Back in the 70s when I was working for Channel Home Center in Harrisburg one of my co-workers was Glenn.Glenn was a family man, with a wife and two kids, and he was working his way into Channel’s management track. He was a few years older than I was, which would have made him early … Continue reading Tales of Amnesia
Autobiography
Mark Reed
Mark Reed was apparently quite a character.He was my great uncle on my mother’s side, my grandmother Tillie (Reed) Zellers’ brother. View fullsize Philadelphia City Hall And here’s the thing. I don’t know if I remember him or not, as he died when I was not quite three years old. They used to tell me … Continue reading Mark Reed
Put On Your Sunday Clothes
Junior year (1965-66) in high school, Maryann Shelhamer and I were pretty good friends, and after school Maryann and I often called one another. If I didn’t call her, she would often call me. View fullsize Put On Your Sunday Clothes In those days we had something called a telephone, a big black thing that … Continue reading Put On Your Sunday Clothes
My Conducting Debut
I attended school in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, for first and second grades as we were still living on my grandfather’s farm just outside the borough in those days. My recollection is hazy, but I seem to recall that the school held two major events each year, one in the fall and one in the spring (May … Continue reading My Conducting Debut
Paper Scissors Rock
View fullsize Sometime during my second year at Penn State, probably during spring term but I’m not really certain, I took a poetry writing course.“What’s that?” I hear you say. “Why did you take a poetry writing course? I thought you didn’t like poetry.”That’s true. I’m not particularly a fan of poetry, and I have … Continue reading Paper Scissors Rock
You’ll Drown
View fullsize As I was going through some old papers, I found this single sheet, apparently something I wrote when I was a high school senior, although I have absolutely no memory of it. My best guess is that it was written shortly after our senior class trip to Washington, D.C., as it references the … Continue reading You’ll Drown
When the Circus Came To Lebanon
View fullsize Back in the mid-1950s circuses were still a Big Thing, and none were bigger than the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which styled itself The Greatest Show On Earth. So it was a really big deal when it announced it was coming back to Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for the first time in … Continue reading When the Circus Came To Lebanon
An Ode To Richland
Most folks probably have a soft spot for the place where they were raised, so perhaps it’s not surprising that I consider Richland, Pennsylvania, circa 1960, to have been one of the great small towns for a kid to grow up in. View fullsize The Neptune Fire Hall and Movie Theatre With a population of … Continue reading An Ode To Richland
Guy Goodman Is Still a Good Man
It was 17 years later in November, 1994, and I had just moved into a condo in the Olde City (or Old City, I’ve seen it both ways) neighborhood of Philadelphia. My life had changed in so many ways; I was now working at what was still called the Defense Personnel Support Center deep in … Continue reading Guy Goodman Is Still a Good Man
Guy Goodman Was a Good Man
I’ve been wanting to write a post with this title for a long time, because Guy Goodman of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, deserves to have an article on the web that says nothing but good things about him. But I’ve been putting it off because I really don’t have that much to say. By which I mean, … Continue reading Guy Goodman Was a Good Man