(upbeat music) - It's time for "You Oughta Know."

Here's what's coming up.

A new partnership blossoms into a first for the first zoo in America.

- It's blending the artistry of plants and animals into this 3D topiary.

- [Shirley] Plus, remembering a Mexican aviation hero.

- The people of Mexico wanted to heal relations with the United States.

- [Shirley] And we learn what life is like after the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament leave their mother house.

- It did become our home.

You got used to the men walking down the harders.

- Thanks for tuning in.

On the 25th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Katharine Drexel, Producer Lillian Paulmier, who's been following this story for some 30 years, sat down with the sisters from the order Drexel founded to see how they're doing at their current mission.

- [Narrator] Now we come to the moment of canonization where the Pope formally proclaims Mother Katharine Drexel of Philadelphia as Saint of the Universal Church.

- [Shirley] Mother Katharine Drexel's story found a place here at WHYY, as WHYY traveled to Rome for her canonization in 2000.

- [Narrator] And now we can pray, Saint Katharine Drexel, pray for us.

- So I got to go to the canonization.

I think just the excitement, but at the same time, there was a sadness because then no longer she was just ours, she belonged to the world.

- [Shirley] Drexel, who was from a prominent Philadelphia family, gave up her fortunes and founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Their mission, sharing the gospel, educating Native and African Americans, and fostering racial justice.

Those efforts led to Drexel establishing Xavier University, an HBCU in Louisiana.

- Weep and wail over your impending misery.

- In 2000, we had 232 Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Of that 232, 127 were in ministries in 14 different states within the United States.

And we had one sister in Haiti at the time.

We were hopeful that there would be more women who would be attracted to the congregation and enter.

If we look at where we are now as a congregation now, we have 53 members.

- [Shirley] For the last few years, those 53 sisters have called this retirement community in the Northeast home.

- In order to take care of our missions and in order to take care of our sisters, we had to do something.

And the something was we had to leave our mother house.

- [Shirley] The sisters sold the sprawling campus in Bensalem and their beloved home known as the mother house.

Drexel's remains were relocated to the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Center City.

- The day we left, we all met in the chapel before we left, and each year we're given a mission assignment.

We went in and our assignment was to Paul's Run.

And we had a custom when we sent sisters out on the mission, we lined up the driveway, we took out our white hankies, and we waved them off.

(gentle music) - [Stephanie] At Paul's Run, sisters are involved in a variety of ways, and now we're in a setting where there's a diverse population of residents.

- [Carole] It did become our home.

You got used to the men walking down the harders and you got used to the different religions.

- [Shirley] While it's not the same as living in the mother house, the mission remains the same.

- [Carole] I think our hope for the future is that Mother's legacy will go on.

We know that when the last sister dies, that'll be the end of the Sisters of Blessed Sacrament, but it'll not be the end of Mother's legacy of peace and justice.

- Producer Lillian Paulmier joins me now.

Lillian, I really enjoyed this segment.

- Thank you.

- You have covered the story of Saint Katharine Drexel for about 30 years now.

That's quite a commitment.

What started it all?

- Well, it started after mass one Sunday when I was leaving the church, I saw this pamphlet, "A Philadelphia Story," and I decided, wow, what's this about?

So I took it home and read the story, and it was about Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia family.

I knew about the Drexel from Drexel University, but I didn't know her story.

And what drew me to her story is that with her wealth, she built schools for Native and African American children.

So I took it to WHYY.

At the time I was working for WHYY, and I took it to them, and thought this would be a great documentary to do.

- And it was greenlit.

And then you produced the documentary.

I do wanna point out too that that is the original pamphlet that you've kept, I absolutely love that.

It's weathered.

- Yes, it is.

- So you produced the documentary, but at the time when you were producing it, it wasn't Saint Katharine Drexel, she was blessed.

- She was blessed.

- Okay.

Which means there was one miracle, right?

But to be canonized and to be made a saint, you need to have two miracles.

And the second miracle, tell me about that, because you're involved in some way, which I'm so intrigued.

- Well, when I produced the first documentary, it was called "Blessed Katharine Drexel."

And it was produced in 1990.

It was repeated on WHYY in 1994.

And at the time of the repeat, the second miracle family saw the documentary and watched the documentary and decided because they had a deaf child, and the first miracle was restoring hearing, they thought they can pray to Saint Katharine, blessed Mother Katharine Drexel at the time for, not just necessarily a miracle, but for them to be a good family for their daughter.

- Who was completely deaf, as you said.

- Who was completely deaf.

- And within a week, the daughter went to the preschool and this teacher said, "Why are you sending her here?

This is a hearing child.

This is not a deaf child."

And the family didn't know what to do.

So they took her to several doctors and it was confirmed that she was hearing, and they wrote the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament saying they think this was a miracle from Katharine Drexel because they've been praying to Katharine Drexel.

Now their daughter at one time could not hear, and now she can hear.

Now it took about several years for the church to prove that it was a miracle.

And they finally proved that it was a miracle because of Katharine Drexel.

- So the family of the second miracle, the child who was completely deaf could not hear anything.

They see your documentary, see that Blessed Katharine Drexel had created this miracle that restored hearing for one family.

They say, "Okay, we're gonna pray to her now."

They send her to a school for deaf children and then find out after the fact that her hearing has been completely restored.

I mean, just re-paraphrasing it, I am getting goosebumps thinking about it.

And your documentary really got the ball rolling.

So then they have a press conference announcing that Blessed Katharine Drexel is going to be canonized.

Pick the story up from there.

- Well, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament called me and asked me to come to this press conference in 2000.

And I was like, okay, you know, I kind of knew maybe there was a miracle and that she was gonna be canonized, but I didn't really know.

So I was there they announced the fact that it was the second miracle and that she was gonna be canonized on October 1st, and they didn't do it in the press conference, they didn't say because of my documentary.

But the sisters later came to me and said, "You know, this family saw your documentary and decided to pray to Katharine Drexel, and that's why we're here, and we want you to go to the canonization."

So they sent me to the canonization.

- In Rome.

- In Rome.

And I updated the documentary for WHYY.

So now it's called "The Canonization of Katharine Drexel."

- And what was this experience like in Rome?

- It was a wonderful experience, somewhat surreal, because you know, I've been following her for a number of years, and it was great to see sort of a full circle of her being recognized for all the work that she's done.

And there were two other or three other saints that were being canonized during that day, and it was just full of joy.

People were just happy.

They were just celebrating, and when they announced that Katharine Drexel was Saint Katharine Drexel, it was very interesting because it was rainy most of the day, and the sun kind of came out at that time when they announced.

- Goosebumps again.

And so I just love the impact that Saint Katharine Drexel has had on your life.

So much so that there's also a personal impact.

- Yes, we had a third child born in 2002, and we decided to name him Drexel.

So his name is Drexel.

- And he knows the whole story of his name.

- He knows the whole story.

- I love it.

- He went to college and he put her poster in his room.

- Oh my gosh, Lillian, thank you so much for bringing this story to WHYY and keeping the memory and legacy of Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament alive.

Thank you, Lillian.

- Thank you.

- 98 years after a famous Mexican aviator's deadly plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, his legacy still brings hundreds to his memorial site.

(gentle music) - This service is a lost piece of New Jersey history.

- It is very important that the new generations know the message of Captain Carranza, which was a friendship and peaceful coexistence.

- After the border skirmishes in New Mexico, the people of Mexico wanted to heal relations with the United States.

So in 1928, the Mexican government wanted to send a goodwill mission to Washington DC.

They selected Emilio Carranza to fly the mission.

He was flying from Mexico City to Washington DC.

From Washington DC, he went to New York City and treated as a hero, ticker tape, parade, everything.

He made several attempts to make a return flight, and on his last attempt, he crashed here in Wharton State Forest, known as Sandy Ridge.

His body was actually found where the monument stands now.

The monument was quarried from Emilio's hometown in Kalua, Mexico.

It's comprised of 33 stones representing one of each of the 33 states of Mexico at that time.

In 1933, it was erected by members of the American Legion, and we have the 98th memorial service this year, but it's only the 97th anniversary.

(audience applauding) (bright music) - We gather here today to remember the noble legacy of Captain Emilio Carranza.

He was a messenger of peace, a symbol of goodwill between the United States and Mexico.

His sacrifice in 1928 was not the end of a mission, but the beginning of a promise.

One that we have honored year after year with dedication and pride.

And now as we near the center of remembrance, we find a moment to pass the torch to the new generations and invite them to carry this powerful tradition into the future.

Our strength is not only in our numbers, but in our shared belief in the values of Captain Carranza stood for, friendship, respect, and international brotherhood.

- [Bob] The American Legion got involved because the sheriff in Mount Holly at the time activated American Legion Post 11 as a search and rescue team, and it turned into a recovery mission.

- It has been the honor of the Lawrence A. Gladfelter Post 11 to be the keeper of his honor and legacy since 1928.

It's a great sight to stand here today and see all who have come together in remembrance and to celebrate and to carry out the mission of goodwill and comradery between our two nations.

- [Bob] The American Legion felt his dedication to duty and his mission of goodwill is something that needed to continue, not just to honor Emilio Carranza, but to honor the mission of goodwill between the two countries.

- His message is still alive thanks to the service members, to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New Jersey.

It's a very powerful message.

When we work together, Mexico, United States build together and prosper together.

We are not only good neighbors, but we are friends, partners, and allies.

(upbeat music) - It's important, one, as a prior military man to honor somebody who made that last flight without hesitation.

Second, to honor the promise made by the forefathers of American Legion and to keep relations between the two countries one of goodwill and peace instead of division and strife.

- What do you get when you combine plants and animals?

Nature's sculptures, and you can find them at the Philadelphia Zoo.

(bright music) - The Philadelphia Zoo is an urban oasis.

With the hustle and bustle of the city, our gardens create that place to relax, kick back, and kind of get away from the world.

The zoo opened in 1874 and the garden has always been at the core of our experience.

We actually have an English Elm on our property that's over 250 years old.

The English Elm was actually planted by John Penn, who is William Penn's grandson, who had his country estate here called Solitude, which is from the late 1700s.

So that tree has been here even 100 years before the zoo opened to the public.

We embarked on a partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society as well as Santoline Mosaiculture.

And the idea was to really revitalize the entire campus through those partnerships and bring something completely unexpected.

(upbeat music) - This is one of four areas we're partnering with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society on.

This piece here is what we affectionately refer to as our wow bed.

It's at the front of the zoo right when you enter through the turnstile.

We're at about a 50% completion rate.

We're gonna be doing the rest of our installation in the fall, and at that point, we'll have a lot of species with a lot of purple pink hues.

Be very fun, flirty.

It's very pollinator-friendly.

Part of our job here at the zoo is to be as ecologically sustainable as possible.

So here, we try to be good stewards of the land and plant accordingly for our area.

- [Kristen] The zoo is 42 acres and it has a huge diversity of gardens.

We have lots of different textures and colors and seasonality.

And what we've done now is really to elevate that and create those experience that vary every time you visit.

- [Tim] This is our new flamingo habitat.

It's more of a native, ecologically focused garden.

We have rain gardens featured all the way around the exhibit that'll capture rainwater coming down.

It's a new experience here at the zoo, and it's a great opportunity to have horticulture be centric while also highlighting the flamingo species that are now featured in the new space.

- We have partnered with an organization called Santoline Mosaiculture and have created five distinctive, absolutely gorgeous mosaic topiaries.

They're 3D.

Behind me are two giraffes.

And when you get up close to them, you can even see the eyelashes of the giraffe.

One is 21 feet tall and over 13,000 pounds.

The other one is almost 14 feet tall and over 9,000 pounds.

We have a snail, a butterfly, a peacock, and also a group of fish.

The topiaries were grown in greenhouses in Canada in the midst of two feet of snow.

And the way the 3D topiaries work is imagine individual plugs of plants in actually a steel frame of an animal.

So it's blending the artistry of plants and animals into this 3D topiary.

They were established and will continue to put new plugs in as the season grows, and they'll actually be here at the Philadelphia Zoo through November 2nd.

There's such a rich history here at the Philadelphia Zoo, being America's first zoo.

And every day, something magical happens, whether it's the hatching of Galapagos tortoises that are critically endangered from two nearly 100 year old tortoises to seeing something new and different like these mosaic topiaries.

Every time you come back, you can experience something new and different.

I think about the Philadelphia Zoo as a gateway to nature and wildlife from around the world.

Plants are a huge part of that.

So you're really transformed into a space right here in the heart of West Philadelphia, unlike anything else you could experience.

- Move over, Weird Al Yankovich.

There's a new song parody artist in town.

We met up with music producer Earth Kenan Salazar, whose use of Gen Z slang and yacht rock hits earned him some newfound fame on social media.

Well now that he has people's attention, this Berkelee College of Music grad is sharing his passion for music and civics with some original songs.

(upbeat music) - I don't think I was ever really a class clown.

I was a shy kid in high school.

One of my favorite things to do was make my friends laugh.

I would just make custom songs from my friends.

It was like tongue in cheek and had all these like jokes, inside jokes in it.

I had just been listening to these artists for a very, very long time.

Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross.

And when it came time for me to start to experiment with the parodies that I was doing, I thought about some artists that I might want to cover, and the first one that I settled on with Steely Dan and I had done "Reeling in the Years."

It was a big hit.

♪ Well you wouldn't even know ♪ an imposter if you had him in your chat.

♪ Things you think are bussin I can't understand ♪ ♪ Are you reeling in the rizz ♪ ♪ Skibidi sigma gyatt ♪ That was the first one that I had started to replace all the words with the funny Gen Alpha, Gen Z slang.

And that one just blew up, I just kept that going.

♪ Yeah I ♪ ♪ Mog almost any oomf that you want me to ♪ ♪ Yeah, but I can't fein for that, bruh ♪ ♪ Ain't no way ♪ ♪ I can't fein for that ♪ Inside of the Gen Z Gen Alpha brain rot words that I was using for the parodies, one of the these words that I use all the time is rizz.

It's a shortened form from charisma.

Skibidi is another word that I use a lot in in my parodies.

It's a nonsense word.

It doesn't really mean anything.

♪ Vro the rizzery ♪ ♪ Every single person is my skibidi ♪ ♪ Oh the treachery ♪ ♪ Every beta wants to be my skibidi ♪ Weird Al Yankovich is a name that gets thrown around every time somebody comments on something that I have done, especially with the more recent parody stuff.

♪ Living in an Amish paradise ♪ ♪ I churn butter once or twice ♪ ♪ Living in an Amish paradise ♪ - His approach to, you know, creating this funny, comedic thing.

♪ Having whole wheat, all right ♪ - Was something that really resonated with me even as a kid.

(upbeat music) Starting at the beginning of this year, I had been writing a song for each New Jersey county.

I started the project as a way to transition out of doing the parody stuff and start to introduce some of my own writing sensibilities, some of my own sound.

♪ Here in Camden County ♪ ♪ On the Delaware River ♪ I'm very interested in the way that governments were sort of highlighting the small communities that form the tapestry that is, you know, our New Jersey counties, ♪ Atlantic County NJ ♪ ♪ The glamour, glitz, and grit ♪ ♪ There's some parks in Gloucester County ♪ ♪ And lots of farms that are growing fruit ♪ ♪ Salem County is a quiet place ♪ ♪ With the least folks of all ♪ ♪ Salem's downtown is not quite bustling ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's small ♪ Reflects a little bit of my hidden passion for civics.

I want that sort of energy of like just trying to have a good time to really come across.

♪ We're here to surprise you ♪ ♪ With the spots and folks ♪ ♪ That are tucked away ♪ Just being a guy who can just walk out on the street.

If you knew who he was, you would know what he did.

That would be a dream of mine.

♪ Art, life, and activities ♪ ♪ You, you, you oughta know ♪ - Did you hear how he rewrote the lyrics for our show?

You oughta know Earth Kenan Salazar because he's so talented.

Thanks so much for doing that.

Finally, we are going to end the show on a sweet note.

A La Mousse sells adorable desserts, the majority of which have mousse in it, hence the name.

And when I say that these desserts are adorable, they're almost too cute to eat.

I brought the kids out for this one.

We are outside A La Mousse, which is a dessert cafe that specializes in French pastries and cakes.

(upbeat music) I'm inside A La Mousse with co-founder Jack Chen.

Jack, thanks for having me.

- Well, sure, Shirley.

- Let's talk about the desserts because I have never seen anything like this before.

They are beautiful, almost too pretty to eat.

Talk to me about your pastries here.

- We have a pastry chef from Japan and Hong Kong, but also with a technique from the French pastry chef.

And we combine the best parts, creating all these different desserts.

- Brought the kids back for the fun part, we're gonna try these desserts and dig in.

♪ Bum bum ba-dum ♪ ♪ Bum bum ba-dum ♪ (upbeat music) - Try it.

- It's good.

- The poor bunny.

- Oh, I feel kind of bad.

- Yeah, you should not feel bad, it's a bunny.

- It's not even real.

- Doesn't even have eyes.

- Yeah, well.

- Oh, it's cold there.

- Oh.

♪ Bum bum ba-dum ♪ ♪ Bum bum ba-dum ♪ ♪ Bum bum ba-dum ♪ - We have pretty much annihilated all of the desserts.

But this one I'm feeling kind of sad about eating because it's so cute.

- Not really.

- No, you don't even feel sad a little bit?

- No.

- Let's give it a try.

Sorry, Mr.

Bear.

- What's inside?

Oh.

- Oh.

(kids laughing) I think the bunny was my favorite.

What about you?

- I think the mango was my favorite.

- Mango, how about you tell?

- The mango one.

- Mango.

Okay, two for mango, one for bunny.

All right.

That's a wrap, guys, bye.

For locations and hours, check out A La Mousse on Instagram, and that mango pastry is really good.

Okay, that is our show for the evening.

Have a great night and we'll see you next week, bye.

♪ And we're here to surprise you ♪ ♪ With the spots and folks ♪ ♪ That are tucked away ♪ ♪ And we'll share ♪ ♪ And advise on ♪ ♪ Philly's food, art, life ♪ ♪ And activities ♪ ♪ You, you, you oughta know ♪ (upbeat music)