Good Morning Philadelphia: Bipartisan bicycling

This article was published on philly.com on Thursday July 23, 2009.

Good Morning Philadelphia: Bipartisan bicycling

By Traver Riggins and Naomi Nix

Inquirer Staff Writers

Visiting state lawmakers from around the country put down their car keys and picked up bicycles for an eight-mile bipartisan ride around the City of Brotherly Love this morning.

For the Atkins family, a group of regular riders, the distance wasn't a problem.

"I'm guessing we won't have any trouble with eight miles we have more trouble with 6:30 in the morning," said Joe Atkins, a state representative from Minnesota. He was here with his wife and their three children.

The estimated 90 riders included lawmakers and their families who are in town for the 35th annual National Conference of State Legislators .

The tour started at the Thomas Paine Plaza north of City Hall and wound up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, down a bike path along the Schuylkill River to Locust Street, passing some of Philadelphia's historic sites along the way.

Bike Texas, a nonprofit advocacy group, organized the race to show how bike riding can reduce a rider's carbon footprint, be an alternative method of transportation, a great way to exercise, and to encourage bike safety. Volunteers from the Bicycle Coaltion of Greater Philadelphia also helped with the event.

For the enviromentally conscious of Philadelphia, the bike ride had another benefit.

Astride his bike fitted with a GPS device, mobile pollution sensors and a digital video camera, Edgar Gil, health program manager of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, collected air pollution data while he rode.

He and his colleagues will use Google Earth to post his findings about the levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide air pollution in the air. The results will be complied in a website called www.heanaction.org.

"Health and the environment go hand-in-hand," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health in a press release. "Edgar's participation in this ride will help encourage legislators from across the nation to continue to do their part to enact standards that better protect us all."

The bike ride has become a tradition over the last five years for lawmakers attending the national conference. Last year it was in New Orleans, other locations have included Boston and Seattle.

"I am a big fan of bike riding because not only is it a great way to stay in shape, but an excellent way to see and experience a community as well," said Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, one of the bike ride's founders and host.

"I can't think of better city to do a Bipartisan Bike Ride than in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love."

Getting ready for school with a big party

This article was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday August 8, 2009

Getting ready for school with a big party

District event for children to have fun, parents to ask questions.

By Naomi Nix

Inquirer Staff Writer

Zyla Peleton shyly hugged her mother as they waited for her turn to have her face painted.

"She ain't gonna talk," said her mother, Angela.

Zyla is about to start kindergarten, and her mother had some questions for Philadelphia School District officials.

"When do they start? Where do I go to register?" she said.

They were among the thousands of parents, child-care givers, and children who went yesterday to the school district's second annual Back-to-School Block Party, to learn what they need to know to get ready for the 2009-10 school year.

Classes in the 163,000-student district begin Sept. 8 for first through 12th grades and Sept. 15 for kindergarten.

"It's really sort of a celebration of a new school year with the entire community," Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said.

The school district and Radio One Philadelphia co-sponsored the event, and almost 100 community organizations, district departments, and government agencies filled the district's education center in Spring Garden to give away school supplies, prizes, and information for families.

District spokesman Vincent Thompson said he could not say how much the event cost, but the amount was minimal and sponsors paid most expenses.

The event also featured performances by student groups, free water ice, and T-shirts. The 5,000 book bags were nearly gone by noon. Those who came later got vouchers to pick up bags before school starts.

Thinking of her 12-year-old son, Monique Haynes said the information about higher education was helpful: "I want him to look toward the future, to get a jump start on what you need to know to go to college."

Getting ready for a new school year was nothing new for Christine Douglas, who has 11 adult children and three still in school. Her daughter Shadonayah Carroll said she was excited to begin first grade, but for now was thinking only about how to get her face painted.

"Mommy, I'm going to get SpongeBob. SpongeBob is my favorite show," she said.

"That's true," Douglas said.

This article was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday August 7, 2009.

Annual Ebony Fashion Fair show is a victim of economy

Mina Dia-Stevens recalls looking around the auditorium of an Ebony Fashion Fair show as a young adult and knowing that there were other African American fashionistas out there, from a cluster of giddy sorority college girls to a group of churchgoing women.

"They are exposing African Americans to world-renowned designers that they may not have known otherwise," said Dia-Stevens, who is an adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design and an associate professor at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

And it's coming to an end, at least for now.

After more than 50 years of showcasing the highest caliber of fashion in the industry to mostly African American audiences, organizers of the traveling international fashion show have canceled its fall 2009 installment.

The Philadelphia Cultural Committee Inc., the nonprofit organization that has hosted the program annually in Philadelphia or New Jersey for 50 years, is among 180 organizations that will not put on a show this fall.

"The overall economic climate has presented challenges for many, including our potential corporate sponsors," said Linda Johnson Rice, the chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Co., in a statement.

The firm, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines, hopes to bring back a retooled show starting in fall 2010.

"In the coming months, we will develop a new business model to ensure that the show is a mutually beneficial endeavor," said Rice.

As a nonprofit endeavor, the Ebony Fashion Fair show has raised more than $55 million to benefit largely African American groups nationwide, according to Jeanine Collins, a spokeswoman for Johnson Publishing.

The Philadelphia Cultural Committee uses part of its $15,000 to $20,000 in proceeds to give scholarships to college-bound high school students who are interested in the arts.

Each year it gives $1,000 to five or six students who are pursuing higher education in New Jersey, Philadelphia, or Delaware. The remaining money goes to local charities.

"If we do not have the Ebony Fashion Fair show, it's going to be a deterrent to giving scholarships," said Gwendolyn A. Faison, president of the Philadelphia Cultural Committee.

Faison said the committee is meeting to discuss alternative fund-raising.

Over 4,000 shows have been performed to date in the United States, the Caribbean, and London, according to a representative from the publishing company.

The featured clothing includes cutting-edge couture fresh off the runways of Fashion Week as well as ready-to-wear "extravagant" pieces, said Cheryl Washington, a fashion designer and an adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design.

"It is a multitude of talent from all over the world," she said.

The show has exhibited the work of several notable African American designers, including Stephen Burrows, James Daugherty, L'Amour, B. Michael, and Quinton de' Alexander.

It was started in 1956 to support the Women's Auxiliary of Flint-Goodrich Hospital in New Orleans by John Johnson, then publisher and CEO of Johnson Publishing.

But Dia-Stevens says the show is more than just a few models strutting the latest fashions on the runway.

"When you see the show, it's like a performance - it's ambience, it's atmosphere," she said. "It is more theatrical than it is anything."

Thinking of her 14-year-old daughter, Dia-Stevens hopes to keep her family's appreciation for fashion alive.

"It is a special event that I would definitely want to experience with my daughter," she said.

---