On peace and war A Poem by Irene Ciocirlan, 7th grade, Hershey Middle School The promise of peace touches our lives breaking our inner complex structures making us free and happy for a second. Yet when we are promised the touch of war the ears of our tangled souls perk up for a minute And with the spark of true greed we take action… That’s what makes us truly messed up for a lifetime.

   I Have Decided Yes I have decided not only to follow Jesus But to follow the way of Love Cause The Way Knows The Way People can say Love is corny and out of date they can say Love is for fools That it brings us nothing but heartache But by the way Africa is not that far away And the fracking that’s being done Affects us all here on the planet And the love cells in our bodies do ascend and descend And their ebb and flow and their vibrations Travel around the earth and into the outer most[Read more...]

                  WALK AROUND HEAVEN                            Jahne Bell When I was a little girl down in South Carolina people would leave, go up to New York City and come back down south, talking about the streets up there being paved with gold !!! And everybody was rich up there and everybody should be  living in New York City … and we’d better get our butts up North Well one day after school, I was on my front porch after having an extremely emotional day at school… I was moaning the lost of my boy friend to my best girl-friend Erma ..[Read more...]

  Of Course This Is Love  –  a poem by Jahne Bell Easing out of bed, early this morning … Feeling my feet meet the floor I am aware of You wrapping Yourself Lovingly around my pretty brown toes As You move consciously up my ankles I give myself a little squeeze hug   Slowly You work Your way up  my legs and into my inner thighs circle – ling my pelvis … I feel my self utter uncontrollable whispers of oooo’s and aaahhh’s Devoting Yourself endearingly around my waist, then … Embracing my chest/heart/charka area   I know without[Read more...]

A discussion of the viability of Elizabethtown’s central business district appeared in the Elizabethtown Journal in July of 2010 (http://elizabethtownjournal.org/?p=2087).  Included in that discussion was an assessment of the current state of affairs, problems confronting development efforts, and some strategies for future development.  Since 2010, the Journal has not revisited this matter.  Although interest in downtown never departs from the public consciousness; it recently has received some renewed energy.  This, in part, is due to the formation of a new business group, Market Street! Improving Business, and several community-oriented web pages.  Consequently, it is an opportune time for the Journal[Read more...]

POOR DARWIN David Terrell The Scopes trial, opening version, played itself out in the Tennessee hills long ago and now replays nationwide on a kind of ghastly, humiliating continuous-loop video in which each of us plays some silly part. What we are experiencing is an utter failure of education.  Contrary to appearances, however, the failure is not of education in science; it is a failure of education in letters.    We have emphasized the development of mathematicians, scientists and technicians ever since the Sputnik scares of the late 1950s.  Arguably, we have failed in the effort, but demonstrably, we have succeeded[Read more...]

See more original contributions on the ESSAYS Page.   Happiness in a Wrapper Aparna Paul Chocolate is so delicious Your happiness is not fictitious. The anticipation while the wrapper is ripped, The grin that spreads; the hungry frown has flipped. The feeling of it melting, turning into goo, The opening of the cave, as teeth get ready to chew. The deep, rich smell of cocoa in your nose, You shove it all in, look how fast it goes! The taste itself, melting on your tongue, Catch the feeling while it’s still young. Other chocolates are on the wall, Dark, milk,[Read more...]

To Be or Not to Be Georgianna Anderson   “To be, or not to be, that is the question,” Hamlet was pondering when he spoke those words in ACT III, Scene 1; and those very words seem very relevant to me as I wrestle with the biggest decision of my life.  Do I want to go on living or would death be more desirable?  How do I make a decision that is going to affect my quality of life, or if I even have a life?  You think you know what you want to do.  You weigh all the pros[Read more...]

The Six Sigma Approach and the Quality of Management: An Elizabethtown College Brown Bag Seminar By Jen Hughes Preeti Gulati, former Manager of Financial Reporting with American Express, presented ” Six Sigma in the Service Industry” at Elizabethtown College on Feb. 3rd. Following is a report from Jen Hughes, one of the students in attendance. Most business structures consist of a series of interdependent teams working side by side for a unified goal. This structure is seen in almost every business or organization you may come across. Managers depend on their staff to perform their work properly and effectively to[Read more...]

Making Student Loans More Affordable: A New Plan Jensen Appleman and Nathaniel VanderWerff, Elizabethtown College Student loan debt is a worry for many college students in the United States. There are more than 36 million citizens in this country with federal student loan debt, and the total amount of outstanding student loan debt is about one trillion dollars. In June 2010, “total student-loan debt exceeded total credit-card debt for the first time” (Meckler and Randall) and the default rates on federal loans have risen from 7 percent in 2008 to 8.8 percent in 2009. Many graduates are having difficulty obtaining[Read more...]