The Spark

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence was founded in 1976. Since then, the organization provides free and confidential direct services to victims and survivors of domestic violence in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth.

“We provide technical assistance and ensure that every local domestic violence program that is one of the programs that PCADV funds is providing equal services to all survivors. We ensure that services are survivor centered and trauma informed. And there are incredible advocates at all of the 59 local domestic violence programs. PCADV provides training to all of them, as well as to the volunteers so that we can ensure that every survivor in Pennsylvania is getting quality services from their local domestic violence center, “said Lauren Duff, Director of Communications for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Every October, PCADV recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness month and works hard to raise awareness about what domestic violence looks like, how to recognize it, and highlight the work of advocates that work in direct service with survivors every day.

According to Duff, abuse comes in many different forms.

“Many abusive relationships don't start out with physical violence. I mean, look, more like in the beginning, even a relationship that might be too good to be true might feel like love bombing, which is a term that that we use to describe when somebody really, like overwhelms the other person with all of these grand gestures of love and appreciation. But once they have established their relationship, things may change. They may start to isolate them from friends and family. They may start to use emotional and psychological tactics of abuse, such as putdowns and calling them names, humility, humiliating them in front of others. They might kind of reverse the blame of the abuse and make the victim or the survivor feel guilty for the abuse rather than taking accountability for their own actions. Things such as that. Another thing to look out for that we don't talk about a lot is financial abuse. So, if the abusive partner wants to control all of the money, they only let their partner have an allowance. They might hide assets, or they might run up debt in the partner's name, ruin their credit. Anything that they can make them do. So, anything they can do to make the survivor financially dependent on them is a tactic that a lot of abusers will use in order to keep the survivor in that abusive relationship because they no longer have the financial means to leave and go off on their own. In fact, financial abuse occurs and 99% of abusive relationships.”

Domestic violence also impacts those in the LGBTQ+ community and some men as well.

“1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 men and nearly half of LGBTQ individuals that will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. And so, you know, it's important when we think about domestic violence. I know I mentioned that like men can also be victims of domestic violence. Women are the most often thought of type of victim of domestic violence. But folks that are in LGBTQ relationships are also they also experience domestic violence and at even higher rates than other folks tend to. So that's something that we want to talk about, that we want to highlight and also to highlight that all of the member programs for peace are there to serve survivors of every gender, of every sexual orientation. It doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter who their abuser is.”

Oct 1, the PCADV will host an Domestic Violence Awareness Month Memorial Vigil at the capitol. They will be recognizing the 199 individuals who lost their lives to domestic violence in Pennsylvania last year. The event begins at 6 p.m.

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Asia Tabb speaks with Reid Frazier and Rachel McDevitt for our Journalist Roundtable.

Also, on the program, Asia speaks with Brandon Buterbaugh Director of Bands at Hershey High School and Eric Farkas, Band Director at Cumberland Valley High School about all things marching band!

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If you are a regular listener for WITF or NPR, you may have heard of State Impact Pennsylvania, or the Allegheny Front. Reporters from the inatitve Reid Fraizer and Rachel McDevitt joined this weeks discussion. Both talked about the importance of reporting on the environment, the fracking industry in Pennsylvania, and the reopening of Three-Mile Island reopening.

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Cooler temperatures are expected in Pennsylvania soon, and that means another season of respiratory illnesses. The CDC is recommending the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-25 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter. Dr. John Goldman, UPMC Infectious Disease Specialist seconds the vaccine recommendations from the CDC.

"So you can definitely get the Covid shot and the flu shot at the same time? Because all of these shots have side effects, I tend to try to have people space them out by a week or two apart. But one of the things that I really want to stress is the most important part isn't the timing. The most important part is getting the shot here. So if you have the choice, spaced them out a little bit because you might have fewer side effects. But but if you think, well, I'm not going to come to the pharmacy next week, my doctor's office isn't going to be able to get them next week and get them at the same time."

There's currently a new COVID-19 vaccine called Novavax and it's a standard DNA vaccine. If you already gad the vaccine, Dr. Goldman recommends getting a booster shot.

 "This virus mutates so rapidly that if you had Covid a couple of years ago, or you had a vaccine a couple of years ago, you were vaccinated against older strains, the so-called legacy strains, the ones that came out originally. And this virus of value, has evolved a lot since then. And so the newer vaccines are tailored to the to be much closer to the variants that are currently circulating and will provide you with a lot better protection and, natural infection and vaccination, just for whatever reason, tend to fade out with time."

Covid is a virus, and being vaccinated will protect against severe disease and hospitalization.

 "Covid is a virus. So Covid in most people you have you're going to fight it off. You're going to be cured of it because it will leave your system. There are a lot of people who have long Covid, so they will have side effects of Covid, but we think those side effects are more damage that the virus did before it left in damage, possibly from your immune response to the virus than the virus still being in your body. In addition, there are things mono, for example, that you get once and you never get again. Covid because it mutates so rapidly. You clearly. And because your immunity fades out, you can clearly get multiple times. Now, the vaccines, provide probably about 50% protection about from getting any Covid. Meaning if you get Covid, if you get the vaccine, your chances of getting any infection go down by roughly half. But they provide, great protection against severe disease and hospitalization."

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September is marked National Recovery Month. Kristin Primus is the Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol programs. Primus says this month is special to her, because she is also a woman in long term recovery.

 I've been in recovery since September 2nd, 2005. And, you know, when I first started hearing about National Recovery Month, I used to work for, an RCO, which is a recovery community organization. And, you know, I always thought it was very fitting that it was like, the same month as my, recovery date, but, you know, it's just a month that me and all the individuals that I'm in recovery with get to celebrate the fact that, you know, we've accomplished, being in recovery, how far we've gone, "said Primus.

Kristin Varner is the Administrator of the Dauphin County Drug and Alcohol Services. Varner says the months observance acknowledges the individuals in recovery and celebrates how far they've come in the recovery process.

 "When we think about recovery, especially every from addiction, whether it's substance use or problem gambling or any of the other types of addiction, but mostly substance use disorders, we were talking about, it's recovery is a different process for everyone. It's individualized, and it's a way that individuals kind of decide, make a conscious decision to improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential. And that's the definition that the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration uses and, and that we use here at the state, "said Varner.

Substance misuse is an issue in Pennsylvania.

"It doesn't discriminate, by race, by socioeconomic, by gender, by age. We see people throughout the life span in every corner with addiction issues. We see mostly that when we look at the numbers and the data that the the largest number of people that we see are treated for alcohol use disorders. However, we hear a lot, at least right now, about opioid use disorders. It's it's, a crisis in, in this state as well. And, and so and then there's everything in between. So it's, it's definitely something that impacts young people, through adults, through even older people. We've seen, through the Department of Health and some of their data, the overdoses, opioid overdoses, we've seen a rise. And then the percentage of people 65 and older with an overdose. And so we also see throughout the lifespan and trying to look at going upstream and prevention activities to, help identify risk factors as well as things that will help youth, to prosper and, and be able to avoid substance use disorder, "said Primus.

This month is also an opportunity to break stigmas associated with substance misuse while educating people about the subject.

"We have found that personal stories and stirring storytelling is really a good way to sort of normalize the conversation. So when you can relate to another person, regardless of their illness or where they've been, it's just an easier way to understand. We see that all the time. And so what we're going to what we've done with life unites us is we focused on different stories, and this is basically on social media and online, and then they record different people's stories. We've focused on family members. We focused on people in recovery. We focused on emergency service workers and, and trying to get different people's perspectives on substance use disorders, kind of do some of that myth busting for people. And, and we want to be able to show that, you know, there are people behind the numbers that we see, and and they're your neighbors. It's not of the others. It's it's people in your neighborhood. It could be people in your family, friends of your children. As I said, it's it's an equal opportunity illness. And almost everybody probably knows somebody with some addiction issues. So. So we need to stop. We need to bring it out of the darkness into the light and discuss it like we would at any other illness. And life unites us is just one way that we are working and working towards that to show that these these people, these people with addiction, these people in recovery are just very similar from to the rest of us. They just have something going on at that that they're going to work on for the rest of their life, but they can work on it and they can come out on the other side. And that's really important. The message of hope as well, "said Primus.

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ABC 27 Meteorologist Dan Tomaso joined The Spark to discuss the latest weather pattern and Hurricane Helene.

"We go from this area of low pressure today. That's to our north and northeast, and that's going to clear. However, as that clears, it leaves a window for Hurricane Helene. Make landfall later tonight along the Big Bend of Florida, still in the Gulf Coast of Florida. And that storm is going to stall and pivot just to our southwest. And it's close enough that by Friday afternoon evening, we're starting to get more areas of rain from the remnants of clean up of that. Saturday looks cloudy, somewhat resilient, damp, and then more showers as the leftovers from Helene sit over top of us Sunday and some of that rain can linger into Monday. So we still have more days of damp, somewhat dreary weather, even if it's not raining the entire time, I think it would be very hard to clear out."

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Daryl Davis a black blues musician will be speaking and performing at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster Oct 4 at 3:30 p.m. Davis is currently the subject of an Independent Lens documentary.

Davis says he was inspired musically by Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.

“I thought, my goodness, that's what I want to do. And what, you know, really inspired me about them was the fact that these two gentlemen and their contemporaries had made millions upon millions of people all over the world happy with their music. They had touched them.”

Davis graduated from Howard University with a degree in jazz performance. He’s played a lot of rock n’ roll, country blues, boogie woogie, jazz, and big band swing. Davis performed with the late Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many other artists.  He believes music is a powerful uniting force.

Davis is also the author of Klan-destine Relationships:  A Black Man’s Odyssey where he speaks about the power of conversation to ignite positive change, understanding hate groups in America, and how music broke down racial barriers in the 1950’s and 1980’s.

After the performance, a guy came up to Davis praising his performance. The man told Davis he was a member of the Klu Klux Klan. That interaction posed a question for Davis. A question that has been haunting hum since he was 10 years old.

“How can you hate me? You don't even know me. It fell right into your lap, and you didn't even realize it. Because who is the best person to ask? Who better to ask that question of than someone who would go so far as to join an organization that has over a 100-year history of practicing hating people who don't look like that or who don't believe as they believe? Get back in contact with that Klansman and ask him to set you up with the Klan leader for the state of Maryland. To a state leader is known as a grand dragon. It's what you and I would call a governor who heads of state, a national leader. You and I would call a president. They call it the Imperial wizard. So, I you know, I've told him myself, you know, get back in contact with that guy. Get him to set you up with the Grand Dragon interview. The Grand Dragon. Go up north. Go down south. Go to the Midwest. Go to the West. Interview other grand dragons, imperial wizards and other members. And write a book about it. Because all the books written on the Klan have been written by white people, you know, who had more access, they could sit down and interview Klan people. No black person had done that. So, I decided I would write the first book as a black author from the perspective of sitting down face to face with Klan leaders and members and interviewing them. And that's how I started.”

As Davis continued to ask that question by speaking with KKK members, some became his friends, left the Klan, and gave him their robes and hoods.

“And today, I own a ton of Klan robes and Klan hoods that have been given to me by active KKK leaders and members because they no longer believe in what those things stand for. As a result of these conversations.”

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Asia Tabb Speaks with Amanda Jones, author of "THAT LIBRARIAN: The Fight Against Book Banning in America" about banned book week, and her experiences with book banning in a small Louisiana town.

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High school marching band students spend countless hours preparing for their competition shows and halftime performances. Brandon Buterbaugh is the Director of Bands at Hershey High School. Eric Farkas is the Band Director at Cumberland Valley High School.

Buterbaugh says at first, he didn't really enjoy his marching band experience in high school.

 "Marching band in particular was just the one that I don't know. I mean, I love I loved being at the football games, but going through going to practice again, the biggest turnoff for me that was making it not fun was the fact that our band director made it feel like she didn't really want to be there. So it's like if she doesn't want to be there and she's not fully invested in what we're trying to accomplish for her, in a sense, on the field, it's like, Well, then why am I. Why am I wasting my time here?, "Said Buterbaugh.

Buterbaugh earned his college degree from Penn State University.

 "I went to Penn State University to do my undergrad in trombone performance. I'm sorry, trombone, but music education went to West Virginia University for trombone performance. Following that, where I also helped out with the marching band there, about 350 members was a grad assistant and that was a lot of fun. That really opened my mind to what was possible with Marching band, how to run it effectively for a large group of students. Had a great time at West Virginia and then started my journey here at Hershey just over five years ago and have been loving it since and really enjoying the journey of getting to work with students and kind of build a program with with my philosophy in mind and and the ongoing challenges of Covid and getting recovering from that has been all part of this journey. And I've I've enjoyed it, "said Buterbaugh.

For Farkas, he always involved in music from brass brand, and a youth orchestra. Like Buterbuagh, he hated his marching band experience in high school, but that all changed when he went to college.

" I gave it a shot when I went to Kutztown. I was in the drumline in high school, but in college I went to the front ensemble, which is more like marimbas and keyboard percussion, and I had an absolute blast. It was so much fun. And I started to work with local marching bands, mainly career wise, wiser high school. I was working with their ensemble and their percussion ensemble during the spring, and it really does open my eyes like this can be a lot of fun and I can enjoy it a lot more than I did in high school. And I want I want other high school kids to be able to see just how much fun this activity is and all the different types of people you're going to meet. My journey took me to various different states. I worked for a couple of years in Delaware as a choir director, actually, of all things. And then I went to the East Shore in Virginia, working as a band director for both high school and middle school. And then this is actually on my second year at Cumberland Valley. But so I've been thrown into a lot of different things here at the marching band. And it's been it's been such a blast. These kids are phenomenal to work with. And this season in particular has been off to such a great start, "said Farkas.

Listen to the podcast to hear how Farkas and Buterbaugh create their performances.

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Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly:

The Main Street Matters (MSM) program is designed to support local downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods with tools to create welcoming communities. This 20-million-dollar initiative will impact smaller communities like Hummelstown Borough.

Rick Siger, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, says this new initiative comes out of Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget for this year.

Also on the program:

Kindred Spirits Alcohol Free Bar in Chambersburg founded by Chuck Dutrow, a recovering alcoholic. When he quit drinking, he wanted to create a space for everyone to enjoy without alcohol.

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