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Is Hellertown the perfect small town to walk?
Do you ever feel quietly amazed by that sneaking small-town sense that, yes, you can walk to excellent restaurants, to nice several decent parks, to an ice cream shop, to an incredible rail trail, to barbers and hairdressers and bakeries and a great bike shop?
Hunter Gress for Lower Saucon Council
This one’s almost too easy.
I’ve known Hunter Gress (mostly through others) since he was a kid, and to nutgraf it: Hunter is a brilliant and brave young person who will bring a subtle intelligence, a “crazy good work ethic” (as a mutual friend of ours puts it), independence and pragmatism to Saucon Valley’s largest and most troubled municipality.
Meghan Lomangino & Christian Tatu for Saucon school board
I humbly urge Saucon voters to elect Meghan Lomangino and Christian Tatu—along with Cedric Dettmar and Shamim Pakzad—to Saucon Valley school board on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
There are many areas where I can imagine these four people in conflict with one another, and personally, I wouldn’t want it any other way. They need to be themselves. But I foresee productive, well-mannered tension, not bitter, uncivil, energy-sapping battles.
Too much light in the darkness?
I’m not sure when it started, but a few years ago, I noticed little tacky solar lights going up everywhere in Hellertown.
I wasn’t immune from the craze, and neither was the rest of small-town America. I bought a set of string of solar paper lanterns from Ikea, a set of walkway lights from Home Depot or somewhere, and a more expensive and serious (and ultimately, less cheerful) set of string bulbs. I think they’re all more or less broken or discarded now.
A teasing glimpse into the Hellertown darkness
I’m not sure when it started, but a few years ago, I noticed little tacky solar lights going up everywhere in Hellertown.
I wasn’t immune from the craze, and neither was the rest of small-town America. I bought a string set of solar paper lanterns from Ikea, a set of walkway lights from Home Depot or somewhere, and a more expensive and serious (and ultimately, less cheerful) set of string bulbs. I think they’re all more or less broken or discarded now.
My cheap lights phase is over.
Re-elect Cedric Dettmar and Shamim Pakzad
Cedric and Shamim are exactly the kind of intellectually oriented, whip-smart volunteers you want running a high-achieving, aspirational public district like Saucon Valley. They expect great things, they get stuff done, and they’re focused on two things: academic excellence and financial sustainability.
Wild underage drinking in Saucon …
Rumors have been flying all over town about underage drinking at the last homecoming dance in Saucon. There is, as I understand it, some kind of district investigation underway. You’d be surprised how little school directors are told about these kinds of things initially from the district itself. We do hear from community members.
Saucon Valley High drops in rankings
Who knows? Perhaps it’s all part of some perverse, unconscious plan to make sure I’ll never be re-elected to Saucon Valley School Board, but it’s very freeing when one can learn to speak freely without fear of political repercussions.
I realize, I just don't care about being politically palatable on this blog—and I’m not willing to lie to voters.
My thinking about Charlie Kirk
Saucon Source ran a commentary I wrote on this issue. I’ve thought carefully about it, and even wondered, briefly, if I’d made some sort of big political blunder. But the deeper I scooped down into the issues, and the more I see overreactions and suppression of free speech, the more I feel content with my take on this complex topic.
(Photo credit: CC License)
Saucon Valley school board failing low-income families
Our school district’s most critical site for protecting all our futures—the elementary school—continues to post equity ratings and academic performances that should turn our stomachs.
Satan comes to town
Because we’re a community where spiky extremisms take root as readily as those banned bamboos species you see near the bike path. As Mick Jagger puts it in “Sympathy for The Devil,” if you want to know who killed the Kennedys, don’t look too far: “It was you and me.”
“Much Ado” at DeSales about much more than “nothing”
Hellertown’s own director extraordinaire, Matt Pfeiffer, brings a world-class, bluesy version of Shakespeare’s sweet comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” to Saucon Valley through Aug. 7 to the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.
Fentanyl in Saucon kills, but alcohol kills more
… While there have been a steady number of fentanyl-caused deaths over the last three years in Northampton County, a relatively small number—that we know of—occurred in Saucon/Freemansburg:
MPH is a personal blog about the most ornery, wondrous and complicated small town in America. MPH is produced purely to entertain and has zero relationship, obviously, with any political, corporate or governmental entity. Why do this? Because as Hellertown goes, America goes.