Heidi Stroh
Allegheny College Sophomore

‘I like that it has one eye cocked up, as if the face was wondering why you are looking at it - or a person discontented by their own reflection. Its nice to see a face in the mirror that is not your own, everyone worries about their own image and over analyzes it.’ said Heidi Stroh as she looked at a piece of art work hanging over a bathroom sink at Allegheny College.
‘Its placement makes it much more interesting than if it hung in a place you would expect it to be.’ Stroh likes photography and looking at art wrk. She says that looking at others art work is a gift the artist gives to us. “As i make art i understand that the piece is definitely a part of oneself and revealing it and calling it finished is like stepping out onto a limb.’

Robert Beck, Poplar Street, Meadville

“Probably not too many people making maple syrup in the city,” Robert Beck says as he works in his back yard.
Three years ago he tapped the two maple trees in his yard behind T.J.’s Pizza on Poplar Street. “I got about 5 pints of syrup,” he said. From that 5 pints, which he boiled on a turkey fryer right in between the two trees, he took fourth place at the Crawford County Fair in the novice division.
This year he is gearing up to enter again and is adding more maple items in hopes of winning more ribbons. He made maple sugar, which his wife, Cyndi, plans to use to make maple leaf-shaped sugar cookies to enter in the baked goods department of the fair. Robert also expanded his operation this year, including tapping some friends’ trees and bringing the sap back to his home to cook. He has also built a cinderblock outdoor burner and had a large tray built so he can cook even more sap. He has already produced about 5 gallons this year.
“They’ve been by a couple times” Robert says about the fire department, which enforces regulations prohibiting burning in the city. “As long as its a closed fire and water is handy, I’m OK,” Robert says. He isn’t sure whether he’ll try to enter the fair in the pro category or not this year, but he said he joked with fellow syrup maker Laura Dengler that he wants to get his location on the region’s annual maple tour some day.
Meanwhile he sees this as good family time with his kids and time outdoors. “It’s fun,” he says.

This idea is nearly a year old, but has come to fruition...until now. Monday we'll launch in The Meadville Tribune ' Folk,' an idea that sprung from casual conversations out on assignment and will become small portraits gleaned from small conversations. To read more about the project click on About Folk above  or here.

Below are the mock ups for the idea that I've been developing this past year.