Katie Karas

Giant puppets and a herd of elementary-school students may not seem like the most obvious path for social activism, but a local nonprofit organization is giving it a try anyway. The Spiral Q Puppet Theater, which uses puppets, street theater, parades, and pageants to promote community unity and social activism, will be putting on the first of its three spring parades today.

Between farmers' markets, sword fights, local sports leagues and flea markets, Clark Park is constantly abuzz with activity. This summer, a local theater company will provide even more action for students staying on campus with its third-annual free show in the park.

As Penn nears the closing stages of negotiating a partnership with a nearby public high school, education experts are debating the merits of such relationships. Penn officials say they hope to gain approval for a partnership with University City High School later this month or in early May, and have the partnership functioning by the start of the 2009-2010 school year.

Local groups throughout Philadelphia have been organizing cleanup efforts in the city for years, but this Saturday they received a big boost from Mayor Nutter's new initiative to clean up Philadelphia. Volunteers from all over the city, including many Penn students, spent Saturday morning picking up trash, planting trees and raking leaves as part of Nutter's Philly Spring Cleanup.

Penn officials have wanted to collaborate with University City High School for some time now, but many community members who attended a public forum last night say Penn's help is not welcome. At the forum, held to share plans with the community about renovations, Philadelphia School District leaders officially said they have been in discussion with Penn and Drexel for the past two years about the possibility of a partnership with University City High once it is renovated.

Twenty-seven states have constitutions with amendments that ban same-sex marriage. Now, Pennsylvania is considering whether to join them. Last week the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance a bill that would amend the state's constitution to make both same-sex marriages and the "functional equivalent" of marriage - such as civil unions - illegal in Pennsylvania.

When it comes to making plans on how to improve Philadelphia, architects and city planners from Penn say civic engagement is critical. Penn Praxis, the consulting branch of Penn's School of Design, is working in conjunction with the Penn Project for Civic Engagement to generate a series of plans to renovate the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, located on South Broad Street.

A program that began in 2000 to rehabilitate area homes has stopped expanding, but 400 properties near campus have been restored as a result of its efforts . The Neighborhood Preservation and Development Fund was created by the University and its partners to buy dilapidated homes in University City and rent them at cheaper rates to graduate students and West Philadelphia residents.

Last week's meeting of the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee, which discussed plans for an 11-story extended-stay hotel at 40th and Pine streets, seems to have created only a greater divide between developers and the community on an already divisive issue. Nearby residents expressed strong disapproval of the hotel at the meeting, while developers heaped praises on the design.

Services like Net Flix and On-Demand might be the most convenient options for movie-viewers, but the Independent Video Library's new owner aims to add some local flavor to the movie experience. Oliver Assiran, who recently bought the video store located at 40th and Locust streets, has begun a series of changes designed to turn the business into more than just a video store.