Gretchen Elise during her June 10, 2015 Cedar Park Jazz performance (Photo © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net)

Gretchen Elise is a woman about town. You might recognize her from her performances at local community events or from her 9-to-5 as Director of Development at St. Mary’s Nursery School. You can catch her at the Cedar Park Jazz series on June 17 with her five piece band, with DM Hotep (David Middleton), the guitarist from Sun Ra Arkestra, along with The Authentic, Naeemah Maddox, Anam Owili-Egar, Brandon Kerakowski, Rick Martino and Luke Walker.

Gretchen performs during Make Music Philly Day at Arch St. Meeting House in June, 2014 (Photo by Ella Gahnt)

Growing up in Swarthmore, Gretchen has been playing music since she was a kid. She joined chorus, bell choir and took piano lessons. She wrote a song and sent it to her idol and former Olympic gymnast, Nadia Comaneci.

As a part of her creative process, Gretchen mentioned the need to integrate all aspects of her life, which makes the Cedar Park music series the perfect way to tie all aspects of her identity together.

Gretchen has worked on writing a song for the Cedar Park show with her 7-year-old daughter, who might even make a guest appearance.

“For me it makes sense to integrate my identity as an artist, as an educator, as a community member and as a mother,” she said. “I’m happiest when all of these things are integrated, which is why I think Cedar Park is the ultimate gig. It’s in my community, with my family, in a setting where there’s a park next door where my kids and other kids can play.”

Cedar Park Jazz Series is held every Friday through July 29, from 6 – 8 p.m. (weather permitting).

– Rana Fayez

Akyra Murray (photo from Westcatholic.org)

A West Philadelphia woman, Akyra Murray, 18, was confirmed as one of the victims of the mass shooting that happened on early Sunday morning at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fl.

Akyra graduated from West Catholic High School last week and was on a family vacation in Florida to celebrate graduation and visit her brother, according to information posted on the West Catholic High School website.

“… Akyra was a superstar who was a leader amongst her classmates and teammates,” the posting on the website reads. “She was an honors student whom graduated third in her class, and a 1,000 point scorer on the Lady Burrs basketball team. Akyra recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mercyhurst College. May God bless Akyra’s soul and provide comfort to all family and friends during this very troubling time.”

The school will be holding a vigil service on Wednesday, June 15, at 6 p.m. in the school auditorium to honor Akyra’s memory. Out of respect for those closest to Akyra, the vigil will be private to the school and family community only.

There will be a vigil for the Orlando massacre victims tonight at City Hall (meeting at the North East corner), from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. If you can please bring a candle. More information is available on the event’s Facebook page.

A University City High School graduate, Patience Carter, was wounded in the shooting and is expected to recover.

We’re very sad to report that Cheryl Roebuck, a veteran music teacher, Garden Court community activist, and wife of State Rep. Jim Roebuck, passed away last week.

Mrs. Roebuck has worked for the School District of Philadelphia for over thirty years. She has also been active in her West Philadelphia community for over twenty years. She has served as the secretary of the University City Arts League and was a board member of the Garden Court Community Association.

Funeral services for Mrs. Roebuck will be held on Friday, June 10, at Arch Street United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad Street. Visitation with the family will be from 10:00 a.m. –12:00 p.m.; service starts at 12:00 p.m.

When I walked into Youma (Facebook page), a new African restaurant at 4519 Baltimore Ave., I was glad to finally get to spend some time with owner Youma Ba. When I met with her, she was covering for a server who was out sick. It was somewhat of a homecoming for Youma, since this very location was where she got her start as a server in Philly back in 2001, when it was known as La Calebasse. She left there to open Kilimanjaro on Walnut St.

Youma Ba

She was recruited by La Calebasse to work in their New York City location and was invited to West Philadelphia when the owners expanded into the area. “I’ve been a server, I’ve been a cook, I’ve been a manager,” she recalled. A veteran of the industry, she decided she was ready to open up a new restaurant when she saw the vacant storefront.

Youma Ba never intended to work with food. Her mother, Vice Mayor of Dakar, wanted her to be an economist so she got an economics degree from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. Her mother also taught Youma to cook for her large family twice a day. As one of 12 children, Youma gained the skills that helped her open her first restaurant.  Continue Reading

A West Philadelphia 7th grader, Saif Siddiquee, participated in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, being held this week in Washington, DC. 13-year-old Saif is a Penn Alexander School student. On Wednesday, Saif competed in the Preliminary Rounds 2 and 3 (onstage oral spelling) and spelled correctly both words (“crudités” and “recrudescence”) presented to him by the Bee’s official pronouncer, Dr. Jacques Bailly.

Only 45 kids out of the 285 who entered in this year’s competition made it to the Finals, and, unfortunately, Saif wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless, we congratulate Saif on his great performance and for representing his school and Philadelphia in this prestigious contest.

We’re happy to pass along information on two local causes that support community education.

Metropolitan owner Jim Lily and PIC executive director Debbie Green (photo courtesy PIC).

The Parent Infant Center (PIC) at 42nd and Locust recently received a generous and heartfelt gift from a local business. Metropolitan Bakery & Café’s owner Jim Lily sent a touching letter to PIC’s Executive Director Debbie Green and presented a $600 donation for PIC’s Cindy Fund. In his letter, Lily wrote about his close relationship with PIC (his daughter participated in the after-school program there) and about his friendship with former executive director Cindy Roberts who passed away in February. Roberts and Lily were also neighbors; they lived across the street from each other.

University City’s Metropolitan celebrated its 12th anniversary on April 26, and a portion of sales on that day made up this donation. Read more about this wonderful gesture on the PIC website.

The Cindy Fund was established in memory of Roberts, who was passionate about children and families and believed in equal access to quality preschool for all families, regardless of income. To learn more about the Cindy Fund, go here.  Continue Reading