Shannon McDonald
Archive for March 2009
Five unique stops in Philly
South Philly's Famous 4th Street Deli is among the five stops I recommended to Wilmington News Journal readers.
This is a story I wrote for the March 27, 2009 issue of Delaware’s Wilmington News Journal about some great stores in Philadelphia that people should stop by when they visit. I also took the photos.
The next time you visit the City of Brotherly Love, take the locals’ approach to shopping: mix it up, hit several neighborhoods and avoid the box stores.
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You’ll find that Philly’s shopping scene is more than The Gallery and South Street. Unique stories can be found around the city — and they offer friendly service, reasonable prices and exceptional quality.
Start from the south and work your way north for a memorable trip. If you don’t want to drive, every neighborhood in Philadelphia is easily accessible by public transportation.
Here are five stores (with photos) worth a look.
Strawberry Mansion organizations want more from Nutter’s budget
This is a story I did for MURL, Temple University’s senior journalism class. The assignment was to go out into your assigned neighborhood – in my case, Strawberry Mansion- and report on how the residents feel about Mayor Michael Nutter’s budget proposal. This was a team reporting project, but I was responsible for the written portion.
Eric Jones* is almost 3 years old. His age is painfully apparent as his faulty legs struggle to carry him up the jungle gym beneath the weight of his puffy coat and snow cap. Eric spends his days the same way he has since he was 7 months old – in the care of Phyllis Fultz and Roslyn Fulton, who run the Urban Pioneers daycare on French and 31st streets near Ridge Avenue in Strawberry Mansion.
Eric – along with his five playmates – embodies childhood innocence, right down to the runny nose his caretakers attribute to the change in seasons. What Eric doesn’t know as he clasps the hands of a girl around his age, guiding her up the sliding board at Mander Playground at 33rd and Diamond streets in Fairmount Park, is that the odds are stacked against him. His race, socioeconomic status, neighborhood and infrequent contact with his father are designed to hold Eric back in life. These factors will work against him in every stage of his life until he either rises above or succumbs to them, becoming another statistic in Philadelphia’s records.
Several people will influence Eric’s life and guide him along what they hope turns out to be the right path: his parents, his caregivers and Mayor Michael Nutter.
Continue reading for thoughts from daycare owners, school teachers and nonprofit organizations. Continue reading
Exclusive interview with Rob McElhenny of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
Shannon McDonald | The Temple News | March 24, 2009
‘Sunny’ star still a Philly guy at heart
Photo courtesy of Michael Becker for FX
If the name of his show wasn’t enough proof already, Rob McElhenney, 31, is a Philadelphia guy. In an exclusive interview with The Temple News, the writer, producer and star of
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia reminisces about his days of hanging out in Fairmount Park, sneaking into bars and roaming Temple’s Main Campus for a semester.
Shannon McDonald: You’re a born-and-raised Philly kid. How did you spend your time growing up?
Rob McElhenney: I grew up in South Philadelphia at Moyamensing and Dickinson, then, I moved to Delaware County after high school. I went to high school at St. Joe’s Prep and hung out with kids from all different schools. I don’t know if kids do this anymore, but we used to go to Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park after school to hang. Sometimes we’d go to the bars that let underagers in.
SM: I hear you went to Temple for a while. Have any fond memories?
RM: My time at Temple was short. I went for a semester but didn’t finish. I wasn’t a great student – I wasn’t excelling, and I wasn’t there long enough to declare a major. I wanted to leave Philly and see new things, so I moved to New York. I stayed there for seven years before heading out to Los Angeles.
SM: When did you realize you wanted to make a career out of acting?
RM: As a kid, I did plays in school but never really thought of it as being a career option. It wasn’t until I got to New York City and met waiters and bartenders who were doing shows at night that I ever considered it as a profession. I enrolled in Lee Strasberg [Theatre and Film Institute], which is associated with the Screen Actors Guild and started acting. Continue reading
24th Police District gets new captain
Shannon McDonald | March 11 | Fishtown Spirit
This article ran on Page 7 in the March 11 issue of The Fishtown Spirit, where I work as a writer and copy editor.
Captain Daniel Castro is the new leader of the 24th District
An old marketing campaign for the Fraternal Order of Police featured a poster depicting a wounded police officer in front his squad car. “You wouldn’t do it for a million bucks,” the poster read, “but we do it for a whole lot less,”
Two decades and several slain police officers later, Captain Daniel Castro of the 24th District knows that statement is truer than ever. With just three weeks at the 24th under his belt, Castro is vowing to do all he can to bring the communities together and make them safer for the residents and the officers who patrol them.
