From the Mailbag: Donation Can

We received an email in our inbox this afternoon from Lacey Salls, originally from Tamaqua, PA who would like us to list her blog....

Good Afternoon,


I was wondering if I could get my blog listed on NEPA blogs. I'm originally from Tamaqua, PA and a graduate of Panther Valley High School. I moved away after graduation to serve in the Air Force and now I'm back in PA living in State College.


Thank you!

DonationCan
A Financial and Lifestyle Blog
http://www.donation-can.com

From the About:

I’m a down to earth girl born on the Jersey Shore and raised in the Pennsylvania Coal Region. I enlisted in the military when I was 17.

“My desire to do things & know what’s out there has always been greater than my fear. I was more scared of staying home than of leaving it.” Dolly Parton



I planned to serve 4 years and separate but those plans fell through when I had $208,261 in debt. I owed $55,437 on credit cards, $75,000 on a house, and $77,825 on vehicles. I had to reenlist to keep a roof over my head. I promised myself I would never be a slave to a lender again (Proverbs 22:7). My husband and I worked diligently to pay off every cent owed. We are 100% debt free with a net worth greater than our annual income.

I needed an outlet to discuss the lessons I learned on money, voila, I created my blog. Money is a taboo subject that most people don’t talk about. My mission for my blog is to get people talking about money. Let’s discuss what works and what doesn’t. Let’s create financial literacy and independence.

--

I'm happy to report that Lacey will be attending NEPA BlogCon in September, if you would like the opportunity to network with her in person.  You can purchase your tickets to NEPA BlogCon right here all proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit 2 local charities (The Arc of Luzerne County and the NEPA Veterans Multicare Alliance).

Do you have a blog that you'd like featured and listed on our blog roll?  Reach out to us at nepablogs@gmail.com.

~Michelle

PA Live! Blog of the Week pre-empted by Olympics!

PA Live! will not be airing on local NBC affiliate WBRE for the next two Tuesdays due to coverage of the Olympics. So we'll be postponing the Blog of the Week until we can re-schedule and re-coordinate. Look for the Blog of the Week segment to return to PA Live! starting August 15 (EDIT by Michelle) August 14!

Fortune Cookie Ideology

Another blog by NEPA blogger, photographer, and guerrilla historian Cheri Sundra!

Fortune Cookie Ideology

Using just a few words to convey large concepts

http://fortunecookieideology.wordpress.com/

Like artist Jenn Danza, Cheri takes the "found poetry" of fortune cookies and transforms it into art - in this case, by pairing each fortune with a photograph or other image. This is a new blog, and a work in progress, so be sure to check it frequently for updates and developments!

Times House News

Jim Thorpe is getting excellent representation on the NEPA Blogs list! Here's another blog from Jim Thorpe, sent to us in the email!

Times House News
http://jimthorpeblog.com/

An innkeeper with a background in journalism, I write our blog the Times House News at jimthorpeblog.com  Our B&B is in the old Times News building, hence the name.


I write about what's happening in town on any given week and about the things in Jim Thorpe that made my husband and I fall in love with it.

If you've never been to Jim Thorpe, you're missing out on a beautiful gem located right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Check out Times House News - and all the other Jim Thorpe blogs we feature - and see what you're missing!

About the header image: July 25, 2012

There are some things that people who have grown up in Northeastern Pennsylvania take for granted that, to people from outside the area, are just inexplicable. The pirates atop Cooper's Seafood in Scranton are one of those things. Are they defending the place, or attacking it? "If I could explain I would" Matt Batchelor wrote on his blog when he first posted this image a week and a half ago. Matt is a relative newcomer to the region, and documents his adventures in becoming part of the NEPA community in his blog "Moving to NEPA."

So have you noticed something you took for granted that someone else might consider a landmark? Send a photo to nepablogs@gmail.com and we'll see about making it our header image of the week!

PA Live! Blog of the Week: Pages from the Past

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

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site: http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=263202

Read Brian's blog post about us:  http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/pages/?p=2473


Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is Pages from the Past, written by Brian Fulton for the Scranton Times-Tribune (http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/pages/.)


Northeastern Pennsylvania has a rich and fascinating history, and Brian Fulton shares it with us through this amazing blog. Working with clippings, photos, and articles from the Scranton Times-Tribune's extensive archives, Pages from the Past brings us fascinating snippets of local history, and history in general seen from a local angle. From the Agnes Flood to Andy Griffith, Brian features stories that are of great general interest. But he also presents the obscure as well: police blotter photos for crimes long-forgotten, images of state-of-the-art technology, and images that remind us that honors and accolades are fleeting. He turns some of these photos into a game of sorts: can you tell what's contained in this image? By engaging the public like this, he may also tease out information about the images that might otherwise soon pass away into history.


Brian's been running this blog since December 2008, so Pages from the Past has amassed its own fairly extensive archives. If you're interested in local history, history as seen through local eyes, or just really neat stuff, be sure to check it out. Pages from the Past is not to be missed!


(Brian also has a personal blog called Food Photos and Library Crimes that you should definitely check out! For more about Brian, see this post.) 



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!

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

Nine Kilobytes

Glenn Burgess is a technology covered music lover from Wilkes-Barre.  If it makes a noise he wants to hear it, see it, and feel it.  He also is a podcaster, slightly above casual video gamer and (most importantly) a blogger!  I had the opportunity to meet Glenn at the NEPA BlogCon launch party and learned that his love of technology inspired him to start up a new blog in June.  The blog is called "nine kilobytes".

nine kilobytes
http://www.ninekilobytes.com/blog/

Why Nine?

From the about page:  I’m sure many of you are wondering, “why nine kilobytes?”  Well the answer is simple, though somewhat long and drawn out.

I began looking around on the internet, the self-perpetuating content machine, to see what I could reference and feel genuine with.  The kilobyte.  Long since forgotten and slightly larger than its subset brethren which are the building blocks everything you process in a  given day are built on, it would be perfect for me.


So in researching the kilobyte, I came across a Wikipedia page explaining exactly what it is and this example.  10kb for an encyclopedia page?  Well I’ll be a bit under that in my posts.  Nine kilobytes is the description of this blog as well as the evolution of the identity of its creator.  Nine kilobytes is perfect.

You can also check out Glenn's podcasting blog "Bro'ing Up" right here.  He's also on twitter under the username of @ninekilobytes.

--

Have you recently started a blog?  We'd love to hear about it!  Drop us a line with your name, your blog's name and address, and a short description of what it's about to nepablogs@gmail.com.

~Michelle

2 Tumblrs from Ashley Teatum

Ashley Teatum is another journalist in our area that blogs.  Ashley is a sports writer at the Times Tribune in Scranton.  I learned of her two Tumblr blogs through her Twitter account @tee_tuhm.  "writer. lit nerd. sports geek. journalist. feminist."


Blog #1:  
Feminish.
http://feminish.tumblr.com
"Critically Uncovering the Coverage of Women in Sports"



Blog #2:  
Shelvish
http://shelvish.tumblr.com
"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." -oscar wilde
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?” -Ralph Ellison, from Invisible Man"


Ashley is also in the popular "Dancing with the NEPA Stars" competition...and she's made it all the way to the final round!  It costs a dollar to vote online, but all proceeds go to help the Scranton Cultural Center.  You can vote for Ashley online using this link:  http://www.scrantonculturalcenter.org/ashley-teatum


From the voting page: 

Although she is a Staten Island, N.Y., native, Ashley Teatum caught the Scranton bug and stayed after graduating from the University of Scranton in 2009. As a sports reporter for The Times-Tribune, Ashley, 24, covers high school soccer and wrestling. She serves as the vice president of the Alpha Sigma Nu Scranton Alumni Club and also has sung with the University's performance music concert choir as an alum. Ashley lives in West Scranton and is tackling David Foster Wallace's epic novel “Infinite Jest” this summer. She owes her dancing genes to Ms. Mary Saccheri-Spera, her dance teacher in Staten Island who gave Ashley her groove for 13 years. 

Best of Luck, Ashley and welcome to the blog roll!

~Michelle

Uncharted Frontier EZine

Allan Kaspar, of the DnA Project Band blog is starting a new project that involves a blog.  I interviewed him about the new endeavor via text message.

Me:  "What's this new thing you are doing?"

Al:  "I'm starting a free ezine for short fiction writers, artists and photographers who are not yet mainstream.  It will distribute through all smart phone bookshelves/libraries.  Going to be an awesome creative venture."

Al:  "The ezine is located at http://unchartedfrontier.com"

Al:  "It'll be in ebook format going through smashwords so it'll convert into .mobi, .epub, etc formats."

Me:  "When does it launch?"

Al:  "As soon as I finish putting up the preview story."

Me:  "Ok, sweet!"

Al:  "Well the website anyway, issue 1, I'm hoping for beginning of August."

From the About:
Uncharted Frontier Magazine focuses on the best fiction and art from the creatively talented albeit undiscovered. We seek to provide a vehicle and voice to those we feel should be heard! Do you have the passion to create a good short story? Do you have a budding talent for photography and want to show the world? See our Submission Guidelines for details!

Undiscovered Frontier aims to be the best FREE fiction e-zine made specifically for mobile devices! We aim to have the ezine published on the Amazon Bookshelf, iTunes, and all major digital distribution outlets aimed at the smartphone and tablet audience!

Thank you for reading, and welcome to the Frontier!

--

So there you have it, head over to http://unchartedfrontier.com and check out the preview and look for the first free issue at the beginning of August.  

~Michelle

About the header image: July 18, 2012

This week's header is an image of the ceiling of the Scranton Cultural Center taken by Trish Hartman during a special "behind the scenes" tour. Ornate treasures hide in plain sight throughout the place - all you have to do is look for them!

Do you have a photo that captures some aspect of Northeastern Pennsylvania that you'd like to share? Send it to us at nepablogs@gmail.com, and maybe we'll use it as the NEPA Blogs header for a week.

You can see the complete set of all header images to date by clicking here. (Click on individual images to view full-sized.)

PA Live! Blog of the Week: CacheCrazy.com

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

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site: http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=261702

Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is CacheCrazy.com (http://www.cachecrazy.com/).

Geocaching is an enormously popular but relatively new sport. To put it simply, it's like a huge game of hide-and-seek using GPS (Global Positioning System) locators. "Caches" are hidden objects, usually in weatherproof containers, whose locations are given with GPS coordinates of latitude and longitude. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast! To make things more fun, the coordinates are sometimes encrypted in games, riddles, or math problems. And sometimes the coordinates only get you in the ballpark, and additional clues need to be followed to locate the cache.

So what's the point? It's not so much the finding, but the seeking. Geocaching is a way of getting others to explore exciting locations, challenge their skills at hiking, climbing, and problem-solving, and view vistas that they might not otherwise have seen.

For years I suspected that there must have been a blog in Northeastern Pennsylvania dedicated to this sport, but I didn't actually discover it until a few months ago - and then learned it had been active since 2010! CacheCrazy.com is a site dedicated to geocaching. It was created by a blogger from NEPA who goes by the name of "Bloodhounded," but now has regular contributions from a group of bloggers who share his love of geocaching. It's full of stories of geocaching adventures, hints and tips,  and upcoming geocaching events.

If you're not involved in geocaching, odds are you know someone who is.  If you're at all interested in this fun and exciting sport, give CacheCrazy.com a visit and learn more about it! You'll be glad you did!


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!

Lara's Book Club

It looks like we have another new journalist in Northeast Pennslyvania.  Lara Greenberg just started last week at WNEP-TV and lucky for us, she has a blog!

Lara's Book Club
http://larasbookclub.wordpress.com

From the about:

Welcome to my bookworm blog!

My name is Lara Greenberg, and I’m a local news reporter for YNN, a 24-hour local news cable station in upstate New York. I work in the Elmira/Corning region, covering the top stories of the day from this area. And though I’m on TV every night, one of the integral parts of my job is writing.

My life is a constant cycle of reporting the things I see and hear. Aside from reading newspapers and news sites all day, I’m a huge bookworm. Reading for leisure allows me to learn and refocus my energy on things I don’t have the opportunity to experience. And as important as it is to me on both a personal and professional level to know what’s going on in the world, that includes popular culture. That’s why I like to read bestsellers, popular books, fiction and nonfiction.

I hope you can read along with me and find out more about the books you’re hoping to dig into. I also hope you’ll enjoy my interest in a wide range of books and allow yourself to read a variety of novels as well. It’s time to turn the page!

According to Twitter, Lara will be covering news throughout the Wyoming Valley.  You can follow her on Twitter under the username of @LaraReports.

Welcome to NEPA, Lara!

~Michelle

Infected Vegetables

Infected Vegetables
http://infectedvegetables.blogspot.com/

A blog by mv swiderski of "wilx bear, NEPA", whose introductory post starts off with:

Hi. 


I write. 
This is a place for me to show you what I write.
And for you to read what i write if you want to

What could be more straightforward?

It's actually hard to describe this blog beyond that. Is it free-form poetry? Fiction? Creative non-fiction? All of the above? It's something you'll have to read and then decide for yourself!

About the header image: July 11, 2012

Military surplus items decorate many of the municipalities in Northeastern Pennsylvania, some with well-documented histories, some seemingly more random. Many places feature their own personal anchor, cannon, tank, or other item. Andy Palumbo snapped this photo of an artillery piece in Olyphant several months ago, and tells its story here.

If you have a photo   that you'd like to see featured as the NEPA Blogs header for a week, please send it to us at nepablogs@gmail.com.

PA Live! Blog of the Week: NEPA Mom

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

 

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site: http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=260282


Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is NEPA Mom (http://www.nepamom.com/)


"Mommy blogs" are among the most popular blogs on the Internet, in which mothers share what it's like to be a mom, and their own personal day-to-day adventures in motherhood. Megan Galko's NEPA Mom isn't exactly like this. Instead, it's an amazing resource for mothers, families, and everyone else living in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Megan lets you know about events, deals, discounts, and giveaways. She shares recipes, product reviews, product recalls, printable coupons, and useful information of all sorts. If you want to know what the R/C Theaters Summer Movie, Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse, or Great Escape Dickson City's movie schedules are, she's got that!  How about summer youth programs at Penn State Worthington, Lackawanna College, the  Jewish Community Center, or other places?  She's got it! Want to go out picking strawberries, take the kids to a reading program, or just want to know about cool stuff going on around Northeastern Pennsylvania? She totally has you covered. I've gone to some great events that I might never have found out about if it weren't for announcements on NEPA Mom!

Life can sometimes be overwhelming. A site like Megan Galko's NEPA Mom can give you lots of help, hints and tips, and even information about fun little getaways and mini-vacations around Northeastern Pennsylvania. Give it a visit and you might be surprised at what you find!


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!

Scranton is Broke

Unless you have been living in a closet or under a rock for the last few weeks, chances are you've already heard about the growing financial problems in the City of Scranton.  Scranton is broke.  And now there is a blog about it by the same name....

http://scrantonisbroke.blogspot.com
The city's finances are in question. Chapter 9 is the answer.

Gary Lewis, a Scranton resident, is the author of this blog.  He has specialized qualifications that help translate what the numbers mean to the blog's readers. He's a consultant who has worked with complex accounting for distressed assets with a focus on Banking Industry mergers and acquisitions.  Since 2009, he works primarily on the closure or consolidation of failed banks. -- From the About


A petition has been started today asking Scranton City Council and the Mayor to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  There are only 2 signatures right now, but I'm sure more will appear as time goes on.  If you are interested in signing it, follow this link:  http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-scranton-file-for-chapter-9-bankruptcy-protection.

"It's time to take steps to actually "Restore the Pride" and not simply pay lip service to a great idea."

Thank you to tipster @GlobalScranton for tweeting about this blog!

~Michelle

08/06/12 UPDATE:  Harold recently stopped at 62 South Franklin Street to pre-record a few segments of the Blog of the Week when we learned by accident that the Scranton is Broke blog was closed.  You can read the post here.  This post refers us to Gary's other blog located at consolidatediza.wordpress.com.  Look for an upcoming post about this blog soon!

Amye Archer's new blog

Amye Archer tweeted yesterday about a new blog that she started.  You may know her from her other self-titled blog on Wordpress or from her award winning performance at the first Scranton Story Slam (video below)...

Amye Barrese Archer ‏@AmyeArcher

I've started a new blog... please check it out. It's a baby! http://thefatgirlblog.com

From the About:


What this is:  As I was working on my book, Fat Girl, Skinny, which chronicles the time period in which I lost a hundred pounds using the Weight Watchers plan, I realized that even though the numbers got smaller, the pain inside of me remained.  I think once you are “the fat girl,” even if it’s only for a short amount of time, even if it’s only in your head, it stays with you forever.  It colors how you see the world, how you imagine the world sees you.

I’ve arrived at two simple truths:

1.  Being “the fat girl” is as much about what’s on the inside as the outside.
2.  I could send someone to college with the money I’ve spent on Weight Watchers (re)joining fees.

With The Fat Girl Blog, I wanted to create a space to talk about body image and what it means to be The Fat Girl.

What this is not:  A place where we celebrate unhealthy behavior.  Even though I may lose the battle from time to time, I never retreat.

What this most certainly is not: A diet blog.  Don’t expect me to be whining about how I’m on the wagon this week and off the next.  That gets boring real quick, especially in my world.


Amy is an amazing storyteller, and I am very excited to read this new blog.

~Michelle

Runningful

I found out about this blog when the author attended NEPA BlogCon's launch party at the end of June.  As it turns out, I used to work with Alicia in my short time at Solid Cactus many moons ago and we were both in Bernie's Memorial July 4th Run/Walk.  Alicia is an avid running chick and writes about it on her blog called Runningful. 

Hey there, I'm Alicia! I've been running for about three years now and have finished several 5ks and my very first half marathon. Running has been a wonderful experience for me, and hence "Runningful" was born as the place where running+wonderful intersect. Want to share a running story, write a guest post, pitch a product review/giveaway, or just have a comment? Email me at alicia@runningful.com!

http://www.runningful.com
"Running is wonderful"

Runningful covers topics such as proper nutrition for runners, running wisdom, running inspirations and also has product reviews that may be helpful to runners. 

You can also follow Alicia's adventures on Twitter under the userid of @runningful.

I wouldn't recommend running in this heat, give yourself a break today and soak up the AC or take a dip in the pool.  Stay cool, NEPA. 

~Michelle

New Newspapers (with blogs!)

Happy Friday everyone!  I have located 2 new periodicals to add to our blog roll. 

First up:

West Side Bulletin

http://westsidebulletin.net

The WESTSIDE BULLETIN, L.L.C. is a monthly publication available at over 80 locations throughout the westside and surrounding communities. Each month you’ll find local community news, photographs, recipes, puzzles, school news, and much more. The Westside Bulletin invites you to submit your news about community events related to your school, church, sports, youth organizations, etc. We also welcome information regarding birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, and upcoming events.

You can also view each monthly edition on their website under the "Monthly Editions" link.  I haven't been able to find any social media presence for this publication.

Next up:

Wilkes-Barre Independent Gazette
http://www.wbindependentgazette.com

I could not find a detailed about section on their blog explaining their mission, but the Wilkes-Barre Independent Gazette is essentially a by the people, for the people publication.

"We welcome your letters contribution of local news and interests.  Space permitting, we will consider publication of all points of view.  We reserve the right to respond."

You may already be familiar with some of the staff members:  Lou Jasikoff (Publisher), Holly Anderson (Executive Editor), Frank Sorick (Contributing Editor), Betsy Summers (Contributing Editor), Carl Romanelli (Contributing Editor), and Anthony Antonello (Investigative Journalist).

The only social media presence I could find for the Gazette was a Facebook group which is locked to the general population.  You need to request to join.  

UPDATE:  Bill Boyle of the Wilkes-Barre TL did a story about the new paper on July 6th.  You can read the story online right here.

Do you know of any local news blogs or political blogs that we aren't linking to already?  Shoot an email to nepablogs@gmail.com to give us a heads up!

~Michelle

NEPA Pizza Review

I'm going to let the about section of this blog speak for itself....

NEPA is renowned for it's abundant and diverse selection of pizza restaurants.  I'm a lifelong NEPA resident, longtime pizza maker, and avid lover of all types of pizza.  My goal is to bring you a minimum of 1 pizza review per week and build a library of reviews of pizza places throughout NEPA.

http://nepapizzareview.blogspot.com


Two cool things I found about this blog was that the author decided to create a Google Map to plot out all of the pizza places that were reviewed.  You can check that out here.   Also, the blog's author engages his readers by creating interactive polls.  The one up now asks "What is your favorite kind of pizza?" Choices:  Thin Crust (NY Style), Thick Crust (Chicago Style), Old Forge Style, Sicilian.  Of course, I voted for my favorite - Sicilian. 

This blog is fairly young, it's only been around since June.  It does have several reviews of popular pizza places in the area so far (Revellos, The Gourmet Slice and Colarusso's to name a few).  We look forward to reading (....and drooling over....) more reviews soon!

~Michelle

About the header image: July 4, 2012

Fireworks have always been something of an economic indicator: if you can afford to spend money on things you're only going to blow up later, you might actually not be that badly off. This goes for communities as well as individuals.

For the past few years Nanticoke has put on modest but entertaining fireworks displays. Our header image this week shows a few of the fireworks from the 2009 show as seen from several blocks away. I'm not sure if Nanticoke will be putting on another show this year.

Do you have an image that you think captures some aspect of NEPA's traditions or history? Put it in an email and send it to nepablogs@gmail.com, and we'll see about turning it into one of our weekly headers!

PA Live! Blog of the Week: Ice Cream Journal

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

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site:  http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=259072



Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is the Ice Cream Journal by Turkey Hill (http://icecreamjournal.turkeyhill.com/.)

The Fourth of July is a time for patriotic celebrations, fireworks, and picnics. And ice cream! What could be better on a hot summer night than a nice cone, or bowl, or carton of ice cream? Turkey Hill's Ice Cream Journal is all about ice cream! Ice cream history, ice cream science, favorite flavors, things you can do with ice cream... This blog has been around a while - its first post is from November 1, 2006 - and they haven't run out of things to talk about!

Blogs come in all different types. Some are individual do-it-yourself projects, created by people who have something to say and want to get their message out to the worldwide audience of the Internet. Others are more professional endeavors, less labors of love and more tools of doing business. Some represent groups and organizations, or even corporations or businesses. The Ice Cream Journal falls into this last category. Ultimately it's a corporate blog, putting a face to and providing community outreach for the Turkey Hill Dairy corporation. And it does that job very well, by focusing on an engaging and popular item like ice cream.

One of the secrets of having a popular blog is having content that is wildly popular with people. Politics and sports are two of the big topics that bring in readers. But ice cream is definitely up there. Few blogs cover the topic of ice cream better than Turkey Hill's Ice Cream Journal!



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!

Happy Blogiversary!

Several of our NEPA Bloggers have celebrated significant Blogiversaries lately and I thought it would be fun to do a post and call attention to their accomplishments.  We often find that we are the kiss of death in NEPA Blogging.  Bloggers will delete their blog or stop posting right after we add them to our blog roll.  Maybe its because we have drawn attention to their blog, or maybe the blog author simply got bored with it, we can never be sure.  Harold, Gort and I have seen many a blog come and go over the years.  Which is why I think keeping a blog around for a year or longer, shows dedication and should be celebrated.

Congratulations!  We hope you keep blogging for many more years to come.

 (Check out the awesome cake I baked for you all.

Yes, that's really me.)

NEPA Blogs founder and co-admin Harold recently celebrated his blog's 8th anniversary, we celebrated his milestone by making him the PA Live! Blog of the Week on Tuesday, May 15th.  You can read more about it in his post here:  http://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/2012/05/eight-years.html

NEPA Blogs co-admin Gort42 celebrated 7 years of blogging at the end of April.  In the past, he's had parties for these occasions, but this year, we had BlogFest right before said anniversary.  The Blogfather had a sappy post about it (kidding).  Gort also took the time to thank all of his supporters and friends in his post:  http://gort42.blogspot.com/2012/04/7-years-of-blogging.html

Speaking of the Blogfather, I had to do my homework to find out when Mark started blogging.  I learned by reading his first post at the new blog "Circumlocution for Dummies" that he first started blogging at Wilkes-Barre Online back in December of 2000.  That officially makes his blog the oldest of the bunch -- 11!  http://mcour.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-location-same-old-madness.html

Andy Palumbo, the bad photography expert and serial WNEP blogger has been blogging for 7 years.  He celebrated this milestone back in November of 2011 and is slowly working his way up to year 8.  Congrats!  Bonus points awarded for posting religiously every single day.  http://andypalumbo.blogspot.com/2011/11/7.html

I just celebrated my 7th year of blogging on and off, across several platforms and nearly lost my job for it.  It's been a crazy fun and interesting ride that I hope will continue (as time allows!)  http://www.mhryvnak.net/blog/?p=1954


NEPA Blogs will be turning 7 years old on January 13th.  We're not getting older, we're getting better!  http://nepablogs.blogspot.com/2006/01/welcome-to-nepa-blogs.html


Shannon Nelson, who has appeared recently on our Blog of the Week segment on PA Live! told us on Facebook that she will be celebrating her 7th anniversary of blogging in October of this year.  Congrats Shannon, you make it look effortless!


Maybe we're amazed that Yonki's blog turned 6 years old in May.  Has it really been that long?  It seems like he just started that thing up yesterday!  http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/search?q=6+years+old

Two of our newer added bloggers informed me of their blog's first birthday, they are:

- Kara Zoeller of Saving by Design (and also weekly Citizens' Voice columnist)
- Morgan Harding of Cashmere & Cowboy Boots

Congrats on your labors of love ladies!


--

Have you recently celebrated a blogiversary and we missed you in this post?  We're sorry!  Let us know in the comments!

~Michelle

About the header image: June 27, 2012

This week's header image is by Guerrilla Historian and Urban Archaeologist Cheri Sundra, and is a view of some of the graffiti inside one of the structures at the abandoned Concrete City in Nanticoke.

Concrete City was once a small company town, a cluster of family residences, but was abandoned many years ago. Afterwards it was used as a training facility for local firefighters.  Even after all these years of abandonment, exposure to the elements, and abuse, the structures are still solidly standing. Now that local firefighters have a dedicated training facility, the old structures of Concrete City have become a playground for paintball enthusiasts - and a canvas for graffiti artists from all over the world.

The art there is inherently transient: the paintings present one week may be vandalized or painted over the next. I recently visited the place for the first time, and realized two things: you should always have your camera with you, and if you go to Concrete City, you should be prepared to deal with ticks.

Concrete City is one of the hidden treasures on Northeastern Pennsylvania that are appreciated by people from outside this area more than by lifetime residents. Cheri Sundra and people like her are doing a great job bringing these places to the attention of the rest of us.If you know of any other hidden treasure of NEPA that you'd like to see featured in our header, take a photo and send it to us at nepablogs@gmail.com .

PA Live! Blog of the Week: Cool Blue Studio

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

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site:  http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=258032

Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is local artist Jenn Danza's Cool Blue Studio (http://coolbluestudio.blogspot.com/).

Jenn Danza is a Nanticoke-based artist who specializes in meticulously painting horse figurines. Her work is detailed on a stunningly small scale, as demonstrated in this photo essay on the stages of painting a horse's hooves. Many of her horse figurines are painted on a commission basis - she is painting them to order for paying customers!

Jenn also paints extensively in watercolors. Often she paints found natural objects - a bird's egg, some flowers, even objects in states of decay that others might not find beautiful, but that Jenn transforms into works of art through her skill. She has a signature series of paintings of two little mice who frolic, sleep, get drunk - and even get carried off to be a bird's dinner. Many of these images are built around found objects - including fortunes from fortune cookies! Some of these paintings are available for purchase. If she has time, Jenn will even take commissions - just in case you found the absolutely perfect fortune that you want to see built into a work of art!

Jenn is a fan of found objects, transforming castoff pieces of furniture into works of art. And she has a special affinity for discovering hearts everywhere - heart-shaped stones, heart-shaped stains, even a marking on a green-eyed jumping spider shaped like a tiny heart!

Jenn Danza is one of the many amazingly talented and creative people who call Northeastern Pennsylvania home. In her Cool Blue Studio blog she shares some of that creative process with us. Read it daily, and see what she has to show us!


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!

PwnVFail

As you are aware from the previous post, last night was the NEPA BlogCon Launch Party.  I'm sure there will be a lot of photos flying around as soon as everyone wakes up (Pssssst - WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE AWAKE AT THIS HOUR?).  A good time was had by all who attended, and we thank everyone for coming out and showing their support of NEPA's first ever blogging and social media conference.

To ramp up excitement for our event, Darling Stewie worked with Jason Valenti who runs the blog "PwnVFaiL" to create a social competition relevant to the conference.  If you did not have an opportunity to attend, you did not get to find out who won the #BATTLE4THEINTERWEBZ on Twitter.

http://pwnvfail.com
http://blog.pwnvfail.com

What exactly is PwnVFaiL?  PwnVFaiL is a social gaming space.  It's a social competition between two things played in real-time, using Twitter.  Its an extremely different and interesting take on blogging AND gaming.  Our competition for the #BATTLE4THEINTERWEBZ" pitted several popular Internet memes against each other in a March Madness type of bracket setup until there was one winner left.  As it would turn out, "Scumbag Steve" conceded to Nyan Cat in the final round.


Justin Vacula accurately predicted the winner of this Internet showdown, and won some fabulous prizes, including this hat:

You can also find PwnVFaiL updates on Twitter (@PwnVFail) and Facebook.

Thanks again everyone for coming out!  Look for more exciting updates about NEPA BlogCon in the coming months. 

~Michelle

NEPA BlogCon Launch Party is TONIGHT!

The Squirrel Girls of the Fearsome Foursome of NEPA BlogCon would like to invite you to their website launch party this evening from 5-7pm at the River Grille in Plains.  Directions and a menu can be found by visiting http://rivergrillenepa.com.  RSVP on the Facebook event page here.


Disclaimer: This event is to get people pumped up for the actual BlogCon but this event is not the BlogCon itself

We’re ready to launch our website (*ahem* http://nepablogcon.com) and give one of those super cool press releases about our event! Come get a drink and enjoy free appetizers, door prizes, and cool people!

The Launch Party is a free event but there is a suggested $5 donation. All proceeds benefit 2 local charities (The Arc of Luzerne County and the NEPA Veterans Multicare Alliance). But you don’t have to pay it! And we won’t make you feel guilty if you don’t!

Come socialize with the Fearsome Foursome, Michelle, Mandy, Karla and Leslie.

(Click above image for bigger pop-out version)

NEPA BlogCon is a day long conference held on September 29th at LCCC that’s so much more than your average “Hey, let’s talk about blogging,” event. If you’re looking to learn the REAL scoop behind what makes the blogosphere the place to be nowadays, then this is the event for you. Besides offering you a chance to network with your fellow post slingers, NEPA BlogCon will include panels and sessions related to blogging and Internet things. Don’t worry if you’re not old hat – NEPA BlogCon is for bloggers of all walks of CMS. Not a blogger? This may be the perfect event to get your start with.

We hope that we'll see you tonight!  

~Michelle

Night & Day: Parenting in shifts

Night & Day: Parenting in shifts is the Tumblr blog of journalists Steph & Mike Sadowski.  This is not your average "mommy blog", folks (not that there's anything wrong with that).  They are a Mom and Dad on a deadline....a deadline to two little girls.

From the about:  We're a pair of journalists raising two little girls. Dad works days as a reporter; Mom works nights as an editor. We're in a constant relay race against tight deadlines.

http://night-dayparenting.tumblr.com/

You can also follow the Sadowski family adventure on Twitter @sadowskifamily.

One other exciting sidebar to this blog post....

A few weeks ago Mike left a message in our NEPA Bloggers Facebook group:  "There aren't many places that would appreciate this, but just thought I'd pass this along that, yes, there are awards for bloggers.  This is from the Pennsylvania Press Managing Editors, who awarded the Poconos blog "PopRox" as best blog in its circulation category in the state Woo hoo!"  

You can read more about the award winners here:  http://www.papme.com/JournalismContest/Winners.aspx   (Several CV and TL writers received awards as well!) 

Congrats to Mike!  Keep on blogging!

~Michelle

via the Blogfather Since the repeated misdeeds at the hands of law enforcement officials in Old Forge exploded into the news of late, this new site might be worth checking in on.

oldforgetribune

 http://oldforgetribune.blogspot.com/

 Written by Robert Hughes

  I root out corruption....Started online news source to let people know what's going on.....

About the header image: June 20, 2012

This week's header image is another one by Shivaun O'Donnell of the blog Sundays With Shivstopher.  It is photo of people enjoying Chalk Fest at the Wilkes-Barre Riverfront.  Chalk Fest is one of the many family oriented events that the Riverfront hosts throughout the year.  We decided to run with this particular image this week due to the upcoming Wyoming Valley River Fest event.

River Fest is running from June 22-24th.  More info about the event (including a list of activities, artists and musicians) can be found by visiting http://riverfrontparks.org/river-fest-2012.php.

Our First Contest/Giveaway

McDonalds of Northeastern PA (@MCDNEPA on Twitter) has graciously donated some coupons to NEPA Blogs to give away to our loyal blog readers.  The coupons are for the McDonalds cool and delicious new summer drink...the Cherry Berry Chiller.  I decided to try our hand at doing a contest/giveway.  We have never done this before, so this is a first.  Bare with us!

After racking our brains for a few days, your friendly NEPA Blogs co-admins decided that we would create some clues for an online scavenger hunt of sorts....

All of the scavenger hunt clues have to do with NEPA Blogs.  There will be five (5) questions (revealed below) and the first three (3) participants that email the correct answers to all five (5) questions will receive five coupons for the Cherry Berry Chillers in their snail mailbox.  The coupons expire on 8/31/12.  If you play your cards right, you can have yummy treat on your way home from work every afternoon.
 
Here are the scavenger hunt questions.  I hope you have been paying attention (pssst, even if you haven't the answers can be found by looking around our blog a bit)!  Think you know the answers?  Email your responses to nepablogs@gmail.com 

GOOD LUCK!!

1. When was the first post on NEPA Blogs?

2. What's the Twitter address for NEPA Blogs?

3. You can find NEPA Blogs at nepablogs.blogspot.com. What's the shortcut address for NEPA Blogs? (Hint: it's mentioned every Tuesday on PA Live!)

4. When was the first NEPA Blogs Blog of the Week on WBRE's PA Live!, and what was it?

5. In March of 2012, what local weekly published a cover story on NEPA Blogs and Blog Fest?

All winners will be notified via email and announced on the blog.  The contest will go on as long as it has to, until we have our three winners!

UPDATE 06/22/12:  We have our first winner!  Justin Vacula of the NEPA Freethought Society blog correctly guessed our five questions.  We still have 2 more sets of coupons to giveaway and you don't have to be a blogger to enter!  Get your responses in! 

Blog of the Week will return Tuesday, June 26

Our Blog of the Week feature continues to be on hiatus this week, but we've resolved our scheduling issues and will be back on the air Tuesday, June 26 on WBRE's PA Live!

Blog lists

A few months ago we ran into a problem with the updating blog lists along the right-hand side of the blog. The lists would lock up after a certain number of entries - how many seemed to vary - and after that you would no be able to add a new entry without removing an existing one.

So I created a second list. This was an imperfect solution: what we wound up with was two lists where the most recent posts would rise to the top. The problem was, the most recent post on list 2 would come after the oldest post on list 1.

Today I discovered that this limit seems to have gone away. I found I could add new blogs to the old list without locking up. So I began the tedious task of transferring blogs from list 2 to list 1.

I didn't run into the locking-up issue again. But what I did notice was that after a certain number of blogs had been added to the list, the list would begin mangling  blog feeds - both for newly-added and some currently-listed blogs.

So I went to plan B. List 1 would contain only the most recently updated blogs. List 2 would contain blogs whose most recent post was two months or more ago. A third list, "Non-Updating Blogs," would include all the blogs that had not been updated in a year or more.

It's still an imperfect solution. Blogs from list 2 could go to list 1 if  they updated; on the other hand, non-updating blogs from list 2 could fall off and onto the non-updating list. Even blogs from the non-updating list could jump onto list 1 with a single post. Also, newly listed blogs would go to list 1 by default, but might be moved to list 2 or even the non-updating list. And eventually list 1 will "fill up" again, unless the problem is resolved.

As of this writing list 1 contains 240 blogs, all updated between eleven minutes and one month ago (give or take a few days.) List 2 contains 88 blogs updated anywhere from two to eleven months ago, and 104 blogs count as "non-updating" for having not updated in over a year.

These bugs and limitations are a major part of the decision to look into other platforms to host NEPA Blogs. Michelle is actively exploring these options, while I will continue to try to resolve the problems with the current platform.

UPDATE: I think I'll follow these rules:

1. New blogs will be put onto list 1 provisionally, even if their last update was more than two months ago.
2. Blogs from lists 2 and 3 will be promoted to list 1 as soon as an update is noticed. (This already happened today.)
3. Blogs from list 1 whose last update was more than two months ago will be moved to list 2 on a monthly basis (more or less). (Two blogs that were showing a last update of "one month ago" yesterday just crossed the two month threshold today. I'm not going to shuffle them on a daily basis.)
4. Blogs from list 2 whose last update was more than a year ago will be moved onto the "non-updating blogs" list on a monthly basis.

Remember: the best way to have your blog seen is to update it frequently!

Thelibrarywordfountain's blog

Here's another blog I found on the Scranton Zine Festival's list of participating zinesters. (Turns out Michelle had found out about it via different channels shortly before me!)

Thelibrarywordfountain's blog
http://thelibrarywordfountain.wordpress.com/


From their "About" page:

Word Fountain is a cut-and-paste Zine originating from some creative minds within the Osterhout Free Library. Word Fountain was born in 2009 and has since expanded.


Staff:
Rachael Goetzke
Iris Johnston
Ed Lupico

As of this writing, the Word Fountain zine is still accepting submissions for a special Hurricane Agnes edition. But hurry - cut-off date for submissions is the anniversary of the Flood of '72 - June 22nd! See here for more details.

Edit by Michelle on 07/31/12:  I found that the deadline for this submission has been extended via the 570Writers blog.  

You have until August 8 to get your submissions in for the Agnes/Irene flood issue of Word Fountain. From the Word Fountain post: “We hope to collect donations for this issue to create a special fund for flood victims. We are also looking for sponsors for this special project.”

See the details here: http://thelibrarywordfountain.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/but-wait-theres-more-time-left-to-submit/

About the header image: June 13, 2012

This week's header image is another one by Trish Hartman. It's a sunset seen from Montage Mountain. Our area is sometimes gifted with spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and Montage Mountain is a great place to see them!

If you have any spectacular views of Northeastern Pennsylvania that you'd like to see featured as our weekly header, drop us a line at nepablogs@gmail.com!

Scheduling conflict: No Blog of the Week this week

Due to some scheduling issues, our Blog of the Week segment will not run today on WBRE's PA Live! This will be the first time we've missed a week since the show started in September of last year. Our apologies to the blogger scheduled to be featured this week. We plan to be back and on the air next week!

Anthony Antonello

LuLac tells us that Tony is the son of a friend of his from Pittston.

From his about page:

Following six years in the military, and much time as a medic and firefighter, Anthony Antonello has witnessed the ups and downs in life. From spending time fighting for the United States Military, to the everyday horror covered on the local news, Antonello was there, witnessing events most only see from the comfort of their homes on a TV screen.
Not allowing those images to simply absorb in the noise of main-stream media, there was only one thing left to do for the man from Northeastern Pennsylvania – become politically active. Antonello now travels the country, and covers stories and events showing people first hand what the mainstream media refuse to show, asking questions mainstream media refuse to ask and using whatever means possible to get people thinking.

Anthony Antonello


 http://anthonyantonello.com/

I watched his video of his pursuit of Nancy Pelosi in Scranton  on YouTube.   It was herky jerky and she ignored him. The Capitol Police warned him to back off because they thought he was stalking her. The Yonk told him to wear a tie next time.

Two by Debbie Dabble

By way of a comment she left on a recent post, here are two blogs by a NEPA crafter and bon vivant who goes by the name Debbie Dabble:

Debbie-Dabble
http://debbie-dabble.blogspot.com/

A Debbie-Dabble Christmas
http://adebbie-dabblechristmas.blogspot.com/

From her about page:



I am an R.N. by profession and have worked 30 years on night shift in a hospital based Physical Medicine( REHAB) unit. I am married to a great guy for 33 years and have 2 sons who are out on their own but live right down the road so we are finally empty nesters!!! We live in North Eastern Pa. in the Pocono Mountain region....My blog is a reflection of what I love in life so I hope you would be so kind to follow me along my journey!


Debbie loves crafting, decorating, Christmas...her blogs are about all these these things and so much more! It's hard to describe them in a few short sentences. You must visit them to see for yourself!

Scranton Restaurant Blogs

Blogs?  As in plural?  Yep.  There are two of them that I stumbled across while reviewing a bunch of new Twitter followers on our @nepablogs Twitter account.

Scranton Restaurant News Blog

http://www.tastenepa.com/blog/

Scranton Eats Food Blog
http://scrantoneats.com/restaurants-in-scranton-pa/scranton-food-blog 

Before you head out for a bite to eat in Scranton, check out these blogs for reviews, deals, and upcoming festivals which are sure to tantalize your taste buds!

~Michelle

Colin Devroe's Blog

Colin Devroe is a perpetually fascinated NEPA blogger residing in Jermyn.  I learned about his blog through Jason Gaylord, Karla Porter and the lovely Darling Stewie.  Colin is also known in our circle as "the Viddler guy".  Colin was one of the founders of Viddler an online web video content management platform.  More details can be found about the Bethlehem, PA business by checking out their website here. 

Colin's blog can be found at:
http://cdevroe.com/blog/

Colin blogs about technology, photography,  his diet, and live in general.  He has a little something to interest everyone. 

We are looking to invite Colin to be one of the speakers at NEPA Blog Con which is happening on Saturday, September 29th 2012 at the Technology Center of LCCC.  Stay tuned for upcoming announcements about the event. 

Don't forget to follow him on Twitter (@cdevroe) as well! 


~Michelle

S^%* Under the Counter

My brother, Russell, decided to take another stab at blogging.  He had a blog some time ago which he stopped updating.  The title of his new blog is somewhat....shall we say PG-13?  Children cover your eyes.


Shit Under the Counter
http://shitunderthecounter.blogspot.com

I can assure you that there is a funny story behind the title of the blog, and he's not just being obscene to be obscene (although, he is good at that).  Hopefully, he'll tell the tale of the title of his blog soon, it is hilarious and I don't want to ruin the surprise for his readers.  From his words:

"I was born and raised in NEPA, Originating in Wilkes-Barre, and later moving to the Poconos. I'm 25 years old and I've seen a lot of this world in the short time I've been on the planet. I figured it's about time i get my point of view out there for people to read."

He's also on Facebook and @rhryvnak on Twitter.  Follow at your own risk. 

~Michelle

About the header image: Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Our header image this week is another in a series of photographs provided to us by NEPA's first (and so far, only) three-legged dog blogger, Ada Mae Compton. This image of Sanguinaria canadensis, also known as Bloodroot, was taken at Ives Run State Park, Tioga County.

If you have any photos you would like us to feature as the NEPA Blogs header for a week, please drop us a line at nepablogs@gmail.com!

The Starkville City Jail

Starkville City Jail is the blog of Robbie Ward, a native of Starkville, Mississippi who recently moved north to NEPA.  Robbie is a Journalist/Writer for the Scranton Times Tribune.  He also likes to run barefoot!  (Ouch)

The Starkville City Jail

If it was good enough for Johnny, it's good enough for you.

Ward has written for wire services, daily newspapers and an alternative news weekly. He also created the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival in Starkville, Miss., and has a master's degree in public policy and administration.

If you didn't already know, "Starkville City Jail" is a song by Johnny Cash.  If you are so inclined, you can listen to the song and the story behind it on Youtube right here.

You can follow Robbie's adventures in NEPA on his blog located at http://www.starkvillecityjail.com, also on Facebook, and Twitter (@rscottward1).

Have a happy hump day!

~Michelle

PA Live! Blog of the Week: Sundays with Shivstopher

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

  

Watch this episode on the PA Live! site:  http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=253362


Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is Sundays with Shivstopher (http://sundayswithshivstopher.com/).


Many people in Northeastern Pennsylvania are already familiar with the folks behind Sundays with Shivstopher, Shivaun and Christopher O'Donnell, from their work with the comedy troupe One Laugh at Least. (They were the featured students in the wildly popular Heynabonics sketch.) Chris and Shivaun share a video a week (usually, but not always, on Sundays.) As Shivaun notes on their "About" page,  “In five or ten minutes, we catch viewers up on the week’s happenings of Northeastern Pennsylvania as well as our little microcosm of the world...We started ‘Sundays with Shivstopher,’ to stay connected with friends and family, and people are enjoying it so much, it’s free, and can be seen at anytime, so it fits in everyone’s schedule.”

Sometimes people can get pretty down about this region, focusing on the corruption and the economic hardships, fearing that an exodus of talented, educated people to greener pastures has left us at a significant disadvantage. Chris and Shivaun, like so many other talented bloggers in this region, show us that this is not true, that talented and educated people do make the choice to stay here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Tune in every week to catch their latest adventures on "Sundays with Shivstopher!"


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!