Columns
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On Sacred Ground
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“You are walking on Sacred Ground.” Those are the first words on the sign at the entrance to the cemetery at Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge. The words “Sacred Ground” are capitalized, signifying their importance. The chapel and its cemetery are part of an active parish which was built in the early 1900s to…
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Dom DeLuca: The Remarkable Story Behind the Penn State Linebacker Who Had Two Interceptions in the Blue-White Game
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Over five weeks had passed since the Blue-White Game, when Penn State football’s freshman class of 2021 gathered on the Lasch practice field last Wednesday for their first media opp. The Landon Tengwalls and the Christian Veilleuxs, the brother who is Liam and the twins that are Kings garnered much of the attention of the…
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Opinion: Why State College Should Charge More for Parking
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Here’s something I’m not really proud of: I only rode my bike to class twice last semester. I love riding my bike the 4 miles from my house in Park Forest to my classroom on campus. It’s fun. It’s good exercise. It saves me money on parking. It only takes two extra minutes door-to-door compared…
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What Is the Soul of America?
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Wednesday morning in Happy Valley, through the open windows of my home office, I heard the chirping of a cardinal at the bird feeder, the voices of children walking to the neighborhood elementary school and the sound of a school bus slowing and braking to a halt. Up and down the street, mothers or fathers…
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“Dear Helpful List”: Ode to a Listserv
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I have a bamboo curtain along my backyard fence that makes my little slice of green space feel cozy and private. Like all growing things, bamboo needs occasional trimming, especially the stalks that look freezer-burnt after a cold winter. So I plunge in with my loppers, snip away the leaves and branches, and assemble a…
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Op-Ed: GOP Leadership Isn’t Actually Pro-Life
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Unsubstantiated claims and disinformation have no place in politics, but unfortunately this political season has fallen victim to both. As a voter, it’s infuriating when politicians make claims that do not align with what they claim to stand for or with their votes on legislation. We are now in a time where Republican leaders claim…
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La Famiglia: The Trip of a Lifetime to Italy
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In the fall of 2019, our family made the decision to go on the proverbial “trip of a lifetime” to travel with my then 82-year-old mother Angela (Carolis) Battista to visit Italy in May of 2020. My wife, Heidi, and our three adult children would travel with us and their “Mee-Maw” who could still speak…
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This Penn State Football $upa $ix Trio Hit It Big
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Maybe they should rename themselves the $upa $ix. Back in 2011, a half-dozen talented Nittany Lion football freshmen bonded and gave themselves a nickname that befit their status — all six were starting by the very next season. The close-knit group still stays in touch and gets together once or twice a year. And when…
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A Personal View on Abortion, Roe and Voting Decisions
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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, and was approved by Congress on…
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Our Poisonous Age of Absolutism
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To a nation already drunk on the partisan pursuit of absolutist politics, it appears likely that the US Supreme Court is about to uncork a 1973 vintage from Grapes of Wrath Vineyards called “Renverser Roe v. Wade.” The landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a controversial ruling then; it has remained so. Overturning it…