I’m really thinking that we’re living in a world gone mad. Every day there’s something else it has gotten bad enough that I don’t even really watch the news any longer.
I used to love to watch the news to learn what was going on in other parts of the country and other parts of the world, let alone our own region. But you start with our own dysfunctional country imitating 1930s Germany pre-World War II right on through to whatever is happening in Europe and elsewhere, and I just am oversaturated with the ugliness of it all.
And that truly is what should terrify all of us. In the US, we don’t have elected officials that represent us. I don’t care what political persuasion you’re discussing. It’s all about extremism and whatever agenda of someone else’s they are pushing like whoever thought a crazy man from South Africa would be the Rasputin to a United States president? But here we are.
And then you have all of the people who are claiming they wish to be part of a movement that saves our country from socialism and communism, and a dictatorship yet they’re feeding into that narrative? And oh yeah Chester County did y’all know that there is a resurrection of the Chester County branch of the Democratic Solcialists of America? Yep and I have been told they have a zoom call this week.
So last week we had people in Muslim garb protesting outside the personal house of I guess Penn’s new president on Cherry Lane in Wynnewood . I have no problems with a peaceful protest, but I do have a problem with people protesting outside someone’s home like that. Other people live in that neighborhood. And then they don’t feel secure. And they were going up his driveway. It was in the Daily Pennsylvania that’s not OK.
It’s like a few years ago now when that Chester County lawyer was one of the lawyers representing Trump And people basically protested on his road by writing stuff on the street or whatever. That was wrong because that was a neighborhood of a lot of people not just one guy.
And what was even uglier is on social media people shared photos of the protesters outside this home and people were making comments like telling those people to go back to their own country. I mean, seriously are we that ignorant now?
And then this weekend when I posted the picture of scrapple and where I had gone a few hours later, I received a private message from a really nice person who asked me if I was aware of the politics of one of the family members of the establishment we had visited. I said yes because I am aware of this person’s politics and I also know that they’re not involved in the food establishment from day to day.
This person said they choose not to go there because of this other person’s politics. And I respect their position but at the same time I don’t like being made to feel guilty that because I went out for breakfast for once and happened to go to this place and that I somehow did something wrong. it’s not that I’m not sympathetic, but there’s nothing about politics in the restaurant. I just went there for brunch. A local business with no politics to be seen.
And then there’s the amusing case of one of these people that likes to say I am such a terrible horrible person seems to be using me for part of his political platform for his run for supervisor. I don’t live in his municipality, so I’m not quite sure how I am part of his political platform.
Mob mentality. That is social media in a nutshell.
And sheer craziness.
Then today I see a post from a woman who is essentially an anti-vaxxer for her cat. Posting to see if she really has to get her cat a rabies shot. Umm yeah, state law. Every animal I’ve ever had has gotten a rabies vaccine because it’s the law and it’s responsible pet ownership, like spay and neuter. I have had vets that have skipped certain vaccines when a pet is dying for example and has next to no time left, but never the rabies. I don’t get it, but hey, measles is a thing again, right?
Then there is the woman who is posting in parenting groups about her 13 year old daughter being pregnant. The post I saw asks if anyone has lawyer referrals. Wait what? How about how did a 13 year old get there? Has she seen a doctor? And it takes two to tango so IS it the boy’s fault? And then there were all of the comments about how she should just have the baby and put it up for adoption and that blew my mind too. She’s 13. I realize kids sneak around, but again, not driving, she’s 13. How about how is your daughter doing? Does she have anyone to talk to? That is going to be a kid who needs support. How about start there?
Then there are the love notes I get. Like take today:
I wish the cancer had taken you, nazi. Playing the victim after you commit an act of blatant racism and antisemitism with a smile on your smug face. Poor woman.
So ok. you don’t like my post. Then don’t read it in East Jibip where you live. You don’t know me, I don’t know you, how do you decide I am a Nazi and racist? Neat trick calling me a Nazi since a late relative of mine had non Jewish German relatives sent to some camp during WWII because they were sympathetic to those being persecuted. Does this person think only those who were Jewish were sent to the camps? Ummm no.
And this person wishes the cancer took me? Sweet! Would that be breast or skin? Or both. Can I get that on a Hallmark Card please?
I don’t live on a reality TV show, yet this is how I feel. Between the ridiculous drama stirred up by people who tell outright Fibber McGees about you and you have never met them or their family and don’t want to, add the ones who are the backdoor gaslighters terrified that their truth will emerge who manipulate people on social media, to the combinations of the two who are constantly whipping up new Facebook hornet’s nests to further their personal vendettas, it is quite remarkable this world we live in.
And it’s not just our regional corner of the universe, it’s all over. I have a friend down south who must have said something somewhere and now she is getting hate from someone they don’t know who not only doesn’t live where they live, but like ridiculously far away who just decided to interject themselves.
I have dealt with the bullshit for years and it’s enough is enough time. No one has to agree with anyone on social media but people don’t just get to randomly harass or incite people to do harm just because. It’s the whole mob mentality thing. Now the irony with some of those who attack me? They start these groups and pages supposedly where community can love on one and other….provided you follow only their lead. It is very surreal to be sent screenshots from these groups to see them talking about me. They don’t know me, I choose not to know them, some have been removed from groups I am part of or my blog’s Facebook page for essentially not following basic rules. Often the basic rules involve basic manners.
People act like wild animals on social media, yet I am the problem? Oh I am sorry, no thank you I don’t care to sit and listen to you denigrate me with a vivid assortment of F-bombs that are usually astonishingly vulgar.
Oh hello dear readers! How are you today on this now cloudy slightly dampish Saturday?
Did you know that I live life in the fast lane?
It’s kind of a no, not really response, but I am once again, fascinated by people whom I choose to have nothing to do with being so fascinated with me.
First up this week was an important local meeting where I shared meeting information for residents who wanted to know the details of the meeting. So I provided the location, and the fact that they could access it on Zoom.
After I posted the comments started. Today when you give people the information they’re seeking and they say they couldn’t possibly make time for what they say is important to them. It’s their community, they expect change, yet they don’t want to participate where they live.
I literally said to one person that they could Zoom it, and I continued that you don’t have to have your camera on or your audio on. You can simply have the meeting on and the volume turned up so when it gets to the part that is of interest, you can come watch it. I literally do that a lot because no, we always don’t have time to go to meetings in person or sit and listen to an entire Zoom meeting. This person subsequently replied along the lines of wow what a privileged statement and how is that a privileged statement?
How is giving someone the meeting information they wanted and giving them their options a privileged statement? Or was it the fact that I said OK I was just providing the information, and said people make time for what’s important to them?
People in communities everywhere often demand to know what’s going on in their communities because heaven forbid they look at their municipal website. But when you give them the information they seek, they couldn’t possibly, they’re too busy, they have kids.
Again, my response is pretty simple. That’s their choice but people make time for what’s important to them.
Is this something I’m supposed to do for them? Or the ones who hold up the yellow flag for kids. Do they think they are the only people who have ever had children or worked while having children or had children and did other things?
Again, people make time for what’s important to them. And the ones who want everyone else to do everything for them, don’t like it when you point that out.
Next up was an unsolicited private message from a local politician, who also happens to be a lawyer.
Let’s begin it doesn’t take a genius to read an agenda. It’s pretty straightforward. These municipal agendas tell you what’s going on in a meeting and when they include a packet with documents that further explain what’s going on in a meeting it’s not so hard to interpret is it? I love it when you get the feels like but of course it’s not an intimidation message when you point out what’s happening at an upcoming meeting…. especially when said municipality has documents to back up exactly what is happening and they are all over their website if you know where to look so how does that work, please?
Then you have the social media circus that you have to wonder is this just being propped up by a particular gaslighting guru?
There’s also one person whom I don’t really talk about except once in a while to ask with genuine curiosity about the obsession with me and other local individuals.
When you encounter someone online, who seems dangerously obsessive, are you supposed to never ask questions about that?
I also can’t figure people out who who participate in the barrage of verbal diarrhea on social media who are mostly people that have been taken off of my blog’s Facebook page or something like that … all people I just simply choose not to be around even virtually on social media.
I really don’t get it.
And then there’s this whole thing about the fact that I am showing up on political platforms like I’m a candidate to defeat except I’m not running for office.
These extraordinarily damaged people literally sit on social media platforms and bash me and others like we are a Bravolebrity. Andy Cohen, where’s our bonus?
I did learn a new term today. Someone said I had TDS. I had no idea what that was so I looked it. it’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome. He’s kind of not my guy and I don’t actually talk about him a lot so doesn’t that actually apply to them because they love him so much?
And then there are the psycho assholes with casseroles types who say I’m an operative for the Democratic Party. What’s even funnier are the Democrats who say I am an operative for the Republicans.
These people? This is what they do all day, every day. And then they also send me private messages if I don’t respond to them on a particular social media platform.
These people have zero boundaries. I am not at their beck and call.
And at the end of the day I am still bemused by the fact that I’m still just one person so why are they so obsessed? And then you have these other people who totally rile these others up because they like to see me gaslit and disparaged. And they also actually like to see me threatened. And yes, law enforcement does keep an eye on this stuff in general, as in not for me, but because that is what they do.
I don’t actually know these people who have decided I am evil. I simply don’t want to interact with them. I’m just out here living my life yet they want to tell me and everyone else how we are supposed to live our lives. They want to tell us how we’re supposed to think and what we’re supposed to do. And if we don’t wish to interact with them? That’s simply not acceptable.
And then when they’re not getting enough attention, they will throw something out there like I’m talking about their families. If I am speaking about their families, it’s only in the context of a question as to who are they anyway?
People don’t have to like me and I don’t have to like them. But that doesn’t mean that they get to just sit and try to destroy everyone’s lives, including mine by claiming that’s what I’m doing. I believe the appropriate term is projection?
So Savvy Main Line blew the lid off of Radnor Township School District and the book banning of it all. The complainant ONCE AGAIN was the SAME guy who tried before, only this time, Radnor’s current unimpressive Superintendent of Schools Ken Batchelor who has obviously forgotten all about the diverse communities he once served, and STILL serves, seems to be capitulating to this dude’s whims?
My opinion on Batchelor is overwhelmingly he needs to go.
What is this man who oops started this again really afraid of? Did Superintendent Ken Batchelor misplace his balls somewhere? Yes, I just did say this because libraries? Libraries are supposed to be a peaceful place. A refuge. A haven. A safe place. I was and still am a bookworm. I loved libraries as kid. It was a place to escape, to visit foreign lands, learn something new, develop your own intellectual curiosity.
A library (again) is supposed to be a safe space.
This same man who has been wreaking havoc in Radnor probably embarrasses his kids, but are they allowed to have their own opinions? So he can keep his own kids out of the library and away from certain books and I have to wonder if he knows what his own kids get up to on the internet, social media, at the mall, etc.? Probably not.
I think this Radnor secret committee is also BS. I hope more and more people jump on this and give the Radnor librarians and librarian everywhere facing these issues back their libraries. And if these committee members are so proud of what they have done, why don’t they stand up in public?
And for every book that is banned, people need to open little free libraries of banned books everywhere.
If you don’t want your kids to read something, that is your personal choice as a parent, except if you think your kids will just not check something out that you said no to like a simple book, were you ever a kid? For me it was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, yet I think some of those novels like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tom Jones or Valley of the Dolls were a lot more racy.
To follow is the excellent Savvy reporting and Radnor School District won’t allow embedding of their videos so follow this link for the March 11, 2025 Policy Committee Meeting. I also dug up some old articles from when this guy started the witch hunts and book banning circus before.
Here’s hoping Radnor finds a new superintendent along with reversing this book ban. Parents need to parent in their own homes, not an entire school district. Would that this man who is at it again be so passionate about drugs, alcohol, and bullying. And well this angry dad could put his kids in Catholic school or a Christian school. But no, he wants Radnor taxpayers to pay for his phobias. Radnor taxpayers is that ok with you? It would not be ok with me.
Choice. Look it up, Mr. Phobic. Here’s hoping you allow your kids to have choices.
A friend of mine posted that. I don’t know where that sign is located, but I think they should be in all parks, especially dog parks.
I’ve had dogs attacked while being on lead on a public sidewalk. I had a dog attacked on lead on the Haverford Nature Trail years ago.
I’ve had friends whose dogs have been attacked while on lead on sidewalks, in dog friendly parks, and in dog parks.
People seem to think that their dogs should be introduced everyone else’s dog. Not everybody wants to meet your dog and not everybody’s dog wants to meet your dog. Or dogs.
In both cases when my dogs were attacked, it required veterinary care. One time a dog got its throat bit open. That was the Haverford Nature Trail when my dog then was attacked by labrador retrievers off lead.
The second case was when my dog was attacked by an aggressive OFF lead golden retriever – yes aggressive – who was off lead while my dogs were on lead on a public sidewalk. In that case, my dog was attacked so hard that discs in his back were injured. I didn’t think he would walk again, and in order to walk again he required a lifetime of treatment.
At that time I had to push Lower Merion Township to actually fine the dog owner whose dog injured my dog. The man paid a meager $50 fine and then you saw him out with his dog again off lead less than a week later. At one point, I actually saw him on my road and I went outside and I literally screamed at the man because he never said he was sorry he never offered to pay a vet bill and he knew exactly whose dog he injured. I did not care that I screamed at this man. He was a jerk.
This week I noticed again yet someone else posting from Lower Merion Township about off lead dogs… and the lovely man who gave the same woman the finger as I’m sure she was completely terrified and upset about her dog being attacked. I hope her dog is OK. But I know how expensive those vet bills are personally.
I hope by now that someone has identified this man and that woman and that dog to the police and this woman whose dog was hurt. And that dog park is exactly where several people I have known over the years have had their animals attacked. One time it was a former neighbor whose dog had its entire stomach ripped open from underneath.
This is why I actually don’t go to dog parks. I really don’t also support dog parks because every time I’ve been near one all I saw were people who don’t pay attention to their animals and just let their animals do whatever, kind of like their children on the playground. No boundaries, no control.
But this one dog park at Mill Creek and the other at Rolling Hill needs to have somebody there from Lower Merion Township regularly to make sure those dogs stay in control. And for basics like to make sure the poop actually makes it to the trash cans, and to see that said trashcans get emptied. There are also complaints of people getting their cars broken into even if nothing is visible.
Like a lot of municipalities, Lower Merion is great at giving people parks, they just don’t necessarily maintain them well. And I think that goes for Radnor and Tredyffrin as well. But Lower Merion definitely takes the cake for park visitors with a misplaced sense of entitlement.
Here allow me to share some comments that are reviews for these two awfully dog parks in particular in Lower Merion, including the one where the woman’s dog was attacked a few days ago:
I don’t pretend to have the answers here. But I do think Lower Merion Township needs to deal with the problems in their dog friendly parks because they’ve been going on for years. And I hope that poor woman’s dog gets its vet bills paid, and that the poor dog isn’t permanently scarred emotionally as an animal for life, and the same for the dogs’s owner.
And as for the guy proudly displaying his middle finger? Karma will always come back for people like that. That’s just a classless jackass in his natural habitat.
A final note for people out there who like to take their animals to these parks or who just like to walk their animals around in general and don’t think twice about going up to a stray dog: ask before you approach. Don’t assume it’s ok. I have a friend who has a dog that is reactive to other dogs when on lead, and people do this all of the time when she’s walking her dog. She asks them to not approach her and this one dog with their dogs, and they just ignore her. It’s the same with people who don’t instruct their children to ask before they approach a strange animal. These people need to just stop.
OK, that’s all I have to say about stupid human tricks today. Thanks for stopping by. 
So…a little follow up for the no-no queen and the ostrich collective…err I mean supervisors and staff in Tredyffrin. I don’t mean to be so municipally sarcastic but somehow Tredyffrin brings it out in me regarding the do nothing attitude of helping Mt. Pleasant and a lot of other stuff these days. But hey you now have an art committee to do I am not quite sure what, right?
Anyway, Erin McPherson, Tredyffrin’s director of planning and zoning seemed like she so couldn’t possibly about anything at last week’s meeting that I wondered if this brand new photo would encourage her to get out from behind her desk and lumber on over to Mt. Pleasant and see for herself? She can use Waze if she doesn’t know how to get there, or ask Manager Bill Martin because he definitely knows where Mt. Pleasant is located, right? He lives in the township, correct?
The next photo is from the summer of 2024 and I was wondering how Erin McPherson, Tredyffrin’s director of planning and zoning thought everyone was going to navigate this?
Tredyffrin Township, your slip is showing….again. And your zoning notices about developers wanting taller fences over on Vincent Road are also amusing…perhaps people really don’t want McMansions backing up to 252 after all?
Welcome to Tredyffrin where officials seem to drool and/or make excuses?
Screen shot from the Radnor Design Review Board Meeting February 12, 2025
There is that phrase something along the lines of it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. That seems to be the case with the Agnes Irwin School in Radnor Township perhaps? So how do you do lighting without a plan given to the township in which you sit? Would regular folk get away with this? Am I missing rarified air somewhere?
It’s a funny thing with that school. They occasionally seem to have this perennial misplaced sense of entitlement. And every time you hear news of them it’s because they are mentioned in someone’s obituary, or for some shenanigans having to do with grand plans. I will get to the grand plans of the past that didn’t go so well in a bit. But first this new or current kerfuffle over their lighting.
I am not minimizing what neighbors of Agnes Irwin are obviously experiencing given the Radnor Design Review meeting I saw. (Here is the link to the entire meeting.)
I was gob smacked. It was about lighting. As in Fred and Ginger can tap dance inside neighbors’ houses given the brightness of the lights. As in blackout curtains don’t help. As in how do migrating birds not get confused bright. As in the school is lucky there have not been car accidents in neighborhoods they abut or along S. Ithan Ave bright. Sorry not sorry, that is some kind of bull twaddle going on don’t you think? Why is this ok? Because they are a Main Line private school? Heck I went to one and that dog don’t hunt.
Excerpt from the Radnor Design Review Board Meeting 2/12/25
According to Ray Matus, former Radnor police officer who is their Director of Safety and Security it was for security measures. Ok but Mr. Matus? You worked at Radnor Township for years, and your dad and uncles did too, right? I get it that you were law enforcement (highway patrol, remember him directing traffic during Villanova stuff), but still, wouldn’t you think you might have to talk to someone other than your former police chief about putting up lighting even for safety?
But you know what? In my opinion the SCHOOL and their capital projects people and facilities or property manager types should definitely know better, and where were they at this meeting? Did they think their security guy as a former Radnor Township employee would just smooth it over? If so, then I am surprised Irwins didn’t have their Dean of Students Grades 5 and 6 Middle School Teacher lady there because isn’t her hubby in fact Radnor’s Township Manager? (Just saying?)
So Irwins has a pretty big footprint over there in Rosemont/Bryn Mawr but I am guessing they are a bit hemmed in? I mean they own that Almondbury House, at 672 Conestoga Rd, Villanova, built in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer. That is a fabulous house, they acquired it in 2015. It’s historic, don’t know what the plans for it are or what it is being used for, offices etc would be my guess. That property is about 6 acres I think, maybe 5. That might be what they refer to as “the annex” here and there?
They also own a house on this flag lot kind of driveway off of Conestoga. That was the house that they asked about in the meeting where they asked Mr. Matus where he lived. I am actually very familiar with the house, I was in it in high school. The family that sold the house had a daughter my year at dare I say it….Shipley. Agnes Irwin bought it from the family. They have owned the house for years at this point. That is very common with private schools and colleges to buy houses adjacent to campuses for staff or heads of school etc. to live in. That property adds a little over an acre to Irwins’ footprint. It’s a sweet house. I always liked it. It was up next to a tennis court in the back if I recall correctly.
The lights are daylight but it’s midnight bright right now according to neighbors at that meeting. I believe the neighbors and more than one spoke. Also important to note, since only one was alluded to by Irwins at meeting. The neighbors over there, aren’t happy and a lot of others have not been happy in the past. Just ask the folks who live on S. Ithan Avenue. Sometimes in the past, I have gone past the school and houses that are neighbors have orange cone things by their driveways. As a matter of fact I am incredulous that Irwins got so much on street parking on S. Ithan because it makes the road feel quite narrow.
Back to the lights. Just yesterday a friend of mine actually commented to me in a phone conversation how bright and glaring the lights of the school are at night when driving on S. Ithan. So I can well imagine what the people on Browning Lane, etc see. My friend who doesn’t live in Radnor, just on the Main Line, referred to the lights as glare bombs.
Lighting is a real issue and it is also an art form when it comes to doing it properly. That means you aren’t just plunking them up. There is a thought process and a plan, right? So why didn’t Irwins consult the neighbors before they did anything? Wouldn’t that have been the nice neighborly thing to do? I went to Shipley which has done tons of building over the years, and as critical as I can be even of my alma mater, I can’t recall their lighting being offensive (and I have criticized an expansion plan or two.) . I also remember them submitting lighting plans along with other plans to Lower Merion Township, so I don’t understand why Irwins didn’t until this meeting? Or did Irwins assume Radnor relationships would just make it all like magic? I guess they missed the memo where being a good neighbor makes magic?
Now let’s dish lighting and Radnor Township. Remember the issues surrounding Villanova University? I seem to recall that neighbors were very up in arms and that RADNOR TOWNSHIP hired a lighting expert to review and do light and sound measurements? Where was that? Aldwyn Lane and elsewhere around, right? I remember this issue coming up more than once with their expansions. And Villanova as a result has lights that are not bright white glare bombs. They just like lots of crosses, right? Here I looked up some old articles concerning Villanova and lighting, most without pay walls:
Agnes Irwin seems to constantly lead with a bit of an elitist attitude in my humble opinion. The fact that this ended up in a Radnor meeting says to me that perhaps neighbors either weren’t being heard or the school didn’t care about what they were hearing from their neighbors? And does that even compute with what the school claims as their values? I think that is truly sad.
Where does being respectful of your neighbors fall in core values?
The neighbors need to start taking MORE photos. Of lights, traffic, the whole enchilada. Radnor Township needs to step up and get an independent lighting expert etc in this just like they did with Villanova. They can’t ignore residents with real property value worries and environmental and just every day living concerns over a private school. They didn’t ignore it with lighting issues with Villanova and it’s the same damn area. They need a proper lighting plan at Agnes Irwin. They need LOWER lights as in height, as well as different kinds of lights shielded properly (not bright glare bomb white how about a more yellow cast) that lights an area safely without making 3 AM seem like high NOON. What are those magic words? Lumens and foot candles? Again, proper downlighting? Not loving hands at home light shields perhaps? (Duh.)
How many lights do they need on things like the tennis courts which are surrounded by giant fences and are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. (It’s funny, when I was growing up ) remember the school letting some of the courts get used by folks in the area.)
Other suggestions? Proper fencing along perimeters and evergreen screening. Evergreen screening helps with light pollution. Light pollution is real and Agnes Irwin and Radnor Township can’t ignore it. For God’s sake, I bet science teachers there must talk about migrating birds and nature at some point, right? I remember it in elementary school/lower school years myself. Anyway umm hello, what does light pollution do to migrating birds?
No one objects to good security, it benefits a school campus and the surrounding area. But what is done shouldn’t ever be at the expense of neighbors.
Agnes Irwin needs to stop the BS. Especially since also at that meeting there was some mention of a potential turf field in their future? Haven’t they learned from turf fields yet? And this one to be would be where? There is a big grassy field near Browning Lane I think? Doesn’t that run to a creek and is it even big/wide/long enough? I am asking the question because I don’t know, I just have a memory of that field, and others over there from high school. And turf fields all require constant monetization to have any semblance of economic feasibility in addition to all the environmental issues, correct? They are super expensive, right? I also remember seeing a new thing on turf fields where they showed an old turf field graveyard. That stuff is not found in nature and does not break down. Besides, how many turf fields do we need in any area?
And there has been a LOT of negative press in the past over Irwins and fields/turf fields. As a matter of fact, some one I know owns the property on Sugartown Road in Easttown they once wanted to get part of for fields. And then there was the whole giant thing about them leasing Radnor Township owned fields in some park.
Agnes Irwin needs a refresher course in being community minded and a good neighbor. There is something to be said for good community relations. Enough with the misplaced sense of entitlement of it all. And yes I can have these opinions. And anyone who knows me will know my not liking issues with lights, turf fields, etc with regard to academic institutions is nothing new. And academic institutions with neighbor relations issues is also a particular pet peeve.
And a not so subtle love tap to the invisible interim commissioner in Ward 4 in Radnor. So Jim Reilley if you wanted to be a commissioner, dude then be one. It means being present in your ward. You are freaking INVISIBLE . For residents he is supposed to serve he has a page on Radnor’s exceptionally clunky website. I will also note he lives literally in that affected neighborhood. (So unless he exists under a rock he can’t deny this issue exists.)
Here is refreshing all of your memories on Agnes Irwin and their other community kerfuffles past:
By Bill Rettew | wrettew@dailylocal.com | Daily Local News UPDATED: February 14, 2025 at 12:08 PM EST
I would like to know WHERE in the Daily Local News article that Vista Today’s Ashley Pierce who works as paid full time staff (Communications and Membership Coordinator) at the Western Chester County Chamber of Commerce sees that the reporter actually said that West Whiteland blocked demolition and development of the decrepit Exton mall? Because someone with a communications position one would hope had a better grasp of just plain reading an article?
What happened last week was a public hearing for an ordinance amendment in West Whiteland pertaining to a West Whiteland Township zoning ordinance, correct?
Quite literally the recommended motion was to tweak the zoning, right? It was advertised etc properly, correct? Wasn’t it discussed at a meeting towards end of 2024? Aren’t municipalities allowed to tweak zoning? And again, where did West Whiteland say they were blocking a demolition or development? Where did the reporter in The Daily Local say that? Does Ashley Pierce have imaginary friends she plays with still too?
You know sometimes I think Vista Today and the various other publications under their umbrella are ok, but the thing is this; what are they actually writing and researching? Are they just a news aggregator? It’s confusing, right? When they first started they did have some original content but now not so much?
So they aim to make a positive impact? How is oddly interpolating what a local paper’s reporter wrote and not accurately representing what West Whiteland did a positive impact? Funny how a news aggregator is becoming the news but not necessarily perhaps how originally intended?
Here is a YouTube that Vista had in their piece:
And I found this video from a couple of months ago:
Now when this mall was in it’s heyday, I was on the Main Line. We went to King of Prussia or took the train into Philadelphia. I do remember coming out here for stores in a strip mall. It has been too long but it was I want to say it was when Exton Crossing was built because a friend of mine at the time had an older sister who when newly married was living in Exton Station which was new at the time and not completely built. I don’t remember what strip mall, honestly. I think maybe where the Kohl’s is today.
Anyway, I think Vista Today owes West Whiteland and the Daily Local reporter an apology. Maybe they should go for more original content versus sharing everything from everyone else all of the time?
Here are two recordings from the West Whiteland Zoom on this that were made the night of the contentious meeting:
And dayummmm, West Whiteland JUST put out a press release on this. After I share that I will post things I found pertaining to the Exton Mall in deeds etc. It’s not just one parcel. And do any of you see new ownership reflected yet? I didn’t so I guess it is still in process? Whatever, this is kind of mall drama and the sad thing is an ordinance change is not prohibiting development or a mall demolition is it? And a final note is simply to ask if it is well past time for the Building and Planning guy Weller to retire?
This week I put up a rather simple post. It said what needed to be said and was a check in with people who were concerned. It said:
Yes, I am well aware of the comments elsewhere essentially fat shaming me. If people wish to fat shame me based upon a photo taken in year 10 of a breast cancer drug called Tamoxifen, that’s on them. I can’t control people who wish to shame breast cancer survivors.
If they wish to literally make sheit up about me which is utterly false that is also pathetic and yes, real threats are actionable and documented.
Oh the irony however when someone who is purportedly in the business of offering mental health support who is married to someone who is in the business of caring for women specifically decides to gaslight a woman for personal gain.
That statement was the truth, and my truth. It really got me thinking. Not about me per se, but the whole body shaming, woman shaming of it all.
I was never the skinny kid with seemingly endless legs. That was always my sister who is quite frankly, a knock out. And I don’t envy her that, it comes with it’s own set of obnoxious some days, usually in the form of men who need manners and women who are just simply put jealous of another woman.
I was always the more ordinary one. Have people said I was beautiful or pretty? Yes, but I never really saw that in myself, I just saw me. At the time I was growing up, especially when at Shipley in my era, I was a regular girl with a vowel on the end of my name with brown hair in a sea of fair skinned, fair eyed, fair haired, blue eyed WASPs for the most part.
I was actually truly O.K. with that. I fit in without being a cookie cutter junior Stepford in training of everyone else. I think that has changed today. Today it is like you can and will be punished for being an individual, and it’s worse if you are independent minded. People seem to fear what is not their immediate image in the mirror. You are supposed to be Stepford even on social media, or should I say especially on social media.
I used to think it was kids who could be the most cruel. As an adult I have come to realize that it is in fact the adults who are the most cruel, and that is where the kids first learn it from. One of my readers said to me the other day “Life is a helluva lot easier when we focus on the positive instead of burdening ourselves with the negative.” He is correct. BUT I don’t think we can always gloss over the negative, I think we have to let it out into the sunlight to set it free and not allow it to possess us and darken our joy.
I have been talking about bullying in schools occasionally over the past few years. I was speaking to a friend of mine yesterday with kids still in the middle school/high school years. What blew me away is how bad some of the bullying is, and it’s not just the kids. It’s also parents essentially bullying other parents. or adult on adult bullying in general.
So whenever someone says they are surprised by bullying in schools, I always respond why because all we have to do is look to see what the adults are doing.
There is a pack mentality that exists on social media. And usually it occurs on things not particularly important in larger scheme of life. Someone puts up a post gaslighting another person, including myself. In one case it was someone who has self-identified as a public figure and seems to fashion themselves a social media influencer. Usually these are people without obvious star power, or at least discernable personalities in real life, but not all of the time.
I have been a target so often, I lose count. My crimes? Having opinions and not being like the rest of the pack. Oh and not caring to know every single person on Facebook. It’s actually kind of boring. Just like the people who project their behavior onto me, especially those who seem shocked I might stand up for myself while not being untruthful.
This past week was a fascinating sociological and psychological study. Complete pack mentality like rabid dogs. People I chose not to interact with like a woman from high school years, whom I didn’t remember and met again coming out here from the Main Line. Three husbands (or maybe it’s two?) later she is a joke of a human being. She sniffs around anything having to do with me and it’s kind of funny. It was not hard to let her go. She was fun as a friend again for a while, until she wasn’t, so then it was quietly over on my part. Hope she is enjoying all those single events she attends. She’s a good Christian who would stab you in the back without blinking.
Then there are the various and sundry women younger and older than I who probably mistrust me solely because I didn’t go to high school with them, or don’t live in their development, or share their Stepford like political views whatever they may be. I also never sold Slipada or Lu La Roe or protein whatever drinks, and don’t regularly shop QVC. These are the women who are obsessed with everything that isn’t them, that they can’t put into a neat little box. They also don’t like it if you don’t care that they spend their days living the Middle School lunch table life.
Then there are the people who pile on who I have quietly helped in real life. And to what end do they participate? To fit in? How sad. It must be sad to be them.
There are also men mixed in with this. That is always truly fascinating. They want to mansplain or bully and why? Why does one woman they don’t know matter so much?
These people love to gossip. And it’s malicious. And not just to me. But bless their hearts, they are going to do and say whatever. Of course whatever THEY say is fine, it’s everyone else not in their amoeba pack that is the problem. C’est la vie.
I am wishing all of these people a Happy Valentine’s Day slightly sarcastically and bless their heartish. I am wishing my readers and those whom actually know me a genuine Happy Valentine’s Day.
Hester Prynne. I bet most don’t know what I am referring to. Some will recognize the reference to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. And before I get into the crux of this post, allow me to reflect on why many wouldn’t understand the Nathaniel Hawthorne reference. The Scarlet Letter as a novel is about shaming and social stigmatizing of Hester Prynne. But do students even read this book any longer? Are they allowed to?
I wear my scarlet letter as B for blogger or D for Different.
The Scarlet Letter is about 17th century New England. Today one could say the similar behaviors portrayed in this novel (written in the 19th century about life in the 17th century) is sort of life imitates art and art imitates life…and today it plays out nearly every day on social media somewhere. The masses used to whisper behind their hands to their pals in the market square, now they just vomit their word salad thoughts all over social media.
This novel by Nathanial Hawthorne also can be distilled down to a society punishing a woman for refusing to conform to what they determined the acceptable standards to be. Judgement of women. Nothing new there. It takes different forms as time progresses, but it comes back to Different = Bad and one of the Sheeple = Good.
So yesterday a certain wannabe influencer self proclaimed public figure had a rather predictable social media met down. It happened as always on his famous group page which is uplifting and delightful…or so he says, right? I mean gosh that must be totally by accident that he in fact is allowing doxxing of me, right?
File under desperate men do desperate things, don’t they? Including hit up an @everyone when probably not enough people were reading his post?
Let’s break this down shall we?
I’m NOT in his group. I was in it when was it exactly? Two or three years ago? I initially didn’t even KNOW it was HIS group because I was one of the people that he let into the group but blocked. You see if you block people in your group but allow them to be there it pumps up the numbers. And why did he block me in the first place? No one knows. I actually didn’t go into his group very much when I WAS in it because I found it insipid and silly. I could never remember the name of the group – ask my friends – yes OMG I have real friends, he must be jelly right?
Already he was self branding as a public figure and wannabe influencer when he started his preposterous, fake events to meet him and “mingle” (why would you?) I laughed and posted about it- I think most of this influencer stuff is completely fakakta. And why would anyone want to pay to meet him and have cheap bar aps? Seriously?
In October 2023, I believe it was that he called Easttown Township Police on me. I had a conversation with a detective who called to say that oh yes, they had closed an investigation on me that I didn’t know existed in the first place and they found nothing . And why did they find nothing? Because this man puts his life out on public display. He talks about his kids/wife he posts pictures of his kids/wife. He post pictures of his houses everywhere. His cars. His dog. His multiple martini glasses. And what his group is about? Hasn’t it changed like the wind but mostly it’s always been for him to promote his influencerness or whatever?
He called the police after I made fun of his mingle with bad bar food events. It’s not against the law to post about or make fun of public figures/influencers/wannabe influencers is it? It was an event posted publicly and anyone could buy tickets, right?
I DON’T talk about his wife and I certainly don’t talk about people’s children and he’s just not being truthful, he is in fact coloring wayyy outside of those lines, and isn’t that the real deal? And his kids have not been picked on because of me, if that has happened at all. He talks about his kids. Kids are also not responsible for their parents’ antics.
So let’s refresh because he’s a little slow – obviously I’m not in his group and in like 30 minutes after he posted I had about 50 people send me the screenshots, continuing into today. I also have the screenshots of the comments, and I will get to that.
This guy puts it ALL on PUBLIC display even in his group. Every day. 24/7/365 and it makes a person wonder how he has time for his “busy practice” doesn’t it? And then there are the “Face of the Main Line” ads, right? And they are purchased, correct?
I have never said anything about his education, or his wife’s education.
His wife from what I can tell is a well respected doctor, who would have an issue with that? This here is probably the most I’ve EVER said about his wife just because he basically expresses falsehoods about me speaking about her in a pejorative manner and I have not. I wouldn’t. She’s a real doctor doing real things. As opposed as to seeking sympathy post meltdown on social media, right? I will offer the opinion (which is allowed) that if she was on my care team, I would replace her because of his antics.
And his dog? I have been mean to his dog now as well? Does he need a reminder about what he posted about his dog and a vet he used?
I DID ask if he was a licensed psychologist and why is that a bad thing? Don’t you want someone you are seeing for therapy, counseling, whatever to be licensed? By the way note in the screenshots below that he is not licensed at all at this point (checked database this morning) unless he recently applied for one? Does he want to explain that fine or is that my fault too?
And if he is supposed to be a psychotherapist or therapist of any kind, or a counselor, etc. is he exhibiting NORMAL behavior? Or is he twisting things with purpose in the hopes someone harms me?
And because he is essentially nouveau Main Line or tries to be, he wouldn’t know that I am known, and I am hardly hiding. I merely choose with whom I wish to interact.
And I must now ask because I’m genuinely curious, what precisely IS his work in the community for 24 years? Has he actually been on the Main Line for 24 years? Or is that like dog years or something? Did anyone know he existed before he put himself AND his family out on public display a handful of years ago?
I can’t control what he does or whatever freaky types contact him about me. Every pot has it’s lid even on social media, right?
I like that he thinks he has hidden cameras INSIDE my house so he knows what I am doing 24 hours a day, and if so, isn’t that example of what a stalker is, gosh what is? Does he like that post breast cancer I have 1 1/2 breasts, not two?
I should mention that I don’t actually know where he lives in Berwyn – and he posted his Delaware house for sale listing at one point in some public beach centric Facebook group, so umm?? And a reminder: he posts photos of his house or houses himself, so that dog don’t hunt either.
I like that he seems to think that I am still in his group and doesn’t get as I previously stated that I don’t see any of his stuff on social media first person – people send me screenshots. All these fabulous people whom he thinks ADORE him, but do they? Is that the real problem he has? That people pass screenshots around?
Seems to me that someone has his knickers in a twist over his own recent antics? Dude, YOU put this stuff out there – it ALL originates with you. And everything YOU accuse ME of doing you are attempting to do to me? Come on man child, for real ?
I think it’s a wee bit dramatic to say that I “hate” a public figure and wannabe influencer, isn’t it? That would imply a relationship that doesn’t exist.
Is this just trying to raise his image at my expense? Whatever. I guess I just don’t have the same needs as him , do I?
Poor wee man.
Also important to note that photo he used of me without attribution in his meltdown this weekend was from SAVVY Main Line. Yeah babe, that’s me…hiding. I should comment about why that photo was taken. Context is important – It was the 10 year anniversary of being breast cancer free, one year left on Tamoxifen, and I took friends on a special garden tour to celebrate. Caroline who owns and founded and created Savvy was with us that day and was at Lankenau Hospital the day I rang the bell after finishing treatment for breast cancer in 2011.
Here’s a synopsis of that time, those early days of diagnosis, surgery, treatment.
It all began during a routine checkup in March of 2011. I told my gynecologist, that I had found a lump. You should understand that, for me, lumps are not very unusual as I have a familial trait many women have of dense breasts. As she felt my left breast, a look came over her face. “I’m sending you to a breast surgeon. If I miss something I would never forgive myself,” she said.
I think in my heart of hearts I already knew what the result would be, and during the late afternoon of April 28 – just as my high school reunion from Shipley that year was about to begin – I received news no woman wants to hear: “You have breast cancer.” Invasive, lobular breast cancer to be precise. The room swirled for a moment. It was a total out-of-body, this-can’t-be-happening moment.
I spent a few of those early days in front of a mirror, trying to come to terms with how I looked at that moment, and how I might look after (depending on the size of the mass and the margins that needed to come out around it.) I also made my peace with the possibility of losing the entire breast. That was a really hard and weird place to go, but I had to do it. I stood in front of the mirror and covered up one breast. That was when it really hit me: breast cancer hits the core of femininity in every woman it touches.
I had a lumpectomy – also known as a partial mastectomy . Radiation, although easier then chemotherapy, was rough. Not only are you incredibly tired all the time, but you also have to live with perpetual sunburn that really, really hurts. Because my skin is sensitive, I had what can only be described as radiation rash and patches of degraded skin. Sharp, shooting pains running through the surgical site periodically as internal stiches continue to work their way out. Some days I was so tired that all wanted to do is sleep, but I couldn’t. Still, every day of radiation brought me one step closer to the end of that phase of my treatment. This taught me a lot about myself. I learned that I’m much tougher than I thought and that I’ve been blessed. Not only do I have a supportive family, but I also have the most amazing friends in the world.
September 13, 2011 was a sunny Tuesday morning, and I finished my radiation. I was overcome with emotion all morning but did my actual crying in the treatment room when it was over – bittersweet tears of happiness, relief and gratitude that no one saw. I knew I’d never forget the awesome team of technicians and nurses at Lankenau.
A slew of people gathered in the waiting room that day, including the author of Savvy Main Line. When it was all over and I rang the special bell signifying the end of treatment, they cheered. A hospital administrator actually chided us then for being too loud.
I’m now part of the sisterhood – women of different races, ethnicities, ages, sizes and shapes -forever bound together by this disease. So that was why that special garden visit recorded in Savvy where he took their photo from was about. It marked an important milestone in my breast cancer journey.
Now let’s delve into the comments. We’ll start slow with someone about to open a business localish to us. He also sent me an unsolicited message and OMG LOL he blocked me from responding… yet goes and adds his two unsolicited cents as a brand new business about to open over there in the comments from the Main Line Meltdown post? I mean what did I expect from a kibitzer? Guess he just plays both sides against the middle?
The sad thing is I was looking forward to another real deli closer than Philadelphia or the lower Main Line.
#GoBrandon !
Then there is a woman who is her own weirdness. This particular woman has allowed for the past few years in her group (which I never had any desire to join), for people to occasionally have entire threads up about me slamming and essentially disparaging me like I am a public figure or a politician or a celebrity instead of what I am, which is a middle-aged woman living in a community. Yes, there have been screenshots over the years.
This person reappeared a few weeks ago when there was a dust up in my gifting group because I had restated some basic rules like no mattresses, alcohol, prescription meds, etc. Real terrible stuff reminding people about items that may have attached liability issues, right? This woman essentially told an untruth in another thread first by saying I had spies on that woman’s page – it was a public post at least for a while- duh it had a little globe. I ironically stumbled upon the post myself because the woman who started this post kept getting suggested by Facebook as a friend so I finally went to look at her profile out of curiosity and saw this nutso post. Completely by fate I discovered it.
So back to this other woman who decided to tell an outright untruth by saying she was getting private messages from me insinuating many or several. There was ONE private message. This particular woman has had over the years demonstrated oddly competitive and nasty behavior towards me and others on social media I have never understood. ONCE as in the one and only time I saw her in person (I said hello) and she was quiet like an introverted mouse. And if she had EVER called the police on me, the police would’ve called me. It’s how it works.
Should I have sent the message? Perhaps not. But I have had a few years of crap at the hands of this person on social media and there comes a time in your life where you feel the need to take your power back even if it is by merely telling her the post I saw was public and I see her for who she is and always have. It started with her when I started a group and she wanted to join. After she was in the group, she literally tried to take it over. She was removed. So she went to start a competing group, only she was the one competing, not me.
And this woman claims she has no photos of her kids online? Yes she has had them and I have never shared them. If they appeared on a screenshot because she made something public, I have no recollection. Her kids are her kids, no interest to me but it makes a better yarn for her to say so I guess? I finally blocked her after the gifting group thing.
So she pops up here on the Influencer’s Lament, trying to seek relevance again I suppose? Spinning quite literally a yarn. Says she never met me in person. Again, as mentioned, she did once, and she was like a little mouse. Very different from her online persona.
Screenshot
And then there are other people. Mostly ones I blocked because I chose not to interact, and others I removed from various Facebook groups. It’s like they congregate in this group so they can slurp on my social media corpse. Monty Python would tell them I am not dead yet.
None of them know me. I certainly don’t wish to know them.
I am not in the group, and I am sent the screenshots. People are sharing screenshots all over, it’s what people do on social media. So when His Public Figureness refers to “hundreds” of screenshots of him taken by me? Umm duuuuddde, I am not in your group and I blocked you long ago. Yes there are screenshots, sent by other people, and certainly not hundreds. That is actually funny he must think he’s Beyoncé or something. And remember, (and I quote from a Main Line Today ad) he asks constructive questions, providing non-judgmental feedback and insight.
Now, the comments. They hold their own sociological fascination and it’s that gossip pack mentality in action. Am I supposed to be crushed by them? I’m not. I merely marvel. Why do so many people care about me one person? It doesn’t compute. And really it shouldn’t as it is somewhat nonsensical.
Have I lived the perfect life? No. But I like to think I am honest about who I am and I do actually try to be nice to people. Are there some people it is virtually impossible to be nice to? Yes indeed. And if you know me, you know I don’t suffer fools gladly. I try to avoid those people.
Truthfully, those who are mean and spiteful gossips “spreading the love” fall into the category of those people you choose not to have in your life after a point or at all in the first place. Psychologically I can only wonder what they are punishing the world for, but the truth of the matter is none of us are getting any younger. And you also have to accept people are different from you and as human beings we are not designed to be carbon copies of one and other. We are truly allowed to have different opinions and to be different people.
Ahh yes, the old adage you are judged by the company you keep. I remember my own mother telling me that when I was a teenager, and I remember scoffing at the idea. Then I remember being in my mid 20s and figuring out exactly what she was talking about and it was one of those a-ha moments that sometimes your mother is right. A friend of mine and I were talking about it recently and they said their mother said to them “show me your friends, I’ll show you your future.”
“People will question all the good things they hear about you but believe all the bad without a second thought.”
I have learned again among other things that apparently I wish to control local social media. I am amused at the sheer preposterousness of the statement.
Sadly, there is in human nature the desire to gossip or chatter about others. Anyone who says they haven’t done it isn’t being honest with themselves. I have written about it before because it is an interesting study in basic human nature or human flaws, take you pick.
Laura Smith, Vice Chair of the Towamencin Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County, PA is a rather unfortunate woman who thinks making the Nazi salute on TikTok is funny.
Well now she is an internet star ⭐️
Only her TikTok account laurasmith6036 has seemingly disappeared?
Gosh was it something she said?
Do the Jewish members of the Montgomery County Republican Party approve of this behavior? Do the rest of the Towamencin Board of Supervisors find her behavior acceptable?
Here’s how you can ask them:
I think Laura Smith should take her pathetic nasty ass off of that board and resign, don’t you? I doubt she will but it’s a nice thought.
I don’t understand why anyone with a brain would think that it’s okay to give a mock Nazi salute. I just don’t.
This is not OK.
The media is starting to wake up to this new TikTok star…
What I don’t understand about people like Laura Smith is her candidate of choice was duly elected President of the United States. Why isn’t she happy? Why does she do something so horrible?
She’s now just another elected official who has betrayed the public trust. She is also obviously lacking a moral compass. Hell she should run for Congress and go sit next to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
