Last year the Allentown Symphony saw over 14000 youth of Lehigh Valley. We did that with the help of individuals and corporations who contributed to education -- but largely with the help of the Education Tax Credits (EITC) made available to companies from the State of Pennsylvania. The current state budget stalemate has put those EITC dollars -- roughly $100000 of our annual budget in limbo. With a quarter of our fiscal year past--our education programs for the 2009-2010 season are at risk. There is no replacement money coming in. We must schedule now with the schools for programming to come. And there is no money to pay staff or musicians for those programs.
Over half the children we served last year are categorized as "at risk". Programming includes our Youth and Family Concert--with orchestra; our Musicians in Schools, Musical Petting Zoo, and more. In the next several weeks we have two such programs--at the DaVinci center on September 12 and at Air Products on September 15.
Please help the Symphony and all non-profits educating our children by letting your legislators know how important these funds are -- and getting educational funding approved in the Pennsylvania budget --including EITC. And, in the meantime-- if you are able--donate now to the Allentown Symphony Association for education!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Guest Blog from "Bigfoot" : Allentown for Adventurers
Allentown for Adventurers
My mom, though as hip as a middle-aged mother of three can really be, is at her heart a nerd. It's not about a love of fantasy novels and technology so much as it is about her preference for book knowledge over street smarts. She'll contest this point fiercely and gripe about her recent ankle problem, but the fact of the matter is much of what my mom knows about Allentown involves numbers and comes in literary sort of sentence structure instead something that she saw on her morning walk.
There was no one better suited to catch my mom up on the street pounding aspect of Allentown than me; I dislike statistics, consider myself to be a professional adventurer and stuck in area visit mom anyway. So I arrived in Allentown and set about to discover whether or not this city had anything to offer.
The foremost pleasures in my life are gastronomic and I have to say that the area immediately around my mom's new place of work is a foodie heaven. I am a real, adventuring foodie. I don't like my sister's internet-databased, ethnic-fusion faux-foodie-ism. I like my restaurants ethnic, un-frilled and undiscovered; minimal decor, familial sort of service, and delicious authentic cuisine. In this regard, Allentown delivers.
Allentown, less than half the size of my hometown of Kansas City, kept me plied with delicious food from all over the world. In Allentown, even my relatively clueless mother could find food in such exotic variety as Colombian and Jamaican.
At the creatively-titled Colombia, my mother enjoyed a platter of steak and other regional specialties and I had the more exotic mango-milk drink and sauteed and sauced tongue. Our friendly waitress revealed that she was from the area of Colombia that is famous for the things on my mothers plate and at her own suggestion, brought a variety of delicious homemade sauces to our table.
Jamaican, a food I'd never tried before was also excellent and the service truly personal. Winston, the oft-mentioned amiable proprietor of the store was just as warm and friendly as the numerous reviews covering his walls suggested. The food also delivered on the verbose praise heaped upon it. Also, there is a wide variety of unusual beverages in the cooler. Professional adventurer I may claim to be, but I have to admit that the peanut punch was a little too exotic even for my palette. I offer up the contents of that fridge to a greater epicurean than me.
I'm not exactly fashion forward, but downtown Allentown offered so much, shall we say, fashion opportunity, it was impossible to resist. I've been bored with the earth-tone khaki shorts than kids my age seem scripted into wearing, but have been unable to find an acceptably affordable alternative. A short walk down Hamilton from the hall landed me in the midst of colorful urban fashion to make a Midwestern boy swoon and at sale prices to impress his mother (buy one and get the second for $5, what?!). The staff was extremely helpful and patient to me, noteworthy considering I was dressed as a terminally unhip nerdboy from Kansas.
And then there is the "crown" jewel of my trip. I have long coveted a style of coif known as the hair tattoo, a rather outlandish style that crops the hair close to the scalp and the shaves out portions to make designs and images. They were popular in the 80's and, in my mind at least, are making a comeback. Also, they mesh with my thinning hair problem.
Close to my mom's office there were a number of barbershops that seemed that they could serve my purpose. Inquiring within, I was quickly hooked up with an affable, slightly English-impaired Dominican who went by the name Moreno. Two hours of precision straight blading later, I left the shop with an extremely sharp-looking hair tattoo made of swirling arrows and stars and a shave to boot. Moreno is an artist, and at the unreasonably low price of only twenty-dollars, probably a starving one.
One final thing that I learned about downtown Allentown is a little more intangible. When I walked the streets, people and building-watching, I came to a realization that this sort of neighborhood is a precious commodity. I come from the land of the mass-produced suburban wasteland. You can't find an immigrant community or a neighborhood where people hang out on porches or kids play ball in the streets to save your life. Someday, someone will realize the cultural capital lying around down here and pair it with the low rents and good people and the process of gentrification will begin. And then, just like in Harlem and the art gallery districts of my home town, the original personality and charm will seep out as the prices creep up until it's beautiful old neighborhood that nobody can afford to live in. But until then, it's an a diamond in the rough ready for those who are willing to set down their books and hit the streets.
Nathan Lane is the balding son of the Sheila Evans and student at Lawrence University who has had the distinct pleasure of hanging around his mom's office, doing very little to help backstage and escaping to pound Allentown's city streets looking for adventure. He likes to write and is looking for a fun job.
My mom, though as hip as a middle-aged mother of three can really be, is at her heart a nerd. It's not about a love of fantasy novels and technology so much as it is about her preference for book knowledge over street smarts. She'll contest this point fiercely and gripe about her recent ankle problem, but the fact of the matter is much of what my mom knows about Allentown involves numbers and comes in literary sort of sentence structure instead something that she saw on her morning walk.
There was no one better suited to catch my mom up on the street pounding aspect of Allentown than me; I dislike statistics, consider myself to be a professional adventurer and stuck in area visit mom anyway. So I arrived in Allentown and set about to discover whether or not this city had anything to offer.
The foremost pleasures in my life are gastronomic and I have to say that the area immediately around my mom's new place of work is a foodie heaven. I am a real, adventuring foodie. I don't like my sister's internet-databased, ethnic-fusion faux-foodie-ism. I like my restaurants ethnic, un-frilled and undiscovered; minimal decor, familial sort of service, and delicious authentic cuisine. In this regard, Allentown delivers.
Allentown, less than half the size of my hometown of Kansas City, kept me plied with delicious food from all over the world. In Allentown, even my relatively clueless mother could find food in such exotic variety as Colombian and Jamaican.
At the creatively-titled Colombia, my mother enjoyed a platter of steak and other regional specialties and I had the more exotic mango-milk drink and sauteed and sauced tongue. Our friendly waitress revealed that she was from the area of Colombia that is famous for the things on my mothers plate and at her own suggestion, brought a variety of delicious homemade sauces to our table.
Jamaican, a food I'd never tried before was also excellent and the service truly personal. Winston, the oft-mentioned amiable proprietor of the store was just as warm and friendly as the numerous reviews covering his walls suggested. The food also delivered on the verbose praise heaped upon it. Also, there is a wide variety of unusual beverages in the cooler. Professional adventurer I may claim to be, but I have to admit that the peanut punch was a little too exotic even for my palette. I offer up the contents of that fridge to a greater epicurean than me.
I'm not exactly fashion forward, but downtown Allentown offered so much, shall we say, fashion opportunity, it was impossible to resist. I've been bored with the earth-tone khaki shorts than kids my age seem scripted into wearing, but have been unable to find an acceptably affordable alternative. A short walk down Hamilton from the hall landed me in the midst of colorful urban fashion to make a Midwestern boy swoon and at sale prices to impress his mother (buy one and get the second for $5, what?!). The staff was extremely helpful and patient to me, noteworthy considering I was dressed as a terminally unhip nerdboy from Kansas.
And then there is the "crown" jewel of my trip. I have long coveted a style of coif known as the hair tattoo, a rather outlandish style that crops the hair close to the scalp and the shaves out portions to make designs and images. They were popular in the 80's and, in my mind at least, are making a comeback. Also, they mesh with my thinning hair problem.
Close to my mom's office there were a number of barbershops that seemed that they could serve my purpose. Inquiring within, I was quickly hooked up with an affable, slightly English-impaired Dominican who went by the name Moreno. Two hours of precision straight blading later, I left the shop with an extremely sharp-looking hair tattoo made of swirling arrows and stars and a shave to boot. Moreno is an artist, and at the unreasonably low price of only twenty-dollars, probably a starving one.
One final thing that I learned about downtown Allentown is a little more intangible. When I walked the streets, people and building-watching, I came to a realization that this sort of neighborhood is a precious commodity. I come from the land of the mass-produced suburban wasteland. You can't find an immigrant community or a neighborhood where people hang out on porches or kids play ball in the streets to save your life. Someday, someone will realize the cultural capital lying around down here and pair it with the low rents and good people and the process of gentrification will begin. And then, just like in Harlem and the art gallery districts of my home town, the original personality and charm will seep out as the prices creep up until it's beautiful old neighborhood that nobody can afford to live in. But until then, it's an a diamond in the rough ready for those who are willing to set down their books and hit the streets.
Nathan Lane is the balding son of the Sheila Evans and student at Lawrence University who has had the distinct pleasure of hanging around his mom's office, doing very little to help backstage and escaping to pound Allentown's city streets looking for adventure. He likes to write and is looking for a fun job.
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