“Pride” Comes for the Fall: This well-crafted British import checks in at Midtown Cinema.

October 30, 2014 | by Sammi Leigh Melville

There is something to be said for hidden talent, and the filmmakers behind “Pride” are a prominent example.

First-time writer Stephen Beresford and director Matthew Warchus, whose only other feature film was back in 1999, present an inspirational true story about a London-based group called LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners), who, in the midst of their own persecution, raised money for the mining strike of 1984 to ‘85.

The story begins in London, at the tail end of the Margaret Thatcher era. Closeted pastry student, Joe (George MacKay), fumbles in his indecision of whether or not he will join the gay pride rally happening in the streets. It is clear that he wants to but is nervous about being seen. So, when he discovers a section of the parade holding buckets and asking for donations to support the miners, he finds his “in.” This is the mask he is looking for, the level of comfort he needs. After all, he’s just supporting the miners.

The miners are also undergoing persecution as they picket for their rights, points out Mark (Ben Schnetzer), who serves as the leader of LGSM. Growing up in Northern Ireland, Mark was taught that you should not just support the rights of one group of people, but of all people. He wants to raise money for the National Union of Mineworkers while they continue their strike.

Unfortunately, not all of the gay activists are willing to pitch in, as they believe that the average miner tends to be homophobic. So, LGSM finds itself pared down to a handful of people, including Mark, Joe, Mike (Joseph Gilgun), Steph (Faye Marsay, playing the plucky-natured “L” in LGSM), flamboyant and extroverted Jonathan (Dominic West), and his boyfriend, Gethin (Andrew Scott), a quiet Welshman who hasn’t been welcome at home in more than 16 years.

They quickly run into problems when they contact the union, which doesn’t want to give them the time of day. So, the members of LGSM sidestep the union and directly contact a mining village in South Wales. At first, their help is heartily accepted—until the village finds out what LGSM stands for—and then the response is divided.

Many of the villagers are worried about the connotations of a “group of perverts” helping their cause. But among the willing are Dai (Paddy Considine), feisty housewife-turned-activist Sian (Jessica Gunning), the boisterous Hefina (Imelda Staunton), shy-but-kind Cliff (Bill Nighy) and Gwen (Menna Trussler). They set about ensuring that the village gets to know the members of LGSM, uniting in their common goal.

It’s hard to tell which aspect makes this film so great—the uplifting story (it doesn’t err too much on the side of sentimentality, though it will carry you with its emotion) or the ensemble cast. In trying to decide which performance stood out the most, I came up with a list of about six actors. So, suffice it to say that each and every one of them contributes beautifully.

But, honestly, there’s not much to criticize about this film. “Pride” is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t cut any corners to woo its audience, and it looks good from every angle. It provides plenty of humor, human interest, great ‘80s music, and a history lesson to boot. Kudos to Beresford and Warchus—I can only hope they continue to make films just as good.

“Pride” is now playing at the Midtown Cinema. Be sure to check it out!

Sammi Leigh Melville is a staff member and film reviewer at Midtown Cinema.

Midtown Cinema November Events

Moviate presents
BJÖRK: “Biophilia Live”
Nov 1, 2, & 3 @ 7:30pm. $5.

National Theatre Live Series
Recordings of live professional theatre productions.

Tennesee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
starring Gillian Anderson as Blanche Dubois
Sun 11/2 @4pm & Tue 11/4 @7pm. $20/$15 members

David Hare’s “Skylight”
starring Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy
Sun 11/16 @4pm & Tue 11/18 @7pm

Broadway’s “Of Mice and Men”
starring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd
Sun 11/30 @4pm & Tue 12/2 @7pm

“Being Ginger”
Sun 11/2 & Tue 11/4 @7:30pm
A documentary about being a red head. Obviously.

Moviate presents
“Cinema Solariens”
Mon 11/3 @7pm
Atlanta Filmmaker James Harrar accompanies his films with live flute and kora.

Mommy & Me Matinees
Sat 11/8 and every second Saturday!
Brighter lighting, lower sound, stroller parking, and babies welcome!

Saturday Morning Cartoons
Sat 11/8 and every second Saturday 9:30-11:30am
Classic cartoons on the big screen!

“Half of a Yellow Sun”
Sat 11/8, Sun 11/9, & Mon 11/10 @7:30
The 2013 drama romance set in 1960s Nigeria

Foreign and Classic Film Series presents
Sun 11/9 @6pm and every 2nd Sunday
“The Little Princess,” Shirley Temple classic on the big screen.

“Private Peaceful”
Sun 11/9 @1:30, Mon 11/10 @5pm, Tue 11/11 @7pm
In this BBC World War I Drama, two brothers fall for the same woman.

Down in Front! Greatest Hits Edition
“Eegah: The Name Written in Blood”
Fri 11/14 @9:30ish
Our improv trio comedically re-rips apart the terrible 1962 monster b-movie. BYOB… you’ll need it. $5.

The Family Movie Series presents
“Hook,” adventure comedy starring Robin Williams, $5
Sat 11/15 @12pm, Sun 11/16 @2pm, Tue 11/18 @7pm

3rd in the Burg $3 Movie
“Jurassic Park,” 1993 Spielberg classic, starring dinosaurs
Fri 11/21 @9:30ish

Agatha Christie’s
“Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side”
Sun 11/23 @4pm – FREE
The 1992 BBC Movie, starring Joan Hickson.

Moviate presents
“Fly Colt Fly,” 2014 documentary about the Barefoot Bandit
Sun 11/23 @7:30pm

“The Wizard of Oz”
Thu 11/27 @7pm, Fri 11/28 @7pm, & Sat 11/29 @2pm
A Thanksgiving tradition returns with the 1939 MGM classic!

The App Next Door: Around Harrisburg, virtual communities are strengthening real ones.

October 30, 2014 | by M. Diane McCormick

Martha Wickelhaus’ son was ill, and his 19-month-old Labrador, Frankie, needed a temporary home. Wickelhaus didn’t post a plea for a foster home on Facebook, Craigslist or Twitter. Instead, her message on Nextdoor.com went straight to her neighbors and her landlord, and, from there, to Furry Friends Network.

“Frankie is now, for a few months, living in a great home with a big yard and a 6-year-old child,” Wickelhaus said with satisfaction.

Wickelhaus, of Midtown Harrisburg, has joined the growing legion of midstate residents on Nextdoor.com, the 21^st-century version of over-the-back-fence conversations. While Harrisburg’s rollout so far has been largely in the city’s more affluent river neighborhoods and near suburbs, some Allison Hill residents also hope soon to capitalize on the power of neighborly social media.

Founded in San Francisco in 2010, Nextdoor.com is billed as “the private social network for neighborhoods.” It’s the cyber-place where neighbors do neighborly things—seek help, offer help, solve problems, promote block parties, get to know each other. In a carefully prescribed process, organizers draw neighborhood lines that make geographic and cultural sense. When 10 members enroll, a Nextdoor.com group is launched. It’s now in 41,000 U.S. neighborhoods.

Harrisburg has 18 Nextdoor groups within its boundaries and nearby, with such familiar names as Old Fox Ridge and Uptown-Italian Lake. Wickelhaus, a member of the Olde Uptown group, used Nextdoor to start a knitting group—Stitch ‘n Bitch, they call themselves—that meets at Little Amps Coffee Roasters or Midtown Cinema. In addition to finding a foster home for Frankie the dog, she once found a place to recycle cardboard boxes stacked in her basement from a recent move.

Users love the simplicity and targeted messaging of Nextdoor.com, which issues daily e-mails with new posts. With its laser focus on issues of interest neighborhood by neighborhood, there’s “nothing frivolous” to wade through, said Wickelhaus.

“I open it up to see if there’s anything I’m interested in,” she said. “If there is, I go and read more about it.”

Mitch Smith started the Engleton group, now up to 296 members, in late 2011. Unlike a Web page that needed constant upkeep, or even Facebook, Nextdoor is almost self-sustaining, Smith said. At first, some members used the group to complain, but the site has “transformed” into an idea-sharing space where neighbors find home maintenance help, post found or lost pets, and sell, buy or give away their stuff.

“We had issues in the beginning of people attacking other people over stupid stuff, but we’ve weeded them out,” said Smith. “’So-and-so parked wrong.’ Ridiculous. Or, ‘So-and-so didn’t shovel their sidewalk.’ Give me a break. There’s much bigger fish to fry in the city.”

Unlike some online forums, Nextdoor requires that members be identified by name and their addresses be verified.

“When people can be anonymous, they can be pretty disrespectful,” Nextdoor.com Head of Communications Kelsey Grady told TheBurg. “We don’t see that often on Nextdoor.”

Of course, a popular social media platform is sure to get the attention of governments and businesses seeking new communications outlets. Nextdoor.com currently partners with 240 cities and agencies, including police departments, which can broadcast notices without getting access to individual groups or their members. A partnership with Harrisburg is “in the works,” said Communications Manager Jen Burke.

Businesspeople often use Nextdoor for relationship building—think of the realtor keeping in touch around town—but, if they “get too self-promotional, people let them know,” said Grady.

Since neighborhood lines and interests rarely fall into neat alignment, Nextdoor members can also communicate with nearby groups. The Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District uses Nextdoor to promote events to a key audience—its Midtown-area neighbors.

“We’re a small nonprofit, so we’re not necessarily promoting on radio or TV,” said Marketing Director Leigh Ann Urban. “This is a great way to reach them more directly. Some people aren’t on Facebook.”

With its e-mail delivery system, Nextdoor engages all age ranges, including 90-year-olds who use e-mail to contact the grandkids, said Grady. And Nextdoor is working in diverse communities, she said.

“We’re doing really well in the South Side of Chicago, the 9^th Ward of New Orleans, very rural areas,” she said. “We’re seeing it work everywhere, and our goal as a company is to see it work in every neighborhood in the U.S.”

In Harrisburg’s multi-ethnic Allison Hill neighborhood, some residents have approached Tri County Community Action about starting a Nextdoor group. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the “digital divide,” as measured by desktop computers owned by white Americans compared to African Americans and Latinos, is almost nonexistent in smartphone ownership. Fortunately, Nextdoor.com has an app for that.

“It’s much easier for this community to access the Internet because of smartphones than desktops,” said Tri-County Communications Manager Lisa Landis.

DID’s Urban appreciates Nextdoor’s clutter-free message delivery.

“It’s not something that’s overwhelming, and it’s simple to use,” she said. “Whoever came up with it—genius.”

A Community Is Built: Mr. Hodge and his vision of a neighborhood for all.

October 30, 2014 | by Wendy Jackson-Dowe

Rev. Susan Ashe (Hodge)

In the mid-1950s, a man named Elmo Hodge had a vision to develop a community of custom-built homes marketed to upwardly mobile blacks, a notion then unique in the region.

As a young girl, I recall my mother pointing toward a particular home and saying, “That’s Mr. Hodge’s house!” So, who was this Mr. Hodge and why should I care that it was his house? I wondered.

I would like to share a portion of his vision and journey, one that culminated with the creation of the Lower Paxton Township community of Hodges Heights.

For Everyone

Elmo Hodge was a pig farmer and trash collector who lived in Edgemont with his wife Sibbie and their eight children. His daughter, the Rev. Susan Ashe (Hodge), reminisced with me about growing up in Edgemont with her parents, four sisters and four brothers.

“Daddy raised pigs that were fed from the food scraps he picked up on his trash route in Camp Hill,” she said. “Some of his Camp Hill customers liked daddy so much that they would separate the food scraps for the pigs, and he sold his meat to the Swift Packing House.”

Her husband Charles told me how the Edgemont community would close down 25^th Street each Labor Day. Mr. Hodge, an avid hunter, and other neighborhood men would cook wild meat and roast a whole pig. The women would prepare all the side dishes, and the entire community would have a feast.

In April 1945, Elmo Hodge decided to look beyond Edgemont, purchasing 137 acres of farmland in the southeastern section of Lower Paxton Township (near the new Bishop McDevitt campus) from the Anderson family, which caused a stir among the neighbors.

“These neighbors just couldn’t understand why Mr. Anderson would sell his farm to a black man,” said Rev. Ashe.

Mr. Hodge farmed for about a decade when a real estate agency offered him $175,000 for the land. At settlement, he found out that the developers were going to sell lots and houses to whites only, which meant even he wouldn’t be able to live there. Without a second thought, he turned down the money and walked out of the courthouse.

He farmed the land for several more years before deciding to develop the property himself, in the way he wanted. He became even more determined after people from the adjacent area signed petitions to keep him from developing it.

“Daddy dreamed of a community where people of all colors would be able to live together in peace and harmony,” said Rev. Ashe. “He then knew that the success or failure of this business venture to personally develop the property depended upon the availability of blacks to buy lots and build homes.”

Dream Realized

The Hodges Heights project began with 97 one-quarter acre lots. The parcels originally sold for $900 and eventually for as much as $2,000 per lot.

Elmo Hodge had a vision of a community of single-family homes, custom-designed with specific parameters. To provide a sense of those expectations, the following paragraphs were taken directly from a deed of sale dated Jan. 24, 1959.

“No permanent structure to be erected nearer than twenty-five (25) feet of the aside property lines, no house to cost less than fourteen thousand-five hundred ($14,500.00) Dollars, no tannery, piggeries, etc. No gasoline service station, taproom, hotel, nor any materials which are inherently dangerous, and neither garages for occupancy, nor dog kennels or chicken farms.”

For perspective, $14,500 in 1959 had the same buying power as $116,927 does today.

According to Rev. Ashe, her father originally brought a developer to the farm to discuss building homes and selling them.

“Daddy couldn’t get financed by the banks, so their deal never got off the ground,” she said. “His alternative plan was to sell the lots directly to prospective home owners, and they would secure the financing to build their custom homes.”

The plan worked.

Among the buyers were doctors, dentists, teachers, mid-level managers in the private sector and auditors. Many were proud graduates of HBCUs—historically black colleges and universities. The community was never a blacks-only endeavor, though the “original” residents of Hodges Heights were all black folks.

It is worth mentioning that the some of the children of these original families today are surgeons, dentists, a neonatologist, a Rhodes scholar, an investment banker (whom I babysat), tenured university professors, a truck driver, a professional sports figure, a colonel and federal government employees. What’s also noteworthy is that almost none returned to the Harrisburg area to build their careers.

Pride in Ownership

I sat down with my childhood dentist, Dr. Thaddeus Phillips, and his wife Marge. In 1968, they built their family home, where they raised five daughters and one son. They still live in that house today.

Dr. Phillips told me about the formation of the Hodges Heights Men’s Club, which functioned somewhat like a current-day homeowners association. There were annual dues, and one of the primary functions was to ensure property was properly maintained at all times—pride in ownership was the expectation.

Today, the club is called the Hodges Heights Neighborhood Civic Club.

“Dues are still paid and the club function has expanded to include providing gestures of comfort for those who may be ill around the holidays, giving gifts to high school and college graduates, having a Christmas luncheon and sometimes a bit of community activism,” said Marge Phillips. “Many of us petitioned to close a nearby landfill when radon was found in some of our homes, and we won.”

A resident who built in the 1950s added, “It was exciting to be able to build the home that you wanted and to know it was the first in the area to be an all-black, custom-built community.”

Elmo Hodge’s vision and dream has come to be. Today, Hodges Heights is a community that still boasts pride in ownership, and people of all stripes exist in harmony.

Wendy Jackson-Dowe can be reached at [email protected]. She would like to thank the Ashe family for sharing this important piece of history and pride for the greater Harrisburg region.

Melodies Across Time: Janis Ian brings a lifetime of song to Harrisburg.

October 30, 2014 | by Jess Hayden

Known for her smart, beautifully constructed lyrics and timeless songs, songwriter Janis Ian is still at the top of her game.

Forty years ago, she wrote the ballad “At Seventeen,” which won her a Grammy Award. Just last year, she received her second Grammy, this time for Best Spoken Word Album for her autobiography “Society’s Child.”

Ian now will bring her prolific singer-songwriter career to Harrisburg, specifically to the Rose Lehrman Arts Center for an intimate, one-night concert on Nov. 21.

Throughout the history of pop music, many stars have used their art to draw awareness to important social and political issues. Recently, Melissa Etheridge’s hit “I Need to Wake Up” (the theme song for the film “An Inconvenient Truth “) focused on global warming. Stars like Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews tackle the plight of the family farmer each year during the hugely popular Farm Aid concert. And today in Liberia, pop stars are raising their voices to warn about the dangers of Ebola.

Back in the 1960s, a youthful Janis Ian was soaking in the counterculture ideas of that era. She recalls it as a time of optimism for her generation; a time when young people thought that anything was possible. The gay rights and women’s rights movements had started, and race relations had improved through a new Civil Rights Act. The music industry was also changing.

“The music in the ‘60s was so heavily influenced by the rise of FM radio and the ability to connect across long distances,” she said. “Music was no longer regional; an artist could now have a much bigger impact.”

In 1965, when she was just 14 years old, Ian had her first hit, “Society’s Child,” a song about an interracial couple. She remembers getting the idea on the school bus one day when she saw a black boy and a white girl holding hands. The song was banned by radio because of its controversial subject matter, and it wasn’t until Leonard Bernstein featured her on his TV special that it became a top-10 hit.

That song established Ian as a writer of substance, but there were places in the country where she wasn’t welcome to tour. It provoked a hail of hate mail, and she said there were times when people would spit on her on the street.

Ian left the music industry soon after and didn’t return until Roberta Flack had a hit song with her composition, “Jesse.” The following year, her album, “Between the Lines,” was nominated for five Grammy awards and produced what she calls her “career song,” “At Seventeen.” Ian said that the song, which was a commentary on adolescent cruelty told from the perspective of an adult, was so difficult to write that it took her three months.

It’s a tribute to Ian’s songwriting abilities that other artists have covered many of her songs. Most memorably, Amy Grant recorded her song “What About Love” and Bette Midler recorded “Some People’s Lives.” Her songs also have been covered by Nanci Griffin, Joan Baez, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dusty Springfield, Mary Black, Cher and John Mellencamp.

These days, Ian said she enjoys being in the lucky position of only doing the dates that she feels like doing.

“I’m ramping down,” she said. “I was doing up to 200 dates a year at some point, putting my partner through law school, but that was quite a while ago.”

She said that she also likes being able to pick her own projects and that the Grammy she received last year was “pretty cool.” She currently has another project up for Grammy consideration, an audio book about the life of Sister Miriam Therese Winter, a Medical Mission Sister.

Ian said that her Rose Lehrman show will be solo—just her and her guitar.

“I come out knowing pretty much what I’m going to open with and what I’m going to close with, and then I have a list of about 35 songs that I can pick and choose from,” she said. “Sometimes, someone in the audience will leave me a note asking for a particular song and, when that happens, I try to oblige.”

She added that the show will be pretty casual, with a lot of storytelling.

Attendees are welcome to come and talk to her after the show. She said that she will be glad to sign CDs and that people may bring their old vinyl to be signed, as well.

Janis Ian will perform at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on HACC’s main campus in Harrisburg on Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. For more information and tickets, call 717-231-7673 or visit www.hacc.edu/RoseLehrmanArtsCenter.

Just Call It Zuck’s: At Zuckfoltzfus Brewing, you’ll come for the beer; you’ll come back for the food.

October 30, 2014 | by Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

Chef Robert Schoelkopf,

If you happen to be driving down Market Street in Mount Joy, your attention might be drawn to an attractive gray-and-black, eye-catching sign depicting an Amish top hat surrounded by a long name beneath.

You probably won’t be able to pronounce the name, at least not on the first try. But you will notice the all-capped word “MICROBREWERY,” which, with any luck, will be enough to lure you inside.

Owner Karen Boyer, who runs the place with her husband Mike, call their snug gastropub and microbrewery Zuckfoltzfus, a name they made up by mashing together several popular Lancaster County-area surnames. However, most people simply call the place Zuck’s (rhymes with ducks).

Since debuting in June 2013, business has grown tremendously (as in, make reservations) as word has spread about the made-from-scratch fare and quality beer selection.

“Mike and I love the opportunity to take the term ‘craft’ and run with it,” said Karen. “We take tremendous pride in using fresh, locally sourced ingredients and utilizing them in every way possible, from our food to our beer.”

Mike Boyer, who spent 20 years in financial services, decided to take the plunge and quit his job as a CFO to manage the operation full time. He is also responsible for all brewery operations, brewing multiple times each week on a half-barrel system and offering appreciative patrons at least eight different selections at any time.

During a recent Saturday night, customers gathered around the 10-person bar and ordered flights of craft beer with names like Amos’s Rye Stout, The IPA and Henry Street Wheat, as well as the more colorfully named Sassy Pants Bitter Ale, Whiney Sarah Pale Ale and War Eagle Ditzy Blonde. A selection of red, white and ice wines from nearby Waltz Vineyards located in Manheim and Lancaster’s Thorn Hill Vineyards satisfied the oenophiles in the crowd.

Bartender Jen Pisco socialized with customers, never missing a beat in the service arena.

“People come here from all over,” she said while pouring a pumpkin sangria, a blend of white wine, spiced pumpkin and peach juice.

Pisco works with the owners to create an ever-changing selection of light and flavorful beer cocktails like Oatmeal Stout Cream Soda, comprised of vanilla syrup, seltzer and Oatmeal Stout, and Zuck’s Orchard Pale Ale, containing caramel syrup, apple cider and Whiney Sarah Pale Ale.

And then there’s the food.

Throughout the evening, guests filtered into the dimly lit dining room with attractive, up-cycled farmhouse décor, coupled with a smattering of antique industrial. Muted walls, done in warm colors of sage, tan and brown, enveloped guests in a homey atmosphere, complementing the wooden tables, floors, chairs and bench spanning the entire back wall.

Karen teams up with local chef Robert Schoelkopf, who recently graduated from a four-year culinary program at Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island. Together, they devise a unique menu every two weeks, and their ambitious culinary efforts are rewarded with accolades on social media and return customers who bring back friends.

When Lancaster residents Anne Thomas and Karen Tomblin learned of the place, they decided to give it a try. They liked it so much they returned as regulars, eventually inviting about 46 others, who joined them in celebrating their nuptials this summer, with owner Karen acting as officiant.

“We really liked them; they are down to earth,” said Thomas. “We like their beer, and they serve great food.”

Mount Joy resident Sharon Christian is thrilled with the convenient and creative dining option.

“We’re so tickled to have an establishment like Zuckfoltzfus in town; it’s such a treasure,” she said. “I love to cook and love to eat whole foods. When I go out, I want to order something that I don’t make at home. There have been wonderful, imaginative offerings on the menu and a lot of homemade pasta combos I typically wouldn’t have thought of.”

Bruschetta was trending as the popular appetizer that evening. But instead of the tried, true and sometimes tired chopped tomato with basil on the typical toasted bread, the server presented creamy goat cheese served with a pumpkin seed crust, topped with fig jam and served with spent grain crostini on an attractive wooden cutting board.

Neighboring diners ordered juniper-fennel spiced brisket, homemade German sausage and pepito-crusted grilled salmon entrees.

I opted for tender, red wine-braised lamb, with a fall vegetable ratatouille over polenta topped with crushed tomato, but also had my eye on the caramelized pumpkin gnocchi combined with lamb pastrami, goat ricotta and rosemary olive oil, which Joan Kester highly recommends, describing it as “out of this world.” Well, maybe next time. The Mount Joy patron said that she and her husband Marty look forward to the unique combination of flavors that the owners craft to pair well with the beers they serve.

“My husband enjoys the variety of stout beer, and I like the variations of the wheat beer,” said Joan. “You can tell that Mike takes great care in crafting the beer; he uses fresh local products.”

Desserts vary throughout the year, but one thing you can count on, and must save room for, is the rich, homemade, smoked chocolate ice cream, which is a house specialty.

As for the owners, they hope to be serving locals, as well as those who drive long distances just to find them, for years to come.

“What we’ve loved most about Zuck’s is the opportunity to be food ambassadors, bringing exciting new twists and tastes to some familiar flavors,” said Karen. “A meal should be an experience, something unique, personal and hand-crafted.”

And that’s certainly what they bring to the table—and the bar.

Zuckfoltzfus Brewing Co. is located at 12 S. Market St., Mount Joy. For more information, visit www.zuckfoltzfus.com or call 717-342-5749.

Wines of the Hills: Look to France’s “cotes” regions for wines of high quality, good price.

October 30, 2014 | by Steve Juliana

At this time of year, with the holidays approaching, we find ourselves in our favorite Wine and Spirits store perusing the selections.

Occasionally, the word “cotes” shows up on bottles of French wine. This word is translated into the English “sides.” It refers to the sides of a valley or mountain, more accurately called slopes. There are many slopes in France, some for skiing, but many others, fortunately for us, planted with grapes.

One of the more popular regions is known as Cotes du Rhone Villages. This area is situated in the southern Rhone Valley just north of where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. It is composed of 17 villages, each producing wines of unique character and style. The major grapes are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. These red wines are very food friendly with a combination of fruit, spice and tannin, enabling them to match with rustic fare and red meat, as well as bold cheeses. The palate is one of dark berries and pepper with a smoothness and long finish. It makes for a great cold weather quaff in addition to a good barbeque drink. These wines are also reasonable in price, so check them out.

Another good wine region is Cotes du Roussillon Villages. This one encompasses a total of 28 villages making a plethora of wines in different styles. In seeking out the reds, one will find that Syrah and Grenache still dominate, but Mourvedre is replaced by its more rustic cousin, Carignan. The slopes here are the Pyrenees, which form the border between France and Spain. The wines themselves seem to have picked up some of the Catalan character with great depth of fruit and a slight sweetness. These are real bargains and should be sought out by anyone looking for a great everyday beverage, as well as a special bottle.

Cotes du Ventoux is another area for good wines. Mount Ventoux is an extinct volcano in southern France, located just east of the Rhone River. The grapes here are the same as for the Rhone region, but the slopes change things. The wines are lighter than the other two “cotes,” but are very good with their own personalities.

Cotes du Gascogne is a region caught between the Pyrenees and the Central Massif. What I like most here are the white wines that contain Colombard, a grape that is not well known but makes a great, fruity, spicy quaff. It shows best when blended with Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano). Its acidity makes it a perfect match with many types of lighter foods, so keep it in mind for next summer. This is also where the brandy Armagnac is distilled, a fiery liquor known as the “velvet flame” for its heat and smoothness.

All these regions of “slopes” make wines that are too often overlooked. They also match great with a turkey dinner. So, seek them out.

Keep sipping, Steve

A Mother’s Legacy: 4 decades ago, Rose Lehrman Arts Center was built as a tribute to a woman who wanted to share her love of the arts.

October 30, 2014 | by Lori M. Myers

Before Rose Lehrman’s death in 1968 at the age of 60, she made sure to instill in her children a love for the arts—dance lessons, piano lessons and trips to Philadelphia to delight in concerts conducted by Toscanini and Ormandy.

“My mother used to say that, if you can’t be the artist or the pianist, you can be the audience,” recalls her daughter Lois Grass.

Grass took those wise words to heart. Not only is she part of “the audience,” but she’s helped create a place and space for performers, visual artists and others who entertain or who are working and learning to perfect their craft. The Rose Lehrman Arts Center at the main HACC campus in Harrisburg is that place and space, and this year it celebrates 40 years of bringing the arts to central Pennsylvania.

Constructed in 1974 and officially opened the following year, the Center came to be through a donation from the Lois Lehrman Grass Foundation. Early programs were primarily student-produced and community-focused, with a smattering of professional productions and a free “Friday Night Flicks” series.

Later, things changed. Teri Guerrisi, now the director of the Live at Rose Lehrman Artist Series, came on board in 1989 and, with Grass’ continuing support, the theater underwent a major renovation that upgraded the entire infrastructure—from state-of-the-art audio and lighting to a new stage floor and seating.

“This renovation enabled us to grow our artist series programs to include touring professional dance, theater and music events,” Guerrisi says. “It led us to further define our program mission and create the Live At Rose Lehrman artist series.”

Many Center-goers frequent the venue for its dance performances, but there’s also theater, music and an art gallery within its walls that host visiting artists and offer exhibitions of national and international artists. Three or four professional dance events are featured every season, and many have a contemporary edge. There’s diversity, too, with an emphasis on presenting the performing arts of cultures in this country and across the globe.

The mission of Live at Rose Lehrman, as Guerrisi tells it, is to serve HACC as both a community outreach and extension of the college classroom, providing residency and educational programs.

“Many patrons may not know that we often contract with our artists to arrive in the community a day or two before the ticketed performance,” Guerrisi says. “We engage them to provide more than a show, with a variety of programs such as master classes, lectures, demonstrations and pre- and post-show events.”

The performance series attracts around 8,000 attendees annually who come not only from central Pennsylvania, but as far away as Allentown, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Guerrisi strives to fill each and every seat in the venue, but that is not the sole measure of success.

“When audience members wait in line to get into the theater and then give the performer a rousing standing ovation at the end of a great show, there is that buzz, awe and energy of audience and performer connection,” she says. “When you see young people engaging in dance master classes or theater workshops, and you see that spark and excitement, you know that you have made an impact.”

In this celebratory season, Live at Rose Lehrman will present Cirk La Putyka, BalletX and Janis Ian in November, Jasmine Guy in “Raisin’ Cane” in January, the renowned Martha Graham Dance Company in February, San Jose Taiko in March, and The Brubeck Brothers Quartet in April.

“The Brubeck Brothers were on our stage in April 1975, and it is very fitting to have them back to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Rose Lehrman Arts Center,” Guerrisi adds.

Guerrisi often tells HACC students and other young people that they need to include attendance at live professional cultural events to round out their education during the college years.

“So many young people have not had a full arts education during the K-12 years,” she says. “I love to see them attend a show and come out in the lobby afterward saying, ‘Wow! That was really amazing. I am so glad that I came to the show.'”

And so every show at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center is all about that “wow!” After all, the building’s namesake knew a thing or two about the arts, about being an audience member, about passing along her love of music, theater and dance to her children who, in turn, have paid it forward.

It’s fitting then that an oil portrait of Rose Lehrman is proudly displayed in the Center’s lobby. No doubt she is watching, listening and delighting in the applause.

For more information about the Rose Lehrman Arts Center and a schedule of performances, visit www.hacc.edu/RLAC.

Knock, Knock, It’s Italy: A surprise visit, a great book and a uniquely Harrisburg story.

October 30, 2014 | by Rosemary Ruggieri Baer

There are still surprises out there.

One evening, I was scurrying around the kitchen preparing dinner when the doorbell rang. At the door was someone I had met only once before, at the home of a mutual friend. It was Dave Kegris, known to many Harrisburgers as owner of the Jackson House restaurant on N. 6^th Street. I haven’t been to Jackson House, but my older son tells me Dave makes the best burgers in town.

He presented me with a book he purchased in New York City. He said it was the story of an Italian grocery store in New York and that, when he saw it, he knew that he had to buy it. I excitedly thanked him and said I would return the book when after reading it. “No,” he said, “it’s for you.” And then, he flew out the door.

And what a book it is. It’s the story of an Italian family, the Santomauro’s, who were among the waves of Italian immigrants who came to New York in the early 1900s in search of a better life. For 104 years, this family has operated Di Palo’s, an Italian grocery store on the Lower East Side.

Back then, Italians from every region packed into what would become known as “Little Italy.” Although Little Italy has all but disappeared, Di Palo’s is still there, owned and operated by Lou, his brother Sal and his sister Marie. They carry on the tradition of their great-grandparents, grandparents and parents in not just importing and selling Italian food, but honoring its origins and sharing their love and knowledge of Italy with others.

A soon as I started reading this book: “Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy,”I knew I wanted to share it with readers of TheBurg. But how to do that? The book is a primer for the most prized Italian foods: mozzarella, pecorino cheese, ricotta cheese, sea salt, grana Padano and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses, coffee, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, prosciutto, pasta, the “mountain cheeses” and speck. These are the building blocks of Italian cuisine and, while I always thought I knew a lot about them, I found out I have a lot to learn.

The book is about a journey—the story of a family who gave their hearts to a store where customers still come to learn about food and life.

Lou Di Palo travels to Italy several times a year, both to see where his imported food comes from and to spend time with the artisans who produce it. He has visited all 20 regions of Italy and every province within them. He now knows how each and every product is made and how it was made hundreds of years ago. He has walked the hills of Umbria and Tuscany, Lazio’s grasslands and the salt fields of Sicily. You can sense the love in his heart when he describes the farmers, olive growers and pasta makers he has met along the way who have become his friends.

I described the book as a “primer,” but it is really a three-credit college course! Each chapter contains everything you ever could know about buying, storing and serving each of the “essential” Italian foods. Here are some tidbits from the book.

Ricotta Cheese:

The taste of ricotta varies with the type of sheep’s milk used to produce it. It is best in the spring when the grass eaten by the sheep is new and sweet. If you see imported sheep’s ricotta in the summer, it will likely not be very good. Good, fresh ricotta is best served by itself on a plate or with a piece of bread topped with a little olive oil or honey.

Mozzarella:

Good, fresh mozzarella should be eaten the same day it is made (we’ll have to visit Di Palo’s for that!). Different shapes of mozzarella serve different purposes. The drier, braided shape is nice shredded into salads, while creamy burrata is excellent when topped with fresh tomatoes or preserved peppers. The little balls of bocconcini are perfect as appetizers wrapped in prosciutto, marinated in oil and herbs or doused with good vinegar.

Prosciutto:

Prosciutto di Parma is the best and is expensive. It can be aged as long as 20 months. According to Lou, never buy it pre-packaged. A good Italian butcher will always give you a thin slice to taste before you buy. Prosciutto will taste differently depending from where in the leg of ham the slice is cut. Try it in a panini made with focaccia (soft, cake-like bread), mozzarella and maybe some mortadela, a salami made with little cubes of fat and pistachios. Toss bits of prosciutto into scrambled eggs for breakfast or into a salad for dinner.

There is no recipe in my column this month, rather some thoughts to share. Italian cooking with quality ingredients is, for me, about a link to my heritage. I remember my parents searching high and low for the best cheeses, olive oils, dried beans and canned plum tomatoes in their adopted country. Good Italian foods are works of art and make a big difference in the dish you end up with.

And this column is a big “thank you” to Dave Kegris. TheBurg and a love of Italian food brought him to my door with a book I will treasure. Di Palo’s is now on my list to visit someday. And I think I could talk with Lou Di Palo all day long. Grazie, Dave.

To learn more, pick up a copy of “Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy: 100 years of Wisdom and Stories from Behind the Counter” by Lou Di Palo (Ballantine Books, New York).

A Picture of Government: If it’s Tuesday, this must be Harrisburg.

October 30, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Allegory of Good Government

On the second floor of the Old Palace in Florence, Italy, there’s a snug, sumptuous corner room where dazzling crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling and centuries-old tapestries adorn the walls. Tuscan provincial officials hold their meetings there, and even the spectator seats—a long semicircle of mahogany desks, each with its own microphone have an air of elegance.

“Well, it’s not exactly like Harrisburg city hall, is it?” I joked while on a trip to Italy last month. Yes, both venues host the often-dull business of government. But one does so, after 700 years, in profound dignity and beauty. The other goes about its business in a leaky boat of a building that’s barely 30 years old.

And so (egads, I’m about to quote Britney Spears), I did it again.

I went somewhere, saw some stuff and compared it to Harrisburg.

In Florence, my wife and I visited the Central Market and thought about the Broad Street Market. We compared the gelato at Vivoli to that of Alvaro. We saw that Florentines keep their streets fixed and clean and lamented that Harrisburg couldn’t do the same (yes, I know, money).

The sight that had the greatest impact on me, however, came not in Florence, but during a day trip we took to Siena, a lovely walled city about 30 miles south of the Tuscan capital.

Like Florence, Siena long ago toggled between despotism and a type of nascent democracy. Today, the city is most proud of its centuries as a republic, and the grand, brown-brick city hall, the Palazzo Pubblico, built when most of Europe was mired in medieval gloom, is rightly its centerpiece.

After seven centuries, Siena still uses the palace as its municipal building, though half the enormous structure is now a museum, which is what the tourists get to see. This collection of rooms includes reception areas, a gorgeous chapel and a series of meeting rooms. For me, the highlight of the visit was a huge fresco entitled “An Allegory of Good and Bad Government” painted on opposing walls of the great Council Room.

One half of the fresco was designed as a symbolic story of good government. So, it shows a lively scene of happy people dancing and singing amidst a prosperous, peaceful city. The other half represents bad government—people impoverished, suffering, forced to pay tribute to a demonic tyrant.

These paintings were supposed to inspire the city’s nine council members as they made decisions in the room. It instructed them to be wise, to exercise power responsibly and to work for the common good. If they didn’t, all would suffer, the frescoes warn. And that’s, again, when I thought of Harrisburg.

Time Bombs

Harrisburg, of course, is no stranger to bad government. The city’s first receiver, David Unkovic, bluntly stated that the city had been misruled for 30 years, which, in my estimation, is no exaggeration.

However, looking up at the “Allegory of Bad Government,” I thought of two recent events, both of which happened as I was about to leave for my trip in late September. The first had its origins (as so many things in Harrisburg still do) in the Reed years. Former Mayor Steve Reed was a master of planting time bombs into the municipal budget, engineering noxious financial deals that coughed up some quick cash but committed the city to obligations it couldn’t afford over the long run. Recently, that unwelcome future arrived for one especially awful deal.

In 1998, Reed, as per usual, needed money. He opted for one of his classic tricks: “selling” a city asset to another city body, one that he controlled. So, the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority “bought” the Verizon Tower (and the land underneath it) in Strawberry Square for $23.6 million. To make the matter worse, the city guaranteed $6.9 million of the bonds used to make the purchase, meaning it would be on the hook if rents did not cover the bond payments.

Reed then arranged the deal so that no payments on the bonds would be made until 2016, by which time the $6.9 million sum would have ballooned to a massive debt bomb of $41.6 million.

He did so despite the fact that Verizon’s lease on the tower ended in 2016, the very year the first bond payments would be made (how crazy is that?). And, as Harrisburg’s usual bad luck would have it, Verizon did not renew its lease, placing the city, once more, in financial peril. So, a month ago, the state again swooped in to save the desperate city from itself, scoring some cheap, much-needed office space in the process.

The state now will relocate 900 workers from the State Hospital grounds, which it’s putting on the market. The 17-year lease won’t even cover all of the building’s debt payments. After expenses, Harrisburg will still be on the hook for about $750,000 a year. In addition, after the lease’s expiration, the state will have the option to buy the entire building for a mere $4 million, which, if exercised, would make the deal less a lease than a rent-to-own.

Financial recklessness. Wishful thinking. Disregard for the future. This is bad government defined. And this was just one of Reed’s many financial schemes.

Versus Midtown

As I stared up at “Bad Government,” a second recent issue came to mind, one less financially consequential, but pernicious in its own ugly way.

Just as I left for vacation, two council members decided to use a hearing on the future of the Broad Street Market to give into rumors and spread untruths that can do nothing but further divide the people of this still-fragile city.

Among the assertions: The Broad Street Market Task Force planned to change the name of the market to include the word “Midtown”; there is no historic neighborhood called Midtown; there are no families in Midtown; there are no “generational kids” in Midtown.

All are false. I live on the fringe of historic Midtown and, just on my block, there are numerous families—black, white, straight, gay—tons of kids and several families that span generations. Not that these distinctions should matter to at-large council members who are legally and morally bound to represent all Harrisburg citizens, of every race and class, whether their roots go back a year or 100.

The Midtown pile-on also revealed an unsettling bias among some elected officials against their own constituents. They took an initial falsehood (that the market name would change) then used that to string together more untruths, all directed against the people of the sprawling, still-struggling, neighborhood of Midtown.

Harrisburg has a choice. Largely freed from Reed’s fiscal fun house, the city can come together to rebuild itself into a more welcoming, friendly and desirable place for residents, businesses and visitors. Or, like some medieval Italian city-state, it can sink into infighting,factions, bitterness and provincialism.

Anyone up for frescoing city hall?

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

Trail Fix: For 60 years, a group of volunteers has taken a stretch of the Appalachian Trail into its care.

October 30, 2014 | by Sarah Moesta

A 20-minute drive north of Harrisburg up PA-225, and you’re there—the tree-shrouded Appalachian Trail, pothole-free and quiet except for the occasional squirrel or rabbit in the leaves.

The 20-mile section of the Appalachian Trail that runs north of the city on Peters Mountain is clean, and the branches of the tall trees weave together, creating a “green tunnel,” as experienced through-hikers call it.

The Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club, comprised of 431 nature-loving volunteers, is responsible for the maintenance of this stretch of trail. That means that, on any given day, members might be picking up trash, leading hikes or doing major manual labor, like carting construction supplies for miles into and out of the trail.

“We want to encourage people to be active in the club,” said member Karen Balaban.

This year, SATC celebrates its 60^th anniversary, an event marked by numerous activities, such as a trail photo contest and a special hiking trip. Members of the club also did a “60 Miles for 60 Years” hike, in which 59 volunteers collectively hiked a total of 60 miles of the trail contiguous with the SATC’s section. At the club’s annual banquet, attendees received mugs proudly emblazoned with the SATC’s special 60^th anniversary logo.

Notably, the club is responsible for the Peters Mountain Shelter, which sits about three miles from the southernmost point of the SATC’s 20-mile stretch. Unlike most trail shelters, which are often small, three-sided lean-tos, the Peters Mountain Shelter is structured more like a cabin, with a full roof and a loft for extra sleeping space. Some added perks to this shelter: there’s a bear-proof storage box for food in the back, a contained fire pit and a well-maintained privy just a short walk away.

SATC maintains the shelter to keep it safe and clean for the many through-hikers who pass through—those hiking the entire 2,200-mile length of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine. SATC volunteers cut down trees that are too close to the shelter and pose a risk of falling. They also remove trash from the site, although, as the trail operates on a “leave no trace” policy, they prefer if hikers remove their own trash.

Hikers who make shorter treks on the trail also benefit from SATC’s work. For example, club volunteers constructed a large number of stone steps to help hikers make their way through the trail’s steeper, trickier areas. In addition, volunteers make frequent trips along the trail to pick up cans and bottles that have been left behind.

More strenuous projects are completed on work trips. Club volunteers take part in work trips as needed, and volunteer support is critical. This fall, the club will replace the old roof on the Peters Mountain Shelter, a project that will need plenty of volunteers to complete. The new roof will be made from durable aluminum, which will hold up well against the weather.

The most difficult part of work trips is getting supplies to and from the site. Volunteers have to carry their supplies onto the trail by hand and then move them back out when they’re finished. Sometimes, volunteers have to make multiple trips in and out of the trail to move all of their supplies. Because of this, the process can take a long time.

For those less inclined to sign up for heavy lifting, the club has something for everybody. SATC sponsors hikes that vary in length and difficulty. Also, there are club meetings and events for those more interested in the social aspect. Though SATC is the only Appalachian Trail Club in Dauphin County, members don’t have to live in the area. Some hail from places as far away as West Virginia.

SATC hopes to have members that stay involved and active. The group also tries to educate members and hikers about good outdoor habits and to keep the trail clean and safe. Above all, though, SATC wants to get people in the Harrisburg area outdoors—enjoying the trail whenever they can.

Learn more about the Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club at www.satc-hike.org.

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