Attention parents and guardians of kids: the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s next Reading on the Rails event will take place on Saturday, March 7, 2026
By Steven Brodsky
This announcement was posted at: Entertainment, Culture and More – delcoculturevultures.com.
From a news release that was issued today, February 23, 2026, by the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania:
Strasburg, Lancaster County, PA — You’re right on track for reading and railroading as guest readers share stories about trains, railroads and other amazing people, places and things during the family-friendly Reading On The Rails event at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania on Saturday, March 7. Reading On The Rails is sponsored by Smilebuilderz For Kidz.
Kids will receive their very own “suitcase” and use it to travel from story to story throughout the day. They can collect a sticker after each story and create their own suitcase design with stickers, crayons and other trimmings. Smilebuilderz For Kidz has supplied toothbrushes and travel-sized toothpastes and AAA Central Penn has supplied colorful luggage tags for the suitcases.
Currently scheduled readers include
- Barry Kornhauser, assistant director, arts campus and community engagement, Millersville University.
- Bryan Cutler,representative, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.
- Regina Ahn,morning traffic and breaking news anchor, WGAL TV.
- Esther McBride, librarian, Strasburg-Heisler Library.
- Fran Rodriguez,senior program officer, Lancaster County Community Foundation.
- Patrick Morrison, director, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Reading On The Rails story times are 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. and will be held among the historic trains in the Museum’s climate-controlled Rolling Stock Hall.
KPETS, Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services, and Operation Lifesaver will be on hand throughout the day.
Posted 2-23-26, Reposted and revised 3-3-26
March, actualized as a character
By Steven Brodsky
… appears in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Dear March—Come in—(1320).”
The poem will appear on your screen upon visiting this page: https://poets.org/poem/dear-march-come-1320.
March draws nigh, opportune for some readers of the Entertainment, Culture and More column to pen a March-related poem, short story, or song.
Readers who are sufficiently prompted by the Emily Dickinson poem (or their calendars) can soon be seeing new March-related writing of their own on their screens and/or writing pads.
Posted 2-25-26
Blizzards and blizzard warnings
By Steven Brodsky
… currently impacting millions of Americans prompt the writing of this brief article, and my wish that “wild solitude” after the current and future storm systems will be associated with satisfying and valuable writing by readers of this column.
Meteorological storms have a way of altering internal and external landscapes, sometimes to the betterment of one’s writing.
“Blizzard,” by William Carlos Williams: Blizzard | The Poetry Foundation.
Be safe.
Posted 2-22-26
If geographically situated to be able to ‘listen’ to the sounds of winter
By Steven Brodsky
… attentively “listening” to those sounds can be valuable.
Walt Whitman was a great listener of the sounds of winter: Sounds of the Winter by Walt Whitman – Poems | Academy of American Poets.
The linked poem will encourage some readers/writers to listen to the sounds of winter.
Posted 1-31-26
Writers who will be ‘stopping by woods on a snowy evening’
By Steven Brodsky
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening | The Poetry Foundation
… may wish that they could stay in those woods longer, and some of them will regret not bringing a pen and pencil to write while inspiration will still be warm.
Ink in a pen and inspiration can freeze on a snowy evening.
I’d better move on!
There are “promises to keep” and “miles to go before I sleep.”
Posted 1-18-26
The Jersey Shore
By Steven Brodsky
… is the setting for this poem by Walt Whitman: Patroling Barnegat by Walt Whitman | Poetry Foundation.
The Jersey Shore was accessible to Walt Whitman; he resided in Camden, New Jersey.
Accessible to us is the speaker of the poem’s unencumbered narrative centered on a stormy beach scene.
The narrative seems to reflect the poet’s having been in a heightened state of awareness at a beach during a storm. Mindfulness meditators might recognize that state as “choiceless awareness.”
The poem was originally published in 1880. Thankfully, we’re able to enjoy “Patroling Barnegat” in 2026.
Referencing and reading about the Jersey Shore brings Southside Johnny (John Lyon) to mind.
My best wishes go out to Southside Johnny on his retirement.
Posted 1-9-26
Profound communion with an animal
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
… can compel rewrites, indeed: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=169&issue=5&page=4.
For ourselves and others, we want to capture such communion to whatever extent is possible in writing, don’t we?
Photo by Steven Brodsky
Posted 1-3-26
Resolute writers will ‘again’ be responding to ‘triple winds’ with defiance in January 2026.
By Steven Brodsky
… Take notice of the first word of “January,” by William Carlos Williams, and the entire 11-line poem: https://poets.org/poem/january-3.
I know writers who find it especially gratifying to write effectively every month despite (and sometimes because of) prevailing winds!
Posted 12-28-25
The speaker of Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘A Christmas Carol’ asks what she (the poem’s speaker) can give to Jesus
By Steven Brodsky
… The writing of this poem was an expression of Christina Rossetti’s having given her heart to Jesus.
And this Victorian Era poem is a gift to us.
Enjoy: A Christmas Carol | The Poetry Foundation.
Posted 12-25-25
At year’s end: three things that can serve writers well
By Steven Brodsky
… Listed here:
- Capture impressionable experiences on paper or screen while those experiences are still fresh.
- Mine conversations for potential writing prompts.
- Balance time participating in end-of-year social activities with time observing others engaging in those activities. (This can be problematic for writers who don’t want to risk being perceived as wallflowers.)
And a bonus: read writing that may prime your creativity pump by others.
Richard Wilbur’s poem “Year’s End”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43052/years-end-56d221b9e6bd8.
Posted 12-20-25
A song character imprisoned on Christmas
By Steven Brodsky
… pens a letter in John Prine’s song “Christmas In Prison”:
If that song character experiences God-enabled breaking of shackles of sin (perhaps he already has experienced this), you may be able to envision what a letter about that might describe.
You probably can, if you have had that experience.
John 8:36: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
(Did you know that Paul wrote four epistles while imprisoned? Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are Paul’s prison epistles.)
https://unshackled.org/on-demand/browse-all-programs/
Posted 12-13-25
On the ninth anniversary of the 2016 Nobel Prize ceremony wherein Bob Dylan (who wasn’t present at the ceremony) was honored as the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient
By Steven Brodsky
… That ceremony took place on December 10, 2016.
It is especially opportune enjoy:
Posted 12-10-25
A delivery of writing prompts
By Steven Brodsky
… can arrive in the form of Christmas cards (those with and those without handwritten messages).
Potentially valuable writing prompts go unnoticed when holiday cards are mindlessly discarded with used gift wrapping paper, boxes, etc.
Writers/readers: will you apprehend those prompts or will they and the cards that contain them get away?
I’m pleased to deliver this link to Ted Kooser’s poem “Christmas Mail” to this page before December 25, 2025: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55886/christmas-mail.
Ted Kooser served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2004-2006. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005.
Posted 12-6-25
Writers encountering snow
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
… may find the encounter to be serendipitous.
It seems quite possible that a particular encounter with snow served as a writing prompt for the well-known poet Frost. (Yes, it was fun to write snow and Frost in the preceding sentence.)
Dust of Snow | The Poetry Foundation
Posted 12-2-25
Epistolary writing
By Steven Brodsky
Dear readers/writers,
Have you considered epistolary writing as a form for your own work?
I’m thankful that Leonard Cohen had.
Had he not, we’d not have “Famous Blue Raincoat” (one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs) as an example of very fine epistolary writing.
The song prompts me to fill screen and paper with epistolary writing of my own.
Perhaps it will similarly encourage you.
Sincerely,
S.Brodsky
Posted 11-21-25
This old bench
By Steven Brodsky
… had frequently been occupied by new and old friends (when it was much newer):
Photo by Steven Brodsky
The photo appears here as a writing prompt.
An old song about old friends:
The Simon & Garfunkel song is an old friend to some of this column’s readers.
Posted 11-6-25