A new film explores the 1976 Bicentennial

Five Haverford and Bryn Mawr College students, along with poet Thomas Devaney and Greenhouse Media, have produced a documentary film, Bicentennial City.

The student filmmakers — Julia Coletti ’21, Jixin Jia ’21, Edward Ogborn ’19, Cole Sansom ’19, and Grace Sue ’20 — interviewed a cross-section of people about their experiences during the 1976 celebration in Philadelphia. They explored how a polarizing mayor, post-Vietnam malaise, and the galvanized resistance of marginalized groups impacted the planned events and resulted in counter-demonstrations. The film is shown using a large, multichannel projection and soundscape presentation alongside two neon sculptures: an original neon Liberty Bell created in 1976 by Val Maddalo and another Liberty Bell commissioned for the exhibit and created by Philadelphia neon artist Len Davidson.

A talk and reception will be held Thursday, Feb. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the college’s VCAM Screening Room for the related program, “The Crack in the Bell 1976: A Talk by Thomas Devaney.” For details visit exhibits.haverford.edu/bicentennialcity. The Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. on the Haverford College campus.

Socks tend to be the least-donated items to homeless shelters, yet they’re among the items that shelters need most.

Footprints to Recovery, a group of regional drug and alcohol treatment centers, is trying to change that. The organization is kicking off its Third Annual Socks of Love Campaign in hopes of collecting 10,000 pairs of new socks (for sanitary reasons, used ones are not accepted), especially thick, warm ones.

Donations are being accepted at the Alcohol & Drug Outpatient Treatment Facility on 3535 Quakerbridge Road, Suite 300, in Hamilton Township, N.J. They will be given to the Trenton Rescue Mission.

Students at Robert Morris Elementary were surprised in December when the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia stopped by with donated hardcover read-aloud books during the group’s annual Read to Me storyteller event. The chamber’s storytellers spent the morning reading a selected book to the children.

As part of the Read to Me Early Literacy Program, books are donated to pre-K and first-grade classrooms throughout the city. Last year, the chamber bought about 1,400 books for 25 Philadelphia-area schools. The donations create a lending library in each of the classrooms, and students are permitted to take a book home every night. The program aims to ensure that all Philadelphia children are able to read on grade level by fourth grade.