Who--or what--should be Bethlehem's mascot, the person or other being who best represents the quintessence of what may be called Bethlehemness?
Should it be an early Moravian missionary? A nineteenth century entrepreneur? A Bethlehem steel manager? How about a steelworker, who is, when it comes to it, the foundation of the city's past prosperity? (Let's face it--without the ability to find capable workers, even the entrepreneurs and managers will have to seek other locales.)
I nominate a hairdresser.
(I am perfectly aware that the term "hairdresser" may be politically incorrect, but I don't have time to look up the new term in the Thesaurus of Ever-Mounting Silliness).
Besides, we are not talking about just any hairdresser--we are talking about Bubbles.
Bubbles Yablonsky is the heroine of a series of detective novels by Sarah Strohmeyer, who learned her Bethlehem growing up as the daughter of famed Globe-Times editor John Strohmeyer. Her irrepressible hairdresser protagonist is widely regarded as an airhead. Actually, this former student of Two Guys Community College has a high degree of street smarts and basic human kindness, and a determination to gain some of the finer things in life for herself and her beloved daughter. One of these finer things, coveted strictly for herself, is photographer Steve Stiletto.
But to gain any of her goals she needs to overcome a tendency on the part of the power elite to "diss" her. And her luck is not always the best--for example, she inadvertently gets involved in a brawl while covering a meeting at the historical "Moon Inn." As a result, she nearly loses her new job with the local paper.
It is fun to travel Bethlehem with Bubbles--Southside, Northside, all around the town. If you haven't had the pleasure, look for the books about her in the public library, in local bookstores, or on the net.
See if you don't agree that Bubbles should be our city's mascot.
Because Bethlehem needs a good laugh.

To win, though, she has to overcome a general tendency on the part

On July 2, in response to a question of mine, I received an email from the distinguished writer and preservationist Thomas Hylton. Mr. Hylton spoke about prospects for the preservation of Broughal Middle School at Cathedral Church of the Nativity several months ago. I contacted him because I was alarmed when I read a newspaper article which showed the school board and administration in the process of "divvying up" the artifacts of a soon-to-be-slaughtered school. My email was written in the hope that such an outcome still could be prevented.
In his reply, Mr. Hylton said the Bureau of Historic Preservation is now corresponding with the Department of Education regarding Broughal, but that as far as he knows no decision has been made.
"So it is not too late," he concluded optimistically.
This should be a matter of concern for you whether you favor the highest quality education at the lowest possible taxes (which the preservation of Broughal could help guarantee), whether you are interested in the preservation of fine buildings, or both. Here is a matter in which the interests of taxpayer and preservationist (often the same person, but not always) come together.
Mr. Hylton did not say who it is best to contact about the Broughal School matter, and I am still trying to find out. Will let readers know if and when I get additional information. In the meantime you might try getting additional information and help through your legislators. For Bethlehem, they are: Rep. Steve Samuelson, 610-867-3890, and Rep. T.J. Rooney, 610-882-1510. For Senator Lisa Boscola, I am afraid you will have to ask for directory assistance. The Senator did not seem to be listed anywhere in my directory, at least nowhere one might think of looking for her. No doubt this is due to the magic of modern communications, and all arranged to better serve us.
If I were the Senator, I'd complain.

It's got to be nearly a decade ago that some friends and I visited Jacobsburg State Park. It was a special come-one, come-all event for the park, which is a lovely place. The public took up the invitation in a big way; people were walking along the roadways, through the woods and across the meadows, four abreast.
This gave me a very unpleasant feeling about the future. If this forested area was--at least temporarily--as populated as a town, what would happen in the future? Where would people go to recreate and to find their souls when the rest of New York arrived here to live?
I found no answer; but New York seems to have arrived. I sympathize with thse people; obviously, they need the peace and quiet we have had all these years. Unfortunately, their arrival in such numbers--25 a day, according to the Morning Call-- means we no longer have it, or will not have it for very long.
What can be done about this? Not much, alas--except to vote to preserve as much green space as we can still get our hands on.
And, for that matter, get our new neighbors to register to vote and do likewise.
After all, saving open space is in everybody's interest. When it's gone, it's gone.

It may seem, if this is all you read, that nothing is going on in Bethlehem except historical skulduggery and the selling of souls.
For the record, though, it also is raining here. Hard. Hard enough to remind those with long memories of Hurricane Agnes, back in the early 1970s. Or at least of Hurricane Ivan, two years ago. And not only here is it raining, but throughout the whole Northeast and the East Coast. As I write this, I am listening to reports of flood damage, flood threats, and compulsory evacuations from my Pittston-based public radio station. That, of course, is up in the Wyoming Valley, where they have good reason to remember the horrors of Hurricane Agnes in particular. Here's praying we get through this period safely and reasonably well.
I can't resist, though, translating some of it into local historical terms. Whatever flooding there is, is likely to cause further damage to Historic Bethlehem Partnership's properties in the Monocacy Creek Valley. I truly regret this; but I regret even more that it is likely to generate a need in that organization for more money still. And soon there will not be any more organizations to absorb, will there?

When most people think of Historic Bethlehem Partnership they probably think of its constituent parts--the Kemerer Museum,for example; or the Moravian Museum, or the Burnside Plantation.
Well, if rumors are correct, you will never, ever, ever think of the South Bethlehem Historical Society, because no vestige of it will exist. There is talk of attaching it to one of the north side museums, perhaps the Kemerer--a lovely place, with almost nothing in common with the industrial and ethnic and labor history of the South Side.
More than this, and this much is for certain: For some years now, the biggest perk--almost the only perk--of SBHS membership has been its brilliant newsletter, Southern Exposure. Well, that is gone, unless some miracle occurs. Hold on to your copies; they are likely to become collectors' items.