In this issue, Sophia Stopper talks to the award-winning muralist Cesar Viveros about his powerful 2005 mural “My Life, My Path, My Destiny,” which shows the choices, missteps, hopes, and transformations that one must navigate from infancy through adulthood. For this project, Viveros worked with at-risk teenage boys, incarcerated men, and youth and community members.
“For many participants, painting became a form of release before it became a conversation,” he told us. When “people carry trauma, uncertainty, and unspoken experiences, words can feel heavy or inaccessible. Painting offered another language — one that didn’t require explanation or permission.”
In the two decades since the mural was made, Viveros has run into people who collaborated on the project. In one instance, Viveros brought his car to Jiffy Lube, and the mechanic approached him “in a cordial way” and told him working on the mural was “the most fun and reflective thing he did that year,” emphasizing that it was a positive thing in his life.
We contemplate other therapeutic outlets and forms of expression in another story too. Fishtown may be known for its hoards of cool youngish people, but Chloe Goodman finds its wellness spaces are surprisingly diverse, both in terms of the cultures from which they derive and the stages of life of the people they serve. With climbing gyms, martial arts centers, yoga studios, barre classes, and more, there are a lot of ways to get endorphins in the neighborhood. Upon their retirement, Ross Alexander and April Dunleavy moved to Fishtown, in part so they could continue to learn tango at the Philadelphia Argentine Tango School.
Also, in this issue: Jennifer Amato’s engaging profile of Daniela Malavé, who founded Tres Fiori, a gluten-free dessert studio, to honor her Italian-Venezuelan lineage and her insightful look at Suraya, the restaurant that is a perennial neighborhood favorite for its Lebanese dishes; and Debra Wallace talks to Courtney Ludeman about how she and her husband Chad create a cozy, comfortable, and luxurious home-away-from-home experience at Lokal Hotel Fishtown.
I hope you enjoy these compelling stories!
