Month: October 2019

“Who will follow the music?” The panel after “The Secret” play about H. D.

logo36th in a series of posts on H.D.logo

Gadfly’s not done with coverage of Touchstone Theatre’s “Festival UnBound” — not by a longshot. He will be featuring several of the panels that convened during the 10-days, panels where important conversations were occurring.

Listen to your high-achieving fellow townswomen talk about their lives.
What can we learn?

“Who will follow the music?”
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP: Inspirations and Obstacles
after a performance of “The Secret”
moderated by Jennie Gilrain

The Secret begins one day, in late nineteenth century Bethlehem, when sixteen year-old, Helen Wolle, mother of H.D., entered a Moravian Seminary classroom to rehearse a song she looked forward to performing. Much to her shock and, in fact, trauma, she was roughly told to be quiet, to end “this dreadful noise.” by her pastor grandfather, Papalie. And Helen, who loved to sing so much and so well, would never sing again in public.

The focus of the panel will be on women in leadership. We will connect the panel to the play via a question that Mamalie (Hilda’s maternal grandmother) asks Hilda in the beginning of the play, and H.D. asks the audience at the end of the play: “Who will follow the music?’ 

Moderator Jennie Gilrain, who also directed the play, here frames the panel:

And here introduces the panelists: Phyllis Alexander, Yalitza Corcino-Davis, Abriana Ferrari, Mary C. Foltz, Nancy Matos Gonzalez, Margaret Kavanagh, Emily Santana, Dr. Paige Van Wirt. See here for short biographies.

Here is the full panel discussion, broken into two parts. Gadfly will return shortly with edited video of each panelist, enabling a better focus on individual stories.

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

“I’m on the same limb”

logoLatest post in a series about Wind Creek Casinologo

ref: “Wind Creek will be focused on becoming good neighbors in Bethlehem”

Gadfly,

Please move over, I’m on the same limb, and I am sure there will be others. What difference it will make is a guess, but you’ve articulated my emotional and rational thoughts on point.

Deni Thurman-Eyer

Gadfly is reminded of the Emily Dickinson lines:

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise—you know!

Sunrise on the Southside (8): Connecting with the Hispanic Center

(Latest in a series of posts about Lehigh University and the Southside)

Sunrise on the Southside

Chapter 6: Connecting with the Hispanic Center

Gadfly continues his leisurely stroll through the Southside through the eyes of Lehigh’s promotional video about its contributions there, something which, in truth, is not always without controversy.

  • Victoria Montero, executive director of the Hispanic Center, says the partnerships with Lehigh faculty, staff and students and other organizations help the center to serve more people and improve its operations. Lehigh faculty also have forged relationships there. The goal is to improve the quality of life for South Side residents.
  • “There is a lot of work to be done, so it is important that we continue to work together,” says Montero, who grew up on the South Side after immigrating from Mexico at age 14.
  • “If we continue to work together, we are going to make an impact on the community. We can’t do it alone, we can’t. The Hispanic Center can’t do it without its partners.”

The example Lehigh gives of connection with the Hispanic Center is the internship program through the Health, Medicine, and Society program.

  • The Health, Medicine, and Society program at Lehigh . . . brings faculty from across colleges together to offer courses in medical sociology, bioethics, and a host of other fields.
  • In the classroom, students learn that people’s health is influenced not only by their body processes, but also by social determinants.
  • At the [Hispanic] center, {interns] Akinci and Kravitz learn firsthand about those complexities of health, such as the difficulty in accessing programs for those who lack transportation.
  • “What I have learned from working with people in the community, and just interacting, both here and at the clinic, is that you just have to listen to people and give them your attention and just be there for them,” Akinci says. “They really appreciate that.”
  • For the four years that students are at Lehigh, [Akinci] says, the South Side is their home. “Part of making a home your home is making community.”

“Making community” — a Gadfly medal for that girl!

Forest Bathing with H.D.

(35th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Forest bathing was one of the events in our year-long series of events entitled

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Sienna Mae Heath is a storywriter of landscapes, architecture, and gardens. A world traveler with a home base in Bethlehem, she knows how a strong sense of place sparks meaning in small moments. Check out her blog Garden Mindfully.

In the spirit of World Mental Health Day, blogger Sienna Mae Heath discusses seasonal depression. Going forest bathing helped her welcome the autumnal equinox with grace. How do you prepare for winter?

For many of us with seasonal depression, the first cool night signals a warning that it’s time to drop vitamin D infused oil on our morning toast, or else succumb to darkness. The sun sets a little sooner, the window for soaking up sunshine nearly closed. When I awoke on the fourth Sunday of September, I figured, all the more reason to let my blankets release me into the wild of Little Pond to go “Forest Bathing with H.D.”

Our guide was Anisa George. Her mother Bridget, who along with Bill George founded the arts retreat in 1996, motioned for me to park on the mix of gravel and grass across the way from their quaint refinished farmhouse. I nibbled on the edible garden of spearmint, cinnamon basil, and nasturtiums (which I think of as rogue peppery petunias).

“Welcome back,” the mother-daughter duo chimed in unison. Little Pond served as a spiritual and creatively charged oasis during my childhood, and here I was, having owned two houses, changed my career, and circling around from quite a few travels abroad – home.

This gathering brought seven women together. As we settled in a circle near the pond, Anisa shared the history of forest bathing – the English translation for the Japanese tradition of immersing oneself in nature. This tradition is only a few decades old. In the 1980s when workers were collapsing at their desks, the government took action. The result is now a global phenomenon, encouraging humanity to reconnect with the landscape.

Invitations and sharing circles

In forest bathing, there are invitations and sharing circles. Each free-flowing activity is an invitation to savor the sights, sounds, textures and scents around you. When given the sharing piece, similar to a talking stick, we could answer this question: What are you noticing?

“It’s okay to pass. It’s okay to share silence,” Anisa said. This added reassurance made me feel so free. Poetry, though not typically a part of forest therapy, sparks a calming freedom within. Anisa presented scrolls of poems by H.D., the Lehigh Valley poet also known as Hilda Doolittle, who was a great lover of the wild. The first piece of parchment pulled from the cup revealed:

Behold the dead are lost,

The grass has lain

Trampled

And stained

And sodden

Behold

Behold

Behold . . .

The grass rises

With flower-bud;

The grain

Lifts its bright spear head

To the sun again

Behold,

Behold

The dead

Are no more dead

The grain is gold

blade

stalk

and seed within;

the mysteries

are in the grass

and the rain.

“What stands out to me is ‘Behold, behold, behold’!” said fellow forest bather Gerry Nugent. “Even if it’s been trampled, behold, it’s still beautiful. We have four seasons in Pennsylvania. Never know what we’re going to get.”

After this first sharing circle came the first invitation. Anisa guided us up a hill to a mowed oval surrounded by trees. Laying like blades of grass, we became curious of what we’re welcoming on an inhale and what we’re giving on an exhale.

Each person inhaled something of their own and exhaled what they need to give to the world. For me, I welcomed the wind to join my breath. I welcomed confidence in the life I’ve built for myself in the past year. I gave gratitude to the family who helped make it possible.

Mindful of Motion

Prior to our next walk, Anisa asked that we be mindful of movement: “What’s in motion? If the only thing you notice is yourself, you might want to slow down.”

Children are constantly in motion. Inspired by H.D.’s “wild fulfillment” (and I by Brene Brown’s to be bold and play), we spread milkweed seeds to the wind. The pods slipped open, revealing what felt like a thousand dandelion seeds with the texture of a down pillow. I was surprised how many could fit in even the smallest spaces. Tapping into my inner child, I coaxed the next generation of monarch butterflies to pollinate this patch next summer.

Inevitably the group would disperse, like the seeds themselves, so Anisa taught us how to call each other without cell phones – we howled! The lesson learned is, first of all, it’s fun to howl like wolves in the wood, and if I can’t hear one wolf, perhaps I can hear another and then know it’s time to return to the sharing circle.

The Camera and Photographer invitation brought to mind technology once more, but soon we learned it only needed the human eye and hand. My partner was Kait Smart. Having just met, we embarked on this trust exercise. She closed her eyes, and I walked her to a textured stump. Then we switched roles and ended up blowing more milkweed.

“Look at this, this is what I see,” Gerry described the perspective gained by taking pictures in pairs. “How often do we get to do that in our daily lives? Maybe I will after this.”

Bridget George and Sally Cordova shared their adventure, too. When you keep your eyes closed, you can still see, Bridget noticed. “There’s always this flickering. Even when Monet’s eyesight left, he could somehow paint the landscape.”

Finding Home

After all, every molecule of the human body is nature. During our Hide and Seek, we went off individually into the deep woods to look for something that’s waiting to be found. Another poem by H.D. lingered on my journey:

shall I lie in the meadows sweet.

escaped,

escaped from the lot

of men,

like a faun in the desert,

like a wind

by the river bank?

again,

again

shall I rest

ecstatic in loneliness,

apart in the haunted forest

For our last final sharing circle, Anisa surprised us. From her photo lens bag came a bamboo mat, a teapot, and ceramic cups. She steeped goldenrod, which stems from the Latin “solidago” meaning solid, as it is used to heal wounds and make them whole. Flourishing in September, it is a pioneer plant that thrives wherever it is sown. Its presence nourishes the soil.

Coming home to ourselves and to each other was the budding theme. Bridget was the last to join the circle but hearing her howls in the distance we knew she grew near. “I went so far into the woods not wanting this to end . . . and I found this perfectly broken beech tree.”

Joanna also found a tree, smooth with two limbs for arms. Sitting in the groove of this tree, she reflected. She felt comforted, calm, home. “I value the playful space between sharing invitations and all the wilderness of nature,” she said. “I needed structure today but also space for the unexpected.”

Sally and I brought back mixed nuts. Beautifully, she shared the phases of life in the form of green and brown chestnuts. My experience was similar. I threw acorns to hear them bounce off the bark of grown trees and returned with a few nutshells, some whole, some broken. This invitation was a mixed bag, I confided in the group. Cradling a white wildflower by the roots, I set an intention to transplant it. So, like fauns in the desert, Joanna led me through gnarled vines, prolific raspberry bushes, and modest granite crystals to her beloved tree. Her temporary home became mine, and then the flower’s.

For future events, visit https://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Forest-Therapy-Meetup-Group/ 

Sienna

“Wind Creek will be focused on becoming good neighbors in Bethlehem”

logoLatest post in a series about Wind Creek Casinologo

Jon Harris, “At grand opening, Wind Creek pledges to reinvest in Bethlehem property. In fact, hotel construction could start in early 2020.” Morning Call, October 10, 2019.

Keeping an eye on Wind Creek. Holding my breath a bit.

Especially this week with the Touchstone Festival, Gadfly has been thinking a lot about Bethlehem’s nature, culture, history, heritage, personality, identity, character — and future.

He doesn’t see a third-of-a-mile-long adventure and water park — once described by Wind Creek something like the “premier destination in the Northeast” — in that future.

Or should he say he doesn’t want to see it in Bethlehem’s future, because it looks like a sure thing.

Wind Creek seems determined.

Looks like it will be here.

Gadfly’s resistance to that reality is visceral not intellectual, not logical.

A waterpark in the No. 2 Machine Shop? Feels like dancing on a grave.

In a way his repulsion is beneath explanation, his own explanation.

And he hears no one else expressing anxiety.

It’s lonely on this limb.

For sure, we don’t want barren brownfields. Given the alternative, we should be glad for the Sands, for Wind Creek. Huge tax money. Lots of Union construction jobs (you are in Gadfly’s head, Councilman Callahan). Visitors pouring dollars into the local economy. 2,360 employees and growing. And Wind Creek throwing money at non-profits. That’s a “good neighbor,” right?

He knows all this.

Why can’t Gadfly be happy? Why so conflicted, so cranky?

Makes no sense.

Gadfly wasn’t Gadfly when we were going through the Sands pregnancy.

He was bothered, but only out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t feel involved.

Now as a toddler-Gadfly he feels involved.

Granted, he’s come to accommodation with the casino. In fact, it’s virtually invisible to him. He’s barely aware of it. It’s not in his world. We don’t bother each other. We co-exist. We live in separate spheres. Alternate realities.

Perhaps the same thing will happen with the hotels and water park.

But it feels like on a mega-scale what he sees too often in front of our City committees on building-scale — an “outside” developer plunking in something for his gain that does not fit our grain.

When Gadfly came to Bethlehem 50 years ago, he was proud that it was known as the home of moral might and technological might.

Strange combination but serious stuff.

And now we might be advertised to the world for a waterpark that is the premier destination in the Northeast.

A playground.

Doesn’t compute.

Gadfly waits for the slap upside the head.

Help him.

Talk him down.

Stage an intervention.

It’s lonely on this limb.

—–

Jon Harris, “At grand opening, Wind Creek pledges to reinvest in Bethlehem property. In fact, hotel construction could start in early 2020.” Morning Call, October 10, 2019.

  • [Wind Creek’s] to-do list . . . includes a proposal to transform the No. 2 Machine Shop via a $250 million infusion and a $90 million plan to build another hotel, with potential for a groundbreaking on the hotel early next year.
  • Those plans have Wind Creek and local officials excited about the 10-year-old property’s future — and they said as much during a grand-opening ceremony on Thursday just outside the casino’s main entrance.
  • “Bethlehem is the jewel of the Lehigh Valley and as Wind Creek thrives, we’ll continue to shine,” state Sen. Lisa Boscola said, adding that she believes the crucial property, built upon what was once the country’s largest brownfield, is in good hands with Wind Creek.
  • Boscola, State Sen. Pat Browne and Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez also reflected on the past, back 15 years ago when it was far from a sure thing that Bethlehem would even allow casino development. Donchez was then a councilman, actually casting the deciding vote to allow the project in the city.
  • “There’s no question in my mind that was the right vote,” Donchez said.
  • But Thursday was more about the future, something ushered in with a tribal dance and song, fireworks, appearances by Emeril Lagasse and Buddy Valastro and a charity-giving contest. In the contest, in which 10 area nonprofits were pre-selected and then the public voted to decide the winner, Wind Creek Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Carr announced Via of the Lehigh Valley as the winner of $25,000. He then announced Wind Creek had decided to give the remaining nine nonprofits a prize of $10,000 each.
  • Tribal Chair Stephanie Bryan said the tribe and Wind Creek will be focused on becoming good neighbors in Bethlehem, planning to build on the legacy Las Vegas Sands Corp. left in the city and to create additional job opportunities beyond the property’s current employment of about 2,360.
  • Arthur Mothershed, Wind Creek’s vice president of business development, said plans are moving along for a 276-room hotel and another 42,000 square feet of meeting space near the existing 282-room hotel. He said Wind Creek believes it can break ground on the hotel shortly after Jan. 1, a project that will take about 14 months to complete.
  • More fluid is the plan to turn the No. 2 Machine Shop, which is a third of a mile long, into a 300,000-square-foot adventure and water park that also would include a roughly 400-room hotel. Mothershed said that, conservatively, Wind Creek is probably eight months away from getting the design to the point where it can think about a groundbreaking.

The Festival’s amazing “Sustainability Forum” for high school students

logoThe latest in a series of posts relating to the environment, Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan, and Bethlehem’s Environmental Advisory Councillogo

Kathy Fox is a member of the Bethlehem Environmental Advisory Council, a co-chair of the Northampton County Council of Democratic Women’s Environmental Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Bethlehem Food Co-op.  Kathy involves herself in positive organizations and activities that foster community, environmental awareness, education, and good health. 

Gadfly:

There were so many wonderful experiences to be had during Festival UnBound. I wish I could have done them all. I wanted to highlight one event that was meaningful to me personally. Touchstone Theatre’s Festival Unbound was about having a conversation about where Bethlehem is going as a community from this time forward. The festival included a Sustainability Forum for high schools students. Students attending Freedom, Liberty, Bethlehem Catholic, Charter Arts, and Moravian Academy had an opportunity to tell the City their opinion on how to make Bethlehem a more sustainable community. 178 students submitted essays, which outlined their individual opinions on the most important way for Bethlehem to be more sustainable.

All of the essays were read by Paul Pierpoint, then the students were invited to attend the Saturday afternoon Sustainability Forum at Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University. Community leaders involved in sustainability and environmental projects were asked to help by facilitating small groups of students, where each student presented his or her idea to their group. Their ideas were summarized on a white board, and the students in each group voted on the one idea their group would present to everyone at the concluding session. The attending parents and interested citizens from Bethlehem were allowed to walk around and visit each group to hear the discussion.

[Here’s a short video of Paul Pierpoint commenting on the student essays at the panel discussion of “Prometheus / Redux.”]

It was an amazing experience for me to listen to the well thought-out, researched, and heartfelt opinions of these young people. Our future depends on us older citizens listening to them and using our decision-making abilities and positions of influence to make effective change to sustain our world for the future generations.

The 178 essays will be bound and given to Mayor Donchez and City Council for them to read, digest, and understand what our city’s youth feel will make our community a better, more sustainable place.

It was an honor to participate as a facilitator at the Forum along with notable and passionately involved members of our community. The other facilitators were Willie Reynolds (City Councilman), Steve Samuelson (PA State Representative), Darlene Heller  City Director of Planning), Don Miles (Sierra Club-Lehigh Valley Chapter and environmental attorney), Bruce Wilson (Lehigh Valley Green Builders), and Karen Beck Pooley (Board member of the Bethlehem Area School District). I was very happy to represent the Bethlehem Food Co-op and the Bethlehem Environmental Advisory Council.

Anne Hills and Reese, a young songwriter from Emmaus High School, started us out and ended our day with original music they composed and sang.

I apologize for not mentioning a couple of key people involved because I cannot remember everyone’s names.

I am grateful every day for the good in Bethlehem.

And thank you Touchstone Theatre for everything you do for the community.

Kathy

The Festival is over, but Gadfly will be posting for a while on the panels and other activities that were part of the Festival. Yes, thank you Touchstone Theatre for everything you do for the community.

Action on the single-use plastic bag ban

(The latest in a series of posts relating to the environment, Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan, and Bethlehem’s Environmental Advisory Council)

Followers know the sad news that our local Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) proposed ban of single-use plastic bags took a hit because of a one-year legislative moratorium in order to study the issue.

At Council tomorrow night Tuesday October 14, however, the City has proposed a resolution supporting passage of the ban:

Plastic Bags Support Resolution-1

Councilman Reynolds — ever aggressive on this issue — is urging the City to even think beyond a legislative ban to effective educational programs to help insure that the goals of a ban are accomplished:

Reynolds Memo Plastic Bag Support Resolution-

Two good ideas!

It’s Monday, October 14, do you know where your local Climate Action Plan is?

City Council meeting tomorrow night Tuesday October 15

Our next City Council meeting — the “face” of Bethlehem City government — occurs tomorrow night Tuesday, October 15, Town Hall, at 7PM.

This meeting is video-recorded and can be viewed LIVE or later at your convenience on the City’s website after the meeting at http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov > Quick Links > City Council Meeting Agendas and Documents.

The YouTube channel for live viewing is “City of Bethlehem Council.”

The City web site is inactive because the new version is still being aborn’d.

So find the agenda here: City Council Agenda 10 15 2019

Of interest to Gadfly followers will be a resolution to support plastic bag regulation. A post on this will follow.

As always, as long as he has flutter in his wings, Gadfly urges attending City Council live or virtually — one way or the other.

Thank you, Touchstone Theatre!

logo52nd in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatrelogo

Festival UnBound closing ceremony Sunday night

Lunch over?

Head into your afternoon with final sights and sound of the Festival.

We had one last exhortation:

“If you really want to make the whole thing right,

you gotta get yourself together,

and get in the fight”

And participants answered last call by enjoying one more dance and clapfest!

Gadfly is exhausted . . .

Thank you Touchstone Theatre!

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

“Make your promise to the future”

logo51st in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatrelogo

Festival UnBound closing ceremony Sunday night

Last night the Payrow Plaza parapet became an altar.

An altar on which Festival participants made a vow to the future.

It’s the lunch hour as Gadfly posts this message and perhaps as you receive it.

A pause in the day.

A good time to renew the vow you made or reflect on one you will now make.

How will you help make this a better community?

“Know that you are not powerless.”

  • “Now we are going to have an opportunity to light our candles.”
  • “And this is an opportunity for you to make a promise to yourself and to this community about what physical actual step you are going to take in this next year.”
  • “Maybe it’s inviting your neighbor over for dinner.”
  • “Maybe it’s making sure everybody votes.”
  • “Maybe it’s helping in a soup kitchen.”
  • “It’s whatever moves you that you know will help make this a better community.”
  • “And once you have thought about what your step is going to be . . . we invite you to come over and look at the City of Bethlehem, South Bethlehem, raise your candle high, make your promise, make your promise to the future, and then plant your candle in the sand.”

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

“Have the courage to cultivate this beloved community!”

logo50th in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatrelogo

Festival UnBound closing ceremony Sunday night

What Gadfly has presented to you earlier this morning was antic, joyful prelude.

Now we approach the rousing heart of the Festival; now we tap the serious spiritual energy and passion that fueled this 10-day act of community Love.

Here the ensemble comes together to celebrate Bethlehem’s past, present, and future.

  • “We discovered something special here in Bethlehem.”
  • “A future where our most cherished hopes and dreams can become a reality.”
  • “If it’s your dream, well then there’s no room for failure.”
  • “We showed the world it could be done.”
  • “There is a wealth of untapped talent from the Black community.”
  • “People here have a sense of community.”
  • “There’s a lot of fight in these people. These are tough people.”
  • “If we get knocked on the ground, we can get back up again.”
  • “We see a future in which our warriors return home to find, connection, empathy, and community.”
  • ‘We must support one another if we are to survive and flourish.”
  • “Here’s to the way kitchens and food bring us together. . . [sharing] our history, our heritage, and our hopes.”
  • “Know that you are not powerless.”
  • “Do not give in to fear.”
  • “Our love for this community . . . fired up!”
  • “We are not just community, we are family.”
  • “Ever the realist! Ever the idealist! The world needs us both!”
  • “Here’s to knowing you are a rich resource.”
  • “We mustn’t abandon the promise of equality.”
  • “If we stick together, I know we’ll all be alright.”
  • “Remember this, all voices should be included and at the table in envisioning the forward movement.”
  • “Life is simply wonderful when you are in Bethlehem.”
  • “Have the courage to cultivate this beloved community.”
  • “This isn’t the end of the conversation — not by a longshot!”
  • “Look around you. Everyone around you has ideas, everyone around you has dreams, everyone around you wants it to work better.”
  • “Everyone around you has a story, let’s listen.”
  • “We don’t have much choice but to go into what’s next — TOGETHER!”

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

A Festival goal: “a sense of ‘we’ that we have never accomplished before”

logo46th in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatrelogo

Eagles game over!
Time to roll on up, down, or over to Payrow Plaza at 5:30 for the Closing Ceremony!
If you don’t, you are missing something truly historic.
Your grandkids’ grandkids are going to want to know you were there.

What is the phenomenally ambitious Festival UnBound trying to accomplish? People have been asking the Gadfly that all week. Here’s Festival Wizard Bill George taking on that topic impromptu-fashion addressing the panel after a performance of “Prometheus / Redux.”

  • “There were three primary themes to this Festival. One is the interconnectedness of all things. The second is diversity and the promise and challenge of diversity. The third is the importance of our youth.”
  • “And this piece [“Prometheus / Redux”] was intended to land in the center of the problem of the fact that we are much more aware how everything is connected.”
  • “So whether you’re talking about planning, land use, agriculture, and apartment costs, and the effect on race, and gentrification, racism, or the thing that’s happening between men and women in our community — this churning, churning, churning that’s going on, and we’re aware that everything’s connected to everything else.”
  • “All of those conversations I had, everyone was aware that our institutions seemed to be inadequate to deal with the challenges that we were facing — that our politics is based on competition, who gets to beat the other guy, and then you win, winner takes all, instead of cooperation. Our economics based on bottom line, and if it doesn’t make money, you know, pow, short-term very often.”
  • “How are we going to get to where we need to go?”
  • “I don’t think we really can answer that in any definitive way, other than, in the play  . . . stand close to each other, which is what we are doing now, and then share, take the time to listen, have that meal, believe, just like Olga was saying, the Mayor’s not going to do it for us.”
  • “You know, nobody’s coming to save us, which is a beautiful novel by Stephanie Powell Watts, nobody is coming to save us. We’re going to have to do this.”
  • “We in a sense of ‘we’ that we have never accomplished before.”

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Startling appearance on Main St.!

logoThe Gadfly invites “local color” photos of this sortlogo

Moravian 1Moravian 2

 

Moravian 3

 

 

A giant rat taking a knee.

That might start a revolution.

 

 

 

The contributor is known to Gadfly but prefers to remain anonymous.

 

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

What would you like to see on the 700 block of N. New?

logo14th in a series of posts about 11 and 15 W. Garrison St.logo

Garrison St.

So this particular case for rezoning is dead.

But there will be new construction of the entire 700 block of N. New St.

Keep in mind the rendering pictured above presented to Council for the rezoning considerations.

Is that or something like it what we would like to see there on the 700 block of N. New St.?

There can be a couple ways to approach answering that question.

First of all, Councilwoman Crampsie Smith’s comments that we talked about last time invite us to ask if apartments are the most desirable way to go.

A good question.

Several days ago, for instance, Dana Grubb made this apropos comment on a post here on Gadfly: “We certainly don’t need more rental units in Bethlehem at the moment with everything proposed. . . . A row of townhouses/condos that offer home ownership opportunities is much more preferable for this location in my opinion. It maintains and adds to the existing residential streetscape.”

And remember that Councilman Reynolds seemed to say that whatever we get there from this owner, it will mean more feet on the street.

So, how about a row of townhouses on the 700 N. New block.?

Gadfly wonders how many there could be in that space.

And is there a Green Eye-Shade follower savvy enough to provide even ballpark figures on the difference to the owner in income and to the City in taxes if townhouses were constructed instead of a mixed use retail/residential building with 70 apartment units?

Gadfly is channeling Councilwoman Van Wirt — He needs data!!!!

Second, if we are to have something close to the mixed use retail/residential building with 70 apartment units as proposed and rendered above, does it have to look like THAT!

Another good question, Gadfly thinks.

Gadfly wants to go back and revisit the 4-part series of posts on thoughtful planning by Kim Carrell-Smith (beginning here) and think about architecture that is blended in rather than stuck in.

And that would be for the Townhouses and/or the retail/residential building.

Gadfly listens to the public voices — and absorbs them.

Here he’s channeling Mr. Vergilio at the September 17 meeting.

How does the building proposed in the rendering fit in the neighborhood?

To Gadfly, it doesn’t.

To Gadfly it looks rather conventional, something that would be functional almost anywhere, but not special, not unique to Bethlehem.

Gadfly multi-channels.

He’s also haunted by this comment by Dan Church from a month ago as well:

“Yet my distress is construction of an apartment block that seems more likely to mirror a mini cruise ship than iconic architecture: entirely inappropriate for such impact. (But the city has no jurisdiction over architectural style.)”

The city has no jurisdiction over architectural style.

A while back Gadfly asked, “Who’s in charge of beauty in Bethlehem?”

Are we dependent on the kindness of strangers?

 

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

As the Festival closes, “Let’s celebrate new life today!”

logo45th in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatrelogo

Meet the day with the beckoning chant from “Prometheus / Redux”

Let’s celebrate

new life today

in Bethlehem

See you at the Ceremony?

Perhaps at the meal beforehand?

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How to Festival UnBound
——

Touchstone 1

Festival 13

click here to get hot links for Sunday’s events listed above

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Gadfly gets garrulous on Garrison

logo(13th in a series of posts about 11 and 15 W. Garrison St.)logo

Herewith and hereunder the Gadfly reflects on the Garrison case, which provides much food for thought.

  • Whether public testimony matters is always a question. Gadfly knows some followers think it is like pee-ing in the wind. Ye of little faith. The neighborhood turn-out here made a difference. Not just numbers but the quality of the testimony. High-quality testimony. These were clearly good people. Undeniable to all Council members. Mixture of reason and emotion. Effective specific examples of neighborhood culture. Neighborhood past “history” was meaningful context. They communicated a sense of community specialness — “something’s happening here,” like the song says. Council was listening; that’s not always the case with City bodies and agencies. And here Gadfly is just wondering outloud — he wonders if public testimony is more likely to have effect before Council (elected officials) than, say, the Planning or Zoning Boards (appointed members).

 

  • Interestingly, the “yes” votes here (BC, MC, AW) each highlighted the good character of the petitioner. The way he presented himself weighed heavily in the rationales for their decisions. They were clear and vocal about that. Character, not quality of work, for there is no history of the latter by the petitioner on which to judge. But the words and demeanor of the petitioner generated trust that he was collaborative, had a good heart, believed in community, would keep his promises. Frankly, Gadfly has not been a subscriber to the “Trust the Developer” attitude — more “Trust but verify.”  But he had to admit that the petitioner’s approach here seemed natural, genuine, not a put-on. So, on the surface anyway, this was not obviously a classic good guy v. bad guy confrontation. Gadfly is not surprised that several councilmembers responded favorably.

 

  • Beyond the character rationale, the “yes” argument that an influx of apartment dwellers would happily give Garrison residents more people to grow their positive neighborhood culture with did not seem forceful at all (AW). It fact it seems very strained. Their contiguity (good SAT word) would not at all be the same as house to house. The argument that if you like something, you’ll like more of it is not logical. Proper scale is crucial to forming bonds. One doesn’t readily think of apartment complexes as communities/neighborhoods. People who are the cause of parking woes, increased traffic, danger to kids, and so forth are not likely to be seen as neighbor material even for the sake of argument.

 

  • While most of the “no” votes might have agreed with the “yeses” about the good character of the developer, however, they did not feel that he made the case that he absolutely needed that 18% of the space rezoned to do the project. It was not clear that denying the rezoning for the sake of safeguarding a neighborhood would scuttle or restrict the project. So the “no’s” had “hard” reasons for denial as well as the fact that there was no sense of acute hardship for the petitioner. The “no” votes were not acting totally on sentiment. The petitioner failed to make a definitive need for those two parcels, rather than he simply planned the new building rendering with them gone from the get-go. Needing more emphasis were questions like: what would not be possible, what would have to change if the rezoning was denied?

 

  • BC and JWR — especially BC — provided the tonic of realism. Neighbors, you gotta realize that the petitioner is in the driver’s seat here: you may “win” this rezoning but still get a project that you won’t like. Thus, if you win, you may lose. BC recognized that he was swimming against the strong emotional tide in the room, but he bravely kept breasting the waves (how did Gadfly get stuck in this metaphor?). He kept listing unpleasant but possible scenarios in the face of audience groans. For the purpose of asking the residents to have full knowledge of the consequences of their actions. But for what reason was BC doing this? Compromise. Interesting.

 

  • Compromise. Here for Gadfly is the most striking and surprising aspect of the deliberation discussion. Each of the “yes” voters envisioned compromise, “a plan that all of you would like,” a plan that BC even volunteered to broker. That’s a first for Gadfly. Maybe old timers will know of other such examples of direct negotiation brokered by Council that they can share with us. Gadfly wishes that the petition was not withdrawn for the simple curiosity of seeing how such a process might play out. If there was unselfish good will on both sides  — we are not the Middle East, after all — could an equitable and agreeable settlement be worked out? That would be a happy outcome. Gadfly had not seen Council or a Council member take the active step of being a go-between before.

 

  • Another nice surprise: the main basis for newcomer GCS’s “no.” Her refreshing and almost revolutionary stance favoring a cluster of old homes over a cluster of new apartments was rooted both in a sense of history/a sense of Bethlehem culture, ratified by the beliefs of her constituents — and contrary to City policy. It was an example of fresh, independent thought. Nobody else put this rather small rather insignificant specific decision into such a large meaningful framework. She had some reservations about aspects of the new apartments, but a time-honored Bethlehem ideal of home ownership trumped everything. Garrison St. was “us.” Gadfly liked that thinking.

 

  • JWR, though he voted “no,” articulated what should have been the “yeses” lead argument: the businesses want more people on Broad Street. Gadfly perked up at that. But JWR did not seem especially greedy for large numbers like the 70-some apartments the petitioner planned. JWR recognized that whatever decision was made in the instant case would put more feet on the street. That seemed to satisfy him and made the two Garrison St. parcels not so crucial to the important goal of the City/business community.

 

  • JWR has a delightful nerdy streak. He teased giving us a history of zoning. Gadfly was hungry for it. But he teased also that some (many?) of the arguments advanced against the rezoning on Garrison were not appropriate at a Zoning hearing like this — implying, I guess, that they were more applicable to some other occasion, perhaps like a Planning Commission hearing. JWR exposed Gadfly’s great ignorance. He has recognized that ignorance and modestly proposed that the City enlighten us all about the approval processes in the development area by providing a kind of tutorial — that is, following a generic proposal from inception through the train of hoops and approvals necessary before construction begins. That would be awesome. In the meantime, Gadfly wishes he knew what exactly was on JWR’s mind making that statement. A lot of balls were thrown into the air in testimony. JWR, just perhaps for fellow nerds like me, what in your view should have been the narrow foci relating to this rather circumscribed petition? For instance, was safety of kids extraneous testimony in your opinion? Or parking? Gadfly swears, the process is a bit mystical to him. Gadfly feels he needs a better understanding of the process in order to recognize the “sweet spots” at which to aim arguments at each step along the way.

Now this list of reflections has grown legs and is already too long. So Gadfly will save his climactic thoughts — where all of this has been heading — till next time. The better to focus.

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

“Yeah, we look ahead as a new day dawns” : great Saturday spirit with which to Festival

logo(44th in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatre)logo

Folksinger Ann Hills’ original song (video and lyrics here) performed on the Greenway at the Opening and last night at “Poets, Troubadors, and Troublemakers” gets us going this morning.

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How to Festival UnBound
——

Touchstone 1

Festival 11
Festival 12

click here to get hot links for Saturday’s events listed above

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

What is the big difference between then and now?

logo(Latest in a series of posts about Neighborhoods)logo

Gadfly:

As Deputy Director of Community Development, I would attend neighborhood blockwatch meetings regularly along with then Chief Housing Inspector Mike Palos. By our presence we were able to tackle issues before they become big problems, and we could channel matters to other departments the day after attending these meetings. What is the big difference between then and now? I lived in Bethlehem all of my life and treated people as if I was living next door to them. Mike, although living in a nearby municipality, had grown up in Bethlehem’s southside and lived here for many years after until moving before he became a city official. Nowadays, many of the non city residents working in city hall don’t want to be bothered!

Residents knew our families, and we knew theirs. It was about service first. Sadly that concept has been lost.

Dana Grubb

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Tonight: “A great chance to create, collaborate and celebrate this vibrant community”

logo(43rd in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatre)logo

Here’s Gadfly’s Friday destination. There’s lots going on. Where will you be heading?

Hills

Anne Hills at the Festival Opening, click here to listen

Poets, Troubadours and Troublemakers
http://festivalunbound.com/poets-troubadours-and-troublemakers/

For “Poets, Troubadours, and Troublemakers,” songwriter Anne Hills, a Bethlehem native, led bi-weekly songwriting workshops at Godfrey Daniels started in January and featured master classes on a broad diversity of styles from hip-hop to ballads.

The classes included visits by artists including John Gorka, Erin McKeown, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche, Tish Hinojosa and David Roth. Participants also had workshops with Lehigh Valley artists Alex Radus, Dierdre Van Walters and Jack Murray.

The songwriters — Amanda Penecale, Andrew Dunn, Katherine Rondeau and Rhys Williams — along with Hills and Radus recorded a CD of their original songs that will be sold at the concerts.

“Since I moved to Bethlehem 32 years ago, I have found love and support from our artistic community,” Hills says. “Festival Unbound’s Poets, Troubadours & Troublemakers has offered me another great chance to create, collaborate and celebrate this vibrant community.”

Original songs will be featured in the closing ceremonies of Festival UnBound at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Payrow Plaza.

Friday, October 11 – 8:00-9:30p (@ Godfrey Daniels | 7 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA) *Panel discussion follows performance

Godfrey Daniels | 7 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA

PRICE: $15; limited amount of Pay What You Will tickets for purchase; please call 610-867-1689 to order.

 

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Widening the Watch

logo(Latest in a series of posts about Neighborhoods)logo

Gadfly:

I think we need real neighborhood associations. Although every one can be different, the “block watch” idea is focused on police matters of safety, crime, and maybe traffic. How about land use, zoning, code enforcement, and so on?

Peter Crownfield

At the Moravian Block Watch Officer Buskirk offered himself as a kind of conduit to other City agencies, but wouldn’t it be a good idea if other City officials attended such meetings?

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Fuel up for Festival Friday!

logo(42nd in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatre)logo

Gadfly followers, can you clap while you brush your teeth??? Well, that’s what you’ll try to do while listening to this wake-up call from the pop-up singers on the Greenway at the Festival opening last Friday! Keep the rousing spirit of the opening alive as we head into the finale weekend!

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How to Festival UnBound
——

Touchstone 1

Festival 10

click here to get hot links for Friday’s events listed above

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Have concerns about the quality of life in your neighborhood? Go to a Block Watch

(Latest in a series of posts about Neighborhoods)

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Block watching: a project dear to Gadfly’s heart!

On October 2 Councilpersons Reynolds and Crampsie Smith — doing the Lord’s work — met with Bethlehem officer Buskirk and Moravian Chief of Police Blake and a dozen residents at the Moravian Block Watch.

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Grace ran off to the Rosemont Block Watch before Gadfly could get a picture.

Grace and Katie Reagan coordinate this Moravian Block Watch, which will meet first Wednesdays of the month in the UBC room of the HUB on Moravian campus.

Gadfly would love to hear from other block watches and receive and distribute reports of what’s going on.

 

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13