Columns

Some of these people will make you chuckle; some might almost make you cry. But I’m certain you’ll appreciate the insights from four local residents who told me how they are coping with this COVID-dominated time.

Coming out of quarantine isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, at least not while a stay-at-home order is in effect. My beloved and I emerged last week, 14 days after our hasty departure from Greece. How hasty was it? Until a few days ago, all the bills in my wallet were euros, not dollars.

I am a serial hugger. It’s partly an extrovert thing, partly an Italian thing, and it’s definitely a Battista family thing. During these unprecedented times, I am especially experiencing a hug deficit.

I recently asked friends, colleagues and readers to send me short items that chronicle this weird and scary time we are all living through. Here is the second batch.

Founded in 2006 in honor of State College native and Penn State graduate Bob Perks, the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund (BPCAF) provides financial assistance for living expenses, travel costs for treatments and other support for residents in Centre, Blair, Clearfield and Huntingdon counties who are

I asked friends and colleagues to send snapshots of their lives in the time of coronavirus for me to assemble into a group diary. Responses poured in from Seattle to Rhode Island. Here, summarized and edited (apologies for any resultant omissions or misrepresentations) is what I have received so far

Hard hit by our shared global troubles, it would be easy to be self-pitying, but that’s not the path we’ve traditionally chosen in trying times. Instead, we resorted to home and community as a means of providing for ourselves and reaching out to others.