We are all living in extraordinarily difficult and dangerous times, kind of stumbling our way through this unprecedented and epic pandemic which in so many ways has turned our lives upside down. When facing challenges of this scale, Americans have typically risen to the occasion and come ...

If you drive around northeastern Pennsylvania, you’ll notice the ubiquitous presence of roadside signs marking a seemingly endless succession of boroughs and townships. Luzerne County alone has 76 municipal jurisdictions, including four cities. In the region’s industrial past, the ...

Every morning, as I pick up my newspaper, I always check the obituaries first. No, it’s not because of the old joke that I am checking to see if my name is there. Now that I am getting long in the tooth, I realize that my contemporaries are also aging. Like all of us, I check on my friends ...

This year we mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks on American soil. Most people know exactly where they were when they first learned of the attacks. I was at home, babysitting for my grandson. My husband was on the couch watching the “Today” show. He called me to come look at what ...

Dinner on the deck is our normal summertime evening – with friends as often as we can. When guests are on the agenda, I have to make lists to stay on track. Multi-tasking is multi-challenging these days. I can no longer wing it. Not only does the list help me plan all the big and little ...

In just a couple of weeks I will attend my class reunion. It is sixty years for us. How can that be possible? Those young people who were so eager to get on with their lives are now retired. They are grandparents and great-grandparents. We have just come through a pandemic with signs of ...