And so the countdown begins for the Free Library's Living Library event, to take place on Wednesday, June 20, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 108 of Parkway Central! To whet your appetites for what is sure to be an amazing evening, we would like to introduce you to two more of our lovely participants: Kendra Greaves and Roy Kaiser, both of whom are very active participants in Philadelphia's vibrant performing arts scene!

Kendra is an internationally renowned aerialist and circus artist who specializes in corde lisse (vertical rope), tissu, and doubles trapeze. She became involved in circus and aerial work in 2003 but began her athletic and performance career at the age of four, when she started to compete on a synchronized swim team. Her efforts in the swimming pool led her to attain a high national ranking for four years and also gave rise to her subsequent participation in speed swimming, horseback riding, and fencing. Since entering the aerial and circus arenas in 2003, Kendra has performed on five continents and taught and trained all over the world. She most recently performed as a triple-trapeze aerialist in Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. 

Roy Kaiser joined the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1979 and was later promoted to Soloist and Principal Dancer, performing nearly all of the principal male roles in the Company's classical repertoire. In 1987, he was appointed Assistant Ballet Master and was named Ballet Master when he retired from performing in 1992. In October of 1993, he was named Associate Artistic Director of the Company and was ultimately named its Artistic Director in February of 1995. During his tenure as Artistic Director, the company has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on several occasions, including as part of the Center's Ballet Across America program in June 2008, which focused on the depth and history of American ballet via performances by nine companies from across the country. He also oversaw the Company's international debut at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2005, where it performed the 40th anniversary commission of Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake. 

Interested in hearing more from Kendra or Roy? Stop by our Living Library and check out their stories for yourself! See bios of all of our participants in our Flickr set and see previous sneak previews at freelibrary.org/livinglibrary!

Tags: Living Library

The Free Library's Living Library event will take place on Wednesday, June 20 in Room 108 of the Parkway Central branch from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. During that time, human "books" will be available to be checked out by interested attendees during three different, 15-minute "reading periods." During these sessions, the reader and book can engage each other in conversation about the book's particular stories and plots.

Ever wondered what it's like to work as a homicide detective for the City of Philadelphia? Ask Tim Scally, who will be offering up his story in our living library! One of seven children, Tim grew up in the Andorra and Roxborough neighborhoods of Philadelphia and was part of the second class of employees hired to work for the Center City District. During his time with the Center City District, Tim became an outreach worker for the homeless and ultimately became the supervisor of the Homeless Outreach program. It was while working with the Philadelphia Police Department during his time with the Center City District that Tim decided to enter the Police Academy, from which he graduated in 1995. After graduation, Tim worked in North Philadelphia's 23rd Police District before being assigned to the city's Central Detective Division in 2002. In 2006, he transferred to the Homicide Unit, where he has investigated over 400 homicides and received the Heroism Award for his work there.

Bill Clark, the Executive Director of Philabundance, was also born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School before embarking on a career in the food industry, including his ownership of WJ Clark and Co., a producer of wild rice, natural licorice, and mushroom products. Bill returned to Philadelphia to serve as the Executive Director of Philabundance in 2001. In 2005, he supervised the incorporation of the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank and Philabundance, which increased the organizations' total food distribution from 10 million to 25 million pounds. Thanks to his efforts, Philabundance now provides a full plate of services to close to 500 member agencies in 9 counties, who serve approximately 65,000 people per week.

Interested in learning more about Tim and/or Bill? Stop by the Living Library on June 20! Take a peek at all of our participants and read their stories on Flickr and read more sneak previews at freelibrary.org/livinglibrary!

Tags: Living Library

The Free Library's Living Library event, to be held on Wednesday, June 20, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in Parkway Central's Room 108, promises to bring together people from all walks of life to share their stories with interested library patrons. As covered in previous blog posts, a pilot from US Airways; the founder of Philadelphia Photo Arts Center; the Farmer Educator at the Urban Nutrition Initiative; and the CEO of Generations On Line will be available to share their stories with you. For those of you who are more scientifically-minded, fear not; the two women profiled today will also be in attendance to answer all of your questions regarding green water management and the intriguing relationships among smell, taste, and human health, respectively.

Jessica Brooks, PE, is the Manager of the Green Stormwater Infrastructure Planning and Design Coordination Group at the Philadelphia Water Department. Throughout her career, Ms. Brooks has applied her engineering background to a wide range of water resource protection projects from the city block up to the watershed scale. Her primary focus at PWD is developing the Green Stormwater Infrastructure Program, where she designs decentralized, vegetated stormwater management systems that can be integrated into the urban landscape. Ms. Brooks also collaborates with other City departments, community groups, and non-profit agencies to enhance green stormwater infrastructure designs included in a variety of sites, such as streetscaping and park improvement projects. Jessica received her Bachelor’s of Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her Masters of Engineering from Northeastern University.

Beverly Cowart, Ph.D., is a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. As a graduate student studying linguistic development, she stumbled into the world of smell and taste through the serendipitous offer of a position to conduct research on the early development of taste at the National Institutes of Health. She joined the prestigious Monell Center in 1983, and for 25 years has served as Director of its Chemosensory Clinical Research Program, which focuses on developing a deeper understanding of taste and smell disorders. She is passionate about community service and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the University City Hospitality Coalition, which provides direct support services, including meals and medical, legal and dental assistance, to the hungry and homeless in West Philadelphia.

To see bios for all of the participants currently slated to serve as human "books" for the Living Library event, check out our budding card catalog on Flickr. The evening is slated to be divvied up into three 15-minute "reading" sessions, so make sure to preview the books available before heading over! First come, first served!

Tags: Living Library

Happy post-Memorial Day short week, everyone! With summer blazing forth in all of its glory, you might be contemplating a trip to different climes. Wonder what it's like traversing the open skies on a regular basis? Come to the Free Library's "Living Library" event on Wednesday, June 20 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. and talk with Ben Davis, an airline pilot who flies out of Philadelphia's International Airport! Before becoming a commercial pilot, Mr. Davis also served in the Navy and worked as a flight instructor in California. Interested in hearing more about his various adventures aloft? Come and ask him!

Vacations (and summers in general) are always ripe for photographic documentation, be it commemorative or slightly embarrassing. Sarah Stolfa is an acclaimed photographer whose series of photographs of patrons at McGlinchey's Bar won The New York Times' Photography Contest for College Students in 2004. In addition to the Times award, Stolfa has also won the Noah Addis Photojournalism Award, an award for Artistic Excellence in the Perkins Center Photograph Competition, the Alice Kimball Traveling Fellowship and the Rankin-Epstein Distinguished Alumnus Award. Artisan books published Stolfa’s work, The Regulars, in June 2009. Stop by and ask Sarah about her photographic exploits or her current position as the Executive Director and Founder of the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center!

For those of you who are just becoming aware of this exciting event, a description: Discover more about the lives of those around you at the Free Library's first "Living Library" event, which will take place at the Parkway Central branch on Wednesday, June 20 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. During this special evening, human "books" will be available for three 15 minute "reading" periods wherein they can be claimed by patrons interested in learning more about their particular stories. Attendees can ask the books questions about their lives, careers, passions, and interests; the President and Director of the Free Library, the Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Ballet, and many more!

Tags: Living Library

Happy Tuesday, everyone! In case you haven't heard already, Parkway Central is planning a sure-to-be-amazing Living Library event for Wednesday, June 20. In anticipation of this exciting evening, we'll be introducing some of the human "books" that will be available to be "checked out" right here on the Free Library's blog! Today, we'd like to introduce two of Philadelphia's activist movers-and-shakers: Chris Bolden-Newsome and Tobey Gordon Dichter.

Describing himself and his lifelong dedication to food justice, Chris writes: "I grew up in an active social justice household, the oldest son of small scale organic farmers and food sovereignty organizers Demalda Bolden-Newsome and Rufus Newsome, Sr. The Bolden-Newsome family comes from the Mississippi Delta though my parents currently farm in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have been involved in community organizing and education since the age of 13, first as a teacher’s assistant in ESL programming in and later through his involvement in issues of immigrants’ rights, all in the southwest. I worked for five years in HIV Prevention and Public Health education as an outreach educator in low wealth and difficult -to- access communities of color in Dallas, Texas and later in Washington, DC with city and community based agencies. Always fascinated by growing food, I got involved in food justice initially in Washington, DC by starting backyard gardens while studying anthropology at Howard University beginning in 2001. Over the years, I have worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my family's farm, neighborhood, and tribal entities to increase access and food awareness in the low wealth communities of color in the Tulsa area. In late 2008, I moved to Philadelphia where I directed the Seeds for Learning Farm program for students at Martin Luther King High School. Currently I advocate for community sovereignty as the Farmer Educator for the Urban Nutrition Initiative,the youth Food Justice Farm program of the University of Pennsylvania at Bartram's Gardens."

Tobey Gordon Dichter began working in media and communications at Glaxo SmithKline Beecham Healthcare Services, where she eventually became Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs. She founded the national SmithKline Beecham Drug Testing Index used by industry, media, and government and has received several awards for her work in communications, including a regional Emmy, the Gold Quill from the International Association of Business Communicators, and the Sarah Award from Women in Communications. She began a personal study of the digital divide and its impact on the nation's senior population in 1996 and by 1999 recognized that the Internet could be a fantastic place for multigenerational communications or a means by which seniors could become further marginalized from the increasingly fast-moving society surrounding them. To combat Internet illiteracy within this population, Ms. Dichter launched Generations On Line in 1999 with the stated goal of "enhancing communication among generations by promoting Internet access and literacy to elders" by "foster[ing] and promot[ing] Internet literacy, access and skills to the elderly; overcom[ing] older persons' fear and reluctance of new, electronic media; and stimulat[ing] and encourag[ing] communication and exchange of ideas among generations." She also serves as the Chair of the Free Library Foundation's Board of Directors and is a longtime advocate for the Library and the services it provides to Philadelphians of all ages.

Intrigued by these stories? Come to Parkway Central's Living Library on Wednesday, June 20, and ask Chris and Tobey about their lives yourself!

Tags: Living Library