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Monday Musings: An Image Of A Former Self
My theory about getting older is; we may intellectually be able to look in the mirror and accept what we see…signs of middle age and all. But somewhere in the recesses of our mind lives the younger version of us, the persona we’ve created of who we think we were back then. Photos from our youth often reinforce our memories through the family stories that accompany them. “Oh that was the day you caught a bigger fish than Uncle Johnny up at the lake”.
By the time we’ve looked at those photos a hundred times, we don’t “see them” anymore, we have long ago invested in the younger, mythical version of them. So when recently, out of the blue, an old friend who is retiring and selling her house, presented me with a photo from our shared teenage years that I didn’t know existed, the jolt was visceral. Who was that girl, and where in my self-directed tableau did she belong.
Looking out from the crinkled paper with staple holes in it, was an earnest young woman with a slightly coquettish smile and beehive hairdo, proudly displaying the letter sweater of her current beau. I stared at her for a long time, enlarging the photo so I could study her face. She stared back from within a gorgeous autumn day; one of those rare gifts of Indian Summer, filled with golden warmth and colored leaves. Off to a football game perhaps or about to go for one of the last rides of the season in a convertible.
The photo’s focus is sharp, the colors still crisp, but the subject remains an enigma, unrecognizable in her youth and naiveté.
Monday Musings: An Image Of A Former Self
My theory about getting older is; we may intellectually be able to look in the mirror and accept what we see…signs of middle age and all. But somewhere in the recesses of our mind lives the younger version of us, the persona we’ve created of who we think we were back then. Photos from our youth often reinforce our memories through the family stories that accompany them. “Oh that was the day you caught a bigger fish than Uncle Johnny up at the lake”.
By the time we’ve looked at those photos a hundred times, we don’t “see them” anymore, we have long ago invested in the younger, mythical version of them. So when recently, out of the blue, an old friend who is retiring and selling her house, presented me with a photo from our shared teenage years that I didn’t know existed, the jolt was visceral. Who was that girl, and where in my self-directed tableau did she belong.
Looking out from the crinkled paper with staple holes in it, was an earnest young woman with a slightly coquettish smile and beehive hairdo, proudly displaying the letter sweater of her current beau. I stared at her for a long time, enlarging the photo so I could study her face. She stared back from within a gorgeous autumn day; one of those rare gifts of Indian Summer, filled with golden warmth and colored leaves. Off to a football game perhaps or about to go for one of the last rides of the season in a convertible.
The photo’s focus is sharp, the colors still crisp, but the subject remains an enigma, unrecognizable in her youth and naiveté.
Monday Musings: An Image Of A Former Self
My theory about getting older is; we may intellectually be able to look in the mirror and accept what we see…signs of middle age and all. But somewhere in the recesses of our mind lives the younger version of us, the persona we’ve created of who we think we were back then. Photos from our youth often reinforce our memories through the family stories that accompany them. “Oh that was the day you caught a bigger fish than Uncle Johnny up at the lake”.
By the time we’ve looked at those photos a hundred times, we don’t “see them” anymore, we have long ago invested in the younger, mythical version of them. So when recently, out of the blue, an old friend who is retiring and selling her house, presented me with a photo from our shared teenage years that I didn’t know existed, the jolt was visceral. Who was that girl, and where in my self-directed tableau did she belong.
Looking out from the crinkled paper with staple holes in it, was an earnest young woman with a slightly coquettish smile and beehive hairdo, proudly displaying the letter sweater of her current beau. I stared at her for a long time, enlarging the photo so I could study her face. She stared back at me from a gorgeous autumn day; one of those rare gifts of Indian Summer, filled with golden warmth and colored leaves. Off to a football game perhaps or about to go for one of the last rides of the season in a convertible.
The photo’s focus was sharp, the colors still crisp, but the subject remained an enigma, unrecognizable in her youth and naiveté.
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Warrior Wednesday: Wall Of Memories/Bracelets Of Hope
I don’t know what it says about us as a species, but somehow we humans manage to have a war every ten to twenty years; as if each generation needs it’s own bloody touchstone. For my group of Baby Boomers, it was and is, Vietnam.
Since the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “The Wall”, was dedicated in 1982, I’ve wanted to go there. On each subsequent trip to Washington, time and schedules conspired against me. Last week, I finally made it.
I’ve been to many nationally significant and historic sites, from Gettysburg to Ground Zero three months after the attacks. Each place has it’s own energy; it’s own ghosts that stand guard over their tragic legacy.
For me, The Vietnam Wall holds not ghosts but memories of friends and classmates, including the boy who took me to the Junior Prom. I’ve written of Greg, my other lost friends, and the Vietnam era impact, before. "The Morning Call" continues to carry one of those columns on its website. But I was still unprepared for the gut punch of that long black monolith of loss.
Before I found any of the names I was looking for, tears were streaming down my face. Greg’s name was too high for me to make a tracing. I left a note so he would know he’s not forgotten. Many people do the same. The day I visited, the space at the bottom of the wall held flowers, teddy bears, military insignia, and several bracelets that are only to be returned when the person whose name is on them comes home, is identified, or when the wearer is no longer able. 
One bracelet was accompanied by a note that read, “Jonathan, Welcome Home! I apologize for taking 23 years to return your bracelet. It (and another) belonged to my grandmother who wore it until her passing in 2000. I inherited the bracelets partly because I knew of their significance. A few years ago I was able to find out you had returned but was unsure what to do with the bracelet. Since the internet I was able to find out that bracelets of the returned should be left at The Wall, so here it is. I want you to know that generations of my family… The rest is unintelligible, but it doesn’t take much imagining to fill in the blanks: Several generations of an American family thought about a stranger lost thousands of miles from home, every day of their lives.
Washington is filled with memorials to heroes who saved the nation and warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice. Each generation’s war has its marker; Korea, both World Wars, and Vietnam. Only The Wall holds the names of its fallen: Black slab after black slab of courageous young men and women who never came home.
I wonder what this current generation’s Iraq and Afghanistan memorial will look like?
Warrior Wednesday: A Wall Of Memories & Bracelets Of Hope
I don’t know what it says about us as a species, but somehow we humans manage to have a war every ten to twenty years; as if each generation needs it’s own bloody touchstone. For my group of Baby Boomers, it was and is, Vietnam.
Since the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “The Wall”, was dedicated in 1982, I’ve wanted to go there. On each subsequent trip to Washington, time and schedules conspired against me. Last week, I finally made it.
I’ve been to many nationally significant and historic sites, from Gettysburg to Ground Zero three months after the attacks. Each place has it’s own energy; it’s own ghosts that stand guard over their tragic legacy.
For me, The Vietnam Wall holds not ghosts but memories of friends and classmates, including the boy who took me to the Junior Prom. I’ve written of Greg and my other friends, before. "The Morning Call" continues to carry one of those columns on its website. But I was still unprepared for the impact of that long black monolith of loss.
Before I found any of the names I was looking for, tears were streaming down my face. Greg’s name was too high for me to make a tracing. I left a note so he would know he’s not forgotten. Many people do the same. The day I visited, the space at the bottom of the wall held flowers, teddy bears, military insignia, and several bracelets that are only to be returned when the person whose name is on them comes home, is identified, or when the wearer is no longer able.
One bracelet was accompanied by a note that read, “Jonathan, Welcome Home! I apologize for taking 23 years to return your bracelet. It (and another) belonged to my grandmother who wore it until her passing in 2000. I inherited the bracelets partly because I knew of their significance. A few years ago I was able to find out you had returned but was unsure what to do with the bracelet. Since the internet I was able to find out that bracelets of the returned should be left at The Wall, so here it is. I want you to know that generations of my family… The rest is unintelligible, but it doesn’t take much imagining to fill in the blanks: Several generations of an American family thought about a stranger lost thousands of miles from home, every day of their lives.
Washington is filled with memorials to heroes who saved the nation and warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice. Each generation’s war has its marker; Korea, both World Wars, and Vietnam. Only The Wall that holds the names of its fallen. Black slab after black slab of courageous young men and women who never came home.
I wonder what this current generation’s Iraq and Afghanistan memorial will look like?
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A Different Type of Warrior
As my European friends would say, I’m “on holiday” this week. Translated in to American, that means I’m on vacation, so I was not planning to post my regular “Woman Warrior Wednesday” feature. Then, out of the blue, came these photographs of Zarghona, the young Afghan girl I found dying in a hospital in Kabul in 2006, now looking very happy with her family.
Several weeks ago, I wrote a story about Zarghona, for a woman’s global communications network, "World Pulse". The WP story was based on the last information I had about her, which was several years old. Retelling the harrowing story of how so many people had come together to save Zarghona from a terminal heart condition, and how after seeing her on my last trip to Afghanistan, I had no further information on her, prompted me to reach out to Dr. Ismail Wardak, the Afghan doctor who had been instrumental in bridging the language and culture barriers we had to cross to save her.
The result of that effort are the two photos you see here: Top, a smiling Zarghona with her parents, and below, with the wonderful Dr. Wardak, one of Afghanistan’s leading orthopedic surgeons. What do these photos tell us? 
Do they tell us that the media focus on the woeful condition of the Afghan National Army is accurate? Do they confirm the hyperbole of the pundits and talking heads, many of whom have never been to Afghanistan or have little first-hand knowledge of the Afghan Army, or for that matter, of our extensive US efforts to train them, that when they portray the ANA as unable and/or unwilling to defend their own country, the media are ill-informed?
The Afghan people are frequently stereotyped as ignorant, unaware, or unwilling to build their own future. I challenge you to look at these photographs of this family: A father who is a professional soldier, like many of our own warriors; a loving stay-at-home wife and mother who when her child was dying, never left her side, and a young teenager with a sweet smile, who now has a healthy and hopefully long future ahead of her…
Look at them and tell me that Afghanistan is not filled with it’s own warriors, men, women, and children, who are fighting a battle, each in their own way, to live their lives in peace and security.
A Different Type of Warrior
To borrow a phrase from my European friends, I’m “on holiday” this week. Translated in to American, that means I’m on vacation, so I was not planning to post my regular “Woman Warrior Wednesday” feature. Then, out of the blue, came this photograph of Zarghona, the young Afghan girl I found dying in a hospital in Kabul, now looking very happy with her family.
Several weeks ago, I wrote a story about Zarghona, for a woman’s global communications network, "World Pulse". The WP story was based on the last information I had, which was several years old. Retelling the harrowing story of how so many people had come together to save Zarghona from a terminal heart condition, and how after seeing her on my last trip to Afghanistan, I had no further information on her, prompted me to reach out to Dr. Ismail Wardak, the Afghan doctor who had been with me when I first saw her and who became instrumental in bridging the language and culture barriers we had to cross to save her.
The result of that effort are the two photos you see here: Top, a smiling Zarghona with her parents, and below, with the wonderful Dr. Wardak, one of Afghanistan’s leading orthopedic surgeons. What do these photos tell us?
Do they tell us that the media focus on the woeful condition of the Afghan National Army is accurate? Do they confirm the hyperbole of the pundits and talking heads, many of whom have never been to Afghanistan or have little first-hand knowledge of the Afghan Army, or for that matter, our extensive US efforts to train them, portray the ANA as unable and/or unwilling to defend their own country, that they are ill-informed?
The Afghan people are frequently stereotyped as ignorant, unaware, or unwilling to build their own future. I challenge you to look at these photographs of this family: A father who is a professional soldier, like many of our own warriors; a loving stay-at-home wife and mother who when her child was dying, never left her side, and a young teenager with a sweet smile, who now has a healthy and hopefully long future ahead of her…
Look at them and tell me that Afghanistan is not filled with it’s own warriors, men, women, and children, who are fighting a battle, each in their own way, to live their lives in peace and security.
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Monday Musings: Summer Vacation…Timing Is Everything
After some well placed and well timed hints from me, my husband agreed to take a week off so we could have a “summer getaway”. Nothing fancy, a rented place a block from the water off the Chesapeake Bay. The plan was to sleep, eat, and read. In exchange for his willingness to go away when he’s so busy at work, I, the news & technology junkie whose entire professional universe centers around electronic media, had to agree to “unplug”; a big commitment on my part.
August is usually a good time to for this sort of thing because so many other people are doing it…trying to grab that last gasp of summer before Q4 starts at the office and the kids go back to school.
We certainly picked some week for our summer vacation, a week when our country has suffered two enormous losses: Thirty of our best and brightest warriors in Afghanistan, and millions of dollars in our IRA and investment accounts.
I imagine my husband and I are like many Americans this week, we continued with our lives and our plans, but the relaxed, atmosphere that usually envelopes us when we’re away, was nowhere to be found. There is a sub-current of sadness that is hard to shake: A sense that it is disrespectful to be carefree when so many have sacrificed so much.
Just as the shock of the tragedy in Afghanistan was easing, the financial markets began a freefall resembling an out of control carnival ride. My “unplugged” promise went quickly by the wayside as the Dow Jones average plummeted. Checking my email, I found a message from the investment firm that we use, urging everyone to stay calm. I sent a quick little reply of support to the operations manager…thinking she could probably use a friendly message, only to have her write back to say that this recent dip has been the last straw for many. Her recounting sounded like a scene from a movie about the Great Depression; people banging on the door, screaming “sell, sell” over the phone, demanding their money in cash.
No matter where you are right now in this great land, from sea to shining sea, it’s a discomforting time for Americans. The families of our fallen soldiers are suffering and need our comfort, while our country is, perhaps, in the process of being changed forever.
I’m going to be glad to get home…
Monday Musings: Summer Vacation…Timing Is Everything
After some well placed and well timed hints from me, my husband agreed to take a week off so we could have a “summer getaway”. Nothing fancy, a rented place a block from the water off the Chesapeake Bay. The plan was to sleep, eat, and read. In exchange for his agreeing to go away when he’s so busy at work, I, the news & technology junkie whose entire work universe centers around electronic media, had to agree to “unplug”…a big commitment on my part.
August is usually a good time to for this sort of thing because so many other people are doing it…trying to grab that last gasp of summer before Q4 starts at the office and the kids go back to school.
We certainly picked some week for our summer vacation, a week when our country has suffered two enormous losses: Thirty of our best and brightest warriors in Afghanistan, and millions of dollars in our IRA and investment accounts.
I imagine my husband and I are like many Americans this week, we continued with our lives and our plans, but the relaxed, atmosphere that usually envelopes us when we’re away, was nowhere to be found. There is a sub-current of sadness that is hard to shake: A sense that it is disrespectful to be carefree when so many have sacrificed so much.
Just as the shock of the tragedy in Afghanistan was easing, the financial markets began a freefall resembling an out of control carnival ride. My “unplugged” promise went quickly by the wayside as the Dow Jones average plummeted. Checking my email, I found a message from the investment firm that we use, urging everyone to stay calm. I sent a quick little reply of support to the operations manager…thinking she could probably use a friendly message, only to have her write back to say that this recent dip has been the last straw for many. Her recounting sounded like a scene from a movie about the Great Depression; people banging on the door, screaming “sell, sell” over the phone, demanding their money in cash.
No matter where you are right now in this great land, from sea to shining sea, it’s a discomforting time for Americans. The families of our fallen soldiers are suffering and need our comfort, while our country is, perhaps, in the process of being changed forever.
I’m going to be glad to get home…
Monday Musings: Summer Vacation…Timing Is Everything
After some well placed and well timed hints from me, my husband agreed to take a week off so we could have a “summer getaway”. Nothing fancy, a rented place a block from the water off the Chesapeake Bay. The plan was to sleep, eat, and read. In exchange for his willingness to go away when he’s so busy at work, I, the news & technology junkie whose entire professional universe centers around electronic media, had to agree to “unplug”; a big commitment on my part.
August is usually a good time to for this sort of thing because so many other people are doing it…trying to grab that last gasp of summer before Q4 starts at the office and the kids go back to school.
We certainly picked some week for our summer vacation, a week when our country has suffered two enormous losses: Thirty of our best and brightest warriors in Afghanistan, and millions of dollars in our IRA and investment accounts.
I imagine my husband and I are like many Americans this week, we continued with our lives and our plans, but the relaxed, atmosphere that usually envelopes us on vacation was nowhere to be found. There is a sub-current of sadness that is hard to shake: A sense that it is disrespectful to be carefree when so many have sacrificed so much.
Just as the shock of the tragedy in Afghanistan was easing, the financial markets began a freefall resembling an out of control carnival ride. My “unplugged” promise went quickly by the wayside as the Dow Jones average plummeted. Checking my email, I found a message from the investment firm that we use, urging everyone to stay calm. I sent a quick little reply of support to the operations manager…thinking she could probably use a friendly message, only to have her write back to say that this recent dip has been the last straw for many. Her recounting sounded like a scene from a movie about the Great Depression; people banging on the door, screaming “sell, sell” over the phone, demanding their money in cash.
No matter where you are right now in this great land, from sea to shining sea, it’s a discomforting time for Americans. The families of our fallen soldiers are suffering and need our comfort, while our country is, perhaps, in the process of being changed forever.
I’m going to be glad to get home…
Monday Musings: The Summer Vacation…Timing Is Everything
After some well placed and well timed hints from me, my husband agreed to take a week off so we could have a “summer getaway”. Nothing fancy, a rented place a block from the water off the Chesapeake Bay. The plan was to sleep, eat, and read. In exchange for his agreeing to go away when he’s so busy at work, I, the news & technology junkie had to agree to “unplug”…a big commitment on my part.
August is usually a good time to for this sort of thing because so many other people are doing it…trying to grab that last gasp of summer before Q4 starts at the office and the kids go back to school.
We certainly picked some week for our summer vacation, a week when our country has suffered two enormous losses: Thirty of our best and brightest warriors in Afghanistan, and millions of dollars in our IRA and investment accounts.
I imagine my husband and I are like many Americans this week, we continued with our lives and our plans, but the relaxed, atmosphere that usually envelopes us when we’re away, was nowhere to be found. There is a sub-current of sadness that is hard to shake: A sense that it is disrespectful to be carefree when so many have sacrificed so much.
Just as the shock of the tragedy in Afghanistan was easing, the financial markets began a freefall resembling an out of control carnival ride. My “unplugged” promise went quickly by the wayside as the Dow Jones average plummeted. Checking my email, I found a message from the investment firm that we use, urging everyone to stay calm. I sent a quick little reply of support to the operations manager…thinking she could probably use a friendly message, only to have her write back to say that this recent dip has been the last straw for many. Her recounting sounded like a scene from a movie about the Great Depression; people banging on the door, screaming “sell, sell” over the phone, demanding their money in cash.
No matter where you are right now in this great land, from sea to shining sea, it’s a discomforting time for Americans. The families of our fallen soldiers are suffering and need our comfort, and our country is perhaps in the process of being changed forever.
I’m going to be glad to get home…
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Woman Warrior Wednesday: Jessica L. Wright, Acting Principle Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then Brig. Gen. Jessica Wright, was summoned to Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day, which included learning that a good friend had died at the Pentagon, she and a few colleagues stopped at a little out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant. A group of men with cords in their ears arrived and Wright found herself face to face with her commander in chief.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Wright looked like any other citizen. One of her friends said, "Mr. President, this is Jessica Wright, and she’s a general in the Pennsylvania National Guard." When the President and Mrs. Bush were leaving, he walked to the table and said, "General, be ready." "Sir, we are ready," came the reply. Keeping one of the largest National Guard forces in the United States "ready," became the responsibility of Major General Jessica L Wright, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania; the first woman ever to hold the position.
To those who know Wright, her history-making appointment was no surprise.
She grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a self-described blue-collar family, where "everyone worked." Her grandparents were coal miners, her mother worked full time, and her father held down two jobs, which may be why her parents insisted she get an education. Wright attended a small college in West Virginia where she graduated with a degree in social work.
Finding a job proved to be difficult, so she came home and enlisted in the National Guard, where, she says, “One opportunity led to another”.
One of those opportunities was flight school. "I was young and adventerous. There were people who didn’t think women belonged in flight school. They kept telling me I should be a nurse. Those people are still around. They’ve just gotten older, not wiser."
Upon graduating from flight school, in 1978, Jessica Wright became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. Wright’s bio is filled with firsts, like being the Army’s first maneuver brigade commander; and it’s replete with honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and Senior Army Aviator badge.
In the fall of 2010, Wright retired with the rank of Major General from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After such a career, many might rest on their laurels…or oak leaf cluster.
In November, 2010, Jessica Wright joined the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, where she currently serves as the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, at the Pentagon. In that position Wright is a key advisor to and responsible for all matters of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, as they relate to the men and women of the Guard and Reserve, with specific responsibility for all manpower, medical and personnel policy matters supporting 1.2 million members of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Jessica Wright continues to serve her country and her fellow soldiers, while providing an outstanding role model for women who want to build a successful military career.
Note: Portions of this post are from a previous interview I conducted with Major General Wright, and which appeared in my column in The Morning Call on January 2, 2004
Woman Warrior Wednesday: Jessica L. Wright, Acting Principle Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then Brig. Gen. Jessica Wright, was summoned to Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day, which included learning that a good friend had died at the Pentagon, she and a few colleagues stopped at a little out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant. A group of men with cords in their ears arrived and Wright found herself face to face with her commander in chief.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Wright looked like any other citizen. One of her friends said, "Mr. President, this is Jessica Wright, and she’s a general in the Pennsylvania National Guard." When the President and Mrs. Bush were leaving, he walked to the table and said, "General, be ready." "Sir, we are ready," came the reply. Keeping one of the largest National Guard forces in the United States "ready," became the responsibility of Major General Jessica L Wright, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania; the first woman ever to hold the position.
To those who know Wright, her history-making appointment was no surprise.
She grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a self-described blue-collar family, where "everyone worked." Her grandparents were coal miners, her mother worked full time, and her father held down two jobs, which may be why her parents insisted she get an education. Wright attended a small college in West Virginia where she graduated with a degree in social work.
Finding a job proved to be difficult, so she came home and enlisted in the National Guard, where, she says, “One opportunity led to another”.
One of those opportunities was flight school. "I was young and cocky. There were people who didn’t think women belonged in flight school. They kept telling me I should be a nurse. Those people are still around. They’ve just gotten older, not wiser."
Upon graduating from flight school, in 1978, Jessica Wright became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. Wright’s bio is filled with firsts, like being the Army’s first maneuver brigade commander; and it’s replete with honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and Senior Army Aviator badge.
In the fall of 2010, Wright retired with the rank of Major General from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After such a career, many might rest on their laurels…or oak leaf cluster.
In November, 2010, Jessica Wright joined the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, where she currently serves as the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, at the Pentagon. In that position Wright is a key advisor to and responsible for all matters of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, as they relate to the men and women of the Guard and Reserve, with specific responsibility for all manpower, medical and personnel policy matters supporting 1.2 million members of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Jessica Wright continues to serve her country and her fellow soldiers, while providing an outstanding role model for women who want to build a successful military career.
Note: Portions of this post are from a previous interview I conducted with Major General Wright, and which appeared in my column in The Morning Call on January 2, 2004
Woman Warrior Wednesday: Jessica L. Wright, Acting Principle Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then Brig. Gen. Jessica Wright, was summoned to Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day, which included learning that a good friend had died at the Pentagon, she and a few colleagues stopped at a little out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant. A group of men with cords in their ears arrived and Wright found herself face to face with her commander in chief.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Wright looked like any other citizen. One of her friends said, "Mr. President, this is Jessica Wright, and she’s a general in the Pennsylvania National Guard." When the President and Mrs. Bush were leaving, he walked to the table and said, "General, be ready." "Sir, we are ready," came the reply. Keeping one of the largest National Guard forces in the United States "ready," became the responsibility of Major General Jessica L Wright, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania; the first woman ever to hold the position.
To those who know Wright, her history-making appointment was no surprise.
She grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a self-described blue-collar family, where "everyone worked." Her grandparents were coal miners, her mother worked full time, and her father held down two jobs, which may be why her parents insisted she get an education. Wright attended a small college in West Virginia where she graduated with a degree in social work.
Finding a job proved to be difficult, so she came home and enlisted in the National Guard, where, she says, “One opportunity led to another”.
One of those opportunities was flight school. "I was young and adventurous. There were people who didn’t think women belonged in flight school. They kept telling me I should be a nurse. Those people are still around. They’ve just gotten older, not wiser."
Upon graduating from flight school, in 1978, Jessica Wright became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. Wright’s bio is filled with firsts, like being the Army’s first maneuver brigade commander; and it’s replete with honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and Senior Army Aviator badge.
In the fall of 2010, Wright retired with the rank of Major General from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After such a career, many might rest on their laurels…or oak leaf cluster.
In November, 2010, Jessica Wright joined the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, where she currently serves as the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, at the Pentagon. In that position Wright is a key advisor to and responsible for all matters of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, as they relate to the men and women of the Guard and Reserve, with specific responsibility for all manpower, medical and personnel policy matters supporting 1.2 million members of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Jessica Wright continues to serve her country and her fellow soldiers, while providing an outstanding role model for women who want to build a successful military career.
Note: Portions of this post are from a previous interview I conducted with Major General Wright, and which appeared in my column in The Morning Call on January 2, 2004
Woman Warrior Wednesday: Jessica L. Wright, Acting Principle Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then Brig. Gen. Jessica Wright, was summoned to Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day, which included learning that a good friend had died at the Pentagon, she and a few colleagues stopped at a little out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant. A group of men with cords in their ears arrived and Wright suddenly found herself face to face with her commander in chief.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Wright looked like any other citizen. One of her friends said, "Mr. President, this is Jessica Wright, and she’s a general in the Pennsylvania National Guard." When the President and Mrs. Bush were leaving, he walked to the table and said, "General, be ready." "Sir, we are ready," she replied at the time. Beginning in 2004, keeping one of the largest National Guard forces in the United States "ready," became the responsibility of Major General Jessica L Wright, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania; the first woman ever to hold the position.
To those who know Wright, her history-making appointment was no surprise.
She grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a self-described blue-collar family, where "everyone worked." Her grandparents were coal miners, her mother worked full time, and her father held down two jobs, which may be why her parents insisted she get an education. Wright attended a small college in West Virginia where she graduated with a degree in social work.
Finding job proved to be difficult, so she came home, enlisted in the National Guard, where one opportunity led to another.
One of those opportunities was flight school. "I was young and cocky. There were people who didn’t think women belonged in flight school. They kept telling me I should be a nurse. Those people are still around. They’ve just gotten older, not wiser."
Upon graduating from flight school, in 1978, Jessica Wright became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. Wright’s bio is filled with firsts, like being the Army’s first maneuver brigade commander; and it’s replete with honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and Senior Army Aviator badge.
In the fall of 2010, Wright retired with the rank of Major General from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After such a career, many might rest on their laurels…or oak leaf cluster.
In November, 2010, Jessica Wright joined the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, where she currently serves as the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, at the Pentagon. In that position Wright is a key advisor to and responsible for all matters of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, as they relate to the men and women of the Guard and Reserve, with specific responsibility for all manpower, medical and personnel policy matters supporting 1.2 million members of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Jessica Wright continues to serve her country and her fellow soldiers, while providing an outstanding role model for women who want to build a successful military career.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then Brig. Gen. Jessica Wright, was summoned to Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day, which included learning that a good friend had died at the Pentagon, she and a few colleagues stopped at a little out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant. A group of men with cords in their ears arrived and Wright suddenly found herself face to face with her commander in chief.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Wright looked like any other citizen. One of her friends said, "Mr. President, this is Jessica Wright, and she’s a general in the Pennsylvania National Guard." When the President and Mrs. Bush were leaving, he walked to the table and said, "General, be ready." "Sir, we are ready," she replied at the time. Beginning in 2004, keeping one of the largest National Guard forces in the United States "ready," became the responsibility of Major General Jessica L Wright, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania; the first woman ever to hold the position.
To those who know Wright, her history-making appointment was no surprise.
She grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a self-described blue-collar family, where "everyone worked." Her grandparents were coal miners, her mother worked full time, and her father held down two jobs, which may be why her parents insisted she get an education. Wright attended a small college in West Virginia where she graduated with a degree in social work.
Finding job proved to be difficult, so she came home, enlisted in the National Guard, where one opportunity led to another.
One of those opportunities was flight school. "I was young and cocky. There were people who didn’t think women belonged in flight school. They kept telling me I should be a nurse. Those people are still around. They’ve just gotten older, not wiser."
Upon graduating from flight school, in 1978, Jessica Wright became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. Wright’s bio is filled with firsts, like being the Army’s first maneuver brigade commander; and it’s replete with honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and Senior Army Aviator badge.
In the fall of 2010, Wright retired with the rank of Major General from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After such a career, many might rest on their laurels…or oak leaf cluster.
In November, 2010, Jessica Wright joined the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, where she currently serves as the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, at the Pentagon. In that position Wright is a key advisor to and responsible for all matters of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, as they relate to the men and women of the Guard and Reserve, with specific responsibility for all manpower, medical and personnel policy matters supporting 1.2 million members of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Jessica Wright continues to serve her country and her fellow soldiers, while providing an outstanding role model for women who want to build a successful military career.
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The Old Switcharoo…
You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and writers: So here we are on “Woman Warrior Wednesday” without a Warrior, at least until Friday, when we’ll profile GEN Jessica Wright. Instead, we’re doing the “old switcheroo”; bringing “Friday Finds” to you today.
Considering that the weekly deadline for ordering from our “find” is midnight tonight, this is actually good timing…
When I first heard about "Pure Sprouts", I was excited: Organic produce and foodstuffs delivered to your door…in the Lehigh Valley! Sounded more like something you’d find in West Chester County, NY or Darien, CN. Once I became a customer I was hooked.
Despite some misconceptions about exactly what “organic” means, it’s the lack of chemicals, hormones, or pesticides being used to grow & produce the food, the importance of eating such produce, meat, baked goods is no longer up for debate. Numerous studies have shown many of the chemicals sprayed on our foods have carcinogenic effects at worse and degenerative effects at best. My favorite example of this is from the website/blog "Healthy & Green Living" where a student used sweet potatoes to demonstrate that those sprayed with the common agricultural chemical Chlorpropham were “dead” while organic potatoes were still alive enough to sprout.
But I digress: Back to Pure Sprouts and their wonderful service and selection. Once you’ve landed on the Pure Sprouts website you can determine if they deliver to your zip code by entering it in the designated box. If they do, simply “sign up” and begin cruising through a virtual farm, field & store of fresh produce, prepared foods, baked goods, and gifts. When you have your basket put together, simply check out and wait for all your goodies to arrive on your doorstep. It’s that simple…and that delicious. Right now my two favorite items are organic cherries (very hard to find even at farmer’s markets) and baked stuffed organic tofu which I sauté with mushrooms, spinach, and soy sauce; Yum.
Pure Sprouts is Lehigh Valley owned and operated by young wife and mother, Lori Stansberry, and her family. The fact that the business is primarily woman owned and operated makes it even more appealing to me. Another bonus, especially in these times, is that many of Pure Sprouts offerings come from local farms and producers, so you’re shrinking the carbon footprint of how much fuel and energy it takes to feed you, (My Conservative friends are rolling their eyes right now) and you’re supporting multiple local businesses; a true Win/Win.
If there is any downside at all, it is that you will pay a bit more in some cases than you would if/when you can find similar items at a grocery store. Both Wegman’s and Giant have been steadily increasing their supply of organic produce, and when they have strawberries or broccoli or the like, it is usually less expensive than at Pure Sprouts, but it’s also not delivered to your door, and the selection is hit or miss.
So fire up the Weber, get out the virgin olive oil, chop up some fresh herbs and serve up a wonderful summer mélange of organic grilled vegetables. Enjoy!
The Old Switcharoo…
You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and writers: So here we are on “Woman Warrior Wednesday” without a Warrior, at least until Friday, when we’ll profile GEN Jessica Wright. So we’re doing the “old switcheroo”; bringing “Friday Finds” to you instead.
Considering that the weekly deadline for ordering from our “find” is midnight tonight, this is actually good timing…
When I first heard about "Pure Sprouts", I was excited: Organic produce and foodstuffs delivered to your door…in the Lehigh Valley! Sounded more like something you’d find in West Chester County, NY or Darien, CN. Once I became a customer I was hooked.
Despite some misconceptions about exactly what “organic” means, it’s the lack of chemicals, hormones, or pesticides being used to grow & produce the food, the importance of eating such produce, meat, baked goods is no longer up for debate. Numerous studies have shown many of the chemicals sprayed on our foods have carcinogenic effects at worse and degenerative effects at best. My favorite example of this is from the website/blog "Healthy & Green Living" where a student used sweet potatoes to demonstrate that those sprayed with the common agricultural chemical Chlorpropham were “dead” while the organic potatoes were still alive enough to grow sprouts.
But I digress: Back to Pure Sprouts and their wonderful service and selection. Once you’ve landed on the Pure Sprouts website you can determine if they deliver to your zip code by entering it in the designated box. If they do, simply “sign up” and begin cruising through a virtual farm, field & store of fresh produce, prepared foods, baked goods, and gifts. Once you have your basket put together, simply check out and wait for all your goodies to arrive on your doorstep. It’s that simple…and that delicious. Right now my two favorite items are organic cherries (very hard to find even at farmer’s markets) and baked stuffed organic tofu which I sauté with mushrooms, spinach, and soy sauce; Yum.
Pure Sprouts is Lehigh Valley owned and operated by young wife and mother, Lori Stansberry, and her family. The fact that the business is primarily woman owned and operated makes it even more appealing to me. Another bonus, especially in these times, is that many of Pure Sprouts offerings come from local farms and producers, so you’re shrinking the carbon footprint of how much fuel and energy it takes to feed you, (My Conservative friends are rolling their eyes right now) and you’re supporting multiple local businesses; a true Win/Win.
If there is any downside at all, it is that you will pay a bit more in some cases than you would if/when you can find similar items at a grocery store. Both Wegman’s and Giant have been steadily increasing their supply of organic produce, and when they have strawberries or broccoli or the like, it is usually less expensive than at Pure Sprouts, but it’s also not delivered to your door, and the selection is hit or miss.
So fire up the Weber, get out the virgin olive oil, chop up some fresh herbs and serve up a wonderful summer mélange of organic grilled vegetables. Enjoy!
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Monday Musings: This Wasn’t What We Planned
The following two stories are true, and have occurred in this past week. The names have been changed to protect everyone, some, quite frankly, who don’t deserve protection.
Welcome to the latest of Perspectives’ new “regular features”: Woman Warrior Wednesday, Fashion & Finds Friday are now joined by “Monday Musings”, a weekly look at the human condition from medicine to politics, from gender issues to the environment, and everything in between.
Musings are defined as thoughts or meditations. The recent situation in Washington has given all us plenty of reasons for both of those. If we look past one of the worse displays of political dysfunction in our lifetime, what we’ll see is the reality of people who are suffering beyond the Beltway: People for whom life is turning out nothing like they planned.
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There was a nice looking couple we used to see occasionally at social & community functions. They were friends of friends so we knew them casually. He was a successful medical professional and she was a very attractive, stylish, stay-at-home wife and mother. I heard through the grapevine that he was involved with another woman and was seeking a divorce. I know nothing else about the story except when I walked in to my favorite bakery the other day; I caught a glimpse of someone who looked familiar pushing a rack of bread toward the front of the store. Her blond hair was bound up under a net; her face was pale & drawn. We made eye contact. It was painful…for both of us.
She said her former husband’s practice had suffered from the affair and his finances were, possibly deliberately, in disarray, and she had not been able to afford high-powered legal counsel. She had tried to return to her original career in fashion and merchandising but after being out of the work force for so long, and with 9.1% unemployment, here she was, in her mid-50’s, pushing a bakery cart.
While on my usual shopping rounds of framers markets and grocery stores last week, I noticed some of my favorite faces were out place. The knowledgeable young man who always makes sure I get the freshest fish and the middle-aged woman who lost her business and then found a job she loved demonstrating new products were not in their usual spots. I found them both doing other, lesser jobs: The fish monger was handing out samples of fruit and looking very embarrassed to be doing so. Both told me a new policy was in place designed to hold down the need for new employees, so everyone had to be willing to do whatever job they were assigned. As one said to me, “What can I do? I have to keep this job.”
I’ve always been one of America’s greatest boosters: A Ronald Reagan “Shining City on the Hill” believer that we are the greatest nation on earth. But there is no longer any doubt that our country is in serious trouble from which it will likely take decades to recover. And for a generation for whom recovery time has run out, a generation who grew up thinking that if you worked hard and followed the rules, life turned out like an episode from Ozzie & Harriet…this sure wasn’t what we planned.
Monday Musings: This Wasn’t What We Planned
The following two stories are true, and have occurred in this past week. The names have been changed to protect…everyone, some, quite frankly, who don’t deserve protection.
Welcome to the latest of Perspectives’ new “regular features”: Woman Warrior Wednesday, Fashion & Finds Friday are now joined by “Monday Musings”, a weekly look at the human condition from medicine to politics, from gender issues to the environment, and everything in between.
Musings are defined as thoughts or meditations. The recent situation in Washington has given all us plenty of reasons for both of those. If we look past one of the worse displays of political dysfunction in our lifetime, what we’ll see is the reality of people who are suffering…beyond the Beltway: People for whom life is turning out nothing like they planned.
There was a nice looking couple we used to see occasionally at social & community functions. They were friends of friends of ours so we knew them casually. He was a successful medical professional and she was a very attractive, stylish, stay-at-home wife and mother. I heard through the grapevine that he was involved with another woman and was seeking a divorce. I know nothing else about the story except when I walked in to my favorite bakery the other day; I caught a glimpse of someone who looked familiar pushing a rack of bread toward the front of the store. Her blond hair was bound up under a net; her face was pale & drawn. We made eye contact. It was painful…for both of us.
She said her former husband’s practice had suffered from the affair and his finances were, possibly deliberately, in disarray, and she had not been able to afford high-powered legal counsel. She had tried to return to her original career in fashion and merchandising but after being out of the work force for so long, and with 9.1% unemployment, here she was, in her mid-50’s, pushing a bakery cart.
While on my usual shopping rounds of framers markets and grocery stores last week, I noticed some of my favorite faces were out place. The knowledgeable young man who always makes sure I get the freshest fish and the middle-aged woman who lost her business and then found a job she loved demonstrating new products were not in their usual spots. I found them both doing other less interesting jobs: The fish monger was handing out samples of fruit and looking very embarrassed to be doing so. Both told me a new policy was in place designed to hold down the need for new employees, so everyone had to be willing to do whatever job they were assigned. As one said to me, “What can I do? I have to keep this job.”
I’ve always been one of America’s greatest boosters: A Ronald Reagan “Shining City on the Hill” believer that we are the greatest nation on earth. But there is no longer any doubt that our country is in serious trouble from which it will likely take decades to recover. And for a generation for whom recovery time has run out, a generation who grew up thinking life turned out like Ozzie & Harriet…this sure wasn’t what we planned.
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Welcome to Friday…“Fashion & Finds”
What better time to think about our “To Do” list than on a Friday, with two whole days ahead of us to get things done around the house, update our wardrobe, browse the book store, or test drive that new car you’ve been lusting after.
It’s with that agenda in mind that Perspectives is kicking off a new Friday feature…“Fashion & Finds”. Whether it’s a great sale on shoes, a new cleaning product that removed all the cat hair from my house, or a fabulous restaurant with great service, you’ll read about here each Friday.
And don’t forget to send along tips about your favorite things. Just click “Contact” at the top of the blog.
Kicking off this week with my two favorite online sale shopping sites, "Gilt" and "HauteLook" where you’ll “find” the latest “fashion” at greatly reduced prices. Both sites work on the same principle: You sign up online (it’s free) after which you’ll receive their featured items each day at the same time. HauteLook goes live at 11:00 a.m. and Gilt at 12:00 noon, plus there are often special events during evenings and weekends. Heads up on timing…if it’s a hot item, it’s gone within minutes.
Many of the items featured are clothing for women, men & children, along with a selection of home furnishings and gourmet food. Both sites also offer special packages on travel to the most amazing places. A discount safari to Africa anyone?
Some of the merchandise is very high-end. Don’t let that put you off: There are lots of true bargains to be found if you look. I just bought my first real designer purse for a fraction and I mean a small fraction of what I would have paid for it in a department store. And even if you don’t buy anything, it’s so much fun to browse. There’s nothing better than fantasizing about how you’d look in that cocktail dress while sipping coffee in your PJ’s. Enjoy.
Welcome to Friday…“Fashion & Finds”
What better time to think about our “To Do” list than on a Friday, with two whole days ahead of us to get a few things done around the house, update our wardrobe, browse the book store, or test drive that new car you’ve been lusting after.
It’s with that agenda in mind that Perspectives is kicking off a new Friday feature…“Fashion & Finds”. Whether it’s a great sale on shoes, a new cleaning product that removed all the cat hair from my house, or a fabulous restaurant with great service, you’ll read about here each Friday.
And don’t forget to send along tips about your favorite things. Just click “Contact” at the top of the blog.
Kicking off this week with my two favorite online sale shopping sites, "Gilt" and "HauteLook" where you’ll “find” the latest “fashion” at greatly reduced prices. Both sites work on the same principle: You sign up online (it’s free) after which you’ll receive their featured items each day at the same time. HauteLook goes live at 11:00 a.m. and Gilt at 12:00 noon, plus there are often special events during evenings and weekends. Heads up on timing…if it’s a hot item, it’s gone within minutes.
Many of the items featured are clothing for women, men & children, along with a selection of home furnishings and gourmet food. Both sites also offer special packages on travel to the most amazing places. A discount safari to Africa anyone?
Some of the merchandise is very high-end. Don’t let that put you off: There are lots of true bargains to be found if you look. I just bought my first real designer purse for a fraction and I mean a small fraction of what I would have paid for it in a department store. And even if you don’t buy anything, it’s so much fun to look…nothing better than fantasizing about how you’d look in that cocktail dress while sipping coffee in your PJ’s. Enjoy.
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Woman Warrior Wednesday: LT COL Teri DelBalso
Teri Delbalso was just like any other little girl growing up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. A childhood she describes as “very nice” included playing Barbie Dolls with her kid sister Nikki. Throughout her years at Hazelton High School and Penn State, where she graduated with a BS in Administration of Justice, Teri dreamed about her “perfect job”, but the dream was elusive. She thought about joining the military: Several dead-end jobs later, she took the plunge and joined the Army Reserves. Her training kept her away from home for nearly a year, first at Ft. Jackson, NC for basic training, then Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, GA, followed by a basic course for Quarter Masters at Ft. Lee, VA.
After five years posted at the Army Reserve Center in Williamsport, PA, that dream job started to come in to sharper focus. She applied for and was accepted to an advance course to become a Military Police Officer. “It was something I always wanted to do”, she says, “I just had to work my way up to it”. Upon successful completion of her training, Teri was transferred to the Military Police Unit in Ashton, PA, where she’s been serving, and moving up through the ranks, for 16 years. Today, Teri holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and is Commander of the 424 Military Police Detachment.
Those years of service have included two tours of duty in Iraq, in 2003-04 & 2008-09. Teri describes the first deployment as being “on the cusp of the invasion” and the conditions as “a harsh environment”. It was also extremely dangerous. Driving back to the base, after dark, through Baghdad, their convoy came under fire by RPG’s. “The guys firing at us were bad shots”, so between their return fire and defensive driving moves, Teri and her team stayed safe. Many others did not. “Our base was bombed every night; I mean every night there were incoming mortar rounds. People died around me.”
The second deployment was calmer; there was more security, better living conditions, and superior radar that detected anyone approaching the base.
Teri’s training and experience in the military led her toward that dream civilian job she’d thought about years before. For 7 years she held the distinction of being the first woman police officer in the history of McAdoo, Pennsylvania. In 1994, she joined the PA Department of Corrections, working out of the Hemlock Creek Medium Security Prison, where she is the State Prison Department Superintendent in charge of programming and treatment.
With four years to go till her goal of retiring from the military with 25 years of service, Teri says, “It’s been a great ride. I’ve been all over the world, all over the US; I’ve seen places I would have never otherwise seen”
She encourages other women to think about a military career. “Don’t run away from it. You can discover yourself, finding talents and strengths you didn’t know you had. The Army is what you make it…if you can carry your own weight and be a team player, it can be a good life”.
Woman Warrior Wednesday: LT COL Teri DelBalso
Teri Delbalso was just like any other little girl growing up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. A childhood she describes as “very nice” included playing Barbie Dolls with her kid sister Nikki. Throughout her years at Hazelton High School and Penn State, where she graduated with a BS in Administration of Justice, Teri dreamed about her “perfect job”, but the dream was elusive. She thought about joining the military: Several dead-end jobs later, she took the plunge and joined the Army Reserves. Her training kept her away from home for nearly a year, first at Ft. Jackson, NC for basic training, then Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, GA, followed by a basic course for Quarter Masters at Ft. Lee, VA.
After five years posted at the Army Reserve Center in Williamsport, PA, that dream job started to come in to sharper focus. She applied for and was accepted to an advance course to become a Military Police Officer. “It was something I always wanted to do”, she says, “I just had to work my way up to it”. Upon successful completion of her training, Teri was transferred to the Military Police Unit in Ashton, PA, where she’s been serving, and moving up through the ranks, for 16 years. Today, Teri holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and is Commander of the 424 Military Police Detachment.
Those years of service have included two tours of duty in Iraq, in 2003-04 & 2008-09. Teri describes the first deployment as being “on the cusp of the invasion” and the conditions as “a harsh environment”. It was also extremely dangerous. Driving back to the base, after dark, through Baghdad, their convoy came under fire by RPG’s. “The guys firing at us were bad shots”, so between their return fire and defensive driving moves, Teri and her team stayed safe. Many others did not. “Our base was bombed every night; I mean every night there were incoming mortar rounds. People died around me.”
The second deployment was calmer; there was more security, better living conditions, and superior radar that detected anyone approaching the base.
Teri’s training and experience in the military led her toward that dream civilian job she’d thought about years before. For 7 years she held the distinction of being the first woman police officer in the history of McAdoo, Pennsylvania. In 1994, she joined the PA Department of Corrections, working out of the Hemlock Creek Medium Security Prison, where she is the State Prison Department Superintendent in charge of programming and treatment.
With four years to go till her goal of retiring from the military with 25 years of service, Teri says, “It’s been a great ride. I’ve been all over the world, all over the US; I’ve seen places I would have never otherwise seen”
She encourages other women to think about a military career. “Don’t run away from it. You can discover yourself, finding talents and strengths you didn’t know you had. The Army is what you make it…if you can carry your own weight and be a team player, it can be a good life”.
Woman Warrior Wednesday: LT COL Teri DelBalso
Teri Delbalso was just like any other little girl growing up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. A childhood she describes as “very nice” included playing Barbie Dolls with her kid sister Nikki. Throughout her years at Hazelton High School and Penn State, where she graduated with a BS in Administration of Justice, Teri dreamed about her “perfect job”, but the dream was elusive. She thought about joining the military: Several dead end jobs later, she took the plunge and joined the Army Reserves. Her training kept her away from home for nearly a year, first at Ft. Jackson, NC for basic training, then Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, GA, followed by a basic course for Quarter Masters at Ft. Lee, VA.
After five years posted at the Army Reserve Center in Williamsport, PA, that dream job started to come in to sharper focus. She applied for and was accepted to an advance course to become a Military Police Officer. “It was something I always wanted to do”, she says, “I just had to work my way up to it”. Upon successful completion of her training, Teri was transferred to the Military Police Unit in Ashton, PA, where she’s been for serving, and moving up through the ranks, for 16 years. Today, Teri holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and is Commander of the 424 Military Police Detachment.
Those years of service have included two tours of duty in Iraq, in 2003-04 & 2008-09. Teri describes the first deployment as being “on the cusp of the invasion” and the conditions as “a harsh environment”. It was also extremely dangerous. Driving back to the base, after dark, through Baghdad, their convoy came under fire by RPG’s. “The guys firing at us were bad shots”, so between their return fire and defensive driving moves, Teri and her team returned safely. Many others did not. “Our base was bombed every night; I mean every night there were incoming mortar rounds. People died around me.”
The second deployment was calmer; there was more security, better living conditions, and superior radar that detected anyone approaching the base.
Teri’s training and experience in the military led her toward that dream job she’d thought about years before. For 7 years she held the distinction of being the first woman police officer in the history of McAdoo, Pennsylvania. In 1994, she joined the PA Department of Corrections, where today works out of the Hemlock Creek Medium Security Prison where she is the State Prison Department Superintendent in charge of programming and treatment.
With four more years to go till her goal of retiring from the military with 25 years of service, Teri says, “It’s been a great ride. I’ve been all over the world, all over the US; I’ve seen places I would have never otherwise seen”
She encourages other women to think about a military career. “Don’t run away from it. You can discover yourself, finding talents and strengths you didn’t know you had. The Army is what you make it…if you can carry your own weight and be a team player, it can be a good life”.
Welcome to Perspectives’ new feature…Women Warrior Wednesdays
Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, July 27, Perspectives will begin a new feature focusing on the many women serving in the US military. Each week we’ll highlight a woman, from different branches of our Armed Services, who is proudly serving our country in these difficult times.
Since the terrorist attacks of 9-11, women have answered the call and proved time and again that, as our first featured Woman Warrior, LT COL Teri DelBalso, says, “Women have shown they can go above and beyond what is expected of them, shouldering many of the same burdens as their male counterparts. We’ve earned the respect we’re now being given by rising to every opportunity and proving we can do the job”.
I hope you will enjoy these weekly “profiles in courage”, and will share them with your friends and family. One of the best ways to thank those who help to keep us safe, is to let them know we appreciate their sacrifice.
If you know of a woman warrior who you think should be featured in a Woman Warrior Wednesday story, please post a comment or email me directly through the blog.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for reading.
Pamela Varkony
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Welcome to Perspectives’ New Feature… Women Warrior Wednesdays
Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, July 27, Perspectives will begin a new feature focusing on the many women serving in the US military. Each week we’ll highlight a woman, from different branches of our Armed Services, who is proudly serving our country in these difficult times.
Since the terrorist attacks of 9-11, women have answered the call and proved time and again that, as our first featured Woman Warrior, LT COL Teri DelBalso, says, “Women have shown they can go above and beyond what is expected of them, shouldering many of the same burdens as their male counterparts. We’ve earned the respect we’re now being given by rising to every opportunity and proving we can do the job”.
I hope you will enjoy these weekly “profiles in courage”, and will share them with your friends and family. One of the best ways to thank those who help to keep us safe, is to let them know we appreciate their sacrifice.
If you know of a woman warrior who you think should be featured in a Woman Warrior Wednesday story, please post a comment or email me directly through the blog.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for reading.
Pamela Varkony
Welcome to Perspectives’ new feature…Women Warrior Wednesdays
Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, July 27, Perspectives will begin a new feature focusing on the many women serving in the US military. Each week we’ll highlight a woman, from different branches of our Armed Services, who is proudly serving our country in these difficult times.
Over the past ten years, since the terrorist attacks of 9-11, women have answered the call and proved time and again that, as our first featured Woman Warrior, LT COL Teri DelBalso, says, “Women have shown they can go above and beyond what is expected of them, shouldering many of the same burdens as their male counterparts. We’ve earned the respect we’re now being given by rising to every opportunity and proving we can do the job”.
I hope you will enjoy these weekly “profiles in courage”, and will share them with your friends and family. One of the best ways to thank those who help to keep us safe, is to let them know we appreciate their sacrifice.
If you know of a woman warrior who you think should be featured in a Woman Warrior Wednesday story, please post a comment or email me directly through the blog.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for reading.
Pamela Varkony
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Citizen Soldiers On The Front Lines
Starting with the militias of the Revolutionary War, when farmers would drop their plows, pick up their muskets, and run toward the sound of the battle, ordinary citizens have been protecting our freedoms. Never more so than in this age of terrorism, fighting an unconventional enemy thousands of miles from home.
The strain on the country’s military has spilled over to the “citizen soldiers” of the National Guard, many of whom have been deployed multiple times, resulting in distraught families and disrupted lives. Among the states whose US National Guard units have paid the heaviest price for the “War on Terror” is Pennsylvania, whose Guard is one of the largest, best equipped, and most deployed Guards in the country. The price for that honor has been high: Pennsylvania has lost more National Guard soldiers than any other state; 48 of our family, friends, and neighbors have been lost.
Beginning in early 2012, the 55th BCT will once again head for foreign shores when they deploy to Kuwait for one year mission. More about the training, preparation, and ramp-up to that deployment in today’s column in The Morning Call
My God protect them and may they all return safely to their families.
Citizen Soldiers On The Front Lines
Starting with the militias of the Revolutionary War, when farmers would drop their plows, pick up their muskets, and run toward the sound of the battle, ordinary citizens have been protecting our freedoms. Never more so than in this age of terrorism, fighting an unconventional enemy thousands of miles from home.
The strain on the country’s military has spilled over to the “citizen soldiers” of the National Guard, many of whom have been deployed multiple times, resulting in distraught families and disrupted lives. Among the states whose US National Guard units have paid the heaviest price for the “War on Terror” is Pennsylvania, whose Guard is one of the largest, best equipped, and most deployed Guards in the country. The price for that honor has been high: Pennsylvania has lost more National Guard soldiers than any other state; 48 of our family, friends, and neighbors have been lost.
Beginning in early 2012, the 55th BCT will once again head for foreign shores when they deploy to Kuwait for one year mission. More about the training, preparation, and ramp-up to that deployment in today’s column in The Morning Call
My God protect them and may they all return safely to their families.
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Cosmo or Coma: al Qaeda Offers Women Both
Literature is rife with stories of people who made deals with the devil for youth, beauty, riches, or success in exchange for their soul. Usually the devil seeks them out in a moment of weakness, like he did Faust or Joe Boyd in the Broadway hit, “Damn Yankees”. Today, the always adaptable Lucifer entered the communication age with a new way to seduce his victims; a glossy magazine complete with assault rifle on the cover.
When I first read the story that al Qaeda had launched Al-Shamikha, loosely translated to “The Majestic Woman”, aimed at recruiting women jihadists, I thought it was funny: I actually laughed at story lines like how to have a lovely complexion by “not going out more than necessary and always wearing your niqab as protection against the sun”. This had to be a spoof…a parody worthy of Stephen Colbert . But the story kept popping up on MSM sites throughout the day. The laughing stopped when I realized there was no joke.
According to the UK newspaper, “The Independent”, this new version of how to be a mid-east Cosmo girl includes advice on finding the right man ("marrying a mujahideen"), and provides tips on first aid and etiquette, along side interviews with martyr’s wives and praises those who give their lives in the name of a twisted interpretation of Islam. "From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety and happiness".
For those readers not quite ready for such a drastic step, it argues the pros and cons of honey facemasks and lobbies against "toweling too forcibly": My goodness we wouldn’t want to damage that lovely skin of yours before we convince you to splatter it in little pieces all over a street or cafe.
In full “media launch” mode, the editors of Al-Shamikha, when asked why they started the magazine, replied, “"Because women constitute half of the population – and one might even say that they are the population since they give birth to the next generation – the enemies of Islam are bent on preventing the Muslim woman from knowing the truth about her religion and her role, since they know all too well what would happen if women entered the field of jihad… The nation of Islam needs women to know what is expected of them." Analysts say the idea is to market global jihad with the same slick feel as Cosmopolitan Western culture to young women.
So there you have it girls: Launch in to spring with a new lipstick or a new Kalashnikov. Either way you’re bound to make a splash.
Cosmo or Coma: al Qaeda Offers Women Both
Literature is rife with stories of people who made deals with the devil for youth, beauty, riches, or success in exchange for their soul. Usually the devil seeks them out in a moment of weakness, like he did Faust or Joe Boyd in the Broadway hit, “Damn Yankees”. Today, the always adaptable Lucifer entered the communication age with a new way to seduce his victims; a glossy magazine complete with assault rifle on the cover.
When I first read the story that al Qaeda had launched Al-Shamikha, loosely translated to “The Majestic Woman”, aimed at recruiting women jihadists, I thought it was funny: I actually laughed at story lines like how to have a lovely complexion by “not going out more than necessary and always wearing your niqab as protection against the sun”. This had to be a spoof…a parody worthy of Stephen Colbert . But the story kept popping up on MSM sites throughout the day. The laughing stopped when I realized there was no joke.
According to the UK newspaper, “The Independent”, this new version of how to be a mid-east Cosmo girl includes advice on finding the right man ("marrying a mujahideen"), and provides tips on first aid and etiquette, along side interviews with martyr’s wives and praises those who give their lives in the name of a twisted interpretation of Islam. "From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety and happiness".
For those readers not quite ready for such a drastic step, it argues the pros and cons of honey facemasks and lobbies against "toweling too forcibly": My goodness we wouldn’t want to damage that lovely skin of yours before we convince you to splatter it in little pieces all over a street or cafe.
In full “media launch” mode, the editors of Al-Shamikha, when asked why they started the magazine, replied, “"Because women constitute half of the population – and one might even say that they are the population since they give birth to the next generation – the enemies of Islam are bent on preventing the Muslim woman from knowing the truth about her religion and her role, since they know all too well what would happen if women entered the field of jihad… The nation of Islam needs women to know what is expected of them."
Media analysts say the idea is to market global jihad with the same slick feel as Cosmopolitan Western culture to young women. So there you have it girls: Launch in to spring with a new lipstick or a new Kalashnikov. Either way you’re bound to make a splash.
Cosmo or Coma: al Qaeda Offers Women Both
Literature is rife with stories of people who made deals with the devil for youth, beauty, riches, or success in exchange for their soul. Usually the devil seeks them out in a moment of weakness, like he did Faust or Joe Boyd in the Broadway hit, “Damn Yankees”. Today, the always adaptable Lucifer entered the communication age with a new way to seduce his victims; a glossy magazine complete with assault rifle on the cover.
When I first read the story that al Qaeda had launched Al-Shamikha, loosely translated to “The Majestic Woman”, aimed at recruiting women jihadists, I thought it was funny: I actually laughed at story lines like how to have a lovely complexion by “not going out more than necessary and always wearing your niqab as protection against the sun”. This had to be a spoof…a parody worthy of Stephen Colbert . But the story kept popping up on MSM sites throughout the day. The laughing stopped when I realized there was no joke.
According to the UK newspaper, “The Independent”, this new version of how to be a mid-east Cosmo girl includes advice on finding the right man ("marrying a mujahideen"), and provides tips on first aid and etiquette, along side interviews with martyr’s wives and praises those who give their lives in the name of the editors’ interpretation of Islam. "From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety and happiness".
For those readers not quite ready for such a drastic step, it argues the pros and cons of honey facemasks and lobbies against "toweling too forcibly": My goodness we wouldn’t want to damage that lovely skin of yours before we convince you to splatter it in little pieces all over a street or cafe.
In full “media launch” mode, the editors of Al-Shamikha, asked why they started the magazine, replied, “"Because women constitute half of the population – and one might even say that they are the population since they give birth to the next generation – the enemies of Islam are bent on preventing the Muslim woman from knowing the truth about her religion and her role, since they know all too well what would happen if women entered the field of jihad… The nation of Islam needs women to know what is expected of them." Analysts say the idea is to market global jihad with the same slick feel as Cosmopolitan Western culture to young women.
So there you have it girls: Launch in to spring with a new lipstick or a new Kalashnikov. Either way you’re bound to make a splash.
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Courage vs. Polarization
We’ve seen two demonstrations of extraordinary courage by two ordinary women in the past month.
In December, Ginger LIttleton, who had escaped, put herself back in to harm’s way to try to save her colleagues. With a purse as her only weapon, she attempted to knock the gun out of the hand of a man who was threatening the Panama City School Board of which Littleton is a member. That scenario ended without the loss of any innocent life.
This past Saturday in Tucson, the outcome was not so positive, although the bravery demonstrated by Patricia Maisch was no less admirable, in fact perhaps more so because people around her had already been shot and killed when she took a fresh ammunition clip from the hands of shooter, Jared Loughner.
Unfortunately, Patricia Maisch used the ensuing publicity and media attention to go on a rant about how she believes the rhetoric of the Republican Party was responsible for Loughner’s murderous spree. How disappointing that someone who showed such courage would use that moment to do exactly what she’s accusing the “other side” of doing…ratcheting up the dialog by making accusations at each other.
I wish Ms. Maisch well and hope that she recovers quickly from what will undoubtedly be reactions of post traumatic stress. I also hope that when she comes out on the other side of this experience, she will not find it necessary to polarize or politicize the event, which was clearly the act of a mentally unbalanced person and not of a rhetoric-driven ideologue.
My expanded thoughts about this issue are on The Daily Caller
Courage vs. Polarization
We’ve seen two demonstrations of extraordinary courage by two ordinary women in past month.
In December, Ginger LIttleton put herself back in to harm’s way to try to save her colleagues. With a purse as her only weapon, she attempted to knock the gun out of the hand of a man who was threatening the Panama City School Board of which Littleton is a member. That scenario ended with the loss of any innocent life.
This past Saturday in Tucson, the outcome was not so positive, although the bravery demonstrated by Patricia Maisch was no less admirable, in fact perhaps more so because people around her had already been shot and killed when she took a fresh ammunition clip from the hands of shooter, Jared Loughner.
Unfortunately, Patricia Maisch used the ensuing publicity and media attention to go on a rant about how she believes the rhetoric of the Republican Party was responsible for Loughner’s murderous spree. How disappointing that someone who showed such courage would use that moment to do exactly what she’s accusing the “other side” of doing…ratcheting up the dialog by making accusations at each other.
I wish Ms. Maisch well and hope that she recovers quickly from what will undoubtedly be reactions of post traumatic stress. I also hope that when she comes out of the other side of this experience, she will not find it necessary to polarize or politicize the event, which was clearly the act of a mentally unbalanced person and not of a rhetoric-driven ideologue.
My expanded thoughts about this issue are up on The Daily Caller
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The “Downtown Browne” Show…
Technology has benefitted many industries, created many others, and turned the world in to a global marketplace. But no one group or segment of society has reaped more reward from the ability to sit in front of a keyboard to reach out and touch thousands of people, than the political establishment.
The old expression “stump speech” comes from the fact that for a candidate or politician to be heard while addressing their constituents, they’d have to stand on a tree stump to get up above the crowd. Despite all the emphasis on “going green”, there’s not a stump in sight across today’s political landscape. There is however, Facebook, Twitter, and Flipcams.
State Senator Pat Browne, whose 16th District includes parts of Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe Counties, is taking full advantage of these innovations by creating a series of video programs called “The Browne Report”. The latest edition focuses on downtown Allentown and the good things happening there. Included in the 27 minute video are…
** Lee Butz & the Butz Building
** Rev. Bob Stevens & Zion’s Church
** Cosmopolitan Restaurant
** Tamara Weller, Ex. Dir. of Allentown Parking Authority
** APD Chief Roger MacLean & Hamilton Street’s own guardian, Officer Rick Mongolitz
** Ann Vaughn of East Penn Properties
In case you don’t have time to watch the entire program, I’ll share my favorite quote, which I’m somewhat paraphrasing, from Ann Vaughn who credits Mayor Pawlowski for all his energy and all the money he’s put in to downtown. Or to put it another way… all the money the taxpayers have put in to downtown.
To close on a positive note: I’m not sure if a video about downtown Allentown will bring in any new investors or customers, but I give Pat Browne credit for trying.
Blogger’s Note: This URL does work and will open when you click on it, but it was not suitable for embed.
http://nova.pasenategop.com/browne/2011/0111.wmv
The “Downtown Browne” Show…
Technology has benefitted many industries, created many others, and turned the world in to a global marketplace. But no one group or segment of society has reaped more reward from the ability to sit in front of a keyboard to reach out and touch thousands of people, than the political establishment.
The old expression “stump speech” comes from the fact that for a candidate or politician to be heard while addressing their constituents, they’d have to stand on a tree stump to get up above the crowd. Despite all the emphasis on “going green”, there’s not a stump in sight across today’s political landscape. There is however, Facebook, Twitter, and Flipcams.
State Senator Pat Browne, whose 16th District includes parts of Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe Counties, is taking full advantage of these innovations by creating a series of video program called “The Browne Report”. The latest edition focuses on downtown Allentown and the good things happening there. Included in the 27 minute video are…
** Lee Butz & the Butz Building
** Rev. Bob Stevens & Zion’s Church
** Cosmopolitan Restaurant
** Tamara Weller, Ex. Dir. of Allentown Parking Authority
** APD Chief Roger MacLean & Hamilton Street’s own guardian, Officer Rick Mongolitz
** Ann Vaughn of East Penn Properties
In case you don’t have time to watch the entire program, I’ll share my favorite quote, which I’m somewhat paraphrasing, from Ann Vaughn who credits Mayor Pawlowski for all his energy and all the money he’s put in to downtown. Or to put it another way… all the money the taxpayers have put in to downtown.
To close on a positive note: I’m not sure if a video about downtown Allentown will bring in any new investors or customers, but I give Pat Browne credit for trying.
Blogger’s Note: This URL does work and will open when you click on it, but it was not suitable for embed.
http://nova.pasenategop.com/browne/2011/0111.wmv
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Veteran’s Sanctuary
Bright white sunlight streamed in to the auditorium of the new Veteran’s Sanctuary, lighting the way for the color-guard as they marched up the aisle.
It was gratifying to see the turnout…the large room was filled to capacity, as was the upper balcony that surrounds it. Many VIP’s and elected officials were in attendance including Senator Bob Casey and Lehigh County D.A., Jim Martin.
Community support is crucial to the success of the Sanctuary and to its residents. During an afternoon workshop, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of the soldiers feeling that they have been accepted back in to their community so they can resume their civilian lives.
As our Vietnam Veterans age, and as our current veterans cope with multiple deployments, the Veteran’s Sanctuary will become an increasingly important safe haven for our soldiers and their families. The Sanctuary is currently trying to raise funds through a “Buy a Brick” campaign. For $100 you can add an engraved brick memorializing the name of a soldier or family member, to the Sanctuary’s outside walkway. This is an effort worthy of our support.
Veteran’s Sanctuary
Bright white sunlight streamed in to the auditorium of the new Veteran’s Sanctuary in Allentown, PA, lighting the way for the color-guard as they marched up the aisle.
It was gratifying to see the turnout…the large room was filled to capacity, as was the upper balcony that surrounds it. Many VIP’s and elected officials were in attendance including U.S. Senator Bob Casey and Lehigh County D.A., Jim Martin.
Community support is crucial to the success of the Sanctuary and to its residents. During an afternoon workshop, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of the soldiers feeling that they have been accepted back in to their community so they can resume their civilian lives.
As our Vietnam Veterans age, and as our current veterans cope with multiple deployments, the Veteran’s Sanctuary will become an increasingly important safe haven for our soldiers and their families. They are currently trying to raise funds through a “Buy a Brick” campaign. For $100 you can add an engraved brick memorializing the name of a soldier or family member, to the Sanctuary’s outside walkway. This is an effort worthy of our support.
Veteran’s Sanctuary
Bright white sunlight streamed in to the auditorium of the new Veteran’s Sanctuary, lighting the way for the color-guard as they marched up the aisle.
It was gratifying to see the turnout…the large room was filled to capacity, as was the upper balcony that surrounds it. Many VIP’s and elected officials were in attendance including Senator Bob Casey and Lehigh County District Attorney, Jim Martin.
Community support is crucial to the success of the Sanctuary and to its residents. During an afternoon workshop, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of the soldiers feeling that they have been accepted back in to their community so they can resume their civilian lives.
As our Vietnam Veterans age, and as our current veterans cope with multiple deployments, the Veteran’s Sanctuary will become an ever increasing safe haven for our soldiers and their families. The Sanctuary is currently trying to raise funds through a “Buy a Brick” campaign. For $100 you can add an engraved brick containing the name of a soldier or family member, to the Sanctuary’s outside walkway. This is an effort worthy of our support.
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New Beginnings
It’s a testament to the human spirit that at the beginning of each New Year, we go through the same exercise, optimistically looking forward to what we believe will be better times ahead while setting countless resolutions that seldom are in effect when the daffodils bloom. But despite years that are not always better and promises to ourselves that we don’t keep, we repeat the cycle each January.
Nowhere will optimism and resolutions be more important than in our state and federal governments where deficits and entitlement programs threaten to sink a very weak recovery.
Republicans, who won what could be considered a mandate in the House must deliver on their promises or risk losing the ground they gained from frustrated members of their own party as well as Independents.
Appearing Sunday, January 2, on Meet the Press, Pennsylvania Senator-elect, Pat Toomey, highlighted his own agenda…reducing corporate and capital gains tax rates, reigning in regulatory over-reach, and “reforming” the health care bill. All good places to start when it comes to keeping those resolutions made to voters.
Let’s just hope when spring rolls around, congress is not sitting on the proverbial political couch, eating bon-bons, having forgotten all about its promises.
New Beginnings
It’s a testament to the human spirit that at the beginning of each New Year, we go through the same exercise, optimistically looking forward to what we believe will be better times ahead while setting countless resolutions that seldom are in effect when the daffodils bloom. But despite years that are not always better and promises to ourselves that we don’t keep, we repeat the cycle each January.
Nowhere will optimism and resolutions be more important than in our state and federal governments where deficits and entitlement programs threaten to sink any a very weak recovery.
Republicans, who won what could be considered a mandate in the House must deliver on their promises of risk losing the ground they gained from frustrated members of their own party as well as Independents.
Appearing Sunday, January 2, on Meet the Press, Pennsylvania Senator-elect, Pat Toomey, highlighted his own agenda…reducing corporate and capital gains tax rates, reigning in regulatory over-reach, and “reforming” the health care bill. All good places to start keeping those resolutions made to the voters.
Let’s just hope when spring rolls around, congress is not sitting on the proverbial political couch, eating bon-bons.
The Desire To Be Free…Through a post 9-11 lens
Today’s column in The Morning Call tells the story of a non-profit organization that brings Afghan entrepreneurs to the U.S. for training and mentoring. To become part of the program, one must already have a functioning small business, go through a rigorous interview process, and be willing to work within a business plan and prescribed level of expected outcomes. The goal is to grow the business and provide employment for as many Afghans as possible. “More jobs mean less violence” is the mantra.
After all the “T’s” are crossed and hoops jumped through, the group is brought to the U.S. for immersion in modern business techniques and set up with internships in their chosen fields. By way of disclaimer; I am a member of the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace) and regularly participate in this program. Considering the obstacles that the average Afghan encounters every day, the success rate of the Bpeace program has been nothing short of amazing: Over 1000 jobs have been created to date, which in such a tight knit familial and tribal based society, translates into thousands of people whose lives have been stabilized and improved.
As a country of immigrants, the United States has always been tolerant and welcoming to people who want to come here. I imagine many of us have tales of family members who arrived on U.S. shores under less than ideal conditions. I personally know of two tales of daring do from people who jumped ship and become productive members of our society.
But that was then and this is now: “Now” is a post 9-11 world where people from other places must be looked at with suspicion, because they may mean to do us harm. And it’s a place where our southern border is a broken dam over which thousands of people pour and disappear into the landscape.
So when someone comes from a place that has been destroyed by 30 years of war, where hope is a fleeting emotion, and the future is uncertain, and decides to disappear because life here, with us, could be so much better, we no longer have the luxury of welcoming them, or even of rooting for them. Now we live in a world where we must worry about their motives…and fear them.
The Statue of Liberty must be weeping.
To The Victor Go The Responsibilities…
The political world could look like a very different place tomorrow morning, if all the predictions come to pass.
Or it could look like the same old power-mongering, I-want-mine, gridlocked morass that has brought us to this place.
Whether this is heaven or this is hell is going to depend largely on how the Republicans handle their reacquired power.
One can only hope…and pray…they’ve learned from their past mistakes.
More thoughts in today’s opinion piece on the Daily Caller
To The Victor Go The Responsibilities…
The political world could look like a very different place tomorrow morning, if all the predictions come to pass.
Or it could look like the same old power-mongering, I-want-mine, gridlocked morass that has brought us to this place.
Whether this is heaven or this is hell is going to depend largely on how the Republicans handle their reacquired power.
One can only hope…and pray…they’ve learned from their past mistakes.
More thoughts in today’s opinion piece on the Daily Caller
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The Campaign Trail Is No Place for Sissies or Non-believers
To run for political office you need to believe in "something"…yourself, your principles, perhaps even your party. In this current environment, you also need the skin of an alligator, the endurance of an athlete, and a will of iron.
All those things were on display during the time I spent with Pat Toomey and his staff. The story of my time on the road with the campaign, from a foot-stomping welcome at State Committee in Harrisburg, through the God’s country of Pennsylvania’s northern tier on the way to the Bloomsburg Fair, and on to the Lackawanna Victory Center, is posted on The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/
It was a fascinating look inside one of the county’s most closely watched races. It’s hard to think of two candidates who more directly appeal to their base and who offer the voters in the general election such a clear-cut choice for the future direction of the country.
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Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee.
Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife.
The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who received national attention when he lost the spring special election for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee.
Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife.
The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who received national attention when he lost the spring special election for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Fire Pelosi
Boehner Tbl St Comm 9-24
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee.
Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife.
The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who received national attention when he lost the spring special election for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee. Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife. The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who recieved national attention when he lost the spring special electon for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Closing, Boehner told the crowd, “When my eight brothers and I played football we won a lot of games because when we walked out on the field we knew we would win”.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee. Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committeeperson from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife. The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who recieved national attention when he lost the spring special electon for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Closing, Boehner told the crowd, “When my eight brothers and I played football we won a lot of games because when we walked out on the field we knew we would win”.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee. Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committeeperson from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife. The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who recieved national attention when he lost the spring special electon for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz. But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere. No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before. Closing, Boehner told the crowd, “When my eight brothers and I played football we won a lot of games because when we walked out on the field we knew we would win”.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee. Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committeeperson from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town. I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife. The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who recieved national attention when he lost the spring special electon for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz. But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere. No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before. Closing, Boehner told the crowd, “When my eight brothers and I played football we won a lot of games because when we walked out on the field we knew we would win”.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee.
Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.
I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife.
The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who received national attention when he lost the spring special election for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.
But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.
No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.
Power Is Palpable…
There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee. Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committeeperson from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town. I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife. The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who recieved national attention when he lost the spring special electon for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz. But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere. No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before. Closing, Boehner told the crowd, “When my eight brothers and I played football we won a lot of games because when we walked out on the field we knew we would win”.
Returning from “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”
A year of research, interviews, and retracing the woodland walks of my childhood have resulted in seeing my name for the first time on the cover of a book. For all the journalistic bylines I’ve had in my life, there is something entirely different about acquiring the title of “author”.
“Our Lost Tohickon Valley” is a look inside the lives, families, homes, and farms of Upper Bucks County during the mid-Twentieth Century. Those halcyon days after World War II when the country was booming and the middle-class was growing.
For nearly twenty years there was a place tucked away at the base of Haycock Mountain in Upper Bucks County where no on locked their doors, where children disappeared for hours unsupervised, and where people earned respect through hard work and honesty.
Then the government came calling with their right of Eminent Domain. The result was shattered lives, lost legacies, and historic structures that met a watery grave.
Today, at Nockamixon State Park, families picnic and sail on what was once a place that, like the mystical Brigadoon, exists only in our minds. 
As the book tour rolls out, my co-author, Marjorie Goldthorp Fulp and I look forward to sharing the many stories we have collected in the course of writing about “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”.
And we know of what we write; Margie and I both lost our family homes to the park. This book has given us the chance to reclaim our memories…one last time. My thanks to the Haycock Historical Society for the opportunity.
Returning from “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”
A year of research, interviews, and retracing the woodland walks of my childhood have resulted in seeing my name, for the first time, on the cover of a book. For all the journalistic bylines I’ve had in my life, there is something entirely different about acquiring the title of “author”.
“Our Lost Tohickon Valley” is a look inside the lives, families, homes, and farms of Upper Bucks County during the mid-Twentieth Century. Those halcyon days after World War II when the country was booming and the middle-class was growing.
For nearly twenty years there was a place tucked away at the base of Haycock Mountain in Upper Bucks County where no one locked their doors, where children disappeared for hours unsupervised, and where people earned respect through hard work and honesty.
Then the government came calling with their right of Eminent Domain. The result was shattered lives, lost legacies, and historic structures that met a watery grave.
Today, at Nockamixon State Park, families picnic and sail on what was once a place that, like the mystical Brigadoon, exists now only in our minds.
As the book tour rolls out, my co-author, Marjorie Goldthorp Fulp and I look forward to sharing the many stories we have collected in the course of writing about “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”.
And we know of what we write; Margie and I both lost our family homes to the park. This book has given us the chance to reclaim our memories…one last time. My thanks to the Haycock Historical Society for the opportunity.
Returning from “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”
A year of research, interviews, and retracing the woodland walks of my childhood have resulted in seeing my name for the first time on the cover of a book. For all the journalistic bylines I’ve had in my life, there is something entirely different about acquiring the title of “author”.
“Our Lost Tohickon Valley” is a look inside the lives, families, homes, and farms of Upper Bucks County during the mid-Twentieth Century. Those halcyon days after World War II when the country was booming and the middle-class was growing.
For nearly twenty years there was a place tucked away at the base of Haycock Mountain in Upper Bucks County where no on locked their doors, where children disappeared for hours unsupervised, and where people earned respect through hard work and honesty.
Then the government came calling with their right of Eminent Domain. The result was shattered lives, lost legacies, and historic structures that met a watery grave.
Today, at Nockamixon State Park, families picnic and sail on what was once a place that, like the mystical Brigadoon, exists only in our minds.
As the book tour rolls out, my co-author, Marjorie Goldthorp Fulp and I look forward to sharing the many stories we have collected in the course of writing about “Our Lost Tohickon Valley”.
And we know of what we write; Margie and I both lost our family homes to the park. This book has given us the chance to reclaim our memories…one last time. My thanks to the Haycock Historical Society for the opportunity.
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Upon Reflection…Pretending to shoot the President is not a game
I’ve spent the past couple of days thinking about the incident in Roseto where the local church carnival made the national news for a game where people shot foam darts at a likeness of President Obama holding a “healthcare bill”.
It’s important in these times of real problems and real dangers to not overreact to things so I thought I’d “sleep on it” for a couple of nights before writing about it.
Seventy-two hours later, I feel exactly the same way as I did the first time I heard about it: What the hell were they thinking? The game company manufactures the thing in the first place, then the parish church in little Roseto no less actually allows the game to be displayed, and then hundreds of people use it shooting at the heart and head of the President before some woman from NJ blows the whistle. That’s a new low, no not the game; well yes, the game, but that we here in Pennsylvania had to have the error of our ways pointed out by someone from New Jersey.
And don’t give me that guff about First Amendment rights. This has nothing to do with what is legally allowed and a lot to do with what’s right in a civilized society. What kind of example are we setting for our children? No wonder bullying and violence are up in school .
More thoughts on this subject in my latest column for The Daily Caller….
Upon Reflection…Pretending to shoot the President is not a game
I’ve spent the past couple of days thinking about the incident in Roseto where the local church carnival made the national news for a game where people shot foam darts at a likeness of President Obama holding a “healthcare bill”.
It’s important in these times of real problems and real dangers to not overreact to things so I thought I’d “sleep on it” for a couple of nights before writing about it.
Seventy-two hours later, I feel exactly the same way as I did the first time I heard about it: What the hell were they thinking? The game company manufactures the thing in the first place, then the parish church in little Roseto no less actually allows the game to be displayed, and then hundreds of people use it shooting at the heart and head of the President before some woman from NJ blows the whistle. That’s a new low, no not the game; well yes, the game, but that we here in Pennsylvania had to have the error of our ways pointed out by someone from New Jersey.
And don’t give me that guff about First Amendment rights. This has nothing to do with what is legally allowed and a lot to do with what’s right in a civilized society. What kind of example are we setting for our children? No wonder bullying and violence are up in school .
More thoughts on this subject in my latest column for The Daily Caller….
Justice Denied for Pan Am 103 Victims & Families
The world is full of injustice: Like the “Serenity Prayer”, most of us live each day trying to change what we can while not driving ourselves crazy over the things we can’t. It’s that “wisdom to know the difference” part that’s tricky.
But some things are so outrageous, so full of avarice and evil that you wonder how people who are subjected to them, survive.
That’s how I feel about what appears to be the blatant murderer-for-oil swap that has taken place between Great Britain, British Petroleum, and Libya. My thoughts in their entirety are available in my latest column on The Daily Caller.
It’s bad enough that mass murderer al Megrahi, the only person convicted for the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scotland, was released at all, but to now hear that the doctor whose report set al Megrahi free, was bought off, and to know that Gadafi’s son admits Libya told the British the oil deal would be stalled without al Megrahi’s release, is beyond infuriating.
And as if the feeling of helplessness could be any worse, four senators are calling for a State Dept investigation. Yes, that will do a lot of good: Our leaders in Washington are so effective, I’m sure that BP will shake in terror at the thought of a U.S. investigation. That’s why our Gulf Coast is drowning in BP oil.
Al Megrahi is living in luxury in Libya and BP is about to start a billion dollar drilling operation off the North Africa coast, while the families of the Pan Am 103 victims have seen their loved ones memories trampled.
The amount of wisdom needed to handle that much injustice is more than I can imagine.
An excerpt from “The human pawns of Pan Am 103”:
In August of 2009, when al Megrahi was released by Scotland on humanitarian grounds, the story that it was a business arrangement to allow British Petroleum access to Libya’s oil fields, started to circulate among the Pan Am 103 inner circle on the secure website provided to them by the Scottish government. With the perception of a grieving mother, Jane Schultz wrote a personal letter to Scottish Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, stating:
Make no mistake that in the coming days and years, Qaddafi will make a mockery of the Scottish compassion shown today. Libya’s oil and gas fields are the only winners in your decision.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/14/the-human-pawns-of-pan-am-103/#ixzz0tiKBrMwp
Justice Denied for Pan Am 103 Victims & Families
The world is full of injustice: Like the “Serenity Prayer”, most of us live each day trying to change what we can while not driving ourselves crazy over the things we can’t. It’s that “wisdom to know the difference” part that’s tricky.
But some things are so outrageous, so full of avarice and evil that you wonder how people who are subjected to them, survive.
That’s how I feel about what appears to be the blatant murderer-for-oil swap that has taken place between Great Britain, British Petroleum, and Libya. My thoughts in their entirety are available in my latest column on The Daily Caller.
It’s bad enough that mass murderer al Megrahi, the only person convicted for the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scotland, was released at all, but to now hear that the doctor whose report set al Megrahi free, was bought off, and to know that Gadafi’s son admits Libya told the British the oil deal would be stalled without al Megrahi’s release, is beyond infuriating.
And as if the feeling of helplessness could be any worse, four senators are calling for a State Dept investigation. Yes, that will do a lot of good. Our leaders in Washington have been so effective I’m sure that BP will shake in terror at the thought of a U.S. investigation. That’s why our Gulf Coast is drowning in BP oil.
Al Megrahi is living in luxury in Libya and BP is about to start a billion dollar drilling operation off the North Africa coast, while the families of the Pan Am 103 victims have seen their loved ones memories trampled upon.
The amount of wisdom needed to handle that much injustice is more than I can imagine.
An excerpt from “The human pawns of Pan Am 103”:
In August of 2009, when al Megrahi was released by Scotland on humanitarian grounds, the story that it was a business arrangement to allow British Petroleum access to Libya’s oil fields, started to circulate among the Pan Am 103 inner circle on the secure website provided to them by the Scottish government. With the perception of a grieving mother, Jane Schultz wrote a personal letter to Scottish Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, stating:
Make no mistake that in the coming days and years, Qaddafi will make a mockery of the Scottish compassion shown today. Libya’s oil and gas fields are the only winners in your decision.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/14/the-human-pawns-of-pan-am-103/#ixzz0tiKBrMwp
Pennsylvania and the Second Amendment
My second column for the news and information site, The Daily Caller, has been posted. “Greetings from the land of guns and religion” is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the recent SCOTUS McDonald v. City of Chicago ruling of last week.
The court’s sweeping decision to uphold the right to keep and bear arms really took me by surprise. As we’ve been watching government slowly erode our freedoms and our privacy, my expectations have sunk so low that such a strong defense of the Bill of Rights came as a shock.
The lower courts will now have the very important job of protecting us from municipal and state laws that do not conform to the Supreme’s interpretation of the Second Amendment.
From the top to the bottom, this is the quintessential example of why making appointments to our courts is one of the most important and impactful of Presidential prerogatives.
Like many rulings lately, McDonald was a slim 5 – 4 victory. It will only take one more retirement before 2012 to tip the scales the other way.
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Saving Sakineh
While the east coast of the United States enjoyed idyllic weather (before the heat wave set in) and celebrated one of our most festive national holidays, a woman has been languishing for almost six years in an Iranian prison. Charged and convicted of “adultery” with what appears to be no proof, Sakineh received 99 lashes as her punishment. A barbaric act that her children were forced to watch. She has remained in prison ever since.
Now, for some unknown, or at least publicly unstated reason, the case has been reopened, and Sakineh has been sentenced to death by stoning. An international effort is being mounted to bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government to commute the sentence.
Several weeks ago, before this case gained world-wide attention, I rented a movie which I had heard about through my Afghan friends. The movie, titled “The Stoning of Soraya M” was the true story of another Iranian woman who had met this horrible fate. The film left me with images that I still cannot remove from my mind, which is why I am so horrified at the prospect of Sakineh meeting the same fate.
It is difficult to believe that in the 21st century, this barbarism is still practiced. This is not about cultural sensitivity or respecting another religion; this is about inhumane and murderous acts.
If you are on Facebook, please go to the “Save Sakineh” page and sign the petition that will hopefully be presented to the Iranian government. It will only take a minute and it just might help save her life.
Saving Sakineh
While the east coast of the United States enjoyed idyllic weather (before the heat wave set in) and one of our most festive national holidays, a woman has been languishing for almost six years in an Iranian prison. Charged and convicted of “adultery” with what appears to be no proof, Sakineh received 99 lashes as her punishment. A barbaric act that her children were forced to watch. She has remained in prison ever since.
Now, for some unknown, or at least a publicly unstated reason, the case has been reopened, and Sakineh has been sentenced to death by stoning. An international effort is being mounted to bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government to commute the sentence.
Several weeks ago, before this case gained world-wide attention, I rented a movie which I had heard about through my Afghan friends. The movie, titled “The Stoning of Soraya M” was the true story of another Iranian woman who had met this horrible fate. The film left me with images that I still cannot remove from my mind, which is why I am so horrified at the prospect of Sakineh meeting the same fate.
It is difficult to believe that in the 21st century, this barbarism is still practiced. This is not about cultural sensitivity or respecting another religion; this is about inhumane and murderous acts.
If you are on Facebook, please go to the “Save Sakineh” page and sign the petition that will hopefully be presented to the Iranian government. It will only take a minute and it just might help save her life.
The Woman Effect…from Kagan to Palin on The Daily Caller
For a writer it’s all about having a voice; most of us write because we want to engage in the collective dialog, especially those of us who write columns and commentary. Today, the people with whom I can have a conversation just increased exponentially: My first opinion piece has been published on The Daily Caller.
“The DC” as it’s known, was founded by Tucker Carlson, a 20-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and a partner who worked in the Bush White House. Its website states that “The Daily Caller is a 24-hour news site providing original reporting from an experienced team of professional reporters, thought-provoking commentary and breaking news”…along with a blog and various regular features.
My slightly tongue-in-cheek look at the current class of 2010 women in politics, “The woman effect…from Kagan to Palin”, is also meant to make a point: We’ve waited a long time and paid a lot of dues to get to where we are today.
There are good examples of how far we’ve come baby on both ends of the spectrum. Politics aside, it looks like we’re going to get a historic third woman on the Supreme Court. Personally, I wish Elena Kagan had more of a track record. The release of the papers and emails from her years with Clinton have shown her to be a very savvy “operative”. But let’s face it, we know she’s a liberal replacing another liberal, so hopefully, no harm, no foul.
Nikki Haley’s win last night in the face of one of the worse smear campaigns I’ve ever seen, was worth the wait. She has conducted herself with class and dignity. Maybe she’s a great actress, but in the face of no hard evidence of the infidelity charges against her, I choose to believe she’s who she says she is. I heard Haley speak this morning on Morning Joe…one of my favorite shows, and she was impressive. Very intelligent, thoughtful, and smooth. Let’s hope there’s a lot of substance behind that attractive exterior package.
As I said in The DC op-ed…
Here we are, almost four decades after the start of the modern women’s movement, finally having a political impact from coast to coast and across the political spectrum. What we’ve always wanted is coming to pass: Women of all political persuasions are duking it out in the public arena, taking on each other…and the boys. They’re paying their dues, spending their own fortunes, and setting their own agendas.
I love the smell of estrogen in the morning.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/23/the-woman-effect-from-kagan-to-palin/#ixzz0rhKGFkhN
The Woman Effect…from Kagan to Palin on The Daily Caller
For a writer it’s all about having a voice; most of us write because we want to engage in the collective dialog, especially those of us who write columns and commentary. Today, the people with whom I can have a conversation just increased exponentially: My first opinion piece has been published on The Daily Caller.
“The DC” as it’s known, was founded by Tucker Carlson, a 20-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and a partner who worked in the Bush White House. Its website states that “The Daily Caller is a 24-hour news site providing original reporting from an experienced team of professional reporters, thought-provoking commentary and breaking news”…along with a blog and various regular features.
My slightly tongue-in-cheek look at the current class of 2010 women in politics, “The woman effect…from Kagan to Palin”, is also meant to make a point: We’ve waited a long time and paid a lot of dues to get to where we are today.
There are good examples of how far we’ve come baby on both ends of the spectrum. Politics aside, it looks like we’re going to get a historic third woman on the Supreme Court. Personally, I wish Elena Kagan had more of a track record. The release of the papers and emails from her years with Clinton have shown her to be a very savvy “operative”. But let’s face it, we know she’s a liberal replacing another liberal, so hopefully, no harm, no foul.
Nikki Haley’s win last night in the face of one of the worse smear campaigns I’ve ever seen, was worth the wait. She has conducted herself with class and dignity. Maybe she’s a great actress, but in the face of no hard evidence of the infidelity charges against her, I choose to believe she’s who she says she is. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy’ target=_blank>I heard Haley speak extemporaneously this morning on “Morning Joe”…one of my favorite shows, and she was impressive. Very smooth. Let’s hope there’s a lot of substance behind the attractive exterior package.
As I said in The DC op-ed…
Here we are, almost four decades after the start of the modern women’s movement, finally having a political impact from coast to coast and across the political spectrum. What we’ve always wanted is coming to pass: Women of all political persuasions are duking it out in the public arena, taking on each other…and the boys. They’re paying their dues, spending their own fortunes, and setting their own agendas.
I love the smell of estrogen in the morning.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/23/the-woman-effect-from-kagan-to-palin/#ixzz0rhKGFkhN
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The Oil Spill: Good news for Elena Kagan
Some eastern religions believe in the yin and yang of life: Every action or event has a positive and negative energy. By not letting the negative overwhelm you, and tapping in to the positive side, you can benefit from even the worse disaster.
Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, hasn’t needed to chant any mantras to benefit from the Gulf oil spill. The disaster knocked her right off the front pages and the 6:00 news. Even the release of the documents from the Clinton Library, reflecting her time in the While House, has barely received a mention. According to The Washington Post’s email blast wrap-up of the Sunday morning talk shows, “Sunday Roundup”, only CSPAN’s “Newsmakers” program had any discussion of the upcoming Kagan hearing which is scheduled to begin in one week.
The Post reported that, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he was unsure if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would serve as a consensus builder on the high court, but he said he would "like to see us go back to more consensus decisions." He said Kagan’s hearings, which are scheduled to begin June 28, "will last until we finish. I would hope they don’t last more than a week." He expects a vote on her nomination sometime in July.”
In political speak I think that means Kagan is going to get a pass and the hearings are a mere formality.
There is a case to be made for the fact that her appointment to the Court will not shift the balance; perhaps with so much else requiring our attention, from the Gulf to Afghanistan to the deterioration in Iraq, putting Elena Kagan through her paces is not a priority.
However I like to have a little bit of yin with my yang. At her age she could well sit on the Supreme Court for 30 years.
As much as I would like to see a historic third woman on the Supreme Court, I would also like for the person who is going to have that much influence over our future to have a known track record, a public airing of her record, and a very thorough Senate hearing.
Looks like the oil in the Gulf is covering up more than just birds, marshes and beaches.
The Oil Spill: Good news for Elena Kagan
Some eastern religions believe in the yin and yang of life: Every action or event has a positive and negative energy. By not letting the negative overwhelm you, and tapping in to the positive side, you can benefit from even the worse disaster.
Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, hasn’t needed to chant any mantras to benefit from the Gulf oil spill. The disaster knocked her right off the front pages and the 6:00 news. Even the release of the documents from the Clinton Library, reflecting her time in the While House, has barely received a mention. According to The Washington Post’s email blast wrap-up of the Sunday morning talk shows, “Sunday Roundup”, only CSPAN’s “Newsmakers” program had any discussion of the upcoming Kagan hearing which is scheduled to begin in one week.
The Post reported that, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he was unsure if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would serve as a consensus builder on the high court, but he said he would "like to see us go back to more consensus decisions." He said Kagan’s hearings, which are scheduled to begin June 28, "will last until we finish. I would hope they don’t last more than a week." He expects a vote on her nomination sometime in July.”
In political speak I think that means Kagan is going to get a pass and the hearings are a mere formality.
There is a case to be made for the fact that her appointment to the Court will not shift the balance; perhaps with so much else requiring our attention, from the Gulf to Afghanistan to the deterioration in Iraq, putting Elena Kagan through her paces is not a priority.
However I like to have a little bit of yin with my yang. At her age she could well sit on the Supreme Court for 30 years.
As much as I would like to see a historic third woman on the Supreme Court, I would also like for the person who is going to have that much influence over our future to have a known track record, a public airing of her record, and a very thorough Senate hearing.
Looks like the oil in the Gulf is covering up more than just birds, marshes and beaches.
The Oil Spill: Good news for Elena Kagan
Some eastern religions believe in the yin and yang of life: Every action or event has a positive and negative energy. By not letting the negative overwhelm you, and tapping in to the positive side, you can benefit from even the worse disaster.
Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, hasn’t needed to chant any mantras to benefit from the Gulf oil spill. The disaster knocked her right off the front pages and the 6:00 news. Even the release of the documents from the Clinton Library, reflecting her time in the While House, has barely received a mention. According to The Washington Post’s email blast wrap-up of the Sunday morning talk shows, “Sunday Roundup”, only CSPAN’s “Newsmakers” program had any discussion of the upcoming Kagan hearing which is scheduled to begin in one week.
The Post reported that, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he was unsure if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would serve as a consensus builder on the high court, but he said he would "like to see us go back to more consensus decisions." He said Kagan’s hearings, which are scheduled to begin June 28, "will last until we finish. I would hope they don’t last more than a week." He expects a vote on her nomination sometime in July.”
In political speak I think that means Kagan is going to get a pass and the hearings are a mere formality.
There is a case to be made for the fact that her appointment to the Court will not shift the balance; perhaps with so much else requiring our attention, from the Gulf to Afghanistan to the deterioration in Iraq, putting Elena Kagan through her paces is not a priority.
However I like to have a little bit of yin with my yang. At her age she could well sit on the Supreme Court for 30 years.
As much as I would like to see a historic third woman on the Supreme Court, I would also like for the person who is going to have that much influence over our future to have a known track record, a public airing of her record, and a very thorough Senate hearing.
Looks like the oil in the Gulf is covering up more than just birds, marshes and beaches.
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Birthday Wanderings…with a little help from my friends
Today was my birthday, and for the past week I have been enjoying the passing of another year. Combined with a concentration of friends, family and memories, it has all made me a bit nostalgic. With my Irish ancestry this state of mind should call for a bender, but since I don’t drink, at least to that degree, I’ll share my “sober” reflections instead.
The nice thing about having a blog is it’s kind of like talking to yourself only better. You can have complete conversations, discuss important issues, and never lose an argument unless someone who disagrees with you posts a comment. You also get to ramble on about whatever is on your mind like I’m doing right now…
I’ve always loved birthdays: Mine and my friends’. It’s the only day all year that’s about you…no Santa Claus, Easter bunny, candy-filled hearts or parades. It’s a celebration of one’s life; what that life has meant and who it has touched.
That’s why the love and fun and thoughtfulness of my family and friends these past few days has meant so much. They made me feel special, and what human being doesn’t need that?
My dear friend Charlie Versaggi took me to a fabulous al fresco lunch at one of my favorite places, Pacifico. We ate a tub of guacamole and drank, (I judiciously sipped), the best white sangria I’ve ever tasted.
And in an act of great unselfishness, Charlie then accompanied me to the strawberry festival at my childhood church, 
St. Peter’s Tohickon Church, out in the boonies of Upper Bucks County. It’s a real beauty; almost two centuries old, built of fieldstone with rare stained glass windows.
It was a true homecoming filled with names that were familiar connected to faces that no longer were, and so many memories that they tripped over each other rushing to pass my lips.
As we sat under the maple trees eating ice cream and strawberries, listening to the soothing 
music of Jim Steager, the churches pastor, Rev. Steven Hamilton, sat beside us to talk of the area’s history, and to even show a genuine interest in all the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was seeing Elwood Clymer. Now 93, Elwood and his family used to own the local mill, a real mill beside a creek, that ground flour and grain, where I bought feed and hay for my horse. He and his daughter, Brenda 
Chernikovich, were in charge of the shortcake so we only reminisced for a short time, but it was so good to see him again.
As we were leaving, I paid my respects to my parents and my daughter whose final resting place is there.
The next day, my friends Eileen Stewart and Nancy Tulli, celebrated our mutual June birthdays by taking in the Wine & Food Festival at the Sands which was a benefit for the Northampton Community College Foundation. It was the first year for the event but I hope it won’t be the last…it was fabulous !! Many of the area’s top restaurants were there as were wine purveyors from around the world. Everything was delicious and it was very well organized.
One of the best parts of having a summer birthday is the family picnic and joint birthday party with my grandson, Connor, who was born within two days of my birthday so that we always get to celebrate together. The weather was perfect, the air filled with stories and laughter, and the cake was delicious. My wonderful husband surprised me, really surprised me, with something I’ve been wanting for a long time: A top of the line hi-def flat screen television for the bedroom, where I “nest” when I need to decompress. It has a beautiful picture with gorgeous color and I can now get all the movie channels. I’m enjoying it so much.
Now the birthday cavalcade is coming to a close; the mantel is filled with cards, my Facebook page is filled with good wishes, and my heart is filled with gratitude for all the love and friendship that this birthday has brought me. I am truly blessed.
Birthday Wanderings…with a little help from my friends
Today was my birthday, and for the past week I have been enjoying the passing of another year. Combined with a concentration of friends, family and memories, it has all made me a bit nostalgic. With my Irish ancestry this state of mind should call for a bender, but since I don’t drink, at least to that degree, I’ll share my “sober” reflections instead.
The nice thing about having a blog is it’s kind of like talking to yourself only better. You can have complete conversations, discuss important issues, and never lose an argument unless someone who disagrees with you posts a comment. You also get to ramble on about whatever is on your mind like I’m doing right now…
I’ve always loved birthdays: Mine and my friends’. It’s the only day all year that’s about you…no Santa Claus, Easter bunny, candy-filled hearts or parades. It’s a celebration of one’s life; what that life has meant and who it has touched.
That’s why the love and fun and thoughtfulness of my family and friends these past few days has meant so much. They made me feel special, and what human being doesn’t need that?
My dear friend Charlie Versaggi took me to a fabulous al fresco lunch at one of my favorite places, Pacifico. We ate a tub of guacamole and drank, (I judiciously sipped), the best white sangria I’ve ever tasted.
And in an act of great unselfishness, Charlie then accompanied me to the strawberry festival at my childhood church, St. Peter’s Tohickon Church, out in the boonies of Upper Bucks County. It’s a real beauty; almost two centuries old, built of fieldstone with rare stained glass windows.
It was a true homecoming filled with names that were familiar connected to faces that no longer were, and so many memories that they tripped over each other rushing to pass my lips.
As we sat under the maple trees eating ice cream and strawberries, listening to the soothing music of Jim Steager, the churches pastor, Rev. Steven Hamilton, sat beside us to talk of the area’s history, and to even show a genuine interest in all the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was seeing Elwood Clymer. Now 93, Elwood and his family used to own the local mill, a real mill beside a creek, that ground flour and grain, where I bought feed and hay for my horse. He and his daughter, Brenda Chernikovich, were in charge of the shortcake so we could only reminisce for a short time, but it was so good to see him again.
As we were leaving, I paid my respects to my parents and my daughter whose final resting place is there.
The next day, my friends Eileen Stewart and Nancy Tulli, celebrated our mutual June birthdays by taking in the Wine & Food Festival at the Sands which was a benefit for the Northampton Community College Foundation. It was the first year for the event but I hope it won’t be the last…it was fabulous !! Many of the area’s top restaurants were there as were wine purveyors from around the world. Everything was delicious and it was very well organized.
One of the best parts of having a summer birthday is the family picnic and joint birthday party with my grandson, Connor, who was born within two days of my birthday so that we always get to celebrate together. The weather was perfect, the air filled with stories and laughter, and the cake was delicious. My wonderful husband surprised me, really surprised me, with something I’ve been wanting for a long time: A top of the line hi-def flat screen television for the bedroom, where I “nest” when I need to decompress. It has a beautiful picture with gorgeous color and I can now get all the movie channels. I’m enjoying it so much.
Now the birthday cavalcade is coming to a close; the mantel is filled with cards, my Facebook page is filled with good wishes, and my heart is filled with gratitude for all the love and friendship that this birthday has brought me. I am truly blessed.
ElwoodClymerdaughter_thumb.jpg
ElwoodClymerdaughter.jpg
Birthday Wanderings…with a little help from my friends
Today was my birthday; for the past week I have been enjoying the passing of another year. Combined with a concentration of friends, family and memories, it has all made me a bit nostalgic. With my Irish ancestry this state of mind should call for a bender, but since I don’t drink, at least to that degree, I’ll share my “sober” reflections instead.
The nice thing about having a blog is it’s kind of like talking to yourself only better. You can have complete conversations, discuss important issues, and never lose an argument unless someone who disagrees with you posts a comment. You also get to ramble on about whatever is on your mind like I’m doing now…
I’ve always loved birthdays: Mine and my friends’. It’s the only day all year that’s about you…no Santa Claus, Easter bunny, candy-filled hearts or parades. It’s a celebration of one’s life; what that life has meant and who it has touched.
That’s why the love and fun and thoughtfulness of my family and friends these past few days has meant so much. They made me feel special, and what human being doesn’t need that?
My dear friend Charlie Versaggi took me to a fabulous al fresco lunch at one of my favorite places, Pacifico. We ate a tub of guacamole and drank, (I judiciously sipped), the best white sangria I’ve ever tasted.
And in an act of great unselfishness, Charlie then accompanied me to the strawberry festival at my childhood church, St. Peter’s Tohickon Church, out in the boonies of Upper Bucks County. It’s a real beauty; almost two centuries old, built of fieldstone with rare stained glass windows.
It was a true homecoming filled with names that were familiar connected to faces that no longer were, and so many memories that they tripped over each other rushing past my lips.
As we sat under the maple trees eating ice cream and strawberries, listening to the soothing music of Jim Steager, the church’s pastor, Rev. Steven Hamilton, sat beside us to talk of the area’s history, he even showed a genuine interest in all the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was seeing Elwood Clymer. Now 93, Elwood and his family used to own the local mill, a real mill beside a creek, that ground flour and grain, where I bought feed and hay for my horse. He and his daughter, Brenda Chernikovich, were in charge of the shortcake so we only reminisced for a short time, but it was so good to see him again.
As we were leaving, I paid my respects to my parents and my daughter whose final resting place is in the cemetery there.
The next day, my friends Eileen Stewart and Nancy Tulli, celebrated our mutual June birthdays by taking in the Wine & Food Festival at the Sands which was a benefit for the Northampton Community College Foundation. It was the first year for the event but I hope it won’t be the last…it was fabulous !! Many of the area’s top restaurants were there as were wine purveyors from around the world. Everything was delicious and it was very well organized.
One of the best parts of having a summer birthday is the family picnic and joint birthday party with my grandson, Connor, who was born within two days of my birthday so that we always get to celebrate together. The weather was perfect, the air filled with stories and laughter, and the cake was delicious. My wonderful husband surprised me, really surprised me, with something I’ve been wanting for a long time: A top of the line hi-def flat screen television for the bedroom, where I “nest” when I need to decompress. It has a beautiful picture with gorgeous color and I can now get all the movie channels. I’m enjoying it so much.
Now the birthday cavalcade is coming to a close; the mantel is filled with cards, my Facebook page is filled with good wishes, and my heart is filled with gratitude for all the love and friendship that this birthday has brought me. I am truly blessed.
Birthday Wanderings…with a little help from my friends
Today was my birthday, and for the past week I have been enjoying the passing of another year. Combined with a concentration of friends, family and memories, it has all made me a bit nostalgic. With my Irish ancestry this state of mind should call for a bender, but since I don’t drink, at least to that degree, I’ll share my “sober” reflections instead.
The nice thing about having a blog is it’s kind of like talking to yourself only better. You can have complete conversations, discuss important issues, and never lose an argument unless someone who disagrees with you posts a comment. You also get to ramble on about whatever is on your mind like I’m doing right now…
I’ve always loved birthdays: Mine and my friends’. It’s the only day all year that’s about you…no Santa Claus, Easter bunny, candy-filled hearts or parades. It’s a celebration of one’s life; what that life has meant and who it has touched.
That’s why the love and fun and thoughtfulness of my family and friends these past few days has meant so much. They made me feel special, and what human being doesn’t need that?
My dear friend Charlie Versaggi took me to a fabulous al fresco lunch at one of my favorite places, Pacifico. We ate a tub of guacamole and drank, (I judiciously sipped), the best white sangria I’ve ever tasted.
And in an act of great unselfishness, Charlie then accompanied me to the strawberry festival at my childhood church, St. Peter’s Tohickon Church, out in the boonies of Upper Bucks County. It’s a real beauty; almost two centuries old, built of fieldstone with rare stained glass windows.
It was a true homecoming filled with names that were familiar connected to faces that no longer were, and so many memories that they tripped over each other rushing to pass my lips.
As we sat under the maple trees eating ice cream and strawberries, listening to the soothing music of Jim Steager, the churches pastor, Rev. Steven Hamilton, sat beside us to talk of the area’s history, and to even show a genuine interest in all the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was seeing Elwood Clymer. Now 93, Elwood and his family used to own the local mill, a real mill beside a creek, that ground flour and grain, where I bought feed and hay for my horse. He and his daughter, Brenda Chernikovich, were in charge of the shortcake so we could only reminisce for a short time, but it was so
good to see him again.
As we were leaving, I paid my respects to my parents and my daughter whose final resting place is in the cemetery there.
The next day, my friends Eileen Stewart and Nancy Tulli, celebrated our mutual June birthdays by taking in the Wine & Food Festival at the Sands which was a benefit for the Northampton Community College Foundation. It was the first year for the event but I hope it won’t be the last…it was fabulous !! Many of the area’s top restaurants were there as were wine purveyors from around the world. Everything was delicious and it was very well organized.
One of the best parts of having a summer birthday is the family picnic and joint birthday party with my grandson, Connor, who was born within two days of my birthday so that we always get to celebrate together. The weather was perfect, the air filled with stories and laughter, and the cake was delicious. My wonderful husband surprised me, really surprised me, with something I’ve been wanting for a long time: A top of the line hi-def flat screen television for the bedroom, where I “nest” when I need to decompress. It has a beautiful picture with gorgeous color and I can now get all the movie channels. I’m enjoying it so much.
Now the birthday cavalcade is coming to a close; the mantel is filled with cards, my Facebook page is filled with good wishes, and my heart is filled with gratitude for all the love and friendship that this birthday has brought me. I am truly blessed.
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ElwoodClymerdaughter.jpg
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SangriaatPacifico.jpg
When You Wake Up In The Morning…
Even with a bad economy and a recession heading in to its second year, there’s a certain level of comfort and security most of us as Americans take for granted. But the truth is, when you wake up each morning you have no idea what fate or God or “Mother Nature” has in store for you.
Imagine what it must feel like to be one of those Americans who woke up six weeks ago with a beautiful spring day ahead and went to bed that night slowly sliding in to hell.
Watching the live video of tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring in to the Gulf of Mexico every day makes me ill. I’m not kidding; I had to stop watching it. And now the horror show of suffocating wildlife, their eyes pleading for help, has started to appear everywhere. And I’m a thousand miles away. It’s not my life, livelihood, or culture that’s being destroyed. I don’t know how the people of the Gulf coast are hanging on to their sanity. I’m in awe of their courage.
The criminal negligence involved here is a subject for another time. For now it will suffice to say that for the fourth largest and highly profitable corporation in the world to have not had contingency plans for this magnitude of disaster is beyond anything for which money can compensate. I doubt anyone will go to jail, but they should.
As for our government; the lack of leadership has been appalling. The local Parish Presidents in Louisiana have shown more native ability to lead than anything that has been said or done in Washington.
And there’s the rest of us, those who don’t smell oil in our nostrils every day, who haven’t just lost our quality of life perhaps for a generation or more. We think it’s a shame, but it doesn’t really affect us. That’s until the ripples reach in to our food prices, until energy costs go up, until real estate prices dip….until the oil starts to wash up on east coast beaches.
If you’d like to help your southern neighbors and/or help the poor creatures who are drowning in oil, there are two good, vetted lists of options on the Fox News site and on CNN’s site. Please do what you can. It may be our turn next.
When You Wake Up In The Morning…
Even with a bad economy and a recession heading in to its second year, there’s a certain level of comfort and security most of us as Americans take for granted. But the truth is, when you wake up each morning you have no idea what fate or God or “Mother Nature” has in store for you.
Imagine what it must feel like to be one of those Americans who woke up six weeks ago thinking you had a beautiful spring day ahead and by the time you went to bed that night you were slowly sliding in to hell.
Watching the live video of tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring in to the Gulf of Mexico every day makes me ill. I’m not kidding; I had to stop watching it. And now the horror show of suffocating wildlife, their eyes pleading for help, has started to appear everywhere. And I’m a thousand miles away. It’s not my life, livelihood, or culture that’s being destroyed. I don’t know how the people of the Gulf coast are hanging on to their sanity. I’m in awe of their courage.
The criminal negligence involved here is a subject for another time. For now it will suffice to say that for the fourth largest and highly profitable corporation in the world to have not had contingency plans for this magnitude of disaster is beyond anything for which money can compensate. I doubt anyone will go to jail, but they should.
As for our government; the lack of leadership has been appalling. The local Parish Presidents in Louisiana have shown more native ability to lead than anything that has been said or done in Washington.
And there’s the rest of us, those who don’t smell oil in our nostrils every day, who haven’t just lost our quality of life perhaps for a generation or more. We think it’s a shame, but it doesn’t really affect us. That’s until the ripples reach in to our food prices, until energy costs go up, until real estate prices dip….until the oil starts to wash up on east coast beaches.
If you’d like to help your southern neighbors and/or help the poor creatures who are drowning in oil, there are two good, vetted lists of options on the Fox News site and on CNN’s site. Please do what you can. It may be our turn next.
When You Wake Up In The Morning…
Even with a bad economy and a recession heading in to its second year, there’s a certain level of comfort and security most of us as Americans take for granted. But the truth is, when you wake up each morning you have no idea what fate or God or “Mother Nature” has in store for you.
Imagine what it must feel like to be one of those Americans who woke up six weeks ago with a beautiful spring day ahead and went to bed that night slowly sliding in to hell.
Watching the live video of tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring in to the Gulf of Mexico every day makes me ill. I’m not kidding; I had to stop watching it. And now the horror show of suffocating wildlife, their eyes pleading for help, has started to appear everywhere. And I’m a thousand miles away. It’s not my life, livelihood, or culture that’s being destroyed. I don’t know how the people of the Gulf coast are hanging on to their sanity. I’m in awe of their courage.
The criminal negligence involved here is a subject for another time. For now it will suffice to say that for the fourth largest and highly profitable corporation in the world to have not had contingency plans for this magnitude of disaster is beyond anything for which money can compensate. I doubt anyone will go to jail, but they should.
As for our government; the lack of leadership has been appalling. The local Parish Presidents in Louisiana have shown more native ability to lead than anything that has been said or done in Washington.
And there’s the rest of us, those who don’t smell oil in our nostrils every day, who haven’t just lost our quality of life perhaps for a generation or more. We think it’s a shame, but it doesn’t really affect us. That’s until the ripples reach in to our food prices, until energy costs go up, until real estate prices dip….until the oil starts to wash up on east coast beaches.
If you’d like to help your southern neighbors and/or help the poor creatures who are drowning in oil, there are two good, vetted lists of options on the Fox News site and on CNN’s site. Please do what you can. It may be our turn next.
Blogger’s Note: If you want to get a perspective of what this would mean if it had happened to us. There’s a visualization tool on the web called “If It was my home”. Read it and weep.
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Weaving Silken Dreams…Here in Allentown
I’m in the process of writing my first column for the Morning Call in almost a year. The topic will be the stress our military is under due to so many multiple deployments and how the new Veteran’s Sanctuary, opening this fall in Allentown, is a much needed resource. The story will appear on Memorial Day.
As part of my research for the article, I attending a benefit concert held in the partially restored building that will house the Sanctuary. Standing in the auditorium of the former St. John’s Lutheran School on 5th St., the more than the one hundred people and I that were in the audience, were carried back in time not only by our surroundings, but by another local treasure, singer and songwriter Anne Hills.
What a wonderful voice and so many beautiful songs that spoke to the human condition. There were of course many veterans in the audience, and when Anne sang, “Your new companion” about the loneliness of alcoholism, often an early symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you could have heard a pin drop.
And in a poke-in-the-eye to Billy Joel and his awful song about Allentown, Anne wrote a beautiful ode to all the workers who made the Queen City just that…the Queen of the silk mills. “Silken Dreams” tells the story of a retired weaver and her friend who came here as young women from Austria and spent their lives at their looms. “On a hot summer night, you could hear those looms; they never shut them down. Weaving and spinning the silken dreams of the workers in 
Allentown”.
It’s no wonder Tom Paxton, Anne Hills’ friend, fellow songwriter, and folk legend, said the following about her..
“Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne’s writing, in songs like ‘Follow That Road’ and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.”
— Tom Paxton
Anne, who volunteered to entertain at the benefit, lives in Bethlehem with her husband and daughter. Her career takes her around the country, but she does occasionally appear locally. Her concert dates are listed on her website.
It was a very special afternoon filled with beautiful music and heartfelt sentiments…all for a very good cause. If you believe that our Veterans deserve your support, please consider donating to the Veteran’s Sanctuary.
Blogger’s Note: My thanks to Christopher Scappaticci for the generous use of his photographs. I tried to download Anne’s song, “Silken Dreams” to accompany this post, but being the techno wizard that I am, I couldn’t figure out how to do it.
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AnneHills.jpg
Weaving Silken Dreams…Here in Allentown
I’m in the process of writing my first column for the Morning Call in almost a year. The topic will be the stress our military is under due to so many multiple deployments and how the new Veteran’s Sanctuary, opening this fall in Allentown, is a much needed resource. The story will appear on Memorial Day.
As part of my research for the article, I attending a benefit concert held in the partially restored building that will house the Sanctuary. Standing in the auditorium of the former St. John’s Lutheran School on 5th St., the more than the one hundred people and I that were in the audience, were carried back in time not only by our surroundings, but by another local treasure, singer and songwriter Anne Hills.
What a wonderful voice singing so many beautiful songs that spoke to the human condition. There were of course many veterans in the audience, and when Anne sang, “Your new companion” about the loneliness of alcoholism, often an early symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you could have heard a pin drop.
And in a poke-in-the-eye to Billy Joel and his awful song about Allentown, Anne wrote a beautiful ode to all the workers who made the Queen City just that…the Queen of the silk mills. “Silken Dreams” tells the story of a retired weaver and her friend who came here as young women from Austria and spent their lives at their looms. “On a hot summer night, you could hear those looms; they never shut them down. Weaving and spinning the silken dreams of the workers in Allentown”.
It’s no wonder Tom Paxton, Anne Hills’ friend, fellow songwriter, and folk legend, said the following about her..
“Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne’s writing, in songs like ‘Follow That Road’ and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.”
— Tom Paxton
Anne, who volunteered to entertain at the benefit, lives in Bethlehem with her husband and daughter. Her career takes her around the country, but she does occasionally appear locally. Her concert dates are listed on her website.
It was a very special afternoon filled with beautiful music and heartfelt sentiments…all for a very good cause. If you believe that our Veterans deserve your support, please consider donating to the Veteran’s Sanctuary.
Blogger’s Note: My thanks to Christopher Scappaticci for the generous use of his photographs. I tried to download Anne’s song, “Silken Dreams” to accompany this post, but being the techno wizard that I am, I couldn’t figure out how to do it. There’s a beautiful version on Rhapsody.
Weaving Silken Dreams…Here in Allentown
I’m in the process of writing my first column for the Morning Call in almost a year. The topic will be the stress our military is under due to so many multiple deployments and how the new Veteran’s Sanctuary, opening this fall in Allentown, is a much needed resource. The story will appear on Memorial Day.
As part of my research for the article, I attending a benefit concert held in the partially restored building that will house the Sanctuary. Standing in the auditorium of the former St. John’s Lutheran School on 5th St., the more than the one hundred people and I that were in the audience, were carried back in time not only by our surroundings, but by another local treasure, singer and songwriter Anne Hills.
What a wonderful voice and so many beautiful songs that spoke to the human condition. There were of course many veterans in the audience, and when Anne sang, “Your new companion” about the loneliness of alcoholism, often an early symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you could have heard a pin drop.
And in a poke-in-the-eye to Billy Joel and his awful song about Allentown, Anne wrote a beautiful ode to all the workers who made the Queen City just that…the Queen of the silk mills. “Silken Dreams” tells the story of a retired weaver and her friend who came here as young women from Austria and spent their lives at their looms. “On a hot summer night, you could hear those looms; they never shut them down. Weaving and spinning the silken dreams of the workers in Allentown”.
It’s no wonder Tom Paxton, Anne Hills’ friend, fellow songwriter, and folk legend, said the following about her..
“Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne’s writing, in songs like ‘Follow That Road’ and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.”
— Tom Paxton
Anne, who volunteered to entertain at the benefit, lives in Bethlehem with her husband and daughter. Her career takes her around the country, but she does occasionally appear locally. Her concert dates are listed on her website.
It was a very special afternoon filled with beautiful music and heartfelt sentiments…all for a very good cause. If you believe that our Veterans deserve your support, please consider donating to the Veteran’s Sanctuary.
So What Are You Doing Next Weekend…
Dealing with the blog gremlins and finishing a writing project have caused the prolonged neglect of this blog.
But I do want to take advantage of what opportunity there is to let you know about two wonderful and worthwhile events that are happening next weekend.
First is a benefit concert by the Craig Thatcher Allstar Review at Zoellner Center on Saturday, May 22. The concert is sponsored by, and will benefit, St. John’s UCC in Coopersburg.
The Craig Thatcher Band, with Don Plowman and Wayde Leonard, will perform in the Lehigh Valley Review.
The event also will put a spotlight on rising student musical stars. They include Brett Broczkowski, Freedom High School (Bethlehem); Andrew Davis, Northampton Community College; Dakota Dell, Souderton High School; Kris Ewaniuk, Palisades High School; Alan Georgiadis, Quakertown High School; Melanie Loveless, Pennridge High School; and Maggie Montoney, Quakertown High School.
Each year, the church identifies people in the Southern Lehigh, Upper Bucks and Saucon Valley area who are burdened by serious medical conditions and unaffordable costs (beyond their resources and insurance coverage). So far, they’ve donated more than $280,000 … yes, that figure is correct … to 24 recipients.
According to Glenn Kranzley, former VP and Editor at The Morning Call, this initiative started out with their small congregation: Glenn says they’re lucky to have 50 or 60 people in church on Sundays. The effort has now grown to involve several other Solehi area churches and school community groups. About 300 people actively volunteer.
Tickets are available at the Zoellner Arts Center: www.zoellnerartscenter.org or 610-758-2787.
For more details about COB, including testimonials from some of the folks they’ve helped …www.cobcares.org
The congregation also holds summer block parties, and what’s more fun than a block party; St. John’s ninth annual party will be held Sunday, July 25, 2010, so you may want to make note of that date, too.
——————————————————–
The following day, Sunday, May 23, in Allentown, there’s a Concert to Benefit Veteran’s Sanctuary featuring Anne Hills
Hills, a well-known folk singer, will perform at a concert in Allentown on May 23 to benefit Veterans Sanctuary, a community based treatment center dedicated to serving veterans and providing support for their families.
Service men and women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with increasingly higher percentages of post traumatic stress disorder, partly due to extended and repeated tours of duty. This increases the risk factors for substance abuse and addiction. Veterans Sanctuary will provide long-term addiction treatment, specialize in the treatment of PTSD, and assist veterans and their families by intervening in periods of acute distress. It also will act to sustain recovery and assist in the transition back into civilian life.
Veterans Sanctuary is scheduled to begin accepting clients in the fall of 2010, and will be open to all veterans.
The concert will be held at 2 p.m. May 23 at Veterans Sanctuary, 24 South Fifth Street in Allentown. Tickets can be ordered by mail or online at www.treatmenttrends.org or by calling 610-439-8479. Reserved seating tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. General admission tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
What better way to honor the spirit of our veterans and Memorial Day than by supporting this event.
So What Are You Doing Next Weekend…
Dealing with blog gremlins and finishing a project have caused the prolonged neglect of this blog.
But I do want to take advantage of what opportunity there is to let you know about two wonderful and worthwhile events that are happening next weekend.
First is a benefit concert by the Craig Thatcher Allstar Review at Zoellner Center on Saturday, May 22. The concert is sponsored by, and will benefit, St. John’s UCC in Coopersburg.
The Craig Thatcher Band, with Don Plowman and Wayde Leonard, will perform in the Lehigh Valley Review.
The event also will put a spotlight on rising student musical stars. They include Brett Broczkowski, Freedom High School (Bethlehem); Andrew Davis, Northampton Community College; Dakota Dell, Souderton High School; Kris Ewaniuk, Palisades High School; Alan Georgiadis, Quakertown High School; Melanie Loveless, Pennridge High School; and Maggie Montoney, Quakertown High School.
Each year, the church identifies people in the Southern Lehigh, Upper Bucks and Saucon Valley area who are burdened by serious medical conditions and unaffordable costs (beyond their resources and insurance coverage). So far, they’ve donated more than $280,000 … yes, that figure is correct … to 24 recipients.
According to Glenn Kranzley, former VP and Editor at The Morning Call, this initiative started out with their small congregation: Glenn says they’re lucky to have 50 or 60 people in church on Sundays. The effort has now grown to involve several other Solehi area churches and school community groups. About 300 people actively volunteer.
Tickets are available at the Zoellner Arts Center: www.zoellnerartscenter.org or 610-758-2787.
For more details about COB, including testimonials from some of the folks they’ve helped …www.cobcares.org
The congregation also holds summer block parties, and what’s more fun than a block party; St. John’s ninth annual party will be held Sunday, July 25, 2010, so you may want to make note of that date, too.
——————————————————–
The following day, Sunday, May 23, in Allentown, there’s a Concert to Benefit Veteran’s Sanctuary featuring Anne Hills
Hills, a well-known folk singer, will perform at a concert in Allentown on May 23 to benefit Veterans Sanctuary, a community based treatment center dedicated to serving veterans and providing support for their families.
Service men and women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with increasingly higher percentages of post traumatic stress disorder, partly due to extended and repeated tours of duty. This increases the risk factors for substance abuse and addiction. Veterans Sanctuary will provide long-term addiction treatment, specialize in the treatment of PTSD, and assist veterans and their families by intervening in periods of acute distress. It also will act to sustain recovery and assist in the transition back into civilian life.
Veterans Sanctuary is scheduled to begin accepting clients in the fall of 2010, and will be open to all veterans.
The concert will be held at 2 p.m. May 23 at Veterans Sanctuary, 24 South Fifth Street in Allentown. Tickets can be ordered by mail or online at www.treatmenttrends.org or by calling 610-439-8479. Reserved seating tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. General admission tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
What better way to honor the spirit of our veterans and Memorial Day than by supporting this event.
So What Are You Doing Next Weekend…
Dealing with the blog gremlins and finishing up a writing project have caused the prolonged neglect of this blog.
But I do want to take advantage of what opportunity there is to let you know about two wonderful and worthwhile events that are happening next weekend.
The first is a benefit concert by the Craig Thatcher Allstar Review at Zoellner Center on Saturday, May 22.
The Craig Thatcher Band, with Don Plowman and Wayde Leonard, will perform in the Lehigh Valley Allstar Review Concert.
The event also will put a spotlight on rising student musical stars. They include Brett Broczkowski, Freedom High School (Bethlehem); Andrew Davis, Northampton Community College; Dakota Dell, Souderton High School; Kris Ewaniuk, Palisades High School; Alan Georgiadis, Quakertown High School; Melanie Loveless, Pennridge High School; and Maggie Montoney, Quakertown High School.
The concert is sponsored by, and will benefit, St. John’s UCC in Coopersburg.
Each year, the church identifies people in the Southern Lehigh, Upper Bucks and Saucon Valley area who are burdened by serious medical conditions and unaffordable costs (beyond their resources and insurance coverage). So far, we’ve donated more than $280,000 … yes, that figure is correct … to 24 recipients.
According to Glenn Kranzley, former VP and Editor at The Morning Call, this initiative started out with their small congregation. Glenn says they’re lucky to have 50 or 60 people in church on Sundays, and has grown to involve several other Solehi area churches and school community groups. About 300 people actively volunteer.
This is the second year the event will be held at Zoellner. Proceeds enable St. John’s to put much of their energy in to the Community Outreach Benefit.
Tickets are available at the Zoellner Arts Center: www.zoellnerartscenter.org or 610-758-2787.
For more details about COB, including testimonials from some of the folks they’ve helped …www.cobcares.org
The congregation also holds summer block parties, and what’s more fun than a block party; St. John’s ninth annual party will be held Sunday, July 25, 2010, so you may want to make note of that date, too.
——————————————————–
The following day, Sunday, May 23, in Allentown, there’s a Concert to Benefit Veteran’s Sanctuary featuring Anne Hills
Hills, a well-known folk singer, will perform at a concert in Allentown on May 23 to benefit Veterans Sanctuary, a community based treatment center dedicated to serving veterans and providing support for their families.
Service men and women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with increasingly higher percentages of post traumatic stress disorder, partly due to extended and repeated tours of duty. This increases the risk factors for substance abuse and addiction. Veterans Sanctuary will provide long-term addiction treatment, specialize in the treatment of PTSD, and assist veterans and their families by intervening in periods of acute distress. It also will act to sustain recovery and assist in the transition back into civilian life.
Veterans Sanctuary is scheduled to begin accepting clients in the fall of 2010, and will be open to all veterans.
The concert will be held at 2 p.m. May 23 at Veterans Sanctuary, 24 South Fifth Street in Allentown. Tickets can be ordered by mail or online at www.treatmenttrends.org or by calling 610-439-8479. Reserved seating tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. General admission tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
What better way to honor the spirit of our veterans and Memorial Day than by supporting this event.
Voices in the Wilderness
Blogger’s Note: The primary purpose of the following post was to highlight the email message that Charlie Versaggi distributed yesterday to city council and the city administration, continuing to point out the issues with council’s approval of the funding for the proposed 7th St low income housing project. The point being that council’s approval is not the end of the objections to the lack of vision being shown regarding Allentown’s future.
The main point of discussion has been waylaid by the detail of council’s vote relating to the funding. Jarrett Renshaw of the Morning Call and Councilman Michael Donovan have both weighed in this morning with clarifications of council’s vote on this project. Jarrett to say that yesterday’s story was not as clear as it could have been and Michael to post a written explanation in the comments to this post. I thank both of them for their consideration.
The main premise of this post remains: I encourage you to scroll down and read Charlie Versaggi’s well reasoned message to the city’s leadership.
——————————————————
It was discouraging to open today’s Morning Call and read that Allentown City Council had done the exact opposite of what I suspect most tax-paying citizens wanted them to do: Council, by a 5-1 vote Wednesday, The final vote was actually 6-0 by which City Council agreed to use $433,333 in federal funds to support a proposed project that will build low to moderate income apartment units at 22. N. Seventh St., site of the former Corporate Plaza. Please see Blogger’s Note below.
I am simply at a loss to understand how council could justify this vote. Looking over the larger picture of the city’s current condition and the ripple effect of such a decision on everything from the potential need for increased security to the increased demand on the school system, it boggles the mind that people elected to look out for the overall good of ALL Allentown’s citizens, would allow this project to go forward. Surely there are better, more productive uses for that money.
In an attempt to try to reason with council, a respected member of the community spoke out. Charlie Versaggi, a former Air Products exec and former member of the Allentown School Board, was quoted in an article on Wednesday, May 5, urging that the focus be placed “exclusively on adding middle- to upper-income housing for the next 10 years to achieve a healthy housing stock mix”.
Council approved the plan at Wednesday night’s meeting, and Charlie Versaggi has again spoken out. Addressing city council and the city administration in an email which he has shared with this blog, his message follows reproduced exactly as I received it. Thank you, Charlie, for continuing to be a voice in the wilderness that has become public policy in Allentown.
—————————————————————————
To: ‘damore@allentowncity.org’; ‘donovan@allentowncity.org’; ‘eichenwald@alletowncity.org’; ‘schweyer@allentowncity.org’; ‘oconnell@allentowncity.org’; ‘guridy@allentowncity.org’; ‘schlossberg@allentowncity.org’
Cc: ‘Petelewnes@aol.com’; ‘ungers@allentowncity.org’; ‘hanlon@allentowncity.org’; Ed Pawlowski (Pawlowski@allentowncity.org)
Subject: "Affordable Housing"
I just got back into town and read that Council is supporting the Lancaster HDC’s proposal for the 7th Street project. In spite of my telephone conversation with the Mayor Tuesday evening, I’m still not on board with this. My concern is that we’re adding to the number of low-income housing units when we should be doing exactly the opposite. What we should be doing is setting a target of a maximum number of low-income families in the City (let’s use 25-30%) as a starting point and produce a plan that gets us down to that number. I told the Mayor that the City needs to take a minimum of 200 slum units off the street –the City, AEDC or another City agency can acquire them and bulldoze them.
I don’t believe anyone should live in a slum, and I don’t believe this City should tolerate slums (and we aren’t). But it is not healthy or sustainable for a City and School District to support the 70+% level of poverty in its school system. And it’s not like we only have a 2% unemployment rate either – it’s closer to 10% – so that even if we provide additional housing, there’s still no work for these folks.
Please let me re-iterate, I’m not anti-poor… but we cannot have a healthy City at the current levels of poverty. We are doing the poor in this City a disservice by putting the City into a poverty hole that neither the City or its citizens can dig-out of.
I’ve attached my February e-mail to your for reference and below are comments I posted to the Morning Call story on Council’s decision.
To add insult to injury, assuming this project will be owned by a non-profit, not only will your and my federal and state tax dollars help to fund this, but it will be off the City’s and School District’s tax rolls too!!!
As I told the Mayor Tuesday night, for starters, I want to see 200 deeds of scum landlords acquired by the city and those properties bulldozed – without that scale (larger actually) of slum housing razed, these "affordable" projects only net-increase the poverty level in the City. If you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else!
Charlie Versaggi.
versagcj (05/06/2010, 4:22 PM )
In addition to taking a minimum of 200 slum units off the city’s roster, I suggest we require the Lancaster HDC to make this property a true “mixed income” property and contractually agree to the following housing mix for the first 10 years of operation: 34% Low Income, 33% Middle and 33% Higher Income. That would be good for the City. If those conditions prevent the Lancaster HDC from qualifying for the use of my tax money to build the project – tough.
Best regards,
Charlie
Voices in the Wilderness
It was discouraging to open today’s Morning Call and read that Allentown City Council had done the exact opposite of what I suspect most tax-paying citizens wanted them to do: Council, by a 5-1 vote Wednesday, agreed to use $433,333 in federal funds to support a proposed project that will build low to moderate income apartment units at 22. N. Seventh St., site of the former Corporate Plaza.
I am simply at a loss to understand how council could justify this vote. Looking over the larger picture of the city’s current condition and the ripple effect of such a decision on everything from the potential need for increased security to the increased demand on the school system, it boggles the mind that people elected to look out for the overall good of ALL Allentown’s citizens, would allow this project to go forward. Surely there are better, more productive uses for that money.
In an attempt to try to reason with council, a respected member of the community spoke out. Charlie Versaggi, a former Air Products exec and former member of the Allentown School Board, was quoted in an article on Wednesday, May 5, urging that the focus be placed “exclusively on adding middle- to upper-income housing for the next 10 years to achieve a healthy housing stock mix”.
Council approved the plan at Wednesday night’s meeting, and Charlie Versaggi has again spoken out. Addressing city council and the city administration in an email which he has shared with this blog, his message follows reproduced exactly as I received it. Thank you, Charlie, for continuing to be a voice in the wilderness that has become public policy in Allentown.
—————————————————————————
To: ‘damore@allentowncity.org’; ‘donovan@allentowncity.org’; ‘eichenwald@alletowncity.org’; ‘schweyer@allentowncity.org’; ‘oconnell@allentowncity.org’; ‘guridy@allentowncity.org’; ‘schlossberg@allentowncity.org’
Cc: ‘Petelewnes@aol.com’; ‘ungers@allentowncity.org’; ‘hanlon@allentowncity.org’; Ed Pawlowski (Pawlowski@allentowncity.org)
Subject: "Affordable Housing"
I just got back into town and read that Council is supporting the Lancaster HDC’s proposal for the 7th Street project. In spite of my telephone conversation with the Mayor Tuesday evening, I’m still not on board with this. My concern is that we’re adding to the number of low-income housing units when we should be doing exactly the opposite. What we should be doing is setting a target of a maximum number of low-income families in the City (let’s use 25-30%) as a starting point and produce a plan that gets us down to that number. I told the Mayor that the City needs to take a minimum of 200 slum units off the street –the City, AEDC or another City agency can acquire them and bulldoze them.
I don’t believe anyone should live in a slum, and I don’t believe this City should tolerate slums (and we aren’t). But it is not healthy or sustainable for a City and School District to support the 70+% level of poverty in its school system. And it’s not like we only have a 2% unemployment rate either – it’s closer to 10% – so that even if we provide additional housing, there’s still no work for these folks.
Please let me re-iterate, I’m not anti-poor… but we cannot have a healthy City at the current levels of poverty. We are doing the poor in this City a disservice by putting the City into a poverty hole that neither the City or its citizens can dig-out of.
I’ve attached my February e-mail to your for reference and below are comments I posted to the Morning Call story on Council’s decision.
To add insult to injury, assuming this project will be owned by a non-profit, not only will your and my federal and state tax dollars help to fund this, but it will be off the City’s and School District’s tax rolls too!!!
As I told the Mayor Tuesday night, for starters, I want to see 200 deeds of scum landlords acquired by the city and those properties bulldozed – without that scale (larger actually) of slum housing razed, these "affordable" projects only net-increase the poverty level in the City. If you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else!
Charlie Versaggi.
versagcj (05/06/2010, 4:22 PM )
In addition to taking a minimum of 200 slum units off the city’s roster, I suggest we require the Lancaster HDC to make this property a true “mixed income” property and contractually agree to the following housing mix for the first 10 years of operation: 34% Low Income, 33% Middle and 33% Higher Income. That would be good for the City. If those conditions prevent the Lancaster HDC from qualifying for the use of my tax money to build the project – tough.
Best regards,
Charlie
Voices in the Wilderness
Blogger’s Note: The primary purpose of the following post was to highlight the email message that Charlie Versaggi distributed yesterday to city council and the city administration, continuing to point out the issues with council’s approval of the funding for the proposed 7th St low income housing project. The point being that council’s approval is not the end of the objections to the lack of vision being shown regarding Allentown’s future.
The main point of discussion has been waylaid by the detail of council’s vote relating to the funding. Jarrett Renshaw of the Morning Call and Councilman Michael Donovan have both weighed in this morning with clarifications of council’s vote on this project. Jarrett to say that yesterday’s story was not as clear as it could have been and Michael to post a written explanation in the comments to this post. I thank both of them for their consideration.
The main premise of this post remains: I encourage you to scroll down and read Charlie Versaggi’s well reasoned message to the city’s leadership.
——————————————————
It was discouraging to open today’s Morning Call and read that Allentown City Council had done the exact opposite of what I suspect most tax-paying citizens wanted them to do: Council, by a 5-1 vote Wednesday, The final vote was actually 6-0 by which City Council agreed to use $433,333 in federal funds to support a proposed project that will build low to moderate income apartment units at 22. N. Seventh St., site of the former Corporate Plaza.
I am simply at a loss to understand how council could justify this vote. Looking over the larger picture of the city’s current condition and the ripple effect of such a decision on everything from the potential need for increased security to the increased demand on the school system, it boggles the mind that people elected to look out for the overall good of ALL Allentown’s citizens, would allow this project to go forward. Surely there are better, more productive uses for that money.
In an attempt to try to reason with council, a respected member of the community spoke out. Charlie Versaggi, a former Air Products exec and former member of the Allentown School Board, was quoted in an article on Wednesday, May 5, urging that the focus be placed “exclusively on adding middle- to upper-income housing for the next 10 years to achieve a healthy housing stock mix”.
Council approved the plan at Wednesday night’s meeting, and Charlie Versaggi has again spoken out. Addressing city council and the city administration in an email which he has shared with this blog, his message follows reproduced exactly as I received it. Thank you, Charlie, for continuing to be a voice in the wilderness that has become public policy in Allentown.
—————————————————————————
To: ‘damore@allentowncity.org’; ‘donovan@allentowncity.org’; ‘eichenwald@alletowncity.org’; ‘schweyer@allentowncity.org’; ‘oconnell@allentowncity.org’; ‘guridy@allentowncity.org’; ‘schlossberg@allentowncity.org’
Cc: ‘Petelewnes@aol.com’; ‘ungers@allentowncity.org’; ‘hanlon@allentowncity.org’; Ed Pawlowski (Pawlowski@allentowncity.org)
Subject: "Affordable Housing"
I just got back into town and read that Council is supporting the Lancaster HDC’s proposal for the 7th Street project. In spite of my telephone conversation with the Mayor Tuesday evening, I’m still not on board with this. My concern is that we’re adding to the number of low-income housing units when we should be doing exactly the opposite. What we should be doing is setting a target of a maximum number of low-income families in the City (let’s use 25-30%) as a starting point and produce a plan that gets us down to that number. I told the Mayor that the City needs to take a minimum of 200 slum units off the street –the City, AEDC or another City agency can acquire them and bulldoze them.
I don’t believe anyone should live in a slum, and I don’t believe this City should tolerate slums (and we aren’t). But it is not healthy or sustainable for a City and School District to support the 70+% level of poverty in its school system. And it’s not like we only have a 2% unemployment rate either – it’s closer to 10% – so that even if we provide additional housing, there’s still no work for these folks.
Please let me re-iterate, I’m not anti-poor… but we cannot have a healthy City at the current levels of poverty. We are doing the poor in this City a disservice by putting the City into a poverty hole that neither the City or its citizens can dig-out of.
I’ve attached my February e-mail to your for reference and below are comments I posted to the Morning Call story on Council’s decision.
To add insult to injury, assuming this project will be owned by a non-profit, not only will your and my federal and state tax dollars help to fund this, but it will be off the City’s and School District’s tax rolls too!!!
As I told the Mayor Tuesday night, for starters, I want to see 200 deeds of scum landlords acquired by the city and those properties bulldozed – without that scale (larger actually) of slum housing razed, these "affordable" projects only net-increase the poverty level in the City. If you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else!
Charlie Versaggi.
versagcj (05/06/2010, 4:22 PM )
In addition to taking a minimum of 200 slum units off the city’s roster, I suggest we require the Lancaster HDC to make this property a true “mixed income” property and contractually agree to the following housing mix for the first 10 years of operation: 34% Low Income, 33% Middle and 33% Higher Income. That would be good for the City. If those conditions prevent the Lancaster HDC from qualifying for the use of my tax money to build the project – tough.
Best regards,
Charlie
Voices in the Wilderness
It was discouraging to open up today’s Morning Call and read that Allentown City Council had done the exact opposite of what I suspect most tax-paying citizens wanted them to do: Council, by a 5-1 vote Wednesday, agreed to use $433,333 in federal funds to support a proposed project that will build low to moderate income apartment units at 22. N. Seventh St., site of the former Corporate Plaza.
I am simply at a loss to understand how council could justify this vote. Looking over the larger picture of the city’s current condition and the ripple effect of such a decision on everything from the potential need for increased security to the increased demand on the school system, it boggles the mind that people elected to look out for the overall good of ALL Allentown’s citizens would allow this project to go forward. Surely there are better, more productive uses for that money.
In an attempt to try to reason with council, respected members of the community have spoken out. One of them, Charlie Versaggi, a former Air Products exec and former member of the Allentown School Board, was quoted in an article on Wednesday, May 5, urging that the focus be placed “exclusively on adding middle- to upper-income housing for the next 10 years to achieve a healthy housing stock mix”.
After council’s approval of the plan, Charlie Versaggi has again spoken out, addressing city council in an email which he has shared with this blog. That email follows exactly as I received it. Thank you, Charlie, for continuing to be a voice in the wilderness that has become public policy in Allentown.
—————————————————————————
To: ‘damore@allentowncity.org’; ‘donovan@allentowncity.org’; ‘eichenwald@alletowncity.org’; ‘schweyer@allentowncity.org’; ‘oconnell@allentowncity.org’; ‘guridy@allentowncity.org’; ‘schlossberg@allentowncity.org’
Cc: ‘Petelewnes@aol.com’; ‘ungers@allentowncity.org’; ‘hanlon@allentowncity.org’; Ed Pawlowski (Pawlowski@allentowncity.org)
Subject: "Affordable Housing"
I just got back into town and read that Council is supporting the Lancaster HDC’s proposal for the 7th Street project. In spite of my telephone conversation with the Mayor Tuesday evening, I’m still not on board with this. My concern is that we’re adding to the number of low-income housing units when we should be doing exactly the opposite. What we should be doing is setting a target of a maximum number of low-income families in the City (let’s use 25-30%) as a starting point and produce a plan that gets us down to that number. I told the Mayor that the City needs to take a minimum of 200 slum units off the street –the City, AEDC or another City agency can acquire them and bulldoze them.
I don’t believe anyone should live in a slum, and I don’t believe this City should tolerate slums (and we aren’t). But it is not healthy or sustainable for a City and School District to support the 70+% level of poverty in its school system. And it’s not like we only have a 2% unemployment rate either – it’s closer to 10% – so that even if we provide additional housing, there’s still no work for these folks.
Please let me re-iterate, I’m not anti-poor… but we cannot have a healthy City at the current levels of poverty. We are doing the poor in this City a disservice by putting the City into a poverty hole that neither the City or its citizens can dig-out of.
I’ve attached my February e-mail to your for reference and below are comments I posted to the Morning Call story on Council’s decision.
To add insult to injury, assuming this project will be owned by a non-profit, not only will your and my federal and state tax dollars help to fund this, but it will be off the City’s and School District’s tax rolls too!!!
As I told the Mayor Tuesday night, for starters, I want to see 200 deeds of scum landlords acquired by the city and those properties bulldozed – without that scale (larger actually) of slum housing razed, these "affordable" projects only net-increase the poverty level in the City. If you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else!
Charlie Versaggi.
versagcj (05/06/2010, 4:22 PM )
In addition to taking a minimum of 200 slum units off the city’s roster, I suggest we require the Lancaster HDC to make this property a true “mixed income” property and contractually agree to the following housing mix for the first 10 years of operation: 34% Low Income, 33% Middle and 33% Higher Income. That would be good for the City. If those conditions prevent the Lancaster HDC from qualifying for the use of my tax money to build the project – tough.
Best regards,
Charlie
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A Story Worth Reading: Allentown Grants
There is a story in today’s (Sunday, May 2) Morning Call, written by Jarrett Renshaw, that is a “must read” for anyone who is interested in the politics and the future of Allentown. Titled, “Mixed track record on grants for Allentown businesses”, you can read it for yourself by clicking on the live link.
It’s a fascinating and discouraging portrait of a city hall and an administration that has become for all practical purposes, a theocracy.
No need to do a recap. I’d rather you read it for yourself. I will close with the one overriding impression that remained with me after I read the story: If I were one of the city workers who has been laid off, I’d be furious.
A Story Worth Reading: Allentown Grants
There is a story in today’s (Sunday, May 2) Morning Call, written by Jarrett Renshaw, that is a “must read” for anyone who is interested in the politics and the future of Allentown. Titled, “Mixed track record on grants for Allentown businesses”, you can read it for yourself by clicking on the live link.
It’s a fascinating and discouraging portrait of a city hall and an administration that has become for all practical purposes, a theocracy.
No need to do a recap. I’d rather you read it for yourself. I will close with the one overriding impression that remained with me after I read the story: If I were one of the city workers who has been laid off, I’d be furious.
A Story Worth Reading: Allentown Grants
There is a story in today’s (Sunday, May 2) Morning Call, written by Jarrett Renshaw, that is a “must read” for anyone who is interested in the politics and the future of Allentown. Titled, “Mixed track record on grants for Allentown businesses”, you can read it for yourself by clicking on the live link.
It’s a fascinating and discouraging portrait of a city hall, and its various agencies, that appear to not have the public interest as a first priority, run by an administration that has become for all practical purposes, a theocracy.
No need to do a recap. I’d rather you read it for yourself. I will close with the one overriding impression that remained with me after I read the story: If I were one of the city workers who has been laid off, I’d be furious.
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Weekend Wanderings: April 30, 2010
On a warm, soft, spring evening, the Society of the Arts, known as SOTA, premiered their 2010 Show House to an appreciative audience. The house, located on 28th St., in the West End of Allentown, less than a block from the city’s beautiful Rose Garden, was once The Morning Call’s very own model home which has certainly helped to gain publicity for the project. Designed to bring hope to a struggling public during this country’s last great depression, the house was originally toured by thousands of people looking for a glimmer of a brighter future.
The crowd at the Friday night opening looked like they had no such concerns. The hospitality tent where jazz played and wine flowed was a lively place, made all the more attractive by its setting next to the newly renovated Malcolm Gross Garden.
The SOTA Show Houses are one of my favorite local outings. I haven’t missed one in years, and I urge you not to miss this one. It’s simply beautiful, inside and out, and what I like best is that it highlights the fact that Allentown can be a wonderful place to live.
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Weekend Wanderings: April 30, 2010
On a warm, soft, spring evening, the Society of the Arts, known as SOTA, premiered their 2010 Show House to an appreciative audience. The house, located on 28th St., in the West End of Allentown, less than a block from the city’s beautiful Rose Garden, was once The Morning Call’s very own model home which has certainly helped to gain publicity for the project. Designed to bring hope to a struggling public during this country’s last great depression, the house was originally toured by thousands of people looking for a glimmer of a brighter future.
The crowd at the Friday night opening looked like they had no such concerns. The hospitality tent where jazz played and wine flowed was a lively place, made all the more attractive by its setting next to the newly renovated Malcolm Gross Garden.
The SOTA Show Houses are one of my favorite local outings. I haven’t missed one in years, and I urge you not to miss this one. It’s simply beautiful, inside and out, and what I like best is that it highlights the fact that Allentown can be a wonderful place to live.
You look like lunch
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A Walk Down Memory Lane
For the past six months I’ve been working sporadically on a “commission” for the Haycock Township Historical Society. The original assignment was to contribute several chapters to a book documenting what life was like before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decimated the township to build Lake Nockamixon.
What started as a professional writing project soon turned in to a labor of love: Labor because it has taken so much more time and energy than originally anticipated and love because Haycock is where I was born and raised. To me it has always been a mystical, magical “Brigadoon”. When I tell people about it, they don’t believe me…they think it’s the softened, rounded remembrances of childhood.
I might believe so myself if it weren’t for all the old friends and neighbors who have come forward to offer their own stories and photos that mirror my own. Memories come into sharper focus when seen through the prism of a friend with whom you have not spoken in 40 years.
Now the deadline nears and there are still many tales to tell. So I’ll be gone for a while on a lovely but sad walk down memory lane, as I try to resurrect a time and place from a watery grave.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
For the past six months I’ve been working sporadically on a “commission” for the Haycock Township Historical Society. The original assignment was to contribute several chapters to a book documenting what life was like before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decimated the township to build Lake Nockamixon.
What started as a professional writing project soon turned in to a labor of love: Labor because it has taken so much more time and energy than originally anticipated and love because Haycock is where I was born and raised. To me it has always been a mystical, magical “Brigadoon”. When I tell people about it, they don’t believe me…they think it’s the softened, rounded remembrances of childhood.
I might believe so myself if it weren’t for all the old friends and neighbors who have come forward to offer their own stories and photos that mirror my own. Memories come into sharper focus when seen through the prism of a friend with whom you have not spoken in 40 years.
Now the deadline nears and there are still many tales to tell. So I’ll be gone for a while on a lovely but sad walk down memory lane, as I try to resurrect a time and place from a watery grave.
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A Quick Observation From The Peanut Gallery
Honoring one’s social obligations is not always convenient but as my mother used to say, “Good manners is what separates us from lesser creatures”. (My mother was one-of-a-kind)
Tonight, despite lots of work and a pressing deadline, such an obligation required my attendance, so I washed off the writer’s grime of the past few days, covered the sleep-deprived circles under my eyes with makeup, and went off to the Girl Scout “Take The Lead” dinner at Lehigh Country Club.
The evening began with a reception that included the usual sponsor thank you remarks, followed by a group of really cute little Girl Scouts singing a song. The entire time all this was going on, Allentown’s Mayor Ed Pawlowski sat in the middle of the room, not in the back or off to the side, reading his Blackberry…other than when his and his wife’s name were called, he never looked up once.
Call me old fashioned but I think when you’re in the room, you should also be in the moment…we’re only talking about a span of 15 minutes.
Once seated for dinner, the color guard marched to the stage, presented the flags, and everyone rose to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing God Bless America. It was right at about “Land that I love” that Mr. & Mrs. Mayor got up and walked out. Yes, you read this correctly. They couldn’t wait two minutes till the song ended. They got up from their table in the center front of the room and walked out.
When the emcee began to acknowledge the politicos who were in attendance, and the Mayor was no where to be found, the woman said, “Oh someone just told me he had to go to a city council meeting”. She looked perplexed when some people started laughing.
It’s a shame my mother is not here; She could make a lot of money as a consultant to politicians who obviously have no concept of “good manners”…or good politics either.
A Quick Observation From The Peanut Gallery
Honoring one’s social obligations is not always convenient but as my mother used to say, “Good manners is what separates us from lesser creatures”. (My mother was one-of-a-kind)
Tonight, despite lots of work and a pressing deadline, such an obligation required my attendance, so I washed off the writer’s grime of the past few days, covered the sleep-deprived circles under my eyes with makeup, and went off to the Girl Scout “Take The Lead” dinner at Lehigh Country Club.
The evening began with a reception that included the usual sponsor thank you remarks, followed by a group of really cute little Girl Scouts singing a song. The entire time all this was going on, Allentown’s Mayor Ed Pawlowski sat in the middle of the room, not in the back or off to the side, reading his Blackberry…other than when his and his wife’s name were called, he never looked up once.
Call me old fashioned but I think when you’re in the room, you should also be in the moment…we’re only talking about a span of 15 minutes.
Once seated for dinner, the color guard marched to the stage, presented the flags, and everyone rose to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing God Bless America. It was right at about “Land that I love” that Mr. & Mrs. Mayor got up and walked out. Yes, you read this correctly. They couldn’t wait two minutes till the song ended. They got up from their table in the center front of the room and walked out.
When the emcee began to acknowledge the politicos who were in attendance, and the Mayor was no where to be found, the woman said, “Oh someone just told me he had to go to a city council meeting”. She looked perplexed when some people started laughing.
It’s a shame my mother is not here; She could make a lot of money as a consultant to politicians who obviously have no concept of “good manners”.
A Quick Observation From The Peanut Gallery
Honoring one’s social obligations is not always convenient but as my mother used to say, “Good manners is what separates us from lesser creatures”. (My mother was one-of-a-kind)
Tonight, despite lots of work and a pressing deadline, such an obligation required my attendance, so I washed off the writer’s grime of the past few days, covered the sleep-deprived circles under my eyes with makeup, and went off to the Girl Scout “Take The Lead” dinner at Lehigh Country Club.
The evening began with a reception that included the usual sponsor thank you remarks, followed by a group of really cute little Girl Scouts singing a song. The entire time all this was going on, Allentown’s Mayor Ed Pawlowski sat in the middle of the room, not in the back or off to the side, reading his Blackberry…other than when his and his wife’s name were called, he never looked up once.
Call me old fashioned but I think when you’re in the room, you should also be in the moment…we’re only talking about a span of 15 minutes.
Once seated for dinner, the color guard marched to the stage, presented the flags, and everyone rose to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing God Bless America. It was right at about “Land that I love” that Mr. & Mrs. Mayor got up and walked out. Yes, you read this correctly. They couldn’t wait two minutes till the song ended. They got up from their table in the center front of the room and walked out.
When the emcee began to acknowledge the politicos who were in attendance, and the Mayor was no where to be found, the woman said, “Oh someone just told me he had to go to a city council meeting”. She looked perplexed when some people started laughing.
It’s a shame my mother is not here; She could make a lot of money as a consultant to politicians who obviously have no concept of “good manners”…or good politics either.
A Quick Observation From The Peanut Gallery
Honoring one’s social obligations is not always convenient but as my mother used to say, “Good manners is what separates us from lesser creatures”. (My mother was one-of-a-kind)
Tonight, despite lots of work and a pressing deadline, such an obligation required my attendance, so I washed off the writers grime of the past few days, covered the sleep-deprived circles under my eyes with makeup, and went off to the Girl Scout “Take The Lead” dinner at Lehigh Country Club.
The evening began with a reception that included the obligatory sponsor thank you remarks, followed by a group of really cute little Girl Scouts singing a song. The entire time all this was going on, Allentown’s Mayor Ed Pawlowski sat in the middle of the room, not in the back or off to the side, reading his Blackberry…aside from when his and his wife’s name were called, he never looked up once.
Call me old fashioned but I think when you’re in the room, you should also be in the moment…we’re only talking about a span of 15 minutes.
It gets better: Once seated for dinner, the color guard marched to the stage, presented the flags, and everyone rose to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing God Bless America. It was right at about “Land that I love” that Mr. & Mrs. Mayor got up and walked out. Yes, you read this correctly. They couldn’t wait two minutes till the song ended. They got up from their table in the center front of the room and walked out.
When the emcee began to acknowledge the politicos that were in attendance and the Mayor was no where to be found when his name was called, the poor woman said, Oh someone just told me he had to go to a city council meeting”. The poor woman couldn’t understand why some people started laughing.
It’s a shame my mother is not here; She could make a lot of money as a consultant to politicians who obviously have no concept of “good manners”.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
For the past six months I’ve been working sporadically on a “commission” for the Haycock Township Historical Society. The original assignment was to contribute several chapters to a book documenting what life was like before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decimated the township to build Lake Nockamixon.
What started as a professional writing project soon turned in to a labor of love: Labor because it has taken so much more time and energy than originally anticipated and love because Haycock is where I was born and raised. To me it has always been a mystical, magical “Brigadoon”. When I tell people about it, they don’t believe me…they think it’s the softened, rounded remembrances of childhood.
I might believe so myself if it weren’t for all the old friends and neighbors who have come forward to offer their own stories and photos that mirror my own. Memories come into sharper focus when seen through the prism of a friend with whom you have not spoken in 40 years.
Now the deadline nears and there are still many tales to tell. So I’ll be gone for a while on a lovely but sad walk down memory lane, as I try to resurrect a time and place from a watery grave.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
For the past six months I’ve been working sporadically on a “commission” for the Haycock Township Historical Society. The original assignment was to contribute several chapters to a book documenting what life was like before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decimated the township to build Lake Nockamixon.
What started as a professional writing project soon turned in to a labor of love: Labor because it has taken so much more time and energy than originally anticipated and love because Haycock is where I was born and raised. To me it has always been a mystical “Brigadoon”. When I tell people about it, they don’t believe me…they think it’s the softened, rounded remembrances of childhood.
I might believe so myself if it weren’t for all the old friends and neighbors who have come forward to offer their own stories and photos that mirror my own. Memories come into sharper focus when seen through the prism of a friend with whom you have not spoken in 40 years.
Now the deadline nears and there are still many tales to tell. So I’ll be gone for a while on a lovely but sad walk down memory lane, as I try to resurrect a time and place from its watery grave.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
For the past six months I’ve been working sporadically on a “commission” for the Haycock Township Historical Society. The original assignment was to contribute several chapters to a book documenting what life was like before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decimated the township to build Lake Nockamixon.
What started as a professional writing project soon turned in to a labor of love: Labor because it has taken so much more time and energy than originally anticipated and love because Haycock is where I was born and raised. To me it has always been a mystical, magical “Brigadoon”. When I tell people about it, they don’t believe me…they think it’s the softened, rounded remembrances of childhood.
I might believe so myself if it weren’t for all the old friends and neighbors who have come forward to offer their own stories and photos that mirror my own. Memories come into sharper focus when seen through the prism of a friend with whom you have not spoken in 40 years.
Now the deadline nears and there are still many tales to tell. So I’ll be gone for a while on a lovely but sad walk down memory lane, as I try to resurrect a time and place from a watery grave.
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Welcome to Allentown: ASD Names New Superintendent
Effective July 1, the Allentown School District will have a new Superintendent, Gerald L. Zahorchak, D.Ed.,, who currently serves as the Secretary of Education of Pennsylvania. Quite impressive to land such a well-connected high ranking official.
The press release announcing Dr. Zahorchak’s appointment, list his many credentials and qualifications, not the least of which are…
** His documented ability to coalesce diverse groups of educators and community leaders to reach strategic goals
** Leading the Commonwealth’s educational community so that each individual can grow into an inspired, productive and fulfilled lifelong learner
** Restructuring the focus on workforce development education to increase student placement into high-demand, higher paying jobs
** Working closely with local school board officials and superintendents to provide property tax relief to Pennsylvanians
Zahorchak’s salary will be $195,000 a year plus benefits, for the length of his five year contract. It was not specified whether a flack jacket and personal security detail were included.
Considering the news reports coming out of Allen High School this past week that ranged from a slashing incident to the disappearance of a female student who told her parents she was terrified of the violence at school, it seems Dr. Zahorchak has his work cut out for him.
Welcome to Allentown. Good luck. And could you please focus on that property tax relief bullet point?
Welcome to Allentown: ASD Names New Superintendent
Effective July 1, the Allentown School District will have a new Superintendent, Gerald L. Zahorchak, D.Ed.,, who currently serves as the Secretary of Education of Pennsylvania. Quite impressive to land such a well-connected high ranking official.
The press release announcing Dr. Zahorchak’s appointment, lists his many credentials and qualifications, not the least of which are…
** His documented ability to coalesce diverse groups of educators and community leaders to reach strategic goals
** Leading the Commonwealth’s educational community so that each individual can grow into an inspired, productive and fulfilled lifelong learner
** Restructuring the focus on workforce development education to increase student placement into high-demand, higher paying jobs
** Working closely with local school board officials and superintendents to provide property tax relief to Pennsylvanians
Zahorchak’s salary will be $195,000 a year plus benefits, for the length of his five year contract. It was not specified whether a flack jacket and personal security detail were included.
Considering the news reports coming out of Allen High School this past week that ranged from a slashing incident to the disappearance of a female student who told her parents she was terrified of the violence at school, it seems Dr. Zahorchak has his work cut out for him.
Welcome to Allentown. Good luck. And could you please focus on that property tax relief thing?
Welcome to Allentown: ASD Names New Superintendent
Effective July 1, the Allentown School District will have a new Superintendent, Gerald L. Zahorchak, D.Ed.,, who currently serves as the Secretary of Education of Pennsylvania. Quite impressive to land such a well-connected high ranking official.
The press release announcing Dr. Zahorchak’s appointment, list his many credentials and qualifications, not the least of which are…
** His documented ability to coalesce diverse groups of educators and community leaders to reach strategic goals
** Leading the Commonwealth’s educational community so that each individual can grow into an inspired, productive and fulfilled lifelong learner
** Restructuring the focus on workforce development education to increase student placement into high-demand, higher paying jobs
** Working closely with local school board officials and superintendents to provide property tax relief to Pennsylvanians
Zahorchak’s salary will be $195,000 a year plus benefits, for the length of his five year contract. It was not specified whether a flack jacket and personal security detail were included.
Considering the news reports coming out of Allen High School this past week that ranged from a slashing incident to the disappearance of a female student who told her parents she was terrified of the violence at school, it seems Dr. Zahorchak has his work cut out for him.
Welcome to Allentown. Good luck. And could you please focus on that property tax relief bullet point?
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Worse Case Scenario
Technology is not my thing; I’m fairly adept at operating my computer and my smartphone…as long as they work the way they’re supposed to. But the minute there’s a problem, I need to call in the experts. As the regular readers of this blog know, I just recently rejoined the blogosphere. Happy to be back and proud of my pretty new blog, I should have known things were going too well.
Last week, as I went to put up a post, my virus alert went off, and I mean it went off…I have a system that literally blares out a loud alarm. I decided to pack it in for the night and try again the next day. When I booted up in the morning, there was a message from a friendly fellow blogger, telling me that when he went to read my blog, he received a warning that the site was corrupted. Now it was time to panic.
I called in my very smart, very nice “blog guru”: It has taken six days to get it all straightened out.
In the midst of this meltdown, my husband and I had dinner with some dear friends that we affectionately refer to as the “international club”. For both business and pleasure, they spend much of their time traveling the world. They are well read, well informed, and very interested in politics.
When I regaled them with the tale of the cyber attack that had taken down my blog along with many other websites hosted on the corrupted server, the story brought forth a unanimous consensus from the group, and in the case of one member who is an international businessman, some inside knowledge, that the physical terrorist attack we all fear, is not the real threat: The true danger lies in the bad guys launching a massive cyber attack that shuts down power grids, ATM machines, Wall Street…the list goes on, succeeding in paralyzing the country.
Apparently, this is not so far-fetched. Turns out that just two months ago, the U.S. government participated in a simulation complete with “operations center” to deal with just such a cyber attack. I guess the good news is that they’re trying to be proactive. The bad news is such an operation is an indication of just how serious the threat must be.
Oh good, another thing to worry about. Well at least my blog is up and running again…for now.
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Worse Case Scenario
Technology is not my thing; I’m fairly adept at operating my computer and my smartphone…as long as they work the way they’re supposed to. But the minute there’s a problem, I need to call in the experts. As the regular readers of this blog know, I just recently rejoined the blogosphere. Happy to be back and proud of my pretty new blog, I should have known things were going too well.
Last week, as I went to put up a post, my virus alert went off, and I mean it went off…I have a system that literally blares out a loud alarm. I decided to pack it in for the night and try again the next day. When I booted up in the morning, there was a message from a friendly fellow blogger, telling me that when he went to read my blog, he received a warning that the site was corrupted. Now it was time to panic.
I called in my very smart, very nice “blog guru”: It has taken six days to get it all straightened out.
In the midst of this meltdown, my husband and I had dinner with some dear friends that we affectionately refer to as the “international club”. For both business and pleasure, they spend much of their time traveling the world. They are well read, well informed, and very interested in politics.
When I regaled them with the tale of the cyber attack that had taken down my blog along with many other websites hosted on the corrupted server, the story brought forth a unanimous consensus from the group, and in the case of one member who is an international businessman, some inside knowledge, that the physical terrorist attack we all fear, is not the real threat: The true danger lies in the bad guys launching a massive cyber attack that shuts down power grids, ATM machines, Wall Street…the list goes on, succeeding in paralyzing the country.
Apparently, this is not so far-fetched. Turns out that just two months ago, the U.S. government participated in a simulation complete with “operations center” to deal with just such a cyber attack. I guess the good news is that they’re trying to be proactive. The bad news is such an operation is an indication of just how serious the threat must be.
Oh good, another thing to worry about. Well at least my blog is up and running again…for now.
Worse Case Scenario
Technology is not my thing; I’m fairly adept at operating my computer and my smartphone…as long as they work the way they’re supposed to. But the minute there’s a problem, I need to call in the experts. As the regular readers of this blog know, I just recently rejoined the blogosphere. Happy to be back and proud of my pretty new blog, I should have known things were going too well.
Last week, as I went to put up a post, my virus alert went off, and I mean it went off…I have a system that literally blares out a loud alarm. I decided to pack it in for the night and try again the next day. When I booted up in the morning, there was a message from a friendly fellow blogger, telling me that when he went to read my blog, he received a warning that the site was corrupted. Now it was time to panic.
I called in my very smart, very nice “blog guru”: It has taken six days to get it all straightened out.
In the midst of this meltdown, my husband and I had dinner with some dear friends that we affectionately refer to as the “international club”. For both business and pleasure, they spend much of their time traveling the world. They are well read, well informed, and very interested in politics.
When I regaled them with the tale of the cyber attack that had taken down my blog along with many other websites hosted on the corrupted server, the story brought forth a unanimous consensus from the group, and in the case of one member who is an international businessman, some inside knowledge, that the physical terrorist attack we all fear, is not the real threat: The true danger lies in the bad guys launching a massive cyber attack that shuts down power grids, ATM machines, Wall Street…the list goes on, succeeding in paralyzing the country.
Apparently, this is not so far-fetched. Turns out that just two months ago, the U.S. government participated in a simulation complete with “operations center” to deal with just such a cyber attack. I guess the good news is that they’re trying to be proactive. The bad news is such an operation is an indication of just how serious the threat must be.
Oh good, another thing to worry about. Well at least my blog is up and running again…for now.
Worse Case Scenario
Technology is not my thing; I’m fairly adept at operating my computer and my smartphone…as long as they work the way they’re supposed to. But the minute there’s a problem, I need to call in the experts. As the regular readers of this blog know, I just recently rejoined the blogosphere. Happy to be back and proud of my pretty new blog, I should have known things were going too well.
Last week, as I went to put up a post, my virus alert went off, and I mean it went off…I have a system that literally blares out a loud alarm. I decided to pack it in for the night and try again the next day. When I booted up in the morning, there was a message from a friendly fellow blogger, telling me that when he went to read my blog, he received a warning that the site was corrupted. Now it was time to panic.
I called in my very smart, very nice “blog guru”: It has taken six days to get it all straightened out.
In the midst of this meltdown, my husband and I had dinner with some dear friends that we affectionately refer to as the “international club”. For both business and pleasure, they spend much of their time traveling the world. They are well read, well informed, and very interested in politics.
When I regaled them with the tale of the cyber attack that had taken down my blog along with many other websites hosted on the corrupted server, the story brought forth a unanimous consensus from the group, and in the case of one member who is an international businessman, some inside knowledge, that the physical terrorist attack we all fear, is not the real threat: The true danger lies in the bad guys launching a massive cyber attack that shuts down power grids, ATM machines, Wall Street…the list goes on, succeeding in paralyzing the country.
Apparently, this is not so far-fetched. Turns out that just two months ago, the U.S. government participated in a simulation complete with “operations center” to deal with just such a cyber attack. I guess the good news is that they’re trying to be proactive. The bad news is such an operation is an indication of just how serious the threat must be.
Oh good, another thing to worry about. Well at least my blog is up and running again…for now.
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Stop To Smell The Apple Blossoms
In the middle of a very hectic day, in the middle of a very busy week, the world slowed for just a moment as I shared a picnic lunch with a dear friend, in a treehouse surrounded by apple blossoms. May I never be too busy or too sad to appreciate such gifts.
Blogger’s Note: This post was created six days ago just as the server that hosts my blog went down due to a cyber attack of some kind. Luckily WordPress caught it and saved it. It’s such a lovely photo and warm reminder of a wonderful interlude, that I want to post it even though the moment has passed.
Stop To Smell The Apple Blossoms
In the middle of a very hectic day, in the middle of a very busy week, the world slowed for just a moment as I shared a picnic lunch with a dear friend, in a treehouse surrounded by apple blossoms. May I never be too busy or too sad to appreciate such gifts.
Blogger’s Note: This post was created six days ago just as the server that hosts my blog went down due to a cyber attack of some kind. Luckily WordPress caught it and saved it. It’s such a lovely photo and warm reminder of a wonderful interlude, that I want to post it even though the moment has passed.
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Technical Difficulties….
Having some serious technical issues with the blog. Thought at first that it had been hacked , which may still be the case. There also seems to be technical issues with platform; not sure if the two things are related.
The “Blog Guru”, that’s not me, it’s a real blog guru who does this for a living, is trying to straighten it all out.
Hope to be back up and running, “soon”. Thanks for checking in.
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The Mystery Poll
I previously posted about an extensive phone poll that I had received that focused on the race for the Lehigh Valley’s 15th Congressional District between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. I summarized, incorrectly as it turns out, that the poll was most likely conducted by the Dent campaign or the RCCC.
I’ve received both official confirmation from the Dent campaign’s manager, Shawn Millan, and unofficial confirmation from a source close to the campaign, that it was NOT a Dent poll nor was it paid for by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Millan believes it was a Democratic poll, although that is an opinion only. The unofficial source, a professional political operative, agreed with Millan, sighting the extensive questions about union membership.
My theory was that the union questions were the R’s looking for any weakness in union support that they could leverage. The operative thinks it’s the exact opposite: The Dems are worried that the unions are so mad over the healthcare bill that they’ll run to the Republican side of the ballot. The poll is meant to reassure the “D” hierarchy that that’s not true, or motivate them to start shoring up that part of the base.
Blogger’s Note: I would have posted this information two days ago, but someone tried to hack in to the blog rendering it unusable for 48 hours.
The Mystery Poll
I previously posted about an extensive phone poll I had received that focused on the race for the Lehigh Valley’s 15th Congressional District between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. I summarized, incorrectly as it turns out, that the poll was most likely conducted by the Dent campaign or the RCCC.
I’ve received both official confirmation from the Dent campaign’s manager, Shawn Millan, and unofficial confirmation from a source close to the campaign, that it was NOT a Dent poll nor was it paid for by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Millan believes it was a Democratic poll, although that is an opinion only. The unofficial source, a professional political operative, agreed with Millan, sighting the extensive questions about union membership.
My theory was that the union questions were the R’s looking for any weakness in union support that they could leverage. The operative thinks it’s the exact opposite: The Dems are worried that the unions are so mad over the healthcare bill that they’ll run to the Republican side of the ballot. The poll is meant to reassure the “D” hierarchy that that’s not true, or motivate them to start shoring up that part of the base.
Blogger’s Note: I would have posted this information two days ago, but someone tried to hack in to the blog rendering it unusable for 48 hours.
The Mystery Poll
I previously posted about an extensive phone poll that I had received that focused on the race for the Lehigh Valley’s 15th Congressional District between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. I summarized, incorrectly as it turns out, that the poll was most likely conducted by the Dent campaign or the RCCC.
I’ve received both official confirmation from the Dent campaign’s manager, Shawn Millan, and unofficial confirmation from a source close to the campaign, that it was NOT a Dent poll nor was it paid for by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Millan believes it was a Democratic poll, although that is an opinion only. The unofficial source, a professional political operative, agreed with Millan, sighting the extensive questions about union membership.
My theory was that the union questions were the R’s looking for any weakness in union support that they could leverage. The operative thinks it’s the exact opposite: The Dems are worried that the unions are so mad over the healthcare bill that they’ll run to the Republican side of the ballot. The poll is meant to reassure the “D” hierarchy that that’s not true, or motivate them to start shoring up that part of the base.
Blogger’s Note: I would have posted this information two days ago, but someone tried to hack in to the blog rendering it unusable for 48 hours.
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A Different Kind Of Conversation…
Blogging is a very unique, personal, form of communication. We bloggers get to sit in front of our computer screens at all hours of the night and day, in all forms of dress or undress, and pontificate about anything that interests us, in the hope that someone will read our pearls of wisdom, and even better, post a comment.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 14, I get to up the ante by being part of WGPA’s morning program, “Daybreak” from approx. 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The show is streamed live online at http://www.wgpasunny1100.com and the call-in number is 610-866-8074.
We won’t be discussing politics, at least not local politics. We will be discussing the status of women in the developing world and the economic impact women are beginning to have on the global economy…from America to Afghanistan.
I hope you’ll be listening, and most of all, I hope you’ll call in to say hello, share your thoughts, and join the conversation, because after 9:00 a.m., this radio Cinderella turns back in to a blogger pumpkin, stuck behind her computer screen once again.
A Different Kind Of Conversation…
Blogging is a very unique, personal, form of communication. We bloggers get to sit in front of our computer screens at all hours of the night and day, in all forms of dress or undress, and pontificate about anything that interests us, in the hope that someone, somewhere will read our pearls of wisdom, and even better, post a comment.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 14, I get to up the ante by being part of WGPA’s morning program, “Daybreak” from approx. 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The show is streamed live online at http://www.wgpasunny1100.com and the call-in number is 
610-866-8074.
We won’t be discussing politics, at least not local politics. We will be discussing the status of women in the developing world and the economic impact women are beginning to have on the global economy…from America to Afghanistan.
I hope you’ll be listening, and most of all, I hope you’ll call in to say hello, share your thoughts, and join the conversation, because after 9:00 a.m., this radio Cinderella turns back in to a blogger pumpkin, stuck behind her computer screen once again.
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WGPAstudio.jpg
Press 1 If You’re Ready For Politics 2010
There are certain makers in politics. Across the country, fall elections begin in earnest after Labor Day; in Pennsylvania, where our Spring Primaries usually don’t happen till May, this year it’s May 18, everyone gets serious right after Easter. So it wasn’t surprising to pick up my phone and hear an automated message telling me they weren’t selling anything, that my political opinions were very important, and I should press 1 if I was willing to take a survey.
The questions focused mostly on the 15th Congressional race between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. On a sliding scale, how favorable was my opinion of each candidate. Was I definitely going to vote for one over the other or was I only “likely” to vote for one of them. And did I feel aligned with how Dent voted on the issues.
There were some “coattail” questions, too, from the Statehouse to the White House. Was I likely to vote for Corbett or Onorato for Governor, and what kind of job did I think President Obama was doing, including rating my opinion about healthcare. I answered very calmly and professionally, relieved that they didn’t get my husband on the phone instead of me.
When it came time for the stats, I was surprised at two things, how much emphasis there was on race: I must have been asked three different ways if I was Caucasian or Hispanic. And another three questions about labor unions, from was I a member, was a spouse or next of kin a member, down to “Is anyone living in your household a member?”.
There was no mention of Dent’s Tea Party Primary opponent, so it appears he’s been dismissed as not even a factor. And from the emphasis on unions, it looks like siphoning off their members, who have made no secret of their anger over the healtchare bill, away from the Democrats, may be a new strategy for this mid-term election.
The poll was so well done that I can’t be exactly sure how paid for it. If I had to bet, I’d say the Dent campaign or the National Republican Congressional Committee. I called the Dent’s headquarters for comment, but my call was never returned. I guess they don’t know about political markers…Easter is over, Press 1 to talk to your constituents.
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Press 1 If You’re Ready For Politics 2010
There are certain markers in politics. Across the country, fall elections begin in earnest after Labor Day; in Pennsylvania, where our spring Primaries usually don’t happen till May, this year it’s May 18, everyone gets serious right after Easter. So it wasn’t surprising to pick up my phone and hear an automated message telling me they weren’t selling anything, that my political opinions were very important, and I should press 1 if I was willing to take a survey.
The questions focused mostly on the 15th Congressional race between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. On a sliding scale, how favorable was my opinion of each candidate. Was I definitely going to vote for one over the other or was I only “likely” to vote for one of them. And did I feel aligned with how Dent voted on the issues.
There were some “coattail” questions, too, from the Statehouse to the White House. Was I likely to vote for Corbett or Onorato for Governor, and what kind of job did I think President Obama was doing, including rating my opinion about healthcare. I answered very calmly and professionally, relieved that they didn’t get my husband on the phone instead of me.
When it came time for the stats, I was surprised at two things, how much emphasis there was on race: I must have been asked three different ways if I was Caucasian or Hispanic. And another three questions about labor unions, from was I a member, was a spouse or next of kin a member, down to “Is anyone living in your household a member?”.
There was no mention of Dent’s Tea Party Primary opponent, so it appears he’s been dismissed as not even a factor. And from the emphasis on unions, it looks like siphoning off their members, who have made no secret of their anger over the healtchare bill, away from the Democrats, may be a new strategy for this mid-term election.
The poll was so well done that I can’t be exactly sure who paid for it. If I had to bet, I’d say the Dent campaign or the National Republican Congressional Committee. I called Dent’s headquarters for comment, but my call was never returned. I guess they don’t know about political markers…Easter is over, Press 1 to talk to your constituents.
Press 1 If You’re Ready For Politics 2010
There are certain makers in politics. Across the country, fall elections begin in earnest after Labor Day; in Pennsylvania, where our Spring Primaries usually don’t happen till May, this year it’s May 18, everyone gets real serious right after Easter. So it wasn’t surprising to pick up my phone and hear an automated message telling me they weren’t selling anything, that my political opinions were very important, and I should press 1 if I was willing to take a survey.
The questions focused mostly on the 15th Congressional race between Charlie Dent and John Callahan. On a sliding scale, how favorable was my opinion of each candidate. Was I definitely going to vote for one over the other or was I only “likely” to vote for one of them. And did I feel aligned with how Dent voted on the issues.
There were some “coattail” questions, too, from the Statehouse to the White House. Was I likely to vote for Corbett or Onorato for Governor, and what kind of job did I think President Obama was doing, including rating my opinion about healthcare. I answered very calmly and professionally, relieved that they didn’t get my husband on the phone instead of me.
When it came time for the stats, I was surprised at two things, how much emphasis there was on race: I must have been asked three different ways if I was Caucasian or Hispanic. And another three questions about labor unions, from was I a member, was a spouse or next of kin a member, down to “Is anyone living in your household a member?”.
There was no mention of Dent’s Tea Party Primary opponent, so it appears he’s been dismissed as not even a factor. And from the emphasis on unions, it looks like siphoning off their members, who have made no secret of their anger over the healtchare bill, away from the Democrats, may be a new strategy for this mid-term election.
The poll was so well done that I can’t be exactly sure how paid for it. If I had to bet, I’d say the Dent campaign or the National Republican Congressional Committee. I called the Dent’s headquarters for comment, but my call was never returned. I guess they don’t know about political markers…Easter is over, Press 1 to talk to your constituents.
The Internship Dilemma: No more free lunch
With summer approaching and unemployment stuck at 9.7%, students looking for a summer job are going to have a tough time, even if they’re willing to flip burgers. Those looking to boost their skill set and resume through a professional internship are really up against the odds.
Summer internships used to be a boon to employers who were looking for “cheap labor” to do filing and answer the phones. As the economy tightened, cheap often became “free”, or internships were eliminated all together.
Looking to build any edge they could in the job market once they graduated, students who could afford to, took the free internships, and moved home with mom and dad, or held another job. According to a recent article in the New York Times, “Employers posted 643 unpaid internships on Stanford University’s job board this academic year, more than triple the 174 posted two years ago.”
Not so fast: The Federal Labor Department is starting to investigate free internships as possible minimum wage violations. Whether this is a little too much of “Big Brother” is a post for another time,
If you are a college student, or know of one who is looking to gain some valuable international experience this summer, there are some bright spots. One of them, or rather five of them, are being offered by the “The Business Council for Peace”. Bpeace, headquartered in New York, is an international non-profit coalition of business professionals who believe the path to peace is lined with jobs.
Students accepted as 2010 Bpeace Fellows will work virtually on projects that help developing countries create more employment and lift people out of poverty and violence…and they will be paid. The deadline to apply is April 19, and the information is available on here on the PR Newswire site.
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My Reliable Sources: City Appears To Be On Verge of Act 47
A breaking news alert from The Morning Call has just confirmed what this blog reported over 24 hours ago, that the city of Allentown is headed for an Act 47 filing. (Not that Perspectives was given any credit in the paper for breaking this story, but the readers know where they heard it first.)
In typical City Hall fashion, the Pawlowski administration is still denying it, but both Jarrett Renshaw’s and my sources say it is going to happen.
And since I’m on a roll here, I will take this opportunity to reprint something I wrote over five years ago…
Emergency Medicine: Although not perfect, Act 47 could relieve Allentown’s symptoms of financial distress
Maybe I should add the title “psychic” to the other jobs I do.
The arrogance and hubris of this administration for waiting to do what should have been done years ago is a legacy for which it will always be remembered. So all the deception and obfuscation was for nothing but to drive the city further in to debt. Congratulations on putting ego ahead of the needs of Allentown.
Blogger’s Note, 4/6, 2:10 p.m.: City Hall is denying there will be an Act 47 filing. At this point I’m sticking by my sources. I suspect one or both of two things are going on: What the city is really about to apply for is Act 205, the Municipal Plan Funding and Recovery Act and in the game of “whisper down the lane” that information was transformed into Act 47. And/or the unions got wind of a possible bankruptcy filing and decided to strike the first blow. But the bottom line is, something is going on. The city is drowning and it’s looking for a lifeline. Stay tuned…
My Reliable Sources: City Appears To Be On Verge of Act 47
A breaking news alert from The Morning Call has just confirmed what this blog reported over 24 hours ago, that the city of Allentown is headed for an Act 47 filing. (Not that Perspectives was given any credit in the paper for breaking this story, but the readers know where they heard it first.)
In typical City Hall fashion, the Pawlowski administration is still denying it, but both Jarrett Renshaw’s and my sources say it is going to happen.
And since I’m on a roll here, I will take this opportunity to reprint something I wrote over five years ago…
Emergency Medicine: Although not perfect, Act 47 could relieve Allentown’s symptoms of financial distress
Maybe I should add the title “psychic” to the other jobs I do.
The arrogance and hubris of this administration for waiting to do what should have been done years ago is a legacy for which it will always be remembered. So all the deception and obfuscation was for nothing but to drive the city further in to debt. Congratulations on putting ego ahead of the needs of Allentown.
My Reliable Sources: City Appears To Be On Verge of Act 47
A breaking news alert from The Morning Call has just confirmed what this blog reported over 24 hours ago, that the city of Allentown is headed for an Act 47 filing. (Not that Perspectives was given any credit in the paper for breaking this story, but the readers know where they heard it first.)
In typical City Hall fashion, the Pawlowski administration is still denying it, but both Jarrett Renshaw’s and my sources say it is going to happen.
And since I’m on a roll here, I will take this opportunity to reprint something I wrote over five years ago…
Emergency Medicine: Although not perfect, Act 47 could relieve Allentown’s symptoms of financial distress
Maybe I should add the title “psychic” to the other jobs I do.
The arrogance and hubris of this administration for waiting to do what should have been done years ago is a legacy for which it will always be remembered. So all the deception and obfuscation was for nothing but to drive the city further in to debt. Congratulations on putting ego ahead of the needs of Allentown.
Blogger’s Note, 4/6, 2:10 p.m.: City Hall is denying there will be an Act 47 filing. At this point I’m sticking by my sources. I suspect one or both of two things are going on: What the city is really about to apply for is Act 205, the Municipal Plan Funding and Recovery Act and in the game of “whisper down the lane” that information was transformed into Act 47. And/or the unions got wind of a possible bankruptcy filing and decided to strike the first blow. But the bottom line is, something is going on. The city is drowning and it’s looking for a lifeline. Stay tuned…
My Reliable Sources: City Appears To Be On Verge of Act 47
A breaking news alert from The Morning Call has just confirmed what this blog reported over 24 hours ago, that the city of Allentown is headed for an Act 47 filing. (Not that Perspectives was given any credit in the paper for breaking this story, but the readers know where they heard it first.)
In typical City Hall fashion, the Pawlowski administration is still denying it, but both Jarrett Renshaw’s and my sources say it is going to happen.
And since I’m on a roll here, I will take this opportunity to reprint something I wrote over five years ago…
Emergency Medicine: Although not perfect, Act 47 could relieve Allentown’s symptoms of financial distress
Maybe I should add the the title “psychic” to all the other jobs I do.
The arrogance and hubris of this administration for waiting to do what should have been done years ago is a legacy for which it will always be remembered. So all the deception and obfuscation was for nothing but to drive the city further in to debt. Congratulations on putting ego ahead of the needs of Allentown.
The Handling of Other People’s Money
In all the years I’ve been writing and blogging, I’ve run very few ‘blind items’. I don’t do it because there’s so much good stuff to write about that I can openly source that I don’t have to resort to “unnamed officials” who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But this is not one of those times.
According to some closely placed sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, down at Allentown City Hall, the phrase, “Act 47” is reverberating through the hallways. You may remember that just two weeks ago, The Morning Call reported and this blog commented on the fact that the $10 million borrowed bailout isn’t working quite the way we were all led to believe it would. With a lot of bills coming due in the next year or two, the option of entering the state’s municipal fiscal distress program may be looking like it might be the only way out.
And then there’s the story about a regional organization that decided to create a non-profit foundation so they could give money away to projects they wanted to support. Just one little problem: The foundation has been giving away more money than they’ve been taking in. Where did they get the money from? They’ve been borrowing it from the organization with which they’re affiliated. The foundation is now in debt to the “mother ship” for well in to six figures. So much so that at least one donor who became aware of the situation has decided to not honor this year’s pledge.
Looks like there’s going to be a lot of talk soon about how people handle other people’s money. Where is Donald Trump when you need him?
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Weekend Wanderings – April 3, 2010
Since this is a weekend for resurrections, I thought I would keep the theme by bringing back to life “Weekend Wanderings”…thoughts, observations, adventures, that have little or nothing to do with news and politics, and that instead focus on the people and places that occupy my rare moments of down time.
Today’s “Wandering” involved fellow bloggers Kathy Frederick who writes the very funny and sardonic “The Junk Drawer”, and Bernie O’Hare who writes one of the best political blogs in the state, “Lehigh Valley Ramblings”. Both Kathy and Bernie have tremendous followings and are very widely read.
Blogging is a strange avocation, although for some there’s no “a”…it’s a vocation for which they get paid, but those who make money at blogging are few and far between. Most of us do it because we love to write and enjoy sharing information or stirring the pot, or both. Bernie and I were both impressed when Kathy mentioned that she is now listed on Kindle’s blog list and people are paying to subscribe.
The three of us had so much fun sitting at Pistachio enjoying a gorgeous spring day that we’ve agreed to do it again next month. Bernie wants us to try Thai food at one of his favorite places in Bethlehem. Kathy was less than enthusiastic about that suggestion, but we convinced her to try it if for no other reason than the great material the experience may give her for a blog post. I’m hearing music from “The King and I”.
Wishing everyone all the blessings of Easter and Passover.
Weekend Wanderings – April 3, 2010
Since this is a weekend for resurrections, I thought I would keep the theme by bringing back to life “Weekend Wanderings”…thoughts, observations, adventures, that have little or nothing to do with news and politics, and that instead focus on the people and places that occupy my rare moments of down time.
Today’s “Wandering” involved fellow bloggers Kathy Frederick who writes the very funny and sardonic “The Junk Drawer”, and Bernie O’Hare who writes one of the best political blogs in the state, “Lehigh Valley Ramblings”. Both Kathy and Bernie have tremendous followings and are very widely read.
Blogging is a strange avocation, although for some there’s no “a”…it’s a vocation for which they get paid, but those who make money at blogging are few and far between. Most of us do it because we love to write and enjoy sharing information or stirring the pot, or both. Bernie and I were both impressed when Kathy mentioned that she is now listed on Kindle’s blog list and people are paying to subscribe.
The three of us had so much fun sitting at Pistachio enjoying a gorgeous spring day that we’ve agreed to do it again next month. Bernie wants us to try Thai food at one of his favorite places in Bethlehem. Kathy was less than enthusiastic about that suggestion, but we convinced her to try it if for no other reason than the great material the experience may give her for a blog post. I’m hearing music from “The King and I”.
Wishing everyone all the blessings of Easter and Passover.
What A Surprise: The Box Isn’t So Locked
When I returned to blogging a few weeks ago, I promised myself that I was going to avoid local Allentown politics as much as possible. A lot of Perspectives’ readers are not Allentonians. And the truth is, I’m frustrated beyond words with Allentown’s slide in to the abyss and the inability of anyone in a position to do so to show an ounce of courage or leadership.
But promises are made to be broken, and even though fellow blogger extraordinaire Bernie O’Hare beat me to it, I feel compelled to comment on Jarrett Renshaw’s well-written story in Sunday’s paper, titled “Allentown Loan Deal Isn’t Paying Off”. Really. What a surprise.
Anyone who’s ever been married knows that one of the ways you keep a relationship “healthy” is by resisting the urge to say “I told you so” when your partner turns out to be wrong and you turn out to be right. But there are no such rules in journalism or politics, so excuse me while I mention that there were people out here in the wilderness, myself included, who were trying to sound this alarm, years ago, and no one, including The Morning Call, would listen.
Now that the light is finally shining on the inside of the open lockbox, and it looks like the reserve may have dipped below it’s legally “locked” level, and even though the convoluted deal hasn’t earned a fraction of the interest projected to help pay down the debt, don’t get your hopes up that anything will change.
City Council will continue to verbalize a few mild protests, the mayor will go on blaming his predecessor and the worst recession since the Great Depression, and there will be no consequences for this deception except for the increase in taxes of the dwindling number of Allentown citizens who still actually pay taxes.
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What A Surprise: The Box Isn’t So Locked
When I returned to blogging a few weeks ago, I promised myself that I was going to avoid local Allentown politics as much as possible. A lot of Perspectives’ readers are not Allentonians. And the truth is, I’m frustrated beyond words with Allentown’s slide in to the abyss and the inability of anyone in a position to do so to show an ounce of courage or leadership.
But promises are made to be broken, and even though fellow blogger extraordinaire Bernie O’Hare beat me to it, I feel compelled to comment on Jarrett Renshaw’s well-written story in Sunday’s paper, titled “Allentown Loan Deal Isn’t Paying Off”. Really. What a surprise.
Anyone who’s ever been married knows that one of the ways you keep a relationship “healthy” is by resisting the urge to say “I told you so” when your partner turns out to be wrong and you turn out to be right. But there are no such rules in journalism or politics, so excuse me while I mention that there were people out here in the wilderness, myself included, who were trying to sound this alarm, years ago, and no one, including The Morning Call, would listen.
Now that the light is finally shining on the inside of the open lockbox, and it looks like the reserve may have dipped below it’s legally “locked” level, and even though the convoluted deal hasn’t earned a fraction of the interest projected to help pay down the debt, don’t get your hopes up that anything will change.
City Council will continue to verbalize a few mild protests, the mayor will go on blaming his predecessor and the worst recession since the Great Depression, and there will be no consequences for this deception except for the increase in taxes of the dwindling number of Allentown citizens who still actually pay taxes.
A Step Back From The Cliff
A lot of Americans are upset about the passage of the Healthcare Reform Bill. Depending on what poll you read, somewhere between 30 and 50% of the country’s citizens don’t approve of these changes.
Rumors about what is and is not in the Bill are flying around like flies at a picnic, and rumors weren’t the only things flying today. Bricks were thrown through the office windows of some members of congress who voted for the Bill, and one Congressman’s brother, whose house was mistaken for the residence of the Congressman, had his gas line cut.
This is not how Americans settle our differences: It is how third world countries and dictators settle theirs. We need to take a step back and take a deep breath. There’s an election coming up in 8 months, and it’s at the ballot box that Americans should express their frustration and disapproval.
This behavior is beneath us and weakens our moral authority. .
A Step Back From The Cliff
A lot of Americans are upset about the passage of the Healthcare Reform Bill. Depending on what poll you read, somewhere between 30 and 50% of the country’s citizens don’t approve of these changes.
Rumors about what is and is not in the Bill are flying around like flies in a picnic, and rumors weren’t the only things flying. Bricks were thrown through the windows of some members of congress who voted for the Bill, and one Congressman’s brother, whose house was mistaken for the residence of the Congressman, had his gas line cut.
This is not how Americans settle our differences: It is how third world countries and dictators settle theirs. We need to take a step back and take a deep breath. There’s an election coming up in 8 months, and it’s at the ballot box that Americans should express their frustration and disapproval.
The Mighty Oak Has Fallen….Acorn Closes It’s Doors
Lots going on in Varkonyland right now so will be brief, but I just had to post about the demise of Acorn.
Every once in a while, the bad guys get caught in their own web. And although I do not approve of the entrapment that was used to bring Acorn down, I’m glad they are finished…well, kind of finished.
As reported by the AP, two of their largest affiliates, New York and California, have changed their names and are still operating. But by and large, local chapters and field offices have closed for good. We will shed no tears at their passing. Hopefully, legitimate community organizations will take their place.
And while we’re on the subject, lest we have short memories, it would be good to be reminded who ran the Acorn field operation here in the Lehigh Valley in its heyday: That would be Siobhan Bennett.
An Uncertain Future…Healthcare Reform
Well, it’s happened, the Healthcare Reform Bill is passed. It certainly isn’t anything I would have voted for if a member of Congress, but it’s going to be the law of the land. Now all we can do is hope for the best. On a personal basis what I hope for is that this knot I have in my stomach is a result of the usual human reaction to change, and not a harbinger of pain and discord that is to come.
I’ve been interested in politics since I was a teenager and it is not hyperbole to say that I’ve never seen an administration so determined to pass something against the will of the majority of the people who elected them.
Perhaps our grandparents felt the same way when Social Security was enacted and our parents when Medicare came to be, but I don’t recall ever hearing anyone from either of those generations being as opposed to those social changes as I’ve heard against the Healthcare Bill.
I have an overwhelming sense of sadness tonight, like something has been lost that will never be recovered. In an effort to dispel the gloom, I’m going to try to think about someone “out there” who has suffered because they didn’t have health insurance and be happy for them that they will now be covered.
I just wish we could have accomplished that goal in a more direct, straightforward manner that addressed their specific needs without creating this monster of a Bill that I fear is going to eat us alive.
An Uncertain Future…Healthcare Reform
Well, it’s happened, the Healthcare Reform Bill is passed. It certainly isn’t anything I would have voted for if a member of Congress, but it’s going to be the law of the land. Now all we can do is hope for the best. On a personal basis what I hope for is that this knot I have in my stomach is a result of the usual human reaction to change, and not a harbinger of pain and discord that is to come.
I’ve been interested in politics since I was a teenager and it is not hyperbole to say that I’ve never seen an administration so determined to pass something against the will of the majority of the people who elected them.
Perhaps our grandparents felt the same way when Social Security was enacted and our parents when Medicare came to be, but I don’t recall ever hearing anyone from either of those generations being as opposed to those social changes as I’ve heard against the Healthcare Bill.
I have an overwhelming sense of sadness tonight, like something has been lost that will never be recovered. In an effort to dispel the gloom, I’m going to try to think about someone “out there” who has suffered because they didn’t have health insurance and be happy for them that they will now be covered.
I just wish we could have accomplished that goal in a more direct, straightforward manner that addressed their specific needs without creating this monster of a Bill that I fear is going to eat us alive.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have consciously avoided highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics, preferring instead to focus time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than be frustrated over something I can’t control.
That having been said, an issue that could be of historical importance is starting to appear in the national dialog: The unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. There are those believe that under no interpretation of our Founding Document can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, or levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
A groundswell of people and states who agree with that premise seems to be building. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put up a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have consciously avoided highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics, preferring instead to focus time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than be frustrated over something I can’t control.
That having been said, an issue that could be of historical importance is starting to appear in the national dialog: The unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. There are those believe that under no interpretation of our Founding Document can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, or levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
A groundswell of people and states who agree with that premise seems to be building. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put up a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have deliberately stayed away from highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics. It’s not that I no longer care, in fact the exact opposite is true: There’s so much going on in Washington with which I disagree, it’s better to not “go there”. I prefer instead to focus time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than be frustrated over something I can’t control.
All that having been said, here I go jumping in to the issue of what I believe is the unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. Under no interpretation of our Founding Document that I’m aware of, can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, and even worse, levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
Seems quite a few folks, and quite a few states, agree. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put up a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have deliberately stayed away from highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics. It’s not that I no longer care, in fact the exact opposite is true: There’s so much going on in Washington with which I disagree, it’s better to not “go there”. I prefer instead to focus my time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than be frustrated over something I can’t control.
All that having been said, here I go jumping in to the issue of what I believe is the unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. Under no interpretation of our Founding Document that I’m aware of, can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, and even worse, levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
Seems quite a few folks, and quite a few states, agree. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put up a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have deliberately stayed away from highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics. It’s not that I no longer care, in fact the exact opposite is true: There’s so much going on in Washington with which I disagree, it’s better to not “go there”. I prefer instead to focus my time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than bang my head into a wall over something that I can’t control.
All that having been said, here I go jumping in to the issue of what I believe is the unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. Under no interpretation of our Founding Document that I’m aware of, can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, and even worse, levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
Seems quite a few folks, and quite a few states, agree. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
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State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering the blogosphere I have consciously avoided highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics, preferring instead to focus time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than be frustrated over something I can’t control.
As a writer and observer of the human condition, some things are too fascinating to ignore. An issue that could be of historical importance is starting to appear in the national dialog: The unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. There are those who believe that under no interpretation of our Founding Document can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, or levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
A groundswell of people and states who agree with that premise seems to be building. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put up a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
State’s Rights Showdown
Since reentering to the blogosphere I have deliberately stayed away from highly controversial subjects, especially those involving national politics. It’s not that I no longer care, in fact the exact opposite is true: There’s so much going on in Washington with which I disagree, it’s better to not “go there”. I prefer instead to focus my time and energy on my work and my causes…areas where I can impact my own life or the lives of others rather than bang my head into a wall over something that I can’t control.
All that having been said, here I go jumping in to the issue of what I believe is the unconstitutionality of the healthcare bill. Under no interpretation of our Founding Document that I’m aware of, can you mandate the citizens of this country, private or corporate, to buy health insurance, and even worse, levy a fine against them when they don’t comply.
Seems quite a few folks, and quite a few states, agree. Idaho has been the first to pass legislation ordering the state Attorney General to sue the federal government if the healthcare bill becomes law. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
According to some Constitutional scholars, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause ” which gives the federal government ultimate control over the states may win out, but with so many states willing to put a fight, we may just find that healthcare reform has an unintended consequence…a Constitutional Convention.
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American Justice
There are many things about America that I love, but none more so than our “trial by a jury of your peers” and verdicts that must surpass a “reasonable doubt”. Yes, there have been some terrible and very public miscarriages within that system, like the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. But by and large, most juries do their duty without consideration of race, creed, or social rank.
Pennsylvania has just witnessed one such example: Acquitted of the most serious charges against him of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault, the case of Thomas Senavitis, proved that justice indeed cannot see through that blindfold she wears.
Senavitis is an “everyman” with a drinking problem: A thin, worn-out looking working-class guy whose 15 minutes of fame captured him with a graying mustache, in a tee-shirt and Midas Muffler baseball cap.
Held without bail, he’s spent the past nine months in prison while, according to the story in The Morning Call, his wife has been pleading his case, insisting he’s innocent of killing a prominent and popular politician, State Senator James Rhoades, by crashing his pickup truck into Rhoades’ Cadillac.
So here we are with a movie classic case of the little guy accused of wrongdoing against a high-profile person of power…and the system worked. The preponderance of evidence, not social standing, or money, or politics, won out.
And what gives that jury even more street cred is that they did convict Senavitis of DUI and another lesser charge. Justice was served on all sides. Senavitis is now in jail for the crimes he did commit and not for the ones he didn’t.
Justice’s scales remain perfectly balanced.
American Justice
There are many things about America that I love, but none more so than our “trial by a jury of your peers” and verdicts that must surpass a “reasonable doubt”. Yes, there have been some terrible and very public miscarriages within that system, like the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. But by and large, most juries do their duty without consideration of race, creed, or social rank.
Pennsylvania has just witnessed one such example: Acquitted of the most serious charges against him of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault, the case of Thomas Senavitis, proved that justice indeed cannot see through that blindfold she wears.
Senavitis is an “everyman” with a drinking problem: A thin, worn-out looking working-class guy whose 15 minutes of fame captured him with a graying mustache, in a tee-shirt and Midas Muffler baseball cap.
Held without bail, he’s spent the past nine months in prison while, according to the story in The Morning Call, his wife has been pleading his case, insisting he’s innocent of killing a prominent and popular politician, State Senator James Rhoades, by crashing his pickup truck into Rhoades’ Cadillac.
So here we are with a movie classic case of the little guy accused of wrongdoing against a high-profile person of power…and the system worked. The preponderance of evidence, not social standing, or money, or politics, won out.
And what gives that jury even more street cred is that they did convict Senavitis of DUI and another lesser charge. Justice was served on all sides. My Senavitis is now in jail for the crimes he did commit and not for the ones he didn’t.
Justice’s scales remain perfectly balanced.
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In Memoriam: Brian Mickley
One of Allentown’s most devoted native sons has left us. Brian Mickley was a rare breed in so many ways: A true Allentonian…born, raised, educated, married, employed, in the city he loved. And when Brian was committed, he stuck. That level of character is something you don’t see much of these days.
Brian married his childhood sweetheart, Carol Schneck. They met when she was 14, he was 16. You only needed to be in their presence a short time before you realized they were soul mates. 
He always wanted to be a firefighter and became one at 19, rising to the rank of Chief which was the culmination of a lifetime dream. It didn’t end well because Brian was incapable of playing politics. As his long- time executive assistant, Linda Hanna said, “He is egoless. Some people don’t recognize that style of leadership.” Even as Chief, he was highly regarded by his men. I.A.F.F. Local 302 has a moving tribute on their website.
In this day of self-aggrandizement and me, me, me focused society, Brian Mickley stood out like one of those old-time western heroes: Tall, imposing, and quiet. Being in his presence was reassuring because you had the feeling that no matter what happened, Brian could handle it. But if you looked closely, you could always see a twinkle in those blue eyes.
Brian Mickley lived his life in love and service to his family, friends, and his city. He volunteered with local fire departments, taught young firefighters how to stay alive, and shared his “other love”, astronomy, with a generation of children at the Lehigh Valley Planetarium on South Mountain.
Speaking for myself, I will never again look up in the night sky without thinking of him.
Brian will be dearly missed by his family and friends. For the city of Allentown, the loss is irreplaceable.
Blogger’s Note: When Brian retired from the Allentown Fire Dept., I wrote a tribute to his service. That story is available online at The Morning Call.
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One Evening…Many Stories
On Wednesday, March 31, in a little over two weeks, a very special event will take place here in the Lehigh Valley. It’s not a glamorous society outing, although there will be wine and hors d’oeuvres, it doesn’t cost very much money to attend, and what cost there is is a tax deductible contribution to a very worthy cause. Rather it is a one-of-a-kind celebration of love, loss, courage, and most of all the indefatigable strength of the human spirit.
The reason the Benefit Screening of the documentary “Thread”, and the panel discussion that will follow, is so unique is because until now, you would have had to travel to New York or San Francisco to share this experience. But now, the many people and their stories whose lives have intersected a half a world away, will come together, here, at our own Cedar Crest College, for one common cause; to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the Afghan women associates of the Business Council for Peace. .
The evening will include members of the Pennsylvania National Guard; heroes who have served in Afghanistan. There will also be well known members of the community whose generosity have helped to support the event; Bob & Sandy Lovett, Vic & Jody Mazziotti, Joe & Judy Kaminski, and Sally Gammon. The producer and director of the film, who took their lives in their hands to make this movie will be there, as well as the founder of Bpeace, who started the organization after witnessing the events of 9-11, firsthand. 
And there will be Palwasha; young, beautiful, smart and determined to help save her country. Palwasha is one of the Afghan women featured in “Thread”. Out of all the stories that will come together that night; all the “Threads” that will weave the tapestry that is “their” Afghanistan, few will be more moving than hers. Pursued by a village elder for marriage at a young age, her parents refused him and encouraged her to get an education. What was done to save one daughter could not save the other. Palwasha’s younger sister disappeared on her way to school and has never been seen again.
If you would like to hear these stories first hand, to share in this evening that will be like no other, if you would like to help the very brave women of Afghanistan, you can purchase tickets or make a donation, here.
One Evening…Many Stories
On Wednesday, March 31, in a little over two weeks, a very special event will take place here in the Lehigh Valley. It’s not a glamorous society outing, although there will be wine and hors d’oeuvres, it doesn’t cost very much money to attend, and what cost there is is a tax deductible contribution to a very worthy cause. Rather it is a one-of-a-kind celebration of love, loss, courage, and most of all the indefatigable strength of the human spirit.
The reason the Benefit Screening of the documentary “Thread”, and the panel discussion that will follow, is so unique is because until now, you would have had to travel to New York or San Francisco to share this experience. But now, the many people and their stories whose lives have intersected a half a world away, will come together, here, at our own Cedar Crest College, for one common cause; to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the Afghan women associates of the Business Council for Peace. .
The evening will include members of the Pennsylvania National Guard; heroes who have served in Afghanistan. There will also be well known members of the community whose generously have helped to support the event; Bob & Sandy Lovett, Vic & Jody Mazziotti, Joe & Judy Kaminski, and Sally Gammon. The producer and director of the film, who took their lives in their hands to make this movie will be there, as well as the founder of Bpeace, who started the organization after witnessing the events of 9-11, firsthand.
And there will be Palwasha; young, beautiful, smart and determined to help save her country. Palwasha is one of the Afghan women featured in “Thread”. Out of all the stories that will come together that night; all the “Threads” that will weave the tapestry that is “their” Afghanistan, few will be more moving than hers. Pursued by a village elder for marriage at a young age, her parents refused him and encouraged her to get an education. What was done to save one daughter could not save the other. Palwasha’s younger sister disappeared on her way to school and has never been seen again.
If you would like to hear these stories first hand, to share in this evening that will be like no other, if you would like to help the very brave women of Afghanistan, you can purchase tickets or make a donation, here.
One Evening…Many Stories
On Wednesday, March 31, in a little over two weeks, a very special event will take place here in the Lehigh Valley. It’s not a glamorous society outing, although there will be wine and hors d’oeuvres, it doesn’t cost very much money to attend, and what cost there is is a tax deductible contribution to a very worthy cause. Rather it is a one-of-a-kind celebration of love, loss, courage, and most of all the indefatigable strength of the human spirit.
The reason the Benefit Screening of the documentary “Thread”, and the panel discussion that will follow, is so unique is because until now, you would have had to travel to New York or San Francisco to share this experience. But now, the many people and their stories whose lives have intersected a half a world away, will come together, here, at our own Cedar Crest College, for one common cause; to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the Afghan women associates of the Business Council for Peace. .
The evening will include members of the Pennsylvania National Guard; heroes who have served in Afghanistan. There will also be well known members of the community whose generously have helped to support the event; Bob & Sandy Lovett, Vic & Jody Mazziotti, Joe & Judy Kaminski, and Sally Gammon. The producer and director of the film, who took their lives in their hands to make this movie will be there, as well as the founder of Bpeace, who started the organization after witnessing the events of 9-11, firsthand.
And there will be Palwasha; young, beautiful, smart and determined to help save her country. Palwasha is one of the Afghan women featured in “Thread”. Out of all the stories that will come together that night; all the “Threads” that will weave the tapestry that is “their” Afghanistan, few will be more moving than hers. Pursued by a village elder for marriage at a young age, her parents refused him and encouraged her to get an education. What was done to save one daughter could not save the other. Palwasha’s younger sister disappeared on her way to school and has never been seen again.
If you would like to hear these stories first hand, to share in this evening that will be like no other, if you would like to help the very brave women of Afghanistan, you can purchase tickets or make a donation, here.
One Evening…Many Stories
On Wednesday, March 31, in a little over two weeks, a very special event will take place here in the Lehigh Valley. It’s not a glamorous society outing, although there will be wine and hors d’oeuvres, it doesn’t cost very much money to attend, and what cost there is is a tax deductible contribution to a very worthy cause. Rather it is a one-of-a-kind celebration of love, loss, courage, and most of all the indefatigable strength of the human spirit.
The reason the Benefit Screening of the documentary “Thread”, and the panel discussion that will follow, is so unique is because until now, you would have had to travel to New York or San Francisco to share this experience. But now, the many people and their stories whose lives have intersected a half a world away, will come together, here, at our own Cedar Crest College, for one common cause; to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the Afghan women associates of the Business Council for Peace. .
The evening will include members of the Pennsylvania National Guard; heroes who have served in Afghanistan. There will also be well known members of the community whose generously have helped to support the event; Bob & Sandy Lovett, Vic & Jody Mazziotti, Joe & Judy Kaminski, and Sally Gammon. The producer and director of the film, who took their lives in their hands to make this movie will be there, as well as the founder of Bpeace, who started the organization after witnessing the events of 9-11, firsthand.
And there will be Palwasha; young, beautiful, smart and determined to help save her country. Palwasha is one of the Afghan women featured in “Thread”. Out of all the stories that will come together that night; all the “Threads” that will weave the tapestry that is “their” Afghanistan, few will be more moving than hers. Pursued by a village elder for marriage at a young age, her parents refused him and encouraged her to get an education. What was done to save one daughter could not save the other. Palwasha’s younger sister disappeared on her way to school and has never been seen again.
If you would like to hear these stories first hand, to share in this evening that will be like no other, if you would like to help the very brave women of Afghanistan, you can purchase tickets or make a donation, here.
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The Women of the Greatest Generation: WASPS Honored
What a relief to read the story about the Women Air Service Pilots of World War II being honored in Washington with Congressional Gold Medals: Long overdue, but better late than never. After the insanity and betrayal of the past 24 hours involving “Jihad Jane”, the lives well lived of Lillian Yonally, and her fellow pilots, was refreshing and inspiring.
What I found particularly moving about the story was that she never mentioned her wartime service to her family. According to a story in The Morning Call, Yonally’s son, Jack, said that while he was growing up, his father was the important military man in the family and his mother was ”just mom”. How typical of women from that time.
When you think about the self-absorbed, self-promotional culture that surrounds us now, it’s hard to imagine someone who had performed such dangerous, heroic work, not telling everyone who would listen what they were doing. Today, they’d have a reality TV show and a book deal.
I remember my mother recounting tales of friends who went to work in factories, Rosie the Riveters , doing heavy dangerous work. And how even women who remained in more traditional roles, did “something”, rolled bandages, wrote letters, volunteered at the USO, because the country needed everyone to pull together.
I hope before they’re all gone, our parents and grandparents know how grateful we are for their service and sacrifice and that they will always be recognized as our “Greatest Generation”.
The Women of the Greatest Generation: WASPS Honored
What a relief to read the story about the Women Air Service Pilots of World War II being honored in Washington with Congressional Gold Medals: Long overdue, but better late than never. After the insanity and betrayal of the past 24 hours involving “Jihad Jane”, the lives well lived of Lillian Yonally, and her fellow pilots, was refreshing and inspiring.
What I found particularly moving about the story was that she never mentioned her wartime service to her family. According to a story in The Morning Call, Yonally’s son, Jack, said that while he was growing up, his father was the important military man in the family and his mother was ”just mom”. How typical of women from that time.
When you think about the self-absorbed, self-promotional culture that surrounds us now, it’s hard to imagine someone who had performed such dangerous, heroic work, not telling everyone who would listen what they were doing. Today, they’d have a reality TV show and a book deal.
I remember my mother recounting tales of friends who went to work in factories, Rosie the Riveters , doing heavy dangerous work. And how even women who remained in more traditional roles, did “something”, rolled bandages, wrote letters, volunteered at the USO, because the country needed everyone to pull together.
I hope before they’re all gone, our parents and grandparents know how grateful we are for their service and sacrifice and that they will always be recognized as our “Greatest Generation”.
The Women of the Greatest Generation: WASPS Honored
What a relief to read the story about the Women Air Service Pilots of World War II being honored in Washington with Congressional Gold Medals: Long overdue, but better late than never. After the insanity and betrayal of the past 24 hours involving “Jihad Jane”, the lives well lived of Lillian Yonally, and her fellow pilots, was refreshing and inspiring.
What I found particularly moving about the story was that she never mentioned her wartime service to her family. According to a story in The Morning Call, Yonally’s son, Jack, said that while he was growing up, his father was the important military man in the family and his mother was ”just mom”. How typical of women from that time.
When you think about the self-absorbed, self-promotional culture that surrounds us now, it’s hard to imagine someone who had performed such dangerous, heroic work, not telling everyone who would listen what they were doing. Today, they’d have a reality TV show and a book deal.
I remember my mother recounting tales of friends who went to work in factories, Rosie the Riveters , doing heavy dangerous work. And how even women who remained in more traditional roles, did “something”, rolled bandages, wrote letters, volunteered at the USO, because the country needed everyone to pull together.
I hope before they’re all gone, our parents and grandparents know how grateful we are for their service and sacrifice and that they will always be recognized as our “Greatest Generation”.
The Women of the Greatest Generation: WASPS Honored
What a relief to read the story about the Women Air Service Pilots of World War II being honored in Washington with Congressional Gold Medals: Long overdue, but better late than never. After the insanity and betrayal of the past 24 hours involving “Jihad Jane”, the lives well lived of Lillian Yonally, and her fellow pilots, was refreshing and inspiring.
What I found particularly moving about the story was that she never mentioned her wartime service to her family. According to a story in The Morning Call, Yonally’s son, Jack, said that while he was growing up, his father was the important military man in the family and his mother was ”just mom”. How typical of women from that time.
When you think about the self-absorbed, self-promotional culture that surrounds us now, it’s hard to imagine someone who had performed such dangerous, heroic work, not telling everyone who would listen what they were doing. Today, they’d have a reality TV show and a book deal.
I remember my mother recounting tales of friends who went to work in factories, Rosie the Riveters , doing heavy dangerous work. And how even women who remained in more traditional roles, did “something”, rolled bandages, wrote letters, volunteered at the USO, because the country needed everyone to pull together.
I hope before they’re all gone, our parents and grandparents know how grateful we are for their service and sacrifice and that they will always be recognized as our “Greatest Generation”.
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You Couldn’t Make This Up: Jihad Jane…in Pennsburg
All writers have vivid imaginations, even us non-fiction types have the ability to spin a pretty good yarn, it’s part of the job. But the most intricate Tom Clancy or Stephen King plot might sound implausible if it revolved around a middle-aged American woman in a small, rural Pennsylvania town, who turned into an international jihadist, stealing passports and planning to do murder in Sweden.
No one gets a book advance for this story…you can read it for free at mcall.com and in The Morning Call. At almost every paragraph I found myself saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me” or “This can’t be true”. According to the story, Colleen LaRose, “used e-mail, YouTube videos, phony travel documents and a burning desire to kill ”or die trying, to help recruit a network for suicide attacks and other terrorist strikes in Europe and Asia, based on a federal grand jury indictment filed Tuesday.”
Whether this woman was acting out some desperate need for attention, suffering from mental illness, or just devoid of any sense of self-worth not to mention patriotism, we should all be grateful to her for the service she has rendered. If you thought the enemy lived thousands of miles away and would be easy to profile, think again. It is only a matter of time until someone, who we would never suspect, blows themselves up on an American bus or train, or in a shopping mall.
The threat of terrorism is real, it is among us, and we must never let down our guard.
Oh, I almost forgot: I want to wish Colleen LaRose, Happy Women’s History Month. The theme for 2010 is “Writing Women Back in to History”…Ms. LaRose, if you are guilty of these charges, you certainly will have found your place in history…as a traitor.
ACLU Comes to Allentown
One of my favorite “veg out” movies is "American President". Michael Douglas is President Andrew Shepherd, the leader of the free world, who has lost his ideals in the political morass that is Washington. He’s under pressure from a conservative challenger in the upcoming election, and when the Pres finally regains his bearings, he delivers a rousing speech to the White House press corps about American values. Within that speech he admits to being a card carrying member of the ACLU and asks his opponent, “And why aren’t you?”. Going on to say, “The ACLU is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a senator, his party’s most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?
As of last week, it looks like the Constitution will now have a full time defense in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The ACLU has opened an office here that will specialize in immigrant rights and issues. The story in the March 6, edition of "The Morning Call" quoted community leaders and activists as being very supportive. But when you read that story on the paper’s website, you find over 47 comments posted, almost all of which are filled with an astounding amount of bigotry, hatred and bias.
I probably disagree with the cases the ACLU takes on as much as I agree with them. But It is exactly the people in the Call’s comments section and their narrow view of the world, that makes me grateful I live in a country where an organization like the ACLU has the freedom to exist.
“And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me”. Pastor Martin Niemöller Germany, 1946
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