constant companion whenever I strayed from my habitual route to work — and forget about detours! I should have traveled with a bag of breadcrumbs, à la Hansel and Gretel, to mark my path. Inevitably, I’d pull into a gas station, hopelessly turned around, listen intently to the cashier’s instructions — then take off again in the opposite direction from what had been recommended seconds before.

Getting older, it’s gotten worse. For some reason, even if I can get somewhere, I get all befuddled when it’s time for the return trip. Nothing looks familiar, no landmark rings any kind of bell with me. I blame my chronic inattention to my surroundings. By the way, don’t ask me the color of your carpet or the make of your vehicle; I haven’t a clue.

My mom Joanie never drove, and gabbed her way through life in the passenger seat, Mrs. Oblivious. God help you if you asked her to find a location. She would look at you as if you’d just requested a short-cut to Jupiter. Luckily Mom never had to find her way out of a paper bag on her own.

Among my offspring, Rose, PJ and Julie can navigate pretty well on the highways and byways. They can find IKEA without ending up at Walmart. Sheridan is spooky: for a non-driver, he can lead anyone anywhere with 100% accuracy. But Evan is my Traveling Twin. He was born and raised in Oreland and still has trouble finding his way around. We thought it quite ironic that he was charged with driving a submarine in the Navy, and often pictured the boat heading the wrong way around the world with Evan at the helm.

My husband Steve is Directions King, hands down. He can find a place he hasn’t driven to in 30 years. He NEVER gets lost. I find him very obnoxious.

I watched a video the other night by the terrific young writer and pastor, Rob Bell, called “Shells.” In it, Bell talks about Jesus’ perfect sense of direction and purpose for his life on earth. He was always traveling towards Jerusalem and the cross. That was his goal, his “one thing” to which all of his other activities (healing, preaching) led Him. Rob compares our journeys, with all of our cares and distractions, to a child at the beach, holding two brimming handfuls of shells so tightly that he can’t pick up the beautiful starfish that is within his reach. Bell challenges us to identify our “one thing,” the main focus of our lives — our starfish, as it were — and to follow a pathway that leads us there.

I worry that my automotive directionless-ness has a parallel to my off-road existence. Am I drifting through the years without a clear sense of where I’m bound? Do I have a five-year —heck, a five-day — plan for my future? Am I always asking for help, then roaring off the opposite way? I fear I may get to the final moment of my earthly span and say, “How the heck did I end up here?”

Is it too late to learn to watch where I’m going on the complicated road of life?

Elise Seyfried is Director of Spiritual Formation at Christ’s Lutheran Church in Oreland. She is also an actress, wife, mother of five and co-author (with husband, Steve) of 15 plays for children. She is the author of a recently self-published book, “Unhaling: On God, Grace and a Perfectly Imperfect Life,” a collection of essays, humorous but with a spiritual focus. The book can be purchased for $15 plus shipping through eliseseyfried.com. (Also from Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, although they add an extra charge.)

Cheryl Rice of Erdenheim (second from left), who ran her own consulting company for 11 years, insists that “A lot of times women are more likely to be championing other people than themselves.” Cheryl is seen here during one of her female empowerment sessions with, from left, Linda Kneeland of Worcester, Susan Meier of center city and Sophia Almy of Lafayette Hill.

by Lou Mancinelli

After running her own consulting company for 11 years that brought her into Fortune 500 companies like AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Campbell’s Soup and Citizen’s Bank to help empower executives, Erdenheim resident Cheryl Rice is opening her home for 8-week-long “Women’s Coaching Circles” geared towards empowering women.

The class is designed to bring women together who are interested in making a positive change in their lives. Rice serves as a conduit of information and change. She helps the women develop their own voices. According to Rice, her goal is to help each woman become a champion of herself.

“A lot of times women are more likely to be championing other people than themselves,” said Rice, 48.

After spending 20 years in-house and as a consultant helping Fortune 500 companies’ executives develop their voices and their staffs develop stronger teams, Rice wanted to shift her work towards helping women develop their selves and improve their daily lives.

The women who enroll in her coaching circles may be at a crossroads. They may want to make a significant change in their lives but may not know how to begin. Maybe they are satisfied financially but want more time to spend with their families and need support during the transition.

“The key word is permission,” said Rice. “A lot of times women feel they need to give themselves permission to do what they want.”

Through exercises like writing a letter to oneself or to oneself 20 years from now, Rice helps women first think about, then visualize where they want to be and what they want to do. Sometimes these simple exercises yield fruitful results. When someone starts identifying 50 things that make her happy, the results “can be startling.”

Early in her career Rice, who was raised in King of Prussia and graduated from Upper Merion High School in 1983, worked in counseling. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Monmouth University in New Jersey in 1987 and a year later earned her master’s degree in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania.

She worked at Widener College and thought she wanted to be a psychologist. When she gained on-the-floor experience, she realized she liked the work but that she preferred to help people maximize their potential.

In the early 1990s she started to work in training, development and team-building. She worked for NovaCare as director of organization development for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, as a vice-president of leadership development at ACE International and elsewhere in other leadership roles.

The number one problem Rice recognized that hampered executives and teams in corporations was communication. “I was really curious about looking at how organizations promote or inhibit behavior,” she said, “and how individuals make changes and grow within the context of a group setting.”

Rice earned a second master’s degree in organizational development from Pepperdine University in California in 1999. While she studied for the degree, Rice worked full-time in Philadelphia for Cigna, a global health insurance company. She flew to Pepperdine’s campus in California for eight days of class every eight weeks for two years to complete the program.

The power of the group setting is a key element of her Women’s Coaching Circles. Its power is something she realized during her two decades of consulting experience in Fortune 500 companies. “People come in with this big inner-critic on their shoulder,” said Rice. Her job is to help expose that critic and reduce its power. The goal of the class is to overcome that doubt.

The power of the group setting is that it provides a place where women can come together and talk with other women in a place where they feel safe, accepted, strong and free to express themselves. It’s a place to bring concern that will be met with receptivity and compassion.

Rice runs a spring and fall session each year. The spring session is now underway through the end of May. The fall session begins September 24. “The magic is that the women end up supporting each other,” Rice said.

For more information, visit YourVoiceYourVision.com or call 484-557-8846.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, celebrated its final Choral Evensong of the season Sunday, May 12, for the Feast of the Ascension, the day on which Christians believe Jesus Christ ascended to heaven 40 days after his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Prior to the start of the late afternoon liturgy, organist Richard Spotts performed selections from Charles Tournemire’s “L’Orgue Mystique” appropriate for the Sunday following Ascension Day.

Under the direction of Zachary Hemenway, music director and organist of St. Paul’s Church, Choral Evensong got underway with Gerre Hancock’s “The Lord is in His Holy Temple,” music that maintains the connection between contemporary Anglicanism and the ancient traditions of the Church in England through its subtle recollections of medieval modality. The choir sang in delicate tones and with poignant lyricism.

The service’s three major choral pieces were Charles Villiers Stanford’s “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis” and Gerald Finzi’s anthem, “God is Gone up with a Triumphant Shout.” Although both the “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis” end brilliantly with their settings of the “Glory be to the Father,” Stanford invested the former with overarching phrases of complex counterpoint while taking a sweeter, more intimate tone for the latter. In both works, Hemenway elicited excellent singing from his choir, and organ scholar Caroline Robinson offered admirable accompaniment.

Finzi’s “God is Gone up with a Triumphant Shout” is one of his mightiest works, a stunning musical setting for choir and organ of a festive text. Hemenway led the choir and Robinson in a rendition that was both magisterial in concept and thrilling in performance.

Although this was the final Choral Evensong of the season at St. Paul’s Church, the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chestnut Hill, will celebrate the season’s final Choral Evensong 5 p.m. Sunday, June 2.

RATTLE CONDUCTS

For his second weekend of concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle conducted an oddly constructed but ultimately satisfying program in the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall.

Of the four works performed, only the first and last could be considered standard repertoire: Anton Webern’s “Passacaglia” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘“Pastoral’ Symphony No. 6 in F major.” “Three Fragments” from Alban Berg’s opera, “Wozzeck,” are certainly not commonly programmed by symphony orchestras nowadays since the opera itself is regularly staged by opera companies. And Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Mysteries of the Macabre,” from his opera “Le Grand Macabre,” was receiving its first trio of performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra during these concerts. And yet, this disparate quartet of pieces came together to form a concert that showed not only the breadth of Rattle’s repertoire but also the depth of his musicality.

Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony and Webern’s “Passacaglia” made perfect bookends for Saturday evening’s concert. While the former’s extended length is considered the opening of the romantic epoch in the Austro-Germanic symphonic structure, the latter is in many ways the culminating reduction in size to the barest minimum for the same form. Whereas Beethoven opened up the constrictions of Haydn and Mozart, Webern pared back the extravagances of Bruckner and Mahler. Beethoven allowed the beauties of nature’s sounds to enter into the symphony just as Webern focused in on its barest essentials.

As an opera lover who has seen “Wozzeck” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and by the Curtis Opera Theater at the Prince Music Theater – and loved it both times – I was a tad disappointed by the “Three Fragments” from the opera heard Saturday night, with soprano Barbara Hannigan singing the role of Marie. Even her over-the-top gesticulations – straight of a long-forgotten silent movie – and her small, steely voice weren’t able to convincingly place the excerpts within the context of the opera’s libretto. With the excerpts making no narrative sense, Hannigan was unable to make dramatic sense of her efforts. Hannigan was, however, far more effective in the Ligeti – literally a “hoot and a holler” if ever there was one.

Jon McGoran recently left his position as editor of Weavers Way’s Shuttle newspaper (he was with Weavers Way for 30 years) to become the editor of Grid magazine, a publication that promotes “sustainability.” Also a prolific novelist and self-professed “science geek,” Jon read from his latest novel, “Drift,” about Genetically Modified Organisms, on April 17 in the Bombay Room of the Chestnut Hill Hotel.

by Christopher De Paul and Len Lear

Jon McGoran, who up until recently was perhaps best known in the Chestnut Hill area as editor of The Shuttle, Weavers Way’s monthly newspaper, and communications director for the food co-ops, is a man with two lives — or at least two names. For many years, in addition to his Weavers Way job, he authored three forensic crime novels — “Freezer Burn,” “Blood Poison” and “Body Trace” — for Penguin Books under the pseudonym D.H. Dublin.

The “Dublin” stems from his father’s hometown of Dublin, Ireland. John knew he wanted initials, but couldn’t settle on them, so he left it up to his editor. “I think she was partial to D.H. Lawrence,” McGoran conceded, a nod to the mercurial English novelist, essayist and literary critic.

But why would Jon, 49, who grew up in Mt. Airy and graduated from Central High School in 1981 (the 240th graduating class), need a pseudonym? Is he in the Witness Protection Program?

The answer is very complicated. It would take the rest of this article to explain it in detail. It has to do with his agent, his book publisher, the type of books he was writing, etc. The short version is: “It was a branding issue.”

This coming July 9, however, McGoran will be switching gears, or at least names. He will be using his real name as the author of “Drift,” an ecological thriller about the potential harm caused by genetically engineered foods, published by Tor/Forge in New York. Jon is using his real name because “Drift’s” publisher is different from his previous publisher and because this book is not a forensic thriller.

(As Jon McGoran, he has also had short fiction appearing in several anthologies, including “Liar, Liar and The Stories in Between” and an upcoming “Zombies Versus Robots” anthology.)

“It’s an idea that has been percolating in my mind for awhile now, maybe since the early ‘90’s,” said McGoran, who calls himself a “science geek” but who has a degree in communications from Temple University. “I wrote about this topic often for The Shuttle, and there has been little meaningful research done in this area. The more I wrote about Genetically Modified Organisms, the more I realized the topic was perfect for a thriller.”

In the new book, a local narcotics detective tries to stop a drug gang from spreading lethal germs into the environment that could kill millions of people. The tension of whether or not the murderous plan will be stopped in time propels the action.

In mid-March of this year McGoran left his position at Weavers Way, where he worked for the better part of two decades, and joined the staff at Grid Magazine, where he is now the editor. Grid Magazine is a free monthly publication based in Center City that aims to improve sustainability of life: economically, socially and environmentally. Clearly there exists nothing but warm sentiments regarding his time at Weavers Way.

“It’s rare these days,” he said, “to have a job that is so tied to the community, but I’ve been a fan of Grid since it started five years ago. There was no way I was going to pass up that opportunity … I would love to be an everyday writer, but I’ve gotten pretty good at writing when and where I get the chance.”

Jon is already working on a sequel to “Drift.” Called “Deadend,” it is scheduled for release in August, 2014. “Drift” can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com for $17.50.

“Most of ‘Drift’ is based outside of Philadelphia, but there is a pivotal scene that takes place right outside of Bredenbeck’s,” said McGoran, who believes Kilian’s Hardware is “one of the coolest stores on the planet.”

Jon, a proud member of the Liars Club, Mystery Writers Association and International Thriller Writers, now lives in Elkins Park with his wife Elizabeth, a children’s librarian, to whom he just got married on May 18. Jon has a son, Will, 13.

For more information, email jonmcgoran@jmcgoran.com

Mt. Airyite Cordelia Jensen’s Young Adult novel “Skyscraping” tells the story of 17-year-old Lia, who learns that her father is gay and dying of AIDS. Cordelia’s own life story is similar. She is seen here during the Mt. Airy Kids’ Literary Festival last Sunday at Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane. (Photo by Louise Wright)

by Louise E. Wright

“When I turned 17, dad took me on a walk,” Cordelia Jensen’s award-winning poem “Caught in Evolution” begins. “He was slow, five months from dying.”

The poem offers a taste — but only a taste — of Jensen’s Young Adult novel “Skyscraping.” Written in verse, “Skyscraping” tells the story of 17-year-old Lia who learns that her father is gay and dying of AIDS. Jensen avoids going into greater detail. Having yet to begin revising the novel, slated for publication by Philomel/Penguin in winter 2015, the Mt. Airy resident cautions, “It will change.”

Jensen based “Skyscraping” on her own experiences. She was in 9th grade when she discovered that her father, whom she describes as “bisexual,” had contracted the disease. “I had been hearing my dad on the phone with all these doctors,” she remembers, “so I asked my therapist. She said, ‘Don’t you know? He’s HIV-positive.’”

Unlike the father in “Skyscraping,” which takes place in just one year, Jensen’s dad was ill for several years. “It’s hard to live with that kind of sickness for so long,” she observes, referring not just to her father but also to her family. “I escaped through my friends” — all of whom knew about her situation — “and just doing the regular things teenagers do.”

Jensen chose to tell the story in verse because, she says, it “started out in poems; that’s how it was in memoir.” Ultimately she decided against memoir in favor of fiction. “I wanted to be able to make craft choices, change characters, tell a good story,” she explains. “There’s a lot that’s made up.”

Jensen describes writing the novel as “healing.” Working in fiction rather than memoir enabled her to explore — even to experience — alternative realities. She sums up the process with a question: “It didn’t happen this way, but what if it did?” As an example she relates that, while her dad’s sickness prevented him from attending her high school graduation, in “Skyscraping” Lia’s father, although ill, comes to hers.

The passage of time also provided Jensen with the distance needed to write the novel. “It was easier to tell the story when I knew what the world was about,” she explains. The title alludes to the novel’s Manhattan setting. “There are no stars in New York City,” Jensen points out, but the book contains a lot of “celestial imagery.” In addition, she believes the word “skyscraping” suggests “a little bit of violence, a hurt feeling.”

As a work of fiction, “Skyscraping” dates to January 2011, the start of Jensen’s second semester at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, from which she earned an M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults. One of her teachers encouraged her (“Your poems are really strong”) and suggested the verse novel form.

Verse novels, Jensen notes, “are really popular with teens.” While some take the form of a continuous narrative, others, like “Skyscraping,” consist of a series of poems. Jensen considers the mixed genre — poetry in a form traditionally reserved for prose — appropriate to both her subject matter and her audience. Like many Young Adult novels, “Skyscraping” is a coming-of-age story, one in which, as Jensen points out, “Lia’s identity is shifting.” Additionally, the book’s intended readers are neither children nor adults; like the verse novel, they fall somewhere “in between.”

Because these novels tend to be short, Jensen had a complete manuscript when she finished her graduate work. On the strength of “Skyscraping,” Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, Inc. agreed to represent her. The book sold in six months.

Jensen, 37, grew up in New York City. Interested in writing even “as a little girl,” she describes herself as “a dedicated diary writer for many years” and clearly recalls the date of her first entry: Nov. 7, 1987. She attended Kenyon College, where she majored in English with a concentration in creative writing, specifically poetry. Some of the verses in “Skyscraping” date back to this time.

After graduation, however, Jensen opted not to pursue writing as a career, deciding “to work with kids” instead. Having spent a semester abroad in Ghana, she realized, “I wanted to interact with the world more; I didn’t want to bury myself in books.” In addition, working at Longacre Leadership, a community-building summer camp in central Pennsylvania, convinced her, “I had a lot to give back to teens.” Jensen herself had attended the camp and describes her experiences as “grounding and helpful because of what was going on with my dad.”

In 2004, she earned an M.Ed. in counseling from Shippensburg University. She spent a year working for Harrisburg-based Adams-Hanover Counseling Services and continued on the staff at Longacre Leadership until 2008, when she moved to Philadelphia.

By then, Jensen was married and the mother of two-year-old twins, Lily and Tate. The difficulty of being a stay-at-home mom in rural Perry County contributed to the move. In addition, Jensen explains, “I wanted to raise my kids in a more diverse place, and I wanted to do something new.” Since Jensen’s husband hails from Baltimore, Philadelphia proved a logical choice, a mid-point between the two hometowns.

About this time, Jensen got back into writing. She took classes with Minter Krotzer at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore as well as one in writing for children at the Mt. Airy Learning Tree.

Recently, the author herself has turned to teaching. “I wanted to try working with kids again,” Jensen explains, so she founded Story Corners, a business which offers creative writing classes for children and teens. In addition, this summer Jensen will conduct a workshop at Musehouse entitled “Finishing Your Novel: Writing the Second Draft.”

In her LinkedIn profile, Jensen identifies herself not only as writer and teacher but also “bookseller.” Since February 2012, she has worked part-time at the Big Blue Marble. The title reflects her self-image as more than a sales associate or shop clerk. “It’s a harder job than people realize,” she points out. Among her responsibilities she includes “talking to people about books and finding the perfect book for that person.” Jensen also says she benefits from “seeing that side of publishing, what books come in, what gets published.” Along with Krotzer, she is writer-in-residence at the bookstore.

At least for the summer, Jensen will cut back on her bookselling duties in order to revise “Skyscraping,” a process that may well take up to a year.

You can find her at http://twitter.com/cordeliajensen. Those impatient for the novel can visit http://distraction99.com/2013/03/26/haunted-at-17-featured-story-1/

Frank Watson, who owns Gentlemen’s Preference Hairstyling at 1007 E. Willow Grove Ave. in Wyndmoor and who has been in the Chestnut Hill/Wyndmoor area for 33 years, is a self-professed “total sports nut.” (Photo by Len Lear)

by J.B. Hyppolite

Frank Watson, 58, owner of Gentlemen’s Preference Hairstyling, a barbershop at 1007 E. Willow Grove Ave. in Wyndmoor, insists that “I’m a barbershop-hair stylist. I basically call myself a “barber stylist.”

Any customer at Gentlemen’s Preference can expect to see the wonderful art of Frank’s mom and to hear a conversation about Philadelphia sports teams. “This is a big sports shop here,” said Frank, who has been in the Chestnut Hill/Wyndmoor area for 33 years. “I’m a total sports nut.”

Most of the people that Frank interacts with, including women, are sports fanatics. “We always talk about setting up a mic in here and having a Daily News Live show in here because it gets pretty funny. It’s like a sports talk show. We always talk about ‘You know you should have a TV in here, you should have a radio in here, like a radio guy, and actually have a 610 (WIP) sports show.’”

Frank is such a rabid Phillies fan that the Philadelphia Daily News featured him during the 2009 World Series. The year before, Frank cut out sports headlines from Daily News and Inquirer and lined his entire shop with the articles.

“The year the Phillies went to the World Series and won (2008), my entire shop was newspaper articles and memorabilia I collected over the years. The next year when they were in it against the Yankees, I did the same thing, and people would stop in as the playoffs were going on just to make sure I was keeping up. It became a tradition,” he said. Frank continued that tradition for the five years in a row (2007-2011) that the Phillies made it to the playoffs.

The Phillies dominate talk during baseball season, but the Philadelphia Eagles tend to be a year-round topic. The sports conversations generally become outright debates. While no one famous has entered Gentlemen’s Preference, Frank’s clientele includes the doctors, lawyers, psychologists and friends of Dave Montgomery, part-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies who lives in the area.

Frank’s business is by appointment only. No walk-ins. “It’s because you’re able to do your best work when your shop isn’t lined up with people waiting for haircuts. When you work at a place that doesn’t work by appointment and people are waiting there for a half-hour, you tend to rush because you’re afraid they’re gonna get up and walk out, and you can’t have the conversation you want to have.”

Though Frank has had Democratic, Republican and Tea Party clients, he tends to shy away from politics and more or less becomes a “yes and no” man when the subject of politics rears its ugly head.

Frank is self-taught. No one else in his family was a barber, but he cut people’s hair even before he was an apprentice. “My brother’s best friend, who was a licensed barber, said, ‘Stop messing around with this and make it your life.’”

Frank, whose apprenticeship was with one of the top “barber stylists” in his hometown of Margate, New Jersey, has been cutting hair for 39 years. He has lived in Philadelphia since 1980, when he worked at a barbershop on Gravers Lane. He has been at Willow Grove Ave for the past 18 years.

“I’ve had a lot of the same clients for 33 years now,” said Frank, who is now cutting the hair of children of customers of a generation ago. “Wyndmoor is a quiet little town, and the people are very nice here. The firehouse is right here; everybody cares about the kids here, the Little League. Every Easter they have an Easter egg hunt. It’s like a little community that nobody really knows about…”

Frank went to Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, NJ., and started becoming a barber after finishing high school. Franks mother, Lorraine, was a well known artist in New Jersey. Her art can be seen and bought in Gentlemen’s Preference Hairstyling. Frank’s mother-in-law, Rose, was a receptionist of his for 27 years. Frank’s wife, Sherry, is a Philadelphia school teacher. His son, Brandon, just got married, and he also has a daughter, Marisa.

Gentlemen’s Preference Hairstyling is open Tuesday through Saturday. For an appointment, call 215-836-7477.

David Moore, president of the Friends of Lovett Memorial Library in Mt. Airy, poses for a picture in the Philadelphia Print Shop, 8441 Germantown Ave. (Photo by Sue Ann Rybak)

by Sue Ann Rybak

David Moore, a Mt. Airy native who recently accepted the position of president of the Friends of Lovett Memorial Library – a position he previously held for two terms along with chairing the library’s Centennial Anniversary in 1985 – said one of his goals is to transition the organization into the digital age and recruit new and younger leadership.

Moore brings a wealth of experience to the position, including having been past president and former executive director of the Mt. Airy Business Association and a former president of West Mt. Airy Neighbors.

“I had no intention of ever being involved in something like this,” said Moore, who currently works at the Philadelphia Print Shop in Chestnut Hill as an assistant to the partners.

He said after not being involved for 16 years, he is attempting to get “up to speed,” on issues facing not only the branch – Lovett Memorial Library – but the entire Free Library of Philadelphia.

Moore said he believed that the mission of “a friends association for a branch of a public library system was twofold: to assist the professional and non-professional staff of the branch” and “to advocate for the system to governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as advocate for the branch within that system.”

One way Moore hopes to achieve this is by creating a Web presence and utilizing social media such as Facebook to allow customers to be actively involved and engaged in “shaping Lovett’s 21st-century vision.”

He wants, however, to continue to honor and celebrate the library’s rich history. A recently “found” plaque was one originally placed in the library in 1900 to commemorate Charlotte Lovett Bostwick, the Mt. Airy resident who donated the grounds for the library and its park, paid for constructing the original library building (now the meeting room), and established the library’s endowment fund.

Moore said the plaque was lost for more than a half century and was recently returned to Lovett. Thanks to Friends of Lovett , it is undergoing conservation.

Friends of Lovett will hold a rededication ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, to celebrate the return of the historic plaque. Moore invited the community to come learn about the history of the plaque and its unique journey back to Lovett. He encouraged residents to come learn about the woman whose generosity helped to make Lovett Library a vital component of Mt. Airy for more than 125 years.

Moore said that after remembering the library’s rich heritage, the community is invited on June 10 to voice its opinions about the future of Lovett Memorial Library.

“The Free Library of Philadelphia is looking to see how they can adapt the entire system to the 21st Century,” Moore said. “Lovett Memorial Library is one of the pilots in the program.”

Siobhan Reardon, president and director of the Free Library; Jim Keller, architect; Lynn Ruthrauff, branch manager, and several elected officials will be at the meeting.

“These events are an opportunity for the community to celebrate our heritage and collaborate in our libraries’ future,” Moore said.

For more information about these events email David Moore at davidtmoore@mail.com or call Lovett Memorial Library at 215-685-2095.