Category: Editorial
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5th and Penn Redevelopment
Read more: 5th and Penn RedevelopmentI have spent the better part of a year advocating for the long-awaited sale and redevelopment of the buildings on the northwest corner of 5th and Penn, that the City of Reading has sat on and let deteriorate for well over a decade. Finally, last month the city decided to sell the Farmers National Bank…
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2025 Year in Review
Read more: 2025 Year in ReviewWishing all of my followers a happy and healthy new year! Above is a video recap of my year, and the places we have explored together. Hope you have enjoyed the things I have covered this year. Special shout out to those of you who have chosen to support my work monetarily through memberships and…
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Artificial Intelligence impacts our Local History
Read more: Artificial Intelligence impacts our Local HistoryIt has come to my attention that Joe over at GoReadingBerks is back to his old shenanigans. Someone linked me his latest article on Blue Marsh and let me know that he scraped the interactive Blue Marsh map I spent months putting together to claim as his own. If you’re new to following me this…
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431-449 Penn Street; Its fate, my thoughts
Read more: 431-449 Penn Street; Its fate, my thoughtsThis is my attempt at summarizing the saga that has been the city’s ownership of the properties on the northwest corner of 5th and Penn. Specifically, 431-449 Penn Street, which was comprised of 5 buildings of historic nature located within the Callowhill Historic District in the City of Reading. The City purchased these structures in…
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Mother’s Day
Read more: Mother’s DayI have always known my Mom is unique, but I never imagined she would be one of only 36,000 people this year diagnosed with the rare blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma. What began as elevated protein in yearly blood work around new year turned into more in-depth testing, turned into a referral to a Hematologist/Oncologist,…
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Berks County Plays Historic Part in 2024 Election
Read more: Berks County Plays Historic Part in 2024 ElectionHowever you may be feeling this morning, its impossible to deny the part Berks County has played in the 2024 election. This is a departure from my usual analyzing of the past; but I also find it important to document the present historical moment. As we all know Pennsylvania played a huge part in both…
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Membership to Berks Nostalgia
Read more: Membership to Berks NostalgiaI am at a crossroads with Berks Nostalgia. The past 7.5 years my creative and communication skills have flourished here. I would love to make this somewhat of career, though I have no delusion that it will be a particularly lucrative one. Luckily my situation is one where it doesn’t need to make me rich,…
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Follow Up and Thank You
Read more: Follow Up and Thank YouI would like to thank each of you that reached out and have given me support over the past few days. It’s been kind of a dark time both physically and mentally. Last Thursday as all of this played out I started displaying symptoms and ended up spending the entire holiday weekend suffering from the…
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What Happened to Reading, Pennsylvania?
Read more: What Happened to Reading, Pennsylvania?Without fail every time I post an old photo of Penn Street there are multiple comments asking, “what happened to Reading?” (and this is putting it nicely). Generally these comments are rhetorical and negative in nature, but sometimes I believe folks are genuine in wanting to know how we went from thriving industrial city of…
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How Stoneman Willie broke into the global spotlight and took me with him
Read more: How Stoneman Willie broke into the global spotlight and took me with himAs I sit here reflecting on the week and everything that has transpired I can think of only one word: whirlwind. It was only seven days ago that I was flying my drone on Penn Square, capturing Reading’s 275th anniversary parade when I ran into a reporter and cameraman from Reuters who were covering the…
