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PROMOTING AWARENESS, ARTS, CULTURE AND EDUCATION IN NORTH-CENTRAL PA
Dateline: Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a.k.a. “Billtown.” Writer April Line has embarked on a mission to raise the profile of literature with Billtown Blue Lit. I recently caught up with April to talk about her progress with getting a reading series off the ground—and her dream of starting a writers’ retreat, scholarship fund, and online literary journal under...
James Washington is part of Williamsport’s history as the Hero of the Sawdust Wars of 1872. He stands out as a physically strong yet congenial man who was well liked and respected in the local community, showing no signs of the stressful, demeaning servitude that marked most of his young life. Born a slave...
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s effective tax rate for 2010 ………………………………………………. 13.9%The speaking fees income Romney characterized as “not very much” ……………………………………………………….. $374,327 President Obama’s reported effective federal tax rate on his 2010 family income……………………………………………… 26%Top tax rate for wages and salaries, which constitute most earnings for the vast majority of people………………….. 35%Romney family...
The theatrical performance of “Max & Ruby: Bunny Party” came to Williamsport. I freelance for Showcase on the Arts and Nightlife, and in covering the show I got to interview Rosemary Wells. I was beside myself. I hoped maybe some success juju would eke through the phone. I was eager to look inside the...
If the first-year gross anatomy students at Penn State Hershey medical school need spare body parts to study, they can visit the cloakroom of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. That’s where most of the legislators left their spines. On December 13 the House voted 124–69 to send an animal welfare bill back to committee,...
It’s hard to believe that it was almost 3 years ago that I somewhat naively agreed to become the new editor of The Williamsport Guardian and take on the task of bringing it back from the brink of extinction. The Guardian had not been published for over 4 months and the Board was meeting...
I am not a mall person. I avoid Lycoming Mall Drive in Muncy on Saturday and Sunday, so when my partner suggested dining at Fox’s Family Restaurant on a Saturday morning, I initially said, “No way!” But I’d recently been scandalized by having looked up the nutrition information for the breakfasts at Perkins, which...
State Rep. Rick Mirabito (D-Lycoming) is urging municipalities and nonprofit organizations planning to rehabilitate existing park and recreation facilities, develop trail projects, and close gaps in statewide greenways to apply for state grants. “Applications are now available for Community Conservation Partnerships Program grants, otherwise known as C2P2 grants,” Mirabito said. “In addition, the state...
This was the year that “fracking” became a household word. It wasn’t just that environmental concerns about the underground drilling process finally struck a mainstream chord—after three years of reporting and more than 125 stories. For the first time, independent scientific investigations linked the drilling technique with water pollution, and a variety of federal...
Yoga is trying to kill you. Didn’t you know? The New York Times Magazine said so in the January 15 article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” This has, rather amusingly, caused yogis everywhere to flip out. Since irony is the spice of life, and I’m a yogi too, I thought I would weigh...
You grew up, moved out, and started a family of your own. You visit when you can and keep in touch by talking on the phone and emailing pictures of grandchildren, and possibly great-grandchildren, on a regular basis. As your parents and grandparents grow older, though, they may require more help than they used...
I’ve heard people say that psychiatrists have a tendency to be crazy themselves, but I didn’t understand the full extent of this phenomenon until I saw A Dangerous Method. The “based on a true story” film follows Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as they build a friendship and debate the...
With the onset of an ever-increasing gas boom in our region, the weight of the impact is being considered by many of us with great concern over the future of our community as a whole. Living a stone’s throw from Rt. 664, I have had fi rsthand experience with the increased truck traffic and...
Successful people and successful organizations set goals and make plans to achieve them. A Comprehensive Plan is focused on the future, encouraging people to think about what kind of community we really want and attempting to define a shared vision in terms of goals and objectives. We know tomorrow will be dramatically different from...
The plaque just inside the front door of Penn College’s spectacular Madigan Library contains this message to former State Representative Brett Feese: “Your tenacity, skill and leadership provided the resources necessary for our dream to become a reality. We will be forever grateful.” Now that a jury has determined that Rep. Feese employed that...
Are the Occupy movements starting to drift toward the classrooms? On November 17, several Pennsylvania College of Technology students “occupied” outside the Academic Success Center on Third Street, protesting against high tuition and demanding education equity. Like members of the Occupy Movement in New York, the Penn College students want to demonstrate that the...
The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are polar opposites in their political commitments and policy goals. The former articulates a militantly right-wing ideology with particular emphasis on reducing the size of government social programs. The latter, while much newer and still inchoate insofar as specific proposals are concerned, certainly stands for more robust...
Zuccotti Park in Manhattan is named not for some obscure Italians revolutionary hero or an oddly shaped pasta, but for John Zuccotti, co-chair of the board of Brookfield Properties, the company that owns the land on which the park is situated. A former deputy mayor of New York City, he has an annual salary...
There’s a famous quote I’ve heard numerous times, sometimes attributed to 18th-century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, that goes something like this: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Recently, the nation has been captivated by an unbelievable tragedy that has been brought to light at...
The Executive Director of AIDS Resource in Williamsport, Kirsten Burkhart, is a national HIV Hero! Kirsten won the honor in a nationwide contest to identify the heroes who help victims fight HIV in their communities every day. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges including Grammy Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick, actor Wilson Cruz,...
The YWCA of Northcentral PA has had a long history within the Williamsport community of providing unique services to the area. Founded in 1893, the YWCA began as a community-minded organization and has continued to adapt to the needs of Lycoming County for over 100 years. Today the organization has grown and developed into...
On November 22, in Tunkhannock, Terry Engelder of Penn State University gave a PowerPoint presentation advocating forced pooling. Our regular contributor Ralph Kisberg presented the following counterpoint to Engelder’s presentation. On the surface, no pun intended, compulsory pooling flies against the instincts of most of us. My property, my rock, my gas, my consent...
Dear Editor: For the past three months I had the privilege of serving on the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission, which hosted five hearings across Pennsylvania to give citizens a voice on Marcellus Shale gas drilling. More than 400 citizens attended and dozens testified, eager to have their voices heard. Last week, the Commission released...
To all concerned citizens: As a Pennsylvania resident, business owner and employer of 75, I have very serious concerns about the pace of the development of Hydraulic Fracturing in Pennsylvania. As a property owner in Sullivan County, PA, I have firsthand knowledge of the Gas Industry and the high pressure tactics that the energy...
Ever since Steve Jobs died, I’ve been thinking about my heroes. Steve Jobs changed my life by thinking differently. In the mid 80s I walked into a computer shop with my fiancé. We were two kids in our early 20s who looked as if we didn’t have two dimes to rub together, so no...
Have you ever wondered whether you’re a cynic or a romantic? If so, I have an hour and a half quiz for you. It’s a new critically acclaimed film called Like Crazy. I always assumed I was a romantic, at least when it came to my taste in movies. My list of all-time favorite...
In part one of this interview, I focused on the artistic side of Williamsport Sun-Gazette Arts and Entertainment Editor Matt Parrish. The second part of my conversation with him focuses on other areas of interest in his professional and personal life. WG: How do you combine your writing with your art? How do they...
Where is Teddy Roosevelt?
Sagamore Hill. Most people have never heard of the place, but history buffs know it to be the home of Teddy Roosevelt on the north shore of Long Island, overlooking Oyster Bay. It was the place where Roosevelt, as President of the United States, greeted the “great white fleet,” which others criticized as America’s...
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