Two teen clothing stores in Lackawanna county closing..
The Cressona Mall in Cressona, PA, facing foreclosure..
And the Schuylkill Mall, one I have been talking about on this site for some time, is most likely going to be having some numbered days with anchor stores abandoning it..
As for the coal region, one quote from the WNEP story worth reading:
“‘It seems like it’s happening to all the malls around here, they’re all closing, the Schuylkill Mall, there’s pretty much going to be nothing left,” said Mandy Galdi of Pottsville.
With more money issues and less shopping options, Gladi said there’s only one thing to do: “move, I’m moving.”
Irish miners hanged for fighting back against horrific working conditions.
This is a good read about worthwhile history of the coal region.. The area I am from is going downhill fast.. Vacant streets and empty storefronts. We are a mere dilapidated replica of the wealthy area we once were decades ago. But there is still reason to be proud .. even if I move from this area soon—and for my family and me, it will be the best choice when I do it—there will still be these proud roots in my heritage. A place where workers rights began in the United States. Where the government’s injustices were seen in black and white.. with coal soot on top..
Snow won’t stop this..
“Lucky enough people are stepping up, making thing happen, that`s the old coal region initiative around here, that`s why this is the Saint Patty`s Day parade of the coal region in Girardville,” said parade manager Stephen Barrett.“We have a very optimistic view of this thing, this isn`t the first time we`ve had snow,” said Joe Wayne, the owner of Hibernian House.He says he’s ready for the event with his bar and the block outside being where everyone ends up after the parade.“Well, it`s like inside here, they said if you died you can`t fall over, and it`s not too different out here,” said Wayne.
Ayden met Santa for the second time last night. He announced his list, but this time shortened it down to two things. I think he panicked a bit and clammed up once he was face to face with the big guy..
Although afterwards he asked a good question: What is Santa doing here right now instead of the North Pole? He knew how busy a time it was.. how did Santa have a chance to come to Ashland, PA? I reassured him .. he was not as persistent as he will be at four, or even five.
I recall my ‘moment’ of realization came around four. So if that happens with my son, I’m just loving getting this one magical Christmas with the amazing innocence of believing in something.
Funny enough, our moment with Santa has been recorded for posterity by the POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN. A reporter even got a quote from both of us.. John Usalis writes,
Inside the Legion post, members sold hot food while people came in to warm up. Santa Claus was also inside, ringing bells as children came to tell him their Christmas wishes.
Ayden Smolock, 3 1/2, of Ashland, was attending his first Old Fashioned Christmas and told Santa that he wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sewer lair play set. He was also excited to get a candy cane from Santa. His father, Brian Smolock, enjoys coming to the event.
“The event has a very nice feel, like a mini Jim Thorpe,” Smolock said. “It’s a good atmosphere. I was over at the historical building across the street and they’re doing a good job there.”
So it is written.
SANTA, now you know. Even the media is reporting Ayden’s wish list!
This is from the website http://poconofoothills.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Pennsylvania-Coal-Cracker-Apple-Pie-Boil-O.. Didn’t really ever hear of it until a Facebook message told me to go to it.
I have had boilo before.. And I have made it too.. My recipe for success isn’t the greatest, I am not as skilled as others are in making the concoction. But if you never had it before, you should try some.. It goes great in the autumn or winter. And let me say this, while it has been about three years since I had boilo (and about 6 months since I even had alcohol), this drink is the best when you are sick, with a cold or flu.. There is something magical about downing an intense amount of warm alcohol with a subtle cinnamon flavor..
In my region, each year there are boilo contests and people who made large quantities of it to give as Christmas gifts.. When you get it as a gift you feel extra special, like someone really loves you enough to give you 200 proof liquid. Christmas cheer comes fast.
But be warned, if the source of your boilo knows what he or she is doing, chances are you will be consuming lots of alcohol very fast. Boilo has a tendency to taste like the greatest thing you’ve ever had. Get some good warm bread to go with it.. or soup. Make it a holiday night to remember..
My local fishwrapper, the POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN & HERALD, published a front page above the fold article on the first gay divorce in Schuylkill County, PA.. Now that gay marriage is legal, I suppose, gay divorce will be just as commonplace as the nuptials.
Although the actual article was accurate as far as facts, it was a bit tacky to do it.. seriously.. above the fold top news status?? Did they set out to embarrass this man? Why don’t they write about straight divorce in the same fashion (well maybe because 70% of marriages end that way..)
Bad form, POTTSVILLE rag.. bad form.
Some past coal region history this weekend. My other website has some more info on why this touched me personally. Sort of.
Here in Schuylkill County, where the trees even look sad lately, there is an aura of depression.. an aura of sadness, perhaps the raping of the land by coal barons has finally hit, now that the generations are changing ..
The Schuylkill Mall in Frackville, PA, is a symbol of this.. It stands nearly vacant, a few stores peppered about and maybe a handful of people shopping. A new movie theater with an awesome bar has livened things up. And just when you thought there was hope that the giant mall could survive to die another day, this news comes: A SUBWAY is coming to the mall.
How I loathe Subway and its processed meat.. how I despise that smell of the restaurant, which somehow can stick on your clothing for days.. How i disdain their bread—though they removed the rubber, I suppose.
Subway?
Seriously? This is the best that a dying mall can do?
My idea for this mall—and any other mall across this nation where shopping is going down hill in favor of online retail: Let the people have their malls back.
Rent is too damn high—yes a candidate for office in New York said that, but when it comes to malls, he was right. The rent in malls in too high.. it’s impossible to sustain your dream of having your own business when you get little traffic in a dying mall but still pay through the roof to have it.
So why not this: Lower rent for a year—maybe even do rent-free for six months. Advertise to ANY PERSON IN THE AREA who has a dream about owning their own store and their own business. How about getting a farmer’s market of fresh food once a week? A grand experiment to buy local—imagine the idea of NO BIG CHAIN STORES, and no big chain restaurants ?? Instead fresh and locally made, locally sold, and locally grown.. It would be amazing and cool.
And perhaps reinvigorate malls.. Not only in Frackville PA but everywhere else a dying mall threatens to blight the landscape with a giant vacant shell..
North Korea is in the grips of a crystal meth epidemic. And now 99% pure crystal meth from North Korea is flooding United States drugs markets.. According to DAILY MAIL’s report on the North Korean nightmare, the drug is so common there that people are offered it as much as coffee or tea would be to guests in other countries. And in America? Meth has been found in lots of small hometowns across the fruited plain. Now 99% purity is on the way–thanks to corruption and drug gangs in North Korea.
Great.. this is the last thing the already meth-addicted coal region of Pennsylvania needs. The pure stuff..
As someone from Schuylkill County, PA, I’d be remiss not to at least give a post dedicated to a pretty surprisingly fun song called SKOOK STATE OF MIND.
I personally never liked the term ‘skook’ much but it works well in this song..
Matt Freiler, of Deer Lake, is the young funny talent behind the video. It’s gone ‘viral’ in so much as people from Schuylkill County have been watching it ..
If you are not from this area the video will mean nothing to you…
I think one day it will be interesting to go back and look at the places where scenes were recorded to see what other ‘landmarks’ of this dying area are gone by that point.
Until then though, it’s a fun song and deserves a listen..
For any Schuylkill Countians out there, this is a blast from the past.. The Schuylkill Mall’s TV ad from the 1990s.. all of these stars except a few are gone.. and the mall is almost vacant.. Sad how the mighty mall on the hill has fallen.
(Keep in mind that when this ad was made, around 1995, the mall had already suffered a mini-exodus of stores. But nothing like what has happened since 2008)
Going old school this weekend—something about parades in the coal region remind me of my early childhood days of the 1980s.. But so much has changed in the coal region of Pennsylvania since the Reagan days of the shining cities on hills and Communist threats. Now we are faced with dilapidated structures and hardcore drugs running wild on the streets..
But it was still a decent day in Girardville as bagpipers played as beer guzzling parade goers cried until their kilts ran dry..
All we need is a miracle.. maybe a miracle… Maybe some day.
"I tried to get my doctor to give me Aderall and he said no, and I’m like ‘come on man,’" said the underage teenager as he passed by with a green container clearly containing Miller Lite
