We’re All Going To Die (Writing With History)

by Jenny 17 March 2018 History

We’re all going to die someday. This is why I woke up rage-inducingly early on my day off – a SATURDAY, and also SAINT PATRICK’S DAY. Why I defrosted my car and drove an hour through the dark from New Kensington to Ligonier today. Today I attended “Writing With History,” presented jointly by Fort Ligonier […]

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Writing About the Ones That We Love

by Jenny 10 March 2018 Western Pennsylvania

So I few years ago, I read an article in one of the Pittsburgh newspapers about “The Girl Factory” by Karen Dietrich. This is a young woman’s memoir about growing up in Connellsville, Pennsylvania in the aftermath of a multi-fatality factory shooting that made its way into the national news cycle.  Both of the author’s […]

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Colonial Snakebite

by Jenny 25 February 2018 History

Snakes fascinate me. Today I pulled down “The Day Must Dawn,” by Agnes Sligh Turnbull. (This is a fiction novel about colonial Westmoreland County and the burning of Hannastown in 1782. The author grew up in New Alexandria.) I re-read the rattlesnake bite scene. A rattlesnake bites Viola, one of the main characters, on page […]

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Mystery Writing

by Jenny 24 February 2018 History

  First, I have many special memories about visits to bookstores. I grew up south of Somerset, PA. Even a trip to the “local” bookstore to buy the newest Baby-Sitters Club book was a special treat and an all-Saturday event. The bookstore was more than an hour’s drive from our house. We didn’t shop online […]

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Hey, Westmoreland County Leaders

by Jenny 13 February 2018 Uncategorized

Trib articles rarely spur me enough to post in the Woytek blog. So this is your lucky night. Tonight I respond to the article Westmoreland County needs more, better branding, leaders say, by Joe Napsha. According to this article, the “Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland annual luncheon” held today at Saint Vincent College discussed ways […]

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The Parade

by Jenny 2 February 2018 New Kensington

So tonight I went through the photos that I took in New Kensington in 2017. Most came from the parade on the weekend prior to July 4. This was the 2nd year in a row that New Kensington donned a parade on the holiday weekend. The 2016 parade celebrated our city’s 125th anniversary. The 2016 […]

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Snakes on a Plantation

by Jenny 14 January 2018 History

I listened to a few episodes of The Nod last month. The Nod, by Gimlet Media, is a podcast about Black life hosted by Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings. I highly recommend The Nod‘s 2 part series The Hairstons. This focuses on the life journey of Ever Lee Hairston, who grew up picking cotton as a […]

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“A Season with the Witch”

by Jenny 13 January 2018 History

So, I read this book: “A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts,” by J.W. Ocker. J.W. Ocker lived in Salem, Massachusetts with his wife and two young daughters for the full month of October 2015. The author claims an interest in the occult, which is amusing because the […]

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The War On Christmas. Also, Happy Solstice!

by Jenny 20 December 2017 History

People get outraged over how other people celebrate December.  Centuries ago, people got outraged over how other people celebrated December. Here’s an episode from New England Legends Podcast which explains all this: When Boston Banned Christmas See, back in the 1600’s, the Puritans persecuted non-Puritans (and also other Puritans) over religious beliefs. Sound familiar? I’m […]

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This Year’s Tree Adventure

by Jonathan 10 December 2017 House and Home

This year’s tree adventure was a little… different. We have traditionally cut down our own tree, from the same farm my parents went to when we moved back to this area and started to get a live tree again. This particular farm up by Butler had always been a great place to get a tree. […]

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