June News Digest

June 30, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

Miller Named Treasurer

Long-time Harrisburg official Dan Miller is the city’s new treasurer, following a close vote last month by City Council.

Miller bested a field of four nominees to replace Tyrell Spradley, who left after 18 months in office and just months after being sworn in for a full term. Miller will serve until the next municipal election in 2017.

Council selected Miller by a 4 to 3 margin in a second round of voting, following interviews with all four nominees. Besides Miller, the finalists included former city Councilman Brad Koplinski and local attorneys Karen Balaban and Peter Marks.

Miller, an accountant by trade, told council that he wished to serve because he is well qualified for the job and hopes to improve the operations of the department. He plans to set up a separate website for the treasurer’s office and said he is not interested in running for higher office.

Miller has a long history of public service in Harrisburg, previously serving as a city councilman and city controller. Three years ago, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in a contentious race against now-Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

School Budget Passed

The school portion of Harrisburg’s property tax will drop slightly this year under a $143 million budget passed last month by the district’s school board.

The board cut the tax rate from about 27.9156 mills to 27.8 mills, meaning that an owner with property valued at $100,000 would see a tax decrease of about $11 for the 2016-17 school year. Property tax bills are due to be mailed this month.

The school board was divided on whether to retain the current tax rate and keep about $150,000 in the budget or give homeowners a small tax break. In the end, the board decided to offer the largely symbolic tax cut.

Teacher Contract Approved

The Harrisburg school board and teachers agreed to a new contract last month, ending a four-year battle between the two sides.

The agreement gives teachers their first raise since a state-appointed chief recovery officer was named in 2012. In turn, teachers and others covered by the agreement, including school guidance counselors and nurses, will contribute more to their health care plans.

Before the agreement, teachers had threatened to strike if the school board and the Harrisburg Education Association could not reach a new accord.

Dispersal of Housing Funds Considered

Harrisburg would retain federal housing funds for its own use under an ordinance introduced last month by the city administration.

Under the proposal, the city would keep nearly $1.9 million in Community Development Block Grant funds, an annual grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. For years, the city has shared the money with a select group of nonprofit organizations.

Under the administration’s proposal, about one-third of the amount would go to debt service, as the city must pay back a federal loan it backed for the once-bankrupt Capitol View Commerce Center, as well as pay back other federal community development loans dating back about 15 years.

Remaining funds would go to public safety, housing rehabilitation, emergency demolition and several other city-identified priorities.

Several nonprofit groups have protested being shut out of the annual distribution. At press time, City Council had not agreed to the final disbursement of the monies.

Tax Abatement Finalized

Dauphin County last month gave the final OK to Harrisburg’s tax abatement plan, allowing the 10-year abatement to proceed.

The county commissioners approved the plan unanimously, which will offer a full, 100-percent abatement over 10 years for improvements to residential properties and at least a 50-percent abatement on improvements to commercial properties.

A divided City Council passed the administration’s abatement plan last year. The school board approved it in May, leaving only Dauphin County—as the final taxing authority for city properties—to offer its blessing. Harrisburg now must hire an administrator to oversee the program.

The abatement also offers some benefit for new construction, but, to get tax relief, developers must follow certain requirements, including paying a prevailing wage for construction workers and hiring a certain percentage of minority and local workers.

State Forgoes Appeal

The state attorney general’s office will not appeal a court ruling that dismissed 305 criminal counts against former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed.

In a brief statement, the office said it would honor a May ruling by presiding Judge Kevin A. Hess that the crimes alleged by the state occurred too long ago, exceeding the statute of limitations.

The state, though, will continue to pursue 144 criminal counts against Reed on theft-related charges.

“With his fascination for the Wild West, this man used other people’s money to decorate his house and office with antiques,” said Solicitor General Bruce L. Castor Jr. “But Pennsylvania is not the Wild West. We have the rule of law here.”

New Precinct Planned

Allison Hill soon may get a new police precinct, as the city plans to renovate a building near 15^th and Derry streets.

Money to rehab the one-story structure would come from part of a $250,000 federal community grant, according to Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter.

Allison Hill residents have been clamoring for increased police presence for many years, and Carter said the new, 24-hour station should make police officers more visible, while reducing response times and increasing ties to the community.

Home Sales Jump

Home sales in the Harrisburg area continued their yearlong rise, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors.

Sales rose to 908 units in May compared to 792 units in the year-ago period, with the median price rising to $174,900 vs. $170,000, said GHAR.

In Dauphin County, sales totaled 297 units against 269 in May 2015, while the median price dipped to $155,000 from $159,900. In Cumberland County, sales rose to 326 from 281, and the median price increased to $219,561 from 213,712. Average days on the market fell in both counties.

In Perry County, 30 homes sold compared to 37 in the year-ago period. However, the median price increased to $151,500 vs. $117,900 in May 2015.

In addition to all of Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties, GHAR covers parts of York, Lebanon and Juniata counties.

So Noted

Harrisburg Beer Week handed over a check for $40,000 last month to Harrisburg River Rescue and Emergency Services. The check was double the amount raised last year during the weeklong celebration of craft beer. River Rescue plans to use the money for additional improvements to its facility.

Highmark Blue Shield presented Harrisburg with a $100,000 grant last month to fund summer enrichment and after-school programs for children in the city school district. The Highmark funding will support activities like basketball, golf, swimming, various educational field trips and a daily lunch. Harrisburg children ages 6 to 18 are eligible.

PinnacleHealth this month plans to open the new Lebanon Valley Advanced Care Center, an 80,000-square-foot building at 1251 E. Main St., Annville. When fully occupied, the facility will house numerous groups, including Annville Family Medicine, PinnacleHealth Endocrinology, Select Physical Therapy, PinnacleHealth Express and the PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute.

Rite Aid in downtown Harrisburg will move across Market Street into about 14,000 square feet in Strawberry Square, it was announced last month. The larger space will allow Rite Aid to offer more products, as well as a retail pharmacy, said Brad Jones, CEO of Harristown Enterprises, which owns Strawberry Square. The move should occur by the end of the year. In other Strawberry Square news, CASA plans to take another 2,400 square feet of space there, while the fashion brand AMMA JO last month doubled its presence by expanding into an adjoining storefront.

The Game Table Café has cut the ribbon on its location at 4900 Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg. The Game Table Café provides a relaxed setting to enjoy a cup of coffee and play board games with friends and family.

Changing Hands

Barkley Lane, 2515: K. Troung & L. Pham to L. Truong, $45,000

Bellevue Rd., 2114: Federal National Mortgage Assoc. to D. & E. Kerr, $153,000

Boas St., 219: D. Commins to A. Moyer, $136,000

Brookwood St., 2434: R. Hillman to The IRA Club & T. McDougal, $42,000

Calder St., 115: A. & M. Anselmo to Penn Real Estate Solutions LLC, $49,700

Calder St., 519: S. & M. Martin to J. Fisher, $100,000

Croyden Rd., 2778: PA Deals LLC to D. Blumenthal, $78,000

Derry St., 2712: L. & J. Burnette to D. Diehl, $72,000

Edward St., 243: A. Clionsky to D. & J. Ruscito, $200,000

Edward St., 504: S. Krum to D. & J. Kruzhilin, $88,000

Ellersie St., 2344: G. Rudy to V. Ramsey, $59,000

Fulton St., 1405: PA Deals LLC to S. Orwan, $110,000

Fulton St., 1937: B. Rodriquez & American Heritage Property Management to T. Gates, $43,800

Green St., 1414: S. Jusufovic to V. Reydams, $140,000

Green St., 1423: J. & V. Bates to R. Walter, $81,900

Green St., 1915: GRSW Stewart Real Estate Trust to J. & K. Johnston, $195,000

Green St., 1945: J.A. Hartzler to WCI Partners LP, $212,000

Hale Ave., 415: T. Pham & T. Vu to J. & J. Fickett, $59,000

Hamilton St., 238: J. Manzella to J. & M. Moritz, $135,000

Herr St., 127: R. Lake to C. Wagoner, $156,500

Hudson St., 1246: Bank of New York Mellon to PA Deals LLC, $47,250

Logan St., 1728: Wilmington Savings Fund Society to S. Eagle, $102,000

Maclay St., 245: N. Do to M. Cvetko, $30,000

Midland Rd., 2408: J. Jaxheimer to M. Boone, $179,900

Mulberry St., 1951: C. Campbell to E. & B. O’Brien, $51,000

N. 2^nd St., 812: J. Swoyer to A. Meoli, $197,500

N. 2^nd St., 1700: Metro Bank to Hopewell Estates 2^nd Street LLC, $400,000

N. 2^nd St., 2414: A. & G. Hall to R. Gist, $62,000

N. 2^nd St., 2539: US Bank NA Trustee to D. Garber, $58,000

N. 2^nd St., 2802: D. Skerpon & C. Baldrige to S. Gallagher & C. Prestia, $166,900

N. 2^nd St., 3004: E. & T. Lukoski to 8219 Ventures LLC, $40,000

N. 3^rd St., 1621: Wells Fargo Bank NA to Henly Homes LLC, $54,180

N. 3^rd St., 2451: Triple J. Assoc. Ltd. To Hornby Zeller Properties LLC, $149,900

N. 5^th St., 3204: Information Systems Networks Corp. & Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to T. Radcliff, $98,100

N. 16^th St., 911: M. McManus to S. Sprinkle, $87,500

N. 18^th St., 1116: P. & S. Mitchell to K. Wright, $70,000

Parkside Lane, 2922: A. Anderson to J. & B. Williams, $200,000

Race St., 562: Brady Daughters Realty LLC to S. Garnes, $153,500

S. 2^nd St., 302: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to J. Pronio, $49,900

S. 17^th St., 319: E. & L. Castillo to 4P Ventures LLC, $120,000

S. 29^th St., 720: C. Karstetter to S. Maurer, $38,000

S. Front St., 709: R. Stevenson to D. Smith, $185,000

State St., 217: Medical Bureau of Harrisburg to D. Ragland, $110,000

State St., 231, Unit 303: LUX 1 LP to T. & D. Jensen, $121,000

State St., 1936, 1940 & 1942: L. & K. Price to M. & E. Duvall, $75,000

Susquehanna St., 1825: A. Tilley to M. Manley, $87,000

Susquehanna St., 2005: Kusic Financial Services LLC to M. Rioux & H. Perry, $68,000

Harrisburg property sales for May 2016, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Home Works: Area theaters bring original, local plays to the stage.

June 30, 2016 | by Barbara Trainin Blank

Imagine Shakespeare without the Globe Theatre.

Even the most talented and prolific playwright needs a venue—the lack of one may be the most-frequent complaint of writers for the stage.

Central Pennsylvania theaters are increasingly answering the call by encouraging the creation and production of original works.

This year, Theatre Harrisburg launched a New Works Festival competition. It coincided with the hiring of a new artistic director/executive director, Brett Bernardini, who had directed new works and run a theater company that fostered them.

“Because of his background and the fact that this was not a common practice in the area, he was very interested in [new works] being part of a new face of the theater,” said Leslie Gulden, festival coordinator. “We’re hopeful this will be well received, but we haven’t made a commitment beyond this year’s festival.”

By mid-March’s deadline, Theatre Harrisburg had received 137 new works. Six finalists—four plays and two musicals—will be selected. Each playwright will win $500 and transportation to attend the festival in September.

“Each winning play will have a reading and be evaluated by the audience, with a chance of being produced in the following season,” Gulden added.

Unrealized Resource

One of the “veterans” of original productions regionally is Gretna Theatre, a professional summer theater based in Mt. Gretna. For about a decade, Gretna has presented five hour-long, original children’s musicals during its regular season as part of its “Theatre for Young People” series.

“The series started when writers started getting in touch and pitching ideas, “ said Larry Frenock, former artistic director.

Gretna offers the playwrights production photos and a DVD, so they then can pitch their work to other theaters.

“Once two theaters produce a play, the playwrights are more likely to get other live productions, because they have much more credibility,” Frenock explained.

Harrisburg’s Gamut Theatre Group isn’t about original works per se, though its Popcorn Hat Players retell classic fairy tales, and its Stage Door Series offers adaptations of classic works in streamlined productions.

In 2011, “Sonnet Inspirations” broadened the theater’s mission, with several playwrights taking Shakespeare’s poems and looking at them in a new way.

Karen Ruch directed the program, and, in August, she returns, taking on “As She Likes It,” original works by area playwrights involving some of the Bard’s female characters.

“We ask what we can learn about these characters by putting them in a different venue,” said Ruch.

Sean Adams, Gamut’s resident playwright, has authored short plays for Popcorn Hat. He also has written full-length works that incorporate large casts for the Young Acting Co., which presents one original production a year.

Other theaters are following suit.

In 2015, Oyster Mill Playhouse, a community-based venue in Camp Hill, established the “Not the Run of the Mill” festival, one-act works by local playwrights that were part of the theater’s “Spotlight Series.”

“At this time, Oyster Mill isn’t soliciting original plays for our mainstage productions,” said Keith Bowerman, public relations manager. “However, this is something we’ve discussed looking into when our financial house is a little more in order.”

Bowerman has reviewed scripts from “several extremely talented local playwrights” he’d love to see in production.

“I really believe our local playwrights are an extremely unrealized resource in the capital theater community,” he said.

The current plan is to mount a new play every other year, alternating with a series of radio plays, in the “Spotlight Series,” beginning next year.

Stuart Landon, associate artistic director of Open Stage of Harrisburg, said the professional theater is doing some initial work to create more opportunities “for actors and works” of color.

Go to PAPA

A driving force behind original works is the Playwrights’ Alliance of Pennsylvania. A nonprofit, PAPA hosts monthly meetings for area playwrights and promotes their work, said Marjorie Bicknell, secretary/treasurer.

Members’ short plays were presented at Theatre Harrisburg years ago and, more recently, at Hershey Area Playhouse. PAPA does an annual group production at the Cicada Festival in Mt. Gretna in August.

President Kevin Pry is in discussions with Open Stage about presenting one PAPA member’s full-length play, with Gamut about an evening of plays in the spring, and with Ephrata Area Playhouse about a reading.

“We are definitely interested in increasing interest in presenting new plays in the area,” said Bicknell. “Theaters have learned that they can make money with new plays, while also bringing in new actors.”

Hershey Area Playhouse, a regional community theater, has presented evenings of four or five short plays as part of its “Dark Night” non-mainstage events. It just solicited one-act plays, with special encouragement for central Pennsylvanians.

“We give writers the opportunity to direct their own shows and select casts,” said Mark Douglas Cuddy, artistic liaison of the theater and a board member. “We hope this will become an annual event.”

The evenings are less about “competition” and more about trying to see what local playwrights are “up to and giving them good exposure,” Cuddy added.

To learn more about the New Works Festival competition, visit www.harrisburg-new-works-theater-festival.com.

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Musical Notes: July Juxtapositions–Versatile musicians take the stage.

June 30, 2016 | by Andrew Dyrli Hermeling

This month, we welcome a slate of live music here in Harrisburg that will bring together otherwise disparate elements: punk and R&B; Americana and world music; muscle and delicacy.

In many ways, these are my favorite types of artists. They aren’t constrained by genre but instead pick and choose from various elements to create something new and fresh yet still recognizable. So, don’t let the heat of summer keep you from getting out at night. Go and hear some excellent live music instead.

KINO KIMINO & AMY KLEIN w/WEIRD YEAR, 7/2, 7PM, MAKESPACE: Kino Kimino is the latest project from Kim Talon, a Brooklyn musician originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Kino Kimino is reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney, with Talon’s melodies threading the needle between sweet and angst-y. They are touring in support of their new album, “Bait is for Sissies.” They are joined by Amy Klein, who recently left the New Jersey punk band Titus Andronicus to focus on her own music. Local folk band Weird Year will provide additional local support. This show should offer an excellent play between hushed songwriting and angular, muscular indie-rock.

DAVID WAX MUSEUM, 7/8, 8PM, ABBEY BAR, $10/$15: David Wax Museum is, frankly, a pretty great love story. The band began as a collaboration and blossomed into a romance between its two principal members. In fact, they are now married with a kid. Their chemistry is reflected in their lovely, effortless and tight folk arrangements. They are on the road in support of their latest release, “Guesthouse,” which has them experimenting with new textures. Their approach to songwriting is akin to Paul Simon as their songs are, at first listen, instantly recognizable as folk. However, each arrangement also bears a depth rooted in world music and a keen sense of musical theory. And those who are worried about a folk-induced sleepiness should know that David Wax Museum isn’t afraid of a healthy dose of rhythm.

CHUCK MOSLEY w/YAM YAM & SAINT BRENDAN AND THE NAVIGATORS, 7/14, 8PM, FEDLIVE, $10/$15: Chuck Mosley began garnering attention as the lead singer of Faith No More. Although he left the band in 1988 and was replaced by Mike Patton, he has continued to make a name for himself as a singular voice in rock ‘n’ roll. In 1990, he also served briefly as the lead singer of Bad Brains. His music is aggressive but funky, taking that less-traveled path between punk and R&B. He will be traveling through Harrisburg as part of his “Reintroduce Yourself World Tour.” He will be supported by local favorites Yam Yam and Saint Brendan and the Navigators. Just know that, when it comes to Chuck Mosley, you should expect the unexpected.

Mentionables: Andrew Pauls, 7/1, Little Amps Downtown; DRIFTWOOD, 7/7, Abbey Bar; Graham Nash, 7/20, Whitaker Center; Matt Otis and the Sound, 7/21, H*MAC Stage on Herr; The Bo Deadlys, 7/29, H*MAC Stage on Herr; Bacon Brothers, 7/30, Whitaker Center

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Yum City: In downtown Harrisburg, happiness is a warm bun.

June 30, 2016 | by Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

Over the years, the brick building at the corner of North 2^nd and South streets in Harrisburg has been many things, housing relatively short-lived businesses with names like “Egypt” “Mars” and “Buddha, Buddha.”

This history of impermanence may be daunting to some, but not for Nick Laus, who has started many restaurants in the region. Both Laus and business partner Milan Naramcic are confident that Burger Yum will transform that area into the little corner that could.

The décor consists largely of stainless steel, wood and corrugated metal, giving the establishment a decidedly industrial vibe, and an open kitchen allows customers to witness the caramelization technique that makes a Burger Yum burger so mouthwateringly delicious. The modern, no-frills space accommodates about 32 diners, with room for 20 more at brightly colored outside tables.

When I arrived at midday, customers were filtering in and placing their orders at the register after consulting the large chalkboard near the front that lists menu items. Some sat at a table and waited for to-go orders, while others decided to eat in and stay awhile. Naramcic said that business has been brisk since the grand opening in late May.

Restaurant Row regulars may recognize Naramcic, a former personal trainer, who previously worked for Laus at Level 2 and Café Fresco and now oversees operations at the business.

Naramcic took a seat at one of the tables in front of the restaurant to explain the origins of the concept, raising his voice a bit to compete with the Door’s “Soul Kitchen,” which played in the background.

“Nick has a house in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and there are places like these there which are very successful,” he said. “We were on the lookout for a trend that would work with the area demographic and discovered this one.”

A small, manageable menu, along with high-quality, fresh ingredients, allows the restaurant to turn out a superior product that is never frozen.

“We have no freezer,” Naramcic stressed.

Elyse Brubaker recently dined at Burger Yum and said she could tell that everything she ordered was fresh.

“The food was phenomenal,” said the Camp Hill resident. “The French fries were the best I’ve ever had, and the all-white-meat chicken sandwich was extremely moist and seasoned perfectly. The herb sauce made everything taste awesome.”

Nate Melton joins friends every Thursday at a different restaurant, and the group recently decided to give Burger Yum a try.

“The overall consensus is that we are in love with Burger Yum,” he said. “It was definitely the best chicken sandwich I’ve had in a very long time.”

Naramcic said that Brubaker and Melton aren’t alone in their enthusiasm for the sandwich, which is the second most popular item at the eatery.

Kim Little, who works in Paxtang, recently had the opportunity to try the food when her office made a lunch run.

“I tried the cheeseburger with YumSauce and it was delicious,” she said. “I loved that it was on a potato roll. The name fits!”

Craig Nye concurred.

“I had the regular hamburger with YumSauce, and it was served fresh in a white paper wrapping that made it easy to eat,” he said. “The fries were also very tasty.”

Nye said that Burger Yum reminds him of a Shake Shack he visited in King of Prussia and that he’s glad to have the option in Harrisburg.

“I intend to eat there on a regular basis,” said the Mechanicsburg resident.

In addition to the Burger Yum Classic, the BurgerYum cheeseburger and the Chicken Yum, the restaurant offers an all-day breakfast burger served with yellow American cheese, applewood smoked bacon, a fried egg and caramelized onions. Vegetarians will be pleased to learn that they, too, have an option with the “VeggieYum,” served with grilled portobello mushrooms and topped with goat cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato and YumSauce and served on a wheat roll. Diners also can opt for the combination “Two Yum Worlds,” a burger that comes with portobello mushrooms, lettuce, tomato and YumSauce.

Hot dogs are also available, along with a selection of Hershey’s ice cream and shakes. Other beverages include iced tea and soda and, for the adults, a selection of beer and wine.

Naramcic said he’s pleased with the popularity of the place so far and is happy to be at the helm.

“It’s gratifying to see people’s reactions, read the good reviews and hear the positive feedback,” he said. “ I think the quality of the product is so good that everybody loves it.”

Burger Yum is located at 400 N. 2^nd St., Harrisburg. To learn more, call 717-727-7127 or visit www.burgeryum.com or their Facebook page.

Community Corner: Notable July Events

June 30, 2016 | by TheBurg Editor

July Community Corner

HBG Flea
July 2: The HBG Flea outdoor market will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on N. 3^rd Street between Herr and Cumberland streets. Enjoy local art among vendors, food trucks, music and more. For more details, visit hbgflea.com.

Declaration of Independence
July 4: The Historical Society of Dauphin County will present the 6th annual public reading of the Declaration of Independence from the porch of the John Harris-Simon Cameron Mansion at 219 S. Front St., Harrisburg, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Declaration will be read by John Harris, Jr., portrayed by re-enactor David Biser. Visit dauphincountyhistory.org.

Taste of Independence
July 4: Harrisburg toasts the nation’s birth with a “Taste of Independence” festival featuring live music, food trucks, kids’ activities and more in Riverfront Park, starting at 3 p.m. The annual fireworks display follows at dark. Visit harrisburgpa.gov.

Fireworks River Party
July 4: Join Modern Transit Partnership for a private party and Harrisburg’s Independence Day fireworks at the Overlook at the Civic Club of Harrisburg, 612 N. Front St., 7:30-10:30 p.m. Enjoy live entertainment, food, non-alcoholic beverages and complimentary beer and wine (for guests over 21). Visit mtptransit.org.

Rare Collections Open House
July 5: Visit the Rare Collections Room at the State Library of Pennsylvania, Forum building, 607 South Dr., Harrisburg, 11:30 to 1 p.m. and 3:30 to 5 p.m. July 4 marks the 240^th anniversary of American Independence, and Rare Collections Librarian Iren Snavely has selected materials from that time period. Visit statelibrary.pa.gov.

Mental Wellness
July 7: Join the American Mental Wellness Association, 25 Spruce Rd., Marysville, for a launch party, 6:30 p.m. The association aims to unite individuals and organizations together as one voice for mental wellness. For more information and to RSVP, contact Sharon Engdahl at [email protected].

Apartheid Lessons
July 7: Join YWCA Carlisle’s Racial Justice Committee for a community potluck and discussion, “Transforming Schools in a Changing World: Lessons From Apartheid,” 6 to 8:30 p.m., at 301 G St., Carlisle. Featured speakers will be Laraine Roberts, headmistress at Holy Rosary Girls School in South Africa, and Chris Mattise, Ph.D., founder of Hurt Free Schools. Visit ywcacarlisle.org.

Foreign Film Friday
July 8: Join Fredricksen Library for a film from France, “For a Woman,” with two showings at 2 and 7 p.m. After her mother’s death, Anne discovers family photos and letters, taking a journey stretching from post-war France to the 1980s. Not recommended for viewers under 17. Visit fredricksenlibrary.org.

Outdoor Films
July 8 & 22: Friends of Midtown and Midtown Cinema will host two outdoor movies in July: “Godzilla vs. Megalon” on July 8 and “Back to the Future” on July 22 at Midtown Cinema, 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. Both films begin at dusk and, in case of rain, will be delayed to Saturday. Admission is free. Visit friendsofmidtown.org.

Volunteer Work Day
July 9: Head to Wildwood Park, 100 Wildwood Way, Harrisburg, to help with continuing park and habitat enhancement projects, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Snacks, tools and work gloves will be provided. To reduce plastic usage, bring along a water bottle. Refreshments will be available. Visit wildwoodlake.org.

Pump Primers
July 9: PA Pump Primers returns to Harrisburg starting at 10 a.m., when a parade of 125 antique fire trucks will leave the state Farm Show building and travel to Riverfront Park, where they will be on view all day. Speak to owners, play games, grab food and listen to music. The event is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Pump Primers, Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Antique Fire Apparatus Club of America. Learn more at www.papumpprimers.org.

Library Book Sale
July 9-14: Palmyra Public Library will hold its annual used book sale at Palmyra First United Methodist Church, 520 E Birch St., Palmyra. The book sale opens on July 9 with an early bird preview from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Admission is $5 per person. At 9 a.m., the sale will open to the general public and will run until 1 p.m. Visit lclibs.org/palmyra.

Art Collection Tour
July 10: Art Association of Harrisburg will present a tour of President Carrie Wissler-Thomas’s art collection in her home on N. 2nd Street, 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $15 for advance reservations and $20 at the door. Visit artassocofhbg.com.

Leads Over Lunch
July 12: Mix and mingle with business leaders at this free lunch hosted by Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC at Eastern University, 750 E. Park Dr., Harrisburg, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit harrisburgregionalchamber.org.

3rd in The Burg
July 15: Enjoy the best of Harrisburg during 3rd in the Burg, the monthly arts and culture event at galleries, restaurants and art spaces throughout downtown and Midtown. Check out all the action at thirdintheburg.org.

Local Lunch
July 16: Join Friends of Midtown at its monthly community lunch, which will be held at Aangan Express, 263 Reily St., Harrisburg, 12 to 2 p.m. Email [email protected] or visit friendsofmidtown.org.

Hamm Camp
July 18-22 & July 25-29: Hamm Camp, 2451 Market St., Harrisburg, offers a free week-long camp for girls and boys that combines high-level, on-the-court skills instruction with a daily workshop focusing on essential life skills. The camp’s goal is to build higher expectations for achievement among inner city youth. For more details, visit hammcamp.com.

Author Series
July 20: Join the State Library of Pennsylvania, Room 321, Forum building, 607 South Dr., Harrisburg, for the “Pennsylvania Authors Lunchtime Lecture Series” with Ken Frew, author of “Building Harrisburg,” 12 p.m. Contact librarian Ellen Shenk at [email protected] or 717-783-5969.

Harrisburg Mile
July 20: Enjoy family fun at the First National Bank Harrisburg Mile along Front Street in Harrisburg, 6 to 7:45 p.m. The starting line is at Front and Maclay streets by the Governor’s Mansion. Enjoy music provided by WINK 104, grab some refreshments and check out the activities along the Susquehanna River. Visit ymcarun.com.

Putt it Into the Park
July 21: Head to City Island in Harrisburg to enjoy an 18-hole mini-golf course and a Harrisburg Senators game during the West Shore Chamber of Commerce’s “Putt it Into the Park,” 4 p.m. Cost to attend is $25, ages 13 and older; $20, ages 4 to 12; and free for kids 3 and under. Visit wschamber.org for more information.

Rummage Sale
July 23: Head to .note Bistro, 1530 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg, for an old-fashioned neighborhood rummage sale to kick off the restaurant’s two-year anniversary celebration, 8 a.m. Enjoy shopping, as well as an outdoor bar, and hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. Visit notewinebar.com for more details.

Garden Experience
July 23: Join Penn State Extension for the 11th annual “Summer Garden Experience,” 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Penn State’s Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 1446 Auction Rd., Manheim. This event includes five hours of gardening ideas and information. Admission is covered with a $10 parking fee. For more details, visit agsci.psu.edu.

Living History
July 23-Aug. 18: The National Civil War Museum announces its “Living History” schedule for the 2016 summer season. Visit encampments, which include Confederate and Union infantry units, loading and firing demonstrations and more. Most infantry groups perform loading and firing demonstrations each day. Visit nationalcivilwarmuseum.org.

Bras & Booz
July 27: Feel Your Boobies Foundation is coming to Grain + Verse Bottlehouse, 148 Sheraton Dr., New Cumberland, for a night to promote proactive breast health in young women, 6 p.m. Enjoy discounted growlers and a surprise brewery that will donate its beer sales to the foundation. For more, visit grainandverse.com.

Networking Mixer
July 27: Join the West Shore Chamber and other local business professionals for an ice cream social from 4 to 6 p.m., at United Methodist Home for Children, 5120 Simpson Ferry Rd., Mechanicsburg. The event is free and open to chamber members. Visit wschamber.org.

Community Day
July 30: State Sen. Rob Teplitz invites residents to his annual Community Day, as well as a free document shredding event at his Harrisburg district office, 46 Kline Village, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shredding event will take place in the John Harris High School’s parking lot across the street. Enjoy free food, music and kids’ activities. Visit senatorteplitz.com.

Pride Festival
July 30: Head to Riverfront Park, 200 S. Front St., Harrisburg, for the 24^th Annual Pride Festival of Central PA, presented by The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pride Festival provides safe environments for people to celebrate diversity and support local economic growth. Visit centralpapridefestival.com.

Harry Potter Birthday
July 31: In honor of Harry Potter’s birthday, East Shore Area Library, 4501 Ethel St., Harrisburg, will show the first film in the Harry Potter series, 1 p.m. This is an interactive program with audience members taking part in the movie. Enjoy birthday cake afterwards. Visit dcls.org or call the library at 717-652-9380.

Summer Reading
Through Aug. 30: Dauphin County Library System invites readers of all ages to participate in its “On Your Mark, Get Set… Read!” summer reading club. Participants can learn more at dcls.org or by visiting a Dauphin County library, where summer reading guides are available.

Student Scribes: “Secrets”

June 30, 2016 | by Gabrielle Vincent

Melody was everything. Her name suited her well, her beauty comparable to that of a choir of a thousand seraphs harmonizing the most divine tune. I loved everything about her from her hair, which resembled obsidian in both color and shine, to her eyes, the color of fresh grass in the summer. I memorized her every feature and mannerism and had come to know them like the back of my hand. I was completely head over heels for this girl and the most interesting aspect of it all was that I hadn’t even met her.

Melody and I had been chatting for about a year and two months online. We met on a website that allowed you to video chat with people based on similar interests. She caught me by surprise. I was sure she would just click disconnect on me like most other conventionally attractive girls had, but she was different. She immediately greeted me and gave me the warmest smile. We talked for hours about our interests from music to literature to simple things like our favorite foods. Ever since we met that night, we’ve spoken nonstop. Between texting each other from dawn til dusk to losing precious sleep by Skyping at all hours of the night, she had become the center of my world. She knew everything about me. Well, almost everything.

I heard the ting from the computer, signaling me that Melody was calling. I pressed answer, feeling my heart flutter when her face appeared on my screen.

“Hey there, I have great news!” She practically yelled as soon as I answered the call.

“What is it, Mel?” I smiled at her excitement.

“I got a promotion at work, do you know what that means?”

“Uh, that you’re one step closer to taking over the company?” I chuckled. She made a face. I don’t think she found my joke funny.

“No, it means I can finally buy a plane ticket to come see you!” She grinned, her eyes visibly lighting up.

My face felt hot. I smiled awkwardly and shifted the conversation to something else by cracking another dumb joke. I could tell she didn’t find it funny but she didn’t call me out on my blatant dance around that subject. We chatted for an hour or so until she cut the conversation short.

“Ugh, I forgot I’m supposed to have dinner with my mom tonight. I gotta go, I love you Danny. Byeeee!” She sang before hanging up. Her “I love you” rang in my head as I stared at the now blank monitor. I felt my pocket buzz a few minutes later and I pulled out my phone. Melody’s name lit up my screen with a message below:

“I’m happy I got to see your face, even if it was only for a little. I love you.”

I grinned ear to ear. She always made me feel like the luckiest guy alive. I don’t know how I ended up with a girl so out of my league. She was perfect in every sense of the word, but I could tell she was slowly getting frustrated with me and it made my heart sink. I knew at this point that my time with Melody was limited, and I wanted to cherish every moment I could. She became more vocal about her frustrations with me avoiding the visit. Every conversation seemed to blur into a mess of excuses and angry sighs.

“I don’t know if I can get off work, Mel.”

“I’ll hang at your place until you’re off work. We wouldn’t have to be together every minute of every day.”

“Well, my car has been having a lot of problems lately. I don’t know if it’ll make the trip to the airport and back.”

“I’ll rent a car or something, Danny.”

“My dad has been sick lately and I think I should be using my spare time taking care of him.”

“You never told me that. I’d be happy to help. I volunteered at an assisted living clinic for five years.”

For every excuse I gave her, she had a solution. I felt desperate and nervous. I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms but my dark secret stood in the way. I couldn’t go through with it, and even she wouldn’t understand. Our daily Skype calls soon turned into weekly Skype calls and our texts went from actual conversations to “Sorry, I’m busy right now.” I could feel her slipping from my grasp and all I could do was sit back and watch. I felt powerless and defeated but I knew this was the only way we could go from here.

It had been about two and a half weeks since our last Skype call at this point and I felt as if the end was near, but then I heard the familiar ting from my laptop. I hesitated for a moment but answered the call. Her face popped up and instead of being greeted by a warm smile, I was greeted by a stern and cold expression.

“Daniel.” I cringed hearing her use my actual name.

“Hey smelly Melly.” I tried to joke, but she didn’t crack a smile.

“I can’t do this anymore.” My heart sank. “Danny if you keep refusing to meet me I have no other choice but to move on from you.”

“I-I understand Mel. I really do. I want to meet you but-”

“But what, Danny? What could possibly be your excuse this time?”

“I just can’t.”

“Well then I just can’t talk to you anymore.”

“I understand, Melody. I’m sorry.”

I watched a single tear roll down her face and then the call ended. I stared at the blank screen and watched her icon go from online to offline. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I just sat there, unable to do anything but stare and cry. I wish she knew. I wish she could understand where I’m coming from. I wish she knew how much I loved her. I sat there for what felt like hours until I decided to move. I leaned over and grabbed my bandage, wrapping my thigh and sliding into my prosthetic. I stood up slowly and adjusted myself so the prosthetic cupped my thigh properly. I sat back down at my computer desk and stared at the screen. I continued to stare at her Skype profile, trying to hold back the tears.

Gabrielle Vincent is a senior at Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School (CASA).

Student Scribes: “Donate your body to someone who needs it.”

June 30, 2016 | by Alix Gregory

I am a maggot, a decomposer, a consumer of the dead, and most importantly, I am the last witness of a dead body.

My family is excited to move me and my brothers into our new home.

I overheard this at this woman’s funeral, that Elyse Gabel was a psychology professor at the college nearby.

“She’ll be great for your first,” Mom says “She’s smart. The smartest ones have the sweetest brains.” We take her advice.

My brothers and I slither through the edges of Elyse Gabel’s casket. I inch my way across Elyse’s shoulder and into her ear and start gnawing. Sweetest remains I have ever tasted.

I feel the pressure of my brothers sinking into Elyse’s flesh and eating her torso. She gets heavy with us on top of her, then lighter as we eat her. I imagine this is how breathing is. It’s like we’re giving the dead another life, a new purpose.

What a life it is—providing a feast and a home to smelly bugs. I know she wouldn’t understand this.

Humans move. They switch houses to get a new start. They travel for jobs, for freedom, for their families. Maggots only change our places in search of the next meal. Elyse is fresh. We won’t have to move for quite some time.

Dirt starts to fall through the edges of the coffin. I slide out of Elyse’s ear. The earth sprinkles atop of the family. I curl my body around her pearl earrings.

Something bangs on the coffin, hard. There’s a click. Elyse Gabel’s dead body lights up. I’ve never seen an “alive” human until now. It’s strange to see someone’s mouth move on its own, and to finally connect a voice to a face.

“Jackpot.”

I know he can see us, smell us, chewing leftovers of something he’d saved for himself.

“He must think we’re disgusting.” My brother creeps behind me.

“So then why’s he here? To stare?” I say.

I’ve never seen a human open their eyelids by themselves either. The only times I’ve looked into a human’s eyes is when I’ve eaten them. But the eyes never moved. It’s unsettling to realize how much control you really have over someone.

“Nah. He’s one of those—” my brother says.

“What?” I uncurl to look at him.

“Grave robbers.”

“Aren’t we technically the grave robbers?”

“You could think of it that way, but we’re after the guts and the skins. It’s ethical. We need death to live.”

“And this person?”

“Grave robbers use death to get a thrill and some money. Why do you think they put bodies in the ground? So the living don’t get greedy.” He looks up. “See?”

The grave robber kneels on Elyse’s knees. Some of my other brothers start to crawl atop him, but he smashes them down. Dying in another’s coffin seems rude. But we have no control.

The living human squirms about. A noise escapes his lips. I’ve heard this noise before, at burials. It’s shock.

People don’t accept death the way that maggots do. They get scared, sad. I hear it in their trembling voices. It sounds like the noise that comes out of my mouth right now. This body is my home.

He removes her shoes, picks out a ring and dumps it in his front pocket. He moves his hands up her body, shaves some of my brothers off her legs along the way. Her tights already have holes from where the other maggots have bitten through.

A different noise from the grave robber. This is not a scared, shocked or sad noise.

His arms circle Elyse’s waist as he moves up her dress. Maggots wiggle under the fabric, but he puts his arms under anyway. He palms Elyse’s chest and pulls a gold chain from her neck. Then he gets to her ears. He works carefully, as if avoiding piercing Elyse and getting formaldehyde all over his clothes, even when he’s already got smashed maggots all over them.

He pulls on Elyse’s left ear, pulls the backs off of a gold hoop, a pearl, and a diamond. Three piercings to match the ear I’m in. He holds the prizes in his fist. Grave robber slides across Elyse’s arm. Maggots crawl under her fingernails. He ignores us, takes some jingly bracelets off her hand.

The noise again. He lines up every inch of his body atop hers. Almost like he is dead, too.

But his heart pounds on my home, blood rushes through his veins, noises that pouring out from his lips.

His hand creeps near me as he removes the last of Elyse’s jewelry. I squiggle away when he picks out the hoop, pearl and diamond.

He shoves the treasures in his pocket, then presses into Elyse, hard. That noise. He’s smashing my home, taken all the pretty things she was left with. And he’s not even finished.

I crawl back through Elyse’s ear and to her brain, but I no longer taste the sweetness. Just the bitterness of defeat.

Thud.

Another living human. This one holds a shovel above his head. Another thud, this time on the grave robber’s skull. Finally a different noise from his mouth. Something scared and sad. Blood gushes from the wound.

A feast.

The human with the shovel slams the casket shut, and I hear the earth bury us again.

The grave robber’s body smashes against Elyse’s, but now, my brothers and I swarm over both of them. We have complete control.

Alix Gregory is a sophomore at Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School (CASA).

Student Scribes: “Captured”

June 30, 2016 | by Jess Wilson

She scanned the entire room in two seconds looking for an escape, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her abductor, a tall, pallid man with the darkest sunken eyes, entered the room and removed her restraints.

“Please… Why are you doing this?”

“Don’t talk. Here,” he said, handing Randi a scalpel, “Your next task is to cut a slit in your eye.”

“I’ve done everything you told me to do… Please, just let me go… I won’t tell anyone!”

“DO IT!” Randi picked up the scalpel, hand shaking, pleading and crying as she brought it closer to her eye. The words, “The slower you do it, the more it hurts,” creeped out of his mouth with a grin. With one swift motion, Randi peeled her eyelid open and slit her eye, shrieking in pain, blood pouring from it.

“That’s two. Three more, and you’re out of here.” He re-tied her, laughing as he left the room. “I’ll be back soon.”

Randi struggled in her chair when she heard a knock at the door. She found a way out; she just needed to free herself before her abductor checked the door. The more she struggled, the tighter the ropes became. Her abductor walked through the doorway into the kitchen and peered through the peephole.

“Don’t do anything,” he warned Randi, facing her, his voice muffled. Turning back to the door, he opened it a crack, enough that the man standing on the other side could see her and the look of absolute terror in her eyes. “What do you want?” he demanded.

“Oh, hi. I’m your new neighbor, if you can even call it that since the houses are so far apart—” As her abductor was about to close the door in the neighbor’s face, he said, “Anyway, I just wanted to get acquainted and invite you over for dinner some time.”

“I’m busy.” The door slammed shut. “Where were we? Ah, yes. I have something for you.” He grabbed a nutcracker from the cabinet and shoved it in her face. “Put your big toe in it and twist.” Randi flinched away from the nutcracker. “Or I’ll do it for you.”

She snatched the nutcracker up and quickly broke her toe, wincing in pain. The abductor gave her a glass of water, and sat down in the chair next to her, but she refused to look up from the floor. He told her that she made the right choice because if he would have done it, it would have been much more excruciating.

“Who was that at the door?” she said, sifting pain through her teeth.

“Nobody. Some dumbass neighbor that shouldn’t have come here.”

“I heard him invite you over; are you going to go?”

He sprang to his feet, banging his fist on the table. “Mind your damn business. You think I’m dumb or something? Like I’m just going to leave you here alone? Nice try.”

“You can take me with you—that way you know where I am.”

He hesitated, but then said, “Anything you do, you ask me permission first.”

Dinner went smoothly until cleanup when the neighbor asked Randi to assist him in the kitchen. She looked to her abductor to see if it was okay, but was given a look of warning so she politely declined and said, “Would you please show me to the restroom, actually?”

“Sure, right this way. By the way, what happened to your eye?” he asked as they headed down the corridor. She had to choose her words carefully with her abductor around, so she said she had a freak “accident.”

As Randi stepped into the restroom, she whispered to him, “It wasn’t an accident.” In the restroom, she left a note on the toilet paper with the toothpaste sitting on the sink. “Help me, he’s going to kill me.”

After Randi and her abductor thanked him for dinner, they went back to the house. Behind closed doors he could reprimand her for what he called “misbehaving.” Holding a revolver in his hand, aimed at Randi, he said, “Let’s play a game.” Randi froze in her tracks and put her arms up above her head as if she was being arrested.

Her abductor opened the chamber, showing Randi the single bullet. He closed the chamber, letting it spin. A laugh slipped out of his mouth—ragged and malevolent—as he said, “I told you not to try anything, you bitch. Russian Roulette—fire the gun at your head. Three times, if you’re lucky.”

Randi grabbed the gun, shaking with fear. She had two options, both terrifying. She could aim it at her abductor, she could kill him, but it could be a blank, which would piss him off even more, or she could end up shooting herself in the head. Randi closed her eyes and pulled the trigger, tears streaming down her face. Time slowed. Seconds passed. One, two, three, four, five. A blank. The look of relief on Randi’s face turned to horror; she had to do it again. Two more blanks. Randi dropped the gun on the floor in defeat. The tears continued, but her sobs silenced. Her head hung to the floor.

“You’re one lucky girl. Now stop your crying!”

Just as her abductor finished restraining her, he picked up the gun and placed it on the kitchen table. The phone began ringing. She had no will left to fight.

“What do you want?” There was a pause as he listened to the person on the other end. At the same time, Randi tried to stop her crying. “What?! She did what?! I’m going to kill the ungrateful bitch!” He slammed the phone down onto the table and glared at Randi. “You think you can just leave me? After everything?” He shook with anger as he lunged at Randi, grabbing her neck with his big paws.

The door slammed open as Randi’s abductor continued to scream in her face, not taking his eyes off her. Holding a lock pick set, the neighbor stood in the doorway, stormed over to the table, picked up the revolver, and yelled, “Hey, Rowan! Turn around.”

Rowan instinctively turned toward the startling voice and saw the gun in the neighbor’s hands.

“I told you not to kill her, Rowan. I told you what would happen if you tried to kill her. Why didn’t you listen to me?” He opened his mouth to try to explain himself, but it was too late. The neighbor raised the gun, pulled the trigger, and shot Rowan in the heart, watching him collapse on the floor. He walked over to Randi and removed her restraints.

Rowan screamed in agony as he bled out. “Why are you leaving me? Why does everyone leave me!” Randi got up and hugged the neighbor.

“We need to get out of here. Come over, get cleaned up, and I’ll take you to the hospital.” Randi shook her head and darted out of the house. She heard a shout from behind her. “Get back here!” Tripping over tree branches and rocks, the footsteps quickly got louder. The last thing Randi saw was the ground, after a heavy bang to her head.

As Randi slowly came to, her eyes fluttered, then opened quickly. She was in the same dining room she had been in an hour ago, her arms and legs tied down, a gag in her mouth. On the table next to her was a “Missing Person” flier. She saw her “savior” holding a large kitchen knife in his hand. She began to thrash in her chair frantically. He circled Randi’s chair, his shirt soaked by sweat. He pulled the shirt off over his head and put the knife to her neck.

“Do exactly what I tell you to do.”

Jess Wilson is a junior at Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School (CASA).

Happenings: Our July Calendar of Events

June 30, 2016 | by TheBurg Editor

Museum & Art Spaces

AACA Museum
161 Museum Dr., Hershey
717-566-7100; aacamuseum.org

“Early Off-Roaders,” through Oct. 15.

“Mods vs. Rockers,” motorcycles and scooters, through Oct. 15.

“Steampunk U,” showcasing recycled gears and parts, repurposed with artistic and functional form, through Nov. 6.

Art Association of Harrisburg
21 N. Front St., Harrisburg
717-236-1432; artassocofhbg.com

“Art School Annual Exhibition,” featuring Art Association of Harrisburg student artwork, July 21-28; reception: July 21, 5-8 p.m.

Char’s at Tracy Mansion
1829 N Front St., Harrisburg
717-213-4002; charsrestaurant.com

“Chinese Brush Paintings” by Mary Jane Sausser, through July.

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse
2133 Market St., Camp Hill
717-737-5026; thecornerstonecoffeehouse.com

Artist of the Month: Janel Sheppo

Fort Hunter
5300 N. Front St., Harrisburg
717-599-5751; forthunter.org

“Downton’s Last Stand: A Reprise of the Fort Hunter Fashions of the Downton Abbey Era,” through Dec. 23.

Gallery@Second
608 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg
galleryatsecond.com

Works by Ralph Hocker and Sue Marrazzo, through Aug. 5.

Landis House
Perry County Council of the Arts
67 N. 4th St., Newport
717-567-7023; perrycountyarts.org

“Landis Legacy: Mary M. Landis,” a celebration of the life, legacy and community contributions of Mary Landis, PCCA’s benefactor of Landis House, through Aug. 6.

Little Amps Coffee Roasters, Downtown
133 State St., Harrisburg
717-635-9870; littleampscoffee.com

Pen and ink illustrations by Tristan Boyd, through July; reception: July 15, 5-7 p.m.

Metropolis Collective
17 W. Main St., Mechanicsburg
717-458-8245; Facebook: Metropolis Collective

“Malaise,” a solo exhibition highlighting the works of Maude Marrowbone, through Aug. 1.

National Civil War Museum
One Lincoln Circle, Harrisburg
717-260-1861; nationalcivilwarmuseum.org

“Tell Mother I’ve Been Good: Vice & Virtue in the Civil War,” illustrating the moral challenges faced by thousands of men in the ranks, through Dec. 31.

“We Call Them Buffalo Soldiers,” examining the service of black soldiers in the U.S. Armed Forces from the American Revolution to the integration of the services in 1948, through June 2017.

Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art
176 Water Company Rd., Millersburg
717-692-3699; nedsmithcenter.org

“Pennsylvania Watercolor Society Juried Exhibition,” through Aug. 27.

PCCA Gallery
Perry County Council of the Arts
1 S. 2nd St., Newport
perrycountyarts.org

“Work in Progress,” highlighting the work of Savannah College of Art and Design student and West Perry High School graduate Emily Keniston, through Aug. 6.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania
300 North St., Harrisburg
717-787-4980; statemuseumpa.org

“Working Together for Wildlife: Three Decades of Pennsylvania’s Nature in Art,” through Sept. 11.

“We’re Here: Pioneering LGBT Rights in Pennsylvania,” through Oct. 30.

Susquehanna Art Museum
1401 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-233-8668; sqart.org

“The City, Juried Exhibition,” through Aug. 11.

“The Luminous River,” works by John Pfahl, through Sept. 18.

“Recasting Nature: Selected Sculptures by Beth Galston,” through Sept. 18.

Whitaker Center/The Curved Wall
222 Market St., Harrisburg
717-221-0292

“Studio To Stage: 25 Years of Music Photography by Drew Wiedemann,” through Aug. 21.

Wildwood Park
100 Wildwood Way, Harrisburg
717-221-0292; wildwoodlake.org

“Art in the Wild,” a nature-inspired outdoor art exhibition, with installations mostly including natural materials, through Oct. 31.

Yellow Bird Café
1320 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-635-8991; yellowbird-cafe.com

Artwork by Becky Jones and Diana Robinson, through July 10.

Works by Crissy Wagner, July 12-Aug. 14

Zeroday Brewing Co.
250 Reily St., Harrisburg
717-745-6218; zerodaybrewing.com

The Huckle Buckle Boys: “Retrospectivus Hiatus,” through mid-July.

“Between the Lines,” ink on wood by Ted Walke, July 15 through mid-August.

Read, Make, Learn

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse
2133 Market St., Camp Hill
717-737-5026; thecornerstonecoffeehouse.com

July 15: “Gifts from Sicily,” 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Fredricksen Library
100 N. 19th St., Camp Hill
717-761-3900; fredricksenlibrary.org

July 1: Youth Chess Night, 6:30 p.m.
July 2: Storytime and Music Therapy, 3:30 p.m.
July 5: Curl Up With the Classics—“My Antonia,” 3 p.m.
July 5: Coloring for Grown-Ups, 7 p.m.
July 5, 12, 19, 26: Master Gardener Plant Clinics, 6 p.m.
July 6, 13, 20, 27: Teen Meet-up, 7 p.m.
July 8, 22: Foreign Film Friday, 2 p.m., 7 p.m.
July 11: Twisted Stitchers, 6:30 p.m.
July 11, 18, 25: Drop In Summer Storytime, 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.
July 12: Zen Coloring, 2 p.m.
July 15: Family Movie Night, 6:30 p.m.
July 15, 16: Safe Sitter Workshop, 10 a.m.
July 18: Fredricksen Writes, 6:45 p.m.
July 19: Fredricksen Reads, 7 p.m.
July 27: Getting Started with Family Yoga, 7 p.m.

Healthy Living Kitchen
16 S. Rosanna St., Hummelstown
717-512-0077; healthylivingkitchenpa.com

July 13: Leafy Greens for Energy and Health, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
July 21: Cooking Grains and Beans the Right Way, 6-8 p.m.

Landis House
Perry County Council of the Arts
67 N. 4th St., Newport
717-567-7023; perrycountyarts.org

July 9: “A Novel Idea” writing workshop, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
July 20: Photo Class—Capturing Children’s Everyday Moments, 6-8 p.m.

The LBGT Center of Central PA
1306 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-920-9534; centralpalgbtcenter.org

July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30: Weekly Meditation Practice, 11 a.m.
July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31: Common Roads Young Adults, 4 p.m.
July 6, 13, 20, 27: Common Roads Youth, 6 p.m.
July 14: Aging with Pride Lunchtime Discussion, 12 p.m.
July 19: Women’s Group, 6 p.m.

Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Café
1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-236-1680; midtownscholar.com

July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Nathaniel Gadsden’s Spoken Word Café, 7 p.m.
July 2: Health and Wellness Meet-up, 10 a.m.
July 2: Good News Café, 6 p.m.
July 5: Sci-Fi Writer’s Group, 7 p.m.
July 6, 13, 20, 27: Midtown Chess Club, 11 a.m.
July 7, 14, 21, 28: Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel, 7 p.m.
July 12, 26: Meet-Up, 9 a.m.
July 12: Dauphin County Young Democrats Meeting, 7 p.m.
July 14: Camp Curtin Toastmasters, 6:30 p.m.
July 15: Coffee Tasting with Café Staff, 12 p.m.
July 15: Tea Tasting w/Café Staff, 2 p.m.
July 16: Story time with Lisa, 11 a.m.
July 16, 30: Local Author Saturday, 2 p.m.
July 17: Midtown Writers Group, 1 p.m.
July 17: LGBT Book Club, 5 p.m.
July 20: Sci Fi & Fantasy Book Club, 7 p.m.
July 25: Feminism Book Club, 7 p.m.
July 26: Friends of Midtown Safety Committee, 6:30 p.m.
July 31: Harrisburg Young Professionals Book Club, 2 p.m.

The Millworks
340 Verbeke St., Harrisburg
717-695-4888; millworksharrisburg.com

July 8: Abstract Painting Class, 6-9 p.m.
July 22: Cold Wax 3-Day Workshop, 6-9 p.m.

The Movement Center
2134 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg
717-238-0357; themovementcenter.net

July 10: Free Beginner Yoga Class, 10-11 a.m.

Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art
176 Water Company Rd., Millersburg
717-692-3699; nedsmithcenter.org

July 14-22: Sunshine Science & Art Jar, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
July 19: Paper, Pressed Plants and Paint, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Susquehanna Art Museum
1401 N. 3^rd St., Harrisburg
717-233-8668; sqart.org

July 5, 12, 19, 26: Life Drawing Class, 6-9 p.m.
July 23, 30: Saturday Morning Art Club, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Wildwood Park
100 Wildwood Way, Harrisburg
717-221-0292; wildwoodlake.org

July 3: “Beginner’s Yoga and Walk,” 10-11:30 a.m.
July 9: Volunteer Work Day, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
July 10: “Flower Walk: Still More Blooms,” 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
July 10: “Sunday Evening Bird Walk,” 6-8 p.m.
July 13: “Stress Relief Walk,” 6-7:30 p.m.
July 19-22: Science Series, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Live Music Around Harrisburg

American Music Theatre
2425 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster
717-397-7700; amtshows.com

July 8: The Texas Tenors
July 9: Brenda Lee w/Bill Anderson
July 18: The Beach Boys
July 24: Olivia Newton-John
July 25: Yes
July 31: Joe Walsh

Appalachian Brewing Co./Abbey Bar
50 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg
717-221-1083; abcbrew.com

July 1: We Were Promised Jetpacks
July 7: Driftwood
July 8: David Wax Museum

Bucks Valley Winery
333 Meadow Grove, Newport
717-204-7508; bucksvalleywinery.com

July 9: Stan & Wes Hoke
July 22: Coffeehouse Open Mic (Perry County Council of the Arts)

Carley’s Ristorante and Piano Bar
204 Locust St., Harrisburg
717-909-9191; carleysristorante.com

July 1: Chris Emkey
July 2, 9: Ted Ansel
July 5: Daniel Sheehan
July 6: Deborah Anderson
July 7, 22, 26: Corinna Joy
July 8, 15, 20: Jessica Perla
July 10,14, 24, 28: Anthony Haubert
July 12: Christine Purcell
July 13: Maria Battista
July 16, 21: Roy Lefever
July 19, 23, 29: Noel Gevers
July 22, 26: Corinna Joy
July 27: TBA

Carlisle Theatre
44 West High St., Carlisle
717-258-0666; carlisletheatre.org

July 7: Old Dominion

Chameleon Club
223 N. Water St., Lancaster
717-299-9684; chameleonclub.net

July 2: SWMRS, Wobblesauce
July 6: 10 Years
July 19: Speedy Ortiz
July 21: Granger Smith w/Earl Dibbles
July 23: Kung Fu

Char’s at Tracy Mansion
1829 N. Front St., Harrisburg
717-213-4002; charsrestaurant.com

July 1: Roy LaFever Duo
July 8: Forest Brown Duo
July 22: Lady A
July 29: Erin Cruise Duo

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse
2133 Market St., Camp Hill
717-737-5026; thecornerstonecoffeehouse.com

July 1: Kip Skirpan
July 2: Alex McQuade
July 3: Dale Stipe
July 8: Antonio Andrade
July 9: Kevin Kline
July 10: Aaron Ferguson
July 15: Jim Haas
July 16: Doug Morrise
July 17: Coco & The Bug
July 22: Jeanine & Friends
July 23: Steven Gellman
July 24: Crimson
July 29: Jim Steele
July 30: Dominick Cicco
July 31: Carly Clark

Fredricksen Library
100 N. 19th St., Camp Hill
717-761-3900; fredricksenlibrary.org

July 11: West Shore Symphony Orchestra
July 21: Greater Harrisburg Concert Band

Grain + Verse Bottlehouse
148 Sheraton Dr., New Cumberland
717-317-3044; grainandverse.com

July 7: Rivers
July 14: Sweet Corn & Peanut
July 21: Tim Cooney
July 28: Shotgun Ragtime Band

Gretna Music
gretnamusic.org

July 8: Sykes & Parkening
July 9: Bumper Jacksons
July 10: Chamber Orchestra
July 28: Disney Love Songs
July 31: Trio D’Amore

Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center (H*MAC)
1110 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-441-7506; harrisburgarts.com

July 1: Vetour Productions First Friday
July 8: Tubafresh, Des Sera, Flow State
July 21: Matt Otis and the Sound
July 22: The Give Take
July 23: Manian & The Monumentals, The Process
July 24: Angie Keilhauer, Olivia Farabaugh
July 29: The Bo Deadlys
July 30: Humandala, The Clock Reads
Every Tuesday: Open Mic

Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
717-545-5527; harrisburgsymphony.org

July 1-4: Free Summer Concerts

Hershey Theatre
15 E. Caracas Ave., Hershey
717-534-3405; hersheytheatre.com

July 20: Brandi Carlile, Margo Price

Hollywood Casino
777 Hollywood Blvd., Grantville
717-469-2211; hollywoodpnrc.com

July 1: Ollie’s Pool Party
July 2: DJ Styles, The Luv Gods
July 3: Emily’s Toy Box
July 8: DJ Ray Rossi, Amish Outlaws
July 9: DJ Magic, Gas Station Disco
July 15: Uptown Band
July 16: DJ Ray Rossi, Green Eggs
July 22: Sapphire
July 23: DJ Styles, Nova City
July 29: Lima Bean Riot
July 30: DJ Forest, Element K

Keystone Concert Band
145 E. Main St., First Floor, Mechanicsburg
717-421-1512; keystoneconcertband.com

July 24: Summer Concert at Adams-Ricci Park

Little Amps Coffee Roasters, Downtown
133 State St., Harrisburg
717-635-9870; littleampscoffee.com

July 1: Andrew Pauls
July 8: Ellyot H. Ray
July 15: CHROMA
July 22: Cocoa Avenue Blues Band
July 29: Kelsey Kindall

Luhrs Performing Arts Center
1871 Old Main Dr., Shippensburg
717-477-7469; luhrscenter.com

July 14-28: Shippensburg Symphony Festival

Majestic Theater
25 Carlisle St., Gettysburg
717-337-8200; gettysburgmajestic.org

July 20: St. Paul & The Broken Bones

The MakeSpace
1916 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
hbgmakespace.com

July 2: Kino Kimino & Weird Year

Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Café
1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-236-1680; midtownscholar.com

July 15: Carly Clark

The Mill in Hershey
810 Old West Chocolate Ave., Hershey
717-256-9965; themillinhershey.com

July 2: Sherri Mullen Duo
July 5: Mark Baxter
July 9: Shea Acoustic
July 12: Olivia Farabaugh
July 16: Isaac Moyer
July 19: Charlie Fry
July 23: Top Down Band
July 26: The Exactlys
July 30: Soul House

MoMo’s BBQ & Grille
307 Market St., Harrisburg
717-230-1030; momosbbqandgrill.com

July 1: Don Hoffman
July 8: Jeff Calvin
July 15: Roger Hammer Acoustic Band
July 22: Bushmaster
July 29: Red Eye

Pennsylvania Womyn’s Chorus
cpwchorus.org

July 9: Voices United 11

River City Blues Club & Dart Room
819 S. Cameron St., Harrisburg
rivercityhbg.com

July 1: The Cameron Molloy Band
July 2: The Gary Negbaur Group
July 3: La Playa
July 7: Electric Jam
July 8: Joe Krown Trio
July 9: Gas House Gorillas
July 14: Blue Elephant & Friends
July 15: Diane Wilson & Steve Rudolph
July 16: La Playa Saturday Nights
July 17: Singer’s Lounge
July 18: River City Big Band
July 20: Open Jam w/Shawan Rice
July 21: Open Mic/Jam w/Shawan and the Wonton
July 23: Space Party w/Shawan and the Wonton, Bird Reserve, STVRDVWG
July 24: La Playa 4th Sunday Miami Fusion Dance Party
July 30: Creem Circus

Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center
50 N. George St., York
717-846-1111; mystrandcapitol.org

July 21: Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band

Suba Tapas Bar
272 North St., Harrisburg
717-233-7358; mangiaqui.com

July 2: Renshaw Davies
July 9: Pants Da Buzzard
July 16: Chris Purcell Band
July 23: TBA
July 30: Jason Wolfe

The Ware Center
42 N. Prince St., Lancaster
717-871-2308; artsmu.com

July 9-10: Allegro: German Beer Garden
July 15: Shanghai Quartet
July 16: Alexander Kobrin
July 17-23: Lancaster International Piano Festival
July 17: Xiaofeng Zhang & Francesco Mirabella
July 18: Meng-Chieh Liu
July 21: Santiago Rodriguez
July 28: Alexis Cole

Whitaker Center
222 Market St., Harrisburg
717-214-ARTS; whitakercenter.org

July 20: Graham Nash
July 23: Revisit Steppenwolf
July 29: Stephane Wrembel
July 30: The Bacon Brothers

Zeroday Brewing Co.
250 Reily St., Harrisburg
717-745-6218; zerodaybrewing.com

July 8: Vulcans
July 22: Great Northeast
Note: These shows take place in the parking lot preceding Midtown Cinema’s Outdoor Film series.

The Stage Door

American Music Theatre
2425 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster
717-397-7700; amtshows.com

July 5: Maks and Val Live

Carlisle Theatre
44 West High St., Carlisle
717-258-0666; carlisletheatre.org

July 1-3: “Anything Goes”

Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre
510 Centerville Rd., Lancaster
717-898-1900; DutchApple.com

Through Aug. 6: “Mary Poppins”

Gamut Theatre
15 N. 4th St., Harrisburg
717-238-4111; gamuttheatre.org

July 13-Aug. 20: “Cinderella” (Popcorn Hat Players)

Harrisburg Christian Performing Arts Center
1000 S. Eisenhower Blvd., Middletown
717-939-9333; hbg-cpac.org

July 15-24: “Honk!”

Harrisburg Improv Theatre
1633 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-798-6973; hbgimprov.com

July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Harold Hour
July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Jam
July 2: Monotone: An Improvised Musical, Tristitia
July 9: Introduce A Self, Pillow Talk
July 15, 17: Level 2 Class Show
July 16: Tony Stanza
July 22: Solo Sleepover, Cats on Speed
July 23: Hardly Working, Phlegminism
July 29, 31: Level 1 Class Show
July 31: Magic Fairy Pirate Monkeys

Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center (H*MAC)
1110 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-441-7506; harrisburgarts.com

July 14: Jeremy Long
July 28: Radical Comedy Night
July 30: Belly Dance Lounge

Hershey Area Playhouse
830 Cherry Dr., Harrisburg
717-533-8528; hersheyareaplayhouse.com

July 21-July 31: “South Pacific”

Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg
915 S. York St., Mechanicsburg
717-766-0535; ltmonline.net

July 8-24: “The Last Five Years”

Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Café
1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg
717-236-1680; midtownscholar.com

July 14: Camp Curtin Toastmasters
July 15: Comedy Night

Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art
176 Water Company Rd., Millersburg
717-692-3699; nedsmithcenter.org

July 15-16: Shakespeare in the Woods w/Harrisburg Shakespeare Company

Oyster Mill Playhouse
1001 Oyster Mill Road, Camp Hill
717-737-6768; oystermill.com

July 8-24: “Blithe Spirit”

Untitled: A Storytelling Project
untitledhbg.com

July 14: “Justice” (at Zeroday Brewing Co.)

Student Scribes: “Losing In-a-Sense”

June 30, 2016 | by Austin Rick

“The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person.”
– Chuck Palahniuk

Awaking, I check for the color of the walls, only to be met by the tragic realization that they weren’t covered by those little glow-in-the-dark-stars my aunt put up for me when I was younger.

Heaps of tears dimple the teal fabric of the mattress, its attenuated metal springs complacent, yet yearning to penetrate the silver duct tape imprisoning them. He’s next to me, his pallid flesh escapes from the tattered bottom of a coffee-stained wife-beater; cellulite barely drapes his penis. A dim computer screen burns onto his obesity, his thick-framed glasses reflecting my exposed rib cage and protruding collarbones. My breath feels like the first after a coma, tongue withered at the root. It’s warm as I lie naked beside him.

These past three weeks have been stitched together by agony. But I’m starting to like the scent of the menthol cigarettes he brushes his teeth with.

Ashes fall upon the frayed carpet running deep with the scent of cat piss. Smothered by his own skin, he coughs and wheezes, my feeble arm wraps around his porcine stomach in search of comfort, palpitating along with the excess of his shaking flesh. Clamping my wrist, he throws my arm off and steps into his decayed bedroom slippers, outing the cigarette upon the oak dresser. The contorted butt’s ember cooks into the wood, then exhausts following the slam of the bedroom door.

I used to stare at those stars when my aunt fell asleep and the house was still. I’d bite the filth beneath my uncut fingernails, scraping it onto my canines, letting it accumulate with the plaque of my crooked smile. The trick is to keep the fragment of the nail still between your lips, begin to slightly blow and let it flutter between them until it flies across the room. Some call this a habit. I call this a distraction, a remedy, my practice of foul hygiene would lead me to ponder thoughts for hours, reflecting, biting, chewing, ruminating over how each adventitious being lives a life as complex and vivid as my own, populated with their own ambitions, sorrows, routines, worries. A bestseller that continues to invisibly type itself around you, like Roman catacombs sprawling underground, with complex passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know exist. Where you may only appear once, as an extra kissing your beloved in the background of a scene, as a dirty look given at the supermarket, as an attraction far too real to speak to. As anything. There’s some purpose that others hold in my narrative.

The key tumbles the lock, the bolt slides into the door. Paralyzed by my obscure thoughts, I lie here in a windowless room.

Do you ever get that feeling like you’re unique? As if all the shit in life you’re experiencing has some valid reasoning, to mold you, to shape you? Bathing in this feeling of being wanted, of feeling needed, I feel exactly this.

What about the sense of life flashing before your eyes? It seems I’m having just the opposite, thinking forward, to all the things I haven’t accomplished, the places I intend to visit, the objectives and goals I always said I’ll get around to. Most times I’ve pictured the thought alone, but not now. I’m photocopying all the things he and I can be inside my head, if only he could see inside my head. How it pleases. Like this avidity to be bruised by catastrophe, to lose everything in a flood, to survive a car crash. Anything that brings forth an entanglement to that rope we call life, to forge a knot, reinforcing, making that rope tighter, as if to show us there are two ends to it. As if I’m finally seeing the world for what it is, like how your eyes adjust to the darkness of a room.

There’s no need for me to turn the lights back on.

Why stand when you know the next time you fall you won’t get back up?

That’s the thought that runs through my head as I take the delicate arm off my chest. Pulling the last drag from my cigarette, I slip into those bedroom slippers Nataly bought me for Christmas in Vegas of ‘78. There’s something about the last drag of your first cigarette, that goodbye kiss to your lungs. Like your lips, that cage inside your chest will always want more. I’ve found cigarettes are cheaper than affection anyways, but you can pick your poison. Love will make you break, cigarettes just make you rot.

Patting against black walls I find the light switch, FLICK, and those black walls turn a worn white. There’s my shithole of a home. Nataly always said, “People don’t want the truth because they don’t want their little illusions destroyed.” I’m starting to wonder what happens when there’s a lack of checks and balances, when you don’t have someone to maintain the difference in truth and fiction.

When you’re alone, anything can be truth.

So I live in one of those Ikea catalogs and have the greatest art collection you’ve ever seen. From Rembrandt to Pollock, Warhol to Picasso, I have it all. I wear one of those Brooks Brothers American-cut suits with my perfect teeth and confidence. I come home after a long day and feel the compassion of my lover’s arms. I am everything I’m not.

But just how long does one have to lie until it becomes the truth?

Like a bouquet of roses, a dozen .45 caliber bullets fill the clip of a Berretta M9. My heroine, my Nataly vanished. Slipped through the slowly formed cracks of the vial I furnished out of infatuation. I am lost inside myself, forsaken by my own reflection. I would have shown her the world as it was in my dreams, but just like tear drops, those dreams came crashing down, one by one. Her questions came in the same package as the white picket fence. “Can I love without hate? Will I want without need? Will I ever live my life long enough to appreciate the fact that I can’t embrace one without the other? Do I want this? Do I need this?”

All that remains of her is my captive marionette. My Rembrandt, My Pollock. The gallery showing which lies down that desolate hallway is titled: “The Misery She Sparked.”

I pick off transparent flakes from my scalp, the now dried up super-glue, left over from the trashy blonde wig he likes to put on my head. With my feet fettered to the frame of the bed, I can’t help but lie pensive and complacent. Yearning to hear a sound, a voice, to feel his presence, his bittersweet company.

It seems there’s always something audible going on around you. Even in the purest of silence your ear will pick up on that unfathomable decibel, that steadfast murmur, as long as your heart still beats, as long as—

My heart beat stops as the deadbolt slides away. Thoughts of love and death have deafened me; my ears congest from the sight of sweat gushing off the gun’s barrel. Approaching the bed, he places the pistol adjacent to the contorted cigarette butts. As his slush of flesh climbs onto me, engulfing me, I whisper:

“You can have me; I am yours.”

His face twists with spite as the pulp of his hands, skin and sweat, wrap around my neck, drowning me.

Adulation rests within the flesh of limpid eyes. Behind bleached lips, the crush of breath expires, a victim of circumstance. My circumstance.

I have been dead all my life, now I’ve simply finished the preparing of my second demise. Placing the Berretta to the back of my throat, gagging, teeth clenched to the barrel, I whisper the vowels of my beloved’s name into the now deaf ear of my scapegoat.

Near the end I wished to at last feel somewhat alive.

But I do not.

As the white noise fills my brain, clouding my sight, like a flickering light, I burn out, into oblivion, everlasting sleep.

Austin Rick is a senior at Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School (CASA).

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