Meet Noa Eagles, one of the McBride scholars at Bryn Mawr College

By Devanshi Vaid

Noa Eagles is more than just your average Bryn Mawr student. A junior in college, she also happens to be a full-time wife, a mother to a four-year-old boy, and an expecting mother to a child due to be born in July.

None of this would be apparent from just a glance at her though.

On this day, she is dressed in a grey, full-sleeved Bryn Mawr hoodie and skinny jeans, with her arms adorned in bracelets and the occasional tattoo. This is matched with her wide, free smile that she wears on a regular basis. In passing, she appears to be just another student, though a little bit older.

Eagles, 33, is originally from Lancaster Pa. She is currently living in Havertown Pa. with her husband Patrick and son, Logan. Along with being a commuter student, she is one of the 20 McBride students at Bryn Mawr.

The McBride program is designed to give students of “non-traditional age” — they must be above 24 years of age to apply for the program — a second chance at college if for some reason they were unable to attend or complete their college education following high school. The program resembles a scholarship program and students are eligible for funding to help them pay the costs of attending the elite college.

The program, while helpful in the purpose it serves, was not always this way. Eagles said it was originally designed to cater towards “rich Main Line women who had nothing to do with their time.” When it was started, it was a source of financial gain for the college. Much has changed since then – the program now works as a source of funding and support – reaching out to women who need it more, and helping them do what it takes to both attend and graduate from Bryn Mawr.

The change in the program was met with a similar change in the number of McBrides that were admitted every year – the trend over the last few years is that five McBrides have been accepted into Bryn Mawr every year. Eagles isn’t complaining about the smaller numbers, as far as she can see, the smaller number allows for each of them to get a lot more individual attention and support – which goes a long way.

When describing her fellow McBride Scholars, Eagles said, “We all have stories to tell, we all have had some sort of interruption in our lives that didn’t allow us to go directly from high school to college. But at the same time, we’re all diverse – our stories tie us together but also highlight what makes us unique.” She paused to grin, her eyes gleaming, and continued, “We’re all fucking brilliant.”

Eagles knows about stories. Her own is an indicator of her determination and strength.

In high school Eagles had applied and been accepted into Millersville University. Following her graduation however, at age 17, she decided not to attend the college and chose instead to move out of her house and gain her independence. She lived downtown and worked for a while. Soon after, she was enrolled in Harrisburg community college and had a job working as a rehabilitation agent in a halfway house for people who had just released from mental health institutions.

She was forced to stop working and drop out of college a little while later – causing the largest and longest break in her schooling. She was hospitalized for an eating disorder that she had been battling with since she was 10 years old. Eagles when talking about her disorder, said “It almost killed me several times… I was constantly in and out of hospitals. I had a heart attack when I was 19.”

She battled with her disorder until she was 26 years old. And then she found psychodrama. Continue reading →

Tom Donnelly of Haverford College is one of the winningest coaches in the world of running

By Erin Seglem

Tom Donnelly talks quickly, rattling off a long list of distances and times. “They’re gonna run the bus route first,” he says. Then stops, squinting a little bit, “Do you know what the bus route is?” Immediately, he grabs a pen and paper, laying the pad out on his desk. He starts to draw. As he explains the route his runners will be taking as part of the day’s interval work out, his crisp voice picks up speed. It’s easy for him to envision the familiar course. He has, after all, been coaching these kinds of workouts since 1975.

Donnelly, 60, has been the men’s track and cross-country coach at Haverford College, a 1200 student Division III liberal arts school in suburban Philadelphia, for the last 37 years.

Coach Tom Donnelly

He has coached his team to countess conference championships, and helped 132 men achieve All-American status between track and cross-country. Twenty-five of his runners have also taken home individual national championships. In 2011, the Haverford men, also called “The Goats,” took the Centennial Conference Championships by storm. Along the side of the course, a runner from Dickinson college, which is Haverford’s chief conference rival, held up a homemade sign: “This year, 12% of the Centennial Conference has 83% of the championships. OCCUPY HAVERFORD.” The timely sentiment was true. Every year, other Centennial conference teams work to bring down the small but mighty college but they rarely succeed. This year, the Goats defended their championship title with both the individual and team championship. Donnelly was also awarded coach of the year.

While Donnelly rattles off the times and short distance “pick ups” included in “the bus route,” a short, car-free loop that goes through parts of Haverford and Ardmore, he leans back in his chair. For a second, his head is framed by a dozen all-American certificates. In fact, the white walls of his office are heavily decorated by All-American and championship certificates. None of them, however, say, “Tom Donnelly.” Over the last several decades, Donnelly has collected multiple “Coach of the Year” awards too, from the conference, regional and national levels. None of those trophies are within view.

“You will never see one Coach of the year trophy,” said Brian Sokas, a sophomore Goat. “Yeah,” another, Jeff Duncan, class of 2015, adds, “he throws them away.”

Though Donnelly happily talks about his childhood, one would never realize all of the success the coach had as a runner at Villanova University in the mid to late 1960s. He is a local kid. He grew up in the Olney section of Philadelphia and his father was a roofer. He went to La Salle High School and before attending Villanova. Recruited to run, he was a multi-time all-American and ran on national championship teams. When his college career is mentioned he quickly brushes it off, “Nah,” he waves a hand, “I wasn’t that good. I just ran with good guys.” Donnelly has retained that sense of modesty. According to legend, in 2001, the same day that J.B. Haglund, Haverford, class of 2002, took 1st at the National Cross country championships, Donnelly took his coach of the year award and tossed it into the Mississippi River. Donnelly would always prefer to talk about his athletes’ successes, rather than his own. “A coach is only one person,” he says. Continue reading →

What is the Solidarity Economy? Read on to find out

By Molly Minden

He once smuggled arms into Georgia. Accidentally. He has done teach-ins at the current Occupy Movement. As a grad student at Duke, he participated in sit-ins against sweat-shop labor.

His name is Craig Borowiak and he is a political science professor at Haverford College.

“As an activist but also as a scholar, the phenomenon of the anti sweatshop movement is fascinating to me” he said.

A small wiry man with grey-blue eyes, he sat at the head of his desk and gently folded his hands together in thought. His desk was covered in stack of paper and folders. Leaflets about international study and global governance floated around in the piles.

His walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves about democracy and globalization and social movements. Books about ecovillages and cooperatives and accountability stacked up against the shelves. The huge text right in front of him read “Government and Climate Change.”

Behind him hung finger painting with red and purple dots on yellow paper. On the shelf beside it sat a picture of a beaming woman with wavy black hair and thin lips. Borowiak’s life partner, Nilgun Uygun, teaches anthropology at Haverford. In the picture, she clasped her arms around a grinning child, also with dark hair and dark eyes- their eight year old son. The three of them live on Haverford’s campus.

In his early forties, Borowiak is an associate professor. But he doesn’t research William Faulkner’s metaphorical articulation or the politics of the Carter administration. His work is rooted in the here and now.

Borowiak didn’t even know what the Solidarity Economy was until five years ago. He thought it meant simply paying people well and treating people well.

He was interested so he started studying it. He discovered many different definitions, but all with the core idea of people over profit.

He started mapping out where the solidarity economy was in Philadelphia. The point was to see that it existed. In Philadelphia alone he mapped over two-hundred solidarity economy organizations onto his research website.

For him, it is a presence to be reckoned with.

Yet it’s still a hard movement to define.

“There is no single definition,” said Borowiak.

In Brazil, the definition is different than Canada. In Argentina, the definition is different than in the United States.

But Borowiak’s map includes everything from artist and childcare cooperatives to community development companies. They are organizations that work outside traditional capitalism.

Soon, the online map will use open-source software that anyone can edit and contribute to. This software is about collaboration, not competition. The software itself is part of the solidarity economy.

Since Borowiak started this project, a global mapping initiative of the solidarity economy has also emerged. Borowiak pulled out a pamphlet with a world map on it. Color coded dots marked the solidarity economy around the world, from food coops to community land trusts. Continue reading →

Four stories about people and places outside of the Bryn Mawr-Haverford community:

Samara Ahmed, who covers the Muslim community, offers a prfile of the Masjid Makkah, a mosque that has operated in a poor section of North Philadelphia since 1962.

Rebecca Shaw, whose beat is literary Philadelphia, tells the tale of Children’s Book World, a bookstore in Haverford that has survived the forces that have closed so many other bookstores in the region.

Ben Porten, who covers music, has a profile ofan amazing young man named Tyree Dumas, an inner-city guy who uses music and dance to keep young black males in school.

Bianca Heyward, whose beat is fashion, has a profile of a rising star in the fashion world: shoe designer Stacey Howard.

The Maskid Makkah has served its community since 1962

By Samara Ahmed

Drive down West Susquehanna Avenue in North Philadelphia and you will see stores and restaurants with counters protected by thick walls of bulletproof plexiglass, neglected lots, and lines of rowhouses with painted white columns. Go a little further, and you will come across, a tall, mint-green building that sticks out in this neighborhood.

This is the home of Masjid Makkah, an anchor for North Philadelphia Muslims since 1962.

The Masjid is one of the oldest and biggest orthodox mosques in the area, offering 5 daily prayers, and weekend classes on Islamic studies. It has the capacity to hold over 700 people and serves as a religious and social center in the region, drawing around 350 people each week during Salaat-ul-Jumma, or Friday prayer.

Sister Ayesha Begum, an unassuming woman with light skin and a no-nonsense attitude, established the Hyderabad House Inc., a non-profit organization that, in its mission statement, describes itself like “other Muslim organizations involved in community work, with greater emphasis in education and establishing prayers among the communities.”

The Masjid Makkah

The Hyderabad House Inc. operates the masjid, and also publishes a newspaper called the Hyderabad Times, as well as an International Almanac. Sister Begum is best known for publishing a facsimile reproduction of the ‘Uthmna Dzu-Nurain,’ from the manuscript of Caliph Sayidina, containing Surah-Yasin, one of the most frequently read chapters of the Qur’an.

Today, she is sitting in the lobby, reading from a book when an African-American man in a dirty yellow windbreaker and light blue jeans enters the masjid, slamming the door behind him.

“I don’t know where the Imam is, this the first time I’ve been here, but the brother gave me $2.00 and fifty cent. I’m trying to get back over Jersey,” he announces, to no one in particular.

Sister Begum stands up. “Okay, I’ll give you a few dollars” she tells him, whispering something to her friend in Urdu.

“I need like 4 to 5 dollars altogether,” he tells her “the brothers out there told me to come over here.”

”They could have given you something” she says disapprovingly.

“They gave me $2.00,” he says. “I need like $4.50 to get the bus back over to Jersey.”

She pulls out a key from her pocket, and goes into an office. When she comes out, she has few dollars with her, and hands them over. The man takes the money, mumbles his thanks and leaves. Begum then sits back down again.

“There’s so much going on with Muslims after 9/11. We don’t want to put my masjid in jeopardy,” she says “you have to be careful.” Continue reading →

Children’s Book World in Haverford is a special place for children and parents

By Rebecca Shaw

“Eloise.”

A man and his wife walk into Children’s Book World, an independent bookstore in Haverford, Pennsylvania. They want to buy their granddaughter the initial Eloise, a series about a little girl who lives in the Plaza hotel in New York that was first published in 1955.

Smiles spread across the faces of the booksellers working at the store. One bookseller, Leslie, walks immediately towards the picture-book section of the store. She pulls out all the Eloise picture books she can find from the bookshelves.

“Well I found Eloise in Paris and Eloise Takes A Bath,” she says handing the books to the couple. “But I’m sure we have the original—I saw it the other day, give me two seconds, I’m going to look in the back.”

Julie, another bookseller, stands behind the cash register counter. She begins talking to the couple.

“Eloise was my favorite book as a child. Your granddaughter is going to love it. Such a great story.”

“You don’t think it’s too juvenile,” the man asks. “ My granddaughter is a genius.”

“No, it’s not juvenile at all. I can read it to you, when Leslie comes back.” says Julie.

“Found it!” says Leslie.

“Ok, you’re sure it’s not below her reading level? My granddaughter is going to a school for gifted students in New York City. She’s a beauty too,” he says as he shows Leslie and Julie a picture of his granddaughter.

“ Eloise!” says Bookseller Sara, running out from the storage room. She grabs the book from Leslie and starts to read out loud from it.

“Well, you just witnessed a public dramatic reading of Eloise.” Julie says laughing, as she gift-wraps the book for the couple. “Your granddaughter is going to love it.”

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Every employee at Children’s Book World strives to place the perfect book in the hands of the perfect child.

In order to achieve this goal, all employees working at Children’s Book World are required to read every single book that comes into the store.

Children’s Book World owner, Hannah Schwartz along with her daughter, the store manager Heather Schwartz, attribute this requirement as one reason for the store’s longevity and success.

“When people shop here, they want our recommendations of what books their children would like,” explained Heather Schwartz. “We try hard to talk to the children to help find out what they enjoy reading, and then find books that match their interests. For instance, someone may need a book for a book report. If the child likes mysteries, we show him or her the mystery books available at the store and we discuss those books with the child. We sell books that fit the needs of every child.”

Before opening Children’s Book World in 1989, the owner, Hannah Swartz, worked as the children’s book-buyer for a decade. She was the book-buyer for the children’s section of an independent general bookstore called The Book House in Ardmore, Pennsylvania’s Suburban Square.

With the support of her family, Hannah Schwartz decided to open her own independent bookstore specifically for children. Heather Schwartz, who recently graduated college in 1989, helped her mother with the store for a few years. She then left the store to start a family and to open her own crafts supplies store in Ardmore’s Suburban Square.

Today, nearly 23 years after opening the store, Children’s Book World remains one of the few independent bookstores in the Main Line area.

“There used to be about six independent bookstores in the Main Line area that no longer exist,” said Heather Schwartz. “Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of us left in this area.” Continue reading →

Tyree Dumas is on a mission to change the lives of urban kids through dance

By Ben Porten

Tyree Dumas is defined by ambition. Whether its his own or ambition that he tries to instill in others, ambition rules his life.

An entrepreneur and self-made man, Dumas has a lot to be proud of. At age 22, his youth is enough to make anybody feel insecure about their own accomplishments. But Dumas isn’t looking to brag, he’s only looking to help.

Dumas, a Philadelphia native, is the founder and CEO of Dollar Boyz, a dance organization designed to keep kids out of trouble. Dumas, who goes by TopDollar, began Dollar Boyz after going to teen parties with his younger cousins, who would impress the party goers with their dance moves. When he recorded them and put them up on YouTube, they instantly went viral. Today, the videos have more than 5.8 million views.

“What I noticed – every time I walked around in the streets, kids would get excited,” said Dumas. “Like, ‘oh my gosh, that’s TopDollar!’ like I was this big multimillionaire celebrity guy.”

Tyree Dumas

Emboldened by this and wanting to put his blooming star power to good use, Dumas decided to expand Dollar Boyz from a dance organization for his cousins into “an entertainment company that was open to all.”

When he opened the doors to all, all answered. Now, there are more than 5,000 registered members in the Tri-State area alone, with thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook to boot. Dollar Boyz expanded its operations to meet the needs of its members, and now includes a record label as well.

“I’m trying to expose these kids to things they’re not generally exposed to,” said Dumas. “What I’ve come to find is they don’t have a positive male role model in their life to steer them in the right direction, so I kind of fill that void for them.”

The Dollar Boyz dance program has been up and running for over three years now, with practices every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Anywhere from 30 to almost 300 kids show up for these, mostly to dance, but sometimes just to watch. “That’s not a problem; just as long as they’re not on the street causing mayhem, that’s cool,” Dumas said.

The location of the dance program changes from year to year, to better accommodate the kids since they come from all over the region. “Parents would drive their kids over from Jersey to be part of the program,” said Dumas. “I try to move around throughout the city to cater to all the kids.”

Dumas is currently collaborating with Concerned Black Males and Susan Slawson, the First Deputy Commissioner of Philadelphia’s Parks & Recreation, to expand into three recreation centers around the city. A parent of one of the participating children is going to donate a banquet hall in Susquehanna to help provide more spaces, too.

Funding may be sparse at times, but Dumas’ enthusiasm tends to be repaid in enthusiasm in turn, so things seem to work out for him. “I’m the kind of person, no matter what, I find a way to make stuff possible and to overcome my obstacles and get the things done,” said Dumas. “I pretty much invest all my personal money into the organization.”

“I’m able to reach the unreachable,” Dumas said. “The kids that don’t go to traditional programs, for whatever reason, they’re drawn to Dollar Boyz.”

John Brice, Dumas’s associate at Concerned Black Men, offered an explanation: “What’s extraordinary, is not only is he doing what he’s doing, but he came from some of the same seats where some of them came from,” said Bryce. “He went to Kensington High School, and so who better to be an example to the students but someone who sat in the same seats where they sat, and is now in the position where he has nine different Facebook pages because he has so many fans and followers on Twitter.”

Dumas’s newest project, Dollar Boyz Academy, is an attempt to give children the same opportunities he had. And very interesting opportunities, they were. Continue reading →

Stacey Howard has made a quick rise in the world of fashion design

 By Bianca Heyward

On the eighth floor of a glass building in New York City’s lower West side, Stacey Howard, 25, spends a lazy Sunday afternoon in her apartment wearing baggy black pants, and a baggy black sweater with a seemingly infinite supply of holes and rips.

She is a shoe designer who is making a name for herself in the wider world of fashion.

Her unbound creativity and resourcefulness that got her where she is now – designing shoes for the successful fashion line, Elizabeth and James, started by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Her trajectory to success has been rapid and steep.

Stacey Howard

Howard, a Los Angeles native, attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she studied graphic design. During her senior year there, she jump-started her career by catching the interest of Steve Madden, a world-renowned fashion footwear mogul, who over the past 20 years has turned his brand into a household name.

“One of my projects for school was to customize a product,” explained Howard. “So, I went down to visit my friend in Savannah. And we were going to all these military bases, like all these flea markets, and I was really into it. We found so many combat boots that they were selling in Soho for like $150. And these boots were $10. So I decided to take all the boots back to New York and buy all these clothes, and cut them up and glue them on to the boots. And so I wanted to start selling them, and someone told Steve Madden about my project, and he wanted to help.” Madden is the founder of the successful footwear company, Steve Madden Ltd.

When Howard started working with Madden, they created their own line called “Stacey and Steve”, which was sold on the Steve Madden website. It consisted of combat-style boots, which came in various colors.

While working there, Howard recalls, there was no such thing as a typical day. Exploration and creativity were not only encouraged, but, part of the job description. “At a certain point I was taking military jackets and putting fabrics on it, and he (Madden) was like ‘Alright, lets sell it in the store’”.

Her experience with Steve Madden was invaluable. Working for a large company that attracts a wide audience, the challenge, as a designer, was finding out what other people would buy.

“I’ve gone with Steve to different cities, and watched how many girls love his shoes, and how many different shoes there are. For example, the girl in Oklahoma is loving a shoe that I would never think someone would love, but it’s awesome. They’re screaming over that one shoe. So you give them a wide range [of styles], and people are happy, and he does it for a good price.”

After having spent almost two-and-a half years working with Steve Madden, Howard was ready for something different. “I didn’t even have an office,” she says laughing. “I would sit with Steve at his office. It was really cool for awhile, and then I was like alright, I’m 25 years old, I need to start actually working.”

A few months ago, Howard starting designing shoes for Elizabeth and James, which is one of Steve Maddens licenses. She works as a team alongside her co-worker, Jackson Moad. Continue reading →

The Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club that meets all night

By Devanshi Vaid

The night is cold. It is sharp enough to shake you awake and foggy enough keep you believing that you are existing in a space of suspended reality. Laughter rings in the misty, cloudless sky. The joke is unimportant.

What is important is that Mine Serizawa is doubled over, Meghna Singh is wiping tears away from her face, Amanda Fernandez is grinning stupidly and Lisa Klinman is laughing so hard she almost chokes on the smoke from her cigarette.

It is 4:20 a.m. on a regular Monday morning. Serizawa, Singh, Fernandez and Klinman are still awake and are at The Lusty Cup – a café and 24 hour computer lab located at the bottom floor of Canaday Library at Bryn Mawr College.

Some college students pull all-nighters when they are desperate. This group pulls them because they like them. It’s part of their regular study routine — and their night had just hit its peak.

It does not matter much who the jacket belongs to. Inhabitants of Lusty Cup at this hour are most likely to all be members of the Breakfast Club – they have grown to be friends over the course of the countless nights they spend together at this café.

Needless to say, the four of them had been here for a while.

***

10:30p.m.

Klinman entered Lusty with her friends Julia Stuart and Maura Barrett. At this time, the Lusty was well populated – there were groups of students studying, people getting coffee, others checking their email and hanging out.

The atmosphere was lively. The night was ending for a few of the people here, and just about beginning for a few others. However, the ones that were going to be in the café for a long time made themselves prominent.

Klinman and her friends headed to a table at the back where they set up. They were prepared for the night – dressed almost uniformly in sweatpants and comfortable t-shirts, they were armed with bottles of caffeinated drinks, bags of food and candy.

Their work was frequently interrupted with conversation about recent dates, rugby, and comments from the endless stream of passersby. They didn’t forget to talk about the things they were supposed to be studying.

“On Friday, I said I was going to write an outline for my final paper. Until now I’ve got six potential titles…” said Stuart. “I’m giving myself an extension on this outline.” Self proclaimed extensions are valid, the three of them were preparing for finals week and were attempting to work ahead.

“So anyway,” said Klinman looking at her Political Science paper, “back to genocide?” Continue reading →

The web has become a popular venue for home crafters to offer their wares

By Laura Reeve

Flea markets and craft fairs, the marketplace of crafters and hipsters held in parks and high school parking lots, are now open 24/7. The homemade community has gone viral, and young entrepreneurs are making names for themselves in online marketplaces.

The Internet is now bustling with crafters, zinesters, and artists selling their handmade work online. They are also meeting other like-minded individuals and creating communities of artists and art lovers all through the internet.

Kelly-Anne (www.etsy.com/shop/tinytangerines), 27, a mother of two, started crocheting hats for her own newborn daughter in 2008. Kelly started posting pictures of the hats and headbands she made for her daughter online on “mommy communities,” online communities for women who want to connect with other mothers with similar due dates. Soon she was getting multiple requests to make hats for other women and their babies.

“I started getting requests from my mommy friends to make hats for their little ones, and it was suggested that I open an Etsy shop,” Kelly said. “I had no idea my hats would be so popular. I am so lucky to have found a way to help with the bills, while staying home with my kids and doing something I really love.”

Crafters like Kelly are not limited to one site. Though many of them have set up shop at Etsy.com, an online marketplace and

A Casey Lee Patch

community, these artists also share their work through social media platforms like Facebook and Tumblr. These websites allow artists to market themselves and build their fan base.

“Tumblr has become a huge thing,” Ramsey Beyer (www.etsy.com/shop/everydaypants), 26, an artist from Philadelphia said. “I started using it for my comics 6 months ago and it has really increased my readership. Things fly around the internet. It’s like word of

Casey Lee

mouth through the internet.”

Tumblr, a blogging platform that has been described as “micro-blogging,” allows users to “re-blog” other peoples posts so that content is constantly being shared and circulated through the web. Photos, links, and videos are posted and then reposted, spread to a wider and wider group of people.

“Every time someone re-blogs your work, all of their followers see it, and if one of their follower re-blogs it all of their followers see it,” said Kelly. “Suddenly your work is spreading like wild fire and all you had to do was take a nice picture of it.”

Casey Lee (www.etsy.com/shop/oldmotherfox), 21, a college student sells patches for extra income. Patches are screen printed and designed pieces of cloth sewn on to other articles of clothing such as sweatshirts, t-shirts, bags, and jeans. Lee also utilizes Tumblr to sell more of her work. Though, because of how Tumblr works, she felt like people who follow her blog do most of the promotional Continue reading →