Centre Square "I would suggest volunteering and being there for other people. I work at a soup kitchen and I cook lunch for people who don't have the means to have that meal that day and that's a good feeling. Quite frankly we see all kinds of people whether they're homeless or just looking for a meal for the day. You just do your best with what you get in terms of volunteering. That's a good thing." "How did you get involved with this particular soup kitchen?" "Because I was a client. I was a client and I needed help and they provided that help for me, so I'm just giving it back."
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Sharbel Koorie opened up Daddy's Place, Mommy's Kitchen on Northampton Street in the West Ward one year ago. Originally set to be a sandwich place with limited hours, they have grown into a full-menu Mediterranean and American restaurant. Me: "Why choose the West Ward to run your restaurant?" Him: "Well, I'm born and raised in Easton and we live in the West Ward, so we've been here 47 years where I live, and I find there's a lot of family, a lot of community in there. We've just been big fans of the City as a whole, and my wife has always liked to cook and we just thought it was a good, adventurous event, something new to try. You know, we didn't think we'd have such a huge response. My uncle, who's a chef, told me one time, 'If you're gonna do something, if you have the passion for it, it'll show in your product.' We've been so blessed to have so many nice people; we've met so many people in this past year and we're just looking forward to continue it. But the West Ward in general has a lot of families, different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. We're in a really dense area on that part of the street, and it's all walks of life. You see the news sometimes and people get a little shaken up, but really if you look at what creates and makes the West Ward, it's families. Whether you're on the top of the income scale or the bottom of the income scale, everybody's worried about their children coming home safely, did the children eat, did the children look good when they go to school... It's all the same values. With the name of the restaurant, 'Daddy's Place, Mommy's Kitchen,' it represents the family. Where we live, we're seven boys and five of us still live on the same block around my mom and dad, so in our neighborhood, all our children play and all the people around us, we know their children, so it really is like the old neighborhood." Anthony Marraccini is the manager and curator of Connexions Gallery and the publisher of The Elucidator magazine. He is a West Ward resident and believes an honest conversation about the area needs to begin with the inherent racial and socioeconomic inequity that he feels exists there and in our society in general. "Common misconceptions about the West Ward? I'm going to have to make that a subjective observation, obviously, based on my own perceptions: that it's a dystopic, violent place, which it's not. It's still a vibrant neighborhood with its own struggles, but it's not unfixable." "So what do you see as a solution for fixing it?" "Oh, solutions being what they are, that's just all reinvestment. How do you reinvest? That's subjective as well, what you consider reinvestment. Some people see gentrification as reinvestment, which it is--it's a much more abrupt, easier way to change a community, but that's more like economic cleansing, you know, like, 'We don't want poor people here,' and you push them away. You don't want crime; crime is associated with poverty in a lot of ways--you look at the statistics and you'll see it--so you push the poverty away--'Whoa! Hey! I fixed the problem, didn't I?!' Well, I don't know--fixed the problem? More like *moved* the problem. We're gonna, as a society in America, we're gonna have this problem for a very long time until we associate spreading the gains we have as a country. You can't keep taking all your money and putting it offshore in China when good jobs used to be here. You can't do that and think that people are going to live off of eight, ten dollars an hour. It's just not gonna happen." "Sounds like a pessimistic outlook…" "No, no. I would never say pessimistic. You have to take a *realist* point of view if you're going to try and fix something. Pessimism is saying, 'There's no way to fix it.' That's pessimism. I'm just taking a realistic point of view. I'm saying you can't do that unless you reinvest. If you think reinvesting is just pushing the problem away, well that's bullshit. So, you gotta find a way to reinvest. If I think that corporations are going to change their minds and start bringing jobs back here, because they think that Chinese labor is immoral, well, no, they're not gonna: it's based on dividends. What we have to do as consumers is change the way we consume, but also as business people, change the way we do business, so I'm pro-entrepreneur, I'm pro-market, but I think the market is skewed currently: 'Well, hey, if you have enough money you can change the market all you want. You could manipulate the market to benefit you. You could create tariffs that allow you to do slave labor half a world away that no one ever sees for a dollar a day under a despotic regime,' and that's what we do. But you can't keep doing that if we want people to be prosperous. *I* feel like there are lingering and latent issues about class and race we as a society have no desire to talk about in an honest fashion. So, that's another aspect of it: you look at poverty, it's primarily minority, undereducated people, and it'll always be that way until you associate that problem as part of your core issues. You know, I'm not a Christian, but I dig on what He said, 'We all raise each other.' It's not gonna happen if you see all as Others. So, yeah, there's a lot that has to be done to fix it, but I think it's fixable, but then you have to have these honest conversations. So back to what you were saying, 'Is that pessimistic?' No, we just have to have honest conversations. We say, well, why are there more blacks in jail? If drug use is the same amongst all racial demographics, why are there more blacks in jail? Nobody wants to answer that question. It's because they get caught. Well, why do they get caught? Well, I don't know. Think about that, because that's the truth, because there are disproportionately waaay more black people in jail. So once you get a rap, good luck getting a job, then you're stuck in the system and it becomes intergenerational and then it's just you're subsidizing poverty and we start pointing fingers like, 'That's the problem.' No, the problem is you made up rules that don't necessarily apply to everybody; they only apply to *that* demographic. So there's a lot there, a lot there." Him: "I'm a musician; a jazz musician--a guitar player. F'rinstance, today I've been playing for a few hours already and I'm gonna get some coffee and go home and play more guitar." Me: "So what can we learn about life from jazz?" Him: "Oh, what I learn from playing it is improvisation, which really applies to having deep conversations with people on the spot, getting to know people more, getting a better sense of listening." Me: "When was a time in life that you had to improvise?" Him: "Generally, when you're at the bar and you meet a stranger, that's a perfect platform for starting a conversation with someone you have no idea who they are… The little information they give you, you have to think of questions on the spot to ask them and find out who they are and tell certain stories about yourself to connect with them." Me: "Has your improvisation been successful thus far?" Him: "I think so; I mean, you're not always successful. I think that learning from failure is a kind of success in itself and success speaks for itself." The woman and her daughter did not want to be photographed, but had a lot to say about "corner boys." "It's a good neighborhood; there's not a lot of corner boys around here. That was one of the first things what I saw when I came here to check out whether I want to live here or not: no corner boys. I hate corner boys. (Laughs) I got kids; I don't need corner boys around here. The schools are good, awesome. The streets are okay; they just need to fix the sidewalks, they need to clean up the lots. That's the only complaints I have, really. In general, it's a good neighborhood." Man on Left: "If I could change anything in my life, I wouldn't change not a thing, because I wouldn't be the person I am today if I did. The bumpy roads you learn more from than the smooth roads. So, it's all part of life; you have to take a lesson from 'em." "Even if you wouldn't change it, what has been the bumpiest part of the road?" "Sure, when I was a millionaire and I lost it all." "Really?" "Yup. But we're on our way back up." Lynn Alexander Dobrowolski has been a resident of the West Ward for the past year. "When people say that people in the West Ward aren't into the arts or poetry, I disagree--I think there are a lot of people here who are and more so. The Hundred Thousand Poets for Change is a global day, it's basically a weekend of unity and there are readings that go on all over the world, and the idea is that it's public, it's 'all-welcome,' it's all ages and it's a way of connecting communities with their issues and the arts. It's specific to your community. Here, a lot of us are concerned about violence; a lot of us are concerned about absentee landlords, you know, the inequity, the schools. It can be anything you want it to be." "So what kind of readings did you have last Sunday?" "What we called it is 'Words in the Ward,' and it's something we're going to try to do monthly, and basically have something that's *here*, as opposed to--not that we have anything against Downtown; we love Downtown and all of the communities--but I think that there's a sense that you have to go *there* for everything and we want to let it be known that we have things going on *here*." "What do you think one of the biggest misconceptions is about the West Ward?" "That's tough, because some of the things that people think about us, some of it's true; you know, we do have a lot of things that we're worried about, but what bothers me the most is when people say, 'They don't care over there,' which is absolutely not true. These are old home--a lot of people have had families that have lived in these neighborhoods for generations; some have left and some have come back, but that idea that people don't care, bothers me. We've had these meetings every so many weeks where we get together as neighbors and they're packed: fifty, sixty people are showing up to these things, so to me that doesn't say that the community is just sitting back and letting things go." "What do you see in the future for the West ward?" "I think that many more are speaking up, but I think we've also focused on some of the little battles: the crossing guards, overcrowded buses--that was something that was a big fight for me--the taking away of the garbage cans. Trying to get some of the landlords that own some of the properties to fix things. We've been trying to get answers about those things and I think we're doing pretty well. We can't just look to the police and say, 'Fix this.' I think there's a sense that *we* have to do things, whether it's through block watch or as neighbors getting together." In Front of Valenca, Centre Square "One of my passions is traveling. I've been to too many cool places; it's hard to single in on one, to be honest with you." "Where was the first place that you traveled to that you knew that traveling was for you?" "The Redwood Forest in California. It's awesome. I was eight years old, and you could drive through the trees in those days, but you can't do that anymore. My dad made it very, very exciting. He was a traveler." "So your dad gave you the traveling bug?" "Absolutely. I have it all on video. It was originally filmed on 16 millimeter camera. It's incredible to see that; it was just thrilling." Sixth and Northampton "I am the crossing guard assigned here for the children that attend March Elementary School and it's dangerous, and also the middle school bus stops here and I would love to cross them, but I'm not allowed to cross the middle school students. Traffic is dangerous and they're all our children and there needs to be a crossing guard here for them. The *only* way that I can get that position, that paid position, is for the police to say so. I crossed them last year from the goodness of my heart." Bank Street Her: "Right now I'm borrowing this book; I just started it. It's called The Bloody Chamber--it's supposed to be a twist on fairy tales, but they're kinda dark and violent. " Me: "Well, the original fairy tales were kind of dark and violent…" Her: "Yeah, but I guess these are a bit more extreme. I've always liked dark things." Me: "So, why do you like reading?" Her: "I like it as an escape, you know, and also it gives you a different perspective on things, opens up new ideas." "Me and my two partners are opening up a smoothie/juice bar on Ninth and Bushkill. We're actually going to be opening Columbus Day weekend. So, it's just going to be fresh juices and fresh smoothies and we're also going to have coffee, tea, and the eventually we're going to get into more, like, organic products like cookies and candies. " "So what made you decide on the West Ward?" "My one partner, he grew up there; he lived there his whole life, pretty much, he knows the area really well, and we just found a great space with a great deal for rent and it was just a nice idea to do that in the West Ward, to get it up and coming." "So what does the West Ward have to offer?" "I think it's a good neighborhood. It has a lot of kids. It has a lot of potential of, like, a family neighborhood, so think this will do it some good. Everyone around there is very excited. They're just like a good community there: every time I'm there, everyone says 'Hello!' and there are never any bad vibes. It's a great area." Lauren Kuhn's painting of her mother graces the flyers and posters of the Riverside Festival of the Arts. "Tell me about your artistic process--where does it come from?" "I think you find a lot of inspiration from wherever your location is. I know myself and the other artist I came here with, we really scouted out the area a lot to find the right spot. And then I really find my artistic inspiration in using my artistic license as much as possible. I omit a lot of things, I add in a lot of things: just 'cause something's there doesn't mean you have to include it." "So an artist can change his or her surroundings in a way that he or she sees fit?" "Right. Because a lot of things can be scenic but they can't necessarily translate into paint. Only certain things really will speak to you, so I think if you find the right spot and you find the right subject, then you'll find your own inspiration." "What is your favorite subject?" "What I do for my living is I paint portraits, mostly children, grandchildren, and I do pet portraiture and home portraiture, but I do like capturing a moment in time as opposed to just someone's profile or one's likeness--capturing a moment that's a memory for someone and putting it into paint from a photograph." "I've just lived here for like a year. My wife, she live here, she grow up here. " "Do you like it here?" "Not much. I don't like city. I don't like live in cities." "Where would you rather live?" "I lived in Bethlehem by Walmart. But to live here, I don't like." "What could make it better?" "Those guys, they're looking for trouble, so that's the thing. They make trouble." Centre Square Fountains "I love nature. I grew up in the country; I love the fresh air; I like to be outside--we might have one of the last beautiful days right now, so I'm soaking in all of it! I like the sound of the water of the fountain; its just so soothing, relaxing…" "And reading a good book?" "Yes--the little library that the Boy Scouts made, the little box. It's just really nice to pick up a book, to bring a book, and sit down, relax, and then go have something good to eat in town. It's great." "I'm originally from Newark and then lived in Ohio for awhile, and I moved up here. It's nice; you know, I don't find no problems with it." "What's the best part about it?" "It's just quiet to me, you know what I'm saying? Coming from Newark, it's quiet, you know. I'm fifty years old and I kinda like it like that." |
These are the stories of the people of Easton, PA Archives
August 2018
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