Mark Brackenbury, Town&Gown

When I was an aspiring journalist in college, one of the books that made the biggest impact on me was Working, by Studs Terkel. The subtitle of the book, published in 1974, is: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Pretty straightforward. That was Terkel’s style,…

I spent the better part of a week in November with my wife, sister, and brother-in-law, sorting through more than 60 years’ worth of everyday life. It was a sad occasion, but it brought feelings of pride and happiness, too. My sister, Tammy, and I – well, mostly our spouses – were cleaning…

I’m a numbers geek. It’s an ironic trait for someone whose only D in college came after the naive decision, as a freshman journalism student, to take a math course as an elective. Nice move. But I do love mining insight from numbers, as long as someone who has a clue has…

These are challenging times for all nonprofits, with a national focus on the pandemic and so many people struggling financially. The search for a new executive director added even more to the mix at Pink Zone, which helps lead the fight against breast cancer by raising funds and mobilizing resources in central Pennsylvania. But…

As we’ve traveled along the winding, pothole-laden road to the fall of 2020, much of the focus locally – including in this space – has been on Penn State. As Karen Walker reported last month, many in downtown State College greeted the students’ return in late-August with a mix of optimism and concern. Optimism…

For the first time since 1886, there will be no Penn State football games played this fall.  The annual tradition began November 12, 1887, with a 54-0 win at Bucknell. It grew for 132 years, through a 53-39 win over Memphis in the Cotton Bowl on December 28, 2019. It’s a…