Northwest Philly Neighbors

Captivating stories from the world of violins and bows — and the players, makers, kids, and community that enrich it. Learning the bowmaker’s craft in France & Belgium ... making a bow that gives the exact sound and feel requested by an elite player ... running a violin shop that empowers its workers ... how the shop helped revitalize part of Germantown Avenue ... the forgotten attic violin with a famous $38,000 bow ... how the last living French bowmaker revived the craft in the 1970's ... helping customers find community through music ... offering affordable rentals so people of all means can play a quality instrument ... planning the shop’s groundbreaking transformation to a worker-owned co-op ... how four irreplaceable bows were saved from the Nazis ... how one tenth of a millimeter can make all the difference ... and an audio clip from her band Cabriole.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Elizabeth and Mount Airy Violins & Bows:

• Mount Airy Violins & Bows website
• Cabriole at Rittenhouse Soundworks video
• A Visit With Bow Maker Elizabeth Vander Veer Shaak (Violinist.com, 2006)
• The bow finds the player at Mount Airy Violins & Bows (WHYY, 2011)
• There are more than 240 steps in making a bow - Great bowmaking in Mt. Airy with no strings attached (Chestnut Hill Local, 2011)

With her books, podcast, blog, and articles, Lori leads people to think and act differently around issues of race and color.

Enjoy her stories — growing up in white Milwaukee suburbs supported by a huge extended black family … meeting a vast diversity of black people while writing for Vibe magazine in New York … her first book, celebrating black hair in its natural state and revealing the campaign against it … discovering a home for her multiracial family in Mt Airy, so different from neighborhoods in common stories of segregated America … researching “colorism” and the wide range of family dynamics when people are the same race but different colors … coping with being mistaken for the nanny of her light-skinned daughter … and more.

Celebrating multi-racial experiences that work, calling out injustice, and explaining how historical roots of inequality affect people today, Lori is an antidote to negative narratives of black experience.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Lori Tharps:

• My American Meltingpot blog and podcast
  • Selling Your House While Black
  • Deconstructing White Supremacy
  • Celebrating Juneteenth Is As American as Strawberry Soda
  • The Solution for Starbucks in 5 Easy Steps
• Temple University bio
• Books
  • Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream (with Ibtihaj Muhammad)
  • Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America's Diverse Families
  • Substitute Me
  • Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America (with Ayana Byrd)
  • Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain
• Articles
  • The Difference Between Racism and Colorism (Time 2016)
  • When Black Hair Is Against the Rules (NY Times op ed, 2014)
  • Does your son or daughter need a black pride tune-up? (WHYY, 2015)

Joel illuminates the mental side of sports, sharing stories from decades of work with athletes from kids to pros. He talks about forging connections with Philly’s major sports teams … helping young pro athletes handle the challenges of sudden fame … how self-talk, relaxation, and visualization skills enable performance for athletes at all levels … how to be a terrific sports parent … how pro teams increasingly value personality as well as talent in draft picks … and using sport as an arena to teach life skills. Enjoy his vivid examples and insights, delivered with an engaging personable style.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Joel Fish:

• Psychology of Sport — website and Facebook page
• 101 Ways to be a Terrific Sports Parent

Take a dynamic trip inside Power Up Your Business — a free, successful, innovative program run by the Community College of Philadelphia with city funding. Small business owners learn from experts, peers, and coaches, gaining insights and practical skills they apply to grow their businesses.

Hear Kittura’s expressive narration of small business stories and challenges, the unexpected bounty of city resources, and on-the-ground reports from walking commercial corridors across the city.

Along the way enjoy evocative stories of her journey — life in the Caribbean, selling high-end jewelry, and the rich history of her Mount Airy family.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Power Up Your Business and Kittura Dior:

• Power Up Your Business Annual Report 2018
• Entrepreneurs benefit from Power Up Your Business program
• Power Up Your Business website
• Kittura Dior on LinkedIn

Don’t miss these rich stories from a full life of 81 years (so far)! Growing up in a nurturing and accomplished black community in Jim Crow Atlanta ... how running red lights as a police officer under Rizzo led to a deep understanding of abuse of power ... the glass ceiling for African American lawyers in Philly law firms ... how the fight to save a Germantown grocery store exposed “councilmanic prerogative” to the city ... and revitalizing Germantown by creating a path to homeownership for today's residents. 

Throughout her many career reinventions and volunteer projects Yvonne homes in on key community issues and brings people together to tackle them.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Yvonne Haskins, and organizations she talks about in this episode:

• 1950’s Atlanta bus story (Yvonne as a young Rosa Parks)
• LinkedIn profile
• Mt Airy USA Community Champions video
• Germantown residents are fighting to bring down the neighborhood's notorious blight king
• Germantown United CDC
• Women Organized Against Rape
• Jumpstart Germantown

On top of legal know-how, investigative social work skills are a big part of Tracy Ulstad’s job as a Federal Public Defender for death row inmates. She meets thoroughly with the people in her client’s life, often building a picture for the jury of how a history of family violence and abuse led to the crime—an alternative to sterile facts which suggest an evil person.

Now progressive, Tracy credits her conservative upbringing for launching her career—via the humanitarian values she learned in Catholic school. She describes the stark challenges her clients face during decades on death row, how she talks about work with her 7-year-old son, and the groundbreaking state Supreme Court case that might eliminate the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Tracy Ulstad and the Capital Habeus Unit:

• Habeas Corpus Unit, Federal Community Defender Office (Eastern PA district)
• Could a Philly killer’s appeal lead PA Supreme Court to abolish the death penalty?
• Capital punishment in the United States

Colorful Mt Airy author and illustrator Amy Ignatow creates pithy, funny, adventurous books for middle-grade kids (secretly enjoyed by grownups too). Around ages 8-12 kids start to make decisions for themselves and navigate social groups, so there’s lots of room for Amy to weave drama and humor. It’s a time when kids “find their people” -- and as Amy says “it’s a lot easier to dismiss a bully if you have friends to connect with.”

She reads and discusses passages from her “Odds” books, in which a group of kids who normally wouldn’t be caught dead together warily join forces after discovering they’ve gained (mild) super powers, like being able to teleport but only 4 inches to the left.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Amy Ignatow:

• Moore College of Art bio
• Popularity Papers Blog
• Plot summaries for Odds series and Popularity Papers
• Revenge of the Sis (Star Wars: Jedi Academy #7)
• Video of a funny one-minute play Amy wrote

Nina Berryman talks about her wide-ranging work as Farm Manager for Weavers Way Farms -- from hands-in-the-dirt know-how, through educating a diverse mosaic of workers, to running a produce business with a dozen partner groups. The beautiful farms tucked in corners of urban Philly, giant vegetable planning spreadsheets, harvesting in July heat, preparing weekly vegetable shares for 250 CSA members, handling insects organically, inspiring students from Saul Agricultural High School, her favorite weird vegetable, and connecting with urban farmers in Philly and the wider world. She does it all with enthusiasm, heart, humor, and grit.

Podcast website: https://nwphillypodcast.net

More about Nina Berryman and Weavers Way Farms:

• Weavers Way Farms
• So Tell Us, Nina — Does it Feel Like 10 Years?
• Henry Got Crops! Blog