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Love Now Magazine

Love & Release: The Cry Log

For some time, though, I resisted this truth about myself. I wanted to put distance between myself and stereotypes of women of color as being unable to handle their emotions. I thought that crying meant I was volatile and unstable. I considered bursting into tears to be a weakness, to be something embarrassing and unwanted. And people told me this, too, saying I needed to grow a thicker skin because I was “too sensitive” and thus “illogical.”

July 12, 2024 No Comments

News

Philly founder Will Toms on building REC and empowering creatives to fight ‘digital redlining’

Listen to Episode 1 of Making Love & Designing the Future to learn more about Toms’ journey, how difficult conversations can help a business grow, and why he believes empathy and quality leadership are keys to driving social change.

July 8, 2024 No Comments

Equity

Cultivating Roots: Second-generation Latiné Gardeners Navigate Urban Challenges

In Philadelphia, second-generation Latine gardeners cultivate plots alongside family, friends, and neighbors, creating a communal atmosphere filled with laughter and shared stories during planting and harvest seasons. This vibrant community reflects a deep-rooted connection to the land and cultural heritage.

July 5, 2024 No Comments

Equity

Love & Money with Clarifi

Financial instability can feel like an insurmountable obstacle. Clarifi stands as a testament to the power of empathy, resilience, and collective action. Through their unwavering commitment to empowering individuals and communities, they are not only changing lives but also redefining what it means to build wealth and achieve financial freedom.

July 5, 2024 No Comments

News

HNI Collective is Helping Philadelphians Embrace Slow Fashion, One Stitch at a Time

Founded in January by Asemota, HNI Collective’s mission is to make sustainable clothing accessible to all bodies. Her approach is two-fold: help consumers make their clothes last longer while helping fashion brands be as sustainable as possible.

June 28, 2024 No Comments

Love Now Magazine

Nature & Nurture: Brandi Aulston’s Hike+Heal

Participants begin the hiking trail as strangers and emerge as a part of something bigger. The conversations during the hike were amazing, from noticing and appreciating the beauty of a magnificent red maple tree to discussing hiking gear and commenting on the children’s adventurous nature to deeper, more existential ponderings.

June 27, 2024 No Comments

Equity

Playwright Roger Q. Mason Premieres “The Duat” with Philadelphia Theatre Company

Each performance of ‘The Duat’ is a unique experience, with the audience playing a crucial role. As Mason puts it, “I know that each performance is an opportunity to discover, to play, to find something different and more penetrating, whether it’s thematic or narrative or social that the piece is mining.” The June premiere in Philadelphia was a culmination of learning and adaptation, with changes in the script made following the final previews. This reflects Mason’s decisive commitment to refining their work through feedback and review, as well as the audience’s active participation in the evolution of the play.

June 21, 2024 No Comments

Poet's Press

Ancestors in the Sun

“Ancestors in the Sun” is a reflective poem that seeks to give gratitude and pay homage to the ancestors and guardian spirts that came before us and protect us.

June 15, 2024 No Comments

News

In the Spirit of Oshun: Odunde Returns to Philadelphia

Every second Sunday in June, the river goddess Oshun is honored with an annual offering, a beloved and critical component of the Philadelphia Odunde Festival. Believers of the Yoruba religion consider the deities or Orishas as mediators between humanity and God. Oshun, the deity of love, fertility, and sensuality, rules mainly the fresh waters and is also associated with the divine feminine. She hears and answers prayers and teaches self-forgiveness and love.

June 14, 2024 No Comments

Equity

‘Fair Chance’ Hiring Helps Formerly Incarcerated People Find Work

“Fair chance” hiring is the practice of hiring individuals with a criminal record. It is also sometimes called “second chance hiring.” When formerly incarcerated people can’t find a job after leaving prison, they face significant challenges, including lack of food, clothes, transportation, or shelter. This can cause desperation and lead to additional crimes or addiction issues, perpetuating the cycle of incarceration.

May 31, 2024 No Comments

Equity

Digging into Philadelphia’s Latine Community Gardens

This is especially true for certain groups of the Latine community, particularly for undocumented immigrants. Philadelphia has had a long history of community gardens, creating a melting pot for those with and without citizenship — the city has become a sanctuary for the Latine population who have since founded communities across the city.

May 17, 2024 No Comments

Love Now Magazine

Joseph Conyers Orchestrates Opportunities Through the Power of Music

When asked how he discovered his passion for music, it felt serendipitous to hear Joseph Conyers respond, “Music found me.”

May 10, 2024 No Comments

Love Now Magazine

The Creative Force of Will Toms

Before receiving recognition as Forbes ’30 under 30′ honoree in 2021 for his remarkable social impact, gaining prominence as Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of REC Philly, a multimillion-dollar creative hub, and serving as a board member of several nonprofits dedicated to humanitarian efforts, William Tyrone Toms was a precocious Black boy living in the Germantown section of Philly, Pa., using his inner strength and forced resilience to navigate familial trauma.

May 3, 2024 No Comments

News

Kid Killebrew: The Sneakerhead Superhero

There is something nostalgic about opening a box of new sneakers: the anticipation as you peel back the paper, pluck them from the box, spin them around in your hand in admiration, and take in that fresh sneaker smell. He’s never forgotten the confidence he felt as a child when he stepped into a new pair. “I felt like a Superhero,” shared Killebrew, “especially when I played ball. It may sound like a small thing, but it can be a big feeling, particularly to underprivileged children.” He wanted to give that feeling to youth in need.

May 3, 2024 No Comments

Equity

ATTIC Youth Center and PhillyBOLT Invest In Youth to Future-Proof Philly

Philly’s youth are often at the center of news stories. They lead as protesters, activists, and organizers. They disrupt the status quo by riding motorbikes through the streets. They challenge definitions of identity and force us to evaluate whether the world we’ve designed does what it’s supposed to do. Yet, without guidance, support, and investment, youth are critically vulnerable due to a lack of safe places, housing, and education.

April 26, 2024 No Comments

Equity

Every Human Should Have a Home

The reality is cultural attitudes toward impoverished people – fueled by toxic portrayals, fear mongering in the media and systematic dehumanization – have made homelessness not a community problem to be solved, but an individual offense to be punished, and defines those who suffer this condition as enemies to the idyllic peace of ‘good (read: housed and well-fed) people’.

April 19, 2024 No Comments

News

Words Beats And Life’s “Alt Spring Break” Web Series Comes to Philly: A Conversation with Love Now Media’s CEO Jos Duncan Asé

Like many leaders, Jos Duncan Asé’s origin story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. She faced significant adversities, such as the loss of her father and her mother’s battle with addiction. With the support of family and community members, these hardships molded her into a change agent, determined to make a positive difference in her community.

April 17, 2024 No Comments

Love Now Magazine

For My Sister, For Myself

For The Cook Sisters, the self and selves go hand-in-hand, transcending time and space. And they both require a “yes” to love. “I want for my sisters what I want for myself,” Jeannine once wrote in a post on social media. It would appear that what she wants for herself, is indeed what her sisters feel they need.

April 12, 2024 No Comments

Love Now Magazine

Loving Myself As I Am: Aziza Shuler in Her Own Words

I come from a lineage of women who’ve grappled with the complexities of love, a theme that has deeply shaped my own journey. At the heart of this narrative lies the absence of a mother’s love, a defining element passed down through generations. This absence, in turn, led me to a realization: one of the most powerful forces in the universe is a mother’s love.

April 12, 2024 No Comments

Equity

School Groups De-escalate Youth Violence by Meeting Students Where They Are

When Rosa started as a school safety officer at Tilden Middle School, he realized he needed a way to connect more intimately with the students, to get them to trust and talk to him about what they were going through.

April 5, 2024 No Comments

News

Kensington native Roberto Lugo to paint three 11-foot sculptures in Kensington this summer

By making himself visible as an artist from the neighborhood, painting and sometimes throwing pottery in the street, Lugo hopes to show others that that path is possible and that there’s already “ingenuity and artistry and creativity” in Kensington.

March 29, 2024 No Comments