Pirates of Penzance - This Weekend - NHS

Received a note and was asked to alert readers that the Nazareth Area HS Theatre Troupe's performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" opened last week and there is one more weekend of shows.

According the note (some editing for space):

Opening weekend was a big success. The buzz around town is that it is one of the best shows ever done at the high school, and the cast, orchestra and crew have worked very hard to make it a great show.

This is the final weekend to see "Pirates". Performances are Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, April 26th at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students.

Also, there is a dinner theater on Saturday the 25th which starts at 6:00 PM followed by the show. Tickets for the dinner theater are $35.

To reserve tickets call: 610-746-9002.

Godspell at Insomniak Theatre

The Morning Call's Go Guide listed that Insomniak Theatre on Main Street will be performing Godspell. Information according to the paper on the show:

Godspell: Musical adaptation of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. 8 p.m. Through Sat. $15; $12, students, seniors on Thursday; $18; $15, students, seniors, Fri., Sat. Insomniak Theatre Company, 60 S. Main St., Nazareth. 610-759-7000.

Unexpected Landing

A hot air balloon set down in the vicinity of South Whitefield and South Streets on Sunday evening at about 6:30 p.m.

We'd seen the balloon earlier over the center of town and it appeared to be heading north and at that time was reasonably high.

Twenty minutes later we noticed it had returned and was much lower. So low in fact that we could see the people in the gondola. They didn't seem concerned as they looked down and waved to people.

We watched as it drifted over the house (to the left is the corner of our gazebo in the foreground).

We wondered as the people in it seemed unconcerned, how low they could legally fly. As it approached you had to wonder where they were heading. You could hear the flame trying to get it to rise but to no end.

As it passed over the house a chase vehicle pulled up on New Street and then shot the wrong way up Park Street to Whitefield. Moments later it was down.

While the journalist in me wanted to go see, and the kids did as well, I'd just finished grilling and decided to have my steak while it was hot (the downfall of citizen journalism I guess).

I never heard the siren go off nor did we hear any emergency vehicle sirens so I'm hoping everyone was okay.

Hottest Pumpkin Patch Visit on Record

It didn't feel right going to the pumpkin patch in shorts, tee-shirts, and 80+ degree weather, but it was October and the kids wanted to go so late Sunday morning we set off to Faust Family Produce on 191.

While we waited for the tractor to come back from the patch, we looked at and picked some mums out, then checked out the produce inside - corn, tomatoes, onions, and a host of others and took some pictures of the kids as witches and ghosts at the cut out areas they had.



Then we loaded into the wagon and sat on hay bails for the ride to the patch. Like everywhere the ground was dry and as we arrived it was a bit different because frost hadn't killed anything yet. That not-withstanding, there were a ton of pumpkins to choose from. Our youngest daughter opted to pick one's furthest from the tractor and our oldest picked the biggest one she could find (well, that we'd let her have).

On the ride back we were visited by the headless horseperson, though it just didn't seem as spooky in the hot sun.

We weighed-in the pumpkins, picked some gourds, and loaded up the car. Not quite a fall day in the fields at harvest time that we are used to, but a very enjoyable late Sunday morning.

Kramer Textile Featured in Express-Times

The Express-Times has a nice article about Kramer Textile (read it here and a corporate snapshot here) today.

The article speaks of how Kramer has reinvented itself, overcome Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and now celebrates its 100th year of ownership by the Schmidt family.

American Cancer Society Basket Benefit

I was asked to post an invitation to "Celebrate a Summer of Hope and To stimulate a better quality of life with the Longaberger Company. The invitation is to a benefit breakfast on Saturday, September 15, 2007 at the Green Pond Country Club from 8:15 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.

The event will include educational insights on Breast Cancer Awareness, a Longaberger fashion show, a Longaberger weaver will create heirloom treasures, and you can win door prizes (including the baskets woven at the event), enjoy special displays and drawings while raising money for the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Research Race for A Cure.

There are a variety of ordering options from a base ticket $25.00 to tickets plus Horizon of Hope Baskets, pink mugs, and rosebud lids.

For more information contact Susan Bostian 610.837.8883 or susanbostian at verizon.net

Country Interiors now The Missing Piece

The Morning Call has an article on The Missing Piece, formerly Country Interiors located just outside of Nazareth in Bushkill (read the article here).

It is a nice article not only about the store and what is for sale in it, but about the owner and her dream of owning a shop of her own after managing them for others.

Best wishes to the Sampson's for a successful first year!

Sidebar Updates

Want to thank the Upper Nazareth Clippers Association for getting in touch and forwarding the link to their website which is now in the left sidebar.

Also would like to remind groups and organizations to send along announcements and results from your events, activities, and competitions. Even a short blurb with a link to more info on your own site would be appreciated - and it is free!

The other sidebar update is that I've removed the skatepark blog. As it turns out this venture lasted about a day. The person who posted it informed me that a comment made very early on led him to believe it couldn't be discussed objectively and as opposed to monitoring comments or being personally attacked it was easier to delete the site.

If you have a blog based in the Nazareth area or about something in Nazareth, let me know and I'll add it to the site.

Time Out for Mom

Carole Rivardo (recently featured in the Express-Times - read it here), who is the coordinator of Time out for Mom asked that I post the following:

“Time Out For Mom” is a woman’s group that meets to provide friendship, guidance and support to mothers with children of all ages. Current members of the group include woman with children ranging in age from newborn to high school, stay-at-home moms as well as working women. All women within the local communities are invited to join the group.

Our weekly morning meetings are held every Wednesday morning during the school year from 9:30 am to 11:00 am in the Wortmann Center at Holy Family Parish, Nazareth. Meetings are very informal and casual and are scheduled to include refreshments, open discussions among the group; various speakers from local businesses and groups; activities such as cardio-vascular walks and ceramic classes. We also venture out for breakfast and lunch at local restaurants.

For those mothers with young children, childcare is provided during our morning meetings in the new church basement. A supervised playgroup is provided for the children along with planned activities such as coloring, crafts, storytime, snacks and holiday parties.

Our evening social gatherings are scheduled to allow everyone a "night out", especially for those members who cannot join our morning meetings. Events include dinner at various restaurants, game night (Bonco), theme parties, movies, couple get-togethers, demonstration parties, bowling, and much more.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 12, 2007. For additional information, please contact the Holy Family Parish office at (610) 759-0870.

Some Web Redesigns and a New Blog

Want to alert everyone to an update I should have made a few weeks back - the Library refreshed its web site and as a result the link I had in the sidebar was broken. It is now fixed.

The Library now joins this site, NOC, the Borough, and the Chamber of Commerce who have all refreshed the look and feel of their web sites this year.

I know what an undertaking a web site design or redesign can be and there are many pitfalls. What do you think of the redesigns? Of course I'm sure like me each group is proud of their new online space.

For NOC, I like the portlets in the sidebar where I can plug in weather, recent comments from all the NOC sites, feeds, past articles, in essence I've tried to put everything at a readers fingertips. The search (it is powered by Google) is surprisingly good and I've been using it more than the back-end search when seeking old posts. Look and design is often in the eyes of the beholder, hope I most people find it to be at least tolerable.

The Library most recently changed and their site now has a basic three column format with base contact and hour information on the left, six sections in button form in the middle, and a list on the right of places people might want to visit on the site. It does not have traditional web site tabs across the top or down the left column as many sites do.

For me the most useful pieces, the hours on the left sidebar (I always forget when the library is open), the online catalog where you can search from home and put a hold on a book, and the user account which shows the books you have checked out, on hold, and a history (mine goes back to November 2005).

The Chamber updated the look and feel of the site and implemented some advertising at the bottom and maybe it was a case where I was more acclimated to the old navigation, but I seem to struggle more to find things on the new site. The two things I'd most be interested about when visiting this site are events and members (ie local businesses by type or name). There is no calendar on the home page and when you click on calendar there is static content and links to: Chamber Events (click on this and you are asked to join the chamber), Community Calendar (this is where you want to go but it displays one week at a time and is mostly empty), Sports Calendar (this gives you a welcome to Nazareth message), Things to Do (same message as Sports), and All Events (again the welcome message). My guess is this was a purchased design and in the absence of having custom content in each place some stock copy was dropped in, but it does make navigation and usability a bit frustrating. Again the look and feel is good and needed to be updated.

The Borough also needed an update both in the look and feel as well as the content. Moreover, internal staff needed to be able to make site changes as announcements needed to be made. The look and feel is better and content seems to be updated, though the current practice, for example, of posting meeting minutes and agendas in the page in a never ending stream will soon result in some unmanageably long pages. Uploaded PDF's or a new page for each meeting would be much easier for users. All in all a good job and much needed.

Finally, as some of you may have seen in the comments, an area resident has started a new blog about the Skate Park. While this has been a hot topic, I'm not sure if there is enough for an ongoing blog, but the Borough Park including the Skate Park would be an excellent topic for a blog. Given all the activity there people could learn through posts and see through pictures what is offered from concerts to movies to play areas to events to basketball, tennis, and yes skateboarding. Best wishes on this new venture.

Have you used or visited any of these sites before and/or after the changes? What do you think?

Back from Vacation

Was probably a bit obvious to regular readers that there wasn't much new this week on the site. I had every intention of posting each morning from vacation, but technology got in the way (the wireless card in my age old lap top refused to co-operate with the wi-fi at our lodgings), and we had too nice a time to worry about it!

While we had a wonderful vacation at the Jersey Shore, our dog Nittany survived our absence (she doesn't like any of us being gone and therefore requires someone to stay at the house with her overnight - what we do for our pets - or ask family to do in this case), and tonight I spent over two hours at the workshop meeting, which most wouldn't consider a pleasure, but if you were there you at least had your eyes opened.

In going through some email upon our return, it didn't appear that I missed too much, but Rich Strucke was kind enough to forward a link to a video documentary of the opening of the Skate Park which you can watch here.

I received a link to an article in the Express-Times regarding school building projects, particularly in the central PA region, which has some possible relevance to the Nazareth Middle School building (except the current MS is not 50 years old, it is less than ten years old, read the article to learn why this may be important).

I also got an email from Nazareth resident Deb Miller, whose artwork will be premiered on Sunday, September 2 at The Standard on the Circle in Easton, from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. The Series combines her work with Amanda Melhem and begins on that date with Sweetness & Light~ a figure show. Their work will be renewed on the first Sunday of every month. October's show will be Flow-rals, a collection of floral interpretations, November's show will feature Land & Seascapes and the final show of the Series will be a benefit show featuring a collage of their combined works.

And finally, I got a note from a 'grande dame' of Nazareth residents whom I've not seen in a while, but who has been keeping up with the newspapers and continues to read posts on this site. She sent the note following JD Malone's article about this blog/site on Sunday in which she congratulated, thanked, and encouraged me to continue. If I have half the respect (earned), influence, knowledge, and insight she has when my children are grown and grandchildren thrive here in Nazareth, I'll have been blessed. Thanks to Evelyn Huth for her kind words (I look forward to seeing you again soon at Council meetings)!

Hope everyone has had a few days away to relax and recharge the batteries (or is about to) as September is right around the corner...


Couldn't resist including this photo that I took this morning while the girls and I were on the beach one last time looking for shells and stones (a diversion to give Jill peace of mind to pack our bags and have one last quiet moment before returning home). It was Discovery Channel at fifteen feet, not as awing as the stream of dolphins we spotted on Monday night, but as up close and personal as you could expect to get with two children witnessing 'nature's cycle'.

Express-Times version of Nazareth Day?

The Express-Times had numerous articles about and relating to the Nazareth area today. From pharmacies closing to the Lenape Indians to wrestling coaches to downtown development and then to the world wide web, there was plenty to read about our community.

From the web was an article on two blogs whose authors are both borough residents, Bernie O'Hare and myself.

To JD Malone and the Express-Times, I have to begin by thanking them for the article and recognition that comes with it (read the article here).

The article spoke to the fact that two years ago there were no blogs in the Valley and now there are thirty or more with two prime examples being Lehigh Valley Ramblings and NewsOverCoffee, both originated from the borough of Nazareth and each taking decidedly different approaches.

I had a ranging conversation with JD Malone on Friday afternoon. Over about two hours we spoke about everything related to the site from the conceptual to the concrete minutiae. From that he had to edit, and anyone that knows me, knows I can talk, so he had his work cut out for him.

One aspect that he couldn't really get into is the discussion regarding blogs in general. I personally don't like people referring to the site as a blog, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't fight it and explaining I have a "hyper-local community web site" is a mouthful. The reason for my displeasure is the notion that blogs are simply vanity sites written by a person about the person for the person's personal pleasure/adoration. Malone references this in the article, but I'd like to take a moment or two to discuss it in more depth.

A blog is really nothing more than an online publishing tool that allows one to have a web site without significant coding or programming. The first blogs appeared in 1997 (according to CNET News) and overtime came to meet a roughly agreed upon definition (a history of blogs is available here from Wikipedia). This past January, Placeblogger.com launched. The site is about a specific type of blog, one that I can relate NewsOverCoffee to. The site notes:

Placeblogs are sometimes called "hyperlocal sites" because some of them focus on news events and items that cover a particular neighborhood in great detail -- and in particular, places that might be too physically small or sparsely populated to attract much traditional media coverage. Because of this, many people have associated them with the term "citizen journalism," or journalism done by non-journalists.

Placeblogs, however, are about something broader than news alone. They're about the lived experience of a place.

One of the founders of Placeblogger is Lisa Williams who is known for her site H20town about Watertown, MA. While trying to find my place in cyber-space last fall, I corresponded with Williams and found her referencing Tim Lindgren as the originator of the term placeblog. I then tracked Tim down. He is a professor at Boston College, and he explained to me that he used the term in an academic paper, but that he got it from the Ecotone Bloggers. This group used the term as it related to personal essay about a place, not civic or political writing that one would find more toward the journalistic side of the writing spectrum. This took place between 2003 and 2005 if my notes are trustworthy.

In 2005, as Malone notes, I tried to start my site and derive its content from local groups and organizations. In short, they didn't get it. In hindsight, I probably didn't articulate well enough why aggregating content was important for both the groups and the people of the community, but it did get me to re-evaluate what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.

I relaunched in March of 2006 and was helped along by a series of controversial community issues that spread word of the site. First was the new government center plan, then the teachers' possible strike, the new MS, the school district budget/tax hike, and the skate park.

Throughout the focus has been on the place, Nazareth, and as such a bona-fide placeblog has been formed.

In contrast, Bernie's site is about place (Northampton County plus Nazareth where he lives), but more about politics and government. County level politics is often overlooked/ignored and his site fills a void by providing valuable information.

The two sites are also very different in respect to the discourse as Malone also notes.

From the beginning, I've been concerned about the comments devolving into flaming that occurs on many forums and ultimately ruins the site. At first it was fairly easy to manage because the readership was small and the people bought in to what I was trying to accomplish. There were many instances when a reader would call foul in the comments when someone attacked the person instead of the argument being made. Over time, however, as the site grew and certain topics became a passion for some readers it was harder to manage. At the same time (this past spring) a movement was taking place in regard to civil standards online (read about it here). I followed it closely and decided that I could have a set of standards based on the online discussion and modified to meet my needs (read them here) and to add teeth to them, require registration of comments, but still provide for anonymity.

It affected a small but important group of people, those who chose to comment. The people that comment are often considered 'the voice of the community', and it is sometimes forgotten that they simply reflect their own opinion, as do I on occasion. In the summer the readership is between 300 and 400 readers daily, while during the school year it is between 400 and 500. When you consider 30 comments on a post, there are probably about seven to ten people expressing an opinion or adding insight. This is a small percentage of readers, but again important, because you want the conversation, but I also wanted that conversation to be constructive and beneficial or the readers will stop reading.

It was a tough call and I struggled with exactly how to do it. In the end some disagreed with my approach, but from a management and responsibility standpoint, I thought then and remain convinced it was the right thing to do.

In the end, the blog system allows each and everyone of us to publish content. We each do some things the same and we do some things differently. There is good and bad that must be weighed based on what we want out of the site, but the options and possibilities available as a result of the tool yield a great benefit to the community.

Again my thanks to JD Malone, the Express-Times, Bernie O'Hare, all the other bloggers in the Valley and elsewhere, and mostly to the people who send me ideas for topics, read, comment, and tell their friends about NewsOverCoffee. It has been a tremendous experience and I've very much enjoyed communicating online in public, by email, and in person with so many people.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't express my thanks to Brad Moulton who found the site and offered to forward his notes from School Board Meetings. I think it was three months or more before we actually met face-to-face. His contributions have been invaluable and I'd encourage anyone who regularly attends meetings to forward your notes to share with everyone else. I can attribute them to you or post them anonymously, it is your decision. And don't forget, if you're reading, let me know what and if it was any good, I'll add it to the book club section (thanks also to the Library's Lynn Snodgrass-Pilla for her book reviews).

Thanks Again!

Hardly "Frustrated", Residents See Potential of Downtown

As a Board Member of the newly formed, Nazareth Downtown Association, I very much appreciated the coverage the Express-Times gave to the organization and the challenges it faces in an article that appeared today (read it here), but I take exception to the use of the subheading, "Frustrated residents taking the initiative".

What I've found over the past year plus is that this group has planned and transitioned from a group of volunteers to a functioning organization. This was done by individuals who are mostly interested in making the most of what we have available to us in the downtown area.

A part of that is helping existing businesses get the resources they need to be successful another part is helping to attract new business and of course we want to tell people all about it.

The state program available through the PA Downtown Center is designed to help communities help themselves, and that more than anything is what I see taking place.

If you'd like to help, get involved, or learn more, feel free to contact me or the group.

Enforcing Pedestrian Safety in Bethlehem, Nazareth Next?

According to the Morning Call the City of Bethlehem announced a crack-down on vehicles that don't properly yield for pedestrians and immediately following the announcement went out and started citing violators (read the article here).

I've often advocated for pedestrian safety measures both on this site and at Council meetings.

The signs at the Circle were a good start and I was pleased that the Borough included information in its last Newsletter in the Police Perspective section, copied below, about pedestrian crossing.

More measures need to be taken, though. I find it amazing that when crossing streets in the borough with children at my side, cars dash around us as soon as they think they have enough room to pass. Many don't give pedestrians a chance to walk across even after two or three vehicles from the same direction have gone through while a person waits on the corner. And I've witnessed several vehicles go right through an intersection with a crossing guard in the middle holding the stop sign up in the air during the school year.

Beyond any niceties or consideration, it is simply a dangerous situation when cars drive through intersections that pedestrians are in.

Creating an environment that encourages people to walk in town is good for the businesses and good for the people walking.

How do you create this environment?

People both walking and driving need to understand the law, they need to be courteous, the Borough needs to reinforce the law with clearly identifiable crosswalks (ie repainted in many cases) and signage when necessary, and finally enforcement of these laws needs to take place (as it is now happening in Bethlehem).

Consideration of the places people most often walk to or around would be a good starting point. We have some significant challenges in this regard. I've seen people trying to walk to Giant and it is very difficult to get from town across 248/191 to these stores. In the opposite direction, people should be able to easily walk to the Borough Park and this is not so easy either from Upper Nazareth where you have to cross the Broad Street Extension or from the north end of town to the gated access road to the Park. Then there are the intersections in town itself. Broad and Center is very difficult to cross because of the number of people turning from Center southbound onto Broad. Both Broad and Main at Belvidere are a challenge as is Center at New where many, including myself must cross to get to the Library. Most times people coming from the north into town making the right on Center don't even yield let alone stop. Crossing E. Walnut/Tatamy Road from Broad to Victory Lane is also a challenge. Each of our schools should have a safe walking route for children. Borough children, despite the MS being in Upper Nazareth Township are required to walk to a single point and are then bused from the HS to the MS (a topic for another day).

While the new Police Chief will have to create a list of priorities and address them on a need basis, the Borough can be planning and creating an overall strategy to implement, and I hope they do for all our sakes.

From the Police Perspective:

In these hustle and bustle times, everyone is in a hurry to get to their destination while multi-tasking along the way when they should be taking their time and slow down enough to enjoy the pleasant surroundings of this great town in which we live. Many hazards await the unsuspecting motorists who travel our streets, therefore it is very important that drivers should be aware of everything around them. As most of you are aware, there are now "Pedestrian Crossing" signs that have been placed around the Circle but it seems as though not everyone is sure of what they mean.

Section 3542 of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code states the following:
(a) General Rule:
When the traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
(b) Exercise of care by pedestrian:
No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to consitute a hazard. Fines for violating the section above are $100.00 but more importantly, the safety of our citizens should overshadow all. In layman's terms, both drivers and pedestrians alike need to be aware of each other and learn to co-exist.

As everyone is quite aware, Nazareth has its fair share of dangerous intersections within its borders. That in itself is ample reason for all drivers to exercise caution when negotiating our streets. I encourage everyone, drivers and pedestrians both, to do their part to make 2007 a safer year for us all!

Make A Wish Fundraiser this Weekend

As reported here a month ago (read the post) and in the Express-Times today (read it here), a local teen will be having a book sale this weekend to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

She has been collecting books from early June through mid July and will have the sale on July 27 & 28.

The drop off and sale are at the family's home at 143 1st Street (off Friedenstahl Road between the HS and MS).

All proceeds will benefit the Make A Wish Foundation.

According to the article the books have taken over the family garage and are encroaching on other parts of the house. Her father, Mike made two comments, one that he's been able to read some classics (How 'bout some reviews for the book club, Mike?) and two that he really wants his garage back (given the little space us dad's get around the house, I'm sure many of us can sympathize).

This weekend try to stop by the sale to help Mike reclaim his garage while donating money to a great a cause. Talk about win-win-win situation.

2000 Descend on Wal Mart to See Billy Ray Cyrus

JD Malone of the Express-Times reports (read the article here) that 2000 people showed up at the Wal Mart in Lower Nazareth Township to see Billy Ray Cyrus who was there promoting his new CD release.

Billy Ray Day!

Today is Billy Ray Cyrus' appearance at the Wal Mart in Lower Nazareth Township.

The country singer turned tv star is promoting his new album and will be in the store beginning at 6:00 p.m. according to a report in the Morning Call (read it here).

5th Annual St. John's UCC - Nazareth Golf Tournament.

Annual St. John's UCC - Nazareth Golf Tournament. Net Proceeds to Benefit the Parish Health Services Program.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2007 at the Whitetail Golf Club in Bath. Tee time is 1:00 PM. This is a 4-person scramble. The cost is $80 / golfer. The cost includes greens fee, cart, range balls, a HOT buffet dinner, and prizes.

Registration deadline is Monday, August 27.

Tee / green sponsors are also needed. Please contact Chad Remaly at 610-759-4345 for registration information.

The Parish Health Services Program of St. John’s UCC, Nazareth improves the wholistic health of the people in and around St. John’s and the Nazareth area through three services:

Health Advocacy Services including:

• explaining medications
• explaining medical procedures
• arranging in-home and institutional care services
• discussing allowable services of various health insurance programs
• discussing alternate living situations

Health Education Services are provided to groups. In the past year seminars and classes were presented about:

• nutrition
• exercise
• allergies
• Medicare Part D benefits
• weight loss
• Veteran’s benefits
  

Health Information and Referral Services including our Health and Wholeness Fair held as part of the Nazareth Days in the Borough Park. In the past six years, in cooperation with area hospitals and physicians, we have provided free health screenings for stroke and hypertension, cholesterol, and osteoporosis along with information on a variety of health related issues.

Tournament Sponsored by COORDINATED HEALTH

Thanks to the reader who forwarded this information to me!

To Post, or Not to Post?

Age old questions must be good ones, because they always seem to come back to us in varying forms.

To be, or not to be; to post or not to post?

For those who did read over the weekend, and many seem to simply enjoy getting away from the computer (as I have to admit I pretty much checked out this past weekend in favor of great weather), they are aware that I've been accused of bias against the skateboarders based on my coverage and writing.

After attempting to address these accusations in comments last night and again this morning, I conducted my morning search of articles and found but one, by JD Malone of the Express-Times, titled "Skateboarders on thin ice with some."

Hmmm. To Post, or Not to Post?

Seems to me based on the responses I received from one individual, I can't win no matter what I do or don't do. So that tells me to go ahead, but again, will it look like I'm putting it in someone's face if I run with this? It could.

I've got no childhood mentor's skull to speak with (Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well Horatio, a man of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy, he hath bore me on his back a thousand times - or something like that, I'm sure senior English with Mr. Newman is flooding back to everyone now as it is for me), but I've still got guidance in terms of what I wanted with this site. The point was to share information and give people an opportunity to report on events and activities as well as myself. There is original content and there is reporting on the reporting. Of course there are also comments about all of it.

There were some complaints that I didn't recently cover certain events. To anyone, regardless of the event or activity, if you'd like information posted, email it to me and if it relates to Nazareth I'll post it. If you want to regularly contribute, I'll give you an invite and like Brad you can post whenever you want.

There was also a complaint about my not having a certain event on the community calendar. This calendar is open to all. Anyone can post an event (you do have to have a yahoo! account) and then join the newsovercoffee group. Once your event is created, send the event to the group, and it will be included.

At the end of the day, I wanted a site that allowed people to do things for themself instead of relying on me to do all the work. I had hoped it would grow into a community of contributors. It hasn't gotten that far yet, with most people reading and some sending me ideas or posts on occassion. I appreciate that input as it is helpful. I think as people become even more comfortable with the technology and less fearful of their posts being criticized/flamed, more will join in and provide information about their service organizations events, plans, meetings, etc.

I'm very glad that the library has sent some book reviews my way and if anyone has read anything lately (say, Harry Potter?) don't hesitate to send me a review. I'd love to post as many book reviews as possible. I'm always looking for something else to read, which I guess brings me back to Will S. and his famous words.

I think regardless of the calls of bias, my integrity would be compromised if I let a couple people's comments stop me from making a post about a topic, so here it is, feel free to read JD Malone's article about the skateboarders (you can do so here), comment, and the next time you have a story, been to an event, or read a book, don't forget to write it up and send it along to me.
Have a great week!

Nazareth Day Saturday

Seemed like even more people than normal turned out for Nazareth Day at the Borough Park on Saturday, possibly a result of the good weather.

We had a nice time looking at the crafts and hearing music from the gazebo. The kids loved the K-9 rescue stand, especially the St. Bernard, they got free tatoos from Homestead Kennels, and had a light lunch from the refreshment stand. While they ate we listened to the Community Band in the now roofed stage. Some free popcorn afterward was a hit with our younger daughter.

After a few hours time we strolled back toward the entrance.



All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning. We saw more than a few familiar faces and caught with some people we hadn't seen in a while.

Hope everyone had a great time as well.