Rad Women of Philadelphia 2019 by aweisberg

Rad Women of Philadelphia 2019

Greene Street Friends School

Welcome to the 2019 edition of Rad Women of Philadelphia! From a nurse to a lawyer to an artist to a musician to an activist, all these women make the world rad with their gifts. Most women choose to make their gifts stay inside of them, but not these women. They chose to let their gifts help people. Even though people made these women discouraged, they let their inner light shine. The discouragement even made them the women they are today because they kept on pushing through. Even though they encountered challenges, they still held onto their power. They made their fails flawless. We are students in 3A, which is a third grade class at Greene Street Friends School in Philadelphia, PA. We picked these rad women to write a book about and we all think that we made the right choice. First, we wrote letters back and forth. Then, we made videos and we wrote the information that we learned on the computer. Last, we made a drawing of our rad woman. We all tried our hardest to accomplish this book. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why some are short and some are long. To us, rad means cool beans and awesome sauce. To describe someone as rad also means theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re kind and smart. It could also mean strong, amazing, beautiful, independent, and caring. All the rad women in this book are changing their communities in some way. When you read this book, we would like you to learn that you can really do anything if you put your mind to it. Even if somebody is discouraging you, you should always stand up and go on. Love, 3A

Table of Contents Emily Bate ..........................................................................................6 created by June Rowe

Erlina Ortiz ....................................................................................... 8 created by Cormac Linehan

Fern Gookin …................................................................................. 10 created by Gus Franzke

Jenna Peters-Golden ....................................................................... 12 created by Gracie David

Jessica Rosenberg ........................................................................... 14 created by Jackie Nordquist

Kris Smith ....................................................................................... 16 created by Zoe Kosa

Liz Fullerton ................................................................................... 18 created by Ellie Silver

Lorraine Haw .................................................................................. 20 created by Parker Scott

Marian Dalke .................................................................................. 22 created by Cora Giuliano

Melanie Hsu ................................................................................... 24 created by Stasu Zawislak

Monnette Sudler ............................................................................. 26 created by Elysse Laud-Hammond

Nikki Grant ..................................................................................... 28 created by Elon Allen

Nuala Cabral ................................................................................... 30 created by Simon Rodgers

Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters ......................................................... 32 created by Grace Herold

Tamara Jimenez…………………………………………….………….. 34 created by Francisco Sarmiento-Fernandez and Reggie Harrison

Vessna Scheff ……………………………………………………...…… 36 created by Xavier Braddock

Wende Marshall ……………………………………………………….. 38 created by Micah Love

Meet the Authors ............................................................................ 40

Emily Bate Who is a musician and opens to all singing genders Emily Bate was born on December 12, 1982. She has a little sister Alice. When she was in third grade she really liked reading about animal like dolphins. She really wanted to help the environment with things like picking up trash and saving endangered species. She plays guitar ukulele and is learning the drums. Her favorite thing is singing. Her parents also sing. She loved singing so much she decided to start a choir. She called it Trust Your Moves. She wants boys and girls to open up to singing. She is kind, caring, funny and an awesome person. She also loves playing instruments with her friends. She has no pets but she loves them.

Erlina Ortiz

Who connects people with her plays

When Erlina was young she had a little brother. Erlina was also was interested in science. Her brother used to pretend she was a television and he would switch the channels. For example he would switch it to cartoon network and Erlina would say, “Oh it is time to go over the rainbow trail.” When Erlina was in high school she was a actor. It was really awesome! She speaks up for justice by doing theater and art. And in college she did a lot of theater. Now Erlina does a lot of theater but she is trying to find a job outside of the theater. But she is still happy because guess what! Erlina gets to make her own schedule! A lot of the time she spends time with her cats. Erlina has also faced hard challenges in her life for example she got a really bad sickness and stayed in the hospital for about a month. Today she is really rad because she knows a lot about science and is funny and speaks up for justice and knows a lot about space.

FERN GOOKIN! Who made trash into art Fern Gookin was born on May 4, 1981 in Baltimore with her mom, dad, and two sisters. She was shy and she paid attention to everything. She studied Architecture in college at the University of Maryland. Then she moved to New Hampshire for 4 years. In 2008 she moved to Philadelphia to go to graduate school at Philadelphia University which is now called Jefferson University and she studied Sustainable Design. When she was older she had a job where she kept kids safe from health hazards in buildings. And she even worked at the Orioles stadium when she was a teenager. Today she works with RAIR but her full-time job is at Revolution Recovery, which is a recycling center that focuses on construction materials. They receive 500 tons of material at Revolution Recovery. Today she is still leading her team greatly.

Jenna Peters-Golden Who taught us nothing is impossible Jenna knew she wanted to be rad from a young age. Her mother inspired her and her older sister that they had a responsibility to pay attention to the world around them and to speak out against injustice. Jenna travels from place to place and works with different types of groups and organizations fighting for social justice. Some groups she has worked with are: organizations working to stop climate change, groups working to prevent violence, groups working for the rights of women and transgender people, and groups of lawyers who protect the rights of immigrants. Her job is to work with those groups so that the groups learn something about working together and to use that knowledge in their work to do a better job. Jenna Peters-Golden is currently pregnant, living on Walton Avenue. Jenna likes spending her time with her friends, being outside with her dog, drawing comic books, cooking, and reading. She is a true hero when it comes to helping others.

essica Rosenberg

Who isn’t afraid to tell the past Jessica Rosenberg was born in 1985. When Jessica was a child, she wanted to be a novel writer. Jessica took dance classes. Jessica also liked American Girl Doll books. Jessica really wanted there to be a Jewish American Girl Doll. When Jessica first asked the company to make a Jewish American Girl Doll, the company said no. Then the company changed their minds and made the first Jewish American Girl Doll. Jessica liked reading. Jessica lived with her dad, her mom, and her brother. Jessica’s brother had to move to boarding school. Jessica has faced many challenges. Jessica is a woman with a beard, so many people have assumptions about Jessica. People thought she was queer because of her beard, but her beard has nothing to do with her being queer. Jessica does poilitical work on LGTBQ rights, but her parents who she’s close to disagree with her. Jessica may have difficult challenges in her life, but she also has happy things in her life like favorite hobbies. Jessica enjoys reading nonfiction, biking, cooking, yoga, and cleaning with enjoyable music. Today Jessica is a rabbi who has a goal to teach people about amazing jewish history at Kol Tzedek. She has achieved many things and is still thriving today. Jessica is also in many communities, like the LGTBQ University of MN, The Neighborhood Community Center, and queer and transgender justice.

Kris Smith Who inspires people to be themselves Kris Smith was born in Jamaica on February 13. She had a friend named Antala. Then she moved to the USA when she was a little kid. Her family moved a lot so she made lots of friends. Her parents got divorced and both her parents got remarried to different people, so she has about 10 siblings. Her family inspires her. Her family is kind to her and now Kris inspires people all the time. It is basically her job. In college Kris created a hair club for people to express themselves. In that club they talked about how when people have curly hair people think of you different. In college her mom also inspired her and they are and still very close. They always share stories with each other in a mother-daughter experience. When Kris was a child people told her she could not do things cause she’s a woman!! She was not allowed to go to six flags but her brother was!! Kris loves to read and loves to play catch and sometimes with strangers. Kris Smith is very nice and kind and a very generous person. Now she is a social worker, an artist, and an educator. She loves to help people feel good at their homes.

Liz Fullerton

Who brightens people's day with her voice Liz was born on October 17, 1981. When she was two, her parents split up and she moved to Mexico with her mom and sister. She grew up on a ranch in Mexico. She has a stepmom and stepdad. In high school she did musical theater. Before high school she lived on a ranch so she also did horseback riding before then. Now she is a professional singer. She plays country and folk music and she plays guitar. She has helped lots of women go through birth not by being a midwife but by being supportive and reminding them just how strong they are . Here are two things that inspire her: one is watching the calves being born. Another thing that inspires her is an inspirational quote, “Do it like you mean it.”

Lorraine Haw(Mrs. Deedee) Who wants to stop mass incarceration

Mrs. Deedee was born in 1957 and grew up right next to the Eastern State Penitentiary. They let her and her other siblings - girls: Jackie and Kiomara, boys: Ramon, Luis, Carlos, Dean, Harry, Jerry, Peter jr., Sandhi and Robert - roll in the fields. She didn’t notice it was a penitentiary until she was old enough to know about mass incarceration. She was raised by a single mother. She had 9 brothers and then 4 of them died and then she had two sisters originally. She was the first one born of the girls. Her brothers are very overprotective of her. She loves having her siblings because they can protect her from things. She is a single mother of one boy. She has two grandaughters and five great grandbabies - three girls and two boys. She likes watching football and always travels back and forth from places. Her work is being an activist, trying to change laws for the better for people and things. She fights for freedom and equal rights for black and brown people. It’s important to her because she knows someone who is in prison for no reason. She is fighting to stop mass incarceration. She also wants to stop people from getting in prison for their whole lives and wants them to have parole. If not, they don’t see the outside and what’s happening. If they have life without parole, which means they don’t get leave, it means they don’t get to see their family, only talk to them once or twice. If she had a superpower, it would be to change evil hearts into loving and kind hearts. She loves animals but she can’t have them because she’s traveling back and forth so she can’t love and care about it. She loves and to read and her favorite book is the Bible. If she could run for president, she would. One of her quotes is, “Learn as much as you can while you’re in school. You’re the next generation and we need to you know about laws, rights, and equality.”

Marian Dalke Who grows hope for society

Marian was born on May 24th, 1988 . She was and still is one of four kids. She has two sisters and one brother. She was the peacemaker in the family. Her sisters stood up for her, but she and her brother fought. She was the youngest. In her family, she wasn’t taken seriously, and to them she didn’t have much of a opinion and sometimes she still feels that way. She’s a proud Gemini. She also loves animals and has two cats. She is married she got married in 2018. Her struggles are fitting in and being herself. Finding yourself is a hard thing to do, and she knows this by heart. “What makes her rad?” you may ask. Well, she’s an activist and cares for the Earth. She says “It’s hard being a human on this Earth when you care about it so much, and you know humans are constantly polluting it.” She cares about animals, and wants to give them a better life. This adds on to the whole “humans are constantly polluting” thing, and she doesn't like it. She’s an activist for black people and women's rights. When she sees something that seems wrong, she wants to help. This is what makes her rad.

Melanie Hsu Who helps change stereotypes about who can play music Early Life Melanie Hsu was born on April 17, 1992. She loved to sing and had her mom, sister and her grandma sing along. When she was in school she really wanted to play in a jazz club but when she asked, she was not allowed to join. “There’s not enough room for you and your cello so you can’t join.” She was really mad and sad. Instrumental Life and Work She plays the cello, piano, guitar, bass, vocals and ukulele. She also writes music for theater and movies. She works at Girls Rock Philly and teaches bass. She also does workshops as well as helping girls and woman (also people who don’t consider themself to be a girl or boy) on how to be confident on being on stage.

Monnette Sudler Who inspired the world of music Monnette was born June 5, 1952. When she was a little girl she went outside with her friends. Some stuff that she played with her friends were board games on the steps. Monnette also caught lighting bugs, roller skated on the street, and jumped double dutch. What inspired her was her mother because she was a beautiful pianist and a beautiful singer and that inspired Monnette to do more and become what she is today also along with her aunt and her grandmother. Some of the happy things in her life were jazz because it meant the world to her and it felt good doing it too. Monnette had two lung transplants and sadly got divorced. Some of the work that she does is she’s a lawyer, she does jazz, and she is a social worker. Her work is important is because loves it and she cherishes it. How she speaks up for justice is with her music to make people think about the world or make people feel something to change their minds. What makes Monnette rad is she loves her culture and Monnette loves to move people with her words and how she combines those words together to make songs. What I learned from Monnette is all she really wants me to do is focus, focus, focus and I can make things happen.

Nikki Grant

Who fights for people in prison Nikki was born in Orlando, Florida. When she was three her dad got sick so her mother took care of her and her father. Usually in spring break and in summer break she went to Disney World and Universal Studios. Growing up, Nikki really liked and still likes to`read. Her favorite series is Harry Potter and she also she does a Harry Potter trivia. Her favorite T.V. show is a cartoon called Steven Universe. Now we are where to the point of the story that matters most…. NIKKI. G’s achievements and what makes her rad. She protests for people in prisons to make it safer for the people in there. She even own a organization for it. She founded the Amistad Law Project. She also a lawyer. She really cool when you get know her. She don't want it to flow in their records.

Nuala Cabral Who turned her wonders into films Nuala Cabral was born May 16, 1981 in Rhode Island. Nuala’s mom was a real estate agent and before that she was a educator. Nuala’s dad was a storyteller that traveled the world. Nuala went to a Quaker school and when she was in high school she started to make films to document fun memories. Then in 2008 Nuala moved to Philadelphia from Rhode Island to go to Temple to go to graduate school and she started to make films about what she wondered about most. Nuala Cabral still lives in Philadelphia with her cat Lola. She works with an organization called Poppyn that teaches people how to make films. Nuala makes films about problems and questions. Nuala has been in three film festivals. Nuala has two Youtube channels: one with her friend called Cool Cooks and another one with her films. She has been interviewed many times. Nuala Cabral uses her community and her friends to overcome her challenges and also makes films about her challenges. She said, “I speak truth to power.”

STEPHANIE KYUNG SUN WALTERS Who inspires people everyday As a kid, Stephanie was different. ‘’I looked different, I sounded different, my personality was different, I just was different.” Stephanie said. She was teased and bullied. Luckly, her family had her back. Her family is her mom, her dad, her sister, and their dog Sugar. Stephanie always had a big imagination. She has been acting since she was 2 or 3 years old and has been writing since she was in college. Why she became a playwright was because she didn't see very many Asian American people on stage. “ I wanted to be a voice for change,” she said. She has written 10 professional plays. Her favorite play she’s ever written is a play about a girl whose grandfather was sucked into a painting. She has also been nominated for a Barrymore Award(a Philadelphia version of an Oscar) and is now a judge for them. Today, Stephanie is busier than ever. She works at Philadelphia Young Playwrights, writes plays, auditions for plays, and has a book club with her friends. But everyday she finds a way to inspire people with worlds they never thought possible.

Tamara Jimenez

Who took the adventuring into the next level

Tamara grew up in Nicaragua. She was born on November 14th. She was not allowed to enter the U.S because she was undocumented. She went to the U.S. and took a risk going there without her papers. She was lonely because girls were talking about the colleges that they were going to. Eventually she went to college. She now works at La Puerta Abierta. She helps students that don’t have their papers and the right mental health services. Some of her hobbies are reading X-Man comics. She also likes soccer, especially when it comes down to the World Cup. Tamara liked going to different places in the U.S.A. but she couldn’t get out of the U.S.A. because she still didn’t have her papers. When she got older, Tamara took a test and she got all of the questions right so now she has the papers to go wherever she wants to go and not to be stuck in U.S.A. Another of her hobbies is dancing and camping. For the past two summers she has taken a train from Philadelphia to California and that is where she goes to camp. She has not got married yet.

Vessna Scheff Who is a great artist and singer When Vessna was little she liked to sing and hum. She wanted to be an artist but never thought she was going to be a singer, too. She thought of being a singer when she was older. She was in a band and and she was the one who would make the flyers for her band and the one who made the album cover. She did not think it looked very good so she threw it in the trash. That was one of the first pieces of art she remembered. One of the next pieces of art she remembers is a painting of Malcolm X. This time she was happy with it and shared it with people, not like the album cover. Vessna loves plants and loves being outside. Her house is filled with plants, too. Now she performs on stage with her music. She is a great artist and musician!! In her art she makes collages and portraits.

Wende Marshall Who set the world record for doing community activism Wende was born in 1961. She grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and she teaches intellectual heritage at Temple. Before that, she got denied for her job and got jobless and her husband died and she had no home. She is an organizer with the Stadium Stoppers because the stadium is taking people’s houses away and that’s really really bad bad bad. When she was little she had so many things to do like playing horse where you pretend that you ride a horse. Wende also plays house. That’s when when you pretend to be family.

Meet the Authors!

Cora is in third grade. She is 9 and loves pigs and pandas and red pandas. She lives with her mom, dad and her moody older brother. She is AWESOME.

This is Cormac. Cormac’s favorite game is Fortnite. Cormac’s two favorite sports are basketball and lacrosse. Cormac plays the piano. Cormac’s nickname is Pat. Cormac is cool. Cormac’s favorite basketball team is the 76ers.

Ellie is a third grader in Greene Street Friends School, Philly, PA. She lives with her mom and dad. Her rad woman was Liz Fullerton.

Elon Allen who says kindness is key. Elon was born June 26, 2010 and she was nice. Elon’s hobbies are basketball and soccer.

Elysse is a 3rd grader. Elysse’s hobbies are swimming, basketball, lacrosse, and tennis. Elysse plays with her friends and has lots of great experiences with them.

Meet the Authors!

Francisco is in 3rd grade. He likes to play sports like soccer, tennis and basketball. He also likes math and reading. Francisco has 4 cousins.

Gracie is a third grade student in 3A. She lives with her mom, her dad, and her very annoying younger brother, not to mention her fish FloJo. She loves tigers and lions. She is rad!

Grace Herold is a regular third grader. She enjoys writing and social studies. In her spare times, she writes and plays sports. She also likes watching the Sixers and reading. Her favorite food is a hoagie.

This is Gus. Gus is cool. Gusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite game is baseball. Gus lives with his mom, dad, and two sisters.

This is Jackie, a 3rd grade student at Greene Street Friends School. She has 4 cats, a big brother, 3 moms, and hopes you enjoy this book.

Meet the Authors!

June is a third grader who is kind, smart, and loves animals. She loves swimming and will always help a friend. She is a really funny person. She wants to be a dog trainer.

This is MICAH. Micahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite things to play are Fortnight Battle Royale, soccer, basketball, and piano. And Micah plays with his sister.

Parker is a 3A student. Her hobbies are horseback riding, reading, and tap dance. She lives in Brewerytown. She loves animals.

Reggie is a basketball lover. Reggieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hobbies are playing basketball and video games. He has four people in his family.

Meet the Authors!

Simon has two brothers. One of them is his twin brother and the other one is four years older than Simon. Simon lives in Philadelphia with his two brothers and parents.

Stasu Zawislak was born on September 23rd, 2009 and loves music and video games.

Xavier is funny and has 2 older sisters and one older brother. Xavier loves to draw and play outside. Xavier also likes to cook, too. He also does kickboxing and likes digging holes.

Zoe is an only child and loves it. She also loves to play video games and loves to play sports.

Special thanks: To the rad women of 2019 for opening themselves up to our class and teaching us about the powerful work they are doing in our city. To the rad women of 2018 for introducing us to new people to be a part of this project. To art teachers Marie and Tess for their support creating the art for this book. To Kate Schatz and Miram Kelin Stahl, author and illustrator of Rad American Women A-Z, an inspiration for this project. To the women who have inspired us and to those who have yet to be included in a book, but who are making history everyday.