by Sabina Longo, WTOP10-TV

Port City Co-Op is an antique store that is hidden on West Second Street in downtown Oswego. The store celebrated its two year anniversary on Tuesday, November 1. Linda Demassi had the idea to open up Port City Co-Op and help bring more local businesses to Oswego.

Originally the store opened with ten vendors but now there are 37. With more vendors selling their items, the store needed to be expanded and that is when the owners of Port-City bought out the soap store that is located nextdoor.

Antiques and unique items are not the only reason why people shop here. Mary Waite is a regular at Port City and says she loves all the different items because it brings back nostalgic memories. It reminds her of her childhood.

Linda Demassi encourages people to shop local because, “it’s huge to shop local, for the economy, the city. Shopping local is huge to keep the small businesses”

Port City Co-Op is opened on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11am to 5pm, Thursday to Friday from 11am to 6pm, Saturday from 11am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 3pm.

by Ilyssa Weiner

Oswego, NY- Writer and Humanitarian Kevin Powell spoke at SUNY Oswego’s Sheldon Hall Ballroom on Feb. 16 as part of the school’s “I Am Oz” Diversity Speaker Series.

Powell stressed the importance of education and history to his audience. His mother, who only had an eighth grade education, pushed him to do well in school.

“She kept saying to me when I was a child ‘You’re going to go to college. You’re going to go to college. You’re going to go to college,” Powell said.

Powell went to Rutgers University. However, his love for reading and writing came at an early age when his mother took him to the library.

“She allowed me to roam around the library,” he said. “That’s how I ended up falling in love with books and eventually decided as a young person I wanted to be a writer.”

After his time at Rutgers, Powell joined the cast of the very first season of MTV’s The Real World. At the time of taping, he and the rest of the cast had no idea how successful the show was going to be. Because of the show’s success, Powell was able to dig deeper into the world of pop culture.

“I love pop culture,” he said. “I think it’s a useful tool for reaching people and talking about serious issues.”

In 2011, Powell co-founded Building Knowledge (BK) Nation, a progressive non-profit organization focused on civil and human rights. The organization has worked on several racial profiling cases, including the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases, and was also a deep supporter for the recent Women’s March.

Despite being the co-founder of the organization, Powell doesn’t believe in titles beyond that.

“We’re all equals and all our voices matter in the organization and that’s how we operate,” he said.

Powell’s most recent book, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey Into Manhood, is available on Amazon.

Powell autographed copies of his latest book after his speech was over.

By Briana Watson

OSWEGO, NY – Phi Lambda Phi held their fourth annual bachelor auction in Marano Campus Center to raise funds for breast cancer on Friday November 10th. The sorority is required to throw at least one big fundraising event and the sorority said they thought that an auction would be a fun and exciting way to get people involved.

Event organizer Emily Fernandez said that the idea behind the auction started with one alumna back in 2015.

“She decided that she would start an auction to donate all the money to breast cancer. I don’t why she did it but I know if I were to organize us and start it from scratch I would chose breast cancer also because it’s such a prevalent issue in women today,” Fernandez said.

The sorority garnered brothers from other fraternities to participate in the auction which they will receive community service in return. Additionally, the sorority had a raffle at the auction to give away prizes to their audience.

The proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

For more information about Phi Lambda Phi’s upcoming events go to their Twitter @PhiLamb59.