Google+

"West Philly"

‘Them That Do’ profiles of West Philly block captains: Gregory Pac Cojulun, 5000 Osage Avenue

Posted on 06 November 2013 by WPL

West Philly Local is proud to present a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by photographer and videographer Lori Waselchuk. We profiled Waselchuk in 2011 upon the release of her book Grace Before Dying. She lives in West Philadelphia and Them That Do begins with stories close to home. West Philly Local will publish a ten-part series featuring a block captain profile every Wednesday.

Waselchuk is an award-winning photographer and author. She began Them That Do as a 2012 Pew Fellowship for the Arts.

Screen Shot 2013-11-06 at 9.34.32 AM

 

GPCojulun_0011

Thirty years ago Gregory Pac Cojulun walked into his first neighborhood meeting. He walked out a block captain. “I was ambushed,” Cojulun said with smile that hinted that all was forgiven. “I just wanted to see how things were going and they nominated and voted for me.”

Now in his sixties, Pac Cojulun needs a cane to walk, but rarely sits down. He is still the block captain, but his bigger commitment is given to Malcolm X Park.

Cojulun likes to network on behalf of his neighbors. “I’ve met a lot of different people in different agencies. I’ve gotten to the point I can call people up and they recognize me.” He is also the president of the board that maintains Malcolm X Park, which he says can demand 60-70 hours of his time a week.

“Our park was a thug park in the 60’s and 70’s. Nobody wanted to come through it,” said Cojulun. Through a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society nearly twenty years ago, a small group of residents began to clean up and restore the park. Today the park is an active cultural and social center in West Philadelphia. Cojulun says that it has been a slow process to revitalize Malcolm X Park and the board’s ability to plan programming and make improvements depends on donations.

Cojulun’s pride, though, is apparent. During a recent theater event, he walked slowly around the park’s centerpiece, a large round gazebo, checking in on young and giggling high school actors. He proudly watches and greets them as they prepare for a theatrical performance. “We try to make sure everything is done right, and make sure the people are happy,” he said.

Comments (4)

Watch Philly Thriller perform and meet the dancers

Posted on 06 November 2013 by WestPhillyLocal.com

We can’t get enough of Philly Thriller. The popular local community dance project has grown since its introduction in 2009 and this year included 34 dancers and a long waitlist of those who wanted to be part of the project, according to its founder Rashida Holmes. If you missed Philly Thriller perform this Halloween check out the video below shot by Rich Wexler of Project Arts. Rich also spoke to Rashida about her project and chatted with some Philly Thriller dancers. Enjoy!

Comments (0)

DanceAfrica festival kicks off today in West Philly

Posted on 06 November 2013 by WestPhillyLocal.com

Kulu Mele

Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble / Photo credit: Canary Promotion.

 

From November 6 to 9, West Philly’s Community Education Center in partnership with Drexel University will present the first-ever DanceAfrica Philadelphia, a four-day celebration of traditional and contemporary African dance, music, art and community.

Philadelphia is the sixth major city to present this spectacular event promoting the preservation of African dance and culture. Created by Charles “Baba Chuck” Davis in 1977 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, DanceAfrica has evolved into a weeklong annual celebration of African culture in New York with additional presentations held in cities around the country.

Local performing groups include Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble, Kariamu and Company: Traditions and Illstyle & Peace Productions, plus special D.C-based guests Farafina Kan. The Philly festival will also include the Afro Beauty, Health and Wellness Marketplace, the Philadelphia Folklore Project exhibition “Honoring Ancestors of Rhythm, Movement and Place,” family workshops and a lecture on African dance in America.

The festival events will take place at the Community Education Center, Drexel University (3141 Chestnut St) and Philadelphia Folklore Project (735 S. 50th St). Tickets range from $5-$25 and can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com/event/428884. For more information, call the Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster Ave.) at 215 387-1911 or visit: http://www.cecarts.org/wp/danceafrica/.

Comments (0)

Police investigating multiple gunpoint robberies last weekend

Posted on 05 November 2013 by WestPhillyLocal.com

RobberiesmapAt least five gunpoint robberies took place in the area between Locust Street and Baltimore Avenue and 46th and 50th Streets over the weekend and police are looking for the suspects, according to tweets by Joe Murray of the Southwest Police Detectives.

The robberies happened on the 4700 block of Hazel Ave (on Friday around 8:30 p.m.), 4900 block of Locust St (on Friday, around 9 p.m.), 4800 block of Osage Ave (on Saturday, around 9:20 p.m.), 4600 block of Baltimore Ave (on Saturday, around 10 p.m.), and 4800 block of Larchwood Ave (on Sunday, around 6:10 p.m.), according to the Crime Reports map. There was also a robbery on the 4600 block of Locust St on Saturday at about 8:40 p.m. (see map image), but it’s not clear whether a gun was involved.

There are no more details available at this time. We’ll post more information when we have it.

Comments (17)

Today is Election Day! No, really, it is

Posted on 05 November 2013 by Mike Lyons

voteToday is Election Day. Public schools are closed, bars are open and, despite the misleading ads that are running again, the Voter ID Law is NOT in effect (unless you’re a first-time voter or voting in a new district, then you’ll need a valid ID).

Notable races (and there are few this time around) include City Controller and District Attorney. There is also one spot open on Pennsylvania’s Superior Court.

Incumbent Allan Butkovitz faces Terrence Tracy in the race for City Controller, while Seth Williams is running against Daniel Alvarez for District Attorney. This is Philadelphia and Butkovitz and Williams are Democrats, so basically these contests were (spoiler alert) decided in the primaries.

Here is a complete rundown of candidates for the various judicial offices from the Committee of Seventy and you can find your polling place here and your registration status here.

Problem at the polls? Call 866-OUR-VOTE. Polls close at 8 p.m.

Mike Lyons

Comments (0)

WPL’s 2013 Pumpkin Carving Contest: Here are the winners

Posted on 04 November 2013 by WestPhillyLocal.com

The votes are in, the judges have made up their minds and we’re happy to announce the winners of West Philly Local’s 2013 Pumpkin Carving Contest. Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest and to those who voted.

And the winners are:

The Readers’ Choice winner is the Scary Philly School Closings pumpkin (Pumpkin 3) and her creator Milena Velis. Nearly 250 votes were cast in the Readers’ Choice category and Milena’s pumpkin received 108 votes. As one of West Philly Local readers said in the comments, “Really amazed at the detail in pumpkin. And the statement on what is happening in our city.” Most of the voters agreed. Milena wins the grand prize, which includes two gift cards/certificates from local businesses of her choice, a $20 Four Worlds Bakery gift card  + two free tickets of her choice (to Penn Museum or Curio Theatre).

school_closings_pumpkin

 

The winner in the Kids’ Category is 10-year-old Edward Brown who carved The Invisible Man pumpkin. Nice work, Edward! You win a $20 Lil’ Pop Shop gift card, and two Penn Museum tickets.

InvisibleManpumpkin

 

The winner in the Philly-themed category is Shir K and her West Philly themed Porch Kitties pumpkin.

PorchKittiespumpkin

 

The scariest pumpkin, in our judges’ opinion, is Bimal Desai’s Werewolf pumpkin. Congratulations, Bimal! You did it again.

werewolfpumpkin

 

Unfortunately, no pumpkins were submitted in the Funniest category, so our judges didn’t select a winner here. As a special prize, though we decided to award the pumpkin that finished second in the Readers’ Choice category – the Lou Reed pumpkin carved by our last year’s Readers’ Choice winner Nate Johnson. The Lou Reed pumpkin received 56 votes out of 249. Great job, Nate, once again!

LouReedpumpkin

 

We will be contacting all the winners shortly with more details about the prizes they won. And we would like to thank again the businesses who provided the prizes and made this contest possible: AksumCurio TheatreDock Street BreweryFour Worlds BakeryCafe RenataHonest Tom’s Taco ShopLil’ Pop ShopPenn Museum, and VIX Emporium.

Comments (1)