Salvation Army, Harristown team to “fill a backpack” for Harrisburg schoolchildren

The Salvation Army Harrisburg has set up a donation table in Strawberry Square.

Many students look forward to the start of a new school year, but buying supplies can place an extra burden on Harrisburg families already facing financial stress.

That’s why the Salvation Army Harrisburg, along with Harristown Enterprises, is reviving its “Christmas in July” fill-a-backpack initiative.

During lunchtime this week, the charity will be in Strawberry Square to collect donations of money and new school supplies.

Backpacks donated by Harristown and others then will be filled with the supplies before they are distributed to local children in need in early August.

“We’re hoping for great things again this year,” said Cindy Minnich, the special events and communications coordinator of the Salvation Army Harrisburg.

Through the initiative, which is in its eighth year, families in need can apply to receive backpacks for children in elementary school through high school. This year, the Salvation Army hopes to fill at least 120 to 150 backpacks.

Harristown is donating 50 of the backpacks.

“Harristown and Strawberry Square are delighted to support the Christmas in July event with the Salvation Army this week in the atrium,” said Harristown CEO Brad Jones.

Minnich said that it costs about $40 to fill a backpack.

“People don’t realize that when they go shopping, but based on the list that the Harrisburg School District has given us, it costs that much,” she said.

Last year, about 150 children received backpacks full of supplies. However, the Salvation Army would like to serve even more students in need.

“When our application appointments [to receive backpacks] go live, they fill up in about three hours, and we have waiting lists,” Minnich said.

The Salvation Army asks for the following supplies:

  • 1-subject spiral notebooks
  • Pencil sharpeners (small)
  • Wooden pencils
  • Highlighters
  • Pencil pouches (3-hole-punch)
  • Erasers (one pack of pencil toppers or two regular)
  • Boxes of crayons, colored pencils and markers
  • 12-inch rulers
  • Glue sticks
  • 2-pocket POLY folders
  • Packs of wide-ruled notebook paper
  • Binders (1.5 to 2 inch)
  • Post-it-notes
  • Wide-ruled index cards
  • Dry erase markers (black and blue)

“We’re not quite meeting the need that’s out there, but we hope to get closer and closer each year,” Minnich said.

The Salvation Army will be in the Strawberry Square atrium from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Friday, July 19. Donations in cash, check and charge are accepted, as well as donations of new supplies. Donations can also be dropped off at 1122 Green St., Harrisburg. To donate supplies, visit https://bit.ly/SuppliesHBG or the donations page at https://bit.ly/DonateHBG.

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The Week that Was: News and features around Harrisburg

Harrisburg City Council on Tuesday

The recent torrid pace of local news slowed down a bit this past week, but there still was plenty to write about. If you missed some of our coverage, you can find a summary right here.

AutoZone’s proposed store cleared the Harrisburg Planning Commission this week as its development plan was approved, though not exactly to the company’s liking. The matter now will head to City Council. Click here for the details.

Central PA Jazz Festival takes place this weekend, with performances and special events throughout the region. Discover the details here.

En Plein Air Lancaster takes to the city’s streets this weekend, so that visitors can watch artists paint outdoors and spend time in the city’s thriving gallery district. Click here for the details.

Harrisburg introduced its annual ordinances for the disbursal of federal housing funds. However, the city is changing its system of awarding funding significantly. Click here for the details.

Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority bought back 58 lots in the MarketPlace Townhome community from would-be developer S&A Homes. In 2005, the authority gave S&A 71 lots for $1 piece, but the company had developed only 13 of them. Click here for all the details.

Mecum Auto Auctions will return to the PA Farm Show complex in a few weeks, with thousands of cars and automobile-related items for sale. Find out what’s new at this year’s auction.

Novelist Catherine Chung will visit Midtown Scholar Bookstore on Friday to read from her sophomore work, “The Tenth Muse,” and sign books. Find out the details about her book and visit.

PennyFix is a movement among area animal-lovers to convince pet food manufacturers to tack on a penny to every can sold, a plan that would help solve the pet over-population problem. Read our feature story here.

Puppies may not be the best choice for a new family pet, as shelters overflow with adult dog rescues. But, if your heart is set on a puppy, you must take care to avoid the many pitfalls. Click here for our feature story.

Sara Bozich may be on vacation, but she’s left us with her weekly rundown of events around the Harrisburg area for this weekend. You’ll never be bored with this long list of things to do.

Small business in Harrisburg continues to thrive. In the current issue, we catch up with several food businesses that recently have expanded or made significant changes. Click here for our story.

“Stogies & Stories” is our feature about five old guys, one radio show and a thousand stories, some of which may be true. Read our story here.

Do you receive TheBurg Daily, our daily digest of news and events? If not, subscribe here!

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AutoZone project creeps forward, despite continuing disputes over design, traffic

The proposed AutoZone site at 645 Maclay St. in Harrisburg.

The Harrisburg Planning Commission last night approved the land development plan for an Uptown auto parts store, despite a continuing disagreement over the design of the project.

By a 3-1 vote, the commission gave its OK to an AutoZone store on long-vacant land at the corner of Maclay and N. 7th streets, but the approval requires the company to tweak its design to address several city concerns.

Commission members agreed with the city’s planning bureau that AutoZone needed to make modifications to its plan—namely, reorienting the 6,816-square-foot building to bring it closer to Maclay Street and eliminating access from busy N. 7th Street.

“Having a building set back with a parking lot with two different ways in and out for cars, and creating more issues for people walking on the sidewalk, it’s just not a plan I can really agree with,” said commissioner Zac Monnier. “It’s not the right plan for the city.”

City officials have long complained that the proposed AutoZone design was too generic and better suited for a suburban strip mall, not a city block. They have especially disliked that AutoZone’s original proposal set the store back from Maclay Street, with parking in the front.

“I don’t want to have people coming into the city greeted by a parking lot and a set-back building, just like you see in the surrounding suburbs,” Monnier said.

David Tshudy of Pepper Hamilton, the law firm representing AutoZone, repeatedly pushed back on the requested changes to the company’s design, saying that city planners have no role in design decisions based on Harrisburg’s current land use ordinances.

“There’s nothing in the ordinance that requires the building to be situated any differently than what is shown on the plan,” Tshudy said. “The building is best where it is shown on the plan.”

The two sides also had a heated disagreement about AutoZone’s desire for a driveway to the site from N. 7th Street.

In April, the two sides held a meeting to iron out their differences. Tshudy said that he left that meeting believing they had agreed to retain the access point, but only for right turns in and out. City officials disagreed.

“At no time did we indicate that this was a design that the planning bureau would support or thought was a good design for this particular site,” said Geoffrey Knight, director of the city’s planning department.

Tshudy said that an AutoZone traffic study confirmed the safety of the design for vehicles and pedestrians, but city Engineer Wayne Martin criticized the traffic impact study as insufficient.

Martin said that the study only analyzed a small area, while the city required a broader impact study of a half-mile radius around the site. He also said that AutoZone purposely selected an intersection for the study that was known to have few problems, while the nearby intersection of Maclay and N. 6th Street has high rate of accidents—26 crashes and 29 injuries from 2013 to 2017.

“So, not only did they ignore safety, they intentionally ignored safety,” Martin said. “What they’re trying to do is shove a dangerous design down our throats without even considering the safety of our neighborhoods.”

Once more, Tshudy insisted the AutoZone followed all the city’s ordinances and would be reluctant to make any changes because, he said, they’re not mandated to do so by law.

“Again, there is nothing in the ordinance that would prohibit the 7th Street access,” he said. “In fact, the 7th Street access was originally designed to be a full-service access. A traffic study supported that that would be safe, a traffic study prepared on behalf of AutoZone. In order to extend an olive branch, we offered to have right-in, right-out only.”

In the end, the planning commission voted to approve the land development plan with the city-mandated changes, with Monnier dissenting.

Before it can break ground, AutoZone now needs City Council to approve its land development plan, assuming that the company decides to press forward considering the approved plan’s inclusion of conditions it doesn’t like.

“This is a difficult project,” Tshudy said, following the vote. “We clearly understand your concerns, and we’ll try to work as best we can with the city staff to address the concerns that are embodied in the conditions.”

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Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

We’re beach-bound this weekend. Follow me on IG to watch out adventures in slower lower Delaware. Please note abbreviated version next week. In the meantime, be sure to check out our newest contributor, Erica Koup, who will be covering the area’s brunch scene. Last week she doted on Café 1500 — stay tuned for her post tomorrow about Sunday’s Rockin’ Rosé Brunch at Ad Lib. We are switching things up, and there is a lot of new yet to reveal in this second half of the year, so be sure you’re on the email list, in our private Facebook group, and following on IG to catch all the sneak peeks and details!

What are you doing this weekend?

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Renewed hope for Harrisburg’s MarketPlace neighborhood as city buys back dozens of empty lots

An S&A sign still stands near N. 6th and Reily streets despite the recent sale to the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority.

A stalled building project may have a new lease on life, as the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority has bought back dozens of undeveloped lots in the city’s MarketPlace Townhomes neighborhood.

In late June, the authority purchased 58 lots from S&A Homes for $128,672, re-acquiring the Midtown properties it had given to the State College-based developer almost 14 years before.

“The Redevelopment Authority had to take back the properties because S&A was not going to develop them,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “The Redevelopment Authority is now looking for a [development] partner for those lots.”

In the 1970s, the authority began acquiring parcels just south of N. 6th and Reily streets, which eventually included the Zommit Cleaners site, an industrial property that required soil decontamination.

By 1998, 38 single-family homes had been built in the MarketPlace neighborhood, named for its proximity to the Broad Street Market. In late 2005, the authority sold most of its remaining inventory—71 lots—to S&A for $1 apiece in an area bounded by N. 6th, James, Reily and Sayford streets.

Over the next three years, S&A built 13 houses, but stopped when the financial crisis hit in 2008. No homes have been constructed since, leaving numerous grassy, overgrown lots, many set off by white wooden fences that are now falling down.

A group of townhouses in the MarketPlace neighborhood.

Papenfuse said that he regards the re-acquisition as a first step in getting the project back on track. The authority is eager to receive proposals from qualified developers, he said.

“By taking them back, HRA can find a new development partner,” he said.

Bonnie Rhoads, board president of the MarketPlace Home Owners Association, said that she welcomed news that the city had taken back the lots. Residents, she said, long have wondered about the future of their neighborhood, since S&A seemed uninterested in resuming the project.

A few years ago, the company installed utilities for several lots at N. 6th and Reily but no development followed.

“We’d love to see something done with these lots,” she said. “I’m open to listening to whatever the mayor or the Redevelopment Authority wants to do.”

Many of the former S&A lots look like this.

Papenfuse said that he believed the area now may be desirable for home buyers given the construction of the U.S. courthouse nearby. He said that the city would welcome development proposals that included novel ideas, such as greater density and mixed-use developments, possibly with affordable housing,  even if it required rezoning.

“We’re taking pitches,” he said. “If people have a plan, they should bring it to the city.”

Related: In his column, our editor this month offers ideas for affordable housing in Harrisburg, and, in it, he even mentions the S&A lots as an area begging for redevelopment.

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Harrisburg proposes changing procedures, timeframe for disbursing federal housing funds

Franchon Dickinson, Harrisburg’s director of building and housing, speaks to City Council on Tuesday night.

Harrisburg plans to shake up the yearly process of doling out federal housing dollars under its “Annual Action Plan” unveiled on Tuesday night.

Franchon Dickinson, director of the city’s Department of Building and Housing, told City Council that the administration wants to tighten requirements for Harrisburg-based social service agencies seeking funding under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

“If we want to effectuate change, we’re going to need to change the way we do business,” she said.

In recent years, council has doled out relatively small amounts of CDBG money to a dozen or so specific service agencies. HUD, however, recently has questioned the way Harrisburg has distributed some of those funds, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Therefore, the city needs to make certain it strictly follows HUD guidelines, he said.

Specifically, agencies must show that a service is new or must demonstrate a “quantifiable increase in the level of service in the last 12 months,” said Dickinson. In addition, she said that HUD prefers to fund “senior enrichment programs or special needs populations.”

Moreover, the administration wants to change the funding structure for CDBG, which, this year, will total nearly $1.94 million, down a bit from last year’s pot of $2 million.

Under the current proposal, just $100,000 will be set aside for social service programming, down from about $240,000 last year. However, for facilities projects, agencies will be able to apply for money from a second bucket, one reserved for “public improvement/public facilities,” which totals $407,261, Dickinson said.

Papenfuse said that HUD didn’t like that, in the past, Harrisburg permitted facility improvements with money meant for “public service activities,” funds that were supposed be reserved for programming and other service activities.

The application process also is changing.

This year, the city will not determine recipients before submitting its action plan to HUD in mid-August. Specific recipients will be determined later through a request for proposals (RFP) process, which will be issued in late August, and applications will be scored to make sure they meet HUD guidelines, Papenfuse said.

“It’s a change in procedure, but it’s a good one,” he said. “It makes sure that every dollar we spend will be spent wisely.”

Other proposed CDBG allotments include:

  • $593,423 for debt service, as the city continues to pay down a federal loan it guaranteed under former Mayor Steve Reed for the disastrous Capitol View Commerce Center project
  • $387,670 for grant administration
  • $250,000 for homeowner rehabilitation
  • $200,000 for emergency demolition

In addition to the CDBG ordinance, council tonight introduced ordinances for the HUD Emergency Solutions Grant Program for $166,243, which mostly goes to the Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness to fund emergency shelter and rehousing, and another for HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program for $432,187, which funds affordable housing solutions.

Now that council has introduced its ordinances, the public has 30 days to comment before council takes a final vote on them on Aug. 13. In addition, a public meeting will be held on July 31 at 6 p.m. at Hamilton Health Center.

Only one current CDBG recipient attended Tuesday’s meeting—Les Ford, executive director of the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center.

Following the meeting, Ford said he was unsure what to make of the proposed changes to the program. He said he was concerned that the funds allotted for “public service programs” had been cut from $240,000 to $100,000 under the administration’s proposal, leaving little for the city’s many service providers to split.

“I don’t even know if it’s worth applying for,” he said. “I need to get more information tomorrow. At this point, my head is spinning.”

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Sold! Mecum Auto Auctions to “cover all the bases” at 2019 show

The scene at last year’s Mecum Auto Auction at the PA Farm Show building.

More than 100 years of automotive history soon will be up for sale in Harrisburg as part of the annual Mecum Auto Auctions, slated this year for early August.

The Harrisburg auction, chosen specifically because of its central location to the densely populated northeast, is one of Mecum’s 13 national auctions this year and will feature more than 1,200 cars.

“What’s interesting about this auction is that we’ll have $5,000 cars, and we’ll have cars that sell for a $1 million, and everything in between,” said John Kraman, Mecum’s consignment director and TV commentator/analyst. “We really try to cover all the bases, so everybody who wants to do business with Mecum Auctions has an opportunity.”

The four-day auction includes vintage and model cars, motorcycles and road art—memorabilia like tin signs and gas pumps. The less expensive cars will be sold on Wednesday and Thursday, while the more expensive, main attraction cars, with estimated prices of upwards of $2 million, will be sold on the last two days of the auction.

Most of the cars are from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, according to Kraman. However, the auction will feature cars from the last century, late-model European exotics and model American performance cars, such as Camaros, Mustangs and Chevrolet Corvettes.

“The different time periods these cars represent take us back,” Kraman said. “It’s how I feel when I’m behind the wheel. That’s my escape to a different era.”

The auction is a dynamic, fast-paced show, with cars driving around the noisy venue. About 35 cars run per hour, meaning something new will always be rotating onto the auction block.

“We’ve had people tell us it’s the best car show that they’ve ever attended because it has a pulse that the average car show doesn’t,” Kraman said. “It’s loud, there’s a lot of lights, color, excitement and high stakes. For car people or for adrenaline junkies in general, it’s a mecca.”

The Todd Werner collection, a main attraction boasting more than 40 vintage cars and racecars, is gaining national and international attention, according to Kraman. Other collections include the Boca Raton, Kurt Cunningham and John Powers collections, among others.

“With the addition of the Todd Werner collection this year, this would be the first year where we can call this a national-level event,” Kraman said. “Just because of how important a lot of these cars are, people are definitely going to come to Harrisburg to be there for them.”

Although the auction attracts car dealers and hardcore collectors, many people also come to buy their dream car or just browse the show. If you don’t have the budget for a car, don’t despair, as plenty of road art and memorabilia is sold half an hour before the main auction each day.

As an extra attraction this year, NASCAR legend Richard Petty will be on hand both Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 for autograph sessions and photos.

The Mecum Auctions Harrisburg Automobile Auction is held Wednesday, July 31 through Saturday, Aug. 3 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, 2300 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg. It starts at 1 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday to Saturday, with doors opening at 8 a.m. The show will also be broadcast on the Mecum Auto Auctions show on NBC Sports Network. For more information, visit https://www.mecum.com/auctions/harrisburg-2019/lots/featured/.

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Art Preview: En Plein Air Lancaster takes it outside

Painting in the great outdoors has a charm uniquely its own.

Usually, it is a rare occurrence when one happens upon an artist engaged in this endeavor. So, it is with some degree of fanfare when an entire locale is invited to take part in an event that centers around “fresh air painting.”

Lancaster hosts “En Plein Air Lancaster” this Saturday on the streets of the Red Rose City. Set up outside of 13 participating art galleries and museums, the event is free to the public, who can watch artists actively dabbing at their palette.

Coordinated by Lancaster City Art Galleries and Museums, the event is hosted by Mio Studio, City Folk Gallery, Liz Hess Gallery and Red Raven Art Company. The event is rain or shine, with galleries welcoming visitors indoors if the weather is unwelcome.

The participating galleries and museums will feature artists who regularly show there, are members of the respective galleries or are there by special invitation for the event. One such gallery, City Folk, at 146 N. Prince St., owned and curated by Karen Anderer, will welcome Michael Bartmann, who specializes in oil paintings on board with an emphasis on urban Lancaster’s abandoned structures.

Painting in the great outdoors may be just what the doctor ordered for artist and viewer alike. Watching the artists paint “En Plein Air” is certainly more exciting than watching paint dry.

En Plein Air Lancaster takes place on July 13, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. To learn more, visit their website.  

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Central PA Jazz Fest returns for 39th year, making music throughout the region

The CPFJ youth band

Harrisburg is full of musical artists on the cutting edge of the industry, each hoping to deliver a sound like you’ve never heard before. But, this week, the city is taking it back to the music that started it all, “America’s original art form”—jazz.

For the 39th straight year, Central PA Friends of Jazz (CPFJ) is presenting their jazz festival, which features performances in Harrisburg, York, Mt. Gretna, Dillsburg and Hummelstown.

“It’s a whole lot of jazz in four days,” said Andy Herring, co-executive director of CPFJ.

CPFJ is a nonprofit organization with a threefold mission of the preservation, education and presentation of jazz. Along with their six annual concerts and performance at Harrisburg Artsfest, their youth band and jazz camp, jam sessions and newsletter—the Central PA Jazz Festival is one of the ways they fulfill their vision.

This year, festival musicians will include the River City Big Band, vocalist Amy Banks and the CPFJ Youth Band. However, the big name at the festival this year is pianist and composer George Cables, who plays Saturday at the Gretna Playhouse.

Cables has been playing jazz for longer than the festival has even existed, performing with renowned artists like Sarah Vaughan and Freddie Hubbard.

“Getting to see George and his trio play is kind of like a window back in to seeing jazz developed,” Herring said.

On Thursday, one of the performance locations will be the Pride of the Susquehanna, on the river in Harrisburg. Audience members will float along the river listening to the Dave Stahl Quintet for a three-hour evening cruise on Thursday. It’s the perfect venue to socialize while enjoying the music, Herring said.

On Friday night, CPFJ is turning up the sound as they feature a festival jazz party at the new Greystone Brew House in Dillsburg.

“We try to stay dynamic with new venues all over the area,” Herring explained.

There will be two free jam sessions on Saturday for aspiring jazz musicians. The stage is open for anyone at any skill level from the community who wants to play with other musicians, Herring said.

A jazz picnic will take place on Sunday at Indian Echo Caverns in Hummelstown featuring Amy Banks, the Andy Roberts Trio, Teen Town, Mark Swartzbaugh’s Quartet and the CPFJ Youth Band.

Ron Waters, a jazz musician, has been directing the CPFJ Youth Band for over 30 years. His band typically has 15 to 20 students. Those interested in the band are not required to audition, making it ideal for any beginner that loves jazz.

Waters explained his passion for keeping jazz alive is through young musicians. Being able to perform at the festival is just one more way to do that.

“The audience is the thing that keeps jazz alive,” Waters said.

According to Herring, having youth at the festival is what makes it so special.

“It’s a balance between internationally world-renown musicians all the way to students,” he said.

The Central PA Jazz Festival runs from July 11 to 14. For more information and the full schedule of events visit www.friendsofjazz.org.

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Burg Books: Midtown Scholar to host author of “The Tenth Muse.”

You may know the story of the nine muses.

The daughters of Zeus were masters of the arts and would bestow their gifts in any creative person who called upon them. However, author Catherine Chung came up with a 10th muse. Unlike her sisters, when it came time for her to claim an art, the 10th muse refused.

“She did not wish to sing the voices of men, telling only stories they wished to tell,” wrote Chung. “She preferred to sing her songs herself.”

This muse left the heavens, leaving behind her family, gifts and immortality without ever looking back. Instead, she walked among Earth as a mortal woman until her last breath. But, according to Chung, the spirit of the muse lived on inside countless women throughout history who defied societal rules.

This muse became the backdrop to Chung’s sophomore novel “The Tenth Muse.” This coming-of-age novel outlines the life of Katherine, a mathematician on a quest to solve the Riemann hypothesis, the greatest unsolved math problem of her time. Throughout her life, Katherine uses numbers, patterns and history to understand the complexities of the world and make her way through the male-dominated industry.

“[The novel] is about history and the way in which it invisibly affects the ways of our lives in ways that we don’t necessarily understand at the time,” Chung said. “It’s about coming of age and trying to grapple with the world around us. It’s also about love and what it gives you and often what it demands.”

From the moment she was a child, Katherine was taught to subdue her intelligence by outsiders. She was often punished for her intellect or simply not believed. But she pushed her way through these barriers and eventually took on one of the greatest unsolved math problems.

Though Chung insists she is no genius like Katherine, she does have some background with math. Her father was a mathematician, and she even studied math when she was in college. Just like Katherine, Chung was fascinated by the patterns and structure of math.

“I always thought math was beautiful,” she said. “It’s an interesting way to explore other ideas of what it means to try to find a place for yourself.”

“The Tenth Muse,” published June 18, has received praise from a plethora of news outlets and authors. USA Today listed the novel on their “5 books not to miss.” New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay called the novel “as ambitious and intriguing” as the math problems that the novel’s main character aims to solve.

However, Chung’s favorite reactions have come from the readers she’s encountered on tour.

“In Katherine’s struggles and joys, they feel triumph,” she said. “Knowing that people have felt that deeply about Katherine and have felt like they’re on her team and she is on theirs.”

Chung now is coming to Midtown Scholar Bookstore, her first time here. The author will read from bits of her novel and be in conversation Adrienne Su, a creative writing teacher at Dickinson College.

Chung is offering to buy one lucky audience member a book, as long as they can solve a math problem found in her book.

“I think the audience will learn about the growing complexity of Asian-American writing,” Su said. “And I think Catherine will shed light on the process of writing and revising in a fast-changing literary context.”

See Catherine Chung this Friday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. For more information visit www.midtownscholar.com/featured-events.

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