Moral failure, strategic blunder

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Israelโ€™s war of revenge on Gaza is both a moral failure and a strategic blunder. Every war is a moral failure because of the immense suffering, destruction, and loss of life that accompanies armed conflicts. It leads to a tragic and undesirable outcome in human affairs. Article 51 of the U.N. Charter states that countries

I wonder whoโ€™s losing it now

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โ€œTo lower our voices would be a simple thing. In these difficult years [the 1960s], America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontent into hatred; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another

Why George Santosโ€™ lies are even worse than the usual political lies โ€“ a moral philosopher explains

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Michael Blake, University of Washington On Nov. 16, 2023, the bipartisan House Committee on Ethics issued a scathing report on the behavior of Rep. George Santos, finding that Santos had engaged in โ€œknowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act.โ€ That committeeโ€™s Republican chair later introduced a motion to expel Santos from Congress.

The New Generation of Starving Artists

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The Gettysburg Community Theatre (GCT) has been changing lives for nearly 15 years. As one of the premier centers for the arts in town, the theatre provides a space for actors of all ages to explore their talents and connect with peers who understand their love of performance. Chad-Alan Carr, the founding executive and artistic

Canโ€™t happen here โ€“ or can it?

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Is Trump a fascist? In his book โ€œThe Anatomy of Fascismโ€, Columbia University Professor Emeritus Robert Paxton defines fascism as โ€œa form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in

Send in the clowns; theyโ€™re already here

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โ€œI would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership in either the Legislative Branch

Itโ€™s our birthday โ€“ will you write us?

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Gettysburg Connection is celebrating its fifth birthday this month.  Happy Birthday to us! Itโ€™s been a wild ride, and I canโ€™t really believe weโ€™ve made it this far.  Weโ€™re making a difference in the community and bringing people from around the county together. We report hundreds of trustworthy local news stories and build community engagement;

Steckler for UASD Board

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Deb Steckler is running for Upper Adams School District School Director in November as a registered Republican, which she has been for years.ย  She will be listed as a Democrat on the ballot as a result of an anomaly in the Pennsylvania voting laws.ย  She is a long-time resident of Adams County and the Upper

Thoughts on Amber Alerts

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Central Virginia, 1981, I rode shotgun-once-removed. JD sat in the front passenger seat due to his status as the driverโ€™s roommate, I tucked in behind him for our three-hour trip. Scott drove us home for winter break. Scott, or Checks as we called him based on his propensity to bounce them, only stuck around that one year.

Insurrection, Donald Trump, and the 14th Amendment

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Two distinguished constitutional scholars affiliated with the Federalist Society published an article in the New York Times accusing former President Trump of insurrection on January 6, 2021.  These scholars cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which bars any individual from seeking public office if they participated in an insurrection against the

Thaddeus Stevens and the Christiana Resistanceย 

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On September 11, 1851, an organized group near the small town of Christiana, PA, successfully fended off an effort by a Maryland slave owner to capture freedom seekers, killing the slaver in the process. The event, known as the Christiana Resistance or Riot, sparked a political firestorm that drew in Thaddeus Stevens. The event had

Democrats’ worst nightmare

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On July 18, 2023, a centrist group called No Labels signaled that they will present a 3rd Party presidential candidate by March, 2024 if the main party choices are Donald Trump and Joe Biden.  This announcement set off alarm bells among Democrats.  Why?  Because this new Party may pave the way for a 2nd Trump

The U.S. immigration story you may not have heard about

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On May 11, Title 42, the U.S. provision restricting migrants wishing to come to the U.S. during the Covid-19 pandemic, endedย  Once this provision was lifted, many thought that the U.S.-Mexico border would be inundated with tens of thousands of asylum seekers. That was not the case.ย  Instead, there was a drastic reduction in people

Go See “The Sound of Freedom”

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“The Sound of Freedom,” now playing at Gettysburg’s R/C Gateway Theater 8,  is the story of Tim Ballard, a former government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. The plot centers around Ballard’s Operation Underground Railroad, though some commentators have questioned its accuracy. There are reasons people resist

Kid in a Blueberry Patch

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New to this area, I am like a โ€˜kid in a candy store,โ€™ discovering all the local foods, including yes, candy stores and bakeries. But as a registered dietitian, I am mindful to seek foods we should be eating generously, like fruits and vegetables. Adams and surrounding counties are very โ€˜fruitfulโ€™ this time of year.

The Edge of the Wood: Taking Inventory

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ve learned to talk nice to our lawn mower. My spouse tells me if I am friendly to the machine, it will work better, or at least longer. It makes sense, sort of. The thing is, Iโ€™m not a lawn-mowing kind of guy. Grass has been growing and dying and growing back for a very

The Edge of the Wood: Sky sponsored by Exxon

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Itโ€™s early morning in Rivendell, a smoke-cloaked fantasyland outside my back door. Hobbits and dwarfs sit with their morning coffee around kitchen tables in stone huts along pathways pressed by millions of footfalls through the forest on the far side of the glen. This close to July, the morning sun should have the air warmed

The Edge of the Wood: The first letter in STEM

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The trial is over in the case of Held v. The State of Montana. The lawyers have performed their roles on the judicial stage. Now we wait, a few weeks probably, several months possibly, for the lone critic to review the material and render a ruling. The question? Is Montana, one of three states in

The financial genius of the Union cause

Thad Stevens

When the Civil War started in 1861, the United States was in horrible financial shape. The country was $100 million in debt, its main source of income — duties on imported goods — was significantly reduced with the departure of southern states, its banking system differed from state to state, and the paper currency was

The Edge of the Wood: Youth seek future in court

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For the past several years, I have been among those predicting our youth would have to resolve the problems we oldsters have wrought upon our home. It turns out theyโ€™re already at it โ€“ and doing more than merely crying out, โ€œOK, Boomer!โ€ when they detect a problem. Monday, a group of young peopleโ€”ages from

The Inevitable

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The chipmunk that lived in the downspout behind my back porch died last week. Tommy murdered it. Does that sound hyperbolic?  Do cats commit murder? If he had any intention of eating it, I would say he killed it, but eating wasnโ€™t part of the plan. He offed it for sport. He dropped it on

The Edge of the Wood: Profits over science mark SCOTUS decision

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Wetlandsโ€” those swampy areas we sometimes encounter as we wander through our forests and other undeveloped acresโ€”may seem like wasted land, but they are hard at work reducing flood risk during heavy rain events and filtering to provide safe drinking water for plants and other critters, including us humans. In a classic case of โ€œhe

The Edge of the Wood: A dark and stormy night

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The day started the way a spring Dad-with-13-year-old motorcycling day should start: sunny but not too much heat. It was a post-Navy-retirement run from Norfolk, Virginia, where I had spent the previous eight years, to Maine, where I was raised. Night One was Locust Lake State Park, near Mahanoy City, PA. We filled out tummies

Stumbling blocks?

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Somebody once said there is no difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones aside from the way we use them.  Life has taught me that while one can put a stumbling block in my way, I am the one who decides whether I am going to use those stones to get ahead in life.  The older

The Edge of the Wood: 540 feet

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From my front yard, I watch the sun creep over the hill behind my shoulder, lighting the street in front of me, beginning from the far end and slowly illuminating the blackness before me like a Mother peeling the blanket from her childโ€™s sleepy head. I live at approximately 540 feet above sea level. Some

Thoughtfulness

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Itโ€™s easy to fall into the habit of simply mouthing the words to familiar Scripture verses, slogans,ย  or prayers such as The Lordโ€™s Prayer or The Serenity Prayer instead of carefully pondering the words.ย  When I really think about what Iโ€™m praying, I often find one special phrase jumps out, such as โ€œaccept the things

The Edge of the Wood: When the GPS isnโ€™t helping

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In an online video the other day, a fellow wanderer was making his way through an area with which I am fairly familiar. As I watched him follow his camera along the path, I noticed places I recognized, places I had, in my own wanderings, passed by. I was reminded of an experience several years

Supports Barlow for Liberty Township supervisor

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Politics, the drama is draining. We werenโ€™t getting involved. However, doing research and verifying facts, available on Liberty Township website and through Right to Know, of one candidateโ€™s statements we found them to be misleading, some simply false. More alarming is some of his followers are taking them at face value. Many people donโ€™t have

The Edge of the Wood: Road trip through my mind

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A recent car-shopping trip with a friend got me thinking about my history with motor vehicles. My first was an English Ford convertible. It was white and cost me $75, which, even in 1967, was not bad. I donโ€™t remember the year or model, but it was old. It had character, which meant some things

Come Dance with Me

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On Saturday night I had the best time I can remember in this little town. And believe me, my memories are many and varied. Thirty-three years ago, I made Gettysburg my home. As a single mom, I brought my two children to St. James church and discovered a place they could feel safe and we

Praise and thanksgiving

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โ€œWe can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.โ€œ  (Thorton Wilder)   I gaze out the window. The sun is shining after days of pounding rain.ย  I am grateful for days of gloom as our Mother Earth needed a long refreshing drink.ย  Yet I am very

Thoughts to ponder

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A number of you commented on my recent blog about detoxing our brains. ย  Here are some additional concepts and thoughts that may help you detox from negative self-directed messages.ย  Theyโ€™ve certainly got me thinking about the many ways I create problems for myself. โ€“What they say about me says a lot more about them

Worry

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ย ย โ€œItโ€™s not the answers you get but the questions you ask, thatโ€™s all important,โ€ my dad used to tell me. ย He was convinced that itโ€™s in framing our questions that we begin to define the various components making up an issue or problem. I thought of Dad this morning when I read one of the

Tucker Carlsonโ€™s departure and Fox Newsโ€™ expensive legal woes show the problem with faking โ€˜authenticityโ€™

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Jacob L. Nelson, University of Utah For decades, Fox News thrived because the people behind it understood what their audience wanted and were more than willing to deliver: television news โ€“ or what Fox called news โ€“ from a populist perspective. Fox is consistently the most-watched cable news channel, far ahead of competitors like MSNBC

Commitment

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As news cycle follows news cycle, I find special meaning in a line from The Little Prince.   “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret.  It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.  What is essential is invisible to the eye.โ€œ   Is that why we humans find working together so

Springtime symphony

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I can hear them tuning up. So can my spouse, whose cabin fever Iโ€™ll put up against any New Englander who thinks winter has been too darn long. My best friend, bless her, has impatiently awaited the assembly of the โ€œgarden corralโ€ in the parking lot of the nearby Wal-Mart. As the first concrete blocks

Events venue owner speaks out about zoning

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Two big concerns that have been expressed about Gettysburg Boroughโ€™s proposed draft event venue ordinance seem to be noise and parking. The current Borough ordinances have an entire section devoted to the regulation of noise. It covers a host of noise-producing activities and applies to all properties in the Borough. The Borough ordinances also contain

Grateful for gratitude

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With Spring in the air, ย it is becoming easier to focus on gratitude.ย  Spring in Adams County is something to behold! Gratitude, you see,ย  is good for my mental health.ย  Itโ€™s good for my shattered soul, and itโ€™s keeping me physically healthy.ย  The Psalms, one of the most popular books of all time, is filled

Questions Gettysburg Borough’s decisionmaking

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At its March 27, 2023 work session, after two public hearings, the Gettysburg Borough Council discussed the proposed event venue ordinance that will affect seven zoning districts, and the proposed zoning map change that pertains to Johns and Highland Avenues.  In support of the map change, Mr. Stone of Colt Park provided an eloquent statement

It lives!

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An ethereal blanket of translucent maroon โ€” the color of shrubs in transition from the blah gray of the past few months to the green cloaking that soon will block the view of even large rocks more than about 50 feet distant โ€” seems to flow like an incoming fog across the forest floor.. The

Routines

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I was reminded last week that I am a grateful creature of habit.  I  have some fairly fixed routines that help me enjoy each day.  I sleep until about 7:30 each morning, get up, have my coffee, walk with my friend, eat breakfast, blog and do what household chores there are to do.  Then and

The Edge of the Wood: Landmarks

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I found myself this week looking back a few years when, well โ€ฆ โ€œI used to use that as a landmark. Somethingโ€™s got to go back up there,โ€ Ariste Reno of New York, formerly of Chicago, told me when I visited the World Trade Center site on the first anniversary of its destruction. I thought

Letting go

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What are we to do when we become world-weary? ย Overwhelmed by bad news? ย Discouraged that the bad guys just keep avoiding any serious consequences? ย Feel everything is too much trouble that nothing seems to make any difference? ย When such feelings take over, I am reminded of a story we Mennonites like to tell about Orrie

Third Ward Contradictions

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On Monday, March 27, the Gettysburg Borough Council will hold public hearings for two proposed zoning ordinance changes that will affect two neighborhoods in the Third Ward. One is the Johns Ave/Highland Avenue area, where there are single-family homes with good-sized yards, just south of the hospital. The other is just north of the hospital,

Self-Talk

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Positive thinking goes nowhere unless it is followed by action. Thatโ€™s precisely why we say the road to hell is paved by good intentions. ย Meaning to do something and actually doing it are two very different things. ย Most of us are procrastinators, one of those character flaws many of us humbly ask God to remove

The Edge of the Wood: The paradox

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I sit looking out my upstairs window at four trees poking through mostly lawn. Last year, we planted a 4ร—16-foot wildflower plot on a piece of that lawn. This year the strip will be 4ร—100, roughly โ€” a divider between our suburban lot and the one next to ours and, we hope, a larger magnet for butterflies.

Why shocking new data shows we canโ€™t stop fighting hate | Wednesday Morning Coffee

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by John L. Micek, Pennsylvania Capital-StarMarch 15, 2023 If you ever needed a reminder that we canโ€™t turn a blind eye to hate, then new data from the Anti-Defamation League should more than do the trick. As the Capital-Star reported Tuesday, white supremacist propaganda hit an all-time high across the country in 2022, even as antisemitic propaganda more

A mindful month

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Perhaps youโ€™ve found yourself rushing around lately, fueled by nervous energy and coffee. You may have said to yourself, โ€œIโ€™ve got to slow down and take time to breathe.โ€ Perhaps you thought about learning to meditate but immediately said to yourself, โ€œNoโ€ฆ that wonโ€™t work. My mind is too busy for meditation.โ€ Becoming mindful doesnโ€™t

Self care and self acceptance

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Self-acceptance and care are much easier to talk about than to practice. ย Itโ€™s so easy to push our basic physical and emotional needs to the side because most of us grew up being told it is important to put others first; that pride in self and self-confidence is somehow sinful. ย Yet self-negation, self-pity and viewing

The Edge of the Wood: The trouble with green

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March wind waves the blossoming red leaves of the maple, bluebirds, and cardinals clinging to the branches as they try to overpower the blossoming red leaves with their own raiment. Itโ€™s not yet Easter, but many critters are eager to show off their colors. Grabbing seeds from the grass, diminutive Dark-eyed Juncos in their white

Opinion: Donโ€™t Let the Rightโ€™s Dangerous Attacks on Trans People go Unchallenged

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by Susan Bigelow, CT News Junkie The right-wing war on transgender and gender non-conforming people has escalated to a new, very dangerous level. Last weekend at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, a Daily Wire host named Michael Knowles railed against transgender people, telling the crowd, โ€œFor the good of society, transgenderism must be eradicated

Codependency

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Over the years, ย  I have read many definitions of codependency.ย  All relate in some way to discounting our own needs and feelings and looking to others to validate and make us happy. ย  After all, we live our lives in relationship to others, our environment, our culture, and our jobs, so why wouldnโ€™t we

Family from Afghanistan Celebrates One Year in Gettysburg

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The Refugee Resettlement Partnership  (RRP) of Gettysburg has welcomed two families from Afghanistan.  The first family passed the milestone of one year in Gettysburg on February 12th.   We celebrated this first anniversary with a small gathering of family members–those who were not at work or sports — and RRP members who dropped in for tea

The Edge of the Wood: Half-full, but leaking badly

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There is continuous discussion among us concerning whether the glass of our continued inhabitance upon this planet be half empty or half full. I choose to believe the latter, although plenty of us are hard at work draining what is left. Our forests will never look as they looked at the end of the last

Self Care

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I locked myself out of my house the other day.ย  I wanted to give my new neighbor a key since we were going away for a week, ย so I grabbed a fistful of keys,ย  stepped outside to make sure I had the right key, andโ€ฆ.ย  You guessed it!ย  I locked myself out! ย  Fortunately, it

The Edge of the Wood: Every body gotta eat

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Outside my window, birds and squirrels and a presumable variety of other critters are pairing up in my backyard โ€” bluebirds and house sparrows have commenced their annual fight over the bluebird houses that, if history is prognosticator, will soon be home to a clutch of sparrow chicks. House Sparrows are the definition of โ€œbackyard

Donate books for Rwandan children at Cottage Creperie

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To Gettysburg Area Residents, How important are books to you and your kids? Imagine a place where children come to school, and there are no books for them on the shelves. This is what confronts families daily in Rwanda, the largest country in Africa. TEACHRwanda, a nonprofit founded in 2016 by a retired teacher from

Questions book “challenges” at GASD

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Editor’s note: Assistant Dean and Director of Scholarly Communications at Gettysburg College’s Musselman Library Janelle Wertzberger presented this statement to the Board of Directors regarding the Gettysburg Area School District’s proposed new policy on library materials on Tuesday evening. My name is Janelle Wertzberger. I currently have one child in the district and another is

Support our Afghan refugees

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Two remarkable Afghan families who helped support the U.S. Armed Forces and U.S. Embassy in Kabul have been welcomed to Adams County by a partnership of 8 Gettysburg churches and many interfaith volunteers. Our two families are flourishing, contributing to the community and working local jobs. They need help, however, to be able to stay

Jimmy Carter, An Under-appreciated President

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A rough consensus has emerged about Jimmy Carterโ€™s presidency (1977-1981) and his subsequent life. Between his work on democracy and elections and his work volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, there is little doubt that he set a standard for the post-presidency not likely to be equaled. And this record has been widely acknowledged, including the

The ultimate revenge

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ย Iโ€™m a great one for shoveling clutter into drawers and closets,ย  but that just means going through every paper and envelope when Iโ€™m looking for something specific. ย  I didnโ€™t find the address Iโ€™d been looking for this morning, but I did discover a scrap of paper with a scribbled quote.ย  โ€œResentment must give way

The Edge of the Wood

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Cure for cabin fever Cabin Fever is that ailment that forces one, eventually, to either leave the house or kill everyone too slow to escape. I opted for the former action. โ€œWhere are you going?โ€ She Who Must Be Loved queried. A Hairy woodpecker has made progress disassembling a decomposing Gray birch tree. (John Messeder

Gratitude…again and again

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Today Is a day for gratitude. ย In fact, every day is a day for gratitude. ย Since now is all Iโ€™ll ever have, this moment is the only moment I have for which to be grateful. ย And I am grateful. Extremely grateful. ย ย Just having returned from sharing breakfast with a friend, I am very aware that

The Edge of the Wood

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Welcome to Emanon The thing about development is it never seems to work out as well as it was planned โ€“ except for the developers. Donโ€™t get me wrong; Iโ€™m not opposed to growth. I enjoy, for instance, trees large enough to make shade on a summer afternoon and creeks wide enough to have pools

Agreeing to disagree

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ย Sometimes we gut react to a situation, impulsively decide to take a risk, to speak out, take a stand.ย  I think of my quiet, introverted, shy husband who decided after 9/11 that declaring war on Iraq was not the appropriate way to respond to those horrendous events. ย  Crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, in constant pain,

Connections matter

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The longer I live on this earth, the more I realize connections with others is what life is all about.ย  It has been a few years now of many polarizing views throughout the country and world.ย  We really all are more alike than different.ย  Whether people want to admit it or not, we all just

Preparing for rebirth

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Spring is nigh upon us. At least it seems that way. The forecasted โ€œone-to-three inchesโ€ of snow this week was gone the next day. โ€™Tis nearing the season for taking a youngster fishing. Some fishing is allowed now; check out the PA Fish and Boat website for specifics on which species are fishable and where

A rumination about an aging county

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Way back when I was a youthful 68 years old, I was the one people told โ€œIโ€™d have never believed you were that old.โ€ Now, five years later, time has caught up and Iโ€™m the one who everyone asks, โ€œMay I carry your tray, Sir?โ€ As philosopher Ferris Bueller observed, โ€œLife moves pretty fast.ย If you

Little things mean a lot

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Itโ€™s one of those dark rainy winter days for which I am profoundly thankful.ย  With so many areas of the world suffering from drought, we here in south central Pennsylvania are much blessed.ย  So far, weโ€™ve been spared many of the extremes in rainfall, temperature,ย  and storms that have been devastating others.ย  The effects of

Climate change is real

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In an Op-Ed in the December 29 Gettysburg Times Bob Stilwell wrongly asserted that there is debate within the scientific community about human-caused climate change when in fact there is no such debate, and no doubts among actual climate researchers (scientists who actually publish their research findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals) that our burning of fossil fuels

Alice and Sparkle, Iโ€™m diving in head first

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Are you up to speed on this controversy? โ€œAuthorโ€ Ammaar Reshi created a childrenโ€™s book, and some people are angry. Reshi started playing around with the new Artificial Intelligence text generator ChatGPT. On a lark, he tasked it to write a childrenโ€™s book. Happy with the results, he turned to another AI program called MidJourney

Name that tree

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As a youngster, I spent most of my time afield by myself. I had a brother and a sister, and later a second sister, but there was something about wandering in the forest that appealed to me in ways it never did to the others. I tended, when not involved in the daily chores of

Shine brightly

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Mary Davis has a simple formula for happiness.ย  โ€œShine brightly.ย  See beauty.ย  Speak kindly.ย  Create joyfully.ย  Live thankfully.โ€ย  If there was ever a time for adopting her formula it is now. ย Iโ€™m no Pollyanna, but I discovered long ago that negative thinking sets me up for unhappiness and failure.ย  In fact, viewing everything through a

Being connected

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โ€œModern American culture is fairly empty of any suggestions that oneโ€™s relationship with the land, to consumption and food, is a religious matter.  But it’s true; the decision to attend to the health of oneโ€™s habitat and food chain is a spiritual choice.  Itโ€™s also a political choice, a scientific one, a personal and a

Racist weeds in a conservationist garden

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Most of the men โ€“ and they were mostly men โ€“ I looked up to back in the day have turned out to be racist. Or misogynistic. Or both. George Washington, for instance, was the Father of Our Country, though I was suspicious even then of the story about him being unable to lie. I

A โ€œGut Checkโ€ on Climate?

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Climate change denial comes in many flavors these days and Bob Stilwellโ€™s opinion piece, โ€œClimate Change Gut Check,โ€ published in the Gettysburg Times on Thursday, December 19 draws on almost all of them. If you care about environmental issues and havenโ€™t seen the article, you really need to check it out. And respond with a

How Christian Nationalism gets it wrong and disrespects U.S. military forces

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Adams Countyโ€™s State Senator Doug Mastriano used his Christian Nationalist beliefs to argue in a recent Gettysburg Times opinion piece that the battlefield successes of United States military forces are part of his Christian Godโ€™s plan for our nation and that two of the American armyโ€™s greatest accomplishments, including George Washingtonโ€™s escape from the British

A prayer for the new year

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Somehow  a year has flashed by, reminding me of a story in which a great  king challenged his subjects to create works of art depicting their ideas of  peace.   Paintings flowed into the castle.  Beautiful pastoral scenes.  Pictures of smiling babies, children playing.  Grazing animals, flowing streams, fields of flowers.  Yet the picture that

Happy New Year! The future is just over the horizon

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Time is merely a construct to aid cataloging significant events. As a kid, time began when I was about 12-years old. That was the year we built the big house. As I look back through my anthology of stories from that era, building the house was not significant because it meant heating with oil (no

Adversity

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With winterโ€™s dark stay-inside days, Iโ€™ve been reading feel-good books and watching Christmas movies. ย There is absolutely nothing wrong with escaping into once-upon-a-time and what-if moments. ย Thatโ€™s part of self-care. ย Besides, itโ€™s the rare book or movie that doesnโ€™t have some insight tucked inside the story. ย That happened with Richard Paul Evansโ€™ย Finding Noelย when several quotes

Christmas isnโ€™t always holly jolly โ€“ even some of its best-loved songs areย bittersweet

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David W. Stowe, Michigan State University In American culture, Christmas is supposed to be synonymous with joy. The familiar carols proclaim this message, with โ€œJoy to the Worldโ€ resounding in thousands of churches, while its secular counterpart exhorts listeners to have โ€œA Holly Jolly Christmas.โ€ โ€˜Joy to the Worldโ€™ may be one of the most

Christmas by any name

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Itโ€™s almost time. In a few hours, the Jolly Old Elf will be sliding down chimneys, decorating trees that so far havenโ€™t been, and leaving gifts for girls and boys. Well, a lot of girls and boys, anyway. So hereโ€™s to the church groups and offices and motorcycle groups and numerous others I couldnโ€™t know

Habits

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Attitudes, itโ€™s been said, are simply deeply entrenched habits of thought.ย  The good news is: we can change our habits and thoughts,ย  The downside of recognizing that attitudes and feelings are no more than habits is that changingย our habits and thought patternsย  is hard work and takes time. ย A long time.ย  As Paul Myer said,

They don’t make winter like they used to

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I have not yet pulled out our snow thrower. I am counting on the natural snow fence at the western side of the county to save me from enriching Exxon. I learned about snow fences as a kid. Farmers would stretch what looked like rows of slatted window blinds turned sideways across their roadside fields.

Good and evil

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 Iโ€™ve had an excellent companion these past few nights when sleep eluded me.  Lousie Pennyโ€™s latest novel, The World of Curiosities.  I am so grateful I am still able to read, as books have been my companion since first learning to read.  When I am down,  a feel-good book can help me rediscover the beauty

Sparkling diamond dust and summer sausage

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The moon the past few nights, when we could see it at all, has been amazingly bright, like a humongous spotlight angling through the trees, casting stick shadows across my desk. The grass between my home and the woods is sparkling, as though a troop of elves has danced across the greensward scattering powdered diamonds.

Thanking Christmas volunteers

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โ€˜Tis the season for festive merry-making and family memory-making, and the busy event-makers in our town didnโ€™t disappoint!  If, like me, youโ€™ve adopted Gettysburg as your home because of its history, you likely know that walking on the fields and among the monuments is when that history speaks most deeply to your soul. Similarly, when

Faith

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ย Perhaps itโ€™s because we are approaching the shortest day of the year, but the evenings seem excessively long and lonely.ย  While I am discovering many advantages to living alone, the house sometimes feels achingly empty.ย  I miss him. ย God, but I miss him.ย  However,ย  instead of focusing on whatโ€™s no more, I am determined to

The Good, The Bad and The Zucky

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There are piles of books in the Messeder residence, as the Resident Home Decorator often reminds me, especially when she enters my atelier โ€“ which is a French word for โ€œstudio,โ€ itself a fancified substitute for โ€œoffice,โ€ which, to me, sounds too darned, well, officious. Iโ€™d much rather sit in my studio with a drink

Mass shootings prompt new calls for assault weapons ban. Will it happen?

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by John L. Micek, Pennsylvania Capital-StarNovember 28, 2022 There was no mistaking the anger inย President Joe Bidenโ€™sย voice on Thanksgiving Day as he once again decried Americaโ€™s fatal love affair with guns. โ€œThe idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,โ€ย Bidenย said, according to theย Associated Press. In the wake of deadly shootings

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