Interested in Urdu literature? Just ask shuttle-bus driver Isaac Daas about it [entry-title] By

From behind the driver’s seat, the first thing you notice about Isaac Daas is his wavy black hair, which conceals the fact that he’s 69 years old.  As he turns to greet you, his accent catches your attention along with…

Talented students at Kelly School advance to national chess championships in Nashville [entry-title] By and

The players faced off against each other across a table at Germantown’s John B. Kelly Elementary School. The game began with a firm handshake and a slight smile. Except for the whirr of a fan in the background, the only…

Musicians Gathering: Local artists carry on Gtown's music tradition [entry-title] By

A handmade sign taped to the front door of the building reads “Musicians Gathering.” Inside and upstairs, the studio of Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood is full of people catching up with one another. Their joyful chattering on a…

Meet David Schogel: At 76, a leader in the fight to preserve NW Philly's environment [entry-title] By

David Schogel sat in his swiveling office chair, with his thin-framed glasses sitting on his nose, wearing a beige hat with the green letters  S. E. C. standing out. Schogel, 76, a volunteer renaissance man, has been a familiar figure…

The ordinary becomes extraordinary at Germantown's Colored Girls Museum [entry-title] By

The idea was born more than three decades ago when Vashti Dubois was one of a small group of African-American undergraduates at Wesleyan University, an elite private liberal arts school in Middletown, Conn. As a black woman on a predominantly…

Start her own business at 18? Yes she did! [entry-title] By

Tianna Valentine was just 18 years old and fresh out of high school when she decided to open her own hair salon. Her mother, Tamika Valentine-Pierce, was nervous for her young daughter, but didn’t want to stand in the way…

Protecting the Wissahickon: Seniors teach 5th graders from Gtown's Kelly School [entry-title] By , , and

On a warm spring day, a group of fifth graders from the John B. Kelly Elementary School huddled on the banks of the Wissahickon Creek in far Northwest Philadelphia. A college professor plunged a three-foot-long clear plastic tube into the…

Big business and city government work to delete the digital divide in Germantown [entry-title] By and

Many people in Germantown and other hard-scrabble neighborhoods of Philadelphia will never read this article. That’s because it’s only offered online and more than 100,000 of Philadelphia’s 1.5 million residents can’t afford internet access. The figure, based on a 2013 study…

Jumpstart Germantown: Building careers and community by supporting newbie developers [entry-title] By

The house on the 4900 block of Rubicam Street in Germantown was in bad shape. The walls and ceiling had outdated popcorn spackling.  A rotten beam on the top floor stretched across half the roof. In front, the roots of a…

Now connecting: social media and elders at Germantown's Center in the Park [entry-title] By

The same people who lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War II and helped launch the civil rights movement are now “friending,” “liking,” and emailing. The social-media buzz is happening at Center in the Park, Germantown’s award-winning senior…