Fishing regulations pertaining to seasons, sizes, and creel limits at three Pennsylvania lakes have been temporarily lifted by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) in advance of upcoming dam and infrastructure rehabilitation projects

By Steven Brodsky

The following news release was issued today, March 31, 2025, by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC):

HARRISBURG, Pa. (March 31) – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is alerting anglers that effective immediately, all seasons, sizes, and creel limits have been lifted on several PFBC lakes in anticipation of upcoming dam and infrastructure rehabilitation projects. 

The impacted lakes and details about the projects associated with each location are listed below:

• Harris Pond, Luzerne County:  A complete drawdown of this 30-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in fall of 2025.  The $1.9 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

• High Point Lake, Somerset County:  A complete drawdown of this 338-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in spring 2026.  The $5.5 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet PA DEP dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

• Rose Valley Lake, Lycoming County:  A complete drawdown of this 389-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in spring 2026.  The $5 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet PA DEP dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

“We have lifted fishing regulations to reduce the number of fish in these lakes in advance of these upcoming projects,” said David Nihart, Chief of the PFBC Division of Fisheries Management.  “We encourage anglers to fish these waters and make good use of as many fish as they can prior to the lakes being drained.”

The temporary regulations will be posted on signage around each lake and remain in place until further notice.

​HARRISBURG, Pa. (March 31) – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is alerting anglers that effective immediately, all seasons, sizes, and creel limits have been lifted on several PFBC lakes in anticipation of upcoming dam and infrastructure rehabilitation projects.

The impacted lakes and details about the projects associated with each location are listed below:

• Harris Pond, Luzerne County:  A complete drawdown of this 30-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in fall of 2025.  The $1.9 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

• High Point Lake, Somerset County:  A complete drawdown of this 338-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in spring 2026.  The $5.5 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet PA DEP dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

• Rose Valley Lake, Lycoming County:  A complete drawdown of this 389-acre impoundment is anticipated to begin in spring 2026.  The $5 million project will include rehabilitation of the dam embankment and spillway to meet PA DEP dam safety standards.  Once construction begins, the project is expected to last approximately 1.5 years.  The reservoir currently offers angling opportunities for warm-water sportfish species including Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, and catfish.

“We have lifted fishing regulations to reduce the number of fish in these lakes in advance of these upcoming projects,” said David Nihart, Chief of the PFBC Division of Fisheries Management.  “We encourage anglers to fish these waters and make good use of as many fish as they can prior to the lakes being drained.”

The temporary regulations will be posted on signage around each lake and remain in place until further notice.

Posted 3-31-25

Public access restrictions at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area that were set in place because of concerns about highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been lifted

By Steven Brodsky

… An announcement appeared here about public access restrictions that were set in place on February 4, 2025.

Those restrictions have been lifted.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission issued this news release on March 7, 2025:

MIDDLE CREEK TO LIFT ACCESS RESTRICTIONS

Beginning Saturday, March 8, visitors to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area again will have regular access to the property.

The Game Commission in early February closed public access to several locations at Middle Creek, including the popular wildlife-viewing area Willow Point, due to concerns about highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which at the time was being detected in increasing numbers of wildlife species and locations statewide.

The HPAI outbreak is ongoing nationwide, and the Game Commission continues to respond to reports and detect new cases in wild birds across the Commonwealth. However, there have been no mass mortality events in Pennsylvania approaching the scale seen in early January, when upward of 5,000 dead snow geese were removed from two sites in the Lehigh Valley. With limited HPAI reports and detections occurring within Middle Creek and its immediate surroundings, the Game Commission is comfortable lifting the access restriction previously put in place.

Visitors to the site, and Pennsylvanians everywhere, are advised to:

• Always view wildlife from a safe distance

• Avoid wildlife feces, and

• Never handle sick or dead wildlife

Sick or dead wild birds, or any wild animal behaving abnormally or causing concern, should be reported to the Game Commission at 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453).

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture continues to advise domestic bird and poultry owners to maintain heightened biosecurity and, if possible, keep poultry indoors to safeguard their health. Any questions regarding domestic animals should be directed to the Department of Agriculture at 717-772-2852.

Those with questions about visiting Middle Creek can call the Visitor Center at 717-733-1512.

The Wildlife Drive, which is closed seasonally and remained closed in recent weeks, will reopen on Saturday, as well. Visitors are reminded that certain areas of Middle Creek are regularly closed to the public throughout the year to prevent disturbance of wildlife. and remain closed. Please adhere to posted signs indicating these areas.

Posted 3-12-25

The Pennsylvania Game Commission supports the reintroduced Pennsylvania Senate Bill 67; Senate Bill 67 ‘would end the state’s prohibition on Sunday hunting and allow the Game Commission to include Sundays when establishing hunting seasons annually.’

By Steven Brodsky

The Pennsylvania Game Commission issued this news release yesterday, March 6, 2025:

GAME COMMISSION APPLAUDS SUNDAY HUNTING BILL

Legislation that could fully repeal Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting ban has been reintroduced in Harrisburg.

Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, this week reintroduced Senate Bill 67, which would end the state’s prohibition on Sunday hunting and allow the Game Commission to include Sundays when establishing hunting seasons annually. The bill picked up momentum last year, when it passed the Senate and gained preliminary approval in the House of Representatives before time ran out in the legislative session.

The bill now has a fresh start, and a broad base of support behind it. Many sportsmen’s groups back the initiative, as does the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. The Game Commission looks forward to working with this coalition to get the bill across the finish line, an outcome that would benefit hunters and help ensure the future of wildlife management.

Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith expressed the agency’s support for the proposal.

“Hunting takes time, and a lack of time is one of the biggest reasons cited by hunters who stop hunting,” Smith said. “Repealing the Sunday hunting ban and allowing the Game Commission to fully regulate Sunday hunting is an opportunity to provide hunters more time, which will help keep them engaged and carrying out their vital role in managing key wildlife populations. This legislation is beneficial to hunting’s future and the future of wildlife management in the Commonwealth. We support it, and thank Senator Laughlin for again championing this important issue.”

Posted 3-7-25

Winter will end this month in the Northern Hemisphere

By Steven Brodsky

… and most of this column’s readers are looking forward to the arrival of spring, a season with weather that’s generally more conducive to enjoying activities in the great outdoors.

When and where those activities (camping, fishing, etc.) will take place at night (especially in the absence of ambient light), children and adults can contemplate with awe, Psalm 8:3-5: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

Posted 3-3-25

Some of the best bird photos

By Steven Brodsky

… that birders contributed to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library archive in 2024 are accessible for you to view online.

Enjoy: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/macaulay-librarys-best-bird-photos-2024/.

Posted 1-13-25

At the right time and right place

By Steven Brodsky

… a gentle encounter with an element of winter can be serendipitous.

On the first evening of winter 2025, this poem by Robert Frost reminds us of this: Dust of Snow by Robert Frost | Poetry Foundation.

Similar (and surprising) beneficial encounters await many of us this season.

Enjoy winter 2025!

Posted 1-1-25

It wasn’t you, nor was it me

By Steven Brodsky

… who made this tree:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

“Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees

The tree was photographed yesterday.

The Joyce Kilmer poem was published in August 1915.

This post originally appeared at: Conversations About Faith – delcoculturevultures.com.

Posted 3-25-24, Reposted and Revised 11-21-24

In a proper season

By Steven Brodsky

…  appeared this frog (and the shadow it cast upon a lotus leaf):

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Ecclesiastes 3 KJV (biblehub.com)

This post appeared in the Conversations About Faith section of this column.

Posted 4-25-24, Reposted and Revised 8-14-24

Exquisite is the monarch butterfly chrysalis stage

By Steven Brodsky

… as pictured here:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

I can’t say that I find the adult stage of the monarch butterfly to be more exquisite than the monarch chrysalis stage.

Which stage is more exquisite?

Not an easy question (for me) to answer.

It’s easier to simply enjoy seeing these two life stages of the monarch butterfly in the great outdoors!

Posted 8-7-24

Coming into the peace of some wild things

By Steven Brodsky

… with this photo and “The Peace of Wild Things”:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Posted 7-9-24

‘Nature rarer uses yellow’

By Steven Brodsky

… wrote Emily Dickinson: https://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/poems-series-2/106/.

Thought of the poem today when this early spring spattering of translucent yellow came into view trailside in a National Park:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Some of this column’s readers will recall the Emily Dickinson poem the next time that they take notice of nature’s yellow in the great outdoors.

Posted 3-24-24

A tarantula species was named after Johnny Cash 8 years ago, on February 5, 2016 

By Steven Brodsky

… The species is found near Folsom State Prison, the venue where Johnny Cash’s first live album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, was recorded on January 13, 1968. The album was released on May 6, 1968.

Folsom State Prison is located in Folsom, California.

The tarantula species is named Aphonopelma johnnycashi: http://www.sci-news.com/biology/aphonopelma-johnnycashi-new-tarantula-species-johnny-cash-03615.html.

Posted 2-5-24

Most people can relate

By Steven Brodsky

… to the kind of death that was experienced by the character in Seamus Heaney’s poem “Death of a Naturalist.”

Posted 7-12-22

A Conversation With Katie Fallon, Author of ‘Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird’

By Steven Brodsky

Katie Fallon is a co-founder of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. She’s worked with many species of raptors and other kinds of birds. Katie’s books include Cerulean Blues (2011) and the recently released Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird. Her essays have appeared in a number of literary journals. She has a lifelong love of nature. I’ve heard that the first word she ever spoke was “bird.”

Your new book gives vultures, particularly turkey vultures, the positive attention these non-predator raptors deserve. What brought about your interest in these maligned birds?

I’ve been fascinated by vultures for at least fifteen years. There was a roost near where I lived in West Virginia; every day I’d drive by this big, old dead tree with ten or so turkey vultures hunched in it. They became a familiar sight, and I looked forward to seeing them. Vultures are big and kind of dramatic, and in flight, there’s nothing more beautiful. In addition, they’re the ultimate recyclers—they turn death into life.

Many people in the U.S. have an aversion to vultures. Speak about this.

I think vultures remind people of their own mortality. It can be a little creepy to think about a large, dark bird waiting to consume your body when you die. In general, I don’t think people in the US are comfortable with thinking of our bodies as food. Vultures remind us that life will continue after we die, and that some life will continue because we die. They remind us of our animal bodies. Which can be unnerving!

In the absence of vultures, we’d have major health issues to contend with. Tell us why.

Vultures clean up our ecosystems by removing animal carcasses that could potentially contaminate soil and water. They can eat animals that have died of anthrax and botulism. In the absence of vultures, mammalian scavengers could increase in number, and many mammalian scavengers such as raccoons, skunks, feral dogs and cats can spread rabies; vultures do not. Several vulture species in India have suffered catastrophic population crashes in the last twenty years, and public health has suffered. India leads the world in human rabies cases, and the number of cases has increased as the number of feral dogs increased in the absence of vultures.

People get close to vultures by attending your presentations that feature non-releasable birds. How are these birds acquired? How are they trained?

The nonprofit I co-founded, the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, keeps eight non-releasable raptors for educational purposes (you need permits from the US Fish & Wildlife Service to do this, of course – the birds aren’t pets or personal property). All of our birds were injured wild birds that cannot return to the wild. We have three vultures. Lew the turkey vulture was hit by a car and suffered an injury to his shoulder that prevents flight. His “girlfriend,” Boris, was shot in the wing, and by the time she reached us the bone had already healed incorrectly. Our black vulture is Maverick, and he was hit by a car, which resulted in a shoulder injury that prevents adequate flight.

Our birds are all trained using positive reinforcement. We avoid negative reinforcement and punishment, and we try to empower the birds to have some control over their environments. We condition behaviors by offering food rewards when the birds perform the behaviors. Vultures (especially our black vulture!) learn quickly, and they are a lot of fun to work with.

What myths and misunderstandings about vultures do these presentations help to dispel?

People are surprised at how clean and charismatic the vultures are – and how beautiful they are up close, despite their featherless heads.

What vulture behaviors do people find to be most interesting?

People often ask if vultures throw up on us; our education vultures usually don’t (unless they get scared). Vultures also expel liquid waste on their legs and feet, probably to clean them as well as to keep cool. This often fascinates people as well.

Which species of vulture are found in Pennsylvania and neighboring states?

We have turkey vultures and black vultures. During the last Ice Age we may have had California condors, too, and possibly some other now-extinct vultures.

What has been learned about migration of these species?

Hawk Mountain has taken the lead on turkey vulture migration research. Dr. Keith Bildstein and his team have placed transmitters and wing tags on turkey vultures all over the Americas. They’ve learned that our eastern turkey vultures are partial migrants—some spend the winters in Florida, some on the New Jersey shore, some in Virginia, and in many places in between. Many western turkey vultures are complete migrants, leaving their breeding ranges in Canada and heading all the way to South America. And still others in the American southwest migrate into Central America and return. It’s fascinating how the different subspecies have different migratory strategies. Dr. Bildstein and his colleagues have ongoing research projects about turkey vulture migration, and are discovering more all the time.

Vultures have spectacular flying ability. What makes this possible?

Turkey vultures are very light – they have almost the same wingspan as a bald eagle but weigh less than half what an eagle weighs. Their wings are long and broad, and are made for soaring.

How high can they fly?

The Ruppell’s vulture holds the record for the highest-flying bird. Unfortunately for that individual, it was hit and killed by a jet flying over Africa at 37,000 feet.

Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird informs readers about lead toxicity in vultures. What is the extent of the problem? How do vultures ingest lead?

Vultures (and eagles, hawks, crows, ravens, and owls) can ingest small pieces of spent lead ammunition in animal carcasses or “gut piles” left by hunters. When someone shoots a white-tailed deer, for example, the deer is usually field-dressed, and many of the organs are left. This can be a delight for vultures and other scavengers! In ecosystems, scavengers often follow the big predators to clean up the leftovers; here, the same thing is happening—a human is the big predator, a gut pile is the leftover, and a vulture or eagle is the scavenger. However, if small lead fragments are still in the gut piles, avian scavengers can inadvertently ingest the lead and become sick. Lead toxicity from spent ammunition is the biggest obstacle in the way of California condor recovery.

The Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia provides rehabilitation for injured birds. What kind of care do vultures receive?

We’ve treated vultures with a wide variety of injuries and ailments—broken bones, head trauma, lead toxicity, soft tissue injuries. Every bird we admit receives an immediate comprehensive examination by an avian veterinarian, and is then treated as necessary with antibiotics, antifungals, anti-inflammatories, fluid therapy, or chelation therapy. They also receive orthopedic surgery if necessary. We do our best to get the birds back out in the wild if possible.

It must be very joyful to enable an injured bird to regain flight ability. Please tell us about a memorable release.

Two and a half years ago we released a female turkey vulture that had been shot with a shotgun—she had three pellets embedded in soft tissue. We had to leave the pellets in her body because removing them would cause damage. Once she was nursed back to health, we released her wearing a transmitter to track her movements. We learned that she travels to northern Georgia in the winters and comes back to West Virginia in the breeding season. We are thrilled that this vulture was able to return to the wild—and thrive!

Vulture watching is growing in popularity. Turkey vultures are very widespread. Where are some of the best places and times to observe them?

In many parts of the southeastern United States, you can see turkey vultures any day of the year in a variety of habitats. In the winter, vultures can be observed roosting together in and near many cities: in Virginia, check out Leesburg, Staunton, Radford, Pulaski, and Charlottesville; in West Virginia, many vultures can be observed migrating in the fall over Hanging Rock Tower in Monroe County and over Harper’s Ferry in the eastern panhandle. During the summer and fall, the overlook at Cooper’s Rock State Forest near Morgantown, WV, is a sure place to see turkey vultures. Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania, of course, is an excellent place to watch turkey vultures and birds of prey during migration, especially in September and October.

What stimulated your interest in nature?

I’ve always been an outdoors person. I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, and I had horses as a kid. I spent a great deal of time with my horses, trail riding and competing, and when I got a bit older I often went hiking and camping with friends and family. One of my favorite childhood hiking spots was Ricketts Glen State Park—it’s filled with hemlock trees and many gorgeous waterfalls. It’s definitely worth checking out if you visit northeastern PA.

Was “bird” your first word?

Yes! My parents had bird feeders in their yard when I was a baby (well, they still do) and my mother says she used to hold me in front of the window to show me the birds at the feeder. One day, she said, “Look at the birds! Look at the birds outside.” And I nodded and said, “Bird.” I haven’t stopped talking about them since.

Katie Fallon’s website address is: www.katiefallon.com.

Posted 4-6-17, Reposted 10-29-19

There will be spring days ‘so perfect’

By Steven Brodsky

… as perfect as the day that’s featured in the poem “Today,’ by Billy Collins:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/40824/today-56d21ebdad746

Such days foster expansiveness under a “larger dome of blue and white.”

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Those days will be perfect enough to possibly help to alleviate or eliminate impingements on one’s writing flow that may have set in over the winter.

Posted 3-31-25

Things that bug us

By Steven Brodsky     

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Writers usually find it easier to shoo away or crush flies at spring, summer, and autumn picnics than to decide if they should write about some pesky (and personally troublesome) subjects.

If you’ll be attending picnics, enjoy them!

Nice (and easier) writing can arise from those picnics, whether or not flies and other external pests will be present.

Posted 3-28-24

The road I chose today

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… a road not made of asphalt, enables me to commemorate Robert Frost’s birthday, which arrives in two days, by sharing this link: https://poets.org/robert-frosts-road-not-taken.

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874.

I’m appreciative that Robert Frost chose a road that facilitated his penning “The Road Not Taken.”

Posted 3-24-25

April is coming, ‘she will’

By Steven Brodsky

… In many of the regions where readers of this column reside, streams will be “ripe and swelled with rain.”

The writers among us can choose to act upon exceedingly rich and abundant writing prompts that the month of April and spring evoke.

Some of the better writing prompts will quickly disappear from consciousness, as if they’ll be carried off by the rushing waters of a “ripe and swelled with rain” April stream.

Such a stream:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Will you have pen and paper at hand to capture writing prompts and to actualize some of those prompts into first drafts?

Posted 3-14-25

Whether or not you will be welcoming the arrival of March

By Steven Brodsky

… March will be here soon.

It’s never too early or too late a date to enjoy this Emily Dickinson poem: https://poets.org/poem/dear-march-come-1320.

Posted 2-25-25

Disattired

By Steven Brodsky

… is this adaptively “wise” tree:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

It’ll “stand sleeping in the cold” tonight.

Not easy (and unlikely) for most poets: to write with the level of poetic eloquence and concision that William Carlos Williams did in this ten-line poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45504/winter-trees.

While the “wise” trees will do what they will in the remaining nights of this winter, wise and dedicated writers will be striving to improve their writing ability.

Posted 2-23-25

The last vestige of light is present on these woods

By Steven Brodsky

… at the start of this snowy evening.

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Though I would like to linger at these woods, it wouldn’t be expedient: there are “promises to keep” and “miles to go before I sleep.”

The words between quotation marks in the above paragraph are those of the speaker in this poem by Robert Frost: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening.

I have to move on from these woods and this post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Posted 2-12-25

A biblical admonition for writers and/or bookworms

By Steven Brodsky

Writers and/or bookworms (many writers are bookworms) may find  Ecclesiastes 12:12 to be a catalyst to offset effects of excessive sedentary time with healthful activities.

Ecclesiastes 12:12: “And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”

Be well!

Posted 2-10-25

To take us into February

By Steven Brodsky

… Dar Williams’ beautiful “February”:

May we come to regard the coming month as a month that was accompanied by much beauty and love.

And, to the writers among us: may you successfully express some of what comes your way in February on paper and screens.

Posted 1-31-25

In the closing hours of 2024, headwinds are in the forecast for January  

By Steven Brodsky

… for some of the writers among us.

You may have experienced first-month-of-the-year headwinds before.

It’s clear that the speaker in William Carlos Williams’ “January” has.

Note the first word of the poem: “Again.”

January by William Carlos Williams – Poems | Academy of American Poets

Good luck to those of you who will be writing through headwinds in January.

Happy New Year.

Posted 12-31-24

Christina Rossetti’s ‘A Christmas Carol’

By Steven Brodsky

…was an outflow of Christina Rossetti’s having given her heart to Jesus (read Rosetti’s “A Christmas Carol,” and take note of the words in the last line of the poem): A Christmas Carol | The Poetry Foundation.

Christina Rossetti | The Poetry Foundation 

The poem was not written by a woman with a stony heart.

What can God do for a person with a stony heart?

Ezekiel 36:26: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

Posted 12-21-24

Ted Kooser’s ‘Christmas Mail’

By Steven Brodsky

… linked here for our holiday season enjoyment, before the Christmas rush gets fully underway: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55886/christmas-mail.

The Christmas cards that the mail carrier in the poem delivers have transportive power, as does the poem: they take us to a special time and place.

Season’s greetings to all of you.

May writing that you do on pages, screens, and on holiday cards be graced with transportive power.

Ted Kooser served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2004-2006. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005.

Posted 12-8-24

Serviceably macabre

By Steven Brodsky

… for Halloween enjoyment is Robert W. Service’s “The Cremation of Sam McGee”: The Cremation of Sam McGee | The Poetry Foundation.

This was recorded by Johnny Cash at Cash’s home:

Did the story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and a fourth person in a fiery furnace “walking in the midst of the fire” told in Daniel 3:16-28 help inspire Robert W. Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) to write “The Cremation of Sam McGee”? I’d tell you if I knew.

Posted 10-11-24

When the world was newer to all of us

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… some of this column’s readers experienced the gathering of leaves in grade school.

Gathering Leaves in Grade School | The Poetry Foundation

A memory of gathering leaves as a child may have been dormant till now, as dormant as a deciduous tree that will have shed all of its leaves for winter.

Same can be said about the capacity to enjoy a more youthful sense of wonder while engaged in the non-cleanup (no rake in sight) activity of gathering leaves.

Posted 9-29-24

O column readers

By Steven Brodsky

…  Walt Whitman was born 185 years ago, on May 31, 1839.

In commemoration of Walt Whitman’s birthday, enjoy:

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman (read by Tom O’Bedlam) (youtube.com)

Posted 5-31-24

A ‘wordless’ special encounter

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… with a heron or other wild animal can compel a person to write about the experience “over and over again.”

A compelling poem, Hayden Carruth’s “THE HERON”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=39844.

Posted 5-9-24

A winged writing prompt

By Steven Brodsky

… prompted by Emily Dickinson’s “Fame is a bee” (linked below):

Photo by Steven Brodsky

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52139/fame-is-a-bee-1788

No telling when this prompt will take wing and disappear from this page.

Emily Dickinson did not experience the sting of fame; she was not famous during her lifetime.

Posted 5-4-24

Curiosity

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… can prime an artist’s creative pump (yes, the proverbial cat that possessed this trait now comes to mind).

Posted 4-23-24

In commemoration of the birthday of Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

By Steven Brodsky

… Let’s enjoy Robert Frost’s “Birches”:

“Birches” by Robert Frost (read by Tom O’Bedlam) (youtube.com)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44260/birches

“Birches,” a song by Bill Morrissey, had been referenced in the main section of this column. I believe that Bill Morrissey probably titled the song as a nod to the same-named Robert Frost poem. Bill Morrissey spoke of the impact of Robert Frost’s poetry in an interview: “And then, as I got older, people like Robert Frost really hit me.” Bill Morrissey’s “Birches”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5n5ceAv_Bc&ab_channel=BillMorrissey-Topic. I never had an opportunity to interview Bill Morrissey.

Posted 3-26-24

A recitation of  W.H. Auden’s ‘O What Is That Sound’

By Steven Brodsky

… A great recitation of this unsettling poem:

Tomorrow is the birthday of W.H. Auden (February 21, 1907 – September 29, 1973).

Posted 2-20-24

Tracked and found a lost dog

By Steven Brodsky

… during a recent snowfall.

After finding the dog, turned around and noticed the tracks of the dog and my own in the snow “stretched out upon the world.”

Blizzard by William Carlos Williams | Poetry Foundation

The dog was returned to its owner.

Posted 2-15-24

Longing to be ‘lost’ in a romantic interest

By Steven Brodsky

… the condition of the speaker of “I Am Not Yours,” a poem by Sara Teasdale (1884 – 1933): https://poets.org/poem/i-am-not-yours.

The first-person character of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” does not have that condition:

48 years ago, on February 7, 1976, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first of three weeks.

The poem and song are referenced here in advance of Valentine’s Day.

Posted 2-7-24

Poe’s ‘Alone’

By Steven Brodsky

In recognition of Poe’s birthday tomorrow, reposting:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46477/alone-56d 2265f2667d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Co01IZRhi0&ab_channel=SpokenVerse

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809.

It’s opportune to also reshare this with you:

Posted 1-18-24

‘Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes’

By Steven Brodsky

No need to tell this slant: the above recitation appears here in commemoration of Emily Dickinson’s 193rd birthday tomorrow, as does this link: Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263) by… | Poetry Foundation.

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830.

Billy Collins, author of the poem “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes,” is a former Poet Laureate of the United States.

Posted 12-9-23

Edith Bunker (the character from ‘All in the Family’ played by Jean Stapleton) would probably have been delighted

By Steven Brodsky

…  if she’d known that we’d be welcoming this Thanksgiving by reading the linked poem by one of her favorite poets, Edgar Albert Guest: Thanksgiving by Edgar Albert Guest | Poetry Foundation.

Have a happy and thankful Thanksgiving!

Posted 11-21-23

Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was born 103 years ago

By Steven Brodsky

… In commemoration of Ray Bradbury’s birthday, enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-r7ABrMYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU51N2s3B78

Posted 8-22-23

‘The work of a writer, his continuing work, depends for breath of life on a certain privacy of heart.’

By Steven Brodsky

… Yes. For the purpose of maintaining “a certain privacy of heart,” will leave it at that; no flippancy is intended.

The quotation is that of Tennessee Williams. It appears in New Selected Essays: Where I Live.

It’s presented here in commemoration of the birthday of Tennessee Williams this coming Sunday. He was born on March 26, 1911.

Posted 3-24-23

The musicality of ‘The Highwayman’ poem, by Alfred Noyes (September 16, 1880 – June 25, 1958)

By Steven Brodsky

… was beautifully expressed by Phil Ochs: The Highwayman – YouTube. Phil Ochs wrote the music.

Read the poem aloud; it’s not difficult to hear its musicality and to see the gorgeous imagery conjured by: “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.”

You’ll find the poem here: The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes – Poems | Academy of American Poets.

Upon seeing the moon on special evenings, people sometimes sing the quoted line from the Noyes poem in the manner that Phil Ochs did on the linked recording, implicitly acknowledging the effectiveness of the poem and the song.

Posted 1-27-23

One can only imagine

By Steven Brodsky

… how great Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel Seeds of Pain, Seeds of Love (the working title) would be if the novel had been completed.

Revisiting this reading by Selby of a few pages from the incomplete manuscript of the novel because the pages and the reading are powerful and not everyone here now watched the reading when a link to it was originally posted, and because the writing exemplifies what can be achieved by someone who never completed formal education beyond the eighth grade and who had some huge personal challenges, and because I hope that the reading will inspire writing by some of you, but be aware that the reading contains a depiction of violence upon a juvenile by a parent and adult language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0wAJ8AFRmQ.

An outstanding documentary about Hubert Selby Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvDJNEcUxfs.

This posting is dedicated to the memory of Dan Fante (February 19, 1944 – November 23, 2015).

Dan Fante was encouraged to write by Hubert Selby Jr.

Have you read Dan Fante’s memoir? It’s titled Fante: A Family’s Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving.

Posted 12-5-22

Seamus Heaney’s father and grandfather used a spade. Seamus Heaney, a squat pen.

By Steven Brodsky

… digging tools.

Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney at Villanova University in April 2010 reading “Digging”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNRkPU1LSUg.

The text of “Digging”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47555/digging.

Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland on April 13, 1939. He passed away on August 30, 2013.

Posted 2-2-22

Great color choice for the wheelbarrow in a 16-word poem by William Carlos Williams

By Steven Brodsky

… W.C. Williams chose red—an excitatory and perfect color for the wheelbarrow in the poem “The Red Wheelbarrow.”

Had he chosen any other color, the poem’s effectiveness would be greatly diminished.

Read or recite the poem from memory with a different color for the wheelbarrow and check this out for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqIl3oX_44s&ab_channel=awetblackbough

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow

Posted 8-19-21

Hours away from the last weekend of March 2025

By Steven Brodsky

… My best wishes go out to all of you for a wonderful weekend.

May we choose wisely among the many options that will present themselves this weekend.

Choices have consequences.

Pray that some of this column’s readers will choose to enter into a saving and loving relationship with God today, over the course of this weekend, and in the very near future.

Posted 3-28-25

As spring has sprung

By Steven Brodsky

… in the Northern Hemisphere and the earth is bringing “forth her bud,” it’s especially opportune to share Isaiah 61:11.

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Isaiah 61:11: “For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”

Posted 3-25-25

A verse about perfect peace

By Steven Brodsky

… Isaiah 26:3: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trustest in thee.”

Our finite minds can’t understand this sort of perfect peace; no use trying to understand it.

Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Thank God for the availability of this gift of perfect peace.

Posted 3-22-25

Will you be going to ‘where the wicked shall cease their troubling’?

By Steven Brodsky

… That place: heaven.

Hopefully, we’ll meet there some day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09sWkMK4uY4

The above linked performance video of “The Wicked Shall Cease Their Troubling” featuring Jessy Dixon was previously linked in this section of the Entertainment, Culture and More column.

It came to mind as I was writing an article today that included an embed of “April Come She Will,” a Simon & Garfunkel song that was written by Paul Simon. That article appears at: Conversations With Writers And More delcoculturevultures.com.

It was then that I recalled that Paul Simon had seen Jessy Dixon in concert at Radio City Music Hall in 1972, and that Paul Simon invited Jessy Dixon to sing with him on Saturday Night Live, and that the two would go on to tour together in the U.S. and overseas for eight years.

Jessy Dixon passed away on September 26, 2011 at age 73.

Posted 3-14-25

In memory of someone that I cared deeply about 

By Steven Brodsky

… This person, whose name I will not reveal (out of deference to the person’s family), passed away soon after being placed for the first time onto a “hospice bed.”

A photo that I received of this person that was taken just prior to the person being assisted onto what would be the person’s deathbed, shows a terrified look on the person’s face.

I believe that the terrified look captured in the photo was at least in part due to the person’s not having made things right with God (as far as I know).

I would not presume to know how God judged my dear friend.

Terrifying to the maximum would be to hear God saying the words that appear in Matthew 7:23.

About those words: https://www.gotquestions.org/I-never-knew-you-depart-from-me.html.

Oh yes, dear readers, “love the people that God gives you”… “one day He’ll want them back.” Scroll down this page to read the article “Aaron Wilburn’s The People That God Gives You.”

I loved my friend; God has taken my friend back.

Posted 3-11-25

Yesterday, on the first morning of Daylight Saving Time

By Steven Brodsky

… the time on clocks sprung forward (or should have) an hour. Upon awakening (on time), a verse from Psalms sprung into my conscious mind.

That verse, Psalm 143:8: “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

May we hear God’s lovingkindness in the morning.

May our steps be directed by God.

May our souls be lifted onto God.

Posted 3-10-25

The spring 2025 Amish mud sale season is underway

By Steven Brodsky

… Community unity, volunteerism, and beneficence are at the core of Amish mud sales.

Mud sales generate funds for fire departments in Amish communities.

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Psalm 133:1: “BEHOLD, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

May the spring 2025 Amish mud sale season be highly successful!

Posted 3-7-25

Matthew 22:37-38: ‘Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.’

By Steven Brodsky

If you are getting back to the heart of worship (where it’s all about Jesus!) or are there now, hallelujah.

If you need help getting to this heart of worship or staying there (everyone does), prayerfully ask for God’s assistance and read the Bible.

Posted 3-5-25

In the ‘valley’

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… God can enable flowers to grow in the valley!

Posted 2-20-25

Inside San Quentin’s yard

By Steven Brodsky

… was the venue for Ben Fuller to perform and to share some of his testimony (about God’s grace in his life) with San Quentin inmates.

From that ministry opportunity:

Ben Fuller, and others, will be performing in Lancaster County, PA at WJTL Fest on Saturday, May 17, 2025. Visit WJTL Fest – The Junction Center | WJTL for information and a link to purchase tickets.

Posted 2-3-25

We’re ‘the reason that He went to the cross’

By Steven Brodsky

… Let’s “look up and see the cross.”

Isaiah 53 (KJV) – Who hath believed our report?

Posted 1-28-25

Feeling that God is against you?

By Steven Brodsky

… God has unfathomably great plans for those who are His!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Romans-8-28/

Posted 1-26-25

One of the blessings of the godly in more advanced years

By Steven Brodsky

… is the capacity to continue to bear (wonderful/prime) fruit.

What a blessing that is, as the psalmist no doubt had observed prior to penning Psalm 92!

Take special note of Psalm 92:14: https://www.blueletterbible.org/nlt/psa/92/1/s_570001.

Posted 1-22-25

White as the snow that fell last night

By Steven Brodsky

… on this tree, is the cleansed-of-the-stain-of-sin condition of those who have truly accepted God as their Lord and Savior:

Photo by Steven Brodsky

Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Posted 1-20-25

What might the words that we’ve spoken since the start of 2025 reveal about our hearts?

By Steven Brodsky

… This rhetorical question may be invaluable to some of us.

Luke 6:45: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

What does it mean that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45)? | GotQuestions.org

 Whatever might accurately be revealed by examining our words, it’s prudent to be mindful that God is a transformer of hearts!

Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

Posted 1-17-25

‘Christmas Gone Viral’

By Steven Brodsky

May Christmas Gone Viral temporally and eternally bless readers of this column.

Christmas Gone Viral | Full Movie 2017 – YouTube

Posted 12-6-24

‘Closer than a brother’

By Steven Brodsky

… is the friend identified in “God Really Loves Us”:

If you have the same friend, may your “life testify hallelujah”!

James 2:23: “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”

John 15:15: “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

Posted 12-5-24

Hallelujah for hard fought hallelujahs

By Steven Brodsky

… and hallelujah for Brandon Lake’s “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”

A powerful video:

Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Of course, dear readers, there may be times when such blessings and praise will be hard fought.

Posted 11-21-24

To commemorate Billy Graham’s birthday (and for other reasons): ‘How to Get to Heaven’

By Steven Brodsky

… sharing this video (recorded in 1963):

Billy Graham was born on November 7, 1918.

He got to heaven on February 21, 2018.

A 2018 interview titled “Rev. Billy Graham’s Passing: A Revisit With Paul Heil, Host of ‘The Gospel Greats’ Radio Show” is posted at: Conversations With Paul Heil, Founder and Former Host of ‘The Gospel Greats’ Radio Show – delcoculturevultures.com.

Posted 11-7-24

I don’t know

By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky

… if Rocky Raccoon, the fictional character in the Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon,” actually read any words in the Bible that was placed in a hotel room by The Gideons International.

I can tell you that many people have been eternally blessed by their having read verses in Gideons-placed Bibles.

Lives have been transformed.

About The Gideons International: https://www.gideons.org/about.

About “Rocky Raccoon”: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/rocky-raccoon.

Posted 10-25-24

God’s children

By Steven Brodsky

… can take God at His word.

Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Photo by Steven Brodsky

What it means to be children of God: https://www.gotquestions.org/children-of-God.html.

Posted 9-22-24

Prayer is the subject 

By Steven Brodsky 

… of this brief post and this song:

James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Have questions about prayer?

You may find answers to some or all of those questions at:

Does God answer prayers? | GotQuestions.org

Are there any conditions to answered prayer? | GotQuestions.org

Posted 9-12-24

Aaron Wilburn’s ‘The People That God Gives You’

By Steven  Brodsky

… was referenced here in the summer of 2020.

Circumstances of life have affirmed the value of the song’s message for me and many others.

I first heard “The People That God Gives You” on the syndicated radio show that Paul Heil hosted for many decades.

The song has continued to be a blessing to me (and I believe to some of the people that God has given me).

Be blessed.

1 John 4:7-8:

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Paul Heil was interviewed for this column in 2018 and 2016. The interviews are accessible at: https://delcoculturevultures.com/2017/03/14/a-conversation-with-paul-heil-host-of-the-gospel-greats-syndicated-radio-show/.

Posted 9-5-24

‘Sweeter than honey’

By Steven Brodsky

… was the taste of God’s words to the psalmist.

Psalm 119:103: ^“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

This verse came to my mind while I was enjoying a spoonful of wildflower honey a few minutes ago.

Some of this column’s readers will recall the verse the next time they taste honey.

And some will recall the verse when they next taste the sweetness of the Bible.

Posted 8-27-24

One thing that we can’t take back from the enemy

By Steven Brodsky

… unfortunately, is stolen time.

Our lives are short, like the lifespan of a vapor.

James 4:14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Time is valuable, including the time spent to write this column installment and the amount of time that readers will spend engaging with the installment.

God-willing, our time will be well-spent.

Take the time to watch (and enjoy!) this video:

Posted 8-14-24

Have you been redeemed?

By Steven Brodsky

… Hallelujah, if you, dear Entertainment, Culture and More column reader, have been redeemed.

For all of us to enjoy, Big Daddy Weave’s “Redeemed”:

Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Posted 8-12-24

Shackled and unshackled listeners

By Steven Brodsky

… have been enjoying episodes of UNSHACKLED, the iconic radio drama show, since 1950.

Episodes of UNSHACKLED are accessible at: https://unshackled.org/on-demand/browse-all-programs/.

John 8:36: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Posted 6-6-24

‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ – 1 Corinthians 15:55

By Steven Brodsky

… This video is embedded here especially for the miracle children who regularly visit the sections of the Entertainment, Culture and More column:

Posted 4-10-24

Need a reminder that the battle has already been won?

By Steven Brodsky

… If you do, you’ve come to the right place.

Psalm 63:4: “Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.”

Posted 2-19-24

‘But the cross says they’re wrong’

By Steven Brodsky

… thankfully.

Posted 12-4-23

What to expect from Servant Stage Company’s production of ‘Little Women The Musical’

By Steven Brodsky

… the topic of this promo video from Servant Stage Company:

If you have your pay-what-you-will tickets or will soon be securing them, expect that you will enjoy the show!

Little Women — Servant Stage

Posted 3-27-25

A promotional video featuring male actors from Servant Stage Company’s production of ‘Little Women The Musical’

By Steven Brodsky

… has been released:

Have you ordered your pay-what-you-will tickets for this show?

Little Women — Servant Stage

Posted 3-22-25

The March sisters from Servant Stage Company’s production of ‘Little Women The Musical’

By Steven Brodsky

… are featured in this new Servant Stage Company video:

Little Women — Servant Stage

Posted 3-15-25

Tickets for Servant Stage Company’s production of ‘Little Women The Musical’ are now available; performances will take place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, March 14, 2025 – April 12, 2025

By Steven Brodsky

… Cast members talk about Little Women The Musical:

Tickets are pay-what-you-will, consistent with Servant Stage Company’s mission to make exceptional theatre experiences accessible to everyone.

Visit Little Women — Servant Stage for additional information and a link to order tickets.

Posted 2-28-25

A New Season of Theatre Classes in Servant Stage Company’s Monday Night Drop-Ins Program is Underway

By Steven Brodsky

 … Class subjects include: acting, improvisation, vocal technique, and dance.

These classes are pay-what-you-will.

From a Servant Stage Company press release issued on Febuary 14, 2025:

2025 marks the fourth year for the Monday Night Drop-Ins program. Last year’s program served 373 unique students (an 83% increase from the previous year) over the course of 64 classes, with many attending multiple classes. “It’s our goal to be a theatre home for people of all ages,” says Executive Director, Johnathan Bauer. “We want to create opportunities for those just getting started out all the way to those working on the professional level, and our Monday Night classes are a key component of that vision.”

Visit https://servantstage.org/mondays for additional information.

https://servantstage.org/

Posted 2-24-25

The 2024/2025 National Alliance for Musical Theatre Member Theatre and Writer Recipients of Writers Residency Grants (part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals) have been announced

By Steven Brodsky

… Congratulations to the grant recipients.

From a news release issued by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre yesterday, February 18, 2025:

New York: The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) has announced the NAMT Member Theatre and Writer Recipients for the 2024/2025 Writers Residency Grants, part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. The Frank Young Fund is a major funding program to support the development and production of new musicals. Writers Residency Grants encourage collaborations between NAMT Member theatres and writers at the earliest stages of a project.

“Developing new musicals requires space, time and trust—three things our members provide with immense dedication,” says Betsy King Militello. “These Writers Residency Grants strengthen the foundation for musical theatre’s future by ensuring that writers and theatres can explore, experiment and build relationships. We are proud to continue investing in our members’ commitment to foster new work, and we can’t wait to see the incredible projects that will emerge from this year’s residencies.”

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has awarded each of the following member organizations $500 to $2,000 for Writers Residency Grants for the 2024/2025 Cycles:

American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) for Desaparecidas by Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca & Georgina Escobar

Ars Nova (New York, NY) for Where We Meet by Kate Eberstadt

Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) for Legendary by Cheeyang Ng

Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) for King of Harlem by David Gomez & John-Michael Lyles

New York Theatre Barn (New York, NY) for The Phoenix by Cheeyang Ng, Eric Sorrels & Desdemona Chiang

Olney Theatre Center (Olney, MD) for Okuni by Naomi Iizuka & Paul Hodge

Prospect Musicals (New York, NY) for YUKON HO by Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepard & Regina Strayhorn

Theater Latté Da (Minneapolis, MN) for Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria by Brandy Hoang Collier, Clare Fuyuko Bierman & Erika Ji

Theatre Now New York (New York, NY) for Kusama by Yuriko Shibata & Andrew Strano

The next application cycle for the Writers Residency Grants will open May 1, 2025, for projects slated to take place between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. For more information, visit namt.org/wrg. Applicants must be U.S.-based NAMT member not-for-profit theatre organizations. For more information on membership, visit namt.org/membership.

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey, and the recommended Grant Recipients for the Writers Residency Grants are selected by the New Works Committee, a distinguished panel of industry leaders from across the country. The 2024/2025 New Works Committee was co-chaired by Eric Keen-Louie of La Jolla Playhouse (CA), Hattie Andres, formerly of Seattle Rep (WA), Justin Lucero of Theater Latté Da (MN) and Ray Hogg of Prime Mover Theater Company (TO). Committee members include Joe Barros of New York Theatre Barn (NY); Jaime Bartolett of Shea Theatricals (NY); Bill Berry of The 5^th Avenue Theatre (WA); Cat Brindisi of Asolo Rep (FL); Victoria Bussert of Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music (OH); Kate Galvin of Constellation Stage & Screen (IN); Marguerite Hannah of Horizon Theatre (GA); Elizabeth Kensek, formerly of WaterTower Theatre (TX); Tom Morrissey of Theatre Now New York (NY); Alan Paul of Barrington Stage Company (MA); Laura Peete of Theatre Under The Stars (TX); Damaso Rodriguez of Seattle Rep (WA); Amber Wallace of Ogunquit Playhouse (ME); and Adam Yankowy of Michigan State University (MI).

Posted 2-19-25

Those engaged with the arts are more likely to be socially connected

By Steven Brodsky

This press release was issued moments ago by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA):

Washington, DC—A new research brief released today by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) examines recent patterns of arts engagement among U.S. adults, and the relationship between arts engagement and social connectedness. The findings come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from April to July 2024.

NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said: “Timely data on arts engagement in our country is key as researchers seek to measure the health of the arts sector following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to improve our understanding of how the arts can impact many aspects of our lives, including issues of loneliness and social isolation. The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to add this report to our expanding body of research on the arts’ benefits for our lives and communities.”

Highlights from “Arts Attendance, Art-Making, and Social Connectedness: Spring/Summer 2024” are below. The findings about the arts’ positive links to social connectedness are especially promising in light of a 2023 Surgeon General’s advisory about the adverse health effects of loneliness and social isolation. See the full NEA research brief for additional statistics, including differences in arts participation rates by age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and annual income. Future research will examine subgroup differences in the outcomes associated with arts participation.

Arts Attendance and Arts Creation:

• Between April and July 2024, a quarter (25.0 percent) of U.S. adults attended at least one live, in-person performance and/or art exhibit in the previous month.

• 17.0 percent of adults went to the movies in the previous month.

• 16.3 percent of adults created, practiced, or performed artworks in the previous month.

Access to Arts and Cultural Amenities:

• A total of 62.2 percent either agreed (45.8 percent of all adults) or strongly agreed (16.4 percent) with the statement: “There are plenty of opportunities for me to take part in arts and cultural activities in my neighborhood or community.”

• Among those least likely to agree with this statement were younger adults (54.4 percent versus 70.4 percent of those 65 or order); Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks (53.4 and 53.2 percent, respectively); and those who did not go to high school.

The Arts and Social Connection:

Attending meetings or clubs:

• Adults who attended arts events and/or created art within the previous month were more likely than those who did not to participate in social groups—such as church groups, unions, fraternal or athletic groups, or school groups—and to do so at higher frequency levels.

  • 42.0 percent of arts attendees reported not belonging to such a group, compared with 52.1 percent of non-arts attendees.

  • 46.4 percent of arts creators—and 57.7 percent of non-creators—reported not belonging to a social group.

• Arts attendees and arts creators are also more likely to attend organization or club/group meetings.

  • 29.2 percent of arts attendees went to organization or group/club meetings 12 or more times. For non-arts attendees, that rate was 15.0 percent.

  • Among arts creators, the rate of participating in such meetings 12 or more times a year was 28.2 percent, versus 19.3 percent of non-creators.

Perceptions of loneliness

• Adults who attended live arts events were less likely than non-arts attendees to report feeling more acute levels of loneliness.

  • 2.7 percent of adults who attended live arts events in person reported “always” feeling lonely, compared with 5.1 percent of non-arts attendees.

  • 38.7 percent of arts attendees reported feeling only “rarely” lonely, compared with 25.4 percent of non-arts attendees.

• However, adults who created or performed art were generally more acquainted with at least some level of loneliness than were non-creators.

  • Only 18.4 percent of arts creators reported “never” experiencing loneliness, versus 27.3 percent of adults who did not create or perform art.

Social and emotional support

• Adults who attended live arts events in the previous month were more likely than non-arts attendees to report receiving the social and emotional support they needed.

  • 29.8 percent of arts attendees reported “always” receiving such support, compared with 23.4 percent of non-arts attendees.

• Arts creators were more likely to receive social and emotional support than were non-creators.

  • 38.8 percent of arts creators, versus 30.3 percent of non-creators, “usually” received the support they needed.

Phone conversations with friends, family, neighbors

• Adults who had attended arts events in the past month were more likely than non-attendees to talk with friends and family on the phone—and to do so more often.

• Arts creators were more likely than non-creators to talk with friends and family on the phone once or twice a week, but less likely to talk five or more times a week.

Time spent with friends and family

• Adults who attended arts events and/or created art were more likely than those who did not to get together with friends or family.

  • 45.1 percent of arts attendees met with friends and family once or twice a week, compared with 30.3 percent of non-arts attendees.

  • 35.6 percent of arts creators got together with family or friends less than once a week, compared with 42.1 percent of non-creators.

About the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis

Research into the value and impact of the arts is a core function of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Through accurate, relevant, and timely analyses and reports, the NEA elucidates the factors, conditions, and characteristics of the U.S. arts ecosystem and the impact of the arts on other domains of American life. Visit the Research impact page on the NEA’s website for more information, including:

• In-depth reports and analyses of research topics in the arts, including surveys of arts participation and reports on the economic impact of arts and culture.

• The National Arts Statistics and Evidence-based Reporting Center (NASERC)—an online hub for monitoring the U.S. arts ecosystem through a series of national indicators, and for accessing data-driven guides and reports aimed at arts practitioners.

• National Archive of Data on Arts Culture (NADAC)—an online repository of arts and cultural datasets, for analysis by scholars, arts managers, and policy leaders.

• Information on the NEA’s Research Awards: Research Grants in the Arts (RGA) and Research Labs, transdisciplinary research teams investigating the value and impact of the arts.

• Monthly podcast and blog post on arts research topics.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. Visit arts.gov to learn more.

Related Content

• Household Pulse Survey brief and data tables

• Blog by NEA Director of Research and Analysis Sunil Iyengar on Household Pulse Survey (10.31.24)

• Arts Participation Patterns in 2022: Highlights from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts

Posted 10-31-24

The responsibilities of managing a theater took a toll on William Butler Yeats

By Steven Brodsky

… and inspired Yeats to pen the poem “The Fascination of What’s Difficult” in 1912.

“The Fascination of What’s Difficult”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43286/the-fascination-of-whats-difficult.

W.B. Yeats received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 “for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”

Posted 4-23-22