NEPA Blog Con 2015 is Saturday, September 12

The fourth annual NEPA Blog Con is coming! This year it's being held on Saturday, September 12 at East Stroudsburg University from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. From the press release:

With four years of sold-out audiences under its belt, NEPA BlogCon, the region’s only blogging and social media conference, is proud to announce both the start of ticket sales and selected speakers for this year’s event. 

NEPA BlogCon will make its return on Saturday, September 12  from 9:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) Hoeffner Science and Technology Center. Registration opens at 9:00 a.m. Tickets are available for $15 and include admission to the conference, a SWAG bag, and lunch refreshments. Get your ticket here. 

NEPA BlogCon is designed to bring together bloggers of all experience levels, as well as those interested in marketing, social media, creativity, leadership, and branding. It’s also an excellent event for marketers, small business owners, non-profit organizations and students.

If you're a blogger, or are interested in blogging, you owe it to yourself to participate in the NEPA Blog Con! It's an excellent opportunity to expand your blogging skill set, and to meet and network with bloggers from all over NEPA and beyond. Get your ticket soon - supplies are limited!

PA Live! Blog of the Week: Debbie-Dabble

NEPA Blogs will be presenting the "Blog of the Week" on WBRE's PA Live! every Tuesday. PA Live! airs weekday afternoons on WBRE from 4:00 to 5:00.

Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is Debbie-Dabble
(http://debbie-dabble.blogspot.com/)

Debbie-Dabble's Christmas-themed blog has been featured before, but Christmas isn't her only opportunity to express creativity in home decoration. She describes herself as a "Victorian Soul", and the Victorian influence shows in her style. She has been sharing her creativity through her blog since January 2010.




If you have a blog you would like us to link on NEPA Blogs, or know of a blog you think we should link, please let us know! You can always drop us a line at nepablogs@gmail.com!

Reminder: Fall 2013 Blogfest is TOMORROW!

As originally posted by co-administrator Gort:

Northeastern Pennsylvania Bloggers will be hosting the 8th semi-annual Blogfest at The Red Mill

• 340 S Main St
• Pittston, PA 18640-2367
• Friday September 27th at 6PM

This is an informal gathering of bloggers, candidates for office, elected officials and anyone interested in politics or blogging. There is no charge for admission.

Since it's inception 3 years ago Blogfest has been described as the best political event of the season. No speeches are allowed and the rule is agree to disagree but don't be disagreeable. Many local and statewide candidates will be attending.

RSVP on Facebook

BlogFest is coming!

The Spring edition of BlogFest 2013 is coming! It's THIS FRIDAY, April 19, starting at 6:00 PM at Rooney's Irish Pub, 67 South Main Street in Pittston! Come meet, mingle, and share a few adult beverages with bloggers from throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. Numerous candidates for local office will also be in attendance, and perhaps a few representatives of local media as well. This is a great chance to meet face-to-face with people you may only know from their blogs, as well as to get some publicity for your own blog! Bring along a stack of Blog Cards and pass them out to everyone you meet!

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/423897131028808/?ref=ts&fref=ts

See you there!

Blog Fest Spring 2013 is coming!

Bloggers, blog fans, and the local political set will be gathering at Rooney's in Pittston for the Spring 2013 edition of Blog Fest! This will be your chance to meet your fellow bloggers, or met the people behind the blogs!

From the press release:


Northeastern Pennsylvania Bloggers will be hosting the 7th semi-annual BlogFest at Rooney's Irish Pub, Friday April 19th at Rooney's Irish Pub, 67 S. Main St., Pittston, PA 18704 starting at 6PM. This is an informal gathering of bloggers, candidates for office, elected officials and anyone interested in politics or blogging. There is no charge for admission.

Since its inception 3 years ago BlogFest has been described as the best political event of the season. No speeches are allowed and the rule is agree to disagree but don't be disagreeable. Many local and statewide candidates will be attending. We have received RSVPs from most of the Luzerne County Council Candidates, some Pittston JD candidates, and two of the 2014 Lt. Governor hopefuls.

Anyone who has been to one of these before knows what a great time they can be. Whether the tone will be primarily political or primarily about bloggers and blogging depends on who shows up. Why don't you come out and get into the mix? See you there!

Christmas magic with Mark Mysterrio

Magician and blogger Mark Mysterrio (http://pennsylvaniabirthdaymagitcian.com/) is involved with two different Christmas magic events in the next week and a half.

The first is this weekend's 2nd Annual Magic Show for Toys for Tots (http://www.facebook.com/events/161955357281050/) being held at Brews Brothers West in Luzerne (75 Main Street) on Saturday, December 8 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. This show features numerous local and regional magicians. It's targeted towards children, but adults will have fun too! Admission is only $5 or a new, unwrapped toy.

Mark Mysterrio also has a magic show in honor of Frosty's birthday on Sunday, December 16 at The Living Room in Stroudsburg (522 Main Street, next to the Sherman Theater) at 2:00 PM.  Admission is $8, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society.

The Vintage Theater IndieGoGo Fundraiser

The Vintage Theater has been a good friend to the NEPA blogging community and has served as the venue for many blogging-related events in the past year, including the Bloggers' Roundtable, the Bluekey Tweetup, Pecha Kucha Night, and the Scranton StorySlam. Back in May they announced the shocking news that they would be vacating the 119 Penn Avenue location at the end of the month. But since that time proprietors Conor O'Brien and Theresa O'Connor have been searching for a new home for the Vintage Theater. And now it looks like they've found it. But they'll need the help of people throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania to make that happen.

You can help by taking part in the Vintage Theater's IndieGoGo campaign! From now until August 18, you can donate to the Vintage Theater and get some really neat thank-you gifts, or "Perks"! How neat? Well, for example, $5 will get you a hug, $50 will get you a goodie bag of books, music, and art from local writers, musicians, and artists, $75 will get you enrolled in any of the classes the Vintage will be offering, $200 will get you two tickets to a dinner that will also feature a special guest character of your choice (living or dead), and $800...$800 will get you naming rights to one of the two bathrooms at the new Vintage Theater! Plus, each level also gets all the perks from the levels below! (There are many other levels I didn't mention!)

So this is it: your chance to help the Vintage Theater, support the future of the creative arts community in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and get fabulous perks in return! But hurry! The Vintage Theater's IndieGoGo campaign only runs through August 18!

http://www.indiegogo.com/vintagetheater

Announcement: The Vintage Theater in Scranton is closing

This message was posted by the proprietors of the Vintage Theater in Scranton today:

It is with bittersweet sentiment that the Vintage Theater will be saying goodbye to 119 Penn Avenue! Due to circumstances beyond our control we will be holding the last event in the current location on First Friday, June 1st 2012. As we look for our new home, upcoming events may be moved to other locations, we will be sure to keep you all informed. Anyone who is interested in helping us through this transition is encouraged to contact us as soon as possible. Look for updates on how you can help!We thank you so much for your support as we continue to move onward and upward! We hope to see you all at our remaining few events on Penn Av!

The Vintage Theater has served as the venue for many Blogging-related events in the past year, including the Bloggers' Roundtable, the Bluekey Tweetup, Pecha Kucha Night, and the Scranton StorySlam. Proprietor Conor O'Brien always provided a welcoming atmosphere and a highly versatile multi-functional art space. While we will miss the Vintage Theater, we look forward to seeing what Conor has planned next!

For my own personal history with the Vintage Theater, go here.

Flood of 2011 plus six months

We're coming up on the six month anniversary of the Flood of 2011. For people affected by it, this flood was worse than even the legendary Agnes flood of 1972 and the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936. For areas that were protected by levees, this was a time of tremendous fear as the levee system was pushed to its limits and beyond.

Driving through West Pittston and West Nanticoke I can see that there is still tremendous recovery work yet to be done. Not everyone has come back from this flood, or will come back from this flood.

The story of the flood was captured in dozens of blog posts written as it happened and in its immediate aftermath. What about the recovery? We're planning a special six month retrospective for the second Tuesday in March. If anyone has a story they'd like to share, or is planning to do a special blog post about the flood and its aftermath, please let us know and we'll be sure to add your post to the links!

NEPA Blogosphere Flood of 2011 wrap-up, Part 1
NEPA Blogosphere Flood of 2011 wrap-up, Part 2

Happy Thanksgiving from NEPA Blogs!

Gort, Michelle, and I would like to wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Gort's guest blogger reminds us of the finest traditions of the holiday:

Gort42: Thanksgiving is a time for family

Michelle looks fondly at holiday memories with family:

mhryvnak.net/blog: Thanksgiving vault

While I serve up a rerun of a classic heartwarming illustrated tale. Gather the kiddies and share with them the true joy of Thanksgiving!

Another Monkey: Holiday Reruns: The Littlest Turkey!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

For anyone who missed NEPA Blogs on TV...

...and that would probably be everyone in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, at least, since our show was pre-empted here by a baseball game (it did actually play live in the Lehighton/Kunkletown area), here is the schedule of repeat broadcasts of yesterday's ComputerWise TV:

REPEATS
Blue Ridge Communications TV 13

• Thursdays at 4:00PM
• Saturdays at 10:00AM

Blue Ridge Communications TV 11

• Mondays at 10:00AM
• Tuesdays at 7:00PM
• Fridays at 7:30AM & 8:00PM

Service Electric TV 2 & 3

• Sundays at 7:00PM

It is also on various cable stations throughout Eastern & Central Pennsylvania. Consult your local listings. Times are subject to change. The show can be viewed on Blue Ridge Cable FREE On Demand up to 6 days after original broadcast.

Reminder: Blog Fest is Friday, April 29!

If you're not all tuckered out from waking up bright and early to watch some royal wedding, you should definitely consider attending the NEPA Blog Fest (Spring 2011 edition) on Friday, April 29 at Rooney's Irish Pub in Scranton starting at 6:00 PM.

Here is the announcement as it appeared on The Lu Lac Political Letter's blog:

Blogfest set for April 29
By: Joe Valenti
Mark your calenders.

Area bloggers will be holding another blog fest Friday, April 29, 2010. This will be your chance to meet the face behind the keyboard. It will held again be at Rooney’s Irish Pub on Main Street in Pittston starting at 6:00PM. Stay as long as you’d like. Last time around Gort helped organize the shindig. Gort, however, has experienced a long case of writer’s block and hung up his keyboard.

Dave Yonki, of the LuLac Political Newsletter has offered to step up to the plate and lend a helping hand. Our past two events were well attended. Last spring we had probably over 150 come through the door and that was an off year election. This year we expect an even larger turnout considering the excitement with this year’s primary.

Gort always laid down the ground rules:
Admission is free, no speeches, you must buy your own drinks and you must wear clothes.

Rooney's Irish Pub is located at 67 South Main Street.  South Main is one way heading northeast, so if you find that you've overshot Rooney's, just turn left to circle back along Kennedy Boulevard, the street closest to the river.  (And let's hope the Susquehanna stays in its banks!)

Hope to see you there!

Announcing Blog Fest 2011 / Spring Edition

I'm happy to announce that there will be another Blog Fest coming up in a few weeks, at our usual hang out spot: Rooney's Irish Pub in Pittston. Click here to go the MenusNEPA page for the menu, hours and street address of Rooney's.

Here is the blurb as it appears from The Lu Lac Political Letter's blog:



Blogfest set for April 29
By: Joe Valenti
Mark your calenders.

Area bloggers will be holding another blog fest Friday, April 29, 2010. This will be your chance to meet the face behind the keyboard. It will held again be at Rooney’s Irish Pub on Main Street in Pittston starting at 6:00PM. Stay as long as you’d like. Last time around Gort helped organize the shindig. Gort, however, has experienced a long case of writer’s block and hung up his keyboard.

Dave Yonki, of the LuLac Political Newsletter has offered to step up to the plate and lend a helping hand. Our past two events were well attended. Last spring we had probably over 150 come through the door and that was an off year election. This year we expect an even larger turnout considering the excitement with this year’s primary.

Gort always laid down the ground rules:
Admission is free, no speeches, you must buy your own drinks and you must wear clothes.

I have attended the last two Blog Fest's (although I normally refer to them as "Blog Con") and it is a fun night out. Not only do you get to meet the local bloggers, but you get an opportunity to network with the local politicians as well. And hey -- even if that isn't your cup of tea, there's always beer to be had!

~M

Writing workshop for teens

Erin Delaney (of Take A Hike, Living in Sections, and The Duped Scholar) will be running a writing (and publishing!) workshop for teens this summer. There are still a few spots available. From the announcement post on Living in Sections:

DIY: On Assignment
A Summer Writing Workshop for Teens
July 13 - 17th, 9 a.m. - noon
at Paper Kite Press Studio & Gallery
443 Main Street • Kingston, PA
http://wordpainting.com/

Got a lot of writing ideas, but can't find a place to publish? Why not cook up a scheme to put together your own underground publication! During this one week workshop, students will develop the creative journalism elements that it takes to create and publish a DIY Zine. Students will write mastheads, construct entertaining feature stories, and conduct their own interviews while tapping into their creative side with artistic layouts and collage.

Cost for the week is $150 and includes supplies.
Registration in advance is a must.
Call 570-328-8658 for details, or email us at
wordpainting@comcast.net

About the Instructor

Erin Delaney is a Weekender Columnist, a Luzerne County Community College English Instructor, and an avid hiker and traveler. She has also been published by Poems Against War, Poetry-in-Transit, and has performed her work all over the Wyoming Valley and at various NYC venues. Her human interest journalism can be seen in The Philadelphia City Paper, The Diamond City/Electric City, as well as various cities via the national network of Woman's Newspapers and online at her website: http://erindelaney.blogspot.com/. She is currently preparing to cook dinner indoors without burning the bottom of the pan.

NEPA Bloggers links: the review

I've gone through the complete list of NEPA Bloggers from the sidebar - "complete" as far as the sidebar goes; there are some that have been mentioned in blog posts that I never added to the sidebar. I'll check those out, too.

Some of these are just archives. Some are websites that do not feature continuously updated feeds. Some have been inactive for a while. Some are dead, no longer in existence, or cybersquatted into oblivion.

The dead will be removed. Everything else will be added to the new list, though the archives and websites without feeds will automatically go to the bottom. The inactive sites will fall to the bottom, too, though that will change whenever they are updated.

Here's the list:

#1: The complete archives of the original NEPA Blog - archive
A Pennsylvania Burkean - last updated March 16, 2008
Adventures of the Card Lady - active
Another Monkey - linked
Author: David Yonki - last updated January 31, 2008
Beale's Bites - linked
Ben Folds Laundry - MySpace site, last updayed 2006
Big Dan's Big Blog - linked
Bringing the Majority to Luzerne County - last updated January 6, 2008
Coal Region Voice - linked
ComedyWipes.com (formerly Baldwin Brothers) - last updated May 28, 2008
Coming Back to Life (formerly Small Town Stacey) - linked
Computer Wise TV Blog - linked
Cultural Council of Luzerne County - last updated June 21, 2008
Daily Dose o' Donna - active
Dallas, Pennsylvania (The Other Dallas) - linked
Dining in and around Northeastern Pennsylvania - last updated July 10, 2008
Doherty Deceit - active
Dr. Glenn Czulada, Chiropractor - linked
Dr. Tara's Thoughts & Ideas, etc. ... - last updated July 29, 2007
Fading Ad Blog: NEPA - active
From Crystal Club Soda to Gertrude Hawk Chocolate - DEAD
GayNEPA.com - linked
Gort42 - linked
hints, allegations, and things left unsaid - last updated August 23, 2008
History's Shadow - last updated August 16, 2006
Ignorance Is Bliss - DEAD
J-Scranton - linked
JasonGaylord.com - active (linked?)
Jennifer D. Wade Journal - linked
John Cole Cartoons - linked
k8 - MySpace; active
Kelly Gibbons: artist and writer - linked
Kevin Blasi, Mortgage Specialist - last post Feb. 5, 2008
LanceStange.com - active
Late Night Meanderings - last post Jan. 5, 2008
Life's A Dance You Learn As You Go - linked
Living in Sections (formerly Tales of a Hopemonger) - linked
Local Values - last updated Nov. 6, 2008
Luzerne County Courhouse News - last updated March 27, 2009
mhryvnak.net/blog/ - linked
My Little Black Cloud - DEAD
Nanticoke News - archive site
NEPA Exposed - spammed, no longer active
NEPA Power! (Professionals Organized and Working to Enrich the Region) - active
NEPA Runner - active
NEPALibWatch - DEAD
Northeast PA media news and gossip - last updated November 7, 2008
Northeast Pennsylvania Center for Independent Living - linked
Northeastern PA Mortgages Blog - active (linked?)
Not Cease from Exploration - linked
Not Quite Grown-Up - linked
OfficeTally - linked
Old Forge Class of 1976 Blog - linked
Old Forge Pizza Blog - last updated Dec. 1, 2008
PA on the Go Weblog - active
People Against Wilkes-Barre Security Cameras - one post, 2005
People Say Stupid Things - last post May 24, 2007
Poconos/I-80 East Haunts & History - active at http://hauntsandhistory.blogspot.com/
Political Rants - linked
Politics in Northeast Pennsylvania - active
PostRanger.com - active
Publicity Photos - active, linked
QAZSE, a poetry blog from Dallas - active
Return to the NEPA Blogs main page
Rochelle (Currently "Friends-only" MySpace site)
Rock the Hyphen - last updated March 12, 2008
SACRED HEART WILKES-BARRE FOUNDATION INC. - website
Scootin' Da Valley - linked
Scranton-at-Large - DEAD
Shadow's Reach - active
Shakin' The Tree - last updated Dec. 7, 2006
Slides and Slippers - active at http://www.cdscreative.com/blog/
Starting a New Medical School - active (linked?)
Stop the Supply Sider Insanity - DEAD
stopnepacorruption.org - DEAD
Surf Scranton - last updated 2/2/08
Surveying, Mapping, and GIS - active (linked)
Susquehanna River Sentinel - active, but no RSS feed!
Tax and Small Business Forum - DEAD
That's How I See It - last updated Nov. 5, 2008
The American Check-Up - last updated Dec. 4, 2008
The Angry Republican - last updated June 6, 2008
The Borys Blog - active (linked?)
The Duped Scholar - active
The Independent, Conservative, Common Sense Oasis - active
The Lady Speaks (new site) - updated March 15, 2009
The Lady Speaks (old site) - archive
The Lu Lac Political Letter - active (linked?)
The Old Cat Lady Speaks - active
The Rockin' Traddy - active (linked?)
Things At King's - linked
twisp.com - updated January 16, 2009
Vince Sweeney's Blog - active (linked)
Voice of the People, USA - DEAD
W-B Citizens On Line - DEAD
Watermelon Punch - last updated July 21,2008
webster107 - linked
Welcome to Trail Creek Properties, Inc. Luzerne, PA - website
West Side Republican - last updated January 24, 2008
Wilkes-Barre High Schools - last updated April 15, 2008
Wilkes-Barre Online - archive; linked and updating at http://mcour.blogspot.com/
Wilkes-Barre Political Scene - active
Wilkes-Barre Politics - DEAD
Wyoming Valley Photos - updated January 6, 2009

New look, new functionality

I have revised the template for NEPA Blogs from Minima to Minima Stretch. Which means that it now looks pretty much the same, but wider. If anyone has any suggestions for more interesting (but functional) templates, please let me know!

I'm also copying over all of the blog links (the non-dead ones) into the "NEPA Bloggers Updates" section on the sidebar. This list will constantly re-order itself with the most recently updated blogs at the top. It will also list the name and date of the most recent post.

I was thinking of not including inactive blogs - those that have not been updated in six months or longer - but I think I will. You never know when, for example, Beale's Bites might start posting again!

NEPA Bloggers get-together, Saturday, May 2 2009

Attention all Northeatern Pennsylvania bloggers, blog readers, blog fans, groupies, stalkers, and people who just wanna hang with the cool kids: Gort has officially announced the 12th annual get together of the Saturday OT Committee and Operatic Society to watch the Kentucky Derby! Over the last few years this has evolved to include a loose and disorganized gathering of NEPA bloggers. All are welcome!

The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 2 starting at 4:00 PM (Kentucky Derby post time is 6:04) at Mark's Pub, 1287 North Washington Street in Wilkes-Barre (click here for directions).

Call for pictures and blogs

I was experimenting with seasonal themes for the pictures on NEPA Blogs for a while, but after Winter hung around for nearly two-thirds of a year I decided to take Michelle's suggestion and go with a four-seasons theme - which means I'm going to use pictures from all different times of the year, and try to have at least one for each season if I can help it.

Which really isn't the case with the pictures I have up right now; three of the four that were taken by me were taken within a two week span in October 2005. I'll go through my archives for pictures that feel representative of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If anyone has any pictures that they would like to share, I'll be happy to post them in the sidebar, header, and footer of the site.

And if anyone knows of any sites that should be linked by NEPA Blogs, please let me know! Sadly, the latest addition didn't last very long...

SHOOT

From Michelle


Six NEPA photographers give us a personal glimpse through their lenses. Eclectic black and white moods, exotic textures, characters, legs and landscape combine to make a very exciting exhibit of color and light

ARTISTS FEATURED:
Philip A. Dente, Mike Burnside, Nick Ouellette,
Tony Sciandra, Ivana Pavelka, Tom Musto

OTHER FEATURED ARTIST
Sculptor David Green turns alabaster and Marble into abstract
forms with traces of realism and movement.

MEET THE ARTISTS RECEPTION:
Sunday, January 27th, 2 to 5 pm
Music, food and refreshments.

SHOW DATES:
Sunday, January 27th through Saturday, March 22nd

LIZZA STUDIOS
M-F 9 to 5, Sat. 10 to 5
570.836.8806
http://www.lizzafineart.com/

Lizza Fine Art Studios,
155 Bridge Street,
Tunkhannock,PA

Art exhibit for a NEPA Blogger!

Mike Burnside of Late Night Meanderings will be having an exhibition of his photographs at Marquis Art & Frame, 122 South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, from November 16 through December 29. The exhibition is called "Three On Third" and showcases Mike Burnside's photographs alongside paintings by Allison Maslow and Beverly Jean Johnston. There will be a reception on Friday, November 16 from 5 to 8 PM.