Please let Barry Dee at All Politics Are Local which version is your favorite!
Karen Barsoum you’re famous!
serenading….chester county voter services!
Tag Archives: chester county
where’s the literal karen of chesco voter services?
#firekarenbarsoum
#resignkarenbarsoum
dear recipe philly, sometimes the timing in life is just not right
What some of the people that spend so much time criticizing me don’t realize is I love to cook. I also love to garden, which is of course why I have a separate gardening blog.
A while back a friend sent me a link to a website. It was for something called Recipe Philly.
So on a complete whim, I submitted the pasta sauce recipe taught to me by my great aunts and my paternal grandmother. It’s mostly their recipe, but I tweaked it and wrote it down.
I know that this sauce recipe is good enough to compete with. I’ve actually had people who are professional chefs, and in the restaurant industry tell me so over the years. I also just love the idea of the sauce I learned to make as well as gnocchi in a kitchen at 11th and Ritner when I was a little girl, could be shared with a broader audience.
I still have very distinct memories of the big ceramic top kitchen table that used to hold 8 or 10 of us at one time being cleared for first chopping up vegetables and what not going into the sauce, and then as a workstation to make the gnocchi.
The gnocchi is also another recipe that I finally wrote down because I was taught how to make it by feel. You could just feel when the dough was right.
When my father’s mother would sometimes babysit us when we were in high school and my parents were traveling for my father’s job at the time, I would have these memories of Saturday mornings, and even Sunday mornings, waking up to the mingled smell of fresh coffee and garlic and onion Starting to cook in the bottom of a Dutch oven for sauce.
It was these memories that I was all excited to bring to this competition. And I’m hardly a reality show person. But it was because this was really kind of a cooking thing I was interested. Finally, I’m at a place in my life where I have the time to do something like that.
But life throws you curveballs. I was interviewed on a zoom submitted my application and invited to compete tomorrow in Philadelphia but at the same time this was happening, I have a dog who developed cancer. And the reality of life and the responsibility to my pet means I can’t leave her for 8 or 10 hours right now.
So this morning, I had to decline. I had my recipe ready. I had my photos. I had my recipe card. They want it filled out done and a copy of my application. I sent the producers who gave up their valuable time for me an email apologizing. I didn’t want to just not show up that would be rude and disrespectful of their time and energy into this project which I think is a fun as well as cool idea.
If my recipe had been chosen, it would’ve been featured in this brand new restaurant opening in Philadelphia. If my recipe had been chosen, I think it would’ve amused the ghosts of my ancestors. This recipe was obviously taught to my great aunts and my grandmother by their mother, who immigrated to this country with her husband their father has a very young woman for a better life. This recipe is part of the DNA of my American story because we are a country of immigrants.
Those people, who would’ve been my late father’s maternal grandparents came here for a better life. If they hadn’t existed, the future generations of which I am part of the current present generation never would have existed.
So for the time being, I don’t get my home cook moment, but for the love of my dog, I just can’t do it. And I really wanted to. But sometimes the timing in life and being a grown-up and being a responsible pet owner have to come first.
If these people at Recipe Philly would ever want to talk to me after today about my recipe and competing when they actually film, I would welcome that opportunity. But sadly, I know that’s not how the process works, so it’s just not my time.
A girl can dream though…..
where’s karen barsoum, chester county?
Well, it’s no secret that election day was a total study in incompetence, gross incompetence, on the part of the Chester County Director of Voter Services Karen Barsoum. I am starting this post reminding the knee jerk reaction chorus in the rear of the attention span auditorium that I am not an election conspiracy theorist. I am not a voting conspiracy theorist I am not saying there was malicious intent, what I am saying is there was gross incompetence.
I am really, quite honestly tired of the people defending this woman. She’s been here long enough and worked in another voter services department in Berks County prior to this that she should not have screwed things up this election or the spring primary where she actually left an entire row office race off of the ballot.
This is something procedurally that it remains the same. There’s one procedure in the spring, there’s another procedure in the fall. Epic fail, pure and simple.
I have mentioned before the crazy amount of turnover in that office. That’s because people don’t want work with her, in my opinion. People need jobs, so if they aren’t taking jobs in that department or constantly leaving, there’s a reason.
Basically, we have heard from everyone, except Karen Barsoum. Her socials are suddenly quite quiet and seem scrubbed as well.
She should’ve been front and center at the county commissioners meeting yesterday, even if just to make a brief statement and leave the room. Everyone has been apologizing for this situation except her. And to be honest given how much she loves the sound bite going back to Berks County, I find that odd.
Obviously to stand up and own is not as fun as being on 60 Minutes or quoted in USA Today or whatever, but you have to have a accountability for the good and the bad and she doesn’t ever seem to have accountability and it’s time for her to be accountable. Then it’s time for her to go.
She needs to show her face to apologize to all of us residents in Chester County, and then she should go.
#firekarenbarsoum

who is a conspiracy theorist now with chester county voters services?
This is right off the social media of certain Democrat state representatives. I didn’t imagine this out of thin air.
I’m glad they see things the way average people do because I had some toadstool from Easttown or close to that vicinity basically accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist today over this whole debacle with voter services.
I’m not. I never have been.
This is a simple case of incompetency at the top of that department. The director is Karen Barsoum. This is on her.
And then there was the woman who said the only one I was impressing with my independent status was myself, and I should just shut up. Oh yeah, for real see below screenshot :
Now let’s review: I’m pretty sure if I remember what people told me in the past once they are ready to get the “books” printed for the election they have to check over everything and I’m sure there are all sorts of things that they have to check in some kind of a computer program, right?
At that point, they first have to generate the books in-house and then they go to an outside printer, correct?
Unless they changed it it’s not a magical overnight process is it it’s a process that would occur probably the week before the election last week right?
So who checked the work before it went to the printer? I mean with a problem this big if they even sampled random “books“ from around the county wouldn’t they have found this mistake? One of my sources told me they did not reprint the spring books so this is just a colossal screwup, isn’t it?
So working on the theory that the books would have been sent to be printed last week and delivered last week why didn’t anybody check them when they first came back in final printed for him to make sure they were correct?
Now I get that this department is now short staffed but wouldn’t a reasonable procedure be to check a sampling of the books to make sure they were correct?
So they’re going to be a lot of questions that need to be answered in the days ahead, but if the PA Attorney General gets involved, remember he’s having months long issues with some database, isn’t he?
My new hashtag is #firekarenbarsoum
I also have to ask is Chester County going to be able to certify these elections?
This is a huge debacle.
And it’s Karen Barsoum‘s fault this is her department. She’s made a big deal how she’s such a leader. A leader and competent manager would have checked her department’s work.
Judge Rovito has extended voting until 10 PM. The only issue I have with that is the Democrats and Republicans as far as registered voters weren’t disenfranchised today. It was those who are Independent or unaffiliated. So really why should Republican and Democrat registered voters get extra time to vote when it was in Independents and other unaffiliated who were in effect disenfranchised?
Anyway, this is all I’ve got for now. Enjoy.
karen barsoum needs to go: chester county has made independents invisible on election day.
I am so angry as an Independent Voter in Chester County right now. According to Chester County Voters services, we don’t count. Yes, for real, for real. Chester County has now acknowledged somewhat insufficiently they ALL poll books at all precincts THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRETY OF CHESTER COUNTY currently do not include the names of “third-party voters”!
First of all we matter. We are not insignificant, and quite frankly the numbers of Chester County Independents is sizable.
This is bullshit and yes I am cursing.
Karen Barsoum has one job: to protect the voters of Chester County. She’s not doing it. She has incredibly high staff turnover for one. Why is that? Well watch this video:
Karen Barsoum has ONE job as head of voter services , to keep voters and their votes safe. To maintain integrity of our elections. This is an inexcusable mistake. It is wreaking havoc county wide.
She needs to GO. Whether she resigns or is let go, it needs to happen.
(For a giggle, read this interview: https://vista.today/2024/08/karen-barsoum-leadership-chester-county/ )
I mean why in the actual hell are there so many overlords in Chester County Government if they can’t seem to keep tabs on this woman? She isn’t doing her job. Elections and voting are bad enough, we don’t need Karen Barsoum continually making it worse. Period. Full stop.
#FIREKARENBARSOUM
the politics of life/life of politics
I am seeing a recurring theme regarding politics. Online and in person and it’s ridiculous.
“I can’t vote for a Republican.”
“I can’t vote for a Democrat.”
To quote the late comedienne Joan Rivers, OH GROW UP.
You know what? You can’t be limited. You have to be willing to consider bipartisan support and judicial races as one example can be ugly, but at the end of the day you look at whether or not they keep politics out of their courtroom. It’s not about necessarily a knee-jerk reaction or the party gods will bar you entry to political Valhalla.
Both major political parties in this country are extremely flawed at this point in time. The problem is both parties don’t necessarily have the best candidates at any one given point in time.
And further and to the point, if we don’t learn to start to reach across the aisle once again from both sides and meet in the middle, it’s going to be decades more of the current BS we are experiencing.
Oh some of the locals don’t like me having that opinion. Apparently bloggers are still supposed to be seen and not heard? Have you met me? Or read what I write?
The past few years have been a resounding chorus on a loop of whomever gets all of the toys wins. It’s not working.
It’s bad enough that apathy rules most of the day.
Not all Republicans are bad and not all Democrats are bad. We see that here in Chester County.
Look at your candidates as people first.
What do they do?
What have they done?
When asked why they want to earn your vote is it drivel, a demand, or a forthright response?
No one is too busy to vote. It is the greatest demonstration of expressing yourself and your rights as an American.
But that doesn’t mean being a sheeple. It means putting on your grown up hat and thinking for yourself .
Don’t vote as you are told or expected. Do your own goddamn research. People have lost their intellectual curiosity for crowdsourcing.
Grow up and wake up. It’s too important.
And politicians who contact me and I am supposed to be impressed? That all depends on who you are and if you have earned my respect.
Have a listen to:
All Politics Are Local 10 31 25 Podcast:
what’s a nasty election season without mentioning willistown?
Talk about limp dicky political marketing right? Who’s your developer daddy, Dicky Ricky? Or should we say daddies? Who’s writing your copy? The illustrious mayor of the mythical Walkable Willistown? Or some other sewer rats?
I mean can we review ?
Willistown kept the sewer system and the sewer system needs work so how do you all propose to pay for repairs?
So what if Matt McCarry works for the Pennsylvania House Office of the Majority Leader (Democratic) AKA Matt Bradford? Do you think that gives him an inside track in Chester County? It doesn’t as the guy he works for is out of Montgomery County. What it does mean, however, is he has a very good idea of how things work, as opposed to Dicky Ricky.
So yeah, in Willistown, they love their nasty mailers. And if they aren’t sending out nasty mailers, they’re taking up time with voluminous right to know requests and basically harassing township staff.
Willistown, you have a chance for different things but if you vote for Dicky Ricky you get what you deserve. And the pathway to eventual true chaos.
The only thing that stinks in Willistown is whatever is emanating from the posteriors of the people sending out these stupid mailers. And the horse they are backing isn’t even a show pony. He never came to meetings or showed interest before being put up to run for supervisor. And his appearances since he announced his candidacy have been cameos at best.
Oh and Dicky Ricky is so bad Bob Lange sent a letter out to some constituents I got a hold of. I have sharpened the photo of it I was sent by a resident and warmed the background so people can read it. If you don’t believe me that Bob sent this, go buy a pumpkin and ask him. And try the salsa if there is any left in the cold case, it’s really good.
Now so you can follow the money here are some Ricky Reports I am fascinated by the often odd donation amounts:
have you been to this cute art gallery in frazer?
OK, I bet you’re asking where is this art gallery have we driven past it the answer is yes or it’s there and you don’t realize it.
It’s on the second floor of the Franklin Auto Spa in Frazer PA at 535 Lancaster Avenue!
They are just starting to build a social media presence and you can find them on Facebook and Instagram.
https://franklinartgallery.com/
The gallery is quite literally art in an unexpected place and it’s fun! It’s a big well-lit space on the second floor of the auto spa.
As a matter of fact an amazing artist I know named Leah Macdonald who is an encaustic artist has a show there on Saturday, November 8, 2025 from 4 PM – 6 PM.
Anyway, discovering Leah was doing a show was the cherry on top of the delightful surprise of discovering this new gallery. There were a few different galleries that were in Malvern Borough over the past few years which are now sadly gone.
Art is one of those things that makes the world a happier place, so I hope you check it out. Again the gallery space is on the second floor of the Franklin Auto Spa in their lounge area.
no people, malvern is not the main line and never will be.
So someone posted in a Malvern Facebook group about “is Malvern the Main Line?”
Eyes rolling, not this again.
No people it’s Chester County and always will be and that is totally fine and accurate to the history.
Saying Malvern is the Main Line is merely realtor/developer marketing by those who don’t know any better and/or don’t care.
The “Main Line” got the nickname from the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad mid-19th century. In the early 20th century it was attached more kind of socially and socioeconomically to the area beginning at the city line of Overbrook and ending in Paoli for social and historical reasons .
Malvern is part of the train line headed west but no more a part of the Main Line than Thorndale or Lancaster and Harrisburg are, which are also part of the same line that headed west.
It is like saying Downingtown and the edge of Coatesville is Chester Springs, which is also part of current day developer and realtor spin. And like Malvern should just be proud to be “Chester County”
Another example? People from Northeast Philadelphia don’t say that they live in Chestnut Hill do they? Or confuse Society Hill with West Philadelphia? Or say South Philadelphia is Rittenhouse Square? All of these places, including the Main Line and Chester County have their own unique history.
Those who didn’t grow up here also like to misstate the history, especially where the Main Line is concerned.
I grew up on the Main Line and lived there as an adult until I moved to Chester County to be with my husband, so I actually know the history and FWIW would rather be in Chester County because the Main Line isn’t what it used to be.
Of course for my efforts in attempting to explain this some turdsticker in that group called me a Karen. That is not a pejorative term that can be applied to me except by someone who is pig ignorant, but it helps him get through his day as an angry mansplainer.
I am glad Malvern and Chester County have their own identities and towns in Chester County can and should have their own individual and unique identities and don’t need to be plunked into inaccurate Stepford real estate marketing.
How come we have to keep discussing this?
People. Learn your railroad history. It is how these towns were built.
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and socially pretentious and ridiculous region of suburban Philadelphia, as freaking created by old railroad lines. These towns became more cohesive along the Pennsylvania Railroad’s once prestigious “Main Line”, which ran northwest from Center City Philadelphia parallel to Route 30 (Lancaster Ave to some Lancaster Pike to some Lincoln Highway to others.)
The railroad first connected Philadelphia to the Main Line towns in the 19th century.
They became home to sprawling country estates and hotels belonging to Philadelphia’s wealthiest families, and over the decades became a bastion of “old money”. People built their summer homes out here at that point. In the 18th century wealthy Philadelphians summered in places like Fairmount Park. In the 19th century the railroads moved them further west.
Seriously, don’t forget there were grand hotels too. One is what is now the Baldwin School was once the Bryn Mawr Hotel.
The Main Line has this fabled history. I lived there until coming to Chester County. My parents moved us there when I was about 12. So yeah, I know the history. In some regards I think I lived there in the sunset of it’s greatness. The Main Line as it exists today I find distasteful and gauche sometimes because well, the nouveau Main Line neither gets nor appreciates nor really cares about the actual history.
Until the railroads, the Main Line was a lot of country. Farms, quarries, mills, even factories. It became genteel versus rural/copuntry living by it’s very history. The Pennsylvania Railroad and 19th century real estate developers and speculators truthfully get the credit here.
Like Wayne, PA which was essentially a developer planned community of it’s day. Don’t believe me? Visit the Radnor Historical Society Website.
When this topic of what the Main Line actually is and what the actual historical boundaries are crops up on social media, someone always leaves a conversation feeling offended.
Sorry not sorry but Malvern isn’t and never will be the Main Line. As I have said before, it’s Chester County and everyone in the Malvern area should be ok with it as Malvern already has a wonderful identity and history.
One of my dear friend’s grandfathers was an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad. He moved his family from the city to Haverford near Merion Cricket Club. The road they settled on had several homes built as a direct result of the railroad. Like many of the homes in Wayne, it was desirable because one could walk to the train station.
Growing up, we never thought the Main Line was one centimeter past Paoli…because we knew the history. Today it’s like saying you are from Greenwich, Connecticut or similarly affluent and storied suburbs… when you are not. Or even what defines Manhattan, versus living in the other boroughs of New York City but saying you live in Manhattan.
When we were growing up there was this little thing we did to remember the order of the train stations. Old Maids Never Wed And Have Babies. Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr. You can find this mentioned here on this blog which I find amusing because they say they think the ditty ends with Bryn Mawr Station because it was thought of possibly by a Bryn Mawr College girl. This blog is called Philadelphia Reflections and I love it because they write about the most interesting stuff!
Growing up, we never thought the Main Line was one centimeter past Paoli…because we knew the history. Today it’s like saying you are from Greenwich, Connecticut or similarly affluent and storied suburbs. Or even what defines Manhattan, versus living in the other boroughs of New York City but saying you live in Manhattan.
And just so we are clear, I am not some old Main Line trust fund baby. We lived there because my parents decided to move us there as we got older for access to better schools and a way of life that included being able to play outside whenever we wanted. However, where I grew up was close to where one of my great-grandmothers was in service. Rebecca Nesbitt Gallen. She was a summer housekeeper for the Cassatt family(think Merion Cricket Club) at their Cheswold Estate. Of course Alexander Cassatt was also famous for his Chesterbrook Farm in Berwyn. We of course know Chesterbrook today as the giant development that popped the cherry of suburban density development. It’s hard to believe that Chesterbrook today was once a glorious 600+ acre farm, right?
And yes, Chesterbrook Farm was in Berwyn…yet Chesterbrook the development today has a Wayne post office zip code. Yup even Chesterbrook wasn’t o.k. where it really was, was it? Again, real estate/developer marketing.
The fight over the Chesterbrook Development went all the way to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. Chesterbrook is I think actually over 800 acres if you count the other land parcels that went into it. I still view it as planned development at it’s worst. My late mother in law was one of the many, many residents who fought it for years.
(See from the Lower Merion Historical Society) Chesterbrook retells the story of Wayne for the 20th century
Finding homes for people drawn here by technology isn’t anything new)
Yeah, I know this has been quite the ramble. But I just don’t think Chester County needs to be completely annexed to the freaking Main Line. It’s preposterous. Stick to the history. It tells you the boundaries. And yes, there are several towns (and townships) that have parts of themselves which are part of the Main Line historically, although not in their entirety. Like parts of Chester County. Chester County has a rich history that is far more interesting than the mere history of the Main Line which was created by the railroads.
Thanks for stopping by….writing today as always from beautiful Chester County, PA. (NOT the Main Line.)
Yes, Virginia, there may indeed be a Santa Claus, but Malvern will always just be Chester County and not the Main Line. This is another example why actual history matters, not what revisionists wish to reimagine it as.
