Chester routinely gets beat up pretty well in the pages of this newspaper.
I don't apologize for it, but I can admit I often look for an opportunity to show another side of the city.
That's why I was in Chester last night, to talk about something that too often gets overlooked. Chester has a long, illustrious cultural legacy and vibrant arts scene. Did you know that Ethel Waters was a Chester native?
But I'm not just talking about the past. There is a new buzz in the city, surrounding places like Open Mike's Internet Cafe, and Art on Avenue of the Arts.
We went to Chester last night and set up shop at Open Mike's Internet Cafe on Avenue of the Arts to do our weekly livestream Internet broadcast, "Live From the Newsroom."
If you missed the show, by all means watch the replay here.
That is especially true for those county residents who insist Chester is beyond help, that there is no way to turn it around, that there is nothing positive happening in the city.
You could not be more wrong.
My thanks to the great panel who joined us to talk about the Chester arts scene and the efforts to use this renaissance to reconnect with Chester youth.
I was joined by Don Newton, from Chester Arts Alive. He's at the center of much of what is pushing to turn the city around, including a program called Chester Made, which is putting the arts at the center of the renaissance going on in the city. Both Laurie Zierer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and Sharon Meagher, dean of the college of Arts & Sciences at Widener University, talked about their organization's connections with arts in the city. And we also heard from Mayor John Linder, who stressed that arts were the key to connecting with young people in the city, giving them an outlet and a choice for a better life.
They could not have found a better example than Mike Miller, who runs Open Mike's. He's traveled all over during a career in the military, but he returned to his roots in Chester and has created a venue for the spoken word, art and music that is making a difference.
I plan to continue to show this other side of Chester. Maybe at some point people will start paying attention.
There are good things happening in the city of Chester.
I met several of them last night.
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