Only sisterly affection

After the democracy-in-free-fall week we've had, this newsletter is only going to lift up a few moments of Philadelphia joy amongst the chaos. I think there is an overabundance of toxic positivity in our field, but also?, celebrating a few wins or refuges or window cats has its place as well. (If you are new year, each week contains a moment of Sisterly Affection, a bit of appreciation for the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.) And happy Black History Month, which is every month, especially this year.

In other periods of my life, I might grumble about the ubiquity of sports culture, and the NFL being terrible and greedy and abusive to its players, and how I don't think arts organizations should have to pander to sports fans. In this particular period, as the Fabric Workshop puts "Fly Eagles Fly" on their facade and Anthony Roth Costanzo gives a curtain speech for a premiere at the opera decked out in a beautiful, sequined Jalen Hurts jersey, I can only dive into the celebratory current and hope we get to have a victory parade. In that vein, please enjoy BalletX highlighting all the dancing the Birds are doing on the field:

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Progress on my Eagles overalls? Minimal so far, but there's still time...

Fellowship announcement

United States Artists announced their new Fellows for the year and there are four Philadelphia artists on the list, including choreographer Nichole Canuso! Hooray! You can read about the four officially Philly-based artists in this gift link from the Inquirer, which features brief responses from each of the artists about what they're planning to do with the funding that comes with the award. In addition to Nichole, sculptor Karyn Olivier, filmmaker Rea Tajiri, and muralist and sculptor Cesar Viveros will receive $50,000.

Along with the four artists mentioned by the Inquirer, there are at least a few others whose artistic journeys have been shaped by Philly. Audiences here are familiar with Makini (formerly known as Jumatatu Poe), with years of projects in the area, and Geoff Sobelle, frequent Fringe artist and Pig Iron co-founder, and Anna Martine Whitehead spent at least a couple of years in the dance scene here.* So a big round of applause for our Philly friends and all of the artists receiving this prestigious award.

Two holidays at once

One of the delights of living in South Philly is the seasonal window displays that people arrange for the delight of passers-by and their neighbors. Right now is a rare convergence of two holidays (Eagles day and Valentine's day), leading to a good number of houses creatively combining the two occasions. Wonderful.

A baby union is born

Also wonderful? As of this week, Philadelphia is now home to the first unionized Whole Foods in the country. Congratulations to these workers who had to organize in the face of a massive anti-union campaign. As labor journalist Kim Kelly puts it, "It’s fitting that Philadelphia — the site of so much revolutionary change, and so many important firsts — is poised to finally push the long effort to unionize Whole Foods over the finish line." More background and context for this fight from Kelly can be found in this article or this one from Mother Jones.

Sisterly affection merch opportunity

One of my favorite Philadelphia institutions is Skype a Scientist, run by Sarah McAnulty, Executive Director and Squid Biologist​. The program matches up scientists to give talks to schools, and also runs a variety of informal science communication / education projects, including the Squid Hotline, which you can text to receive a squid fact 24 hours a day (1-833-SCI-TEXT). Sarah's social media feeds are reliably heartening and entertaining and I highly recommend a follow. You can support their work by buying some extremely cute Valentine's Day cards, which feature fun facts about things like praying mantises, or pick up a Frog Facts advent calendar if you are counting down to something fun.

*If we felt like being critical, we could ask why these artists felt the need to leave Philadelphia and why they're not here now. That time is not today!