A Million Stories

[ a million stories ]

In general, there's reason to be optimistic when it comes to efforts at helping low-income Philadelphians get access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The Philadelphia Food Trust, for example, conducted a pilot program last season in which they supplied every one of the vendors at the Clark Park Farmers Market with scanners for EBT cards (food stamps), instead of making them pay at one central location. The result, says April White, Food Trust communications manager, was a more than 100 percent increase in most farmers' food stamp sales.

But there are, perhaps, a few hurdles left. This past Saturday, Beatrice Singleton, 75, and friend Brelard Lewis, 83, discovered one of them while shopping at the Clark Park market. Singleton, excited about some of the "little onions that I like" at one stand, attempted to pay not with food stamps but with a voucher from the state's Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which gives seniors $20 worth of vouchers annually, in four $5 installments.

The problem is that Singleton's onions cost only a few bucks, and the farmer said she couldn't give change for a voucher. Looking a little disappointed, Singleton pulled out a $10 bill and paid in cash —even though "I wanted to use that voucher."

Asked if the state has received complaints about this apparent inconvenience, program administrator Sandy Hopple said no — and that no plans are currently under way to change the rules for the nearly 180,000 seniors who use the program statewide.

Pointing out that vouchers in smaller denominations could carry extra deposit costs for farmers, Hopple added, "If something doesn't cost $5, we ask the farmers to give them a little more, to bring it up to the $5 value."

—Isaiah Thompson

When I picked up guitar for the first time, about three years ago, I was in serious need of a teacher. I found one, apocalyptic as it may seem, on YouTube, where Philly native Patrick Costello has hosted regular workshops for folk guitar and banjo for about two years (he's also written several instruction books, including The How and the Tao of Folk Guitar and Old Time Banjo).

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

If the Internet seems like a cold, barren place to learn music, it's not with Patrick and Pat "Dear Old Dad" Costello, who hosts the show with him. The father-son duo shares news of musical gatherings, read letters from Pat's students around the world and make things feel cozy indeed.

As the lessons got more personal, so did Patrick, who revealed that he's suffered from serious hearing loss since he was a kid, and could barely hear his own beloved music, resorting to holding his guitar with his teeth to feel the notes through the instrument wall. He also kept students posted on the progress of his attempt to restore hearing through a "Baha" implant, a hearing aid implanted in the skull, which transmits vibrations straight to the hearing nerve, skipping the ears altogether.

A few nights ago, I came home to find a new video in the old inbox —of the successful activation of Patrick's implant. With Dear Old Dad behind the camera, I — with who knows how many students around the world — watched our teacher pick up his guitar, and really hear it for the first time in years.

Things are still going well. On his blog, dailyfrail.com, Patrick recently wrote: "Everything is new and wonderful except for top 40 country. That stuff is just as bad as it was back when I went deaf. Yeech."