Expansion of Phoenixville Library puts community at odds

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The Phoenixville Public Library is in a tight spot. Literally, the Carnegie-era library currently crams a collection of 75,000 books, CDs, and other reference materials, as well as nearly 600 programs per year into an 11,000 square foot space. The shelves are cramped and the reading areas and meeting spaces are at a premium. Few would disagree that the library needs to expand — the question facing the Library Board and the Phoenixville community is how.

For the past two years, Tom Carnavale of Carnevale Eustis Architects, Inc. has been working on a “concept” — a word as overused in this debate as the Wall Street/Main Street dichotomy in the 2008 Presidential Election. This rough design of what the library expansion could look like pushes the square footage of the library out to a total of approximately 34,000. At its current collection size, the library should be about 22,000 square feet according to the American Library Association, meaning this expansion would exceed necessity to accommodate future growth. The concept calls for a dedicated young adult library, a vastly larger children’s library, up to 35 computer workstations, and plentiful public meeting space.

In order to provide the additional 23,000 square feet, Carnivale’s design proposes extending the library out onto Second Avenue, with the southern wall butting right up against Reeves Park. Where the corner of Second Avenue and Main Street currently stands, Carnivale and the Library Board propose a cul-de-sac, bordered by the new library extension to the west, the residences on Second Avenue to the north, and Reeves Park to the south. This is a move that some local residents passionately disagree with.

Beading business in Phoenixville

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The Potomac Bead Company, located at 167 Bridge Street, is the jewelry crafter’s dream shop. The walls of the two-story loft are lined with a rainbow of colorful strands of beads—gemstones, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and festive lampwork glass. Bins around the store are piled high with beads and the metal pieces, called findings, that go between them in all shapes, sizes, colors and materials, priced sometimes by the bead or often by weight.

“We’re the largest bead store in the area,” said owner Connie Woods, who opened the shop in April. Woods first discovered beading three years ago when worked as an editor at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. A coworker came into work with a dazzling beaded bracelet and Woods had to know where she got it. When the coworker explained that she made it herself, Woods was incredulous. “She took me bead shopping and I never looked back,” Woods said.

Beading quickly became one of her favorite hobbies because it was flexible, versatile, and granted her instant gratification. “I don’t like waiting for things. I can make a bracelet in a few hours,” she said. “Also, you can make it as expensive or inexpensive as you like, depending on the materials you choose.”

Faster Toning Trick

Tone from head to toe quicker than ever

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Need motivation to stick with a strength-training regimen? Try starting small, suggests a new Elon University study. Researchers found that exercisers who worked minor muscle groups first (like the biceps and calves) and then moved up to bigger muscle groups (like the back and quadriceps) built up less muscle-tiring lactic acid than those who did the reverse order, allowing them to complete more reps in each set for speedier firming. Plus, they reported that their workouts felt easier, and they finished in better moods.

June 2009 Copyright 2009, Prevention

Campus News: Whither Kosher Activism?

Ethical Kashrut Gains Foothold at UMinn

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Edan Schwartz wants you to think about what you’re putting into your mouth. The University of Minnesota senior is an activist in the Hekhsher Tzedek movement, which proposes the creation of a new seal for kosher food that will indicate that the food has been produced in accordance with Jewish ethics. He is also the first member of the movement to focus explicitly on mobilizing college students, using his campus’s Hillel as a springboard for Hekhsher Tzedek programming.

Between vegetarians, animal rights activists, and organic food obsessives, ethical eating is a hot topic on campuses across the country. “It’s one of the biggest things I hear about on campus as far as social justice goes,” says Schwartz. And yet, despite an overall surge in food activism, there is a noticeable absence of student activism relating to kosher ethics, even at a time when trust in the ethical standards of the kosher meat industry is at an all-time low.

Interview: America’s First Crossdressing Mayor

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Campaign advice and more from the nation’s first out crossdressing mayor.

Stu Rasmussen, a lifelong resident of Silverton, Oregon, was recently reelected for his third term as mayor. This time, however, he campaigned in heels. We spoke with Stu about his career, his relationship with 30-year partner Victoria Sage, and being an out transgendered elected official.

The Girl Inside: Do you feel you’ve received more national attention since your reelection? What do you think fuels their curiosity?
Stu Rasmussen: Well, I think it’s — I hate to say it — but it’s sort of a freak show. It’s like, “Well what in the world are these people in this little Oregon town thinking, electing a transgender person to be their mayor?” And the closer you get to Silverton, if you’re inside the city limits, it isn’t even an issue. People have passed over that long ago. It’s like, honestly, when maybe the first black person moved to town there would be a stir because that was different, and the first Hispanic family moving to town — I mean, this is way before my time — it was different in the community but they got over it. And it’s just life here and business as usual. But it’s unusual to people on the outside and I think people in my situation are considering to be [sigh]… what’s the kindest way to say freakish? I mean, there isn’t a kind way. It’s just so far off the map for people to connect that somebody who’s transgendered might have some real qualities to them. And the community of Silverton has accepted that and either overlooks or fully accepts that well, yes, Stu’s transgendered, but he’s still Stu — or she’s still Stu — we go through the pronoun problem occasionally, too.

The Kosher Crisis: American Jews Take a Stand

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Take 389 illegal immigrants and stick them in a meat processing plant. Add 57 workers under the age of 16. Stir in the fact that the company, Agriprocessors Inc., is the nation’s leading source of kosher meat, and not only do you get the biggest federal immigration raid in history, but thousands of pissed off American Jews.

A new debate was sparked this summer when feds raided Agriprocessors’ Postville, Iowa plant in May. They uncovered worker complaints of forced unpaid overtime, frequent accidents and abuse and extortion by floor supervisors, according to an article in The Forward printed in August. These reports became a source of embarrassment and outrage for Jews across denominations. Agriprocessors isn’t KFC or a third-world sweatshop; The company produces meat that is certified kosher, meaning clean — meat that is ritually slaughtered in accordance with God’s laws as specified in the Torah. Jews have been eating kosher for thousands of years, but in a country where the line between church and state gets fuzzy, so too has the jurisdiction on who should be looking out for worker safety. Now Jews from all over the country, including those who don’t keep kosher, are speaking out for change, not just at Agriprocessors, but across the industry.

Six must-haves for every crossdresser’s bookshelf

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A wealth of non-fiction for crossdressers and their loved ones has slowly crept into bookstores since the early ‘90s, providing stories, secrets and academic dissections on what it means to be a crossdressing man in our society. Listed below are six of the most helpful, thought-provoking, and entertaining titles out there. Best of all, you can grab all these books online or in stores like Barnes & Noble… and a few, like Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety by Marjorie Garber, might even be waiting for check-out at your local library. (I know I was pleasantly surprised to see it there!) Better get cracking — you have some catching up to do!

My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser
“My Husband Betty” by Helen Boyd is an honest, tender discussion with readers about her marriage to Betty, her crossdressing husband. She tries to capture a realistic snapshot of the struggles they face together both among each other and as a united front out in the transphobic (and sometimes oddly accepting) world. In a way this is a book for wives and girlfriends, but crossdressers can glean much from anecdotes of their early dates and day-to-day living (like confronting a gay man at a Halloween party who refused to believe her husband in drag was in an exclusive, monogamous and heterosexual relationship with her). Beyond the stories and advice, “My Husband Betty” also offers an appendix of national advocacy groups like GenderPAC, publications such as Transgender Tapestry, and vacations and conferences for the gender-fearless family. Seriously, read it.

Kimberton arts haven’s café reopens

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By Marielle Messing

Special the The Phoenix

KIMBERTON — Camphill Village Kimberton Hills celebrated the grand reopening of their Camphill Café on Sunday with a live concert by Ensemble Casa de Venezuela.

The original Camphill Café closed about a year ago after the Chester County Board of Health declared that the café’s non-industrial kitchen was too small for the cramped, 30-person capacity cafeteria, according to café manager Erin Graver. Rather than just revamping the kitchen, Camphill directors moved the café to a completely different building.

“We said, ‘Let’s take this opportunity to pursue our commitment to sustainable building,’” said Bernadette Kovaleski, the director of Development and Public Relations at Camphill Village. They converted a former garage into the new café using recycled materials and eco-friendly technology. For example, recycled rubber tires line the bathroom floors, while geothermal pipes beneath the ground heat and cool the building. Solatubes skylights offer maximum sunlight indoors and Silestone quartz countertops provide antimicrobial protection and improve air quality in the kitchen. Camphill’s off-beat architect Joan Allen worked with Carnevale Eustis Architects, Inc., on the design and construction of these and other sustainable elements.

How to Affix a Mezzuzah

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A mezzuzah (מזוזה‎ in Hebrew) is a sign of welcoming found in many Jewish homes. The mezzuzah itself is a small, rolled up piece of parchment with the words to the Jewish prayer “Shemah” printed upon it. It is encased in a decorative mezzuzah frame, usually made from wood, metal, glass, or ceramic. In the Torah, God commands the Jews to “inscribe [the words of the Shema] on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9). Many Jews will therefore affix mezzuzot to their front doors, or for more observant Jews, to the doorframes of every room in the home. It is customary touch the mezzuzah with your fingertips and kiss them when entering the house or room to show reverence to God. Learn how to properly affix a mezzuzah to your doorway. Read more »

The Wedding Industry…enforcing positive body image?!

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Or, “My totally unexpected wedding dress success story.”

This is my first post in the Wedding blog, so let me introduce myself quickly: I’m a 23-year old queer casual femme who has been planning her wedding for almost two years… and somehow, I’m still in the beginning stages. I’m engaged to an awesome man, a guy I knew I would marry shortly after we met at age 15 (even if I didn’t know much else about myself back then). We’ve both grown a lot since then, separately, but somehow amazingly in the same direction. After a 4-year relationship hiatus, we got back together in college and knew we were meant to be. We got engaged on January 1, 2007 and we’ve finally attempted to set a date for Sept. 13, 2009. We haven’t picked a place yet because of a long and painful saga trying to find a kosher caterer in Eastern Pennsylvania — but that’s a blog post for another time. I’m an Indiebride wanna-be but taming the indie-bridal beast is an ever more daunting task. So hopefully I’ll use my trials and tribulations to help you find a comfy spot between the industry rock and the indie hard place.

So, let me tell you how I was totally shocked by David’s Bridal.