The Spark

Dr. Eric Bierker, is a retired school counselor, and who has written countless publications on college prep. His latest project On The Edge: Transitioning Imaginatively to College, highlights the Academics, Career Planning, Adjustment Difficulties/Mental Health, The Party Scene, and Relationships, one may experience while in college.

The overview of Dr. Bierker's book states: Walk the edge of the college transition, get touched by academic fire, pursue your career passion, climb relational risk, reflect on your life's stars. College is more than just getting good grades. It is about coming alive. Eric Bierker Ph.D. is an authoritative voice on preparing your child for college and transition issues. This book is a must-have resource for the college-bound and for the adults who care about them. Dr. Bierker has 25 years of combined experience at the collegiate and high school levels.

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More than 34 million people in the U.S. face hunger, including one in five children. And in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, unemployment and food insecurity soared in 2020. 49 million people turned to food banks and community programs for help putting food on the table. The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank is a nonprofit organization committed to ending hunger in 27 counties across central Pennsylvania. And on The Spark today we welcomed CEO Joe Arthur and CDO Jennifer Powell. Joe Arthur states that, "We are the regional food bank that serves 27 counties, really from border to border from Maryland on up to New York. So the whole Susquehanna Valley of central Pennsylvania and we work with over 1100 partner organizations to provide nutritious food to people that are facing hunger".

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During the global pandemic, Teddy Boucard and Elizabeth Peters took a chance on a vintage bookstore in downtown Lancaster that was weeks away from shutting down. Oddly enough, the bookstore was owned by one of Teddy’s former high school teachers, whom Elizabeth and Teddy purchased the business from. Fast forward to 2023, and the Read Rose Bookstore is now one of the most popular bookstores in downtown Lancaster, housing a diverse collection of used, vintage, & first edition books.

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For many Americans, the lasting image of nation’s 20-year war in Afghanistan is of hundreds of Afghans holding onto or trying to get onto a military airplane, leaving the country as the Taliban was taking over. A war that was considered America’s “good war” to fight the oppressive Taliban regime that housed Al Qaeda terrorists, turned into what seemed like a never-ending quagmire.

Baktash Ahadi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1981. His family left during the Soviet invasion in 1984, eventually moving to Carlisle here in Pennsylvania.

Today, Ahadi is an award-winning filmmaker, whose latest documentary Retrograde captures the last nine months of the war in Afghanistan.

On The Spark Wednesday, Ahadi described how the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s led to the fall of the Soviet Union, but it also had repercussions,"A devastating thing happened as Afghanistan was forgotten by the world. It no longer had relevance, so to speak, in the West. Well, that was a mistake because there became a power vacuum. And all those Mujahideen who had weapons started fighting amongst themselves and created chaos and civil war in the country. And that's where the Taliban emerged. The Taliban didn't offer too many good things for Afghanistan. And in fact, it kept Afghanistan in the dark. And from that place is where al Qaeda came. And that's where the United States had to reengage Afghanistan because the tragic events of 9/11 were orchestrated from Afghanistan. And when President Bush made a phone call to the Taliban to say, we don't want anything to do with you or your country, we just want Al Qaida. The Taliban's response to President Bush was, well, if you want a guest in our home country, you're going to have to go through us. And that's what led the United States into Afghanistan."

Ahadi said that one of the big takeaways from the film is Afghans, especially those who were helping the U.S. felt betrayed by the American withdrawal in August of 2021,"Let's say July of 2021, when the collapse happened in August of 2021. If you ask Afghans in July what they thought was going to happen, I don't think any of them would have told you that the United States would have disengaged and the Taliban would have swept across the country within three weeks and captured the entire country, and that the chaos at the airport and all the deaths at the airport and all the families that were broken apart, I don't think any of them, I don't think anybody could have predicted that. I mean, the images that we that we have of that time will stay with us forever."

Many have blamed the Biden Administration for the chaotic exit from Afghanistan,"I think, honestly, it was a lack of political will by President Biden and his administration. I think many presidents were always trying to figure out how to get about get out of Afghanistan or they used Afghanistan as a distraction. But I don't think anybody took Afghanistan in terms of how to really, really, really engage that country seriously. And what do I mean? I mean, specifically in terms of a long-term approach. The reason why is this is one of my mentors and one of the subject matter experts on Afghanistan, Ambassador Ron Neumann, said this once and I'll use this and I'll quote him. He said, "Afghanistan wasn't one war, it was 20 different wars." What he meant to say and what that means is depending on who was in charge, whether it was the ministry, was the Department of Defense, secretary of defense, secretary of state. There were many people that would come into Afghanistan and leave after one year. So there was no continuous plan for the country."

Ahadi also pointed out that there has been a high suicide rate amongst Americans soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and that some believe their efforts were in vain.

The film will be screened at the Carlisle Theatre Thursday night at 7, as part of Dickinson College’s Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Watch the Retrograde trailer here.

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Best-selling author Tess Gerritson's 32 books have sold 40 million copies in 40 countries.

Dr. Gerritson has made use of her medical knowledge in her thrillers, but probably is best known for creating the homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles characters for a series of novels that led to the TV series Rizzoli and Isles.

Gerritson’s latest book -- The Spy Coast – is the start of a new series. On The Spark Tuesday, she described the story,"It is about retired spies who are called back to duty when a dead body shows up on one of their driveways. And it takes place in a little town in Maine, very much like the town I live in. And I also happen to live in a town that seems to have a lot of retired spies as well. So I feel like I'm writing about where I live and about people I know. I found out about this about 30 years ago when I first moved here. It's a little town. It's quiet. It's mostly tourists come in in the summertime. And my husband, who is a doctor, opened up a practice. He would always ask his patients for an occupational history. And this is the answer he got sometimes. I used to work for the government and he'd say, What did you do for the government? And they would say, I can't talk about it. Well, after a couple of times he thought, "What is going on around us? Who are these people?" And it was a local real estate agent who told us they were all retired CIA. And I found out later that I had two two retired spies on my little street where I lived. I found out that my son's best friend, their parents were married spies. And it was a new way of looking at my neighbors. Suddenly I saw these retired people in the post office and in the grocery store. And I thought, you must have had an interesting life, but you can't talk about it. And that's why I wrote this book."

Tess Gerritson will talk about The Spy Coast and her career at The Friends of Public Libraries of Lancaster County a week from Thursday, November 9th at Calvary Church in Lancaster.

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The leaves have changed color and are now falling to the ground. The first frost covered most of the area last night and there’s another freeze warning tonight.

Not exactly what most picture as prime time for gardening. But it never stops – gardening, plants, flowers -- it’s a year-round exercise, especially for horticulturalist Erica Jo Shaffer who made her October visit to The Spark Tuesday.

As leaves are falling, Shaffer doesn't recommend raking all the leaves away and bagging them, but rather letting the leaves blend into the soil,"Mother Nature knows what she's doing. I mean, she's trying to enrich the soil with these leaves that she's dropping, and we are raking them and sending them out because why? It's not tidy, Mother Nature's not tidy, and she's perfection. Besides, that's the habitat for fireflies and other insects and other things. I mean, yes, maybe not all of them are good, and a lot of them are. We're we're interrupting the perfection of what should be happening, which is our leaves are making our soil better."

Shaffer added too many leaves left on the ground can smother a lawn so mulching them is best.

What about bulbs at this time of year? "We can still plant bulbs. Goes up like a Hershey's kiss. You probably catch them on sale now. And I myself do three to five in one hole. I don't do marching, soldier one one one. It's faster. And plus you get bouquets."

Shaffer said it's a good time to prune as well,"If you're pruning your azaleas, your rhododendrons, your lilacs, all those spring flowering things, if you prune them right now, you just cut all your flower buds off. We get all neat and tidy as we head into winter. If you're going to do your boxwoods or your hollies and stuff like that, that's not a big deal. But your spring flowering things you should prune right after they flower."

Erica Jo Shaffer appears on The Spark with gardening tips once a month and will be back the last week in November.

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The numbers are sobering or appalling or maybe both. More than 10 million people are the victims of domestic abuse each year. One in three women, one in four men and nearly half of those who identify as LGBTQ will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. One hundred four victims died in domestic violence incidents in Pennsylvania last year.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month – a time to remember victims, raise awareness of domestic violence, how to recognize it and what to do to prevent domestic violence.

Joining us on The Spark Monday were Susan Higginbotham, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Christine Gilfillan, Executive Director of the Community Action Program’s Domestic Violence services in Lancaster County.

Gilfillan was asked why domestic violence is widespread,"I think that one of the things that perpetuates it is a system of inequality where victims and survivors may be in these situations and then not have the options available to them to be able to break free in terms of supporting themselves, supporting their children, literally keeping a roof over their heads. And, as an organization that does this work day in and day out and houses up to 25 families fleeing domestic violence at any given time, the economic factors on top of the the trauma and the emotional impact, the economic factors are often what what hold survivors back from being able to move forward in the way that they would choose to move forward. And I think there are other systemic issues as well. Difficulties that they may have accessing the civil or criminal justice system. I think it's interesting to think about the barriers as being systemic and embedded rather than the barriers being specific to survivors themselves because their experiences are not universal, not all the same, but they have the same threads and the same things that the same factors that hold them back."

Higginbotham said there is help available to abuse survivors,"You don't have to leave right away to call and get help. Advocates are available to talk with you. And we would just encourage people to reach out for assistance, to reach out for a sounding board, to make a safety plan and to be prepared for the future."

To get help, find your local domestic violence program or Call the National Helpline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

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Pennsylvanians will be going to the polls to elect statewide judges, county commissioners and other local officials on November 7th.  Historically, this is not an election that has garnered a lot of attention from the state’s voters, although you would never know that based on the amount of money and TV commercials in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court race.

However, every election is under a  microscope since the 2020 presidential election that former president Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, was full of fraud.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Al Schmidt was on The Spark Monday, where he said the local offices that will be decided next week are important and probably have a bigger impact on voters' lives than the national offices. But he also said he's aware of a growing trend of national issues being highlighted in local campaigns, "There's been a sort of I don't know what the right terminology is, nationalization of even local races and whether one supports one candidate for president or another has kind of like seeped into that whole dialog. But, regardless of party, regardless of anything like that, it's important that voters obviously review the candidates, see where they stand on issues and vote accordingly and make their voice heard."

Former President Trump questioned whether mail in ballots were secure. Schmidt said it's been proven in Pennsylvania and other states that there hasn't been widespread fraud with mail in voting.

Schmidt indicated that there has been a high turnover of poll workers and in county's election offices and that sometimes can lead to mistakes, especially with the mail in ballots,"With all that turnover, it makes it more likely that you'll find mistakes being made by election administrators who are less experienced, who haven't been through this process again and again and again. And the real danger to that is that you have mistakes that are made, even if they don't influence the outcome of the election in an environment where everything is perceived as being intentional and deliberate and seeking to influence the outcome of the election one way or another, as opposed to it just being an election administrator who has been in that role for two weeks leading up to to Election Day. So we have to do what we can at Department of State to be real partners with the counties, to be of assistance to them, to provide guidance to them, to help them along the way. And when mistakes occur, to do what we can to to correct those mistakes, to make sure that voters can still cast their vote and have it counted."

Schmidt admitted that Pennsylvania's election code that was written 1937 is in need of an update and pre-canvassing of mail in ballots before election day should be at the top of the list,"Plenty of red states do it. Plenty of blue states do it. States like Florida allow mail in ballot pre-canvasing so that the boards of elections can in a methodical timely way review the declaration envelope to make sure the voters signed it, to make sure they've dated it and to do it not in any kind of rushed way. Right now that whole process can only begin at 7 a.m. an election morning, and it's the main reason why there's a delay reporting results for mail in ballot voting."

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Renowned Spoken Word artist Thunda Khatt recently graced our studio for an exclusive interview, delving into her latest creative endeavors. Thunda unveiled an upcoming project, promising to be a poignant blend of social commentary and personal introspection. Thunda also shared insights into her philanthropic efforts. She unveiled an exciting initiative named "A Sunday in November," a spoken word poetry fundraiser featuring an all-female cast. This event promises to be a powerful showcase of talent, celebrating the diverse voices within the spoken word community while also raising funds for a worthy cause. Thunda's commitment to highlighting the voices of women in the poetry space shines through in this endeavor, reaffirming her dedication to inclusivity and representation.

With her distinct ability to fuse artistry and activism, Thunda Khatt continues to be a trailblazer in the spoken word scene. Her latest project and the upcoming "A Sunday in November" event are poised to make significant waves, resonating with audiences who appreciate the intersection of creativity and social impact.

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Pennsylvanians see the economy as the biggest problem facing the state, according to the latest Franklin and Marshall College poll that was just released.

What are Pennsylvania voters thinking about school funding, armed security guards in schools and funding of pregnancy centers?

Berwood Yost, the Director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College was on The Spark Friday.

Yost was asked what stood out to him in the poll,"The general bad mood and pessimism that many Pennsylvanians feel at the moment. The economy is definitely a concern for them. There were many, many people who said that they were worse off financially than they were a year ago. Half of the sample told us that. So that kind of buttresses when we asked them the most important problem facing the state, why so many of them said it is in fact the economy. At the same time, many people, though, said that the state is headed in the wrong direction right behind their concerns about the economy or concerns about our politics. And so, you have to think about this in context, as many Pennsylvanians just being very unhappy at the moment with the their economic situations and the way our politicians are dealing with those things."

A few takeaways from the poll: 69% strongly or somewhat support schools employing armed security guards; 54% strongly or somewhat support laws that require transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to their sex at birth; By a 47%-45% margin, those polled say the public schools in their community have enough funding to prepare students but 61% said schools across the state don't have enough funding, while 34% said they don't know how to fix school funding; and 56% indicated they favor keeping crisis pregnancy centers open.

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