This friendly brindle female pit bull was found in Clark Park early Monday morning.  Chain collar, no tag, maybe less than two years old.  If you think this is someone’s lost pooch contact Ed at motoedde [at] gmail.com or 267-237-6116.

Update: Ed was going to take the dog to Animal Control today since he hadn’t been able to find anyone to foster her.

This tabby has been hanging around the 4700 block of Hazel for the last couple of weeks. If you know him please contact Kathy at keisenberg [at] womenslawproject.org.

As part of PM @ Penn Museum Summer Nights program, West Philadelphia Orchestra is performing tomorrow from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the museum’s Trescher Garden.

Fourteen musicians playing a wide range of instruments, including trumpets, baritone horns, saxophone, sousaphone, clarinets, violins, and drums, create an interesting blend of Eastern European folk sound and jazz, punk, and soul.

Just a reminder: tickets for Penn Museum Summer Nights concert series are only $5 and include museum admission. For more information go here.

Check out a cool fan video of one of West Philadelphia Orchestra’s performances.

Most of the prisoners incarcerated at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as “Angola,” will die there. Some 70 percent of its more than 5,000 prisoners are serving life without the chance of parole. It’s a place renowned for violence and misery. But West Philly-based photographer Lori Waselchuk found behind its walls the very essence of humanity.

Waselchuk spent three years from 2007-2010 photographing inmates who took part in the prison’s hospice program. She watched men, many of whom were sent to prison for taking a life, help each other confront their own mortality.

“It was watching these men take a courageous step toward compassion and expressing their love for another person,” Waselchuk said while sitting outside her home on South Melville Street near Baltimore Avenue where she lives with her husband, Temple University professor Shenid Bhayroo, daughter Mira and son Zahli.

Waselchuk’s work at Angola has been collected in the book Grace Before Dying, just released this summer from Umbrage. Dozens of black-and-white photographs document men, some of whom have know each other for decades, helping each other die with dignity. The book includes an essay by Tulane University professor Lawrence N. Powell on Angola’s place in Louisiana history.

A memory still vivid in Waselchuk’s mind is inmates massaging the hands and feet of their mentor from the prison carpentry shop as he lay dying of lung and liver cancer. She writes in the book’s preface:

“The physical contact between these men was new territory for all involved … It was a profound moment of grace, during which these men allowed themselves to break physical boundaries and accept physical expressions of friendship.”

Waselchuk also documented a group of inmates that makes quilts for each hospice patient, another expression of love that seems so paradoxical in a place like Angola.

The project grew out of a small magazine assignment for a Louisiana publication to photograph the hospice program. Waselchuk soon realized that what she was witnessing and photographing needed deeper exploration. She made several trips to Angola over the three years she worked on the project. And although the photographs are of a place a thousand miles from West Philly, their subject is universal.

“This has always been a statement on humanity and what’s possible in all of us,” said Waselchuk, whose work has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

The hardcover book is available through the publisher for $39.95. But Waselchuk is offering a special deal for her neighbors: if you’re in West Philly she will sign the book and hand deliver it you. Write her at lori [at] loriwaselchukphotos.com.

This project is more than a book. Waselchuk’s photographs and the prison quilts are part of a traveling exhibit, which will be at Saint Joseph’s University in the fall. A scaled down version will be at the A-Space (4722 Baltimore Ave.) for one night in the future as well in a joint program with the West Philly-based organization Books Through Bars. We will have more details on both of those exhibitions later.

Waselchuk’s next project is on block captains in Philadelphia, a subject she became interested in while walking the city’s neighborhoods as a Census taker last year. She is looking to get in touch with block captains in the city. Write her at the above e-mail address.

Yoga teacher Emily Wishnick is organizing a donation Vinyasa Yoga class on Saturday, July 30, from 10-11:30 a.m. in Clark Park (near the playground). The class is to benefit Philly Community Wellness. Suggested donation is $7-15. See the flyer below for more details. To confirm your participation please visit the event’s Facebook page.

A 12-year old female cat, Hallie a.k.a. The Boog (short for “Boogie”), is looking for a new home. She needs to be in a home without other cats. The home where she is right now has a blended family of four cats which does not work well for her. The Boog would be happier with another loving owner.

The Boog is black, declawed, vocal and feisty but loves to hang out with you and sit on your thigh, facing outward, while you pet her. She’s on the plump side, but has no health problems.

The Boog is up-to-date on vet care, shots, etc. She loves ham, yogurt and edamame. She likes to know what you are up to. She needs focused attention but can be happy by herself as well. She will use a litter box as long as she is the only cat using it. She has no special dietary requirements.

If you are interested please contact The Boog’s current owner at: hippieflanders [at] gmail.com.