Honoring the Story with Janice Ogurcak
Janice Ogurcak is the former Director of Public Programming and Outreach at the World of Little League Museum. This museum is to Little League what the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is to Major League Baseball. It's filled with significant artifacts that range from serious to frivolous. There is a piece torn
Reading the News with Publisher Kathy Kolb
Kathy Kolb is the (former) publisher of NorthcentralPA.com, a news outlet that’s been online since 2009, which she steadily grew by personally connecting with her readers. I know, this sounds impossible — how do you connect with thousands of people? She accomplished this by building an amazingly loyal Facebook following, which total tops out at
Let’s Play Ball with Lance Van Auken
Lance Van Auken is probably the world’s foremost expert on the history of Little League Baseball. There’s only a handful of people who may know more, or as much, as Lance. He earned this honor by being a Little League volunteer, and then an employee, for most of his life. He shares this knowledge as
Get ‘On the Bus’ with Wendy Dean
Wendy Butler Dean is the owner of The Omnibus Publishing, a boutique publishing company that specializes in children’s books, Young Adult novels, and some non-fiction. The Omnibus is a hybrid company that combines traditional book publishing with digital publishing. She produces ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks. Wendy’s a savvy publisher and knows how to harness
A Guide to Being Alone
Today I try out a new software platform for recording podcasts and experiment with recording smaller audio clips, transitions, and putting together a show on the fly. I also discuss an amazing book, "How to Be Alone," by Sara Maitland, a handbook on solitude and why it's important for people, particularly those individuals with
Be Larger than Life with Steve Altier
Steve Altier is the author of books for young people and is best known for his children’s books, the Gabby and Maddox adventure series. Not content with lessons for little ones, he’s written a Young Adult novel, “Lizardville, the Ghost Story,” and he’ll soon release a sequel. Steve grew up in Mill Hall, a
A Poem Every Morning with Marjorie Maddox
I tried to imagine an early morning drive with poet Marjorie Maddox, whose creative suitcase is crammed with metaphors. I was enveloped in fog on this particular day, which obscured my vision. My surroundings became the murky sea, and my auto a submarine. The tall, stark silver maples along the roadway became the kelp
Mary Woods’ Change of Heart
Mary Woods was an artist and poet, and the author of "The Heart of the Matter,” which guides readers toward becoming wholeheartedly happy. I knew Mary through her service work with the Beloved Community Council and Heart of Williamsport. We worked on the HoW project for three years, and it was amazing to see
Dave Bellomo’s Passion for Kettlebells
Dave Bellomo is a fitness expert, personal trainer, and author of two fitness manuals on Kettlebells. I met Dave when he worked as a personal trainer and worked with Dave after he opened his own gym, Maximum Fitness, and his manufacturing company, Cardiobells Incorporated, which he owned and operated for eight years.
Nancy Panko’s Guiding Missal
Nancy Panko has achieved amazing success with her book, “Guiding Missal,” an unusual story about a prayer book that is carried in the pocket of three generations of men as they navigate war. As she held the Military Missal in her hands, Nancy thought, “If only this little book could talk.” Her novel gives
Lou Hunsinger’s Legacy of Local History
Louis E. Hunsinger, Jr. labors for posterity. He does this as a historian, preserving Lycoming County's heritage as a writer for newspapers, magazines, programs, and books, working as the co-author of eight books on local history. His publishing career began with his good friend, Dr. James P. Quigel, and in 1999, the duo published the
Joseph Smith’s Cure for Hipocrisy
Joseph W. Smith is a teacher, speaker, film critic, journalist and author living in Northcentral Pennsylvania, with his wife. The son of a professional journalist, Joe wrote his first book when he was 12, "... an ambitious and profusely illustrated sci-fi opus called Project Jupiter." Then, 37 years later, he wrote "The Psycho File.”
Easy on the Hooptedoodle
If you've never read Elmore Leonard's Rules for Writing, you're in for a treat. Leonard was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted
Little League Baseball World Series
The Little League Baseball World Series (Robin Van Auken, Arcadia, 2002) This book is a photographic companion book to Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball (Penn State University Press 2001). It profiles more than five decades of the World Series. In 1947, when the first Little League Baseball World Series was played,
Sunday Grit: A Newspaper Legacy
Make room on the shelf for another book about local history. Written by author Robin Van Auken and published by Ogden Newspapers, the parent company of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, “Sunday Grit: A Newspaper Legacy” is the fourth volume in a limited edition, commemorative series about area newspapers. Richly illustrated, the new 136-page book features
My History Is America’s
If you've ever wanted to know who you are and where you came from, you're not alone. More than 100 million Americans are looking for their roots, a remarkable explosion in genealogical research inspired, in part, by author Alex Haley who discovered his own "Roots" in the mid-1970s, and recently by Henry Louis Gates