Category Archives: rantings of a suburban housewife

what is this vision quest over antisemitism in lower merion?

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There really is a difficult post to write. I also know for writing it I will receive hate mail and be vilified. But as someone who spent my Judy Blume years until my late 40s living in Lower Merion I am watching here and there on the sidelines as this craziness to ME evolves and continues. And it is so ugly.

So yes, the limited commentary in this post is opinion based. It doesn’t make me an antisemite for asking the questions, but to the people on this crusade it will. I’m sorry I do not feel I can be responsible for their feelings. I’m honestly not sure that anyone should be responsible for their feelings. I think they ask a lot of people and I think they’re making demands that might not necessarily be fair to everyone.

I started thinking about this yesterday when I was sent these screenshots:

The person who sent me the screenshots said to me and I quote :

They truly don’t understand that humanism is not anti-Semitism.

Then came all this stuff about a gift from a student in I guess Lower Merion High School (screenshot is above and below in the gallery along with comments.)

According to school district spokesperson Amy Buckman, the gift (a handmade piece of pottery) that was created by a former student when they were 15….and it was given to said teacher 17 years ago. The information is it’s been there for 17 years. Without incident until the witch-hunts started.

Oh and the student artist is Jewish. It was a gift to a beloved teacher, and now these people in their zeal for whatever their glory is they are seeking are trying to make it into something ugly and dirty, and I have a problem with that. So I will post what the school district had to say, and they were going to ask the teacher to take it down, although it is sat in a classroom since it was given as a gift with no problem.

So this is what I don’t understand. And it’s pretty simple. Do these people actually understand what antisemitism is and I know they’re going to hop all over me because they’re Jewish and I’m not and I know nothing according to them, but I do know what antisemitism is and a teacher displaying a pot with a star of David and other symbols created by Jewish student is not antisemitism. It was that student’s artistic expression. He was interpreting things as someone who is Jewish and was he wrong? I don’t think we can be the judge of that. I don’t think they can be the judge of that. It was a gift given in caring to a teacher. I don’t understand how these parents can’t focus on the fact that this is a teacher that a student thought so well of, they gave them this gift.

Two Jews, Three Opinions in the Age of Online Rage

And I think the thing that is getting to me the most and Lower Merion is all of this infighting. I don’t know how else to sum it up as it’s Jewish people fighting with Jewish people over who’s a better Jewish person. I think that’s God’s judgment, or maybe a rabbi’s for interpretation, but not everyone else.

But these people are turning Lower Merion into a sea of ugly. And I also think because it all surrounds the school district and the upcoming school board races that it also has to do with politics. These people don’t like the Democrats and they’re pushing a more Trumpian agenda and I think that is what is behind a lot of of this and I think that’s flat out wrong.

Now, I will be honest and say that I think a balance of both parties on a school board is something that’s a good thing but that’s just my personal preference. But given the way extremes and politics seems to rule the day. I don’t know what works anymore. I just think it has to be the right candidates. This is another office where I almost wish that people could run for school board without a party affiliation so you could just judge the person by their qualifications etc.

However, with politics, especially in Lower Merion it has always been whomever gets all the toys wins, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that is a good thing. But I think it’s really duplicitous to post a slate of Republican candidates for school board under a window with a star of David for a visual when you don’t even know anything about them and they’re not identified as being Republican.

Oh and on the GOP slate running for office is a high school student from Harriton. My gut instinct says he really wants to make a difference, but he’s being used by the adults around him. He’s like a more annoying Alex P. Keaton without the wit and depth of that TV character as portrayed by Michael J. Fox.

Now I think it’s a great idea to have high school representatives to the school board, but we went through this in Great Valley a few years ago where some extremism woman put her daughter up who was a teenager in college for school board. Her teenager never really went anywhere. Everybody laughed at it and the girl lost miserably. The mother then also tried to run for state representative unsuccessfully, and school board unsuccessfully in her own right. And we think that was what it was all about: just her ideals and ambition not actually her daughter’s.

People don’t seem to understand that while it’s great to have kids as representatives to the school board from high schools wherever they live, these are kids. They’re not emancipated minors, paying taxes and living in their own homes and paying for everything they’re at a stage of their life where OK maybe they have jobs after school and what not but they’re being supported by their parents. Their hearts might be in the right place, but they lack the expertise and real life experience to serve in anything other than a student representative capacity.

I don’t really have anything more to say. I have admitted since the first word in this post that I am out of my depth here because I am not Jewish. But I do care, and I wish these people could just meet and lay down their weapons and their keyboards and try a humanist approach. After all together, they could achieve real good. But this crusade of everything is antisemitic mixed with Trumpian politics isn’t working and it diminishes in my mind again as a mere mortal and a shiksa what antisemitism really means.

May we merit to bring about the day when war and bloodshed cease,

and a great peace embraces the whole universe.

“No nation will lift up a sword to another,

and the art of war will no longer be studied.” (Isaiah 2:4 )

May we live to see the leaders of all the nations

inspired to do good with their peoples

and with all other peoples of the world,

bringing about the fulfillment of the Scriptural blessing,

“I will bring peace to the Earth,

and you will lie down with no one to terrify you,

and I will bring calm to all vicious creatures on Earth,

and the sword will no longer pass in your Land.” (Leviticus 26:6)

~Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli

**********************************************************************************

BUT WAIT!!! THERE’S MORE!

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An unfortunate post-script to this post is how folks in Lower Merion who make people’s lives hell over these topics just can’t help themselves:

And they keep on sending in their nasty comments. This latest one? Oh my. Not a paper, a blog. Merely expressed my opinions, which they do not like. Also, not doxxing, they chose to write to my blog.

And now the other comments. I love being told I can’t say anything because I am not them, essentially. And golly gee whilikers, I am sophomoric at best according to a mansplainer, yet they all can’t stop reading this? Thank you kindly, to the nice lady who gets my post. These people are putting this stuff out everywhere and expect people to accept what they say as just gospel and well heaven forbid you don’t. And yes Harry darling, I am a shiksa, yawn, we have already established this.

And the hits they keep on coming. This is fascinating and another excellent study in mob mentality on Facebook. Like the guy above who thought he would incite me because he mentioned Israel wasn’t at the Pope’s funeral? I mean for real? Am I supposed to have a fit of the vapors and start waving my rosary beads around and spraying the internet with Holy Water?

Then there was this:

Say what? Another unsolicited private message from him and yes there have been others. Usually trying to get me to share his posts. This isn’t on Facebook and he and others have been beating this drum, wanting their manufactured issues (can I call it propaganda?) out there, but because my opinion is different from what is acceptable in their social media echo chambers it’s bad? I ignored the comment (and my sources tell me this guy is still on some kind of cruise to Iceland and this is what he’s doing with his time?) so then he had to write this blog:

And then this:

Gerry, Gerry, Gerry I am not publishing anonymously. And his or her? That’s actually funny. Every post is signed AND besides YOU KNOW MY NAME. And no, my blog page is not a group on Facebook, it’s a page, and so what if I point out the distinction? It’s public and you see it, unless of course I remove you which is my right, just like if I decide I don’t want more hate mail from someone I can restrict that and what’s the big deal? Also, none of these screenshots have been shared by me on Facebook.

Oh but wait, he got a very funny reply:

Then there was this:

Gerry has a son (who knew?) who didn’t like another topic I wrote about. Now more people are reading this blog….so thank you son of Gerry.

And this guy Todd Hall. I was waiting for this. Oh gosh someone brought up the Save Ardmore Coalition. Shockers. I am proud of my part in the ORIGINAL Save Ardmore Coalition. We did a lot of good, cool stuff, and stopped eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore and marched alongside Susett Kelo in Washington DC. But his facts are skewed. I spent most of my life in Lower Merion but yes I did move. My husband is from Chester County. I love Chester County so when he said he was not willing to live on the Main Line of today because it wasn’t his scene, I was fine with that. I mean I get it because all of these nouveau Main Line people who live in the nasty echo chambers of Facebook who live in especially Lower Merion today? Not my country, not my people.

Next the person who claims I did bad bad things only I do not have a clue as to meeting them but they are ok slandering me? Ok honey, get your 60 seconds of Fakebook fame, you obviously need it:

Every hour of every day someone somewhere is sharing screenshots from Facebook on Facebook. But when I do it, it’s bad.

And the saddest thing of all? Because these people have had their vitriol and nastiness and intolerance exposed, they are on the war path and miss the point of what I wrote in the first place. But they can have their sad bubbles and echo chambers of nastiness. It’s their right to behave like savages I suppose, but they seriously expect people to just take their abuse? And these are the people who will holler to the rooftops about bullying in the schools? Gosh where do they think the kids learned it from?

These people have taken a sensitive topic and weaponized it against even people of their own faith. I think that is really sad.

what do radnor school district and great valley school district now have in common??

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Savvy’s screenshot gave me pause. Watched the meeting video
and then saw a familiar face….

Well in addition to the malarkey over books courtesy of this Mike Lake at Radnor Township School District School Board Meetings, he apparently has an erstwhile assistant? Gosh we’ve all seen her at meetings out here, haven’t we? Radnor residents, we apologize that the dead baby book banning poster toting woman from Great Valley is assisting the foaming at the mouth book banning man in your township now.

Her name is Fenicia Redman and people in Great Valley are rolling their eyes, right? Yeah we remember her and her dead baby posters etc., don’t we? Taxpayers go to pay for her nonsense until the courts eventually dismissed what she was attempting. She wanted the samey same books banned in Great Valley. (And remarkably her GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/5j8tn5 is still up AND Mike Lake donated to it.)

So Mr. Lake, the thing is the police in East Whiteland actually investigated and well ummm….d’oh there was nothing actionable, was there? I mean dude you can ask East Whiteland Police yourself, ok?

So now Fenicia (who tried to get in my face at a historical marker ceremony in September, 2023, because she wanted me to KNOW her and she will tell you that I told her to her face with supervisors, residents, and a state rep right there that I still had NO desire to know her) is being a busy bee in Radnor? Bzzzzzzz and the most important take away? She LOST here in Chester County in the Great Valley School District.

So I noticed in the Savvy Main Line screenshot a woman holding signs. And I looked at the video. I thought nahhh it can’t be, but it was, sadly. I doubt she moved to Radnor Township (although people out here could be hopeful, right?) so I would say she is merely lending her chaos expertise as it were.

Look, this whole thing year after year is ridiculous. It is not up to these people to decide for everyone and everyone’s kids. And I always wonder whose sexuality are they worried about when they go on these crusades?

Anyway, birds of a putrid feather and all that. Barf.

Just remember: she LOST in Great Valley. Here’s hoping Radnor Township School District School Board remember where they left their balls?

Signing off, eyes rolling at these people.

radnor township school district is banning books. what’s next? branding students they don’t feel are normal according to klanned karenhood?

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/malvern/ban-sexually-explicit-books-great-valley-sd-mom-asks-lawsuit

is it bye fenicia time?
she wants to sue great valley school district in federal court? and taxpayers get to pay for it and the public is supposed to fund it?
in case residents in great valley school district ever wonder why taxes will go up

truth tuesday: honey brook township blah blahs…and better call sal?

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Honey Brook Township is the thug politics gift that keeps on gifting, or is that grifting? Haven’t seen any grifting but who knows, right?

My favorite “truth” this Tuesday comes from the lips of the guy running for Honey Brook Township supervisor when he essentially said Valerie Shultz his GOP opponent is bad because she’s a (shock and horrors) COMMUNITY ACTIVIST!

A community activist? Can you IMAGINE? Oh my gosh does she have horns?

And then there is all of the drivel about for whom Valerie works, a pharmaceutical company and why is that bad when her opponent’s wifey ALSO works for a pharmaceutical company?

And lest we forget, he’s a PERFESSIONAL. And if you listen to what he says if you want a bobblehead yes man for your dashboard, he’s your guy. Personally I think dashboard bobbleheads are tacky.

But what is really and truly disturbing is politician and current stupidvisor Sal DiGiacomo. Is he terrified of Valerie Shultz or just an asshole? Hard to tell. And yes, in case the Captains America are wondering I can have these opinions.

Now Stupidvisor Sal really goes out of his way to have conduct unbecoming. He literally trashes Valerie Shultz and claims things are “proven” about her and I would like to know who is this sly dog executioner? I mean besides him, right?

Also in the mix? Mrs. Honeybrook Residents Group Admin who has recently banned politics in the Honey Brook Echo Chamber after essentially getting hoisted by her own petard, yes?

But back to Sal who loves getting his photo taken holding checks. He is astounding and a prime example why Honey Brook Township needs MORE Vals and NO Sals.

Change can be hard for communities, but the way these people are reacting makes you wonder what they are hiding, doesn’t it? And oh by the way there is someone named Cheryl who likes to opine on all things Honey Brook Township like she’s an expert on the area, and hey that’s cool except the little lady doesn’t actually live there…she just works with Stupidvisor Sal’s wifey so does that make her a ringer for the dark side?

And best of all I think I know WHY the stupidvisors hate her other than when people ask normal questions and expect truthful answers from local government it’s a problem is because of the ballot referendum in 2023 that probably scared the crap out of them. In 2023, she initiated a petition to place a referendum on the ballot to add two supervisors to the three-member board. I think that is a great idea and WISH more 2nd class townships would do this. Val is also for having a local police force because the Pennsylvania State Police are so overburdened. That is just common sense, and what I don’t get is why her opponent doesn’t embrace that as a member of Upper Uwchlan’s police force? I mean you would think he would get it, right?

Valerie Shultz has a website : https://www.vote4val.com/

I hope you check it and her out…and remember they are trying so hard with nasty divisive thug politics to keep her off of the ballot and THAT is exactly WHY if you live in Honey Brook Township, you SHOULD vote for her.

It’s time to shake the cobwebs off of the lack of sunshine in this municipality and take out the trash.

But you don’t have to listen to me, talk to Val.

Ciao for now.

a must visit: settantatré in berwyn

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Settantatré is open! Now I know that they have been getting stuff ready this week because my friend has been raving about their coffees. So when I was at Surrey Consignment shop for their big April sale I decided to walk down the strip and check out Settantatré. (The address is 802 Lancaster Ave., Berwyn and it’s where Surrey and E MJ’s are.)

When I went in, they are still setting up, but they have their freezer and refrigerated cases full of goodies and homemade focaccia and I don’t know where the pastries come from. I don’t believe the chef makes them, but I could be wrong. I bought a couple of croissants for Sunday morning breakfast.

Now this business has been making a buzz ever since Matt Gentile and Genna Curcio opened in Milmont Park down in Delaware County. Matt Gentile was the chef at Panorama in Old City and other amazing places like LaCroix and Ela and Parc.

So Chef Matt was there when I went in today and couldn’t be nicer. And me in an Italian food store is probably irritating for some store owners because I have to look at everything. the store is not huge, but it has a great selection of pastas and sauces and soon they will be open for some kind of dinner things in the back. I didn’t get the details on those. That’s just what other people have told me and it says it on the website something about the 73 club.

https://www.settantatrepasta73.com/

I don’t need gluten-free pasta so I bought regular pasta which was a treat because I normally make my own. I don’t buy much pasta unless it’s dry. And even then, it’s if I can get certain brands like Garafalo. However, my sister and niece like gluten-free pasta so I’m very excited to have such an amazing place close by.

I will be having one of the raviolis I purchased for dinner with their spicy Rosé pasta sauce.

I also got this spicy tomato nest thing which is goat cheese with sun dried tomatoes and I guess pine nuts and stuff. That is from Shellbark Hollow, whose goat cheese is one of my favorites.

Anyway, I had a swell time visiting this little store. And I think Chef Matt was amused by me because I said look I’m just a regular kind of customer person, not an influencer looking for freebies, but I said I would put a little write up on my blog. My blog means nothing to him and I’m not a food writer. I’m just a home cook. But the real food writers like Craig Le Ban are fans of this Chef and business.

I look forward to my next visit and next time I will make time for coffee because it smelled espresso perfect.

I am including a little tiny video with the bottom for people that are stumped on how to pronounce the name of this business.

I was not compensated in any way shape or form for my visit. No overreaching wannabe influencers were involved either. Just plain old #shopsmall #shoplocal

Happy Saturday!

reliving evil spying laptops in lower merion school district.

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Wow. I think I will have to actually watch this twice to catch it all but I just finished Spy High. It’s well worth watching and it’s not just because although I had no kids in Lower Merion School district when this occurred, I was still living there. Some of my friends were right in the middle of this and I knew people who had kids in the high schools then.

This was in general a crazy time then. Friends of mine in Ardmore were also fighting redistricting. And the redistricting was insane. Literally they were spreading out minority students. And then of course there was this whole walk zone thing that affected the kids who walked from different places in Ardmore to Lower Merion High School. I swear some of the streets on the “no no” list were literally added because some residents didn’t want kids walking around their neighborhood….even going to school.

Click to access lowermerionbrief.pdf

So yeah, I wrote about evil spying laptops when it was happening and after the fact. It was one of the creepier things that Lower Merion School District has ever done, and well it’s a long list for creepy things that the school district has done over time. What price first class, right?

evil spying laptops: when something a community lived through becomes a docuseries

So where to begin ? This one random day a man contacts me about the laptop scandal in Lower Merion. He was working on a documentary series about this.

Initially, he kind of wanted to talk to me and maybe did I want to be interviewed since I had blogged about it a lot ? I said thank you for asking, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate because I didn’t have kids in the school district back then I just had friends involved in the issue. And I also no longer lived in Lower Merion. So I offered to connect him to my friends.

So guess what? That was Jody McVeigh-Schultz… the director of “Spy High.” Life is just very random sometimes.

I realize that a lot of people don’t like bloggers and they don’t like me as a blogger in particular, so that was a definite factor as well in me saying no I shouldn’t be interviewed. And it’s not my story personally to be part of and it’s not just the story of Blake Robbins, who was one of the named defendants in one of the lawsuits and a part of this series.

There were a lot of victims in this and I’m glad this series is out now and I hope it’s so many people watch it because Lower Merion School District kind of made this go away in my opinion. The phrase swept this under the rug comes to mind….

There’s one person in particular whom I am glad finally got to tell his story. And he’s the young man whom my friend Lynn (who is also in the series) is very fond of and really good friends with his mother, June. His name is Keron Williams. And also another young man named Jalil Hasan. They both shine through in this series with quiet grace and dignity.

You see, the story always had the Robbins family kind of at the center of it and it’s not just about them. I don’t know them, and after watching this entire series, I am reminded once again at the inequity within this issue even within the financial settlements. How is it that the white student got so much more money than the black students? Especially when you think about the fact that at one of the black students had the same lawyer as the white student?

I have to be honest that the series made me sad as good as it was because you see how kids lost part of their childhood with this. And how this affected their families and community as well.

One thing I was really pleased to see in the series is in my opinion how visually uncomfortable the lawyer for Lower Merion School District was while being interviewed. And of course, Lower Merion School District wanted no parts of being interviewed for this.

I’m not a fan of Lower Merion School District. I have not been for a very long time. There was what I experienced my brief time there at Welsh Valley before going to Shipley, and then there’s just all the crap that they have pulled and tried to pull over the years.

Welsh Valley was really an eye-opening experience as to the mentality of the school district and a lot of the kids. I might be almost 61, but I can still see in my mind‘s eye the penultimate mean girls strolling down the halls in their crotch-splitting tight jeans and Candies flipping their crimped hair. I also will say I don’t think their middle-aged selves are particularly different from their young teen selves at that point. But they were the first ones that taught me that I really was strong and during those years, I did make some wonderful friends I have to this day.

I never understood in the first place why the Lower Merion School District thought it was OK to turn on the cameras. I mean if other Apple products like your phone can be located via a find my phone app, why couldn’t something like that have been used as extra security? Why the cameras? How would turning on a camera tell them where a lost laptop actually was? Did they think it was going to give a screenshot of a street name? 

And what happened to all the thousands of images that existed but disappeared? It is still seriously like they were stalking their own student body? Kids who never did anything wrong were deeply affected, and on certain levels permanently affected by this.

Other things I find astounding are the people still employed by Lower Merion School District who were part of this scandal and debacle who continued with employment by the district after this, some of whom are still employed today by the district? After this went down and the settlements were paid out these people should’ve no longer been working for the school district, yet there they are.

I will admit I was not only sad at the end of this, but I had many mixed emotions watching the entire four parts of the documentary series. Public schools are supposed to look out for the greater good of the students, but are they really doing that any longer, or is it just one big exercise in cover their ass which is kind of what I think happened here in the end.

If you get Amazon Prime I hope you take the time to stream Spy High. And to Lower Merion School District I simply ask what’s it like having the cameras turned on you?

OK, I am going to give you links to some of the past articles on this as well as the current coverage.

Thanks for stopping by.

https://time.com/7275031/spy-high-true-story-prime-video/#

https://deadline.com/2025/01/spy-high-docuseries-blake-robbins-lawsuit-ordered-prime-video-mark-wahlberg-1236265186/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spy-high-tv-review-2025

Director Jody McVeigh-Schultz investigates school espionage for Spy High

https://www.technadu.com/spy-high-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-explosive-docuseries-based-on-a-real-life-surveillance-scandal/583835/

https://people.com/spy-high-docuseries-inside-teen-webcam-surveillance-case-11701579

Parents file civil-rights suit vs. Lower Merion School District

Four-part series on Lower Merion spycam case to premiere next month

Privacy issue goes public as vice principal, student speak

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/610k-settlement-in-school-webcam-spy-case/

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/education/20100504_Web_cam_report_blasts_Lower_Merion_school_district.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/year-in-review/20101012_Lower_Merion_district_s_laptop_saga_ends_with__610_000_settlement.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news20100416_1_000s_of_Web_cam_images__suit_says.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/20100419_Lower_Merion_details_Web_cam_scope.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/20/us-school-accused-laptops-spying

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/laptop.suit/index.html

More details emerge in Lower Merion School District webcam case

https://www.cato.org/blog/how-broadly-did-school-laptops-spy

https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/USA/2010/0219/Teen-says-school-spied-on-him-at-home-via-school-issued-laptop

School district admits to taking 56,000 laptop photos

https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2010/04/philadelphia-area_school_distr_1.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20100225_Laptop_family_is_no_stranger_to_legal_disputes.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8523807.stm

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/filing_school_district_spied_on_1000s_of_students_at_home_via_laptop_webcam

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/kILo80KUhg

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/02/school_laptop_spying_case_prob.html

Lower Merion School District Sued For Spying On Students Via Webcams In School-Issued Laptops

really? haters is the best excuse out there?

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So this post seeks clarity. Above is straight from the PA Department of State Bureau of Charities Charities Enforcement and Disciplinary Actions. You can look it up yourself. Search FarmerJawn squished together like that. Once in another life, I knew someone who in their other life was an investigator for the Bureau of Charities. This is what they do, they check things out.

See that notice above? That is when they received the letter from the IRS for tax exempt status. If you read the letter, the effective date was mid-2021.

Let that sink in. This has been for a few years. Around this time last year we woke up one day to the news that the Westtown location we knew for 30+ years as Pete’s Produce etc. on Westtown’s campus had been vandalized with hateful and disgusting graffiti.

What is interesting is this news report says that BEFORE the graffiti there had been other vandalism, but correct me if I am wrong (please) that there were no security cameras or trail cameras anywhere? I am guessing if I recall what was said somewhere after these incidents that now they do have cameras? I am glad they do because this criminal behavior is terrible, right? BUT to date these cases of graffiti and vandalism go unsolved, don’t they? And that is a great police department too (WEGO.)

https://www.phillyvoice.com/farmer-jawn-swastika-vandalism-antisemitism-west-chester

After these incidents, subsequent months featured pop up events under the theme of “Only Love Grows”. Interestingly, a lot of the events were not held in Westtown, but other places like Historic Maplewood Mall.…in Germantown.

So a lot of events are off site. She claims people have made her feel unwelcome in Chester County, so maybe one reason is her events seem more often than not elsewhere? As in other than all those lovely acres in Westtown? Take the free egg give away recently….in New York City no less?

Free eggs? New Yorkers wait in line for hours for chance at a dozen eggs

NBC4 NY FarmerJawn was giving away free eggs Friday morning at various locations in New York City By The Associated Press • Published March 21, 2025 • Updated on March 22, 2025 at 10:49 am

And her newly minted interview with desperately seeking relevance, Christina Pirello (used to have or maybe still has a TV cooking show), just days before the cease and desist thing broke interviewed her in Elkins Park. At least it looked like something was being grown on the handful of acres she “farms” over there, right?

Why not give out free eggs at the farm store she got to walk into over at Westtown? Why not show Christina Pirello Westtown too?

So first came Axios which most of us then noticed because of Vista today.

https://vista.today/2025/04/farmerjawn-cease-and-desist-register

https://www.axios.com/local/philadelphia/2025/03/31/farmerjawn-nonprofit-charity-taxes-pennsylvania

Then came the Philadelphia Inquirer article. The reporter I have no issue with but she is part of features/food from what I can tell so we can assume the publicist placed this article?

Food

Part of FarmerJawn lost its nonprofit status. Founder Christa Barfield says the organization’s charitable work continues.

“We’re community-oriented every way you look at it, and no one can ever doubt that,” Barfield said.

by Jenn Ladd

Published April 3, 2025, 10:49 a.m. ET

Next the Glenside Local picked this up.

CEO/founder of FarmerJawn responds to non-profit arm’s cease-and-desist letter, Westtown Farm Store to open April 15

Next came public chatter and a fair amount of it. People all over talking about it. I wrote about it.

a new jawn and more questions, right? what does westtown school say? rodale institute? james beard?

Then comes the stunning public reel thing someone sent me:

That was sent with this screenshot to prove this was public and available for a re-mix:

Lets talk about this: if you ever question anything you are a hater or a racist, correct? And all the flurry of media? Isn’t it more like she talks when she wants something? Also there is still the whole 501(c)(3) of it all on her website and the donation link is still up:

And there is still a live GoFundMe as of the publishing of this post :

But hey, that is not active fundraising right?

And she gets defensive over her business entities being legally registered. Here they are and nice deflection, and no one said they weren’t registered:

FarmerJawn also had health department inspection issues last year. They were resolved, but they happened. So she says somewhere recently she’s letting people use the kitchen over there? I guess that means no more issues, right?

This fauxmer has gotten lots of support and money from all sorts of avenues. A James Beard award, and was briefly it seems a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier. That was for the tea company? Is she still a member?

She talks about keeping employees paid all the time? Has she really? Including all of the time in Elkins Park, as well as the stores she once had at 6730 Germantown Avenue? And what about that wellness spa Mae Bell or whatever from when was that? 2023? (And that wasn’t supposed to be at 6730 Germantown but close by?

oh what the hell…

Last May, I was attacked viciously online and off for questioning the grant of it all because among other things, the grant application had used that Germantown Avenue address and wasn’t that an odd thing as she no longer was a tenant there, correct?

so many questions….still

I and others have been labeled “haters” and “racists” for questioning this from jump. What they always neglect to mention is I have never had an issue with her purported mission.

Also of no 501(c)(3) at present why does her Linktree go to her donation page? Do they have to be called other than donations if 501(c)(3) is not active?

I support supporting local farmers of all kinds and do.

I support dealing with food insecurity issues which is why I support local food banks when I can especially in helping get the word out. So yeah, if her mission statement was more than words at this point, I would be thrilled because there are so many people in need and we live in a world where so many of us have lived on the edge of not being able to be even self supporting.

I am also a big believer in things like community gardens and I think in today’s world having what used to be called victory gardens is a good thing because face it, the US is on the precipice of disaster, which of course will cause a whole other category of haters to rise up because I said that.

I am also not only a supporter of women and minorities in farming, but horticulture as well. Why? Because they are universal things that benefit us all as human beings, right?

I am wondering if the Westtown ought to consider at this point getting a real farmer, not merely a person who checks idealistic or ideological boxes on those acres? The other conversation now should maybe be in the landowner’s failure to supervise and the land’s future? Westtown has not said much of ANYTHING since they approved her to lease the land, have they? So we don’t actually know what they are thinking and how they feel, correct? Can we trust Westtown to keep these acres farmed in perpetuity? Aren’t there still other farmers interested?

And let’s talk about getting the organic status. I have no issue with that and neither does anyone I have ever spoken with. The only detractor is it is honestly expensive to accomplish this. BUT one thing I have never understood is why she didn’t really plant anything much the past couple of years in Westtown? I asked farmers (including female) who told me the land at Pete’s was in good shape and and apparently you can farm land going organic but you can’t sell the produce those years as organic so why didn’t she plant more? And last year (2024) as per a 2023 Daily Local article, 63 acres was supposed to be planted? Did that happen?

FarmerJawn Agriculture is bringing organic farming to the 128-acre Westtown School property at 1225 E. Street Road, along Route 926, where farmer Pete Flynn once grew crops.

For the current growing season, FarmerJawn, more precisely CEO Christa Barfield, is farming two acres, and stewarding most of the school’s farmland. She is letting most of the land sit fallow, for this, her first growing season.

FarmerJawn will only raise crops organically. For fruits, vegetable and herbs to be certified organic by the USDA, the land must be chemical free for three years.

FarmerJawn has big plans for 2024; Barfield intends to grow and harvest on 63 acres. Although the crops won’t be certified organic by the USDA, the harvest will be chemical free.

~https://www.dailylocal.com/2023/10/27/farmerjawn-organic-offerings-growing-at-westtown-school/

During a 2022 Daily Local article it was stated:

Effective Jan. 1, organic farming is coming to Westtown School.

The Quaker pre-K-12, coed, day and boarding school has tapped Philadelphia’s Christa Barfield to farm 123 acres of the school’s 600 acres. She will farm organically, through an unconventional model.

Barfield is replacing long-time Westtown farmer Pete Flynn who retired in October.

How many of those objectives have been met? Again, where is Westtown School on this?

And again, for the record, what she claimed she wanted to do here is NOT a bad thing, but what has she actually accomplished vis-à-vis FARMING? Where is the food coming from that she sells and doesn’t grow? Pete and other markets will tell you who they bought apples from etc.

The problem is there has been a lot of talk and a lot of plans and a lot of spin courtesy of a publicist but what is going on? Other than events etc. off site from 1225 E. Street Road? Have all five acres on that Elkins estate been consistently farmed?

https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/christa-barfield-philadelphia

And the media flurry this time? She ranges between influencer behavior and hiding, but can it be she simply likes to control the narrative which is human?

Now in 2022, she was eligible for a $50,000 grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for Urban Infrastructure for Agriculture. That was a reimbursement grant so did she get that money in the end?

In an interview in 2024 for an online thing called technical.ly she talked about irrigation troubles in Westtown among lots of other things.

So the thing about Pete Flynn from Pete’s Produce? Did that actually happen? Now being new to Chester County can be hard for anyone, not just because of race. Being new in any community once you hit a certain age is hard. But it doesn’t sound like the Pete Flynn most talk about does it?

And that whole thing about the landlord issues in Elkins Park where she once had greenhouses?

There’s a New Dawn for FarmerJawn

So according to Resolve Philly (article embedded above):

Things are looking up for Christa Barfield, owner of Farmer Jawn Agriculture, who faced many hardships this past year. In April, Barfield made a big decision to move out of her old space in Elkins Park after facing landlord problems and the destruction of her crops.  One month ago, she launched a new crowdfunding campaign to move the organization onto the Elkins Estate.

“I’m not interested in a farm that’s over an hour away from Philadelphia,” says Barfield, about the importance of the location. “I want it to be accessible, simple, and easy for people to go.”At 1760 Ashbourne Road, the Elkins Estate is a three-minute drive and a 12-minute walk from the Philadelphia borderline on Cheltenham Avenue.

Mmmmkay so if she didn’t want to be on a farm over an hour away from Philadelphia, she comes to Westtown?

Philadelphia Eater had an article in 2021 about the whole greenhouse thing and move to the Elkins Estate:

FarmerJawn’s Christa Barfield Left Her Philly Elkins Park Greenhouses. Where Will She Go Next? – Eater Philly

Ok that I can maybe comprehend. A bad landlord and not prepared? That is a learning curve. But then the store at 6730 Germantown Avenue? Poof? It’s gone and what about the tea business? And the garden supply store that next went into 6730 Germantown Ave? And then the spa thing close by that was talked about?

Grid Philly did a big article in 2022 that also filled in more blanks:

154 March 2022/All Topics/Community/Farming/Food

FarmerJawn is breaking new ground with dirt, grit and optimism

by Nic Esposito
February 28, 2022

You can read the whole article on their website. So look, I get that setbacks happen etc., but maybe the reality is that this is a woman who talks a good game and has good ideas, but really can’t execute them?

Too much too soon?

in 2023 PA Eats did a profile:

2023 is Going to Be a Huge Year for FarmerJawn
by Emily Kovach

OK so Westtown chose her for 123 acres when she had been farming less than 5 years?

No words.

So this is kind of a messed up thing with messy problems, right?

So maybe every time she opens her mouth she shouldn’t essentially intimate that if you aren’t like her, you’re bad?

So maybe any time people question what’s going on, she shouldn’t obliquely or overtly play the race card or the sexism card?

So maybe she just doesn’t have the experience plain and simple?

We can have great ideas but in life you can’t always fake it until you make it.

Fox 29 covered her again at the end of February. Here’s a snippet:

To hear the whole interview: https://www.fox29.com/video/1600231

She gets good press. She should, as again she is that rare bird who calls herself a farmer and has a publicist. But the proof is in the pudding. Maybe it’s time to tell the truth and shame the devil as some old people I once knew used to say?

There are just too many questions. And they can’t all be fobbed off as comments from haters, correct?

What will be the future at Westtown?

Will Westtown ever talk about it?

Right now this is all still something I am skeptical of. And after going through her placed media coverage for the past couple of years, a lot of the issues at a minimum come down to a lack of experience. Some will say how can you get experience except to dive right in? Ok right, except we’re talking how many acres of land mostly in Westtown? Perhaps it’s just too much?

It’s time for straight answers. If she doesn’t she runs the risk of hurting the goals she claims to have and the people, all of the people. who are trying to support her.

Will FarmerJawn survive? Will FarmerJawn survive in Westtown? Is this all still too much the Emperor’s New Clothes?

Time will tell.

Sign me, still not a believer and I am allowed. And no, I still have no desire to meet her. Her interviews, when granted, speak volumes. I will however still support local farmers as I always have done. I believe in that. And I also actually love being in Chester County.

Have a good night.

what doesn’t narberth borough get?

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So I finally got around to watching the most recent Narberth Borough Council Meeting. I just hadn’t had the time before now.

I don’t get these people. I really don’t get these people. First of all their borough council president dresses like a shlub. There is business casual and there’s dude -can’t- you -really -brush -your -hair -better- if -you’re -going -to -wear -it -long -and -iron -your -T-shirt -casual.

And then you have a couple of people you hear talking, especially when they’re discussing Sabine Park, who say things like (paraphrasing) “Well I’m not sure that I’m really actually going vote for this when the time comes, but this is what I would do if I was doing XYZ.”

Gosh all of Narberth Borough Council appears to be a little bit preggers here?

Sooooo there’s the factoid that it is a park. It is land that was deeded for a park over 100 years ago correct? so why are they even contemplating this in the first place? Are they completely oblivious to the fairly significant case law in Pennsylvania alone about selling parks for development? Isn’t their solicitor aware?

I mean it’s pretty simple isn’t it? If land is deeded and donated to municipality for a park then it is technically land that belongs to the residents and the residents don’t want it developed do they? That’s one thing that’s just something that is bugged me since the beginning. Yet there they are again discussing what kind of zoning would be better if they sell the land.

And they as of now have spent who knows how much money having it looked at by Penoni so that it can be appraised properly…..and then you have these borough council people who were saying well we’re just looking at all the options. What is it they don’t get that it’s a park?

Sigh….it gets better and I encourage everyone to watch the video because the shlub who is the borough council president is arguing for massive mixed use projects on part of the site and then also says how nobody wants any single-family homes any longer. I have to ask him what is it he is living in on the Narberth- Wynnewood border exactly, an apartment?

I just don’t get it but hey I don’t get the extremely unattractive development that has occurred in Narberth already. Like The Elm. Named for a tree and are there any sizable plants in sight? Or just developer specials? And look, it’s the same Legoland construction seen everywhere….even along I-95 in Philthadelphia.

But hey Narberth and development? Odd relationship? Remember Narberth Arbors?

Narberth Arbors homeowner steamed at safety snag

Now you all remember when I wrote about Sabine Park recently I had one of the borough council people kind of come at me for talking about it, so what is it exactly they are doing just spending taxpayer money on appraisals for shits and giggles ?

Anyway I’m sad for Narberth. Here’s hoping more residents wake up.

#SaveSabinePark

happy first day of spring! narberth borough still has turning sabine park into development on the brain. borough council meeting 7 pm tonight.

for april fool’s will it be shady as always, west goshen township?

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Oh yes, it’s never dull whenever West Goshen is trying to pull something shady as shit.

The latest? They want to erase their meeting videos.

You know just when you think this truly bass ackwards Pennsyltucky municipality has nothing left to make you say WTF, oops they did it again.

Start copying all those videos West Goshen residents if you wish to preserve whatever shady ass record exists or literally they will make a giant April Fool’s joke out of all of you. And oh yeah, get thee to the APRIL 1, 2025 meeting starting at 6 PM. Pack the halls.

this post isn’t about scrapple

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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.

http://www.thedp.com/article/2025/03/penn-jameson-house-palestinian-demonstration

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.

https://nbcphiladelphia.app.link/Km20ingK0Rb

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.

FURacist
0 approved
thatonemathnerd@gmail.com
142.0.248.234

Again, the funny thing is this person thinks they are masked and can’t be revealed. They can be.

Apparently they didn’t like a recent post:

life in the fast lane

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.

So there we have it.

Cheers!

life in the fast lane

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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 here we are life in the fast lane.