Family Fun Fridays and More This Week

I'm back. Sort of. If you haven't heard, I had a knee operation. All the doctors and nurses lied about how long recovery would take until afterwards. So you still won't see me around town for a while, but I'll try to at least post a Friday Diary each week with coming events. Here are this week's:

Tonight and every Friday from 6-9 pm at Scag Cottman Park, Basin & Violet Sts, Buck Jones in association with Main St. Water Ice presents Family Fun Fridays. For all kids ages 6-13. Movies, food, games and entertainment, more info, call 267-774-1694. (If you see Buck around town this week, give him a big hug from me. This is an awesome idea.)

Saturday from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, at Stewart Middle School, 1315 West Marshall St. EDU19401: A Symposium on Urban/Suburban Education-- a day-long event for parents and students in the greater Norristown area to come together to: 1) discuss issues in education; 2) problem-solve for local challenges and barriers; 3) get informed of opportunities to lead and serve; 4) and network with like-minded individuals. The day will be filled with interactive sessions, panel discussions, demonstrations, and more. EDU19401 is an online resource for Norristown youth managed by Catalyst Education & Mentoring. EDU19401: A Symposium on Urban/Suburban Education is a blend of the traditional conference/workshop model and the contemporary “un-conference” model, in partnership with Norristown Men of Excellence. Questions, call 610-390-7279.

Sunday at 7 pm at the Elmwood Park Bandshell, the FREE Concert Series in the Park will feature the Skitty Show band playing a little bit of everything. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Refreshments available.

Tuesday, 6 pm at Montgomery Hose Fire Co, W Freedley and Pine, North End Town Watch Meeting. All residents are welcome to attend.

Tuesday, anytime between 6:30 and 9 pm, 430 Harding Blvd (this seems to be outdoors, right across from Norristown PAL). Speak about Your Creeks, an open house to discuss a Greenway Study and Connections Plan for the Stony Creek and Sawmill Run. Share your ideas, tell your creeks stories, and learn more about the study. Sponsored by Municipality of Norristown, East Norriton Township, West Norriton Township and Montgomery County Planning Commission. This will repeat on Thursday from 4:30 to 7 pm. For more information or to forward your questions and input: email Beth Pilling at bpilling@montcopa.org

Tuesday at 7 pm at Municipal Hall, Planning Commission Hearing. No agenda yet.

Wednesday, 7 pm at Jus' Java (317 Swede), Open Words, hosted by Mydera SpeakMeFree. Open Mic, Poery Reading, Discussion.  $10, includes wine, raffle ticket and wristband.

Next Saturday, July 18, from 2-5 pm, starting at Riverfront Park, 1 Haws Ave. The Norristown Project (TNP) needs volunteers to clean up the Norristown portion of the Schuylkill River Trail. The project will begin at 2 pm near the Haws Avenue entrance of the trail and conclude at 5 pm near the bridge over US-202. Volunteers of all ages are needed to clean up trash/debris, cut back weeds, and remove graffiti. TNP will also create a pop-up drink and cooling station for bikers and runners passing by. Setting up a cooling station and tracking data of how many people were served can create a conversation of the need for an investor to purchase the abandoned retail store. The goal of this project is to promote development on Norristown’s portion of the Schuylkill River Trail and add beauty to the community. For more information, contact Shae Ashe, sashe@montcooic.org.

N-Town Rhythm--Making Music Fun for Our Kids

HBCU or show style marching band 

Back on February 5th, I posted a Diary Entry entitled "N-Town Rhythm - Coming Soon." A couple weeks ago, when I was busy working the election and preparing for Fourth Friday, a Mr. Daniel De Kok (who is a music educator) posted some questions under that entry. I didn't have time to answer that week, and moreover, since it was an old blog and I didn't think anyone would go back to read the comments, I decided to post answers in a new entry.

To jog everyone's memory or inform those of you who haven't heard, a group has been meeting for at least a year now, with the goal of starting a community marching band for middle school students. I didn't make it clear in the last entry (I apologize), but the main reason to do this is to help spark interest in music and band and band front in our middle school students so that when they reach high school, they'll join the NAHS Marching Eagles.

This is NOT to replace the middle school program, but to help support it in many different ways. As probably everyone knows, funding has been cut to public school music programs, which means staff and rehearsal time is limited. N-Town Rhythm would help get instruments into the hands of kids who want to play, give them an opportunity to play outside school and extend the activity through the summer months. When I was a student, NASD gave me all these opportunities (and I became a music teacher, thanks to them), but these days, it's a struggle for our district's music teachers just to keep the band together, through no fault of their own.

The 1st question Mr. De Kok asked was "So why not support the current band director?"

Military style band 

I'm not sure if he means the middle school directors or the high school director. As N-Town Rhythm was forming, the committee (of which I was a member) had meetings with two of Norristown's music directors: Mrs. Laskey and Mrs. Blum. These two have, in my mind, possibly worked harder than anyone else to keep the marching band going in the district. They both expressed enthusiasm for the N-Town Rhythm project and thought it might help eventually increase the size of the high school marching band. They freely offered good advice. So no assumption should be made that N-Town Rhythm doesn't support the music directors. It was developed with their help.

Question #2: "Why does the marching band experience have to be HBCU-style? Is N-Town Rhythms not intended to be diverse?"

The word diversity is usually used when talking about race so when I read this, that was my first thought. This would be like suggesting that white musicians shouldn't play jazz and black musicians shouldn't perform Italian opera and no one but Latinos should do Salsa dancing. But probably I was wrong and the question has nothing to do with race--only the diversity of marching styles.

Let me explain those styles to anyone who hasn't been in a band.

Corps style band 

There are 3 marching band styles -- military, corps and show (which is also called HBCU). Military style is regimented--straight lines, and every step should cover the same amount of distance. Stiff legs when marching, raising feet 2 to 4 inches when marking time.

Corps style is more relaxed--you walk rather than march, rolling on the outside of your foot so it seems like more of a glide. When you mark time, you don't usually lift your toes off the ground. You form arcs and other shapes.

Show (HBCU style) uses high steps, fancy turns and dance moves. Visually, the show style has more energy. It's favored by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, hence the name, but also by a lot of other colleges and high schools.

When I was in Norristown High, I learned show style with a little military style mixed in from the best band director I ever studied under, Brent Hentzel. At West Chester U., I learned corps style. Of the three, show style is the most fun and, even though it takes a  lot of effort, it doesn't feel as much like work as the other styles.

If I were teaching a middle school marching band (or even high school), I'd definitely use show style. The other two are too formal and not entertaining or energetic enough for that age group. I think the kids will get more a boost to their self-esteem from show style. They need to associate marching band with fun or you're not going to get students wanting to continue in the high school band.

Mr. De Kok wrote another comment that was so long, I can't reproduce it word-for word here (go to the link above to read the whole thing under Comments), but I wanted to address some of his thoughts.

He says "...the best use of the middle school years is building of performance fundamentals..." and "...when I was a middle schooler, I could barely walk and chew gum at the same time..." I think he's basically saying that he doesn't believe our middle-schoolers are capable of anything more than possibly walking onto a field, playing a few tunes and walking off.

Easton Area Middle School Band doing Show Style 

I taught middle school music and chorus at Stewart, taught folk dancing to Girl Scouts that age and younger, and I've worked with middle school and younger kids in theater. What I've learned is that if the students really want to be there, you can ask them to go way beyond their comfort zone. They'll surprise you. Once when my middle-school chorus was singing in an assembly and the accompaniment suddenly stopped, I had them continue a capella. They weren't expecting it, had never done it before, but they opened their mouths, sang in 2 parts, stayed in tune and sounded musical (as opposed to scared). And they walked around like proud peacocks the rest of the day because they knew they were good. I've also seen kids that age dance beautifully. You might not persuade them to solo, but they'll do it if their friends do.

I should add that when I was at Rittenhouse (when it was a junior high), we also had a marching band. We sort of marched onto the field, formed an "R", played our alma mater, formed an "S" (for Stewart, our sworn rivals--it was the only game we performed at), then played their alma mater. That was it. Boring. I might not have joined the high school band if that was all I expected, but I'd seen my brother in the high school band, doing show style at halftime shows, and I couldn't wait to get there because it looked like fun.

The director of N-Town Rhythm leaned show style at her university so that will be her primary focus, but she's also said she wants to mix styles so the students learn a little of all of them.

Honestly, even if all N-Town Rhythm accomplishes is to walk onto a field, play a few tunes and walk off, IF they do it in an entertaining style that will make their parents smile and make the kids feel good about themselves, I think you're going to find more kids sticking with band into high school and more of their parents showing up to be band boosters.

Instruments have been donated to N-Town Rhythm, but they still need volunteers. If you'd like to help, or you want to find out how to get your student involved, email Ernest Hadrick at ehadjr@verizon.net or Jocelyn Hadrick at jghadrick@gmail.com.

Entertain Mom, then Get To Know Your Candidates

It really feels like summer out there now, and there's lots to do in town. Take Mom out this weekend to Theatre Horizon, or the Zoo Brunch or Carnival, or for jazz at August Moon.

Tonight, 5-10 pm at Elmwood Park Zoo, 1661 Harding Blvd, don't miss their Season Kickoff Carnival. Games, food and fun in the zoo's lower parking lot. The carnival continues Saturday, noon-10 pm and Sunday, noon-5 pm. Mother's Day Special: Mom's ride for FREE on Sunday. For more information, contact Guest Services at 610-277-3825 x 222 or email guestservices@elmwoodparkzoo.org

Only 3 more performances for Theatre Horizon's IN THE BLOOD: Tonight at 8 pm and tomorrow at 2 and 8 pm. Tickets and information at this link.

Saturday from 11 am to about 4 pm, the Norristown Preservation Society will host a cleaning day at Selma Mansion (1301 W Airy) to get the house ready for History Day in the summer. Volunteers are needed and so are donations of cleaning supplies. You don't have to stay the whole day. Come when you can. 

Saturday at 11 am and Sunday at 11 am and 1 pm, Elmwood Park Zoo is hosting a Mother's Day Brunch. Bring the whole family to the Zoo for a delicious all-you-can-eat brunch buffet, complimentary family photos, card making and more!  Tickets - Adult: $30.95, Member Adult: $25.95, Moms: $19.95, Child (age 3 - 12): $19.95, Baby (under 3): FREE. You can purchase tickets and get more information at this link, or contact Guest Services at 610-277-3825 x222 or email guestservices@elmwoodparkzoo.org.

Also Saturday, 8-10 pm at August Moon (300 E Main), Crying Sam presents Pre-Mothers' Day Crooning with Steve Beskrone (Bass), Jim Holton (Piano), Harry Butch Reed (Drums), Kevin L. Valentine (Vocals). Entertainment Fee: $10, 2 Drink Minimum. Info at www.cryingsam.com

Tuesday at 6 pm, Town Watch Meeting at Montgomery Hose Fire Co, West Freedley St. All residents are welcome to attend.

Tuesday at 7 pm, Carver Center Community Meeting at the Center at 249 East Jacoby. On the agenda: Summer aquatics program, finance update, summer science program (my favorite), and the Grand Opening Anniversary Celebration. All community members are urged to attend. For information, call 610-272-7480.

Tuesday at 7 pm, Planning Commission Meeting at Municipal Hall. No agenda yet.

Thursday, 6-7:30 pm, come meet the Norristown candidates for Municipal Council, Magistrate District Judge, NASD School Board at the Human Services Building (Dekalb and Fornance) Receive voter information and be informed before the May Primary (on May 19th).

Thursday, from 5-7:30 pm at Elmwood Park Zoo's Canopy Garden Pavilion. Montogomery County Chamber of Commerce will hold their 10th Annual Zoopendous Business Expo. Food, fun, prizes and plenty of local businesses.

Thursday, 6-8 pm, "Art Saves Me" at Theatre Horizon (401 DeKalb).  An Art showcase featuring Artwork from Norristown Youth. Art, poetry/spoken work, fun. Artwork will be for sale from $5-$30. For more information, please contact Justeix Collins-Cropper at 610-630-2111 ext 218 or Viviann Schorle at 610-630-2111 ext 257.

A symposium on Urban/Suburban Education is being planned for July 11, cosponsored by the Norristown Men of Excellence, One Love Club, and Catalyst Education & Mentoring. The deadline for the call for presenters is next Friday, May 15th (but will most likely be extended through the 29th). Anyone interested should contact Xaras Collins at 610-390-7279. More information at www.edu19401.com.

Next Saturday (May 16) is the Norristown Men of Excellence 2nd Annual Excellence Ball, 8 pm-midnight at Theatre Horizon (410 Dekalb). Tickets $50 per person, $90 per couple. All proceeds benefit the NMOE Scholarship Fund.  Contact kberry@nmoe19401.org or call 484-601-2828. Info at www.nmoe19401.org

Have a Happy Mother's Day.

Education Rights Workshop Tonight

I apologize that the Diary's been spotty this week. Between meetings, work, my other writing and braiding palm for church, I haven't been able to do much more than eat and sleep. But I did want to pass along an event happening tonight.

Pennsylvania Lawyers for Youth will present a FREE Education Rights Workshop from 6 to 8 pm at 216 Cherry Street.

Also, don't forget  that tomorrow night is Norristown's 1st Fourth Friday Downtown. More info on tomorrow's Diary.

Regional College Fair Tonight

I just found out about this so I wanted to get the word out.

Regional College Fair tonight from 6 pm - 7:30 pm at Greater Norristown PAL, 340 Harding Blvd.

It's open to the public.

Educational Gardening at Zachary's BBQ

The "before" photo of Zachary's garden.

I made the front page of the Times Herald yesterday. One of my friends commented that usually only politicians make the front page by doing what I was doing. At the time, I was spreading manure. Spreading the real thing is a much more noble past time that politics. Not to mention that I got some much needed sunlight and feasted on barbecue afterwards. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

If you read my blog on Friday, you saw the notice about the gardening workshop at Zachary's BBQ (1709 Markley Street) last Saturday morning. Being an avid gardener, I went to see what I could learn. I DID learn a lot that I could apply to my own garden, but I also learned a lot about more workshops and the educational gardens planned, courtesy of Feed The Burbs landscaping, and sponsored by Zachary's BBQ.

Now, most of our restaurants in Norristown use fresh foods in their cooking, and some even use fresh local foods. Zachary's will be the first, I think, to be able to pick fresh foods right outside their door. This year's plan is put an herb garden in the space in front of the restaurant. Phase 2 will be to eventually put in an edible perennial garden between the parking lot and sidewalk.

The soil was dug up, then layered with manure, mulch and straw.

As Feed The Burbs installs the herb garden, they'll do a series of hands-on workshops for gardeners. Saturday was the first--a workshop in soil preparation that could apply to any type of garden. They're planning 4 more throughout the year on Garden Design, Planting, Maintenance and Harvesting, and a final harvest and preparation of the garden for winter.

As well as serving some of Zachary's needs, Chef Taylor wants these gardens to be educational--a place you can bring your kids to learn about where food comes from, and how to reduce your carbon footprint by doing some planting in your own yard. (And I highly recommend you go into Zachary's and eat while you're there to taste the results.)

If you want to know about the next workshops, the easiest way, if you're on Facebook, is to LIKE the Feed The Burbs and Zachary's pages and watch for workshop posts and news on garden progress. Otherwise, email info@feedtheburbs.com and they'll send you an email when the next workshop is coming up. Feed The Burbs is also planning to do some workshops at the Norristown Library in 2015, so if you're interested in those, too, let them know or watch the library's calendar on their website.

Elections: Wolf vs. Corbett

I'm going to make this short today because I'm running out to a Norristown Business Association meeting.

The midterm election is one week away and today I'm going to talk about the governor's race. I don't usually do flat out endorsements, but for the sake of Norristown, I think Tom Wolf is the best candidate, on the education issue alone.

When Governor Corbett took office in 2008, as you can see from the dark blue on the graph, spending on classroom education programs was over 9 billion. When federal stimulus money was made available in 2009 and 2010 (the yellow), Corbett cut the state's education budget and let the federal funds make up the difference. But in 2011 when the stimulus money was no longer there, he kept education program spending low. Norristown schools have suffered for it.

Wolf proposes to fund education by imposing use fees on the fracking industry, not by raising taxes. Corbett ads are using the word "taxes" a lot, but it means nothing. Just a scare tactic the GOP is using nationwide.

The other issue that effects Norristown residents directly is healthcare. PA doesn't currently accept the federal funding provided by Medicaid expansion. That means million of Pennsylvanians who earn less than $12,000, if they don't have children, don't get healthcare subsidies. They have to pay full price for medical insurance ($4000 a year or more), while those earning $13,000 and up pay a small fraction of their income. I know a lot of you out there love to spread the rumor that poor people are getting all sorts of federal subsidies, but the truth is, as far as healthcare goes in PA, most poor Norristonians can't afford it at all, and that's bad for our town's economy. Sick people can't work--they can't contribute toward society.

Pennsylvania is entitled to Medicaid expansion funds, but currently our share of the money is going to other states. Wolf supports expanding Medicaid in PA--it would be 100% paid for by the federal government, so no extra state funding would be needed.

Regardless who you vote for, get out and vote on November 4th.

Food in Our Schools

The 2nd part of the Temple U. Food Assessment of Norristown dealt with food in our schools. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how many programs are in place not only to improve the nutrition of the food served to our kids, but to educate them on where their food comes from and what's healthy.

But let me go in order. The assessment began by saying that 76% of Norristown students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. They didn't say how the program works or if all the kids who qualify receive the benefit. The free/cheap meal program also includes breakfast, but the report didn't say if Norristown offered breakfast to students. They only mentioned lunch.

3 schools in the district (out of 10) have gardens. Paul Fly Elementary's garden seems to be maintained by teachers and cafeteria staff and the harvest supplies the cafeteria. Leftover food is sent to a center in Glenside which collects surplus produce from home and community gardens for Philabundance. Nothing in the report about whether students get to work in the garden. And while I think supplying Philabundance is admirable, I'd rather see the surplus food go to the food banks or other distribution centers right here in Norristown.

Stewart Middle School's garden grows rosemary, tomatoes, lettuce and oranges. All that was said otherwise was that the garden won a grant for "their effort to grow crops while creating a peaceful atmosphere for students and staff." Nothing about whether students work the garden, what they're learning, or where the food goes.

Norristown Area High has a hot house garden in which students grow veggies during the school year. In the summer, the custodian and volunteers keep the garden going. It grows tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, lettuce and peppers. The report doesn't say where the food goes.

Hancock Elementary had a garden in the summer of 2013, begun by cafeteria staff. The site was flooded and vandalized so the idea was abandoned.

Personally, I'd like to see a garden of some sort at every school. I've learned more biology, ecology, earth science, meteorology and problem-solving from my garden than anywhere else. And of course, gardens are the best way to teach about food sources, seasonal food cycles, and nutrition. Once they're established, they don't cost much to maintain and the school gets fresh food as a by-product. Right now, the elementary schools that would benefit most--Gotwals, for instance, where 98% of the students qualify for free or reduced price meals--have no garden.

Norristown High holds an annual food festival at the end of each year, with healthy food vendors and exhibits. Gift cards and prizes are raffled off to participating students.

There is a Fresh Fruit and Veggie Program that delivers fresh produce to all the elementary schools on Thursdays. The food is accompanied by a discussion of the vitamins and minerals in each veggie category. The Temple report says that it allows students "the opportunity to taste exotic vegetables like purple cauliflower, eggplant and yams." (Since when are eggplant and yams considered exotic?)

A grant program called Smart Partner sent a chef to conduct a 2-hour training session in preparing healthier meal options for all food service staff in the district. The description of this session was sketchy, so I'm not sure what was taught. 2 hours doesn't seem like enough time to me.

Last March, Eisenhower Middle School launched an "Eatiquette" Program. Every Thursday, students eat family style. Each table has a captain--a student who assists in serving the food and who describes the foods served that day, which are made from scratch, from local, in-season fruits and vegetables. The school cooking staff uses a web program to plan meals using in-season foods. (This one might be my favorite program of them all, after the gardens.)

Eisenhower also has Smoothies, a program that makes smoothies for students at no-cost, using local and in-season fruits. If they can get the grant again next year, they hope to expand the program to other district schools.

The Temple report mentions a "Healthy Times" in-school newsletter which is written by and for students, including recipes, food events, ideas for schools, nutrition info and fitness tips.  The report doesn't say if there's a separate newsletter staff in each school, or if all the students in the district receive it.

The report mentioned The Food Trust Program, present in all the schools, but didn't say what it is, so I looked it up. Apparently they're a partner organization that sends educators, coordinators and other specialists into the schools to teach nutrition, food sources, cooking, etc., and to support teachers and cafeteria staff in the teaching of these subjects.

Norristown High was supposed to start, last spring, having local salad greens and topping available each day. The Temple report didn't mention if this actually happened.

Under Temple's recommendations in this area is a Backpack Program for low income students in which they'd receive a backpack of non-perishable items to take home with them. The report didn't specify how often, but the logic is, if you're giving kids a free or reduced price lunch, it doesn't guarantee they'll get good or adequate food at night or on weekends. I can speak to this--when I taught at Stewart and had cafeteria duty, every now and then a kid would come up to me asking for enough change to get ice cream. I was pretty sure most of those kids didn't have the money to buy lunch at all. I could also tell in my afternoon classes which kids weren't eating well--only sugary foods or nothing at all. That was before the free lunch program. It's definitely needed, and a backpack program would help whole families.

They also stated that 5 out of 6 eligible kids don't take advantage of the summer meal programs we have in Norristown. Temple recommended that the school district send home a list of the programs in place before summer begins.

So that's Temple U's report on Food in Our Schools. A lot of great programs in place, but so much more that could be done.

Next week I'll cover their other topics: Urban Agriculture and Emergency Food. As I said yesterday, you can read the whole report at http://www.temple.edu/ambler/crp/research/documents/Norristown-Food-System-Assessment.pdf

County Conversation Summary

Last Thursday was the Town Hall with the County Commissioners. As I said, the turnout was decent, and they said about another 50 people participated through Google Hangout. The 3 commissioners sat at the long table in Municipal Hall--the setup looked as if they were testifying before Congress, but we were assured that it was only so the camera could get them all in.

They began by introducing themselves and the area of concern for each. Josh Shapiro, the chairman, talked about the county's role in human services, particularly for seniors, business and economic development.

Leslie Richards, the vice chair, talked about transportation--the Lafayette Street corridor, the Markley Street project, and improvement to the Main Street parking garage. Also, she said that the courthouse would undergo renovations to save energy and water. She cited Arborheights on Dekalb as a tremendous success, probably not realizing that much of Norristown doesn't even know about that project, and that a lot of people who DO know think it's too dense and hope something like that never ever comes to their neighborhoods.

Bruce Castor is the expert on the county's public safety issues. I've toured the Chester County 911 facility (which is state-of-the-art and pretty impressive) and I assumed Montgomery County had a similar setup. From what Castor was saying, we apparently aren't quite there yet, but are making improvements. When you call the police, the call goes to 911 automatically, which is supposed to coordinate and track emergencies around the county in real time, in case extra resources need to be diverted to one spot in a hurry, or for fire and rescue efforts, or when police departments need to be coordinated for cases like child luring. Castor said our County Radio is being upgraded, and we're close to crime mapping in real time (Chester County has this already).

Then people started to ask questions and present concerns, and I learned a few things I didn't know. For instance, even if a student has lived in the county nearly all of his/her life, and gone through our schools--even if the student has gotten outstanding grades--if that child was brought here an as infant by undocumented parents, the student isn't treated by our community college as a resident of Montgomery County, or even as a resident of the Pennsylvania or the United States. The college treats that student as someone newly coming in from a foreign country. It's actually cheaper for that student to go to Philadelphia Community College than to Montco. Now, I know some of you are thinking that this is the way it should work, but you'd be wrong. Most of these kids don't find out they aren't citizens until they apply to college--and it's through no fault of their own. We should want to keep our best and brightest students in our county, to bring business here after they graduate. The commissioners seem to understand this and said they'd make sure the current policies change.

There was a concern about power outtages--that they're getting longer, that most people can't call 911 during an outtage, and that poor or even middle class residents don't have fireplaces and can't afford generators. Castor said it was too cost prohibitive to bury all electrical lines so the key was to keep trees trimmed back from power lines. He said non-portable, corded phones would still work in outtages. That's where he's wrong. The new fiber optic systems run on electricity with a battery backup that only lasts about 8 hours (though, supposedly the newest systems use an ordinary 12-volt battery which you can replace, giving yourself an extra 8 hours each). I still had copper wires during Hurricane Sandy, so I was the only person among my friends and family who had a working phone, but the phone company let the wires deteriorate so much that the noise on the wire forced me to get FIOS (or maybe they're putting noise on the line on purpose, to get people to switch), so now I too lose my phone in an outtage. And the gentleman who posed the concern was right, the outtages ARE getting longer. I lived in this county 47 years before I experienced an outtage longer than 3 hours. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 put out my electricity for 23 hours. Now, outtages DAYS in length is the norm. There's obviously something very vulnerable about our grid, and the attitude we got the other night--that these events aren't as bad as they seem--didn't reassure us.

Our intrepid Shae Ashe of The Norristown Project, tuned in through Google, and sent in a question asking how the county can help Norristown promote business. Shapiro said 30-minute train service would be coming to our Transportation Center, so hopefully the idea of being able to get a train in and out every 30 minutes would help bring in offices.

Richards said they also want to help Norristown promote home ownership, and that she thought the town had "amazing buildings" that could be promoted, though when I asked her specifics about historical preservation, I got the idea that she liked the concept but didn't want to deal with the reality. If a building's empty, no matter how amazing, she implied that it was okay to demolish it. Though all 3 commissioners said they were committed to keeping the old Jail on Airy because it's a significant landmark building.

Another request was that the county support the development of Arts Hill and address safety concerns in the area, in order to bring foot traffic back to Main Street. Castor said the Sheriff's Department is expanding so there will be visible uniforms on the streets around the courthouse, leaving the police department freer to concentrate in other areas.

All in all, it was a good Town Hall, though I thought they steered the conversation away from specifics so much that I came away feeling that this was all for show. Still, I'm glad they took the time, and I hope they took away a better understanding of residents' concerns. I hope these Town Halls continue.

Your Candidates for School Board

The forum last Thursday night gave me a good chance to get to know the school board candidates. Going in, I honestly didn't know much about them at all, except for E. Pearl Smith, who's running for her 4th term. I'm guessing most of the voters in Norristown are in the same boat, and because of their ignorance will either not vote next Tuesday or will vote for the names they've seen most on mailers or signs. Neither of those options works in a democracy. Neither do bad schools, so do your homework and vote.

Four of the candidates were running as a "team"--Smith, Rivera, Hutson, and Assenmacher. I understand the necessity for pooling funding and resources in local politics. I get that one publicity photo with 4 people in it on a mailer is cheaper than 4 individual photos and mailers. Still, these 4 took the concept too far. They were all wearing black and yellow, and kept urging us to vote for them as a team. This gave the unfavorable impression that they were joined at the hip and wouldn't be able to think for themselves. So, all our local politicians, in the future rethink the team concept, okay?

E. Pearl Smith was raised in Norristown and went to Norristown public schools. She said student achievement was her priority. She has a good attendance record at board meetings--almost always there in person, and when she can't, attends by conference call. She drops in at schools during the school day. She meets with the principals. In response to questions about funding, she explained that the current governor cut billions from the state education budget, but that the district has worked with a grant writer and also been awarded grants from local businesses like TD Bank. When asked about the arts in our schools (since Norristown is supposed to be an arts community), she said that she enjoys music and the arts herself and would like to engage groups to bring the arts into the schools. She said there needs to be more arts activities for the students. Sports need to be added back into the lower grades. In my opinion, of all the candidates, Smith came across as someone who knows more of the many facets of the job and of education in Norristown.

Pamela Assenmacher is also an incumbent. She said she's for "education reform" and "innovative programs in technology." She regularly attends board meetings and goes to evening programs at the schools. She works full-time so therefore is unable to drop in on the schools durng the day.  She said she had toured the "tech school"--I wasn't sure if she meant Roosevelt, Eisenhower School of Science and Technology, or the Central Montco Tech School (which isn't in her jurisdiction). She DID seem to know a lot about the districts programs for Latino students, such as ESL classes, and had some good ideas for parent involvement in those programs. As for funding, she said the state needs to change the formula--they can't continue to cut programs. She'd like to see the district actively recruit high quality teachers.

Tiffani Henley grew up in town, went to Norristown schools and graduated near the top of her class. She feels that she wants to give back to the district. She has a child in the schools and is involved as a parent. She'd like to increase in parent involvement and in the quality of the schools. She has visited Eisenhower during the day and for other programs. She wants to see programs that encourage kids to get into the arts, even something as simple as a talent show. The schools could work with outside groups, for instance, the NAACP has programs that encourage kids to get involved in the arts. For sports, intramurals need to be added back into the 7th and 8th grade curriculums.

Matt Rivera at first gave what sounded like a typical political speech that didn't say much about himself, in fact, he forgot to give his name. He did mention that he was a musician and active with school music boosters. He said creativity was needed to solve the district's problems, especially with funding. The district needs to work with organizations and parents. When asked how many schools he's visited, his response was "as many as I could," but he only mentioned East Norriton, Paul Fly and the high school, and mostly for evening programs. He said he still volunteers for Paul Fly (now that his kids are no longer there) but did not mention in what capacity. For funding, he said the district should lobby Harrisburg, but act locally. He didn't give specifics. For the arts, he wants to see more kids involved, especially in music. Parents need to also be involved, especially in the lower schools. He said we're losing kids interested in the arts and sports in the middle schools because there aren't enough programs. We need to complete the stadium. When asked about diversity among teachers, he said we need ethnic and racial diversity, but also diversity of talent. He said we need to encourage kids to become teachers.

Turea Hutson said she has a love of education since overcoming a learning disability. She said, instead of using public funds, we should have public/private parternerships with local businesses. She said she "has not kept a tally" of how many schools she visited (there are 11 in the district), but only mentioned going to Gotwals for their Read Across America Program. As for recruiting teachers, she said we should go to teachers colleges and let them know Norristown is an option.

Ken Christovich said this was his 9th forum. Assuming he's done forums for both primaries and general elections, that means he's run for school board 4 or 5 times and has yet to win. He attends school board meetings often. In his introduction he talked about codes, accountability, transparency, government. He barely mentioned education in any of his answers. He endorsed line-by-line cuts of the school budget as a way of saving money. He said that the district doesn't earn enough from taxes. He mentioned his support for the governor, but later said we need money from the state. He says he's had 10 or 12 meetings in the schools. Unclear if he meant with the principals.

So there are your school board candidates. You'll be voting for 4 of them. Choose wisely.

Nature Is A Cheap Classroom

Norristown birds, including a cardinal I call Ralphie

Eventually, I'm going to talk about Norristown's schools. They're a big reason people move out of town. But I'm finding that it's not an easy topic to research--there are too many facets to the problem. Too many people only look at test scores and funding. As an educator, I feel the need to find out as much as I can before passing judgement. One thing is certain, though, our kids need help in science.

Today I'm going to talk about something everyone involved with the youth of this town (especially parents and grandparents) can do to get our youngest kids interested in learning. And it's cheap.

Those who repeatedly insist on calling Norristown a city keep ignoring the fact that we've got one thing few cities do: an incredibly diverse natural environment. In most cities, you have to go to a large park to find what most of our residents here have in their backyards. Besides that, we have 5 parks, 2 creeks, and a river, all with unique ecosystems.

My dad got me interested in nature as soon as I could talk. He was a gardener, a birdwatcher, loved to walk, and loved star-gazing. These were all things we kids could do together with him. In fact, he and I gardened, took walks and watched birds together for 50 years, until a year or so before he died. As kid, these pastimes were my first positive educational experiences. They awoke my natural curiosity about how the world worked, and Dad was always willing to take us to the library each week to look up what we'd seen. Nowadays, when you can look things up on a cell phone, introducing your kids to nature is even easier.

How diverse is Norristown? In my backyard alone, I've seen around 30 different species of birds, and another dozen species, at least, flying overhead, or down by Stoney Creek and the river. In most cities, you'll see sparrows and starlings along with the usual pigeons, but not much else. As for animals, we of course have squirrels, but also groundhogs, rabbits, opossums, field mice, bats, raccoons, muskrats, and, seemly everywhere in summer, skunks. We have white-tailed deer and foxes in our parks.

Wild violets

We have hundreds, maybe thousands, of species of wildflowers. Sure, most people call them weeds, but my rule of thumb is that if the weeds don't pose a health hazard (like poison ivy and ragweed--at least teach your kids what poison ivy looks like), aren't so invasive that they try to take over my garden (like morning glories), don't look ugly where they are (growing through the sidewalk, for instance), and have pretty flowers, I let them grow. I have wild violets, day flowers, star-of-Bethlehems and dandelions, among others in my garden. If you walk along either creek between March and November, you'll see an amazing variety.

Norristown used to have better skies for stargazing than we do now. We have a lot of ambient light around town, from our sports fields and streetlights and the spotlights that everyone seems to have in their backyards these days. We need them for security at the moment, so until we figure out the crime problem, the light is here to stay. Even so, I can still see a bunch of constellations from my backyard, and we don't have so many tall buildings that the moon is blocked. The brightest lights in the sky are often planets, and with a pair of decent binoculars, you can see the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. Meteor showers are a bit harder to see in our town, but not impossible if the skies are very clear. And once in a while, a comet comes around--the next one, if it doesn't fizzle out around the sun, will be visible the week of Thanksgiving. The clearest skies and brightest stars are in the wintertime, if you can stand the cold. You can find all kinds of stargazing info online. This is a great family activity. Might also be nice to have some community stargazing nights next summer, maybe in one of the parks or Eisenhower's field, if we can get the outside lights turned off.

So take advantage of Norristown's outdoor classrooms. It's free. What your kids learn with you will help them in their science classes. If your child learns to appreciate nature when they're, say, 7 to 10 years old, even as a teenager or adult, they aren't going to forget, and they'll teach their kids. Our diverse natural environment is an asset to this town, one of our greatest educational resources. We need to pass it on to future generations.

Do You, Norristown, Take the Arts. . .?

Norristown High School Marching Band

I'll admit I have no formal training in town planning--just what I've read on the subject, and what I've observed in other towns where I've visited (which may actually be more experience than some of our elected officials have).

Where the arts are concerned, though, I feel at home. Besides being a writer, I have a couple music degrees, and I put in enough hours at my college theater to earn an invitation into the theater fraternity. I've taught music in the Norristown schools, and I've done various music and theater performing all my adult life.

Yesterday, I said Norristown has to overcome one major obstacle before we can flaunt ourselves as an arts destination. Before anyone else can take us seriously as an arts community, we--and I mean everyone in town--MUST make a commitment to the arts. Currently, I don't even see interest in a casual relationship, on any level.

Take the schools--not long ago we had a thriving dramatics program in the high school and middle schools (which gave us John Doyle, artistic director of the Iron Age Theater at Centre Theater). Now when you Google images for "Norristown high school drama" or "theater," you get photos of basketball.

When you Google images for "Norristown high chorus," you get a photo of last year's PMEA choir, hosted at our high school (did that even get a mention in the Herald or Patch?). You also get photos of basketball. No kidding. No photos at all of our chorus. Do we even have one?

As for the band, well, we used to have 60-plus kids in the band. Less than a year ago, the school board voted to yank the funding for the band program, due, they said, to lack of interest. Two teachers (working a lot of extra hours at no pay) and the students themselves managed to swell the numbers of the band enough that the board did finally give them funds, but just enough for the program to barely survive. Last I heard (as of April), the board was only planning on giving the band a third of necessary funds for the coming year.

Why the lack of interest? The kids in our elementary schools LOVE the arts. They enter kindergarten wanting to sing and dance, paint and sculpt. They want to CREATE. They're thrilled at assemblies featuring actors or musicians. The music ensemble I'm in performed at one of the middle schools two years ago, where we sang for 90-100 students in each of 2 workshops. The kids sang along with us, and asked great questions. By the time they graduate high school, though, Norristown students develop an ambivalence, if not an active dislike for the arts. That has to stop, if Arts Hill is going to have a future.

In the rest of our community--many of our churches used to host concerts. Free concerts, or pass-the-plate affairs, accessible to everyone. A few churches still do, maybe more than I know of, but if so, our local media has stopped reporting on them. You don't need to bring in high-priced musicians. I've been in at least a dozen of our churches, and I know we have homegrown talent. I also know of many professional musicians willing to donate their time, or who'll take free-will donations. Choral groups like Norristown Chorale, or one of our gospel choirs, or my own living history music ensemble, would probably be glad to perform. Just ask them.

I can think of lots of other ways for Norristown to embrace the arts. What about displaying the paintings and sculptures of our high school art students in Municipal Hall, or in the theater lobbies? Lunchtime concerts at the Public Square in nice weather? More murals? Shakespeare-in-the-Park each summer (a partnership between our theaters, sponsored by local businesses)?

If you look at the Norristown website, under Arts & Culture, there's 2 pathetic paragraphs that won't inspire anyone to seek out the arts here. Why aren't we trying harder to promote the arts? When people ride through Norristown, our commitment to the arts ought to be evident. Arts events, in the community and in our schools, need to be publicized by the borough, and in the Times Herald and Patch, and on every Norristown Facebook page.

Our council and school board need to lead by their actions AND their own examples. Let's see more elected officials at performances around town and at our schools. If our officials don't embrace the arts in Norristown, VOTE THEM OUT. (I'll say more on this closer to this year's election.)

I should add that the theaters are already doing their part in bringing the arts to the Norristown community, with childrens' programs, summer camp, and pay-what-you-can performances. Take advantage of them.

Do you know of arts events in town that everyone should know about? Or, do you have an idea how we can bring more arts to our community and, especially, to our kids?

Think We're Stupid?

In the last week, in various conversations about Norristown, I heard several people express the opinion that the majority of Norristown residents aren't intelligent enough to understand things like government, municipal codes, zoning, their own economic situation, and even basic cleanliness.

So apparently we have another stigma on our hands--that we're viewed as a community of stupid people.

Let's look at the facts. The 2010 census says that 78.8% of Norristonians 25 years and older are high school graduates, only 6 points under the national average of 85%. 16.8% of us have a bachelor's degree or higher. There's no data on how many are in between--those who've apprenticed at a trade, or earned an associate's degree or (I know this is more than a few) retrained after losing a job.

Even the 21% of adults who don't have high school diplomas shouldn't be written off as unintelligent. My grandmother only went to school through 6th grade, yet she had enough mental power to be caregiver to a son with acute chronic PTSD, including dealing with doctors, nurses and the VA, with all their red tape, on a monthy basis, for almost 40 years. She balanced her own checkbook and kept to a budget. She read the Times Herald cover to cover and watched all levels of the news, enough to make up her own mind on the issues and vote in almost every election. And as for her cooking--she fashioned culinary works of art, like homemade ravioli and incredibly light egg bread and the most perfect pizzelles I've ever eaten.

So why do people think Norristown is filled with stupid people? For one thing, our median household income is under $44,000. People with low incomes are often perceived to be unintelligent, with the crooked logic that, if they were smarter, they'd earn more. And we all know that's ridiculous in our society, where teachers and anyone in the arts are paid so little. Your average college research scientist only earns about $55,000. Just 16.4% of Norristown residents actually live below the poverty level, but the perception seems to be much higher.

For about a quarter of our residents, English is a second language. It seems to be human nature to assume that if someone doesn't speak the same language as you, they're stupid and you're not. Norristown has always been an immigrant community, from the arrival of the first German settlers in the 1700's. We've had Italian, Polish, Dutch, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Indian, and many others come here over the years. We've dealt with language barriers before. Get over it.

Frankly, I've observed a lot of inept communication in this town, between people speaking the same language. And when a misunderstanding occurs, the fault is always placed on the listener, instead of on the person with poor communication skills. I've also observed a complete lack of communication where it should occur, for instance, between government and citizens. Norristonians can't be blamed for being uninformed. It isn't a failure to understand or follow issues on our part, it's that there isn't enough information emanating from Municipal Hall.

So what do we do about this stigma of stupidity? First, we stick up for ourselves. As a former teacher, I know that students who believed they couldn't learn, didn't. It translates to the whole community. We have to stop buying into the notion that we're sub-average, simply because we're from Norristown. We have to correct misconceptions about what our community is capable of.

Next, we need to demand the best education for our kids, with an emphasis, perhaps, put on improving those communication skills.  When our kids do amazing things, like our robotics team at Eisenhower, we need to spread the word and back their efforts.

Supporting Arts Hill and arts education in our schools is a must.

Might be nice, too, to develop some adult educational opportunities in the borough (yes, I still call it a borough--but that's another blog).

Anyone else have suggestions? Leave a comment.