Future of the Peace Corps

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 »

What’s a Style Manual?

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 »

New Business

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 »

Post-Peace Corps Prospects

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 »

Peace Corps Update

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 »

Pennsylvania Legislature

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 »

Thanks for the Memories, Elizabethtown

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 »

Pandemic

Well, as everyone knows by now, there’s a global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. The Peace Corps announced in March that it was recalling all of its volunteers worldwide. I checked at that point and was told that things could change, but that I should continue to plan for a June 2 departure. Then, on… Read More »

Hello

Hi, I’m Dan Robrish. I’m best known as the founder of The Elizabethtown Advocate, a weekly newspaper in central Pennsylvania. I started the paper in 2010 after more than 11 years working in the Philadelphia bureau of The Associated Press. In 2017, I sold the paper to a division of the LNP Media Group and… Read More »