At the end of 2019, the Elizabethtown Area Chamber of Commerce was holding a holiday window decorating contest. I decided to enter with this: Some people got the reference right away, but a number of people were confused. I had to explain that it was a reference to a parody of “Jingle Bells” that goes… Read More »
I got an email message yesterday afternoon from the Peace Corps’ country desk officer for The Gambia, the country where I was selected to serve in. (It was sent yesterday, but I didn’t check my email until today.) “As we continue to learn more about the challenges posed by COVID-19, the Peace Corps has made… Read More »
President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday, Dec. 4, that vaccination against COVID-19 shouldn’t be mandatory. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/embed/p090k40m/55193939 I agree with him. I think the government should, however, create strong incentives for voluntary compliance. In the short term, the trouble is in getting enough vaccines manufactured and distributed so the people who want them can get them.… Read More »
As I write this, I’m tentatively scheduled to leave for Peace Corps training in Africa in June of 2021, a year later than originally planned because of COVID-19. But what will happen with the virus is anybody’s guess, so I won’t be surprised if there’s another delay or if the Peace Corps decides to reassign… Read More »
I mentioned in my post about my new editing business that I’d have to learn a new style manual. I began writing an explanation of what a style manual is for the benefit of folks unfamiliar with that, then realized it was getting long and it probably ought to be a separate post. A style… Read More »
I’m starting a business again. And I’m confident that it will go a lot more smoothly than the last time I did so, starting The Elizabethtown Advocate in 2010. As publisher of a weekly newspaper, I spent around $700 every week to print and distribute the paper. The cost of the office (rent, the electric… Read More »
One thing that many people have asked me about is what I plan to do after my Peace Corps service. (For those of you just tuning in, I was originally scheduled to go to The Gambia in West Africa in June of 2020; that’s been delayed until June of 2021 because of COVID-19.) Training in… Read More »
I just heard from the Peace Corps today. They’re now planning to have me depart for The Gambia to begin training in June of 2021 — one year after my departure was initially planned. They gave me the option of planning to leave then, or withdrawing my application with the option to reapply with an… Read More »
For years, I was registered to vote as a Republican. I saw myself as part of a tradition going back to national politicians I admire including Dwight Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Eventually, I left the party over the racism that party leaders were willing to tolerate, if not embrace. I never thought I’d… Read More »
It was more than 10 years ago that I showed up in Elizabethtown for the first time. I had been living in Philadelphia, where I’d worked for The Associated Press since 1998, mostly working night shifts to cover the news of Pennsylvania. But I’d reported for three small-town daily newspapers before that, so I knew… Read More »