Solomon Jones’ most recent column regarding his lack of concern about Graham Platner’s ethics was dead on. We need a new generation — warts and all — to fight for us and rebuild the Democratic Party. Just look at some of the wins in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, etc. Just look at Andy Kim’s challenge to the “County Line” on ballots and his win. I’m only 73, for God’s sake, and I want to see younger, more progressive candidates get in the trenches and fight for us. I want this country to move forward again, not backward. It’s time to remove the bigots, racists, and sexists who are ruining our country and elect some candidates who can truly make us great.
Vince McGinley, Haddon Heights
…
In his recent column, Solomon Jones states that to fight Donald Trump’s presidency we should look past character and apply the same principles the Trump team has. When did character no longer matter? You never fix a wrong with another wrong; it simply doesn’t work. If character no longer matters, have we hit rock bottom?
Robert Galasso, Cherry Hill
End Gaza’s suffering
I appreciated the recent Associated Press story about the continuing crises in Gaza, even though the content is grim and distressing to read. We needed to be reminded that the suffering is not over. We have been distracted by the crazy, dangerous, and damaging actions by a failed presidency that has allowed Israel to continue its devastation of the people of Gaza. Without international pressure to stop, Israel has continued to kill Palestinian civilians, squeeze them into less and less territory, and resist all but token attempts at providing necessary food, shelter, and medical care to the beleaguered populace.
Since the U.S. was complicit in prosecuting this tragedy, that gives us considerable leverage to end it. We need to stop being war enablers to become war resisters. If the president is incapable of understanding the urgency, we need to tell Congress to take control and to establish a clear policy that calls for an end to bloodshed, and the initiation of a massive, international effort to relieve and rebuild Gaza.
We are a great country, we’ve done this before, and we can do it again.
Norman K. Janes, Haverford
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your summer superpower is assertiveness. You’ll see the opportunity in each scenario, ask for what you want and seize the moment. Keep the manners, lose the apologies and remember the overall good of the group.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Your summer superpower is timeliness. You’ll plan when it’s necessary, act when you feel it and relax when it’s time to take it all in. Keep the high standards for yourself, lose the expectations of others and remember patience.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Your summer superpower is confidence. You’ll light up rooms, inspire loyalty and attract exactly the attention needed to move your plans forward. Keep the generosity, lose the pride and remember that admiration feels best when it’s shared.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). Your summer superpower is discernment. You’ll know what’s worth your time, what needs fixing and what should simply be left alone. Keep the devotion, lose the perfectionism and remember that joy is productive, too.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Your summer superpower is connection. You’ll bring the right people together, smooth over tension and create beauty wherever you go. Keep the charm, lose the indecision and remember that harmony sometimes requires honesty first.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Your summer superpower is magnetism. You’ll draw people, opportunities and revelations toward you without forcing a thing. Keep the passion, lose the suspicion and remember that vulnerability creates stronger bonds than control ever could.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your summer superpower is optimism. You’ll expand your world through travel, risk-taking and saying yes to experiences that wake you up again. Keep the enthusiasm, lose the restlessness and remember that freedom means choosing what matters most.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Your summer superpower is focus. You’ll make steady progress while everyone else gets distracted by heatwaves and chaos. Keep the ambition, lose the rigidity and remember that pleasure can fuel success instead of interrupting it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Your summer superpower is intuition. You’ll sense what people need before they say a word and create moments that bring everyone closer together. Keep the tenderness, lose the self-protection and remember that not everyone earns access to your inner world.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your summer superpower is originality. You’ll spot trends before they arrive and imagine possibilities other people completely miss. Keep the independence, lose the detachment and remember that community strengthens your vision.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Your summer superpower is imagination. You’ll dream vividly, create beautifully and pick up on emotional undercurrents other people overlook. Keep the compassion, lose the escapism and remember that boundaries protect your peace, not diminish it.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Your summer superpower is curiosity. You’ll stumble into the right conversations, collect surprising opportunities and charm your way through changing circumstances. Keep the openness, lose the overthinking and remember the value of listening as closely as you speak.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (June 21). It’s a Mystery School Year in the Ancient Greek sense, in which you’re challenged before receiving sacred knowledge. You emerge with sharper intuition, deeper self-trust and the powerful ability to recognize illusion versus truth. More highlights: You’ll connect often with friends for games and laughs. A project gets you seen by people who will pay you well and elevate your work. Pisces and Taurus adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 15, 3, 20, 16 and 7.
DEAR ABBY: I have been dating a wonderful man for 10 months. He was married for 45 years until his wife died after a five-year illness. He is kind, thoughtful, smart, generous and romantic. Our relationship is exclusive, and things could hardly be better.
Recently, he and one of his grown daughters and her family gathered for dinner to commemorate his wedding anniversary. I thought it was a little strange. She has been gone for two years, and I found myself feeling somewhat hurt. I wasn’t invited to the dinner, which doesn’t bother me, but I can’t escape the feeling that, on some level, he still feels married. Accordingly, I feel as though I’m dating a married man, which I would never do.
As we are not able to easily work through this, he suggested I write you and get your take. Am I being unreasonable and reading too much into this? Is it possible that he is not yet ready for a new relationship? Should I request (or insist) that he refrain from such “celebrations” in the future?
— NOT A CHEATER IN INDIANA
DEAR NOT A CHEATER: Your gentleman friend had nearly 50 years of history with his late wife. If he and their adult children chose to celebrate the anniversary of their marriage, it was no skin off your nose and you shouldn’t have taken it so personally.
If the two of you were to marry, one would hope he and his family would celebrate the present and the future. Even if they didn’t, if you love this man and want to be accepted by his family, you would be foolish to insist he stop something they find comforting. It wouldn’t go down well. Trust me on that.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I am in a relationship with a much younger man. We are both adults and love each other. There’s no doubt that we want to be together and enjoy our lives together. But his family keeps trying to get him to leave me, despite his explaining to them that he’s happy and this works for us.
All of this makes me uncomfortable when the family gets together, but I go to support him, and he wants me there. They love him but they don’t give him support when he needs it. I have been there for him through his toughest times. How do I get them to understand?
— OLDER WOMAN IN THE MIDWEST
DEAR OLDER: It is not your responsibility to convince your boyfriend’s family of anything. He should tell his family that he doesn’t want to discuss the subject when they bring it up. He should also refrain from sharing it with you.
With time, his relatives will realize that your relationship is a lasting one. If, however, they deliberately make you uncomfortable when you have to see them, limit the amount of time you spend in their presence.
** ** **
DEAR READERS: Happy Father’s Day to fathers everywhere — birth fathers, stepfathers, adoptive and foster fathers, grandfathers, and all of you caring men who mentor children and fill the role of absent dads. P.S. Also, a big shoutout to dual-role moms. I applaud you all — today and every day.
In three weeks, in the same sold-out ballpark, in front of another national television audience, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper will probably be in the All-Star Game, maybe even the Home Run Derby.
But they won’t put on a show like this.
They can’t possibly.
Can they?
Whatever happens in the Bank’s All-Star closeup, take this to the bank: The Phillies’ stars put on dueling talent shows for the ages in Saturday night’s 15-3 demolition of the rival Mets. And, no, that isn’t mouth-agape hyperbole over feats we can’t believe we just saw.
“They stole the show from me, that’s for sure,” ace Cristopher Sánchez said, laughing, after a one-run, six-inning gem reduced his ERA to 1.84. “It was perfect.”
It started with Schwarber, who became the fourth player in Phillies history (dating back to 1883, by the way) to smash two homers in one inning before adding a third later in the game for good measure.
Not to be outdone, Harper tripled in the fifth inning to hit for the cycle for the first time in a career that has spanned 15 seasons and will eventually take him to the Hall of Fame. And it took him only four at-bats, to boot.
Only once before did teammates do those two things — at least three homers and a cycle — in one game: Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri, Hall of Fame Yankees, in 1932.
“We were wondering that in the dugout,” Harper said. “We didn’t think there was going to be two guys that did it. But to have those two names up against ours is pretty cool. It’s a pretty awesome moment for both of us.”
Kyle Schwarber became the fourth Phillies player to homer twice in one inning when he did so in the third.
Or as Schwarber put it, after he and Harper had four hits apiece in a 17-hit Phillies onslaught: “It was a pretty cool overall night, in general.”
For Harper, it began a few minutes before 3 p.m. with something he rarely does. He took early batting practice on the field, an exercise he prefers to do underneath the stands in the controlled environment of the indoor cage.
But Harper was in a 1-for-22 funk, even though he’s been mostly pleased with his approach at the plate. He swung mostly at strikes and hit balls hard, but as he said, “it feels like there’s a big, old glove out there.”
So, Harper went out to the field with one objective.
“I was trying to hit home runs,” he said. “Haven’t hit really many balls over the fence in a while, so I felt like just going out there and just trying to hit some balls in the third deck. Sometimes that helps.”
OK, but hitting a fastball from Mets ace righty Freddy Peralta into the right-field seats on his first swing of the game for his first homer in 10 days?
That’s absurd. But it fits with the night’s theme.
Harper was using different lumber, too. He switched to a 34-inch, 35-ounce bat instead of his usual 34-inch, 31½-ounce model — “My heavy bat from the cage,” he said — because he thought he was out in front of too many pitches.
“That bat’s from 2023, just an old, heavy bat that I swing every day in the cage,” Harper said. “It’s just my workout-routine bat. I said to [hitting coach Kevin] Long about a month ago, I was like, ‘Man, I should use this thing in a game,’ and I never did. Finally I was like, ‘Screw it. I’m going to do it today.
“I don’t know if it translated to the game or anything else. But what a night to be able to have.”
Tell Schwarber about it. He led off an eight-run third inning by golfing a 456-foot drive halfway up the second deck in right field. By the time Schwarber’s spot in the lineup came back around, the Phillies had an eight-run lead. It ballooned to 11-0 with another Schwarbomb, 457 feet to almost the same spot.
“That was cool,” said Schwarber, who didn’t do anything unusual before the game. “First time I’ve done it in my career.”
In fact, the only other Phillies players to do it were Andy Seminick (1949), Von Hayes (1985), and Trea Turner (2023).
Why stop there? Schwarber tacked on a third homer in the seventh inning, skying a ball around the right-field foul pole. It marked the fifth time in his career that he hit at least three homers and raised his majors-leading total this season to 28.
“That’s what he tries to do, man,” Harper said of the sport’s most prolific home-run hitter. “It’s way different. Just the way he kind of connects to the baseball. He uses the ground so well. He’s got such a simple, short swing. It’s pretty impressive, you know?”
Almost as impressive as, say, scoring all the way from first base on Harper’s cycle-capping triple.
Everyone in the dugout was aware of Harper’s pursuit of the cycle. After his first-inning homer, he was typically overaggressive in hustling to turn a single into a double on a liner to right-center before ripping a single in the third inning.
“We kind of talked about it before, and I was like, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to aim at Monty’s Angle,’” Schwarber said, referring to the area where the wall juts out in left-center field. “And then he gets up there and he hits the ball to center field. I’m like, ‘I’m going to run through the stop sign.’
“I was pretty predetermined on going, and I’m glad [third base coach Anthony Contreras] was on the same page, too, with sending me.”
Not that they had much choice. Harper was intent on not stopping around second base, the helmet flying off his head between first and second.
Harper joked that Schwarber was well-rested because he “jogged a lot tonight.” And when he slid into third, Harper raised both arms skyward, then pumped his right arm and doffed his helmet.
It was only the 11th time in 144 seasons that a Phillies player hit for the cycle. J.T. Realmuto and Weston Wilson did it in 2023 and 2024, respectively. But it’s happened only five times in the last 63 years.
And never to Harper. Well, not since college.
“Super Regionals,” he said. “Seven-for-seven, four homers and a cycle.”
Where does a cycle rank for a two-time MVP with 379 career homers?
“It’s up there,” he said. “Doing that at the big-league level is really cool.”
And it makes you wonder what Schwarber and Harper could possibly have in store for an All-Star encore. Neither will commit to the Home Run Derby until they know if they’ll be named to the All-Star team.
But, really, is there any doubt?
“A crowd like [Saturday] shows you how electric it’s going to be, for not only that [Home Run Derby] night but the whole week in general,” Schwarber said. “I think it’ll be really special to have the All-Star Game here in Philly, and our fans are going to be able to show up for that.”
The Phillies’ biggest stars just gave everyone one heck of a preview.
Fifteen years into a career that will almost certainly take him to the Hall of Fame, Phillies star Bryce Harper did something he’s never done before.
He hit for the cycle.
And it took him only four at-bats.
Harper tripled in the fifth inning of a 15-3 rout of the Mets, and upon sliding into third, he pumped his right arm, then raised both arms skyward. Harper homered in the first inning, then reached on a hustle double and a single in the Phillies’ eight-run third inning.
“[Interim manager] Don [Mattingly] and all the coaches came up to me and were like, ‘Hey, if you get a chance, just go do it,’” Harper said. “So, kind of once I had their blessing to just go on any ball, it was kind of the perfect thing.”
It marked the 11th time a Phillies player hit for the cycle. Harper joined Lave Cross (1894), Sam Thompson (1894), Cy Williams (1927), Chuck Klein (1931 and 1933), Johnny Callison (1963), Gregg Jefferies (1995), David Bell (2004), J.T. Realmuto (2023), and Weston Wilson (2024).
“Doing that at the big-league level is really cool,” Harper said. “Got close a couple times, but being able to do that, having that moment is really, really cool.”
The triple capped the cycle, but it wouldn’t have been complete without a signature double from Harper in the third inning. He shot a ball into the gap in right-center and aggressively took second base, never hesitating out of the box. It was the sort of baserunning for which he’s often criticized.
“I don’t really care what people think about my baserunning because that’s how I’ve always played,” Harper said. “I’ve done it since I was 7 years old. I don’t really play a different way when I know I can try to get to second base. I’ve made mistakes on the bases. I’m going to. Little kids are going to do the same thing. And I’ll preach to them that they just play the game hard. If they get thrown out at second or third, then so be it. If I don’t do that tonight, then I don’t have the opportunity to hit for a cycle.”
Not to be outdone, Kyle Schwarber crushed three homers, including two in the Phillies’ big third inning, to raise his majors-leading total to 28. He became the fourth Phillies player to homer twice in one inning. The others: Andy Seminick (1949), Von Hayes (1985), and Trea Turner (2023).
Both of Schwarber’s third-inning homers landed halfway up the second deck in right field. The first was measured at 456 feet, the second at 457 feet.
Harper entered with 13 career four-hits games, including two games with five hits. But he hadn’t hit for the cycle since 2010 at the College of Southern Nevada.
So, when Harper hit a fastball from Mets lefty reliever Cionel Pérez into the gap in left-center field, he had no intention of stopping at second base. The helmet flew off his head between first and second. He went from the batter’s box to third base in 11.8 seconds.
Kids today can “name more Kardashians than types of trees,” according to Sean Sherman, a James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, activist, and cookbook author.
They — and their parents, for that matter — know almost nothing about the forests, plants, and animals that fed Sherman’s Native American ancestors and cultivated whole nations of Indigenous people, he said in a talk Saturday at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Sherman was on hand to discuss his new book, Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America, which includes100 ancestral and modern recipes.
In his career, Sherman has won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook for his book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen; the James Beard Leadership Award in 2019 for his dedication to revitalizing Indigenous food systems; and the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, for his Minneapolis restaurant, Owamni (co-owned with Dana Thompson).
Sherman is famous for, among other dishes, wild rice-crusted walleye, cedar-braised bison, and hunter’s stew with bear meat (or lamb if bears are scarce).
He said he learned his craft the hard way.
“I couldn’t very well go online to learn how to do Native American cooking,” said Sherman, 52, who was born on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, and now lives in Minneapolis. “Nothing was there. So much of it was lost to history so quickly.”
He read academic books on plants that were used as food and medicines by Native Americans. He learned how to prepare the game meats that provided protein to long-ago ancestors. And he worked in Minnesota restaurants to cook what he calls “colonial food,” derived from European cuisines, to hone his chops in the kitchen.
Many Native Americans have long been unaware of the knowledge gleaned by their forebears. Showing a slide of a bologna sandwich on white bread, Sherman told the 240 people in his audience, “This was Lakota food when I was young.” Also on the menu: unadorned cans bearing the words, “Beef with juices.”
Sherman is wry with a biting wit — “lawns are [expletive] stupid, aren’t they?”
He also shows little reverence for the 250th celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, dismissing the document as a “break-up letter to King George” that described Sherman’s ancestors as “merciless Indian savages.”
When Sherman was done, the crowd moved outside to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk, director of education for NATIFS (that’s North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), was holding court.
Ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk talks plants with people attending chef Sean Sherman’s event at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
She showed visitors a garden of plants used by Indigenous people that grow easily in Philadelphia, and can be harnessed for use.
Anise hyssop can be made into a tea that’s “good for the lungs, and helped during COVID,” Black Elk said.
Mountain mint, which battles indigestion, was growing near elderflowers, “one of the most antiviral plants in the world,” according to Black Elk. “And you can simply grow it in your yard.”
Black Elk added that the well-known “three sisters” — squash, corn, and beans — easily grow at Philadelphia’s latitude as well.
Impressed by the plants, as well as Sherman himself, Lucas Figueroa, 28, of South Philadelphia, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, said, “Food connects everybody to culture and the land. I’m so very passionate about this.”
Sara Marine, 51, an archeologist from Lancaster, praised Sherman for not merely trying to recreate the past, but for “bringing it to life.”
Salad wraps that included mustard greens, daylilies, and rose petals were sampled during chef Sean Sherman’s event at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Steps from the garden, visitors were treated to snacks with Native American roots that can be made today with local ingredients: aronia berry granola (with oats and flax seed); sumac honey spritz (made with seltzer); and cornmeal elderberry cookies (sweetened with maple sugar).
Sherman said he wanted his audience to understand that he doesn’t like simply telling people, “this is how we cooked in 1491.” Rather, he said, “I want to show people that we’re moving forward … coming up with food that can be beautiful and hopeful.
“This is real American food. That label isn’t just for the hamburger.”
“We haven’t put a timetable on it,“ general manager Preston Mattingly said on The Inquirer’s Phillies Extra podcast. “It’s TBD at this point when he comes back. But I think we all know as an organization that we’re going to need him.”
OK, but in the meantime, the Phillies must fill Painter’s spot. They don’t have many options. Starting pitching depth has been a concern since the offseason. It isn’t an organizational strength.
But before the Phillies settle the fifth-starter question, they will slightly rearrange the rotation beyond co-aces Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler. Jesús Luzardo will move back one day to avoid overtaxing the bullpen by splitting up Painter’s spot and Aaron Nola.
So, after Wheeler starts at home Sunday night against the Mets, the rotation will shape up like this for the upcoming series in Washington: Monday: No. 5 starter; Tuesday: Luzardo; Wednesday: Nola; Thursday: Sánchez.
As for who will take the fifth (spot), the Phillies seem to have three choices:
Bryse Wilson: Called up to fill Painter’s roster spot, Wilson threw 29 pitches in two scoreless innings of relief Thursday night against the Mets, which would line him up to start on short rest. The 28-year-old righty had a 6.29 ERA in triple A but also hadn’t allowed a run in 12 innings in his last three starts. He has appeared in 164 major-league games, including 57 starts.
Alan Rangel is a candidate to join the Phillies’ starting rotation next week.
Alan Rangel: Despite occasionally spotty command (27 walks in 70 innings), Rangel has been Lehigh Valley’s most consistent starter. He has a 3.99 ERA in 14 games (11 starts) and would be on regular rest Monday.
Bullpen game/opener: The Phillies have more depth in the bullpen. Interim manager Don Mattingly said he isn’t inclined to pass the baton from reliever to reliever for nine innings. But the Phillies could use an opener before turning to a bulk pitcher, possibly Wilson or Rangel.
“I don’t know about bullpen-heavy, but obviously there will be usage,” Mattingly said. “There’s no plan to just go two innings and then try to do the whole thing with a bullpen. It won’t be that kind of game. We’ll definitely have bulk in there.”
The fifth spot in the rotation will come around four times before the All-Star break. Painter isn’t expected back until after the second half opens. He will throw multiple bullpen sessions before making his first start for Lehigh Valley, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.
Painter has a 7.06 ERA and a 1-8 record (the Phillies are 3-9 in his starts). Opponents are batting .404 and slugging .660 against his fastball.
The Phillies believe it stems mostly from his delivery. He tends to over-rotate toward the first-base side of the mound, rather than striding directly toward home plate, which has affected his ability to command the fastball.
“Most of it is delivery-oriented,” Dombrowski said. “Because he’s done some things with his delivery, just going more directly to the plate rather than spinning off. He’s had more life, and you see it at times. He threw some pitches that were outstanding but not on a consistent basis.
“So, the feeling is that when he does that, when he gives that effort going forward, his ball’s got more movement. He’s got more command of his pitches.”
Trea Turner is back in the lineup after suffering a bruised right calf on Thursday.
Trea bien
Trea Turner returned to the lineup Saturday — in his familiar leadoff spot — after leaving Thursday night’s game with a bruised right calf. He got hit by a pitch from Mets lefty Sean Manaea in the first inning.
When Turner reported soreness and tightness, Mattingly took him out of the game. But after a day off Friday, Turner felt better.
“For me, the biggest danger with that is him running differently, and then we’re into a hamstring or a hip [injury] or something like that,” Mattingly said. “So, wanted to make sure that he can run. That was his biggest issue, just pushing off. The off-day did him well.”
Lefty reliever Kyle Backhus (elbow) was scheduled to make his fifth injury rehab appearance for Lehigh Valley. The Phillies likely will reinstate him from the injured list early next week. Backhus could fill an important role in the bullpen, with lefty José Alvarado struggling and Tanner Banks getting sent back to the minors. … Gage Wood update: The Phillies’ top prospect has a 3.71 ERA, 25 strikeouts, and only five walks in 17 innings over five starts since his promotion to double A. … Wheeler (6-1, 2.01 ERA) will be opposed Sunday night by Mets lefty David Peterson (3-5, 5.91).
A 38-year-old woman who was working for a rideshare service was hospitalized after being shot during an attempted robbery in Fairmount just after midnight Saturday, police said.
Around 12:30 a.m., police responded to a call on the 2800 block of Poplar Street, where they found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder. She is in stable condition at Temple Hospital, police said.
The woman was working as a driver and waiting for her passenger to show up when two young men approached her, police said.
“One of the suspects tapped on her driver-side window with a small handgun,” police said in a statement. “Without a word exchanged, the victim immediately attempted to drive away to escape, prompting the suspect to fire a shot through her window, striking her shoulder.”
Police said the two men fled west toward 29th Street, while the injured driver drove to 28th Street to wait for an ambulance.
Police said the men are in their late teens to early 20s with slim builds, wearing all-black clothing and masks. The motive was robbery, police said.
Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon has officially become a part of the Philadelphia community.
As the invited guest for the Open Door Abuse Awareness and Prevention football combine for young athletes in honor of Juneteenth on Saturday, attendees welcomed Lemon with both words and actions, rushing to gates at Mastery Charter School to greet Philly’s newest Eagle. Author and social media personality Wallace Peeples, more commonly known as Wallo267, was also a guest at the event.
The event combined athletic training with teaching emotional skills and was held at Mastery Charter for youth and high school football players.
Valencia Peterson, ODAAP’s founder, said that through its decade-long mission, the organization uses sports to share its message because of the captive audience it offers as athletes rotate through stations in agility, jumping, a 40-yard dash, and more.
“It’s all about dosing the kids, giving them a little bit at a time over and over again of the same things,” Peterson said. “Just like a rep in football, you swing your arms enough, you know how to do it automatically when you’re on the field, and so that’s what it’s like.”
Kamden Cintron, 11, participates in the 40-yard dash at the Open Door Abuse and Prevention youth football combine on Saturday.
After completing the different stations, Peterson turned things over to Lemon and Peeples to say a few words and offer advice to the athletes.
“This is a blessing. I’m just preaching to all the kids that it’s an opportunity that they shouldn’t take for granted,” Lemon said. “Super grateful, to be out here with all the kids.”
Aliyoh Turay, 24, was in the same position as the kids Lemon spoke to on Saturday. Growing up in Philadelphia, Turay was a part of the ODAAP programs in high school. Now, he volunteers by helping at events like the combine and coaching.
Turay said ODAAP was like a family that helped him grow and navigate adversity. He hopes the tools for self advocating and handling adversity will pass on to the next generation currently participating in these events.
“Growing up some of us aren’t really taught how to speak up for ourselves and how to talk about what we’re going through and ask for help,” Turay said. “So, ODAAP has really been a tool I have used to grow and reach out for help and talk about what I was going through.”
Bryant Paden, known throughout the city as “Coach Slice,” said the goal for these events is for the athletes to “learn, that it’ll grow in them, and that they’re beginning to teach it to the next generation.”
Paden, Liberty Charter’s Pop Warner president, said that demonstrating skills of emotional intelligence, especially as the brain is still developing, allows participants to retain the message more.
“We’re teaching them how to use their energy and their emotions in a positive way, even when competing in such a physical sport,” Paden said. “I think just saying it, it comes off as just words, and so we want to make sure that not only we’re saying it, we’re able to, throughout their growth, point out examples of people doing the right thing and the wrong thing, so that they can see the difference in the consequences.”
Makai Lemon speaks with a parent at the Open Door Abuse and Prevention youth football combine on Saturday.
In hopes of continuing this education after Saturday’s event, a free copy of Peeples’ book “Say Yes to You and No to Them” was given to each parent at the event, as well as each of the high school students attending.
Peeples, who grew up in Philadelphia, said it was important to him to give back to the community and invest in its future, and hopes to see more athletes like Lemon doing the same in the future.
“I hope that we start seeing more professional athletes in the community, because it’s not just about the community coming out there and cheering for you, it’s also about you showing up for the community in different ways,” Peeples said. “The big plays really start in the community and showing up for the community. That’s the biggest play that you can make.”
As a U.S. Army soldier in Afghanistan in 2013, Dan Kovalik got used to the adrenaline rush of bullets whizzing by while on patrol. Risking his life was part of his job as he radioed in Apache helicopters to protect other soldiers.
But by the time he retired from the Army in 2018, his 23 years of military service had taken their toll. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was rated 80% disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Kovalik moved back to his hometown of Johnstown, Pa., where he struggled to find the sense of purpose and camaraderie that had come so easily in the military.
“I was looking for ways to be part of the community,” Kovalik said. “Church. The VFW. Then I tried jiujitsu.”
Kovalik, 49, shared his story Saturday from the deck of the USS New Jersey, the decommissioned Navy battleship in Camden. The battleship was host to dozens of fans of and participants in Brazilian jiujitsu — a martial art that uses grappling and leverage to subdue opponents — for a day of competition.
It was part of a two-day jiujitsu seminar and fundraiser put on by the We Defy Foundation, a Texas-based nonprofit that provides qualified combat veterans with free local jiujitsu classes and mentors who help them reintegrate into civilian life. Veterans must have been honorably discharged and have a VA disability rating of at least 80%.
“The physical execution and mental chess game helps me to focus,” Kovalik said. “That, and just going out for a beer or dinner with friends afterwards.”
Omar Feliciano, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Brooklyn, wins his match against Matthew Castillo, with Prodigy BJJ, at the We Defy Foundation jiujitsu event at the USS New Jersey in Camden on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
The program has over 500 veterans currently enrolled, We Defy Foundation executive director Kevin Linderman said. About 70% of those who enroll complete the one-year program.
“What makes it so different is, you have to do it with someone else,” Linderman said of jiujitsu. “When you’re grappling, you’re connecting with someone deeply. You’re both getting better through the process. It’s physical, and you’re learning how to operate under stress.”
It’s also one more way to fight an ongoing crisis, Linderman said. Though military veterans made up 7.6% of the U.S. population in 2020, they accounted for 14% of suicides, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine. The suicide rate among veterans is 1.5 times higher than that of the overall population, after adjusting for age and sex, researchers noted.
Though prevention efforts have shown some success, nearly 6,400 veterans died by suicide in 2023 — the most recent year for which data were available — according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Omar Feliciano of Brooklyn, N.Y., said he found Brazilian jiujitsu after struggling to process a traumatic event he witnessed while in the Marines.
“It really affected my sleep, my relationships with people,” Feliciano said. “I was irritable for no particular reason.”
After another Marine recommended the We Defy Foundation, Feliciano applied. Now, Feliciano benefits from the structure of attending jiujitsu class twice a week, keeping him physically active and building camaraderie with other people in his community.
The 33-year-old mechanical engineer said jiujitsu is helping him be a better father. He fought — and won — a jiujitsu match Saturday.
“We’ve seen that it has a significant impact in reducing PTSD, depression, and anxiety,” said Linderman, 52, who came to the sport in 2015 while dealing with multiple deaths among his family and friends. Much like the veterans he helps, Linderman said, he was caught in a “rumination cycle,” and he quickly learned that an evening of grappling with opponents was a great way to break that cycle.
Ethan Wanner, 21, of Williamsport, Pa. and Tried and True Gym, celebrates after winning his match against Josh Newhart, with 10P Bethlehem, at the We Defy Foundation jiujitsu event at the USS New Jersey in Camden on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
The foundation was formed in 2015 by Army veterans Alan Shebaro and Joey Bozik. Though Bozik lost part of one arm and both legs from the blast of a roadside bomb in Iraq, he learned how to adapt his body to the martial art. In the process, Bozik regained much of the community he had been missing, Linderman said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic waned, interest in the group accelerated, Linderman said. The organization has gotten $250,000 a year in financial backing from Facebook head Tom Alison. With 2,000 people moving through the program so far, interest is only growing. Linderman estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of Iraq or Afghanistan veterans who qualify for the program — including some who are struggling to find connection in civilian life.
“I think that a way for people to stay connected to each other is one of the most important things right now,” Linderman said.
