It is never too late to learn, and you are never too old to learn.
I can barely remember a time when the people in this area were in such a collective good mood. Luckily, the extreme “up” mood should continue, at least for another few weeks.
Many of us have heard the stories or seen with our own eyes how big box stores are hurting the bottom line of small, local mom and pop businesses.
Every year around this time, the Pennsylvania treasurer sends out a press release to remind residents of the more than $3.2 billion in unclaimed property sitting in the State Treasury, waiting to be claimed. And every year, feeling like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory hoping to get a golden…
From temporary classroom space under a roller skating rink in Chester to a picturesque residential campus in Middletown, Penn State Brandywine’s first half-century has been a remarkable story of growth, transformation and determination.
For as long as I can remember, whenever anyone ordered food delivered to our home, it was the usual fare of pizzas, hoagies, salads, wings or cheesesteaks — and maybe some Chinese food here and there — from a nearby restaurant that featured delivery. You took your chances on how long the del…
The link between feelings and food is almost unbreakable, given our cultural norms. Food is central to times of celebration and to times of mourning. Birthday parties must have birthday cake; a good caterer is crucial for a successful wedding. Similarly, funerals are followed by wakes or oth…
I frequently begin my first day of college classes with freshmen referencing a study that says three characteristics of achieving success in college are going to class, completing assignments and making friends. When I ask my college juniors and seniors to offer advice to freshmen, the exper…
The holiday year 2016 offers time for reflection of Thanksgivings and Christmases of past years and decades. From childhood and teenage memories in the late ’50s in Sun Village and the Delaware County area, I offer the following Christmas memories:
Stop us if you’ve heard this before.
Hello to the holidays! In addition to the shopping, baking, decorating, card writing, gift wrapping and the myriad of other tasks and must-dos that take place within the next few weeks, the Christmas season just isn’t the Christmas season without including a bunch of fun community activities…
Bob Bodine graduated from Princeton University magna cum laude in 1951 and earned his M.A. from Temple University. His classmate and follow economics major, Vanguard founder John Bogle, wrote his senior thesis on mutual funds. Bob, more interested in frugality than finances, emulated the na…
MEDIA>> New trends always fascinate me. In the last several years there have been all kinds of new things to do with your friends and family, from playing Pokemon Go, taking a spinning or kickboxing class, going to a painting party, seeing a new city on a segueway— there’s always some …
Most Delco News Network newspaper readers respond to columns by email; some respond in person. If you are longtime St. James alumnus and friend Bill McGonigal, you email with a phone number to call. And the number is a landline, which I thought was an artifact for even my septuagenarian and…
Allison Blechschmidt
How do we help children become problem solvers, innovators and original thinkers?
Did you vote last week?
The Closing of Edgmont Country Club on March 28The director’s letter to members, staff and community
To The Edgmont Members, Staff and Community:
This new year 2016 begins the thirty-first consecutive year of this education column, and approximately the twenty-seventh year with Town Talk and more recently Delco News Network. This working relationship with editors Dottie Reynolds, Chris Parker and now Peg DeGrassa can easily be describ…
When my management major students set goals for business success, I recommend following the patterns of leaders who have achieved success, career paths that represents a proven track to achievement. Christina DeSmaris’ “30 CEO’s Reveal the Daily Habits Responsible for Their Success” (Inc.com…
The National Turkey Federation began the tradition of donating two turkeys to the White House every year since 1947 during the Presidency of Harry S. Truman. Ignoring the executive power of the pardon, Truman and his successor Dwight D. Eisenhower enjoyed at least two turkey dinners at the W…
The five-paragraph essay is indigenous to high school students just like the cell phone is an appendage to a teenager’s hand. The cell phone connects students to the social world; the essay connects students to the academic world.
I have always recalled my St. James English teacher, coach and email correspondent, John Mooney, telling me he was beginning his fiftieth year teaching. I always thought that fifty years was a milestone in any career, but highly unusual in teaching. John, a living milestone and living legend…
I have been writing “Conversations in Education” for Delco News Network (Town Talk) since about 1988. During that quarter of a century, I have had the honor of working with one editor, Chris Parker. Chris, a treasure to the newspaper business of Delaware County, has been covering local news …
Our readers are important to us. And we’re hoping to gain even more readers as we launch an even better Town Talk.
With the recent opening of the Ross store at MacDade Mall, I heard many people say how surprised they were that Ross came back to Delco after leaving Springfield a few years back. Delco residents are used to stores, when they finally close their doors, to be gone forever.
Town Talk:
Back in March 2012, as a member of The Press Club Serving The Philadelphia Suburbs, I had the unique opportunity to tour Sun Center Studios in Aston, while M.Night Shyamalan's "After Earth" starring Will and Jaden Smith was being filmed there. The other Club members and I were really impress…
Town Talk:
Town Talk:
Town Talk:
I am a cyclist who is committed to using my bicycle wherever practical for all my local errands instead of driving — for exercise, to save gas, lessen road congestion, and protect the planet from pollution. I truly believe many of our nation's problems can be solved by giving people a safe r…
Last week I went to my brother’s fiftieth birthday celebration. As I listened to all the usual jabs like people asking him if he got his AARP card yet, I asked him if he was ready for all the good discounts he’s now entitled to get.
Town Talk:
I have been driving a car for 61 years. I don't wish to jinx myself, but I can lay claim to the fact that I have never hit another car or a person. Four times I have been rear-ended, mostly by young ones in a great hurry to go nowhere. My record as a driver gives me the right to advise my tw…
Last fall we took in a cat that was left in an apartment, along with six other abandoned cats, when the tenant was evicted. About a month or so after she adjusted to her new home, and not long after we decided on her new name (PITA, an acronym for often being a pain in the…), we discovered s…
Capt. Alicia M. Blessington, USPHS (Ret.)
“The Gadget Queen"….That's a name my sisters coined for me years ago because I fall for every kitchen gadget that comes down the pike. I guess it's a fault, or at least that's what others make it out to be. I like to think of it merely as a hobby, being always on the hunt to discover a newfa…
Barbara A. Sunner, President
After five decades as an educator and four decades as a writer, I thought I have experienced almost every professional development possible. Then came a response to Sandy Hook with Rowan’s College of Education offering a workshop titled “Active Shooter Awareness.” The purpose of the workshop…
Every year this time, I make the same resolutions as a teacher to get me through another year, my 55th to date.
We’ve seen the heartbreak; we’ve shed the tears. Six-year-olds should not be massacred; elementary schools should not be mass crime scenes. Unfortunately, we have seen them before — Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Aurora among them. We even had one locally at Springfield Mall. But Sandy Hook E…
